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Planeswalker's Journey
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3 common slots
4 uncommon slots
1 rare slot and 1 legendary slot remaining.
@Everyone If it is not clear which option you have taken please tell me. (You could just edit it into those relevant comments you already posted since the challenge begun.
Info for myself:
(btw @Jonteman93 I've got a new planeswalker!)
Color Identity: UR
Common: 1
Uncommon: 2
Rare: 1
Mythic: 1
Legendary: 0
Max CMC: 7
Kyoniq had killed Haliza, or rather transformed her into a sheep, in a steaming hot valley. Her disciples, however, were encamped on a hillside. There was a clearing in the forest, inside of which was a camp of huts. Surrounding it was a wooden palisade with squat towers placed at intervals along it. All was quiet at the moment, but Kyoniq had no doubt that archers waited in the towers and warriors were silently massed behind the reinforced wooden gate.
(Story card. Not to be judged.)
Kyoniq approached the clearing hidden among the trees of the forest. He was with his assistant Seira, some drakes and zombies, and six other wizards of various specialties. The mind mage created a mental network between the group so that they could communicate and command the zombies without talking. “Send the zombies and elementals straight in, and the rest of us will fly over on the drakes,” instructed Kyoniq. The water elementalist cast her spell. The humidity went down and the ground dried up as all the moisture from the soil and air formed a large orb of water in front of the merfolk wizard. Finally, a nearby stream diverted its path and flowed into the orb as well, growing it to the size of an elephant. The orb morphed into a humanoid shape and, alongside the giant zombie, marched toward the gates.
(Story cards. Not to be judged.)
Kyoniq summoned his fluidform and it took a chimera shape. Seira got on its back. The human and merfolk wizards leapt on drakes, and they all flew out of the trees and out over the camp. However, they were flying into an ambush. As the elemental and zombie giant neared the gates, they burst open, and dozens of human and elvish warriors burst out, yelling a battle cry. At the head was a viashino shaman riding a wolf, his palms glowing with magic. There were also a pair of winged reptile beasts, what seemed to be a sentient tree (whether natural or magically animated, Kyoniq couldn’t tell), and an elemental that looked like a chunk of the hillside. From the watchtowers leapt not arrows, but vines, grasping at the drakes. One was strangled and killed with a cry, and the wizard riding it was caught in midair in the claws of another drake. Another wizard struggled to cast counterspells on the vines, deflecting them harmlessly to the ground with blasts of magic.
(Story cards. Not to be judged.)
Meanwhile, on the ground, the warriors swarmed the small zombies as the beasts, the earth elemental, and the treefolk faced off with the zombie giant and water elemental. The viashino shaman attempted to dissipate the water elemental with magic, but the spell was deflected off its body with a splash. The water elemental swept over its enemies like a tidal wave as the giant zombie smashed a beast and the treefolk with its massive fists. The cracking of wood and bone could be heard as the other beast inhaled water and the earth elemental began to disintegrate. However, as the humans and elves slaughtered the small zombies and slaughtered them again when they got back up, the giant zombie faltered. It was given a punch from the treefolk as the beast tackled it. The earth elemental had absorbed the water one and collapsed into a pile of mud and rocks. The second beast was still trying to get the water out of its lungs.
Then, the zombie giant regained its footing and its eyes glowed purple. Suddenly, Kyoniq felt like he had been hit, but the psychomancer’s mental network flooded with information. Kyoniq cast a series of spells, countering and blasting away spells and warriors. At the same time, the zombie giant snapped the beast’s neck and the killed zombies rose once more. All this, however, was not enough to turn the tide. The treefolk knocked over the giant zombie and the shaman cast a spell, sending out a fiery wave that caused all the zombies to fall apart from their wounds. All eyes turned skyward, looking at Kyoniq and the wizards and drakes defending themselves from the vine towers.
Kyoniq thought back to the passage he read about sphinxes in the book. “They said sphinxes are rarely seen nowadays. It seems like about time to change that,” said Kyoniq to himself. Then he thought into the mental network, “Who wants to be a sphinx?”
“That’s impossible,” thought back Fei’wet, the form master. “Sphinxes are too powerful and rare to copy unless you are bonded to one, which you are not."
Kyoniq smiled (or made the equivalent aven gesture, since aven don’t have lips) and cast his spell on the psychomancer. The drake carrying her shrieked and she fell off, but it didn’t matter, because she stayed aloft on newfound wings erupting from her shoulders as thick white fur grew all over her body and her back extended. Only her face remained the same.
Because of her increased brainpower, the mental network was strengthened and invigorated. The psychomancer-sphinx dove towards one of the vine towers. All the vines were deflected magically off the sphinx’s body, and she set upon the tower, destroying it with rending claws. However, before she could do more damage, she was attacked by several warriors, and the second winged beast, which had finally cleared its lungs, lunged at her. She kicked it away and flew up into the air, but still sustained injuries from swords and a beast bite. The beast, though winged, was only capable of glides and hops. The psychomancer-sphinx looked up at the rest, but Kyoniq was nowhere to be seen. He was gone.
I choose Option B whch means i have...
6 cmc available
1 mythic slot
1 rare slot
3 common, 3 uncommon
1 legendary slot
Here it is!
[Maybe OP Alert - Please tell me if so]
And remember that weird ball from my stories and card if you read them? Well... it activated.
And finally for now, a new planeswalker card... that transforms!
@Jonteman93 Does not having art reduce from my point total?
Does anyone know how to make card images smaller? I keep forgetting.
img src="Card Image" width="40%"></img
That 40% is the size of the image. It means "percentage of the page width that the image takes up."
@ShaperKyon @DoctorFro Thanks!
V. Beirani, part 4/4
The drakes, fluidform, and sphinx circled over the camp, not willing to dive in to attack. Down below, the treefolk and remaining watchtower shot deadly grappling vines up at the attackers, and the viashino shaman launched fiery bolts. One wizard was using spells of binding to hamper the treefolk; however, this effect was being battled by an elvish druid. Another was furiously countering the vines and fire, while a third was using wind magic to blast away individual warriors. Fei’wet the form mage had managed to turn the binding wizard wizard into a sphinx. The psychomancer being a sphinx and the blast of knowledge from the zombie giant was keeping everyone supplied with spells, but they were on their back foot because of Kyoniq’s absence.
Kyoniq soared at top speed toward the seacoast. Something big was swimming by the island: something twice as large as the zombie giant or hillside elemental. Something that could turn the tide of the battle. It was a creature of the open ocean that rarely ventured this close to shore. It was probably the psychomancer’s expanded mental network that allowed Kyoniq to notice it from the island’s interior. The aven equivalent of a smile touched Kyoniq’s face as he flapped over its massive shadow in the water and reached out his magic to bond with the creature.
He supposed it was really quite small for a leviathan.
Kyoniq beckoned the waves, and the sea swelled up dozens of meters, rising above the rocky cliffs that bordered the sea. The leviathan breached, its blowhole sending up a stream of exhalation as its head rose out of the water. A massive tidal wave rose up another dozens of meters, carrying the leviathan onto shore. Kyoniq began to pant with the effort of bringing a leviathan onto land. He kept the wave going, a continuous cascade of water from the sea carrying the leviathan inland and flooding the forest and plain. Kyoniq’s heart surged in his chest and courage filled his mind. “I will defeat my enemies! I will not let the Spark Serpent eat my spark! I will reach the Tower and return to my home and save Janial! For Janial! shouted Kyoniq to the wind.
The leviathan and the wave reached the hillside camp. With a roar so low it was under the range of human hearing, the leviathan slid straight through the wall on a tide of salt water. The elves, however, heard the sound and fell to the ground, clutching their ears. Kyoniq began to tremble as he used up his last energy reserves. The drakes and fluidform were released from summons as Kyoniq gave all his energy to the leviathan and the continuous wave keeping it afloat. The leviathan swallowed the last reptile beast in its gaping maw. It had already destroyed the wall, gate, vine tower, and most of the huts. Finally, Kyoniq, exhausted, released the leviathan. All the seawater he had brought in rushed back down to the ocean, carrying the leviathan with it. The damage had been done.
The psychomancer-sphinx, the binding mage-sphinx, the elementalist, the counterspell-illusionist, Fei’wet, Kyoniq, and Seira were now able to enter the camp. All the drakes and the fluidform were gone, released by Kyoniq. The party quickly set to work finishing the battle. The psychomancer drained the minds of all the remaining warriors, making them unable to think. The binding mage successfully turned the treefolk into a normal tree. The elementalist created an air elemental to hunt down all the escaped warriors.
The counterspell-illusionist caught the viashino shaman trying to escape on his wolf and blocked him with an illusory wall. The shaman attempted to dissipate it with a blast of fire, but the flame was countered by the wizard. The shaman, wheeling around, charged the wizard, but ran straight into a jaguar illusion that caused the shaman to instinctively jump off the wolf, which ran away into the forest. The shaman flung fire and vines at the wizard, but all were countered. Finally, the wizard sent a hawk illusion straight at the shaman’s face. By manipulating pain sensors, the wizard caused the shaman to think the hawk’s beak had went into his brain and he died of a heart attack.
(Entered in the Mistaken Rivalry challenge)
The bright lights emanating from the flute changed to smoky darkness as the ritual neared completion. However, Seira darted in, fast as lightning, her form blurred as she snatched the flute and dashed off. The binding mage-sphinx caused the druid to fall unconscious and the wizards took her as a prisoner. Kyoniq turned to see Seira standing behind him, holding Beirani, the flute. She glanced at him awkwardly and pushed her glasses up her nose but made no move to give Kyoniq the flute.
“Please give be Beirani, Seira,” Kyoniq said politely but firmly. Seira looked uncertain, but the psychomancer-sphinx stepped up behind her.
“This artifact will be given to the Lore Ward,” she said severely.
Kyoniq waved his hand dismissively, dissipating the aura making the psychomancer a sphinx and she shrunk back into human form. “Only planeswalkers should have the power to destroy planeswalkers,” he said.
The binding mage-sphinx retorted, “We cannot permit you, a rogue planeswalker, to walk away with the legendary Beirani,” but in response, Fei’wet, who had turned him into a sphinx, turned him back into a human and stood next to Kyoniq. “Be grateful, friends,” scolded the form mage. “If it wasn’t for Kyoniq, the elves of Cestina would have been alerted about Jugiha from those we have just killed. It is only fitting that he receives Beirani in thanks.”
The counterspell-illusionist sided against Kyoniq. “We would still have destroyed this camp without Kyoniq’s help,” he reminded. “The Flame Ward, the Nature Ward, the Holy Ward all would have helped. Jugiha is mighty.”
The merfolk elementalist joined Kyoniq. “At what cost?” she said. “Lives and resources would have been lost. A larger battle would have taken place, possibly attracting unwanted notice.”
Now Seira, keeper of Beirani, stood in between two lines of three wizards, each wanting the flute. Having listened to everyone’s opinion, she was the voice of reason and ended the argument. “Having Kyoniq fight this battle was in the best interest of Jugiha. It’s fair to give him Beirani for this reason. Secondly, if Kyoniq leaves with the flute, he leaves with the best interests of Jugiha in mind, which is good for us. Furthermore, the flute will help Kyoniq not only in his journey, but also for his own self-betterment, more than it could ever help us." The others, convinced by her argument, were silent. "Therefore, for these reasons, I bestow Beirani, flute of summoning upon Kyoniq, planeswalker.” Seira held out the flute to Kyoniq with two hands. Kyoniq took the flute and touched the tip of his beak to Seira’s forehead in the aven gesture of respect. Her face was solemn, but her eyes were smiling.
“Are all the warriors accounted for?” Kyoniq asked the elementalist. She nodded in affirmative. The other wizards sifted through the rubble, removing all records and texts so that there would be no hint of what Haliza’s followers had been doing. They burned the bodies of the fallen drakes and zombies. Finally, Fei’wet turned everyone into hawks and the unconscious druid into a mouse, and they soared over the forest toward Jugiha.
When the dispatch from Rtla’aqax, the largest elvish dere in Cestina Rainforest, arrived at the camp an hour later, they found no sign of who destroyed the camp, and most importantly, no information about Jugiha. The secret was safe for now.
Better make some wind based cards, lest I forget my true element...
Spell slots:
Rare: 1
Uncommon: 0
Common: 3
The next day, after a meal and a good night’s sleep in his quarters above the Archive, it was time for Kyoniq to focus on his goal once again: getting to the Tower. The captured human druid and camp records had been turned over to the Jugiha Council, upon which necromancer Pyuri now sat thanks to Kyoniq’s help. Sitting at his small desk under the light of a fire globe provided by the Flame Ward, Kyoniq studied his notes on the books he had read.
Kyoniq had read several books detailing the tower over the ages, going back hundreds of years. The Jugiha Temple had an extensive network of researchers and sages spanning Clanculaius, whether working for the benefits Jugiha gives, to prevent the spread of evil, for fun, for the sake of history, or so knowledge could be shared. The collaboration of people of all ideologies, walks of life, and trades was what made Jugiha Temple so profound and powerful.
The books had explained that every several years, a group of planeswalkers are lured to Clancularius on their first planeswalk by an enchantment and trapped here by another. A medieval mathematician had described the pattern of the lengths of time between batches of ‘walkers arriving. After a batch had arrived, the planeswalkers would go on a journey though Clancularius, ending up at the building known as the Tower. The Tower is a gigantic building that touches the clouds and is located in the center of the Land of Seven Rings, seven concentric circles of grassland, wetland, forest, and mountains that never change. One planeswalker from every batch would reach the top of the Tower and leave the plane in an event called the Star Rise, which was noticeable around Clancularius due to a major disruption of the aether field and warping of the enchantment that bound planeswalkers. The other planeswalkers in the batch would have their sparks eaten by an aethereal being called the Spark Serpent or Spark Eater, and then disappear. Not much was known of the Tower and the Land of Seven Rings, due to the powerful beings called the Five Guardians that prevented any non-planeswalker from entering. The one thing for certain was that one powerful being ruled the Tower and the Rings, and presumably controlled the planeswalker-luring and planeswalker-binding enchantments and the Spark Serpent as well. Due to its almost comical regularity and consistency, this whole phenomenon was known as the Walker Game and the lord of the tower was called the Game Master. The Walker Game had been catalogued over a hundred times by the scholars of Jugiha, sometimes following a planeswalker step by step through the journey. It had been going on since the earliest historical records on Clancularius. A common theme throughout all Walker Games had been the training and betterment of each planeswalker participant through unique challenges and trials, so some scholars postulated that the Game Master was a benevolent entity who tasked themself with honing planeswalkers to their maximum potential. Others characterized them as a malevolent entity who collected the sparks of new planeswalkers to an unknown end.
The events leading up to the Star Rise, that took place in the Land of Seven Rings and the Tower, were shrouded in mystery, but Kyoniq felt better knowing about the Walker Game. It made him feel more in control, even though he knew he was just a pawn of the Game Master – a game piece, if you will. The important thing was that Kyoniq won. If the Spark Serpent took him, his fate was uncertain. This was unacceptable, so Kyoniq set about arranging his transportation to the Tower.
Before he got started, Kyoniq tried out his new flute, the incredibly powerful artifact Beirani. It was made of a strange material: malleable like steel, rough like stone, patterned like wood, and structured like bone. He held it as he had seen the druid do and blew some air into it through his beak, but only an unsteady, off-key note came out. There was not a bit of magic. It was just a flute. With a sigh, Kyoniq put Beirani away, hoping that he could unlock its power.
[Note: Kyoniq can’t play Beirani because when he acquired it, during the events of Through the Breach and I’m Going on an Adventure!, I didn’t have a mythic slot. Kyoniq will be able to use Beirani when I get a mythic slot during Mistaken Rivalry.]
@everyone Just so you know, the big paragraph in part 1 of Chapter VI pf Kyoniq's story (above) is development about the Tower and the journey. So, even if you don't care about the story, you can still read that paragraph if you want some more info about what I have called the Walker Game.
The sun was shining bright above a seemingly endless field of grass despite all the slow-moving, milky-white clouds.
On that plains, four people were moving in a slow but steady pace, each of them was also riding on their own strange black-furred wolf.
"Good that there are actual portal gateways that are literally littered around the world. Although it would be very bad if someone who also knows how to use them is hunting for your head. Who actually had that brilliant idea anyway?" Rambled Darius. After all, he was the only normal human member of the party.
"Certainly a someone with a sense of humor and curiosity." Answered the only female person and the necromancer of the party, Zafira. Despite of her humanly and rather sensual looks because of her choice in fashion, her skin and hair were too sickly pale for a healthy human. An oaken staff with a large amethyst crystal as its head was also slung on her back.
"Hey uh, Zafira right? So, what's actually with the sudden change of plan?" Darius's curiosity piqued.
"That cat-planeswalker happened." Interrupted the leader of the group, the armored wraith-walker.
"Uh, of course, of course. So, he wants another round or..."
"Likely so, little thief. Those 'warriors of justice' won't ever stop until the others who disagree with them are removed from their little world entirely. And you've already known who we are." The demon-swordsman added in.
And Darius just chuckled instead.
"Really Jag, the warriors of justice, seems like a title of a silly children's book. Nevermind then."
Then, he took a sip from his leather flask that was hanging on the back of his mount along with his other looted belongings.
"At least I've still got something tasty and useful. Not all was lost anyway."
Then in a sudden, a bright beam of light descended from the sky above.
The wraith-walker raised his hand, and the hunting party stopped.
"Oh come on, we just talked about this a few moments ago. It was like just yesterday we met this guy, right?" Complained Darius.
"Dismount, and follow me." Commanded the wraith.
Everyone others just saw at each other and nodded.
Walking slowly towards the direction of the party, was no other than the particular cat-planeswalker himself, and along with him was a hovering female and winged being with a fiery longsword that screamed 'Justice rains from above!" or just "I'm a friggin angel of war, prepare yourself to be cleansed from this world!"
But then, a dragon with greenish hide was also spotted in the sky. It then approached the cat-planeswalker and the angel, and landed beside them. The dragon rider, who was also apparently another cat person with yellow fur and black spots, dismounted his ride and greeted the cat-planeswalker, then the new person just walked along with him while the plant-like dragon just waited in the back.
Both of the parties finally met at each others, nervousness was apparent on Darius's face, while Vulganos, Zafira, and Jag'dranoth were still maintaining their rigid posture.
The wraith then summoned his own cracked blackblade.
"We meet again, beastmage." Greeted the displaced king of shadows, with both hands were placed on the hilt of his blade that pointed at the ground below.
"Wraith king." Answered the cat-planeswalker.
"Such a beautiful day, isn't it?" The wraith chuckled.
"Spare me the decorum because there is more important matter to discuss." Exclaimed the cat with a frown and a hint of distaste in his voice.
"Ah now you want the real talk, eh?"
"... The lord of the tower and the serpent. I just realized that we're just pawns in this twisted game. This world... is nothing but a planar flytrap, while we planeswalkers are the flies."
The cat-planeswalker who was known as Jonte was seemingly deep in distraught.
"Yes, I am aware of that fact." The wraith remarked.
"I'm... going to propose an alliance."
"Why?"
"Because my home, Eagliroth, is already decimated due to an apocalyptic event. And if that thing would send me back as a normal person again, then I would be better dead instead. And before that happens, I would like to do something... meaningful."
"Ah, a desperate act indeed. After all, our fates aren't really that different."
"If we were fighting each others, that being who's controlling the serpent would just revel in our misery. So I refuse to accept it. To just become a mere... puppet of this... disgusting game." Exclaimed the cat-planeswalker forlornly, still with his fists clenched.
"If you really mean it, then I'm just have the right thing for us as an insurance against this situation. Just accept my hand and we shall seal the deal."
The cat-walker then snapped from his thought as he see the outstretched, armored hand of the wraith.
And he sighed deeply.
"A person who has lost everything can't lose anything."
And accepted the deal, then he fell to his knees. The other cat person also kneeled beside him to give him support.
"What did you do to him?" This time the angel stretched her burning blade towards the wraith.
Jonte raised his right hand.
"Hold it Mikela, I believe that's just the side effect of the contract, or whatever it is." And he stood up along by calming his head.
"You should've known this, I really have no desire to stay for long in this world. If I can get out from this plane, then I would already do it long ago." Stated the wraith towards the angel.
"Now since you've already accepted my contract, I believe this is the right time I shall share it to you."
The armored wraith thrusted his blackblade on the ground, then a golden light was slowly materializing on his palm, then it finally took a shape of a luminous flower.
"... This feeling is so... familiar. What is..." The cat frowned as he gazed into the levitating luminous flower.
"It's the insurance to reignite our soon to be lost sparks."
(Note: Lore cards aren't an entry.)
- || -
Map update
South of the Cestina Rainforest and the Ya'whoto Sea is the Seika Empire, on and south of the equator. It is loosely based on the West African empires like Songhai and Mali and has become rich on gold, which it exports all over Clancularius.
Ban Zer is a semiautonomous city-state located on the coast of Seika. It maintains independent rule but its king pays an annual tribute to the Seika emperor. It is one of the largest and best ports in Frynheina.
The Tower and the Land of Seven Rings is located on the continent of Zhenqi, which lies east of Frynheina and Selamore across the great Ocean.
@everyone I know my stories are really long so would you like me to add a short summary blurb in case you don't want to read it all?
@ShaperKyon As is written in each elimination "Has been silenced and sent home"
Silenced indicates that their spark has been taken.
Sent home indicates well that they have been sent home.
So yes they are sent home without a spark.
I read your and everyone's stories when I get time to sit down. Haven't had much time during the weekend though.
Darn this is starting to turn into the most deadly game show Demetrius has ever faced!