The night was old and worn, lingering over ashen fields and the smouldering ruins of a once-great kingdom. Time had not been kind to those of that proud allegiance, whose armies had once held sway over the squabbling tribes of the continent. Once, there had been an empire, stretching from the Great Northern Sea to the Forge Mountains of the South, from the depths of the Burrowing to the limitless heights of the Heavensphere. No more.
The first sign came from the earth. The ground shook and trembled, sundering palace and village alike. The people of darkness fled as their towers, once beacons of might, crashed and fell upon them. Amidst the panic and flight, the immortal priests of earth rose with vindication. "Darkness will fall!" They cried, and from the depths came great hulks of stone, impervious to ripping fangs or alchemical spells. The golems marched unopposed into the chaos, and the earth elementals rejoiced.
The second sign came from the water. As the earth shifted and cracked, the seas withdrew, as if mirroring the people in their flight from the wrath of the earth. A great bounty of fish lay on the ground, and the people rushed to scavenge supplies for the long journey ahead. But this was not to be, for the sea had made a deception. "Darkness will fall!" Came the shout, and the waves came roaring back as if in rage for the attempted salvage. From the abyss too came strange creatures, dwellers of the sea that crawled or swam in unusual patterns. They had patiently bidden their time, and now they snatched the denizens of darkness into the crashing water. The squids plundered their fill from the refugees, and the water elementals rejoiced.
The third sign came from the gravitons. As the survivors of the earthquake assault and the tsunami raid retreated and organized their defenses, they came across the famous band of mercenaries and soldiers clad in orange and black. "A party of guardsmen! We are saved!" cried one. But this was not to be, for the captain of the guard was a wily and experienced commander. He had predicted this encounter, and he knew that the real threat had not yet come. He needed more resources, and so he gave the order. "Darkness must fall!" he ordered, and his company fell upon the retreating survivors. The Graviton Guards secured their supplies, and the gravity elementals rejoiced.
The fourth sign came from the air. As those who had fled the fall of their crumbling cities, escaped the deceptive waves, and evaded capture by the treacherous Gravitons scattered, another party watched the fight carefully. Swarms of small flies followed their retreat, tracking and predicting their path. "Darkness must fall," came the whisper, and the sky dragons blitzed into action. As the wyrms dove into the enemy, the air elementals rejoiced.
As the remnants of the Darkness Army gathered at the capital, the commander's tent was in a frenzy. Andretimpa sat in a corner, dazed in a drunken stupor as the other officers calmly and methodically analyzed their situation.
"Where are those dragons?" Aves demanded. "I want them here and I want them here yesterday! I don't care if they're at 1 HP, we need to send out
something to match the enemy's movments!"
"Scouts report movement in the eastern pass! We've got rogue graboids!" RapidStar_ reported. "We're out of lightning in that sector! Requesting orders!"
"The squids are loose, can't contain them! Requesting reinforcements!" cried Sera.
"THE VAULT! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VAULT?" Zawadx shrieked.
Everybody turned to the large safe in the tent. There was a gaping hole in the middle of it. "Zawadx, that's been there for three weeks."
"Oh."
"REVENGE FOR WAR 9!" Solaris cackled, and the tent was flooded in frogs.
Well, that was fun to write. It's been a while since I've written anything for war! Something less fun to write about is our finish in fifth place. It was a disappointing end, and I know that we had the potential to do better. I guess it's time to wave the banner one last time before hanging it up.
To my Team: Friends! Comrades! Soldiers of Team Darkness! We made it to round 10. Ten weeks of spending 3.5 days on deck prep and testing and mindgating. That's a lot of work you guys have put in. And while that's not quite the achievement we were all looking for, we are still better than those poor sods in sixth! I'm proud of the effort you've all shown. We all had a few issues with activity, but those things happen, and we were able to work around that. We tried our best, and we had fun while doing it. That's what matters.
To andretimpa: Seems like you were the busiest of any of us. What you did put in was solid, and it was nice to work with you. Keep up your cool stuff in Brawl!
To Sera: College sucks, and I'm thankful you were able to devote enough time to still chill with us despite the workload. If you can find the time, keep on visiting us on the forums!
To RapidStar_: You've improved! You stepped it up this time around, and I'm happy to be able to see your progress through these two Wars. I think with a bit more event participation, we can see some great things coming from you.
To Zawadx: If this team has a lieutenant, then it's Zawadx. You contributed a lot of structure to the team, from vault analysis to deckbuilding to mindgating predictions-- despite your responsibilities elsewhere. You were always available to give a second opinion, and I'm sure that we may not have progressed as far as we did without you prodding us to actually go do some testing. It was nice to work with you!
To WMs: Thanks for hosting! We've had... a lot of drama. That's an understatement. But you've been able to handle it with cool and poise in a way that not a lot of people would be able to, and you have my respect for that. I will say that the earlier ECs could've been a smidge more impactful, and that I strongly disagree with what happened in the serprex matter, but on the whole you've done a good job. Keep that up as War wraps up!
To Darkness elementals: Fifth wasn't where we wanted to end up, and I'm sorry for disappointing you there. We gave it our all (kinda), and this is what we got. Want us to do better? Enter the 11th Trials! Show your mettle there, and take the reins yourself.
