Myth III: The Wolf Age - Plot

Plot

Myth III: The Wolf Age is set 1000 years before Myth: The Fallen Lords and tells the tale of Connacht the Wolf, a barbarian warrior from the lands of Gower and his rise to power during the Wind Age, an era of savagery during which the Myrkridia ran freely across the land, almost totally annihilating humanity. No-one who had ever fought the Myrkridia had survived, and with nobody to stop them, the Myrkridia spread throughout the land. Only two human civilisations still remained; the isolated, barbarian lands of Gower to the East, and the great city of Llancarfan.

In addition to this, the Leveler returns once again, using the body of Tireces The Immortal, who had who killed him a millennium ago. Now named Moagim The Faceless Terror, he begins to raise an army, enlisting the colossal Trow, as well as Bahl'al, the most adept Necromancer in the world, to crush the last remaining remnants of humanity.

During a final stand at the oldest settlement in Gower, Yursgrad, a young warrior named Connacht and the men of Gower manage to beat back the Myrkridia for the first time. Inspired by this feat, the clans of Gower unite for a common cause and the unified nation of Gower is born. Connacht and the clansman fight back against the Myrkridia, and destroy many of their nests, pushing them back into the Dire Marsh. Connacht is heralded as a hero and is ordered to travel to Llancarfan to see the emperor, as word of his feats has reached the empire of the Cath Bruig. On the way he saves the life of Damas, captain of the Heron Guard of Llancarfan. Damas then pledges his life to Connacht.

Connacht is placed in charge of a group of Llancarfan soldiers, to train them to fight the Myrkridia. After they defeate a Myrkridian pack-mage causing havoc in the Downs, they discover that Moagim is the one behind everything. Emperor Lietrim sends Connacht and the army to defeat Moagim at his encampment near the Twelve Duns but they are almost wiped out when Moagim counterattacks with his army of undead, Myrkridia and both the Trow and their Oghre slaves.

Myrdred, an avatara who was sent as an advisor to Connacht, suggests that they should find Mazzarin, the most powerful avatara of all time, and persuade him to help them. After several weeks, Myrdred finds a message in a tome, which reads "I will go to a place where life is old and the world is as it was in the beginning." Only one place fits this description: Forest Heart. So Connacht, Damas, Myrdred, and a Myrmidon warrior named Ravanna make their way there. After a few weeks of searching, they found Mazzarin's crypt and navigate their way through its hidden dangers before approaching him. As a shade, Mazzarin shows no interest in their cause, as he was no longer tied to the balance of Light and Dark. When Connacht tells him that Bahl'al is helping Moagim, Mazzarin becomes enraged and decides to transfer all his knowledge of the Total Codex into Connacht's mind, giving him knowledge of things long forgotten and events yet to come. The last thing he says to Myrdred is "let The Watcher know who has aided you in his defeat."

Upon returning to Llancarfan, Connacht heads to the Smiths of Muirthemne and speaks to the forgemaster Traval about a device that can imprison whole groups of foes. Traval says they could make this device, but they need the "Unkarak Tomen", a Dwarf tome of building from Myrgard. Unfortunately, word had been sent of a huge hoard of Ghôls laying siege to Myrgard. Connacht tells the Emperor about this and is granted a small army to assist the dwarves. Before leaving for Myrgard, Connacht is told by Lietrim that he is putting a great deal of faith in him, and if he fails, the loss of troops would be the downfall of Llancarfen. Connacht answers simply, "I cannot fail, it is already written."

Soon Connacht and his army reach the Badlands. Despite the long trek and scorching heat, they find the bulk of the Ghôl hoard and manage to destroy the majority of it. Meanwhile, the dwarves fight off an assault by the Ghôls, although their casualties are great. They had run out of explosives and were nearly overrun, when Connacht and his forces flanked the Ghôls and their combined forces wiped out the horde. The few Ghols that remained swear eternal revenge upon the dwarves.

In honor of this aid, the dwarves form an alliance with the Cath Bruig empire, and Connacht retrieves the Tomen and delivers it to Traval. After months of hard work and some nearly disastrous accidents, the "Tain" is completed. With the artifact in hand, Connacht and his army head to the Dire Marsh to put an end to the Myrkridia forever. They are able to imprison whole legions of the beasts in the Tain, and soon they came to the Black Spire where the (supposed) leader of the Myrkridia, Thalor The Black, resides. Much to their surprise, the Tain has no effect on the enemies near the spire because of Thalor's artifact, the "Eye of Thalor", which grants him immortal life and protection from spells. With no other option, Connacht leads a small group of soldiers inside the spire and destroys the Eye of Thalor, rendering Thalor and his minions vulnerable. The remaining Myrkridia are then hunted down and killed or imprisoned.

Shortly after this victory, Moagim, enraged that his precious Myrkridia have been defeated, attacks Llancarfen. Despite having to deal with The Watcher's undead hordes and the Trow, Llancarfen repels the forces of the Dark. Strangely, Moagim didn't seem to show any fatigue during the siege. Despite being struck several times with arrows from the battlements, he simply pulled them out of him like they were minor annoyances. Observing the battle from afar through a spy glass, Connacht catches a glimpse of a small ornate scepter in Moagim's hand. In a flash of memory, Connacht realizes that the scepter is a Rod of the Calleiach; a legendary device that can make its wielder immortal. After a brief meeting, the Avatara Sardonnac volunteers to take a small elite force via a World Knot to Moagim's camp to destroy the rod. Upon arriving they fight their way into the camp and locate the rod. Although Sardonnac manages to destroy it, the backlash of magical energy from its destruction kills him.

Back in Llancarfen, Connacht and Myrdred come up with a tactical plan that could help win the war; to free the Oghre slaves from the Trow and incite their rebellion. This is met with some scepticism and objections from others as no race had ever fought against the Trow and won, not even the God-like Callieach from ages past. With a small army at their command, they travel to a temple complex and Myrdred casts a Release Dream upon the Oghres, breaking the hold that the Trow have on them. The Oghres then turn upon their Trow masters, utterly destroying many of their cities in the weeks that follow. It isn't long before the Trow withdraw their support of Moagim in order to deal with the rebellion.

A few days later, Connacht returns to Traval, who describes to him another artifact that the Callieach called a "Sun Hammer". Initially, Traval claims this is beyond his skill, but then Connacht presents to him a Callieach heartstone which was retrieved from the remains of Moagim's rod. Traval's smiths are amazed - it is the very thing they need to create the Sun Hammer, but even with this power source, it will still take months to make.

Meanwhile, Moagim lays siege to the land around Llancarfan, and soon he decimates the Twelve Duns. Ravanna had been planning to return to the Twelve Duns alone, but her growing feelings towards Damas had stopped her. With Damas and a small team of troops, she travels back to the Twelve Duns to rescue any survivors. Upon their return, Damas is court-martialed, but Connacht and Ravanna testify that even though he had disobeyed orders, he had saved thousands of refugees, not to mention over a hundred fighters. Upon hearing this, the emperor opts for leniency.

Meanwhile Connacht heads to meet the smiths of Muirthemne as he receives word that the Sun Hammer is complete. However, when he gets to their forge complex he sees that a group of fanatics called the Spider Cult are attacking. Luckily, Connacht had arrived with a small squad of guardsmen and manages to save Traval and a few smiths from death. However, the Cult had managed to steal both the Tain and the Sun Hammer. Connacht immediately rallies several hundred soldiers and lays siege to the Spider Cult's temple. Unknown to Connacht, Traval and the remaining smiths infiltrate and kill off hundreds of cultists, giant spiders and even their spider god Syrkrosh, imprisoning her within the reclaimed Tain. At dawn, Connacht and his forces attack the temple but are stunned when they encounter no resistance. He makes his way to the temple's vault and found the Tain and Sun Hammer along with a note written by Traval revealing what happened. Apparently when constructing the Tain, Srykrosh came to this world from hers. During the near dangerous accidents building the Tain, the smiths were the ones responsible for bringing her into the world and so felt honor-bound to defeat her. They felt the Spider God was attuned to them and could step back into this world as long as they were here, so they imprisoned themselves within the Tain too.

Meanwhile, the Trow have forced the Oghres into the valley of the Red Seal where a month-long battle ensues. The Oghres fight valiantly but the Trow mercilessly annihilate them, with not a single Oghre surviving. When the Trow look upon this slaughter, they realize the cowardice with which they had fought, and only now do they understand what the Forest Giants had told them long ago - they have corrupted the Soul of Iron, the substance their goddess Nyx had gifted them to protect their race, only to have it turned to the use of genocide again and again. The Ogres were merely the latest race to fall at the hands of the ironclad Trow. From that moment on they swear never to use iron again; "iron would be a tool best left for the younger races."

Having learned that the humans were the catalyst for the Oghre uprising, the Trow turn their focus back on Llancarfan. On the way to the Trow lands, Connacht's armies fight their way out of an ambush by The Watcher (i.e. Bahl'al). Connacht knows they had somehow been betrayed for The Watcher to have known their location. When they arrive at the Trow cities, they notice that none of the Trow are wearing their iron armor and that the Trow temples are being used as a staging area for The Watcher's undead. Using the Sun Hammer, Connacht proceeds to melt the Trow temples and cities, trapping the Trow inside a prison of molten iron. The Sun Hammer does not work on one important Trow city however, because of an artifact called the Heartstone of Nyx that protects it. The Trow inside the city storm out to destroy the Llancarfan army, but Myrdred casts a spell that freezes the Trow attackers in mid-stride, holding it long enough for a group of heroes to enter the city through a World Knot to sacrifice themselves in order destroy the Heartstone.

Connacht returns in great triumph and gatheres the Llancarfan armies to defeat Moagim once and for all. Emperor Leitrim pleads with Connacht to let him lead his people in this greatest hour. On the way, the Llancarfan army are again attacked by the Watcher. In an incredible dream duel, Myrdred defeates The Watcher, who is subsequently imprisoned by Connacht beneath the Cloudspine mountains. The armies continue to pursue Moagim and prevent him from escaping into the Province. In the night, Moagim sneaks in to the encampment and kills Emperor Leitrim in a sword fight, taking his crown, and sending waves of minions to attack the encampment. After the battle, Connacht and Damas lead a group of unwounded, highly skilled fighters to assault Moagim. Connacht and Moagim square off, and Connacht kills Moagim.

Leading his wounded troops down the snowy pass, Connacht encounters Mjarin, the late Emperor's advisor, who Connacht realizes is the actual Leveler; Moagim was merely a puppet of Mjarin's. Connacht also learns that Myrdred is an agent of Mjarin. Myrdred had foolishly obtained the powers the Leveler had to offer while thinking he could save the empire at the same time, and had not meant for the Emperor to perish. Connacht brands Myrdred "The Deceiver" and banishes him for his crimes. After denying Mjarin's offer to fight as one of his generals, Connacht and a group of men fight through Warlocks and other soldiers loyal to Mjarin, and make it past Mjarin's fire magic, enabling Connacht to get close enough to behead him. The head, however, refuses to die, and Connacht buries it. Connacht becomes Emperor of Llancarfan, and upon his coronation he issues three commands; the city of Llancarfan is to be renamed Muirthemne in honour of the brave dwarven smiths who sacrificed themselves to save it, the northmen who died fighting Moagim are to be interred in the Mausoliam of Clovis where the first emperor was buried, and the mountain pass where Emperor Leitrim fell is to be renamed The Stair of Grief.

Years later, Connacht calls in Damas and tells him to destroy the artifacts of power (and hide the indestructible ones from him), revealing that he knows, from the Total Codex, that he will return from the dead as the next Leveler and bring with him a new age of darkness; he does not want the Leveler to have access to any of the items of power when the time comes. After a long reign as emperor, Connacht leaves Muirthemne and travels back to his birthplace, Gower, to see how his people have prospered now they are free of the Dark. From there, he disappears into the unknown east, not to be seen again for a thousand years.