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[Urist Mc Dwarf]

You take a moment before the attack to ensure the loyalty of the priests, sending some corruption into them and naming them your Dark Priests. They rise, and what doubts they had remaining vanish as their flesh gains faint patches of pigment – birthmarks, effectively – which brand them with your name. You spot several of them rubbing at the spots on their flesh where you transformed it.

As the army continues to advance, you sense the town stirring. The soldiers, and those who did not flee, form up on the walls and on the barricades they made within the city. Among them are “priests,” many of whom are not particularly devout. Still, they chant prayers, providing a measure of protection against your influence. So you don’t bother targeting them, and instead focus on the peasants your Seducers have not yet corrupted. There are a great many of them, as they were focused on gaining a few converts in each bastion. With a dismissive wave of your hand, you simply shatter half their minds, turning them into gibbering madmen who charge forth, raking soldiers and militia with their nails, babbling insane prayers to you.

The sudden attack catches them off guard, and dozens die, literally ripped to shreds, the bits of corpse trampled into the streets. But though they attack with abandon, the soldiers rally, giving ground as they cut down the people they thought they could protect. The ground is soaked with blood, the barricades abandoned, but the defense of the town holds. They are shaken, but they will not break. Not yet.
Now the Seducers speak to the remaining peasants, and to their followers, arguing that they must rise up, and rally together if they are to have any chance of survival. But the Worms of Avarice have done their work too well, and none wants to leave the relative safety of your defenses.

It is no matter. Your army camps on the ground before the gates of Avar, which have been hastily reinforced. Hordes of undead surround your cultists, and at the very front stand your armored brutes and crushers, howling their insane babble, just waiting for your orders. Behind the city walls comes the sounds of fighting and dying as those you broke still fight with endless fury. Now the soldiers on the wall begin to wonder if they should have fled. Now their knees grow weak and their weapons tremble. Now they know that a demon is coming for them, and they have nowhere to run.

Full status

 Current Status

Name: Klx-Dryklfx

Time: 6.75 months

Physical Might: 75+6 (+2 slaughter, -4 mind breaking)

Mental Might: ] 75+6 (+3 slaughter, -4 mind-breaking )

Followers

13 Boneys, 37 thralls, 200 hundred Spear-Thralls, 106 Sword-Thralls, and 126 Archer-Thrall, 8 seducers, 149 peasants, 24 guards, 10 Hunters, 1 High Seducer, 15 Doom-Seekers, 2 Doom-Seers, 2 Dark Priests, 5 god-slayers

Servants

17 wisp wights, 8 armored brutes, 2 crushers, 317 zombies, 67 skeletons, 50 wisp wretches, 82 weeping sores, 18 specters

Cults

The Broken
  Members: 13 Boneys, 13 Thralls, 200 hundred Spear-Thralls, 106 Sword-Thralls, and 126 Archer-Thrall, 15 Doom-Seekers, 2 Doom-Seers, 2  Dark Priests, 5 god-slayers
  Resources: 77
  Power: 22 (12 spent worshipping you, 3 spent slaughtering villages, 4 spent forging, 5 spent gathering resources)
The Ceaseless Consumption
Members: 8 seducers and 24 thralls, and 37 peasants split among 8 locations, 1 high seducer, 114 peasants, and 24 soldiers
Resources: 0
Power: 10 (1 spent worshipping you, 2 spent constructing bastions, 4 spent negotiating/recruiting, 3 spent spreading rumors)
Fortresses
Canord
   Strong walls (45), Deep moat (25), Thorn Wall (25), Weak wards(15), Traps(15) Demonic crops, plentiful mines, Strong aura of domination
Champions
Kreth Woemaker
   Physical might: 12
   Mental might: 12
   Other: Magic Cloak

Duthrax Soul-Render, First of the Thrall-Herds
  Physical might: 5 + 1
  Mental might: 3 + 1
  Other: Duelist, skilled commander, Herald
Lurrothel, Weaver of Nightmares
  Physical might: 1
  Mental might: 6
  Other: Necromancer, skilled at wards and dream magic

[Kashyyk]

When we have access to some horse corpses, we should raise enough for them to serve as mounts for Duthrax and his bodyguards, and then imbue each of them with just a touch of power, such that they can each control their mount with a thought.

For now, we should appear before the defenders in all our Demonic Glory, preferably in a form that is as tall as the walls they stand on, whilst our army advances behind. We will then order all the defenders to Kneel, with a voice laced with compulsion, but not enough to break their minds.

I'd want to then pause at this point, to see how many convert before we move on.

[WyrdByrd]

Oh, how far we've come.
 
 I have a  plan for breaking through this mass of semi-dedicated soldiers, should this effort fail.  Action are ordered   in chronological order.
- Have the wisp wretches go insubstantial,  and  send them and the specters  to run rampant on the wall soldiers. They should have no effective way of fighting back, and their fear should turn to full-blown panic after this. If a priest attempts to intervene, they should withdraw, ideally pelting the priest with as many objects as possible while doing so.
- The Hunters  have most likely fully integrated into Avar by this time. No one would pose any questions about their presence at the walls, nor their actions throughout the city.   Have 3  Hunters slip along the walls during the chaos, and begin killing priests when they can get away with it. If we can dismantle the lattice of faith, we may corrupt them after all.
- It is unlikely that the Seducers will make much headway in persuading the rest of the populace to rise upon Avar's defenders. Instead, they shall stick to their bastions, and pray for "deliverance" from the siege, inviting any who seem willing to do  so. A brief trickle of corruptive power, alongside their natural greed, should bend their minds to  our worship.
-  While this is going on, Lurrothel should begin reanimating the dead within Avar,  starting with the madmen slain by the guards.
-   Finally, we should send a wave of corruptive energy over the city (sparing the Seducer bastions and those corrupted) and wake the rest of the fallen. Should any priests submit by now, convert them into Dark Priests.
Then, and only then, should we begin our assault.   

[Ardent Debater]

Oh, how far we've come.
 
 I have a  plan for breaking through this mass of semi-dedicated soldiers, should this effort fail.  Action are ordered   in chronological order.
- Have the wisp wretches go insubstantial,  and  send them and the specters  to run rampant on the wall soldiers. They should have no effective way of fighting back, and their fear should turn to full-blown panic after this. If a priest attempts to intervene, they should withdraw, ideally pelting the priest with as many objects as possible while doing so.
- The Hunters  have most likely fully integrated into Avar by this time. No one would pose any questions about their presence at the walls, nor their actions throughout the city.   Have 3  Hunters slip along the walls during the chaos, and begin killing priests when they can get away with it. If we can dismantle the lattice of faith, we may corrupt them after all.
- It is unlikely that the Seducers will make much headway in persuading the rest of the populace to rise upon Avar's defenders. Instead, they shall stick to their bastions, and pray for "deliverance" from the siege, inviting any who seem willing to do  so. A brief trickle of corruptive power, alongside their natural greed, should bend their minds to  our worship.
-  While this is going on, Lurrothel should begin reanimating the dead within Avar,  starting with the madmen slain by the guards.
-   Finally, we should send a wave of corruptive energy over the city (sparing the Seducer bastions and those corrupted) and wake the rest of the fallen. Should any priests submit by now, convert them into Dark Priests.
Then, and only then, should we begin our assault.   

When we have access to some horse corpses, we should raise enough for them to serve as mounts for Duthrax and his bodyguards, and then imbue each of them with just a touch of power, such that they can each control their mount with a thought.

For now, we should appear before the defenders in all our Demonic Glory, preferably in a form that is as tall as the walls they stand on, whilst our army advances behind. We will then order all the defenders to Kneel, with a voice laced with compulsion, but not enough to break their minds.

I'd want to then pause at this point, to see how many convert before we move on.

+1

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

You rise up before the soldiers, displaying your full terrible glory. Your head peers up over the wall, Desecrator is as long as a horse, each of your claws seems big enough to eviscerate a horse. Your eyes glow with a hatred beyond anything mortals can fathom, and your carapace positively writhes with sigils that whisper of death and suffering. But these men find some hidden reserve of courage. Perhaps it is an effect of the dream you have inflicted upon them – those who would flee before horror have already done so. Those who remain are the ones with iron souls. They tremble, but do not break.

And so you fill your voice with a bit of magic, and command them. “Kneel.” You say, not demanding it, not shouting it, simply stating it as though this is the way it should be.  About a hundred men – a quarter of the soldiers who remain – do kneel. Many others tremble, and start to shift. But they turn upon those who obeyed their command, and once more former comrades and friends and allies turn on each other in a bloody battle.

The specters and wisps of the wisp wights charge forth, slashing with spectral claws, throwing rocks, and shrieking maddeningly. But they are not strong enough to kill many, and the blades of the soldiers – many seem to have been blessed – sting them enough that they retreat, only having killed ten or fifteen men. You growl in frustration. These men have proven annoyingly stubborn, almost as much as the Spears. And you lack wards, buried undead, invisible thorn walls this time.

But you do have the Hunters…they sprint along rooftops, weapons in hand, and they put your blessings to good use, finding the men who rally the resistance, killing them with well-placed arrows and dodging the desperate retaliations with unnatural agility. They kill nearly thirty men, half of them priests, before withdrawing, and this sudden onslaught of death causes many to throw down their weapons and flee. Your converts are forced into a knot, but the fighting seems desultory – neither side really wants to kill the other.

Lurrothel begins to reach into the city, raising some zombies. The corpses of fallen madmen are the only ones easily available, and she only manages to raise ten or eleven of them and send them slowly shambling towards the fighting. You add your own strength to her efforts, and over two hundred zombies join the attack, although they are too distant to do much right now.
Meanwhile, in the bastions by the river, the Seducers and your followers kneel and pray. Hearing the carnage – the sounds are faint, but seem very loud indeed to the terrified people – many join them, whispering fervent prayers, unknowingly offering their strength to the cause of their terror. There is little enough to gain from each head, but there are nearly four hundred heads.
As the fighting on the wall turns to a total stalemate, the attack begins. You make the first move, grabbing the wall with two of your hands and pulling yourself up onto it like a man pulling himself up a ledge. With Desecrator you cut down entire squads of men. Many rise as weeping swords to attack their comrades. One priest, wielding a staff in one hand and a sword in the other, shouts some prayer. It stings a bit, and his blade stings more.

But as you fight, the specters and wisps return, shrieking as they once more run amok among the soldiers, again mostly just tearing cloth and getting attention. Which means the crushers and brutes get almost to the gate before they are noticed. The gate does not hold for very long under their armored fists, and your army pours in just as the undead from within the city begin to swarm up the wall.
Now priests and soldiers begin to surrender, throwing down their weapons. Some are killed where they stand by your forces who are eager for blood. Other soldier-thralls ignore the fighting, recognizing that it is finished, and begin to loot the town. And some – including the one who managed to hurt you a bit, try to organize and cut their way through the zombies.

You let them, and allow them to meet the brutes and the crushers below. The resulting fight is short, messy, and very loud. The sole survival is that brave, defiant priest, still shouting curses and prayers, mingling them in the same sentence, even with his legs shattered into pulpy ruins.

In the end, ninety-seven soldiers and seventeen priests have surrendered to your army. You lost one specter (cut in two by a blessed blade), nearly a hundred zombies, and exactly three spear-thralls. One of the brutes was also somewhat injured, although it will heal without issue. You make the priests Dark Priest immediately.

Of course, there are still the bastions to consider. Not all are under your full control, and they are very heavily fortified. They are also isolated, and as full of your followers as a rotten fruit is full of worms. And you may have a special fate in mind for that brave priest…

By sheer chance, there is a stable of horses in the house nearest the walls. You kill several of them, raise them, and grant them to the god-slayers and Duthrax.

Full status

 Current Status

Name: Klx-Dryklfx

Time: 6.75 months

Physical Might: 69+6 (+3 slaughter, +4 worship, -10 zombies, -3 injuries)

Mental Might: ] 70+6 (+3 slaughter, + 4 worship, -10 zombies, -2 corruption )

Followers

13 Boneys, 37 thralls, 197 hundred Spear-Thralls, 106 Sword-Thralls, and 126 Archer-Thrall, 8 seducers, 149 peasants, 121 guards, 10 Hunters, 1 High Seducer, 15 Doom-Seekers, 2 Doom-Seers, 19 Dark Priests, 5 god-slayers(mounted)

Servants

17 wisp wights, 8 armored brutes, 2 crushers, 431 zombies, 67 skeletons, 50 wisp wretches, 89 weeping sores, 17 specters

Cults

The Broken
  Members: 13 Boneys, 13 Thralls, 197 hundred Spear-Thralls, 106 Sword-Thralls, and 126 Archer-Thrall, 15 Doom-Seekers, 2 Doom-Seers, 19  Dark Priests, 5 god-slayers(mounted), 97 guards
  Resources: 89(+12 looting)
  Power: 22 (12 spent worshipping you, 3 spent slaughtering villages, 4 spent forging, 5 spent gathering resources)
The Ceaseless Consumption
Members: 8 seducers and 24 thralls, and 37 peasants split among 8 locations, 1 high seducer, 114 peasants, and 24 soldiers
Resources: 0
Power: 10 (1 spent worshipping you, 2 spent constructing bastions, 4 spent negotiating/recruiting, 3 spent spreading rumors)
Fortresses
Canord
   Strong walls (45), Deep moat (25), Thorn Wall (25), Weak wards(15), Traps(15) Demonic crops, plentiful mines, Strong aura of domination
Avar
  Basic Walls(20)
Champions
Kreth Woemaker
   Physical might: 12
   Mental might: 12
   Other: Magic Cloak

Duthrax Soul-Render, First of the Thrall-Herds
  Physical might: 7 + 1
  Mental might: 3 + 1
  Other: Duelist, skilled commander, zombie horse Herald
Lurrothel, Weaver of Nightmares
  Physical might: 1
  Mental might: 6
  Other: Necromancer, skilled at wards and dream magic

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

So...does anyone have any suggestions for what happens next?

[WyrdByrd]

Working on a post right now. Have to take into account the region  surrounding Avar. What do we know about that, by the way?

[KitRougard]

We have captives and crippled living, right? I say we make another Kreth, but this time, we never even detach the skull from the priest's body. We use our mutagenic powers to force him to survive as we peel back the flesh (And cut it off, we don't want any nasty looking flash) and torture him as he feels his soul replaced with that of a freshly created demon.

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

There are a lot of farms, most of which are fairly communal in nature. About a week to the west is Henord Crossing, and Castle Southbend is two weeks to the north.

[WyrdByrd]

We have captives and crippled living, right? I say we make another Kreth, but this time, we never even detach the skull from the priest's body. We use our mutagenic powers to force him to survive as we peel back the flesh (And cut it off, we don't want any nasty looking flash) and torture him as he feels his soul replaced with that of a freshly created demon.

That's a tempting idea, but, as we've said before, demons aren't exactly known for their loyalty, and two weaker demons might conspire together against their employer. Think about how we fell last time. 
What I was thinking we do is use this opportunity to instruct Lurrothel further in the ways  of evil. Using a combination of her knowledge before our service, and the mutagenic secrets she gained under our service, she would convert the priest into a Living Ward. He would be mounted at the gate in which he fell, infusing the walls with hate and corruption, his body, twisted into a near impenetrable barrier against those who would roust us from our prize,  his mind now a tool to protect his nemesis . He wanted to defend our city?  Let him.

[Kashyyk]

We have thralls in all these bastions right? Then all we need to do is have them subtly open a door to allow a strike team in, which will then clear the building of resistance. One strike teams will consist of Kreth Woemaker and ten Wisp Wights, and the other will be Duthrax Soul-Render, his five god-slayers and five more Wisp Wights. It should be child's play to slip into a building through a "conveniently unlocked" door, and then purge the malcontents. To ensure that our thralls aren't accidentally cut down, they should all mark themselves somehow, perhaps by binding a strip of red fabric around their right bicep.

Alternatively, we have our followers abandon the bastions, bringing as many supplies as possible with them. We can then just starve out each bastion in turn, whilst giving them horrific nightmares, paranoid thoughts, and occasionally breaking a random person's mind and sending them into a suicidal frenzy.

The first method will be quick and bloody, whilst the second will be slow but should be a tasty source of Evil until the last survivor finally succumbs.

[King Zultan]

We have captives and crippled living, right? I say we make another Kreth, but this time, we never even detach the skull from the priest's body. We use our mutagenic powers to force him to survive as we peel back the flesh (And cut it off, we don't want any nasty looking flash) and torture him as he feels his soul replaced with that of a freshly created demon.

That's a tempting idea, but, as we've said before, demons aren't exactly known for their loyalty, and two weaker demons might conspire together against their employer. Think about how we fell last time. 
What I was thinking we do is use this opportunity to instruct Lurrothel further in the ways  of evil. Using a combination of her knowledge before our service, and the mutagenic secrets she gained under our service, she would convert the priest into a Living Ward. He would be mounted at the gate in which he fell, infusing the walls with hate and corruption, his body, twisted into a near impenetrable barrier against those who would roust us from our prize,  his mind now a tool to protect his nemesis . He wanted to defend our city?  Let him.

+1

We have thralls in all these bastions right? Then all we need to do is have them subtly open a door to allow a strike team in, which will then clear the building of resistance. One strike teams will consist of Kreth Woemaker and ten Wisp Wights, and the other will be Duthrax Soul-Render, his five god-slayers and five more Wisp Wights. It should be child's play to slip into a building through a "conveniently unlocked" door, and then purge the malcontents. To ensure that our thralls aren't accidentally cut down, they should all mark themselves somehow, perhaps by binding a strip of red fabric around their right bicep.

Alternatively, we have our followers abandon the bastions, bringing as many supplies as possible with them. We can then just starve out each bastion in turn, whilst giving them horrific nightmares, paranoid thoughts, and occasionally breaking a random person's mind and sending them into a suicidal frenzy.

The first method will be quick and bloody, whilst the second will be slow but should be a tasty source of Evil until the last survivor finally succumbs.

+1 I really like the sound of the second idea.

[WyrdByrd]

We have thralls in all these bastions right? Then all we need to do is have them subtly open a door to allow a strike team in, which will then clear the building of resistance. One strike teams will consist of Kreth Woemaker and ten Wisp Wights, and the other will be Duthrax Soul-Render, his five god-slayers and five more Wisp Wights. It should be child's play to slip into a building through a "conveniently unlocked" door, and then purge the malcontents. To ensure that our thralls aren't accidentally cut down, they should all mark themselves somehow, perhaps by binding a strip of red fabric around their right bicep.

Alternatively, we have our followers abandon the bastions, bringing as many supplies as possible with them. We can then just starve out each bastion in turn, whilst giving them horrific nightmares, paranoid thoughts, and occasionally breaking a random person's mind and sending them into a suicidal frenzy.

The first method will be quick and bloody, whilst the second will be slow but should be a tasty source of Evil until the last survivor finally succumbs.

As tempting as that would be, gaining worshippers may serve as a  more renewable source of  Evil down the line. We could play upon the greed of the susceptible survivors.  Have a group  of seven or so Dark priests,  backed by  an equal amount of Doom-Seekers, make their way to each bastion, to negotiate at their walls. In this, we would inform them that, for all intents and purposes,  they are isolated and alone at the moment.  Being the canny conquerers that we are, we realize that it would also be far more effort than it would be  worth attempting to siege each and every one of them, when we could just starve them out. Instead, we offer them a deal.  As the last brave survivors of the city, they would be an ideal choice for the city's new nobility and governance. They could even keep the bastions! As a means of sweetening the pot, leave around the equivalent of 2 resources at the gates of  each bastion with supplies and luxuries (heavily corrupted of course). Within their walls, have the seducer and thralls begin to push for this course of action. Have them bring up how the Empire abandoned them in their hour of need,  and how it was only through the actions of us citizens  that  they were able to stay alive. If anyone has a right to determine which way the city goes after this, it would be those within the bastions.

[WyrdByrd]

As this method seems to be working well, I'll just post ideas in chunks.

 With the fall of Avar,  it is likely that the area will be crawling with looters, brigands, outlaws, and deserters. We  can send Kreth  and ten Wisp Wights throughout the  roads and woodlands that they would most likely haunt, and offer power and support to them in exchange for worship and service. If they refuse.... have  Kreth teach them what true Evil looks like.
 

[Kashyyk]

I'm sure we can combine our ideas Wyrdbyrd.

Start starving the bastions out, with our thralls inside. Meanwhile, have the Dark Priests try to convince the survivors that worshipping us is the best thing to do. Possibly even leave some food and other comforts in easy sight. Have the thralls and seducers seem amicable to the idea, but not completely. After a day or so of being cooped up, debating with the Doom Priest, have a couple of thralls decide to "convert". They'll head out, prostrate themselves before us and offer to serve. In exchange they'll get some sort of reward that matches a desire, be it some wealth, minions, willing concubines, etc. Maybe they'll actually get to keep the reward once out of sight of the Bastion too. We might be feeling generous.

Then we shall announce a one week time limit to accept the True Faith. Every now and then another thrall will head out. Seeing their compatriots giving in should make it more likely for some actual survivors to turn as well. Near the end, the last remaining Thralls and Seducers should make a break for it with all the supplies they can carry after convincing as many others as possible. Any that are left are clearly not going to convert regardless, and so we can start farming them for Evil.