Zug-Xug

Zug-Xug was a Two headed troll created and played by Ronin, Xalgrim of Kray
and Zerial Trollhorn

The following is for the 2021 flurb of the year, its long. sorry, not sorry.

The story/quest that led to the birth of Zug-Xug (this quest occurred in 2020 but is relevant to the story and quests of 2021). During the 2021 year Ronin was the monarch of Astral Winds and Zerial was the champion.

The lich hexus , who was banished with the dark lord was able to free himself from the prison because his phalactory was not lost to the void.

He toiled to create the dark generals (ZugXug included) to bring back the dark lord from exile.

ZugXug was born when the forces of the undead, led by Hexus raided the troll horde. (This quest occurred on 2020, but everything after happened in 2021) - The quest battle we ran was a castle defense/capture the troll egg game. The defenders represented the troll horde led by Zerial, and the attackers where the lich Hexus with his undead army. The undead had to capture the troll eggs in the castle. Yeah, trolls come from eggs apparently, we laughed at the idea too.

   After a valiant battle with Zerial and his troll horde, Hexus managed to steal a single troll egg. 

Through manipulation of dark magic, and malice the half incubated troll (as we now know to have been twins) were brought into this world, stronger, wiser, and heartier than any troll ever seen. This creature was worthy to become a tool of the Dark lord.

Thus the second General ZugXug was Born.

After the wake of the battle with the lych Hexus, and the threat of him returning with his dark master, a unanimous decision was made to rebuild the Astral Winds Keep. After all defenses would be needed to face the coming threat. The crew cleared the dwelling monsters and started the process to rebuild. During the process they came across the old records room, and in the middle of the room on an old dusty podium lay a scroll. Not able to withstand his curiosity the crew lead opened and read the scroll, upon reading his face grew pale and his expression turned to dread. He immediately left the room, scroll in hand and called for the Duke, and his council, once the Duke and everyone gathered he read the scroll aloud:

“Long ago in the Dutchy of Astral Winds, during the reign of Lord Eunichee, darkness fell upon the populace. The monster races were pushed from their homes, which forced them into conflict with the Dutchy of Astral Winds. Lands and lives were lost in the ensuing battles, and out of the ashes rose an army of the dead, laying claim to the war stricken lands. At the head of this undead army was a being of great evil bent on total conquest... the Dark Lord had arisen.

As the Dark Lord claimed power, so did the Dutchy Astral Winds loose that power. Astral Winds current Duke, Lord Eunichee, rallied his forces, and all manner of beings from the lands that made up Astral Winds, for a grand stand against the forces of evil. In doing so, they rid the land of the Dark Lords forces, and pushed the Dark Lord into certain defeat... 
Victory seemed eminent against the Dark Lord... however right before the final push against the evil Lord, and his dark Lich generals... they vanished without a trace. The forces of good searched far and wide for traces of his evil, but they had slipped from our grasps...
   Now, many years later, the lands prospered, and propagated new lands stretching across the northern frontier; forming the Grand Kingdom of Northreach. As time passed, and the fight for greater good was forgotten... old truces were lost, and life went on for all…  However... once again dark shadows crept from the far frozen north, a dark blight seemed to spread, and with it rumors of an ancient evil... whispers grow of old times that were once forgotten... 
  As the conquest of Lord Eunichee over the Dark Lord and his forces, thought triumphant.... were stricken from the official records by those who wished to forget such times of strife, or those who wished the denizens of the lands to forget... and forget they did... In hopes that someone finds this, i write this now, so that someone somewhere, will ready their steel, hone their magical words, and keep sharp their skills... for the Dark Lord Shall Return" 

To bolster his power Zug-Xug needed 3 items. • The Troll Crown form Zerial. • Thor Shatterstar's wizard hat. This would increase his ability to caster stronger and more devastating magic. • Ronin's magic blacksmithing hammer. This would allow Zug-Xug to craft magic arms and armor for his army of trolls.

-The Troll crown from Zerial, this would allow him to lead an army of trolls.

There was a confrontation between Zug-Xug and Zerial. This was an RP written by zerial and posted on our Facebook page. “The slight murmur of the Hobbs head tavern is interrupted by a loud and dull thud on the main door. Concerned patrons readied their weapons and spells. They cautiously pulled the tavern door open. Pinned to the hefty wooden door was a small humanoid creature with transparent wings on his back. A dagger, longer than that of its mark, affixed the being to the door. The creature squirmed against its binding and spoke harshly “that stupid, two headed mongoloid!! I’m going to take this dagger and stake him to a door! I just, gotta, get this thing outta me” The patrons assisted the creature, against his wishes for assistance. They then mended his wounds and inquired about the situation. The creature spoke in a belligerent tone. “ The name is Terry the fairy, and im gonna get that no good freak of nature. How did I get staked to that door? Well, this two headed troll freak, walked into the halls of the black mountain. He challenged the Troll Lord, Zerial, over the legitimacy of his rule. Before a blow was struck the two headed troll snapped his fingers. He said “you enjoy playing with these fey folk so much, how about you join them?” Just like that , these large thorny vines appeared out of nowhere and drug the Troll Lord away. That two headed troll was able to swipe the crown from the Troll Lords brow before he disappeared. He put the crown upon his head, and began muttering dark and evil invocations. The bones of the long dead dwarves, the first one to inhabit the black mountain, rose to their new master. I threw down my mug of ale, and challenged that big buffoon. Lucky for him I was pretty trashed, or he would have been the one stuck to this door. From there it gets all hazy. I remember traveling for a while. Then he impaled me on this door, so I could inform the residents of Astral Winds, that Zug-Xug, the destroyer of Astral Winds, general of the Dark Lord, was coming…”

Because Zerial was no longer in control of the trolls they went back to terrorizing the country side. We ran a quest battle where two groups of adventurers had to see who could collect the most troll heads to win a bounty, In hopes to stop the rampaging trolls.

Thor’s magic wizard hat. This was the RP that Ronin wrote and posted to our FB preceding the quest. "Breaking news from the scouts!!!

   Once again hostile Monsters have been seen converging on an Astral Winds site of power, this time the home of Thor Shatterstar. 
   We can only assume that they wish to take his wizard hat which is imbued with enough magic to maintain the holy site. This must not fall into their hands, who knows what nefarious plans they may have for the relic." 

- The game we ran for this as a capture the flag game, and the first official game which Zug-Xug (Ronin, Zerial) played in, he led an army of undead and trolls against Astral Winders and Thor Shatterstar.

Ronin's magic blacksmithing hammer. This would allow Zug-Xug to craft magic arms and armor for his army of trolls. RP written by Zerial that was posted to our FB page preceding the quest game: “ The past few nights words has gone around town that people have been sighting skeletons. They claim to have seen the shambling dead on the roads that lead to Astral Winds. They must be crazy though; they said the skeletons were the size of a stout dwarf. My mind has been at ease though; surely if there was undead, they would be far from the city. Well, my sense of ease has turned into fright. Last night there was rumors that some folk saw the walking dead just outside the city walls. If that’s true I gotta find somewhere to hold up. This rickety shack of mine wont hold up to a stiff breeze, let alone a skeleton, even if it is dwarf size. Lord Ronin’s workshop, that’s a good place to hold up. - The diary of mad jack, peasant of Astral Winds.” -The game we ran for this was a team of Astral winders led by Ronin as they tried to keep possession of Ronins magic blacksmithing hammer. The attackers where undead dwarves led by (Zerial). The attackers started in the mocked up blacksmithing shop we made at the park.( see pic x for the RP that was posted preceding this quest, as well as the photos of the undead dwarves). Then he could take over Astral Winds and become their new Monarch, and ruler. He could then begin the summoning of his master, the Dark Lord.

XugZug's rise to power happened when he led an army against the members of Astral Winds under the direction of the dark lord who was now free from his imprisonment.

  Astral Winds was in a time of strife, as the ears of the peasantry was twisted for a dark purpose by agents of the dark lord. So while civil unrest was rampant across the land, Zug-Xug under the Dark Lords direction amassed an army of trolls, and undead to conquer the Duchy. And conquer they did. 

After he collected the 3 relics ZugXug traveled to a place of power to rip open a void portal.

This was the RP written by Ronin and posted on our FB preceeding this quest. "After Thor shatterstars relic was captured our scouting parties returned to us with a message.

   3 seperate armies are converging on a site of natural magic with what seems to be the monstrous generals at the helm, each one wielding a relic from Astral winds.  If history has told us anything, we can only assume that they wish to converge on the site of power to tear open a portal releasing, who we can only assume would be the Dark Lord. We must prevent this at all costs. We gather our finest to defend the site of power against the raiding monsters to prevent the return of the Dark Lord." 

Astral winds knowing this, tried to intervene, but in the end was unable to stop XugZug from completing his goal. The Dark Lord had returned.

- The game we ran for this involved Zug-Xug (Ronin, Zerial) trying to capture and hold a summoning circle with the other generals of the Dark lord. The Generals had to gather around the circle and chant "kali ma" five times to score a point, while the Astral winders tried to prevent this.

ZugXug, ruler of Astral Winds:

  After the successful release of his Lord and master, and a successful campaign against the Duchy of Astral Winds, XugZug was appointed to rule and maintain control over the land, while The Dark Lord started his own conquest over the Kingdom of Northreach. Zug-Xug who was now the Monarch of Astral Winds held end reign court, and handed out awards, he is a generous ruler.

At this point the populous of AW was put into one of three factions, the revolting peasant army, they saw that the local monarchy was overthrown and this was their time to take the power back. The AW resistance fighters, they wanted to oppose the Dark Lord and return AW to its former status. The third faction was those who were loyal to the Dark Lord. -The quest battles Zerial and Ronin ran involved either two or three of these factions trying to complete a story based objective. The Dark Lords magic had spread throughout the land and was causing problems. 1st quest game: villages along the coast were starving because the Dark lords magic had arisen a Kraken from the depths of the sea; because of this they could not go to their normal fishing grounds with being killed. The villagers were pleading for aid from anyone. RP posted on the FB group by Zerial “Emaciated peasants stumble into the Hobbs head tavern. They begin to beg and plead “please! Won’t any brave heroes of Astral Winds help our village, we are all starving. Since the Dark lord’s magic has swept over the land it has awoken terrible behemoths of the sea. Our people can no longer safely go out to our normal fishing spot. Our food storages have dried up. Desperate men and women have sailed into the dangerous waters, but they have not been seen again” - The game we played involved the peasant army and the AW resistance trying to see who could offer the most aid and win the favor of the coastal villagers. The two teams had to try and collect the most food (game items) that were being guarded by the Kraken. The AW resistance won this quest. Quest battle: RP posted to the FB group by Zerial before this quest game. “Throughout the land dark towers have erupted from the ground. The small light that penetrates through these dark days in Astral Winds is blocked by these imposing black stone monuments to evil. The ground around these towers us poisoned, the plants wither and die. Dark magic radiates from them; sending chills down the spines of anyone who can see them. Maybe the destruction of these towers could add some reprieve to the evil that permeates through Astral Winds” - The game we played involved two teams, the AW resistance and the peasant army, as they tried to attack, and destroy a tower in the center of the field. The tower in the center was a respawn point for goblins who were trying to defend the Dark lords tower. 2nd quest battle involved citizens of AW who had fled into the cursed woods to seek shelter from the Dark lord and his minions who had taken of the main city. The AW resistance and the peasant army had to brave the cursed woods and escort the citizens to safety. RP that was posted to the FB group by Zerial before this quest game: “Citizens of Astrals Winds have fled into the cursed woods in fear of the monsters that have taken over Astral Winds. Two groups of adventurers are about to brave the cursed woods and try and escort the townsfolk safely out of the woods. But can they themselves resist the temptations of the fey? Can they slay the beasts that lurk in the dark shade of the thick forest canopy? Can they navigate the labyrinth of sinister looking trees and branches? Or will they become part of the ecosystem of the cursed woods?” - The game we played involved one team trying to escort villagers through the trails in our park woods, while another team of monsters tried to prevent them from succeeding. Both teams played one round as attackers and one round as defenders. The invasion of wolves cry by Zug-Xug. Wolves cry is Northreaches big kingdom event of the year, hosted in the end of july. When it was Astral Winds turn to do court in front of the kingdom Zug-Xug (Ronin, Zerial) made his appreance as the monarch of Astral Winds. They performed their award ceremony in character and threated to take over all of Northreach, they gloated about crushing AW and how all the other parks would fall next. Ronin and Zerial planned a surprise invasion with all of the players of AW. They had brought lots of garb for various monsters. On the second night of the event, after court and when people were winding down, all of the AW players hid in a covered canopy and donned their monster garb. The signal to burst out of the canopy was one of the AW players, Ada, ran through the event site yelling “ monsters are coming!!”. At that the monsters marched to the battle field, they even had a big bass drum that one monster carried and another was beating. At that Zug-Xug led an army of monsters against a team of Northreach players who sprang to action against him. - The game was ran was a monster hunt. Teams had to score points and then enter a two v one show down against Zug-Xug.

The next RP event involved old man jack mcgucket (Zerial). He took aside the peasant army and the AW resistance one by one and gave them an RP moment. All was in character, old man jack approached each group and told them he was fearful of the monsters that had taken over the AW main city, and that he had been forced from his home. He wanted the Dark Lord and his minions gone. Jack told each of the parties about the unicorn blade, which could be used to vanquish the Dark Lord and his armies. But that they first had to win the favor of the unicorns. The next RP event involved a unicorn (Zerial). He took both parties, AW resistance, and peasant army, separately into the woods at our park, donned his unicorn garb and spoke in character to the players. The unicorn said they there were three tests of purity, and the group that was composed of those with the purest hearts could be granted the unicorn blade. Before each trial of the unicorn Zerial dressed up in his unicorn garb and gave RP from the players, informing them of their next trial from the unicorn. 1st trial of the unicorn: The Dark lord magic has corrupted the land and caused helpless woodland creatures to become poisoned. The Team that could heal the most woodland creatures would win the first trial of the unicorn. -The game we played involved two teams, AW resistance, and peasants ( they could play a class in this game). Stuffed animals of all sizes and species where laid out on the field, a player had to pick up the stuffed animal, recite the heal incant, and bring it back to base to score a point. The team with the most points won. AW resistance won this trial. 2nd trial of the unicorn: The unicorn asked to have the forest purged of the evil that was flowing through the roots of trees.

- The game we played was set up in the woods of our park. Two teams took turns playing as their faction, AW resistance or peasants, while the other team played defenders, who were monsters that were loyal to the Dark lord. Along the trails hula hoops were placed as intervals and the “purifying team” had to purify these evil places. They had to enter into the hoop and say “ I cleanse and purify this site” five times to cleanse the hoop. The defending team of monsters had to prevent the hoops from being purified. Both teams got to play as the defending monsters and the attacking purifiers. 3rd trial of the unicorn: Warriors of good had entered the cursed woods to try and fight off the Dark lords monsters, but they had been defeated. The unicorn tasked the the teams to enter into the woods and to save those warriors. - The game we played involved one of the factions trying to heal and escort 5 warriors out of the woods, while the defending team played monsters of the Dark lord trying to prevent them from doing so. Each faction got to play a round as monsters and as their faction. AW resistance won this round, and was the ones who prove to be the most purest of heart. Now for the bad news; the story was going to continue on. Ronin was working on crafting a plasti-dip unicorn blade for the resistance team to use in future quests. We were going to have an epic battle over the fate of Astral Winds. But, covid had other plans for us. Our park is located in Fairbanks, Alaska, were it gets very cold in the winter. For 20 years we have at the ability to use an indoor gymnasium that was located on the local college grounds because we were registered as a student club. Because of the covid restrictions we could not gather in our winter location, and we could not find another suitable location that would not cost us an arm and a leg. Thus our ultimate, awesome quest, and storyline could not be completed. Ronin stepped down as monarch after 4 straight reigns, and Zerial after 2 as champion. Though we were able to host an end reign in person and Ronin created these awesome awards which were created to look like wanted signs.