(IR) The 3rd IR, Turn 4 (thread 1)

I am also going to stop people dumping goop in the waterways and I will stop the flow of Shade poison.

Rhialto- Is Tharzidun being free a good thing? Remember a free Tharzidun is a God of higher than Demigod status and as such can't intervene, unless Edena wants everyone to start summoning their divine patrons.

Edena- The Goop and Weapons are shifted on to a spelljammer warded against teleportation and scrying, a crew of volunteers (Good Alignments only) are set to continue forging and guarding it. Divinations continue on it.

How Much PL does a Catastrope do in Damage?

Well, seeing as freeing Tharizdun pretty much means ending the world, no it's definitely not a good thing. Remember they locked him up for a very good reason...

But to the mind of the Black Brotherhood, it's the most wonderful thing in the multiverse, and their reason for being. I mean, this pretty much what they put down as "Purpose of Club"--"free the being of unimaginable might, and incredible evil that is called Tharizdun".

Run Away!

My troops and infrastructure are moving as far underground as they rationally can, hiding from the unstoppable might of the City. They took one look at those warmachines and ran off with their tails between their legs. This includes all Planar forces as well.

You know exactly what Anabstercorian himself is up to, dear Edena.

Actually, I know exactly what Anabstercorian and myself are up to.

Though I think I may have thrown an extra 'a' into his name here and there .

I've summarized it in an email to you, Edena (and I cc'd you, Ab.)

It's the uber-post that I asked people to wait for. And I'm waiting for you to sign off on it.

It's awaitin' in your mailbox.

Forrester

Edena- I will also do what I can to halt the spread of the Blood Waste poison.

Needless to say, the Coalition of Light and Shadow is following up with trying to stop the spread of the red goo as well. To the best of our 9th level abilities, areas newly infected will be cleansed. In Perrenland and Sepia, samples of the red goo will be taken for experimentation as specified in the email. If someone (Kalanyr? Forrester?) can spare a little of the bloodmetal, that would be great also. The dwarves are interested in finding a way to unravel it. It's not metal, but perhaps it's more organic, like a resin, or simply Red Blood of the Earth (apologies to Big Trouble in Little China.. Perhaps something new can be created to 'eat' it.

Aside from this..waiting on Forrester's uber-post.

I am also looking for a way to protect the undead of myself and my allies from Aceraks domination if he achieves Apotheosis. My main plan is to try and switch their link from the Negative Energy Plane to the Positive Energy Plane (will this work?). if it fails I will try the Upper Planes, failing that I will try and create a plane from which they can draw the energy they need to continue their existence.

Hi, Edena:

I am leaving for several hours and place my forces and those of kaboom, who is away for a day or two, into the capable hands of dagger.

My forces will try to stop the contamination and kill Black Brotherhood or Shade agents carrying it out. Contaminated areas or containers of the red goop are hit with magical fire. The resulting red steel is turned over to Alzem for safe keeping.

As I have three demigods, several NPCs, and a fairly substantial military, I should be having some success. After all, the Black Brotherhood - by Rhialto's own admission - does a great job of dying.

If possible, we will try to extend our purification efforts down to Wooly Bay to help out the Pomarj.

See you a little later guys,

William

I have answered the posts up to this one via e-mail, but I feel this one needs to be posted.

John Brown wrote:

Edena,

I have a question. If you say I have to leave the Cairn, O.K., I accept that. However, I would like to make a few points:

From economic, resource, life-sustaining point of view, the Cairn Hills doesn’t really rely on the Nyr Dyv for very much. In fact, other than as transportation route, none of the powers (Furyondy, the Urnst States, The Shield Lands, The Domain of Greyhawk before it was eaten by the Shade) would have been relying on the Nyr Dyv at the start of the game. It’s was far too dangerous. It is chock-full-o-monsters; big bad dragon turtles and the like.

ANSWER: All of the above is correct.

Other than small amount of fishing, the creatures of the Cairn probably couldn’t care less about the Nyr Dyv (o.k., the Rhennee might care, but you get my point ). If I had to abandon Cairn, then it would only be logical that everyone around the Nyr Dyv would have to abandon their territories their too. William would loose nearly a third of Furyondy and the Shield Lands; The DU would loose a big chunk of Urnst, etc. So while I understand that I might have to pull back from the shore some, abandon Tenser’s Tower, etc., the reason for abandoning the entire Cairn Hills, while the Isles of Woe – which are sitting literally in the middle of this big stinking mess – is taking reduced amount of damage is a little unclear.

ANSWER: Ok, an explanation is due here.

The Nyr Dyv is NOT the source of the poisoning.
The Nyr Dyv, is being poisoned from Shadow Throne, which it had the misfortune of sitting next to.
The poison from Shadow Throne has equally ruined Wolly Bay to the south.
The poison from Shadow Throne is spreading in all directions, including westward.

The Blood Waste is not being affected by the Shade, in the way the healthy lands are ... it is being affected in that the poison of the Red Goo is being strengthened and heightened by the Shade Poisoning, the two feeding on each other.

Therefore, it is not necessary for all the lands around the Nyr Dyv to be abandoned - not yet.
If the Shade poisoning deepens, it will be necessary.
But the Cairn Hills and northwest Abbor Alz had the misfortune of being close to Shadow Throne, along with the Isles of Woe in the Nyr Dyv.
As a result, the poisoning there is now so great it has killed the land.
The land is dead, just like the Wild Coast became before the Great Battle turned it into the Blood Waste.

Since nothing can live anymore in the Cairn Hills or northwest Abbor Alz, or on the Isles of Woe, and people still there are becoming deathly ill from the Shade Poisoning, it is necessary that these areas be evacuated.

Trust me when I say the area of poisoning is going to DRASTICALLY INCREASE IN AREA, very quickly, if someone does not use 10th level magic to hold the poisoning at bay.

- - -

I also agree with dagger, in that I thought the interlude was more or less role-play. If it was
“Bad-Guy Action Phase”, why didn’t I get to do anything? I’m a bad guy too . Seriously though, the Shade and Vecna, literally just got their heads handed to them (or other in the case of Vecna it might have been his Hand or Eye ). Yet, the Shade still manage to poison hundreds and hundreds of square miles using only 9th level magic? During the Greyhawk Wars, the best Iuz could manage with this tacit was a 60 mile by 80 mile section of the Vesve Forrest. after working on it for a year. Also, how long was this Interlude?

The Interlude was intended as a chance for players to roleplay.
After Turn 1, I stopped, and a thread to discuss the IR was created by someone else. It rapidly filled up.
Therefore, seeing the need, I created the IR Interludes, where roleplaying is possible.
The IR should be about roleplaying. Battles alone do not a game make.

The Interlude lasted only a couple of days In Character.

I left those who wished to post to post as they wished.
It is not my doing that some people posted more, and some people less.
As fate would have it, those players playing evil powers, posted more, and thus you get the impression (which is true in this case) that the Interlude was dominated by evils.

The Shade Poisoning is a concept all of my own.
Lord Melkor did not invent it, or even think of it.
Lord Melkor did not create the poisoning, nor can he control it, other than to say it speeds up or slows down.
It is not a spell, but a direct consequence of the Shade being on Oerth.

Likewise, the Red Goo is my concept.
No player created it, and certainly no player controls it.
Some players are taking advantage of it to create items out of Red Steel (I will not say who is doing this.)
Some players, are trying to stop the poisoning of the Red Goo.
And some players, are doing nothing.

9th level magic is not sufficient to stop either the Shade Poisoning or the Red Goo poisoning, or the Sun-Blight caused by the Red Goo.
The most 9th level magic can do is halt it's advance into a specific area (a small area only.)
10th level magic can halt the spread of the Shade Poisoning completely, but cannot recover the areas already poisoned.
10th level magic can halt the spread of the Red Goo and it's poisoning IF other players don't take the Red Goo and spread it around.
Which they ARE doing, especially Rhialto.

11th level magic could heal the Shade Poisoning (although this would not harm the Shade themselves), and it could heal the Blood Waste, and destroy the Red Goo.
Except that nobody has 11th level magic yet.
The one person who has the best shot at getting 11th level magic is Forrester.
However, Vecna is throwing the entire might of the City of the Gods at Forrester, who must now face them.
Likewise, Alzem (Hope Isle, Toril) is now forced to deal with this new threat, which takes away from efforts to research the vital 11th level magic.

Just trying to clarify things.

TO EVERYONE IN THE IR

Ok, let me explain it again, folks.

The Red Goo is the physical manifestation of illness.

Think of Flesh Eating Disease.

Flesh Eating Disease is a virulent form of gangrene that attacks the subcutaneous flesh underneath the skin.
It does not attack the skin or the underlying muscle and bone.

The assault on the subcutaneous flesh is horrendous and massive, releasing vast amounts of poison into the bloodstream, causing horrible pain for the person with the illness.

Once the subcutaneous flesh dies, then skin above it dies, and flakes off, leaving the dead flesh exposed.
Or, as one person put it in a most horrible way: Look Mom, no skin!

The underlying muscle and bone die soon after.

The illness spreads bodywide, and often it afflicts the extremities first.
The hands and the feet are the first to go.
There are cases of patients being still alive, whose hands and feet are rotted, black claws.

A very grim, very horrible, and fortunately very rare disease.
Antibiotics won't stop it.
Only amputation of all infected flesh will stop it, along with MASSIVE doses of antibiotics, along with special machines to keep the patient's internal organs functioning.
This is necessary because the body becomes so poisoned by the toxins of the illness that the whole body literally shuts down.

A truly horrible illness.

When 53 million people perished in the Great Battle of the Wild Coast, that produced a terrible wound on the surface of Oerth.
The deaths of so many people and beings could not occur without massive effects on the lifeforce and magic of Oerth, especially concentrated as it was.
The expenditure of so much magic to kill, to harm, to destroy, could not occur without effects on the world.

This wound was infected from the start.
The Poisoning of the Shade mixed with the infection, and strengthened it, made it more terrible and lethal.
The magma from the crevaces, the blood of Oerth itself, flowed up to meet the infection, and the result was the Red Goo.
Except that it has another name: Flesh Eating Disease, or in this case, Oerth Eating Disease.

The first effects of this terrible illness inflicted on Oerth was the Sun-Blight.
Everywhere pools of goo are created, the fumes from the goo spread into the atmosphere.
Once the fumes are sufficiently thick, they create the Sun-Blight.
And you cannot have the goo without the fumes.

But what you did not realize, and you do realize NOW, is that the goo is spreading UNDER the ground.
It is spreading, like Flesh Eating Disease, through Oerth's sub-strata, through the Bedrock of the Planet.
Eating it. Destroying it.
That is why the waterfall at the celebration is tinged with red.
The waterfall is reflecting the state of the poison below.

The spread of this poison is occurring at the rate of 100 miles per Turn.
All the land above this underground poisoning is going to die, or perhaps even a worse fate awaits it than mere death.

But tinges of the poisonous goo have spread to the Underdark of every part of Oerth.
And there is a tinge of poisoning thus, all over the planet.
It is minor, as of the moment. It is having no discernable effects at the surface (or, for the most part, in the deeps either.)

For a while, that will remain the case.
However, if not stopped, the spreading rot through the Bedrock will destroy the world, spreading outward from the Blood Waste in all directions, killing the land, killing everything on it.

Now, a number of Powers have decided to take the Red Goo and experiment with it.
They produced Red Steel with it, and this Red Steel is marvellously hard and strong, and makes great armor, weapons, and other things.
That was the lure.
The catch is the nature of the Red Goo itself.

The Red Goo is not metal.
It is not mud.
It is a combination of dissolved people, living and undead, body and souls.
It is the lifeblood of Oerth itself.
It is expended magic, used to kill and destroy.
It is expended necromancy, used for evil purposes.
It is Shade, come to Oerth to suck all of the world into the Shadow Plane.
It is emotion. Violent emotion. Hatred. Fear. Anger.
It is pain. The pain of dying men. The pain of wounded men.
It is the water of the world, the element that makes life possible on Oerth.

The forces that went into the making of Red Goo make it very potent.
Thus, it has it's incredible strength and amazing properties.
It also has incredible and amazing effects on ALL of those who are foolhardy enough to even get close to it, MUCH LESS carry it off to experiment with!!
But it takes time for even the effects of the Red Goo to manifest, and the Interlude did not take up much time In Character.

Trust me when I say that a number of the Powers will be experiencing interesting and amazing effects on all of their people who were even NEAR the Red Goo (near means within several miles, not within several feet) much less those who actually worked the substance.
Some of these effects will be very, very bad.
However, some of the effects will be very, very good.
All of the effects will be strong.

The Red Goo is made of very strong stuff, the product of battle, souls, emotions, and physical sensations.
It is not easily altered once it hardens into Red Steel.
That is why only 10th level magic will affect large amounts of it, and 9th level magic will affect small amounts.

Be that as it may, WHEREEVER the Red Goo is taken, you take the illness - the Oerth Eating Disease - with you.
Thus, the Powers who have experimented with the Red Goo have spread the illness all over the planet.
The illness will manifest much more quickly than it would have otherwise, because the Red Goo was taken and spread.

But the work of the Powers is relatively minor compared to what the Black Brotherhood, run by Rhialto, is doing.
They, realizing the ill effects of the Red Goo, have DELIBERATELY taken LARGE amounts of it, and thrown it far and wide, into major lakes, into rivers, into prime cropland, into strategic places all over the planet.

Thanks to the Black Brotherhood, the Flesh Eating Disease that threatens to kill all of Oerth, is getting a head start - a real head start.

And the Shade, according to Melkor, threw their power into strengthening the Blood Waste.
This intensified further the illness, giving it even GREATER virulence, enabling it to kill and destroy even faster than it would have otherwise.
It wasn't ENOUGH for the Shade to poison the world with Shade Poisoning.
They had to go and strengthen this new, awful illness afflicted the bedrock of the planet.

Now, 10th level magic WILL stop the spread of both Red Goo and Shade Poisoning, as I have repeatedly said.
With 10th level magic, the progression of the twin diseases can be halted.
But not reversed.

To reverse the twin illnesses, you need 11th level magic.

Forrester and Alzem are in the best position to obtain 11th level magic, and thus end the menace to you.

That is where Vecna comes in.

As your Moderator, it is my JOB to play Vecna properly.
Unfortunately, Vecna is evil.
Except that, to use the word evil to describe Vecna is like using the world radiance to describe the desert sun at noon at the equator.
In official Greyhawk Canon, Vecna was the most evil being that ever lived on the world of Oerth, 20 years ago In Real Life.

Therefore ...

Vecna understands everything above.
He understands the nature of the Shade Poisoning.
He understands the nature of the Red Goo.
He also understands that Forrester and Alzem could stop it, end it, if they could devote their PL to researching 11th level magic.

Vecna, has no intention of allowing that.
Vecna, just awoke the City of the Gods, PL 300 (attack/defense 6/6), and is personally leading their forces in a chase towards Forrester's encampment.
Vecna has convinced the computers of the City of the Gods (who do not distinguish one primitive from another) that all the humans, demihumans, and humanoids of the planet are a threat to it.
The City wants to survive, and intends to survive.
If the primitives are a threat, then they must be neutralized.

However, the City of the Gods knows nothing of Gating to another Plane.
All the computers will know is that Vecna dropped off the Radar Screen.
Seeing the primary target gone, and unable to locate it again, the computers will move to eliminate the secondary targets.
For now the City perceives all humans, humanoids, and demihumans as enemies, not just the one (ones) who attacked it.

In this way, Vecna achieves his revenge against Forrester who forged the alliance that crushed his Legions.
In this way, Vecna destroys the Torilians he always hated.
And in this way, Vecna destroys the only real hope that Oerth has of surviving (or so it would appear.)

Vecna does not care if the twin poisons kill the world.
In fact, he will sit and enjoy watching the world die.
Vecna is ECSTATIC at the actions of the Black Brotherhood - indeed, if he could, he would make them all his personal princes and nobles!
Vecna will let the world die, and rebuild it in his own image.

Now, you cannot stop the awakening of the City of the Gods, or change the fact it views you all as threats to be destroyed.
But you CAN halt Vecna, and you MIGHT be able to halt the City of the Gods, if you work at it.
You CAN save Oerth, and stop the twin illnesses.

Melkor has left for the weekend, and given me the Shade to play.
This was unfortunate for you, for I will play the Shade as Melkor intended, and they will do the most harm that is physically possible to you, using the best tactics they know of to bring harm to you.

That is my job as Moderator.
I will not allow you to easily get out of this one.
You must work, and strive, to get out of this predicament that I have created for you (and, in some cases, lured you into with the dream of invincible Red Steel.)

If you do not work and strive, the world of Oerth will die, and be reborn as Vecna and his friends, and the Shade, wish it to be.
Not a pretty thought.

I said a while back that if you did not come to hate Vecna more than you hated paying taxes, then I was not doing my job.
I intend to do my job, with a vengeance.

You could have killed Vecna on Turn 1.
You could have killed Vecna on Turn 2.
When I assumed control of Vecna, you should have killed him then and there.
You should have bought Melkor off, offered him half the world, or a million slaves, or whatever it took, to convince him to give Vecna's phylactery to you.
You did not know that Vecna had a phylactery?
All liches do. And those phylacteries are always well protected.

Vecna was too dangerous to be permitted to remain in the world.
Vecna, IS too dangerous to be permitted to remain in the world.
The sooner you kill Vecna and be done with him, the better off you will be.

Unfortunately, I am playing the Shade now, and they are taking precautions against the phylactery being stolen so great that the phylactery will be basically unrecoverable.
Except that, Forrester has a plan that will recover the phylactery right through all my defenses, and there is not a thing I can do about it - nor can anyone else do anything about it.
Forrester is a very clever guy, as it turns out.
Beware of him.
After you have dealt with all the menaces I am throwing at you, you will have to deal with him.
I assure you, he will be a formidable opponent - you have only tasted the first hints of just how formidable Forrester can be, when he tries.
Never mind his PL.
His high PL is not your problem.
He, is your problem.

I will always try to make trouble for all of you.
I will never allow you to have peace.
Not if I can help it.
You must earn peace. You must fight for it. You must overcome my creations, and create a situation - like they did on Toril - where there is basically nothing I can do against you.

For now, though, you must survive what I am about to throw at you, starting tomorrow, and you must find a way to overcome the twin illnesses before they consume you all.

Edena_of_Neith, who's job it is, to be a good DM