JollyDoc's Age of Worms (Updated 11/30, Epilogue!)

gfunk said:

Naw . . . I'll throw you a few bones:

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Gnaw, gnaw.

Oh, the horror! Will the league triumph? Will JollyDoc/Kyuss get to say the dreaded "All your League are belong to us!"?

Write faster, JollyDoc! Please!

JollyDoc, if you finish writing the update by Wednesday night, I'll make sure gfunk gives you your favorite JollyRancher.

Which, of course, will be Watermelon.

Felix said:

JollyDoc, if you finish writing the update by Wednesday night, I'll make sure gfunk gives you your favorite JollyRancher.

Which, of course, will be Watermelon.

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Alas it will most likely be this weekend. Busy work week, plus I'm trying to prepare to begin Savage Tide this coming Sunday, but rest assured I will have it posted in as timely a manner as possible, and you will NOT be disappointed!!

The title of the next update is "Dies the Fire."

I wonder....

JollyDoc said:

Alas it will most likely be this weekend. Busy work week, plus I'm trying to prepare to begin Savage Tide this coming Sunday, but rest assured I will have it posted in as timely a manner as possible, and you will NOT be disappointed!!

The title of the next update is "Dies the Fire."

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I wonder. Of course I wonder. How can one not wonder? But what is the wondering about?
Is it about the final installment of this brilliant story?
Or about something else JD said?
Or both?

It is.

It is about the outcome of the battle. And about whether or not my faith in The League will be justifiied.
It is about something JD said.
Something about Savage Tide. Which can only lead to wondering about...

"Will we see more JD/GFunk/Joachim writing goodness come our way when they start Savage Tide?"

My name is not Stevie, but yet I Wonder........

I think it's time to start asking Morrus to put aside some of ENWorlds database space for the Savage Tide!

This SH has been one hell of a ride! Even more than in Shackled City, your Age of Worms story had the kind of emotional intensity to it, that you otherwise only get by sitting at the gaming table yourself.

I'd like to throw in my accolades before this story hour ends. I found it only a few months ago and I found myself glued to the computer screen, riveted by the action. The quality of the story telling has been really excellent. Thanks for the hours of enjoyment. Can't wait for the conclusion.

Savage Tide! More SH! Wheeee!

Thank you all, friends and readers, for all that you have contributed to this SH to help make it what it has become. This will be my last update for Age of Worms. Gfunk will be contributing an epilogue soon. Enjoy, and I hope to see you all again for...JollyDoc's Savage Tide!!!

DIES THE FIRE

Grubber’s corpse, worms dripping from where his eyes had once been, rose lurching to its feet. The undead goliath began shambling towards its new master as those who it had once called friends and family looked on in anguished horror.
“No!” Havok cried, but he could not tell if it was his voice that he heard or Mak’s. He could not bear to see such an atrocity repeated. Reflexively he raised an emerald wall of flames in the new spawn’s path, and then fumbled for one of his few remaining scrolls. Not caring of the potential consequences of his next act, he read the words of the Disjunction spell, hurling it towards the Worm God. Instantly he felt himself freed from the Ghost Trap as Kyuss’ wards collapsed. At the same time, the huge executioner’s mace that the god held suddenly crumbled into dust. The last thing Havok saw before he took cover within the stone cupola of the spire was the burning look of hatred in the eyes of his forebear.

Grubber passed through the worm-ridden wall of fire, heedless of the hideous boils raised on his flesh by the flames. When he stood by his master’s side, he felt reality suddenly shift about him. All about the room, both allies and enemies froze in mid-motion. Nothing moved save himself and the Worm Lord.
‘You belong to me now,’ his master’s voice spoke into his mind. ‘Take this opportunity that I have afforded you to mend your flesh, and fortify yourself. When we return to the time stream I want you to be fully prepared to kill your brother!’
‘As you command,’ the goliath nodded, wriggling worms spilling down his cheeks. He then watched as his master began dismantling the prisons that held the broodfiends.

Faust was aware of what Kyuss had done, though only an eye-blink had passed. Once more, all of the damage they had inflicted on the god had been removed. By all rights, he should have been destroyed twice over by now. Once again the psion accelerated himself through the time stream, where he hastily created three rippling energy walls comprised of focused sound. All three intersected at the point where Kyuss and Grubber stood, with one of them extending through a nearby broodfiend that the Worm God had managed to free. When he returned to real time, he was dismayed to see that his efforts left not a mark on the god nor his new familiar. Only the broodfiend appeared to suffer any discomfort, but not enough to end its miserable existence.

Mak, though his mind was almost that of a child, still felt the horrible sense of loss and rage over what had happened to his brother. Some part of him knew that he could not help Grubber with his own psyche crippled as it was, and acting almost on instinct, he concentrated as hard as he could, squinting his eyes tightly shut. He implored Helm to aid him one last time, to restore his intellect so that he might avenge his brother, if he could not save him. When he opened his eyes again, his mind was clear once more, but he was no longer alone where he hovered near the ceiling. Somehow the molydeus demon had gotten free of Faust’s sphere, and now flapped mere feet from him, its floating axe glinting wickedly in the lurid, green light.
‘Mak.’ He swore he heard the voice in his mind, though he certainly could have imagined it in his grief. Just for a moment, however, he thought he heard Grubber call out to him, sorrow and regret in his voice. His eyes turned to find his sibling, but all he saw were the empty sockets filled with worms. Then he heard Grubber speak aloud, the words of an incantation coming from his cracked lips. Mak’s eyes went wide as he recognized the spell.

Hawk cleaved Gideon’s skull in half with Quaero, burying the blade in the undead knight’s chest. Loosening his shield with his other hand, he flung it high above him, towards the molydeus. The metal disk collided into back of the demon’s skull with an audible crack before returning to Hawk’s hand, and the civilar was just about to call out to the goliath to finish off the dazed fiend, when abruptly Mak was gone. He didn’t vanish. He simply imploded, his entire body turning itself inside-out. What little was left of him splattered to the floor in a sickening downpour. An instant later, Hawk found himself fighting for his life, forced to repress what he had just witnessed by the onslaught of another of the broodfiends which had burst free from its telekinetic prison.
_______________________________________________________________

When the Mindlink first went dark with Grubber, Mak and Hawk, Storm began to panic until Havok told her of the Disjunction. However, with the warlock’s last update, the sorceress was reduced to tears.
‘We lost Grubber and Mak. Prepare to alert Malchor if you don’t hear from me further.’
But Storm had no intentions of leaving Starmantle. She had warned Hawk from the beginning that leaving her behind was a mistake, and now there were only three left…against a god! Malchor Harpell would find out soon enough if they failed, but if the League’s fate was to die at the hands of Kyuss, then it would be the entire League. Ignoring the worried looks of the priests around her, she began her incantations. One moment she was standing in the sanctuary of Tempus’ church, and the next, she was gone.

She appeared inside the upper room of the Spire, guided by the mental images of Faust and Havok. All around her, the combatants were frozen in a terrible tableau. She had stopped time before Teleporting, and now she saw in vivid detail just how wrong things had gone. The huge, cloaked form that could only be Kyuss stood on the far side of the room. Next to him was Grubber, or rather what had once been the goliath. Three broodfiends were scattered throughout the area, two of which menaced Faust and Hawk. High above, near the ceiling, hovered a nightmarish creature she had never seen before. Then there were the bodies. Hacked, burned, or blown apart, they were strewn from one end of the killing ground to the other. She could not see Havok, but she knew he was around. The Mindlink was still active. She knew also that time was catching up to her. Casting quickly, she tossed two, pea-sized fiery spheres between two of the broodfiends. Then she waited.
‘Three…two…one…’
_____________________________________________________________

Two enormous explosions ripped through the Spire’s apex, totally engulfing the broodfiends nearest Faust and Kyuss. When the glare had vanished, the psion saw that his enemy had been reduced to a smoking husk.
‘Storm?’ he called. ‘Is that you?’
‘I’m here,’ the sorceress replied, ‘but you can’t see me. I wanted to make sure that I would be well-hidden from Kyuss and his minions before I played my hand. You’ll pardon me for saying so, but I don’t want to end up like Grubber…or Mak.’
‘Smart girl,’ Faust smiled. ‘Keep you head down, and give us everything you’ve got. We’re going to need it.’

Havok sensed Storm’s arrival as well, and silently thanked whatever gods were listening for her stubbornness. Unfortunately, when he moved out of the ceiling and into the room, he once more felt his body resume corporeality. Kyuss was up to his tricks again. Hopefully it would make no difference. In rapid succession, the warlock flung twin chains of eldritch fire, linking Grubber, the molydeus, and another broodfiend by their deadly light. Though the two demons howled in pain, they did not succumb as he had hoped. Nothing remained of Grubber, however, save for a pile of ash and worms.
‘My apologies again, my friend.’ Havok thought. ‘With more than a little luck, I’ll see you in time.’

Kyuss smiled to himself. His upstart of a scion had revealed himself once again, just as he had planned. Immediately the Worm God wove another Disjunction, this one large enough to encompass the space in which he knew the warlock to be, as well as the psion. Perhaps the élan’s damnable powers would finally be quelled. The psion seemed unaffected, however, but Kyuss nodded in satisfaction as he saw not only his offspring appear and float gently to the ground, but also the drow sorceress, who had somehow managed to escape his notice…until now.

Storm gasped in horror as she found herself standing visible and completely exposed. All of her wards had been ripped from her, and all of her magical trinkets and baubles now lay in a broken pile at her feet. She was helpless.

Hawk fought on. The magic blasts that echoed and reverberated around the chamber were not his concern at the moment. He had enough to contend with in the molydeus and the broodfiend. As the first demon closed, the civilar lunged forward to meet it, plunging Quaero deep into its chest, and then severing its second, serpent-like head as he pulled the sword free. Suddenly, he felt a sting as if from a thousand wasps in his back. As he turned, he felt the mouths of the broodfiend’s worm-like arms tear free from his skin. Then his mind began to grow foggy. It was happening again. Only this time there were would be no divine intervention. Or would there? At that moment, two strokes of what appeared to be green lightning lanced into both demons. For an instant, their skeletons were transilluminated beneath their skin, and then both crumbled to ash. Hawk turned again, and saw Havok standing alone by the dais. The mental link between him and the warlock was gone, but the look in his friend’s eyes was enough. Havok had done all he could. Now he had to save himself. With a crackle of emerald energy, the warlock vanished.

Kyuss roared in outrage. Damn him! Not only had the warlock destroyed two of his minions, but he had managed to escape as well! Whatever hopes the Worm God had secretly harbored of converting his descendent were forgotten, replaced only with the images of unending torment that would be visited upon Havok at his hands. But first, his friends would die. Kyuss turned, hands raised, preparing to fill the entire chamber with a storm of verdant fire, but as the last words to the spell were leaving his lips, a pain like a scythe ripped through his back. It was the psion! The thrice-cursed little troll had impaled him with a huge crystal shard formed completely from mental energy. His spell faded, ruined.

‘Now is the time,’ Hawk spoke to Quaero, and the sword hummed with anticipation. This was what it had been created for. The civilar hefted his shield before him, raised his ancestral blade, and charged across the Spire’s floor, his only purpose…to kill a god. As he closed in, Kyuss whirled towards him, his cloak opening wide, as if it were some great maw seeking to consume the paladin. Hawk darted to one side, and then leaped, stabbing Quaero beneath the Worm God’s upraised arm. He did not notice the last of the broodfiends moving in from behind.

‘Fool!’ Faust cursed to himself . What did that stupid human think he was doing? It was suicide, and yet, it provided the psion with a moment’s distraction. Opening his psyche, he unleashed torrent of mental fire. The flames singed and licked at the robes of the Worm God, but they completely obliterated the broodfiend on Hawk’s flank. Kyuss stepped casually away from Hawk, and raised his arms again. Faust could sense powerful magic gathering, and he struck again. A second torrent of fire engulfed Kyuss, and once more the god’s attack was foiled. As Kyuss howled in fury, Hawk attacked. Three times Quaero tasted the Worm God’s blood, its holy power burning hotter than any flame. Kyuss staggered, but he would not be undone by two mere mortals. Time stopped, and in the interval, the Worm God repaired all of his myriad wounds. However, when he stepped back into the normal time flow again, he was momentarily caught off guard, for now their were two psions, where before there had only been one. His divine vision showed him that this was no illusion or mind trick. The élan had somehow managed to clone himself!

Faust had also transported himself through time. There, while all around him were frozen in the temporal void, he had done something he thought he would never have to do. Focusing all of his considerable mental power, he had literally ripped his psyche in two, performing a Fission, and creating an exact duplicate of himself. Now his twin smiled at him from across the room, and Faust nodded and smiled in turn. Double the fun!

Again, Hawk’s reduced mental capacity would not allow him to grasp what had transpired. He knew only that his enemy still stood before him. Once more he closed, but this time the Worm God was quicker. His cowl opened again, and Hawk was sucked in. The last thing that Storm and Faust saw was the civilar being encased in a living cocoon of worms. The sight was too much for the sorceress, and her fragile psyche shattered. Tears streaming down her face, sobs wracking her body, she slowly folded to the floor in a fetal position.
___________________________________________________

When Havok had retreated from the fight, he had not gone far. In point of fact, he stood on the landing just below the entrance into the Spire’s peak. There, he had restored what defenses he could, including his incorporeal form. As he heard the battle continue to rage above him, he lifted into the air, and passed like mist through the floor of Kyuss’ chamber.

Faust saw his ghostly companion rise from the floor, and he shouted, his lungs straining, “Havok! We have to strike now! Together! It’s now, or it’s never!” Havok didn’t hesitate, nor did he blink at the sight of two Fausts. The psion never ceased to amaze him. Summoning all of the power that remained to him, the scion of Kyuss attacked, sending two blinding lances of eldritch energy into his forebear. Simultaneously, both psions struck with twin shards of psychic crystal, each one ripping great holes in the Worm God’s malleable body. What Havok and Faust did not see, and could not know about was Hawk, still encased and trapped within Kyuss’ cowl. Fighting past the blinding pain of a thousand-thousand worms burrowing into his flesh, the paladin struck out with his blade again and again. Only when he felt himself finally succumbing to the relentless assault did he finally speak one word, a word which triggered the magic in the helm that he wore, and transported him to freedom.

Faust was drained, both mentally and physically. With a moment’s thought, he drew his clone back into himself, restoring some of his vitality. When he looked up again to assess the damage they had done to the Worm God, he felt all hope leave him. Kyuss was completely whole again. He had somehow managed to stop time yet again and undo all that they had done. Worse yet, the walking worm now bent slowly, almost lovingly over Storm, and wrapped her in the embrace of his cloak. A moment later, the cowl opened, and Storm stepped out, and turned her empty, worm-filled eye sockets towards the psion. It was over. There was no point in prolonging the inevitable. Faust’s vast mental powers were exhausted, and he knew that Havok’s repertoire was equally depleted. They were all that was left of the League. His eyes locked with those of the warlock, and a simple nod was exchanged. They had lost. Kyuss would ascend, and the Age of Worms would come to pass. Perhaps Malchor and his allies might yet postpone the apocalypse long enough to save what innocents they could, but it was only a spare hope. Faust concentrated one last time, and then vanished.

Havok watched Faust go, but he had one final thing to do before he left. He would not allow one of his friends to exist in eternal torment. With the last of his ebbing power, he engulfed Storm in eldritch fire, consuming her, and ending her misery. Then he sank back through the floor, intending to flee. However, as he approached the landing he was stunned to see Hawk kneeling there, his head bent in prayer over the pommel of Quaero.
“Hawk!” he cried. “How…never mind! We have to go! We cannot win here!”
“Go then,” the civilar said quietly, raising his eyes. “If I am to die, then I’ll die with my sword in my hand, buried to the hilt in the flesh of that abomination!”
“No, you won’t.” Havok said calmly, drifting down beside the paladin. “I know you can’t understand this, but it’s for your own good. If you die, you’ll only rise as Kyuss’ spawn. I can’t let that happen. Forgive me, if you can.” Then he reached out and rested his hand on Hawk’s shoulder.
“What??” The civilar shouted. “Havok! Don’t! No!!” Then they were gone.
_____________________________________________________

‘Let them run while they can,’ Kyuss thought as he chuckled to himself and strode out onto the balcony overlooking the ruins of Starmantle. ‘A new age is dawning, and I shall be its harbinger. None will stand against me when the worms begin to fall…’

So thus ends the League . . .

I played the battle over again a few times in my mind, but with the tweaks that Kyuss was given (Mage's Disjunction in place of Energy Drain/ Improved Metamagic feat in place of Craft Arms and Armor feat), I don't think we could have won.

We inflicted a few thousand hit points of cumulative damage on the Wormgod but this was ultimately no avail against his ability to "insta-heal." It does kind of suck losing two campaigns in a row and I don't think I'll be around when Demogorgon hands a likely third ass-whupping to the party (will move to CA in 6/07). Still, it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to Savage Tide.

Look for a final epilogue to be posted by me very soon however. That will be this story hour's last hurrah . . .

You did your best....but what a bummer