LordVyreth
First Post
The Final Countdown: Six to the Moon
The party reached the surface of the moon easily enough, but they immediately ran into the hazards of space. It was extremely cold, airless, and the heroes even felt their own bodies struggling to tear themselves apart! Fortunately, the party was aware of these dangers before they left and prepared for it before teleporting to the moon. They quickly hurried to the nearest crater they could find and used it to reach one of the many tunnels leading to the moon’s center.
For the first few minutes of their journey to the center of the moon, things were eerily calm. That abruptly ended, however, when the entire moon briefly began to shake as if it was experiencing an earthquake.
“What’s happening?” a worried Robin asked.
Danae was somber. “I believe this means it’s started. Bas’ weapon is firing on the moon at this very moment. If it takes as long for this moon to hit the ground as it did for the last one, we have about an hour and twenty minutes left.”
The party doubled their efforts to reach the core, but before they could finish their journey, their tunnel opened into a much larger cavern. To most of the party, the only immediate danger was a gigantic stalagmite in the center of the cavern that appeared to be made entirely of bone.
“Is it dormant?” Tiana nervously asked.
Danae studied it for a moment, and then replied, “I can’t say. It’s not moving now, but look at the rest of the cavern.” Scattered throughout the cavern floor were dozens of humanoid skeletons, some still holding weapons. “It appears that there was once a battle here. It’s hard to say how long ago it occurred.”
Tonaca, however, had bigger concerns. “It’s not the only threat,” he said, as he pointed to the area above a number of the bodies. “There’s some sort of invisible figure there. It looks like a huge mass of angry faces and hands. A few are even gripping some of the weapons on the floor.”
The party was now aware of the threat, and now the enemy apparently realized their attempts to remain hidden have failed, for they sprang into action as well. Tiana quickly went on the defensive and gave herself the ability to see their invisible foe. Bath, however, was her usual direct self. She charged the stalagmite monster, ignoring the futile attacks of the invisible foe, and then started to hack through its body.
As she continued her attack on the stalagmite monster (called a necronaut,) however, Bath was quickly flanked. The enraged invisible monster picked up 5 swords and attacked her with all of them at once. The angel expertly dodged most of the attacks, but a few of the swords cut into her slightly. Meanwhile, a third undead emerged from hiding behind the stalagmite. It appeared to be a ghoulish giant, but its mouth was stitched shut. It was wielding two massive maces, and as soon as it saw its invisible ally attacking Bath (who was also invisible at this point, thanks to Danae’s preparatory magic,) it quickly dispelled the invisibility, letting the Necronaut attack her as well!
Fortunately, while the monsters were busy attacking Bath, the rest of the part was able to attack. Danae, Tal, and Tonaca rained magic down on the monsters’ heads in the forms of a chained bolt of lighting, a spray of prismatic light, and a beam of intense sunlight respectively. Robin fired at the monsters with his bow, and Tiana moved behind the invisible monster and began to cut into it with her blade using trained and expert precision. Bath continued her assault on the necronaut, but the monster responded by pounding Bath again. The necronaut was clearly a dangerous foe, for it could even strike the nimble and well-armored Bath regularly! Meanwhile, the zombie-like general (called a deathbringer) dispelled the magic on Danae and the invisible weapon-wielding monster (called a ragewind) suddenly expanded its form to become a whirling storm of blades, catching both Bath and Tiana within the deadly storm!
However, despite their efforts, the party nearly overwhelmed even the three powerful undead at this point. While Robin continued to fire arrows and Danae and Tal resumed their magical barrage, Tonaca released his most powerful healing magic. The holy blast almost completely recovered his friend’s wounds but had the opposite effect on the death-powered undead. The necronaut, heavily wounded by Bath’s attacks, was nearly destroyed, and the deathbringer was completely obliterated! Only the ragewind managed to get out of the way of the spell. It flailed uselessly at Bath while Tiana finished off the necronaut, and between Bath’s new attention on the invisible enemy and magical assistance by the rest of the party, it was finally put to rest.
The party took a few moments to gather any treasure their enemies had, but they had far more important priorities. They quickly resumed their dash to the center of the moon, and they reached it in a relatively short amount of time. The massive chamber was over a hundred and fifty feet long, about sixty feet wide, and high enough to contain two stories. The party entered the room from one of the two “northern” entrances (though the moon didn’t really have a magnetic pole,) and the floor they entered on was raised about thirty feet above the rest of the cavern. Their ledge extended as a natural bridge across nearly the entire length of the cavern. Below the ledge and its extension was the lower part of the cavern, which contained several dozen additional exits. But the party had little interest in either the lower cavern or its tunnels, for a pool of absolute darkness hovered in the air right between the two upper tunnels.
“That must be the plane the dragons were talking about,” Danae reasoned. “If what they said about its relation to the flow of time was accurate, then we can safely rest here without running out of time.”
The party agreed and quickly made camp in the strange pocket dimension. It was an unnerving experience, for there were no walls to stop them from moving in any direction, nor was there any gravity. They merely floated a few feet from the entrance they just used.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Tiana asked.
“I’m…pretty sure,” Danae admitted. “At any rate, we need some time to prepare. Who knows what will come after us if someone realizes we’re going to blow up the moon?”
The party soon adjusted to the strange living conditions, though they were surprised to find that the moon itself didn’t extend visibly in this sub-plane. To the party, they appeared to be floating in outer space.
“Hey, look!” Tal cried as he pointed at the home world of most of the party. “The world is round! Wow, who knew?”
“I’m more interested in that,” Bath said with a quiet voice. The party turned to look in the direction she was pointing, and barely could make out what appeared to be a massive woman floating in the middle of space!
“Who is that?” Tal, who could barely make out the woman, asked.
“That is my goddess, Bha-Ael!” Bath excitedly responded.
“Your goddess? Why is your goddess floating in deep space?” an understandably confused Tonaca asked.
“According to TIE, Bha-Ael was once a mortal woman. She was inside the last dark moon when Nerull was about to imbue it with his power. That power went into her instead, making her a goddess and causing the last moon to be destroyed, giving us the precious few hours of daylight we had to horde until today.”
The party looked onwards to their ancient savior, as Danae continued on with the more complete story, “Well, technically, Bha-Ael was once a different goddess completely in an alternate dimension, and TIE gave Wee Jas, a goddess of the old pantheon, the idea of Bha-Ael and her pantheon. Wee Jas then arranged things so that Bha-Ael would be born, and…”
“Aw, look. She’s waving to us!” Bath interrupted.
Calmed by the presence of the goddess, the party was able to rest peacefully that “night,” and they woke the next day refreshed and with greater commitment to their purpose. After preparing for the next day, the party returned to the moon’s core, where Danae quickly got to work on the bomb. Before she finished, however, she helped the party make plans. She created a teleportation circle on side of the ledge, so the party had a quick method of escape when the bomb was ready to explode. Next, she created a prismatic sphere around herself and the time while Tonaca created a second prismatic sphere around the circle to protect it until it was time to flee.
It only took a minute for Danae to finish the bomb’s preparations and set the timer, but it was obvious even in that minute that the moon’s inhabitants were awakening. Unearthly howls of fear and outrage echoed throughout the tunnels, and as Danae finished her work, they got closer and louder. Finally, just as she set the bomb’s countdown timer to one minute, undead poured out of every tunnel!
OOC Notes: Sadly, I have to leave you with a cliffhanger for now. The ensuing fight is actually still going on; high level combat is long enough, but when you add in the online element, it takes even longer. Hopefully, the battle will be resolved as soon as the campaign hiatus is over, which should happen sometime in September. In the meantime, Warrior’s suggestion is a good one. I’ll start adding the character sheets over the next couple weeks, though I will be away for much of next week because of Gen Con.
In the meantime, I’ll happily answer any questions about the campaign in general you may have. Did anything in particular interest your or confuse you about how the campaign works so far?
The party reached the surface of the moon easily enough, but they immediately ran into the hazards of space. It was extremely cold, airless, and the heroes even felt their own bodies struggling to tear themselves apart! Fortunately, the party was aware of these dangers before they left and prepared for it before teleporting to the moon. They quickly hurried to the nearest crater they could find and used it to reach one of the many tunnels leading to the moon’s center.
For the first few minutes of their journey to the center of the moon, things were eerily calm. That abruptly ended, however, when the entire moon briefly began to shake as if it was experiencing an earthquake.
“What’s happening?” a worried Robin asked.
Danae was somber. “I believe this means it’s started. Bas’ weapon is firing on the moon at this very moment. If it takes as long for this moon to hit the ground as it did for the last one, we have about an hour and twenty minutes left.”
The party doubled their efforts to reach the core, but before they could finish their journey, their tunnel opened into a much larger cavern. To most of the party, the only immediate danger was a gigantic stalagmite in the center of the cavern that appeared to be made entirely of bone.
“Is it dormant?” Tiana nervously asked.
Danae studied it for a moment, and then replied, “I can’t say. It’s not moving now, but look at the rest of the cavern.” Scattered throughout the cavern floor were dozens of humanoid skeletons, some still holding weapons. “It appears that there was once a battle here. It’s hard to say how long ago it occurred.”
Tonaca, however, had bigger concerns. “It’s not the only threat,” he said, as he pointed to the area above a number of the bodies. “There’s some sort of invisible figure there. It looks like a huge mass of angry faces and hands. A few are even gripping some of the weapons on the floor.”
The party was now aware of the threat, and now the enemy apparently realized their attempts to remain hidden have failed, for they sprang into action as well. Tiana quickly went on the defensive and gave herself the ability to see their invisible foe. Bath, however, was her usual direct self. She charged the stalagmite monster, ignoring the futile attacks of the invisible foe, and then started to hack through its body.
As she continued her attack on the stalagmite monster (called a necronaut,) however, Bath was quickly flanked. The enraged invisible monster picked up 5 swords and attacked her with all of them at once. The angel expertly dodged most of the attacks, but a few of the swords cut into her slightly. Meanwhile, a third undead emerged from hiding behind the stalagmite. It appeared to be a ghoulish giant, but its mouth was stitched shut. It was wielding two massive maces, and as soon as it saw its invisible ally attacking Bath (who was also invisible at this point, thanks to Danae’s preparatory magic,) it quickly dispelled the invisibility, letting the Necronaut attack her as well!
Fortunately, while the monsters were busy attacking Bath, the rest of the part was able to attack. Danae, Tal, and Tonaca rained magic down on the monsters’ heads in the forms of a chained bolt of lighting, a spray of prismatic light, and a beam of intense sunlight respectively. Robin fired at the monsters with his bow, and Tiana moved behind the invisible monster and began to cut into it with her blade using trained and expert precision. Bath continued her assault on the necronaut, but the monster responded by pounding Bath again. The necronaut was clearly a dangerous foe, for it could even strike the nimble and well-armored Bath regularly! Meanwhile, the zombie-like general (called a deathbringer) dispelled the magic on Danae and the invisible weapon-wielding monster (called a ragewind) suddenly expanded its form to become a whirling storm of blades, catching both Bath and Tiana within the deadly storm!
However, despite their efforts, the party nearly overwhelmed even the three powerful undead at this point. While Robin continued to fire arrows and Danae and Tal resumed their magical barrage, Tonaca released his most powerful healing magic. The holy blast almost completely recovered his friend’s wounds but had the opposite effect on the death-powered undead. The necronaut, heavily wounded by Bath’s attacks, was nearly destroyed, and the deathbringer was completely obliterated! Only the ragewind managed to get out of the way of the spell. It flailed uselessly at Bath while Tiana finished off the necronaut, and between Bath’s new attention on the invisible enemy and magical assistance by the rest of the party, it was finally put to rest.
The party took a few moments to gather any treasure their enemies had, but they had far more important priorities. They quickly resumed their dash to the center of the moon, and they reached it in a relatively short amount of time. The massive chamber was over a hundred and fifty feet long, about sixty feet wide, and high enough to contain two stories. The party entered the room from one of the two “northern” entrances (though the moon didn’t really have a magnetic pole,) and the floor they entered on was raised about thirty feet above the rest of the cavern. Their ledge extended as a natural bridge across nearly the entire length of the cavern. Below the ledge and its extension was the lower part of the cavern, which contained several dozen additional exits. But the party had little interest in either the lower cavern or its tunnels, for a pool of absolute darkness hovered in the air right between the two upper tunnels.
“That must be the plane the dragons were talking about,” Danae reasoned. “If what they said about its relation to the flow of time was accurate, then we can safely rest here without running out of time.”
The party agreed and quickly made camp in the strange pocket dimension. It was an unnerving experience, for there were no walls to stop them from moving in any direction, nor was there any gravity. They merely floated a few feet from the entrance they just used.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Tiana asked.
“I’m…pretty sure,” Danae admitted. “At any rate, we need some time to prepare. Who knows what will come after us if someone realizes we’re going to blow up the moon?”
The party soon adjusted to the strange living conditions, though they were surprised to find that the moon itself didn’t extend visibly in this sub-plane. To the party, they appeared to be floating in outer space.
“Hey, look!” Tal cried as he pointed at the home world of most of the party. “The world is round! Wow, who knew?”
“I’m more interested in that,” Bath said with a quiet voice. The party turned to look in the direction she was pointing, and barely could make out what appeared to be a massive woman floating in the middle of space!
“Who is that?” Tal, who could barely make out the woman, asked.
“That is my goddess, Bha-Ael!” Bath excitedly responded.
“Your goddess? Why is your goddess floating in deep space?” an understandably confused Tonaca asked.
“According to TIE, Bha-Ael was once a mortal woman. She was inside the last dark moon when Nerull was about to imbue it with his power. That power went into her instead, making her a goddess and causing the last moon to be destroyed, giving us the precious few hours of daylight we had to horde until today.”
The party looked onwards to their ancient savior, as Danae continued on with the more complete story, “Well, technically, Bha-Ael was once a different goddess completely in an alternate dimension, and TIE gave Wee Jas, a goddess of the old pantheon, the idea of Bha-Ael and her pantheon. Wee Jas then arranged things so that Bha-Ael would be born, and…”
“Aw, look. She’s waving to us!” Bath interrupted.
Calmed by the presence of the goddess, the party was able to rest peacefully that “night,” and they woke the next day refreshed and with greater commitment to their purpose. After preparing for the next day, the party returned to the moon’s core, where Danae quickly got to work on the bomb. Before she finished, however, she helped the party make plans. She created a teleportation circle on side of the ledge, so the party had a quick method of escape when the bomb was ready to explode. Next, she created a prismatic sphere around herself and the time while Tonaca created a second prismatic sphere around the circle to protect it until it was time to flee.
It only took a minute for Danae to finish the bomb’s preparations and set the timer, but it was obvious even in that minute that the moon’s inhabitants were awakening. Unearthly howls of fear and outrage echoed throughout the tunnels, and as Danae finished her work, they got closer and louder. Finally, just as she set the bomb’s countdown timer to one minute, undead poured out of every tunnel!
OOC Notes: Sadly, I have to leave you with a cliffhanger for now. The ensuing fight is actually still going on; high level combat is long enough, but when you add in the online element, it takes even longer. Hopefully, the battle will be resolved as soon as the campaign hiatus is over, which should happen sometime in September. In the meantime, Warrior’s suggestion is a good one. I’ll start adding the character sheets over the next couple weeks, though I will be away for much of next week because of Gen Con.
In the meantime, I’ll happily answer any questions about the campaign in general you may have. Did anything in particular interest your or confuse you about how the campaign works so far?
