(Epic Cydra) Empires of Chaos

[the Jester]

This story hour will follow right on the heels of Great Conflicts.

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

The material plane of Cydra has been at the center point of a devastating Great War of Ethics for centuries, but in the last few years it has truly heated to a boil. This Great War pit Law against Chaos throughout the multiverse, but on Cydra things reached a particularly fevered pitch, and, eventually, a climax.

The champions of the side of order were known as the Arrows of Law, and they included both Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells, and the God-Emperor Prayzose, ruler of the Forinthian Empire and high priest of the Church of the Light. The champions of Chaos, on the other hand, have no set name or membership; they consist of an ever-shifting band of incredibly powerful adventurers (our heroes, the pcs and npcs making up the party that this campaign revolves around). Recently, the party managed to destroy Asmodeus with the help of his predecessor, Lucifer, whom they let free from eons of bondage. This shift in the balance of powers amongst the Arrows led Emperor Prayzose to secretly offer the vacant Arrow’s position to Inoke, a member of the party. After hearing Prayzose’s honeyed words, Inoke was persuaded, though he swore that he would not fight his friends, and Prayzose agreed to his condition.

Eventually, the conflict between our heroes and the Arrows of Law came to a head. In deadly combat, the party managed to defeat all of the Arrows, slaying and soul binding most of them (though they could not manage to soul bind Prayzose). Inoke, who had not yet been installed as the seventh Arrow, managed to escape in the end. In the finale of the conflict, Prayzose gated in his god, Galador Himself, to fight against the fierce forces that the party had brought to bear (including Tiamat, on loan from Lucifer). But our heroes, prompted by the so-called “New Gods” of Cydra (who were actually old gods from a previous multiverse that had been devoured by a terrible entity called Tharizdun), were waiting for just that- and gated in a god of their own: Vandreu, with his black sword and black shield. Vandreu and Galador began to battle mercilessly, and Vandreu warned our heroes to flee from the divine forces being unleashed. They did so, but had managed to destroy the Bastion of Law, which was the fortress that metaphorically represented Law, kill all of the Arrows and call down the wrath of Vandreu on Galador. It was as complete of a victory as they could hope for.

Amongst the loot they found were both Prayzose’s crown and the rod of the Dark Emperor- a symbol of authority over the Dark Empire of Strogass. Our heroes have long put the idea that he should become the Forinthian Emperor into the head of Thrush, one of their number, the foremost swordsman of their age; and now that Prayzose is dead, he is ready to move forward with that ambition. When the loot was split, Dorn Wankerman, Xaositecht and cohort of Gerontius, took the rod of the Dark Emperor, and it has kindled the idea in his mind that he, too, could rule an empire. And who could stop him? For our heroes are now the most powerful people on all of Cydra.

Yet they still have enemies. What political rivals or military problems they might face due to the imperial ambitions of Thrush and Wankerman are, as yet, unknown; but they have unfinished business with the King of Bile and the Queen of Guts at Bile Mountain, and they know that two more Angels of the Apocalypse have ‘come through’ to Cydra from the ashes of the old multiverse.

And there are other threats, too, that they do not yet comprehend- from an underwater island of horrors to the far-flung plan of Lucifer that relies on major victories for the demons invading the Nine Hells to the void disciples at the bottom of the multiverse....

 

[the Jester]

Dramatis Personae

Who are our heroes?

It’s a question we may as well start answering early on, as we’ll need to answer it some time. And it’s sometimes, somewhat ambiguous what makes a “hero”, but these are our heroes- our party of adventurers, our pcs and allies- and let’s leave it at that, shall we?

They are not all famous in all the same places, or for all the same things, but they’re all famous in their own arenas. They are none of them to be underestimated. They are slayers of beings of god-like power, enders of empires, names that will be remembered for thousands of years.

For those of you that would just like names and a brief idea of class and level, think 23rd-30th level. And I try to make the class pretty clear right away. The names are bolded; if the background bores you, just skip it.

Let’s start with the two who would be emperors.

Thrush, the foremost of swordsman of his age, is a fighter, pure and simple and deadly. He could probably kill an entire army single-handedly with that greatsword of his. He isn’t all that bright, but he figures that an emperor is as smart as all of his advisors put together. Thrush was an army man first, in the Forinthian army, and later an adventurer on the island of Pesh. But his adventures there led his party and him into Bile Mountain. They were skilled and savvy enough to win their way past monsters, traps and tricks to the top; but once there, they were trapped. The party fought the Bile Lords at first, but when they realized that the Bile Lords were trapped there, too, Thrush elected to surrender at the last, after his allies were dead, and agreed to work for the Bile Lords. About a decade later, when our heroes were making their own forays into Bile Mountain, they, too, won their way to the top level. Thrush served as an example, a warning and a bodyguard- but the Bile Lords did not anticipate the man’s need for companionship. Sybele seduced him, and has been with him (loosely, for she is a slut) ever since. Together, the party figured a way out of Bile Mountain, defeated the Bile Lords and have traveled together ever since. Recently, some of the party’s other members have put the idea in his head that he should become the next emperor of Forinthia, and he has decided that sounds pretty good! Thrush is an npc straight-up fighter who is permanently enlarged (a common theme in the party).

Dorn Wankerman came into the party as the cohort of one of the pcs, Gerontius. He’s a member of the faction called the Xaositechts, out of the planar city of Sigil. Wankerman is a most impressive figure, being permanently enlarged. He has focused on a combination of spear-related and charge-related feats and abilities, plus the Xaositecht prestige class from the Planar Handbook. Wankerman also has the Bullywug Breakdance homebrewed tactical feat. Since one of his treasure picks from the fight with the Arrows of Law was the rod of the Dark Emperor, he has decided to make a play for the throne of the Dark Empire of far-off Strogass.

The interesting thing about both would-be emperors is that they are npcs, and that both of their attempts at becoming emperors were instigated by pcs.

Then we have Horbin the MFKG Holy, an epic cleric who has recently become the Bishop of Western Dorhaus and gone into semi-retirement. However, as he is headquartered in the Halls of Healing in the city of Var, where our heroes spend a great deal of time, there is no doubt that we’ll be seeing a lot of him. Horbin’s adventuring history goes far back, to a party of orcs from Valonia that traveled all the way to Dorhaus by accident, where they briefly tickled the Temple of Elemental Evil for a brief period. These early encounters were formative for Horbin, as he would later oppose the Temple of Elemental Evil again when nigh-epic. He also traveled on a ship of strange, mechanical design; it was covered by mechanical insects as big as a small dog, but they were inactive. Until, that is, Horbin and his companions accidentally reactivated them. They ended up fleeing the metal ship as it sank into the ocean to begin some strange kind of transformation. A few years later, Horbin met up with the original members of the current party and joined forces for, among other things, their first foray into Bile Mountain. During this period, the party had several clashes with forces of Law, during which it was made crystal clear that Horbin’s clerical powers would not function against Galadorians. Eventually, the party overthrew and destroyed the Temple of Elemental Evil and collapsed its foul elemental nodes, hopefully forever.

Baron Lillamere of House Drelvin is the nephew of an old, and now dead, party member, Drelvin the Archer. Lillamere is a sorcerer and a baron; as such, he is taking levels in an epic prestige class I am creating for him called the eldritch liege. Originally, he, Inoke, Veil (another recently-deceased character eaten by artifact possession) and Gerontius were a band of high-level adventurers that came into contact with the rest of our heroes during a battle against giants in the ruins of a city on Dorhaus near where Lillamere’s fief, Brelana, now is. The two parties joined forces, and it’s been excellent going ever since. In addition to sorcerer levels, Lillamere has taken the argent savant route, specializing in force spells.

The other from Lillamere’s old party that remains with the current group include Gerontius, a halfling rogue/invisible blade mean guy with a dagger. Thanks to the touch of Chaos, Gerontius has the air subtype and can fly, and he also speaks in an outrageous French accent because of Chaos. Ahh, Chaos. His skin and hair and eyes are paler than any normal halfling’s, shading to blue. Gerontius is probably the best person alive on Cydra with a dagger, and his skill at bluffing is so incredible that he can probably succeed at lying to many gods. Gerontius has recently made it a point to champion the halflings of Valonia, who are under siege by the Valonian orcs allied with Law.

Inoke, a warmind who began as a psychic warrior and used to be a barbarian as well (before he shifted to Lawful alignment) was a party member until recently, but his defection to the Arrows of Law and the final battle with the Arrows has left the rest of the party disenchanted with Inoke. They are not yet certain as to his disposition after the finale of the fight with the Arrows. Inoke is big and burly, vaguely Samoan in appearance (he’s from the Parrot Isles). He wears a strange, cat-shaped helm that is a relic of the ancient Miloxi Empire, an empire of tabaxi (cat-people). Inoke is incredibly formidable; the “Inoke Special” (which is a charge benefiting from psionic lion’s charge with all of Inoke’s special attack po0wers in full swing) was sufficient to kill Asmodeus himself in a single round of melee! Now his fate and his future are unknown. Will we see more of Inoke, or is he dead already? Well, I took the time to write a paragraph about him, so that should tell you something, anyway.

Sybele is a “big girl”- a warrior of chaos/fighter/psion who has grown to large size via Chaos’ powers. She was blonde and buxom when she was normal-sized; now that she has grown, her bust has become truly tremendous. She is a burly warrior, favoring both a humungous greatsword and a bow almost as tall as herself. However, she is also quite a lover. She originally adventured on Tirchond, fighting with the revolutionaries against Forinthian occupation. She has been with the current party since it formed before their first trip to Bile Mountain, fought Asmodeus and the Arrows of Law, had a daughter who was threatened with death by Marius when she attacked the Arrows, and is the consort of Thrush, though not a very faithful one. Whenever he is not present, Sybele is rubbing up against someone else- probably a very dangerous thing to do, as Thrush is both jealous and short-tempered. However, he seems to see no wrong in Sybele no matter what she does. She has three kids- Jezebel, the half-dragon child she was given by the steel dragon Kel, and a pair of twins by Thrush. The touch of Chaos has affected her in odd ways- for example, she cannot remember peoples’ names, even her own.

Recently, the party has been joined by a half-slaad wilder named Jibber Junior. He is the progeny of Jibber, a singing slaad that the party encountered just before their first trip to Bile Mountain. As an anarchic initiate, JJ (as Jibber Junior is commonly called) was a big fan of the party’s work for Chaos, intentional or not. When the party called for allies to fight the Arrows of Law in a Xaositecht get together in Sigil, he joined them eagerly. He has proven quite useful, though often it seems that only sheer dumb luck saves him from destruction.

Alcar was a cleric/fighter of a heretical sect of Galadorians from Gorel who was elevated to angel status as a reward for a job well done against the menace of the ancient lich E-Krektor and the clockwork horrors. Called the Angel of Food, he had a backpack of infinite food that he would dispense blessings from nearly constantly. However, he subsequently got into trouble with his angelic superiors in the Heavenly Bureaucracy, and his backpack was taken away. He was then sent back to Cydra, where he first met up with several of the members of the party that were later to storm Bile Mountain, including Sybele, while they were guarding the dragon eggs that he had been sent to destroy. In the ensuing standoff, the party managed to stave Alcar off through a combination of their ally Kel, the steel dragon, and diplomacy by Alcar’s old friend Sun Si. Later, Alcar joined the party to attack Bile Mountain, only to die within the place’s dungeons. However, Horbin later brought him back to life with a true resurrection. Alcar’s relationship with the church degenerated over time. From his beginnings as a heretic of Gorel, he was derided as heterodox at best. His temple, periodically besieged by the demon lord Dagon, did not perform the rituals in proper Forinthian, instead using the vernacular. There was edification of fire, rather than the more pure light. And there was the matter of his superiors refusing to allow him to see Galador on demand. Eventually, Alcar foreswore his service to Galador and took up the mantle of champion of one of the new gods- Bless, the lord of lost causes and hopeless quests. Now his white and gold have been traded in for the grey of his new god.

Lester, the Elementalist, head of the Temple of Elemental Good, the Angel of Adventure, is an elementalist/warrior of chaos with a smattering of prestige class dips, including divine oracle, contemplative, and paraelementalist. (Elementalist is a homebrewed Cydran base class.) With his gills and bat wings, he clearly shows the mark of Chaos. More importantly, he is trying to become a god: the god of adventure and adventurers. And his pedigree as an adventurer is pretty darn good: among other things, he has fought the Angel of the Apocalypse Fuligin, who depopulated Dorhaus for over a century; traveled back in time to a previous multiverse; destroyed Felenga, the Dark One, a second Angel of the Apocalypse; overcome the Tomb of Horrors, and followed Acererak’s twisted path all the way to the Fortress of Conclusion (well, or at least been returned to life near the end of it); thrown down the Temple of Elemental Evil, not once, but twice; killed Imix, the Prince of Evil Elemental Fire creatures; slain Asmodeus, Lord of Hell; and overthrown Law itself to win the Great War of Ethics for Chaos! Oh, sure, it wasn’t all him by himself, but whatever. Swarthy, currently wearing his hair in cornrows, wearing dark-tinted spectacles, Lester is the epitome of cool... and of adventure.

Orbius, the Eye of Boccob, is Lester’s cohort: a diviner/divine oracle. He met Lester years ago on a pirate ship (rumor has it that one day, there may be a story hour post about this) and has accompanied him loyally ever since. Orbius is a compelling argument as to why diviners should require two opposed schools, just like everyone else: yeah, they need to invest time and money in divinations first, but the party is devastating effective, because they know everything there is to know about their enemies, their lairs, their situations and (if they want to) their love lives.

Blazier, another member of the Xaositecht faction (if not prestige class) is another recent addition, joining the party at about the same time as JJ. He is a sorcerer/metamagician and a gnome. He feels that Horbin sold out when he accepted the position of Bishop of West Dorhaus, which is ironic, since Blaze is the replacement pc for Horbin, since he’s semi-retired (or at least, trying to be).

Chakar is a monk on the path to personal perfection. There are times when he is uncertain as to which path to take (as when his monk status and his dwarven nature were conflicted over whether to drink beer), but on the whole, he has found and followed his path. Chakar has been tutored by the Perfect Master Pan Lo, and has begun taking levels in the Perfect Master epic prestige class that I crafted for him.

The party has many other allies, including Mabrack the storm giant wizard, but for now, those are the party and most closely associated npcs. And that’s it for the introductory stuff- the next post should be an actual story hour update. (Hopefully later tonight!)

 

[the Jester]

After the Great Conflicts

Gorel is a tropical island, almost entirely covered by thick jungle. On the coast, there is a place where a temple is built on an uprising above the sea. This temple- to Galador- is not along the lines of most Galadorian temples. There are no idols. There are fire pits. Some exploration might reveal other small things that all add up to one conclusion.

Heretics.

These aren’t orthodox Galadorians, oh no. Well, it depends on who you ask; if you ask Alcar- the sect’s founder- he will tell you that, in a commune, he asked if he was a heretic, and he was told “no”.

But if you ask an inquisitor about things like that, they will shrug and point out that intermediaries are speaking for Galador, so in questions that require judgment, the answer may not always strictly speaking be as Galador Himself would answer it.

To which Alcar might reply that men who think they know God’s mind better than the angels that actually talk to Him ought to shut the hell up before he fire storms them. Because Alcar is kind of like that. Talk too much smack about his people and he will throw down.

Or, on the other hand, threaten his temple- say, by infesting the waters with demonic influence (perhaps by being a demon prince with lots of demon servants)- and you are likely to get him to throw down.

Dagon has long been an adversary to Alcar and his temple. In his absence- while he has been adventuring with the rest of the party- Dagon, demon prince of water, has moved in next door (so to speak) to the temple. And water demons- Probably hezrou, thinks Alcar- have been causing problems.

Well, no demon prince can stand long against the party that took down the Arrows of Law. It is almost anticlimactic; the party storms the watery lair of Dagon, and the demon falls in mere moments. Lester and Orbius together tear the material form of Dagon apart with their incredible magical prowess. The hezrou and other lackey monsters are incinerated by a meteor swarm.

It is amazing to realize that taking out a demon prince has become a routine sort of affair for our heroes, but thinking back on it, there have been multiple other instances like this. They once randomly decided to track down and kill Lithos, the legendary black dragon of the Swamp of Lithos. And there was the time they killed the pit fiend of the Stinking Pit and rescued the phoenix egg- though, granted, that may not have been the greatest idea in the long run, since it led to Lucifer’s return and the overthrow of Asmodeus. Alcar shakes his head. The important thing is, his people are safe.

The party returns to his temple to tell them what he has done. He also tells them that he has changed gods, and he releases his retainers from his service. “Any who wish to follow my new god are welcome,” he tells them somberly. “But I will not hold it against anyone who wishes to remain a follower of the Light. However...” He hesitates for a moment. “It remains to be seen how tenable of a choice that is,” he says at last.

***

That night, at the Temple of Elemental Good- damaged, but with plenty of intact buildings and places to party- there is, in fact, a party. It’s a celebration, and everyone has a great time. As usual, when Lester is involved, there are groupies. This is not a bad thing, to most of our heroes. A good time is had by all.

While they are there, they meet a traveler, who happened upon the valley that the Temple rests in quite by accident: a tabaxi named Bahgerah. He, apparently, is associated with Hobbes, a tabaxi leader and one of Lester’s old adventuring buddies. After some small talk, Bahgerah expresses an interest in joining the party, at least for a while.

Our heroes shrug. Why not? A quick look-over confirms that he’s not unspeakably evil or anything, and most of them have worked with tabaxi a time or two in the past.

The party continues the next day, and lasts all through the night. The Temple of Elemental Good knows how to throw a bash. There is a huge amount of wine and beer (thank goodness, as Sybele and Thrush are all much larger than normal) (Wankerman doesn’t generally drink), and more than enough food for everyone.

The next morning, most of our heroes return to the town of Var. It is growing, day by day, under the just rulership of God-King Malford the Magnificent. Malford is, of course, liege to Lillamere, and (in theory) lord of all of western and northern Dorhaus. Of course, an empty claim to so many empty miles might well be disputed sometime, but Malford has proven quite able in disputation. One of the favorite haunts of our heroes is a fairly upper-class tavern and inn called the Three Rubies. The Three Rubies is a known hang-out of some of Lester’s adventurer groupies, and for someone as wealthy as the party members all are, the prices are no obstacle. Thrush and Sybele, on the other hand, are nowhere to be seen; they are beginning the political maneuvers necessary to take over the Empire, and Chakar has gone to Belmondo’s Lighthouse, in search of another old ally of the party: Belmondo the Enhanced. Belmondo is a dwarven inventor who specializes in prosthetics, including the strange magical device that functions as a prosthetic for him.

At the lighthouse- a very impressive edifice, with a masterful beacon at the top- Chakar reports over the telepathic link that bonds them, Nothing. He’s not here.

Well, where is he, I wonder, muses Lillamere.

Master Control has him, predicts Alcar. Hold on, I’ll find out. At the bar, he casts commune, and Bless- his new god, lord of lost causes and hopeless quests- answers.

Is Belmondo on the prime material plane? Yes.
Is he under the direct control of Master Control? Yes?
Is he within 100 miles of Dorhaus? No.
1000? Yes.
Do we need protection against radiation? Yes.
Must we pass clockwork horrors to get to where he is? Yes.

Alcar grimaces. I was right, he thinks. Master Control.

He has a few more questions, but the only pertinent one is whether or not they can teleport to somewhere near Belmondo. And the answer is yes.

“We need to rescue him,” Alcar tells the others, reporting what he learned telepathically.

“I agree,” nods Lillamere. “What kind of strategy do we need to use?”

“Shatter,” suggests Alcar.

Blaze pipes up, “I can do that.”

“Good. Cast upon their crystals, it will pretty much take out a horror.” The angel of lost causes grins fiercely. “Let’s get him out of there, wherever ‘there’ is!”

But before our heroes rise to leave, a figure enters. He is wearing fancy livery; it takes our heroes a moment before Orbius tells them telepathically, That’s the garb of a messenger of Kembrin, that fire elemental lord of the crimsonkindl that sent emissaries to us once before.

The messenger approaches, hesitates, and bows. “Hello, great ones,” he intones. “I am here to congratulate you on your victory over your foes, as well as over Pasha Amhari Ifroobil.” He presents a box to them.

“What is this?” demands Blaze. “What’s inside of it?”

“Uh, I don’t know- I am just a messenger,” the lad replies uncertainly.

“He’s not going to mess with us,” Baron Lillamere drawls. Lillamere is a tall, stately elf. Though effete, he is extraordinarily handsome. Sadly, he is slightly gloomy: he and his lover, Hyliss, have just broken up. He looks the box over magically for a few moments. Then he shrugs. “Nothing that I can see that looks dangerous.”

Bahgerah sniffs at it. “No radiation,” he reports.

“You can smell radiation?” exclaims Gerontius. “Zat is a worthwhile talent that you ‘ave. It will probably prove most useful!”

Alcar opens the box. It is full of gems.

“It’s a thank you for taking out that efreeti pasha,” JJ remarks. “Hurray!”

“Weren’t we about to go take care of something important?” yawns Lillamere.

The messenger is abashed.

”Tell your master thanks,” Bahgerah purrs. The messenger nods and leaves.

You guys want to come pick me up before you go? Chakar requests over the link.

I think I’ll join you too, Sybele tells them mentally. It’s pretty boring here- just my honey and a bunch of military guys talking.

Fair enough, answers Gerontius wryly. The more, the merrier.

Next Time: The rescue of Belmondo!

 

[Baron Opal]

Alright. I've been looking forward to this.

 

[Angel of Adventure]

Why does Lester deserve to be God of Adventure?

A selected reading from To War Against Felenga:

Lester never hesitates. He has one big sunlight spell left, and he casts it right between the hovering skull and the Phylactery of the Apotheosis. A sunburst explodes, and for a moment no one can see. There’s a loud crack! and a spray of jagged shrapnel smashes into everyone; and then, when their eyes clear (although Orbius is blinded) they can see that the Phylactery of the Apotheosis has shattered into a million fragments, with many of the largest portions falling into the darkness of the Negative Energy Plane below.

“NOOO!” screams the demilich, but before anyone else can move, the L fires a quickened shatter at the skull. Acererak gives a terrible, high-pitched wail- and the skull explodes in a flare of violet-black energy.

How can you beat that? First the phylactory, then the demilich, all in 1 rd! Worship me!

-AoA

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Cool, can't wait to see where this goes.

 

[Krud]

<claims a seat close to the story teller before the rush>

More epic goodness

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

A selected reading from To War Against Felenga:

Lester never hesitates. He has one big sunlight spell left, and he casts it right between the hovering skull and the Phylactery of the Apotheosis. A sunburst explodes, and for a moment no one can see. There’s a loud crack! and a spray of jagged shrapnel smashes into everyone; and then, when their eyes clear (although Orbius is blinded) they can see that the Phylactery of the Apotheosis has shattered into a million fragments, with many of the largest portions falling into the darkness of the Negative Energy Plane below.

“NOOO!” screams the demilich, but before anyone else can move, the L fires a quickened shatter at the skull. Acererak gives a terrible, high-pitched wail- and the skull explodes in a flare of violet-black energy.

How can you beat that? First the phylactory, then the demilich, all in 1 rd! Worship me!

-AoA

Darn right!

Looking forward to the continued crazy adventures of the highest level party in the land!

 

[the Jester]

Incidentally, anyone who was around and reading my old story hour, with Captain Clambake, Sith, Horbin et. al. is in for a treat next update.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I just wanted to say, I read the whole story hour from Agents of Chaos over the last week. I've enjoyed it a lot, and I can't wait to read more! Excellent work by you and your players!