the Jester
Legend
Inversion of the Tainted Lands
Meanwhile, about an hour before our heroes destroy the gibbering orb, on the Negative Energy Plane another group of adventurers are making their way to the bottom of the multiverse.
For months, they have been working against a terrible cult devoted to a dead demon prince- Orcus, the erstwhile Lord of the Undead. Once, Orcus was a force to be reckoned with- a rival to mighty Demogorgon himself. But the bloated, ram-headed demon was slain by another entity of comparable power.
No such entity could be simply forgotten, of course.
The cultists of Orcus had crossed this group of adventurers once too often. They had locked themselves in mortal combat as the cultists sought their dead patron’s dreaded Wand, with which to attempt a blasphemous ritual at the bottom of the multiverse. If they succeeded, the cultists would redirect the cosmic levels of energy stirred up in the Negative Energy Plane by the destruction of Acererak the Demilich and his Phylactery of the Apotheosis in order to bring the long-dead demon lord back from oblivion.
The adventurers had come inches from claiming the Wand of Orcus when the head cultist had snatched it from them and fled. Now, they are in hot pursuit. The know where their enemies must go to perform their ritual- the very bottom of the multiverse, the lowest-energy position on the plane of negative energy.
When they transition to it, however, the heroes are shocked.
Normally the plane is placid. Yes, it violently sucks all energy from unprotected visitors; but it is simply trying to maintain its ground state, an even distribution of all energy across the entire Void at its most stable, zero-vibration state, perfect entropy.
Now, though- this time- the entire plane appears to be in turmoil.
Roiling blackness encroaches around the party. The negative energy is violently agitated, seething all around. The very fabric of the plane is a-ripple. Only Thepsa’s ability to adapt herself, and her companions, to the planar environment saves them all from instant annihilation. The planewalker’s eyes widen in shock. Things should not be like this, she thinks. What is happening?
Below them, the Fortress of Conclusion hangs dead black against a dead black background. When the enemy comes forth- creatures of negative energy and shadow- Lady Janis, a knight of the chalice of great renown (and former student, long ago, of Sir Maxwell Norrington) and Toofsy Flapjacks, the halfling barbarian in the party, swoop over to meet them. A brief clash leaves the guardians slain, and the heroes storm the Fortress. In through a great green face, then through the sacked corridors of the place, the five of them rush forward. Kerthrelle, the horizon walker in the group, grips her spear closely. Zarthos, the ardent dilettante, grins madly and whistles softly as the party flies through the fortress. All of them are nervous.
Once, this place had belonged to one of the most powerful undead, anywhere in the planes: Acererak.
***
Meanwhile, perhaps an hour later, on Cydra, our heroes approach the Sargasso of Sludge. It stretches for a considerable distance in all directions. Disgusting sludge clogs the waters below, and fat particles of oily filth rise into the air above it.
“Disgusting,” Alcar snorts, and casts control water. He lowers the water level in a large area, but the sargasso is far larger.
I don’t see any sign of Bile Mountain here, Sybele sends over the link.
You’re right about that, Blaze agrees. Just sludge.
Something is rising into the air. Lillamere gestures. Over there. They’re still a ways off.
I’ve been thinking, Alcar says telepathically. There has always seemed to be some kind of connection between Bile Mountain and the shadow plane. We know we can’t teleport in there, but have we ever tried shadow walking?
We certainly could, Blazier replies, and begins casting a spell. The party transitions to the Plane of Shadow-
An explosion of negative energy floods all around them. “What the hell?” shouts Wankerman in surprise. It is utterly black all around them.
Alcar channels positive energy and manages to hold the encroaching wave of negative energy at bay for the moment. But the fact that the Plane of Shadow is flooding with negative energy is very ominous.
“What could cause this?” wonders Baron Lillamere. “Do you think the Bile Lords did this?”
They have always had ties to the Shadow Plane, Alcar reminds the others telepathically.
The party decides to explore for a time. Only Alcar’s continued channeling stops the negative energy from rushing in over the party, sucking their life from them. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold it back,” he warns his friends. “I think we’d better go back.”
Suddenly the positive energy bubble collapses, and the wave of negative energy cascades in over our heroes, draining their life and vitality at a prodigious rate! There is no time to do anything else; Blaze ends the shadow walk, and the party phases back into the material world, above the Sargasso of Sludge.
Several of the heroes have foresight spells running. Suddenly they begin to scream DANGER louder than they ever have- a nonspecific danger, triggered by- nothing? But coming soon- in a few short minutes.
“Why wait?” JJ laughs, and says, “Follow me!” He opens a shimmering portal to Limbo and dances through. The party follows him, and immediately the sense of impending doom ends.
“The Bile Lords are doing something,” Alcar declares. “Whatever it is, it’s going to take effect soon. We have to stop them!”
“There is a lot of danger coming,” Blaze reminds him.
Alcar shrugs. “We can take them.”
“We need protection,” Lillamere says. Switching to telepathy, he goes on, I know Orbius designed some protective spells. If there were time to find him, we could probably get them from him. Who else knows them?
I do, Alcar replies.
And we can ape them with wishes, limited wishes and miracles, if we have to, Lillamere continues. That’s something, but we need more. We can’t rely on having just one person with the spells. Scrolls, maybe, or something.
We don’t know that the Bile Lords are going to give us the luxury of time to think about it, Gerontius points out.
True. But we’re going off half-cocked. You know what kinds of trouble that causes.
Gerontius only nods.
“We need to be there when whatever it is happens,” Alcar urges the others. “I’m going back. Anyone else who wants to stand with me, come along.”
“What the hell,” Blaze shrugs. “Why not.”
“I’ll go too!” declares Sybele.
They return to the scene, while the others remain in Limbo. They all stay in telepathic contact as the moment of the great danger gets closer and closer.
“Oooh, forget it!” Sybele teleports about a hundred miles away. I don’t know if I’m out of the danger zone or not, but I’ll come back if there’s trouble! she promises.
Meanwhile, Alcar and Lillamere uneasily await- whatever is going to happen.
Now, Lillamere sends. It should happen- now. Whatever it is.
And it does.
Suddenly the ground spasms, almost as if it were gripped by an earthquake. The air ripples with a sickly yellow color and fills with the stink of bile. There is an enormous tearing sound. The air, the water, the earth itself that have already been tainted seem to shudder all around them as the colors of bile run through everything. It is as if the world has suddenly gone all bile. The distant areas that Alcar and Baron Lillamere could see a moment ago that looked untainted have vanished from view. A shuddering sensation of travel shocks through them.
“Oh sh3t!” says Alcar. I think we’ve just transitioned to the demiplane of bile! he announces telepathically.
The only other person on the link is Lillamere.
Quickly, Alcar shuffles out his trump of Lester. It doesn’t seem to work. It is not even cold to the touch, which trumps usually are.
Plane shift? No luck. Shadow walk? No.
All around the two adventurers, the landscape is bile.
Next Time: What now, o mighty adventurers?
Meanwhile, about an hour before our heroes destroy the gibbering orb, on the Negative Energy Plane another group of adventurers are making their way to the bottom of the multiverse.
For months, they have been working against a terrible cult devoted to a dead demon prince- Orcus, the erstwhile Lord of the Undead. Once, Orcus was a force to be reckoned with- a rival to mighty Demogorgon himself. But the bloated, ram-headed demon was slain by another entity of comparable power.
No such entity could be simply forgotten, of course.
The cultists of Orcus had crossed this group of adventurers once too often. They had locked themselves in mortal combat as the cultists sought their dead patron’s dreaded Wand, with which to attempt a blasphemous ritual at the bottom of the multiverse. If they succeeded, the cultists would redirect the cosmic levels of energy stirred up in the Negative Energy Plane by the destruction of Acererak the Demilich and his Phylactery of the Apotheosis in order to bring the long-dead demon lord back from oblivion.
The adventurers had come inches from claiming the Wand of Orcus when the head cultist had snatched it from them and fled. Now, they are in hot pursuit. The know where their enemies must go to perform their ritual- the very bottom of the multiverse, the lowest-energy position on the plane of negative energy.
When they transition to it, however, the heroes are shocked.
Normally the plane is placid. Yes, it violently sucks all energy from unprotected visitors; but it is simply trying to maintain its ground state, an even distribution of all energy across the entire Void at its most stable, zero-vibration state, perfect entropy.
Now, though- this time- the entire plane appears to be in turmoil.
Roiling blackness encroaches around the party. The negative energy is violently agitated, seething all around. The very fabric of the plane is a-ripple. Only Thepsa’s ability to adapt herself, and her companions, to the planar environment saves them all from instant annihilation. The planewalker’s eyes widen in shock. Things should not be like this, she thinks. What is happening?
Below them, the Fortress of Conclusion hangs dead black against a dead black background. When the enemy comes forth- creatures of negative energy and shadow- Lady Janis, a knight of the chalice of great renown (and former student, long ago, of Sir Maxwell Norrington) and Toofsy Flapjacks, the halfling barbarian in the party, swoop over to meet them. A brief clash leaves the guardians slain, and the heroes storm the Fortress. In through a great green face, then through the sacked corridors of the place, the five of them rush forward. Kerthrelle, the horizon walker in the group, grips her spear closely. Zarthos, the ardent dilettante, grins madly and whistles softly as the party flies through the fortress. All of them are nervous.
Once, this place had belonged to one of the most powerful undead, anywhere in the planes: Acererak.
***
Meanwhile, perhaps an hour later, on Cydra, our heroes approach the Sargasso of Sludge. It stretches for a considerable distance in all directions. Disgusting sludge clogs the waters below, and fat particles of oily filth rise into the air above it.
“Disgusting,” Alcar snorts, and casts control water. He lowers the water level in a large area, but the sargasso is far larger.
I don’t see any sign of Bile Mountain here, Sybele sends over the link.
You’re right about that, Blaze agrees. Just sludge.
Something is rising into the air. Lillamere gestures. Over there. They’re still a ways off.
I’ve been thinking, Alcar says telepathically. There has always seemed to be some kind of connection between Bile Mountain and the shadow plane. We know we can’t teleport in there, but have we ever tried shadow walking?
We certainly could, Blazier replies, and begins casting a spell. The party transitions to the Plane of Shadow-
An explosion of negative energy floods all around them. “What the hell?” shouts Wankerman in surprise. It is utterly black all around them.
Alcar channels positive energy and manages to hold the encroaching wave of negative energy at bay for the moment. But the fact that the Plane of Shadow is flooding with negative energy is very ominous.
“What could cause this?” wonders Baron Lillamere. “Do you think the Bile Lords did this?”
They have always had ties to the Shadow Plane, Alcar reminds the others telepathically.
The party decides to explore for a time. Only Alcar’s continued channeling stops the negative energy from rushing in over the party, sucking their life from them. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold it back,” he warns his friends. “I think we’d better go back.”
Suddenly the positive energy bubble collapses, and the wave of negative energy cascades in over our heroes, draining their life and vitality at a prodigious rate! There is no time to do anything else; Blaze ends the shadow walk, and the party phases back into the material world, above the Sargasso of Sludge.
Several of the heroes have foresight spells running. Suddenly they begin to scream DANGER louder than they ever have- a nonspecific danger, triggered by- nothing? But coming soon- in a few short minutes.
“Why wait?” JJ laughs, and says, “Follow me!” He opens a shimmering portal to Limbo and dances through. The party follows him, and immediately the sense of impending doom ends.
“The Bile Lords are doing something,” Alcar declares. “Whatever it is, it’s going to take effect soon. We have to stop them!”
“There is a lot of danger coming,” Blaze reminds him.
Alcar shrugs. “We can take them.”
“We need protection,” Lillamere says. Switching to telepathy, he goes on, I know Orbius designed some protective spells. If there were time to find him, we could probably get them from him. Who else knows them?
I do, Alcar replies.
And we can ape them with wishes, limited wishes and miracles, if we have to, Lillamere continues. That’s something, but we need more. We can’t rely on having just one person with the spells. Scrolls, maybe, or something.
We don’t know that the Bile Lords are going to give us the luxury of time to think about it, Gerontius points out.
True. But we’re going off half-cocked. You know what kinds of trouble that causes.
Gerontius only nods.
“We need to be there when whatever it is happens,” Alcar urges the others. “I’m going back. Anyone else who wants to stand with me, come along.”
“What the hell,” Blaze shrugs. “Why not.”
“I’ll go too!” declares Sybele.
They return to the scene, while the others remain in Limbo. They all stay in telepathic contact as the moment of the great danger gets closer and closer.
“Oooh, forget it!” Sybele teleports about a hundred miles away. I don’t know if I’m out of the danger zone or not, but I’ll come back if there’s trouble! she promises.
Meanwhile, Alcar and Lillamere uneasily await- whatever is going to happen.
Now, Lillamere sends. It should happen- now. Whatever it is.
And it does.
Suddenly the ground spasms, almost as if it were gripped by an earthquake. The air ripples with a sickly yellow color and fills with the stink of bile. There is an enormous tearing sound. The air, the water, the earth itself that have already been tainted seem to shudder all around them as the colors of bile run through everything. It is as if the world has suddenly gone all bile. The distant areas that Alcar and Baron Lillamere could see a moment ago that looked untainted have vanished from view. A shuddering sensation of travel shocks through them.
“Oh sh3t!” says Alcar. I think we’ve just transitioned to the demiplane of bile! he announces telepathically.
The only other person on the link is Lillamere.
Quickly, Alcar shuffles out his trump of Lester. It doesn’t seem to work. It is not even cold to the touch, which trumps usually are.
Plane shift? No luck. Shadow walk? No.
All around the two adventurers, the landscape is bile.
Next Time: What now, o mighty adventurers?
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