Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 6d – The Battle Begins

Quintus’ contubernium charged forward, following Roderick val’Tensen’s attack to engage the forces of his father, Adolphos val’Tensen. And just as he feared, Vlad was leading a canton in his direction.

The two forces collided on the battlefield with a clash of steel. The Milandisian cantons presented a thicket of polearms to the longspears of Quintus’ forces. The longer reach sliced through shields and pierced shoulders. Men screamed and cursed, but they pressed forward.

Then they were face to face. Quintus lowered his shield and drew his gladius, only to see Vlad draw Grungronazharr.

“Vlad!”

“Quintus!”

They locked blades halfheartedly.

“You’re fighting for the wrong side!” said Quintus. “Why are you following Adolphos?”

“Me?” Vlad struggled to push him back. Quintus was stronger than he remembered. “I thought you were loyal to the Emperor?”

“The Emperor is mad!”

“Menisis invaded our lands,” said Vlad, gritting his teeth. “You are siding with a conqueror.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” shouted Quintus. “But I will if I must!”

“Likewise,” said Vlad. They shoved off, disengaging.

Vlad pointed and a blast of flames extended from his finger. Quintus muttered a prayer to Illiir that absorbed the attack.

Around them, their men engaged in a bloody conflict, parrying and striking, with neither side gaining the upper hand.

Adolphos and Roderick met in single combat. After an exchange of ferocious blows, Precision went flying out of Adolphos’ hands.

Adolphos fell to his knees. “Do it! What are you waiting for?” he snarled up at his son.

Roderick hesitated, blade raised. “I can’t!” he sobbed, lowering his blade. “You’re still my father!”

Quintus clenched one fist and it glowed with holy flame. He pointed it at Vlad.

The Milandisian held Grungronazharr high and the flames washed harmlessly over him.

The two stood panting before each other, unsure how to proceed.

“You’ve gained new powers since last we met,” said Quintus. “I’m impressed.”

“And your prayers are more powerful than I remember,” said Vlad.

They lifted their weapons to strike again when a tremendous explosion obliterated much of Enpebyn. The blast knocked armies on both sides flat.

Enpebyn’s walls collapsed from the concussive force. Roderick shoved Adolphos aside at the last minute, pinned from the neck down by rubble.

Adolphos picked up Precision. He stalked over to Roderick. “You saved my life. Let me repay you with a quick death.”

“Father…” groaned Roderick.

Adolphos lifted Precision over his head to strike a killing blow, but hesitated as if the sword was held fast in the air.

“What?”

Precision burst into flames, engulfing Adolphos’ hands. He screamed and released the weapon, fleeing the field of battle altogether.

Vlad came up first, sputtering from the dust stirred by the explosion. “What in the hell was that?”

Quintus got to one knee. “An explosion. Blast powder. It must have been buried beneath Enpebyn…”

The rain started. Some of it was soot and rubble. Some of it was body parts.

“Do you see what the Emperor is willing to do?” asked Quintus. “Do you see what folly it is to follow him?”

“For the last time, I’m loyal to my liege, Duke Adolphos val’Tensen,” said Vlad. “I’m following orders just like…” he trailed off, looking past Quintus’ shoulder. “…you.”

Quintus turned around. Out of the hole teemed thousands of ant-like creatures. But they were human-sized and humanoid, scrabbling and darting to and fro with pincers and claws.

“Oh no, that can’t be,” said Quintus.

“Il’Huan!’ said Vlad. “They’ve been breeding!”

Quintus picked up his spear again. “Back to back! Back to back! We must hold together if we are to survive this day!”

Taking Quintus lead, Vlad shouted to his men. “Defend the Coryani! It’s our only chance!”

The Coryani Rebels created a shield formation and the polearms of the Milandisian canton formed a bristling defense as the il’Huan swarmed into Rebel and Loyalist army alike.

Huddled at the front, Vlad grinned at his old friend. “Did I mention I’m glad to see you?”

 

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Part 7a – The Return of Leviathan

Another ship fell to the mighty sea creature, crushed by its many tentacles. The hideous beast’s maw scooped up the survivors and swallowed them whole. As it did so, its eyes crackled with a dark blue energy. Suddenly, a beam burst forth like a lightning bolt toward the tower in the middle of the sea. The tomb of Leviathan absorbed the beam and glowed with a dark blue light.

Kham looked down at the Leviathan Pistol at his belt. It glowed with the same dark blue light.

“Uh…”

“I see it,” said Sebastian. He was holding the Leviathan Bell and Sextant.

“Me too,” said Beldin, who held the Leviathan Hook and Spyglass. “This can’t be good.”

A powerful bolt of energy left the kraken and shot towards the tower, followed by a deafening thunderclap. The tower began shrinking, collapsing in on itself, as the energy surrounding it grew brighter. Suddenly, the Leviathan artifacts were ripped from their grasp. The Pistol, Bell, Hook, and Spyglas floated in the air toward the tower.

“This is bad,” said Kham. “Very bad.”

The tower disappeared, replaced by a ball of dark blue energy about twenty feet across. The ball exploded outward with a blinding flash of light. In its place was a grotesque creature from some twisted nightmare.

Leviathan was an insane amalgamation of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful. A mountain walked or stumbled. The thing of idols, the green, sticky spawn of the stars, had awaked to claim his own. The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of adventurers had done by accident. After vigintillions of years great Leviathan was loose again, and ravening for delight.

There was a glowing mark upon its forehead, five stars over a tentacled skull. The mark of the Full-Fathom Five.

Each of the five artifacts was absorbed into one of the stars on Leviathan’s forehead, and the device glowed with a dark blue light. Then, in a booming voice, the thing telepathically transmitted: COME BEFORE ME NOW.

Ghostlike forms took shape in front of the creature at his command.

“The Full-Fathom Five!” shouted Beldin.

Zoltan’s soul was ripped out of Kham, hurling him up into the air in agony before dashing him once more onto the deck of the Divine Fury. He lay still, unconscious, but none could spare him a glance.

An expression of joy crossed each of their ghostly countenances, except for Cathy, who appeared afraid.

The creature turned to face them.

WELCOME MY CHILDREN. I HAVE RETURNED. YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHOM YOU SERVE. INSTEAD OF RELEASING ME BY SLAYING THE TRAITOR, YOU BICKERED AMONGST YOURSELVES. I WAS FORCED TO RELY ON WEAK-WILLED HUMANS, WHO PLANTED THE SEEDS OF WAR THAT BORE FRUIT ON THE SEA, SO THAT THE SON OF LEVIATHAN COULD FEED ON THEIR FLESH AND I COULD FEED ON THEIR SOULS. IT WAS THESE FOOLS WHO SUCCEDED WHERE YOU DID NOT.

A long, taloned finger, the size of a man was tall, pointed in the direction of the Divine Fury.

AND BY KEEPING THE TOOLS THEY THOUGHT HAD BANISHED ME FOREVER, THEY HAVE ONLY ENSURED MY RETURN. YOU HAVE SERVED MY ENDS BETTER THAN MY FAITHLESS SERVANTS. SOON I WILL ENTER THIS WORLD WITH ALL OF MY STRENGTH AND THEN I WILL MAKE FREEPORT BURN. I WILL LET YOU LIVE TO WITNESS THIS, AS A LAST GIFT FOR BRINGING ME BACK TO THIS PLANE. CADIC CANNOT SAVE YOU.

The creature turned back to its five former followers.

AS FOR YOU, MY FULL-FATHOM FIVE, YOU HAVE FAILED ME UTTERLY, AND FOR THAT YOU WILL SUFFER. I CALL YOU HOME. THERE, YOU WILL KNOW ONLY TORMENT.

One by one, a whirlpool of at the creature’s feet sucked the evil spirits within. All of them begged their former master for mercy as they were drawn slowly to their deaths, except for Ezekial Carthy, who was no longer afraid.

He looked up at the avatar he once worshipped. “Although I shall endure the slow torment you have prepared for me, I deserve it for what I have done. Know this though: you will fail this day, and the mark of the Full-Fathom Five shall be wiped from your brow. We are no longer your slaves. Do now what you will with me, but with my last breath I renounced you, false god, and hope that your end will be a painful one!”

With that, Ezekial Carthy’s spirit disappeared into the whirlpool.

THE TIME OF EXILE IS OVER AT LAST. ON THIS DAY, A NEW GOD WILL RISE. AND I WILL BE WORSHIPPED IN BLOOD.

Kham groggily got to his feet. “What happened?”

“Leviathan’s about to destroy us all,” Sebastian said grimly.

“Oh, good, I was afraid I’d missed something.”

 

[talien]

Crisis in Freeport: Part 7b – The Return of Leviathan

“Fire!” shouted Kham.

The Divine Fury fired all of its cannons. The blast surged into Leviathan’s flesh but the wounds bubbled and sealed.

Sebastian flapped up and around it, a fly annoying a giant. A blast of cold spread from his hands, scouring Leviathan’s head, but the frozen flesh was merely reabsorbed.

Using Cho Sun’s ring, Beldin rode a tidal wave to engage Leviathan. He hacked at its legs, but the thing ignored him.

Flames came next from Sebastian, and again the endless replicating form swallowed up the burnt flesh.

Beldin rose higher on the wave, and this time Leviathan took notice. Tentacles squirmed outwards and snatched him off the wave.

Sebastian threw an orb of acid, and it simply disappeared into Leviathan’s arm with no effect.

Beldin struggled in the tentacles. One tentacle burst the dwarf’s shield into pieces. Another snapped Windcutter in half before his very eyes. Leviathan was toying with him.

“Damn it, Beldin!” shouted Kham. He concentrated, and suddenly he was in Leviathan’s tentacles and Beldin was on the deck of the Divine Fury.

“Wow, you’re even uglier up close.” Kham drew a bead with two pistols. His eyes flashed, and a swarm of crystals burst from his pistols, shredding one of the stars from Leviathan’s head. The avatar recoiled.

The tentacle convulsed, but Kham was already gone, willing himself back to the deck of the Divine Fury.

“Fire at the tattoo,” Kham said to Beldin, who was already skating across the ocean’s surface to engage the avatar. “It’s his weakest point!”

Beldin grabbed his adamantium axe, a backup he carried with him, and wielded it with both hands.

Leviathan reared backwards and a blast of black energy shuddered forth all around it…

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 7c – The Return of Leviathan

“I did it!” shouted Enzo, cavorting on the deck of the longship.

The tcho-tchos had turned on the skohiir, slaughtering them and feasting on their flesh. It was an orgy of violence and celebration at the return of their god.

He watched, ecstatic, as a ring of black energy warped out from Leviathan. “Wait…what’s he doing?”

Enzo watched in horror as the decks of ship after ship collapsed, dead. All throughout the fleet, orcs and elves, Freeporters and tcho-tchos, turned to shriveled husks where they stood.

“But master…” was all Enzo got out before he too collapsed on the deck, dead.

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 7d – The Return of Leviathan

Kham fired again, and another burst of crystals exploded, wiping a second star off the thing. Leviathan turned towards him with purpose.

Beldin sailed up to the thing’s face. With a mighty roar, he hacked down on the star, cutting it right off Leviathan’s head. Tentacles grabbed him once more, encircling Beldin’s entire body such that he couldn’t even move.

Sebastian sailed past and, with one extended fist, strafed the surface of Leviathan’s head. He struck one of the stars and it sizzled off the thing’s flesh.

“One more star left!” shouted Kham. “Come here you big squid!” He was down to his last pistol. There was no Skiz to reload it for him anymore, but then he wasn’t using normal ammunition either. “Come get some!”

Leviathan lifted one huge, dripping claw and SMASHED Kham and the Divine Fury in half.

“NOOO!” shouted Sebastian. With a roar, he clapped both hands together and unleashed a torrent of eldritch energy from the very depths of his black soul.

The final blow dimmed the light emanating from the tattoo on Leviathan’s forehead. It let out an ear-shattering scream of pain. Beldin slipped out of its grasp and fell into the ocean.

The waters nearby began to churn into a powerful whirlpool as an unseen force lifted the creature’s body. It hovered over the swirling waters for a moment, and then it was hurled into the maelstrom. As it fell beneath the waves, it spoke its final words.

DEATH IS ONLY A BEGINNING. I WILL RETURN, CADIC. I ALWAYS RETURN.

Cadic’s voice echoed in Sebastian’s head, one of the few beings left alive on the now too-quite ocean.

“I knew you had it in you. I thank you for taking care of that cur for me. Don’t worry about him returning. If he does, it’ll be well after your time on this plane has ended. You have my thanks. I will grant each of you one boon: you can call on me but once. If I can help you, I will. I bless you all. May the wind be ever at your back and the waters calm before you.”

One ship sailed into view, its crew still alive. It was the Bloody Vengeance.

“Well look what we have here!” shouted Drak Scarbelly from the deck. “An albatross and some fish!”

Sebastian landed on the deck. “Fish?”

Beldin bobbed to the surface. A second later, Kham’s head appeared. He spat out water as Beldin’s ring lifted them both onto the deck.

Kham stretched. “Ouch,” he said. “I think I died there.”

“You did,” said Sebastian.

“Then I guess I know what boon I asked for,” muttered the Altherian.

 

[Shieldhaven]

I'm still only about halfway through the Story Hour, but I wanted to let you know that my girlfriend and I are really, really enjoying it. Keep up the great work!

Haven

 

[talien]

I'm so glad!

We're actually at the end of the campaign. It's been over for two years now, and I've been posting every day for a year to catch up. My current group's story hour is the d20 Modern/Delta Green one (we just finished a four scenario arc this past weekend so there'll be a lot of updates in that thread soon).

I think there's maybe five more updates and then this story hour is complete.

I'm glad to hear you're both enjoying it. Is your girlfriend a gamer as well?

 

[Shieldhaven]

I will definitely check out that SH next. As it happens, I looked down at the author of the RPG.net column I was reading today, and discovered that I had been enjoying your writing for some months now, rather than about a week.

She is - and the King in Yellow is moreover a particular interest of hers. This SH is uniquely calculated to entertain her. =)

Haven

 

[talien]

Too funny, my column on RPG.net is actually about the Modern story hour, so it will make a lot more sense when you read both together.

I'm a big fan of all things King in Yellow/Carcosa too. However, because the KIY was a major foe in the campaign, I swore not to include him in the modern game. I did not say the same thing about Cthulhu, however...

 

[talien]

City Under Siege: Part 8a – Aftermath

General Menisis ran down to the area of collapsed wall and wrapped Roderick in the banner of the Pride of Chendo. In moments, the young man’s eyes fluttered to life.

All around Vlad and Quintus, il’Huan bodies lay motionless. Ichor was splashed everywhere, mixed with human blood. Most of Quintus contubernium and almost all of Vlad’s canton were dead.

Quintus, battered and bloody, limped over to pick up Precision. He handed it to the General.

Menisis smiled but shook his head.

Quintus offered it to Roderick, who turned away, tears in his eyes.

“Then it goes back to the Order of the Blade, I suppose,” said Quintus.

Menisis saw Vlad slowly walking towards him, but he made no move to defend himself. “I have a note for your Emperor. Listen well. It is but this: I am coming for you.”

Vlad nodded. “I’ll pass that along.”

Menisis gave him a curt nod.

The battle was over. Enpebyn had not been taken, but there was little left worth conquering. The il’Huan had evened the odds for both sides. In the end, they had fought and won nothing.

Both armies no longer had the stomach to fight. Mountains of il’Huan bodies were piled high, forming their own sort of hilly terrain on the battlefield. Men who had been slaughtering each other moments before helped their enemies to their feet, just as Vlad and Quintus leaned on each other for support. Such was the way of war.

Vlad and Quintus limped off the battlefield together.

“Now what?” asked Quintus.

“I think I might go back to Freeport.” He smiled. “It’s a shame you don’t visit more often. You’d be surprised by what you can find there.”

Quintus was haggard. “I’d retire to my farm, but I’m afraid I’m not much of a farmer. The crops haven’t been good this year.” He looked out over the battlefield. So many of his friends were dead. “But still, anything is better than this.” He looked hopefully at Vlad. “Have you heard from Ilmarė?”

Vlad shook his head. “I haven’t been back to Freeport since the war. But I’m sure she’s safe. I’ll give her word.”

Quintus shook his head. “Don’t. Perhaps it’s best if she thinks I died.”

Vlad slapped Quintus on the back. “Don’t be so glum, my friend. I think things are going to start to look up for all of us.”