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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3294684" data-attributes="member: 1210">All around the world, cities burn as primal forces of Law and Chaos strain against one another, the pressure building and building.  Surely something will give soon; surely something must snap like a twig.  On Dorhaus, on Pesh, on Valonia, on Forinthia; everywhere- the armies of Law smash against Chaos.  The forces of Chaos threaten to engulf those of Law.  At sea north of Pesh, the great Fleet of Chaos- long since splintered into many smaller fleets- converges on the armored ships and terrible weapons of the Galadorian orcs of Valonia.  On the island of Tirchond, the Shining City roars in the grip of the great conflict.  On faraway Strogass, a claimant to the throne of the Dark Empire makes his gamble as the fractious nobles tear the once-great imperial state to pieces.  To the north a great wave of metal insects colonizes a chain of islands even as the strange elves of the region tap the primal power of Limbo to oppose and destroy them.  Even the Heavens themselves rock with fury, as an immense force of eladrins storms the very gates to the path of enlightenment.  The angels are wroth; they call upon an ancient compact with the very embodiments of Law itself, the modrons, and soon the slopes of Mount Celestia are slick with the blood of celestials.The Lower Planes, choked by brimstone, are constantly in the throes of the Blood War, but that ancient conflict- itself only a subset of the Great War of Ethics- is more intense than ever, with the demons of Chaos pouring onto the First Hell, taking advantage of the recent destruction of Bel* in order to make impressive gains.  Yet Bel’s successor (and predecessor) is Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon; and her forces, aided by forces loyal to the other arch-devils, are marshalling and preparing to attack.  Everywhere the battle rages.  Beneath the sea, the sahuagin swim in ordered ranks on Atlantean realms of merfolk and tritons.  In the sky, strange cloud-beings and wispy air-things fight invisible battles miles above the surface of Cydra.  Smoke and flames, blood and death, heroism and villainy pour from both sides; the cries of the wounded and dead stab a dagger in the heart of the world.  Thousands of miles away, mortal demigods overthrow one another and godsblood splashes the flowers.  In Dorhaus, Malford manages to persuade the Valonian orcs that he has dealt with to throw in with him for good, despite the fact that they are spies for Law, and the sudden reversal is a disaster for the Tiger Forces pursuing him.  In the mountains of Tirchond, Borlad Hammerhead, servant of Law, and his father Vulker, the Thane of the Hammerhead Halls, come to blows over where Borlad’s loyalties lie.  In Pesh City, a daring raid by Forinthian rangers captures the head of the local thieves’ guild, Ricky, who has been smuggling weapons to the insurrectionists.  In the Parrot Isles, a pursuing squadron of Imperial Forinthian warships closes on a pirate vessel; on board the vessel, a desperate man bites his lip as he contemplates the bell, book, candle, bowl and knife before him.  Something must snap soon.***Brelana, DorhausBaron Lillamere of Brelana himself is in thick of the fight.  The greater anticipate teleport spell that he is wearing might give them the edge that they need, he reflects.  The spell works by delaying an incoming teleporter by a few seconds and alerting the spell’s target to the number and size of incoming teleporters.  In this case, Lillamere doesn’t even want to think about it.  One of them is big.  It must be Dekrasode, the baron realizes.  His stomach gives a lurch.  This is bad news.  We have to destroy the Judge of Worlds NOW!The Judge is badly battered; our heroes are pouring a constant rain of weapons, fists and spells at it.  But the construct is very, very tough.  Moreover, it is protected by a shield of Law, which slows Wankerman; and then the Judge teleports away, outside of the greater anticipate teleport area.  Our heroes are right behind it.  JJ uses temporal acceleration, and those members of the party who still have the time stop stowaway statuette blur into motion to fast to be seen.  The Judge sees them coming and opens up, firing bursts of lead slugs at them; but Wankerman leaps up with a mighty cry, performing a Bullywug Breakdance** and bringing his longspear crashing down dead center through the Judge of Worlds!There is a bright flare of blue electricity and a loud buzzing sound.  For a moment the Judge spasms in the grip of its own destruction; then- it collapses.Our heroes cheer!  They have slain one of the Arrows of Law!!!And then the incoming teleporters arrive.  Lillamere was right- one of them is Dekrasode.The others are a collection of bad-ass looking half-dragon fire giants: Dekrasode’s brood.The first one is a tall one, measuring over 14’ tall.  He is dressed like an obvious wizard, wearing robes that bear a lightning motif.  Though he does not wear armor, he bears a greatsword that both runs with flames and crackles with electricity.  Next to him is a half-dragon giant in full plate who does not bear any obvious weapons; but suddenly, a blade composed of pure psychic force springs forth from his hand.  The third bears a gigantic greataxe, far bigger than he should be able to wield, holding it like a monkey with practiced ease.  Another one with no armor is next, and though he has a few wands and such, he seems to be set on using his scarlet longsword.  He moves lithely and is obviously quick on his feet.  Another giantess is next, bearing a longspear and dressed in heavy armor heavily festooned with the symbol of Dekrasode.  The final giant is dressed in a manner quite similar to Lester, and bears trinkets and symbols of the elements- and of the paraelements of magma and smoke.“Uh-oh,” says Gerontius.“You said it,” Blaze replies wryly.***Next Time: Our heroes have slain the Judge of Worlds, at least for now!  But can they stand against Dekrasode??*Bel was killed by the characters from the other epic party that my pcs met, fought, teamed up with and killed Asmodeus with in the infamous crossover game that I ran with another dm a while back. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />**This is a tactical feat imc.***Blaze was true rezzed when the party was resting in the temporally accelerated demiplane.</blockquote>

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