Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
Blackballs, they're nasty!
(Epic Cydra) Empires of Chaos
the Jester
Legend
“I have no idea where we are,” admits Baron Lillamere.
The Staff of the Emerald Mage continues to point the way. When he balances it on a fingertip and spins it, it always comes to rest with one end clearly directing them. But this place is nothing like the Darkhold that they have encountered before. There is no deadly grass turning to fire in a courtyard, followed by the illusory bridge and the acid moat, followed by a strange porcelain toilet down which they have previously been flushed. Instead, a series of natural caves, followed by hewn stone, has proved to be their path.
Finally, after another long hallway, the staff leads them to a comfortable sitting room- and Zelman. The emerald-skinned god of illusions glances up from a book as they enter and cocks an eyebrow. “Oh, hello,” he says nonchalantly.
“Hello!” JJ exclaims.
“Wow, I’m glad we found you,” Lillamere declares. “Where are we, anyway? This isn’t Darkhold- is it?”
“Of course it is.” Zelman seems surprised by the question.
“But there was no courtyard, or giant toilet,” Lillamere starts, and Zelman chuckles.
“There are many entrances to Darkhold. It is... malleable. Under the touch of the Master, anyway. You probably just came in an entrance that you didn’t recognize. But- why are you here? Clearly you were seeking me...”
“Yes,” Alcar replies. “We were hoping that you might be able to offer us aid against, or knowledge of, the Angels of the Apocalypse that are here.”
“Also,” Chakar adds, “we encountered a strange figure in yellow outside-before we even entered Darkhold, I think- who seemed to have control over a blackball. Do you know anything about him?”
Zelman looks stricken. “Yellow, you say? Trygar’s Hell!”
“Who is he?” asks Wankerman.
“He probably follows Sariach Entropy, whoever he is,” Zelman says glumly, and proceeds to explain some truly ancient history to our heroes.
In the previous multiverse, the one that has been devoured almost completely by its dark, primordial entity called Tharizdun, the one that Zelman had originated in, in his youth (before he was a god) Zelman’s worse enemy had been Sariach Entropy- Highlord of Yellow Dragonsa and Master of Dissolution. His rivalry with Zelman was unending. They hated each other. Zelman was a hero, a defender of the innocent, a champion of fairness. Entropy was a villain of the worst sort, enslaving the minds of his victims, chaining them inside illusions and distorting their realities until they bent to his every whim. They fought, again and again, and killed each other, again and again.
But Entropy was more than he seemed- much more. His Legion of Entropy consisted of people able to tap into the raw chaos that underlay the multiverse and tamper with it, creating blackening winds, chaotic blasts and even storms of chaos.
“He said his name,” Alcar says suddenly. “The man in yellow- Kale!”
“Kale,” whispers Zelman, stricken again.
“You know him,” Chakar states.
“He was an old friend in the original timeline,” Zelman says. “When Lester and his companions went back into our old multiverse a few decades ago to get what they needed to defeat Fuligin, they created a divergent timeline- one where things happened differently than I remember.”
“But aren’t you from that timeline?” asks JJ.
“No,” Zelman replies. “Look, it gets very complicated, between the divergent timeline, Scytale and the three of us that are Darkhold gods, so don’t worry about it too much.”
“Sounds for the best,” admits Blaze.
The long and the short of it, Zelman tells our heroes, is that Kale was an old ally and friend and a powerful archmage.* But Entropy was known for corrupting those that he got his hands on. If Kale has been turned to the side of Entropy...
“But I don’t understand how he could be here,” Alcar says. “From what I understand, the old multiverse is just dying embers, and there is no connection between there and here.”
“That’s true, as far as I know it,” Zelman answers. “But it’s possible that we have overlooked a very simple- a deadly simple- way around that, all this time.”
“What?” asks Chakar, puzzled.
Zelman taps a rectangular case at his belt. “Trumps,” he says.
They continue to talk for a time, turning the implications of that possibility over and over. Trumps would allow someone with the right card the ability to communicate from one multiverse to another- perhaps even to travel from one to another.
Of course, Zelman doesn’t tell them everything. He mentioned Scytale’s name once, but he does not repeat it or elaborate upon it. If his growing suspicions are true, though, Scytale- a representative of yet another timeline, one that preceded Zelman’s- may have caused more trouble than ever before.
He and his people came back in time to my original time to prevent their advanced Armageddon, the god of illusions thinks. They watched as another one, this time the apocalypse of Tharizdun, swallowed up the world. I think he has gone back to try again- and Boccob only knows what madness he could cause!
But these are not troubles for the party- they have plenty of other things to concern them. For the moment.
***
The party elects, at Zelman’s suggestion, to spend a little time poking around in Darkhold. There are few places that are actually dangerous for people of our heroes’ caliber to explore, but Darkhold is one of them. Indeed, there are mighty monsters within, but nothing that overwhelms the party, by any means. There is a brief petrification at the hands of a blackstone gigant, but that is easily fixed.
Finally, the party exits Darkhold. They make what they expect will be a quick stop at the cave where Kale emerged and poke around a little. Gerontius easily finds a hidden alcove with a gallery of paintings in it- including one of Zelman, as well as a figure in yellow similar to, but somehow distinctly different from, Kale. The paintings are cold to the touch.
“Don’t look at them for too long,” warns Alcar. “If they are trump paintings, you might contact someone we shouldn’t.”
“Well, we certainly shouldn’t leave them here,” Lillamere argues.
“What if the subjects can look out of the paintings?” asks Chakar.
“Possible,” concedes Alcar, “but I don’t really know enough about them.”
After some debate, the party decides to attempt to use the painting of Zelman- and they succeed, much to everyone’s surprise (including the Emerald Mage’s!). When they explain what they have found, the god immediately requests that they turn the paintings over to him, and after a small amount of debate, they agree.
Zelman breathes more easily- he certainly didn’t want something like that in the wrong hands!
Our heroes, meanwhile, start to discuss their next step- only to be interrupted by a sending that abruptly reaches Alcar.
Help! Bile Lords expanding grip, doing something terrible to the sea. I am Shethra the evoker, the town of Angelfire is already gone. At Hillfar.
He stiffens. “Let’s go.”
Next Time: Beyond Bile Mountain!
*In the 1st edition sense, not the 3rd edition or 4th edition sense.
The Staff of the Emerald Mage continues to point the way. When he balances it on a fingertip and spins it, it always comes to rest with one end clearly directing them. But this place is nothing like the Darkhold that they have encountered before. There is no deadly grass turning to fire in a courtyard, followed by the illusory bridge and the acid moat, followed by a strange porcelain toilet down which they have previously been flushed. Instead, a series of natural caves, followed by hewn stone, has proved to be their path.
Finally, after another long hallway, the staff leads them to a comfortable sitting room- and Zelman. The emerald-skinned god of illusions glances up from a book as they enter and cocks an eyebrow. “Oh, hello,” he says nonchalantly.
“Hello!” JJ exclaims.
“Wow, I’m glad we found you,” Lillamere declares. “Where are we, anyway? This isn’t Darkhold- is it?”
“Of course it is.” Zelman seems surprised by the question.
“But there was no courtyard, or giant toilet,” Lillamere starts, and Zelman chuckles.
“There are many entrances to Darkhold. It is... malleable. Under the touch of the Master, anyway. You probably just came in an entrance that you didn’t recognize. But- why are you here? Clearly you were seeking me...”
“Yes,” Alcar replies. “We were hoping that you might be able to offer us aid against, or knowledge of, the Angels of the Apocalypse that are here.”
“Also,” Chakar adds, “we encountered a strange figure in yellow outside-before we even entered Darkhold, I think- who seemed to have control over a blackball. Do you know anything about him?”
Zelman looks stricken. “Yellow, you say? Trygar’s Hell!”
“Who is he?” asks Wankerman.
“He probably follows Sariach Entropy, whoever he is,” Zelman says glumly, and proceeds to explain some truly ancient history to our heroes.
In the previous multiverse, the one that has been devoured almost completely by its dark, primordial entity called Tharizdun, the one that Zelman had originated in, in his youth (before he was a god) Zelman’s worse enemy had been Sariach Entropy- Highlord of Yellow Dragonsa and Master of Dissolution. His rivalry with Zelman was unending. They hated each other. Zelman was a hero, a defender of the innocent, a champion of fairness. Entropy was a villain of the worst sort, enslaving the minds of his victims, chaining them inside illusions and distorting their realities until they bent to his every whim. They fought, again and again, and killed each other, again and again.
But Entropy was more than he seemed- much more. His Legion of Entropy consisted of people able to tap into the raw chaos that underlay the multiverse and tamper with it, creating blackening winds, chaotic blasts and even storms of chaos.
“He said his name,” Alcar says suddenly. “The man in yellow- Kale!”
“Kale,” whispers Zelman, stricken again.
“You know him,” Chakar states.
“He was an old friend in the original timeline,” Zelman says. “When Lester and his companions went back into our old multiverse a few decades ago to get what they needed to defeat Fuligin, they created a divergent timeline- one where things happened differently than I remember.”
“But aren’t you from that timeline?” asks JJ.
“No,” Zelman replies. “Look, it gets very complicated, between the divergent timeline, Scytale and the three of us that are Darkhold gods, so don’t worry about it too much.”
“Sounds for the best,” admits Blaze.
The long and the short of it, Zelman tells our heroes, is that Kale was an old ally and friend and a powerful archmage.* But Entropy was known for corrupting those that he got his hands on. If Kale has been turned to the side of Entropy...
“But I don’t understand how he could be here,” Alcar says. “From what I understand, the old multiverse is just dying embers, and there is no connection between there and here.”
“That’s true, as far as I know it,” Zelman answers. “But it’s possible that we have overlooked a very simple- a deadly simple- way around that, all this time.”
“What?” asks Chakar, puzzled.
Zelman taps a rectangular case at his belt. “Trumps,” he says.
They continue to talk for a time, turning the implications of that possibility over and over. Trumps would allow someone with the right card the ability to communicate from one multiverse to another- perhaps even to travel from one to another.
Of course, Zelman doesn’t tell them everything. He mentioned Scytale’s name once, but he does not repeat it or elaborate upon it. If his growing suspicions are true, though, Scytale- a representative of yet another timeline, one that preceded Zelman’s- may have caused more trouble than ever before.
He and his people came back in time to my original time to prevent their advanced Armageddon, the god of illusions thinks. They watched as another one, this time the apocalypse of Tharizdun, swallowed up the world. I think he has gone back to try again- and Boccob only knows what madness he could cause!
But these are not troubles for the party- they have plenty of other things to concern them. For the moment.
***
The party elects, at Zelman’s suggestion, to spend a little time poking around in Darkhold. There are few places that are actually dangerous for people of our heroes’ caliber to explore, but Darkhold is one of them. Indeed, there are mighty monsters within, but nothing that overwhelms the party, by any means. There is a brief petrification at the hands of a blackstone gigant, but that is easily fixed.
Finally, the party exits Darkhold. They make what they expect will be a quick stop at the cave where Kale emerged and poke around a little. Gerontius easily finds a hidden alcove with a gallery of paintings in it- including one of Zelman, as well as a figure in yellow similar to, but somehow distinctly different from, Kale. The paintings are cold to the touch.
“Don’t look at them for too long,” warns Alcar. “If they are trump paintings, you might contact someone we shouldn’t.”
“Well, we certainly shouldn’t leave them here,” Lillamere argues.
“What if the subjects can look out of the paintings?” asks Chakar.
“Possible,” concedes Alcar, “but I don’t really know enough about them.”
After some debate, the party decides to attempt to use the painting of Zelman- and they succeed, much to everyone’s surprise (including the Emerald Mage’s!). When they explain what they have found, the god immediately requests that they turn the paintings over to him, and after a small amount of debate, they agree.
Zelman breathes more easily- he certainly didn’t want something like that in the wrong hands!
Our heroes, meanwhile, start to discuss their next step- only to be interrupted by a sending that abruptly reaches Alcar.
Help! Bile Lords expanding grip, doing something terrible to the sea. I am Shethra the evoker, the town of Angelfire is already gone. At Hillfar.
He stiffens. “Let’s go.”
Next Time: Beyond Bile Mountain!
*In the 1st edition sense, not the 3rd edition or 4th edition sense.
the Jester
Legend
Shethra the Evoker is a member of a band of adventurers that has seen better days. “Two of us died, so that the rest of us might live,” she tells our heroes, once they arrive. “Something terrible is happening.”
“Tell us what you saw,” Baron Lillamere asks.
She shudders. “We saw... it was terrible. I-I barely know how to describe it.” She bites her lip. “We decided to call it the Sea of Guts.”
The Queen of Guts must be involved in this, Gerontius sends over the party’s telepathic link.
Shethra continues, “Let me start at the start. About a week ago, a group of five trade ships sailing the Salty Sea, around the northern coast of Pesh near Bile Mountain, found that the water was far fouler than ever before. Strange, ropy lengths of intestine rose from the sea itself and began to crush the vessels. Only one of the ships, made of quick-sailing lightweight wood, escaped to bring the tale to Pesh City, which is where we first heard of it. When we did, we immediately set out to see what they could do about it. But when we reached the area that we are now calling the Sea of Guts, the terrain had changed dramatically from what it should have been. It had been totally reshaped. The northwestern tip of Pesh has been transformed into a place of utter foulness.
“As we started to investigate, the sea heaved and terrible, huge ropes of intestine surfaced, trying to capture the swift vessel that we had hired. We managed to escape, but only by the heroic sacrifice of two of our companions, Bikkarikkapekkapek and Beshtoy. The ship was badly damaged, and a later attack by some sort of dragon destroyed it. Our party escaped onto the land, within the transformed area. This proved toxic and perilous. Strange, unhealthy-looking monsters traveled the landscape, belching bile and poison. We managed to fight our way out of the twisted landscape and rest- but when we woke, we were in it again. It is expanding!
“Quickly, we resumed our flight away from the twisted lands. We met some giant eagles, who helped us move far and fast- which is how we got to Hillfar yesterday.”
She pauses, narrowing her eyes. She gazes at Lillamere. “If adventurers as mighty as us don’t stand a chance against these things,” Shethra says, “then we must call upon the mighty heroes who threw Bile Mountain down once before. We cannot reward you ourselves- we lost most of our gear and all of our money in the shipwreck- but you will be hailed as heroes throughout Pesh. And these are your enemies, are they not? Surely, if they are on the move, they will seek to destroy you in revenge for what you have done to them in the past.” She sighs. “Please, help us. Help our people.”
“Don’t worry,” Alcar declares. “We’ll destroy the Bile Lords- once and for all, this time.”
The party puts their heads together telepathically. First they send out a call to Horbin, but he is tied up performing an important wedding between a pair of Dorhausian nobles. He will not be free for one to two hours. Alas, they decide not to wait. First, they look at a map of the area sketched out by Godishagthra, one of Shethra’s companions.
Our heroes, amazingly enough, are struck momentarily dumb by the map.
“That’s the northwestern tip of Pesh now?” Gerontius finally says.
If the adventurers’ map is accurate, hundreds of miles of the tip of Pesh have been consumed, or subsumed, or corrupted- or something- by the expanding area of bile influence. Instead of a solid plateau, the area has been rotten into a shredded archipelago of islets. A ring of blister-like hills are indicated; according to Godishagthra, they seem to be expanding, marking the edge of the influence. Within the center of the corrupted area, a large vortex of some kind is indicated. Near it, yet separated by a long finger of dissolving land, is a sargasso of sludge. North by northwest, an area is labeled ‘the Spew’; all that Shethra’s companions can tell our heroes about it is that it seems to be spewing out clouds of foulness from the area.
“This is terrible!” Sybele exclaims. “We have to stop those guys in the mountain!”
“Let’s go,” Alcar demands. “Now. Straight to them. Superior teleport.”
“We probably can’t do that,” Baron Lillamere reminds the angel of lost causes. “Bile Mountain has all kinds of wards against teleportation and divination.”
“We can probably teleport outside of it, though,” Wankerman says. “We’ve done that before.”
Lillamere nods. Gather around, he tells the others telepathically. They cluster up, and he superior teleports to the closest possible location to Bile Mountain.
They don’t go anywhere.
“Interesting,” Lillamere says.
I wonder if the whole area is abjured against teleportation, Sybele sends over the link.
“Fine. Then we fly.” Alcar declares. Everyone is already clustered around; he spreads his wings, Lillamere casts a few fly spells and a moment later the group is airborne, speeding along through the sky. Inoke is mounted on his flying harness, one of the strange things that the party found in Darkhold.*
From above, the taint on the land is horribly obvious. The encroaching Blister Hills are disgustingly organic-looking. The land beneath our heroes shifts from green and gold abruptly to sickly yellow-brown and reddish-black. After a few miles they reach the deep rents in the land that have let the terrible Sea of Guts in; the land is tattered like the hem of an old robe, with foul ichors and weird growths pulsing upon it. There is an unwholesome stink that pervades the air, even over a hundred feet up, and it is tinted a smoggy yellow.
Gerontius alerts the others to a speck approaching through the sky. Quickly, the party cloaks itself in illusion, but when the party realizes that the creature flying in their general direction is some kind of dragon- brownish-black in color, with no hind legs, and clearly tainted by bile- they decide to destroy it. JJ opens things up with an electricity wave, but the dragon immediately responds with a sonic breath weapon of terrific potency. Lillamere uses his magical slippers to sidestep the damage, and the party is spread out enough that only a few others are caught by the blast.
Wankerman charges in, stabbing the dragon- whose name, for the record, is Vynj- and it bites him in return. “It’s got immense reach!” Wankerman exclaims. “And watch out, it’s poisonous!”
Boom! A crushing fist of spite smashes down on the startled Vynj, summoned by Baron Lillamere; and then, whizzing in on his new harness with deadly speed, Inoke comes on the scene in his form of doom and unleashes a torrent of attacks that leaves Vynj bloodied!** Sybele follows up with a shot from her bow Cracker, and she brings the toxic dragon closer to defeat.
Then, for no particular reason, Blaze turns to JJ and casts power word: Kill on him!*** JJ is unaffected (and in fact turns the spell back upon Blaze), but responds by creating a chaotic breach that sends his erstwhile ally to Limbo!
Vynj, meanwhile, weathers a stinging full attack from Gerontius, and decides rather abruptly that this whole situation is a losing deal for her. She begins winging her way away from the party, trying to escape, but Sybele’s excellent archery skills land several arrows into it, and it finally stops flying and starts falling. After a long moment, it crashes onto the ground far below. A quick inspection ensures that it isn’t regenerating or anything, and then the party discusses things quickly and telepathically.
Your chaotic breach worked, Lillamere comments to JJ. That means that at least some teleportation or plane shifting abilities will work here.
Hey, you’re right. I didn’t even think about that, JJ responds. Then we should try to superior teleport to the dragon’s hoard!
Not a bad idea, acknowledges Lillamere.
Loot! Sybele chimes in.
The party gathers around Baron Lillamere again. “We shouldn’t get distracted from the true mission here,” Inoke reminds them. “We need to keep the Bile Lords firmly in mind here.”
“We are,” Sybele nods. She beams at him. “Maybe we’ll find some loot that will help us against them!”
Either way, here we go! Baron Lillamere incants his spell, and our heroes appear in a cave with a deep chasm cutting it. On the far side of the chasm- which seems to be about 30’ across- the party can see a pile of treasure.
On the near side, however, are a startled group of fiends.
Those are shator demodands, Alcar tells them. They are from Tartarus; they’re fiends. He does a double take. And their leader is Xorgor the Gorger! He’s a justiciar! Careful, he’s known for taking his prey alive!
Battle erupts.
***
In the swirling chaos of Limbo, Blazier thinks, Hmm, that really didn’t do me any good. Not much point to staying here, either. Might as well go back and help my friends.
Through Sybele’s synesthetic link, Blaze can see the fight and its location. He casts gate and steps through.
“Don’t do that again!” JJ shouts at him in warning.
Meanwhile, Wankerman has bullywug breakdanced all over one of the shators, while Alcar tears into them with destruction spells. Chakar deals punishing blows to the fiends, and Xorgor the Gorger is beaten down shortly after the last of his lackeys. Alcar snorts. “I thought he would be tougher,” the angel comments.
Then our heroes loot!
Vynj’s treasure consisted of 12,440 cp, 50,600 sp, 24,935 gp, 10,330 pp, fifty silver trade bars (10 lbs. each) worth 100 gp each, a silver set of scales, weights and measures (12,000 gp value), a masterwork adamantine falchion, a 7’ tall bronze statue of one of the ex-party members, Angelfire (no doubt made in the town of Angelfire; worth 2,000 gp), a gold chalice set with sapphires and rubies (25,000 gp), an ivory tea setting (as a set, worth 5,000 gp), and several magic items, including some kind of cube, a suit of chain mail, 50 arrows, a scroll containing the divine spells harm, deadly weapon and countermagic, and a pouch holding 10 pinches of some kind of magical powder or dust. There are a number of other items that have been spoiled, tarnished or tainted beyond worth by the nasty infusion of the realm of Bile into this area, as well, but our heroes toss those aside for more desperate scavengers.
We don’t really have time to stop to identify things right now, Chakar opines on the link.
Chakar is right, Inoke agrees.
But where is the mountain? asks Alcar. Where is Bile Mountain?
Nobody has an answer yet. However, after a moment of telepathic silence, someone does have a suggestion. Let’s at least go out of this cave and see where we are, Wankerman says, and the party agrees. Soon, they reach the exit. They appear to be fairly far towards the northern tip of the effect.
“How about the Spew?” suggests Alcar. “That’s where the bile is thickest in the air; I bet that’s where it’s all centered.”
We might as well give it a shot, Blaze says. We don’t have anything better to do.
Our heroes head towards the Spew.
Next Time: Saamskagh the Bile Lord!
*For those of you that read comic books, this looks a lot like the astro-harness of Orion of the New Gods. If you use it to charge, you do double damage. Holy crap, INOKE has this thing!
**Inoke’s attacks with his mace (not counting the tentacle attacks he gets for form of doom) did 536 points of damage to Vynj. Unfortunately, Inoke also fully penetrated Vynj’s various types of DR. Bummer!
***In character reason = follower of chaos. Out of character reason = drunken player.
“Tell us what you saw,” Baron Lillamere asks.
She shudders. “We saw... it was terrible. I-I barely know how to describe it.” She bites her lip. “We decided to call it the Sea of Guts.”
The Queen of Guts must be involved in this, Gerontius sends over the party’s telepathic link.
Shethra continues, “Let me start at the start. About a week ago, a group of five trade ships sailing the Salty Sea, around the northern coast of Pesh near Bile Mountain, found that the water was far fouler than ever before. Strange, ropy lengths of intestine rose from the sea itself and began to crush the vessels. Only one of the ships, made of quick-sailing lightweight wood, escaped to bring the tale to Pesh City, which is where we first heard of it. When we did, we immediately set out to see what they could do about it. But when we reached the area that we are now calling the Sea of Guts, the terrain had changed dramatically from what it should have been. It had been totally reshaped. The northwestern tip of Pesh has been transformed into a place of utter foulness.
“As we started to investigate, the sea heaved and terrible, huge ropes of intestine surfaced, trying to capture the swift vessel that we had hired. We managed to escape, but only by the heroic sacrifice of two of our companions, Bikkarikkapekkapek and Beshtoy. The ship was badly damaged, and a later attack by some sort of dragon destroyed it. Our party escaped onto the land, within the transformed area. This proved toxic and perilous. Strange, unhealthy-looking monsters traveled the landscape, belching bile and poison. We managed to fight our way out of the twisted landscape and rest- but when we woke, we were in it again. It is expanding!
“Quickly, we resumed our flight away from the twisted lands. We met some giant eagles, who helped us move far and fast- which is how we got to Hillfar yesterday.”
She pauses, narrowing her eyes. She gazes at Lillamere. “If adventurers as mighty as us don’t stand a chance against these things,” Shethra says, “then we must call upon the mighty heroes who threw Bile Mountain down once before. We cannot reward you ourselves- we lost most of our gear and all of our money in the shipwreck- but you will be hailed as heroes throughout Pesh. And these are your enemies, are they not? Surely, if they are on the move, they will seek to destroy you in revenge for what you have done to them in the past.” She sighs. “Please, help us. Help our people.”
“Don’t worry,” Alcar declares. “We’ll destroy the Bile Lords- once and for all, this time.”
The party puts their heads together telepathically. First they send out a call to Horbin, but he is tied up performing an important wedding between a pair of Dorhausian nobles. He will not be free for one to two hours. Alas, they decide not to wait. First, they look at a map of the area sketched out by Godishagthra, one of Shethra’s companions.
Our heroes, amazingly enough, are struck momentarily dumb by the map.
“That’s the northwestern tip of Pesh now?” Gerontius finally says.
If the adventurers’ map is accurate, hundreds of miles of the tip of Pesh have been consumed, or subsumed, or corrupted- or something- by the expanding area of bile influence. Instead of a solid plateau, the area has been rotten into a shredded archipelago of islets. A ring of blister-like hills are indicated; according to Godishagthra, they seem to be expanding, marking the edge of the influence. Within the center of the corrupted area, a large vortex of some kind is indicated. Near it, yet separated by a long finger of dissolving land, is a sargasso of sludge. North by northwest, an area is labeled ‘the Spew’; all that Shethra’s companions can tell our heroes about it is that it seems to be spewing out clouds of foulness from the area.
“This is terrible!” Sybele exclaims. “We have to stop those guys in the mountain!”
“Let’s go,” Alcar demands. “Now. Straight to them. Superior teleport.”
“We probably can’t do that,” Baron Lillamere reminds the angel of lost causes. “Bile Mountain has all kinds of wards against teleportation and divination.”
“We can probably teleport outside of it, though,” Wankerman says. “We’ve done that before.”
Lillamere nods. Gather around, he tells the others telepathically. They cluster up, and he superior teleports to the closest possible location to Bile Mountain.
They don’t go anywhere.
“Interesting,” Lillamere says.
I wonder if the whole area is abjured against teleportation, Sybele sends over the link.
“Fine. Then we fly.” Alcar declares. Everyone is already clustered around; he spreads his wings, Lillamere casts a few fly spells and a moment later the group is airborne, speeding along through the sky. Inoke is mounted on his flying harness, one of the strange things that the party found in Darkhold.*
From above, the taint on the land is horribly obvious. The encroaching Blister Hills are disgustingly organic-looking. The land beneath our heroes shifts from green and gold abruptly to sickly yellow-brown and reddish-black. After a few miles they reach the deep rents in the land that have let the terrible Sea of Guts in; the land is tattered like the hem of an old robe, with foul ichors and weird growths pulsing upon it. There is an unwholesome stink that pervades the air, even over a hundred feet up, and it is tinted a smoggy yellow.
Gerontius alerts the others to a speck approaching through the sky. Quickly, the party cloaks itself in illusion, but when the party realizes that the creature flying in their general direction is some kind of dragon- brownish-black in color, with no hind legs, and clearly tainted by bile- they decide to destroy it. JJ opens things up with an electricity wave, but the dragon immediately responds with a sonic breath weapon of terrific potency. Lillamere uses his magical slippers to sidestep the damage, and the party is spread out enough that only a few others are caught by the blast.
Wankerman charges in, stabbing the dragon- whose name, for the record, is Vynj- and it bites him in return. “It’s got immense reach!” Wankerman exclaims. “And watch out, it’s poisonous!”
Boom! A crushing fist of spite smashes down on the startled Vynj, summoned by Baron Lillamere; and then, whizzing in on his new harness with deadly speed, Inoke comes on the scene in his form of doom and unleashes a torrent of attacks that leaves Vynj bloodied!** Sybele follows up with a shot from her bow Cracker, and she brings the toxic dragon closer to defeat.
Then, for no particular reason, Blaze turns to JJ and casts power word: Kill on him!*** JJ is unaffected (and in fact turns the spell back upon Blaze), but responds by creating a chaotic breach that sends his erstwhile ally to Limbo!
Vynj, meanwhile, weathers a stinging full attack from Gerontius, and decides rather abruptly that this whole situation is a losing deal for her. She begins winging her way away from the party, trying to escape, but Sybele’s excellent archery skills land several arrows into it, and it finally stops flying and starts falling. After a long moment, it crashes onto the ground far below. A quick inspection ensures that it isn’t regenerating or anything, and then the party discusses things quickly and telepathically.
Your chaotic breach worked, Lillamere comments to JJ. That means that at least some teleportation or plane shifting abilities will work here.
Hey, you’re right. I didn’t even think about that, JJ responds. Then we should try to superior teleport to the dragon’s hoard!
Not a bad idea, acknowledges Lillamere.
Loot! Sybele chimes in.
The party gathers around Baron Lillamere again. “We shouldn’t get distracted from the true mission here,” Inoke reminds them. “We need to keep the Bile Lords firmly in mind here.”
“We are,” Sybele nods. She beams at him. “Maybe we’ll find some loot that will help us against them!”
Either way, here we go! Baron Lillamere incants his spell, and our heroes appear in a cave with a deep chasm cutting it. On the far side of the chasm- which seems to be about 30’ across- the party can see a pile of treasure.
On the near side, however, are a startled group of fiends.
Those are shator demodands, Alcar tells them. They are from Tartarus; they’re fiends. He does a double take. And their leader is Xorgor the Gorger! He’s a justiciar! Careful, he’s known for taking his prey alive!
Battle erupts.
***
In the swirling chaos of Limbo, Blazier thinks, Hmm, that really didn’t do me any good. Not much point to staying here, either. Might as well go back and help my friends.
Through Sybele’s synesthetic link, Blaze can see the fight and its location. He casts gate and steps through.
“Don’t do that again!” JJ shouts at him in warning.
Meanwhile, Wankerman has bullywug breakdanced all over one of the shators, while Alcar tears into them with destruction spells. Chakar deals punishing blows to the fiends, and Xorgor the Gorger is beaten down shortly after the last of his lackeys. Alcar snorts. “I thought he would be tougher,” the angel comments.
Then our heroes loot!
Vynj’s treasure consisted of 12,440 cp, 50,600 sp, 24,935 gp, 10,330 pp, fifty silver trade bars (10 lbs. each) worth 100 gp each, a silver set of scales, weights and measures (12,000 gp value), a masterwork adamantine falchion, a 7’ tall bronze statue of one of the ex-party members, Angelfire (no doubt made in the town of Angelfire; worth 2,000 gp), a gold chalice set with sapphires and rubies (25,000 gp), an ivory tea setting (as a set, worth 5,000 gp), and several magic items, including some kind of cube, a suit of chain mail, 50 arrows, a scroll containing the divine spells harm, deadly weapon and countermagic, and a pouch holding 10 pinches of some kind of magical powder or dust. There are a number of other items that have been spoiled, tarnished or tainted beyond worth by the nasty infusion of the realm of Bile into this area, as well, but our heroes toss those aside for more desperate scavengers.
We don’t really have time to stop to identify things right now, Chakar opines on the link.
Chakar is right, Inoke agrees.
But where is the mountain? asks Alcar. Where is Bile Mountain?
Nobody has an answer yet. However, after a moment of telepathic silence, someone does have a suggestion. Let’s at least go out of this cave and see where we are, Wankerman says, and the party agrees. Soon, they reach the exit. They appear to be fairly far towards the northern tip of the effect.
“How about the Spew?” suggests Alcar. “That’s where the bile is thickest in the air; I bet that’s where it’s all centered.”
We might as well give it a shot, Blaze says. We don’t have anything better to do.
Our heroes head towards the Spew.
Next Time: Saamskagh the Bile Lord!
*For those of you that read comic books, this looks a lot like the astro-harness of Orion of the New Gods. If you use it to charge, you do double damage. Holy crap, INOKE has this thing!
**Inoke’s attacks with his mace (not counting the tentacle attacks he gets for form of doom) did 536 points of damage to Vynj. Unfortunately, Inoke also fully penetrated Vynj’s various types of DR. Bummer!
***In character reason = follower of chaos. Out of character reason = drunken player.
the Jester
Legend
The air for miles around the Spew is saturated with the foulness of bile. When the party starts to approach, they find themselves entering a thick area permeated by it. The party does what they can to shield themselves, but they can see much less and they are all worried about exposing themselves to that much bile.
I really don’t want to be breathing that, Blaze sends telepathically. The others agree.
I bet that’s where the mountain is, Alcar retorts. I’m going in.
Even if the mountain is in there, we can’t fight if we’re saturated with bile, Lillamere responds. We need to have more of a plan.
“There’s no time,” Alcar says aloud. “Look around. This used to be Pesh. And the effect is growing. We have to stop it.”
He presses forward. The others, reluctantly, follow him- but it soon becomes apparent that the bile will wreak havoc on them if they press too far. They retreat back out.
“All right,” Alcar acknowledges, “maybe we should try somewhere else first.”
The party ascends again and takes a long look around.
Let’s try that whirlpool, suggests Gerontius, pointing. The vortex he indicates is huge- miles and miles across. The party begins flying in that direction, each keeping a wary eye out for trouble. Below them, in the Sea of Guts, unseen lengths of ropy intestines as wide as a roadway churn and loop.
Suddenly, a fireball engulfs the party!
Chakar spins gracefully through the air, evading the flames entirely, and immediately drops towards the surface of the sea below. “Down there!” he shouts, and flies like a bullet at the yellow figure below- a Bile Lord! It is mounted on some sort of great sea beast, but the monk cannot make out exactly what it is.
Then, as Chakar charges in, the beast rears its reptilian head out of the water and snaps at him.
“It’s some kind of sea dinosaur!” exclaims JJ.
The thing rips at Chakar, but the monk keeps coming, bringing his foot solidly into the Bile Lord’s shoulder. Then a blue-white polar ray zaps into the Bile Lord from Blaze, and the creature screams in pain.
“I don’t recognize him,” Sybele calls out. “Hey, we don’t know this one! Look, he seems kinda- younger!”
A cone of cold from Lillamere slaps down at the combatants, and even Chakar is stung by it. “Sorry!” Lillamere calls. “I thought you would evade that!”
Then Wankerman charges in, his spear driving deep into the Bile Lord’s arm and shattering bone. This is followed by Inoke, on his war harness, who slams in and finishes the Bile Lord off and then cleaves onto the mount! It rears its head and bites him back, but he stoically accepts the damage and prepares a reply.
Chakar leaps on it and begins pummeling it, while Blaze unleashes another polar ray and JJ hits it with an energy stun. Wankerman adds a few immensely effective jabs, and then Inoke crushes it with his Mace of Light.
The party spends a moment or two catching their breath. Then they get to looking at the vortex. It is huge, stretching for miles. The Sea of Guts churns sluggishly around a central, frothing point.
“That’s odd,” says Chakar. “There should be a dip in the center, not a rise.”
“It’s not a whirlpool,” Alcar realizes suddenly. “It’s a reverse whirlpool! Look- instead of sucking water down into it, it’s pushing something- I’ll be it’s bile- out!”
He’s right, Lillamere realizes. This could be the central point of everything here! And it is roughly at the center of the bile zone...
It is probably piping the bile in from the demiplane of bile, speculates JJ.
“Maybe we can seal it.” Alcar flies up above the center of the whirlpool and casts a miracle to ape a seal portal.
Slowly, the flow stops.
Our heroes cheer! “Well done!” Gerontius chortles. “Now, what is zat thing coming towards us?” He gestures, and the party turns to look where he indicates.
A bizarre-looking thing, an orb of eyes and mouths blended together in a fleshy monstrosity, is flying through the air at them, closing the distance rapidly. Many of its dozens of eyes orbit it independently. It gibbers incoherently, madly, as ir approaches.
“What the hell is that?” exclaims Wankerman.
“Let us slow it down,” Gerontius declares, and pulls a scroll out. He erects a wall of fire before it, but to no avail: it simply plows right through.
And then, much like a beholder, it begins firing beams of eldritch energy from its eyes- from dozens of them. Lillamere suffers a horrid wilting that almost slays him; he begins shapechanging in order to regain some vitality, but to his dismay his crushing fist of spite fails to penetrate the monster’s spell resistance!
Once again, Gerontius uses a magic device, this time a staff of healing. Some of the damage Lillamere took from the desiccating eye blast heals, but he is still if fairly poor shape. Chakar leaps upon it, pummeling it several times- but it is hardy and tough, and continues to blast at the party! And the orb can fire too many eye rays at once- blasting with disintegrates, disjunctions, greater dispels, harms, chain lightning and much more. It sends out almost endless volleys of terrific magical blasts, and Gerontius scowls.
“We cannot afford to ‘ave me waste any more time healing!” he declares. “Mes amies, I must take to the fight!” Suddenly there are naked, gleaming daggers in his hands, and he tumbles in on one side of the gibbering beast while Wankerman moves to flank on the other side. The two of them unleash a series of attacks so deadly that the thing is literally left in pieces- and it dies.
Think we’re starting to attract attention? Wankerman asks with a telepathic smirk.
The party heads towards the Sargasso of Sludge.
Next Time: The Inversion of the Tainted Lands!
I really don’t want to be breathing that, Blaze sends telepathically. The others agree.
I bet that’s where the mountain is, Alcar retorts. I’m going in.
Even if the mountain is in there, we can’t fight if we’re saturated with bile, Lillamere responds. We need to have more of a plan.
“There’s no time,” Alcar says aloud. “Look around. This used to be Pesh. And the effect is growing. We have to stop it.”
He presses forward. The others, reluctantly, follow him- but it soon becomes apparent that the bile will wreak havoc on them if they press too far. They retreat back out.
“All right,” Alcar acknowledges, “maybe we should try somewhere else first.”
The party ascends again and takes a long look around.
Let’s try that whirlpool, suggests Gerontius, pointing. The vortex he indicates is huge- miles and miles across. The party begins flying in that direction, each keeping a wary eye out for trouble. Below them, in the Sea of Guts, unseen lengths of ropy intestines as wide as a roadway churn and loop.
Suddenly, a fireball engulfs the party!
Chakar spins gracefully through the air, evading the flames entirely, and immediately drops towards the surface of the sea below. “Down there!” he shouts, and flies like a bullet at the yellow figure below- a Bile Lord! It is mounted on some sort of great sea beast, but the monk cannot make out exactly what it is.
Then, as Chakar charges in, the beast rears its reptilian head out of the water and snaps at him.
“It’s some kind of sea dinosaur!” exclaims JJ.
The thing rips at Chakar, but the monk keeps coming, bringing his foot solidly into the Bile Lord’s shoulder. Then a blue-white polar ray zaps into the Bile Lord from Blaze, and the creature screams in pain.
“I don’t recognize him,” Sybele calls out. “Hey, we don’t know this one! Look, he seems kinda- younger!”
A cone of cold from Lillamere slaps down at the combatants, and even Chakar is stung by it. “Sorry!” Lillamere calls. “I thought you would evade that!”
Then Wankerman charges in, his spear driving deep into the Bile Lord’s arm and shattering bone. This is followed by Inoke, on his war harness, who slams in and finishes the Bile Lord off and then cleaves onto the mount! It rears its head and bites him back, but he stoically accepts the damage and prepares a reply.
Chakar leaps on it and begins pummeling it, while Blaze unleashes another polar ray and JJ hits it with an energy stun. Wankerman adds a few immensely effective jabs, and then Inoke crushes it with his Mace of Light.
The party spends a moment or two catching their breath. Then they get to looking at the vortex. It is huge, stretching for miles. The Sea of Guts churns sluggishly around a central, frothing point.
“That’s odd,” says Chakar. “There should be a dip in the center, not a rise.”
“It’s not a whirlpool,” Alcar realizes suddenly. “It’s a reverse whirlpool! Look- instead of sucking water down into it, it’s pushing something- I’ll be it’s bile- out!”
He’s right, Lillamere realizes. This could be the central point of everything here! And it is roughly at the center of the bile zone...
It is probably piping the bile in from the demiplane of bile, speculates JJ.
“Maybe we can seal it.” Alcar flies up above the center of the whirlpool and casts a miracle to ape a seal portal.
Slowly, the flow stops.
Our heroes cheer! “Well done!” Gerontius chortles. “Now, what is zat thing coming towards us?” He gestures, and the party turns to look where he indicates.
A bizarre-looking thing, an orb of eyes and mouths blended together in a fleshy monstrosity, is flying through the air at them, closing the distance rapidly. Many of its dozens of eyes orbit it independently. It gibbers incoherently, madly, as ir approaches.
“What the hell is that?” exclaims Wankerman.
“Let us slow it down,” Gerontius declares, and pulls a scroll out. He erects a wall of fire before it, but to no avail: it simply plows right through.
And then, much like a beholder, it begins firing beams of eldritch energy from its eyes- from dozens of them. Lillamere suffers a horrid wilting that almost slays him; he begins shapechanging in order to regain some vitality, but to his dismay his crushing fist of spite fails to penetrate the monster’s spell resistance!
Once again, Gerontius uses a magic device, this time a staff of healing. Some of the damage Lillamere took from the desiccating eye blast heals, but he is still if fairly poor shape. Chakar leaps upon it, pummeling it several times- but it is hardy and tough, and continues to blast at the party! And the orb can fire too many eye rays at once- blasting with disintegrates, disjunctions, greater dispels, harms, chain lightning and much more. It sends out almost endless volleys of terrific magical blasts, and Gerontius scowls.
“We cannot afford to ‘ave me waste any more time healing!” he declares. “Mes amies, I must take to the fight!” Suddenly there are naked, gleaming daggers in his hands, and he tumbles in on one side of the gibbering beast while Wankerman moves to flank on the other side. The two of them unleash a series of attacks so deadly that the thing is literally left in pieces- and it dies.
Think we’re starting to attract attention? Wankerman asks with a telepathic smirk.
The party heads towards the Sargasso of Sludge.
Next Time: The Inversion of the Tainted Lands!
Mathew_Freeman
First Post
I love superhighlevel stuf like this. 
the Jester
Legend
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
I must agree. Great stuff.I love superhighlevel stuf like this.
the Jester
Legend
I'm glad you guys are liking it.
It won't be too long before the epic is over, however. We have finished it up and tonight will be playing our first full session of the 4e campaign.
Which, of course, means that there will be a new story hour before long...
But I really should at least finish up the halfling story hour first, and be well on my way to the end of this one.
It won't be too long before the epic is over, however. We have finished it up and tonight will be playing our first full session of the 4e campaign.
Which, of course, means that there will be a new story hour before long...
But I really should at least finish up the halfling story hour first, and be well on my way to the end of this one.
the Jester
Legend
This next update will include some bits from a game that I ran at ConQuest in Sacramento a few months ago. A couple of my regular players were involved, and some random con players filled the other seats. It was a fun high-level planar game that I decided to run at the con in order to follow up on one of the threads that the pcs had simply dropped long ago. These are the characters from that group:
Zarthos Martexan- human bard 2/cleric 3/fighter 1/ardent dilettante 10; CN.
Lady Janis of Aris- human human paragon/knight/cleric/knight of the chalice 1/8/1/6; LG.
Toofsy Flapjacks- halfling barbarian 16; CG.*
Thepsa Nissefelph- human wizard/planewalker 9/7; N.
Kerthrelle Trialist- human scout/horizon walker 9/7; NG.
*Observant readers may note that Toofsy is a distant relative of the Flapjacks clan in the halfling story hour.
Zarthos Martexan- human bard 2/cleric 3/fighter 1/ardent dilettante 10; CN.
Lady Janis of Aris- human human paragon/knight/cleric/knight of the chalice 1/8/1/6; LG.
Toofsy Flapjacks- halfling barbarian 16; CG.*
Thepsa Nissefelph- human wizard/planewalker 9/7; N.
Kerthrelle Trialist- human scout/horizon walker 9/7; NG.
*Observant readers may note that Toofsy is a distant relative of the Flapjacks clan in the halfling story hour.
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