Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1387521" data-attributes="member: 9744">chapter 2 Multiple Pants of Demogorgon"HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?" Caleb asked having finished scribbling the writing down on a scrap of parchment."He grew fat and lazy," The dwarven necromancer explained. "He became careless, he had a large Abyssal realm. No one was sure how or what he did to slight Kiaranselee, some say he prevented her from becoming a greater goddess, others say it was something trivial. She struck, almost out of the blue and he did not see it coming. She destroyed him and took over his realm, also managing to wipe out his name.""WE HAVE NOT HEARD OF IT BEFORE. SO HOW DO WE KNOW IT?" Caleb asked, realising that they were mentioning a name that they should not know."Because it is written on their backs." The dwarf shrugged his shoulders. "There is no record of his name. It is known that an Abyssal god of death was killed by Kiaranselee, but no one refers to him by name.""IS KIARANSELEE NOW THE BIG CHEESE IN THE ABYSS?" The earth genasi had some difficulty pronouncing the name of the Drow goddess."No, she's not that big," replied Littleby who was somewhat uncomfortable about discussing his knowledge of Abyssal politics. "After her success, she has not managed to repeat it.""SO DEMOGORGON IS NOT WETTING HIS MULTIPLE PANTS?" Again the earth genasi's rumbling laughter threatened to tear his chair apart and the mephits scampered across the carpet to another part of the room. They started another card game which involved leading fiendish forces in battle. The ooze mephit was easily winning as it was the only one who understood the rules. The mineral mephit refused to play many cards, preferring to hoard them instead. And the earth mephit spent the game staring at the beautiful illustrations on the cards."Probably not, no." Littleby picked up his small, ancient book again and began transcribing it in to his large tome."MULTIPLE PANTS OF DEMOGORGON," Caleb laughter rolled on, like an avalanche down the Dwarven Mountain."Of Splendour," commented Malkir, but Caleb missed the reference."DO WE KNOW HOW SHE DID IT?" The earth genasi had finished laughing and picked himself up from the ruins of his chair."Probably from behind." Andrew commented, but the others were unsure of whether it was meant to be a joke or not."HOW LONG AGO DID HE PERISH?" Caleb asked after sitting in another chair."A long time ago," Littleby looked up briefly from his tome and then continued to copy the illustration. "Probably centuries.""We had a knife that belonged to one of his priests." Serena stated recalling the evil artifact that they'd recovered from an assassin."IF HE PERISHED ALL THAT TIME AGO, WHY DO YOU HAVE THOSE CARVINGS ON YOUR BACK?" Caleb sipped his beer which he'd previously thought was finished, but had somehow refilled itself whilst he was not looking."At the time that we received the scars, we were in possession of this knife." Serena had sat back down again and adjusted her blouse. "It was forged a very long time ago by a priest of Orcus in a vile and despicable manner that I do not wish to go in to at the moment. We were looking for a way to destroy it. One of the things that happened when we were travelling was that we woke up one morning with these scars on our backs.""JUST LIKE THAT?" Caleb asked surprised."Yes, just like that." Serena replied simply."The last time that you told me this story, were you not unconscious for awhile?" The dwarven necromancer was listening to the conversation with half an ear, not that they'd moved on to a subject that he knew a fair amount about."YES, SOMETHING INVOLVING A CAGE? OR PRISON?" Caleb's memory was like writing chiselled in to stone, very good at recalling details but slow to remember."We were imprisoned," the seer stated, remembering the cold, metallic cells on the plane of infinite battle."On Acheron." Malkir said nodding his head. "Full of awful pointless battle." He paused briefly, sifting through his memories. "But I was not there with you.""No," agreed the beautiful seer. "Uh, yes you were." She added quickly recalling that Malkir had been with them when they woke up in the cell after being ambushed by fiendish agents in the city of Tal'Nattan."I was the other Malkir," replied the mystic mysteriously."Sweet Tomeri," the seer exclaimed."I have been there," stated the mystic, a part of him remembering the cold metallic cells. "Apparently with her.""HAS THE OTHER MALKIR STILL GOT THE SCARS?" The earth genasi asked, confused about how many Malkirs there might be."That possibility no longer exists," the mystic replied cryptically."FINE." Caleb decided to abandon the conversation, having lost track of it some time ago. "MOVING ON.""But the point is, you now have those scars." Serena pointed out."DO YOU UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS, AT ALL?" Caleb asked Andrew who'd been sitting quietly, listening to every word."No," he replied."ME EITHER. BUT THERE IS SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS GOING ON THERE?" Caleb looked at Malkir and tried to imagine what the other Malkirs might look like."Yes, it rather points to the fact that said demon lord may not be as dead as everyone thought that he might be." Malkir shifted in his seat, the idea was very unsettling and lingered at the front of his mind."Or that someone is trying to bring him back," the dwarven necromancer chimed in to the conversation."Yes, what also worries me.," added the Seer, thinking about the strange cults on her homeworld."THAT IS WHAT I WAS THINKING," Caleb agreed, unsure of what the seer was talking about."Yes, what also occurs to me is that one of our companions took the knife and left us, not long after we left Acheron." Serena felt a shiver pass down her spine at the thought of the mercenary dwarf, called Max, wielding that evil artifact. He'd fought alongside them on their homeworld. But had been seen in possession of the knife when the Temple of Tomeri in Sigil was attacked. "That dwarf is now working for my step-mother.""IS YOUR STEP-MOTHER IN LEAGUE WITH UH..." The earth genasi scratched his head trying to remember the name which seemed to slip from his thoughts. "FATTY, LAZY, DEAD GOD. IS SHE?""It's possible," the seer sounded very worried. "I'm certainly not ruling it out.""If someone is trying to bring him back, you'd want to find out about it as it was a pretty big thing." The dwarven scholar had finished copying the illustration and put both books away."I THINK THAT'S QUITE WORRYING," Caleb responded to Serena's statement."Oh, yes!" agreed the seer."If he did manage to come back, then he would be very peeved. So maybe... How would you go about finding out?" Littleby asked himself more that anyone else in the room. Annaleese came in to clear the drinks away and the left again."I've just had a rather interesting thought," the mystic piped up."What's that?" asked Serena, glad that the silence had been broken again."Well if you were a bunch of cultists trying to bring back a formerly dead demon prince that everybody largely did not like very much," began Malkir. "You'd be looking for a distraction.""YOU THINK THAT THEY ARE PLANNING A DISTRACTION?" asked Caleb, who completely failed to comprehend what Malkir was referring to."I think that we may already be witnessing it," the mystic replied."WHAT, THE MODRON MARCH?" Realisation finally dawned in the earth genasi's mind, like sunbeams through the clouds. "WELL, HOW DID THEY TRIGGER THE MODRON MARCH?""Oh, I don't know about that but it is an interesting idea." Malkir meditated for awhile trying to analyse the idea from several angles."Unless of course Primus is looking as well." The dwarven scholar had opened the pages of the tome that he'd received from Heiron Lifegiver and was reading over the copied text again. At the end of the writing and drawings that he'd copied from the small, ancient book that was rumoured to be by Acererak, was a single question that was not written in his handwriting. Littleby had discovered that the living tome was able to analyse some of the knowledge written within and would often pose questions. At the end of the text, the question read: What are the Modrons looking for?"PRIMUS IS LOOKING FOR WHAT?" asked Caleb, not quite sure who Primus was."No," corrected Malkir. "The modrons are looking this up.""That's what the modrons are after." The seer agreed."That's why the modrons are off early," Malkir added."They're after Orcus?" Serena said, both shocked ad appalled. "Sweet Tomeri!""DO THE MODRON'S GO THROUGH ORCUS' REALM?" Caleb asked."They go through everywhere," Malkir answered, although he was not sure of their exact route."THEY DON'T GO THROUGH THE WHOLE OF THE ABYSS. PERHAPS ONLY THE TOP LAYER." The earth genasi had visions of the modrons going through every layer of the abyss, but his mind almost shut down trying to count the layers."They have a route." Serena said confidently. "They have a standard route.""Maybe if we follow them we can find out," Littleby joked, but none of the others laughed."I'M SURE THAT SOMEONE ELSE WILL WORK IT OUT," Caleb sat back in his chair and for some reason had a vision of an angry one eyed feline throttling the life out of him. He tried to fight back, but then realised that it was just a day dream. "IF SOMEONE IS TRYING TO BRING BACK AN EVIL GOD OF UNDEATH," began Caleb, trying to clear the memory of the vision from his head. "THEN A GOOD WAY, IT SEEMS TO ME, TO DO IT IS TO SACRIFICE A WHOLE WORLD.""Fields of dead, that sort of thing," Malkir stated emotionlessly."Excuse me," replied Serena shocked and angry. "My step-mother is planning an illithid invasion of my home city.""Yes, there is that too," Malkir stated indifferently, despite the fact that he was from the same city."OR YOUR HOME WORLD," Caleb added."They've already invaded most of the world." Serena sat back in her chair and stared moodily around the room. She could still remember asking her tutor why there were two moons in the sky when the books spoke only of one. Her tutor had replied in a sad voice that the second moon had appeared shortly before the Enemy invaded. Those lucky few who escaped to the hostile Southern continent had found refuge in the mountain spire cities. People cursed the second moon and rarely looked upon in the cities beneath the mountain."THIS OTHER DEITY." Caleb began trying to remember the name of the deity of the Enemy. "MAANZECORIAN. IF I WAS A DARK GOD OF DARK SECRETS - THEN WHO WOULD KNOW THE DARK OF THAT. PROBABLY A GOD OF EVIL AND DARK NASTINESS"."Who do we know is big on undead?" The mystic asked staring at the dwarven scholar."I cannot answer this question. I simply do not know." Littleby shrugged his shoulders. "We could ask Sss'ah'tlaha."A familiar growling voice interrupted the conversation, emanating from Serena's silver amulet. "Haven is under attack."</blockquote>

Verification