CHRONICLE VAULT 20080327, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Coldeven 2, 595 CY
The steaming Amedio Jungle is an inhospitable place, even for a band of brave heroes. But especially inhospitable considering Argo, Duke, Kong, Drake, Klaus, and Kaspar still needed to penetrate the Ziggurat of Kyuss to learn the dread secrets behind the Wormgod's ascension to godhood thousands of years ago.
Kaspar joined the companions on their return trip to the ruined city of Kuluth-Mar and he took the seventh section of the fabled Rod of Seven Parts as well. The six heroes returned to the ziggurat where they had fought the minions of Kyuss the previous day and decided to search the remaining antechambers of the main room before descending into the natural fissure.
The first chamber was to the north, out of which came the corrupted eladrins previously. As they entered their vision wavered for a moment and they knew that they looked upon a vision like before. This time they were standing in a torture chamber, in which stood two figures. One was Kyuss, handsome and dressed in flowing robes. The other was a strange, six-armed creature that looked as much insect as it did humanoid. Its eyes were hollow sockets and its flesh rotted and festered. Duke recognized the being as a spellweaver - a strange creature capable of great arcane mastery. This was clearly some sort of lich spellweaver, a terrible thought indeed, and it held a jeweled gold box in one of its sets of hands. Kyuss opened the box and removed from inside a writhing green worm. The priest's expression changed to exultation as he looked upon the worm ...
And suddenly the heroes were standing back in the present, looking upon the torture chamber as it stood now - ruined and decrepit. Kong definitely recognized the worm as a Kyuss worm, one of those things that infested spawns of Kyuss. They realized they had just witnessed the man who would become a god first seeing such a terrible thing as that wriggling green worm. It was a sombering thought.
Across the fissure chamber to the south wwas the room where the wormcaller priest and swords of Kyuss emerged from previously. As they stepped into the room a vision washed over them again, and this time they saw Kyuss sitting at a desk in a grand library, the undead spellweaver at his shoulder. The man studied a collection of worn and pitted bronze disks arrayed on the desk before him. The spellweaver pointed to one of the plates, which had runes and markings that seemed to shift in an alien way. Kyuss suddenly gains comprehension ...
And the heroes are left again standing in the room as it existed now. It was clearly a library, but unlike the torture chamber there were still some secrets to be found here. Duke found on several of the shelves jars containing floating worms. The worms were covered in runes, and the dwarf wizard remembered hearing something about these. They were called "knowledge worms" and if you ate them it would dissolve in your brain. But it took a strong constitution to keep the worm from killing you before it imparted its knowledge. Feeling confident, Duke sucked down one of the knowledge worms - and immediately regretted it. It was a glaringly painful procedure, but at the end of a minute or so the worm dissolved in his brain, imparting knowledge.
Nobody else volunteered to eat a knowledge worm, and Duke stuffed the remaining eleven jars into his bag for later study.
The only path left open to the heroes was the fissure, and they decided to descend. They used rope to get down, aided by immovable magical rods carried by Kaspar, and they reached the bottom of the 500 foot shaft. The large chamber at the base of the shaft was covered with a mat of green worms, and as they prepared to blast the swarm with magic a trio of the hunched wormcallers arrived. They caused the wormswarms to lunge at the heroes and used magic to drop everyone but Duke and Kaspar to the ground. Argo squared off against one of the wormcallers while Drake and Klaus took another and Kong took the third. Duke used magic blasts to keep the swarm of worms at bay while Kaspar provided emotional support, not wanting to get taken over by one of the worms.
It was a tough combat, but eventually the swarms crawled into the cracks of the room and the wormcallers collapsed to the ground, defeated. Three halls led out of the room, and they decided to check out the one to the east first. Behind a door was a room lined with religious icons dedicated to Kyuss the Wormgod, complete wityh a beautiful but disturbing fountain carved from black marble. There seemed to be some sort of liquid in the fountain, and Drake was suddenly overcome with a powerful thirst.
He stepped forward to drink and no one stopped him. When he put the water to his lips the magical hold over him snapped and he found in his hands brackish water crawling with digusting Kyuss worms! He spit the water out and managed to help stop Kong from drinking as well. After a moment, everyone's surroundings faded and were replaced by another vision.
This time they had a birds eye view of Kuluth-Mar at its height. The streets were empty, as the thousands of citizens were gathered in a mass in the central plaza surrounding the Spire of Long Shadows. A foul energy welled up from the spire, sweeping outward and killing the living as it passed. Each person that died rose a moment later as a shambling creature, and the heroes were struck the inexplanable feeling that the souls of these poor people were sucked forward and absorbed by the strange black monolith at the top of the spire. A body compsoed of a million writhing worms began to take monstrous shape around the Spire of Long Shadows, its arms raised in triumph. Another moment later and its pose changed to one of rage, and a soul-wrenching cry of fury tore from the undulant face. The massive body of worms shrunk, imploding wit ha horrific wet burst, as the thousands of dead citizens rose up with green worms crawling over their corpses ...
And just like that the heroes were back in the fountain chamber. Duke had heard of such an event happening - a being calls upon the souls of its followers to attain limitless power. This was how Kyuss rose to godhood, but clearly he could not control such an apotheosis - he lost control and seemed to have been trapped in the monolith. A good thing, considering if he had succeeded there would be no limit as to what he could do.
Returning to the previous chamber they went south this time, and were confronted by a veritable sea of wriggling, writhing Kyuss worms. They blanketed a small lake, coating the surface and moving like lichen on the surface. It was a particularly disgusting sight, but they could see branching hallways across the undulating mass.
Utilizing flying spells and sheer strength the six companions reached one of these hallways. They stepped carefully down the corridor, prepared for anything, and opened the door at the end. Inside was an opulent room yet somehow alien, with furniture placed at odd and uncomfortable angles. The walls were decorated with intricate tapestries depicting scenes of carnage and torture in great detail. It was all very disturbing, culminating in the room's single occupant.
The undead spellweaver sat in the middle of the floor in a meditative stance, staring intently at the heroes. Nobody said anything for several moments, when suddenly their minds were filled with the spellweaver speaking to them. It called itself the Harbinger of Worms and demanded to know what prophecies had been fulfilled. Had the Malgarius seed come to fruition? Did the burning comet strike the ground? Did the shadows within shadows rise within the city? Did the volcano erupt?
None of these questions meant anything to heroes, who only looked on in blank amazement. The Harbinger of Worms fell silently after that, staring intently but not making any move. After a moment waiting for something to happen, Kong led the way and they returned down the corridor from whence they came.
When suddenly they were struck by a powerful prismatic spray spell from behind! Nobody suffered grievous wounds, and when they turned around they found the Harbinger of Worms facing them, its six arms weaving arcane spells like a potter works clay. Kong, Drake, Argo, and Kaspar charged forward, facing off against the undead menace in melee while Klaus kept back and shot crossbows. Duke tried to counter the spells of the creature but its arcane power was beyond the dwarf's.
Eventually, after a pitched battle, the Harbinger of Worms was killed. As it collapsed to the ground the room melted away into darkness. A hundred strange and frightening whispers filled the air that seemed to be speaking a hundred languages. But after a moment the voices became one and announced the prophecies of the Age of Worms, visions that appeared before the heroes' eyes ...
... legions of worm-eaten dead rose from soggy graves ...
... an immense and demonic tree exploded into destructive life from the heart of an unfamiliar city ...
... a burning comet lanced down from the heavens to strike a small town in a tremendous, mushroom-shaped cloud of devastation ...
... another city, its town square wreathed in a cloud of black smoke filled with eyes, is held in the grip of shadows that move independently from their source ...
.. a cackling man attaches a clawed and withered hand to the bleed stump of his arm ...
.. a city built in the heart of a volcano suffers tragedy during a partial eruption that sees the collapse of its southeastern quadrant ...
As each event transpired they were accompanied by the crushening sense of certainty that these events had already occurred. The whispering voices spoke of two more prophecies unaccompanied by visions ...
"A tripartite spirit once again becomes one, and at its advice are the mighty undone..."
"On the eve of the Age of Worms, a hero of the pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead ..."
Then only silence, and the vision faded. The heroes recognized many of the things in the vision. The worm-eaten dead were clearly spawns of Kyuss. Duke recognized the giant tree as the physical manifestation of a demon lord named Malgarius. Argo remembered hearing about the comet that destroyed the town of Big Rock that turned out to be a temple called the Fane of Scales. Drake recognized the shadow city as Istivin, a place long held to be cursed and haunted by demonic spirits. Kaspar knew the hand that the man attached to his stump was actually the horrid Hand of Vecna. Klaus remembered the volcano that almost destroyed the city of Cauldron, not too far from the Amedio Jungle to the west.
All of this left the companions with the crushing realization that the Age of Worms was set in motion, and that there weren't many people in the world who knew enough to stop it. As they contemplated their future, the present decided to grab their attention. The entire underground structure began to buckle and shake, and the heroes decided to beat feet towards the exit.
Utilizing flying spells and effects the six companions quickly fled from the underground chambers and out the doors - just in time to see the ziggurat collapse. The power of Kyuss seemed to have been broken over the ruins of Kuluth-Mar as the worms were no longer in sight as well. Somber in their duty, the heroes returned to the Sunshadow and take their next step.
Session Updates
Ha! Bet you thought you'd never see this one, did ya!
XP Recap
13th-level 14,600
12th-level 19,300
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment