8-27 The End Report

General Summary

We come in on the temple at the peak of Mysdia. The tallest peak in Loredas, the highest elevation in the world. The gateway of the gods. A place forged by gods for the creation of gods. The seat of power of the cult responsible for the end of the world. The seat of power of Athrun, who stands on one side of this temple, wings spread wide. On the other side, past rows of massive statues, stand all of you at the entrance to the inner sanctum. Talk back and forth with Collin as Athrun Roll for initiative (+6) The next few things will happen in just a few seconds, but with your pumping adrenaline it will appear almost in slow motion. Athrun closes his wings to reveal an armored soulforged and robed lizardfolk behind them as an aura of magic forms around him. The aura suddenly collapses to the ground with a sonic boom as a wall of swirling grey and purple magic ripples outward. Turn 1 Triple Solo Combo Ephemera 10, Erebus 7, Domination 7, (2+Spin)+Death 10 You feel your souls screaming out for release before the amulets you are wearing start absorbing the magic. They crack and fall to the ground just as they clear out a small space around each of you. Almost each of you. Zulex, having given his amulet to his son, starts to rend apart. For a moment, you see his soul completely separated from his body, both reaching up to the sky before he disintegrates in front of you.   Zulex as you reach your hand up, feeling your body slipping away. In a blink you find that arm looks to belong to that of Alumes and it brushes Zariel’s cheek as she carries his body, flying and dodging shadows all around her. She looks down at you with recognition in her eyes. You can’t hear her, but you can read her lips clearly. “You did it.” Back in the temple, a sphere of black and red shoots into the air from the silhouette that was Zulex’s body, exploding like a firework bathing the sky in swirling corruption, magic falling down like embers that swirl around each of you. Your rings glow an aetherial gold and you each feel power beyond what you have in a long time. There are now 2 aspects that can be tagged for every roll until this runs out.   Hey google, it’s time. The storm of grey and purple magic begins to subside and the first thing you see, bathed in the red light of corruption, are massive wings. The further the storm shrinks away the more you can see the massive draconic body. Athrun the God of Oblivion. He roars as you see three shadows of him split slightly off, each hovering a split second before or after his movements blurring his silhouette. it’s your turn. Turn 2 Auto Consequence (Life Drain) Death AoE 13 (Roll, Takes Mod consequence) Ephemeral Death/Ephemera 10 + Power Drain (1 Per Stress, 2,3,4 For Consequence) — Will usually take a moderate to be healed by Scale during attacks Physical attacks against him have a +4 Warding 5 +14 Armor (Total 19+Roll) Magic Defense 10 13 Physical Stress. X X X X X X X X X X X X X 8 Mental Stress X X X X X X X X 3 Mild 2 2 2 3 Moderate 4 4 4 3 Severe 6 6 Escher gets hit badly during the fight. End Zulex’s buff around the end of the fight. The ritual finishes, Shouldn’t something feel different? No, something is wrong. You can feel it, that tightness in your chest that should be released. You can still feel power radiating off Athrun. Significantly diminished, but certainly still divine. The ritual didn’t work correctly. Maddox blasts whoever is holding the star then bodies anyone necessary and takes Athrun’s godhood. Damage to him shunts away to people in the lower village with the marks on them, and he sacrifices them for power. “My lord, I do this not out of malice or greed. But you have lost your way. This power you were gifted with; it comes from something greater than all of us. It was never meant to preserve things in this perverse state, it is meant to bring all to nothing. I tried to convince you that holding on was futile, but you insist on prolonging the pain of this existence. With you, this island would have been an eternal purgatory, never allowing the Deep to continue its work. But now with so many gods gone and this holy gift, it is done. *Disappears in a flash of light* +++++Athrun sighs and revives everyone (Any deaths say this: In unbroken time, the last thing you remember was the hit you took and this second you are on the floor gasping for air) *As you catch your breath and look up to the motion in the sky, you see the illusion above fading away to reveal a sky like a shattered mirror, the only light coming from the centerpoint of the break, a pristine white moon.* “So much for biding my time and consolidating power, it seems you have forced my hand.” They notice that Zulex is still dead. “His death is beyond my power to undo. It was independent of my actions.” They discuss the plan. Athrun says he only has the power left to reconstruct one of them from the other side of the void. So we need whichever would be more receptive to your ideas.   The Deep is taking in all that this world is. It will be the raw material and context to inform the new world. Nothing will be kept, but whoever becomes part of it willingly will be able to decide how what was taken will inform what comes next. Mercury: Sona, why? How? Nonono this is all wrong, I shouldn’t be here. Why do you blame yourself, this was my fault. I’m the one that meddled in all of this and brought us here. You can’t blame yourself for what might have happened, there’s no way to know. This was going to happen either way, the state of the world could have been even worse, I’m hardly sure that I would have been strong enough to control the deep if I was left alive, maybe it would have fully succeeded by now. Maybe I could have been strong enough, maybe I wouldn’t. But you faced impossible odds and did more than anyone else would have. Sure, you didn’t make the split second decision that you think would have been right, but so did everyone else. At least you tried. And out of everyone else in the world, you’re still doing good. I’m proud of you sis. I forgive you, but you have to forgive yourself. I’m gonna be gone and can’t make up for our mistakes anymore, but you aren’t, so if you feel like you owe something to me, then pay it back by living for both of us. I’ll take all the blame and guilt for us, you work on doing good to pay back what we owe. I think that’s a fair deal. I’m sorry, I don’t have the power to stop this anymore. The deep has ingrained itself too deeply with Legato and this world. I can’t stop it. Maybe I can slow it down.   Athrun: Well the only option we have left is for me to bring you to the deep itself. To where Maddox is. I cannot promise my assistance with my limited power beyond allowing you safe passage.   Escher speech "I felt it, face to face with the Deep and it finally dawned on me. We've been going about this with the wrong mentality. I've wanted so desperately to make a worthwhile sacrifice. That all I've done can be forgiven if it's signed off with my death. But that's what it expects of us, it needs us to give up. It's why the deep has kept spreading, it IS the call of the void, it is our despair. The idea that we have to give everything to win has sent us down the wrong path the entire time. How much better off would we have been if Calliope was here instead of having been wiped off the planet by my sisters as a "noble and necessary sacrifice to stem the tide." How useful would her knowledge and power have been? People everywhere have survived by not giving up on each other. Or us. They need us to keep fighting. Don't let it take anything else from you, from our family. Not one more ounce. No matter what you see, what it does or tells you, don't. give. up."   Paul storms in, “YOUR EMINENCE, THERE ARE SHADOWS APPROACHING FROM DOWN THE MOUNTAIN! IT’S A FLOOD OF THEM! Athrun: If this temple falls, it unanchors existence entirely, even I will not survive. Order everyone to fall back here and defend the entrance at all costs (Someone retrieve Kagrin and his sword). Escher groans and sits up and starts preparing spells, Mercury “well sis? It’s do or die. I think I have enough in me. *family scythe appears in his hand* Can we work together one more time?     ============================BREAK?====================================== +++++You climb onto Athrun’s massive draconic body, easily finding purchase for your boots along the gaps in the scales. As the noise of his wings beating the air to take flight deafen all other sound, you grab on to whatever is near to stabilize yourselves. Moving with incredible speed for his size, you see that he is flying you straight up, towards the moon that grows quickly as you approach.     The horizon now gone, you see the sky has been riddled with the fallout of the battles the gods had faced. Massive grey forms made of humanoid parts float through space. As you near, you see a barrier of gray energy appear across Athrun’s body that starts to fizzle as the sky around you becomes darker. Just as you start to feel a burning on your skin, you see the barrier move from Athrun’s body to each of yours. He throws his wings out wide to stop as each of you continue flying forward; whether carried by magic or momentum you do not know. Sliding past you, stretched out images rush from the world you left behind. Each of them gives you only a short time to look before they reach the moon and pass through its pale light. Karyb and her old allies fighting a giant, then in a temple facing down its leader, a sea with three boats crossing the horizon, heroes storming a lighthouse, thieves at a circus, Frane, Flare, and their allies freeing a flaming spirit from an ancient ruin, Ilier and his allies in battle on the caldera of a volcano, then fleeing from a massive winged Archfiend, Calliope and 3 others battling a coven of hags, and finally Lokir, Revan, Sona, and Legato looking through a strange crack in spacetime through which Tommy Ray Handley is speaking with an older man who Lokir would remember as Jakki, the time keeper. Jakki turns to look directly at all of you and though you can't hear him you can see him get Tommy Ray Handleys attention to look as well. Lokir can hear in his mind Tommy’s voice, though it is also distinctly similar to that of the mindflayer. “That should be enough to connect you to the boundary. Not sure what it’s all for but this is apparently all the help we can give.” The scene slips away past you. The last to speed past are three little pinpricks of light orbiting around each other. In one you see a raid on a villa, the other you see all of you at a harvest festival, and the last you see your wagon climbing the mountain. Just as these are about to pass beyond the pale they suddenly stop in a flash of bright lights. In one Mercury, Sona, Kagrin Escher, and the rest of the cult simultaneously blast away a horde of shadows, in another Opal, Flare, Frane, Tommy Ray Handley, and the Prince charge with a militia against another horde, and finally you see Ulkoria Stonemarrow and Volo enchant a makeshift barricade made from stone coffin lids held up by Raenar Neverember.   Athrun calls after you, “This is as far as I can push, but you carry protection against this realm.” You see Maddox silhouetted before the lunar light as he lifts his hand, a massive crack appears in the moon and light spills out into the three scenes, you see the light mingle with the shadowy hordes in them as their numbers increase. Stepping out suddenly in view, Legato reaches his hand out. Darkness spouts from his shoulders and pours down like massive dark wings, blocking out the moon from your sight “Don’t worry, it’s only a matter of time until the last of it is finished. Lokir, I offer you this final chance to make the right decision, you'll have the chance to get back on the path you started. To be the one to make the final decisions at the end. To make the new world the way it should be. The way you want. You could make a world without strife. One so beautiful and perfect that living here is punishment in comparison, that to end this world would be the more compassionate choice."       +++++Legato to serenade "and my dear sister (in a sarcastic tone) you've changed. Do you think our father would approve of your attempts to tear our family apart? No matter what way you look at it, you belong with us. The deal stands firm. Do you truly believe that you have any hope to succeed here? If the family is so deeply poisoned then you'd be doing the world a service, finishing this job letting me end us all. If the family should stay together, we will forgive you and welcome you with open arms. *Legato spreads his arms and shadows shift out from either side forming into Calliope (wink if asked) and Caprice in the same pose* If you truly believe you are making the righteous decision then you can simply join us in making the new world. Just accept us and we will prove your trust well placed" Fight, each round hear cracking getting louder. Whenever it feels right: *You see Legato say “You Lose” but the actual sound is drowned out by an ear splitting crack. As the moon splits entirely open a terrible blinding light vaporizes Maddox completely. The light pierces through Legato in a hundred places burning through to all of you. As the light begins to consume him and all of you, the last thing you see is a smile on his face. You have dreamed of friends fleetingly reunited, of civilizations rallying against the end, of a desire worth ending the world. The dream is over and you float in oblivion. You will stay here. No thoughts to worry you. No body to feel pain. No emotions to sting your heart. This is it. The end.   They wake up to The Deep. Can't comprehend its form so your brain fills it in. All around you is darkness. No not darkness, at least if it were darkness you could feel like you perceive it it would feel tangible in some way to your mind. All that you see is each other and the figure in front of you; a dark form that resembles Mercury, but drawn by someone blind being told what a human looks like for the first time. Globs of liquidy flesh bubble up from him in bright lights before falling away into nothingness. Mercury: Don’t you get it? You’ve already lost, this is the failure state. Maddox broke the final barrier, and so the world has ended. (Kill) It’s just me and all of you left. And here’s the secret, it didn’t matter what you did. (Kill) You were just being given your last chance to see all of your friends in this world before it went away. (Kill) Even if you were faster you wouldn’t have been able to stop Maddox. (Kill) Even if you saw through his ruse with the star you would have died fighting Athrun instead. (Kill) Even if you found a way around it all, the end was coming because it had to. Ever since that fateful day, this was the only ending possible. (Kill) You have dreamed of friends torn apart, of civilizations brought to ruin, of a desire that ended the world. The dream is over and you float in oblivion. You will stay here. No thoughts to worry you. No body to feel pain. No emotions to sting your heart. This is the end.   Jarlaxle is made up of the same grotesque form as Mercury. Jarlaxle :Why do you persist? Let us imagine a world in which you somehow succeed and bring the world back. (Kill) It’s been torn asunder and overrun with beasts. The people will starve and tear each other apart trying to survive in a blasted wasteland. (Kill) Why do you want that for them? Why do you insist on prolonging their pain when instead we could see a new world made. (Kill) You all are the last ones left, you can be its architects. (Kill) Instead of perpetuating pain and hardship, you can make a place of peace and prosperity. (Kill) But still you insist against the natural order. (Kill) You have dreamed of your friends gone forever, of civilizations that will never stand again, of your failure to stop the end of the world. The dream is over. You float in oblivion. You will stay here. No thoughts to worry you. No body to feel pain. No emotions to sting your heart. The. End.   Legato looks the same as the others. Legato: I understand now. You think you just have to “not give up” don’t you? Such a sentimental idea. (Kill) You’re missing the point. It’s only a matter of time. You can’t win, and I can do this for as long as you keep coming back. (Kill) I have all the time in the world, but each of you are limited. This is my home after all. (Kill) I can do this forever if I have to, while you all struggle over nothing. (Kill) I can kill each of you a million times over as your minds break down. Until all you can remember is the pain. (Kill) But I don’t have to do any of that. It’s that futile. I simply don’t have to do anything. (Kill) (Silence) Suddenly all of you see the Black Book open up, flipping wildly through pages before stopping in the center. A bright flash of light from the pages is broken by a flaming kick straight through the grotesque form of the Legato creature entirely dispelling him. Hands of players rescue them. The hand of Serenade picks Serenade up, but her irises are black and you recognize instantly that, despite it being your body, Calliope’s soul is in it. You look to the side and see a fading away Caprice helping up Brio and Bolero who smiles at you with a small nod before disappearing completely.     Spilling out from behind an imperceivable 4th dimensional wall in front of you is a facsimile of Athrun hardly able to maintain its form. It falls apart into a pile of viscous inky fluid, scales, and sinew. The form slops over itself several times before finally coalescing into a draconic shape with brightly piercing eyes, made of liquidy shadow, globs becoming brighter as they fall off into glowing white pools. (Play as original characters fighting the Deep itself. Only someone buffed or supported by the other characters can hurt the deep, or if the other characters dip their weapons into the pools)   Serenade HP:31 AC:14 SS:15 Phoebe 31 Aoede HP:52 AC:13 SS:15 Diana 52 Darby HP:59 AC:18 SS:14 Peter 59 Galwyn HP:51 AC:21 SS:14 Justin 51 Aoibhintuuli (Eve): HP: 45 AC 16 SS 13 Kait 45 Ezriel HP:30 AC12 SS:15 Collin 30 Taric HP:46 AC:13 SS:13 Kevin 46   17 A gray bearded man appears, devoid of all color, glaring at you with bored eyes that you are sure you can see a hint of anger behind. *Fine, is this what you want? You’ve reached the core of things. The truth is, I have no form. Not in this world anyway, so this is the closest you’ll get. You couldn’t see the real me if you tried. (You feel like he then looks at each of you, but not to this party, somehow to those above you). Only all of you can see the true me. (You feel like he goes back to addressing your current forms) But this here is my final chosen vessel, this is all of me in this world. One final body to finish the job. What do you want to know? Maybe I can make you understand. I decided that I was done with this world. That the next step in the story had to be the end. I will admit that the concept got away from me a bit. Affected by other people both inside and out. I did find myself moved by your actions, but this tale is already in motion. You are all just characters, no real control over what’s already written. Anything you choose to do, happens with my permission. (They must destroy the mini, nothing they do in character works)   Calliope says to Serenade, I wish I could stay, but this has already broken too many rules. The three of you will have to take things from here. Just promise me you’ll take the time to truly live, instead of carrying around the burdens left by the rest of us.   Every person or creature lost to the deep in the last several months finds themselves safely back where they disappeared from. Those dead from other causes, banditry, exposure, monsters, etc, are still gone. All the places that went beyond the pale are returned, but in a disheveled state. Amielos, its walls still standing firm after multiple assaults finds its newly diverse population reinvigorated, leading the restoration efforts. But a unified cause does not fill stomachs, and the fields that fed the people were razed to the ground world over. Famine leads to unrest and conflict that continues to last for years.   Waterdeep and all of its dream residents have suddenly appeared on an uninhabited section of coast on western Alidas. A city of excess already finds it overburdened with resources, both in gold from the newly discovered vault below the city and in food and supplies. All of which the Open Lord Larel Silverhand shares to mitigate the effects of unrest worldwide. Each of the Dragon Heist members are given a generous sum of 15,000 gold as a finders fee as well.   Discuss what each of the characters go to do.   Immediately A Week A month A year