Ken (GM): mother of god
Joush M.: It’s been a long trip here to the end of the world
Ken (GM): Did you keep your receipts?
we cant send in a claim without your mileage
Joush M.: Ahh, it’s hard. You get into confusing results when you teleport
-11,000,000 miles
Ken (GM): did you fill out a T-73-b Recursive Relativity Form?
Joush M.: I tried, but it has a smaller T-73-b on it you also have to fill out
Ken (GM): right, and then you fill out the one on that….oh, I see the problem
Fiss, did at least YOU fill out your paperwork?
Fiss: I did. Sent them into the Memesphere, in quantumplicate
Ken (GM): Oh good, that’s got everyone covered then for the next quintillion instances….assuming of course, you remembered to initial the first copy?
Fiss: Natch
Ken (GM): whew
Doc will be in directly; he’s just main-lining some dutch midnight special
Fiss: I’m making a Jesus Hug now.
Just signed up for OT. Monday is going to be a bitch
gotta pay for that custom keyboard somehow
Ken (GM): ah yeah, life handed you lemons and now its time to hoop them all at up ya butt once
ayyy doc!
Doc: ey
P.P. A.: \o
Ken (GM): Well, I got a liter of coffee in me, no food, a bunch of nerds and we’re wearing sunglasses.
HIT IT
muffled explosions
Syviis: [Eeeelfmode]
Doc: human mode
Suðri Skornbrekker connects wires and presses buttons!
Ken (GM) Icy stillness hangs in the air; a light mist over the cooling pool of red blood, the drip of viscera falling from the ceiling quietly goes “plop” occasionally. The clink and tinker of the dwarf’s work in the console is the only other noise now. The fearful battle is behind you. Jadeite dead, IT dead, the wizards each decomposing now…
Gray shakes off the pain and fatigue. The invasion of that parasitic shard of IT had been a new high water mark for pain, a new agony to remember, and his body is still far from healed. The grim giant adjusting his damaged armor and bloodstained surcoat as he checks the others. Making sure they are ready. That they aren’t hurt. He nearly tells them they don’t have to do this. That they could still back out.. but nobody would, and there is nowhere to run.
Volk holds his head, still rocked from the psychic assault of the monstrous appendage. His men dead, the others stranded in the encroaching ur-night. He looks a bit out of his element, but grimly determined to stand with you
Syviis meditates quietly, but looks up from her thoughts to fuss over her friends and Volk
Syviis: “We will win the day. Not because the vile darkness is easy to defeat… but rather, we simply must.” Syviis looks to the bound Elementals and finds a strange kinship with them in this moment….they must be what they are. She and her friends will be victorious because they must be.
Syviis: [Elemental Dorf!]
Suðri Skornbrekker nods, half absorbed in his work—a welcome respite for the horrors; although there is not that much to do, and he seems satisfied as he gets up. HE notices Syviis glancing over to the elementals. “Oh right, so what is it with these? Do we free them? Are they still alive?”
Syviis: “They are powering our flight…but I’d like to see if we can release them once the journey is done.”
Suðri Skornbrekker makes an unhappy grimace and strokes his beard. “Aye; it wouldn’t do us any good to tumble to the ground.” He calls over to them: “My apologies that we must continue to abuse you so, if only for a little while longer.”
Ken (GM) the magical cages tremble with the power of the contained elementals; they see you with alien eyes and nearly human faces.
Gray nods in agreement, looking to the elements then to the others. “They will do their part and we will do ours.”
Ken (GM) With a CLINK Suðri finishes his work, and the portal thrums with power. No Darkness spreads here; it is a shimmering veil of the silvery golden light. Beyond lies the Ansible.
Volk: “Give me a hand up you big bastard” he holds out a bloody and greasy gauntlet to Gray “I’ll see you off if you’ll let me”
Gray reaches out and takes the man’s hand, dragging him up to his feet and nodding down to him, his other hand patting Volk’s shoulder. “Thank you. Without you and your men we couldn’t have gotten this far.”
Volk: “Yeah, I doubt we could have done any better than we did. At least we saved you a gate..” He looks at the mystical portal with a wonder glimmering in his good eye
Suðri Skornbrekker nods. “Without that in as good a condition, we would not be here now.”
Syviis: “Our most difficult part of this quest was finding allies….you and your men stepped up when hundreds of others chose to run or join the darkness.”
Roderick: “Now it is up to us to ensure that it does not go to waste.”
Bomrek: “This had better be the VERY last time I need to deal with any of this wizard shit” (says the dwarf clad in a living elemental creature bonded to his soul and body)
Syviis: “I am very much looking forward to continuing my studies of magic in a library for a long time…”
Gray nods to the others, then firmly in agreement with Roderick as he takes his sword and shield, standing ready beside the gate and whispering to nothing. “One more, Memory. One more ride before we rest.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “I better not be called in my old age to stop ‘Syviis the Mad Sorceress,’ Suðri laughs. Not that I think I could, anyway.”
Gray: “Worse. You will have to bow to the Elf Queen.”
Syviis blushes deeply and laughs
Bomrek: (“moo hoo ha ha”) *racks the slide on the magic rifle
Ken (GM): [through the gate?]
Gray walks though the gate.
Suðri Skornbrekker packs up his weaponry and steps through the gate, taking one last look at the carnage they’re leaving behind.
Syviis readies her arrows and follows her friends
Volk makes the second longest step through a magic portal in his life
Joush M.: And Roderick smashes the controls. “Fuck that, I’m not going.”
Ken (GM): (????)?????.
Doc: rod: “have fun guys”
Syviis: lol
Roderick goes through the portal as if walking through an ordinary door
Suðri Skornbrekker: “…we did not clean up before we left, did we?”
Ken (GM) the world bends and twists; you walk through the gateway and instead of stepping through the other side of the veil, you find yourself materializing in a familiar POP. Suddenly thrust back into existence in a very familiar yet still-alien way.
Cathedral windows behind you whistle on a dry wind, and crumbled stone around you shifts and crumbles as your sudden appearance jostles very broken ruins. Moss and wet growth clings to jagged stone and decomposed structures around you. Exposed magitek machinery thrums, hissing and sputtering nearby….and dead center, floating above it all, is IT
Syviis: “I wonder if IT remembers my promise….”
IT SPEAKS IN YOUR MINDS, YOUR THOUGHTS MINGLING.
“SO YOU HAVE RETURNED”
SPEAKS THE VOICE THAT TREMBLES BONES AND SOULS ALIKE
Suðri Skornbrekker shrugs nonchalantly.
Gray swallows hard, shaking off the twisting and wrenching transition of teleportation, catching himself after staggering a half step and looking around. Scenting the air and watching behind them a moment… then turning to the horror before them. Even more complicated and exposed, the great mass of the interdimensional horror among the magitek.
“How do..ugh!” He shakes off the touch of IT and speaks more. “How do we perform the Rite to restore the walls between worlds?”
Volk tips over and vomits, going CLUNK to the floor
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Poor fellow.” The dwarf steps out of the circle and begins to take a look at the machinery, wondering if his dorfcraft will enable him to understand it better. Meanwhile, he speaks:
“The witch told us to assemble the artifacts; meanwhile, the man we encountered in— ‘behind’ Academs said the Ansible could erase things from existence… thoroughly, back in time…? I wonder what the extent of that is: can we erase IT from this world? Or the Ansible, thus undoing all that has happened?”
Gray: “You get used to it.. or at least, less hurt by it.” He assures Volk, nodding to the man as he goes, taking a flask of water and offering it to him to rinse his mouth after he’d finished purging. The beast nodding thoughtfully. “We have to at least undo the breach we caused. Would that leave us fighting the lords of night and a host of dragons?”
(To Suðri Skornbrekker): You see the exposed pieces of…an engine. A massive Thaum Reactor. With a bigass hole in the focus chamber. Repairable, but…that’s certainly where the damage occurred. You see the control room in a new light now. The Ansible was certainly designed with Dwarven Progenitor tech in mind. It’s a mountainous thaum device…with IT in the middle
Suðri Skornbrekker walks around, seemingly inspired. “Interesting…” he mumbles to himself.
Volk: “Ohhhhh everything is upside down….”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Bring on the dragons, I say; we have faced worse, till now,” Suðri replies over his shoulder before mumbling something about this needing repairs to himself, biting on some scrap, and making some tools.
Gray walks over to Suðri . “Anything I can do to help?”
(From Roderick): would a thaumatology/occult/??? be appropriate here
(To Roderick): Certainly! You recall the controls to the device from the first time, but handling them again might give more insight. And considering what you’ve learned of dwarf-tech and the Darkness in your travels should help. roll vs Thaumatology at +2
Roderick: (To GM) rolling 3d6 vs 15 (4+4+3) = 11
(To Roderick): The device is a massive Thaum engine; like the dwarven gun’s power sources, or the Gate’s control boxes. IT is intersected in the power source, where a bloodstone or Thaum stone usually goes. The controls can be directed to target…well…anything you can define in reality. And then be used to [redact] that item
(To Roderick): You suspect, the first time you fired it off…you didn’t so much shoot [the bad guy on the dragon] as much as the [darkness tainted magical opponent] resulting in… that whole apocalypse
Ken (GM) Strange pieces of materiel appear in Suðri’s hand as he works, fitting perfectly in the places he affixes them.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Thanks, I think I can handle it.” He looks up briefly to explain: “It seems the makers of the Ansible mimicked the technology of the First Empire—maybe with the help of those Dreugar, exiles as they were.” He shrugs, musing on the past “The… accident we saw might have been because this chamber here was ruptured… or we caused that rupture ourselves, I’m not quite sure.” Suðri Skornbrekker tries to repair it, either way; and make this whole machine functional again. Suðri Skornbrekker: “That said, though I am getting an idea of how this works mechanically, my grasp on the magical aspects of it are shaky. All this thaum stuff, why can’t they just use power gems…?”
IT STRETCHES AGAINST THE CONTAINER, PRESSING INTO THE CRACKS AND SEAMS.
IT WILL BE FREE
Gray nods, laying out the Ogre blade beside the Gray blade, artifacts of two empires, gleaming there as he sets them down on the steps.
Bomrek keeps his weapon ready, his helmet’ed form scanning back and forth through the room, watching for trouble
Syviis walks up halfway on the steps and watches the ball of chaos pulse for a moment, almost pitying….almost. The faces of hundreds of its victims prevent anything but a desire to complete this quest and return Light to the land.
Volk half-crawls off the teleporting pad, sits and drinks water. He hiccoughs
(To Syviis): IT thrums with contained power. The red glow on the device billows magical essence out through the cracks, the great flowing lines of power bend entirely around this room. You suspect that it’s suffered a heavy blow, but the lines of power still flow in great powerful arcs, pulsing even through the stone walls.
Syviis: Can she see anything new in her training of magic circles and spirits now? The binding scripts, the circles….are their meanings clearer now?
(To Syviis): PER Roll!
Syviis: (To GM) rolling 3d6 (6+4+5)= 15
(From Syviis): match
(From Syviis): ops, no
(From Syviis): fail by 2. Will be watching for a while, though, and if it’s magic….
(To Syviis): You’re not snow-blind from the glare, but it’s hard to spot. A magical tendril of power coming out of the reactor breach is, in fact, actually a dark physical tendril
Syviis frowns and begins to walk over to a spot cracked on the wall
Syviis: “Trying to wiggle free of your cage, vile thing?”
Ken (GM) the room trembles, and outside, thunder crackles in the distance KRAKOOM
Suðri Skornbrekker is meticulous in his work, knowing what depends on it.
(From Roderick): If I focused it on “the holes in reality” would that seem likely to fix things
(To Roderick): Theoretically, yes, you could direct the power of the device to the breach. Wanna prod at the controls?
Roderick steps up to the controls
(From Roderick): (yee)
Gray looks sympathetically to Volk, then the beast stands a wary guard. Ready to protect the ritual as Suðri tries to cobble together a working dwarf-PC from the busted magitek spare parts. “Need help there, Syviis?”
Syviis: “I don’t know yet.”
(From Syviis): if the power is leaking directly from IT, does this look any different magically? Or is this just like….a part of the power crystalizing in reality?
Ken (GM) here, you feel the radiating power of IT leaking from the device. Like the heat of an oven, the evil radiates off in waves, baking the air with a stench of pure hatred. IT slithers off Syviis like water from a duck; Your mind, a fortress.
(To Syviis): Likely, this hole needs to be repaired. Immediately. It’s backflow from the pumps
Syviis turns to the Dwarves
Syviis: “We should fix this…first.”
IT PRESSES AGAINST REALITY FROM THE CAGE OF THE DEVICE. THERE IS A CREAKING
Suðri Skornbrekker looks up, and walks over.
Gray moves over, ready to bash anything that comes out.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “…oh.”
Syviis swallows back any residual fear left in her and walks forward, ready to provide a shield of light for the others to patch the hole
Suðri Skornbrekker carefully nudges closer, tools in one hand, laser musket in the other.
IT SLITHERS BLACK TENTACLES FORM THE ENGINE, PRESSING AGAINST THE METAL WALLS
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Hmm…” He reluctantly leans over into the festering wound in reality, trying to see if some good ol’ metalcraft can fix it.
Syviis pulls out her Elder Staff and holds it at her side, knowing it a tool, but the power coming from all that IT isn’t.
While the party gathers round the tear in the machine, Roderick continues on his own path toward the controls of the Ansible, up on the platform
(To Roderick): Thaumatology +4!
Roderick: rolling 3d6 vs 17 (4+2+2)= 8
(To Roderick): No doubt about it; the controls spring to life in your hands; the last setting was a vaguely focused blast of something like 50% power. Twisting a few dials and knobs, you find the hole in reality without much difficulty. And the device makes a lot more sense now. The power can be used in a few ways…
(To Roderick): You can [redact] something from [reality], focused in or out from that definition. You can also un-[redact] things removed with the device. You see only two items hovering in the buffer, [your enemy] highlighted as ‘previous target’, and [the mortal foes of Greyhold, their destinies, and futures] as another previous entry, some two hundred+ years ago
(To Roderick): As well…you seem to have control enough to…[uncouple power source and sever connection] whatever that is
Roderick puzzles over the controls intently
The tentacles recoil from Syviis’ power! They retreat inside the engine, through the hole.
Syviis: “I told you,” she says to the Dark Thing. “When you finally crawl back to your lair across the void…I want you to remember every moment we resisted you, and when you become hungry enough…our light will taint your tongue so you stay put.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “That makes it easier.”
Suðri Skornbrekker steps closer and sees if he can fix the hole while IT recoils.
Syviis steps up with the Dwarf, ready to react if she sees It shift towards him
Ken (GM) The dwarf works, quickly and with purpose. Strips of metal sliding from his hands and fusing with the engine as he massages the device back to order. The hole seals, piece by piece, the darkness at bay with Syviis’ influence
Gray watches and nods. The beast relaxing a touch when the heavy pipe is repaired.
Ken (GM) the wizards Rodericks hands delicately move between floating magic symbols and spheres
Syviis relaxes slightly once the Dwarf finishes up, and looks around at the metal and magic to see if there is need for symbols as well as metal to be replaced
IT GROWLS, trembling the room with the volume, small stones showering around you from the roof. The noise, now, it more muted and real.
Suðri Skornbrekker closely looks over his work and delicately moves his fingers over the closed-up gap to make sure it is thoroughly sealed. If it is, he looks smug.
Ken (GM): [smugness intensifies]
Suðri Skornbrekker turns to Syviis: “Thank you, that was close. If you detect any other leaks, please tell me.” The dwarf walks back over to the control area to continue his work there, or to finish it up and double-check everything.
Gray: “Good work, Suðri . I’ll keep an eye out for trouble and let you know if I see anything.”
(To Gray): The spirits here are at bay, held behind some invisible walls. Outside…there is a swirling river of them, clinging to the Anisble like fog to a mountainside…
(To Syviis): Roll PER+talent!
Syviis: (To GM) rolling 3d6 (1+4+3) = 8
(From Syviis): that’s 8 on 17
(To Syviis): Scanning the room, there are fissures in the container, but they seem okay for now. When IT presses against, they’re holding. The device should operate normally, whatever it may do
Syviis meditates for a moment, looking through the swirl of chaos around them “We should be good…there are other cracks, but no breaches.
Roderick: “Our previous use of the Ansible seems to have used only half of its potential strength. Imprecisely focused, as well. I should be able to focus the Ansible’s power of erasure on the breach in reality. Or anything else, if there are better ideas.”
Gray looks beyond the windows, out at the spirts that swarm around this place, a slow breath taken as he does, then nodding to Roderick. “I have no better idea.”
Suðri Skornbrekker strokes his beard: “Well let us review: Deloth Ainur said that the Ansible could be used like a fine tool, a chisel. But we used it more like a sledge hammer, or rather, a battering ram.”
(To Roderick): PER+talent?
Roderick: (To GM) rolling 3d6 vs 15 (1+1+3) = 5
(To Roderick): NICE CRIT
(To Roderick): The breach is definitely targetable; you also notice, when you begin to focus on IT…you can actually target IT in entirety. You might be able to actually turn the device, powered by evil, against the evil!
(To Roderick): You’re not certain what “shooting the ammunition with the gun” might do though…
Suðri Skornbrekker: “We were trying to kill the scores of dragons and their leader; presumably Roderick’s command amounted more to something like ‘attack everything in the vicinity,’ which laid waste to the entire surroundings…”
Gray nods to Suðri .
Suðri Skornbrekker: “That IT seeped into our world could have been the result of our flawed command, or, of this flaw in the machine that I am repairing right now. If it was already there when we entered the Ansible, well…”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “We also know from [REDACTED] that the Ansible has the power to erase things from this world, past present and future whole.”
Syviis: “Time is a terrifying target…but there must be a way to use this power to expel the Darkness. Open back up the hole and pump it back through like bilge-water.”
Roderick: “I could also focus its power on… ITself.”
Suðri Skornbrekker raises an eyebrow. “Oh my.”
Gray: “Ambitious.. destroying the breach seems safer. Destroying IT..” He looks to the massive thing pressing at the very walls of reality. “Would be very satisfying.”
He looks back to Roderick the wizard “Do we have the power to do such a thing?”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “I think we can agree that the three things we need to erase are the Darkness from our world; the rift between the worlds; and then the Ansible itself. Now as for the order of things… With IT powering the Ansible…” Suðri Skornbrekker strokes his beard.
(From Syviis): anything in Lore I know of?
(To Syviis): Elf-lore speaks of the Ansible in very romanticized terms, with ballads and songs being the typical items of note. Gimme a roll?
Syviis: (To GM) rolling 3d6 (5+6+6)= 17
(From Syviis): lololol
(From Syviis): MY ELF LORE HAS FAILED ME
(To Syviis): LOL the ballad of Bilbo Baggins gets stuck in your head
Syviis begins humming what might be a song related to Hobbits
Suðri Skornbrekker: “If we repair the breach, will IT disappear automatically? Will the Darkness here within the Ansible remain? …if we remove IT first, will we unable to power the Ansible to erase the breach?”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “…and how do the artifacts the Witch told us of factor into it?”
(To Suðri Skornbrekker): Also, what did the witch mean by “the collected magical works of mortals as power”? You’re missing something…
(From Roderick): any way to know if I can use it more tha- actually yeah just answering the dwarf’s question. Thaum?
(To Roderick): not even a roll: Logically, IT powers the Ansible. The breaches allow IT to enter reality. Closing holes don’t push out the spills.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Perhaps they restrain and control the Darkness during the process somehow?”
Gray rubs a hand across his hair and tries to think it past. “The breach first. The world is filled with darkness and horror. Every moment we delay.. things get worse. Items of great power might be needed to fuel this thing for the final act if IT is banished.”
Ken (GM): [!!!]
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Actually, do we— We have the Grey Blade, Grey’s blade, Syviis’ Elven staff… Was the Dwarven artifact our own armors?”
Syviis: “I wish I could remember tales other than what the old elves who set this contraption onto the south lands told me….” sighs
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Ooh!” Suðri is excited at Grey’s comment: “That is it!”
Syviis looks between the two and blinks.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “We use the artifacts to fuel the Ansible to banish the Darkness, which, logically, cannot serve as the power source for that process.”
(To Roderick): The controls have an option; you can uncouple the current power source, to use another
(From Roderick): i.e. close the breach and then use the artifacts to destroy IT?
(To Roderick): That could work
Ken (GM): [!!!]
Syviis looks down at the staff resting in her hands and smiles
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Or to complete the process, in any case.”
Syviis: “That’s brilliant.”
Syviis: “Even us Elves know enough forging to know…the brightest, hottest fuel is not the charred, fouled ash.”
Gray nods and looks to the sword, gaze running along the marks on the ogre blade. “You served loyally and well.. one last task then.” He brings it to Suðri , setting it beside the dwarf.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Seeing how the Grey blade is grey indeed and lacking its power, we first need to use the Darkness as fuel to repair the breach, however. …I think.”
Roderick: “I can certainly hook the Ansible to another power source.”
Suðri Skornbrekker looks up: “The Fey sword?” Suðri Skornbrekker looks a bit skeptical.
(To Roderick): “Anything with an aura” you think, could be targeted. Even living souls
(From Roderick): Is Suðri correct that using IT as a power source to close the breach could have negative consequences?
(To Roderick): You’re not quite sure on that one; IT appears to have been pressing against the device’s influence as IT has been used. The original design never intended to use pure evil as a power. Only the potential energy of the negative space it occupied, which turned out to be occupied full of evil.
Roderick furrows his brow, thinking
Suðri Skornbrekker: “The witch spoke of mortals’ craft, not sure if mixing yet another otherworldly force into it will do much good… but you are the magician among us and know your blade better than we do.” He pauses for a moment Suðri looking at Roderick: “Did you not… say that you found your blade in the tomb of an old Dwarven hero?”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Or was that that spear…”
Roderick: “I found the sword a few moments before I met you.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Uh.” Suðri strokes his beard. “Did we not have some kind of magic spear?”
P.P. A.: the lost plot device
Ken (GM): [:p]
P.P. A.: GM notes in the wind
Ken (GM): IF the GM recalls correctly
That particular item passed on to Roderick
And in the ebb and flow of events, it seemed to pass from everyone’s notice
(To Roderick): Your blade seems to giggle a bit, mischievously
P.P. A.: I remember Rod picked up some item at some Dwarven warrior’s tomb, and that’s also where the Fey contacted him. Then he was beamed to us, and told us about it.
Either Roderick found that spear in that tomb and was then given a sword
or… didn’t we also take some shiny weapon from a statue underground in the Dreugar fort, near the chained demon in the lava pit?
Ken (GM): lol
Doc: he picked up the sword before getting beamed to you
Ken (GM): oh man, what a blur
Doc: I don’t remember any spears
P.P. A.: I’m pretty sure there was a spear somewhere in there
If it seemed important, we would have carried it with us
Doc: Rod has Eidetic Memory but I don’t
P.P. A.: and it’s difficult to displace a spear, these are big and clunky to carry
Ken (GM): lol
Falkirk found it, at the VERY first demonic-ruin you all routed
P.P. A.: Rod might remember then; or maybe Grey has it in his luggage, he’s the only one who wouldn’t notice carrying a spear with him tucked away somewhere
ooh
Ooh, right
Falkirk held it and was experimenting with it
Ken (GM): That spear, when Falkirk passed out from dark magic at the Dreugar temple, DID get passed to Rod
P.P. A.: and didn’t really know what to do with it, only that it was fascinating and magic
(To Roderick): The sword is full on laughing
Gray checks for anything else that might fuel magic in their things. Exploring among the packages and heavy weapons, the food and medical supplies.
Ken (GM): right
At this point, a side discussion out of character happens in discord, revealing that, yes in fact there has been a GM note sitting around for at least one real life calendar year, vis a vis the Spear and the Sword
Ken (GM) Materializing into sight, hidden on Roderick’s shoulder, where it’s been hidden in plain view for gods only know how long…is the Fae spear.
An ethereal giggle flows on the air, from Roderick’s vicinity. The voice is cherubian, and gleeful
(To Roderick): “I was waiting for you to notice, and here it is, as soon as you asked”
(To Roderick): “Forgive my Jealousy, m’lord”
Syviis looks over at the Dwarves and to Rod…sighing that she will be hearing more about ‘Wizard Shit’ shortly
Suðri Skornbrekker won’t complain this time, since the party will be engaging in big time wizardy shit very soon themselves.
Bomrek is patently being quiet, smoking his pipe, but nodding slowly
Gray has always been uneasy around the Fae powers, but bows his head to the voice and won’t complain about the aid here in this darkest hour, the towering beast looking at the gleaming, lovely weapons then turning to look around them again. “Good. Good.”
Ken (GM): [The GM has been waiting a YEAR for the spear to be mentioned. A YEAR]
(To Gray): Ive seriously been waiting FOREVER for someone to mention the spear out loud, so the Fae joke could resolve. ITS BEEN FOREVER
Suðri Skornbrekker: “I need to figure out where to put these artifacts to power the Ansible when we banish IT, and maybe craft a circuit myself. In any case, I could disconnected this from the rest of the Ansible and do a test run, wherein I just stick our artifacts into it and see if it explodes; if it does not, it is probably safe to reconnect it to what should certainly not explode.”
IT: “NO”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Or, er… Basically, I can test whether it works in a way that does not end catastrophically if it does not work.”
IT: “DOENOOOOOOOOOOOT….”
Suðri Skornbrekker looks up to IT.
IT: “NNNOOOOOOOOOOO”
P.P. A.: [Does IT sound sincere or sarcastic?]
IT drags the voice through the air like talons on glass, the words slurred in hatred, impotent rage
Syviis: [Reverse Psychology…EVIL EDITION]
Suðri Skornbrekker: “You do not get a say in this,” the Dwarf scolds the eldritch horror barely trapped behind a thin, cracked sliver of reality
Syviis grins proudly at the Dwarf
P.P. A.: [given how last time we were here, it was just FREEEE MEEEE, I don’t think IT is very good at reverse psychology; unless it learned from the humans IT possessed]
Gray shakes his head, the scream echoing inside his mind.. then a wolfish snarl, nearly cheered at that… then working to arrange the weapons. “I don’t know.. two swords. a staff. a spear.. four items. Points of a pentagram, if we had one more. With four, cardinal directions, in a circle to contain and guide the magic?”
(To Syviis): Gray makes a solid point, Thaumatologically, its stronger
Suðri Skornbrekker sticks his head and hands back into the machinery. A “clong” can be head as he raises his head, and some muffled Dwarven curses as he emerges and walks over to the magic circle they came through.
Suðri Skornbrekker inspects it closely and traces invisible lines on—or under—the floor.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “…maybe this is it.”
Ken (GM) The circle rearranges itself
Gray shakes his head, the world seeming to sway drunkenly a moment as he looks to the circle before the beast nods to Suðri , walking closer. “Tell me what to do.”
Suðri Skornbrekker steps back. “Syviis and Roderick have more expertise when it comes to magic circles, but we probably need to place the artifacts on this in some manner. …when we do, I will be next to the machinery, ready to cut it off if we are doing it wrong and I notice any dangerous powers coursing through the system.”
Bomrek sighs, steps to the edge of the circle, and plants his magitek rifle on one point.
Syviis moves to one point and holds the staff for a moment, whispering a few elvish words of thanks before placing it down
Syviis: [translation: “Thanks, Stick-Bro!”]
Ken (GM): [“S’all gud bruv”]
Gray nods, placing the ogre blade down carefully. Not because it’s fragile, but because of the ritual. The Gray Blade is held respectfully as well.. a symbol of his homeland, he lays it in place carefully, then steps back.
Syviis looks over the circle once more in case anything looks out of place, but trusts the craft and will of her friends as well
Suðri Skornbrekker keeps a careful eye on the machinery before him, wary of any energies that are flowing through it, and ready to intervene in case it overheats or surges dangerously.
Volk eyes the Grey Blade, and you all. “May I?”
Gray nods. “Yes., please.”
Gray risk a joke. Voice rough and warm. “I think that makes you king now. Long may you reign.”
Volk belches a bit, and steps back groggily “How regal am I”
Syviis: “Much nicer than the last ‘King'” smiles
Volk: “Yeah, fuck that guy, deserves an arrow in the heart”
Syviis thumbs up
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Less vomit on his clothes would befit His Majesty, but ’tis a step up from being covered in Darkness manifest and the blood of the innocent.”
Ken (GM): [the spear too?]
Joush M.: Roderick’s turn
Roderick nods and does his wizard thing
P.P. A.: putting down a spear on the ground doesn’t need wizard skills tho
Ken (GM): [the spear is also ferried over to the circle then?]
Roderick: [yeah and then the thing with the controls]
Ken (GM): ah, gotcha
Suðri Skornbrekker mumbles: “No leaks… all the wires are connected… wizard shit is doing wizard shit… running low on booze…”
Ken (GM) The magic circle glows with ruddy power where each of the artifacts is placed; the thrum grows and sings with power as they join the chorus of eldritch power in the room. IT struggles against the container as you work, futile, and the flesh quivers in a new feeling now, witnessing your work
IT is afraid
The switch is pulled, and Roderick guides the flow of power through the Ansible of Spirits. As the thrum of magic pulses in and out of your magical offering, you hear the ebb of power wane behind you, and IT shrinks from reality, seeming to step further and further away from the world as the seconds drain on
Gray growls at that, feeling it. Looking at the monster pressing at the world then standing tall and ready there, even as blood stains his surcoat and his body only slowly knits from the brutal wounds. He watches, every moment, as IT recedes.
Ken (GM) In a few heartbeats the vessel where IT was is now empty, unreal, a hole in reality no longer occupied by pure hate.
Then…
…A mote of power, glowing with the octarine color of your magic, appears in that void. Roderick tunes the controls and the room HUMS
Suðri Skornbrekker looks up, briefly, from monitoring the machinery. “Oh, IT is gone? Let us close the door behind it, and seal it tight!”
Suðri Skornbrekker notices magic happen, and ducks back into the wiring to make sure nothing is behaving strangely.
Syviis watches with excitement, praying in a whisper for all the souls and lives resting on this to help guide our friend
Ken (GM): Rod!
Doc: rolling?
Ken (GM): there appears to be a foreign object in the control box…it is dwarf shaped
lol
Suðri Skornbrekker notices some funny tickles. “I think I should not be in here now.” He gets back out, and takes one last look. “Seems to be holding up.”
Suðri Skornbrekker eats a few nails and pops out some screws, and screws the cover back on.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Good enough, I hope.” Fearless though he is, the dwarf cannot hide some excitement—a curious mixture of anxiety and giddy excitement. If this works, it is finally over. If not… well, then it is probably also all over, but in a different way.
Gray hasn’t prayed in a long time. His rough, deep voice speaking softly. “Lady of the Light.. Please. Just make us strong enough to finish this.”
Gray: “Thank you, Suðri . You did good work.”
Syviis: “You all did.” smiles brightly “We all did.”
Suðri Skornbrekker turns around. “Indeed; we did our best; let us hope that it is good enough.”
Ken (GM): right, so rod, doing the thing?
Syviis: [Rod has Luck, right? lol]
Ken (GM): hahah
Doc: (“the thing” being “slamming the door behind IT,” yeah?”)
Joush M.: Closing the breach in reality, yeah. If there’s any juice left we can try to clean up other things..
Ken (GM): ^
target:[the veil]
doing: [fix that shit]
Syviis: [Proverbial Dog-Doo-Doo-Bag, turn it inside out to pick up the shit, then dispose of both]
Gray stares at the machine that was created to steal fire from the gods.. or perhaps to grant wishes like some fucked up machine genie. Having not gotten their prayers answered by the gods they had, men created their own.
Roderick focuses on the controls, trying not to let the gravity of his task distract him from its execution
Ken (GM): [invoking: Execute>Gravity]
Doc: no don’t execute gravity, we need that
P.P. A.: It’s okay, I have enough points saved up to buy a few levels in G-Tolerance or something
Syviis turns her attention from the machine, and thinks to all the poor souls sacrificed both willingly and unwillingly… and all the thousands more who are in danger. They will all see justice, and peace from this horror
Ken (GM) The controls hum under Rod’s influence, and focus the great Ansible on the Veil, the tears in the world broken through by its use. The thrum and flow of magic turns and swirls as the great device again comes to power. Finally, after a few sweating-bullets moments, Rod is quite sure he has the target selected, and the power set
Suðri Skornbrekker ‘s stare alternates nervously between the giant chamber full of magic energy, Roderick, and the covered-up machinery.
Gray rest a massive hand on his sword and braces himself for whatever might come next.
Ken (GM): [Fire? Y/N?]
Roderick: [Y]
There is a BOOP
Ken (GM) A great swirling cyclone of energy kicks up; not tangible wind, but POWER rushing around you in a great vortex of energy the like of which you have never felt before. Your souls twist and bend against the torrent, pulled along with the flow, bits and pieces of reality swirling in the great howling power all around you!
The pentacle of items glows red-hot, fiercely channeling the magic contained within, siphoned out to the engine around you.
P.P. A.: [I’d say “it’s one of those days”, but right now it’s probably many of those days all at once in the span of a few moments]
Ken (GM) the power rushes out, through you, through the magic, and there is a great Happening
P.P. A.: IT’S HAPPENING
Gray feels himself pulled, trying to stop himself a moment then realizing he should instead go with it. He lets the magic catch him and pull him along rather then try and fight as the power swells.
Suðri Skornbrekker sighs.
Ken (GM) the glow recedes, and you find yourself suffused with light, floating in the power. It tickles the air around you, and holds you in it’s embrace
Volk: “What the shit”
Syviis looks around and laughs “Not many days go by I haven’t asked myself that.”
Suðri Skornbrekker looks tired and resigned. “Well, we were not swallowed by Darkness, so…”
Ken (GM) in all directions, you are suffused with light. Pure, white and clean
(To Syviis): GUESS what kind of light? Three tries, the last two don’t count
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Roderick, it is not that the moment you banished the Darkness but at the same moment some kind of Light invaded the world, right?” the Dwarf asks half-jokingly, sounding tired.
Gray turns and looks around quietly, feeling like he almost shouldn’t be here. Getting all the endless light dirty. He releases the sword and brushes a hand though his hair, undoing the latches on his mask and slipping it off. “Such a strange place.”
A voice emanates from the light
“Thank you for repairing the damage to your Sphere”
“We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Suðri Skornbrekker smiles a little. “Who is ‘we’?”
“A previous restore point has been found”
“Implement restore point?”
Syviis lets out a long breath and nods
Gray: “Ah.. We did only what was required.” He says softly, feeling awed by the light.. and the voice that seems so calm now. A moment later he looks to Roderick. “You speak to the device itself, I think. The created god”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Tell us more about that restore point.”
“Query accepted: Point created at critical juncture. Several rogue elements implementing long reaching variables and factors in physical environment. Item known as “Ansible of Spirits” in local vernacular. Restore point created in case unviability of simulation reached”
Suðri Skornbrekker strokes his beard and tries to understand the cryptic language. “Well, the Ansible was certainly ‘unviable’…”
Gray looks thoughtful, tilting his head to the side as he listens. “It speaks as if all that is and was is a simulation. Some dream”
VREET-chirp “Incorrect: This simulation contained in physical space”
Roderick: “If there are any scholars left, surely this would raise and answer many of their questions”
Suðri Skornbrekker wants to laugh at his remark, but realizes that, well, all the scholars are dead and it’s their fault; he hangs his head.
Bomrek thoughtfully smokes his pipe, floating in the void
Syviis: “There will always be good and evil in the hearts of mortals and magic…but I hope at least the Darkness is…for now…sealed beyond our world. Is this so? Or does it still claw its way through the desires of Mortals?”
Gray falls silent, realizing he could ask a thousand questions without getting where he should, his hand running though his hair again and well satisfied to let Syviis speak to that voice in his hesitance.
“Foreign variable contained and purged from simulation.”
Suðri Skornbrekker breathes a sigh of relief.
Syviis lets out a glad sigh
Suðri Skornbrekker: “It would be lovely if all the horrors it caused were gone with it… if not the Ansible itself, which long ago laid to ruin the southern lands.”
Syviis: “May I ask….in our timeline…how far back this ‘point’ is?”
“Query accepted: Local chronological index reset equal to local time variable:
TWO-HUNDRED-FIFTY-YEARS”
Syviis swallows back a gasp in her throat “Two….and a half…centuries?”
“Correct. ” the voice chirrups
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Phew…”
Roderick: “Far enough back to stop the Ansible from being used in the first place, against the beastmen…”
Syviis: “That is a …lot of time to repair. ” nervously “When it was just the future…this quest seemed so much easier.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “…the Darkness has wreaked such havoc… I know not if our world can rebuild as it is, if we refuse this, but…”
Gray chuckles softly. “I think we all came here ready to pay any price. This seems like a… strange one, but acceptable”
Chirrup-click “Current timeline still considered viable; extrapolation of current variables indicates 87.6% compliance with expected outcomes. Viable candidate for contact protocol and elevation of simulation to real-space”
Suðri Skornbrekker strokes his beard. He looks up and turns to his friends. “If we make this choice… and, well, history is rewritten without us in it… I thank the Allfather that the one time I did exist, I could be with you, friends.”
Gray: “That’s.. a 12 some per-cent chance we don’t exist if we use the restore? That seems like the best odds we’ve had to survive this.” He says thoughtful. “Real-space?”
“False. The Simulation may be reset to restore point, or simulation may continue on current course.
INPUT REQUIRED”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “’tis a hard choice, though. We did set out to undo what we had caused, but to undo another couple hundred years beyond that…”
“Although this may be what it takes to truly rid the world of the Darkness and the Ansible for good.”
Gray nods and claps Suðri on the shoulder. “I’m with you. Until the end.”
Roderick: “The Darkness penetrated our world the first time it was used. Our second use was within its plan.”
Syviis nods
Suðri Skornbrekker nods.
Syviis: “No matter what, the Darkness is gone. It could still be coaxed back should things restart, but we would have a chance to remove the primary tool used and let the next centuries play out without a dark hand on them. Or, we go home…and begin repairing what we can now.
Roderick: “We can’t simply turn back the clock and expect the hands to move in a different direction. We’d have to prevent this future, somehow. Or we can keep pushing forward.”
P.P. A.: [We didn’t complete the side quest of returning all the silver swords to Quicksilver though, we’d be missing out on that achievement]
Ken (GM): lol
99% FUCK
Doc: >the one you missed is in the unreachable tutorial level
Syviis: “May I ask….if we go back to this Restore Point…would we be sent back as we are now?? Or would we need to be born again, or grow again?”
Syviis: [asking the IMPORTANT questions….TRY TO STOP THE ANSIBLE AS BABBIES!]
Chirrup-click-whirrrr
“Simulation parameters not exceeded by inclusion of [6] variables. Acceptable modification”
Suðri Skornbrekker smiles.
Syviis: “Well…at least I wouldn’t have to go through awkward thirteen-aged Elf Puberty again.” whispers to herself “So…much….moody….harp music”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “We might as well go through with it, then; we would not return to the world we know, but the world we know is littered with corpses and in ruin, anyway.”
“And we could be purging it of all the wizard shit for good!”
“Hah, how is that, ancient evil wizards!”
Gray seems surprised, having not realized that was an option. He nods firmly, somberly as he rest a hand on his sword. “We have our duty still. To protect the world and the light, no matter how poorly I understand the Created God’s words.”
Roderick: “We’d fare much better against reality-breaking wizard nonsense if the wizards are alive and haven’t broken reality yet,” Roderick smiles.
Syviis: “Regardless of what happens, should we change the past, I am confident those thousands…maybe millions of souls…are better off living, and not being used as fuel for the ‘IT’. I think our memories would be an acceptable casualty… but I am equally willing to fight forward with you all instead of heading behind.”
Suðri Skornbrekker nods.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “You raise a good point; so many souls were dragged beyond our world; rebuilding will not bring them back, but preventing these events might.”
Syviis nods
Syviis: “We were unable to save so many. This may be the only way.”
Bomrek: “to save the original dwarven empire…” he trails off, awestruck
Syviis smiles at the Dwarf’s enthusiasm
Gray takes a deep, slow breath. “We are in accord then. To use the Restoration.”
Syviis: “I could meet my elders…and scold them haha”
“Yes, I think I’d like that…”
Suðri Skornbrekker puffs his chest. “This is sounding quite good. If there are no objections, I am in favor!”
Bomrek: “Aye”
Syviis: “Let us make a pact, then….to use the future that crumbled as a lesson.”
“And to remake it in Light, not Darkness.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Indeed!”
Bomrek: “And kill all wizards, ‘pon sight”
Syviis glares at Bomrek
Syviis: “How about just the bad ones?”
Bomrek withers a bit
Bomrek: “right”
Syviis smiles
Gray nods to Roderick. “We’ve had a very good wizard here.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “To the degree we can discern them.”
Syviis: “But…I promise to help you with the bad ones.”
Roderick: “I only destroyed the world the once,” Roderick nods.
Suðri Skornbrekker laughs.
Bomrek: “Aye, and diligently worked to fix your horrible screwup. Commendable. Nearly dwarven”
Roderick: “If only other wizards were so fastidious in cleaning up their messes.”
Suðri Skornbrekker: “’tis why us Dwarves do not bother with wizardry; it is good to solve the problem it creates, but in the end it is inefficient and just creates trouble!”
Syviis smiles and closes her eyes, well at peace with the decision.
Roderick: “One step forward, two hundred fifty steps back, then?”
Suðri Skornbrekker looks down on his armor. “[You coming too?]” he asks in Dwarven
(To Suðri Skornbrekker): 🙂
Chirrup “Input required”
Gray: “We don’t get to chose everything. We just play the cards we are given. I think it’s waiting for your command, Roderick.”
Suðri Skornbrekker nods to himself assertively.
Roderick: “Initiate system restoration,” Roderick commands the voice.
Ken (GM) a pulse of white, and then a few moments later, another. Warmth flows around and through you. Pure white, clean and untainted. Waves of it rushing, over and over, the flow of waves, the crash of the surf…..
Syviis: Watches the world with curious eyes be reborn
“Restore initiated, new variables calculated and interpolated. Commencing reset in 3…
2….
1…..”
Ken (GM) UNTIL NEXT TIME
Joush M.: We find out how much we fucked up the world!
Fiss high-fives everyone, then runs
Joush M.: Good game!
Fiss: later my dudes!
P.P. A.: THANKS FOR THE SESSION (AND CAMPAIGN [so far])
Doc: wew
Ken (GM): 😀
Fiss! go to work, sorry for making you tardy!
P.P. A.: I was sad that GrymWyrd was going to end, but when we closed the door on the Darkness, the opened the door to a sequel!
Ken (GM): GrimWyrd 2: Electric Boogaloo!
P.P. A.: Now with more electricity and less darkness
Ken (GM): hopefully,
HOWEVER
this totally begs the question
Doc: “This time, with Boogaloos”
Ken (GM): Ive been poking the group with the prospect of concluding GrimWyrd for now; Doc has mentioned an interest in taking a break, as he needs to go campaigning?
Gray: I do like our Saturday game. I could support the idea of doing other things though
P.P. A.: I’m okay either way. I very much enjoyed GrimWyrd, but we’ve also reached a good point to take a break, especially if Ken might need one.
Doc: It’s not a desperate need, I just can’t start a new years-long Saturday game in good faith within the next couple of months.
Ken (GM): yeah, I get that feeling. Committing to a 4 hour weekly weekend time investment is rough when real life needs the same time
I am totally cool with running Dresden files for a while (or another game, really) if You want a break Doc
Doc: Continuing GrimWyrd is fine if that’s what this is doing
P.P. A.: Too bad I spent half of my semester break playing Hacker’s Memory instead of preparing enough of my setting so I could try hosting something
Ken (GM): Well, you guys were wrong with the conjecture that I need to do some fundamental campaign writing to make the second coming cool
P.P. A.: I just realised
You probably wrote (or noted) all kinds of history for the setting’s background
and now we might actually play through that background live
Doc: wew
P.P. A.: That must be satisfying :3c
Ken (GM): well, its like a MArvel/DC continuity shift. Both exist, and in context affected each other. So yeah, time to see “what would happen if Bomrek shot every wizard ever?”
P.P. A.: :DDDD
Ken (GM): Though, If I’m revisiting GrimWyrd, I’m of the opinion of shoving you guys into a new contextualized party too
not to say your over-involved 400 point demigods by now, but man, you guys have shoved through to the other side of two years of gaming
they won
frame em and put em on the shelf
goddman
Certainly earned their place as fundamental world shaping NPCs
P.P. A.: Good point
Doc: it’s fucking bizarre dealing with a campaign that might actually be ending
P.P. A.: I still have 40 unspent points though :DDDD
Ken (GM): hahahah
Doc: been playing tabletop games for nearly a decade and this has never happened
Ken (GM): ever?
P.P. A.: In any case, I’d be happy to play again next Saturday and the Saturdays thereafter, be it as Suðri or as a new character; but we’ve also reached a satisfying ending so if anyone wants to take a break, I’d be okay with that too
Gray: I’m amazed it came to a reasonble conclusion to a long arc
Doc: Yeah we always just kinda stop playing otherwise
Ken (GM): sheeit, good point. Ive ‘completed’ maybe….this and one other? To satisfaction of the story?
P.P. A.: I’ve been in eight or so campaigns
Ken (GM): [PPA, such accomodating, much nice, wow]
Gray: That’s a mind blower. Most of the time even when they come to an end it’s a explosion of madness
P.P. A.: Some never even made it to four–five sessions
Ken (GM): >player rage
scheduling
idiocy
drama
yeaaaaah…
P.P. A.: The only one that actually concluded was a short MAID campaign that spanned, I think, three sessions total.
Doc: Actually that’s probably the best way to put it for me – I’ll continue playing Rod or retire him as needed, but I won’t be able to make a new Saturday character for several months.
P.P. A.: Well, and now GrimWyrd!
Doc: Continuing with Rod would be fulfilling a commitment I’ve already made, making a new character would be making a commitment I can’t expect to fulfill
Ken (GM): nods understood Doc; Ill definitely consult on his NPC actions, being the fae-touched wizard from the future that he is
I’m also kinda leaning on you guys continuing Dresden files
sad self indulgent GM face
three sessions in and you guys haven scraped the surface of that one
Gray: I do like that one, and she is a huge break from playing Gray
P.P. A.: and I’m going to bed
Thanks, and good night \o
And thus concluded GrimWyrd; the first in what would become the cosmology of Shattered Worlds, a Sphere alone in the void of the universe, tainted by elemental evil, purged by the heroism of the mortal residents within.
This game was formative: not only because many of the players would go on to become regulars in much of my campaigns run online, but also because it set the stage for much of the floating amorphous ideas that would crystalize, soon. Inspirations drawn from so many sources, and falling into place, one by one.
Stay tuned; up next will be more campaign logs from the next concurrent chapter: Dresden files Montreal 1980. A tale of horror, dread, cold and mystery. A smaller tighter squad of players (for a time, you’ll see) which exercises in both my skill in online gaming culture, as much as interpersonal management.
Until next time…
The Gaming Musings of a Mad GM 