"Midnight cloaked the world on the Day of the Dead when two comets blazed into view, illuminating the heavens like twin omens. Yet, to those steeped in ancient lore, the streaking lights were no celestial coincidence. These were avatars of divine will: Tet-Su-Yi, the Mother-Goddess of Creation, and her eternal adversary, Nyarlathotep the Unmaker, clashing at the threshold of existence."
After the Battle of the Labyrinth, the worlds changed.
The city of Sojenka was engulfed in a deadly grey mist, the populace transformed into undead horrors. The Dented Shield made several forays into the mist, to attempt to determine what had happened and perhaps discover a way to rescue the people.
A terrific battle was fought at the top of the ancient Tower of Turm, a golden spire once home to the city's elite, now home to the Blood Queen and the automata-abominations called Corvus Knights.
A powerful vampyr was defeated in single combat, though it transformed into a cloud of oily smoke and vanished into the halls of the tower.
The PCs were able to recover several treasures and scrolls which were invaluable in discovering the source of the transformation and the origin of the Blood Queen's power.
Through weeks of research and divination the Sorcerer Scribbles was able to ascertain the source of the Blood Queen's power was the ancient Yith Engine beneath the Crystal Necropolis.
“The Dented Shield didn’t pay much mind to the sense of evil we got from the Yith Engine, to our shame. It powers a series of Yith Portals that let us travel back and forth between our world and Almuric and across vast distances. Without them, we might never have stopped Agresh Menefer. We never thought about the cost of these machines. All the while, Zimena grew stronger. Now we have to learn to use the device with care, or to do without.”
-Scribbles
Scribbles and his associates had activated the Engine months before, at the request of the Dented Shield's Patron, Schola Tramina. She had been paying handsomely for artifacts, books and scrolls recovered from the Lost City of Yith in the Necropolis dimension.
Schola Tramina had been essential in providing research and assistance in the workings of the Yith Engine and its use by the Yndigo Cult to resurrect the Necromancer Agresh Menefer. A weeks-long trek into the veins of the earth beneath the Grand Ziggurat in the Lost City of Yith brought the Dented Shield into a final confrontation with Menefer and Scribbles was able to use a scroll of Banishment to prevent Menefer's Patron from entering the Necropolis Dimension from Beyond the Veil.
“I can’t help but wonder if Schola Tremina was a pawn in Zimena’s game… I get the feeling that Agresh Menefer was an obstacle to her own rule over the dead. I have some divinations to do regarding the matter…
-Scribbles
In the weeks following the destruction of Tet-Su-Yi, Scribbles and the Paladin Ingmar discovered a great deal about the new dimension they found themselves in.
The most important discovery was that the Blood Queen wanted the men of Opatiza, Samichi and the Dented Shield to swear allegiance to her, willingly. Scribbles observed this meant she had a weakness that prevented her from simply comtrolling them all, outright.
Two enigmatic divinations revealed:
When clocks strike none and shadows lean,
The Hour of Change shall stain the green.
Grey mist shall swell from Sojenka's Gate,
On Yith’s dark power, it rides like fate.
Queen Zemina, clad in Death’s caress,
Will whisper doom and nothing less.
The living bend, their blood to spill,
The dead shall rise to serve her will.
The skies shall crack, the veils shall fall,
As Necropolis consumes us all.
Thal-muric fades in ashen light,
To serve the Queen in endless night.
Research determined "the hour of none" referred to an upcoming solar eclipse.
Plans were made, and negotiations with the leaders of Samichi and Opatiza held.
A final divination revealed the answer to the "how" of defeating the Blood Queen:
Legions of undead, by Yith Engine driven,
March north with hunger, no mercy given.
The Blood Queen's curse, a poison mist spreads,
Following Corvus Knights, where darkness treads.
Their hollow eyes gleam with necromantic fire,
Devouring the living, fulfilling her desire.
The land lies doomed, engulfed in despair,
As death’s cold grip chokes the trembling air.
The Yith Engine was the source of the Blood Queen's power, and the potential cause of turning this new "patchwork world" into a permanent expansion of the Infinite Necropolis.
Scribbles and the Dented Shield determined to shut down the Yith engine and prevent the attack on the living world by Zimena's undead legions.
Downtime planning:
I would like to take Toothpick on the 22nd to lead some archers as we fly out to the edge of the Sojenka docks and release a fire elemental onto the town with instructions to burn anything or anyone in the town's limits.
We'll do it again from the middle of town (using the ring to give us a vortex so we can lower ourselves into the fog,)on the 24th to weaken their defenses. Quick, in and out, with holy water to drop if we get caught.
Ingmar will do some praying for advice from Aphrodite. He wants to know eho shoudl bear each item, and what Scribbles must sacrifice. He will wait with 10 infantry on the 23rd - 27th at the Yith Engine to be sure Zemina doesn't use another entrance than the Black Gate.
Nult will lead a force along with Rent and our remaining infantry led by Farah to guard the Black gate on the 24th-26th.
Scribbles and Toothpick met with Lord Horvath of Opatiza on May 24th, encouraging him to send as many civilians north to Samichi as he could, in expectation of the undead attack. Horvath shared that his wizard had a similar vision, and agreed to send the civilians north. He also offered to lead 60 of his own cavalry into battle against the undead.
On the morning of the 25th, Ingmar and his squad of troops entered the Blue Temple and de-activated the Yith Engine.
“My many divinations were the key here. More than once I have heard from my mirror that Zimena’s minions are fed by the power of Yith. At first I thought it was a reference to the rites and lore of the ancient Necromancer who remains imprisoned beneath the Blue Temple. But fear is the father of insight, and when I faced visions of Zimena’s army I asked a question that should have been obvious: ‘If I shut off the Yith Engine, will it weaken Zimena’s forces?’ My finest moment… if you ignore the fact that it took me so damn long…”
-Scribbles
Every Lawful creature outside was able to feel the effects of the de-activation. A sense of pervasive dread was suddenly lifted, a morale-drain they hadn't even noticed in the aftermath of the Change.
Toothpick and Scribbles led the force along the track to Gablun Ford, where they waited for the undead to pour forth from the mist.
They were heavily prepared with barrels of Holy Water, many bottles of military oil and what they hoped would be an effective deployment to funnel the undead into a fiery deathtrap.
Scribbles
At sunset, the sounds of the mechanical horses of the Corvus Knights could be heard in the mist. Getting closer and closer, it seemed more Corvus Knights were approaching than they had seen in one place before.
From the obscuring mist came the force of the Blood Queen! However, instead of the expected legion of skeletons and zombies, there were only three scrambling Wights, three squads of Corvus Knights mounted on mechanical steeds, and a giant serpent-woman with six arms!
Scribbles ordered the flying boat forward, preparing to drop a barrel of Holy Water on the Wights.
The serpent-demon teleported into the center of Lord Horvath's Heavy Cavalry, laying waste to his knights with her wicked blades!
“Honestly, the teleportation threw everything off. We came prepared to annihilate or immobilize large groups. Most of our weapons couldn’t be brought to bear without killing Horvath and his men. I also brought some spells and tools to control enemy movement. Also completely useless… An enemy who can teleport infinitely is not something I ever want to do again, but I am going to be prepared for, going forward… Somehow…”
-Scribbles
The Demon was able to slay many of the knights, and Scribbles ordered the boat to fly over her and drop a barrel of Holy Water. This was a direct hit!
The Demon then teleported into the flying boat, taking the attack to the men aboard. Scribbles unleashed his sorcerous mental powers against her and found himself outmatched!
Unable to penetrate her defenses he put all of his strength into defending himself from her own counterattacks. Magical spells were useless against the Demon, who teleported away, to attack Horvath once again.
“I got desperate when I saw her constricting Horvath to death. I tried to turn him to stone: it would have saved his life, as she would have been unable to strangle him, and he might have hurt her with the sudden change in weight. It’s a pity it didn’t work.”-Scribbles
Toothpick and Valhemba rushed into melee with the demon, but her physical form was nearly impervious to even their magical weapons. With Horvath slain, Toothpick (using a potion of flying) attempted to get additional Holy Water, which seemed the only thing able to damage the Demon's physical form.
The Demon's teleportation power allowed her to avoid Toothpick and Valhemba, and she assaulted Scribbles on the flying boat with an all-out attack!
The gods were with Scribbles and the Dented shield this day, as all of the Demon's psychic attacks failed! She was able to wound Scribbles grievously with her swords, but as Toothpick and Valhemba flew back to the boat to attack her once again, the Demon vanished in a flash of light!
“Damnation, that hurt! I’d never been stabbed before! To keep the men’s morale up, I lit the battlefield with phantasmal images of angels singing hymns to Apollo. I have a feeling that little touch may have done me just enough favor to keep the demon from devouring my mind or carving my heart out.
“I considered leaping out of the ship and using feather fall to get away from the demon, but I couldn’t abandon my men and our only weapon. So I decided to stand. I ordered the crew to start splashing her with holy water from the empty barrel and tried to conjure the web spell I’d stored in the Necklace of Black Pearls.
“I had no illusions that my web would hold her for more than a few seconds, but those seconds would buy enough time to let Toothpick and Valhalmba return with more holy water. So it came down to a single question, which was quicker? The will of a bleeding man to unleash a stored spell, or the blades of a demon. Up to that point we’d always been moving at the same speed- quicker than everyone else.
“Praise Apollo, Demetre, and Aphrodite all that she decided to flee and I didn’t have to find out…”
-Scribbles
Surveying the area, the Dented Shield saw the wights had been destroyed, the Corvus Knights also. The Dented Shield had won, but at the cost of Lord Horvath, and 30 of his cavalry!
Choosing to seize the advantage, Scribbles flew the boat back to the docks on the edge of the poison mist and released another fire elemental into the city.
They then flew back to their compound, returning the body of Lord Horvath to Opatiza.
The eclipse is tomorrow.
The status of the expected undead legions is unknown.
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