We played again last Sunday but I have been a bit slack in writing things up but here goes. We were missing Azhanti’s player but Assamber returned so a bit of GM handwavery later and the party was back together. Assamber has been off forging more links between the disparate human communities in preparation for his plans to rule over the free world as an immortal undead LichKing.
Scene 1: The Mists
However, back in dream the group has problems. The Heart of Sopias has fallen into the hands of Carnage, Lord of the Fomori and his host consuming the realm of Dream. The armies of the summer Court are massing and our heroes head off to the Realm of Nightmare to try and bring them into the war.
The journey takes them once again through the mists of the borderlands and there they experience further visions of possible futures.
Assamber witnesses the start of the next realm, one dominated by Mael and the forces of water. The oceans have covered the land and the body of the Kraken rises out of the sea a great throne of bone mounted on its skull.
Artemis returns to the City of Kings just as a horde of Dragonborn warriors march on the last holdout of humanity. At its head rides Azhanti on his last great Crusade but above the City rises a new power and the people begin to chant, Reptos, Reptos, Reptos, the Warlord, and Dominator of the entire World returns to contest the last of the elder races claim to existence.
Chiniko witnesses what will happen if Sopias is overcome by the Demon Lord feeding on his soul. The world is wracked by fire and death, demons wheel in the sky fighting over the torn remains of every living thing.
Morn witnesses the last battle at the end of time, our heroes gathered before the Menbim Stone where one world will end and another begin. Gods, demons and immortals battle for supremacy at the end of time and one by one our heroes fall, their weapons shattered. Morn, the last to fall, looks up as he dies and the sky above shatters allowing the full horror of Chaos once more into the world.
However, back in dream the group has problems. The Heart of Sopias has fallen into the hands of Carnage, Lord of the Fomori and his host consuming the realm of Dream. The armies of the summer Court are massing and our heroes head off to the Realm of Nightmare to try and bring them into the war.
The journey takes them once again through the mists of the borderlands and there they experience further visions of possible futures.
Assamber witnesses the start of the next realm, one dominated by Mael and the forces of water. The oceans have covered the land and the body of the Kraken rises out of the sea a great throne of bone mounted on its skull.
Artemis returns to the City of Kings just as a horde of Dragonborn warriors march on the last holdout of humanity. At its head rides Azhanti on his last great Crusade but above the City rises a new power and the people begin to chant, Reptos, Reptos, Reptos, the Warlord, and Dominator of the entire World returns to contest the last of the elder races claim to existence.
Chiniko witnesses what will happen if Sopias is overcome by the Demon Lord feeding on his soul. The world is wracked by fire and death, demons wheel in the sky fighting over the torn remains of every living thing.
Morn witnesses the last battle at the end of time, our heroes gathered before the Menbim Stone where one world will end and another begin. Gods, demons and immortals battle for supremacy at the end of time and one by one our heroes fall, their weapons shattered. Morn, the last to fall, looks up as he dies and the sky above shatters allowing the full horror of Chaos once more into the world.
Scene 2: The Palace of Fear
Shaken by their visions our heroes emerge from the mists and above them looms the Palace of Fear, home to the Queen of Air and Darkness, mistress of Sopias and Queen of the Realm of Nightmare. Its gates yawn open but before they can advance they are challenged. Appearing on a ridge above them is Sirius, the doppelganger. He orders them to turn back or be destroyed. There is some witty repartee and then the killing begins. The group find themselves outmatched at first. Clumped up at the start they are a handy target for the sorcery of Sirius and his elemental allies which emerge from the rock and water. Air, earth, fire and water they inflict significant damage and Morn is unable to hold them off, his tiny mind crushed by Sirius’s mental powers or his body dropped, plate armour and all, into a small lake nearby. The tide however is turned when Assamber freezes several of the elementals in place and then drops a Wall of Fire on them. Sirius goes down shortly thereafter and then it’s just mopping up.
Filled with confidence the group heads into the Palace. No guards protect its entrance, all are welcome to enter but few find leaving so simple. The Palace is protected by the Queens magic and it forces those who lack the will to face their greatest fears. It has however been a long time since it has faced such formidable opposition. Chiniko laughs at the petty fears it produces and our heroes throw off the gloomy shadows which linger in the backs of their minds.
Reaching the doors to the Throne room they now face a more difficult challenge. The guardians of the gate, Lackey and Lickspittle, demand a price for entrance. Refuse and they have the power to eject any interloper, be they god, demon or hero. Each demand a memory, Lackey of the first woman one of them ever loved and Lickspittle the moment of greatest happiness. The group deliberate.
Assamber chooses trickery and convinces Lickspittle that the dreams of the black Lotus poppy, which he has been addicted to for some time, produce the greatest happiness known in the mortal realm. Lickspittle agrees and Assamber finds himself free of the poppy’s influence. Morn takes a more direct route offering his love of the Tiefling Kyia Trak’ar, his mistress when he was a slave. Agreeing Lackey takes more than his memory of her, he takes his hatred of the Tieflings as well. It remains to be seen what effect this might have in the future.
Having paid the price they secure entrance to the Queen. The chamber is vast, crafted out of ice with great iron cages hanging from the fog covered ceiling by chains. One has a living occupant, a rather disconsolate dark fey of foxlike aspect. The room is filled with the fey of nightmare, twisted malevolent looking creatures which howl and shriek at the groups approach. The Queen is tall, dark and statuesque, he throne protected by a pair of great armoured bears. She demands to know why they are here.
Chiniko sets out the situation, asking for her to join forces with her sister to oppose Carnage. The Queen is aloof and uninterested so he tries the more direct approach. As Avatar of Sopias he demands that she make herself and her armies available. Unfortunately she is not quite convinced that he possesses such a status, or that he ever will. In the blink of an eye she hurls him across the room, the mark of her hand burned into his neck and cheek.
Morn interjects, perhaps even saving Chiniko’s life from the Queens anger. He slyly suggests that the Queen might be reluctant as the weaker Court of the two. Perhaps the Queen remains here in her fortress out of fear. It’s a bold gamble, but it seems to work. The Queen tells them that, when they need them the forces of Nightmare will be there.
Scene 3: Let slip the dogs of war
The group quickly return to the Summer Court to prepare for War. The forces of Carnage have crawled closer. In the sky the great rift pulses and swells like an angry wound in the sky and across the land the Behemoth spread corruption and filth. A vast track lies behind it, the land there dead, it’s very essence drained and reduced to ash. Around the Behemoth great maggots, twisted giants and all the horrors of the Underdark swell. The armies of the Summer and Winter Courts gather and the Queen of Air and Darkness ascends to aid her sister in containing the rift. Our heroes make their own preparations and then the Horns sound and battle is joined.
The fighting is intense on all sides. In the skies flights of wyvern and griffon cavalry clash with swarming demons, knights of great renown battle giants on the ground and through it all our heroes bring their own peculiar brand of chaos; Morn dives into the thick of the enemy in a lightning strike to rescue the Princess Menandore who has ventured far into the enemies lines; Chiniko flits around the battlefield bringing Azhanti in amongst the hordes of undead blasting them to pieces with his holy powers; Assamber rides in the very van of the army driving great wedges through the enemy lines with his sorcery; Artemis ranges throughout the enemy camp assassinating their commanders and throwing the enemy into disarray. The outer forces of the enemy begin to collapse under the pressure being brought to bear but they are only the beginning. A horn blares out and from the mouth of the Behemoth march a horde of armoured Giants, the elite guard for Lord Carnage, King of the Fomori. They are a formidable force but still no match for our heroes and Chiniko clouds their minds allowing the group and a small force of knights past the Guard and into the Behemoth. The Knights take up guard at the entrance ready to hold off all comers as our heroes enter the skull of the behemoth to face Carnage and his closest allies.
Scene 4: Carnage
The skull chamber is huge and dominated by an enormous throne. Great slabs of onyx are set into the eye sockets but even from here the floating forms of the twin Queens can be seen and felt. Carnage waits for them, his axe cradled across his knees. At his side towers a great mass of malignant elemental energy and off to one side cradling the bones of the dead squats a skeletal Cyclops, fire burning in its chest. Two giant warriors complete the ensemble facing our heroes.
Insults and threat are exchanged and it is quickly clear that no compromise is possible. The elemental surges forward crashing into the front ranks of the group and pinning them in the entranceway. Assamber acts quickly deciding to try and hold off the rest of their enemies and seals them off with a wall of fire. Unfortunately this does not stop the Cyclops from unleashing fiery hell in the cramped quarters and then the giants move into position. Things begin to look even worse as Carnage drives several of the group into their own wall of fire. Artemis manages to get clear of the enemy and Assamber drops a stinking cloud over several of them. Chiniko flits across the battlefield but ranges too close to Carnage who strikes him down. Morn finds himself trapped against the wall of fire between a giant warrior and the elemental monstrosity and its probing tentacles. Things are again looking grim but hope arrives from the Summer Queen who restores some of their strength.
Reinvigorated our heroes strike back. The elemental is destroyed and the Cyclops finds itself constantly trapped in the stinking cloud. Every attempt to pin down Assamber fails against some sorcerous defence or other and Carnage tries, and fails, to banish several group members to the shadow realm. Once the Cyclops and one of the giants fall it is only a matter of time. Carnage, outmatched and outnumbered is the last King of the Fomori. As he dies his army collapses and flees into the surrounding countryside pursued by the twin armies of dream and nightmare.
Scene 5: The Hearts Desire
In the Throne room everything has gone still. The Heart of Sopias is embedded into the chest of the Fomori King and Chiniko stands over his defeated enemy. He can feel the heat of the gem rolling through the room. There is an infection at its centre, an unnaturally heat, the rift to chaos. All he has to do is to claim the stone as his accept the power of Chaos and become the new overlord of Dream. The Twin Queens shall be his slaves and he will become the new Sopias. He rejects the offer and stuffs the Heart into a bag. As the group prepare to leave the Queen of Summer arrives. Her eyes are fixed on the Heart and desire fills her. She advances on Chiniko asking him to give up the stone. Sensing impending disaster he uses the ring which will take them all back to their ship. It does not work. The Queen is closer now, if she takes the Heart she will rise as a new force in Dream, supplanting both her sister and Sopias. Chiniko does the only thing he can; he reaches into the Book of Dreams and Nightmares and throws out two nightmares, one at each of the Twin Queens. In each they see the other in possession of the Heart. The Queen of Nightmares descends to contest with her sister and all around them the Behemoth begins to tear apart. In the nick of time the group are rescued by the Princess Menandore and a wing of griffon cavalry.
Free from the attention of the Twin Queens the group makes hasty preparations to leave Dream as quickly as possible. They have now recovered all five of the Hearts of the Primordial’s and their power is growing. They must reach the City of Kings as soon as possible. They take their leave of the Princess and beat a hasty retreat back to their own reality.
As they step through the gap in the wall they find things are not as they left them. Their ship lies on the ground a strange crystalline golem stood on the deck. Above them flies a second, larger, ship displaying the crest of the Imperial Arkhosian Fleet. A figure appears at the railing, one Artemis recognises. It is his sister, Kallista, who ran off to join the Order of Transcendental Enquiry. “Welcome back brother. The Emperor congratulates you on having recovered all of the five Hearts. Now please place them on the ground and move away. I would hate to have to order my lightning cannons to fire upon you.”
*cut scene*
In the City of Kings a storm has blown in from the ocean. Rain lashes down and lightning splits the sky striking at the Spire, the crystal tower at the centre of the city. Forces begin to converge on the City, ancient powers, dangerous and cunning. Power will be spent in this city soon and immortal blood will be spilled. Such conjunctions occur only infrequently but whenever they do there exists opportunity, for advancement, for battle and, most importantly, for revenge.
