Nearly two years ago at the start of the game Morn’s player wrote a piece of background material about The Unfettered God. At that time Morn was a Paladin of the Unfettered God. In time he would learn that his God was a fraud, slay his High Priestess (twice), lose his Paladin status, become a fighter and eventually drive his hammer through the skull of the duplicitous Chaos Lord.
The story which Morn wrote was about two divine lovers, forever separated from each other by the scheming of the Unfettered God, in truth a Lord of Chaos seeking to break various divine compacts. This session saw the resolution of a thousand year old wrong as well as the beginning of the Age of Darkness when the Sun itself would go out.
Scene 1: To Kill a God
Our session opens with Artemis sat looking over the desert. Behind him their forces have amassed ready to march across the blasted salt plains, to brave the deadly illusions of Ashura and to assault the Shrouded Oasis itself. Artemis sits contemplating how one might kill a Primordial and even if he should do it at all.
As he sits Udun, the elderly wrinkled shaman joins him. The two talk about what is to come and the different options. Udun explains that the Primoridals are creatures of more than just flesh, their bodies can be destroyed but their spirits remain and will in time return. Reptos slew both Vulcan and Ashura and, unable to destroy their spirits instead he trapped them in the Plaza of Dead Gods. This however required the sacrifice of hundreds of his Magi to create the binding spells, a resource our heroes don’t really have access to.
Udun sets out his options. Ashura has fallen into the void and become a creature of entropy. Destroy him and he will in time return. Destroy his link to this world, the World Tree at the heart of the Oasis, and he will be cast into the void forever, never to return but the Oasis will be lost, its heart destroyed. Lastly they might cure Ashura, place the artefacts which the group plundered from his Tomb into their proper places in the Oasis and Ashura will be restored. Artemis is left to brood and think over their options. No-one truly knows what might happen when a Primordial dies and Artemis has plans for the Oasis in the future. As he ponders he catches sight of a figure, clothed in white silks flitting across the dunes.
Intrigued he gives chase. The woman sees him and flees but he has the speed of a gazelle and the senses of a hunting cat. A few well placed arrows bring her up short and she turns, fear in her eyes. This is no mortal woman but a goddess, the Hidden Moon. She trembles under his hard gaze and explains that she has been separated from her husband, the Burning Sun, who has fallen to his father’s corruption. She came to camp hoping to gain Artemis’s aid but his reputation as the God Killer frightened her away. She asks for his help, defeat her husband and purify him of his corruption and she will help bring them to the Oasis through Ashura’s traps. Artemis agrees but only on one condition, if he succeeds then she and her husband must withdraw from the world and take no part in its end game. Reluctantly she agrees and gives him an arrow crafted from moonlight which will drive the entropy from her husband.
Scene 2: Desert of Desolation
The forces of our heroes gather. In the centre march the Stone Dwarves, those who have accepted the curse of flesh together with their battle golems. Supporting them comes Finnest, the Silver Caste dwarven astrologer and his cadre of magicians. On the flanks ride the Pashtun cavalry and the Dragonborn of the High Lightning Clan and above fly the witches and shamans of the Pashtun. Surrounding all of them are the forces of the Elemental Court, freed from the influence of their father Ashura.
Morn ranges through the army making preparations while Azhanti takes to the air to scout ahead helping to avoid various ambushes. As they press closer to the Oasis the sand and salt rises up in great walls to block their path but it cannot prevail against Azhanti, Lord of Storms. As they enter the ancient ruins which ring the Oasis Artemis slips through the rubble assassinating the leaders of the forces waiting in ambush while Azhanti navigates the deadly traps and ancient slumbering curses which fill the ruins.
As they press forward the sky goes dark, waves of entropy flow from the Oasis blotting out the sun. The forces gathered waver and cry out and Hidden Moon turns her face from the horror. Stepping forward Morn takes her arm and brings her a revelation. The Unfettered God is a lie, his bargains nothing more than trickery and deception and, most importantly, he is also very very dead having been killed by Morn himself. Beyond the gate to the Oasis lies her husband who she has not seen in a thousand years. The Unfettered Gods bargain does not bind her and all that they need is for her to open the Gate. Emboldened by her speech she turns to face the Oasis, spreading her arms wide moonlight fills her and beams of pale light strike into the heart of the Oasis. As she rises into the sky the Moon appears full and bright and burns away the entropic energy covering the land leaving the way to the Oasis free.
Except for one obstacle, the Burning Sun has returned from the Void and now, instead of a creature of blinding light he has become part of the void, light, energy, heat and life are all sucked into him. The forces of the Kireshi range out behind him but this battle is between the God and those demigods who would challenge him. The ancient ruins ring with the clash of steel but our heroes are in no mood to dally. The Burning Sun is swiftly overwhelmed and his heart is pierced with the arrow of moonlight. Freed from his corruption he rises into the sky and finally the Sun and Moon are reunited together.
In the background Finnest the dwarven astrologer begins making furious notes on how this conjunction might best be used.
Scene 3: The Oasis
Our heroes enter the Oasis and now at last the time of decision has come for Artemis. He chooses not to try and restore Ashura, the Primordials have had their chance and it is time for the world to be rid of them. He will kill Ashura and the World Tree but seek to preserve the Oasis as his own realm. (The PC’s scored a complete victory on the skill challenge to reach the Oasis, that is all successes and no fails. I have allowed those sorts of successes to permit them to change established campaign facts or establish new ones. In this case Artemis asked for the chance to save the Oasis which I was happy to agree).
First however is the small matter of reaching Ashura. The Oasis is actually its own small world separate from the one our heroes know. It is a small fragment of a previous reality which was preserved by Ashura as a home for his people. Tall mountains ring a long wide valley filled with thick jungle while in the centre rises a mountainous crag on which stands the ancient groves and the World Tree, the first tree to have life breathed into it. Those jungles however are thick with enemy forces committed to defending their God, no matter how corrupted he might be.
Artemis chooses the first mode of attack. He calls upon the Spirits of the Desert to sweep aside the Kireshi forces and open the way to the mountain. They surge forward but as they do so Ashura appears ready to subjugate his unruly children once more, a move which might doom our heroes before they even begin. At this point the dwarf Finnest acts. He has completed his calculations, predicted the moment of Ashuras appearance and prepared for it. As Ahura emerges from the mountain the skies clear and the Sun and Moon appear in perfect alignment. Overcome by their radiance Ashura flees back into the grove to take no more part in the battle. (Getting to the mountain was a skill challenge. Artemis managed to roll a 1 on getting the spirits involved, a move which would have lost them as his allies. However, I had given some of the allies the PC’s have some mechanical benefits. In particular the dwarven astrologers gave the PC’s a reroll which came up as a 20 which we count as a critical giving 2 successes and driving Ashura out of this battle).
Taking the opportunity provided our heroes pour forward. The Dragonborn and Pashtun work together drawing out the enemy into a series of traps while Morn reinforces the dwarven battle golems and takes pot shots at the Kireshi aerial cavalry with huge blacks of masonry. In the skies above the jungle Artemis flies with the Pashtun witches and their wyvern riders duelling with the First, leader of the Kireshi warrior caste. The two lock into a deadly embrace high above the jungle. Their mounts clawing at each other they plummet towards the ground with Artemis managing to pull up just in time. The First survives slowly clambering from shattered body of his mount when Isaac Antarion, clan chief of Clan Antarion emerges from the shadows and slits his throat. With their forces in disarray and their leader dead the Kireshi break and the route to the mountain and Ashura himself lies open. (This was another complete success, damn their good dice rolls which they used later on to connect the various different realm fragments together).
Scene 4: The Greater Darkness
Our heroes make their way unimpeded up the mountain to the once sacred groves and ancient stone circle which sat at the top. What they find is a mass of corruption, decay and rot. Strange fungus grows over toppled ancient stones. The earth has turned black and rotten and the World Tree itself is bloated, its bark split and its branches hung with creepers and vines. Most worrying however is the huge figure of Ashura who towers over them, filled with power and ready to break bones and tear flesh.
There is no time for banter and they surge to the attack. They have prepared for this battle and have carefully hoarded their strength. Ashura however is not alone and out of the earth crawl skeletal Kireshi archers and from the stones emerge corrupted Kireshi druids wielding soul fire. Ashura strikes without mercy, his very presence leaves our heroes vulnerable to corrupting forces present in the glade but Morn weathers the blows inflicted by the God long enough to allow Artemis to do what he does best. He moves with a fluidity no human should possess and with an accuracy which defies description. Arrows fly over and over again slamming into Ashura with deadly precision. Slowly, ever so slowly, the titan falls. The Oasis falls silent, the sounds of battle fade away as all eyes turn to the mountain, can that be it?
The sound of laughter fills the glade, “Did you think it would be so easy?” At the far end of the glade the World Tree shudders and heaves as the Spirit of Ashura moves within it. “I am eternal, I have looked into the Void and it has filled me. You cannot destroy me.” The roots of the ancient tree run through the entire mountain and now they rise up grasping and clinging, pinning our heroes down and draining their very life essence. Morn manages, somehow, to get the monstrosity into his reach and lock it down and once again Artemis strikes. The Bow of Ashura possesses the power of the sun and as he unleashes its power his arrows burst into flame and explode on contact. Each hits with bone jarring force but the explosions also manage to engulf Morn in flame and he looks like he might go down if not for the handy assistance of Azhanti.
The World Tree falls, its trunk split apart, its corrupted bark burned to ash but still it is not over. His spirit now forced from its host Ashura rises once more, a tall slender ghost of black flames armed with a soul destroying blade of night. Morn charges and the weapon flicks out seeking to end his life but it is no use. The spirit of Ashura is destroyed, banished for all time back into the void to be consumed.
Silence engulfs the Oasis and then a great wind begins to blows. The Spirits of the Desert, children of Ashura, arrive to mourn the passing of their father. They kneel around the spot on which he died and let forth a great mourning wail. The earth buckles and from it his body returns, cleansed of the corruption which afflicted him. The spirits raise him up and wind him in funeral sheets. “We take our father now to be buried. Before we go we give you this gift” A sapling bursts from the husk of the old World Tree and swiftly begins to grow. Its roots run quickly through the Oasis purging the corruption of the Void but they go even further, working their way through the roots of the multiverse itself. The new World Tree connects all of the fragments of previous realities, opening paths and gates between them.
“The time of the elder races is fading away and with us must come our children.” Out in the Oasis the Kireshi begin to fade away helping to undo the corruption of the Oasis. “Our last act is to fulfil the promise our Father made to the first Great Huntsman. We gift to you the Oasis, let it be a safe haven for your people, a place free from the great game of the immortals. No divine being, whether God, Demon or Lord of Chaos may enter its gateway between now and the end of all existence”. With that they fade away, never to be seen again. (It’s worth noting that this includes both Morn, as a demigod, and Ashura as an Avatar of Storm).
Epilogue
No-one knows what happens when a Primordial dies. The Primordial’s are the fundamental building blocks of the world, the Lords of Law and without them it is possible the world itself would cease to exist. How can a world live without a Sun to warm it, without a Lord of Life to quicken the spirit of living beings. With the death of Sopias people have begun to stop dreaming. With the final death of Ashura light itself goes out of the world.
As Ashura falls outside of the Oasis the repercussions begin to be felt. The Burning Sun, God of the Dawn embraces his love, the Hidden Moon and the two circle one another in a meeting long since postponed. But with the death of Ashura his children fade away and Hidden Moon is left with nothing but tears for her lost love, left to wander the skies alone and bound by her promise to Artemis to not interfere.
Worse is yet to come. The Sun God is dead and as dawn approaches he makes no appearance in the Eastern sky. Only the stars and the Moon remain to give light to the World. The Age of Darkness has begun and the world has entered its last days before the end of time itself.
*cut scene*
In the southern mountain the dwarven astrologer Finnest leads his people back to their hold. When he arrives he finds the gates sundered, his people dead or gone and the home forges shattered. The forces of Amaan have broken the outer defences and driven into the heart of dwarven territory. Amaan once again sits on the Throne of Kings as Giant Emperor and Finnest is left with a hard choice. Remain here and fall under the domination of the Emperor or leave his home forever and accept the Curse of Flesh and the loss of his immortality.
*cut scene*
In the City of Sarind the human and Dragonborn defenders prepare to withstand another assault from the forces of Reptos. When Dawn fails to come their courage falters and the forces of Reptos, enslaved to his will and fearless of the dark, charge. The City quickly falls and the Dragonborn legions are captured. Their fate is yet unknown but it is unlikely to be a kindly one.
*cut scene*
*cut scene*
On the southern coast of Arkhosia stands The Wall, a defence against the attacks of Ouroborous’s spawn seeking single combat against the champions of the world. Many heroes have been chained to the Wall but now two more arrive out of a night sky that will never lift. The Twin Star Sisters, Dragonborn demigods, daughters of battle and personal bodyguards of the Emperor come to the aid of the beleaguered heroes. Out in the distance the seas churn and boil as powerful Warriors of Chaos emerge to test themselves once again. If The Wall falls then they will be free to range across the southern provinces bringing death and destruction to the people.
*cut scene*
In the Forbidden City, Heart of the Palace of the Emperor of Arkhosia, in the Capital city of the Empire itself Khitai, Dragonborn Emperor sits brooding in his chambers. He watches the advance of the Lokarnos fleet, the City Ships come together for the first time in a dozen generations. He knows they come to destroy him and his people for his betrayal of their trust. His advisors have called for him to unleash the dragons but he has dismissed them. As their ships approach ancient engines hum into life and slowly the vast city ships rise into the air. Soon they will surround the capital and begin their bombardment.
Silently the Emperor watches, doing nothing.
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