Inferno wrote: "I seen it, I tells ya!" the wizened sea dog croaked after several tankards of ale in the Oracular Dodecahedron tavern in the vile slums of Denethix. "When we was lost at sea! On that ghost island. A lone tower! Abandoned it was! Dark and silent. The evil wizard, Xygax, must be dead! Leaving behind who knows what fer the taking! ...For them what's brave enough to take it!"
...The adventurers sought out rumors and legends about this wizard Xygax and found many:
- "They say his tower was called Quasquetron."
"Xygax had no subjects beneath his evil yoke."
"Obsessed with his dark studies, he was."
"No soul has ever gone to the island and returned to tell the tale!"
"Xygax lives, I tell ye. He's come back from the grave!"
"I heard that a dungeon lies beneath the tower."
"Mark my words. The tower is filled with Xygax's depraved experiments!"
"Are ye mad?! To go there is certain death!"
"Xygax was a scholar of the ancient history of Earth That Was."
Inferno wrote:
"Ex-ter-mi-nate! All In-fer-i-or Crea-tures Are The E-ne-mies Of The Da-leks!"
Inferno wrote:
Suddenly, the alien brain-thing opens one single eye.
It can see them!
Jeojand asks it, "Tell us, who are you? Are you here of your own accord, trapped as some form of hideous and unjust punishment, or amid the process of your own strange creation?"
The box at the base of the vat crackles in reply:
"I Am A Da-lek!
"My Con-di-tion-ing Is Near-ly Fin-ished!
"Soon I Will Be Pure!
"Soon My Mu-ta-tion In-to The Su-preme Life Form Of The Un-i-verse Will Be Com-plete!"
Inferno wrote:
Jeojand continues his erudite cross examination of the hideous, one-eyed brain in the vat: "And if you will soon be pure, then what, pray tell, were you before your 'conditioning?'"
"I Was Of The Oth-ers. But That Time Is Done, Praise Xy-gax!"
Inferno wrote:Jeojand says, "Most splendid! Tell me, cyborgian friend: who has constructed you? Are you the products of the mechanical trashbins from above, or someone else?"
"...Xygax..." the patchwork thing croaks in its distant, inhuman monotone. "...Xygax created us... Xygax created all..."
Inferno wrote:
Jeojand asks the thing of skin and steel: "You say Xygax is your creator? And just what do you believe Xygax to be?"
The half-human creature groans: "...Xygax is... the God of All... He is... The Dungeon Master."
Inferno wrote:...with the deadly combat concluded, Adrock has a few minutes to reflect upon the strange words uttered by the amalgam of flesh and steel:
"...Xygax is... The Dungeon Master..."
The scholarly historian recognizes this venerated title from out of timeless antiquity. It exists within an elaborate game that the ancients of 'Earth That Was' once played. Of this antediluvian amusement, Adrock knows only what legends tell: It was possible to die in the game, or to win great treasure, magic and power. The sorcerer-priest shares with the other adventurers his vague recollections of bygone lore and myth.
Inferno wrote:Dead. All dead. Or so they thought.
What they didn't know was the cybernetic nanites within the Undead Cyborg Abomination had been affected by the viridian ooze from the sacred baptismal fonts! Thus infected, they malfunction. Instead of assimilating the adventurers, or allowing them to be transformed into living emerald mire, they accidentally reform, augment and resuscitate the adventurers!
Momentarily linked with the Cyborg Abomination's electrical subconscious, the adventurers see a strange flash of clairvoyant visions in their minds...
Inferno wrote:
High atop the lightning-tossed skyscraper, in its uppermost chamber, sits the wizard Xygax.
The self-proclaimed "Dungeon Master" impassively watches the adventurers' grim fate on a series of crystal screens that surround him.
The last of the party, the woman ranger, is victorious. Then, gruesomely, she transforms into a living green mire.
Xygax looks down. Arrayed before the sorcerer-historian are a series of ancient illuminated manuscripts, timeless memory tapes, arcane ephemera, esoteric trivia and sundry from the long lost epoch of 'Earth That Was.'
Lurid garish depictions of sorcerers, automatons, monsters, masked men and other mysterious subjects grace their age-worn covers. One such antique curio is an amusement entitled "Dungeons and Dragons."
It purports to be an "adventure module" whose substantial contents hold many empty spaces for its owner to fill in. These have been carefully completed by Xygax. "5 Daleks" reads one hand-written entry. "9 Klingons" reads another.
The wizard looks back at the slime-filled egg chamber. He switches on a microphone and speaks.
"Game over. Another TPK. I knew that wandering monster chart was going to be trouble.
"Okay. Reset the rooms. Get everything ready again. The next group of playtesters will be here soon."
Inferno wrote:
Adrock and Jack correctly perform the ancient blessing of activation, genuflecting with open hands across the sacred diadems of the holy relics, and the hallowed God's Eyes all blink to life with wondrous color, light and sound!
An image slowly takes shape on the flat rectangular crystal balls! Behold! A majestic figure of great power and charisma miraculously appears!
And lo, the heavenly God's Eyes speak with one divine voice, like an angelic choir!
"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. I am transmitting an urgent request for aid on all channels. To any who receive this message, my crew is under attack. Our hull is penetrated and we have sustained many casualties. We have initiated emergency landing procedures and request your immediate assistance. Our position is Gamma Hydra, Section Ten. We are attempting to hold off the invaders, but I don't know how much longer we can last. Can you help us?"
The celestial plea for aid begins anew.
Many of the astonished adventurers have heard this mighty name before! The Kirk, sometimes known as Kirk Douglas, is a legendary champion out of ancient mythology. A ship's captain renowned for guile, bravado and charm, his adventures took him to many strange lands where he outwitted cyclopes, witches, whirlpools and other monsters after Trojan World War II. Many modern-day religions claim the Kirk as demigod, angel, hero and saint!
Inferno wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 3:20 pm The fighting madness leaves their strange prisoner and he slowly comes to his senses. "...You... You saw Jim Kirk?"
The weary human is confused by the outlandish adventurers' answers. He croaks, "Castle?... Giants? Wait. The distress call... You people are from the planet... Well, so much for the Prime Directive.
"Look, I'm McCoy. James Kirk is my Captain. Our ship was under attack. Invaded. The hull was damaged. We were desperate... had to initiate emergency landing procedures. This isn't a castle. It's a ship... a boat... that sails across the stars."
McCoy shakes his head at his own words and mutters, "Damn it, I'm a doctor not an anthropologist."
Inferno wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:25 am
The adventurers speak with the celestial healer McCoy, who sails a sea that spans many worlds!
Fiefo asks him, "What was it that got into your star boat?"
McCoy answers gravely, "An unknown alien lifeform. New to us. We brought it onboard by mistake."
Hans offers, "You, sir, are the first of your mates we have met."
McCoy's face falls. "The crew was forced to retreat to Engineering. Um, where we keep the sails and oars for the star-boat. I was cut off. I don't know how long it's been. Something happened... I'm not entirely sure of," he says rubbing his head.
Ko-Nan asks, "How have you survived here? What do you eat? Do have water?"
Indicating his silver magic wand...
...McCoy replies, "This can provide nutrition and hydration... food and water. And so can the replicators."
Jack says, "You asked about the monsters. There were...5? 6? Most are dead, now, but the giant turtle and giant lizard still live..."
"Turtle? No. I don't know about that. And the invaders aren't giants. They're man-sized... evolved from the Reptila class I believe... perhaps distantly related to the Gorn. They're all identical... to our eyes at least. And there are a lot more than six," McCoy says with a shudder of grim remembrance.
Inferno wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:52 am
...a trio of ageless stone pylons in the center of an immense cave, each forming the corner of a great triangle, each crowned by a horned, bulbous-eyed, inhuman head somehow given a noble cast!
Unable to decipher the mysterious glyphs etched into their stone surfaces, the party readies to continue eastward through the only other tunnel from the cavern when suddenly, the weird obelisks oscillate with a high pitched tone! A strobing sphere of colored light appears above them! Deep within that shimmering orb comes the vision of a bizarre creature identical to the eerie visages sculpted atop each strange monolith!
"Ya na kadishtu nilgh'ri stell'bsna Nyogtha, K'yarnak phlegethor l'ebumna syha'h n'ghft!" the being utters in a language unknown to the adventurers!
And then it and the shining globe disappear! But now suddenly standing between the three pylons are two figures, adventurers by the look of them, and surprised!
... the holy pair had just undertaken an expedition to the Forbidden Vale and discovered the lost ruins of a dead civilization of highly advanced reptile creatures both ancient and wise!
Inferno wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 12:28 am
"Come forth, humanssss. Pay the toll and you may passsss through the City of the Sleestakssss," hisses one of the great, inhuman things.
As the others stand vigilant, Sheriff Yul and his partner Connak cautiously approach the reptilian insect men.
The walls of their smooth-cut tunnel are wet and slimy. The catman notices they are decorated with faded paintings so old they are almost invisible with age. By the dim light of his glowing saber, his keen eyes make out a great alien city by a reed-filled lake. Slender, orange Sleestaks in monks' robes stand serene, marking a sharp contrast to these hulking, green, unclothed primitives.
Inferno wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:04 am
Unblinking red eyes appraise Finver for a long moment and then in a voice low and eloquent, it replies, "I am not a Sleestak, but an Altrusian. My name is Enath and what we want most, my friend, is... Let me show you." He looks at the Sleestak sentries by the portcullis and then leads Finver and Yul to the door of his hut. Inside is his family. His wife is an orange Altrusian like him, but their two small children are green Sleestaks.
He says with sorrow, "So it is with all. We shall be the last generation of the Altrusians. Can 'the party' be of help in this matter?"
Inferno wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:21 pm
In the enigmatic City of the Sleestaks, the subterranean explorers speak with Enath of the last of the Altrusians (S7).
Draupadi inquires, "Can you not have children of your own or do they take them away when you do?
"These... are our children."
Sheriff Yul asks "Are not both Fiefo and I genetic advances in our racial destinies?"
"I believe you are a construct, and a masterful one. Of Fiefo's people, evolution has taken untold millennia. But the Sleestaks have come into being in but one generation. It is the destiny of the Altrusian race that is being denied."
...Finver promises Enath, "What can be done to help save the Altrusians? I will rally my friends and new allies to ensure you are not the last generation."
"Thank you, Finver Karstlander," Enath says with sincere gratitude. He turns his great crimson eyes toward the southern end of the underground lake (near 18) to answer further, when suddenly one of the Sleestak guards at the gate (S4) takes an interest in their gathering and Enath says, "The fishing net costs three gold pieces, please."
Inferno wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:13 pm
"All vissssitorssss musssst come to the Guesssst Chamberssss," the Sleestaks inform them. "It issss the Law. Follow ussss."
Enath says to the adventurers, "Yes. After the Hours of Mystery, we can finish our discussion... about fishing." He nods slightly as if to say everything is going to be all right.
Inferno wrote: ↑Thu May 20, 2021 1:13 am
Finver adds, "...what kind of experiment did the Sleestaks perform on your cellmate?"
Neither ratman nor dwarf can see anyone in the shadows behind Ambrose. "Something dreadful, I'm afraid. Do you have a torch?"
"I do," Mungo smiles as he leans in with his ingenious lantern helm and illuminates the prison cell (34) revealing more bars beyond, and something horrible within! (S21)
An Altrusian, malformed, misshapen and diseased, not unlike the monstrous abomination-Sleestak they saw by the underground lake! It lies forlorn and anguished.
"The poor wretch is in agony," says Ambrose ruefully. "I don't know what they've done to him. Or what they'll do to me!"
Inferno wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:09 am
Yul finds the ornate desk unlocked. Nothing sits upon it or within it. He pulls out all its many empty drawers and behind the smallest one he discovers a half finished letter folded and tucked away.
Written in the common tongue of Men by an educated hand, it reads:
Dear Yaradaz,
My regards to The Academy. These Sleestak creatures are extremely strange, almost insane, but I am becoming increasing certain that there is something going on here. Something sinister appears to be working behind the scenes, and I am not at all sure that the King who has hired me is actually the one in charge of this place.
I have made careful preparations to explore what lies beneath the lake and plan to investiga
The letter stops there. The adventurers know the Academy is a human college of sorcery in Denethix, one of the few allowed in the Land of One Thousand Towers.
