Megalithic Summoning Circle, The Haunted Wood, The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-three. Midnight. Wednesday, December 14th, 576 CY
Freezing cold, clear
Memory cannot hold nor words describe all that transpired next.
With sickening dread, Telkis and Urdur recall the rantings of the lunatic at the defiled church in Vicar's Head who murdered them:
"The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen!"
Suddenly, within the great fire at the center of the writhing, chanting maelstrom of worshippers, a terrible shape slowly grows; inconceivable in form and meaning!
A hideous miasma of inhuman eyes emerges from the flames! The abysmal entity from beyond the thin veil of reality can
see them!
The madman's prophetic warning echoes in the gnomes' minds.
"They walk in foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons! The Old Ones have broken through of old, and They shall break through again!"
To the hellish chorus of the faithful blasphemers, the startling, unimaginable and half-realized phantom steadily looms into horrifying existence with their every forbidden utterance!
Through it, the heroes see beyond the bounds of infinity and the distant, nameless stars.
With a shudder, Jerome
remembers those fathomless black gulfs of eternity.
"Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again!"
A shadow strides from world to world to sow death and madness. And now at last, it is come!
The stars are right! The Dark Mother is unleashed to wreak havoc and horror across the Oerth! All is lost!
Suddenly, the great blazing pyre explodes in a shower of white, burning light!
The druid's miracle blinds the mad worshippers! And their devil chants become a cacophony of chaos and rage!
Urdur sees his chance! The invisible gnome races to Amity who is alive with crawling pestilence; shrieking, raging, seething, biting, thrashing like a frenzied daemonic thing.
Brevos and Telkis burst from the woods, weapons bared, ready to defend Ingrid or rush toward the possessed child!
The rest of the doomed heroes descend upon the woman who has raised the alarm! Ingrid smothers her voice with a sacred prayer and Jerome and Mouser kill her without mercy, by sword and by stone! The young, grey-haired paladin is deafened, engulfed by an eerie sonic void!
Bo's dazzling spell of fire and light dies, plunging everything into deepest shadow! No longer blind, the profane congregation wheel in fury, distracted by Mouser's flaming apparition!
By its flickering glow, the heroes see the unspeakable rite is broken! The horrific thing at the threshold of worlds,
the Dark Mother itself, is no more! Mercifully, its frightful memory fades!
Then a cold light pierces the darkness. A lost wind moans among the black trees and the moon begins to rise! And all the children of the Dark Mother start to scream.
Actions?!
Map:
One square = 10 feet.
Map Detail:
PC Status:
Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 36/36
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 25/25, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 3/5 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 1/1,
Deafened
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 38/38, Spells: 2/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 0/2 3rd lvl
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 34/34
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/11, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/2 2nd lvl
PC Magic:
Player Resources: