Chapter 14: Things From Another World

[Rex]

Draupadi

"If it gets to that try and make it quick and make sure to burn our remains."

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Don't worry, Toots. We'll take care of you.
Maybe a quick knockout to help you sleep? He grins and cracks his knuckles.

[Inferno]

Caveman Dwelling near the Starfall, Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Night. Friday, April 13th, 912 CY








"Tell us, Earthlings. Tell us about your little world."

Druapadi refuses to answer the sentient Void Slime that has invaded her body and mind.

Ko-Nan offers his brutal remedies again, and then lopes up the stairway hewn from natural rock, torch in one hand, ax in the other.

At its summit the barbarian finds a great cavern that seems like a place of worship for the primitive tribe whose home this was before the coming of the falling star.



There is a powerful scent of incense here, many articles of worship, and steps that rise higher still.


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter area is visible. All else is from memory.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 20/24
Draupadi: Human Cleric 5: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 41/41, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl, 0/2 3rd lvl, Continual Light, Infested
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 29/29
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 4: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 35/35, Infested
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 44/51, Torch
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 18/18, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl, 1/2 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 5: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 39/39, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi looks around for a place to pray and meditate.

How long would she need to recover spells?

She will set up for the night in the sleeping area.

[Rex]

Added to my previous post.

[redwarrior]

Connak will take the first watch.

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Maskelyn joins the others in the temple. He settles down to rest.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-nan checks out the north west stairs to make sure no more slime creatures are waiting. "Was there any wood to burn back there? Might be good to stack some up in front of these passageways if we want to rest here"

[jemmus]

Mungo sits and breaks out some Altrusian rations. Anyone want some more Altrusian blind cave fish? I still have plenty. After dining, he says he'll take the second watch, lies down, and is soon snoring.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo will check out the northwest stair with Ko-nan. As he does so, he has a rare moment of self-reflection, wondering how it is he's still alive after all they've been through. Then he remembers, he did, in fact, die once.

[SilverBen]

Finver lowers his hammer and replies to the disembodied voice as if it were completely natural conversation. The dwarf begins by releasing a bellowing laugh ending in a repetition of the request, or command perhaps. He replies, "Tell ya about this little world, eh?"

In his best intimidation voice,"Well, first thing ya should know is: He furrows his brow and barks back It's our little world, and if ya all are gonna eat us and expand yer slime trails everywhere ya go in our world, then we're gonna have ta kick ya out of our little world! Got any ears left ta hear that, Sir Slimey? And just what do ya think yer doin attackin' us with all yer slimey minions? Why didn't ya just talk from tha start and would saved all tha slime from yer friends that we just decorated yer cave with."

[Inferno]

Caveman Dwelling near the Starfall, Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Night. Friday, April 13th, 912 CY








Beneath cave paintings of falling stars, Connak takes first watch. The feline archer sees that more of his spent arrows can be recovered, although many are coated in slime.

Nearby, Mungo eats blind albino cavefish caught from the subterranean lake of the Altrusians.

And Finver communes with the consciousness of the Void Slime that grows upon his flesh.



After the dwarf's spirited rant, the sentient infestation replies:

"So, Earthlings are defiant. Good. Soon your strength shall be our strength. Tell us more."

Draupadi hears the voices in her mind, and cannot fall asleep.


Actions?





Far away from the others, Fiefo, Ko-Nan and Maskelyn enter the cavernous chapel of the primitives.




Incense fills their noses and impossibly, the painted herd on the walls begin to stampede around them!





Suddenly, reality seethes and writhes and bubbles away in a cascade waterfall of color and light.







Perception awakens and expands and alters and ascends beyond sanity.

Vaguely remembering a thought they had before this transformation of the self, the two warriors move toward the northeastern stair.

Beyond it, they see a universe bloom.




Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter area is visible. All else is from memory.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 20/24
Draupadi: Human Cleric 5: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 41/41, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl, 0/2 3rd lvl, Infested
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 29/29
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 4: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 35/35, Infested
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 44/51, Torch
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 18/18, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl, 1/2 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 5: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 39/39, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Maskelyn moves toward the northern stairs, his eyes wide. He waves a hand in front of his face, watching the colored after-images hang in the air.
Hoo-Boy! Looks like Trickster is takin' us for a trip- an' me without my suitcase packed...

[Rex]

Draupadi

"You will not have me! I am claimed already!" She intones a prayer to Dhianha over and over.

Edited.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-nan recoils as the natural world is twisted and broken. All the cowardly tricks of the wizard in the tower thrust forth.

“This can not be the way. Let us return to the cave and find another!”

[jemmus]

Mungo
zzzz. zzzz. zzzz. Verne and Wells visit him in his dreams and restore is spellcasting power. Snort...! zzzz.

[SilverBen]

"Don't touch 'em..." Finver warns Connack, "those arrows are coated in slime, Catman. Just leave 'em be... or maybe, we'll trade. I'll give ya my war hammer and ya'll give me yer bow until I can get cured of this slime." He points to his infestation, then unhinges the harness around his girthy frame and offers it by the leather straps to Connack.

"Just promise me two things: first, ya'll take good care of Old Stonebreaker. It's a family heirloom from my clan in Karstland. And second, ya won't hesitate ta splatter me across tha walls if I turn all green and start comin' after anyone of us in tha party." He swallows hard thinking of the unpleasant future.

"I'm no agile archer, and ya may not be tha stoutest miner, but it's safer I use those arrows than get ya infested with slime like me and Lady Drapaudi."

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo hadn't felt this untethered since eating a tin of ancient foodstuffs in a moment of desperation years ago.

Mesmerized, he will continue forward and attempt to peer into this new universe.

[redwarrior]

Connak promises to Finver to make his end swift if needed and unstrings his bow keep your hammer friend, I am much more skilled with this blade.

[Inferno]

Caveman Dwelling near the Starfall, Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Night. Friday, April 13th, 912 CY








Somewhere, far from the world they knew, Maskelyn the conjurer is happily hypnotized by the prismatic spray of his new reality.

But Ko-Nan the barbarian is filled with a primal revulsion of this violation of the natural world. Across an everchanging landscape of the mind, he desperately tries to find the passage back to the place he was before.

Meanwhile, Fiefo ventures deeper into the blossoming universe atop the stairs. There, galaxies form a celestial shaman, or a nature goddess? She holds the Once and Future Earth in her right hand and greets Fiefo with a smile of cosmic starlight.



Some distance away, Mungo tries to sleep while Draupadi yells and prays to herself.

Connak and Finver confer on the slime coated arrows when suddenly, Ko-Nan staggers out of the darkness, alone and torchless! The barbarian is wild-eyed, disoriented, spattered with slime, and shouting, "This cannot be the way!"
(Ko-Nan, please Save vs Poison on 1d20 and post regardless of the outcome.)


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter area is visible. All else is from memory.

Behind the DM Screen:

Ko-Nan drops torch? (1): [1d2]=1 Yes.
Torch goes out? (1): [1d2]=1 Yes.
Ko-Nan INT check to find his way back: (10): [1d20]=2 Succeeds.
Staggering through battlefield in dark, does Ko-Nan splatter slime on himself? (50%): [1d100]=16 Yes.

PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 20/24
Draupadi: Human Cleric 5: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 41/41, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl, 0/2 3rd lvl, Infested
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 29/29
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 4: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 35/35, Infested
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 44/51
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 18/18, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl, 1/2 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 5: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 39/39, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)