Guildpact is Over

[kitsunewarlock]

But fear not! We have a new game on the horizon! Not to dissapoint, but I already ran this entire campaign once before. It was meant as a tutorial until Gara was to be our real GM.

But I can't keep my secrets any longer:

->The Rings were sealed gods.
->Each plane has a planar guardian.
->This one plane's guardian went berserk and starting attacking/eating other planar guardians.
->The scientist who made him berserk by trying to tap into him as a power source went on the run.
->The scientist and 12 dieties and demons banded up with an army to stop the evil guardian's army and the guardian.
->They sealed themselves and sealed the deity in the plane itself.
->That plane was our setting.
->The cult of 6 were meant to defend the rings but over the generations became corrupt and thought they could kill the evil guardian themselves.

The next adventures included fighting in a giant floating mechanical city left over from the war and finding a tomb for one of the old cultists who would explain in an illusion what happened (basically reveal all of the above). While in the city Ryder and Ori were going to throw up a ton of blood--that girl from the desert actually entered your bodies via her and her "child's" blood. She is basically a lich--except her phylactery is her blood that she has telekinetic control over. Kinda a mix of the oracle of blood from OA and a blood magus with some lich elements. She was going to snag a ring or two and abandon ship while you guys learn the rings are being used to keep the city in the sky aloft.

You guys would eventually find out that your guild master knew about all of this but was hoping you guys could stop them before they attempted to break the seal on the Berserk Dragon with half the rings. You guys go to the unsealing ceremony. That's where Nanami, the Yuki-Onna, would betray you guys. She was a Mindspy. She was Vlade's companion and lover, actually (and more of her mistress). She pretended to be a prisoner after you guys killed those minotaur--just as a precaution. But she was planning on backstabbing you guys at the very end and taking your rings.

At the end the big dragon would be unsealed and you guys would be given a portal that lead to this big extraplanar city where "the real campaign" would have started--you'd all be given lots of options as to what plane/adventure you wanted to go on next with tons of mission choices and planar travel options for everyone as you avoid the big rampaging dragon and learn how to defeat it once and for all.

In other news: the fox familiar was the Champion of Zuggtmoy in disguise. He was just going to appear occasionally to push the party in the right direction, give some cryptic advice and maybe sacrifice himself for some great end only to narrowly escape death and go on being that magnificant potentially traitorous bastard he always was to Zuggtmoy. In this setting, at least.

Here was my list of NPCs:

NPCs:

[kitsunewarlock]

Here was the projection that had most of the secrets of the campaign in it.

See! I WAS PREPARED!

((Note: All the PCs are here right now.))

((Colored quotes are from the golem-artificer. Everything else is descriptions of what your seeing.))

((DM Note: This doesn't retcon the "there are around 8 known planes". The word "known" was the key.))

A globe of the planet, albeit a bit off from most maps we know, appeared hovering above the large column-like stage before the group.

"There are worlds beyond our own. Countless worlds even greater than this."

As the golem spoke, a globe appeared to shrink...as the moon came into sight, one began to notice it was in fact simply zooming out in focus. There was only one moon. As the world became naught but a speck, familiar planar landscapes, at least those with any extraplanar training, began to surface--planes of Fire, Water, Hell and the higher kingdoms began to show as a cosmological map of the planes lay itself out before the group. As the map grew, labels (common) began to appear around the almost indistinguishable dots...many of which were entirely foreign to even the most learned in the group. Before anyone knew it, there were dozens of planes...then hundreds...

"And so this tale begins in a plane not known by most decitizens of this world. A world technologically far more advanced than our own."

The "multiverse map" quickly zoomed in on a single dot labeled "Anderia". The world itself appeared like a black-and-blue marble. The blue seas were in fact the only part of the plane that one could define as "natural" in tone, and even they seemed to be pretty badly polluted around the shores. The land appeared covered in all areas by either iron and black rock or thick layers of soot. Smoke filled the air and, as the projection showed the world from street-level, the human-like inhabitants of the plane appeared entirely covered in masks, breathing apparatus' and body-suits to protect them from the city-world's toxic atmosphere.

"This was the world of machines. A world of science. A world united by a single city that spanned the entirety of the plane's now single, artificially-united continent. The humans on the plane had seen the world as naught but a resource to be squandered and abused. The world was dying."

Zooming out again, a brilliant light shone from the surface of the world. A surge of pure force jetted from the ground and spun itself around the plane. The energy quickly took the form of a serpent-like dragon (eastern/Lung), who looked angrily back on the plane.

"And the guardian of the world could no longer stand it."

Pausing for a moment as the world (and impossibly large encircling dragon) spun to show more detail to the audience, the former-cult member realized he had likely lost at least one or two of his audience members.

"For each plane has a soul--a spirit. Without it, a plane would simply crumble into an unliving husk upon which no soul could reside long enough to flourish. Usually the guardians take a passive role on the plane--they only require reverence for the energies and power of the plane to exist. But Andria's guardian was unloved by his people. He had been long forgotten and rejected by his people. He could hold back no longer..."

As if on que, the dragon screamed a silent roar (as the illusion projected no sound) before spinning its quilled tail above the northern-most point on the plane. A spellcircle appeared above the world...and for a brief moment even the guild-members in the room could swear they heard a faint scream. The circle broke, leaving behind nothing more than a small ball of light floating above the plane which the snake-like guardian quickly devoured in a single gulp.

"L'thelloes, guardian of Andrias, broke his ties with his plane and devoured the life-force of his world."

The golem paused as the illusionary dragon silently screamed in pain over its own world--wings sprouting from its back as its still-astral features became sharper and more well-defined.

"And although the inhabitants of the plane still lived, they were doomed. The plane's energy and mana was gone."

The dragon spun its tail again, creating another spell circle through which it flew and dissipated from the atmosphere of the doomed plane.

"And so, as though he were on a rampage at the sorrow of his lost plane, L'thelloes crossed the only line a guardian was to never cross..."

At that moment the projection zoomed out again and showed yet another world--this one appearing to be entirely oceanic. A spell-circle the size of a large country appeared above the watery world, from whence the astral dragon L'thelloes appeared. Upon his arrival arose what appeared to be an enormous draconic seahorse composed entirely of energy. The guardian of the water plane appeared far older than the dragon--his majestic and regal body a sign of the love his inhabitants had for his plane. And its appearance at the sudden and unexpected visitor seemed only to enrage its guest. Without warning, the dragon flew towards the seahorse's neck and bit. The horse winced in pain--several hundred spell-circles appeared around the seahorse's fins...but a single slap of the dragon's tail dispelled them without a trace. With a flash of light from its mouth, the dragon let loose a fierce beam that separated the guardian's head from its body...flying into the air, the dragon began again the ritual to devour the world's essence. The planar map again zoomed outward to reveal the multiverse in all its splendor.

"At that moment, L'thelloes became known as The World Devourer. The greatest threat the multiverse had ever known. Although at that point most of those involved in inter-planar activities still viewed him as a rogue avatar that would either die from lack of a proper following and plane or be stifled by some band of brave adventurers, the dragon's rampage continued unabated by either. Absorbing the power of dozens of world's, the dragon grew stronger each and every day until even the higher gods began to worry...and plot."

The diagram showed a trail starting from Andria and heading from plane to plane, with each glowing dot going grey with each passing from the dragon.

"Thirteen deities, most of which even had long standing feuds with one another, began to worry. L'thelloes was approaching their own domains and each knew they needed an alliance to survive. And so in Sigil, the hub of the multiverse, the gods met and formed a pact to rid of the multiverse of the dragon once and for all."

At these words, the map faded to a scene of thirteen figures around a large table/stage similar to the one projected in that very room. In it stood thirteen dieties: the goddess of angels Serra, the kami of death Izanami, God of Giants and the Living Rock Annam Stonebones, the fox-goddess and kami of Rice Inari, the gnomish god of gemcutting Glittergold, the god of storms and lightning Kord, the icy master of the north wind Telchur, the demon Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms Pazuzu, the Queen of the Succubi Malcanthet, the demon Prince of Beasts Baphomet, a humanoid-formed avatar of the Prince of the Depths Dagon, the queen of Fungi Zuggtmoy and the demon Prince of Madness Adimarchus.

((These dieties could all be learned about fairly easily. Like...as easily as it would be to know about a major diety of Eberron or Forgotten Realms within those campaigns. They are all fairly major dieties of this world, save for Izanami who you guys learned about in a past adventure and Zuggtmoy who Thomas is fairly intimate with. Giggity.))

The projection faded out once more...fading back in, it revealed a barren world with little more than one or two stray plants...and the thirteen dieties along with a fourteenth--a tall woman with long blue hair, a dead stoic expression and what appeared to be construct arms-and-legs.

"The deities accepted the help of a single mortal--an interplanar criminal who wished to destroy the dragon who killed his own home plane: the self-appointed Doctor of Anderia. Here you can see one of his 'subordinates'--from what I've been told I don't think even the gods have seen his face."

"But the problem at hand was simple logistics--obviously none of the gods or demons would allow the final fight between them and the dragon to take place on their own plane. So they had to find a neutral ground--one far away enough from the dragon to allow time to prepare for its arrival but undoubtly in the world devourer's path. And so the gods arrived on a plane with almost no other life-forms--one in which the guardian was able to sustain itself merely with a handful of plants and its own hibernating power."

At that point, an astral force around the deities swirled from the ground and rose high into the air. An impossibly large spirit vaguely resembling the form of a spider appeared above the gods--shadowing even the giant deity, Annam Stonebones.

"The gods negotiated with the guardian known as T'rachnii, The Lone Spider. By allowing an army to be raised on his plane, the spider's world would be protected from L'thelloes. And, sensing the impending wrath of the Dragon, T'rachnii, famous for jealously protected its own secure isolation, allowed its plane to be inhabited by these strangers."

The projection faded off yet again, fading in to reveal a world bustling with life. Towns, albeit built within or around large fortresses, brimmed with people ranging from farmers and bakers to troops and magi.

"In only a few decades the world became an inter-planar success. The resources required by the military operation made the plane a focus of inter-planar commerce. And the thriving economic brought with it species and customs from across the multiverse. The people prepared for the inevitable fight, rallied on by their deities and demons who had set aside their differences and united as one. Over time, even The Lone Spider had come to enjoy the company of its new planar-residences, creating a vast web of energies to support and be supported by the members of the plane."

Fading off yet again, the scene now changed to one of a significantly darker tone.

Troops stationed in platoons across a rugged wasteland prepared for the worst. From knights and rogues to archmages and clerics, these troops prepared themselves under a sky darkened with what seemed to be an endless stretch of thundering clouds. Floating high in the sky were octagons similar to those of the airship the group had grounded earlier--their composition and position behind the vaguely defined "front lines" indicative of their defensive nature.

((Low wisdom check to realize that's where the civilians would have been kept.))

"The deities prepared contingencies for nearly one-hundred years. They raised the strongest army they could...and yet, even they feared for the worst. Fourteen worlds had been destroyed during their wait, each adding to their arsenal of vengeful mercenaries and warriors waiting for a chance to strike back at the world-devourer. Unfortunately, the dragon's 'mindless rampage' would prove to be anything but..."

With those words, small spell-circles similar to that of the seahorse devoured earlier in the recording appeared between the platoons of troops. That's when they appeared. Ogres, onii, demons, humans....each warped in some strange and disturbing way from their trip in the Blind Eternities, charged from the portals into the confused ranks. The troops quickly rallied against the invading forces--an all-out war began.

"With each world the dragon drew more strength...and more spiteful. And with more and more anger and wicked-intention the world-devourer began to draw those beings from each plane whom themselves were attracted to such wickedness. Living in each plane for a while, the dragon began to rally his own army to instill within each world he visited a portion of his own suffering."

The pale and disfigured beast-like troops tore through the confused ranks like worms in bad meat. After several sped-up and skimmed-through minutes of the carnage, the troop's spirits seemed to rise as a fully-armored angel, alongside a plethora of others, flew into battle and quickly turned the tides against the corrupt invaders.

"That is the champion of Serra...ultimately though this battle was pretty meaningless. The troops the world-devourer meant to send in usually were just to confuse and decimate an unprepared world enough for the dragon to either infiltrate, act as a beacon of hope against the invaders and then crush their dreams and devour their guardian or break up any potential resistances before they could arise by bringing down or distracting any major magical orders on the plane."

"But the gods and even demons believed in the strength of the mortals...but they also knew their limitations."

The scene zoomed out towards an unnaturally large clifface where the thirteen deities waited, looking at a ring in the sky large enough to be blocked by the horizon itself. The ring pulsed once before filling with an unnaturally eerie light. The battle stopped for a brief moment as both invaders and troops looked hopelessly into the sky. The dragon emerged, its morbidly pale, slightly translucent, mangled, unnatural and yet eeriely beautiful elongated form quickly descending into the battlefield and forming a great canyon with its white-hot breath where once the front-lines of the army stood almost victorious over the invading forces of the world-devourer. Water from the nearby coast rushed into the unnatural 'canyon' as the dragon floated above the battlefield seemingly victorious. With another sweep of its tail, one of the massive city-ships that floated miles above the battlefield broke in half and came tumbling into the rear-flanks of the retreating army. Both the invaders and defenders fled the battlefield at the sight of the dragon who began to call out for the appearance of the world's guardian.

"The world-devourer appeared, stronger than ever. Its wrath and power was too great for any mere mortal army to even defend against. Fortunately, the world was prepared for such a thing."

From the sea arose the great spider. The dragon flew towards the guardian, ready to strike. But it was in vain--before the dragon could come within a half-a-mile of the spider, it found itself caught in the very web the guardian had made using the collective power of the people of its plane. Thirteen massive stone pillars, each at least half-a-mile tall and a quarter-of-a-mile wide, arose from the sea. Upon each appeared a deity--they knew there was but one way to stop the dragon. And so, with the world-devourer momentarily captured, each of the demons and deities channeled their power into a single spell. The ritual bound the dragon once again and, with the columns sinking into the sea, channeled the very power of the gods and the dragon itself through the entire plane. Soon the dragon, columns and deities would fall into the sea...followed by a blindingly bright light that, upon fading, ended the illusion.

"Splitting the essence of the dragon into twelve components fundamental to all being's existence, the gods used all of their divine might to seal the tainted guardian into the plane itself. With a single great world-spell the plane, along with portions of the closest aligning elemental and metaphysical planes, sealed itself from the rest of the multiverse and became a prison for the most dangerous being ever known."

"From the sea arose Annam Stonebones, known both as The Living Rock and the Ringbearer. He was the only deity to survive unsealed from the ordeal, for it was his task to ensure the seals never be broken and L'thelloes never released. He carried with him twelve rings, each containing the essence of the world-devourer and remaining divine power of the sealed deities and demons. He would find followers of each deity that he felt worthy enough to bear the rings. He gave no hint as to the ring's true nature--believing the followers need only protect the keys to the dragon's seal without them actually knowing of the item's purpose."

"At the same time the twelve remaining champions of the deities, Zuggotmoy's Champion having disappeared with its mistress, were split as to what to do to ensure the dragon never again be released. Half desired for the plane to remain militarized to some extent while the other half believed only a small group could keep the secret known while the plane continue without the knowledge of its past."

"And so the champions of Izanami, Pazuzu, Inari, Dagon, Serra and Baphomet, stuck in this plane due to the dimensional cloister, became the founders of the Guildpact and the first five major guilds. They believed that the Guilds should be formed to keep a standing army lest an inner or extraplanar force attempt to revive the dragon. It also dealt with the problem of what to do with all the ex-soldiers and former invaders..."

"But some of those involved knew the knowledge of the struggle needed to be preserved through the ages and the doors that kept the dragon locked needed be to protected...and so one ring was left with six others: the champions of Stonebones, Kord, Adimarchus, Glittergold, Telchur and Malcanthet who became known as the Six Guardians: a secret society of twelve members, six leaders and six apprentices, who would carry on the legacy of the secret of this world and ensure it never spread beyond their own group lest someone grow curious or foolish enough to break the seals."

"But things changed over the past 5,000 years, or so I've heard. The world has forgotten of its roots, thanks partially to the Six Guardians...and the sixth guildpact founder has become forgotten to the extent that the guilds now only believe five champions founded their organization..."

"And now it seems the 'Guardians', or should I say the 'Cult of Six', have abandoned their duties and gotten it into their fool heads that they should revive L'thelloes!" Called a voice from across the room. From the shadows of one of the now darkened 'projector rooms' came a familiar voice. Stepping into the lit room, Soqed Hozi, the leader of the guild, greeted the party.

"And now the Champion of Serra, exiled from the Guildpact and kept in the dark about the Guardians by even Stonebones himself, finds his ancient ass having to send in his family to save the day."

His wings outstretched and sword in hand, Hozi held a blank teleportation scroll--he had used the scroll given to the party earlier to get the coordinates and arrived moments after the projection began.

"Sorry to keep everyone in the dark...but in the end I've been as blind as most of you. Well...while I knew about the war and what-not, there was no way I could do much more of anything besides fight with the other champions if I were to expose it after so long...I mean, the other champions already hate me...I mean I was imprisoned for about four thousand years since the war..."

"And while I'm sure another champion could have rescued me considerably earlier," he said as though to answer two potential questions the party could bring up, "I'm sure it was my unwarranted participation in the war that lead the champion of Zuggtmoy to imprison me in the first place...unless of course that fungus-bitch had some plan from the start to get me to come out when this crazy and potentially inevitible mess started."