DCC - The Forests and the Earth

Fourier

The Tower:
The bees collapse in on each other, transmogrifying most of the matter in the chamber into a sphere of acid only a yard across, but weighing more than a building. The acid itself is unbelievably potent. The nine queens scream as the acid ball quivers, ready to explode...

Outside the tower:
Templeton and his gang wake up on the Jeremy as Loygar shakes them.

"Alright you lot get up! The others have gone into that tower there to meet the king of..."

A straining sound is heard as if the Earth itself were ill. An amulet about Loygar's neck glows yellow, then red, then black.

"BLACK!" Loygar shouts in shock jumping on his mount.

"Good luck, I have no idea what is about to happen, but I doubt this city will come out of it well"

He takes to the sky, flying across the largest moon, Cthinion.

R'lyeh:
Beneath the vast oceans of Cthinion sleeps Cthulhu. Not a demon, not a god, but something else, something older. Gods have a place in the mortal story of the world, concerned with life, death, hope, love, hate and so on. Cthulhu is too alien for any of that.

He had crossed into this plane millions of years ago fleeing another of his kind, Rghil, as well escaping assault from the Archtemporal Projectionists of the Limitless Expanse who sought revenge on him for a billion year plot he had foiled.

It was a nice place to hide, time was very rigid here and magic not very stable. The local life had spawned gods, but as usual they were well beneath him. Not the larger gods of older planes, those occasionally required him to wake to deal with.

Here he had the time to plan his next move against his enemies. His vast mind exploring millions of possible futures in equally numerous dreams. However one dream was a bit off, the one of the small ape who carried a symbol with the 443rd letter of his true name. He stood now next to some sort of tower.

Ah a nexal convergence caused by some naturally magical creatures. The ape will die, ending the dream. Was the ape real or just a side affect of his mind attempting to understand this plane's life? A question whose answer didn't deserve his full attention. Nevertheless ending the dream would mean he'd know less of these apes. Seeing as how his exit from the plane in thirty million years hence will most likely kill all the life save the higher gods and mages it would be a shame to lose the knowledge.

He assigns a submind to deal with the problem. Simple enough, a slight bending of space removes the ape and the most prominent features of its narrative from danger (OOC: that's your guys Necro and sKeith) by reducing how far the effects of the nexus can carry.

However there is an element of the dream missing, the one from the older race, the naturally magical ones. He extracts the pattern from the weave of the plane and reconstitutes it next to the ape. This will annoy the plane's gods, but Cthulhu cares not.

The submind returns to tending other dreams.

Back outside the tower:
Thonrat, the Priest and Templeton's gang hear a bang from within the tower. The walls steam with a strange smoke before they burst open with a massive wave of green fluid pouring out into the courtyard in all directions toward the rest of the towers in the castle complex. However suddenly a strange shimmering effect overtakes the area and the sky bares the symbol of R'lyeh, the mark of Cthulhu. Before the tidal wave of acid pours out much further it hits the shimmering barrier and the entire area within the barrier is deleted from existence. The castle complex now simply has a crater by which to remember the king's tower.

Quentanaa wakes with a start on the ground next to the Priest, nobody is aware of how she got there.

The nearby by peasants turn to the Priest, kneeling in gratitude and some attempt to touch him for good luck.

OOC: The Priest gets 5XP and loses seven luck (1 from reroll and 6 to raise roll to 25). The gods' anger is reflected in his now low luck making him literally unlucky.

Banjo

Tanaa coughs and sits up.
"Suppose I'm supposed to be grateful for this too? Creosa y' roch de lle assa!"

Nebelwerfer

The priest turns to Quentanaa, as she is manifested besides him and whispers "Cthulhu wgah'n y'agl, Cthulhu nnnah y'agl. Y'hah Cthulhu."

"Consider my debt to you paid" the priest says to the elf, before turning to the peasants.

The priest lays a hand on any peasant willing.

"Y'hah Cthulhu, my friends. Y'hah Cthulhu. Blessings be upon thee. May the fortunes favor you. Cthulu wgah'n y'agl".

sKeith

"What did the king of black have to say?"

Fourier

The peasants seem pretty pleased to receive the priest's blessings, forming a queue to reach him.

Fourier

A very loud horn then sounds throughout the castle complex, in the distance some cavalry men that look like knights begin riding toward the crater.

Nebelwerfer

As the priest continues to provide blessings, as a show of his continued and undying loyalty to Cthulhu and in thanks for his divine intervention, he notices the queue of peasants forming.

he walks along the side of the queue and when reaching the middle, he addresses the crowd.

"Y'hah Cthulhu" He says loudly, hoping to grab the attention of those around him.

"We were shown a great mercy today, AN INTERVENTION, by a God before GODS.

The Great Old one, CTHULHU, saw it fit to intervene and show mercy to mortals. To spare the lives of probably most of us here, had it not been for the containment of the blast.

Do not fear, that which we cannot expect to comprehend. The matter and will of Gods are practices beyond our ability to correlate it to, what must be for the gods, mundane existences.

But TODAY, was Different. TODAY, was not mundane. Today, we were all touched, blessed and saved through Divine Intervention, Saved by CTHULHU.

Favor be with you all today, Y'hah Cthulhu.

Athg Cthulhu wgah'n y'agl. Y'hah Cthulhu.

Rember this day, Remeber the old One, for he resides in you".

Banjo

Tanaa considers mentioning the might of the Horned one who smote the tower in the first place but this might not be the time. Instead she goes to see what the Knights are up to.

Fourier

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

Rember this day, Remeber the old One, for he resides in you".

The peasants don't know whether to bow or not. Cthulhu is blasphemous in all religions, but at the same time it seems he saved their life.

A local priest of the hunting god is the first to bow, which sends a wave of bowing through the crowd.

Nebelwerfer

Fourier wrote: »

The peasants don't know whether to bow or not. Cthulhu is blasphemous in all religions, but at the same time it seems he saved their life.

A local priest of the hunting god is the first to bow, which sends a wave of bowing through the crowd.

The priest holds up his holy symbol.

"Rise, All, and relish in your mortality...".

The priest knows there are knights on their way and quickly calls one of the peasants over.

"Know thee a bard, if nay, find one. Tell tales of today, tale tales of the god who does not side with good nor evil. Tell tales of a god, who is beyond this. Tell tales of the god who intervened and saved the lives of many.

I would love for nothing more to be told this tale, through another, one day"

He lays his hand on the peasants shoulder.

"Y'hah Cthulhu, my child, now go forth and tell the tale...".

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

A local priest of the hunting god is the first to bow, which sends a wave of bowing through the crowd.

Seeing this, Quentanaa approaches.
"These fools are free to choose, and the Old One is welcome to them. But you, of his pack, and seeing what the lord of the thrice tenth kingdom hath wrought here, you would choose today to turn your back on him?

Tell me, do you think it's more likely the eternal sleeper will stir twice in one day? Or that the lord of the hunt will loose his hounds and sound his horn once more?

I will give you a moment to reconsider your position."

Nebelwerfer

Banjo wrote: »

Seeing this, Quentanaa approaches.
"These fools are free to choose, and the Old One is welcome to them. But you, of his pack, and seeing what the lord of the thrice tenth kingdom hath wrought here, you would choose today to turn your back on him?

Tell me, do you think it's more likely the eternal sleeper will stir twice in one day? Or that the lord of the hunt will loose his hounds and sound his horn once more?

I will give you a moment to reconsider your position."

The priest looks to the elf and then to the crowd.

"That, which this elder speaks... It is true. There must, ofcourse, be balance in all things.

I seek not from you a choice to make, but rather story to tell. (he says as he waves his hand across the crowd) Your fate is your own, but be warned not to fall for the trickeries of godly squabble.

(The priest raises his voice, tilting his head to the heavens)

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

Compared to the Old Ones, who slumbers for eons... For more time than we can begin to comprehend.

This short voyage we are on, your choices are your own. There MUST be balance in all things.

We can only hope to go mad from divine revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age".

The priest nods in approval to the crowd (he thinks this makes total sense).

He turns to Quenty and extends his hand.

"I think perhaps more present matters to attend to..."

"Friends of yours?" he says as he nods toward the direction of the knights.

sKeith

Irwin looks over at Templeton who looks lost waiting for an answer to his simple question and strolls over to join him.
"I think they may have gone through some mind altering experience while we slept, I suppose these knights approaching will want similar answers as you, so if we listen in, we may find a tale about the king of black. This priest chap looks to be a trouble maker, might be worth trying to recruit him, I'll leave that to you though."
Irwin grabs Templeton by the shoulder and steers him towards the group awaiting the arrival of the knights.

Gholduzin and Corsiana follow the Nerosians, scanning the crowd and keeping their flanks secure.

Banjo

sKeith wrote: »

"What did the king of black have to say?"

"He said 'ouch' and then something about goggles but it was hard to make sense of it because his voice box had turned to soup and at that point I had no ears or skin."