#ctm maps | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

liloinkoink · 10 months ago

Text

doomsday dnd au posts pt 2: plot this time

this au's a collab effort between me, maruu @xmaruu11, chris @chrisrin, cj @cjskribblez, and smurg @smurgle !! it draws on our life games, woven life and sands of life, as well as the ctm map we completed, divinity's end

this whole summary is just for the AU setup. its just like. prologue. uh. tho im putting it under a cut bc it's very long

if you havent seen the post with the characters and designs, check that out here

Ellery, Iscariot, Syyrin, and Flint are all members of a cult following Myrkul, living at a temple founded and run by Ellery and Syyrin. the cult is fairly passive and respectful of death, but is slowly being invaded by worships of Cyric, a traitorous and power-hungry god of traitorous and power-hungry followers.

[full disclosure for my readers who know dnd: while myrkul and cyric do come from canon sources, we did not stick that closely to the actual dnd canon and sorta half winged it. forgive us for our inconsistencies]

the worshippers of Cyric are lead by a man called Mabuz (aka the curator, the antagonist from divinity's end, who we did have to give a name for this). Mabuz is slowly converting Myrkul's followers to his cause, as well as bringing in followers of his own. this is how Iscariot joins the temple, brought in as muscle in Mabuz's plans for takeover.

Iscariot is slowly losing faith in Cyric until one day he finds his magic disappears entirely. unsure what to do about it, he speaks to Ellery about his sudden loss in magic. Ellery offers him sympathy and understanding, telling him doubt and wavering are a natural part of faith, and that things will eventually work out for him. sympathy is a new experience for Iscariot, who finds this to be an incredibly important conversation, though it isn't enough to bring his magic back

shortly after this, Ellery receives a premonition. Ellery is a prophet, and his god gives him a vision about the end of the world—burning red skies, rains of ash, monsters loose on the world. he tells the cult about it, though with no intention to prevent it—their temple embraces death, and he sees no reason to interfere. even so, the temple residents are split about what the vision means

many of Myrkul's worshipers, such as Ellery, take it as a simple fact. the world will end, and this is basically just a heads-up from their god.

the scheming Cyric group, however, see an opportunity. they believe that, if they bring about the apocalypse, they can shape it, taking ultimate power in the new world and ruling over it

they decide to cause the apocalypse by killing a god—specifically Myrkul. defeating death will grant them power beyond anything else, and this allows them to destroy the members of the temple who doubt their vision

they start this ritual process by killing Myrkul's prophet, Ellery

Mabuz gathers a small group of his supporters and meet Ellery alone in his office. they propose what they call a ritual in honor of Myrkul, sending his most favored ahead to help him in his grand task of welcome the entire world's population. he lists a few of the many members of the cult who have swapped sides, none of which are the people in the room with them, and says all of them are in support of this ritual plan

Ellery is... unconvinced

despite Ellery's position and his faith, he really is afraid to die. besides, Myrkul is patient, and he sees no reason to cut any life short. Mabuz doesn't really listen—he doesn't believe anything he says anyway, he just needs Ellery dead

they argue, and their argument is loud enough to draw Flint's attention. Flint doesn't catch most of it, but Mabuz says fine, Ellery, if you don't want to help us complete our ritual, we'll just ask other faithful members, like Flint here.

Ellery recognizes the threat for what it is and caves, agreeing to the ritual so long as none of his friends are hurt

Flint can tell there's something more happening, but despite his constant snooping, he doesn't figure out exactly what they'd been arguing about that night or what the ritual will be

Syyrin is the one who makes the blade. Mabuz tells her to make the blade for Ellery, but doesn't tell her the occasion. she consults Ellery on the design. despite their usual easy trust and partnership, Ellery doesn't want to tip Syyrin off as to why she's making the weapon or what's going to happen to him, as he doesn't want her to get hurt trying to save him

though Flint and Syyrin both know something is up, neither think to put their heads together about it, so they're never able to get answers

Ellery is weirdly quiet during the next few days. he spends a lot of time near Syyrin and Flint, though doesn't say much. he's convinced, on some level, that this is his own fault, and that he's to blame for his and his friends' lives being in danger. this wouldn't be happening if he hadn't talked about the vision he'd received

after a week, the blade is complete, and the ritual proceeds

(though Mabuz lets Flint roam free despite his sticking his nose in everything all the time to keep Ellery from going back on their agreement, the day before the ritual, Flint sillies a little too close to the sun and finds out what the plan is. Mabuz detains Flint before Flint can tell the others Ellery is going to be killed today. neither Ellery nor Syyrin realize he’s been captured—Syyrin only finds out after Ellery is already dead)

Iscariot is the executioner. he thinks this must be a test of faith from Cyric—if he can kill the man who showed him compassion, he must be able to affirm his oath, and he'll get his magic back

Ellery doesn't want to die. though he's comfortable with death, the act of dying terrifies him. he tries his absolute best not to show it, though, as he doesn't want his friends to fight and get themselves hurt

after Ellery is killed, Mabuz announces the ritual's true purpose: weakening Myrkul in order to destroy him. in another week's time, they'll attempt a second, larger ritual, sacrificing many to gain enough power to kill Myrkul. everyone has two choices: accept Cyric, or be among the sacrifices

(which, L for Flint. he's already on the list)

Mabuz leaves Ellery’s body on the altar. the blade is left in his chest. if anyone touches it, they'll be assumed a Myrkul worshipper and locked away for slaughter in the coming ritual

in the week between Ellery's death and the full ritual, Syyrin manages to lie her way into convincing Mabuz she's down with Cyric, and she begins planning an escape for herself and Flint. other sacrifices they've collected/readied are brought in, including Mar. Mar and Flint meet in their week of captivity, though they can't talk that much in different cells. Iscariot's magic does not come back, and he realizes his test didn't pay off

the first sacrifice in the second ritual is Mar. as a life cleric, she stands out as one of the most powerful sacrifices. it’s again Iscariot who does it, pulling the same weapon Ellery was killed with out of his (still there) corpse to drive her through

as she dies, Mar casts revivify. she intends to revive herself, which does work, though far better than she intends it to: Mar revives not only herself, but also accidentally revives Ellery, as his body is still. there. on the altar

(there's only one soul, though, split over two bodies) (deadsea soulmates forever babyyyyy)

the confusion and chaos is immediate. Mabuz isn't really sure what to do about his sacrifice getting back up, but Mar bolts before he can decide. Mabuz and a few of his cultists run after her in an attempt to salvage their ritual.

Iscariot does not follow, because his faith isn't really in the Cyric worship thing anymore, anyway

a moment after the majority of their group runs off, Ellery sits up. he's a lot slower, his body having been rotted and worm-eaten for a week, and he's incredibly dazed. his revival leaves him without memories, and he's not really sure where he is, what's going on, or even his own name

(he's come back wrong in a lot of ways. one of his eyes is missing, eaten by maggots. he doesn't breathe anymore, and his body has started to rot, leaving him with several patches of exposed bone. before his death, he'd spent all his time in Autumn mode, with orange hair and skin, in reference to his autumnal god. after his revival, he seems to be stuck in winter, with white hair and blueish-white skin)

Iscariot sees Ellery is back and is like oh shit?

Iscariot had been having a crisis of faith, and was able to manage it only through belief in Ellery’s words. he thought killing Ellery for his god would bring his magic back, and Ellery's death only left him feeling more lost.

seeing Ellery back, Iscariot believes in him more than any god

so. he helps Ellery up and decides he's going to protect him, get him to safety. and he looks to Ellery and asks, where do we go?

Ellery has no idea what’s going on. he remembers his god and his faith, but that's... about it. he has full amnesia for his own personal life. he can’t remember where he is or what’s going on. he doesnt know who the man helping him is, though he can see Iscariot wears the emblems of his god, so he trusts him.

Ellery knows there's a hole in his chest—not just the literal stab wound, but something deeper. some part of him is missing—“half his soul is gone, he thinks. his heart is outside his body, and he can feel it moving farther and farther away from him

Ellery follows that feeling, drawn to and seeking out Mar without even really knowing what he's looking for. Iscariot assumes Ellery knows some hidden passage out and follows

while Mar is running/hiding, Syyrin sees the commotion and slips back down to the cells where all the other sacrifices were held. she releases Flint, since she'd been planning his escape anyway. she also frees the other sacrifices-to-be as well, trying to cause a distraction so the two of them can escape. neither of them know about the revivals, they just know something went wrong

Flint and Syyrin had created a hide away, a little secret fort only the two of them knew about. it has a path to the surface and some supplies which Syyrin had been gathering over the last week to prepare their escape, which they begin packing for in earnest with the assorted supplies Syyrin had managed to squirrel away

(this isn't relevant but it's important to me you know this: in both of our two CTM monuments, CJ and Smurg have built weird little secret bases in the walls. i need you to know this is a reference to their secret little mole holes. neither Chris nor Maruu noticed them making these either time but i did and i need to expose them for these)

Ellery stumbles blindly to Mar, who was already panicking quite a bit, and is now panicking more because there’s the corpse and the guy who just killed her. Ellery is immediately struck by the feeling he knows her, though he doesn't know why. this is the heart he was looking for, he's sure, and he starts trying to calm her down. he says he’s not trying to die again and Iscariot says he doesn’t really believe in this faith anyway. Ellery also explains they're trying to escape, and he'd like to help her get away from here

Mar feels that same tug Ellery does, a feeling of emptiness that disappears when he's near. she decides to flee with the two of them, despite her wariness, because she'll be safer in a group of three than by herself

the three of them try to flee, but between an amnesiac, a new and disillusioned cultist, and a sacrifice, literally none of them know where they’re going, especially with so much chaos. the newly-freed sacrifices are running and fighting in the temple, and the Cyric cultists trying to recapture and slay them. the execution trio are kind of just... sneaking and wandering and hoping for a lucky break

their wandering leads them by Flint and Syyrin's base, and Flint and Syyrin see Ellery and another sacrifice and pull the three of them inside. Syyrin explains their escape plan, they get Mar's sacrifice wound and Ellery's wack rot wounds bandaged, and Ellery and Mar get a less bloody change of clothes. Ellery is, again, unusually quiet, but Syyrin figures it's shock and takes the lead in readying their escape

out in the temple, some of the ritual actually does happen. the Cyric cultists manage to hunt down and kill some of their intended sacrifices, furthering their gathering of power. even the sacrifices who kill cultists in self defense accidentally contribute to the ritual’s completion, gathering enough blood for Mabuz to recite his incantation and attack Myrkul

but Mar did fuck up the ritual. Myrkul isn't killed, but shattered, pieces of him scattered across the world

Syyrin and Flint lead the group through the hideaway's secret exit to the surface, allowing all five of them to escape. they emerge into the world to find the world halfway to ruin, the apocalypse halfway started. burning red skies, rains of ash, the distant cries of monster. this, Ellery actually recognizes—this is the apocalypse he saw in his vision

the five of them now have a new mission: find and collect the pieces of Myrkul to put Myrkul back together. revive him and set the world right again. this setup is based on the CTM map format—Capture the Monument maps require players to make their way through different areas and collect special wool (or discs, in the map we played) from the end of each area to bring back to their monument, and players win once they’ve collected all the wool

(CTM stands for “Capture the Myrkul” trust)

we haven’t fleshed out most of the actual “campaign” (bc the au is only like. 4 days old) though a lot of what we HAVE talked about is the characters learning how to manage the conflicts of the new group they’ve found themselves in. stuff like Mar resenting Iscariot for killing her without even apologizing, or Syyrin or Flint’s feelings on Ellery’s amnesia meaning he’s completely forgot their friendships (to name two conflicts among the. lots of bullshit these guys have going on), all while heading through the areas of the divinity’s end map looking for the discs the pieces of Myrkul

#doomsday #capture the myrkul #<<< tag for the au. check that out for more

62 notes · View notes