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andrewmoocow · 5 years

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Gravity Soul chapter 13: Return to the Falls, Trust No One? (originally posted on August 12, 2019)

AN: As Doctor Stephen Strange once said, "We're in the endgame now." I'd like to thank everyone who has stuck by me since Thanksgiving 2017 as I laughed, cried, cheered and felt myself die inside while this saga progressed. They always say parting is such a sweet sorrow, and I have a feeling it's going to be even more sorrowful for me since this story holds a special place in my heart as a crossover between my favorite anime and one of my favorite cartoons. But enough sentimentality, let the final battle against KISHIN CIPHER begin.

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There was dead silence in the now red-lit forest of Gravity Falls. Kishin Cipher's fortress the Fearamid continued to hover above the Oregon town that barely had any life left inhabiting it now that the townspeople were either transformed into building blocks for his throne or hiding in the shadows.

However those shadows would finally see a beacon of light shining nothing but hope upon the desolate village in the form of the Mystery Meisters returning to the falls at last. Out of a portal came Dipper and Mabel first, their bond broken and repaired within the span of a few hours after the boy went out of his way to save his sister from the grasp of Kishin Cipher and Anti-Mabel.

Next came Stanford Pines, Maka Albarn, Black Star and Death the Kid along with their respective weapons Azusa Yumi, Spirit Albarn, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa and Liz & Patty Thompson. "This is it everyone. Beyond these woods, our final battle with Bill and Asura awaits." Ford boldly declared. "Is everyone ready?"

"I definitely am. And I'm ready to save Soul as well." Maka responded willing to risk her life for the sake of her Demon Scythe. "As am I dudes. We're coming for you Mr. Pines!" Soos added also ready to rescue his father figure and former boss Stanley Pines. "We haven't got a moment to lose, but I suggest we find shelter before he finds us." Franken Stein suggested turning his screw while Wendy, Crona, Ox, Kim, Kilik, Gideon, Pacifica, McGucket and the rest of the team followed behind. "Any ide-"

"Mystery Shack." the kids stated in unison before Stein could even finish. "Well aside from the fact that that's where we stayed at last Weirdmageddon, there's also a mystical barrier made out of unicorn hair protecting it from weirdness." Dipper explained. "Wait, unicorn hair?" Black Star wondered. "Tell me more!"

"How about later? We gotta get moving!" Mabel said racing to find the Shack. The group then followed the sweater girl but without their knowledge, an Eyebat peered at the party before flapping its wings and soaring to the Fearamid.

The eye creature entered the pyramid and faced its master Kishin Cipher as he schemed on his human throne. "Okay, gimme reports little guy!" he commanded the Eyebat with a poke of its cornea. It rumbled a bit before a holographic image of the Mystery Meisters running away from him. "Well well well, can't say I'm not surprised!" the Dream Kishin commented with a sneer. "Now we can finally start the welcoming party!"

His minions all assembled before their master and took a bow as Kishin Cipher gave orders. "Okay, I'll need all of you circling the town in search of any survivors!" he stated. "Arachne, Shaula, Mosquito, Giriko, Shifty, you follow those mortals and terminate them! Henchmaniacs, blow that cabin to bits and take out anyone inside! And Horsemen?"

"Yes Master?" the Madness of Greed formerly known as Grunkle Stan wondered planting his sword in the ground while his eight-legged horned possum Shanknir scampered to his side. "I've got a special assignment for all of you. I need the four of you to fight alongside me in the eventual big showdown. You up for it?"

"As always mighty God of Weirdness and Madness." Medusa Gorgon, the Madness of Wrath, answered loyally. "And I trust that you in particular won't try to turn on me and take my power?" K.C told the witch. "I sincerely promise you that I have no ulterior motives."

"Very good." Kishin Cipher smirked, feeling ready to destroy all in the fated clash.

"We should be getting close everyone, I can smell the cheap money." Dipper stated hiding in the bushes as he spotted the tourist trap from afar. "It feels like it's been so long since we've last seen that old place."

"Really? Cause it felt like we've spent an entire night searching for Pacifica and then a few days in Death City." Mabel added stacking her head on top of her brother's. "Well no matter, we're finally home." Ford continued stepping out of their hiding spot to knock on the door. "HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!" a familiar voice screamed. "Can you shut it Rumble? You'll get us caught!" another exclaimed harshly. "Besides, who knows who it could be?"

"Is that Eruka?" Dipper muttered in shock. "And that other guy sounds really familiar." Soos replied. "But let's barge in just to be safe!"

"That is rather rash and could be dangerous, but okay I believe you." Maka stated preparing to bust down the door. "Let's do this."

Battle cries were all around as the Mystery Meisters charged into the Shack with weapons raised high and a little resistance within the hovel roared as well. There were however a few familiar faces among the resistance's ranks. "Eruka, Free?" Dipper and Mabel exclaimed in unison. "Kids?" the frog and wolf responded just as stunned when the Multi-Bear stepped out of the bathroom. "Just so we're clear, we're all out of toilet paper." he announced amidst the awkwardness. "Did I miss something?"

"Are you making yourself at home Stanley?"

Stan sluggishly smacked his lips with a grumble and slowly opened his eyes to discover that he was now in a black and red room with a lamp as its only light source and a choppy record player nearby. Stan was bewildered as last he remembered, he & Soul sacrificed themselves to protect their loved ones and converted into minions of Kishin Cipher. He decided to get up from the chair he was sitting in to get a better look, but instead found himself chained to it. "Let me ask you again. Are you making yourself at home Stanley?"

"Hardly!" Stan exclaimed struggling to break out of his chains. "Where am I and who are you anyway?!" he asked. "Oh pardon me sir. Allow me to introduce myself." the voice's owner, a fine-dressed imp with a wide grin on his face, apologized. "I am the little demon now residing in your heart after you accepted the Black Blood within you."

"Hey, doesn't Soul have a weird little man kinda like you inside of him?" Grunkle Stan asked. "And why am I in this Sunday best getup?" He then brought attention to his current attire of a tuxedo with a red bowtie and a diamond ring on his finger. "Though I do like this ring."

"Why it's simple. As a fellow host of the Black Blood, you are one of four people forced to serve your new master. Though only one wasn't unwilling." the Ogre explained snapping his fingers to reveal the other hosts; Preston Northwest, Soul Eater Evans and Medusa Gorgon. Medusa was the only one to not be restrained to a chair, implying that she was the willing one.

"You won't get away with this you crimson cretin!" Preston shouted before the Ogre made a gag appear with another snap of his fingers. "Oh you Northwests don't know when to quit or shut up." the demon commented. "He's right you little twat, the twins will find a way to save us!" Soul added just as defiant. "Just why are we all here?"

"The master simply wants us all to be in better harmony." Medusa explained picking up a violin from a table out of two other instruments. "Make your choice." she commanded allowing the captives to get up from their chairs to choose. "I call dibs on the saxomaphone." Stan declared snatching the brass instrument. "Guess that leaves me with the clarinet." Preston added picking up his chosen woodwind. "But what about the boy?"

A spotlight shone on a grand piano behind Soul. "Of course." the scythe muttered sitting down and preparing to play. "But still, what's with all the harmony crap?" he asked the ogre. "Even though you are completely powerless to stop everything that you're perfectly aware of, there still has to be teamwork amongst Bill's slaves." the imp remarked. "NOW PLAY!"

The three unwilling Madnesses slowly warmed up under the watchful glare of Medusa who began expertly leading the way on her violin. Soul unwillingly but just as beautifully followed up with his piano while the Gravity Falls citizens just awkwardly looked at each other. "Do I see reluctance?" the Ogre snarled viciously electrocuting the two. "PLAY!"

"Okay, keep your pants on Lucy!" Stan growled playing the saxophone while Preston began his clarinet. Although their number was a nice piece, it symbolized how the three males were completely reluctant to serve Kishin Cipher.

"So that's the whole story?" Dipper asked Eruka while the group sat around a campfire inside the Mystery Shack that the resistance against Kishin Cipher had made their homebase. "Yeah, when we found your weirdo little house, there were already a few other people taking shelter as well." the frog witch answered. "Yeah, and a ton of strange characters too!" Free added. "Like those minotaur guys, the little dwarves, a couple of video game characters and whatever that bear is supposed to be!"

"Hey for your information Bigby, we're gnomes! The dwarves hang around in the mountains." Jeff exclaimed standing up next to Free. "But what of the strike force Death sent in?" Kid wondered twiddling his thumbs. "Most of them didn't make it." Sid stated. "Justin tried to kill that monster, but he was made a part of his creepy throne. Djinn Galland, Tsar Pushka, Feodor, Tezca Tlipoca and Mifunewould meet the same fate."

In a dark corner, Zubaidah & Enrique comforted a grieving Angela while Dengu & Alexandre leaned on the wall with Pitt colas in hand. "We're trying to do the best we can to fight back, but Kishin Cipher is pretty much all powerful." Mira explained. "The only thing that can keep us safe from him now is that unicorn hair shield keeping his powers at bay."

Suddenly rumbling footsteps sounded outside the Shack. "Uh guys, we got a situation!" the resistance's lookout, the wax head of Larry King, announced. "Those Henchmaniac guys are heading straight for us! And I am honestly surprised it only took them until now to find us."

"Everybody, battle stations!" the dating simulator character Giffany shouted taking position at a nearby window as the Henchmaniacs finally arrived with Moonlight, Kaguya, White Rabbit and the Black Clown leading the way. "Come out come out wherever you are." White Rabbit chimed in a sing-songy voice. "Your hair shield may not be penetrated by us, but we will find ways to penetrate you."

"NONE SHALL PASS!" Manly Dan screamed putting up his dukes. "You're only just making us want to tear you all to bloody shreds even more." Paci-Fire boomed telepathically. "Why the hell are we only cowering inside the Shack when we could be out there kicking their asses?" Black Star asked. "Also, what kind of monster is that ugly baby?"

"We're just not ready yet. Our forces are strong, but we still need something even stronger to stand a chance." Candy answered. "Candy's right you guys. We need to save Soul, Stan and Mr. Northwest if we want to save Gravity Falls. They're part of that big wheel Ford talked about." Maka responded. "Exactly, but how can we rescue them in their current states?" Stanford pondered. "By the way, do you think they can hear us?"

"Yes, yes we can!" Pyronica called out, causing the polydactyl author to angrily pound the wall. "Dammit!" he groaned agitatedly. "Well, time to cut things short. Kid, Kilik, Wendy & Dipper, you're all coming with us." Black Star declared. "The rest of you hit the deck!"

"Are you truly sure about this kids? These demons may look rather ridiculous, but judging by their apparent connections to Bill they must be insanely powerful." Stein observed. "We have to do this to protect the Shack while the rest of you think of a new plan." Kid replied beckoning Liz and Patty to his hands. "You're right. Stay safe out there." Maka promised the tourist trap defenders.

"Hey Henchmaniacs, we're right here for you!" Dipper announced grabbing Excalibur on his way out the door. "Well look who we have here, the master's favorite Pine Tree." Kaguya purred. "He always has talked about how much he hated you the most."

"Listen you creeps, just tell us where Soul & Mr. Pines are or you'll go from monsters to targets." Kid threatened. "We're basically saying prepare to get wrecked you rejected Pokemon!" Wendy added tossing her axe at one of the demons aiding the monsters. The creatures were silent for a moment and then, roared before charging.

"Incoming!" Kilik declared yanking Paci-Fire's binkie out of his mouth and stabbing him in the eye with it. Kid meanwhile shot right through Keyhole's namesake forehead at Lavalz. The amount of bullets put through the lava lamp creature's body were so plentiful, they put him on the brink of death. "Please boy, I beg you to have mercy!" he begged the son of Death. "I can do whatever you please! I'll be your servant, I'll turn on my fellow demons to assist you, just please don't kill me!"

"You know, come to think of it." Kid contemplated before a shadow rose from behind him. "This was all a trap and there's someone behind me, correct?" he wondered aloud shooting Amorphous Shape in the eye without even turning his back. "Now Dipper!"

Dipper cut Amorphous Shape to pieces while the creature's guard was down and he screamed loudly as he was reduced to just his soul. "Aw snap, he just killed Morphy!" Kryptos shouted. "This one'll be for him you freaks!" Pyronica shouted lighting her fists aflame. The opposing sides charged while everyone else in the Shack concocted a plan of attack.

"So I suggest we try using a human sacrifice." Stein revealed. "I like it!" Soos agreed. "No, I don't think that will be necessary." Maka rejected the idea to everyone's dismay. "We need an approach that'll involve everyone of us working together."

"OOH, OOH, OOH! I GOT ONE!" McGucket cried raising his bandaged hand. "All right, what do you got Fiddleford?" Stein asked the rich hillbilly. "Giant robit! We already did something like that last Weirdmageddon!" Fiddleford answered excitedly. "Funny story, that's almost exactly what we did when we fought Asura." Azusa stated. "Coincidence, I think not."

"But how are we going to get one? Especially in a place like this?" Crona wondered. "We can use whatever we please around town. Like we said, worked last time." Wax Larry King answered. "Is anyone else going to question why this wax head can talk?" Sid offhandedly pondered. "Whatever, let's get moving!"

As for Dipper's group, they were all backed into a corner by the surviving Henchmaniacs. Lavalz, Paci-Fire, Keyhole and Hectorgon had now joined Amorphous Shape in being destroyed, but their friends were now even more furious and taken them all down. "Well Dipper, where does this fit into our battle plan?" Kilik grunted awaiting his fate. "I'm sure something will turn up for us." Dipper replied optimistically. "Is that so?"

Standing before them, Arachne had just joined up with the former Nightmare Realm prisoners alongside Mosquito, Giriko, Shaula and the Shapeshifter. "And where were you this whole time?!" White Rabbit exclaimed hotly. "We were simply biding our time. Besides, it was fun seeing the children try oh so desperately." Arachne added. "And speaking of which..."

"Don't even think about trying anything funny with us or the Shack!" Wendy threatened. "Is that so little redheaded bitch?" Giriko snarled menacingly. "Well let's make a compromise. We'll do something funny with your little friends who are no doubt trying to escape."

And indeed Giriko was right. Maka was leading a group of the survivors out of the Mystery Shack consisting of herself, Bud Gleeful, Thompson, Ox, Sid, Mr. Poolcheck, Tyler, Free & Dengu. However the party would immediately be blocked by the Shapeshifter. "Stop, right, there. Which one of you wishes to die?"

"Hands off you glowing bastard!" Free snarled baring his claws. "Aw, poor little Free. It seems that you couldn't stand being a pariah for what you did to Maba, so you decided to betray your master for these weaklings she wants destroyed."

"For your information Xenomorph, Medusa was kind of a pretty awful boss and we just moved to a different one." the wolfman responded with a stupid grin on his face. "Can you not doom us right now?" Mr. Poolcheck and Thompson said in unison. "As you did serve Kishin Cipher, it is most unfortunate for you that I must slay you to prevent the rebels from gaining any information on him." the Shapeshifter deduced preparing to strike. "Make your last wishes."

"Stop right there!" Maka cried pointing her father's weapon form at the alien creature. "I won't let you harm anyone here today. I bet you won't even last until tomorrow to come back and kill us all!"

"Very well, then we'll strike again within two days!" the Shapeshifter replied. "How about three?!" Black Star butted in suddenly. "Four!"

"Five!"

"Six!"

"Seven!"

"MAKA CHOP!" Maka cried smacking Black Star on the head and knocking him out. "Tomorrow it is then." the Shapeshifter declared. "Okay everyone, pack it up! We can start again the next day!"

"Aw man." the rest of Kishin Cipher's present minions groaned like disappointed children. "SUPER anticlimactic." Kaguya complained. "I know right?!" Giriko replied. As the monsters began to leave, the rebels raced back inside the Shack to form a plan.

"So what were you doing out there leading those guys?" Ford asked Maka. "We were coming up with attack plans while Dipper was out fighting and someone made the suggestion of turning the Shack into some kind of robot."

"That's exactly what we did to beat Bill last summer!" Mabel exclaimed. "Exactly!" McGucket added. "Seems like we made it safe to go outside again, so let's get to work." Tsubaki stated. "But where can we find what we need?"

"Don't worry everyone," Dipper announced. "Mabel and I know where."

One montage of working hard on the resurrection of the automated tourist trap later, the rebels snuggled up underground in Ford's laboratory watching for signs of trouble. "Status update: K.C's forces have kept their word." Tambry announced peering through the periscope disguised as the totem pole outside the Shack. "Good work, we still got time left." Ford applauded. "Time left til we can get Stan and Soul back."

"And my father?" Pacifica asked innocently. "Sure, him too." the scientist answered. "Can't you show her a little sympathy? Her old man is currently forced to fight for an all-powerful demon thing and even showed willingness to help us before that, yet you still have that grudge against him." Liz stated. "Yes I apologize for being a bit insensitive, but the other two are still most important." Ford claimed. "Now then, have we worked any kinks from the last time?"

"Well, definitely got more unicorn hair to fully shield us." Candy stated in the midst of cutting Celestabellebethabelle's mane. "And it can fly now too!" Grenda exclaimed. "Is there anything this town can't do when they come together?" Melody said.

Meanwhile in the attic, Maka gazed out the twins' bedroom window at the blood red sky in silence. "Don't worry Soul, we'll be there for you soon."

"Did we hear you talk about Soul?" Mabel asked suddenly interrupting their older friend. "Gah, you guys!" Maka squeaked. "Aw don't be so skittish Maka, we just got a little feeling you like him." Dipper replied. "As in, like him like him." Mabel added beaming which made the scythe Meister blush like mad. "Oh quit blushing, you know too!"

"Okay, you got me!" Maka finally gave in. "I really do like him. He may be rather distant and cold, but he's just that much of a loyal friend who would do anything to protect me!" she confessed to the twins. "That's why I'll protect him in exchange, and maybe we could finally make music again."

"And you've been hiding these feelings for how long now?" Mabel asked Maka again. "I mean, I've heard that you two often argued like you were married or something."

"But let's try not to hyperfocus on that for now, cause I've also heard that if you do so, you can get distracted a bit too much and even get mad when people try to keep you away from your-" Dipper responded before Maka shushed him. "Okay okay, let's just keep up the fight against Kishin Cipher. Hopefully no one heard us."

"I did." Soos stated suddenly appearing by the door. "Don't mind me dudes, I just knew it from the moment we all first met."

Meanwhile at the Fearamid, Arachne was forced to give Kishin Cipher the bad news about the results of the attack.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" the Dream Kishin screamed loudly, causing enough vibrations to cause miniature earthquakes. "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU LOST MOST OF MY MEN TO A BUNCH OF PUNY MORTALS HIDING IN A CABIN, AND THEY MADE YOU AGREE TO TRYING AGAIN TOMORROW?! HOW STUPID CAN YOU ALL BE?!"

"My sincerest apologies master, we just arrived too late." the Spider Witch revealed bowing to the ground with her two subordinates and youngest sister. "But still, we might as well prepare for the final battle." she assured him. "You got a good point there Rachney." Kishin Cipher agreed spawning a wineglass filled with time punch. "In that case, I propose a toast! First one goes to absent maniacs."

The army of demons began mourning for the fallen Henchmaniacs while holding their own wineglasses. "Morphy was just too young!" Kryptos bawled into Pyronica's cape, blowing his nonexistent nose on it. "Did anybody else catch the lava lamp guy's name?" Moonlight asked Xanthar, who simply replied with a shrug. "This one is for you Keyhole." 8-Ball declared drinking the glass and tossing the time punch away hard enough for it to explode.

"But I would also like to propose another one." Kishin Cipher solemnly stated when his mournful expression turned into a fierce sadistic grin. "TO OUR ONCOMING VICTORY!" he cheered tossing his glass to the ground and smashing it underfoot. "MAZEL TOV TO ALL OF YOU! MAZEL TOV!"

The otherdimensional freaks began cheering for their master as his speech continued. "I'd like to thank all of the following for helping us make it this far!" Kishin Cipher announced splitting himself into Bill Cipher and Asura for the first time in what felt like ages. "First off, I'd like to thank my number one fan here for making a deal with me to exact our revenge!" the Kishin exclaimed fistbumping the dream demon. "And I'd also like to thank that pigtailed scythe-bearing brat for giving my new partner here that stupid courage punch!" Bill responded. "Without her, we wouldn't have met and become an unstoppable team!"

The duo merged back into Kishin Cipher who picked up a microphone while a large projector screen appeared behind him. "And in addition, we are also thankful for all the idiots that led themselves to their doom!" The screen began picturing many of the Dream Kishin's enemies and all they've accomplished in accidentally guiding the monsters to victory while the minions continued cheering. "It brings a tear to all three of my eyes to see so many freaks of nature all under one roof to celebrate the coming end of the universe! Especially you creature with like eighty-eight different faces! There, are you happy now?!"

"Actually, I've grown an eighty-ninth face!" the aforementioned multi-faced trog declared revealing a very handsome face to have sprouted. "Oh my, look at that thing!" Kishin Cipher exclaimed revealing the face's turquoise humanoid form. "Isn't it just dashing?!"

The creatures began oohing and aahing at how bizarrely attractive the new face was before Kishin Cipher returned to his speech. "As I was saying ladies, germs and unspeakable horrors of all shapes and sizes, this is it!" he declared making double peace signs over a podium while the projector screen made a large portrait of himself appear. "Tomorrow is the day that sanity goes completely down the shitter and pure madness reigns supreme! How excited are you!?"

"VIOLENTLY!" his army chanted arming themselves with torches, pitchforks and all sorts of stereotypically uber-violent tools. "And how bloody will our enemies' deaths be?!" Kishin Cipher continued. "INSANELY!" the monsters screamed pumping their fists. "Yeah, that's all I wanted to hear!" the leading abomination shouted raising his arms. "Come on everybody, let's get weird!"

Elsewhere in the Fearamid, the Four Madnesses meditated while their harmony exercises continued. The horsemen sat in utter silence until the Madness of Greed opened a single eye. "Kids."

The next day, all was silent once more in the forest. That is until a large mechanical being ambled among the trees, casting a shadow over the flora. Metallic footsteps thundered while leaving large car-shaped footsteps behind until finally, the Shacktron 2.0 reached the clearing where the Fearamid was situated. "Are we ready everyone?" Ford asked taking the pilot's seat. The rest of the rebellion nodded in response while preparing for war. "Good. Time to make our claim."

A large megaphone placed at the deck of the Shack was turned on by Dipper before he spoke into it. "Kishin Cipher, this is the Mystery Meisters telling you to surrender now and give back our friends or prepare to fight!" the boy threatened with an amplified voice. However, there was no answer. "D-Did he just give up already?"

"I'll say." Kishin Cipher sarcastically answered while suddenly appearing in front the young Pines brother and giving him a scare. "Long time no see Dipper, been a long while since we had a one-on-one chat!" the Dream Kishin casually greeted his archenemy. "And did you lose weight or is the stupid cosplay just throwing me off?"

"It's not stupid cosplay, my sister had it specially made for me!" Dipper declared defensively clutching onto his scarf. "Oh come on brat! It's too obscure, too ugly! I don't know which is worse!" K.C continued insulting making his hand violently detach itself. "I might just split a seam now if I don't die laughing first!"

"Not if we have the last laugh! NOW!" Dipper commanded allowing the rest of the crew to start firing all sorts of weapons at the Dream Kishin. "You can't break the Shacktron this time, we got unicorn hair from head to toe now!"

"Oh my, you're actually giving me a challenge?" Kishin Cipher quizzed while his forces spawned behind him. "Well what're you waiting for mortals?! Come and get me!"

"This is it everyone, we can do this!" Maka exclaimed taking control of the Shacktron 2.0. "Keep firing at them all!"

"But Maka, we can't just blast cannons at him forever!" Tsubaki advised. "You ready Black Star?" she asked her Meister holding out her hand. "Like Hell I'm not!" the ninja responded taking up arms and leaping outside the Shack, clashing blades with the Madness of Greed. "Been waiting for a proper rematch old man, haha!"

"Bah, you are simply a child dressed in a silly outfit. In fact, you are all children in silly outfits compared to us and our master." the old man in the golden armor scoffed taking out the Shadow Weapon Meister and making him fall to the ground. "NOOOOOT SIIIIILLLLYYYY!" the teen shouted faceplanting into the dirt. "Wait, are these clothes really that stupid?"

"Is there any way we can free Stan, Soul & Mr. Northwest without K.C getting in the way?" Dipper asked Stein. "The freeing our friends part is quite simple Dipper, we call it Chain Resonance where our souls must be on an equal playing field to do great things." the scientist proclaimed. "The keeping Kishin Cipher from interrupting part is much harder."

"How about the important guys, that's you guys, take on the Madnesses while everybody else keep the big guy at bay?" Free suggested warding off the Eyebats with his ice magic. "Good idea Free, and good luck too." Dipper agreed. "Okay everybody, we're gonna tackle the Madnesses ourselves!" he announced to the Mystery Meisters currently not occupied with fighting the monsters while Black Star crawled back up to the Shack. "Any last words before we go?"

"I got one." Pacifica stated turning to her mom. "Mother, I promise we'll bring Dad home."

"I love you." Soos said to Melody. "I know."

"If I don't come out of this alive," Gideon announced to his father and Ghost-Eyes. "tell my widdle ol' story."

"No offense to any of you guys," Azusa said to Ox, Harvar, Kilik, the Pots, Kim, Jackie, the NOT class girls and Hiro. "But you didn't do that much. Like I said, no offense."

"Eh, I'm used to it." Hiro replied giving a salute to the Mystery Meisters. "Now godspeed, all of you."

"Thanks everyone." Dipper said gratefully taking Excalibur by the hand and putting him in the sheath Mabel made for him. "And don't worry Stan, we'll be here."

"Hey hate to interrupt, but do you think these outfits look kinda dumb?" Black Star asked. "We don't have time B-Star!" Mabel exclaimed hurriedly. "Mabel's right, let's get a move on!" Maka announced arming herself with her father.

In the distance, the Four Madnesses were now benched after Greed's brief clash with Black Star watching their master take on the Shacktron from the Fearamid. "When do you suppose we shall strike once more?" the Madness of Sloth snarled biting on the tail of the eight-legged possum Shanknir. "We'll come back once Kishin Cipher is done with the mortals." the Madness of Wrath stated. "But speaking of which, I can sense a certain few of them coming our way."

"We've got you now Medusa! Release our loved ones, and others, or else!" Ford exclaimed leading the Mystery Meisters in cornering the four Madnesses. "It's absolutely hopeless now for all of you." the Madness of Envy purred menacingly while spinning his scythe. "Soon, Kishin Cipher's madness shall flood this town and once we bypass the barrier surrounding this town, we'll move onto the rest of reality as well."

"Barrier?" Marie asked turning to Ford. "That's the law of weirdness magnetism, whatever bizarre thing comes in can't get out." the author briefly explained. "But it seems that through Kishin Cipher's unlimited power that I'm sure he keeps pulling out of his behind, he won't need a special equation I've memorized to lower the shield around town."

"Doesn't matter if he's able to do that anymore, since our lord can warp all reality to his whims." the Madness of Sloth stated. "But enough about him, let's kill you!" The Northwest-turned-beast summoned his giant bell and slammed it onto the ground, creating a small crack in the floor of the lair that began getting larger. "Just wait til this hole begins to get larger and soon you'll fall headfirst on the ground below! I hear mortal brain-matter is delicious this time of year!"

"Listen daddy, I know it's still you underneath that hideous body!" Pacifica called out. "Please, just do anything to tell you still recognize me! I'll even take you ringing that stupid bell again if it means I'm still seen as your daughter!"

The Madness of Sloth prepared to smack his bell again before the girl's words reached his ears. "Pacifica?" he grumbled mid-attack. "He's open, now!" Maka shouted slashing the monster across his face with her father. "You brat!" the slovenly monster roared. "Black Star, tie those three up and we can begin!" the Scythe meister commanded the ninja who readied his chain scythe and lassoed up Sloth, Greed & Envy. "Dipper, did you bring the journal?"

"You bet I did!" Dipper proudly declared fishing Journal 3 from his backpack. "The three of you into position and get your wavelengths rolling!"

"Okay, this is it." Kid remarked as the three formed a circle around the three captured Madnesses. They began forming a connection with their soul wavelengths that built up a forcefield surrounding them. "No, you won't get away with this!" a frantic Medusa howled trying to stop the Resonance, but the barrier had other plans that caused it to send her flying toward her master's throne.

"Everyone, together!" Ford commanded placing his hand on the combined soul. "Wait, is this even possible?" Crona asked the author. "I honestly have no idea, but let's just improvise." Stanford answered while the rest of the group placed their hands on the soul. "Dipper, if you please."

"You got it." Dipper declared opening the journal with his free hand and beginning to read. "Videntis omnium. Magister mentium. Magnesium ad hominem. Magnum opus." he began chanting and everything took on a brilliant cyan glow, from the Mystery Meisters' eyes to the soul surrounding Maka, Black Star and Kid. "Habeas corpus! Inceptus Nolanus overratus! Magister mentium! Magister mentium! MAGISTER MENTIUM!"

In a similarly-colored explosion, all were fast asleep.

In a pitch black ethereal realm solely inhabited by three pillars with stained glass portraits depicting the trapped trio, Dipper & Mabel landed on the one depicting their lost great-uncle. "This has to be the place, especially with all the quiet Latin chanting around us." Dipper declared adjusting his cap while Ford, Wendy, Soos, Black Star & Tsubaki landed behind the twins. "And that must be Stan over there!"

Indeed, the boy was right. However, Stan has now been regressed in age in this spiritual plane with his only companion being a silhouette of his father in front of them. "Wait, I remember this! It's like when Crona chatted with his shadow in his soul!" Mabel exclaimed trying to walk towards the shrunken Stanley, when suddenly the shadow blocked her path. It remained completely silent for what seemed like hours before pointing at the group with a earsplitting loud, unearthly shriek while the three pillars rapidly drifted apart from one another.

On the pillar inhabited by Soul, he was currently held in a straitjacket with the Little Ogre holding him on a leash when Maka, Spirit, Crona, Marie, Stein, McGucket & Gideon. "What have you done to Soul you scarlet shithead?!" Spirit screamed preparing for a fight. "What have I done you may ask?" the Ogre snickered while the Latin choir was now backed up by a choppy record player. "Why, I'm simply helping your friend follow his destiny."

"Well what kind of destiny is forcing him against his will to serve a monster?" Marie argued. "Why not just ask the boy." the imp chortled letting go of the leash he held on Soul. "Now go on my boy. Show them how much the master has improved you."

"Like hell I-" Soul began trying to resist control before Ogre pulled hard and electrocuted him. "Make it stop! Just make it stop!"

And finally on Preston's pillar, he was tied to a fancy chair with his head forcefully bowed down while faced by his daughter along with Azusa, Kid, Liz & Patty and Blair. "Dad, can you hear us?" Pacifica called for her father. "What brings you here daughter?" Preston glowered in defeat. "Don't you know that I am beyond redemption?"

"Don't be like that daddy, it's like what Grandpa Auldman said! Even the blackest of hearts have a speck of light within." Pacifica tried comforting Preston, but her hand was slapped away by the bandage tendril of Kishin Cipher. "No no no Llama, YOU shouldn't be like that!" a figment of Bill Cipher scolded the blonde. "It was thanks to me your family was able to rise to the top, but then your generation just had to screw everything up! Need I remind you?"

With a clap of his hands, Bill conjured up a giant bell to threaten Pacifica with. He began ringing it violently, forcing the girl to stand down. "Wait, you're afraid of a bell?" Kid asked her. "Pavlovian conditioning." Preston grumbled. "My wife and I basically made her our bitch with that accursed bell. Go on, shoot me now and end this. All of you know I deserve it."

"No, we haven't lost yet!" Pacifica cried trying to resist the bell and slowly marched towards her dad. "Our...family...name is broken!" she growled in her struggling. "And I'm...going...to...FIX IT!"

"How are you fighting back?! It's like he said, you're his bitch!" Bill screamed continuing to ring even louder before Kid and Azusa shot at him. "And you're all pretty much Shinigami's bitches too, having to do the dirty work while he lazes about because his stupid soul protects that even stupider city!"

"I don't think so Bill." Kid scowled. "Now Blair!" he commanded the cat, who let out a loud "Halloween Cannon!" and blasted the bell out of Bill's hand. "This isn't over you all!" the triangle screeched angrily while fading away. "I'm only a figment of his mind, preparing all of you for the real deal!"

As soon as the imaginary Bill faded, Pacifica made a beeline for her father's prison and released him. "P-Pacifica?" Preston stuttered before his daughter hugged him tight. "B-but why? Bill was right, I was a monster!"

"I know you are, but you can be something more." the blonde said softly. Suddenly, the spirits of every Northwest before them appeared lining up beside the two and facing them. With soft smiles, the ancestors vanished just as quickly as they materialized, leaving a fade to white behind.

"More firing, more! More!" Grenda hollered as the Shacktron soared around the now giant Kishin Cipher like a biplane, continuing to shoot at the monster while he waved his arms around trying to swat them down. "Uh gang, don't think we're gonna last any longer out here!"

"Don't lose hope everyone! The unicorn hair will protect us!" Sid exclaimed while in command of the flying hovel. "Though I'm mostly saying this because I've already died before. The rest of you might not be so lucky, not gonna lie."

"If that's the case." Wax Larry King solemnly declared turning to Hiro and Dengu. "Then gentlemen, it's been an honor." He grabbed a violin with his teeth and began playing it with the bow he bit down on, before a large crashing sound was heard. Appearing from the distance was Death City itself, now with its own set of limbs equipped with larger copies of Death's gloves.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Kishin Cipher began chortling at the walking city. "I mean, what's a literal walking town gonna do to-" Before the Dream Kishin could finish, the Death City Robot gave him a fierce jab to the eyes. "THE HELL?!" he screamed falling to the ground. "Seriously, is that you in there old man?!"

"You bet it is Cipher!" Lord Death called from the Secret Vault where he piloted the machine. "Time for us to settle the score, and this time this shall be the day your madness ends forever!" The mobile city then held out its hands and scooped up Kishin Cipher's unconscious form. "Special Attack:" Death announced. "COFFEE TABLE FLIP!"

"SO AWESOME!" the boy band clones Sev'ral Timez cheered. "Who digs giant robots?!" Hiro exclaimed. "I dig giant robots!" Nate replied. "We dig giant robots!" Chutzpar added. "Chicks dig giant robots!" everyone else answered in unison. "Nice!"

Back in the mindscape, Soul and Stan were the only ones remaining of the present Madnesses. The shadow form of Filbrick continued his horrible shrieking for another few seconds before abruptly stopping. "Is that your old man?" Black Star asked Ford. "Exactly Black Star. Though he was most certainly a hardass in life and not very kind towards Stan, he was a very mediocre guy very deep down." Ford answered. "Allow me to make peace with him."

The author stepped forward towards the facsimile of his long-deceased father and extended his hand out. "Hello there dad, or at the very least some spawn of Hell taking his form." he greeted Filbrick. "It's me, Stanford. I know this may seem like much, but could you please kindly let my brother go free so that he can join us in saving reality from utter destruction?"

"Not impressed." Shadow Filbrick snarled glaring at his descendants. "Not impressed with what?" the six-fingered genius asked. "With what you've become." Filbrick answered. "Look at you my son. Workaholic, haughty, unforgiving."

"That's all in the past!" Ford argued. "Okay, maybe I'm still a little too focused on my research, but still you have no right to call me out like that!"

"You tell 'em Ford!" Mabel exclaimed before Shadow Filbrick forced a barrier around the others and another over Stan. "They are insignificant, especially to you!" the shadow stated. "Your family is suffocating, correct?"

"No, stop all these lies at once!" Ford continued shouting. "You should watch your tone around your father!" Shadow Filbrick scolded. "I thought your brother was the only ignoramus between you two, but it seems you're just as foolish!"

Stanford didn't say a word after that, except for the growl he let out as he clutched his father's faker's neck tightly. "You take that back about us you faker!" he roared. "I know what you are, you're nothing but a manifestation of our negative emotions!"

Suddenly the barrier lowered around the rest of Ford's party and prepared for a fight. "Get them!" Shadow Filbrick choked commanding an army of duplicates. "Black Star, help me here!" Ford shouted to the ninja. "Yahoo, a chance to show my skills at last!"

"Finally time to put "that" to good use." Tsubaki grinned before they declared in unison, "Let's go, Soul Resonance!"

Tsubaki's weapon form changed from a chain scythe into a katana blade and then into a kunai that Black Star used to create afterimages of himself while running circles around the Filbrick shadows. "Try and catch me suckers!" the man who would surpass God cried out brashly. Sadly for him, the shadows were able to find out which was the real one and apprehend him, snatching Tsubaki away. "Don't worry, I got this!" the Shadow Weapon Meister declared preparing another move. "Ultimate Move: Black Star Big Wave!"

Black Star zoomed in for the kill, elbowing his partner's captor in the back while forcing his palm out, creating a large electrical force in the shape of a star that dissipated the shadow and freed Tsubaki. "And now, onto you!"

Jagged black lines began decorating Black Star's face as his sword finally shattered the shield around Stanley, and the de-aged grunkle looked up. "Black Star, what're you doing back here?!" Stan cried trying to protect himself from the scrambling shadows. "Just saved your life kid. Come with us if you want to live some more!" Black Star exclaimed taking the boy's hand as Stan slowly began returning to his normal age. "Yo Dipper, Ford, we got Stan!"

"Excellent work you two! Now let's finish this." Ford congratulated the pair letting go of his father's impersonator to prepare for the final blow. "Everyone, mobilize!" he commanded standing alongside his returned brother. "Good to be back in the fold poindexter." Stan said with his voice returned to its normal gruff octave. "And thanks for helping me out there kid."

"You're welcome old man!" Black Star replied beginning to charge towards Shadow Filbrick alongside the Stans & Dipper. "Now let's end this!"

"What are you doing?!" Shadow Filbrick cried out in horror before Dipper and Black Star's souls formed a connection. "Twin Blades of Legendary Justice!" the two boys announced their new attack as they stabbed their enemy in the chest while the Stan twins punched him on both sides of his head. "Y-y-y-y-y-you haven't won, YEEEETTTTTTT!"

Those were the final words of the fake Filbrick Pines before he exploded into pure light that covered the entire mindscape, along with similar blasts coming from the other two pillars.

"Oh geez, what happened?" Stan groaned slowly getting up off the wet ground and noticing the sky was a beautiful blue. "And where are we? Are we dead? I was betting on biting the dust like a hero."

"I don't think we're dead Grunkle Stan." Dipper stated gazing at Tsubaki standing nude, glowing and covered with black stripes in front of a large deer-like creature colored black with white markings. "Everyone, this is the will of my clan." Tsubaki introduced the creature who glared at the three Pines. "I see you have taken on a pupil of your own my camellia blossom." the will of the Nakatsukasa clan remarked gazing at Dipper. "And it seems he wields the legendary sword Excalibur."

"Yeah, good observation there." Dipper remarked. "So are you going to like, bless me or something?"

"Such a modest young man." the Will of Nakatsukasa commented. "Reminds me quite a bit of Masamune before his fall." he added turning to Tsubaki. "A little, I guess." the young woman replied stepping down to look at the boy. "Are you ready for the next phase of training?"

"Uh, uh, yeah?" Dipper stuttered while he face turned red from trying not to look at Tsubaki's spiritually bare form. "Hey guys, am I late?!" Black Star hollered rushing towards the group. "Hey, we gonna knight Dipper or something?"

"Sure, go ahead Black Star." Dipper answered proudly before the ninja summoned his sword and knighted his newfound equal with it. "Hopefully you can be just as badass as I someday."

"You got it." Dipper answered his new brother in arms with a firm handshake and the realm went white once more.

"Please Maka, just kill me and put an end to this! It's the only way I can be free of him!" Soul begged his Meister as the Little Ogre continued pulling on his leash. "Just do it!"

"No Soul, I can't!" Maka cried. "I won't let you die like this, not after all we've done for each other." she stated letting a few tears fall. "We may bicker a lot, but you've done so much for me. I'm your partner, best friend, closest confidant. And maybe we could be something more."

"Called it!" Marie cheered. "Oh, my baby girl!" Spirit replied feeling proud of his daughter. "Wait, when was that a thing?" Gideon wondered. "Bah, don't think the power of love can stop me!" the Ogre scoffed yanking on Soul's chain even harder, the pain forcing him to change into his Madness of Envy form. "Now my slave, finally destroy them!"

Maka armed herself with her father and got to work on trying to free Soul. However for the latter, he had a scythe of his own that is pretty much an exact double of his weapon form. "So it's come to this old friend. Scythe to scythe!"

"Meister to weapon!" Maka replied clashing blades with Soul. "Soul to soul!" Their weapons collided and ground against each other, causing sparks to literally fly. As for the rest of Maka's group, they were forced to fight more shadows similar to Shadow Filbrick.

"We need to find a way to get Soul distracted so that we can save him!" Stein exclaimed while taking command of Marie and fighting back-to-back with Crona. "Anyone have ideas?"

"Why don't we, I don't know, get 'em to kiss?" McGucket suggested. "But how can we do that?" Crona wondered. "Simple, just gotta shove 'em into each other!" Ragnarok suggested. "But we'll have to take out all these first to make more room and make things go smoothly."

"And where have you been this whole time?!" Gideon asked Ragnarok. "You've barely been useful to us for most of this journey ever since we left for Death City!"

"Hey, shut up kid!" the Black Blood sword argued just as McGucket split them up. "Alright you two, let's just get a move on."

"It's like my master said, the power of love is fruitless against me!" Soul hissed proceeding to gain the upper hand on his former partner. "What makes you believe I can be cured?!"

"Because she's got help!" Crona declared trying to push the Madness of Envy towards her. "Quick old man, start playing!" Gideon cried shoving Maka forward. "You got it!" Fiddleford exclaimed beginning to play a romantic tune on his banjo while Stein cleared out the remaining shadows. "What trickery is this?!" the Ogre yelled as Maka & Soul began slowdancing. "Don't fall for that music, just kill them all!"

"W-what are you trying to do Maka?" the final Madness asked slowly beginning to turn back into Soul. "Remember how earlier I said we can be something more?" Maka asked softly. "Well it's because, I do kinda have a crush on you. I mean, after all we've done for each other I'm surprised you haven't admitted that either."

"Yeah, gonna be honest, I do too." Soul confessed. "Even this music is something we made together, isn't it?" he asked slowly bringing his partner in for a kiss. "Yeah."

"NO! NO NO NO! I can't be foiled by the power of cliches, what will Master Cipher think?!" the suited imp panicked trying to separate the newfound lovers. "Well we think you need to go." Crona snarled shoving him off the pillar and into the inky blackness below. "I know he'll get you for all of this!"

As Maka and Soul finally kissed, the mindscape went completely white.

"Yeesh, couldn't wait until after we saved the world, huh?"

When the pair broke, they found themselves back in the Fearamid with the entire Mystery Meister crew, plus the recently returned Stan and Preston, surrounding them. Spirit burst into tears about his daughter finding love, Mabel & Marie highfived each other for a match made and Black Star gave his buddy a thumbs up. "My man!"

"Everyone." Soul gasped looking at them all. "And Mr. Pines too!?" he exclaimed staring at Stan. "Yep, in the flesh Sharkbait." Stan cackled and took a deep breath. "Real nice for us all to be back together."

"So where do we go now?" Preston nervously asked and Dipper, Maka, Mabel & Soul looked onward at Kishin Cipher being double-teamed by the Shacktron and the Death City robot. "Kishin Cipher." they declared in unison.

Speaking of which, Kishin Cipher found himself backed into a corner by the two mechanized homes. "So, any suggestions my surviving goons?" he asked the remains of his army. "Well, it seems you can't directly hit the Shacktron." the Summerween Trickster analyzed. "So we must hit something with it!" Wax Sherlock Holmes added. "Like the other robot!" the Flying Dutchman concluded, which gave Kishin Cipher an idea. Shrinking down to regular size, he warped above Death City and extended his arm into its underground to seize Lord Death from his current hiding spot. "Not so all-powerful and all-knowing now, aren't you father?!"

"If this is part of another scheme, that's not going to happen!" Death shouted smacking Kishin Cipher in the face with his glove while being held by the antenna on top of his head. "I'll let you run free, if you hand over my soul." K.C. offered threatening him with an energy blast on his middle finger. "Or perhaps you'd much rather prefer being murdered on the spot in front of your soon to be dead son!"

"I'd never!" the Death God refused. "Well, suit yourself." the Dream Kishin casually answered carelessly dropping Lord Death on the ground from high above before his arm next searched the Death Room, eventually finding Asura's soul buried underneath one of the crosses within.

"Come to papa!" the monster announced swallowing the soul whole and beginning to get more stronger. Tiny bat wings emerged on his head which became more angular & chiseled, his arms more comedically muscular and the bandages forming into demonic wings. "And now for the main course!" he roared excitedly grabbing Death City by the large rock formation underneath and smashing the Mystery Shack into pieces, potentially killing everyone inside. "Oh no, I murdered everyone you love! Ah, don't be a bunch of sadsacks, cause you'll be joining them pretty soon!"

The Mystery Meisters stared in shock, horror and sadness at what just happened. Soos started crying uncontrollably at the possible loss of his fiance, Preston futilely reached out for his wife, Ford dropped to his knees in defeat and everyone else was in mourning.

All except for the Mystery Twins and Maka & Soul, who were absolutely furious at Kishin Cipher. Dipper held Excalibur tightly while tears leaked from his enraged eyes, Mabel stuck to her brother's side, Maka simply glared and Soul clenched his fists in fury.

The final battle for the fate of all humanity has finally begun. And in the distance, a certain clergyman stood atop a tree watching with a wolfman.

Hey there boys and girls, sorry this took so long! I just got tied up with so many things that this chapter took me nearly most of the year. But hopefully this is all worth it, even with some parts feeling rushed in my eyes. Is the resistance truly dead and has Kishin Cipher finally won?! Well, I guess the final line might make it pretty obvious. Join us next time for the epic final clash where the fate of Earth and all reality shall be decided.

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storytimewith · 5 years

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Sloth, Lord of the Flies

The end is near.

The demon lord has risen and his armies are growing. The generals are being put in their rightful spots among the rankings. The humans wage war against those that threaten their peace or profit. The elves stay in their strongholds of the forests, The dwarves continue to forge in mine their meaningless lives away. The end of the world and the breaking of the peaceful times is upon us.

The demon lord sends his armies and generals on a certain mission to ensure their victory

“Find the Seven Sins of man and awaken their vessels”

So the generals and their battalions to scourge the planet for the sins and the vessels they inhabit. Each sin is defined by their own sins through the vessels, the vessels never show the sins since they cannot be awakened without the help from a being of superior power and only a handful of beings outrank the seven sins. The demon lord was one such person so he created crystalized orbs of his magic and had them enchanted to indicate when someone was close to a vessel and which sin it was.

A vessel is not an object yet a person or an animal. A “creature” praytell and they have inherited the soul of the sin from their ancestors who were the original seven. The original seven were not demons or evil by any means though had strong emotions and and grandeur magic power. Eventually each of the original seven were cursed by the maker and it’s followers that they shall be controlled by their emotions and that it will pass on through generations. They original seven despised the maker because of this and formed alliances with those who sought to undo the maker. Though it was all for not for they lost but made a pact with the lord of demons that they shall be allies whenever the need arises and if the time comes he shall awaken them and allow the cursed to watch the fall of god.

Rhodan the demon general of the 12th seat is currently searching through the realms of man looking for any vessel. His battalion and seat ranking is second lowest his army only having 5,000. Marching through the mountains and forests with no reaction from the crystal, Rhodan was getting bored and his troops were becoming agitated from the lack of war. The lord sought to avoid war at the beginning else all will be for naught. Though desperate times called for desperate measures. So Rhodan started invading villages and towns leaving none alive while finding no reaction whatsoever. The troops were pleased with the bloodshed though they all felt the coming dread from the anger of their commander. Then finally on the 5th village there was a low glim of the orb very faint yet the colour of light blue was distinguishable from the normal white orb. Rhodan was ecstatic finally this boring journey would stop and he would get a handsome reward from the lord for finding one of the seven.

“Bring all of the humans in the village too me, no killing!!”

In the village there were a small number of people numbering less than 100. The people all knew each other and helped one another. They found peace and comfort in their lives in the kingdom. The news of the rise of the demon has not yet reached the village’s ears. In the village children were playing outside their houses yet there was one not playing he was taking care of his sister and trying his best to treat his sisters illness that plagued her. So far his father has gone searching for herbs for her treatment in the forest and his mother was changing sheets and rags for her. The little child was clutching his sisters hand at this point sobbing thinking she was going to die .in reality it was a persistent cold that her father wanted gone, though he was right about something.

As the day continued to go on tension in the air grew yet no one knew why. The hunters in the area where on guard children brought inside and livestock moved to barns. The chief of the village saw the change in the winds as an omen of disease and an impending hoard of monsters from the forest invading the village. Though with the rumbling of the ground his theory changed from monsters to an invasion of an army and they were the ones to create the first signal of war for the country.

The ground vibrated and rumbled and through the forest emerged hoards of daemons and most were of higher rank. Building after building was torn to sunder no wall can hold back their rampage the wood was torn apart like paper. Each daemon had a goal and they went to accomplish them thoroughly. Each person that met the daemons were kidnapped or beaten until they were unconscious. All of them had no chance to defend themselves the hunters were out gunned and the guards of the village hasn’t met an actually threat since the last war which was over 100 years ago. They were all taken to Rhodan per his orders yet in the house of the child taking care of his sister a commotion was going on.

“ Come here you brat!!”

“Never!!!”

There was a demon chasing the child around and around the house somehow just a little slower than the child. He was saving time for his sister, who upstairs was facing a dilemma herself. She noticed the lack of anyone outside and the explanation from her brother was hardly sufficient “There are demons i’ll distract them you run, ok. Hey Katherine you listening?! Time is of the essence your big bro has got this!” he was full of himself and didn’t give a proper response only something involving demons though from the noise downstairs and the people not being around actually proves her brother wasn’t insane.

Though she didn’t get a lot of thinking time a few seconds later a long limbed creature saw her through the window and pulled her through breaking the glass and causing cuts all around her body. The boy heard this upstairs he started panicking this gave enough time for the demon chasing him to catch up and snag him.

“You *huff* little twerp *huff* HOW ARE YOU SO FAST!!?”

“Let go of me you foul demon i’ll kill you all for hurting my family”

“Sure you will” the demon exclaimed as he was leaving the building

All the towns were in a giant row in front of Rhodan one by one no one in front or behind the other. He was going down the line one by one checking to see if the orb had a reaction. When he reached the end there was still no reaction though the glow was getting brighter and brighter slowly yet surely. Over the hill two demons carrying two children appeared. The ball reacted glowing a bright light blue with the symbol of a sloth around an archaic rune. Rhodan was elated he found the sin of sloth, though from his face not much emotion could be seen.

“You two bring both of them here!” ordered Rhodan. The two demons brought the two children over one bleeding out slowly and the other one gaged to stop his ranting. From the perspective of the boy a giant bird like creature covered in scales yet no mouth was peering over him. Of course he would be scared he actually fainted. Rhodan pressed the orb against the two, almost too hard, when the orb neared the boy it shined brightly displaying a symbol of a sloth in the air above the group.

“Don’t touch…. Him...demons”

“Little brat I found what I needed the rest of you are no longer needed”

“STOP!....please...stop” the girl collapsed from the laceration around her body from the broken glass. The other villagers noticed what was happening from the scream of the girl including their parents. “Katherine! Isaac!!” they both screamed their last words. Rhodan gave the kill order to the demons around. All at once the villagers and the little girl were all killed within moments. Leaving the boy alone with the creatures.

“Wake the vessel of lord sloth”

“”Yes sir”” two demons said at once.

With both of the two demons fervently slapping the boy to wake him he finally woke.

“What...What did you monster do!!”

“You don’t need to worry about those cur much longer lord sloth will be awakened so shut it.. And WAIT!” Rhodan yelled at the boy then began a process that just by watching the boy understood was complicated,if not weird looking, Rhodan was chanting while moving the orb around the boys body to different points all were specifically handled to were the orb never strayed from a certain path. Soon the orb began to glow and brighten and brighten it eventually became a beacon emanating the symbol of the sloth around the archaic rune. A wave of power flowed from the horizon in a predestined path seeking the beacon created by the crystallized mana of the demon lord acting as a homing device for the lord’s power. The power struck Isaac but instead of it blasting him away it entrapped in blistering heat while what felt like his soul was being extracted. Soon he fell, he collapsed with the only hint of him being alive is the slight movement of his breathing. Power began to surge from the boy encircling him like a cyclone growing bigger and bigger then … nothing it dissipated without the slightest trace of it ever existing in the first place.

“What… What HAPPENED?!” Rhodan screeched the gift and benevolence he envisioned receiving from the lord evaporated in an instant. His chance of gaining power dissipating, he began to kick the downed child to calm himself. Kicking and Kicking and Kicking and Kicking and Kicking and Kicking and Kicking. The boys chest at this point was caved in broken the child previously known as Isaac was beyond recognition. The chest was crushed the skull caved in and the legs were bending in the wrong direction. The orb in Rhodan’s hand no longer glowed it seemed complacent like it completed its job. The army marched off at the word of their angered lord all a bit frightened by the scene in front of them. Even they thought this was brutal.

#Story #Writing #Sloth #Death #Seven sins #The Beginning #Fantasy #part 1 #Demons #my story #my writing #writeblr #magic

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twitchesandstitches · 5 years

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Alt Fleet Origins

idea i wrote up during my absent spell a couple months back; alluded to a few times and decided it was time to post it:

Consider this: the core group of the Fleet and thus the characters you might consider the central characters (Sierra, Terezi, Rose Quartz, Grimlock and Undyne) are the members of the generation that made the FLeet what it is, but they’re not the FIRST generation of the Fleet

They didn’t found it, but shaped it into what it is now, making them the heroes who defined the Fleet, gave it power and brought them home after ages of suffering and nomadic flight, but there is a lot that predates them

In short, it expands on the culture of the Fleet and makes it about more than just them!

This does require tossing out a lot of my original ideas for the Fleet’s origin and the foundations of the AU (Sierra discovering the Matriatrix and finding the other founding groups during the course of several adventures, building up their collective powers and creating the basics of the Fleet), but heck with it, some of the ideas I’ve had for this are SUPER fun and make a lot of sense within the AU

The actual founding generation goes back much further, perhaps an additional several hundred years prior to the birth of Sierra, who being the least difficult to map to realistic ages, makes a good barometer. The Fleet’s core ideas (it’s codes of honor, the way they handle things, and the basic social concepts) go back to the original founders, who banded together for mutual survival in a hostile multiverse where they were outcasts.

Most of the original groups are still represented here, but their ancestors are the ones who came into the fold first, so to speak.

(Greater detail and worldbuilding below)

I’m thinking there were probably no human members of the group, and came later; possibly humans are a bit of a rarity in this AU, at least in terms of population. Elves, dwarves, tieflings, they’re more common, but bog-standard humans are simply less common than you might assume.

The Homestuck contingent is represented by the troll ancestors: Neophyte Redglare as their leader, the Dolorosa, the Disciple, maybe the Executioner and the Signless. Additionally they had a large number of trolls allied to them, effectively they’re the Beforan versions of the ancestors (though giving them different relative ages for the sake of interesting divergence, like making Porrim a primordial vampire) until Beforus fell in ancient times, and the struggles of survival shaped the Beforus characters of the dancestors into the wiser but harder characters on par with the Alternian ancestors. While likely revolutionaries, these specific trolls were mainly just trying to survive without a homeworld, and being unwilling to take Condy’s ruthless measures to claim one for their own. Redglare would be the original wielder of the Matriatrix here, eventually passing it on to Sierra.

Because the troll kids (Terezi, Vriska, Feferi and the others) come later, presumably this means that you had to have access to all the troll ancestors genetics to get them. This might mean that, for a while, ALL the ancestors were part of the Fleet or had their genetics acquired somehow; this has interesting implications for Mindfang and the Condesce.

The Gems are, quite simply, the Crystal Gems. Possibly the core group (Rose, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, Bismuth) with additional crystal gems rounding out the population. They were also just trying to survive, and specifically avoid restarting Homeworld, the circumstances of the Crystal Gem Rebellion are way different here, and possibly unrelated to Earth, though it’s also quite possible that Homeworld was outright destroyed prior to those tensions building up into full revolution. The human characters, at the beginning of the Fleet, wouldn’t have been born yet. Lapis is off somewhere else doing her own thing, Peridot possibly hasn’t been born yet (???) and Jasper MIGHT have a servant of Rose before leaving to join the Stingers once they’re formed to amass her own glory, or else had no idea Pink Diamond survived.

The Transformers present an interesting possibility: maybe Grimlock is actually younger here? I like him having participated in the Autobot/Decepticon wars too much to have him been born recently, but if the war was more recent, that might play into things. I’ve implied that the Cybertron Civil War took place many eons ago and shaped history across the multiverse, but it’s possible that this can be fulfilled by the children of Primus carrying out the same narrative cycle repeatedly, with the Autobot uprising dating to, at most, a thousand years ago. This would make the Autobots SIGNIFICANTLY younger than usual, and also let me mess around more and make things even more AU.

An alternative possibility is having Transformers (And other long-lived beings that don’t mature physically) grow up as a response to emotional growth; they are prompted by life experiences to mature and change, but don’t do it in a vacuum. Thus, Grimlock and the other Autobots can be millions of years old but until they go through exceptional circumstances, they don’t change much over time. Leaning towards the former option of them simply being way younger than I normally do it, simply because I VERY RARELY make the Autobots younger than series average and it might be fun to mess around with that.

In any case, the founding Autobots would be a smallish group mainly led by Elita-1, Arcee, several others of note (Ultra Magnus, Jazz, ect.) and of course, Wheeljack and Ratchet, who are Grimlock’s parents. Grimlock himself may have been alive at this time, but he remained taciturn and withdrawn after the things he suffered, and doesn’t become a major player until later. The smallest in overall number, but the largest in terms of power. Most of those would, of course, be fembots.

The Undertale roster is largely unchanged, since they seem kinda long-lived anyway. They probably provide the largest initial population for the Fleet, because of the sheer diversity and monster girl possibilities they provide! Monster Musume characters would also be included in their numbers; specifically the monster moms. Toriel, as queen of the monsters and perhaps led by portents she believes the monster goddess, Mothra, has bestowed upon them, leads her people (the Undertale characters; the human ones and Deltarune characters are born later) to find a place to survive, and eventually bond with the rest of the Fleet.

Add in additional characters and groups as needed, with some provisos: no humans at all at this point, they come later. Secondly, this version of the Fleet is a large band of nomads, perhaps numbering several hundred at most for the first generation or so, traveling from continent to continent and then world to world via teleportation gates they discover, uncovering a mystery that eventually leads into the overarching conspiracy that the Fleet will later investigate.

They are thus a convoy, staying on the move from their enemies and just trying to survive. They have kids, mind their own business, but can’t help being heroes and getting a bit of a reputation; eventually they wind up being superheroes of a sort.

Redglare, as mentioned, is the first wielder of the Matriatrix for the FLeet. I dunno where SHE got it (found it? it was passed down to her by a mentor?) but she uses it in a very different way from Sierra; the modding and power-enhancing scene requires an economic base and adventuring capability the proto-Fleet does not have, at this point, but they are able to use some of its powers to begin changing themselves to stay alive and relevant. Possibly the first signs of hyper proportion power levels begins here. But no one has any idea how to use it, and as in the current time, must experiment: Redglare ultimately does not learn the specific abilities Sierra did, but combines its alchemizing abilities with her innate Mind powers to draw abilities from those around her, combined with the zeitgeist of the area around her and, in a sense, weaponize the narrative to randomly generate abilities and spell effects. She is ultimately far better at the subtle abilities and Sierra still falls short of living up to her skills. Redglare is the first champion and leader of the Fleet, the heroine they all adored, and leaves big shoes to fill. (Her fate is… open to debate.)

Eventually, there is a second phase around the third generation of children and the signs of the Matriatrix’s gifts imbuing them with hyper fertility and devouring/pregnancy powers so that the Fleet is associated with nomming themes and producing huge amounts of children. By this point they have multiplied by several hundred members, both taking in anyone who wants to join their merry band and reproducing… a LOT. Gems and Transformers have been changed to be able to have super pregnancies, but not to the one-woman population booms in the present. This significantly alters the dynamics for their people, since the difficulties of resources for making new Gems and Transformers is a major problem for reproduction; possibly something similar applies to trolls, as I imagine the mother grub not being a natural part of the reproduction, but akin to a biological cloning machine inducing inbreeding due to over reliance on it.

Around this phase, two things happen, in no particular order, but as a result, some humans enter the Fleet. Again, humans are a relatively rare and severely underpowered species, and possibly in the process of dying out. But their greatest place of utopian ideals and success is the world-nation of Wakanda, reimagined her as a massive ringworld inhabited by humans, robots and the creations of ancient humans. It is a distillation of Marvel, with the entire human population being mutants; powers are universal, and the older generation of BNHA characters also originate from here (All Might, Inko). The Fleet seeks shelter, and for some time, calls Wakanda home. This utopian wonderland becomes the Fleet’s first true stable homeland, and eventually the beginning of their spaceflights; eventually they can no longer remain after Wakanda is devastated by Evil, and the notion of Wakanda becomes a spiritual homeland they home to one day reestablish.

By this point, the clan social system that eventually replaces biological families entirely begins to manifest, growing out of the social structures of Wakanda and the factionalism present within the newborn Fleet itself.

The other thing that can happen before or after the joining with Wakanda; the discovery of ancient cloning facilities, in which humans played a part. Great mechanisms to produce vast amounts of cloned offspring lay dormant, but fully functional, and providing the Fleet with valuable lost technology that will become the basis for later bio-tech. The facility contains information on the twenty-eight hundred trillion different bloodlines of the many species recorded, among them human bloodlines that still have a claim to the last dynasties of Earth in its pre-Cataclysm hey-day, and the offspring of those bloodlines would have tremendous cultural influence due to their descent from the last great powers of their people.

The Fleet begins what will become a solemn vow to resurrect life whenever possible; eventually they will start gestating fallen species, but they begin by simply starting the machines back up and raising the resulting children on their own. Among these are the first human members to be born into the Fleet; these include the human guardians from Homestuck (Pop Egbert, Mom Lalonde, Grandpa Harley, non-abusive Bro Strider) as well as anyone explicitly confirmed to be human and born into the Fleet; of note, the human SU characters from an older generation, most prominently Greg Universe.

Additional time passes, more generations come and go, and the Fleet’s initial powers grow more advanced; rebirth via pregnancy becomes a viable technique though not as widespread as it will become, and extends life spans considerably. Hyper huge proportions and recreational modding become more common, and with Redglare’s increased control over the Matriatrix, the beginnings of the Fleet’s superpowers status beings.

Now we come to the birth of the ‘current generation’; the characters the AU focuses on. Sierra, the other TDI characters, and the Homestuck kids and trolls are born. (Analogues to the Beforan characters as they are in the dancestor bits are also born roughly around this time.) The human characters in question (mainly the TD and Homestuck humans like Jade, Roxy, Jane and John) are a mix of being born from the cloning processes and offspring of the human mutants. The trolls, though, are explicitly the biological children of the troll ancestors, even if they are not raised by them as per Fleet custom.

Thus, everyone effectively grows up as friends and have an established society that predates them, putting less of an emphasis on them as the sole heroes; they stand on the shoulders of those who came before.

Sierra winds up becoming a protege of sorts to Redglare, and Terezi, as her descendant, suffers a great deal of pressure to become as great as her, while Redglare does her best to just let her descendants have a happy, ordinary life.

At some point, though, Redglare leaves the story. However it happens, she passes the Matriatrix onto Sierra, when all expectation was that Terezi would continue her legacy. This causes a great deal of tension between the two, even though they are very close prior to this. Eventually it is repaired, but not without damage.

In her childhood, Sierra befriends Grimlock (Effectively being his human companion friend, in TF fandom terms), bringing him out of his gloomy shell and lightning him up a little bit into the hero we all know he can be.

Sierra’s discoveries, as well as those of her friends (most predominantly Feferi, who is effectively the mother of modding) and the leadership of their particular group begins to shape the Fleet into what it is, setting the stage for its current position as it grows and changes.

(This also means that Vriska, and perhaps a good chunk of the Stingers, were originally part of the Fleet, perhaps those who opted for personal gratification or glory over the Fleet’s heroic intentions.)

Some other consequences is that the Fleet initially grew gradually, slowly absorbing people into it over time and then growing just a bit faster at a time as the Matriatrix’s powers expanded into others… and relatively recently, their expansion went from a few worlds and a single fleet to multiple ones, and a MASSIVE population explosion that continues even to this day. This rapid expansion is clearly terrifying to most people and a serious threat to people who originally saw them as hedonist outcasts and rogues challenging tyrants.

The second one is a theme of building things over the course of multiple generations, but suddenly the plan is askew. Redglare, the seemingly immortal wielder of the Matriatrix, is gone. Her plans, whatever they were, are suddenly stalled and the Fleet doesn’t have a rudder; people depended on her and revered here, and Terezi and Sierra wind up having to take the reins and inspire people. Sierra the heart-felt champion and the one they adore, and Terezi winds up the one with a plan and purpose people can root for.

Things build up and expand from simpler roots, growing more complex and better than what their forerunners initially created. They might be standing on the shoulders of giants, but they’ll grow far bigger than their parents did.

(The metaphor is somewhat muddled by the fact that the Fleet’s stronger people genuinely regard ‘growing bigger than a planet and using your finger to destroy a kaiju’ as mid-tier feats, but the point still stands.)

#queued #crossthicc AU

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elizahgodswood · 5 years

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Ist’Heom and the Order of the Four Winds: The Greatest of Empires

“The Heart of the Order; Ist’Heom. In the tongue of the ancients, it means ‘Our Home’. And for the Order, there could be no greater place. A marvel of today’s world, no kingdom on earth can rival the grandeur of Ist’Heom.”

-An Excerpt from Thunder’s Call: About the Order of the Four Winds, written by the dwarven priest and scholar, Sylus the Grey in the year 47 of the Silver Era.

The Order of the Four Winds settled Ist’Heom in the year 842 of the Dark Era, during the beginning of the Great War between the lord of chaos, Phobos, and the rest of the gods. There, the Order began the construction of what is still considered to be one of the greatest cities ever built, the capital of Ist’Heom. With all the greatest minds gathered from the three races---fairies, elves, and dwarves---they spared no expense in craftsmanship. Varaelia; a triumph of architectural glory that would outlive kingdoms and empires for thousands of years hence. Named for the Goddess of Peace, whose name they fought to uphold.

The city was a stone and metal fortress, with a massive citadel where the leaders of the Order reside. The walls around Varaelia were almost as great as the Great Southern Wall that the dwarves were building in their homeland of Elthora. Enchanted and fortified by the best fairy spellweavers the Order had to offer, they would prove essential in the Great War and proved that naught could destroy them, not even the Dread Lord, Phobos.

It was in Ist’Heom, at the gates of Varaelia, that the outcome of the Great War was decided. Backed by the armies of every race-even the young human race, few though they were- Kirada led her Order and their allies against Phobos and his army of monsters and traitors. And it was there, in the year 973 of the Dark Era, that Kirada struck down the Dark One and his armies were destroyed. With the blessing of the All-Mother, Kirada banished her brother back to Xaxos, his realm of chaos. There he would dwell forevermore, locked away to stew in his madness. With the passing of Phobos, a new Era was decreed, and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that the war had passed and peace was at hand, the Order of the Four Winds began to settle more of the lands surrounding Varaelia. Though the capital was a beauty, the crowned jewel of Ist’Heom was designed with military defenses in mind. Many other cities began to rise all over Ist’Heom. The holiest city in Ist’Heom was completed in the year 57: Golden Era. Khasta, home of the greatest temple of Kirada that the world has ever seen. There, the Oracle, highest priestess of Kirada, ruled over her charges and communed with their all-seeing patroness. Many other temples were built within the city as well, though none were as grand or favored as that of the eyeless goddess.

The port city of Genso rose up across the Cairn Mountains along Moro Bay. What started off as a small colony of two-hundred rapidly grew to a city that almost rivaled Varaelia in size. With the only truly accessible port on the island, Genso quickly became a lifeline as the Order’s numbers began to swell. Goods came and went in a rush through the ports of Genso, as did a great deal of coin. With a strong influx of coin, the Order was able to invest more fully in establishing a presence on Ist’Heom.

On the western coast of Ist’Heom in the Plains of Zathos along the Frost River, rich and bountiful grasslands dominated the land. A collection of farming villages quickly took hold of the area. The Moiria Province was ruled by a small council of town leaders. Together they tamed the wild plains, and with a more reliable source of food, another population boom bolstered the Order’s numbers.

With the growing numbers, the Order was faced with a problem; where could they train the new generations of stormcallers safely, where their powers could do no harm? After years of pondering, the High Council decided on a remote island on the northern coast of Ist’Heom. There, they built the proud military academy; Praetoria. There, the older trainees were taught more advanced, potentially destructive magics. Safely tucked away on the arctic island, they could begin to fully master their abilities worry-free.

The military outpost of Fort Brakken was completed in 142: Golden Era, just a few years before another terrible war broke loose in the south. The budding elven kingdoms of Tigran and their rivals in the kingdom of Agmedus clashed. Their war wreaked havoc on the human nations caught in the middle of the two countries. For a time, Kirada bade them remain passive. It was only once the two sides began to colonize and claim ownership of the kingdoms in the war zone that Kirada begrudgingly sent the Order down south. With enough soldiers built up, they were quickly able to bring the two nations to their knees and enact a tense but lasting peace treaty.

And for a thousand years hence, no two nations dared go to war on such a scale. Ist’heom had become an empire all its own, with the proud stormcallers at the heart of the great nation. The ending of the Garathean War sent the world into a new era of peace and prosperity. New kingdoms began to rise, new orders rose to fame. Smaller groups of heroes in the southern lands meant Ist’Heom could focus more on keeping an eye on the world and scouring the lands for those born with Kirada’s gift to recruit them and train them properly.

Though none commanded the number of soldiers that the Order of the Four Winds did, there was one in particular that Ist’Heom came to resent and fear; the Gilded Knights of the Drakonian Isles-elves, dwarves, and men alike that rode with dragons. Though their beginnings were humble, after saving Elthora from the giants in the Southern Wastes, they became legendary. The dwarves built them an impressive city of stone deep within the Isles, where few ships could reach them and a dragon was practically required to navigate the maze of high cliffs and dangerous reefs and channels. There, the Knights grew to great numbers, and their winged mounts were a force to be reckoned with.

Over the centuries, the two organizations began to clash. More and more, Kirada seemed to allow the Gilded Knights to handle saving the south from chaos instead of sending forth her armies. The Order began to resent all the years of sitting passively. They were fading from memory in the South, more myth than fact in many far-flung reaches. When the wild dragons grew too numerous to contain themselves to the Drakonian Isles, the Order leaped at the chance to regain their former glory. Though strictly bound to inaction unless Kirada ordered otherwise, they sent agents to spread whispers of danger and war in the ears of other lands that also feared the Knights. As dragons began to cause more problems in their search for territory and food, more turned against the Knights. Tensions grew too high for the Knights to manage, and in the year 473: Silver Era, after almost a thousand years of their existence, the southern kingdoms turned on them. They slaughtered every last rider and their dragons and drove the wild ones close to extinction. The once-great military fortress of Dragon’s Palace fell into ruin, and the dragons retreated further into the Isles, far from the reaches of elves and men.

The Gilded Knights were not the only ones to fall secretly to Ist’Heom’s might. Many other famous groups met their end when the Order grew tired of the competition. And yet, Kirada’s orders grew fewer and fewer in number with each enemy vanquished. Many began to whisper that the Order was not so peaceful as they claimed, that their patron goddess saw their corruption and had abandoned them. Rumors of this corruption spread and the stormcallers found the southern kingdoms to be a much less welcoming place. Just before the start of the Dragon War in 974: Bronze Era, Ist’Heom suddenly vanished. An entire empire spanning hundreds of miles was gone in a single night, replaced by an impenetrable mist that no ship could navigate.

For over two thousand years, Ist’Heom had influenced and guided the fate of the world. With their passing, another beacon of hope faded into history. Darkness looms on the horizon; Phobos plots and lurks from Xaxos, hoping to break his chains and wreak havoc in the mortal world once more. His servants of darkness are spreading their evil whispers across the lands. Without the Order, we may very well succumb to the chaos this time.

#world building #Ist'Heom #The Order of the Four Winds #the biggest of wips #there's so much history to this damn book #and i love it #The Dragon War #fantasy wip #fiction #fantasy writing #writeblr #eli writes

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we-are-guildmaster · 7 years

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Fantasy Adventure Seeds

Here are ten seeds you can use to start your next adventure. Starter seeds can help when you haven’t had time to plan, or just need a jaunty side quest to get your players some extra experience, gold, or treasure.

Excerpted from Seeds Compilation: Fantasy I-V by Expeditious Retreat Press

1. The conquest of a neighboring kingdom pushes all the monsters and bandits from that land directly into the PCs path as they struggle to complete their mission.

2. The party awakens (this includes the whole party, even if there was a nightly watch as they mysteriously fell asleep) to find the campfire going and an old man sitting next to it. The old man is a powerful arch mage sent to warn the party about a growing evil in the mountains. An evil so old, nothing remains from the time of its creation. However, there is an artifact that might be able to force the evil back into slumber. The old man is familiar to one of the party members. However, they are supposed to be the same age. After proving to the party who he really is, the old man tells them of a cave not far from here where he went into the cave a man, but emerged a frail, shadow of his former self.

3. A ravening dire bear, usually a creature of the deep forest, attacks the hamlet of Japic. A corrupted wound found on its corpse explains the bear’s unusual behavior. Only the dwarves that live in the mountains beyond the forest have such weapons as to cause the wound. The PCs traverse the forest to find the dwarves expanding their territory at a furious pace, clear-cutting the forest below their mountain in order to fuel their expansion. The dwarves have found a particularly rich vein of mithral and are excited about the discovery. But precious ore is not the only thing they have found. Their furious mining has awoken dire creatures in the depths of the mountain; murderous beasts that begin to attack the dwarves. Worse, the stubborn dwarves are unwilling to admit their troubles and under the sway of a vengeful aranea sorcerer, the dwarf council rebuffs the party. However, there is a small resistance, which entreats the PCs to help them. These insurgents are willing to bargain: they will slow their destruction of the forest if the party will rid their hearth of its corruption.

4. A seemingly worthless trinket that the PCs find is actually the key to a massive gate to an infernal plane. Agents of both good and evil forces hunt the party for the key but determining who is what is not a simple affair.

5. A distillery explosion in a magically charged world is even worse than a similar tragedy in the real world. Not only does the highly flammable alcoholic sludge flood nearby buildings, possibly drowning those unlucky enough to be caught in its path, but the flood can have any number of arcane effects. Suppose whisky is only a sideline for a distillery that mass produces potions; how much worse is the accident then?

6. A young adult copper dragon asks the characters to help her track down a pair of behirs that are trying to destroy her eggs and drive her out of her new hillside lair. She must guard her eggs as the beasts have already made one attempt to enter her lair while she hunted. Luckily, the young mother returned in time to stop them, but now she is afraid to go out hunting and leave her eggs alone.

7. A courier arrives in town with a message for one of the PC’s. The letter is an official summons for punishment. It states that the PC has been found guilty of murder in absentia and been sentenced to death by beheading. The town where the summons is from is one where the PC has never been to nor do they recognize the victim’s name. The courier was also obligated to deliver a copy to the local constable.

8. While visiting the local tavern looking for rumors and tips as to where to head for the next great adventure, the party’s activities are interrupted by one of the bartenders who runs out from the kitchen screaming that monsters have invaded the basement. A group of goblin-kin that have been excavating tunnels under the town have accidentally broken through into the storage cellar under the tavern. Several creatures are now spilling out into the tavern’s basement to see what they can loot. The cavern system underneath the town is quite extensive and is home to an entire goblinoid tribe, as well as several of their unusual “pets”. Worship of a specific monster god (possibly of the orc, goblin, or gnoll patheons) by human and demihuman races has recently gained popularity in several major cities of the empire, with other long-popular churches loosing members at an alarming rate. A cleric from one of the party member’s religions requests that the character infiltrate the new church and learn what may be behind its rapid and unusual rise to prominence.

9. A nobleman has issued a reward for the recovery of his father’s sword, lost to bandits who sacked his outlying keep while he was away on a hunting trip. The brigands made off with the weapon as well as several hostages and other loot, retreating into the safety of the Forbidden Forest. Their leader also used a magical effect to erase their trail and none who have sought their hideout has returned.

10. A cold wind from the North has brought icy snow and blizzard-like conditions. Ships are frozen in the harbor. Roads are nearly impassable. And now rumors describe the sight of giants on the march. Could war be coming? The city’s steward has issued a call for adventurers to search out these rumors and confirm the threat. He also charges them with journeying to the western kingdoms to ask for the aid of his allies.

#Expeditious Retreat Press #fantasy adventure seeds #game planning

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dmcracy · 6 years

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Solo Campaign p.3 - Revelations

Drýđ (her name is based on Beowulf) was too young for the dreadful things life (me) prepared for her. Once, she was living in the town of Grazings with her husband in a cozy little house. They were happy for a while. And then everything she knew turned to dust. One night, she had a terrible nightmare. A giant bear was attacking them in the woods and she tried to run away as fast as possible with their newborn crying and screaming for her husband. But in that dream he never came, she just heard his voice echoing in the forest mixed with the roars of the bear. She screamed and screamed but help never arrived. And it was in that moment of utmost fear in that terrible dream when she, for the first time, felt her unsustainable rage. The bear was catching up with her so she knelt and hid her child in the roots of the tree and made her final stand. The monster was running at her in a shapeless blur but she knew it was her or her child. So she screamed with the force only a defending mother can muster and attacked the phantom. She started clawing and biting the monster as fast as possible and, surprisingly, it was so easy. Too easy. The monster did not resist. So she pummeled the beast and suddenly woke up. Cold sweat dripping from her body she exhaled realizing it was just a dream and tried to lay down once again. But something warm and wet was beside her. And when she turned her gaze she was petrified. At first, she could not even recognize the thing that was lying beside her. His twisted, broken body was almost unrecognizable. She put her hand to cover her mouth and tears started to run down her cheeks. After few heartbeasts she jumped from the bed and started to walk through the room frantically crying and pulling her hair. Suddenly she stopped and turned to the bed. That dream. Was that her? Did SHE do this? She gasped and unable to cry just stood there in her nightgown with opened mouth overwhelmed by horror and unable to scream. And darkness took place where her heart once was. Pouring to her through her opened mouth like you fill the bottle with water. An oozy black pitch like substance covered her insides. And something primordial switched inside her and then she ran.

Now its time to show how bad DM I can be. I consulted Myrta about these events because I made no notes from those times. Yes, not a one single word for me to remember, because I was playing Drýđ, a little grass snake friend Myrta had from the first forest and lots of other NPCs, monsters, villains and I try to explain the story as vividly as possible. And nothing from her campaign so far was prepared. It was a pure improvisation and I - a great improviser - got lost in my own storytelling and never wrote a note. In my eyes her campaign was just for fun and nothing serious and I know how bad that sounds. Only later I discovered my fatal flaw and forced myself to the habit of notemaking (thanks to this guy). And writing this little blog helped me tremendously as well. At least I like to think it helped and I improved.

Anyway back to the story. They crushed the gnolls, saved the village and moved to the other side of the mountain, because Myrta wanted to see what was there. Mountains had its share of secrets and dangers as well (they fought a yeti while traveling) but eventually, they survived and found a new unexplored area for my players - Langbarttal (land of long beards). This is one of my favourite places in my world. A place where dwarves ride on the backs of wooly mammoths covered by wooden ramparts, dragons roam the surrounding mountains and where one of the most ancient cities of Neru, Lanbardin, is hidden. I think Myrta liked the place too because after giving a finger to my adventure I prepared for her she wanted to stay here for almost a year (like half of a session in real time). And what was she doing for that time? She was growing mushrooms and reproducing new species. I liked the idea of the off time activities and a lot of things happened during that time (One of them was finding out that the best way to engage players in campaign is build upon their interests and interests of their characters). Drýđ got a new amulet which suppressed the lycanthropy (but did not reduce the urge to shapeshift, which will, eventually backlash later) and a new weapon. Myrta got a new friends - a teacher called Tarka and her adoptive son named after her, Terkar. She also created a bunch of new mushroom species for my world so I guess I got a present too. The girls also bonded even more and one day they talked about Drýđ, her past. This was the moment where Myrta found out about her sad and dark past - her husband and how she run away from home, her cub/baby that got killed by a group of hunters and that she liked to be shapeshifted into a bear for so long, because she felt more and more distant from her pain and past to the point where she completely disconnected from her human nature. And than she asked Myrta to go back to her home and find out what happened. Drýđ also told a story about an evil driud who she thought was responsible for her curse. I liked that scene when they talked because after that they had a pillow fight and Drýđ was obviously hitting on her, but Myrta did not respond to her advances (yes, I create these moments of tension for amusement of me and my players just to watch it splat like an egg on concrete).

But Lanbardin gave Myrta one more thing. The thing she did not shed from that moment since she arrived. Because she fought a little boggle in a locked room. And it almost killed her. Because when Myrta did not know what to do, she froze. Yes, Drýđ, eventually, kicked the door and killed the little bugger, but that fear held onto Myrta and grew even stronger. And this will complicate things in the future.

#d&d story #D&D shenanigans #d&d 5e #d&d dm #d&d world #how to be a great gm

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Game 337: Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992)

The game almost immediately reveals its title to be a double-entendre.

Treasures of the Savage Frontier

United States

Beyond (developer), Strategic Simulations, Inc. (publisher) Released 1992 for Amiga and DOS

Date Started: 20 July 2019

Settling into a Gold Box game is like going back to your home town after a few years. You enjoy looking for the little changes while at the same time hoping that not much has changed. The town still has its same friendly character, you think, and it looks like all the neighborhoods are still 16 x 16. The old Irish pub seems to have gotten a VGA facelift; maybe I’ll get to know the NPCs there a little better this trip. Mr. Miller at the armory is still hawking that weird selection of polearms, but he’s got helmets now, too. Oh, looks like MacGregor’s pharmacy got bought out by a Rite Aid–and I hear they have a new “Repair” command that automatically heals all your ailments. Yes, maybe some of those things changed on your last trip. It’s hard to remember. Does it really matter?

Of course, your hometown is always happy to welcome you with all the experience and stuff that you’ve accumulated since you were first created here. Well–most of it. They haven’t legalized weed or Gauntlets of Dexterity yet, so you’ll have to leave those where you came from.

The import process confiscates a few items.

We don’t have many trips to the old neighborhood left. Mom and dad sold the place for a better house in a town called Dark Sun, if you can imagine. They’re hardly ever even home. They’ve been leasing it short-term to some executives from a company called Beyond. Better enjoy these streets–and killing bandits on them via one of the best combat engines you’ve ever experienced–while you can.

I’ve been plucking games from the 1992 list at random, but I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have done it in this order deliberately. Of the three remaining Gold Box games, I think I’ll enjoy The Dark Queen of Krynn the most, Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed the least, and Treasures somewhere in between. If that’s true, Treasures is a good one to ease into for the first time in almost three years–saving the best experience for last, but not ruining our homecoming on the worst part of town.

I like the setup here. It requires some knowledge of the previous game and the Forgotten Realms factions, but it isn’t overly complicated. In Gateway to the Savage Frontier, the characters were former caravan guards who slowly stumbled on a conspiracy by Zhentarim (the evil mercenary company that rules Zhentil Keep) to take over the Savage Frontier (a long strip of land east of the Sword Coast) by marching an army across the Anauroch Desert (which lies between Zhentil Keep and the Savage Frontier) to the city of Ascore. The party foiled the plan by activating a magic ritual in Ascore that summoned various desert monsters to destroy the invading hordes.

The game map shows that action will take place on the western side of the Savage Frontier, plus the Sword Coast cities. If it stretched just a little further south, we’d see Baldur’s Gate.

Treasures begins a few weeks later, with the party enjoying a picnic in the hills above Yartar. Suddenly, we’re sucked through a portal, arriving on the cold stone floor of a dwarven stronghold in the city of Llorkh. The agent of our transportation is Amanitas, the setting’s version of Gandalf or Elminster, an absent-minded wizard who aids and directs the party.

�� Why is this spell never available to me no matter what level I achieve?

Amanitas relates that after their defeat, the shattered remains of the Zhentarim fled south to Llorkh, the only city in the region that they still controlled. But when the dwarven residents of Llorkh heard that the Zhentarim had been defeated, they realized this was their prime chance to revolt. The city has been plunged into chaos, with the dwarves against the Zhent garrison and the returning survivors of Ascore. Amanitas hopes that we’ll do our usual thing. Of course, he won’t be sticking around himself. He’s going to return home to Secomber to investigate “troubling reports about strange new events in the Savage Frontier.” One hopes this includes the apparent imposition of slavery on former caravan guards.

I took a quick look at character creation to make sure nothing had changed (I didn’t see anything) before importing my Gateway party, which consists of:

Broadside, a lawful good human male paladin of Level 7

Talldark, a chaotic good human female ranger of Level 7

Ghost, a neutral good dwarf male fighter/thief of Levels 5/6

Alpha, a lawful good human male cleric of Level 6

Eso, a chaotic good human female cleric of Level 6

Monitor, a neutral good elf magic-user of Level 6

Ghost will cap at Level 9 as a fighter, two levels below the maximum for the game, but I guess I’ll live with it. Monitor can go to Level 11 as a mage, which also happens to be the game maximum. If the series had gone on for one more title, you’d have to go with an all-human party, or suffer from very low level caps, as in the Forgotten Realms series.

A new character is pretty pathetic compared to an imported one.

Most of their equipment came with them, save the Gauntlets of Dexterity, some magic scrolls, ioun stones, a Wand of Defoliation, and a long sword +2 versus undead. Still, everyone has magic weapons and armor. An imported party has an enormous advantage over one created for the game. New characters start at around Level 4 with only 22,600 experience (my imported characters had between 80,000 and 140,0000) and non-magic items. My imported party also has, I suspect, enough money in gems and jewelry to last the entire game.

The game begins in war-torn Llorkh, where the ultimate goal is to assault the Zhent keep in the east-center of the city. An early journal entry recommends that, before heading there, you “clear the rest of the town,” thus weakening the Zhent forces and stopping them from sending reinforcements. Yes, we’re still using paper journals. I don’t really know why.

Getting a journal reference . . .

. . . and marking it off in the paper (or PDF) journal.

Llorkh held to the 16 x 16 standard that the Gold Box has used since Pool of Radiance, with another 8 x 16 for the keep. I normally like mapping, but for whatever reason, I didn’t map during this session. I relied on the overhead “Area” map to get around and make sure I covered every square, which isn’t terribly hard on a map this small. The “Area” map still doesn’t distinguish walls from doors, which is something that I wish the series had fixed before the end.

I did most of my exploration from this map rather than mapping myself.

The town had a weapons shop, a couple of inns, a temple, and a training hall, all open during the strife. All my characters except Broadside gained one or two levels during the session. I think I’ll probably dual either Alpha or Eso to a second mage pretty soon. The only things I bothered to purchase were arrows and darts, and I noticed that (perhaps for the first time) they now automatically stack, meaning you don’t have to buy darts 4 at a time until your mage’s inventory is full, then stack them, then buy more.

Part of the options in the armory.

The Zhent forces in the keep include “lordsmen” (high-level fighters), driders, gryphons, ettins, efreet, and hill giants. Driders were probably the toughest enemies. If you don’t damage them, they cast “Fireshield” in the first round, which does double the damage back to the attacker for every melee attack. Once the spell is cast, you have to try to destroy the Drider with spells (“Magic Missile” is a favorite, though they shrug off spell damage about 50% of the time) or ranged weapons.

There were around 20 fixed encounters on the Llorkh map. The accumulation of combats was a bit harder than I remember in any previous Gold Box game, and I found myself really working my various spells, even going so far as to cast “Prayer” and “Bless” in combat, which is something I hardly ever do. My wizard only had two Level 3 spells at the game’s outset. Predictably, I used them for “Lightning Bolt” and “Fireball,” but these went fast. I got a lot of use out of the clerics’ “Hold Person.” Fortunately, the game is a bit too generous on letting you rest, heal, and re-memorize spells just about anywhere. Incidentally, unlike Gateway, “Fix” no longer re-memorizes spells. It just heals.

It’s rare for me to cast “Prayer” in combat. I usually use it as a buffing spell.

One thing that has changed: both enemies and allies can join the battle even after it’s been going on for a few rounds. You suddenly get a message that “dwarf fighter has joined the combat” or “Zhent fighter has joined the combat,” with the new characters taking positions near where the party started. So far, every ally joining has been balanced by an enemy and vice versa. Sometimes you can control the NPC allies (I think this is based on a charisma roll for the leader), but other times they control themselves. Either way, they’re usually more trouble than they’re worth, appearing in the back and not having much room to maneuver around the main party. Plus, if the NPCs are controlling themselves, the pathfinding remains awful and they get hung up on every wall.

The NPC dwarves don’t really contribute much to combat.

There weren’t a lot of role-playing encounters in the opening map. There were a few places where I had options to help a group of dwarves or leave, which isn’t exactly much of a choice. When I reached the front gates of the city in my explorations, the game asked if I wanted to stay and fight or leave the dwarves to their fate. On a lark, I tried to leave, but the dwarves just barred the gate and forced me to stay anyway.

This isn’t much of a choice. I have to defeat everyone anyway.

The one major exception was an encounter in a building where I came across some wounded Zhents and a companion treating them. I had options to attack or leave them alone. I decided to adhere to the Geneva Convention, at which point one of the Zhents gave me some intelligence that the Zhent lord Geildarr was planning to ambush the dwarven leaders while they slept. I don’t think this ended up doing anything for me, but it was still an interesting encounter.

On one hand, the Zhentarim are unrepentantly evil. On the other hand, we shouldn’t stoop to their level.

While few of the other encounters offered any role-playing options, there were a lot of contextual encounters (defined here). You rarely just run into a pack of enemies looking for blood, the way you do in, say, The Bard’s Tale or Might and Magic. Instead, you get some message indicating why the combat is occurring before it occurs. The series has generally done a good job with these, but I think Treasures is offering more pre-combat messages than any prior game. Some examples:

We burst into a room and interrupt a group of ettins and fighters dressing for battle.

We hear a lovely melodic voice coming from behind a door, enter, and find ourselves in combat with three harpies. I can’t remember harpies making an appearance in Gold Box games before.

A building turns out to house a group of Bane worshippers, who attack immediately.

We interrupt a group of hill giants and fighters playing dice.

This is so much better than just going right into combat.

It’s been quite a while since I had a combat system that I really enjoyed. I think Crusaders of the Dark Savant was probably the last. Here, I immediately remembered everything I love about the Gold Box approach to combat: when enemies line up to create a perfect “Lightning Bolt” scenario, or attack in a big cluster ideal for a “Fireball”; when a backstab connects; when my paladin is able to kill two enemies with his two attacks per round; when all three castings of “Hold Person” take effect and you can kill the paralyzed enemies at your leisure; when your casting of “Stinking Cloud” reorganizes the battlefield the way you want it. And every new spell slot increases your tactical options. Not only has this system not been improved upon in a turn-based game, I’m not even sure how you’d improve it. It’s one of the few completely transparent systems in all of RPG-dom, meaning that whether an attack succeeds or fails, whether a spell takes effect or doesn’t, whether you live or die, you always understand exactly what’s happening and why it’s happening.

Monsters arranged perfectly for a “Fireball.”

The opening session culminated with an attack on Lord Geildarr’s keep, a fortress that had once belonged to a dwarven king named Redblade. There was a very large battle with fighters and ettins in the entry hall.

Geildarr himself seemed to appear in a southern room, but it turned out to be only an illusion. After we tried to attack him, we were attacked ourselves by driders and efreet. In a northern room, a brunette sorceress similarly disappeared, leaving us to fight her minions.

Tricky, tricky.

Continuing down into the basement, we fought more guards as well as several groups of carrion crawlers (which can paralyze) in the old jail cells. At the north end of the cellars, I found a fighter giving a speech to his troops, and it ominously ended with, “Even if we don’t hold Llorkh, the plan to divide–.” So apparently the Zhents have a bigger plan.

Next, we came to a room where a beautiful blonde fighter was fighting with a “beautiful” brunette sorceress. At least, that’s how the game describes her.

You decide.

They got into a brawl, and during the tussle, the sorceress changed her appearance to match the fighter, both then shouting that she was the “real” blonde. I had various options at this point, and it turned out that casting “Dispel” allowed me to separate them again. It feels like the paladin’s innate “Detect Evil” abilities should have helped here, but I didn’t have that option. Maybe he didn’t have that ability in the first edition of AD&D rules.

A battle with the sorceress (Cortarra) and her allies–several fighters and cockatrices–ensued. I concentrated on killing the cockatrices first, since they can stone with a successful melee attack. When it was over, the fighter–Siulajia–offered to join the party. Of course, I accepted. She related that she’s the daughter of a ranger from the High Forest, captured by retreating Zhent forces and brought to Lord Geildarr as a “gift.” It’s always useful to have a pure fighter. She seems to do well with a bow.

Given that she’s also the character on the title screen, I assume she later becomes more important.

The final battle was a two-part affair that began when I stumbled into a room and found Lord Geildarr threatening a warrior named Jarbarkas. Geildarr turned on me and first had a giant skeleton and a group of humans attack, including two “Hosttower mages” and two “Kraken masters,” showing that the Zhents are allied with the Host Tower of the Arcane in Luskan and the Kraken Society of Purple Rocks. I suspect my adventures may take me in those directions next.

It’s always great when this spell works.

Once I defeated the initial group, Geildarr himself attacked with numerous “lordsmen.” He was probably a high-level magic-user, but he had only a small number of hit points, and he went down after one “Magic Missile” from Monitor and a couple of arrows from Siulajia. “Hold Person” helped mop up the rest.

The Zhents have allied with Gargamel.

After the battle, Jarbarkas gave us a reasonably long account of his history: He’s from a village called Windycliffs on the Sword Coast. The town was recently sacked by Luskans, and Jarbarkas set out to get revenge, ultimately getting himself captured. He recommended that we search enemies for “any kind of crystal.” “I know not what the powers of these crystals may be,” he said, “but they were very careful to shatter them rather than let the stones fall into our hands. There are three different colors, and no single person is ever entrusted with more than one.”

Technically, I’ve already won the game. It just lets you keep playing and exploring new areas after you win.

I expected Jarbarkas to offer to join us, but he took off after this bit of intelligence. Amidst the cheering of the victorious dwarves, we identified our looted equipment, leveled up, memorized new spells, and contemplated our next move, which seemed to be to visit Amanitas in Secomber.

I guess it’s for the best. Your name is a bit too similar to someone we all hate.

You can leave Llorkh via the gate (on foot) or by renting a boat to go along the river system. Either way, leaving puts you on the overland map. Aside from slightly better graphics than previous overland maps, this one seems (for the first time that I remember) to have some consideration of weather. At least, it’s constantly telling you about changes in weather conditions. I’m not sure what impact these conditions have on the game.

Overland exploration by river.

I faced no resistance on the way down river (I think this is one of the advantages to getting a boat). On the river, it’s impossible to avoid the city of Loudwater on the way to Secomber, so I figured I might as well explore it while we were here. The southern part of the city has the usual shops and services, but we soon encountered a building with a bunch of Kraken Society spies. After we defeated them in combat, we found a map showing a line along a road between the Way Inn, Daggerford, and Waterdeep. “We must break their supply lines,” a note read. “Attack and take Daggerford and the Way Inn now! BEFORE they arrive!”

The Kraken Society note.

A way up the road, a young woman asked me to help find her lost mother, then led me into a building in which she and her “sisters” turned into something called “greenhags” and attacked. I’ve never encountered this monster before. Their icons look like wights, but they’re clearly not undead. In the middle of combat, they “changed form” into two mages and a dwarven fighter. They changed back and forth several times during the battle–I’m not sure what it did for them–but I eventually cut them all down and got a magic ring.

What in the world are these things?

Actual undead are to be found in a graveyard east of town–ghouls and wights. They’re fairly easy to turn at my level. I found no treasure or anything among them.

An atmospheric message as I enter the undead part of town.

The northern part of Loudwater had an “adventure supplies” shop that sold flasks of oil, mirrors, robes, cloaks, boots, and belts. I bought everyone boots, just because, but I’m not sure if any of these items really has any use. They haven’t in most past games.

Finally, while exploring a back alley in the northeast part of the city, I suffered not only my first character death but also my first full-party death. I was lured into a building by the singing of another group of harpies. This time, they actually hit me, which causes the struck character to be “Charmed.” They charmed my strongest fighter and one cleric in the first round. I tried to have the second cleric cast “Dispel,” but it didn’t work. During the second round, the charmed cleric cast “Hold Person” and held three of the remaining party members, who were soon cut down by my charmed paladin. With no one left conscious about to cast “Dispel,” all I could do was focus on the harpies, passing the rounds and hoping that the charmed condition would wear off. I was able to kill the harpies with mage spells, but in the subsequent rounds the charmed characters killed everyone. The party was destroyed, but just as in Gateway, the monsters no longer rejoice.

All told, a satisfying start to a familiar setting. I look forward to playing more.

Time so far: 4 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-337-treasures-of-the-savage-frontier-1992/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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