Epilogue

[Mushgnome]

Epilogue

The Colossus is defeated, and our heroes have succeeded in their mission to secure the head for the Miskatonic Museum. Now there is the question of transporting the head safely back to Arkham...

A ship’s bell clangs in the harbor; could it be? Yes! The Bagel approaches, Arkham-bound! The trusty ship has been repaired at the Fall River drydock, and Captain Jack Records is recovering nicely from his wound. The salvaged submersible follows in its wake, piloted by the one-legged Wiggle Projector.

What is next for our heroes? By completing a mission for the University, the PC’s gain access to the renowned Miskatonic Library, where they can research all sorts of sorcery, history, geography, science, etc. or in other words, plot hooks! For those of you who aren’t bookworms, you are no strangers to travel by monorail or sea (sail or sub), and you’re hip to the existence of various interdimensional portals and out-of-body techniques. And you’ve discovered some sites of interest, both nearby places you might revisit, and faraway places of legend and myth---not to mention the weird city of Arkham itself!

If you’d like to each write up a paragraph or two, I’d be curious to hear a summary of your PC’s adventures following the events of Chainmail Carcosa. Apothecaria, Breath, Fated, and Shade have attained 4th level and begin to develop a reputation as Heroes of the land, movers and shakers in the great events of their day. At 3rd level, Grand and Loyal Beast are not to be trifled with, either. Poor Preservation of Humanity is no longer with us, but the strange tale of the sentient ant Wizard-Killer has just begun...

Thus concludes Chainmail Carcosa. Thank you all so much for your participation these past two years. I hope you are not sad to see it end. The fact is, my interest in Chainmail has run its course, and I’m eager to return to a style of DM’ing that’s more “in my wheelhouse.” Furthermore, I’ve noticed sometimes PbP campaigns fizzle out anti-climactically, whereas I decided to end mine with a “bang” while player involvement was still high, at the resolution of a major story arc.

My plan is to take a brief hiatus from DM duties, but I am working on an idea for my next campaign. It won’t be a direct continuation of Chainmail Carcosa, but rather more of a “continuity reboot” in a parallel universe. If Chainmail Carcosa was similar to Burton/Keaton/Nicholson’s vision of Batman, think of the new campaign as having a Nolan/Bale/Ledger flavor. There will be enough overlap that I hope you all will be interested, so stay tuned for the announcement!

But that is a story for another day. As the sun sets over the Haunted Swamp and the carnage of the Colossus Battle, we listen to the final words from the heroes of Chainmail Carcosa...

THE END

[kipper]

Breath of New Moon starts recruiting an army of bone-people, led by her trusted lieutenants Blasphemous Blade and Devil Maw. Dream Stalker is kept as a personal aide/spy. She starts small, forming a mercenary company, best known for tackling jobs others refuse. Of course, her ultimate goal is to carve out a territory for herself.

In the meantime, she makes extensive use of the University Library, poring over old tomes, looking for arcane rituals which will help with her goal. She also researches into the strange arch found on guano island, it seems to calling to her. Perhaps ultimately she will send her mercenary army through there and carve out her territory in a new land instead? What strange world exists on the other side?...

[Mushgnome]

Good work, kipper, that's exactly the kind of character epilogue I was hoping for!

Mar 19, 2013 8:56:37 GMT -6 kipper said:

What strange world exists on the other side?...

I bet you can guess the question is: which hex?

[Deleted]

The Behemoth known as "Loyal Beast of the Unknown Master" has faded but all around Carcosa people have been found dead with large blade wounds to the chest and large amounts of internal organs missing. The victims claim to be hounded by dark wraiths in their sleep only days before they are found dead.

Those who know of the original beast speak of ill rumors that the Unknown Master now with the doors to the Miskatonic Library open to it's perusing has taken permanent residence within the beast spreading the will of chaos throughout all of Carcosa.


.....To Be Continued

[Deleted]

Grand Yet Mystifying spends many months lost in dusty tomes and brittle scrolls of the university library, searching for the ritual that would send him back to his own planet.

So lost was he in his research that he surely would have perished if not for his faithful servant Nigel, who made sure to provide him with the necessities of life.

At last he found what he was looking for buried deep within the dark recesses of a forgotten room, covered in an aeons worth of dust.

Many more months were spent translating the ritual and gathering the required elements. More time was spent traveling to the site of the ritual and waiting for the proper alignment of the universe.

At the time had arrived! In an long abandoned temple deep beneath the largest volcano on Carcossa, Grand began the horrible ritual meant to call forth the greatest of the Elder Gods and force it do do his bidding. He worked through the long ritual, chanting and sacrificing well into the night, until he was standing ankle deep in the blood of his sacrifices.

"Come Nigel, bring to me the last of the sacrifices."

'But Sir" replied the faithful servant as he approached, "there are no more left."

"Wrong, my poor sweet Nigel, there is one left to give," replied Grand as he slide his knife into his loyal servant, spilling his guts to the floor. Nigel gasped and feeblely clawed at his master's robes as his life slide away.

As he watched the life drain from Nigel, a single tear slide down Grand's cheek and fell into the blood pooled around his feet. Before the ripples from the tear had a chance to spread, all the lights within the temple went out, leaving the earthman standing in a primordial darkeness. A low sound rippled though the still dank air, a sound that Grand soon understood to his horror to be the laughter of an amused god.

Your sentimentatlity will always be the down fall of you earthmen. All that sacrifice, all that blood, and a single tear will spell your ruin.

A sudden wind swept out of the darkness, hurtling Grand from his feet. Faster and faster he was spun, caught in a maelstrom of pure chaos.

Foolish mortal! Twice now you have sought force my aid and twice now you have failed. It amused me before to send you to this desolate place, but you amuse me no more. Now I shall feast upon your soul.

Stricken with terror, Grand could feel himself being spun faster and faster until he could feel the centrifical forces pulling not just his limbs away, but tearing apart his very being, until at last he gone from the universe.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2013 14:45:52 GMT -6 @dogma said:

Grand Yet Mystifying spends many months lost in dusty tomes and brittle scrolls of the university library, searching for the ritual that would send him back to his own planet.

So lost was he in his research that he surely would have perished if not for his faithful servant Nigel, who made sure to provide him with the necessities of life.

At last he found what he was looking for buried deep within the dark recesses of a forgotten room, covered in an aeons worth of dust.

Many more months were spent translating the ritual and gathering the required elements. More time was spent traveling to the site of the ritual and waiting for the proper alignment of the universe.

At the time had arrived! In an long abandoned temple deep beneath the largest volcano on Carcossa, Grand began the horrible ritual meant to call forth the greatest of the Elder Gods and force it do do his bidding. He worked through the long ritual, chanting and sacrificing well into the night, until he was standing ankle deep in the blood of his sacrifices.

"Come Nigel, bring to me the last of the sacrifices."

'But Sir" replied the faithful servant as he approached, "there are no more left."

"Wrong, my poor sweet Nigel, there is one left to give," replied Grand as he slide his knife into his loyal servant, spilling his guts to the floor. Nigel gasped and feeblely clawed at his master's robes as his life slide away.

As he watched the life drain from Nigel, a single tear slide down Grand's cheek and fell into the blood pooled around his feet. Before the ripples from the tear had a chance to spread, all the lights within the temple went out, leaving the earthman standing in a primordial darkeness. A low sound rippled though the still dank air, a sound that Grand soon understood to his horror to be the laughter of an amused god.

Your sentimentatlity will always be the down fall of you earthmen. All that sacrifice, all that blood, and a single tear will spell your ruin.

A sudden wind swept out of the darkness, hurtling Grand from his feet. Faster and faster he was spun, caught in a maelstrom of pure chaos.

Foolish mortal! Twice now you have sought force my aid and twice now you have failed. It amused me before to send you to this desolate place, but you amuse me no more. Now I shall feast upon your soul.

Stricken with terror, Grand could feel himself being spun faster and faster until he could feel the centrifical forces pulling not just his limbs away, but tearing apart his very being, until at last his very molecules were spread out into the universe, forever the play things of a fickle god.

[Mushgnome]

Excellent contributions, aquebman and dogma, thank you!

[Deleted]

Wizard-killer, enraged over his master's terrible death, slew the two henchmen right then and there. His intelligence was greater than any had thought (except for Preservation): he could 'speak' in gestures, and using those gestures he claimed his reward at Miskatonic University. He spent many an hour poring over the University's library...

Indeed, he lives at the University today: one student took a liking to him. Should this student ever become an adventurer, Wizard-killer's illustrious career will continue.

[Deleted]

" ... and that's the story of how the torch came to be both a light to our city and a weapon in time of need," Apothecaria told the listening apprentices. She was aged and bent, but the sparkle in her eye was undiminished.

"The males in the group were determined to delve into secrets best left unknown, but I knew when to count my blessings. I mourned the loss of my brightest apprentices, I returned them to their Mother's Bosom and marked the graves with simple headstones. Then Grikk and I returned home. I have watched friends die, but I've helped the birth of many and the healing of many more. I soon go to rejoin my faithful Grikk, gone these many years, and my brave apprentices. The torch of the metal demon will remain a testimony to what I have done. So long as it shines my memory will live on. Go now, I need to rest ... "

[Mushgnome]

^ That one brought a tear to my eye!

[Mushgnome]

Mar 19, 2013 15:48:53 GMT -6 @sirravd said:

Indeed, he lives at the University today: one student took a liking to him. Should this student ever become an adventurer, Wizard-killer's illustrious career will continue.

Old Hollywood trick: always leave the door open for a sequel!

[Deleted]

Feel free to use Loyal Beast as a villain or something in between in any future campaigns I wanted to leave it open purposefully.

[Mushgnome]

Mar 19, 2013 17:35:03 GMT -6 @aquebman said:

Feel free to use Loyal Beast as a villain or something in between in any future campaigns I wanted to leave it open purposefully.

Every single one of your PC's would make a fantastic NPC in future campaigns! Such great character concepts.

[crusssdaddy]

Fated to Die returns to Aylesbury, and through a variety of cynical deceptions and despicable ruses installs himself as the new Pastor of the local church. Led by his example the populace exceed themselves in mindless zealotry, indefatigable greed, and loathsome opportunism.

It's a good life.

[Mushgnome]

A fitting retirement for Fated to Die!

[ehiker133]

The Shade of the Evermore allowed his shoulders to slump as the Colossus fell to the ground, breaking into huge, and still unmanageable, pieces. His bone clubs melded back into his arms and he flexed his cramped fingers in relief. His boots lost early in the struggle through the muck of the swamp, he glided over to colossal torso on seven tentacles and located one of the spots that took heavy Howdah fire. Using a combination of strength and a bronze lever he found lying on the ground, Shade tore off a 5 foot section of the thick copper plating and moved it to his berth on the Bagel.

Then he threw off his filthy robes and armour, discarding anything and everything he had been wearing for the last month. Everything except the two precious black pearls; those remained secreted safely away where they will stay until they are needed. "This new body has all kinds of benefits," he thought to himself as he dove off the deck of the Bagel into the warm salt water.

***

The pain is excruciating! The Shade of the Evermore pounds on the dirt basement floor with his fists. At least he thinks he can still call them fists. Can a fist consist of two fingers and a thumb? His mouth splits open in a toothy grin as the thought enters his head. It means the burning sensation has subsided enough that he can think about something other than the pain shooting through his shoulders and upper back.

He moves to a standing position - dirt and debris from the floor sticking to the heavy black robes he wears to avoid confining his tentacled lower torso - and stretches his arms out wide to try and give his shoulders some relief. A bottle from his laboratory table falls to the ground behind him and shatters. He turns to see what knocked it off and he hits one of the support posts... located more than 10 feet away.

"By the Gods..." he thinks to himself, his powers of speech long gone since the beginning of his transformation, "... the blessing continues."

He looks over his left shoulder and sees the long, thin shaft of bone covered in a mottled, static Jale-like skin with a similar colored membrane spanning the bone. Not just one bone, though - several bones, connecting in a series of joints. He reaches behind him and feels where he used to have the stubs of a pair of wings and confirms... they are no longer stubs.

Carefully, he tries to explore his new appendages. Funny thing is, he is used to this by now, having fully mastered his seven tentacles after two years of study and practice. He focuses his thoughts and... extends his wings out to their full span. It looks to be about 10 feet on each side. Who knows if he'll ever be able to fly with these things. It doesn't seem possible, but then neither did swimming underwater for a half hour without surfacing for a breath.

His compound eyes grow wide at the thought and he instinctively pulls his wings in tight to his back. "Will this affect my ability to swim?" the panicked thought races through his head. Unhappy with what he could see trying to look back over his shoulder, he grabs the silver tray off the table by the stairs, spilling the contents - a silver tea pot, a small silver pitcher of milk, a ceramic bowl of honey in the shape of a bee hive, and a delicate cup and saucer of bone China - to the ground with a loud crash, broken ceramic and China scattering across the room.

As he raises the tray up to use as a make-shift mirror, he silently chides himself for his rash, instinctive action. He'd been doing too much of that lately and he couldn't control it like he used to. In the reflection, he could see the wings were folded in tightly to his back - almost unnoticeable. He would have to modify his robes to allow for the new appendages - probably just some slits along either side of the back - but it looked like he would still be able to take his morning and evening swims without problem.

It's a good thing, too, because more and more, he feels like the daily contact with water is necessary, not just something he enjoys. He assumes it is all a part of the continued changes he has seen in himself ever since the accident with the b'yakhee in the cryogen chamber.

Thinking about that day at the base of the mountain, he glances over to his desk at the old manila envelope Supervisor Whitman had given him to pass on to a trusted professor at Miskatonic University. It sits on the old roll-top desk, next to a gleaming copper helmet that looks new in make, but old in design. The wax seal long gone, not a day goes by that he doesn't read that letter. It took three months to work out the translation because of the complexities of ancient Greek:

To Whom It May Concern,

The Creature in possession of this letter is not a man. And it is not to be trusted. It is the result of a terrible accident in a Cryogen chamber. I've analyzed his DNA and believe it to be a monstrous mixture of Jale man, a b'yahkee, and some denizen of the deep the likes of which I've never seen. It looks to be a distant relative of the giant squid, if my samples are to be trusted.

It might appear to be a normal man now, but his transformation will most likely not end for years, as the gamma radiation continues to change it on a genetic level. His body will grow stronger - who knows in what way - while he slowly loses his sanity and, worse, his humanity.

I am afraid to say this is entirely my fault. I wanted to save my pet, and I knew this was possibly the only way. But the end result horrified me! Unfortunately, once I'd seen what I'd created, I could not bring myself to kill it. I could not kill my friend.

Instead, I ask the University to do what I cannot. You MUST destroy it, I beg you! You must do it soon, before it becomes too powerful. Please!

Academically Yours,

Supervisor Whitman
Lower Mountain Cryogenic Research Team

[Mushgnome]

Nice job bringing in the mystery letter, ehiker---I had completely forgotten about that plot hook!

I will ask Fin to archive this in the Inactive Games thread. Thanks again for playing and for all your creative contributions to the story!

The End