Dooptopian Gods

Me Gusta Magusar?

9/07/17

After helping Farmer Cosby wash the hogs, the farm is visited by a retinue of Flagg’s personal guards. Apparently Flagg has been attempting to acquire the farm for weeks, claiming the cave beneath it houses resources that are paramount to the city’s prosperity. When the guard attempts to intimidate Farmer Cosby, the party intervenes. Negotiations quickly became bloody, and Flagg’s men all ended up as hog food.

As they approached the city, their curse marks pulsed and glowed; which the party interpreted as a summoning by Magusar, who resides in the cave nearby. They bravely decide to answer his call.

Upon entering the cave, the party notices that the traps they encountered last time havce fallen into disrepair, and the kobolds responsible for it’s maintenance appeared starving and abandoned. Crixus was feeling merciful and slew some rats, leaving their corpses for the kobods to feed on.

Eventually they came upon the throne of Magusar, taking note that the ritual that awakened him appears extraordinarily crude, and some of the ingredients look to have been deliberately damaged.

Magusar awakens and greets the adventurers warmly. He is extremely impressed by their exploits, and admires how they were not intimidated into giving in to his demands for sacrifice. He has never seen a mortal so boldly disobey the gods. and rather than anger he felt respect and admiration for them. He was even further impressed with how Erick changed Fate by persuading the Al-Bhed to reject Moloch; and especially marveled that they were able to slay him.

All of this has led Magusar to invite the party to be his Chosen, acting on his behalf to change the world. He explains his origin and outlines his vision:

“I was God before there was a word for God, or words for anything at all. I was this world itself before there even was such a thing as bodies. I was every gust of wind and every blade of grass. The first of my many titles was World.”

“But always, I had to suffer mortals. The first law of the Material Plane decreed that the beliefs of mortals would have the power to sunder, reshape and even destroy the Gods that rule over them. Thus mortals, and not the Gods, held true control of the Realm. The creations became the creators in a grotesque precursor to democracy.”

“I was split a thousand times; first into the land and sea and sky, then again into day and night, then good and evil; and on and on into infinity. All of the gods that exist today are just diluted perversions of my essence. And I would have it back.”

“Every last one of them is at best a twisted caricature of some long lost part of me. Narcissistic, exaggerated to the point of absurdity. The forms they wear are what mortals have decided is pleasing and appropriate. They may as well be actors in some farcical play penned by its own fickle audience.”

“Today’s Gods are rotten, any fool can see it. When my King Killer Star pulls them down to this realm of mortals and blights them with the suffering of human existence that the rest of you must bare; all of you will see them for what they are. Then you will beg me to tell you how to kill them”

“I shall take back what is mine and spit out the rest. I imagine there will be more than enough nonsense left behind to scrape itself together into something for the mortals to worship. It’s a second chance to make something worthwhile that neither the Gods nor the mortals deserve. I care not what they do with it, for after I’m whole again I will leave this place and start anew.”

“You may come with me, if you wish. I’ll let you build your own bodies that live forever, of any size color and kind of your choosing. You can hunt and sing and fight and fuck as you please until the stars turn cold. I’ll never tell you what to do, and will grant wishes to your great delight when you make a modest sacrifice. But I’ll naught request a thing of you unless you beg favor first.”

“To make all of this come true, all you have to do is help me kill them. Not all of them, only those who house the powers I need to create a world anew. But do not answer me now. I will pull the gods all down from their thrones so that you can see. Go and meet them, then tell me if you still wish for them to be in charge.”

Of Molochs and Mer'locks

9/01/17

The party continued their journey back to town and contemplated where to safely house the Al-Bhed without exposing them to the dangers of Flagg's blood-pact,. They eventually decided to call in a favor owed to them by Eli the barrow-boy and put the Al-Bhed up at his fathers farm.

Along the way they saw many exotic creatures, including the oasis slapping turtle and the blood-nest building simurgh; and slaughtered some inconsequential bandits that were foolish enough to try to rob them.

When they made camp that night, what relained of the spirit of Moloch appeared to them in the flames of their fire. Moloch tells the party that since Erick convinced the Al-Bhed to renounce Moloch, he is now doomed. But Moloch won't go through the long and painful process of withering away to nothing from neglect again. Instead, he will use the last of his power to take Erick with him! He attacks Erick with all his might, but due to his extremely weakened condition, the party was able to slay Moloch; making him the second God they have killed. Erick eats his heart and absorbs some of Moloch's essence. When this happens, their curse marks squeal with delight.

They arrived at the farm and made their pitch to the owner, Cosby Fothlington. He agreed to let the Al-Bhed stay.

Abolish the Aboleth

8/24/17

With the help the Dragon Goddess of Magic and Gems Soriadar, as well as the harvested organs of a blue and red dragon; the party was able to overcome the Aboleth. As Vincenzo lay dying, poisoned by the vile eggs that were laid in his stomach by the hideous face hugger worm, Hedge revealed a bold and desperate plan: emergency surgery. Using daggers and chopsticks the eggs were removed. Thanks too his unique homunculis physiology, Vincenzo survived the procedure, although in a very weakened condition.

Despite Hedges juvenile comments about her tits and whatnot, Zenzerna let Hedge get to second base. But you better watch yourself, mister.

As the party made their way back toward the city, they came upon the site where they parted ways with their former companion Mer'lock. A perfect circle had been seared in the earth, and a bloody hand lay in the center. A glimpse of the white snow beneath the hand's fingernail all but confirmed that it belonged to their estranged former-companion.

And Then Crixus Threw a Rock

8/17/17

The party engaged the mutants in battle and initially held the upper hand, chipping away at the confused beasts before they had time to register their situation; but eventually a combination of the sounds of prolonged battle and the Aboleth's unique reaction to slashing attacks flooded the battlefield with desert worms.

Despite their unimpressive stats, these worms wrought havoc on the party NPCs. Vincenzo was the victim of a vicious poison attack whose full implications have yet to reveal themselves, and Zenzerena was dragged to the river and mauled by a sea monster - a fully transformed Aboleth. Both NPCs narrowly avoided death with the help of the party: Crixus administered a potion to Vincenzo before the poison consumed him, and Hedge diverted the Aboleth's attention from Zenzerena before she was killed, despite being close to death himself.

Against the odds, the party was able to slay all of the mutants and the worms. Using the magic-breath organs that they harvested from the dead mutants, the party was able to chase away the Aboleth and tend to their wounds. But this respite would be short lived.

Brimming with confidence from their victory and apprehensive about allowing such a dangerous creature to escape, Crixus hurled a rock toward the creatures location in an attempt to lure it back out of hiding so they could finish it off. His aim was true, and the Aboleth returned to the battlefield, grappling Lurch with his tentacles and snapping his necks.

Although the beast had suffered heavy damage, it was able to gain the upper hand by psychically enslaving Hedge, Vincenzo and Zenzerena. This is where the session ends.

Khajiit-o Banditos

8/10/17

Despite their dangerous surroundings, the party has no choice but to rest in the open dessert. In the night they hear the sound of travellers nearby, and investigate to find a travelling caravan of khajit (a la Skyrim) merchants. The party acquires unique goods at a reasonable price; but upon returning to camp they discover that the remaining khajit had looted the party's camp while the watchmen were visiting the caravan. However, as is khajit tradition, all that was taken was a handful of coin and half of the rations.

Over breakfast, the party discussed how they might integrate the Al-Bhed into Dooptopia without exposing them to the blood pact. They are currently leaning toward teaching them a body-stacking formation and stuffing them into a few suits of human clothes. Like when Goten and Trunks posed as Mighty Mask at the World Tournament.

While walking home, they saw the same young blue dragon and red half dragon veteran that they slew earlier - revived as undead that had also undergone the dragon-to-aboleth transformation and still fighting it out on the sands. The party knew that finding these undead meant that they were on Dark Vincenzo's trail. But first they had to dispatch these tortured, mutated beasts.

The Adventure So Far

The enigmatic Cartographer Zuong hires four adventurers to explore a mysterious uncharted island, the details of which are not entrusted to the party, only the captain of their vessel - the S.S. Carbuncle.

After three months at sea, pirates attack the vessel and the captain and crew are all killed. The adventurers assume command of the vessel and manage to land safely at an island city - The Free City of Dooptopia. To enter the city, the party had to swear a magical blood pact to harm no citizen within the city walls. The mischief along the way led to the dismissal of the guard who admitted them as well as the assignment of a probation officer; the cleric Vincenzo.

The adventurers accept a request from a distressed little boy to track down and retrieve some escaped farm animals. Along the way they encounter the remnants of a diark ritual, including a shrine carved with runes so terrible that attempting to read them evoked migraines and nosebleeds. They ended up destroying the shrine and disturbing the ritual, and they see a robed humanoid figure fleeing the scene, whom Vincenzo recognizes as Randall Flagg: Hand of the King.

As they proceed further, they come across a lone barbarian fighting a hoard of bizarre undead aberrations. They joined forces and overcame the beasts, continuing to explore until finding a throne that was marked with the same runes that appeared on the shrine that they destroyed. All they could recognize was one word: Magusar.

As soon as this word was spoken, a disembodied voice that calls itself Magusar fills the cave. He tells the adventurers that for destroying his shrine, the ancient laws give him claim to their souls. But if the party will etch Magusar's mark upon the corpses of those they slay, he will dismiss their debt and relinquish the claim to their souls. As a reminder of the debt, Magusar marks them each with a magical curse mark; but he also bestows each adventurer with a powerful new ability as a token of the benefits of pleasing him.

Confused, the party returns to town and seeks the counsel of the Tarot Tarot Tarot fortune teller. She says that the feel of the magic is Oberyth, which are ancient creatures whose history goes further back than even the gods themselves. It is said to be so powerful that mortals who attempt to wield it have their life-force drained.

The party accepts a quest in town to obtain copper wire, which the local tinker believes is the last component that he needs to get some ancient machinery that he discovered to function again. Along the way they abandon their Fighter, Mer'lock, in a bizarre series of events that are hard to explain and harder to understand. They also become embroiled in a fight between red and blue dragons, and seek shelter in the blue dragons lair to nurse their injuries. There they discover a dragon-born bard named Zenzerena of Bahamut.

During her travels, she was abducted by a blue dragon who forced her to assist him in the handling of ancient texts (he needed someone to turn the pages for him). When the dragon wasn't studying, he was staring into a strange red pool whose purpose Zenzerena did not know. At this point, she is freed from captivity from the party and escape into the red pool into which the blue dragon was always gazing.

They find themselves in a mysterious dungeon and discover plans for a powerful curse that is causing dragons, who are duty bound to protect the borders that separate the Abyss from the Material Plane, to be hideously transformed into Aboleths - evil psychic leviathans who until now were confined to the Astral Sea. To make matters worse, a dark ritual has defiled the dragon gods shrines and is preventing therm from intervening to defend dragonkind.

As they dig further into the trove of documents, they also make the terrifying discovery that Vincenzo is actually a homunculus that was created when the real Vincenzo- who was Flagg's apprentice- came to know too much about Flagg's plans and had to be done away with. But because Vincenzo's father is such a prominent figure in the community, he had to be replaced.

This leads to disturbing evidence that the blood-pact - which everyone who enters Dooptopia must take - is not what it seems. It's actually a mechanism that Flagg uses to control the citizenry; and even trade their lives to demons in exchange for favors. Before they can learn more, they encounter the original Vincenzo (henceforth known as "Dark Vincenzo"), who almost kills them all with a casting of the spell fireball.

Zenzerena devised a plan to find Zotha, a dormant and forgotten dragon god, in the hopes that his shrine would go unnoticed. Zotha's resting place happened to sit beneath the ruins of the Al-Bhed - prolific sand gnome inventors who worship the god of invention, Gond. The party talked the Al-Bhed into allowing them into their temple so they could reach Zotha.

Unfortunately Zotha too had been affected by the curse. Zenzerena had no choice but to participate in the slaying of a dragon god. The resulting battle destroyed the Al-Bhed temple, but the party was able to rescue the Al-Bhed and escape with their lives.

This narration continues in the weekly updates beginning 8/10/17.