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The Cult Awakens

Last week, the party performed their usual duties in the service of Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons1. They offered burnt sacrifices2 to it and unholy rituals to venerate it, as they had for the past seven years. The ceremonies were primarily organized by Lester the Jester, a gnome mage with some knowledge of the dark magic they had to perform. He had served as a ritual master for the past seven years, using his arcane knowledge to ensure that they proceeded successfully. When they were not performing their duties as cultists of Demogorgon, the party slept in a small room that contained the increasingly decrepit remnants of what used to be serviceable beds, or eating in a small room that magically conjured bland food every day. These three rooms - the ritual room, the sleeping room, and the eating room - defined their entire existed. The only exit lay through the Tunnel - a mysterious tunnel leading elsewhere. Other cultists brought sacrifices and ritual components from the Tunnel, but no one in the party had ever passed through the Tunnel in their entire time in the service of Demogorgon.

The party was a strange amalgamation of people. All had been trapped beyond the Edge of the World in the time freeze created by the Sundering of Creation3, and they hailed from vastly different times and places throughout history. Four of them had travelled beyond the Edge of the World during the three thousand years it existed: Taito Uguisudani, a noble orc warrior who fires arrows nobly from atop his noble steed; Lester the Jester, a gnome wizard with a talent for stand-up comedy; Craggle, a dwarven barbarian who likes hitting stuff and drinking; and Shanky, a fragrant gnome hobo rogue. Two were native to ancient Elysium, in the time before the Sundering: Cayosin, a half-dragon rogue who specializes in crossbows, and Ione, a half-dragon half-elf4 cleric who worships a dragon god.

However, on this particular day, the party's long service would come to a sudden and dramatic end. As they prepared their most recent sacrifice, the ground began shaking. They were soon knocked off their feet as a powerful earthquake tore open a crack in the ground - and somehow, broke the powerful compulsion that had controlled all of their minds for the past seven years. As the earthquake subsided, the party found themselves able to move once more. They were no longer a prisoner within their own bodies, helplessly watching as they committed acts of terrible evil.

Each member of the party reacted in their own way to their emancipation. Taito immediately began smashing everything in sight. Several of them began looking around for weapons or anything useful to defend themselves with, since they were unarmed and clothed only in the tattered remnants of what they had been wearing seven years previously. Cayosin simply picked himself up and immediately started walking out to the Tunnel, and was soon joined by the rest of the party.

The Tunnel proved to be long and seemingly unremarkable at first. However, its appearance proved deceiving when Taito and Ione fell into a pit trap5. They managed to climb out together, and the rest of the party made their way around or over the trap to continue down the tunnel. Before long, however, their progress was halted again by the appearance of armed guards intending to kill them for escaping. The party considered briefly, and resolved to fight for their lives and their freedom. Armed with only some rocks that Craggle smashed out of a nearby wall, they attacked the guards. They were completely successful, and easily dispatched the guards, although not without a significant loss of clothing6. They armed themselves with the guards' weapons and clothing, and continued on down the Tunnel.

After continuing farther along, the party started hearing voices ahead of them. In a magnificent display of tactical acumen, they decided to stop and send the rogues ahead to stealthily scout. Shanky and Cayosin crept ahead, each quietly impressed by the other's stealth abilities, and found a large steel door at the end of the tunnel. Shanky opened the door slightly and poked his head through, allowing him to see a vast dome-shaped room on the other side.The room was ringed with similar steel doors, and a number of guard squads that seemed to be watching the room. Shanky and Cayosin snuck back to the party to inform them of what lay ahead. Before the party could make any concrete plans, they heard voices from near the door wondering why the door was suddenly ajar. The voices were quickly followed by the clanking of metallic boots on stone, and the party prepared for battle...

  1. The Prince of Demons is one of the most powerful demons in the Abyss, a plane of horrifying evil ruled by demons and devils. Until recently, he was trapped in the Material Plane, the world inhabited by the majority of humans and other mortal races. Seven years ago, he was permanently banished from the Material Plane, and is generally assumed to have returned to the Abyss.
  2. The precise nature of the sacrifices is probably best left unexplored.
  3. Thousands of years ago, the world as split apart by a ritual using the Book of Creation, an artifact with the power to rewrite reality. The ritual created a barrier called the Edge of the World that surrounded a set of continents which would become the home of all known civilization. Everything beyond that barrier was locked in a time freeze that prevented time from passing - including Elysium, the continent where the humanoid races were created and their civilization began. The vast majority of dragons, who primarily lived in Elysium, were also caught in the time freeze. Only a select few dragons remained, and no one remembered that they had once ruled the entire world. This event is now called the Sundering of Creation. Anyone who travelled beyond the Edge of the World became stuck in the time freeze, never to be seen again. Seven years ago, a group of incredibly motivated, powerful, and good-looking individuals used the Book of Creation to remove the time freeze and unify the world once more.
  4. Just half-elf, not half-half-elf, to be clear.
  5. Oddly, Cayosin was walking in front of them and didn't trigger the pit trap. Careful observation would reveal that he did a quick shuffle-step with his feet that could conceivably have prevented him from triggering the trap. However, it was probably accidental, because obviously if he had seen the trap he would have warned his fellow ex-cultists about it.
  6. Exacerbated by a questionably necessary acid bath delivered by Cayosin's dragon breath. In fairness, he did hit all the guards too.

Stupid Awards

Cayosin: Ione: Shanky: Taito Uguisudani: Lester: Craggle: Everyone:
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