Chronicles MA

[DonCorazon]

Given all the turnover, and the fact the previous admin vanished leaving the first post un-editable, here is a new thread for Chronicles MA, with the surviving players as of turn 41.

Abysia - Tifone
Atlantis - Jarkko
Shinuyama - Wrana
Caelum - sansanjuan
Ermor - calmon
Man - quantum_mechani
R'lyeh - DonCorazon
Nehekhara - Executor

Link to the old thread is here

[Darkwind]

Just want to pop in now to say best of luck to Chronicles MA! You've gone a lot farther than EA, I'll say that much. Following the stories is rather fun, I hope this doesn't end early.

[calmon]

I extended the hosting by 24 hours by request of ermor (me )

[DonCorazon]

One reason why the story part of Chronicles might have died is we have no audience and editing the wiki is a pain. If a another Chronicles game is ever started, I'd recommend posting entries here. I am going to throw my entries for R'lyeh here and maybe it will get me motivated to write some more

[DonCorazon]

Prologue

Eribon Coastal town, human settlement, 2029 Year of the Griffon

When we found Haldor, he was drenched in so much blood we thought him dead until the whites of his eyes blinked open, causing Erman to cut himself. Haldor cackled and ripped off pieces of his flesh until finally we bound the stocky fisherman in manacles.

Just that morning the burly lad had set out on his scully, blowing a kiss to Esmeralda with his gentle grin. Now she lay torn to pieces and Haldor a gibbering lunatic. No one in Eribon had ever seen such evil in those days.

Something must have happened to him out in the water, the smallfolk said, something that twisted his mind inside out. Would that he had but drowned and thus saved his family and spared us all the horror that was to come.

In the end though, we came to understand:

Beyond the sheltering blue sky is a horrible infinite darkness, waiting to spill forth. Beneath the gentle green waves is an endless hungering void, waiting to devour. Behind a fisherman’s smiling eyes is a fragile coil of sanity, waiting to be snapped. Beyond the gates of the Dark Citadel, is an unwitting world waiting to be conquered.

[DonCorazon]

Turn 1 - R'lyeh

Eribon, a human settlement

Not more than a month had passed after Haldor’s hanging when we found the merling washed up on our shores, wrapped in coils of sea weed. The once glittering silver scales had turned into a grey morass beneath bits of coral armor, but the warrior’s noble bearing was apparent. We could find no wounds or signs of battle on his body other than a gruesome severed hand, brackish grey with long dark nails, impaled into his intricate coral shield. When Erman rolled the body over, the face was amazing – so human-like and expressive. The merling looked like the cobbler’s son, but it was his eyes that caught our attention.

The eyes bore an expression of utter horror and madness, as if the merling had witnessed something terrifying beyond comprehension. We stood there on the shore, silent as a swathe of clouds passed over the grey sun, sending a cold chill to the four of us. Nobody said anything but all of us shared a thought – the merling’s gaze of horror was exactly like the one Haldor had while dancing in the blood of his family.

We knew then that there was something out in the sea, and I think then, in my heart, I knew the end was coming and nothing would ever be the same.

[DonCorazon]

Turn 2 = R'lyeh

Eribon, a human settlement

Erman lay in the bed above the smithy, where he kept the severed hand found on the merling’s shield, threshing as visions of a dark iron citadel beneath the waves permeated his dreams. The keep beneath the sea was filled with twisting, curved towers, organic and alien, a cold bluish light emanating from within. A thunderous rumbling from the gates as eons of silt shook loose and out of the gaping maw issued forth an army of something that looked like enslaved merlings, not unlike the one Erman had seen washed up on the shores some days past.

It wasn’t those beasts but something coming up from behind them that gave rise to a growing sense of terror. He heard in his dreams a set of footsteps slow, but loud, sending pulsing waves through the murky water. Each step brought a sharp stab of pain to Erman’s head and his heart pounded faster, a cold sweat breaking out through all of his pores. Each step the sense of terror increased, until Erman was wheezing for breath, his face blue, his eyes fluttering, his hands clenched around the sheets, the pain in his head tremendous.

We found Erman that morning, no sign of what killed him, just a trickle of blood around his ears and an expression of terror on his face, his sheets torn to shreds. I told Ulwuth then that we would be wise to leave Eribon and head for the safety of Ulm. I wish he would have listened to me.

[DonCorazon]

Turn 3 - R'lyeh

A secret note from Olug,enslaved hydromancer

Viadra, I hope this message finds you well, I must be brief, the Illithid masters are probing the minds of all the magi cadres constantly these days looking for signs of betrayal. I am not sure when they will realize I am insulated from their intrusions while in the Chamber of the Meteorite. I should have more chances to update you in the coming months as the masters are sending me out to uncover the ancient sources of aquatic vis to the west.

You should know the armies of R’lyeh are on the march. In Good Water Tr’goth the Illithid Battle Lord, in the company of the preacher known as the Hooded One, overcame the ancient water magi known as Yig Goloth and his band of sea trolls. You must tell father that the forces of R’lyeh are unstoppable – the Lord of Insanity himself has left the citadel heading east – no army can stop him for he freezes his foes in a deathgrip of fear. I do not know where you can hide from them – but the waters are no longer safe.

Your loving brother, Olug

PS Any news from Atlantis – we have heard nothing from them…

[DonCorazon]

Turn 4 - R'lyeh

Aesop, excerpt from Musings on the Dark Beyond, 1129

“None can say for sure the origins of the malevolent race known as the Illithid. The reknowned physician-scholar Demetrius of Arcos speculated that, based on the physiology of the few cadavers he was able to examine (no Illithid has ever been captured alive) these are extra-planar beings, likely from an aquatic, frigid environment. His studies proved the Illithid are not demons as they failed to exhibit adverse reactions to certain types of blessed waters. From my own studies based on interviews with survivors from the Typhalia massacre, I believe the Illithid have some ability to paralyze their victims with terror, perhaps some form of hallucinatory mind control, as the few survivors from that horrible slaughter had almost identical ravings about a horrifying being from the so-called “Dark Beyond” something called Azag…

[DonCorazon]

Turn 5 - R'lyeh

A note from Golub, enslaved Atlantean Mage, spy for Atlantis

“Deliver to the Atlantean Eastern Command

I overheard the Illithid General Tr’goth speak of using the same tactics employed on another world, something about moving their armies around the Maginot line. I am not sure what this means but beware, the R’lyehans are eager for more Atlantean slaves to fuel their expansion.

Also, a sea troll messenger arrived with a note from a distant empire called Ermor. The masters tore up the note, fed the troll to their latest visitor from the Void gate, and sent some telepathic message back to this empire – whether it was one of peace or war, I cannot say. They seemed to feel the Ermorians were not a threat since their lord was far from his capital. It is amazing how they see everything….

Golub