Call of Cthulhu. Episode #30: 'Shadows of Yog Sothoth - The End'

 With a sense of finality in the air (it being the last episode!?!), the party, aboard the airship known as the Roscinante, approach the co-ordinates for the mythical, newly risen island of R'lyeh. The fact that characters are now available for the airship pilot Jensen Molloy, his apprentice Ronnie Van Zant, and Professor Methridge, who has accompanied the characters, means that some of the die-hard characters that have made it thus far, could be lost to the dice...

 Shrouded in green inky mist, darkness, patches or acrid smoke, and even yet emerging in clumps of hardly even corporeal and definitely non-euclidean rock...they eventually catch site of the dread island.

'We're safe, as long as no one rolls a 1 for Spot Hidden!'

Of course, the Prof rolls an '01' with his spot-hidden...and the plot becomes a little clearer.

The approach to R'lyeh...an 01 spot hidden secures the location of the blue monolith (brought to you today by Bushmills Whiskey)

 

The blue monolith, from which the 'closing' spell must be cast can just be made out, as can the mountain top from which Cthulhu will emerge. In addition, a roaming Shantak flies 'top cover' and spots the approaching airship. 

Looks perfectly safe

Below, with a multitude of cargo ships and a submarine in the bay, hundreds if not thousands of the world's cultists have been brought as cannon fodder to show the true followers the path to the summoning site for Great Cthulhu himself. Had the characters not kept the Disk and the Arc of Vlactos, things might have been much easier for them..but you can't put a good cultist down, it seems, and they simply do things the hard way.

Having spotted 'critically', the party  opts to go straight for the blue (green) obelisk tower via air, and thereby avoid the 'guardian thing' that lurks at the foot of the steps - great plan, so far.

 As the centre of the island starts to shatter and something starts to emerge amidst the chants of insane cultists, the characters start to recite the spell - McLeoud first to cast, with McDade, the Prof and Jensen covering and firing at the incoming Shantak...who lands and kills Jensen with a single bite...but is eventually driven off...

...awake....and bloody grumpy

The spell appears to work..just as Mighty Cthulhu himself appears 'Look Away Look Away! I can't!!!'

 

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!'

Incredibly, most the characters pass their SAN rolls, and with the D10 loss, lose just enough to remain ok (that was lucky)...except for Methridge, who goes nuts and jumps off the airship and McLeoud has lost too much SAN, even though passing, and, completely paranoid now, is convinced that joining the cultists is probably the best idea, and goes racing off down the steps of the tower toward the guardian thing, as a dying Shantak falls past him.

The Prof and McDade opt to start shooting at their friend, with the seemingly 'sensible' plan of wounding him and stopping his flight...rather than actually chasing him, since the guardian thing is at the bottom of the stairs! It is a plan fraught with danger, but as with so many of the rolls in this final game, they get 'very' lucky, and McLeoud collapses on the steps...wounded, but not dead.

 With 3 rounds to get to him and pick him up on the airship before Cthulhu reaches them - Ronnie drops ballast as the airship loses altitude fast down the pinnacle of the tower, the Prof rolls Dex x 4...and manages to grapple his wounded friend onto the airship.

With one round to go, the Roscinante - the airship that had become their home - gets away in the nick of time, the party trying not to watch as the massive elder god thing, and the island itself, complete with hundreds of remaining cultisits...is slowly sucked back into the sea...Cthulhu's great ear-splitting, unearthly dread-moan of frustration necessitates another SAN roll, and McDade loses it temporarily...  the party is VERY lucky today...

 

It's over, they made it. They saved the world, and (in true Lovecraftian fashion) no one even knows... 

...the camera pans back from an airship flying over the Pacific, then spins around the planet, to a crying baby, in Scotland, who stops crying for a short time...its black eyes slowly opening, and the dark voice of Lady Chantrayn in its latest incarnation, amongst many hundreds lost to the mists of time...'you fools, you fools, you think you've won? The game is never over..NEVER!', before the darkness in her eyes melts and crying starts again...

Phew! 

The Professor, having promised to become the new Tangata Manu, dons the feathered cloak and lives in a cave for the next 100 years (he passed the mantle on just last month there...to a surfer bro) 

Von Junzt - posing before his new 'feather cloak' wardrobe is presented to him

McDade returns to New York to marry Lady Thorpe, whom he met on the Mauretania, and sets up a successful photography empire...by 1963, he is commissioned to take a photograph of a Scottish heiress who seems very familiar somehow... 

Marries into money; no wonder he looks so smarmy...

McLeoud, who realises that he was injected with Shoggoth protoplasm, becomes a successful Olympic athlete before retiring, winning everything due to some un-natural strength he finds. He becomes a a recluse before it becomes too obvious...the asylum where he received the injection in Los Angeles. becomes influential in turning out politicians for the next 100 years.

Before the extra shoggoth-eye kicks in

Ronnie Van Zant, one of the finest pilots on Earth, goes on to a chequered career composed of aircraft stunts,  crashes and annoying the US Army Air Corps, before finally joining Chennault's 'Flying Tigers' and being killed in action in China in 1942...

The greatest pilot EVAR! 

Sinead, who was consumed along with the dagger of Nyarlathotep - which of course, wants to be found again -- has her face remain in perpetuity on the flank of the Shoggoth that ate her...for the next thousand years or so... I mean, it could have been worse.  

She doesn't look too happy about it like...

...and most valued player, goes to : Stephen, who played McDade - the investigator who almost died, a lot...and saved the world.

   

 This blog post has been brought to you by, the best edition of the best RPG ever. 

Call of Cthulhu, Episode #29: 'Shrink to Fit'

 After translating the story of the past, the party resolve to go to the temple chamber first. They initially speak to Father Jorge, the Island's Priest, and he and Professor Methridge (who just wants his missing students back) show them some of the local artifacts.  

Of these is the 10,000 year old statue of a deep one - the 'Long Ears' whom the human settlers took the island from, and a vase of ancient resin, which the cuneiform script indicates may be some sort of weapon against the unnatural when used to coat a blade - which they will use liberally. He also tells them of the Tangata Manu - the ancient birdman priest.

Resolving to address the temple problem first, they ride the airship to the ancient volcano on the cliffs, where the journal told of an ancient ambuscade. Finding a way in from the upper cliffs they emerge from an ancient stairway into the same chamber that contained the massive Cthulhu statue, and see four of the students in cages, with one already sacrificed, when they are rushed by deep ones whom they dispatch quickly, then move to release the students...though McLeoud sees something dripping, forming, rolling and sloughing in the darkness of the outer cave...the Shoggoth from the ancient text?

'uhhhh guys?.....'

Fumbling and forcing the locks, the characters manage to get the students free just as the shoggoth 'shrinks to fit' into the chamber...The chase is on, with DEX only being inhibited by large STR and SIZ, placing the order as McDade, Mcleoud, with the Professor and Sinead at the back guiding out students. 

Releasing the students

SAN rolls kick off, with McDade and McLeoud passing (losing 1d6) and the Prof and Sinead failing - potentially losing 1D20 each. INCREDIBLY, they roll a '1' for the Prof and a '2' for Sinead. They might even get away with this as they run, ...no.

The Shoggoth catches up to one of the sane students, the Prof and Sinead.simultaneously.. the roll is a 5...

'It's a big 'un'

 Sinead and one of the insane students are engulfed by the Shoggoth as it sloughs over them, melting and making their bodies one with it, despite their screams... Sinead lets go of the dead man's handle on the bag of explosives as she is eaten, and *BOOM*...the shoggoth is badly damaged, but of course will heal, but the slowing down of the thing lets the rest of the party get back to the airship.

Sinead's last BOOM!

 With memory of Sinead's death still fresh, they resolve to visit the Tangata Matu at the place where the journal locates him near the smaller island to the south west. Large eagle like birds guide them in to meet a small bald man, covered in feathers, by a cave. He relates the ancient wisdom of his forefathers, which ties in with the ancient journal script record...the ancient Black Spear of Nuah can defeat the creatures of the Mythos...and he knows where it is.

 On the island to which ShanTryan had swam in the ancient text, the remnants of the black spear still resides he claims...with a crystal that the Priest wants. Now, the conventional way to do this, would be to use the ancient mask he has to allow underwater travel, swim across alone, and fight your way through deep ones..no? Do they do that? Do they heck...using the airship with the Lewis gun as top cover they fight their way to the island, drop down, shoot their way into the cave with heavy weapon covering their movement, and shoot a couple of deep ones in the cave for good measure, grabbing the spear, and realising that it is in fact the ....remnants of Belphegor's black sword well attached to a thick shaft of oak...the Spear of Nuah.

Jazz Hands

 They drop the students back with Professor Methridge at the town and return to the temple complex, entering from the front this time, with the spear-sword-thing; the deep ones that remain are terrified by the spear..as is the Shoggoth, whom they manage to hold off whilst they restore the fourth pillar and record the spell that will enable them to return R'lyeh to the depths...if...they can find it.

Of course this time, as it reels from the blade, the Shoggoth turns, and part of Sinead's stretched face is in the side of its protoplasmic flesh ..>ROLL YOUR SAN!

Jazz hands...Sinead's mostly

Upon their return to the town, the Chilean army are now asking for their help...they have received word from the mainland...that an island or land mass, appears to have emerged far to the south west of Easter Island, and they have no means of reaching it with their ships...can the party help?

...sad music plays...

Shadowdark #16: 'The End! ... for now?'

Realising that Lord Trum is in fact a wily and powerful Rakshasha, and he has some sort of means of teleporting betwixt the castle and the caves of chaos, and that he is in fact responsible for all the trouble with moonstone production, AND that he is responsible for the bloodline that created Dagmara the Sorceress, whose blood will aid him in planar travelling across the multiverse, ...the characters should probably run away bravely...instead, they stay and fight.

Our heroes...

 Lady Maureen - Dagmara's mother, and the old yet 'sprightly' Priest - Byden, will accompany them...they being the only remnants of the old adventuring group that originally explored the vile caverns years before...losing the fighter Devlin AND,  not realising that Lord Trum had been transformed into something far less than human. 

'I used to worrrrrk forrrrr Morrrdorrrr'

 Dropping in on the now quiet cave complex via Jeralt's Griffin, they enter the top most rear cave...immediately encountering a Wraith in the caverns.

Wraith in the web spell...winks out and then attacks again

 This of course, is the undead remnants of the fighter - Devlin, previously a member of Lady Maureen's adventuring party...after some dodgy moments, he grants them a clue to the next 'trapped' room, which the characters eventually get after losing a whole batch 'o' hit points.

 

'yea though i expire....a clue I shalt give theee...or you could just ignore it like...'

'there must be a pattern..wait..FIREBALL...INCOMING!'

 Then, the final conflict...as they enter Lord Trum's...otherwise known as 'Crasus the Rakshasha's' - throne room, clearly part of some ancient spaceship, with which he either escaped, or was exiled from, the Tabaxi realm of Drymoon by the children of Duke Leto...or...has that even happened yet?...(all makes total sense to me).

'CHARRRRGE!'

 

'I'll just hang about behind this handy pillar, shall I?'

The Rakshasha - Crassus...has time to summon a demon, but is engaged by the fighters, before he can summon any more (he has a whole selection), fighting a defensive battle at his throne dais, as the characters force him to roll disadvantageously behind the now erected 'Mountainholme' magical shield wall...of course, his prescient mind-reading ability means the fighters have to do the same, when rolling against him.

Mountainholme in action pose...

 Casting out an energy ball, he manages to summon one demon before he is engulfed in combat - though this one - Balor himself..will prove to be a tough opponent.

'He seems friendly...'

  

The Sorceresses dally with the creature, trying to convince him to break the deal he has ...as Crassus screams (meows) 'BRING ME DAGMARA!' ...and the demon nods as a pact is made. Spells go off, one after the other .many failing...and many fumbling - it is just not the Sorceresses' day!

Spell effects..when they work...

Balor manages to rope in Dagmara, but she blinks out with Misty step, much to the Balrog's annoyance...

awww...he was really niiice

The growing Owlbears that Dagmara had adopted also attack (clearly now with magical improvements to attacks...uh..ahem...that enables them to tackle 'Balor the Balrog')... Biden too tries to both heal and take down the Balrog, where he can...

Balor destroys ALL in his wake...so far...

The Sorceresses conjure up a plan to become invisible and move behind Crasus, with Dagmara eventually finding her way into the hidden control room behind him, realising that breaking Balor's pact will not work...Maureen moves up, planning to use her 4th level spell on Crasus (as lower levels will not work on the Rakshasha)...casting 'Cloudkill' AND...it fails... She immediately uses her 'pearl of power' to regain the spell, the characters move out of the way ...AND...it fails again GAHHH!

'It's behiiiind you!'

Meanwhile,  Balor kills the Owlbears, and poor old Byden the Priest...then the demon flies toward the characters at the throne..who are CLOSE..very close... to killing Crasus himself.

Taking on Balor the Balrog...

Spying Dagmara, and still under pact, Balor moves to the rear control chamber to grab her again..and is deceived by her mirror image spell, grasping an illusion..and screaming his defiance! 

By now, Crasus has been worn down, and a triumphant Leeta the hobbit, slowly being turned into a dwarf by Mountainholme (a Dwobbit?, a Hwarf?...a Dwarbit?), leaps forward with the 'blessed magical crossbow bolt of doom' - the only thing that will kill a Rakshasha..and stabs him between the eyes - GREAT SUCCESS! ...except, now...the vile Balor is released from his pact with Crasus, and turns upon the characters. 

Bjorn Down!!! Bjorn Down!!!

Bjorn goes down in a flurry of horrible blows from the Demon Lord...just as Leeta, picks up his dropped magical Elven blade herself and rushes the huge beast....taking him down with a heroic CRITICAL...rolling for triple damage! WOW..what and end to the campaign... as Leeta the 'Dwobbit' saves the day!!!

Saved by the Dwobbit

Bjorn is revived, and our heroes have won the day...

Reasoning that the room was filled with portals to the other planes, which a sacrificed Dagmara's blood would have used to activate, and thus allow Crasus to escape...the party opts to destroy the whole place and (hopefully) end any future attempts to kidnap Dagmara...all's well that ends well...for now... 

 

  

Leeta the Brave

 

Lady Maureen goes on to become Castellan of the citadel now that Trum/Crasus is gone... 

Leeta the 'Dwobbit'...becomes her top bodyguard

Dagmara the Wise

 

Dagmara the Sorceress inherits her mother's Witchy-Woo Tower

Jeralt the Holy

Jeralt the Paladin takes over the church of Saint Terraginis in the citadel, succeeding his dead Mentor, Byden...

Bjorn the Mighty

Bjorn is promoted to 'Captain of the Guard' in the citadel

 But, it is rare in this world that heroes such as these, the only survivors of the 12 characters that started the campaign, are allowed to rest for long... 

  

Balor goes on to open a sandwich shop in Norwich, identifying as a cat called 'Bob'.