Game 31: Firestorm

Synopsis

Aeris casts Firestorm from Apogee, destroying Braddock with a consuming tornado of fire. He casts Yawning Graves, raising the victims as undead who attack the remaining survivors. The party, now Beowolf, Kasskar, Ord, and Aeris's resurrected brother Jaris, arrive soon after and defeat Aeris's party, with Jaris killing Aeris.

The Game

With Firestorm and Yawning Graves in hand, Aeris was ready for his revenge on Hollin. He planned to cast them from Apogee so he'd be able to see the destruction. He took along a large variety of allies: his evil party, Ishild, the evil Gradskan king Shakkan, the Destroyer, the vampire baron Kirchner, and Krill. He explicitly decided he would warn no one in Hollin. They set out for Apogee, and decided to take the stone stair from the flooded cavern under Lofton Castle, rather than climbing the cliffside.

About this time, Kasskar stirred in the tunnel under Dule Tree Prison, where he'd been beaten into unconsciousness by Horst's gang in Game 26. He opened his eyes and saw that he was being gently prodded by the harpooner Eldred, who Kasskar had considered recruiting as a boxer for the Whipsaw in Game 7. But "Eldred" told Kasskar the unlikely story of how Aeris had killed Eldred and resurrected his own brother Jaris in Eldred's body. And, Jaris now told him that Aeris was readying a horrible revenge on Hollin, from Apogee.

Kasskar's animal spirit Marwolaeth had destroyed Horst and his gang after they'd beat Kasskar unconscious, so now he was surprised to find their bodies in the flooded part of the tunnel. On Horst's body, he found:

The 3600 gold was the Dungeon-Master's-Guide-approved amount of party gold for Level 6, the party's level when Kasskar fought Horst in Game 26. But since Beowolf and Ord weren't there, Kasskar mischievously claimed all 3600 gold for himself :). The difference was made good later, through a little DM trickery in Game 33. Kasskar also claimed Horst's Cloak of Resistance and emblem, but gave Shank's Healer's Brooch to Ord.

Leaving the prison and emerging into the city, Kasskar saw the surreal events being created all over the city by Gerholt's god in a jar. Kasskar and Jaris regathered the regular party, Beowolf and Ord, and some of their allies: Wren, Old Gregg, and Burns and his marines.

The regular party raced to Apogee to try to stop Aeris. But Aeris reached Apogee first, and unleashed his revenge.

When you reach Apogee, you look out over the city. Even from there, you can see a few of the god in a jar's random events happening, like buildings being built and falling into disrepair in a few seconds.

Aeris opens the iron box of Greencake from the Oracle and sets it down on a large stone on the ground. He reads the spell page of the Firestorm tome, casting it. As he reads, the Greencake starts to smolder, and a narrow spire of green smoke climbs from the open box. As Aeris finishes reading, the remaining Greencake suddenly burns with a flash, like gunpowder, leaving the iron box twisted and charred, rattling on the stone it was sitting on.

The air on Apogee becomes still, but for a minute, you strain to see anything happening in Braddock. Then below, you can see the rippling sails of ships on the river also go still. In Braddock itself, you can see people on the streets stop and look around, feeling something strange in the air, then break and start to run in panic.

Below to your left, the Admiralty ammo dump in Braddock explodes, and flames there leap hundreds of feet in the air. The fire instantly jumps to the wooden buildings on every side, creating a wall of fire moving at 100 miles an hour. The fire turns into a tornado of flame, still hundreds of feet high, turning every second and sucking in oxygen from all sides. When the firestorm subsides, Braddock is a charred ruin. After a minute or so, a few stunned survivors come out of the burned buildings to see the situation.

Aeris kicks the empty box off the stone. He opens the box of Greencake he took from the Voss Greencake mine on Hilde and sets it there. He reads the spell page of the Yawning Graves tome, casting it. As he reads, green smoke rises from the box, taking the shape of one horrified ghost after another. They are many old, small cemeteries throughout Hollin, often sandwiched between tall buildings or houses, and as the last Greencake is consumed, the ground of those cemeteries snaps open in cracks. The dead there slowly wake, then struggle to climb out of the ground. At the same time, Braddock's newly burned buildings crack apart, and the newly dead there get up and clamber into the streets. Some start to attack the few survivors in the streets, and the rest start to go into the buildings to attack survivors there.

The regular party had seen Firestorm and Yawning Graves while they climbed the cliffside to Apogee, and struggled to climb faster. When they reached the top, they saw Aeris in his skeletal form, and immediately attacked him and his allies. The two parties fought bitterly, and Aeris almost blew some of the regular party members off the cliffside with Thunderstatement. But the regular party killed Aeris and his party, with Jaris killing Aeris.