Session 215 - The End of the World

Session 215 - The End of the World

Events:

--- A Sword Day

- The End-War is nigh.

- Ninhursag strides towards the Prime Tentacle, armoured in bone. The party stand proud atop its great green head.

- From here, it’s easy to see the forces in the battle to come. The Prime Tentacle itself - gross, cancerous and flailing - writhes horribly. Maggots pour down its pitted flesh like drops of water. Occasionally, with a great self-gripping spasm, it throws chunks of itself into the sky.

- Far to the north, the shining mobile city of Fate begins to charge its Macrocannon. The Guber-mounted army of Fate is coming in fast - noble and free. All know that if they die they shall be reborn.

- In the sky, the black silhouette of Ereshkigal is surrounded by a gathering of its drakencult, swooping around the gravity well like moths to a lamp. The moon is large and close, pale and terrible. It is perhaps days away from impact with the Earth.

- The shambling army of the Dead swarms around Ninhursag’s feet, prepared in case of an attack by parasite grubs. They march in unison, united by the power of the Ossuary of All Bones.

- Ninhursag’s green Drakencult cling to the Apocalypse Dragon’s titanic flanks, ready to dive and defend their draconic patron. Among them are leaders encased in cores of stone, magma, crystal and greenery - holding their apotheosis until the perfect moment.

--- A Red Day

- Atop Ninhursag’s head, the party’s commanders give orders and watch the battle begin to unfold. There is one goal and one goal only - protect Ninhursag until it reaches the Prime Tentacle, tear a hole, and allow the dragon to deliver the Omnipoison to the beast in the core of the world.

- Abhor Global, unaccountably here, begins to interview the people present. A last record, perhaps, of the end of all things.

- As the Dragon closes in, a whole swarm of Tentacultists can be seen rallying to defend the Prime Tentacle from all comers. They swirl in concentric circles, a thousands-strong ritual.

- The Fated Army steers towards the Tentacultists, flowing across the land in their floating war-gubers. They aim to harry and distract, force the hand of the Tentacultists before they get too strong. Their rune-lances fire over and over as they close in.

- Ereshkigal’s cult swoop around in great flocks, opening up wormholes through space-time and warping across the landscape. They watch, for now, allegiances unknown.

- Tentacle parasite maggots emerge from the ground all over, attracted by the large concentrations of flesh. They form great waves and begin swarming towards meaty targets… most especially the last bastions of mankind - Fortress-City Fate and New Moondin.

- Snels has a plan. He requisitions a Drakencultist and leaves, hoping that he can pull together a support crew of preppers from the ruined town of Salisburgh.

- A great tide of maggots is flowing towards New Moondin. POWERLAD commands Ninhursag to breathe a cloud of poison to defend it, and the maggots are destroyed by a great wave of poisonous yellow-green gas. All life hit by its breath dies, the roiling gas sweeping past and rotting all it touches.

- Fate’s great Macrocannon fires! The blinding beam of pure white blasts one of the Prime Tentacle’s malformed ancillary appendages in half. The severed bulk of it is drawn up towards Ereshkigal’s gravity well and messily torn apart.

- More tides of maggots approach Fate, swarming around its legs, climbing over each other to reach the biomass within. If they get into the city, it’s doomed.

--- Ere the Sun Rises

- Over in Salisburgh, Snels and the Drakencultist land amongst the ruins. Child of a long line of apocalypse preppers, he follows the scratched signs to find a hidden group of survivors living in the dead city.

- He knocks on a door with the secret knock, and the door opens… it’s his Auntie Mab!

- Snels uses his family connections to rally an army of preppers! Armed with guns and with repurposed farming tools, Snels marches out at the head of a scrappy new army!

- Above, the sky begins to glow orange-red. A daytime sunrise. An omen. There is a vast and distant roar.

- The grinding maw on the base of Fate begins to turn. For long ages it feasted upon the taut flesh of the Prime Tentacle. Today it shall eat more delicate meat. Fate lowers itself onto the grub-swarms, crushing and grinding them into biomass.

- On the horizon, at the front of a bow-wave of blossoming darkness, a new challenger approaches. An enormous demon skittering and slithering towards Fate, crowned with the Black Sun between its curving horns.

--- Ride Now, Ride Now, Ride!

- The Army of Fate slams into the Tentacult, rune-lances and guns blazing. It’s a terrible battle, flailing whip-tentacles throw Gubers aside and soldiers into the air, the Army leaping from their Gubers to take down Tentacultists with rune-powered weaponry.

- Styx calls upon the Gods and Minerva answers. She tells him that the Gods are busy and cannot help directly, there is destruction all across the world. The wave of demonic darkness is full of flying locust-grubs, and the discordant singing of the Locusts disrupts angel communications.

- She offers to send down some of their last available angels, but Styx declines. Angels will be useful for the rebuild.

- Fate begins to turn to face the giant demon… and the shadow of Shamash - Bolide Dragon - blasts past overhead! Its passage lights the sky ablaze, cocooning the planet in flame! The chunks of tentacle-flesh flung into the sky burn to cinders as they impact the fiery roof of the world.

- Styx, wavering, stops Fate from turning and raises the Macrocannon towards the sky. He begins charging the city's beam weapon… aiming it to shoot down Shamash! The Black Sun Demon can wait!

- The Macrocannon fires! There is a distant roar and an explosion as it strikes Shamash under the wing. There are a few moments of silence, then the horizon explodes into piercing white. A mushroom cloud rises somewhere over Norway as Shamash crash-lands into the fjords.

- A wave of maggots has erupted behind Ninhursag and begun surging towards its great legs! The Dead and Drakencult split off to defend the rear, while Ninhursag itself continues marching onwards towards the Prime Tentacle.

- It strides over the desperate battle between the Fated Army and the Tentacult, barely noticing the Fated Army withdrawing in their Gubers. To the surprise of the Army, the Tentacult don’t pursue them...

- Instead, the Tentacultists ramp up their strange ritual. They swirl in circles, and in the centre of the group a great and writhing tendril thrusts its way from the ground! A massive macro-scale tentacle erupts to stop Ninhursag in its tracks! The tendril wraps around Ninhursag’s head, squeezing tight, cracking the bone-armour skull.

- Cyrus-RJ, holding the monstrance that allows him command the Dead, feels its power sputter and fail. The Ossuary of All Bones in the skull is damaged, his control over the Dead has been broken.

- Ninhursag breathes another gout of deadly poison that rots the tentacle from the inside out. It falls to pieces, sloughing across the farmlands below, crushing unheeding Tentacultists who continue to swirl in their summoning dance..

--- Ride for Ruin!

- The Tentacult must be stopped! Styx coordinates a god-beam barrage from the gods above on the Tentacultists while Dumbledorris runs alongside POWERLAD, steals his form, and dives off of the dragon’s head. Her borrowed wings spread wide, her muscled clone-body tenses taut and powerful.

- Falling beside her, following her down to the centre of the Tentacult’s summoning circle, is the high priestess Krystal Shattersby. Before impact, the crystal drakencultist triggers her apotheosis and lands in a cloud of crystal shards, drawing up into a crystal dragon!

- The elemental dragon roars, breathing shards of living crystal that whirl and spin into the cultists! With them distracted, Dumbledorris flies towards the gold-robed summoner at the centre. Just before impact, she copies his form!

- Now that she is a Tentacultist, Dumbledorris can understand their burbling language. The leader shouts, “Join us! Become one with Shub-Niggurath and ride it to other worlds! Abandon this cocoon and ascend with us!”

- “NEVER!!!” yells Dumbledorris, and leaps for him! Her smooth tentacle-face suddenly splits wide, revealing vampire fangs!

- She crashes into the leader of the Tentacult and those below can’t tell one from the other! She sinks her fangs into the gold-robed leader… and the whole Tentacult are stalled! The line of command is broken!

- And then, as if this scene wasn’t chaotic enough, a flying saucer whooshes into the scene! A great fan spins beneath it, the light scattering off its silver curves. A door opens, revealing the buff alien Titanium Johnson! He yells, “come to me my amorphid queen! I, Titanium Johnson, demand your hand in space marriage!”

- With the Tentacult in disarray, their gold-cloaked leader defrocked by vampiric magics, Dumbledorris sends herself skyward via controlled tentacle and takes Titanium Johnson’s hand, pulling herself into the starship. They’ve got some catching up to do…

--- And the World’s Ending!

- The Black Sun Demon gallops towards Fortress-City Fate, getting closer and closer, stygian blackness blossoming behind it. Styx zooms in on its head as he targets it with the Macrocannon, target reticule tracking the black sun, and sees its mouth moving - is it trying to say something?

- Styx also becomes aware of a new force moving in - from the wastes, a flock of Drakencultists is flying in! Their azure wings crackle with electricity - the forces of Marduk!

- Distantly, climbing onto the poison canister around Ninhursag’s neck, the blind prophet Snels laments that Marduk intends to somehow shoot through the planet to fry Shub-Niggurath’s core. His grim prophecy is unheeded in the chaos.

- Fate’s Macrocannon is charged! The great Demon is close enough now that Styx can hear what it’s saying - “Let! Us! In! Let! Us! In!”.

- The cannon fires and a searing beam of pure white light blasts towards the Black Sun Demon! It tries to dodge, and the beam slices into its chest! It cries “Nooooooooo!” and stumbles, the blossoming darkness overtaking it, as if it had been outrunning the darkness itself!

- Within Battlefortress Fate, Sir Robyn, wizard-lawyer extraordinaire, stands atop the barrel of the Macrocannon and outstretches an arm. He’s hopped up on as much moonwater as he could swallow, energy crackles around his fingers, and his eyes glow with cold light.

- He summons the illusion of another great angel dropship in the sky with one hand, and conjures a macro-scale Force of Forbidment with the other. A drop of blood trickles from his nose, the raccoon familiars Scamps and Snuggles on his shoulders outstretch their paws and assist him in taking the strain.

- The Black Sun Demon has got out in front of the darkness again, all in the city can hear it now, “Let! Us! In! Let! Us! In!”. The Macrocannon begins to cycle again… and stops?

- The demon struggles against Sir Robyn’s Force of Forbidment to the edge of the city’s shield, placing its huge and elongated hands against the bubble. The blackness is almost here. “Let! Us! In! Let! Us! In! Let! Us! In! Let! Us! In!”

- To Sir Robyn’s shock, the shield drops to allow the demon in. Styx has let it into the city. Sir Robyn drops the spells and watches as the huge demon in the sky pulls the shields open like a curtain. One of the great hands reaches up to the Black Sun on its crown, grabs it, and thrusts it down into the city towards the Macrocannon - “Take this! Please!”

- Sir Robyn jumps off and Flies to a safe distance. He sees the Black Sun thrust onto the Macrocannon, black energy crackling over it, mingling with the white light within. Then the enormous demon seems to disintegrate - flowing into the city as a tide of Obols which scatter and clatter across the buildings like rain.

Death!

- Ninhursag is almost in range of the Prime Tentacle. POWERLAD, Cryus-RJ, Snels, the elf-child Sophia, and Abhor Global’s press corp stand atop its head. The high priests of the Drakencult are long gone, apotheosised and fighting in the Drakencult’s army.

- Cyrus-RJ, holding the Monstrance aloft, commands the bone armour of Ninhursag to reconfigure - using the tail armour to reinforce the head and moving the Ossuary-skull itself towards Ninhursag’s back to protect it.

- On the ground, the Dead continue to fight a rearguard against the grub swarms while the Drakencultists withdraw to protect Ninhursag from the confused Tentacult roiling around its feet.

- Ninhursag smashes into the Prime Tentacle like a juggernaut, a gout of fumes boils away on ancillary tentacle on impact. In return, the Tentacles strike back, smashing into Ninhursag’s head, wing, and foreleg and destroying the bone-armour there. Thousands of shattered bones rain across the battlefield.

- POWERLAD takes a deep breath, runs his fingers through his yellow hair and says, “It’s time.”

Death!

- POWERLAD runs and leaps off of Ninhursag’s snout. His wings stretch wide, then tuck in as he plummets towards the base of the Prime Tentacle.

- Through the whipping wing he yells, “Ave Ninhursag! Ave Hyper-Jesus!” and a corona of scintillating electricity bursts around him!

- He falls, a lightning comet, and as he falls he changes!

- There is an earth-shattering boom and an explosion of earth. Dust swirls, lightning crackles, and from the impact point rears the ultimate being!

Ultimate Godhead Power-Dragon!

- An enormous green-scaled dragon body that crackles with electricity, a shock of bright yellow quills on His head. He is crowned with a halo of lightning and electricity arcs between His claws. The force of His primal roar sends shockwaves rippling through the Earth. The tentacles shake and spasm, even Shub-Niggurath trembles at His arrival!

- He stands tall on muscular legs and holds a great clawed hand aloft. Lightning crackles as he pulls his giant weapon from a breach in the sky! He holds aloft the Storm-Hammer - the Deus Malleus - Hammer of the Gods!

- There is a great explosion of thunder and lightning and the ancillary tentacles are blasted into dust! The God-Dragon blasts upwards with a great surge of His wings, takes the hammer in both hands, and falls in an incredible burst of blazing white.

- Impact! The Prime Tentacle explodes, splitting it into four massive strands which slowly fall away around the glowing God-Dragon. Angels sing a glorious chorus as the miles-long ropes of the destroyed tentacle smash down into the ground with earth-shaking thuds.

- With Ninhursag’s way cleared, Power-Dragon turns His great head skywards towards the last extant threat to the world - Ereshkigal! The Dragon who would pull down the Moon!

- He leaps skyward, using the pull of the Singularity Dragon’s gravity well to slingshot himself straight into Ereshkigal! He smashes into it, taking it around the chest and bearing it down into the blood-soaked sea.

- The gravity well shuts off.

- The air is suddenly still.

- They plunge into the red ocean and their immense tidal wave devastates the abandoned shore. - There is a moment of strange calm, and a flicker of light from beneath the waves.

- And then, rising from the red depths, the Power-Dragon stands tall! The bloody water washes around His waist, and He reaches down into the water to grasp something massive in His huge hands!

- He pulls it to the surface - it’s the tail of Ereshkigal! He turns in the steaming ocean water, pulling the Apocalypse Dragon with him, spinning faster and faster, and finally lets got to fling the Black Dragon into the sky!

- The survivors of the Apocalypse see the dark shape of Ereshkigal breach through the fiery barrier in the sky, blowing open a hole in the heavens! Pale lunar light shines through, a pale spotlight on the Power-Dragon’s powerful form.

- They see Ereshkigal breach the atmosphere. They see the hole in the sky expand as the flame-shell dissipates. - They see Ereshkigal shatter the face of the moon!

- The Moon is blasted away from the Earth by the force of the blow! Fragments of burning lunar rock hiss into the sea, raining down on the around the Dragon-Deity that was once POWERLAD

Deeeaaath!

- With the hollow cancerous interior of the Prime Tentacle exposed, Ninhursag roars as it strides forward towards the great pit! It leaps in, wings pinned back, diving down towards the Earth’s core!

- At the Apocalypse Dragon’s throat, riding the poison canister down, is Oliver Snels! He holds his sword aloft, his statue-brother ditched overboard on the way, whooping as he rides the canister down and down, to ensure the apocalypse he foresaw comes to pass!

- They plummet down and down, the heat would be unbearable to someone without Snels’ barbarian constitution. He lets go of the canister, letting himself fall behind the great dragon.

- Ahead, below, the protoplasmic form of Shub-Niggurath squirms and bubbles. It’s close now. Snels engages the RAGE!

- Covered in crucifix tattoos, screaming prayers, Snels plummets towards the canister with his sword outstretched!

- He hits, strikes through, shatters the poison canister! His last sensation is of Ninhursag breathing in the Omnipoison, combining and assimilating and accelerating the poison with its own internal toxicity, exploding into a glorious miasma.

- He falls into the ever-growing cloud and dissipates into toxic mist. A glorious, painless end to the story of the blind doom-prophet.

- The whole of Shub-Niggurath’s cancerous mass is converted, quickly and completely, into Omnipoison. Everything the gas touches is converted into more of the gas, over and over, running upwards along the great tentacles from the core, faster than it can react.

- Shub-Niggurath dies.

- The survivors on the surface, at the scene of the End War, see a vast plume of the thick greenish miasma gout from the pit that once housed the Prime Tentacle.

- All over the world, plumes of impossibly deadly poison erupt from the earth. Flesh evaporates from bone in an instant, converted to yet more of the all-conquering gas, spreading across the globe.

- The parasite Maggots are vapourised, as are their winged Locust forms. Snels’ prepper army, on the way back to their homes, are vapourised too. The world is scoured of all life by the oncoming wave of toxic death.

- Ultimate Godhead Power-Dragon sees Fortress-City Fate, distantly, raise its void shields. He sees the wave of death spouting into the air and falling upon the devastated lands of Loegria. Most importantly, He sees the wave sweeping in towards New Moondin.

- He erupts from the blood-ocean on thunderous wings and flies, swift as lightning, to New Moondin.

- He sees the people fleeing into their sealed stone domes, sees the wave of all-consuming poison coming in, and the last fragments of POWERLAD’s mind pledge to save them all.

- He stands in the path of the gas and breathes it into Himself, saving New Moondin from the wrath of the poison!

- In future ages it will be said that when POWERLAD’s body dissipated into poison, He remained standing. As His bones rained down onto the broken earth, those who bore witness saw a spark, a figure, descending to the earth on wings of lightning.

- They will say that He was seen standing on the hilltop, stretching His arms wide, calling down the storm. His body outlined in energy - growing and growing to become a rippling electrical corona that spread to cradle New Moondin in His arms.

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Epilogue - Somewhere in Outer Space

- Elsewhere, The Brothers Johnson finally head home to Planet Johnson. It has been a long and strange road, and Galaxy Johnson is some sort of smoke entity from beyond the stars, but they made it out alive.
- Dumbledorris, to Titanium Johnson's sadness, decided to stay on Earth. He has a picture of her hidden in one of the many first edition paperback POWERLAD novels, a memory of what could have been.
- The aliens return to the stars, leaving the barren wasteland that was the Earth behind. Perhaps, one day, they shall return.