Game summary for May 24, 2007; present characters included Ashkor (lizardfolk battle sorcerer/dragon disciple/fighter), Eol Seregon (half-elf hexblade), Evo Shandor (human fighter/rogue), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/vigilante), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), and Pitamian Kalal (human yang monk).
The Mercenaries used some of their hard won gold to purchase a variety of potions and oils, many tailored to fight against cold-immune, fire-vulnerable creatures. They then returned to the coenoby to await the beast match. At the appointed time, they marched into the arena to the cheers of the ground, legion’s fire shield surrounding them all in a shroud of flames. A hush fell over the crowd as Madtooth was raised up into the arena, and the crowd went wild. Much to the party’s surprise and dismay, Madtooth was decidedly not a frost salamander. Instead, they gazed upon a massive toad-like aberration known as a froghemoth. Its tentacles swirled about as the 5-ton terror unleashed a series of booming “roar-ribbits”!
Madtooth chose Evo as the most tasty-seeming morsel and charged him, snatching him up in a tentacle. The Mercenaries quickly found their fire effects were having little or no effect upon the monster. Electricity, however, seemed to slow the creature down. Alas, that was little comfort for roguish Evo as he was swallowed by the beast. With flailing tentacles, the froghemoth snatched and grappled most of the party and succeeded in gulping down the monk, Pitamian, and hexblade, Eol Seregon. Evo fought valiantly but succumbed to the deadly stomach of the froghemoth. Pitamian also fought violently within the beast and succeeded in killing it from the inside-out. The Mercenaries returned to the coenoby to the cheers of the crowd.
The Mercenaries awaited their next match with defending champions, Auric’s Warband. They made numerous plans to counter the golems and mop up the games quickly. As the fight began, the crowd was split in their support of the two teams. Most of the Mercenaries had quaffed potions of fly and zipped about the arena. Shortly after the fight began, Prendergast walked out onto his balcony wide-eyed and crazy-looking. He laughed maniacally as the center of the arena surged upward and sand and dirt sprayed about. The ulgurstasta was free!
The crowd fell into stunned silence as the towering maggot-worm rose from the hole it had created. Prendergast screamed and yelled about the coming of the Age of Worms and indicated the creature should kill the champions of the arena. At the pinnicle of its rise from the gaping maw of the understructure, thousands of thin tendrils shot out about the ulgurstasta forming a slashing, stinging cloud of pain and destruction in a 40-foot radius. People screamed and chaos erupted. The Mercenaries and Auric turned on the Apostle of Kyuss immediately, and it quickly swallowed both Eol Seregon and Auric. The party blasted the creature with spells and arrows and seemed to have it in bad shape. Suddenly, it vomited forth a slime-dripping corpse, that of Auric. As his body hit the ground, it erupted with green worms and staggered to its feet as a newly risen spawn of Kyuss! At the same moment, the temperature in the arena plummeted and the wounds on the Apostle disappeared entirely. A horrid wailing arose as the souls of all those slain in the arena manifested and floated upward. As they rose, they brought with them a necromantic cataclysm that drained the very life energy from those around them. Although weakened, the Mercenaries survived the drain. The thousands and thousands of spectators were not so fortunate. Horrific awe settled over the party as the entire crowd dropped dead in an instant, their life force snuffed out by the abominable power of Kyuss.
As the enormity of the event they just witnessed settled upon them, a transformation swept over Prendergast. His features aged and withered as he transformed into an undead creature of tremendous power. Unholy energy burned within his eye sockets as he shouted out praises to his new creator and master, Kyuss. Within moments, a flaming black horse from the netherworld (a nightmare) appeared and he rode away on the creature, fading into ethereal nothingness.
Then, as if the all of the death and destruction already wrought were insufficient, the corpses of the crowd began to move! Over ten thousand bodies animated as wights in a single instant! True fear then took root in the hearts of the Mercenaries as they realized the battle was lost and getting out of the city was now the only real option. They looked about at the wights that gazed with their hate-filled eyes back upon them. Then the Mercenaries’ eyes turned to the gaping hole left by the ulgurstasta. They gave one last glance back at the worm beast and whispered a prayer for Eol’s soul. The maggot monster quivered again and began spewing forth a worm covered corpse of a certain half-elf hexblade. At that, the Mercenaries put their first steps toward the only visible escape, for flying away with all the souls of the dead swirling and flitting about above seemed a bad idea. Can the Mercenaries fight free, and what will remain of the City of Splendors?
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