Turn 5 [Part I --- Common Turn]
As you walk through the first ring of metal, the
anti-magical metal, a tingling passes through your body. You
feel a bit of vertigo. You notice that the ring has a series
of Runes and arcane symbols carved into it.
As you pass through the second ring, you feel cutoff
from your surroundings, and the darkness beyond swallows you
up. Your heart hammers in your chest, and your throat
tightens. You push aside the fear, and stride boldly forward.
You are aware that you pass the third ring but cannot
waste the effort to examine it in any detail; only your
unconquerable will moves you along.
You are falling. You look below and see nothing. It
is cold. You are dropping aware from Zhalindor. Yelm's
flaming chariot passes beneath you, but what is this? It is
moving backwards. Faster and faster it moves until it becomes
a blurred ring across the sky. You see things both as whole
and as parts. Your mind seems drawn to key events as this
backward pageant of history assaults your senses at an ever
accelerating rate. It is hard to tell what order some of the
events occurred in.
The land under your feet changes colors with the
seasons more and more quickly. You see the Runes flash for a
moment at the World Machine and scatter across the world, and
the power flows from your body. A smudge of darkness twinkles
into being over the Thousand Isle, shrinks to a single island
and is extinguished. The Runes of Negation and Good flash and
disappear. You see a webs of power spread from: the northern
edge of Fess across the Lands of the Overlord, the Yin-Sloth
Jungles across Timeria, the Lunar Empire to the west into the
Troll lands. The Runes of Mastery, Magic and Infinity converge
and form a talisman at several points, and the webs shrink and
expand to match these events and at last, each web disappears
entirely.
The four deities of Kemer-Lexi, Roazite, Alimandros and
Filhean suddenly appear above Resserlin of Magrax. The fertile
fields of the Lands of the Overland wink out one by one until
the continent to the east of Eldenvaan and Tumeria are virgin
forest. Eldenvaan itself and great Xanduru disappear from view,
leaving only Slot in what is to become Eldenvaan. Tiola Moldre
is in its full glory now, and even modern Xanduru and Credia
would blush at the splendor of Tiola Moldre's prime.
You see the glowing red of the Lunar Empire slowly
shrink until it concentrates onto the plateau from which you
rose and then in a fraction of a heartbeat, the Red Moon strikes
and melds with the landscape below. The Lunar Rune flashes and
disappears. Yet, there is a hole, a much smaller crater still
visible from your lofty vantage point, and it glows of blue.
All Zhalindor suddenly shudders, and great cracks appear
in the foundations of the world. The globes and orb converge
again, and a flash of light reveals a kingdom of shining white
and light. The kingdom has gathered all the Runes into its
magical storehouse save three, Infinity, Magic and Mastery which
remain hidden to it. The power of the kingdom stretches across
the world, and on its throne sits a noble being. Kaliban
Keen-Eye calls out ``Hrothmir the Bold!'' The kingdom shrinks
until it consists only of Slot.
Slot suddenly disappears. The Rune of Mastery
appearing as a crystal orb flies from the Yagha Tsorv mountains
to where Slot was. The Infinity Rune appearing as a Red Globe
flies from the Thousand Isles to where Slot was, and the Rune of
Magic appearing as a green globe becomes visible where Slot was.
The three merge for an instance into the talisman of Power and
move to the east. The place where the Great Waste now stands
flames brilliantly for an instance and transforms into a
verdant, lush land of bounty. The roads and cities of the
Timerian Empire shrink until only the smudge of Credia remains,
and it too disappears.
Four demons of immense power and evil fly from the spot
which will be Credia and converge in the Great Woods to the
North. A thousand, thousand rents appear in the skies above
Zhalindor, and a greater number of devils and demons issue
forth. In the broken splinters of the Spike, the Runes of
Magic, Infinity, Mastery and Void fly above the head of Saint
Acheron. The rents disappear, and the demons and devils fly to
various points in Zhalindor where they too disappear. The
Runes of Magic, Mastery and Infinity fly back to the Isle of
Terror. The four demon lords of Credia form the Rune of True
Power.
The demon lords change form. They seem like lesser
creatures now. The lords are bipedal with greyish-tan skin, two
arms and smallish wings. The party hears Branham's voice rumble
in rage and surprise in its collective minds with the single
word ``Droyne!?!?'' They fly to the Temple of Eldar and there
pickup the Rune of Void. The demon lords fly backwards to the
Isle of Terror where they deposit the Runes of Mastery, Magic
and Infinity, and the demon lords disappear into the isle's
circle of stone.
There are momentary flashes at the Control Complex and
the Heart of the World Machine in the Yagha-Tsorv Mountains,
and your heart sings with a feeling of renewed power and magic.
The Seven Slith Lords of Darkness erupt from the southern edge
of the world and move to spread across Palmalta to the shore.
The seas of Zhalindor glow blue for an instant and the
Slith Lords move across the World. Zones of devastation appear
and disappear ahead of their paths. Their paths wend their way
back eventually to Zhalindor's places of Power: the Upland
Swamp, the Swamp of Fess, the Heart of the World Machine, the
Center of green and growing Great Waste, the Temple of Palmalt,
the Temple of the Rising Sun, the Citadel of Lead, Cragspider's
Keep at Falling Sky Lake, and others. The Slith Lords
widdershins travels take them back to Palmalta, and they too
fade into the recesses of history.
Horrors of Void and madness erupt from the land and
rays of power lance back from the Old Ones to the Blue Moon
which sinks into the blue, glowing hole and merges neatly with
the land around it. The whole sky flashes, and you are
temporarily overcome with blindness and a feeling of near
infinite power. When the dazzle leaves you, the Old Ones
converge to a point near the edge of the World at the Isle of
Terror and the Spike stands whole and beautiful at the center
of Zhalindor. The Yin Sloth jungles are fertile and pure. The
Swamp of Fess is a forest, and the Thousand Isles are an
island, continent. A tare appears in the fabric of Zhalindor
and the Runes of Void, Infinity, Magic and Mastery dance about
the Circle of Stones on the Isle of Terror. The Old Ones
plunge headlong into the tare and it closes.
The Runes of Power, Infinity, and Magic speed back to
the Spike while the Rune of Void goes north to the hell pits
(near Sky Fall Lake) and disappears into the Netherworld. The
Rune of Death emerges from the hell pits, and many deities whom
the party does not recognize appear and meld with the land below.
The Rune of Death flies back to the underworld.
A moment later the Runes of Void, Man and Death emerge
from the base of the world. A being looking much like the demon
lords is spirited out of the underworld. He appears to be
sleeping soundly. Branham mutters ``an Ancient!'' The Ancient
wakes and speaks to a being robed in a pure sky blue. The
Ancient takes the Runes of Void, Man and Death and flies into the
Circle of Stones in what will become the Thousand Isles.
All the Runes in the world appear briefly, ringed around
the perimeter of Zhalindor. Each is held by its champion and
first holder. The Spike in the center holds a figure robed in
blue. The Runes fly back to him, and he and the deities fade
back into Zhalindor below.
Yelm's journey ends abruptly and the world is plunged in
darkness. Trolls, giant insects, fungus forests and the
denizens of Darkness form throughout the world. The party hears
the bellow of joy of Trahk Chi remembering the mythical time of
the great Troll good on Zhalindor. The oceans rise and swell.
The air shrieks and moans above the lands. Great bolts of power
and destruction are loosed across the length and breadth of
Zhalindor. The deities of the world battle.
Just as quickly, Yelm appears in the sky above
Zhalindor forever circling the Spike and the home of the
world's first gods and goddesses. The Great Aldrami Forest now
covers the entire northern continent with the exception of the
Yagha-Tsorv mountains, the lush plains of the Great Waste and
the Eastern Lands. Dragons wheel freely through the air, and
there are series of roads (paths?) marked by the plinths of the
Dragon-Newts. There seems to be great activity at the three
circles of stones in Zhalindor. Kingdoms appear and disappear
in the twinkling of an eye, generally centered on the circles
of stone. The gods and goddesses appear in the skies above and
then one by one disappear into one of the three circles of
stone, seemingly chosen at random. Three figures remain:
Cragspider, The Dragon-Emperor and the figure in blue.
Zhalindor itself now changes. The borders of the world
begin to close in on themselves. The Control Complex moves
south to the Spike. The Yagha-Tsorv mountains and the Spike
are the last features to remain. The Yagha-Tsorv mountains
fold into the Spike. Cragspider, the Dragon-Emperor and the
blue figure stand at the very top of the Spike and around them
the edges of the world rage against the forces of the Void
outside them. One by one, the primal Runes flash and
disappear. The three figures seem to be pondering their forms,
and several Runes the party does not recognize are semi-formed
and discarded.
In the end, only four Runes remain: Infinity, Magic,
Mastery and Dragon-Newt. The Dragon-Newt Rune disappears, and
the Dragon-Emperor appears as a human male clad in flowing robes
of silvery material. The Runes of Magic, Infinity and Mastery
merge into a table or small platform. The Dragon-Man walks
backwards into the table and disappears. Cragspider now becomes
a middle aged woman also clad in the silvery material. The
three remaining Runes once more emerge from the table.
Cragspider and the blue robed man are using them to weave a
complex spell. The Spike itself recedes . . . and your
consciousness falls back into a small sphere . . . you are
falling again . . . falling . . .
[Part II --- coming soon]
