Wrath of the Immortals II

Wrath of the Immortals II
by Havard
from the Mystara Mailing List posted 27 August 2002.


Here is the long awaited sequel to the Epic World Shattering Mystara Adventure Scenario. What follows is a summary of the events.

What happened during WotI?

Thanatos was seemingly quiet during Wrath of the Immortals. But when Thanatos is quiet there is always good reason to be worried. During WotI, he had secretly freed the banished immortal Arik from his prison. In this prison, Arik had been contacted by the creatures known as the Outer Beings, ancient enemies of the Immortals, who have now been driven away from the Multiverse, which is protected by the Vortex Dimension. However, the Outer Beings have been able to contact creatures within the Nightmare Dimension, including the Arik and the race of Carnifex who have been imprisoned there. Arik's crime was that he had aided the Carnifex in their war against the Immortals, providing them with forbidden knowledge and magic.

They constructed a device similar to the Nucleus but it was a weapon used to kill and harness the power of an immortal. With Arik freed, Thanatos and his new ally began planning the release of an Outer Being called Garethax. When the Doomsday device destroyed Alphatia, the destruction caused a massive strengthening of the Sphere of Entropy. Thanatos was able to channel this power into a summoning spell, releasing Garethax from beyond the Dimensional Vortex.

It is Garethax who appears as the mysterious black figure before Rad and Ixion. The Immortals believed that he was an Old One, which is exactly what Garethax hoped for.

What happened to Rad?

Rad was imprisoned in a demiplane created by Garethax.

The demiplane was inspired by the Dimension of Nightmares, Rad being tormented by memories of his past. However, Rad managed to escape, however reduced to a mortal. This scenario assumes that Rad is now a 20th level mortal human wizard. If you have already played through Mark of Amber, you might have a different outcome from that adventure. However, it should not matter. Even if Rad is released as a fully fledged Immortal, he will have kept this secret.

Garethax will have learned of his escape, but would not bother or risk to deal with Rad at this point.

However, Rad suspects that something is wrong

The Church of Gareth

The mysterious new immortal known as Gareth is of course Garethax. Garethax' only motivation is revenge.

He established the Church of Gareth which has become increasingly popular, especially in Darokin, to undermine the power of the Immortals. The Church preaches against the Immortals who play with and manipulate the lives of mortals. In many countries, the ruling elite, have claimed that their rulership is based on the blessings of the Immortals. This leads to peasant revolts all over countries like Thyatis and Karameikos.

Ogdoban Treel

Treel was the security officer of the FSS Beagle. His tampering with the space ship (selling off parts to the natives) of the imminent destruction of the Spaceship in the Blackmoor era. He was killed by Benekander's reprogrammed security robots. However, his bones were transported with the Beagle's engines.

When the Doomsday device was activated he was resurrected and immediately ascended to Immortality, similarly to Benekander when he was released from the Mirror Shield. Ogdoban was contacted by Garethax and his now his most trusted ally. Much to the annoyance of Thanatos and Arik. At the end of this adventure, there will be a final showdown between Ogdoban and Benekander.

The Master of the Desert Nomads

A few years after WotI, the population of Sindh revolts against his rulership and drives the Masters forces back to Hule. Meanwhile, however, the Master has gained the possession of an Artifact known as the Crown of Chaos. It allows him to cast a massive curse on the Sindh population, turning all the humans in that country into orcs who are loyal to the Master.

The PCs may stop this if they are investigating the Church of Gareth in Sind and may learn of the Crown and its potential before it reaches the Master. In any case the Master will soon have Sind under his control.

Garethax opens a portal to the Dimension of Nightmares and releases armies of the Raptor-like Carnifex to strengthen forces of the Desert Master. The Master now launches an attack via the Adri Varma Plateau onto Glantri. The forces make their way all the way to Glantri City where lay siege on that magical city. At this time Garethax himself appears in his True Form in Glantri, demonstrating his true power. There he is immediately attacked by Ka. It is a terrible battle between Garethax in the shape of a Gigantic Black Nightmarish Dragon and the Tyrannosaurus form of Ka.

Garethax quickly enough disposes of Ka and proceeds to Ka's homeplane to finish the job. There he is immediately attacked by several other Immortals who he easily disposes off before killing Ka on his homeplane. Then he returns to Glantri.

Meanwhile, forces of Thyatis, Darokin, Heldann, Wendar, Karameikos and The Five Shires (and Possibly Daria) have reached Glantri, but seem no match for the invaders. New allies appear: It's the Alphatians!

Together, the united forces of the World are able to drive the invaders back. But Garethax is still to be dealt with. By now, with the help of the PCs, Rad and a group of immortals, including Benekander, Rafiel and Ixion have learned that Garethax is still linked to the Nucleus. Rad, the PCs and Benekander make their way back into the Cave of the Radiance. However, there they are attacked by the Demon Ogdoban and a series of lesser fiends. It should be obvious that the battle with Ogdoban is Benekanders own. The PCs and Rad must defeat the lesser demons and make their way into the Nucleus. There they will initiate a sequence which will turn the Doomsday weapon against Garethax. In a last moment effort Benekander kills off Ogdoban, and teleports Rad and the PCs out of the Cave before the weapon is fully activated. In a final showdown between Ixion and the other immortals fighting against Garethax, the Nucleus kicks in and destroys Garethax.

The Nucleus explodes, taking with it Benekander and Ogdoban as well, wiping out all the traces of the Beagle, left on Mystara. The explosion would have destroyed Glantri as well, but (if the DM wants) the Immortals present are able to contain it, leaving Glantri (relatively) unscathed.

CONSEQUENCES:

Alphatia??

When the Karameikos Flying Ship returned from the Hollow World, Master Terari learned that Alphatia still existed. This revived him, reminding him of his old quest for Immortality through the Path of the Dynast. He made his way to Alphatia. On the way he located an artifact created by Palartarkan which will allow Alphatia to fly through the Anti-Magic field. He then contacted his daughter, convincing her that they should return Alphatia to the surface. However, once back to hovering over its old location the device runs out of power, leaving Alphatia hovering above the Sundsvall Whirlpool. Terrified Thyatis and Heldann uneasily watch the return of the Empire.

Thanatos and Arik

Arik has mysteriously disappeared after this conflict, leaving no trace. Thanatos simply denies any involvement in this whole affair. And although everyone knows this is all a lie, no one can prove it.

Glantri

If Glantri was destroyed by the Nucleus, then it will now be a new Greater Broken Lands, a base for new evil overlords to threaten the Known World. However, if the Immortals were able to contain the explosion, then Glantri will return to normal. Having seen the Wrath of the Immortals up close, the ban on Clerics will surely be returned after this!

The Desert Master

Although many of his troops have been destroyed, the Master is stronger than ever. He is still in full control of the now orc populated Hule and Sind and is armed with new Carnifex monsters. It is only a question of time before he will launch his next campaign into the Known World. Thyatis, Heldann and Alphatia are aware of this, but an allied campaign between the three powers against the Master seems unlikely in the near future at least.

Rad

Several things may happen to Rad. He has made friends with Rafiel who will surely be willing to sponsor him on his way to the Path of Immortality, or even allow him access to his newly constructed Chamber of the Spheres which functions like the Nucleus and may allow Rad to regain his immortality, or if the other Immortals are convinced of Rad's achievements during the battle against Garethax, they may restore Rad to Immortal status immediately.

WotI: 2 Appendix: The Crown of Chaos

Hel's armies of Giants and Dragons were failing to destroy the Blackmoor Civilisation. She decided to create new armies of smaller, but more numerous monsters. This she did by creating five gemstones, the Crystals of Chaos, which collected the spirits of dead creatures with evil souls. The Gemstones then used the power of these spirits to create a new race, the Beastmen. In the beginning, the race was chaotic and did not breed true, dependent on the Crystals to spawn new generations of Beastmen. But as the crystals grew stronger, the race changed, and each gemstone started producing its own distinct breed of Beastmen. One crystal created what is now called Ogres another Bugbears, the third the Orcs, the fourth created the Goblins and Hobgoblins and the fifth the Kobolds. (Trolls are not really descendent from Beastmen although some trolls have inbred with these through the ages).

The Crystals were given to leaders of each race. But some races were more powerful than the others and they waged war among themselves. Finally, a legendary Orc King, known as Drawakhaz, the Original Shadow Lord, was able to capture all the five Crystals, and he forged them into a Crown, known as the Crown of Chaos.

The Crown inspires fanatic loyalty among of the descendants of the Beastmen races who see it. Also, the wearer can turn armies of other mortal races into Goblinoids at will.


-Havard