Session 62 - Age of Worms

General Summary

07 Arodus (August), 4725

Dragothalax Falls

The night bled green across the sea, storm clouds churning like molten tar as lightning stitched the heavens in veins of emerald fire. From that storm’s heart descended the undead wyrm Dragothalax, his wings spreading wide as a cathedral of bone and shadow. He landed before the black obelisk, claws grinding furrows through the stone. At its base stood Kyuss, armored in scripture, his body a corpse repurposed to house a god.

Kyuss asked if the intruders had been stopped. Dragothalax confessed that the heroes lived. The Faceless One, however, did not.

Kyuss considered that for a moment, then raised the Dragonsoul Crucible. Emerald flame burst from its core like a serpent of divine ruin, and it struck the revenant dragon square in the chest. Dragothalax’s roar tore the sky apart before dissolving into ash and silence. His scales vaporized, his wings disintegrated, and his essence poured screaming into the Crucible until only the relic pulsed, an emerald heart in Kyuss’s steel hand.

The Worm God Rises

The obelisk flared, answering its master. Kyuss convulsed, his body swelling beyond mortal shape as armor warped and worms seeped into his flesh. His eyes ignited like twin suns. The storm bowed to his breath, the lightning itself drawn toward him like prayer. When he spoke, prophecy answered as a god’s voice, hollow and exultant, and invited the heroes to witness the world's rebirth.

From his vantage in the clouds, Cal watched it all through divine sight. He whispered the vision to his companions waiting below. On the beach, the heroes gathered their gear, checked their charms, and climbed the cliffside path toward destiny, grumbling, half-laughing, as old soldiers do before the end.

The Armies of the Dead

The mainland was dead. The ground had turned black and slick, creeping outward like spilled ink. The obelisk loomed above them, its runes alive with failed prophecy. Kyuss turned, his voice cutting the storm apart. "You will fail," he said. "And you will kneel as my first apostles."

He snapped his fingers. The earth split open, disgorging rusted steel and bone. From the crater rose the wreck of the Steel Harrier, a ship reborn as a tomb. A hundred corpses clawed free, soldiers of the dead given purpose once more.

The ground erupted with light. Declan darted forward, his blade a streak of silver; Alfie’s prayer flared into blinding radiance, vaporizing scores of undead in a single word. Oathgar’s axe carved through the horde in rhythmic sweeps, each swing punctuated by curses older than language. Cal’s holy water burst like miniature suns, and Tike Myson wove through corpses, half grinning, half growling, lightning crackling from his fists. When silence fell, the air stank of ozone and rot. The horde was gone.

Kyuss waited. And smiled.

The Battle Begins

Alfie reached for Deathwhisper, his bow. It shattered in his hands, unleashing a violet cyclone that painted the storm with visions. An elven woman’s life flashing in fragments: glory, corruption, and a fall into gemstone eternity. Then the vision broke apart, spiraling into the sea.

Kyuss raised a hand, and a ray of sickly green light struck Alfie full in the chest. He staggered, armor hissing from acid burns.

"Next time," Oathgar growled, "aim for me."

Kyuss obliged. The next blast cratered the ground beside him. Declan’s horn sounded over the thunder, a jaunty, defiant tune that had no place in an apocalypse. The sound carried courage, or at least the illusion of it.

Tike charged, his javelin a flash of stormlight, striking Kyuss in the knee with a sound like breaking stone. The god lurched. His counterstrike crushed one of Tike’s mirror images instead of the real thing. The lethal brawler grinned through sweat and pain. "Worth it."

Meanwhile, Cal stepped through dimensions and appeared before the obelisk, his hands alive with arcane energy. He reached for the first rune. It sputtered. Kyuss gestured. Worms burst inside Cal’s summoned beasts. The manifested ankylosaurus struck back, raking claws and tails across divine armor.

Oathgar staggered under the god's aura, black veins crawling up his arm. Still, he swung. Kyuss responded in kind. His next blow hurled the dwarf across the battlefield, his blood splattering the stones. Declan moved quickly amidst the distraction, appearing before the obelisk to aid Cal.

One seal flared back to life. Then another. Kyuss roared, reeling under the light. Prophecies were being undone, and the prison door was closing on the Worm God once again.

The Return of Ardura

The air tore open behind Alfie. From the breach stumbled Ardura Tor'lyn, draped in the ruined flesh of the Faceless One. Her voice cut through the chaos. "You always overreach, Kyuss."

Her hand rose, and the Crucible flew to her grasp. A pulse of silver-black light burst outward, scouring the battlefield. The heroes gasped as wounds closed and fatigue bled away. Kyuss’s aura flickered and died.

Together, they struck. Alfie restored the Seal of the Broken Hero. Declan reignited the Seal of the Fiend. Cal traced holy light across the Seal of the Dead, each glyph glowing like a heartbeat. Kyuss convulsed, his power unraveling thread by thread.

The End of the Worm God

Kyuss's form collapsed into a writhing ocean of worms. Tike’s fists struck like thunderbolts. Oathgar’s axe blazed, cutting deep into divine flesh. Cal lifted his arms to the storm and called upon the final Seal of the Celestial.

Light consumed everything.

Kyuss screamed a sound too vast for mortal ears. His body was torn apart, each worm disintegrating as it was dragged screaming into the obelisk. The monument shrank, cracked, and finally crumbled to dust.

The wave of energy that followed swept the island clean. Worms disintegrated, the black soil turned green, and life returned in blossoms and birdsong. Ardura, her task complete, absorbed the Crucible’s last light and faded into the ether.

Epilogue: Dawn After the End

The heroes returned to Magepoint, where celebration met them like sunrise after a long storm. The Age of Worms had ended. Each hero chose their path in the world they had saved:

• Oathgar soon took to the sea, commanding his own ship with thunderous laughter.- Alfie returned to his farm, mourning and mending, finding his father’s spirit in the loyal gaze of his owlbear, Potato.- Declan drifted between cities and cons, his name surviving him longer than his luck.- Cal disappeared through a portal of light, chasing answers and knowledge in the library of Silthian along with his mother, Eilistrae Sunshadow.- Tike Myson continued down the Ascended Path, fighting his way to become the greatest fighter. Deep in the layers of Hell, Tike stood across from Kragor the Indestructible, an immense and savage devil. Tike braced for combat, hearing a familiar taunt from an old foe - Pake Jaul.

The world endured, scarred but alive. A testament that even in an age of decay, light could still rise from the ruin.