Attendees:
ENEMIES: Plesiosaurs, Seawolves, Blood Sirens, Giants on Mammoths, Ice Minotaurs, Giant toads, and the Howl of the North (Mark)
After some preparation to cross over through the gate into the final world, we are introduced to the amalgam; a hawk-like bird who will be able to solidify the next world, should we be able to keep him alive. So we surge forward and discover that this, the “final gate”, which leads to a land that is said to be without light, sun, or moon, is full of surprises.
#1. There’s light. #2. It’s a subarctic region full of icy-cold chaos.
The bird manages to not fall into the ice water, and Truthspinner hangs onto him, but ninja boy and shell hit the drink. Both had available experience points so they punch up the special cold resistance charm which will do them well in this world. Truthspinner opted earlier to spend his experience on long overdue defensive charms, so he will be playing this game under penalties.
Now in said ice water there is chaotic life; Specifically, 6 plesiosaurs. These creatures circle and proceed to try and snack on Defender. Meanwhile, the rest of us try to move to an iceberg. However, spidey-chaos-sense tingles and Truthspinner notes that these are not so much ice as acid-bergs. Landing there would be harsh. So with nowhere left to go, we simply circle back to where shell boy is being eaten. Turns out he’s doing pretty well; he’s disabled one, and the others can’t seem to hurt him.
Turns out dead plesiosaurs make good life rafts. The amalgam does some of his voodoo that keeps the creature solid. Then while it sits on the thing’s body we row it around the zone, making a big circle in which chaos will be solidified.
Shortly after that, we build a ramp down which the animals will come as they pass through the gate. Needless to say, the cold will kill some off.
During subsequent expansion of the zone of safety we encounter sea wolves; horrible shrill howling creatures of the sea. A few are taken down by our more skilled and ice-resistant members. The rest flee when we are all assailed by… The Howl of the North! A howl much worse than theirs comes through and wreaks all kind of havoc.
Then there was the time we came across a blizzard made of blood. Once one gets through the heart of that they get to a somewhat calmer interior. The crunchy chewy center of the blood blizzard contains an iceberg with two pillars and a like number of sirens. At first no one can see them except perception-boy, who transforms and immediately flies toward one of them. This at least gives the others some idea where the singing is coming from. So the sirens get slapped around by those who can resist their song.
All of the patrin who cross over have the same response: Disgust at having gone from a very nice zone to our terrible one, and surprise that there is light. Their conclusion is that this is NOT the final zone.
The exit gate for this zone is up a high mountain. That’s one thousand miles of climbing to get to the exit. This will take years just to get there.
So four giants come at us as we approach the mountain. No, wait, they’re running away. No, wait, they’re backing up to cast magic. We spread out a little bit to prevent the old fireball-at-a-group-of-adventurers effect. Stings goes invisible and approaches them. Truth leps to one side and hides behind a snowbank. JT and Defender run for the shore from which we came. I can’t recall what their initial spell caused. However what comes next is the battery of incoming boulders as they hurl them at us. Our runners make like ducks in a shooting gallery, while Stings comes up and tries to slice and dice their leader. Unfortunately, Mark chooses this moment to get hot on the die rolls and winds up knocking Stings into unconsciousness. (Hmm… “Stings into Unconsciousness”)
The giants then mount their mammoths and rush the guys on the shore. But they are no match for our combination of stuntitude and bashiness. I love making up words.
We climb the mountain over a course of years. Eventaully we find a nice labyrinth in which, naturally, resides a minotaur. This guy taps into the power of two large pillars to cast electrical attacks at us. And he actually gets pretty close to taking out most everyone. I believe everyone is awake at the end of the fight, but he had nearly everyone on the verge.
Our last barrier is an icy river that crosses our path on the mountain. It’s obvious that another patrin has been here already (the one who has been allowed to precede us into the next world) and gotten her people across. As we contemplate every possible public works project to get them across, from bridges to tunnels, we ultimately just start carrying people across in bird form. That’s when ice toads attack! They manage to drag the turtle under. Fortunately Truthspinner, the only guy with no real cold protection, is the one they miss. They’re not especially tough, but being in their own element helps them a lot.
When the game ends we are at the gate. Another patrin has supposedly gone through. So there should be something there for us this time.