LOF - Aftermath: A restless Hunger

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Dismal is this realm.
And cheerless.

Blades of a tall sharp-bladed grass grow in thick, defiant clusters out of the gray and arid dirt of this valley – growing most heavily where the soil is poorest. Other than the dark and defiant green of these blades the stones and dirt of this valley are little more than a relentless array of dusky gray colors that only receive the warming light of the sun with reluctance. The sun does shine now over this expanse along which so many have fallen dead but so relentless have the scavengers been that not even a handful of bleaching bones remains to reflect its light. Indeed, despite the pale blue and yellow sun of the morning sky, if one were to look solely at the ground in this place he would think that the day has passed far along into dusk. Most dismal and cheerless of all, however, are the great and silent ruins in the center of the vale. No sunlight seems strong enough to brighten the dead black stones of the fallen tower and the stagnant water of what had once been its moat is choked with the dust of crushed rock and the strange blood of the creatures that perished in the desperate battle against the Modding Mage. Here even the warming light of the sun seems hesitant and cautious and nothing that still lives in this harsh and cheerless land draws near to these great slabs of broken stone and this death-filled water, nothing save the grass which grows here with a greater lushness than anywhere else within the vale. And the only movement near these ruins is the swaying of this grass in the swift and restless winds which sweep along the vale out of the storm clouds of the distant mountains.

The mountains that ring this land are jagged and steep and filled with the shrieking rush of violent winds and the steady drumbeat of clapping thunder. Dark and heavy storm clouds press upon the peaks with a grim anger. What had once been roads along which armies and adventuring bands might move have been washed away by the relentless falling of rain which has gathered into streams that have flooded the cave warrens in the gorges here. Owls of a dusky gray colored plumage fly boldly within these mountains, somehow able to move easily within the violent air of these storms that have come here from very distant skies. There is a deep gorge within these mountains whose walls are so steep that sections of its floor have never seen the sun. The winds move with a shrieking violence here and the only light is that of the blinding bursts of lightning that explode from the clashing thunder clouds. Here beneath the boulders of a collapsed cliff face a terrible Hunger waits to feed once more on power and life .....

The Lord of the Forums - Aftermath: A Restless Hunger

[ 10-22-2002, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Cyril Darkcloud ]

[Cyril Darkcloud]

ooc: As should be obvious to some of our members here, this is the lead into a re-visiting of the The Lord of the Forums storyline which wrapped up play last May. A couple participants from the original LOF threads have already signed on to the story and we have room for a couple more players.

In fact, I’d like to extend an invitation specifically directed to our newer participants on the roleplay board. The original LOF series was an awful lot of fun and it would be cool to share some of that experience with some players who missed out on the original game. Anyone interested in joining the game should send me a PM.

[Cyril Darkcloud]

A bit of IW History

ooc: As we have a number of participants on the boards now who were not around for the original Lord of the Forums series of threads, perhaps a few words of explanation are in order:

In the distant days of the original Blue Boards there was a ranger, Larry Silverfall by name, who championed the cause of goodness. But the passing of time saw the laying aside of the original blue color of the forums in favor of the present brown theme of the IronWorks boards. This same passing of time also saw the death of Larry Silverfall’s wife. Grief and loss gave rise to anger and hatred within him, a hatred and an anger that came to be directed toward the other characters in the forum and the happiness they enjoyed. He gave in to the seducing call of the darkness of modding magic and Larry Silverfall was no more and in his place stood Larry, the Modding Mage of the IW Roleplay Boards.

From his lonely tower of shadowed stone, the Modding Mage drew those who longed for mastery over others to his banner, and began to bend the entire realm of IronWorks to his will. The forces of good, led by a number of the original IW clans, rose in opposition to the Modding Mage and his allies. The armies of good attacked the Modding Mage in the very heart of his kingdom, but valiant as their effort was, they fell before the dark might of Modding Power.

The Modding Mage emerged from the struggle even mightier – not only were his enemies defeated but he had come into possession of the One Ring whose software had been written by Ziroc himself. As the few survivors of the doomed attack sought out weapons mighty enough to defeat the Mage that Mods, Larry increased the powers of his generals and began to prepare his final assault to conquer all of IronWorks for himself.

There came during these days a grim and silent newcomer who risked death by standing in open defiance of the Modding Mage at the very base of his tower. The wind-gathering newcomer took refuge in the great mountains and soon after his arrival great storms appeared over these peaks. Shielded within the storms, he waged a silent and foolish struggle against the power of the Modding Mage. He planted a strange grass that withheld the life within the earth of the forums from the Modding Mage’s grasp and after slaying a dark creature of hungry chaos, trapped that hunger within the very ground of the Modding Mage’s kingdom. This great and terrible hunger after power and life attacked the Modding Mage when he had attempted to use the power of the Ring. Realizing that he could no longer safely use the Ring, Larry gathered the last of his generals around himself and prepared for battle.

But among his generals, was a betrayer who had turned his own forces against him. And others had joined the struggle against the might of the Mage that Mods including a mysterious druidess, a young ranger and a mysterious agent of Ziroc bent upon recovering the Ring. Using the power of the Ring that the Hunger had stolen, the wind-gatherer breached the tower’s defenses and after a desperate struggle, the Modding Mage’s forces were defeated and the Mage himself lay dead, slain by the wind-gatherer. With the death of the Modding Mage, the tower of shadow collapsed. Leaving the victors to struggle to freedom.

They emerged from the ruins wounded to the verge of death, but alive. The Ring was restored to Ziroc’s possession and the survivors made their way to other threads in the Roleplay Forum. The wind-gatherer never disclosed his reasons for opposing the Modding Mage, nor did he still the great storms that rage within the mountains even to this day or disclose how the great and terrible Hunger might be removed from the ground at the heart of the forums.

EDIT: To add in links to the threads of the previous LOF storyline.
* The Lord of the Forums - The Two Powers
* The Lord of the Forums - Tempestuousness and Shadowiness
* The Lord of the Forums - As the Storm Passes

[ 10-16-2002, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: Cyril Darkcloud ]

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Brendan Grey

There is confusion tinged with fear in his eyes. Never before had he experienced anything like that hungry grasp which seized him. Seized him and drew him to this place, this strange forum of text-based roleplaying. Something from the very heart of this forum, something terrible, something hungry, something very old and very powerful that has been waiting for a very long time had grasped him from the NWN boards where he was simply the subject of a post about ranger dual-wielding abilities. He thought that he would be utterly and completely consumed so great was the emptiness which drew him toward itself, but something had happened to free him. There were storms of terrible violence and whatever had seized him could not maintain its grasp as it drew him through those storms.

He has browsed the threads of this forum in search of a means back to the familiar CRPG world from which has been so violently snatched, but there seems to be no escape. He stills feels it, however, the hungry pull from the center of the forum and he wonders how it is that so many threads proceed as if nothing at all were wrong. And so his browsing turned into the agonizing chore of traveling through old and distant threads far from these first two pages of posts, a journey made more difficult by the lack of a search command. At last his wanderings brought him here to this very strange thread – the only IW roleplaying thread to ever have an ending. And here the pull of the great and terrible emptiness nearly captures him once more. Resisting its pull he reads each and every post of the great battle against the One that Mods and as he comes to the conclusion of the thread his eyes widen in horror. The character Cyril, called the Windbringer, allowed the fierce and unyielding appetite of the Chaos Hound to remain within the soil of the forums!

“The Modding Mage has fallen,” his voice is little more than a whisper, “but the tale itself is not so finished as was thought .....”

He walks slowly back to the page of active threads having made his decision. He may be little more than a swiftly generated character from the NWN single player campaign, but he will find others to join him in the difficult journey to that officially concluded thread so that the terrible Hunger that threatens the characters of these boards might be destroyed.

ooc: Larry - This character is now in your hands.

Presently the following players are involved in the thread:
* Azrael Stormblade - playing Dantes, his character from the original LOF story
* Morgeruat - playing his character from the original LOF -- a 'fallen' paladin?
* Ar Cunin - playing a fighter
* Larry_OHF - making an appearance on the side of the good guys [img]graemlins/blueblink.gif[/img]
* Cerek - playing a cleric of Odin

[ 10-11-2002, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

As Brendan Grey finished his reading of the tragic history of this forum, he realized that there were people left alive after that battle! They would certainly help him! But where to find them? Brendan did not know this forum very well, and it seemed that he could not tread through just any page he pleased...for some were closed, some were for planning...and everyone just seemed too busy to listen to a poor newbie. At length, Brendan decided to just sit and wait...for surely those that were familiar with this tale would notice that he had been snooping around, and that a new thread had been created for this purpose. They would also want to know who he is...so Brendan typed up his stats. They are as follows:


Brendan Grey
Human
Level 10 adventurer
dual-wielding proficiencies in check
Possessions: long-sword +1, dagger +1, long-bow of Kat (extended reach), 20 keen arrows.

[ 10-14-2002, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[RevRuby]

Ruby:

lvl 10 psionicist-beastmaster lawful good
human female 5'5" 140 lbs
red hair brown eyes
carries short sword, short bow, 24 arrows
companion-adult male lion

this is just a run down of my character. i'm going to get more in depth when i can.

[ 10-22-2002, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: RevRuby ]

[mistral4543]

OOC>>> Just strolling by to give my full support to this thread [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] Alas, those of you familiar with my situation would know why I cannot partake in new adventures, much as I would love to do so [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]

Have fun, all, and may another wondrous epic be created! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

[Cyril Darkcloud]

ooc: Thanks for the kind words, Mistral [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

OK - we have several players signed up for the thread, but an apparent disparity in character level. If I remember correctly, both Azrael's and Morgeruat's characters from the original story are fairly high level. That being the case and given how difficult an opponent the Hunger is [it ate the power of the One Ring] we will probably need to adjust some of the lower level characters upward in power so that they have a decent chance of survival. Once we get clarity on the level of the game we can move ahead with the story.

I'll try and have this settled tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

[Morgeruat]

Originally posted by Cyril Darkcloud: ooc: Thanks for the kind words, Mistral [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] OK - we have several players signed up for the thread, but an apparent disparity in character level. If I remember correctly, both Azrael's and Morgeruat's characters from the original story are fairly high level. That being the case and given how difficult an opponent the Hunger is [it ate the power of the One Ring] we will probably need to adjust some of the lower level characters upward in power so that they have a decent chance of survival. Once we get clarity on the level of the game we can move ahead with the story. I'll try and have this settled tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

OOC: absolutely correct, Sir Morguerat was about lvl 15 as a paladin (now fallen) he is around lvl 14 as a fighter (without benefits for starting as a fighter) dual classed to a lvl 3 sorceror.

When the darkness consumed him and stripped his purity of essence, the tained magic of Larry the Mad Modding Mage also infused in him, or perhaps it merely evoked that which was already there, with a certain ability for conjuring things, he knew not how it happened, but he was able to create minor magical effects, as his own abilities were lost to him, he felt no remorse in using his newfound skills with magic in his fight against evil, unfortunately armor, even his own highly magical plate is very disruptive to the flow of arcane energy, and so he bargained a favor or two from a group of elves he had aided as a servant of goodness and right in the past, and bartered his old armor for a specially constructed suit of elven chain, his old blade Crysomer would not answer his calls now, as his spirit no longer held the divine gift that marked him as a paladin, but he wore it on his back as a reminder that one day he would hopefully regain his lost abilities and divine favor. He uses a new sword that was a gift from one of his quests(his share of the loot, and he tithed every bit of it, but the church being amazed at the peity of the man, had returned the magical blade to him since he would take no other treasure and his own sword was useless to him. [i]OOC:Sir Morguerat is extremely bitter about his loss, viewing it as unjust, and frustrated that none of his efforts (including a quest spell combined with an atonement that ended very favorably for all involved) seem to have any effect on him or regaining his paladin status. he has become somewhat irrational, and is more easily upset than is probably good for him (or anyone near him). also his old sword was of limited usefullness to him at the end of the original adventure, he was able only to teleport himself from the stronghold of the Mage before it's powers abandoned him completely[i]

[Larry_OHF]

OOC>>>My character's stats have been altered to fit your desire, Cyril...and I hope it is sufficient.

Brendon Grey

Brendon saw the others slowly coming out of the wood-work. He was glad to see that enough people cared to go on this quest and complete the job hitherto left unfinished. The promise of others to show up also brought much joy to this adventurer. Soon, they would officially meet one another and set out on this task to combat the Hunger. It would be a great service to Lord Ziroc's forums...to clean all the darkness away. After the Hunger had been taken care of they could clense the thread of the dark rubble that stank of death. Thinking about that tower brought another cold dread to Brendon's heart,like an icy hand had taken hold of his very soul. He shuddered and tried to clear it from his mind,,,thinking instead of little bunny rabbits and squirrels at play. Thise seemed to work, and Brendon turned his attention back to the task at hand. To meet these adventurers the right way. Running over to a plank that was found near an old run down tree-house that had been built but since neglected...Brendon wrote these words...:

To those that combat the Hunger...
Please meet me here.

[ 10-13-2002, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]