(oof three 1's in a row, my lucks gotta rebound now 
)
Ira can feel it's hold on the physical world weakening, Ira is closed to being absorbed back into the nothingness, back into her hell. Ira tries pushes through the Archdemons barrier with every fiber of it's being.
(oof three 1's in a row, my lucks gotta rebound now )
Ira can feel it's hold on the physical world weakening, Ira is closed to being absorbed back into the nothingness, back into her hell. Ira tries pushes through the Archdemons barrier with every fiber of it's being.
Shoot web and spit poison into archdemon
weavers of dustwalkers the time has cometh for you to use what you were taught in weaving, entangle the demon in spiritual webs and unravel its spirit
Ira: 3 v Archdemon: 6+2
Nazir: 4 , 4 v Archdemon: 5
Dustwalkers: 5 v Sand: 4 Ira batters down the Nonexistent barrier surrounding the Archdemon's mind, but to her horror, finds that the dragon has created a second layer of defenses underneath it. Her spiritual form is pierced by whirling blades of Emptiness, which the demon is using to tear her spirit apart in much the same way this it is currently destroying her physical body. It roars in triumph as the World-Eater's essence spills out into the aether, not realizing that this contest of wills has distracted it from the real battle back in reality.
Droplets of venom spatter its head as Nazir attacks it from a perch on the lower reaches of the Great web. The liquid corrodes even the dragon's obsidian flesh, burning its way into the glassy rock like acid. Small tendrils of sand rise from the ground to dig the venom from its wounds, but the Sand's attempt at medical attention is cut short by a second volley from Nazir's students. The newly-minted Dustwalker Weavers use strands of webbing to entangle its spirit, jamming the blades which tore Ira's into Ira's essence just a moment ago.
Instead of counterattacking, the dragon abandons the fight altogether. The Empty's champion untangles itself from Ira and flies away, towards the glass crater where Gyaweft is trying to split the world apart.
The battle for the bone tree is won, though mostly by a technicality. Ira's physical body lies on the sand, in a puddle of her own blood and organs, while her barely-coherent spirit hangs in the air beside it. The Dustwalkers also appear to have incurred casualties while she was distracted, although the sand stopped focusing on the battle before it could take full advantage of the opening it created.
melt the sunship and turn it into the Dawn Axe.
Then jump inside the fissure and cut the world in two.
1The Sunship is broken, its body cracked and its engine leaking the Smelter's lifeblood out into the sand. Gyaweft was also injured by the crash, as result of the lost essence, but he musters the strength to make what remains of his internal flame grow brighter and brighter. It flares, burning with a heat ten times greater than any that the primordial has produced before, and even the reinforced glass of the Sunship melts into a puddle around him. Gyaweft feels the flames dimming, his energies exhausted, but he continues on anyway. The Smelter reaches down with trembling gauntlets to shape the glass into a weapon.
The last drops of essence in his body run out, and there is an explosion of light which splashes up towards the heavens. Gyaweft feels himself spreading beyond the confines of his body, expanding until he fills the molten pool of glass, and the crater beyond it, and the realm of the primordials, and the infinite expanses of sand and sky. For one single, glorious moment, he is spread so thin that he suffuses everything. Then the light fades, and his life fades with it.
A suit of armor clatters to the ground like an empty shell.
"Archdemon, please withdraw. There is a more immediate threat to the sands now.
Fragments of Emptiness, I ask you to assist me. Save our home."
Awaken. Locate the source of this fissure. And FIX IT.
BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
5 , 5The Emtpy calls, and its allies respond. The sand is already trying and failing to hold itself together, but the Archdemon rushes join it, accompanied by the newly-awakened fragments of Nothingness. Gyaweft bleeds out before they can arrive, having used the last of his energies to sculpt an axe from the Sunship, but the fissures he created remain. They grow wider, already threatening to tear the world apart, and the various creatures of Nothingness do their best to fill the gaps.
The archdemon uses its control over Nothingness to reinforce the sand and the various Fragments do their best to pull the sides of the fissures together, but neither is strong enough to address the underlying cause of the damage. They are mere pieces of a primordial, too weak to do anything other then delay the inevitable fragmenting of the sands. The Empty isn't whole either, but it is stronger than its fellows. It concentrates itself at the fissures' origin point, just below the craters, and forces the broken pieces of sand together.
The ground fuses, and gradually the fissures become mere fault lines. They remain buried beneath the earth, like old scars, but for now they do not threaten the sand's existence.
Hynsyr attempts to complete the creation of Einyar. Manipulating a piece of his soul to both fuse with the Sea of Light and connect his being with it. The Golden Realm of Einyar must be complete for even in death the spirits of his creations shall continue the Cycle. The Sacred Einyar where all beings created by him will return to either enter the Cycle of Rebirth or to pay their final tribute by becoming one with Hynsyr again.
1Hynsyr pulls out a fragment of his own soul, and holds it beneath the surface of the sea. The two fuse, and the sea becomes connected to both the Titan and his creations, but something about the bond has been twisted. Maddening, eldritch thoughts pulse outwards through Einyar, cascading through Hynsyr and taking hold of the Lightfolk. Those who listen are driven into a murderous rage, killing their fellows so that the sea can absorb their souls. Only a few succumb to the insanity at first, but more will surely follow. Even Hynsyr himself has intrusive urges.
Harden a part of the slime around me to create a new sphere body, then harden more spheres from the rest of the ooze
5The ooze AJAMA is inhabiting shapes itself into a perfect sphere, much like their original body. While it has become more durable and relatively solid, it also retains the black goop's ability to assimilate sand. Learning to control this assimilation might take practice, but AJAMA imagines that it could devour sand to heal their new body, or to grow larger, in much the same way that the ooze did before they became one with it.
The Demiurge also creates more, similar spheres from the remaining ooze, leaving behind only a small sample of the original substance. These feel similar to their current body when mentally examined, but unlike AJAMA or the sphere of nothingness, they do not have any spirit or guiding intelligence to command them.
"Aw fuck its all gone wrong."
Quickly put out the fires before it burns down the web, then help the deer men if their injured.
6 , 3It is vital to put the fire out before it spreads to the rest of the web, but Dr. Bob is at a loss for what to do. He has no access to water, the sand is hundreds of feet below him, and even if he knew what a fire extinguisher was, he might not have time to make one. Without any other way to contain the blaze, he simply rips away the burning strands of webbing and hurls them to the ground. They fall until they are out of sight, leaving a small gap in the web where the star once was, but the remaining strands do not catch fire.
Some of the Deer-Men are heavily burned, but a quick head-count confirms that nobody has died. Dr. Bob sets to work bandaging their wounds, while his children work out a contract with Gral to improve their manual dexterity. The ones who are still conscious promise their creator that they will capture another star and use it to build an even better ship for him.
Gral flies over to the deer-men, and offers some of them a Pact: greater dexterity for their hands, in exchange for help on one project , to be determined in the future, leaving the Winged Spiderlings to further pursue the powers of Bargain. The Brass Buzzards are sent to the Star settlements closest to the fissures, to propose a Pact: In exchange for building one of the most basic temples to Bargain, a market, the Buzzards will teach them how to endure pain and hardship, and rise despite it.
4 , Deer-Men: 4+1
4Gral circles above the crowd of Deer-Men and proposes a pact which will improve their craftmanship. They accept eagerly once Dr. Bob has reassures them, and marvel at their newfound dexterity when the contract takes effect. A few test the effects of the deal by weaving strands of Spiderling silk into nets, and find their capabilities to be greatly improved.
Meanwhile the Brass Buzzards fly to other nearby stars, to carry news of the Bargain to the Spiderlings and propose that a marketplace be built. The star-dwellers also accept the deal, but it becomes clear that something is wrong when work on the temple begins. The Buzzards are, technically, teaching the workers to endure pain and hardship, but they are doing it by acting as cruel taskmasters. Any that move too slowly are clawed and pecked until they overcome the torment and continue.
The Scarred Spiderlings gain preternatural endurance and strength as a result of their experience, and a sprawling market is built in record time, but their relations with the Buzzards have soured.
Gyaweft, the Smelter
-Star-smith.
-Master of the Tower.
-Fragile glass wings.
-Sunship: Severely damaged.
-Verge of the Infinite
-Dispersed
--------------------------------
Dr. Bob, the Unmoved Mover
-Enemy of the sands.
-Spidersilk net.
--------------------------------
Kūhaku, the Mirror
--------------------------------
Nazir, the Weaver
-God of the great web.
--------------------------------
Ira, the World-Eater
-Blackened Scars
-Bleeding out
-Disembodied
-Astral wounds
--------------------------------
Gral, the Contractor
-Contract: Winged Spiderlings.
-Contract: Deer-Men: One Favor
-Heavily bandaged.
--------------------------------
AJAMA, the Demiurge
-Ooze-born Body
-Ooze-born Spheres
--------------------------------
Hynsyr, the Titan
-Maddening thoughts.
--------------------------------
The Empty
-Devoured by the sands.
-Thinned.
--------------------------------
The Living Sands: An awakened desert that extends outwards indefinitely. It consumed ALTERTHENTERRINTARTINTH, the being which brought it to life, and subsumed a part of their consciousness known as the Empty.
--Demons: Crude imitations of the primordials made from sand and absence.
--Obsidian Archdemon: An obsidian dragon crafted by the Empty itself. It was granted the power to manipulate nothingness.
--Fragments of Emptiness: ?
-Steel Maggots: Metallic larvae which Gral accidentally created while trying to create bird Emissaries. After they were pulled off of the vulture, few escaped into the desert, where they accepted Gral's peace terms and moved into the shifting bog.
-Brass Buzzards: Brass birds crafted from Gral's feathers. They are infused with the pain it felt while creating them.
The Stars: Glass spheres filled with fire. Gyaweft created them and threw them into the air to illuminate the world.
--New Stars: A second set that isn't accessible through the Great Web. Fortunately, that means they can't be blotted out by Spiderlings.
Nazir's Web: A giant web that begins in the desert and reaches up towards the stars.
--Silken Nest: A new star that the winged spiderlings have claimed as a nest. It can only be reached by gliding or descending on strands of silk.
Spiderlings: A race of intelligent spiders which can live on light. They cover both the stars and the great web.
--Dustwalkers: A Spiderling subspecies which can feed on sand as well as light. They live on the sand and fight an asymmetrical war against it for survival.
--Winged Spiderlings: Defeated Spiderlings who made a deal with Gral. They received wings in exchange for service, and have built a nest on one of the new stars.
--Aetherweavers: A few Spiderlings who can perform magic by spinning aetheric webs. Nazir taught them the basics of their craft, allowing them to create fairly intricate wards against evil.
-Order of Strands: The first Spiderlings to learn the art of Aetherweaving. Many have strained their minds and bodies to hone their abilities, making them feeble despite their mystical strength.
--Scarred Spiderlings: Spiderlings who have gained great strength and endurance because of their mistreatment by the Brass Buzzards. They built a market but have mixed feelings about Gral and his servants.
Shifting Bog: A large pool of mud drawn from the sand by Kuhaku. Islands rapidly form and dissolve as the sand beneath it moves. It has been tainted with Nazir's venom.
Glass Tower: A tower made of glass, raised from the sands by Gyaweft. It extends upwards through the web, tall enough that its upper floors reach the stars.
Black Ooze: A patch of black goo created by AJAMA which can grow by absorbing sand. A column of ooze goes deep beneath the earth, where it breached a reservoir of Emptiness.
Lightfolk: A species of humanoid mortals born from Hynsyr's golden light. Their powers of creation threaten to overwhelm their bodies, causing their inner light to warp chaotically. Many have begun to train so that they can gain more control over this ability.
--Prismatics: Seven lightfolk which glow brighter than the rest. They were hewn from the rainbow light of Hynsyr's eyes.
Light Spires: A rudimentary settlement made by the Lightfolk using their creation magic.
Einyar: A sea of golden light drawn from Hynsyr's aura. It has developed a mind of its own, and is whispering thoughts of violence to the Lightfolk so that it can absorb their spirits.
Deer-Men: A humanoid race with the heads of deer. Dr. Bob originally crafted them from the silk of Nazir's web. They were granted superior dexterity through a contract with Gral.
Bone Sapling: A tree grown from one of Ira's teeth. It is currently growing into a fortress for the Dustwalkers.
Glass Crater: When Gyaweft flew his Sunship into the ground, it melted a wide swathe of the sand into glass. Fiery essence spilled from the ship still burns here, and sealed fault lines radiate from the impact site.
--Smelter's Grave: The center of the crater. Gyaweft's corpse lies here, alongside the molten remains of his Sunship.
-------------------
This is the first real (well, non-consentual) player death. Just one bad roll, but unfortunately it came at an important moment. It's not fun to critfail while reforging something that holds all your blood.
ziizo, feel free to join with another character if you want, or to salvage something from the remains of your previous like Egan did.
Author
Topic: Sand & Souls - Let There Be Turns (Read 61800 times)