You stand on what seems to be the highest point of the Iron Fortress, only it is in ruin. Around you, you see armies marching South-West. Lava flows through the fort and in the surrounding landscape. The forest that once surrounded the Iron Fortress is nothing but a barren landscape.
Mikal extends an arm toward the undead army. "They march for Carmia, that nation will no longer stand against Orcus"
Rao stares in wonder, not believing what he is seeing. Using his divine power to read the aura of Mikal, he is able to discern any lies deliberately being said by the man.
Where have you taken us?
He then attempts to read the faces of his companions around him to get hints of what they might be feeling.
Mikal glares at Rao, "I have taken you no where. You grabbed onto me and forced yourself into my travel spell! However if you must know, we are in Torah, seventy-three years after the outbreak started"
Emul gazes down at the encroaching army with severity. It is a long time before he speaks.
"...A grim future you have shown us. I beg you, return us at once so we may prevent this."
How could Orcus have amassed such power?
"You fool, you cannot stop this. It is your destiny to fall in the north and become a servant of Vecna. Mikal, the young Mikal, he is the key"
"What are we to do? If this cannot be stopped then what is the point of our quest? If this life is meaningless then I should continue onto a different one."
Mikal sighs, "It can be stopped, Mikal is they key. I have already killed the man who was coming to bring you to the North, so this future may yet be averted. But you must stop the young me, killing him will not be enough, it will only quicken the end. You cannot take him off the board that way. Perhaps you can hid him away, or save him from his own corruption. But by the time he wakes, he will agree with Orcus. Save him or secure him, but you cannot kill him." Mikal looks down at the undead marching beneath you. So many that they go as far as the eye can see.
"Have you heard of The Raven's Skull?"
"Perhaps the best course of action is to convert him to an altogether superior god. I've heard tell of a dashing young upstart in the Fortress quickly gaining power. Perhaps we should begin to focus all of our attention on providing him (whoever he may be) with more followers, money, and women so when the boy does wake, he'll immediately regret allying with Orcus and change sides."
How many birds with one stone? My own brilliance astounds me.
Alex looks around at the group to observe their reactions.
Also rolled a 10 as an attempt at diplomacy.
Rao recalls about having heard and read about The Raven's Skull in past tomes during his brief studding.
"Yes we have heard of such a skull. If I remember correctly we have been working on tracking it down. Tell me, what exactly can it do for us?"
"... and where can we find it?" Emul continues on behalf of Rao.
"We were searching high and low but to no avail. Tell us also - shall we hide your youthful counterpart in the Shadowfell - where in our time, Orcus holds no sway? Finally, how can we return, there is naught for us to accomplish here."
After finishing, Emul turns to consult Alex.
"What you suggest would properly brainwash a politician, but I remind you, our enemy can offer power, which in turn allows the boy to choose his own reward.
Instead we must teach him pride. While an aspiring god can be bribed with power, Mikal must not. He must answer the calls of a higher order; become an uncorruptable divine servant such as myself."
Emul shudders, remembering that he is a traitor in this reality.
Mikal turns to Alex, "It will not be that simple. I did not see the error in my ways until it was too late. Orcus is creeping into his mind. He is hearing Orcus's voice. That is what you must battle against, Orcus, consistently telling Mikal that the way Orcus is showing him is the correct way"
Mikal then turns to Rao and Emul, "I was never told or shown where, but Ioanna found it in the Black Swamp," he points west, "and destroyed it. If you can find Orla before Ioanna does, you may be able to find the skull. You see, everything I accomplished in Orcus's name was made possible because the divine spark The Raven Queen placed into the Raven's Skull was destroyed when Ioanna destroyed the Skull."
He continues, "I can return all of us back to your time, I will be stuck there until I can replenish my spells though. But you will not last in this time."
Emul's eyes widen when he hears Ioanna's name.
Emul gazes at Mikal for a few moments before starting. "Regardless of your choice in the matter, it will be greatly appreciated if you accompany us back to Torah. We still have many questions."
Emul slowly continues. "One question vexes me in particular. Is it possible you have learned of Ioanna's motivations? I knew her some time ago and I find it disquieting that she allied herself with Orcus as well."
"Ioanna was compelled to act the way she did by another servant of Orcus...at first. Eventually Ioanna came to see the same way and started operating on her own free will but still for Orcus. I believe she in between those two points in your time."
Rao glances at Emul somewhat curiously.
"Emul, who is Ioanna? You seem quite interested in her."
"Can her master be destroyed? If so, I believe it's within my duty to seek out this servant. We are lucky that she still has time."
Emul bombards Mikal with a plethora of questions. "Where can they be found? How many are there? What are these servants doing to manipulate people? When did this happen? What can be done to make the Iron Keep impervious to infiltration?..."
"Slow down there pal. Best to keep a cool head in times like these."
After Mikal responds to Emul, Alex inquires,
"And what of our own fates? It can only help us to know what caused our downfalls. If we're going to stop young Mikal and fulfill our personal goals, survival is key."
"Put personal goals aside, Alexis, or you will fail. Her master can be destroyed, and Rao knows where to find her. Her name is Sabrin, a succubus with her own goals, she too, fails, and no longer exists in this time. As for the Iron Fortress, it is already infiltrated. Other than this, I cannot tell you anymore. I have altered the future enough as it is. Are you ready to return?"
Emul turns to Rao. "She was a former companion of mine and loyal beyond death. She served under me, and being good natured for a Shadar Kai, we quickly became friends. I have been seeking her out for some time now, however, and already suspected her of treachery. We must help her, out of respect for her former virtues and the threat she poses as an enemy.
Emul solemnly turns to Mikal. "We are ready to return... please send us back."
Mikal gathers you all around, and with a tap of his staff, he returns you to the Iron Fort. You feel disoriented from the time travel twice in such a short time, and when you regain your barrings, the older Mikal is gone. You are where you left, in the hospital, the younger Mikal still in a comma below you.
"I suppose it is best to continue to seek the Raven's Skull. Where do we begin?"
"To the east, in the Black Swamp," two voices says behind you. Mikal, the young Mikal, sits up in his bed behind you, his eyes glow a red-orange like magma. You realize, that both voices you heard came from Mikal's mouth.
Rao stares at Mikan, stunned.
"Mikal are you... alright?"
Emul starts. "Rao, in concession to Mikal's reservations against altering the future any further, perhaps it is best we continue to Black Swamp without his blessings."
Rao goes to help Mikal lay back down.
"Go back to sleep, Mikal. It is not yet your time."
Alex the Great is speechless at the sight of Mikal awake. This silence is probably very noticeable.
Alex makes a quick trip to the meta game shop. He f*cks his way across the land and dimensions, gaining a number of illigitimate children. Reaching the shop, he uses metabucks to purchase a weighted d20, a few favors from the DM, an enchanted golden mask, and an epic montage of his sexploits from the journey there to show his traveling companions. Alex returns, deftly and skillfully dodging responsibilities, until he makes it back to Mikal. Only a few seconds have passed in this dimension, and no one seems to have noticed his brief absence.
Rao begins to attack everyone in the fortress. He has turned chaotic evil. Everyone is standing still and is therefore the perfect target for his attacks. He breaths steam out of his nostrils which summons a volcano to erupt out of the ground in the center of the fortress. The walls begin to melt from the heat and Rao can't but help to laugh. He then goes to the church of Alex the Great and kills everyone there after f*cking the sh*t out of them. He lays a trap for his old traveling companion, Alex, so that when he arrives he will be able to f*ck the sh*t out of him as well! Feeling satisfied with his work he teleports to his base in the sky where he will await for the arrival of the one called Alex. Rao looks at the world thousands of feet below him. He thinks about his mother. He then reminds himself to kill himself later! That he may be reborn into a new body, perhaps with better powers than this one. Rao then calls one of her frozen servants to make his a kolawa sandwich made from the blood of a thousand infertile babies. "Damn good sandwich." he said "Nothing much!" he replied. Noticing that the world was no longer spinning as it should, Rao found many strange creatures and studied them, advancing his knowledge of the universe to a level far about even the gods. He know that if this effect lasted much longer, he could defeat all the gods and take their place without them even having a chance to fight back. He know it would be hard to kill some since one or two of the little f*ckers were trapped in the center of the d*mn planet! It was time. Rao reached up and f*cked the DM. So hard that gold, monsters, and loot flew from the body of the DM and flooded the still world below. XP was also raining out of him like breath form the sweaty jogger! The DM then begin to emit many stories that will never be to pass now that the world was flooded with treasure and no one could claim it except for Rao. Stories of how Rao eventually over powered his former companions and f*cked them all. Hard. Especially Alex the F*ck. Rao knew that something had to be done about the Martians.
As Rao removed "The Inchworm" from the DM's @ss, Alex the Great thrust his groinsaw deeper into Rao. He hadn't even realized he was there, which was incredible, because Rao's @sshole had expanded by about 20 times its usual size. Alex laughed and licked up the XP hitting the ground, enjoying his newfound power. Alex then drew his guitar, F*ckslayer, from a dimension where all screamed for naught, wrought from the silver heart of heaven's false promise, laced with vessels that pulsed with angel's menstrual blood, and hewn from the horns of Satan's generals, and used it to slice through the DM, ending the flow of bullsh*t from his mouth. Alex chose that moment to reveal himself to Rao, The Blasphemer, and ignited himself with a wreath of holy f*ckfire. Alex then did pull out a mustard and cartilage sandwich, and laughed heartily what he imagined his new archnemesis must be thinking.
Rao spat out an eyeball. Glaring Alex the Not-so-great in the nipples, he reached for his drum sticks. They were named Rectum Rammer 1 and 2. He threw one into Alex's anus, ramming the f!%# out of him. He then coughed. Rao began to levitate, previous and future versions of himself began to form around him. They were singing with the voice of a thousand babies in the language of the Muk-ducks. Rao then landed and the other versions of himself faded into dust. Rao opened his eyes! Beam of light shone forth, cutting through everything he looked it! Angle wings both scaly and feathery sprouted form Rao's back side and he morphed into the god of infertility! Cursing Alex to never have a child he laughed and rubbed his nipples. Rao's arms and legs began to boil and they changed into SIX arms and legs! He flew into the high heavens where he found another DM to f*ck the sh*t out of for more power! He knew that a more intricate plot awaited him in the stars and he eargly awaited his nemesis, Alex the Sh*ty.
Rao was making chocolate pudding, he was thinking about his old adventuring company. As he made the pudding, he created figurines out of it in the shape of his former companions. He then got an idea. What if he could relive his adventures with them, but not with them. Gauging their strengths and weaknesses, Rao wrote down some of their key attributes on a parchment. He did the same for a verity of different creatures that he had encountered on his adventures. "What would it be like if the party had made decisions different than the ones they made?" Rao thought to himself. "It's boring if I come up with what everyone does by myself. I need to get some friends to help!" Rao ran to gather townsfolk form the world below. He tried for over a year to find someone who would play with him but no one even batted an eye at him. Probably because they were frozen. He decided that his only option was to make chocolate pudding friends. "I will control the chocolate pudding friends, and they would control the rest of the adventuring company for the game! Rao though excitedly. "It's perfect! That way each action will be completely unique and unexpected by me! With so many different personalities playing my old adventuring party, there's no way that it will be the same as before!" Despite his previous excitement, after a few weeks Rao grew bored. He had created an entire world of chocolate pudding, covering his own world in it. After sometime he returned to his table, his chocolate pudding friends still standing, some of them a little melted, but still all around the table. He noticed that their expressions had changed, someone how, their characters in the game had done amazing things! He looked closer, and they that they had set up a meta-game shop, and that one of the characters had made their own version of the game within the game!As he looked closer, Rao noticed that there was an infinite amount of games exactly like this one going on within each game. He needed 1,000 microscopes to be able to see them, but still he knew there were more going on within. "Amazing..." Rao thought. He began to eat the original chocolate pudding friends as he watch the games continues on their own in amazement. "I'm speechless!" Rao exclaimed. His chocolate pudding friends began to speak in tongues. A Demon from hell, made out of pudding of course, rose up out of no where to attack Rao! "Ha!" Rao said. "I'll just eat you!" But Rao Realized that he was full from eating his friends, and was therefore unable to eat the beast that stood in front of him. Rao shrieked and ran away. He knew that in order to defeat this monster, he would have to get the help of the only person he know that could still move. The only one with an appetite that was equal to his own. Alex the Not-so-great.