In Draconic: Welcome back again to the Crystal Cave, friends... It’s been some time...or has it? The cambion archmage looks sideways at Morganna Le Fey... I still have some trouble with my memory, thanks to your shenanigans, My Queen...
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In Draconic: Welcome back again to the Crystal Cave, friends... It’s been some time...or has it? The cambion archmage looks sideways at Morganna Le Fey... I still have some trouble with my memory, thanks to your shenanigans, My Queen...
Arriving with Morgan the Fey at his side, Merlin returns to their side once more in The Fierce Ones' hour of need.... Bravely and brilliantly, the old wizard fights alongside his ward once more, urging Derrik to greater and greater fears of battle-glory! Kill him, Arthur!!!! Kill the bloody brute!!! roars Merlin to Derrik with his final breaths as the ancient archmage vanishes down Cthulhu's tentacle-fringed maw....
Over the next few days, Merlin visits each of the FOs and instructs them to think on what he, the elven archmage Thandorias of Alfheim, and Pope Francis of the Vatican can use their potent magics to craft that might assist them in the coming battles against the Great Old Ones, and if it is within their combined power to craft, they will do so as a gift of thanks for all the FOs have done on behalf of Earth, humanity, and all races of goodwill.... (We don't have a gp-value limit yet, but kind of think of how you would upgrade your gear with, say, another 50,000 gp for now, and once we know about how much each PC would need to catch up with Xavier, you can make your gift request....)
I'd say you've cut your teeth on Hastur, so to speak.... And I couldn't be more proud of the Fierce Ones for that.... But my colleague and sometimes rival Morganna tells me that even if Cthulhu were defeated, Earth would yet be contested by two more Great Old Ones.... Yig, Father of Serpents, worshipped by men as Quetzalcoatl in centuries past, has been resurrected by a cult of serpentfolk, naga, aghasura, and mariliths, along with the Red Men who live in those jungle climes.... And in Xavier Martin's homeland, the dreadful abomination known as Shub-Niggurath has been called into this world from the Far Realm by the insane witch doctors and prophets of the aborigines dwelling in the Outback.... Ancient ruins of the Elder Things, of which you know all too much already, Dr Jones, lay beneath the windswept sands of Australia.... And prisons of the flying polyps and other dread horrors have been unsealed, freeing these terrors upon the world of men.... The Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath haunt the wild ways of that land.... While Yig and Shub-Niggurath yet crawl upon the Earth, mankind cannot hope to thrive, let alone the dire yoke of Dread Cthulhu.... If ye would heroes truly be.... Ye would first purge the Earth of these eldritch menaces forevermore.... And then, if ye prove the victors in those two contests dire.... Ye might have the experience and the power to put an end to Cthulhu's evil reign for all time.... Merlin looks sadly at Derrik as he says this.... And if the heart of gold yields to fate a worthy sacrifice, Cthulhu can truly be defeated for all time.... Never again to trouble the realms of humankind.... Merlin closes his eyes as though weary.... He sighs a ragged sigh.... The Wheel of Fortune turns, and no god or mortal being can stay its steady course....
Merlin flies over from his rooftop perch, clapping his hands enthusiastically while his familiar, an owl named Archimedes carries his staff in its talons and soars alongside the old archmage.... Well done, as always, Fierce Ones! Splendid shooting, Mister Martin! Way to give him the what-for, Sieg! Excellent choice with the fire spells, Allison and Marcus.... Now to see if we can't get this big bloke here.... Merlin nods at Gojira.... Well under control and on our side.... With diplomacy, enabled by magic.... Not Hastur's presumptuous and heavy handed enchantments.... Merlin casts a communal tongues spell-like magic that enables the Fierce Ones to communicate with the Kaiju.... Duration permanent....
At the bottom of round 5, Merlin teleports onto the sea wall with a rugged-looking outdoorsman-type packing a pair of revolvers.... Fierce Ones! May I introduce to you Xavier of the Outback, a mythic hero who once was King David, Jack the Giant-Slayer, and the famous outlaw Jesse James.... Sorry for the short notice, but I think you will welcome his skills and formidable guns! Carry on! Xavier, go ahead and roll initiative for round 6: you are fighting Hastur, and possibly Gojira in another couple rounds.... Merlin perches himself on a nearby rooftop to watch the spectacular rumble unfold....
Aye.... A simple son of a blacksmith.... Merlin smiles at Arthur as he has thousands of times through the ages, with a genuine look of wonder and marvel at the ways of the universe in his eyes that make him seem childlike in spite of his centuries of age....
I shall convey your wishes, my King.... He will need a bit of time to ready himself properly for a meeting with Your Excellence and the noble Fierce Ones....
Stuffs some popcorn into his bearded face.... Marvelous...nom....nom....the red men were brilliant when they discovered that ye could roast corn into this delicacy favored by spectators ever since....nom....nom.... By the way, Derrik, I believe I've located the reincarnated King David, who slew Goliath with a well-aimed sling-stone, and returned as Jack the Giant-Slayer in the Middle Ages, somewhat after you were Arthur, my boy.... Then he came back as a rather surly young fellow known as Jesse James.... Anyway, his current incarnation was born in the land of Australia.... He cut his teeth battling aberrations and horrors of the elder world in the Outback, blasting otyughs and hordes of ghouls and ghasts raised by Shub-Niggurath, The Dark Goat of the Woods With A Thousand Young, and her cult of insane aborigines and occultists.... He explored the eons-old vaults of the Elder Things under the desert sands of the Outback, battling against Flying Polyps, ropers, and other terrors from the Far Realm of Madness and Nightmares.... He overcame mythic trials against shoggoths, mythic priests of the Dark Goat of the Woods, and sundry other fell challenges, and is of like power and experience to the Fierce Ones.... He has recovered his old six-shooter, an artifact of power like unto Excalibur.... I shall introduce him to ye when the time is right.... He is a friend and admirer from afar of the Fierce Ones, and would be greatly honored to join their ranks to fight against Cthulhu in the Final Battle....
He seems to favor you, Dr Jones.... Merlin's voice comes from the corner.... It's difficult for anyone to remember noticing when he entered the room.... You are powerful enough now to teleport yourselves to the Empire of Silk and Opium.... You need not my aid anymore, Fierce Ones.... I shall go and seek new recruits for the Jaeger League.... And other reincarnated heroes of yore willing to take up arms 'gainst the Great Old Ones.... Your gods be with thee, Fierce Ones.... It seems that they are! Merlin winks at Allison, then salutes the assembled FOs before teleporting away....
You feel it, too, Dr Jones.... You are very perceptive.... I do not yet know what it is.... But I feel it also.... I plan to cast some divinations today, in hope of learning more....
Hmmm.... I detect a disturbance in the Mana Tapestry.... As if a thousand souls were screaming "Oh no! Gojira!" at once....
Professor Radsworth, would you be willing to contribute to the teleportation of Jaeger League personnel to the Silver Tower on September 1st?
Derrik finds Merlin in the courtyard of the Castle, sitting with Radsworth and watching Hell-No Kitty training Sun Mi, who wears a blindfold and is trying to anticipate and dodge tennis balls thrown at her by her catfolk sensei.... Hello, Arthur.... Young Sun Mi is really becoming quite good at this ninja business.... What can I do for you?
Merlin arrives back at the Castle on the evening of May 18th. With him are three new faces, apparently reincarnated hero-souls who have been battling against minions of the Old Ones and performing great deeds in different parts of the world over the past five months.... Merlin introduces the newcomers as fellow champions of humanity, and potential recruits to an auxiliary team based alongside the Fierce Ones at Pandora's Box in the Castle.... On hearing that some of the Fierce Ones are considering an expedition to the infamous Hall of Trials to test their mythic mettle and possibly win increased inherent ability, Merlin declares that such a venture, though seemingly a foolish and unnecessary risk, might actually serve as a useful test of the newcomers' personal capabilities, as well as their ability to work with the FOs as part of the team.... He also suggests that Fate might have placed this challenge in the FOs' path, and it might be unwise to ignore it.... Somehow, I sense more than mere chance in this tale of the satyr's.... Mayhap the Fierce Ones are meant to take up this quest.... Mayhap they are being invited by some great, unseen power.... Mayhap the ghost of Loki himself? Merlin tugs thoughtfully at his gray, tangled beard....
Merlin has been strangely absent the last week.... He has been busy consulting with the elven oracles and diviners regarding other reincarnated hero-souls, discovering their existences and current locations, and tracking them down to recruit them in the struggle against the Great Old Ones....
Yes. Merlin knows every spell ever created, and shares them freely with Radsworth....
I've been studying the moving pictures in the archives at Pandora's Box.... And Monkey Dude at Pandora's has been coaching me.... But Arthur clearly has the most grace here!
Merlin "moon walks" over to MJ and begins to break dance with surprising agility and flexibility for a being more than a thousand years old....
A few moments after the altar and idol plunge to destruction in the street outside, Merlin flies through one of the open windows in the form of an owl, lands a bit clumsily, and resumes his true shape. Huzzah! Hail the mighty Fierce Ones! I see that you are victorious! I never doubted you.... Are you ready for a well-earned rest? We will soon begin the mass exodus from the Grand Canyon to the Black Forest.... But for the rest of today, and tonight, you should be able to rest safely at Pandora's Box.... Our foe has been struck a blow from which it will not soon recover.... Divinations reveal no imminent attacks on the base....
Gather and join hands, my brave Fierce Ones! To the Tower! Merlin teleports the FOs to the street below the facade of the looming Silver Tower in Sarasota, Florida. I shall await you here, Fierce Ones. May the gods smile on thine efforts!
Now.... I shall see to the relocation..... It is bound to prove considerably more difficult this time, as we have many more bodies to transport, and to a far greater distance than from the Everglades to the Grand Canyon.... But leave this problem for myself and the wise ones of Pandora's Box.... Ye Fierce Ones, I believe, have an even more daunting task before ye.... The Silver Tower must be sieged again, and it's evil extinguished forevermore! Merlin prepares to cast another teleport to transport the FOs back to the Silver Tower....
Excellent! Let us return to the Grand Canyon and inform the chieftains and our colleagues at Pandora's Box of the elves' generous decision! Captain Tringalath escorts the FOs back to the gate and out of Alfheim into the Black Forest, and bids them farewell. Merlin beckons for the FOs to join hands with him, and casts greater teleport to return all to the Grand Canyon....
Only dire need impels us to seek thy hospitality, noble elf. And Yingzen was beloved in a fashion by thy people.... We had hoped that his foster father, an elf lord among thy people, would hear our desperate plea....
We ask a great favor of the elves.... Shelter for a great many people.
In High German: We are friends of the Elves! I am Merlin Wild, wizard and advisor to Arthur, King of the Britons.... These are my companions, Daisy Eagle-Feather, shaman of the Navajo people....and Yingzen the tengu, who was born and fostered among your people, noble elf! We seek audience with your leaders, for times are dire, and we are in great need of your aid....
Most likely, lass....
Do not judge thyselves too sternly for having to flee the barbed devils, Fierce Ones.... Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor....
The Fierce Ones link up by hands just in time.... Merlin teleports them back to Pandora's Box just as three of the barbed devils teleport onto the landing of the ninth floor, hoping to trap the intruders between them and their fellows....
Eh? Wazzat? Trouble?.... Gather 'round, Fierce Ones!.... I shall teleport us out of danger's grasp! The old archmage extends his hands for the Fierce Ones to take hold....
Mikey Jay speaks truly....
Morgan said we have three nights before the attack comes.... Ye may be more than capable of striking down the foul leaders who dwell above before we return to Pandora's Box, if ye still feel strong enough in magic and might.... I will leave that decision to yourselves, Fierce Ones.... If ye wish to finish first what ye've started here, I will await you here. If ye feel it can wait until after Pandora's Box has weathered the coming storm of evil, then let us make haste to return and plan our defense!
Hmmm.... Use caution when singing elven lullabies, Yingzen.... There be sleep magic in those ancient words and melodies.... Merlin appears seemingly out from the back of a Bourbon Street Grill kiosk, stifling a yawn.... ....You'll put old Merlin to sleep! Heheh.... The old wizard becomes serious. I'm sorry to interrupt your quest here in The Silver Tower.... Gods know it be an urgent quest, stamping out the evil here.... But there be greater and more immediate need of ye elsewhere.... Morgan La Fey has divined an imminent attack on Pandora's Box.... It seems your former ally, Mephos, has betrayed us.... Very soon, Mephos will lead an attack on Pandora's Box in the Canyon, and unless its mightiest champions come to its defense, the Box will surely fall, and the Redman tribes will surely be sacrificed or enslaved....as will the women rescued from Lido Key....
Now I shall leave you to your task, before Mister Blake fills me with lead for calling him "little friend".... I must rest to recover my power after casting that abjuration that blocked the Evil One's summoning storm.... Merlin gestures, chants, and vanishes....
Merlin addresses Darius.... My apologies for the abrupt departure, Mister Blake.... As you can see, the situation is dire.... I will allow the Fierce Ones to introduce themselves.... Suffice it to say that they are a band of heroes who hate the Great Old Ones as fiercely as you and Mister Greer do, my little friend.... We are at a place called The Silver Tower, in the land of Florida, within the City of Sarasota.... It is a bastion of evil, inhabited by a lieutenant of Cthulhu and it's monstrous minions and cultists.... Your quest, for which you are well suited, is to eliminate all of them and free any captives you may find, as well as recover any useful weapons or artifacts in their possession.... Merlin smiles fondly at the angry little svirfneblin.
I cannot say for certain, my dear.... But I felt a great disturbance in the Web of Mana.... As if a powerful and evil magic were brewing.... And I came as quickly as I could, with Marcus and Darius here.... But I was too late, alas.... I fear the Enemy has found you and worked a powerful conjuration.... He may have summoned your friends to R'lyeh.... I know not if they lived through the summoning, but they will not live long in Cthulhu's dark presence, I fear.... The old archmage sighs.... My own abjuration should prevent him from taking any more of you, at least for the next twenty-four hours.... I shall need to rest, and cast it again after such a time.... But for now, you should be safe to continue your quest....
White light emanating from Merlin's staff expands until it fills the room.... A second later, the unnatural storm subsides, the rain and shrieking winds die down, and the sky outside brightens once more.... The white light fades, and Merlin leans wearily on his staff, pale and haggard.... The Enemy has struck us a cruel blow, Fierce Ones.... I am sorry I was too late to save all of you.... He looks around at the remaining Fierce Ones, old eyes heavy with sadness.... But I have brought new allies to replace those the Evil One has taken. I bring Marcus and Darius, two brave souls like yourselves, who know all too well the evil of the Great Old Ones.... They will aid you in your quest to destroy the evil infesting this tower.... Merlin gestures to the two strangers with him....
Merlin appears out of thin air, and with him are two strangers: one a tall man with a crazed gleam in his eyes, the other a thin, gnome-like, gray-skinned creature with an oversized bald head.... Gods be damned, I'm too late! mutters Merlin, a fearful look in his eyes.... He begins gesturing boldly with his staff, which glows with a bright white light, and loudly intones an incantation.... A NULL NATHRATH.... ULTH VAS DESFURTH.... DULTH YUL YENVEH!!
It is, indeed, Arthur. Let us depart.... The FOs join hands and Merlin teleports them off to Sarasota, to the parking garage behind The Silver Tower.... It is about 11:10 AM, Wednesday, April 24th, 2013.... A hot, humid day on the southwest coast of Florida....
Merlin grins as he peers up at the now giant-sized Koran.... Hmm.... Daisy, I think ye'll be busy bandaging this big fellow's head! Heheh! He'll be ducking and squeezing a bit in the world o' men, now, but I reckon he packs an even mightier wallop, now as he stands the height of Goliath or Balor....
Merlin smiles at Levinson. Any odd dreams last night, love? He puts an age-gnarled hand on the young professor's shoulder.... His Trickyness, Senior Coyote, spoke to me of a newfangled kind of golem as we danced last night.... A golem given spirit by a pretty lass with the power of summoning.... A summoner akin in power to an ancient sea witch of the Hellenic Age, who once seduced a certain adventurous hero and transformed his crew of sailors into swine.... But never mind the rambling of an old tiefling like me.... Merlin winks at Levinson and grins through his gray beard.... He looks around at the assembled heroes.... Tried and true souls, determined to fight against the oppression of the Great Old Ones and Their inimical dogma.... Such noble spirits, refusing to rest from labor in the Karmic Sea of Nirvana.... Ever rising again in new forms to contest with evil and entropy.... Odysseus/Abraham Lincoln/Radsworth, clever, resourceful, thoughtful, ever ready for all contingencies.... Orpheus/John Lennon/Kailin, piercing through the veil of illusions to perceive the heart of reality, and empassioning his fellows to action and glorious motion.... Raven/Miyamoto Musashi/Yinzen, superb swordsman uniting flesh and bone with steel in a perfect dance of death.... Attilla/Genghis Khan/Koran, relentless will of determination fueled by rage against the oppressor, an unstoppable engine of furious destruction.... Arthur/General Patton/Derrik, a champion of righteousness, defender of the weak, and inspiring hero for humanity.... Kwan Yin/Mary Magdalen/Daisy, sacred prostitute, balm of the wounded, motherly protector, compassionate healer Heracles/Bruce Lee/Mikey Jay, exemplar of martial excellence, personification of the glory of combat and adventure.... And Circe/Amelia Erhardt/Levinson, enchanting, seductive, enthralling and inspiring in her adventurous ambition and determination to elevate humanity.... Here, surely, if ever there was a band of heroes so assembled (the Argonauts, the Round Table, the Peers of Charlemagne), was a band who might defeat the Great Old Ones yet....
Merlin emerges from his tent, dressed in his wrinkled Armani suit and alligator-skin boots, and now with the feathered headdress of a Navajo shaman on his head.... Good morn, all! The Navajo shamans made me an honorary member of their esteemed order last night, quite an honor, I must say.... A most splendid celebration you inspired with your flute last night, Maestro Kailin.... A much needed morale boost for the tribes, and for us all, I dare say.... Very timely.... Well, if we are all here, and ready to return to The Silver Tower.... Let us join hands....
Nay, Mikey Jay, 'tis not I.... responds Merlin from the shadows, who begins to caper and prance in spite of his centuries of age.... I ken it be some native deity of this land.... Worshipped by yonder Red Men.... It hath come to bless us in some fashion, to strengthen us against Cthulhu and his ilk....
Merlin seems to have taken a natural interest in Radsworth's development as a wizard, and that night (the 23rd), he presents the professor with a gift of six spells to scribe into his spellbook: 2nd level: acid arrow, summon monster II, web 3rd level: stinking cloud, beast shape I, water breathing These six scrolls are scribed with some of my favorite lesser-grimoire spells.... Ones I've noticed you don't seem to have in your spellbook already.... See how you like them, Professor Radsworth.... All of them are from schools you are comfortable with, I believe....
So The FOs withdraw to the parking garage, and call out for Merlin.... An old, gray tomcat appears from under an abandoned Jeep, and transforms into Merlin. Ready to return to the Box for some rest, are we? Very well, Fierce Ones, let us join hands, then.... Merlin teleports The Fierce Ones back to PB in the GC, where they are able to shower off the blood and grit of their battles, eat a warm meal, get some much-needed rest, and upgrade their gear (to a total value of 40,000 gp)....
From the shade beneath an anandoned Jeep Cherokee parked in the parking garage, Tomcat-Merlin watches the goddess Sif as she rides off in Thor's ram-drawn chariot, leaving behind a slowly fading rainbow trail in her wake, and wonders what business brought the Aesir goddess to this particular spot on Midgard.... He highly doubted it was coincidence or a mere trifle that brought a goddess to this place, and at this time.... He licks his paw and considers it awhile....
There! That ought to keep them safe 'til our grim task is complete here.... Daisy and Yingzen shall tend to and protect these poor souls. I will also be around, in cognitus.... Merlin casts a transmutation and changes shape into an old, gray tomcat, and curls up on Daisy's lap for a nap....
Merlin smiles at Radsworth and nods his head.... Aye, Professor Radsworth.... I know the feeling ye speak of.... A feeling I have had from time to time.... And yet, the world was indeed a very different place when Arthur first walked the land.... It was a thing I had foreseen, that Arthur would unite the Britons and save England.... It had seemed so important, then.... But England is a little lump of soil compared to the whole world.... And we all have a greater part to play in this drama than Arthur ever had before.... Merlin pats Radsworth on the shoulder. Let us keep vigilant, Professor.... And let us try to plan for the unforeseen.... In answer to Yingzen: Aye, that seems a sound plan, Yingzen.... Choose a suitable location, and I will help ye make it safe.... I have a spell or two that will help....
'Tis true, Professor Radsworth.... There be divinations to find the vile crafters of these unholy symbols.... And 'tis also true that whosoever holds these symbols is in danger of being found by such divinations.... Merlin continues to stroke his beard in thought.... Mayhap Daisy and I can begin to find a safe place to hide these poor souls you've saved from certain and terrible doom, whilst the rest of you continue to assault The Silver Tower.... Or, I can cast a divination to seek the wicked priests that blessed these unholy symbols, if ye would find and attack them now, before they can do the same to us....
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