Dispossessed of a Godling

In Which We Are Dispossessed of a Godling

An Objective Account of Recent Adventures and Events
Compiled by Game Master Steve, the Moving Force for Nomad

Background

The party and Sheemish have recently toppled the reign of Shargaas at a single but large orc village.

Orcish gods are held in a strict chain of command by Gruumsh. Sheemish has caused Shargaas considerable loss of status, which will increase if not dealt with. Although some fighting is encouraged among orc tribes, and presumably among their gods as well, to keep them fit, Sheemish is an outsider. The other orc deities are not ready to help Shargaas, and probably won't be for some time. But they are bound to pay an uncomfortable amount of attention to Sheemish if he grows too big or too fast, and will oppose Sheemish in the future. Especially if he starts attracting followers across racial lines.

Sheemish, though, is tired. He has expended tremendous reserves in the fight with Shargaas, and has only his new heady but thoroughly evil worshiper-power to draw on for recovery.

Lastly, there are powerful beings in the area who want the balance shifted away from evil both in the short and long terms. They have devised an approach that they think will enable Sheemish to gain power apart from his orc followers and survive the lean times he's facing right now, without incurring the wrath of Gruumsh.

Adventure Summary

The characters were flying the Top back from the southlands on their delayed scroll-collecting mission, and one sunrise encountered something big. It looked like a large medusa jelly-fish, approximately 70' in diameter. In other words, as big around and half as tall as the Top, with tentacles hanging down roughly a hundred feet.

Upon investigating and coming in physical contact with the creature, Marvin and Alterio had a shared hallucination, and realized the creature was trying to tell them something this way. Abrac stayed out of contact to act as a safeguard.

The creature seemed to show three things. Either 1) the Orcs of Sheemish died fighting other orcs, 2) the Orcs of Sheemish and their allies the Dwarves of Sheemish defeated other orcs and then died against a larger host, or 3) Sheemish got powerful all of a sudden.

The characters returned to the orc city to find it much as they left it, except that there was a floater hanging about the place, and a huge field was cleared down to rubble and ashes for several hundred yards on all sides of the city. Nothing was going to sneak up on it.

The orcs believed the floater is Sheemish's servant. It wasn't, and if the characters asked Sheemish, he knew it was there but it didn't worship him. It was, however, nice enough to clear the approaches to the city.

Nothing much happened while the characters were away. The orcs escorted a few merchant trains through the mountains, and only had to slaughter one merchant for violating his part of their contract. They sacrificed him to Sheemish, God of Grim Justice, but let all of his companions go in a show of good faith. They'd also had to imprison Nomad and Zoltan. Somehow, those two had escaped. (Or so the orcs said.)

The characters went off in the Top, and a floater herded them to some ancient ruins in the jungle. Then the floater attacked the Top. During battle with the floater, the Top was crippled. At the time it appeared to be sabotage (by a party member or an invisible stowaway). Whatever it was set a huge patch of jungle in flames.

Outside the ruins, the characters (should have) run into a druid, who explained they were in the midst of a power struggle -- good versus evil, with good trying to subvert Sheemish and evil trying to kill him. The druids, by the way, just wished he'd never disrupted things. The characters found a step pyramid among the ruins, where a dying couatl gave them some vague advice. They went further in and slew the remnants of the evil party that had escaped the couatl.

At this point, after surviving the Pyramid Dungeon and reaching the gateway, a Well of Souls, Marvin threw Sheemish through the gate and the Eternals abandoned him.

The Top was severely damaged, but its self-repair capabilities are pretty bogus, and I think everything except maybe some structural damage recovered quickly, once a suitable power gem was put in place.

Another adventure, if desired, can contend with the question of whether Sheemish grows in power, fades, or what. He is on a slower world. At that, he is on a world where the current hierarchy of gods is being overthrown.

Site Map | 5 January 98