[The END... for real.]

[keats73]

Hey folks!

So..
Shameless self-promotion first, plus apologies for OOC lies to keep the ruse..

Here he is!

[tface=Meddon]Avery Gladstone![/tface] - Archaeologist Extraordinaire.

That rascal. An hour after character creation, he became a member of the Mortals of Sanq. What did he accomplish? Well. He was a part of the whole lot that ensured what you are about to see.

Oh, and he was terminally sick when he came to Ymph and absolutely wrecked after the same sickness killed his pre-EFU beloved - 'Freckles'. Remember that black oil from X-files? Something like that. But without mind control and what not.

Aside of that? He went and slapped H'bala in the face with a Netherese Healing Crystal, to prove the superiority of the Empire.

And also, he stole Johnathon Mistson's robes as soon as JM died, battling H'balan hordes - in fact, getting the robes was his only purpose to go there.

Avery Gladstone has also Escaped from Undeath not once, but TWICE.
Once - as the Druids cured the Withering.. and second.. well.. you will see.

I had an absolute blast playing him as I forgot how amazing and satisfying subterfuge can be.

Oh, and he loved Kendra Dales. He was obsessed with her, in fact. He never got around to tell her that, though, as they only met once.

But, you probably want to see the show, so here it goes, enjoy!
I was mindblown!

GO ARCHAEOLOGY!


---

Here's our hero, receiving his amazing Netherese Archaeologist's Smock for returning the robes...




And there comes some scheming, misinformation, plotting, the start of the Archaeological Society as a ruse.. And he fancied good drinks, oh he did.




















... Didn't take that many screenshots of his life.. and wish I've taken more of the conversations with Ssambra he had.. but his life was very short!  I started him day after 'Gazers went into the Mists.



But yeah, you've been waiting for THE END.
So here it is.

The Seventh Step of Sanq.

See all the gold? Well.. we never got paid. :(

Chapter Three Final Narrative Shout:

All across the Island of Ymph, the ornate parchments speaking of the Seven Steps of Sanq begin to change.

A smudge covers the Seventh Step, and the Smudge spreads... spreading to obscure the entirety of each parchment in impenetrable inky blackness.

But for those on Old Port it begins with a a foul, warm wind blowing from the south; bespeaking the opening of an Ancient Door in a distant land.

As if in your darkest, most forgotten nightmares..... a thin tendril of blackness rises from the sweltering jungles of Chult. It sinuously sways, rising and rising.... reaching up impossibly tall.

The sun shines hot and heavy as the thin tendril of darkness rises up to meet it.

From some hidden alley in Old Port, a frightened youth's voice begins to chant in a low voice....

"Seven daughters,
Seven sons,
Seven seasons 'ere she comes
Seven steps and Seventh dread;
Seven blunders;
Sun is dead
Nightmares summoned
from our past,
Enter Maiden now at last"

The folk of Faerun watch in mute horror as cataclysmic battles of impossible dread and glory transpire in the furthest heights of the Prime.

They watch as the endless black coils of Dendar the Maiden of Night squeeze tight around the sun far above.

They watch as its maw extends in terrible size and so is the Sun devoured. [Dash]

They watch as the Light goes out, and all becomes Darkened.

But for you, the Horror has just begun.

...

For some days after the light goes out Old Port is roiled with panic and wild rumor that reach even the isolated withered survivors of Ymph in the Quarantined Zone. It's said that Fortress Senuspur is sealed. It's said that with the Count gone, nobody knows who is ruling Old Port. It's said that the youths and soldiers of Old Port have been taken into the Fortress, but none have exited for days.

But one day, at last the gates of Fortress Senuspur swing open. And from within rushes a great mass of monstrous figures. Aberrant beasts twisted beyond imagining, accompanied with great legions of twitching drow warriors. Transparent bubbles float serenely above, occasionally diving down to imprison a screaming citizen and bear him off for some dark purpose.

In vast number, this new army of underworld horrors boils up from below into a new world of endless night. And in hours, Old Port is conquered.

At first, the hapless withered residents of the Quarantined Zone are... ignored.

It is almost as if their corrupted flesh and tainted minds is of no interest to the masters of this strange army from the underworld.

This Dread Army marches to the great armada of ships and barges docked in Old Port's harbor, its purpose revealed at last. The sailors, sick with dread, are born away.

The Dread Army is loaded into the great fleet of vessels, and the fleet slowly begins to sail away under a lightless sky.

Yet some few of the monsters remain, and turn their attention to the conquered city of Old Port. Fires are lit, and buildings are burned. Entire quarters are turned to ash. Sorcerous spells and burning brands are fired mercilessly upon the caged inhabitants of the Quaranted Zone, and as buildings crash all around the Withered are forced to scramble like rats into the sewers....

With the sun no longer rising, it has become difficult to mark the passage of time. Perhaps a month passes before the hopeless survivors of a calamity beyond all reckoning rise from the sewers to see what has become of the the world...

Old Port has become a burnt ruin. The great army from the underworld is mostly gone with the ships, sailing to distant lands, yet some scattered groups of monsters remain. The inhabitants of Old Port are now mostly either dead, gone, captured, or wandering mindless through the streets.

What possible hope remains to you?


And so ends, "Chapter 3 - Escape from Undeath: Mistlocke"

[Spiffy Has]

Oh man oh man.

[Pigadig]

Was a fun faction. Shame Bill didn't survive to get eaten with the rest of you. :(

[Gotham]

Ah, you posted most of the conversation with Rodagh I had wished I got! Well then.

[Pup]

I kind of wondered if Bullock would've gone on had he not gone to fight H'Bala.  I guess I might've gotten rich and some sweet loot for a few hours before he was devoured...

Awesome screen thread!

[The Old Hack]

What an awesome faction. Well done! O.O

[Dillusionist]

Amazing faction!

All along Caelun throught Ssambra, and not Avery, was with the Mortals. Well done PC despite his short life.

[Ebok]

She never was either. xD