Entropy's End
“Mr. Withers—”
“Please Rex, we’ve fought past death and beyond, I think you can call me by my Christian name at this point.”
“Alright, Norman, how do you feel about being here since the beginning? Do you think that this really might be the end?”
“Of us…”
“What? You’ll need to speak up, I didn’t quite hear that.”
“Alright, Norman, how do you feel about being here since the beginning? Do you think that this really might be the end?”
“Of us…”
“What? You’ll need to speak up, I didn’t quite hear that.”
“Yes! Of us!”
“Now that’s too loud. Quiet down a little. Oh, and what do you think of this headline? ‘Nameless Evil Slumbers at the Center of the World!’”
“It is hardly accurate.”
“Yeah, but it’ll boost circulation, and besides, given our chances, I’m not so sure if anyone will be around to demand a correction after it prints.”
***
“Well, Harvey?”
“Well, I still think you’re only a woman, but it’s been an honor fighting with you.”
“Well, I’m still convinced you’re a dinosaur or some sort of sentient prehistoric petrification, but the privilege has been mine as well.”
“And what do you think? Do you think we’ll win?”
“Of course not.”
***
***
The crowd of monsters thickened, “I’ll hold ‘em back, you just get where you need to get, now go. Let’s see if these theatre guys are too sophisticated for my best friend Tommy here. Hopefully they won’t need an encore, but I think I’ve got enough bullets on me for now.”
“We’ll meet again Michael, and I’m sorry about your jaw.”
“Yeah, and I’m sorry about your lip.”
“Actually, maybe I’m not sorry about your jaw.”
Michael grinned, “Get out of here you nut. We’ll be fine, we’re going to save the world.”
“You! I remember you!”
“Yes Gloria, at last I have allowed you to. I thought this way it would be more fun. Did you like our story? It is not over yet, but by now you should have some appreciation for—”
Gloria shot the Arbiter through the head.
“Now, Ms. Goldberg, surely you must admit that that was slightly amusing? And you, ‘you,’ really thought that might work. Not even a smile? And here I thought you were one with vision. Is my sense of humor so alien to you? Farewell, dear Gloria, I dedicate the final story to you, a minor character, a final farce before we leave the stage of life.”
Thus speaks the Phantom of Truth, “Hark you worms and dust! Carcosa, the gate to the omnipresent galaxy is opened. Thus, R’lyeh rises in all the worlds, and all the worlds are consumed by this revelation. The Elder Gods are the only reality, lesser realities of the one true reality. And all one can achieve in life is to reflect a fraction of their glory. Be remade in their image! Become one with the Yellow King, the master beneath the King of Kings! He or she, a king shall see the cosmos through true eyes. Only the shadow kings shall be privileged by the Gods’ delight in the pleasure of the taste of their flesh. All other flesh is bitter to them. Hark, O humans, and evolve! The living play comes to its maturity! The final act is at its final act! The play changes, but the truth stays the same. Mortals perish, but the God of Entropy lives on! The heart of existence is The Abyss, abode of almighty Azathoth!
“I wear no mask, but you do, now is the time to remove them! Shed your thoughtless innocence! Reveal yourselves and the truth of flesh!”
The playgoers, shrieking in frenzy at the final climax, grasped deep into their eyes, scooping them out of their sockets. Madly writhing tentacles emerged from their hollowed eyes and mouths, their fingers multiplied a hundredfold and lengthened, and thousands of mouth covered entrail-like-appendages exploded from their stomachs.
“The story continues to the end, the lake is still rising! Now you are the last kings. And your dominion soon comes to an end, but go forth! Be fruitful and multiply! Spread news of the last coming of God! Proselytize pain! Let the last living things know despair before the King of Kings, the true God comes!”
The playhouse was empty. The investigators had held off Hastur but were too late to stop the play of blasphemous truth, and in the final Union, The Phantom became one with the consumer of all.
“Galaxies of fire shiver dead at mere rumors of Its passing, the Prime Darkness everlasting. The sole rock from which founts the all-submerging sea, the deathless waves that rot forth entropy. The Great Serpent slithers unseen through the frost of space and all the stars in all the heavens pray they shall not see its face. Yet Suns are swallowed and light undone, new darkness is born, the Abyss once more won. Scraping Its undying bones through time from The Beginning, It has hissed Its hatred since, not consenting, disapproving, Slowly It devours the life that’s outward moving. In The End, the Cosmos wrapped within its coils, will again be drowned in an infinite sea of strangling oil.”
Thus begins my master’s final tale. At last, existence shall fall.
The world rotted and spawned into hideous impossibilities. Buildings, plants, and people twisting into things that could not sustain life, but somehow did, even as they did not, the last worlds randomly overlapping to make unfathomable shapes and creatures. Life and death and all things opposite were merging into one. And all things were filled with screaming, the true enemy revealed at last.
The Earth’s crust shook and cracked as the darkness slithered across the heavens, wrapping the contorting world of chaos in its ball of integrating and disintegrating torment. Eyes of instinctively malevolent flame burned within Azathoth, countless Hells dwelled within It. It had not emerged from the sky, but from within the Church itself, though it had only begun to emerge.
The building had become a nightmarish parody of what it once was. Mary clasped her hands together and prayed for mercy from God, no longer truly believing. Fragments of the King in Yellow which she had had the misfortune to overhear through plugged ears still flitting through her mind, and made her flesh feel as if it were crawling off her bones, but still, she felt slightly soothed by the comforting habit, and the oozing sensation in her skin stopped. Even if her God did not exist, she would be true to His ideals until the end.
But her courage failed her as she saw the gaze of Azathoth upon her flesh. “Oh God, what is that monstrosity in the Abyss, that horrifying thing moving in the shadows of heaven, watching me? Please God,” she sobbed like a child screaming in terror in the night, “please, save me though I doubt! Spare me from it!” A fragment of the dark and burning heavens descended for her, and inside her, she felt the Key stirring with anxiety? Anticipation? Hunger?
“We’ll meet again Michael, and I’m sorry about your jaw.”
“Yeah, and I’m sorry about your lip.”
“Actually, maybe I’m not sorry about your jaw.”
Michael grinned, “Get out of here you nut. We’ll be fine, we’re going to save the world.”
***
“Yes Gloria, at last I have allowed you to. I thought this way it would be more fun. Did you like our story? It is not over yet, but by now you should have some appreciation for—”
Gloria shot the Arbiter through the head.
“Now, Ms. Goldberg, surely you must admit that that was slightly amusing? And you, ‘you,’ really thought that might work. Not even a smile? And here I thought you were one with vision. Is my sense of humor so alien to you? Farewell, dear Gloria, I dedicate the final story to you, a minor character, a final farce before we leave the stage of life.”
***
“I wear no mask, but you do, now is the time to remove them! Shed your thoughtless innocence! Reveal yourselves and the truth of flesh!”
The playgoers, shrieking in frenzy at the final climax, grasped deep into their eyes, scooping them out of their sockets. Madly writhing tentacles emerged from their hollowed eyes and mouths, their fingers multiplied a hundredfold and lengthened, and thousands of mouth covered entrail-like-appendages exploded from their stomachs.
“The story continues to the end, the lake is still rising! Now you are the last kings. And your dominion soon comes to an end, but go forth! Be fruitful and multiply! Spread news of the last coming of God! Proselytize pain! Let the last living things know despair before the King of Kings, the true God comes!”
The playhouse was empty. The investigators had held off Hastur but were too late to stop the play of blasphemous truth, and in the final Union, The Phantom became one with the consumer of all.
“Galaxies of fire shiver dead at mere rumors of Its passing, the Prime Darkness everlasting. The sole rock from which founts the all-submerging sea, the deathless waves that rot forth entropy. The Great Serpent slithers unseen through the frost of space and all the stars in all the heavens pray they shall not see its face. Yet Suns are swallowed and light undone, new darkness is born, the Abyss once more won. Scraping Its undying bones through time from The Beginning, It has hissed Its hatred since, not consenting, disapproving, Slowly It devours the life that’s outward moving. In The End, the Cosmos wrapped within its coils, will again be drowned in an infinite sea of strangling oil.”
Thus begins my master’s final tale. At last, existence shall fall.
***
The Earth’s crust shook and cracked as the darkness slithered across the heavens, wrapping the contorting world of chaos in its ball of integrating and disintegrating torment. Eyes of instinctively malevolent flame burned within Azathoth, countless Hells dwelled within It. It had not emerged from the sky, but from within the Church itself, though it had only begun to emerge.
The building had become a nightmarish parody of what it once was. Mary clasped her hands together and prayed for mercy from God, no longer truly believing. Fragments of the King in Yellow which she had had the misfortune to overhear through plugged ears still flitting through her mind, and made her flesh feel as if it were crawling off her bones, but still, she felt slightly soothed by the comforting habit, and the oozing sensation in her skin stopped. Even if her God did not exist, she would be true to His ideals until the end.
But her courage failed her as she saw the gaze of Azathoth upon her flesh. “Oh God, what is that monstrosity in the Abyss, that horrifying thing moving in the shadows of heaven, watching me? Please God,” she sobbed like a child screaming in terror in the night, “please, save me though I doubt! Spare me from it!” A fragment of the dark and burning heavens descended for her, and inside her, she felt the Key stirring with anxiety? Anticipation? Hunger?
Custom components can be found here:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/avi_dreader/Additional%20Components%20for%20the%20Fan%20Creation%20League/ [Sorry, I don't know why these links are combining, it must be the influence of Janus] http://s622.photobucket.com/user/avi_dreader/library/?sort=6&page=1
Expanded Investigator Pool: Rex Murphy, Rita Young, Bob Jenkins (also, Amanda can no longer be used).
Ancient Ones: Azathoth and Cthulhu
Heralds: Janus, The Crevice of Chaos, The Arbiter of Reality, The King in Yellow, The Maskless
Required Investigators: Sister Mary, Gloria Goldberg
Special Rules:
Start of game: All investigators immediately fail their personal stories and come into play with a madness (this also happens if they come into play later). Mary and Gloria begin with a green corruption. An Abyss gate is open at South Church and Y'ha Nethlei. Gates at these locations do not count against the gate limit, but the gate limit is reduced by one while either gate to the Abyss is open (The White Ship and Find Gate can not be used in The Abyss). Servitor of the Outer Gods is in the sky, it has physical and magical resistance.
Investigators who fail a horror check against an aquatic monster are devoured. Cultists are aquatic monsters.
Gates at South Church can not be sealed, and can only be closed by spending an additional seven clues.
Investigators choosing to end their movement in stable locations lose one sanity.
Seven clues are required to seal gates. The game can only be won by sealing seven gates.
After the first mythos phase, at the beginning of each mythos phase roll a die, on a 1-2, 3 investigators must draw an injury, on a 5-6, 3 investigators must draw a madness.
Servitor of the Outer Gods does not count against the monster limit, and can not be removed from the board except by combat. Its awareness is -2.
If Sister Mary is devoured, this triggers devouring effects, but do not draw a new investigator, instead, treat her as if she had been knocked unconscious, but immediately place her on South Church and her maximum sanity and stamina are reduced to 1, effects that reduce them beyond 1 are now ignored.
The Arbiter of Reality causes investigators, except Harvey Walters, to draw their injury and madness for Bone Shattering Agony and Mind Shattering Horror on a roll of 1-3 instead of a 1.
Janus always uses the doom track of Azathoth, and Azathoth for final combat.
Fetch Me My Faces is triggered on a roll of 1-3. If at any time the Dark Pharoah or Haunter of the Dark is drawn, treat them as if Nyarlathotep is the Ancient One.
When the Doom Track reaches 2, fill up the Dunwich Horror track. Whenever a monster enters a vortex from now on, roll a die for the Dunwich Horror's movement.
When the Doom Track reaches 3, all investigators draw an injury (not not restore their stamina).
When the Doom Track reaches 4, Father Dagon also enters play as a herald, trigger his start of game effects and remove all clue tokens from the board; however, if both gates to the Abyss are removed from the board, remove him from play.
When the Doom Track reaches 6, Servitor of the Outer Gods gains two toughness, Mary gains the white Vessel of the Mythos and her maximum sanity is reduced by 4. It can never be removed, and she is permanently Blessed (no effect can remove it). Whenever Vessel of the Mythos is Activated, take Servitor of the Outer Gods from wherever it is (if it is on an investigator, the investigator must first immediately evade or fight it), and place it in The Sky, then place Mary, if she is in Arkham, into the first area of The Abyss, if she is in an Other World, place her into the same area of The Abyss. While Sister Mary is in The Abyss, she is treated as if she has a Gate Box.
When the doom track reaches 7, at the beginning of each Mythos phase roll a die, on a 1, the first player is devoured.
When the doom track reaches 8, immediately raise the terror level to ten.
When the terror level reaches ten, the monster limit is removed, but Azathoth does not awaken from monsters being on the board. Draw and place 1 random monster on every street, and 1 random monster on each of the 11 unstable locations in Arkham (regardless of whether they are unstable at the time or not). From then on, roll a die at the end of each mythos phase, on a 1-3, open a gate on South Church (this does not add a doom token to the doom track if the gate there has been closed and now reopens).
Clarification: For The Crevice of Chaos, if both gates to The Abyss are on the board, only roll one die per mythos phase.
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