Apocalypse (Crivis Supplement)

Atropus

The World Born Dead, Atropus is part of legend. Folklore speaks of a dark moon coming to Crivis eons ago, raising the dead from their tombs and granting the practitioners of necromancy unbelievable might. Atropus was banished far away from Crivis by adventurers who were never seen again after they went to the moonlet. It is unknown if it will ever return.

Caira Xasten, driven mad with the death of her husband, vows revenge against the gods. She sends her minions to steal a manuscript from below a cathedral in Loyket. Her minions returned with the book and she began reading it. The church's remaining priests now send the PC's to find the book.

After retrieving the book, the priests begin to decipher it. Weeks later, the priests call the PCs back to tell them that it is likely that Caira intended to bring the World Born Dead to Crivis. The manuscript tells barely anything however and no concrete answers are given by the clerics' god. They ask the PCs to find the Book of Vile Darkness, said to be locked in Vemarit, in the Toghills, possibly what the rakshasa's there are looking for. The dead seem to be rising from their graves in small villages and out of the way places. Zelmoris' Folly becomes an even greater hotbed of undeath than before.

Orcus dispatches his legions, led by the bodak, Gorguth, to invade the realm of Demogorgon. The Abyss soon turns into a warzone as other demon lords and princes begin to attack their foes. The Dukes of Hell seeing this as a major weakness to the demons invades the Abyss. With this massive interplanar war in the Lower Planes going on, Gorguth defects from Orcus' service and leads his undead horde into Crivis through a gate created by cultists in Corr, loyal to Atropus. Meanwhile, Caira recovers the Book of Vile Darkness and learns that the elder evil will come only when a tragedy of terrible and widespread death engulfs the world. She researches he spell known as apocalypse from the sky. While she researches it she sends her minions to collect angel tears for her to use for the spell. The PCs can either get involved with the war in the Lower Planes, join the battle against Gorguth's invading forces, or follow leads about Caira.

The undead now outnumber those who live on Crivis. Gorguth's army grows more vast with each day. Corr has already fallen to his army and now the Dwarel Wood is under attack, the elves and dwarves trying to defend their lands. Gorguth intends to reach Loyket where he will greet Atropus upon his arrival. Caira finishes her research and begins the day-long casting of the spell below Loyket. From a captured minion of hers, the PCs learn of her horrible plan and must decide now whether to find and stop her or halt the advancing armies of undead heading towards Loyket.

If the PCs stop Caira then Gorguth ultimately shatters the civilizations of the high elves and hill dwarves and now approaches Loyket. His massive horde of undead and demons spread through the city and destroy everything, Lord-Mayor Khan calls all remaining people of Loyket to close all remaining interplanar gates and to come to the Keep of St. Angelo where the Lord-Mayor rules Loyket from. Alternatively, if the PCs stopped Gorguth's armies, Caira finishes her spell and nearly everyone in Loyket dies a fiery death. The moonlet Atropus begins to ascend towards Crivis. Wizards across the world begin to open gates to the Plane of Shadow, trying to save the few remaining people of the world. The PCs are now the only ones who can stop Atropus now. They must defeat Atropus before it reaches the surface of Crivis or else their planet will be destroyed.

Father Llymic

Locked beneath Mt. Jorod in the vast Cricalan range by the elves, Father Llymic tries to return and create a world of frozen darkness out of Crivis. It is said that he came through the Vast Gate that the elves supposedly built eons ago and that the imprisoned him beneath a vast glacier on Mt. Jorod. The light is the only thing keeping him at bay.

A caravan from New Lantis in Rockmaw, headed by the human daughter of a rich nobleman, Tierad Rynesten. The caravan hasn't been heard from since they left three weeks ago. Tierad's father, Lord Chrinist Rynesten, seeks out the PCs, who he has worked with in the past, to help him find her. Tierad however ran afoul of some barbarians living on Mt. Jorod. The barbarians secretly worship a frozen god that dwells at the mountains' peak. Although many of the people of the caravan have already been sacrificed or eaten, some remain to be given Father Llymic's blessed touch. If the PCs are able to rescue Tierad, she tells them of the strange rituals that the barbarians performed and how sometimes they would change, taking on icy features before leaving the tribe forever.

An icy glacier begins to creep down Mt. Jorod, the small village of Wirinvale is dealing with the harsh winter conditions even though it is far from winter itself. Strange ice creatures now seem to stalk the night, murdering the remaining livestock and villagers. Although the threat is beaten back by a group of soldiers sent by Lord Rynesten, the village must be abandoned as ice slowly destroys the building of the village and as the glacier slowly crushes the whole town. Some who were the last to leave the village along with the mayor, Tink Tork, say they saw an old elf wandering the street, not drawing close to anyone and beckoning those who looked at him towards the mountain.

As ice slides farther down the mountain and the days seem to grow shorter, darkness begins to settle over Crivis. Rumors now speak of icey creatures stalking Lagrisi at night and there are reports of hundreds of disappearances every week. One town, Lovitzberg, has gone completely silent. Drawn to the village, the PCs find the lairs of hideous beings of ice, as if the villagers were twisted in mockeries of their former selves. The PCs see the old man reported at Wirinvale for themselves this time, he beckons to them to the looming Mt. Jorod in the distance.

The sun is barely visible in the sky now and snow and ice cover Crivis. Hundreds of villages and towns lie empty, many have fled to safer cities and now the ice creatures stalk all of the world. Mezra's jungles are wilted and dead and the cold-blooded beings, such as the yuan-ti, are now all gone. Lord Rynesten, in one final desperate measure entreats the PCs to solve this problem, giving them whatever resources he can muster from Lantis and the people in his city. The PCs have only one place to go: Mt. Jorod. As the characters climb the slopes of the mountain, alien beasts of ice try to slow their descent, finally leading up to a conflict with the keepers of the peak, a tribe of converted frost giants.

Now, as the PCs reach the summit, the sun no longer rises and the temperature is decreasing quickly. There is no sunlight and even magical light sources are useless, leaving everyone with out darkvision practically blind. At the summit the PCs meet Father Llymic's strongest representative, a converted white dragon. Finally reaching the prison of Father Llymic, the elder evil awakens and bursts through the last layer of ice and surveys the land of perfect darkness he has created. Only after the defeat of Llymic will the sun rise and the world begin to thaw, however only larger cities remain, filled to the brim with those tough enough to survive the 'Day of No Sun', the world of Crivis will likely never be the same.

The Hulks of Zoretha

The Hulks of Zoretha have stood as silent stone monoliths for as long as recorded history. If the Hulks were to awaken then they would make Crivis a nest for their own foul brood. I Weep, a dwarf war-scribe wrote the Zoretha Scrollsl, a thing found holy by the few cults of the Hulks, discerned that the Hulks' purpose were to be forerunners of alien colonization from a place known as Zoretha. The Hulks' purpose is to kill all those who might compete with the Children of Zoretha and create a foul brood of spawn to rule Crivis.

Soelma Nilaenish hires the PCs to retrieve a manusript from a rival scholar who stole it from her. The manuscript in question is a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, Soelma is concerned that it might fall into the "wrong hands". Everything seems legitimate and Soelma's rival is violently insane. The PCs retrieve the book and Soelma tells them that she will lock the book up so no one can read it ever again.

Soelma contacts the PCs once again. She expects trouble at the building where her scholary society meets in Loyket and sends the PCs to guard the collection of artifacts there, which contains a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls. The PCs arrive to find a riot outside, the PCs must now either help the authorities calm the mob of disperse it. Soelma pays them handsomely and seems not to know how or why the riot started. There is no further trouble but the society puts more magical security around their artifact vault. It is soon after that the PCs hear rumors of a band of evil cultists led by a giant named Soulbiter causing trouble far to the north in Tiligia.

Distressed by a recent discovery, Soelma contacts the PCs to escort her to Tiligia. She explains that an evil giant is attempting to awaken an ancient evil that she associates with the violent actions of the common people. Near the end of the journey, just outside Icegate Port, the PCs meet Janwulf the Soulbiter and his followers. Janwulf is familiar with Soelma and acts as if she betrayed him somehow. After his defeat, Soelma leads the PCs into a death trap in a fissure and reveals herself to be a powerful evil wizard and leaves with Janwulf's followers in her service. She also leaves full payment for the PC's services as a joke.

After learning where Soelma has gone, the PCs arrive just in time to interupt her ritual in a cavern in the far north of Tiligia. Assuming that the PCs defeat her, they recover her copy of the Zoretha Scrolls. Since the Hulks remain still, the PCs seem victorious. A blank page is torn out of the book, however, and one of Janwulf's more powerful cultists was not present at the ritual. This is when the PCs return to Icegate Port to learn that Zelmoris' Folly and Curimdar have begun war with each other, and so have the high elves and Corr, as well as several towns throughout the countryside against nearby villages and cities.

The PCs return to where the Hulks are to find the missing page and the cultist awakening them, the Hulks kill the cultist and head towards the PCs, now they must save the world.

The Leviathan

Spawned by the chaos of creation, the Leviathan slumbers beneath the Blue Divide, its dreams and stirrings produce monsters and disasters in the world above. Sailors talk of massive beasts on the Divide and scholars talk of the Leviathan as a creature yet to be discovered. Obscure dragon legends are all that hint at the Leviathan's true power.

Tovred's Landing in the Hirapatesh Jungle is experiencing earth tremors and wild weather conditions. Movement into and out of the city to other small outposts is seriously impeded. Many believe the freak weather to be the work of an evil sorcerer or angry deities. A few madmen and old sailors insist that 'the Leviathan is stirring,' but they are all but ignored. The PCs distinguish themselves by helping the city survive a giant tsunami that drowns nearly the whole northern coastline of Mezra. They attract the attention of the city council, who ask them to seek the source of this strange weather.

As natural disasters hit all around the world, rumors abound that a "Cult of the Leviathan" is behind the disruptions. The PCs are asked to investigate by the city council. The PCs follow a suspected cultist to a ritual that is taking place a few miles from Tovred's Landing on a tiny island. There they see High Priest Enshaddon leading the worship of the Leviathan by summoning aberrations and sea monsters to ravage Tovred's Landing. The PCs stop the cultists and their summoned beasts, Enshaddon (really a ixitxachitl priest named Axihuatl) returns to the sea in the confusion and directs Marcus Hape to stop the PCs from causing anymore trouble in his plans. Hape and his thugs follow the party for several weeks.

The sage Mytus contacts the PCs with alarming news. Mytus tells them that he translated several ancient tablets and documents and has proven that the Leviathan is indeed a real creature. Mytus, from his seaside home in Tovred's Landing is going to dive into a nearby undersea chasm with a dwarf-made diving machine and at least view a portion of the Leviathan. The PCs accompany Mytus to in his expedition and encounter several undersea perils, the PCs eventually come upon a vast undersea mountain, the mountain turns out to be the Leviathan's head, when the beast stirs, the party's craft is destroyed and with Mytus' magic are able to escape the depths, pursued by the minions of Axihuatl and aspects of the Leviathan.

Captured cultists inform the PCs of a final ritual in which High Priest Enshaddon intends to awaken the Leviathan. The ritual is to take place in one of the hollow spines rising from the Leviathan's back. The PCs arrive and attempt to stop Enshaddon, their intervention causes the ritual to go terribly wrong - the Leviathan stirs and the temple begins to flood. As the cultists drown, Enshaddon assumes his true form and escapes. The PCs attempt to follow him but a temple wall collapses and a massive undersea current pushes them away from the fleeing ixitxachitl.

The PCs are washed up onto the shore of Mezra, an outpost next to the coast is sinking and everyone inside is dead. As the PCs argue on what to do, Axihautl appears in human form. The Leviathan now threatens the whole world, not even Axihautl wanted this to happen. The ixitxachitl teaches them how to put the Leviathan back to sleep since he can't do it for he awakened the beast. Axihautl says if it is put back into it's sleep it can't awaken for another thousand years. Axihautl joins the party in diving into the depths and finding the temple. On the lowest layer they will have to dispose of the Abyssal Shard. If the PCs succeed than the Leviathan goes back to sleep. Though damaged by the mass floods and strange weather, the world survives. The people of Crivis begin to rebuild and Axihautl becomes an ally of the PCs if their goal suits his.

Pandorym

Lured to Crivis eons ago by the ancient lizardfolk empire of the Blue Divide's southern islands, Pandorym was imprisoned by their summoners to be used against the deities if they ever attacked their empire. The deities struck to fast for the lizardfolk however and turned their race into seven distinct tribes, the Bloodteeth, Swampleeches, Mudsuckers, Coldkin, Marshstone, Serpentmaws, and the Blackfangs. Now Pandorym lies forgotten beneath the ruined city of Ala-ssinorat on Snapper Key.

Tune Majiji is concerned about the recent disappearance of her father, Lucather Majiji. She has worked with the PCs before and knows them to be reliable and helpful. She asks the PCs to find her father who was last seen entering ancient lizarfolk ruins on Snapper Key. The PCs begin to trace the old man's movements.

Far away from where Tune lives (in Tovred's Landing), in Loyket, a council of clerics has convened. The deities have warned the clerics of an unknown being trying to release an unimaginable power of evil. The PCs are contacted by the clerics of Tovred's Landing. The party is tasked with finding this threat and ending it. At the same time, faint arcane glyphs appear in the night sky. Conjurers from across the world report difficulty casting spells and a council of sages in the Tower of Brilliance on Lantis is called. The arcane casters suspect a weakening connection between Crivis and the rest of the multiverse.

The PCs discover that the being they seek is a misguided defender of the law, not knowing that its objective is an evil or foolish act. Meanwhile, the glyphs in the sky become more prevalent and numerous, the bond between Crivis and the planes begins to weaken. Divine spellcasters and conjurers find it increasingly difficult to work their powers.

The PCs learn the identity of both the rogue agent and the being it wishes to release. A kolyarut known as Obligatum VII believes it is bound by law to free the imprisoned Pandorym. The arcane seals are now bright enough to be seen at both day and at night. Teleportation is now much riskier and divine spellcasters can barely use their powers.

Tune Majiji contacts the PCs again, she tells them that her father is serving a being of utter evil and tells them his location. She intends to halt his masters foul plans and has insisted that the PCs help. Following Tune's lead, the PCs head into the ruins above the prison. Deep within, the party finds Obligatum VII chipping away at the crystal containing Pandorym's consciousness. The chipped crystal allows a shard of Pandorym's mind to escape, this shard is still a terrible threat. The PCs must now contend with the mind shard, Obligatum VII, and the spirit of Lucather Majiji, a powerful quell.

Ragnorra

The Mother of Monsters, Ragnorra plagued the early worlds with her brood. The gods cast the awful thing into the space between the planes. Runes within the Astral Plane tell of the return of Ragnorra and some scholars say that the runes tell not just of one return, but many. The astral runes however are not a warning, but a "signpost" to guide Ragnorra to the next world.

The Malshapers observe that Ragnorra is about to emerge from the Positive Energy Plane. They have chosen Crivis as her destination and set in motion a plan to lead her to the world. Irthicax Vane, a zenythri driven mad by Ragnorra, is recruiting minions to gather living organisms, including members of sentient races, to entice Ragnorra along the chosen course. Their activities become apparent when kidnappings become frequent in large cities like Loyket, Zinnmoor, and Corrignton, as well as the purloining of rare herbs and disappearance of the livestock in New Krimira and other countries covered in farmland.

Stories abound of healing springs and the mysterious adepts who control them. Hundreds of people flock to these springs to be healed. The PCs are tasked by Grand Marshal Isildor to investigate, the marshal fears that the people are being tricked. Upon arriving at the nearest spring outside Steeltown in the Dwarel Hills, the PCs learn that the springs do indeed have a curative effect, but they are infested with bizarre aberrations. The "adepts" at the healing springs are in fact agents of the Malshapers. They notify Irthicax Vane about the PCs actions and effectiveness.

Reports of "ghosts" circulate in smaller cities around the world. These strange entities don't seem to be causing any harm, but weird events happen after their appearance. Strange rain falls for days, often from a cloudless sky. Doors swell and burst with rats, roofs spawn spiders, and bats erupt from the sides of temples. The visitors are agents of the Malshapers who report about the PCs' investigations to Irthicax Vane. He warns his colleagues, who signal him to take action against them. At the same time, undead appear in the cities and destroy the pest swarms in an odd frenzy. If the PCs parley with the intelligent undead leading the armies, they learn that the swarms are coming from a corrupt form of positive energy. A distant red comet also appears in the sky.

The fiery comet is now easily visible at night and can even be discerned at day. The undead are now leaving the cities for unknown destinations. Lord-Mayor Khan, having been given the information the PCs collected for Isildor, asks the PCs to track the undead and see if they are amassing for a major assault. Meanwhile, Irthicax Vane makes his first move against the PCs by sending Malshaper agents after them on their spying mission. The agents however are no match for the PCs, though their numbers increase with every attack. After every attack, the strange rain falls. Giant swarms appear, along with ravaged corpse, some seemingly fallen from great heights. After the last attack, the rain begins once again. Then, something falls from the sky, forming a small crater nearby. The agents' corpses twitch, becoming aberrations that slither to the edge of the crater. A few moments later, an aboleth mage, which has enslaved the Malshapers to serve as it's "legs". This variant aberration is capable of breathing air as well as water.

Ragnorra, blazing with a mile-long tail of corrupted essence, slams into the Dwarel Wood. Most of her body is consumed in the impact, which creates a superheated crater 30 miles in distance. The sound is heard as far away as Loyket and even in the Iceman's Hold far to the northwest, and tremors make buildings collapse in nearby cities. The collision shoots spores, ash, dirt, and fragments of Ragnorra's body into the sky. The materials form a towering plume visible all the way from the Necromancer's Isle. Twilight falls over the world and a deadly, corrupting residue drifts down from the sky. Larger fragments of the elder evil's body spontaneously generate aberrations, some very powerful. The surge of twisted life energy corrupts and kills the living, turning them into aberrations. The heart of the crater fills with corrupt life as the Mother of Monsters regrows her form, strengthening daily. The PCs must strike while she is still vulnerable.

Sertrous

To the members of the Vanguard of Sertrous, their demonic patron is the true father of the yuan-ti race. The ancient, exiled, and dead demon lord is far more than that however. Sertrous is one of the obyrith lords that did not heed the Queen of Chaos' call to war. The Queen however, growing tired of his insubordination, destroyed his body and cast his essence into the gulf between the planes. While passing through Crivis towards the nether, Sertrous searched for an anchor. All he came across was a lowly serpent.

A merchant inherits an old priory on the edge of the Coiling Peninsula, after he and his servants move in however, he cuts all contact with his business partners. The PCs are hired to investigate. They discover that the merchant has fallen under the sway of yuan-ti who inhabit the catacombs beneath the building. The PCs rescue the merchant, but they also discover that the yuan-ti cultists report to someone named Seghulerak and that they openly mock the traditional yuan-ti gods.

Seghulerak seizes control of the ancient yuan-ti ruins of Veshlivenk in the Hirapatesh Jungle and constructs a network of serpent gates, allowing the Vanguard to move between seven temples across the world. One temple is just within the Coiling Peninsula near the priory. Snakes and serpents slither out of the Coiling Peninsula towards the Empire of Morkhan. The PCs prevent the Vanguard from setting the temple up as a staging ground, but soon they find out that there are six other temples.

The number of serpents across the world seems to grow, Morkhan is infested with thousands of snakes now. The party discover several other temples, two more in the Coiling Peninsula, one on Snapper Key, and one on the border of Morkhan and the Hirapatesh. They destroy the temples and their serpent gates, but it's not enough ti stop the coming invasion. Just as the PCs destroy the last serpent gate they discovered, they get news that Han-kurr, the greatest city of the Morkhani is about to be sieged by the Vanguard. As they defend the city from the Vanguard's onslaught, they meet their first golothoma demon.

Golothomas and other serpentine creatures are common across the planet now despite the victory over the Vanguard. The PCs discover that the yuan-ti are based in the ancient city of Veshlivenk and travel there to destroy the primary serpent gate. In the temple ruins they face and defeat Seghulerak, her body disappears, leaving behind a pile of dead, headless snakes.

Despite the destruction of Veshlivenk, serpents continue to overwhelm all of Crivis. Intelligence gathered in the ruins, reveals the existence of the Serpent Reliquary, where Seghulerak's body has reappeared. The PCs must travel to the Reliquary deep within the Coiling Peninsula, defeat Seghulerak again, and defeat the true leader of the Vanguard, Avamerin. But Avamerin's death won't stop the invasion...

The Worm that Walks

Scholars agree that the Worm that Walks is none other than Kyuss. He hungers for conquest from within his obelisk prison. He wishes to break free and bring about the final age of humanity, the Age of Worms.

Sealed within his prison, Edwin Tolstoff urges his grandchildren to kill their mother and become his servants. He uses his heirs to escape his vault, as this terrible act occurs, Spawn of Kyuss rise from old dungeons, ruins, and forgotten castles across Crivis, these undead spread across the land.

Weeks later, in Loyket, the PCs hear reports of people vanishing from the streets, their homes, even out of their beds. The people are demanding Lord-Mayor Khan do something about the kidnappings. Khan approaches the party, knowing what they have done in the past. If the PCs become involved, they track the missing citizens into a temple in Loyket's sewer systems. There a mad avolakia infects the captured citizens with green worms, turning them into the spawn of Kyuss. Even if the PCs stop the avolakia, their are soon reports of similar disappearances in Carlan Zan, Calia, Irongate City, and Zinnmoor.

Now, the spawn of Kyuss infest the countryside, wreaking havoc in towns and besieging cities. People head for the large cities, the Herald of Kyuss, under Edwin's command, poses as an ally of the PCs and claims that the man behind the unusual phenomena is a powerful wild mage named Emirikol the Chaotic. The Herald tells them that he believes that Emirikol is going to plunge the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, stolen from Loyket months ago. He asks the PCs to come with him to the wizard's tower high in the Dwarel Hills and confront him. While the party fights the mage however, Edwin slips in a steals the talisman of the sphere.

Edwin requires only the sphere of annihilation now to free his master. After torturing countless sages, Edwin has discovered that the artifact lies within the fabeled Tomb of Horrors, deep within the Hag Bog. He anonymously hires the PCs to clear the way. As the party fights off the monsters and traps, Edwin follows behind. Just as the PCs reach the sphere, Edwin appears and seizes it, revealing he has the talisman of the sphere. Once he gains control he escapes to Wormcrawl Island, one of the Divide Keys. The PCs give chase to the island. The party must get past the island's many obstacles in order to stop Edwin before he awakens Kyuss.

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