For a breakdown of what's transpired, check out the
Ballad of the Pigeon God Page. The "Apocalypse" starts with Episode #64.
1st of DecDec 1072 (Dusk) - Lake Apotheosis, Kingdom of Crosedes (Continued...)
The prophesied return of the God-King was all a ruse. Baraxus the Destroyer, an inter-dimensional spider god, had managed to trick thousands, all the while setting the forces of evil upon a populace, whose greatest sins were hope and naivety.
Our heroes had watched the evil king slain by an old ally (wielding ancient sword the humanoid hordes did NOT like), the gruesome death of a dear friend, and a long lost inter-dimensional friend take on the spider god mano y mano.
Kannex, the Red Mage of Cymril, had returned from his world of Talislanta, a bit more aged, but throwing crazy fire magic at Baraxus. Bolts, barriers, and fiery hexes confounded and pained the god. Only his own magicks and web magic kept the wizard off-kilter as he hovered forty foot in the air.
Our heroes,
Echelon, Thorrin, Sigard, Kane, and Beourn the Ranger (in bear form) had recently reunited with elf ranger
Ashe Winnebago and his clan. Elvish arrows and blades had cut a swath into the hordes of monsters, but there were more pouring forth from the surrounding forests and swamps.
A portion of the goblin horde pursuing General Norm Dingleberry's troops back to the defenses of Eding, turned back and attack the heroes and elves. Spears flew fast and hard, and while many tried to form a defensive formation, Beourn, still in bear form, rampaged into the greenskins. The heroes could only watch in horror as the goblins simply overwhelmed the lone figure. He would not rise again.
Cut off from the main road, the heroes left the elves, who still sought to quench a longstanding blood thirst, and began a fighting withdrawal, through the thick underbrush running parallel with it, towards the Chateau d'Echelon. If Kannex couldn't fell the god, no one else could.
Within minutes of the withdrawal, the mass of goblins chasing them seemed to dissipate, replaced with giant men wearing dire wolf furs and wielding gargantuan swords and axes.
While they looked frighteningly threatening, the nearby warriors seemed to beckon their back ranks forward. As they neared the heroes, their torchlight revealed elaborate facial tattoos and heavy scarring.
Finally, their leader reached the front, with the facial tattoos running down the neck and covering a portion of his chest and left arm. Pulling out an other-worldly sword, Kane began to smile.
"Brother Rolf? Rolf Wolfsblood? Is that you?"
Rolf Wolfsblood was a barbarian from the plains of Galmar who was one of the original party members, along with Kane and Ashe. He had traveled to the world of Talislanta, thanks to Kannex, and had become enraptured by the culture of a warrior race known as Thralls, returning to this world with a number of their tattoos.
Realizing he had no interest in magic weapon quests and the general tomfoolery of the Dread Lord, Rolf left the Chateau and wandered east into Ras-Prythax, towards Galmar.
He was amazed how each town seemed to have a half-civilized Galmar barbarian in their population, and upon conversation after conversation, Rolf discovered each one to be miserable. He convinced many to form a company of Galmar ex-pats, who were to be marauders for hire. Almost all of the barbarians were enthralled (pun intended) with Rolf's stories of Thrall tattoo histories. It's been a short time, but few learned to tattoo, and many were already setting up standard patterns and designs to extol the history of Galmar.
But the barbarians felt the pull of the Dagger of Myrmindosa, and thanks to Rolf, decided to hold off their impulses.
Echelon was pleased. "Go back and get your bloodlust filled, but make sure this path is open for those fighting with us." We're falling back to support Eding, check on the Chateau, and figure out what's next...
Rolf nodded, and with a quick wave of the arm, his barbarian cohort turned back to the battlefield.
His men emerged from the woods to a scene of chaos. Ashe and the Winnebago elves had formed circle and had killed so many monsters with their bows that they were using the the bodies as walls for a redoubt, fighting the oncoming rushes with spears and swords, while a few spied the distance for shamans and flying monsters.
On the far side of the battlefield, King William trudged through the blood and the gore, still wielding the legendary Blood-Brand. All of the elite cavalry from King Cervinal had perished, so it was only his friends, Rurik the Viking and Fiame the Cleric of Akana, following his wake of destruction.
It was odd that the waves of humanoids from the surrounding countryside seemed to diminish once twilight had hit. It would make more sense for them to attack at night, but perhaps the greatest of hordes had already arrived. William worried, though, of what type of stragglers would show up. Eding was a good place to rest...
But perhaps the monsters were frightened by the pyrotechnics and arcane auras coming from Kannex the Red Mage and Baraxus the Destroyer. By this point, the battle had been going on for the better part of an hour. Everyone else vacated the lake area, as at least a quarter mile in all directions was scorched earth.
Only Rolf, his compatriots, and a few awe-struck humanoids watched Kannex's final blow to Baraxus, a dual fireball that streaked past each side of the spider-god, turned around and enveloped him from behind. When the light of the blast subsided, neither combatant could be seen, and no one was brave enough to search for them.
But with the death of Baraxus, something came over some of the heroes and warriors for good across the region. Whether it was militiamen in Eding, Rolf's barbarians, or even Ashe's Winnebago brothers, some of them twisted and contorted... into spider-people doppelgangers! They would ambush their supposed brethren beside them, and wreck havoc on the defenses. Treachery!
With new threats lurking on the outskirts of the battlefield, Rolf felt it wise to slay the magical pretenders and retreat through the woods, to establish a new defense away from where gods and wizards played so recklessly. The barbarians, the elves, King William's troupe, and a few remaining survivors left the fields of death around Lake Apotheosis for Eding.
And as the forces of evil bid their time, there was but a single unit of ogres still on the battlefield pillaging the dead bodies. They had many bags of loot, but they prominently displayed the head of
Velandro d'Ispatlia on a pike.
The monsters in the woods didn't see large group of smaller creatures sneak behind the ogres, but everyone could hear the ogres wailings and pleadings for mercy. No wound on the ogres was above the groin, and within moments, they were all on the ground.
Crawling over the corpses were three dozen dozen small figures, armed with maces and shortswords. They eschewed the ill-gotten gains of the ogres and collected body parts.
The leader of the group wore a tabard with the symbol of Akana. He found the head of Velandro and removed it from the pike. His subordinates gathered near him and dropped what they had collected at his feet.
The remaining body parts of Velandro.
The leader pulled off his helm and revealed a well-trimmed dog face with two large beady eyes, both welling up in tears.
Dag di Velandro, faithful kobold acolyte, protege of Velandro, and full-blooded holy warrior of Akana was too late to save his one true friend.
The other kobolds, including his wife and children, removed their helmets to pay homage to the father of the Kobolds for Akana movement. With the noises moving closer, they hastily collected Velandro's remains in a large sack, put it in one of their backpacks, and scurried off into the woods towards the Chateau.
DM Notes: Baraxus appears to have been destroyed, but the most powerful wizard in the campaign is missing. Ashe and Rolf have returned (with help) to stand by their friends, but even their secret plans are rife in deceit. The powers of evil continue to descend upon the river valley and begin to move towards Omsjik and Eding, but even kobold paladins-in-training are here to save the day.
Time for a mea culpa on my part. When (1) you're transcribing a character journal into Actual Play episode and (2) said journal entries are nearly twenty years old, it's tough to fill in the details that the characters may have forgotten. Then (3) you realize all you have to construct the campaign finale from memory because the last journal entry was covered back in episode #58, you may forget certain details, such as (4) I changed world maps from this campaign to my Hackmaster campaign, and for the sake of consistency I've adjusted travel times and locations for all of the Pigeon God based on these new map. With that in mind, I might be the only person to care, but (5) Lake Apotheosis is a mirror image of the old map, which means (6) the goblins overflowing the cliffs and subsequently swooping down onto the pilgrims came from the Nightwood Forest, which is on the wrong side of the lake! The cliff face is actually against the southern swamps. Starting with this episode, everything is pouring out of the Nightwood Forest, which is to the north of the lake.
It also leaves a desperate geographic conundrum, as the Hydincall River, which was a natural boundary for the village of Eding and the Nightwood Forest, is now on the opposite side of the village.
I'm sure they'll tweak the story elements when I sell the rights to Netflix.
RIP: Beourn and MacKay (King William's warrior associate)
Next:
#68 - The Guardian of the Chateau
Krakon Games ran the Gnomes and Gnomes 2 Kickstarters earlier this year, plus the ever-popular Mykelings. While I find the aliens tres cool, it's actually the add-ons from the prior Scum and Smugglers campaign that caught my eye. 
I don't know how I missed them the last time, and to be honest, I don't care. I need to figure out how to budget for a bunch of these guys by August 11th. 
