Way of Chaos


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Pathfinder: Way of Chaos is a Pathfinder one-shot written and hosted by Sonic and Zain. The one-shot's first session ran on January 1st, 2023, and it is currently ongoing.

Way of Chaos is a crossover one-shot between Chaos Theory and The Way of Life. Taking place a year after the events of each campaign, both parties are transported to the mysterious Spire of Dreams and forced to face an unknown threat together.

= Story = Twelve great warriors from wholly different universes- ones who conquered unimaginable threats that any other could not dream of- pulled into an unknown place in the rift between their worlds. What challenges await them? What bonds will they form? This clash of light and dark is sure to leave an impact...

Prologue: Hypathia

After Investigation Taskforce-07 defeats Marvelous Man, he tosses them a newspaper. It reveals that Thaumiel has escaped prison and his whereabouts are unknown. The group also realizes that Kayma has gone missing. Three months later, neither Thaumiel nor Kayma have shown up, but the party receives a letter in the mail, seemingly from Thaumiel, stating that he has Kayma and to meet him somewhere. When the party arrives, Thaumiel and Kayma are completely still. They try to get a response out of them, but neither budge. One by one, they all try to approach or attack Thaumiel and disappear. The fake Adam then collapses and disappears, and search parties are unable to locate the group.

Prologue: Saerime

A year after the events of Chaos Theory, the Expedition Team and Vinth receive a letter stating that there is something that they had forgotten to clean up after the defeat of Oshjin and to go to a set of coordinates on The Isle Adrift. As they arrive, Zalos is panicking and tells them that Dr. Zavath has not been seen for six hours. Everyone heads to the coordinates, and discover a strip of Oshjin's light in the middle of the jungle. As they approach the light and try to investigate, they all disappear one by one. Afterwards, the light vanishes as well.

Way of Chaos - Of Light and Darkness

The Expedition Team and Investigation Taskforce-07 appear together atop the Spire of Dreams, all confused about where they are. The groups converse and quickly realize that they have come from entirely different worlds. They also discuss how both groups have defeated gods or god-like beings. Zavath and Kayma then suddenly appear from portals, to the relief of both parties. Zavath and Kayma reveal that they had been taken to some strange void with just to two of them where they became acquainted. The parties then agree that they need to find a way to leave, but just as they do so, someone falls from the branches of the tree beside them. They quickly realize that the person is Thaumiel, or Adam Keter. Zaltain tries to approach Adam, but is forced to kneel before him against his will. Adam then notices that his hand has been overtaken by a strange opal ressembling Yggdrasin, which then begins to spread up to his shoulder and then shatters his arm to pieces. Then, a sliver of light that the Expedition Team recognizes as Oshjin's power enters Adam's body, spreading across his other arm and granting Adam an incomplete set of wings. Adam stands, accepting his newfound power and readying to fight the parties, and Zavath and Kayma are taken away to safety.

The fight begins as from Adam's wings appear two blurry figures, and Adam vomits a strange black substance which turns into recreations of the Beast of the Stars and Azathor, two foes the Taskforce once faced. Later, Adam stomps angrily, creating dangerous spikes across the spire, before seemingly passing out.

Once the other enemies have been defeated, Adam suddenly stands once more. He looks up at the tree, before sending the parties flying into the air high above it. They all fall back down, managing to land in the branches of the tree safely. Adam flies up, summoning more foes. From the light appears two True Guardians, stronger versions of the guardians Oshjin once summoned, as well as the Goliath of The Forgotten Temple. From the black substance appears recreations of the False Infant and the True Infant, as well as Novus Seirá. Furthermore, massive orbs of Oshjin and Yggdrasin's energies coalesce and begin to fight each other in the sky above the Spire. As the fight with Adam continues, a massive wave of energy shoots out from the clash of the souls of Oshjin and Yggdrasin, causing a variety of effects to everyone in the branches. Adam falls once more, this time falling out of the tree.

Despite this, Adam appears once more, and extends his sword to incredible lengths, using it to cut down the massive tree. Once the parties are on the ground safely, Adam descends and creates more foes. From the light appears the General, the Beast, the Magma Colossus and the Spectre, while from the darkness appears Masato Kansai, Malkuth, Isaac Da'at and the Long-dead Lightning Lord. The fight continues, and the further clashing of the Souls causes a massive storm to form over the Spire. Vinth is almost knocked unconscious while flying, but is saved by a sacrifice from his wysp Lennard. Vinth quickly sends Adam flying off the Spire in revenge. The last of the enemies are dealt with and all is quiet for a moment, before Adam once again returns.

Adam declares that he has had enough and summons the Spear of Origination, a fusion of the Spear of Wanreh and Oshjin's power. The Spire attempts to stop him with an assault of spears of rocks and lightning bolts, but to no avail. Adam stabs the spear into the Spire, creating another, smaller pillar, with another smaller tree atop it. As this happens, a vision of a garden begins to cover the sky. It shows a woman standing in a garden, before another woman approaches and mercilessly beats down the first woman before leaving. Then, two massive illusory images form in the sky, showing two planets. One of them is Saerime and the other is an unfamiliar planet covered in a sea of clouds. Afterwards, the Soul of Oshjin descends onto the Spire, sprouting a massive span of wings, as more enemies spawn from Adam's wings. Copies of The Ethereal, Zalroven IV, Cyril and Vinth appear. The Soul of Yggdrasin then descends as copies of Ehmeht and Shah'-ar appear, as well as a strange beast formed from the image of Kayma. One final enemy appears as the sound of guns clicking and reloading fills the Spire: the Named Bullet God.

The Spire heals the party and the final fight begins. Almost instantly, the Named Bullet God unleashes a barrage of bullets at many of the party members. Zalos takes a shot to the heart and is instantly killed, to the dismay of the Expedition Team. Luckily, Dolor arrives just in time to revive Zalos. Then, suddenly, a fruit begins to grow on the second tree, which causes Adam to smile. The party feels countless voices from across the multiverse telling them to not let Adam get the fruit at all costs. As the fight continues, Adam unleashes a storm of electricity that catches Leooff guard, killing him as well. Meanwhile, Adam advances towards the fruit. Dolor quickly revives Leo as well, not willing to let anyone stay dead. After a bit the fruit finally ripens, ready to be eaten.

= Characters = Player Characters and DMPCs

NPCs

= Trivia =
 * Way of Chaos is the first crossover between two campaigns.
 * A crossover was originally planned to happen during the events of Chaos Theory and The Way of Life but it was scrapped due to scheduling and character level differences.


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