Campaign: 2025

Key Players. Cooper, Eric, Caleb, Jax

Primary Antagonist. The Butler

Premise

Kyuss’ plan begins to unfold years before the players’ first visit with the Illuminati. The elder god’s humiliating defeat in 1971 made him aware of the fact that the Illuminati and their adventurer groups may be more of a threat than previously imagined, which drove him to the conclusion of figuratively wiping the slate clean. In a brand new universe, created at the cost of overwriting the current one, cosmic entities like Kyuss need not fear being erased by the creation of the new world, for their eventual ‘creation’ (all of which can be predicted by the Multivisor) happens in nearly every universe. The benefit of their pursuing a new world would allow those that remain to antagonize player groups that are far less prepared. And, while sleeping soundly in the back pockets of Malal and Thanatos, Kyuss spent 50 years dreaming of revenge against the Illuminati and all the players who had walked all over him.

Kyuss’ chance to act came after Jeeves became the Butler and sensed the titan’s presence on Earth, following the card closely before taking it for himself after it was discarded. Kyuss was able to persuade the Butler to help him, and he guided the card to the desk of Tomas Birdgulch. The duo immediately began gaslighting and manipulating both the young district attorney and the country, making them believe the lie of the Illuminati ultimately being responsible for the arrival of the giants from the previous campaign and using the Backrooms to make these plans without being detected by the Multivisor. Birdgulch also used his skills as a bard to pursue the Illuminati. His focus for those abilities are either in his paintings, for manipulation-related casting, or his singing voice when in combat.

With the emergence of the players, the Butler would provide a solution to them by sending them (and anyone else who stands in their way) to the Backrooms, making a level playing field free from hired-help adventurer groups to enact the next phase of the plan, where Beel Allocen is contracted to oversee the rebuilding process of Kyuss. Once Kyuss is strong enough to reform, he and the Butler would banish the President to the Backrooms before telling him the whole truth about everything.

Lastly, using their combined strength, the two would kidnap Vinnie Sorceil from Universe-69 in order to tap directly into his powers and use them to overwrite Universe-12, destroying it in the process and completing the plan.

After his true form is restored, however, Kyuss betrays the Butler and tries to kill him. During their battle, the Butler’s Astral Dreadnought is slain, causing the Backrooms to spill out beneath, behind, and under reality.

Hiding in the astral plane, the Butler decides to pursue the power of an avatar in order to place a curse on the universe that would cause the Backrooms to expand rapidly over the entire galaxy of Universe-12.

“I will… Consume everything. Your whole planet, your whole… galaxy, will be nothing but my little ant farm.

1. The Unbearable Truth

Wednesday, May 25^th, 2022

Set initially on Friday, March 21^st, 2025 in Dallas, Texas, the players have been instructed to meet at a pub on the outskirts of town. They are picked up in a blacked-out Tahoe that drives through Dallas towards what the driver only describes as “the meeting point.” After driving through the country for a few miles, a payphone appears on the side of the road next to a tree with a tire swing attached to it. The driver exits the vehicle, locking the doors, as he picks up the receiver and drops a coin into it. He speaks a single word, inaudible to the passengers, before returning to the wheel.

A large portal materializes in front of the vehicle, inside of which is a completely different countryside. The driver informs them that they will be going through an “application process” and that he hopes they have completed their preparatory steps as communicated to them by their sources. The driver introduces himself as Dmitri. The tree, payphone, and tire swing are also present on the other side of the portal, mirrored.

After driving through a picturesque southern countryside on the other side of the portal, Dmitri parks in front of an enormous, magically-constructed, Southern plantation-style home with an elaborate, wrap-around porch. Surrounding it, a massive front lawn and backyard dotted with shady trees, and a wheat field spanning a large sector of the area along with a lake and a pier. On the porch drinking coffee are both versions of Salamalin, who invite them in as they depart with Dmitri, who is plane shifted back to Dallas.

The players enter the home. After conversing with the bears, they are greeted by Illuminati staff members and personnel that submit them individually to the ‘application process.’ Each player takes a polygraph test and background check and concludes when the interviewer produces fake death certificates for each player, making them legally deceased in order to help mask the extralegal assistance for which the Illuminati will be hiring them for. Afterwards, the players meet face-to-face again with both Salamalins.

The bears bear the reason for why they were all summoned:

“Have a seat, adventurers, please.” Salamalin-11, the brown bear, says. His parallel self, Salamalin-12, a polar bear, enters the lavish kitchen to their left carrying a large tray of food, followed by two more magically floating behind him. Lining them up on the kitchen counter as though they were tanks overlooking the living room, each one contained a large stack of peanut butter and gummy bear sandwiches arranged in pyramid shapes.

“Please, have one, if you want. That’s our brand of bears on there, too,” Salamalin-12 says after setting his first tray down.

Salamalin-11 re-enters from the bathroom and turns down the Willie Dixon music which could be heard oozing out of the home’s stereo system. “Alright, here’s the rundown.

“Over the years of the Illuminati’s operation, we have made use of a magical device to predict the movements of big, bad, evil guys to arrange adventurer groups to deal with them. It’s how we knew about the Lich all those years ago, and that’s why you’re here now. Not for another lich, thankfully, but we are dealing with an entirely different can of worms now.

“In 1966, I came into contact with one Pellegrino Ernetti, a priest from the Vatican and scientist who had invented a device that he postulated could be used to witness the past. He called it the Chronovisor. I struck a deal with him and I was able to obtain some blueprints of my own. Our personnel and I got to work, and we were able to upgrade it. Our finished product? The Multivisor, which allows the user to witness the past, present, and future of the current timeline and parallel universes.

Salamalin-12 finishes a gummy bear sandwich and licks his chops. “What we discovered was the Lich, and actually, the Nephilim as a whole. This,” he says, gesturing all around, “… is Universe-12.”

Salamalin-11 continues: “In my universe, Universe-11, giants never existed. In fact, the entire world is pretty different. But after discovering that Illeth’s eventual son, Gilgamesh, could be capable of conquering or destroying the multiverse, I scrambled to this universe, his home, so we could try to prevent his birth. But that’s a different plate of cookies for another glass of milk.

Salamalin-12 finishes another sandwich before snapping his fingers and materializing a plate of cookies and a glass pitcher of milk. He gingerly lifts the pitcher and douses the cookies with it before both bears begin feasting on it noisily.

“Yes, yes. Now,” Salamalin-11 continues, coughing slightly after eating another cookie and regaining his composure, “… ever since the fate of Kyuss was sealed at the foot of Illeth’s tower, having been confined to the Void card of the Deck of Many Things, the actual card containing him was lost by Thanatos in a wager back in 2015. That owner of the card kept it for a week before he was able to trade it away, having been disturbed by the evil presence therein. Its’ current owner? Mister Tomas Birdgulch, President of the United States.

“Ever since the card exchanged hands to him, we’ve not been able to see or track it. We also can’t oversee the white house at all anymore. We are at a complete blackout. And better yet, the Multivisor indicates that it will be stolen from us in a week during a raid by the CIA.

And Salamalin-12: “Not long after the card was picked up by Birdgulch, Kyuss led him and his successful district attorney career to us. He had this whole bullshit story that we were responsible for the Nephilim invasion. What followed were lawsuits, FOIA requests, press hearings, visits from the whole alphabet soup of government organizations, and somebody’s grandma on our front lawn accusing us of having led Illeth and the giants to the surface. And every single time, we lost, and we have no idea how. Whoever this guy was, he was good.

Salamalin-11 says, “Ever since he became the President, we basically haven’t been able to sleep. We’re hoping this will be a relatively short job: We just want you to stick around here for a week and make sure that the device doesn’t get stolen during the raid. Our guys can handle the feds on the outside; it’s the feds on the inside that we want you to take care of. Afterwards, if you’re interested, we are devising an adventurer group as we speak to sneak into the White House to steal the Kyuss card from the President. Stick around if you want.

After the players and both Salamalins’ conversation is over, a large explosion shakes the entire pocket dimension, and both Salamalins attempt to plane shift the group back to the underground base in reality. The spells succeed, and the group is transported back to the Dallas base. Upon arrival, they realize the cause of the explosion and attack on the pocket dimension is actually the raid to which the bears were referring, happening now and not in a week’s time. The wheels begin to come off of their defenses when they realize that two spies have infiltrated the base amidst the chaos. While the players are looking for them, both Salamalins vanish, along with the Multivisor, and shortly thereafter, the entire rest of the feds, leaving behind a total loss of a base of operations. An exodus of Illuminati personnel and the players begins, traveling from Dallas to their backup area located in the remains of Celebration City in Branson, Missouri. During their journey, inventory accounts indicate that the Multivisor and all of its’ records are gone.

2. Sorceil-abration City

Thursday, May 26^th, 2022

The players are welcomed to the new base by a simulacrum of Vinnie Sorceil. Upon their arrival, the gnome lays down some more exposition.

“I am glad y’all made it.” Vinnie says, accompanied by a floating bowl of Captain Crunch and a mage hand feeding it to him; everything in his office was mouse- and cheese-themed, which is even more off-putting given the circumstances of why you’re here.

“I think I know who’s helping Kyuss and the feds. He’s a third-party with whom we want no trouble: I met him once in another universe many years ago. A face that was silent, venerable, and cold, he had a gaze that would cut you in half, with piercing eyes that judged; but I watched the mansion we were in twist, contort, and create new rooms and windows all around his will, effortlessly. I tried to read his mind once and all I heard was what I can only describe as extremely loud radio static being played over the extremely loud clipping of a train horn echoing. But that’s assuming he even has a mind.

“Many scores of years ago, I met our universe’s version of him, to whom I was left no choice but to surrender the Eye and Hand of Vecna. After our battle, which nearly took my life, he attuned to the artifacts and from then on became known as the Butler.

Vinnie takes a long drag on a pipe. “In our universe, the Butler created what we know as the Backrooms. And in our universe, he’s not just weird, he’s evil. He thinks that he’s gonna use the Backrooms to indefinitely punish and imprison anyone who falls out of the line of his wicked judgement.

With Vinnie’s help, the players create a plan to infiltrate the White House’s kitchen in order to place Joab in lobster form on a plate to be served to the President in order to recover the card. They board an airline after causing scenes with the TSA and flight staff, prompting an emergency landing that Jason escalates into a full-on disaster. Footage of the ordeal is spotted on 4chan before the players are plane-shifted out of there.

After, Beel Allocen tracks them to the ongoing home invasion of the head chef of the White House. Jason Alexander is alignment-shifted to Chaotic Evil as a result of this plan. The demon finds the group during their escape and slows them down enough for the Butler to appear, prompting a short battle before is sent to the Backrooms.

Beaten to a bloody pulp and barely able to stand, Beel Allocen chuckled even harder amidst the chaos he had worked so hard to create.

Able to loosen their grasp on him, his face, as bold as the lies it spread, drew a deep breath before the demon regained his composure.

“Gentlemen, I’d love to stay and like, hang out, or… Continue whatever this is. But I’m afraid the main event is here, and I haven’t been paid yet, so… I think you’re fucked!

In a howl of more laughter, he vanishes in huff of black fumes. Upon his departure, the air became silent. Instead of relief, you begin to feel even more terrified as you feel like the walls are slowly closing in.

In an instant, the lights drop out, then all of the doors in the house slam by themselves. The room ached.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” a deep, echoing voice calls out from all directions. “I’m glad you could make it.”

Standing before them in front of the only other door in the room was the Butler. They watched as his expressionless face slowly examined theirs, simultaneously, before he gingerly took the heather-gray towel he held at his hip and draped it down on an office chair. Finally taking his gaze away from them, he removes his gloves, revealing a horribly disfigured and rotten-looking left hand. Scarlet energy particles, like smoke, began slowly billowing out of his right eye.

“Now…” He says, breaking the silence, “I’m afraid you have fallen right into our plan. You will not be leaving with your friends today.” His eyes violently twitch. “You would be wise not to resist.”

3. Backrooms Voyage I

Tuesday, May 31^st, 2022

Banished to the Backrooms, Joab is able to recall a decent amount of information about the maze he remembered from an old internet post before his accident. After miles of walking in the same direction, they come upon what appears to be a garage door embedded into the yellow drywall facing the hallway it fed into. A keypad can be seen on a metal pole coming out of the carpet on the ground. Unbeknownst to the players, this garage is a secret, former-Illuminati hangar that was used to store expensive vehicles before they realized that the Butler was in charge of the Backrooms and could either kill them or prevent their escape for occupying the Backrooms without his permission.

If they are able to open the door, waiting for them on the other side is nothing but a very large hangar area. They press on.

Still on the first level, they make it into another large, open room with a grid of pillars through the whole area. Making it to one end of the room, a single door sits in the center along a wall that was completely made of mirror. Behind them, they watch a shadow slink behind one of the pillars.

After going through the door in the pillar room, they enter a bewilderingly-large supermarket in the middle of a canned soup aisle. Elevator music seeped out over the intercom system of the place as they try to regain their bearings after realizing the door from which they came vanished behind them.

They explore the area for a few minutes. The market has departments for everything, and the layout and contents of the market are nonsensical; for instance, next to the canned soup aisle they started in is the canned sand aisle.

The store’s intercom beeps, ending the elevator music temporarily. After a long pause, a male text-to-speech voice reads:

“Thank you for shopping at store mart. The time is now 9:45. We will be closing in fifteen minutes. Make your final selections please.” Click.

The elevator music resumes. After wandering through an apparel section, they find the front of the store, where hundreds of cash registers in a horizontal line bisect the rest of the store from the front, where the sliding exit doors could be seen. Equally unnerving was the sea of fully-clothed mannequins, each claiming an empty shopping cart among the hundreds, perhaps thousands of others. Suddenly, the shadow creatures from before, a running stalker and a winged abomination, ambush them while they look out at the vast army of mannequins. After their defeat, all of the mannequins turn their heads towards the players and fix their gazes on them until they leave.

More time passes after they leave the supermarket, wandering through a new maze that looked like a warehouse. They encounter a human skeleton riding a pipe frame car with nothing but an engine, steering wheel, exhausts, and tires, that at first appears to do nothing, but appears to visit them throughout the rest of their journey through the Backrooms.

While passing through the warehouse, Salamalin-11 is able to briefly communicate with them telepathically:

As they passed through the walls of the warehouse, they came closer towards a note they could hear being sung by someone meditating. The note was being heard telepathically, and as one of them calls out, the note decrescendos suddenly before the weary voice of Salamalin-11 croaks out, “Jason? Larsen? Joab? … Are you there?

The bear describes his surroundings. “It’s me, eleven. I don’t know where twelve is. I’ve been here meditating until someone was able to sense me. I’m in a wooded area with snow, so I made a simulacrum to protect me from the monsters while I entered this trance.

“If you make it to the playrooms, I took a red slide towards the back after a massive bipedal creature awoke and chased me. I ended up here. If you press on from the warehouse you’ll find it. Just look for flashing lights and colors and look out for monsters. Shouldn’t be too hard to locate.

They continue on through the warehouse before ending up back in the yellow-wallpaper office area once again, this time with more chaotic and random wall structures. A set of heavy footsteps could be heard behind a wall in the room where the entrance to the playrooms feeds into the area. Inside, it’s like a massive Chuck-E-Cheese mixed with an arcade that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. A massive teddy bear twice the size of the players is noticed to be following them as they navigate the playrooms looking for the red slide.

Joab and Larsen talk to the ‘guardian’ (which is actually Gôl in disguise) as the stalker from earlier appears in the doorway. Before the players can do anything, Gôl steps up and decapitates the stalker, then removing the bear suit. The guardian of all forests joins the group after both parties realize they are going after President Birdgulch, Kyuss, and the Butler.

Gôl explains that Kyuss and the Butler imprisoned him here so he wouldn’t interfere with their plan to bring down the Illuminati. He also has no idea how long it has been, telling the players that he was sent to the Backrooms in 1994, where he had remained ever since. Before leaving the playrooms, Joab finds a Lego set of his entire house in Germany which he builds with Gôl.

A set of double-glass doors tinted dark leads them through to a bafflingly-large play area like the kinds that used to be made at McDonald’s and Burger King in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Inside, the ceiling extends to only 15 feet above them with nothing else in the rooms besides a convoluted mess of slides and jungle gym equipment as far down as you could see.

The four players take the red slide and regroup with Salamalin-11, and the five of them trek through the snow-covered level in which they found the first bear.  Gôl says he remembers having potentially seen Salamalin-12 on level two in the poolrooms, which usually leads travelers to the ‘neighborhood.’

The players eventually surface the face of a massive cliff, and perched on top waiting for them was a frost giant. Their battle ends with Joab being thrown off the cliff, his Lego set demolished, and the giant bleeding out. Gôl explains that the Butler a lot of the times will use the Backrooms as an indefinite resting place for the more dangerous D&D monsters like Beholders and giants, and even some of the D&D gods like Tiamat.

Snooping around the giant’s home, they enter his refrigerator and discover a massive can of unbranded Dr. Pepper that Salamalin instructs Gôl to tip over. With the can on its’ side, the goose and the lobster ripped the pull-tab off of the can, and Larsen, using his water-genasi powers, held the water in place as the group was able to pass through and perform a wrong warp into the poolrooms, a subarea of level one.

Larsen and Joab are briefly lost from the group while scouting ahead before Gôl is able to locate them, and they continue. They press on into a larger pool area with depths that stretched towards under the wall. The group swims through towards the other side, the light of Gôl’s sword illuminating the now-docile monsters that lurked below them, as they resurface out of the opening of a hot tub in a sauna room. On the other side of a black door, in what could be called a spatial non-sequitur, led them into an entirely façade neighborhood full of houses as far as the eye could see.

The players find Salamalin-12 on this level and are able to locate him via telepathy. They run and are able to locate the door to a “house” that will be able to take them back to level one to get to the hangar. They enter using a hole in the hangar created by Joab, and a Plane Shift spell cast by the bears successfully teleports the group back to reality, where the Illuminati holds an impromptu return dinner for the group, where the current date is May 31^st, 2025.

4. I’m the Bad News

Monday, June 20^th, 2022

In-game, it is the early morning hours of Saturday, June 1^st, 2025. Vinnie briefs the players and bears about what has happened in the last month and several days.

Sitting backwards in a tiny chair in the corner of his office, against the moonlit shadows cast by the blinds on the wall, Vinnie prompted a mage hand to pull down a projector screen while a simulacrum of himself put a Family Guy-themed USB drive into a computer nearby.

“You were in the Backrooms for 38 days. With the bears out of the way, our enemies have capitalized on that time to their fullest efforts, and boy, do they move fast. You boys will be fighting like hell in less than 12 hours, so listen very carefully: I have good news and bad news.” Vinnie stood up, advancing through a slideshow presentation of photos obtained during his reconnaissance:

“During the month or so that you were gone, I was up to a lot of things. I created a legion of highly-stealthy simulacra and sent them to the White House to collect intel and follow the whereabouts of the Multivisor, which brings us to the good news: The feds have destroyed the device. They cataloged and photographed it along with its’ records before they burned it. I was a secret witness among only two others, the President himself and some G-man. The President explored the current timeline and learned that the Multivisor would be replicated by the Chinese in short time unless it was destroyed, so they did exactly that so as not to undermine the stability of the country.

“The bad news is that a minion employed by the president-worm man-Butler trio has advanced their plan to the next phase as soon as they got rid of the bears. They are planning to begin the ritual to bring Kyuss back tonight, as luck would have it.

Vinnie takes a long drag off his cigar before blowing out a large billow of smoke that magically shaped itself into the image of Beel Allocen.

“While I was spying on our enemies here, he was actually able to sneak into my home dimension and steal the Cosmololocon from me. That motherfucker!” The gnome regained his composure. “They will be destroying the artifact in order to bring Kyuss back. Beel Allocen will be transporting the Soul via a private jet headed towards New York City. When it lands, he will take the soul to a private night club downtown. A spell will be performed on the roof of the building, and when it finishes, the Soul will detonate. The resulting explosion would completely destroy the entire city. And, among the rubble and glass, Kyuss will stand and loom over the beginning of his new chapter.

“They also have a backup plan in case the initial ritual tonight fails. It gets complicated, but long story short, they would be committing an act of mass evil to attract the attention of an avatar, a type of being that exists outside and above this universe and all others whose purpose is to guide the events of reality. They are a variable for which divination powers, even my own, cannot account. You could say they’re like destiny.

“The backup plan will unfold in the streets of downtown D.C. at a press conference held by the President. If they succeed, thousands of innocent people will die, and even more in the long run with the return of Kyuss.

Salamalin teleports the players to New York City, where they track down and enter Beel Allocen’s night club in the early hours of the morning. They find only the demon himself and a janitor inside; Joab kills the janitor and assumes his identity using a magical temporary disguise kit given to him by Vinnie in order to prepare for the mission, and Gôl decapitates Beel Allocen after he is able to phone the Butler and tell him of his failure before dying.

Both Salamalins opened two portals on either side of the President during his conference in D.C. Gôl threw Joab through the one of the portals, grappling to the President and bringing him to the Illuminati base in Missouri. Birdgulch is mortally wounded by the players, but before they can kill him, the Butler shows up and simply takes the Void card from the President before promptly returning to D.C., leaving behind a door that allowed them to watch the entire event.

Holding the card in his right hand, the Butler floated out several dozen yards away from the door. A brief flash of blinding red light erupts next to him, and a massive, floating, humanoid entity made of glowing red light stood before him before shrinking down to humanoid-size. The two shake hands, and each son of Kyuss immediately started a beeline to their location. Each worm began to pile on and grab hold of themselves, one after the other, until finally a pair of legs could be discerned. In the distance, a different pile of worms could be identified as an arm, somewhere off in the distance rested a massive skull made of worms that didn’t even finish forming all the way before it was lifted off the ground by two massive hands, landing on the shoulders of the titan Kyuss, now reformed and ready for action.

The pair of massive, glowing green eyes before you studied you frantically as you are held in the air by the Butler. Your concentration on the chaotic events you were just recently a part of immediately begin to feel irrelevant as the voice of Kyuss fills your ears and mind.

“Now, then. It’s been a long half-century riding around in the back pockets of you horrible creatures,” he says, fixating his piercing eyes on each one of you in succession. “You should have listened to the gnome. I am the bad news.

Kyuss’ expression changed suddenly after he paused to take in the moment.

“Perhaps you’re not as smart as you look, Jeeves. You just helped me become a god,” the titan said, smiling. “You are of no use to me anymore. With my power, perhaps you will no longer exist in the next universe. You’re fired.”

In an instant, the Butler blinked away from a massive column of white light originating from Kyuss’ face. Both his eyes pulsated with blinding red light as a flurry of disintegration rays sprang out an army of floating doors summoned around Kyuss. Each ray shot forward faster than the eye could follow, pin cushioning him all over his body before the Butler reappeared in the titan’s face and backhanded him with the hand of Vecna, tearing Kyuss’ ‘nose’ off.

A few moments later, a flash of yellow light appeared in the distance before blinking immediately at the speed of light to Kyuss’ face. Two enormous, leathery pincers wrapped themselves around the titan’s neck as the eye of the Butler’s Astral Dreadnought pierced through the magical aura cast by Kyuss.

The dreadnought’s pincers dug deep into Kyuss’ body, temporarily decapitating him. Kyuss’ head, still active and down towards the ground below the dreadnought, fires two green rays of light that focus and connect directly at the beast’s side, leaving a massive gash that flooded the streets with its’ blood.

Kyuss’ left hand reached out and grabbed his disembodied head, placing it back onto his shoulders before backhanding the Butler away from him, sending the entity flying away as Kyuss performs a reversal on the dreadnought, climbing onto its’ back and holding its’ pincers above its’ head with his massive, writhing arms. Kyuss smiles as he rips the arms off of the Astral Dreadnought. The beast roared out in ear-splitting agony as Kyuss disseminated his entire body into an incomprehensibly-big mass of glowing worms that scurried into the beast through its’ wounds.

The Butler blinked back to the fight, floating in front of his dying Astral Dreadnought. Using his Truesight, he concentrated on Kyuss’ presence and uttered a single word:

“STOP,” the Butler says, and the word re-compiled Kyuss in place on the ground below the dreadnought, whose body was beginning to spiral and lose control throughout the Earth’s atmosphere due to the pain. Suddenly, its’ single eye twitched violently before filling with blood. A wave of more sons of Kyuss violently burst out, and it twitches lifelessly, sending shockwaves down its’ entire body as it began to disintegrate into dust. A black hole emerged coming from the tail end of the beast, inside of which the Backrooms could be briefly seen spilling out into reality before becoming invisible and only accessible via NoClip.

The Butler blinked to the titan’s face and extended his left hand again. Kyuss shifted the mass of his entire head downwards into his body, and with a single, massive hand, swung his arm around over his headless shoulders to hit the Butler from behind, sending him flying into the side of a nearby skyscraper.

Shortly after his landing, the building began to widen from both sides, elongating and curving along, clipping right through every other structure around it, before closing itself like an enormous, circular fence. The sky darkened as a metal dome seeped downward over the sky, closing in on itself on the connected rooftops of the mobius-skyscraper.

A streak of red light emerged from the side of the building the Butler landed in. Phasing out directly through the glass, he blinked again and appeared in front of the titan’s face, now the only source of light in the darkness he created.

Suddenly, it is quiet. And as suddenly as the quiet occurred in the darkness, it is ruined by the sound of each individual worm on Kyuss shrieking and slowly decaying into dust.

Having used the darkness to enter in through the titan’s mouth, the Butler had flown inside Kyuss’ body and torn out disintegrated his heart with the Hand of Vecna.

Kyuss fell to the ground, the metal dome over the sky slowly distorting away until only a setting sun and the shadows cast by the fire of their battle were visible. The Butler lands at eye level with the titan.

“You are the idiot, Kyuss,” the Butler says, wiping ichor off his completely drenched suit. “You were foolish to underestimate me, let alone thinking you could destroy me.

“You have not seen the last of me,” said Kyuss, disoriented from losing the form he had been scheming to return to in an instant. “This will be a day long remembered.”

“But not by me,” said the Butler, a smile spreading across his face. “See you in hell.”

5. Hibernation

July 2022

Immediately after the battle, the Butler turns his gaze all around the area, watching as the Backrooms begin to ‘populate’ reality just outside of the accessible, tangible world. With any kind of monster imaginable being able to freely access reality if they manage to NoClip out of the Backrooms, solutions will need to be found in order to help save the world before the most dangerous monsters take it.

On the following day, Sunday, June 2^nd, 2025, the players are invited to the Plantation. Greeting them at the door with his right hand in his pocket was Salamalin-12, who let them in. He looked horrible; his fur messy, wearing a bathrobe and tank top, dark circles under his stained blue eyes, and he was accompanied by a floating panel fan. They could hear Van Halen blasting out of the sound system.

“Come in, come in. I have some refreshments for you as usual,” he says, motioning towards  more peanut butter and gummy bear sandwiches on the table. “Take one and follow me. And before you ask, I’m okay. Happy to be here.”

The bear led them down a hallway past doors, paintings, mirrors, and other knick-knacks on the walls. Behind a door on the left side was the room of Salamalin-11.

Before opening the door, twelve turned around. “He fell into a coma.” The bear took a long pause. “He’ll be all right, but he’s out. He’s somewhere on the astral plane right now.”

He opened the door. Lying in bed, eyes closed, Salamalin-11 slept on his back, though slightly levitating off of the sheets. With his arms tucked on top of themselves below his ribcage, he slept soundly.

“After you all left, eleven and I had decided to try one last-ditch effort. Well, more like damage control. If I were strong enough to use Wish again, I would undo my decision, and not only is eleven in a coma, but he ended up using Wish too,” he said, slowly staring off into space as he spoke. “I attempted to destroy the Backrooms with mine.”

Using prestidigitation, he illustrated his brief journey. “I slipped into a trance and went to the astral plane on the off-chance anything went haywire. When I arrived, the Butler was already there, and disturbingly, he was laughing. It was a quiet, steady chuckle that began echoing as soon as I awoke. When he realized I was there, he turned.

“He asked me if I was ‘satisfied with the outcome.’ I told him we’re not done yet. Before he attacked me and eleven showed up, he replied, ‘as you wish.’ ”

“I barely escaped with my life from the battle. The Butler is far more powerful there; his powers in that domain, for all we know, are limitless. I used some of my power to send a telepathic message to eleven, who promptly showed up just in time for the battle. With him there, I attempted to cast my Wish, only that’s where things…” he took off his bathrobe, “… got out of hand.”

The bear’s entire right arm was gone, all the way up to his shoulder. Replacing it was a translucent, light blue glowing appendage magically controlled by him.

“He nailed me with a disintegration ray. Hence why I kinda’ look like shit,” he said, smiling.

“After that, we tried to escape. He caught my brother off guard during his Plane Shift spell and hit him with an Eyebite. He should be okay. I’m just not sure when he’ll wake up.

“Come on, let’s go back to the living room,” he said, slowly starting towards the door. “He’s slumped.”

He led them back to the living room. “I have a new, temporary job for you. I want you to hold down the fort for me while I try to contact eleven on the astral plane. I need to avoid him, so my journey will need to be very low-profile. I think it should only take about three days, which is why I’m trusting this to you guys. Think you can handle it?

Salamalin-12 enlists the help of the players to fetch him a peyote cactus in order for him to enter a deep enough trance to avoid being sensed by the Butler. They oblige and get him the cactus after Jason Alexander tries to woo a department store employee with dinner at Hemingway’s in Springfield, which was later ruined after Joab caused a huge scene by snipping the table in half.

6. Here Vi-Go

Monday, July 18^th, 2022

On the next day, Monday, June 3^rd, 2025, the announcement of the death of Tomas Birdgulch blacks out all media everywhere as his former Vice President is sworn in. The players are invited back to the Plantation, and waiting for them are both bears.

Just four hours after Salamalin-12 enters his trance to find eleven, a breech is detected in the cabin areas of the headquarters. Upon arrival, no one is able to find anything, and no traces of any spells or magical signatures indicating an entry or exit location can be found by any means of detection.

After following the metal detection signature of the intruder traced by the base’s computer system, the shape approaches the sliding automatic door. An Illuminati staff member stood before them, only for him to drop to the floor, dead, two exact holes in his eye sockets and the back of his head gushing out. A pulsating, metal, humanoid-shaped construct takes two graceful steps in front of the door before retracting its’ right arm, the two elongated, sharpened fingers it had extended into the staff member’s head covered in blood. The shape finished pulsating, and Viggo, having come all this way to find Gôl, took in his form as a woodpecker in all its’ glory.

“Hey! Hey! Whoa! First of all, don’t move!” Viggo shouted ecstatically, his plastic-looking eyes with nothing behind them darting all over the place while he waved his fingers around erratically, sharpened to points.

“What is this? I’m drinking this,” he says, picking up a coffee cup left on a desk nearby, guzzling the entire thing before even finishing his sentence. The bird choked down every last bit of, gagging slightly.

“Alright. Okay. So, holy hot dog, Batman, you are back. And I found you. Hah! And to make it even sweeter, right after your little blunder in D.C.!

He picked up a coffee carafe from the same desk,  trailing back to it after having paced towards the goose. Viggo picked it up and elongated his beak, drinking the entire thing in one gulp.

“Augh. Hoooo, boy. Alright. Gôl, in the flesh. In the buff. In the buck. You know, apparently, that’s how you say that? ‘In the buck.’ Hah! What do they call that? Mandela Effect or something?” He shook his head, laughing.

“I came all this way just to kill you. And afterward, I’ll kill your friends, every last person in the Illuminati, and then nuke Canada,” he said, still smiling and failing to hold back his crescendos of psychotic laughter. “I missed you, motherfucker!”

During their fight with Viggo, a goblin army is spotted approaching from the south along the Arkansas border. Unexpectedly, the Illuminati takes heavy losses as the goblins quickly swarm their ranks, pillaging everything in sight using ostensibly advanced weaponry. The players created a diversion using the honey mustard stockpiles of Salamalin-11 and -12 to dispel the goblins while the rest of the Illuminati relocated their assets.

For the battle: Currently-operational defense perks of the Illuminati base include fireball and lightning bolt sentries, an antimagic ray, munitions and turrets, one tank, and an Iron Golem. Other aspects of the Illuminati’s arsenal may be available, but time will play a key role in deciding whether or not they can happen or not.

7. At Long Last, Atlantis

Thursday, July 28^th, 2022

Leya Kometsson, de-facto leader of Atlantis and sister of Verlan, calls the players in to thank them for stopping Viggo, who is currently frozen solid in a large stock pot being carried around by a forklift. She offers asylum to the entire Illuminati.

An Atlantean elder speaks up when he realizes that an old prophecy delivered by an oracle was becoming fulfilled by the players’ arriving there. The prophecy stated that a band of four adventures: A human man, a water genasi, a lobster, and a forest deity would bring them a “wicked one,” (Viggo.)

Inside a large, pyramidal stone temple at the center of the subterranean city, Leya lays down the prophecy to the players, and asks that they help the Atlantean people by slaying an Aboleth. She says that by dispatching the beast, it would reveal a clue towards the return of the true Atlantean king as foretold by the prophecy. Meanwhile, Gôl is summoned by his followers to embark on Oerlikon business.

The Aboleth currently resides in the Atlantean Bilge, the lowest levels of Atlantis that begin to permeate the Underdark. Leya also tells the players that urban legends surmise that the monster is also guarding undersea treasures of some kind.

On Tuesday, June 4^th, arriving in the Atlantean Bilge, the Aboleth gets the jump on the group and surprises them with a pre-emptive attack, prompting a battle. When the Aboleth is slain, the players return to Atlantis for a large celebration in the city. The creature was guarding a cache of gold coins as well as an undersea map leading towards an ancient, abandoned temple on the seafloor of the Mariana trench in the Atlantic. An illustration of a Kraken can be seen near the temple, as well as another illustration of a muscular, heroic, anthropomorphic lizard opposite to it.

In the city, after the battle, Leya gives them each some treasure as a symbol of goodwill and to thank them for stopping Viggo: An Atlantean Rail Gun for Jason, a grappling hook for Joab, and a Ring of Spell Storing for Larsen, which contains a single use of the spell Time Stop. Joab and Jason continually attempt to woo Leya, failing.

In their living area after the party in the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 3^rd, the players hear a knock at the door late into the night. It is the body of Salamalin-11 under the control of the Butler, carrying the entity’s towel.

Salamalin-11 was able to sneak out a single, terrified ‘RUN’ before the Butler regained control over the bear’s body. He enters the room.

After a brief battle with the Butler, the party finds themselves in a large, white drywall room with polished wooden floors like those found at a roller skating rink. Behind them is a set of bleachers that stare across from the empty white wall, in the center of which are two doors with text painted above each one. Each letter written in a robotic, square-like motif, the left door read “EXIT,” and the right, “THE MULE.” Behind the left door is a basic, square-shaped yellow and white trim room with another door and industry ‘exit’ sign above it opposite to its’ entrance door. The door leads to a maze section of the Backrooms that concludes with a door to the other end of Larsen and Joab’s area. The door on the right simply contains a Beholder. The players fight the Beholder, dodging the Demilich waiting for them in the maze by doing so. Meanwhile, Joab has an existential crisis following his rejection by Leya and begins writing an epic poem to both apologize to her and impress her. An Atlantean hotel owner, Larsen, the deity Ilmater, and other authors record different verses to the epic as time goes on.

8. PlayerUn-Gnome’s Battlegrounds

Thursday, August 4^th, 2022

In the Backrooms since the last session, the players follow the exit door from the bleachers area, which leads out of another door that disappears behind them atop a large stone pillar among many others in a grid pattern seven wide floating over a bewilderingly big river of lava. On each stone pillar, patches of the charred, but now-familiar usual Backrooms’ carpet could be found. About a hundred yards above the pillars is a warehouse ceiling with immensely bright, white lights illuminating the void. The air is hot and musty. After a series of Dexterity checks to traverse the area, the pillars begin to curve to the right.

The party makes their way across the pillar path. As they continue on, the pillars began to get more sparse as a structure sitting on a large firmament of the same material sprouting out of the lava came into view; it was made of a semi-reflective, light red substance that appeared to be crystalline. A heavy pocket of thick, red smoke emanated from the center of the structure, seemingly forming tendrils that periodically reached in all directions.

In the center of the crystalline temple, barely visible among the thick haze of red smoke was a tiny recliner chair and coffee table beside it. Across from the two was a floating, tube television playing an old episode of Looney Toons. A large, red and black bong laid in wait on the coffee table.

Surrounding the strange assortment of items were four crystalline pillars, each containing a door. Suddenly, one of them opens.

Your eyes re-adjust and do a double take as a gnome slyly steps out from behind the door, as though he had appeared out of thin air. He looked a lot like Vinnie; wearing the same garb, wizard hat, bolo tie. More red smoke followed him as he shut the door behind him. He looked unusually out of place, even given the gnome’s reputation and the nature of the Backrooms.

He smiled wide. “Aha,” clearing his throat, “Salutations, gentlemen.”

“Vinnie?” One of the players says.

“Not exactly,” he said smugly, his eyes sparkling at hearing the other gnome’s name. And immediately, you are positive this gnome is not Vinnie; he had no trademark southern accent. “You could say I’m not quite from around here.” He strolled out onto the crystal platform.

“When your gnome became a god, the cosmological weight of this achievement required an equal and opposite reaction. I am of course referring to the concept of yin and yang.

“When Kyuss caused the Backrooms to spill out into your universe, it basically created a multiversal highway system. The best part is, it’s free.” He paused. “Oh, and I’m also using it to find the wishing well. Having to race so many others to it has been…” he said, followed by a pause. “You know what, I’ve said too much.”

He pointed a tiny finger at Jason. “I feel like if you and me’ got off on the right foot, we’d conquer a universe or two. But unfortunately for you, and… whatever that is,” (he gestured at Joab) “… your adventure comes to a halt here.” In an instant, his voice came to a tremendous bellow that filled the area.

A Delayed Blast Fireball underneath the recliner chair detonates, starting the battle. Afterwards, Einniv escapes, leaving the players trapped on the ceiling at the crystalline shrine via a Reverse Gravity spell. Joab saves the others as they fall through a secret passageway on top of one of the columns, and after falling for a very long time, the group lands, where they find Einniv’s notes and four Boogie Bombs. They continue on.

Einniv’s notes, written in gnomish and very cryptic in nature, make mention of a ‘wishing well.’ It ostensibly grants the will of whomever reaches it first, willing into existence their greatest hopes and dreams by reaching it. The players begin strategizing their next move against the Butler, which will involve reaching the wishing well before anyone else and possibly using its’ payload to obtain the mythical Sword of Kas. The other direct key in finding a path to the wishing well (which does not exist in any particular universe) is the Codex of the Clearnet.

A few minutes later, they discover a NoClip point (a staircase) and are able to use it to gain access back to reality. Before leaving, Joab discovers more elaborate and obscure LEGO sets based on people and events they have witnessed in-game.

When they arrive back on the material plane, neither the Atlanteans nor both Salamalins are unable to be contacted. The players find themselves in Mexico near Tijuana. On the bright side, it’s only been three days since they were sent to the Backrooms. It is Saturday, June 6^th, 2025.

They wander into town for coffee and planning their next moves. Joab finds a phony magic shop and steals a half a kilo of cocaine from it. Afterwards, a trio of vulture Oerlikon stationed in the city recognize the players and offer to help them get to the Mariana trench, telling them that Gôl is already on his way there. When they arrive at the dock to set sail, the tide is out of control. Huge waves all over the place batter the town as a torrential storm brews above. The Oerlikon take the players there in a magical canoe that gets them all the way out to the Indonesian ocean in the time frame of one long rest.

9. Release the Binkles

Monday, August 8^th, 2022

The next day, Sunday, June 7^th, they arrive at the Mariana trench. The group descends using their powers and equipment, making their way towards the temple using the translated seafloor map from the Atlantean cave. After a long descent full of hostile water elementals, they find the temple; it appears to be constructed similarly to the ones found in Atlantis. On each side of the temple’s façade are two large, stone obelisks, on top of which are twin Maw of Sekolah statues, each in an arching pose as though they were mimicking Pisces. On the seafloor between the statues and the entryway to the temple is a circular, occult-looking stone platform connected to the enormous stone slab that tilted downward into the black depths of the temple’s innards. The pitch darkness within makes your skin crawl.

10. Ares’ Game

Saturday, August 13^th, 2022

The players enter the temple and swim through the darkness before sensing vibrations through the water, then later accompanied by the grunts and roars of two beasts. At the end of the hallway of the temple is a massive opening, and in the center is Binkles wrestling with the Kraken. The groups join forces and defeat the beast.

When the creature is slain, Binkles tells the players that he, too, was searching for the Codex of the Clearnet in order to protect it from those who would abuse its’ power. He explains that one reason it absolutely cannot cross hands with an evildoer is because it may possess the ability to access a ‘master key’ to the Backrooms on the deep web. It is not an actual ‘key’ in that sense, but rather a functional map of the area itself. Because of the recent discovery of multiversal travel through the Backrooms, the Codex could be used to pursue the wishing well directly. He also gives Joab his Belt of Immutable Strength, with 3 of the 5 elemental gems already inside it, granting the lobster the strength score of 25. The King of Atlantis also records their battle with the Kraken in verse in Joab’s Epic poem.

When they surface, they are surprised by a few dozen small boats, each containing a small firing squad of water genasi with rifles.

“Freeze! Do not move! We will shoot!”

And suddenly, when your head emerged from the ocean, it seemed there were more rifles in your face than waves in the ocean. Several dozen small attack boats surrounded you in the ocean. And as suddenly as they were raised, the guns are put back down as a single figure descends from one of the larger boats.

“Son, it’s me,” he says, taking his mask off and revealing an amphibious frog-face. “I found ‘ya.”

Larsen’s adoptive father helps the group back to Atlantis so they can save the world, stating that the Butler has been looking for him in turn. He is also wanted in Atlantis due to his ongoing direction of the mafia. Larsen’s father gives him a Luckstone and records several verses in Joab’s Epic poem.

The following day, Monday, June 8^th, both Salamalins tell the players that they must speak at the plantation, where it is safe. Salamalin-12 begins:

“We’re all fine now. And we’re not mad about the base, we can get all that back. We know exactly where you can find the Codex of the Clearnet; but there’s good news and bad news,” Salmalin-12 says, shifting in his seat at the Plantation.

“The good news is, we can get you there in one plane shift spell. The bad news is you’ll have to win a war game in Acheron to obtain the item.”

Salamalin-11 says, “In Acheron, they have weekly war game tournaments that are distinct across the multiverse, because in their simulations, you cannot die because of an immortality enchantment placed on the dimension by its’ god, Ares. This week’s tournament is basically a massive, free-for-all in which the last man standing will win the Codex. Participants from all over our universe will be vying for it.

Salamalin-12 adds, “There are a few things you should know before competing: One, there is a power cap, so you won’t have to worry about fighting gods or other powerful entities like the Butler himself. He will undoubtedly be finding someone to fight in his place, however. He cannot obtain the Codex at all costs. If the Butler gets it before anyone else, he will hide it in the most fucked-up, abyssal layers of the Backrooms conceivable, or worse yet, simply memorize the entire thing and then destroy it. That’s just how he rolls.

Upon reaching Acheron, the players find themselves in a large, stone square; when they look around, everything looks like a picturesque ancient Roman forum, inside of which are tens of thousands of travelers from all different paths of the universe. A floating, glowing sign above the main forum area contained a countdown to the next war game before transitioning to a picture of the Codex of the Clearnet alongside several other prizes for winning the game.

The ‘Codex’ is a floating, perfectly-spherical, mirrorlike ball that reflects on its surface the screen of whatever website or part of the internet is willed by its’ user when attuned to it. Its’ screen is displayed such that anyone can see it no matter what perspective they stand from.

The ‘map’ for the contest is a huge, magically-designed wilderness full of trees, rivers, lakes, hills, a mountain, and plains filling everything in between. It is approximately 32 square miles in area. The edges overlook the vast nothingness below; just clouds, and about 40 feet away from the edges of the map is a faint, nearly-invisible bluish force field preventing anyone from leaving by some other means. Flying camera drones and hidden lenses are periodically spotted in various locations throughout the map.

Acheron also notably has a gym and lucrative betting system. Because no mortal currency is accepted in Acheron, bets are placed using Drachmas. They are obtained from winning war games or placing successful bets. While in the betting hall, the players run into Beel Allocen, and they discover nobody can be harmed in ‘lobby’ of Acheron when they try to kill him. They receive death stares from other patrons of the bar when they charge him, revealing he is an influential figure around the subdimension’s betting circles.

“I’d like some salt water, please,” Larsen said, sitting at the bar and matching the bartender’s eye contact after he broke away from looking at, and then processing, Joab.

“Uh… I’ll get you a vodka on the rocks, buddy.” The bartender gestured at Joab. “Does he want anything?”

Sand. Joab said to Larsen telepathically in one short syllable. Wet sand.

Larsen looked back at the bartender and said, “He wants wet sand.”

“…You’re the boss.” He went through a door in the back of the bar.

On his way into the bar, Jason, connivingly muttering under his breath about needing to obtain a magical item, happens to cross by a hooded figure with many wares.

“Did I hear you are in the market for some… wares?” He said, the words hissing out between his teeth with each word. “What are you searching for?”

Jason, not looking up from the ground, muttered, “A sandwich baggie full of crushed glass.”

The salesman was not expecting that answer. “Well, I have the perfect thing for you.”

He reached into his coat and produced a small, brown satchel. “This, my friend, is a bag of genuine dust of disappearance. A classic item and a must-have on the battlefield.”

Larsen, in ear shot from across the bar, hears these words and spins his head over towards Jason and the mysterious merchant. Before he could react, Jason slipped a single wiry finger into the bag’s top, curled it around the dust inside, and then flicked it onto the bag, expecting it to magically vanish.

Instead, himself and the merchant immediately began to convulse and sneeze when the dust scattered in a billowing cloud that covered their faces and scattered bar patrons away from them.

“You… motherfucker!” The salesman shouts between deep, mucous-spattering coughs while stumbling out of the bar. He bumps shoulders with Gôl, now walking in behind the rest of the group.

The bartender comes back with Larsen and Joab’s drinks. Joab clumsily attempts to pick up the metal mixing bowl full of wet sand before grabbing it too hard and dumping it all over the bar floor.

Larsen and the lobster ducked down to attempt to clean the sand up, and they are immediately put on edge as an ice cold hand rested rather gingerly on either of their shoulders.

“Hoo hoo hoo! Look who it is!” Beel Allocen laughed through a smile of sharp teeth, looking down at them. “I told you you hadn’t seen the last of me.”

Joab, blinded by rage, extended his legs and managed to wrap both of his massive claws around the devil’s neck, with his laughing face and pointed teeth leering at him between his pincers. No matter how hard Joab squeezed, he wouldn’t die.

Allocen performed a quick reversal, landing on Joab’s back and forcefully patting him several times. He dismounted, taking a sip of  a cocktail being held by a floating mage hand then occupying the next seat at the bar.

“My plan to ensure you don’t win this item is pretty simple,” he put his elbow up on the bar and began gesturing, “…the fighter in Acheron with the highest win rate for this competition’s category, and by extension the source of this place’s revenue this week, is a sweet lil’ thang’ named Zegana.

He finished his drink. “When her, shall we say, ‘investors’ realize that you boys are in town and ready to kick some ass on live, universal television, all bets are off on everyone else.” A smile spread across his face. “Better drink up, ponies. I bet a pretty penny on ‘ya!”

The players sign up for the battle royale, and when it begins, they are gathered in a waiting area where themselves, along with all of their gear, which is scanned by Acheron’s computing systems. They are then magically transported into the battlefield when it begins, causing all of the players to need to find each other when the battle starts.

Gôl and Jason find themselves near a river, and further down is Larsen, who is immediately ambushed by a Gladiator. Joab, meanwhile, in a nearby forest, is divebombed by a Giant Four-Armed Gargoyle. The groups converge and defeat their assailants.

After hiding and traversing the area for a bit, they come into contact with the first group of enemies working together: A Vampire, two Warlords, and an Adult Emerald Dragon. The group is spotted traversing the mountainous area, and the dragon quickly spots them, prompting a battle.

At the top of the mountain, a chest is spotted, inside of which a magical item corresponding to the player who opened it first can be found. Shortly after leaving the mountain (with many players still left in the game), a Treant springs a booby trap on one of the players, starting another battle with a group: It is accompanied by an Amber Golem, a Biomancer, and a Daemogoth. After the group is defeated, a nearby waterfall leads the players down into a plains area touching the mountain that ends at the wall of the forest across from them. They spend quite some time walking before coming spotting a trio of monsters moving along the plain: an Eyedrake, a Death Tyrant, and a Beholder.

The only other person alive in the game, waiting for them at the center of the map where all of the rivers converge, is Zegana herself. When she is defeated, the game ends, and a bright white light fills their field of vision, and they awaken in the personal chamber of Ares, who congratulates them. The god gives the group the following items, as long as they were not already obtained from a chest in the war game: A Displacer Beast Cloak for Jason, a pair of Winged Boots for Larsen, Boots of Striding and Springing for Gôl, and for Joab, an Eldritch Claw Tattoo that Ares himself draws on him. Ares records several stanzas in Joab’s Epic poem.

He gives the party a Fortune Cookie. Along with an eldritch claw tattoo for Joab, boots of striding and springing for Gôl, as well as the grand prize, the Codex of the Clearnet.

11. The Ballad of Joab

Saturday, August 20^th, 2022

The players are teleported back to the Plantation by both Salamalins after winning the war game in Acheron, allowing them to obtain a passageway through the Backrooms to to Plato’s Cave. The group investigates the internet using the Codex, and after an unexpectedly short search they find the map: ‘skeletonkey.exe’. When the program is removed of its’ viruses using the Codex’s powers, a map of the Backrooms with a functioning compass appeared on its’ screen.

Still at the Plantation, Salamalin-12 invites Vinnie over. The god himself appears, ready to initiate the next phase of their plan. Larsen the Cosmololocon for safe keeping and a Cloud Gem to Joab for his belt.

“Come here, Lobster and water guy. I have gibz for you!”

Vinnie raised his hands, and a flash of yellow light snuck out of his eyes before summoning two items in each hand.

“First, Joab the Lobster, I have caught wind that you got my ol’ pal Binkles’ belt. I have just the thing for that…

He opened his palm and a beautiful, shimmering light purple gem perfectly the size of one of the slots on the belt floated over into the lobster’s claw.

“And, now, for you, Larsen: I have the Cosmololocon. I am giving it to you for safekeeping. In the next phase of our plan, you four will be looking for the wishing well. If the Butler makes it there before anyone else, it would be game over. Not to mention, after that the wishing well wouldn’t accept another wish for a very long time.

“I will be invading the astral plane of this dimension and layin’ out the biggest squirm sesh in the history of your world. Don’t try to go there until it’s over. My goal is to simply slow mister Jeeves down enough to buy you all enough time to make it to the well.

“Oh, and Jason, I watched you all during your competition in Acheron and… Nice shootin’, tex.” Vinnie reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and produced a small bottle with a dropper lid. “These eye drops will make your shots more accurate.”

Salamalins-11 and 12 teleport with the players to a new Illuminati base being constructed deep undersea near western Australia. In a top secret area on the sea floor, a man-made door to the Backrooms is currently being powered up.

The bears offer the players to take a magical van with an infinite gas tank to aid in their travel, as the route shown by the Codex will involve a lot of traveling that, if done correctly, will pass in a relatively quick amount of time.

When they enter the Backrooms, they travel through miles upon miles of surface-level square yellow rooms and occasional hallways with various lighting levels. Shadow figures can be seen darting around and peering at them, but not engaging, as they make their way through the areas.

The Codex then directs the players sharply left towards a downward ramp in a huge parking garage area. They descend the area for nearly 40 levels before the ground-level exit appeared ahead. The level ahead resembled a casino, though with long, winding hallways and no slot machines or games. The carpeting was tacky and gaudy as it squished under them with each step.

At the end of a hallway ahead, still in the casino area, their ears pop as the pressure in the area changes with one particular step. Immediately ahead of them is a door; upon opening it, a flash of white light filled their vision, and they suddenly found themselves sitting on bar stools on a stage. Across from them were several sets of bleachers, and between them was a desk. Sitting at it is Einniv, with his tiny legs kicked up.

They realized that this whole setup was some weird parody of the game show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’, with Einniv as its’ host.

The gnome snapped his fingers, and the bleachers behind him swelled and filled with other gnomes. He stood, then levitated in the air, turning backwards to greet them as their mage hands roared in applause. After the ovation stopped, almost every gnome in the audience blew out a long, pungent cloud of smoke from their pipes that filled the room. Einniv, whose laughter was almost drowned out by faint coughing from each other gnome in the bleachers, floated over to the stage. A wireless microphone floated over to his hand.

“Hello, ladies and germs, and welcome to, ‘whose line is it anyway?!’ ” More applause. “I am your host, Einniv Liecros, and let’s meet our contestants.”

He walked over to Jason, who still towered over Einniv in stature. “Right here, this young whippersnapper from Brooklyn thinks he can beat me to the wishing well. And live!” The audience laughed and applauded. “Jason, how are you tonight?”

Sitting beside Jason was Larsen. “This virile young water lad has the…” His eyes flashed with Truesight, then widened; “…the Cosmololocon?” He looked at the audience, then back at Larsen. “This is gonna be good.”

“And, if it isn’t Gôl himself? Why didn’t I get to see you last time, friendo?” He walked to Joab. “And you… lobster! Oh, if you hadn’t caught me when my spell slots were completely exhausted, I would have had you disintegrated the first time we met.

“Anyway…” He said, pacing back towards the desk, “…why don’t we begin the game already?”

The chairs magically grabbed each player, restraining them to it. They then magically rushed over into the sides of the stage with each of the players on top of them.

“For this first act… I want this group to improv…” he removed his hat, revealing a bald head with a single tuft of white hair springing out on top, “…your demise!”

The players kill Einniv and find another Fortune Cookie in his belongings. They additionally find Einniv’s Edible of Ultimate Good, which Larsen immediately eats whole. As a result, he learns that this item will act as a contingent ‘extra life’ in case all of them die.

When Einniv’s illusions dissipate, they find themselves in a long, large hallway along a flat pathway flanked by occasional columns. The entire area was made of a semi-reflective white tiling, and roughly 10 feet below them the restless waves of chlorinated pool water stirred. They discover the van behind them.

They continue driving on, and the path in the ‘pool’ area descends downward into a long, spiral area. It led down into a complicated and mind-boggling amalgamation of staircases, doorways, inside of which gravity seemed to lose meaning. It very much resembled the House of Stairs painting.

In the center, a large, circular platform floated among the meaningless structures, and the Codex’s screen flashed ‘NOCLIP’ when they landed on it. Using the Codex, they warp through the platform, and reawaken outside of the Backrooms.

The players NoClip to the entrance of Plato’s Cave, which appears to be located on a beautiful, yet simplistic and small island in the midst of a shimmering blue ocean that stretched in every direction. The warm sun beat down, reminding them that they were no longer in the Backrooms.

The beach they were standing on, upon closer inspection, was actually a parking lot, where gods from multiple different universes parked their ‘vehicles,’ which were all leading towards the eponymous cave, the mouth of which towered over everything. It was positioned in such a way that after 12 o’clock, the sun would be eclipsed by the roof of the cave wherever you stood on the island.

The mouth got smaller and smaller as they walked in, the light behind them becoming fainter and fainter as they walked. Droves of other deities and magical creatures from different universes walked beside them to enter, and after crossing through a long and wide set of double doors, the lobby area of Plato’s Cave awaited them.

The sheer amount of things going on in this room was almost nauseating to attempt to take all of it in. There was gambling of all different kinds, many of which they didn’t even recognize or know existed; in precise areas all throughout the place, which was a large, round, open area that had two chambers leading the traffic of creatures through the cave most efficiently. The whole thing was shaped like an infinity symbol, and was designed such that it would be very easy to lose track of the entrance with the sensory overload of stimulation going on.

After eluding several distractions thanks to Joab, they sneak out of the intended progression through the cave, slipping through a staff door and making their way through the innerworkings of the establishment, in near total darkness. They are guided towards an elevator, whose light could be seen from far away after making it through the initial door.

When they entered the elevator, which only had two buttons, up and down, a royalty-free elevator remix of Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley played. The ‘down’ button was dim, while the ‘up’ button illuminated.

When the elevator completed its’ short journey, they find themselves staring at a towering figure peering over an actual, glowing well full of illuminated pinkish blue water. The figure turned, and revealing his face showed that he was an Empyrean. It was Verlan Kometsson. After talking with the players and clearing the initial confusion, the Empyrean reads Joab’s epic poem after sensing it on him. After reading it, Verlan tells the players the Butler’s history and his involvement with the entity.

“He was born Charles Jeeves Callington, in London. In the late 19^th century. From what little material there is to research, and based on what we can speculate from the Backrooms, he worked as an actual butler in America after immigrating.

“One account, from the heads of a secret, international service, said that they knew Charles on an acquaintance-level before his ‘demise.’ They said that he apparently had a stress-induced heart attack. Some would say he survived, but when he rose once again, he was no longer the man he once was; it was here that we know a so-called ‘symptom of the universe’ awoke inside of him. He no longer existed; he simply was.

“The use of his powers were mostly benevolent at first. He, in fact, became kind of a mythical and revered figure in English and American urban legends for a brief period. But something happened as soon as people started to realize who he was; what he was capable of. And he fell under the radar for a while.

“’Jeeves,’ as everyone called him, had gone silent for close a hundred years before being sighted again by some in the 1980’s, as though he were a ghost. Nothing more than an urban legend, spread by word-of-mouth around… Playgrounds. Later, in 1990, Vinnie Sorceil happened to be in town one day. Something had snapped inside of Jeeves, because using his powers, he was able to force Vinnie to surrender the Eye and Hand of Vecna. He immediately teleported away with the artifacts, leaving everyone involved bewildered and panicked.

“He attuned to the Eye and Hand the first chance he got, using them to further augment his powers in order to abuse them. His first exploit was a one-time trek backwards through time to the beginning of our universe, where he began creating the Backrooms inside his dreadnought before the Earth even existed. And rather than traveling forwards, he waited himself out in the long face of eternity. He simply was.

“In 2018, my wife worked for the former President, Tomas Birdgulch, during his days as a D.A. When she found out about the whole thing with Kyuss, he had the Butler send her to the Backrooms. I’ve been looking for her for the last seven years. And this well before us contains the power to end it once and for all. I, however, would be foolish to stand in the way of your destiny. After all, I’m more than three thousand years old.

“Now that he is aware of this place, the only possible thing I could imagine he would want from it is omniscience. Or wish this place out of existence. But thankfully, the well won’t grant another wish for about another century. But if he got here before either of us did, it would be game over.” He stood up, and approached Joab to give him the poem back.

“Oh, and another thing, since I can see you’re an acquaintance of Binkles…” He hands him the Thunder Gem, completing the belt. “Now, go, obtain the sword,” he said, gesturing Larsen towards the well.

When the Sword of Kas is wished for, a deafening thunderclap pierces the air, and a column of light red light teleported all four of them to four seats at a floating table adjacent to a massive desk. Towering over them was A’lox J’onzz, the god of righteous rebellion.

“STOP!” A’lox shouted, the force of his voice blowing back the nearby palm trees and disrupting the birds. Nearly every head on the island turned towards the god, towering over everyone at nearly 30 feet tall.

“You guys are the adventurer group I’ve heard so much about. And I have to say, I was hoping that it would be you all who got to the wishing well first. Before you leave with Kas’ sword, I have to prove your purity of intent. If you lose it, it will disappear from existence in your universe. And then he wins.

He then calls Larsen forward, who kneels while A’lox knights him with the Sword of Kas. Verlan follows them back to Earth-12, giving Joab his Thunder Gem before they make it back to Earth.

12. Finale

Thursday, December 8^th, 2022

The group are transported back to the wishing well room in Plato’s Cave by A’lox J’onzz, where they find the water in the well drained and the lights in the room on, an eerie red spreading through the area. As they backtrack to the elevator, the screaming of thousands could be heard below that got louder as it slowly creaked down to the single other floor option.

When its’ doors open, a massacre of thousands of creatures from across the multiverse is unfolding, with the Butler at the center of it holding a beaten down Verlan Kometsson. Predicting the players’ arrival, the Butler creates a plexiglass cylinder around himself and the Empyrean.

“It is almost endearing the way that you hero-types think you pose a significant threat to my creation. You wasted the wish on a silly little sword; it is far too late to stop me.

“At the current rate, my creation will begin to consume your universe within the next week. And when there are no other tangible things in this world save for the innards of my dungeon and its prisoners, will you not be happy to reunite with those who remain inside it?”

In one fluid motion, Verlan, using his mechanical fist, rips the towel off of him and then shatters the glass, releasing the two. More walls appear in seemingly-random configurations around them. The Butler blinks away, teleporting high up into the air.

“Empyrean, I am offering to give you back your wife. You would be foolish to choose to die below my feet now.” He turned his gaze, Vecna’s eye fuming with gold energy. “The same goes for you, genasi,” he said, turning his gaze towards Larsen. “I know you would like to find your father again. But you cannot do that if you leave me no choice but to kill you.”

Jason aimed his rifle at the entity, and with a lightning-fast reaction speed he bent a nearby marble column into a shield that covered his body. The center of it opened, and the Butler emotionlessly levitated through it to face them once again.

“Very well...” he materialized a cube of drywall to hold them all in place, “…if I cannot inspire hope, then I will cause fear.”

He summoned a metal, mirrorlike dome over Verlan, who immediately began banging it like a drum with his fists. Immediately following the drywall box was about ten grand pianos that fell from the ceiling on top of the cube. Alerted to the incoming projectiles, Joab, using his massive pincers, managed to slice through almost all of them fast enough to break up the impact. The group tore through the rest of the drywall, then fanned out.

Gôl and Larsen hurried out first, running on the Butler’s right and left side, respectively. Larsen summoned a torrent of water beneath him that he used to gain momentum onto the rock-side of the cave, before jumping off of the wall and swinging for the Butler’s neck, while Gôl simply leaped the near-20 foot height the entity was levitating at. Meanwhile, Jason had already been trailing his railgun with its’ thermal scope, so with a shot ready, he blasted the entity with a direct hit to the shoulder. He is sent flying downward, spinning as he landed.

The Butler’s towel came to life from the entity’s falling body as Larsen descended onto him, the sword of Kas pointed straight down. The towel made a beeline for Jason’s railgun, and it attempted to disarm him; both parties began struggling against one another.

Gôl and Larsen’s attacks hit the ground almost simultaneously, the sound of the impact creating a thunderclap through the cave’s walls that shook pieces of rubble from the ceiling. The Butler teleported behind the two, then backhanded Larsen before he could withdraw the sword from the foundation; sent flying nearly fifteen feet, the Butler attempted to grasp the sword with the hand of Vecna, only for Gôl to run him through with his longsword from behind.

“SQUAHAAWWK!” Gôl roared, the volume of his honks almost as loud as the impact of their aerial attack. Immediately, two horizontal, rectangular columns of the cave walls flew out on either side of him, making a fast pinching motion directly at Gôl’s temples, before returning, flush, with the side of the cave. He collapsed before the pillars returned back to the walls. With Gôl’s claymore still ran through him, the Butler did another short teleport, the sword clattering to the ground in his wake, barely avoiding one of Joab’s pincers, which embedded itself into the side of the cave.

Larsen, back on his feet, dashed back towards the sword of Kas, before tripping over a square structure on the floor materialized by the Butler. Joab, recognizing the Butler’s focus on preventing Larsen from getting back to the sword, predicted the Butler’s next teleport location, catching him in his massive, grabbing-pincer.

Temporarily restrained, Jason let the towel take the railgun for the time being and drew his handgun, landing three shots to the Butler’s face. The bullets embedded themselves into his face before falling out, leaving behind a trio of deep, red welts.

The towel dropped the railgun, this time choosing to latch around Jason’s head, who fruitlessly attempted to tear it off. With the Butler still in Joab’s pincer, Gôl lined up a decapitating blow; accidentally making eye contact, the eye of Vecna emitted a bright flash that burned itself into Gôl’s mind, including a wicked smile coveted by the Butler. Immediately, Gôl’s muscles ached and his head began to spin. He lowered his sword while the Butler teleported out of Joab’s pincer.

He reappeared behind Jason; with the towel covering his face, the Butler willed it to turn him to face the entity. The towel promptly slithered down his shoulders, crossing around him. The rest of the group, in a reckless charge, dashed at the two; the Butler extended Vecna’s hand to Jason’s forehead, and in one second, every bone in his body melted; his whole body reduced into a mushy, round, pile of flesh that tore his clothing as his flesh poured out of it and onto the cave floor. The Butler rose, then flew away towards the entrance of the cave, his maniacal laughter echoing as he left.

Verlan, sitting on his shoulders, extended both his legs upward into the air, kicking the metal dome he was contained under high into the air, the dome clattering to the ground before vanishing.

The Butler arrives at the entrance of Plato’s Cave and removes the door. With roughly 200,000 creatures now trapped inside, the Butler plane shifts away, his maniacal laughter echoing through the cave as its walls and ceiling begin to shrink one segment after the other, crushing thousands as Plato’s Cave implodes.

Verlan and the players evacuate the remaining survivors using a Gate spell cast by the Empyrean, leaving barely enough time for the group to make a quick rendezvous in Atlantis before the final battle with the Butler.

In Atlantis, both bears and Leya Kometsson wait for the players to return with the sword. Leya accepts Joab’s epic poem. Meanwhile, Backrooms-related incidents have spiked as sections of it begin to materialize in reality instead of underneath it.

In an Atlantean hall were both bears, Leya Kometsson, and several Atlantean generals. The room stunk of coffee and cigarettes as the group strategized contingency plans for if the sword of Kas should fail.

After escaping Plato’s Cave, Verlan, Larsen and the others teleported into the conference room. Joab knocked over a trash can on his way in overflowing with energy drink cans that fell over; startled, Salamalin-12 instinctively fired a magic missile at it, vaporizing it. He sighed and wiped his face.

A brief pause went by. “Vinnie anticipated your arrival, heroes. But what we cannot anticipate is the outcome,” Salamalin-11 said, making eye contact with Larsen and then the rest of the group. He looked again at Larsen. “That will hurt him, though.”

“It better,” Verlan said, taking a seat at their table, then taking a look at one of his gauntlets. Hundreds of tiny lacerations from the initial glass dome manifested by the entity slowly regrew, the scabs of ichor gradually mending themselves back onto the Empyrean’s statuesque gray skin. “This has to end here. This universe isn’t big enough for the both of us.”

“Yes.” Salamalin-12 turned on a television screen in the middle of the room. “Our ‘friend’ has been very busy. London is almost completely overtaken by segments of the Backrooms, and sections of it have been manifesting all over the world much more rapidly.”

On the television screen, a cameraman frantically scoped around the streets of London, revealing that the majority of doors in the city now led directly to the Backrooms. An anchorman on-site described the chaos as the screams of thousands echoed both through the streets and into the doors. He is side-swiped by a fleeing bystander, tripping him, and suddenly he vanished, leaving behind the microphone he was using.

The screen of the television suddenly changed. It simply showed an overhead view of the conference room they were seated in. Looking upward, no cameras were visible, and Leya and her brother instantly became alert, scanning the room for anything unusual. The screen changed again, this time to a seemingly-live feed of an entry-level area of the Backrooms. The camera panned to the left, and standing before them in the center of the shot was the Butler.

He flashed an eerie smile at all of them. “You had to have one last pow-wow, didn’t you? Gathering of the righteous heroes?” His smile stiffened, then faded. “I will be civil for the last time. You would be wise to reason with me; I have nothing left to lose.”

“So do I,” Verlan said, gritting his teeth. “You have nerve, Jeeves.”

A subtle twitch of the Butler’s face was almost immediately followed by a short chuckle. “That name means nothing to me,” he snapped. “And soon, it will mean nothing to anyone else.”

The power in the room suddenly shut off, and a backup generator turned on, filling the room with temporary floodlights. The door slid open, and on the other side of it were more yellow Backrooms. The Butler stepped through it.

“Charles,” Salamalin-12 said gingerly, “This world is one that is earnestly worth saving. You have already inflicted enough pain on it.”

“Too little, too late.” He stepped into the room with them. “You,” the Butler said, pointing at Salamalin-12, “…are out of line to think your silly, narrow-minded lectures of morality will sway me. They never did. Not after what you put me through,” he said, lowering his hand. “Compared to the suffering mankind inflicts upon itself, my creation will eventually blossom into a thing of mechanical beauty.”

His expression faded into a more serious one. “My creation is a contrapasso. I could not possibly expect a group of the likes of you all – with your endless amounts of money, your castles, fantastical powers, and your resources, material strata – to understand what a frivolous existence yours is, or at least not until you have it all taken from you. The terribly greater evil at hand is your system, no – the human condition. I am the only one with the will, let alone the power, to change it forever.”

Verlan stood up. “I just want my wife back,” he said, pointing at the Butler. “You’re a monster.”

The Butler smiled. “The real monster is the world. You have not the slightest idea what you’re up against: Powerful, clandestine governments, bankers, computer programs, malicious actors that philander those in their employ at all levels; hollow, gilded, corporate promises… the ‘machine,’” said the Butler, trailing off. “You could say my purpose is to level the playing field. Your kind is exceptionally intelligent, Empyrean. I know you are capable of understanding my rationale. But instead, you are blinded by rage over one mortal woman.

Verlan roared, and his right fist rocketed off of his arm at the Butler, and the entity backhanded it away from him, sending it flying towards one of the walls, where it became embedded.

“You are unteachable,” he said, gritting his teeth, then shifting the towel to sit over one of his shoulders. “This was a nice chat, but I am afraid I must be going.” He turned back towards the entrance door, before pausing, and then looking over his shoulder; “Leya, dear, won’t you come with me?” The Butler said, the Eye of Vecna briefly pulsating with a gold light.

Before she could react, Leya immediately fell unconscious, and the Butler teleported behind her, from across the room. His towel caught the Empyrean, and before the others could rush over to stop him, he and Leya slipped through an open garage door that manifested on the floor, closing behind them.

Now even more enraged, Verlan roared, maiming the floor through which the Butler and his sister fell until he punched through the concrete base and exposed the dirt underneath. He drew a series of breaths sitting in the exposed earth.

After a long pause, he looked at the players. “You guys go kill him. I’m gonna get my sister back.” His hands transformed into two automatic shotguns that clicked as he summoned a Gate portal, on the other side of which was the Atlantean armory.

Salamalin-12 lit a cigarette. “Hammons tower. Springfield, Missouri. If you go there, he will be waiting for you.”

When they arrive in Springfield, they land inside of what appears to be the Backrooms. After a very short trip exploring, a trapdoor in the ceiling that leads out of a manhole cover at the intersection of Kansas Expressway and Sunshine street reveals that they have been in Springfield the whole time; the structure they teleported inside of is connected to a series of retail buildings manifested by the Butler as a result of the expansion of the Backrooms. They look all over the horizon of town, and everywhere buildings can be seen at, aberrant and unsightly clumps of the Backrooms had begun to intrude into reality.

They make a break for the Butler’s den, Hammons Tower. The streets of the town had already largely been evacuated; no civilians are to be seen anywhere, and as they linger closer to the imposing tower that had the perfect vantage point for viewing all of the city, the air grew colder.

On the first floor, in the lobby, a painting of the Butler rested on the wall across from the entrance; on its’ side, a cleverly-hidden nonsensical one-way door was placed nearby. The interior of the monotone lobby area transformed into a carpeted, brightly-lit hall resembling the innards of the Overlook hotel. Throughout the area, several powerful monsters lurk about attempting to impede their path.

After some time walking around the area, a letter is found at the ‘front door.’ Before they can open it, another drops in, followed by another, then two more, then ten, followed by a barrage of identical white envelopes that piled up on the floor, growing in size until they piled up higher than their heads. Each one contained a single, blank piece of paper. Outside, the windows piled up with snow; or were they envelopes?

Using the envelopes and other modifications of the mansion’s features behind the scenes, the Butler guides the players through a fireplace into a medium-length, gray hallway not unlike the area prior to the hotel. A door at the end of the hallway shook violently in between pauses as though someone on the other side was trying to get in.

The door led to the top of a precipice overlooking a vast sprawl of billowing, dark violet clouds. The door, perched about 50 feet away from the tip of the cliff, led directly towards a gargantuan, floating amalgamation of moving walls, windows, and rooms hanging over the abyss in a roughly spherical arrangement. Red light pulsated from within.

Upon reaching the edge of the cliff, a red gridline reflected into view below the cliff beneath the clouds. Further below that, wherever the eye trailed, a fragmentary snapshot of the Backrooms revealed itself among the clouds, like a floor plan. It felt unnatural to view the rooms from above after spending so much time wandering in them.

A path of floating, translucent purple hexagons appeared one by one leading off of the precipice towards the floating castle of rotating structures. A black door came into view on the center of the sphere. Opening it revealed another long, blank, white hallway with an identical black door at the end. A grand piano could be heard, pantomiming a beautifully-eerie recital that bled through the emptiness of the hallway.

On the other side of it is the top floor of Hammons Tower. The piano was situated in the center of the ballroom off to the right, and sitting at it, facing away from them, was the Butler.

Before encountering the players, the Butler may use his Wish spell to become immune to Larsen’s Harm spell.

Before they do anything, a booming, yet soft spoken voice echoed through the clouds, “Your wish has been granted.”

“I have been… reasonable,” a slow, deep voice croaked, not turning to face them. “I have tried to warn you over the last few occasions we have met not to disturb my work.”

A long pause elapsed. “Most things in this world are beyond your comprehension.” He said calmly, the words falling out of his mouth mesmerizingly. “Most things in this world yet elude explanation from your laws of physics. Your kind has spent the last few thousand years thinking it was subject to the law of the hammer in all types of recorded knowledge… In reality, the biggest threat to mankind’s acquisition of knowledge was always itself.”

He stood up, taking a sip from a glass of gin sitting on the piano, which paused, then continued to play itself. “Before I gained my powers, I was led astray down the dark twists and turns of this world by the system to which mankind has devoted much meaningless praise – and for each billionaire I send to my dungeon, there will be an ocean of crocodile tears surrounding them.

“I have concluded that in spite of my efforts, humans will never understand how this universe works, let alone even a glimpse of the whole picture. So while it might be man’s purpose to put some arbitrary meaning on his own existence, mine is to ensure he never succeeds.

The piano music abruptly ended. In the sunset, lighting his figure, rising from the piano, his ghostly skin and petrifying gaze twitched for a half a second before snapping back to expressionless, then back at your faces. He paced towards them, the Eye of Vecna narrowing in the light of the evening sun to a slit. Your hairs stood on end.

“And not only have you stood in the way of my work long enough…” his other eye glowed white with Truesight at the Sword of Kas, “…you have decided that I must die.”

He abruptly flew up into the air. “Today, you will meet oblivion.”

The lights in the ballroom immediately flicked to complete darkness, screams echoing throughout. The Butler, levitating upwards, NoClips through the ceiling as the floor floods with lava. The players follow him up the stairs through to the top floor, though several nonsensical doors are to be avoided lest they get ejected out of the tower or someplace worse.

On the roof of the tower, the Butler materializes a house over the players heads’ and drops it on them, beginning the fight. The house begins to shrink as soon as it hits the ground. On the bottom floor in the living room, the Butler casts Antimagic Field on the area containing the house followed by Far Step to teleport away. The primary exit doors to the house lead to cement walls. Once the house is broken out of, they find themselves in a completely-flat grass plain area, belonging to a pocket dimension owned by the Butler.

After escaping the house, the Butler casts Dark Star on the players from a distance. When they try to close the gap, the terrain in front of them opens up, containing a pitch-black void that rapidly expands in both directions before them. If the rift closes with anyone inside it, they have the Eyebite spell cast on them.

The fight continues as the Butler levitates high up in the sky, forming around him a large mass of yellows Backrooms walls that protruded upwards like a tower. During their ascent, horizontal columns of the walls spring out rapidly, connecting through to the other side of the chamber. An elaborate façade opened up into a wide, circular room where the Butler, waiting for them at the top of the tower, casts Finger of Death while floating above. Levitating higher, an unseen, concentric wall surrounding the battlefield began to turn, and a torrent of blood spilled out into the battlefield. The Butler descends through the circular platform while the players are pushed around by the waves. After the players are thrashed around, the platform and concentric walls surrounding it disappear.

They fall back onto the flat plains, where the Butler, levitating backwards above the ground and away from the players, summons several limestone columns that spring upwards from the ground and protruded outward at them. He then folds the terrain in front of them into a 90-degree angle. A wall rushes from behind them and pushes them over the edge. They land in a dark abyss containing no features.

The Butler, waiting for them, throws a ball of light that rapidly expanded into a large, rectangular window into the Backrooms that filled the abyss and enveloped the group inside its’ walls. Before they could gain their footing, the Butler rotates the entire segment 90 degrees upward such that the players begin falling downwards along the ground in the Backrooms, the Butler catching up to their terminal velocity with ease while firing Disintegration rays at them as they fell. As they finished their descent, the hallways of the Backrooms transformed into a long, spherical pit. The walls abruptly stopped about ten feet away from the floor, and in each direction, rows of lawn chairs could be seen all pointing to the center of the pit.

After the players revive using Einniv’s magic, the Butler regains the upper hand by picking up the Sword of Kas. The players are able to disarm him before he can dispose of it.

They continue fighting at the bottom of the pit. When the mortal blow is dealt with the sword, the lights in the pocket dimension immediately flicker. With Kas’ sword ran through him, the Butler abruptly stops levitating before falling to his knees, then collapsing onto his side.

After a long pause, the Butler slowly sat up and examined the players briefly before viewing his wound. Though their faces only met shortly, they discerned a gaping, bloody pit where the Eye of Vecna once was.

Withdrawing the sword from his chest, he flinched as the weapon exited. He keeled over, boring a single, prolonged, mechanical breath. “I am free. I am free.” He muttered, trailing his words off.

“If you want to live… Leave,” Jeeves said, his body beginning to scramble as though it were made of sand with air blasted through it. “Do not worry about me.”

Still in Gôl and Joab’s arms, the Butler shut his eyes. Larsen looked at his friends as the collapsing pocket dimension flickered. The walls flashed, temporarily becoming invisible, and other structures in the pocket dimension crumpled.

Larsen, holding the legendary blade as still as he could, wedged its’ tip into the eye of Vecna. It slowly popped out of the entity’s head, before being collected by Joab. He followed suit with the hand, and after its’ removal, the scattering of Jeeves’ particles accelerated.

“Adventurers, here,” Jeeves croaked, using the last ounce of his strength to summon an opened door leading to the lobby of the tower.

“The show is over,” he whispered, as they passed through the portal.

They dragged him through the door just in time to avoid the collapse of the pocket dimension. Larsen, still needing to locate his father in the Backrooms, casts Heal on everyone, sparing Jeeves’ life.

In an epilogue sequence, Larsen and the Illuminati finish a device designed to navigate the Backrooms and teleport to specific points, using it to find his father. Joab ascends a long stretch of white steps up to a pantheon of white marble columns to face the deities of the midplanes, who offer to transform him into the new god of the sea on the concurrence of several other gods, including Binkles and A’lox J’onzz.

“No,” Joab said after a long pause, before promptly turning around and descending the white steps.

Meanwhile, a goblin infiltrates the Atlantean prison system and steals the stock pot containing Viggo from its’ frozen hold. The goblin accidentally NoClips into the Backrooms. Viggo becomes sentient again after thawing, and perhaps out of some sense of gratitude or believing the goblin to be strong or of use to him, he spares him. The two pass by a desk in an adjacent room, and then quickly make a break for it as a towel slowly levitates off of it.