The Convergence

And so, two thousand years after the death of humankind, the Archetype had established his dominion over the Dead Earth. The creations of the Variant had been all but destroyed. But soon the Archetype's rule was threatened. Humankind would return to the Dead Earth, after a fashion.

In another world, ****** had begun her plan to conquer the multiverse through the time- warping magic the Caves of the Shreken bore in her skein. She recruited an army of dragons from other worlds, and any of their enemies would be sent to other worlds to die. But ****** took advantage of his ancient enemy's plan to weave a spell of his own: the Convergence. [DATA EXPUNGED] brought together from different worlds to one day face the power of *****. The Convergence took root on the Dead Earth and drew in Freds, Astras and others displaced in time by the Legio Draconorum:

Fred 1, Astra 1, and Exotica: Upon entering the Dragon's caves, Fred encountered Astra as a prisoner of the Dragon but could not free her. He sought to kill the Dragon in order to destroy his enchanted chains. Before long he came across the princess Exotica, who was also a captive of the Dragon. Unknown to the others and herself, Exotica not only possessed vast potential for magic but was also [DATA EXPUNGED]. She revealed that her world's Dragon had kidnapped naked princesses from throughout the world to feed the lusts of its eyes. They set out to kill the Dragon, only to wander out of the caves, meaning that its curse had been broken and it was already dead. They searched for its killer and found that it was a werewolf, who transformed into Astra 2. ****** sent them along with her to another world in revenge.

Astra 2: Fred encountered Astra as a prisoner of the Dragon, guided to her by Velus. But then he found that Velus was in truth a Dragon itself. Fred slew Velus but his master, Minestus, sent them into the Calamari Desert in revenge. There they were found by the mad scientist-mage Dr. Vincent. His creation, the purple toaster-headed gorilla Bobo, was overly playful with Fred and dealt him a near-fatal wound. Vincent rebuilt Fred in his own image, giving him scissor hands. Astra was far from pleased with this and forcibly convinced Vincent to let Fred be repaired. But the spell went wrong, and Astra found herself in the hands of Minestus. Minestus sought to humble Astra by transforming her into a werewolf. But his plan backfired, and the werewolf Astra slew Minestus. Just as in slaying Velus she incurred the wrath of his master Minestus, so in slaying Minestus she incurred the wrath of his master ******* who sent her to the Dead Earth. Her companions were convinced that her transformation had only been temporary, for it had vanished when they found her. But, remembering thep ower of the Caves to warp time and space, Astra 2 was not so sure.

Fred 2: Fred 2's story was not so different from that of Astra 2, but had a much less happy ending. Vincent failed to repair him and Fred found himself in Hell, perhaps for his pride or wrath. He was approached by none other than ******* herself. She had detected the Convergence and could not destroy it, but she could subvert it. ******* offered him freedom if he would take up the curse of Thoabath, the Betrayer. He accepted and was sent to harm those who would have been his allies.

Andrea: Andrea Croix was an impetuous young noblewoman who set out in search of romance and adventure and got somewhat more than she bargained for. She encountered a handsome young man, Sir Adrian of Tetrilonia, on a quest for the Dragon of the Southern Caves. She decided to aid him on this quest. They encountered and rescued Astra, and Andrea was somewhat disappointed that Adrian seemed far more interesting in the legendary Warrior Princess of Aqualaria than her. But the point soon became moot when the Dragon's men attacked, and the Dragon himself sent Andrea to another world.

Astra 3: Astra was rescued by Fred and fashioned herself a crude carving out of bandages. Together they set out to kill the Dragon, but before they could reach the Dragon its spell sent her to the Dead Earth.

Fred 3, Irena and Wincerind: A member of the Quester's Guild, Fred journeyed to the Dragon's caves and encountered a number of strange obstacles: A volcano controlled by ancient machines, an apparition of his own mother, and a seemingly untranslatable scroll. He also encountered a naked woman chained to a chest, who gave her name as Irena of Vjorica, a divided nation where sorcerers and mundanes were locked in perpetual cold war. Her traveling companion was a wizard called Wincerind.

But it soon turned out that Irena and Wincerind were con artists who'd arranged all the bizarre things Fred had encountered. They'd been hired to trick him by the wicked and cunning Sir Adrian of Tetrilonia. But Irena was charmed by Fred's nobility and naivete and told him the truth. Together, they left the Caves, only to find themselves on the Dead Earth. A horde of metal soldiers took them to the Archetype, who consumed them in order to analyze their composition, then recreated them as they were before, with the addition of some tracking devices. In the Archetype's prison camps, they found a Fool, the only one who still retained his humanity, who told them to "come in to the tune of June by the full moon." Following it, they heard the songs of mysterious silver birds, quite different from the machines they'd encountered before, and set out to follow them...

[DATA EXPUNGED]

1. And this is what happened next.

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