Red Arrow, Black Shield
Session One - Ardelphia
After vanquishing the Dark One from the ruins of Ardelphia, Morgan established his dominion there, aided by Klaus and Gandi. Morgan had built an impressive castle in the side of a small mountain near the ruins, and in time people from other parts of Darokin and even the Known World came to settle there and help in the rebuilding and restoration of the once proud city of Ardelphia. Among these were young adventurers, seeking to earn a name for themselves by hunting down tribes of orcs, groups of bandits, and any other nasty critters still lurking in the surrounding areas and the caverns on the edge of the Broken Lands.
Klaus had built a temple near the castle, a bastion of faith that would hopefully deter any undead from returning to the area. As for Gandi, his ambitions were to build a network of underground buildings in the mountain behind the castle, the main feature of which would be his pub.
Once the castle was completed, Morgan began establishing and training a small army comprising of some 800 troops with which to defend Ardelphia. Complementing this force were a small number of amber golems created by Klaus, and an iron juggernaut that Morgan had purchased from Lithanor.
The rebuilding of Ardelphia had attracted some attention from certain Darokin merchants, and Morgan arranged a tournament for their visit. On 1 Klarmont, AC 1005, the three day tournament commenced. The visiting dignitaries were Mendel Callister, head of the Toney merchant house from Akorros, Greenleaf Vickers, head of the Umbarth house from Akesoli, and Captain Senevar from Fort Fletcher along with a small contingent of a hundred or so troops.
It was evident that the purpose of Callister's visit was to determine whether Morgan's force was truly for the purpose of defending Darokin, rather than a threat to its security. His fears were allayed by Vickers, who remembered that Morgan had led a force against the armies of the Master of the Desert Nomads several years ago.
The main event of the first day was axe-throwing. Many dwarves had come to Ardelphia, and it was these dwarfs that dominated this event. On the second day, the sword-fighting lists were contested, followed by a display of swordsmanship in a mock dual between Morgan and Lithanor. The main event, the joust, was held on the third day, accompanied by much merriment and festivities. The visiting merchants were suitably impressed, and they invited Morgan and his companions to visit their cities in the future. Captain Senevar discussed plans with Morgan to rid the region between Ardelphia and Fort Fletcher of the remaining marauding bands of bandits and invading humanoids from the Broken Lands.
Following the tournament, the companions would not meet again for another three years. Sneaky's Thieves' Guild in Thyatis was expanding in its operations. Overseeing this, liaising with the Guild Master of Thyatis and thwarting attempts by rival Master Thieves to undermine her operations kept her quite busy. Mazaramus was undertaking various projects, the most noteworthy being the construction of a flying war galley and crafting a powerful magical dagger for Sneaky. Morgan was busy helping the forces at Fort Fletcher scour the borderlands north of Lake Amsorak. He also wanted a magical ballista for his iron juggernaut, requiring assistance from a Glantrian wizard to fabricate this. The price agreed was quite cheap, a mere 50,000 gp, though the wizard had a condition that he be allowed to peruse the records of Alphatia. The wizard turned up one night under mysterious circumstances. He introduced himself as Trannarb. Morgan never saw his face, hidden as it was in his dark cowl, though he spoke with a Scottish accent. Trannarb made his way to Morgan's vault of records, magically sealing the doors so that he could study undisturbed. The following morning, when Klaus undid the wizard lock with a dispel magic spell, the strange wizard was gone, and the records were as they were, with no clue as to what knowledge the wizard had been seeking.
On the 21st of Kaldmont AC 1008, Mazaramus completed the dagger that he had been making for Sneaky. Exhausted as he was by its fabrication, he would take it to Sneaky immediately. Once delivered, he could return and get some much needed rest. He entered the House of Zebulon so that he could make use of its teleport ability to quickly deliver the dagger. As he entered, the House shuddered and shook. Furthermore, for some reason he was on the first floor when the door was supposed to access the ground floor. He found Sneaky on the ground floor of the magical building. She reminded him that this was the day that they had promised Greenleaf Vickers that they would visit Akesoli. Looking out of the windows, they saw neither Mazaramus stronghold nor Sneaky's hideout in Thyatis, but the bustling streets of a vaguely familiar city. It was Akesoli, and some carnival or festivities were taking place, presumably the one being held in their honour by Greenleaf Vickers.
Mazaramus' bemusement at the strange behaviour of the House of Zebulon was furthered by the disappearance of the access door once the pair exited onto the streets of Akesoli. Some way down the street they found Lithanor, Gandi, Morgan and Klaus, who had arrived the previous day. The mystery as to why the House of Zebulon was acting erratically would have to wait for now, as they had been invited to meet Greenleaf Vickers at the Next Door Inn. There, they were warmly greeted by Vickers. Noticing Mazaramus' somewhat fatigued state, he ordered a draught of Lethy Wine imported from Alfheim. The wizard soon forgot his concerns over the House of Zebulon and the stresses of creating a magical item of some considerable power.
The following day, feeling fully refreshed, Mazaramus returned to where the door to the House of Zebulon was supposed to be. Drawing out the small black cube that summoned the House of Zebulon, he surmised that the door was still there. It was just hidden and inaccessible. A recharge period of about a week should allow the device to function properly again. Shrugging, he returned to his fellows at the Next Door Inn to enjoy a sumptuous breakfast.
An hour or so passed, and they could hear the sounds of shouting in the streets outside. The festivities had started up again....but wait, this didn't sound right. What they heard wasn't the sound of cheering or celebration. It was the sound of panic!
Rushing out into the street, they saw that the sky was a blood red. A huge tornado was sweeping over the city from the west, and hundreds of people were running and screaming, most of them towards the east end of the city. Mazaramus levitated up to get a better view of what was going on. He saw some way off towards the western gates of the city that groups of goblins riding dire wolves, hill giants, and cavalry were moving into the city, slaying any that they caught as they went. The western wall itself was obscured by a bank of reddish dust.
He told the rest of the party what he saw, having to shout above the howling wind and the screams of the fleeing citizens of Akesoli. Mazaramus endeavoured to dissipate the tornado with a weather control spell, but first he would have to get to a safe vantage point away from the buffeting crowds and sheltered from the winds. Mounting his broom of flying he headed for a flat-topped roof with a large chimney-like structure that he could use for cover.
Lithanor cast a polymorph self spell and transformed into a griffon. Carrying Klaus, he headed for the nearest group of dire wolves. Gandi and Morgan tried to push their way through the crowds. It was difficult going, and the two were separated as they went. Sneaky climbed onto the porch of the Next Door Inn, partly to prevent being swept along with the crowd, partly to get a better view of what was going on.
Mazaramus cast his spell to counter the tornado. Gradually, the tornado began to diminish in size, and the winds slowed. Now he could see hovering in the sky, four flying ships. The tornado had almost dwindled to nothing, but then Mazaramus caught a red flash coming from one of the airships. He had to let go of his concentration and dive for cover as a fire ball slammed into the rooftop he was standing on. He retaliated by sending a fire ball of his own at one of the ships. It struck home. The airship reeled slightly from the blast and he could see that parts of it were in flames, though not damaged enough to disable the flying craft. He cast a haste spell on himself and prepared to fly up to deal with whoever was manning these craft.
Gandi had managed to push his way through the crowds to find that they were fleeing from a group of horsemen. These were wielding scimitars and had their faces half covered with cloth against the dust carried on the howling wind. They looked very much like the Sind warriors that they had fought years ago, when the armies of the Master threatened Darokin. He launched himself it the riders, axes swinging. The advantage of being on horseback was to little avail to the riders. Gandi dodged their charges, moving amongst them and hacking at their reins. One of the riders caught him with his sabre, but was thrown clear of his horse and landed in a smouldering heap as lightning leapt from the dwarfs armour.
Sneaky leapt from building to building trying to reach her comrades and join the fray. Finally, she saw a group of dire wolves fighting a griffon some way off. Closer to hand, a woman fell screaming as a dire wolf pounced on her. Sneaky found that the gap between buildings here was considerably wider. Nevertheless, she made a flying leap but landed awkwardly on a porch and came crashing through its timbers. As she regained her breath and stood up, she saw the dire wolf nearby biting at the now dead woman. She leapt forward in anger, driving her rapier through its neck. She found herself now mere yards away from where Lithanor in griffon form and Klaus were battling the rest of the dire wolf pack and their goblin riders.
Morgan, also have a difficult time making his way through the fleeing crowds, found himself confronting two hill giants. One of them swung at him with his club, sending him flying backwards. Shaking his head, he got back up and charged into the hill giants, making sure this time to dodge their blows. He soon felled the pair with his claymore. Surveying the scene, he found that most of the people had fled past him. To the west, the walls of the city were still obscured, but emerging from the dust cloud were rank after rank of Sindian warriors along with numerous groups of dire wolf riders, bugbears, giants and trolls. The invasion of Akesoli had begun!
It was evident that the purpose of Callister's visit was to determine whether Morgan's force was truly for the purpose of defending Darokin, rather than a threat to its security. His fears were allayed by Vickers, who remembered that Morgan had led a force against the armies of the Master of the Desert Nomads several years ago.
The main event of the first day was axe-throwing. Many dwarves had come to Ardelphia, and it was these dwarfs that dominated this event. On the second day, the sword-fighting lists were contested, followed by a display of swordsmanship in a mock dual between Morgan and Lithanor. The main event, the joust, was held on the third day, accompanied by much merriment and festivities. The visiting merchants were suitably impressed, and they invited Morgan and his companions to visit their cities in the future. Captain Senevar discussed plans with Morgan to rid the region between Ardelphia and Fort Fletcher of the remaining marauding bands of bandits and invading humanoids from the Broken Lands.
Following the tournament, the companions would not meet again for another three years. Sneaky's Thieves' Guild in Thyatis was expanding in its operations. Overseeing this, liaising with the Guild Master of Thyatis and thwarting attempts by rival Master Thieves to undermine her operations kept her quite busy. Mazaramus was undertaking various projects, the most noteworthy being the construction of a flying war galley and crafting a powerful magical dagger for Sneaky. Morgan was busy helping the forces at Fort Fletcher scour the borderlands north of Lake Amsorak. He also wanted a magical ballista for his iron juggernaut, requiring assistance from a Glantrian wizard to fabricate this. The price agreed was quite cheap, a mere 50,000 gp, though the wizard had a condition that he be allowed to peruse the records of Alphatia. The wizard turned up one night under mysterious circumstances. He introduced himself as Trannarb. Morgan never saw his face, hidden as it was in his dark cowl, though he spoke with a Scottish accent. Trannarb made his way to Morgan's vault of records, magically sealing the doors so that he could study undisturbed. The following morning, when Klaus undid the wizard lock with a dispel magic spell, the strange wizard was gone, and the records were as they were, with no clue as to what knowledge the wizard had been seeking.
To Akesoli
On the 21st of Kaldmont AC 1008, Mazaramus completed the dagger that he had been making for Sneaky. Exhausted as he was by its fabrication, he would take it to Sneaky immediately. Once delivered, he could return and get some much needed rest. He entered the House of Zebulon so that he could make use of its teleport ability to quickly deliver the dagger. As he entered, the House shuddered and shook. Furthermore, for some reason he was on the first floor when the door was supposed to access the ground floor. He found Sneaky on the ground floor of the magical building. She reminded him that this was the day that they had promised Greenleaf Vickers that they would visit Akesoli. Looking out of the windows, they saw neither Mazaramus stronghold nor Sneaky's hideout in Thyatis, but the bustling streets of a vaguely familiar city. It was Akesoli, and some carnival or festivities were taking place, presumably the one being held in their honour by Greenleaf Vickers.
Mazaramus' bemusement at the strange behaviour of the House of Zebulon was furthered by the disappearance of the access door once the pair exited onto the streets of Akesoli. Some way down the street they found Lithanor, Gandi, Morgan and Klaus, who had arrived the previous day. The mystery as to why the House of Zebulon was acting erratically would have to wait for now, as they had been invited to meet Greenleaf Vickers at the Next Door Inn. There, they were warmly greeted by Vickers. Noticing Mazaramus' somewhat fatigued state, he ordered a draught of Lethy Wine imported from Alfheim. The wizard soon forgot his concerns over the House of Zebulon and the stresses of creating a magical item of some considerable power.
The following day, feeling fully refreshed, Mazaramus returned to where the door to the House of Zebulon was supposed to be. Drawing out the small black cube that summoned the House of Zebulon, he surmised that the door was still there. It was just hidden and inaccessible. A recharge period of about a week should allow the device to function properly again. Shrugging, he returned to his fellows at the Next Door Inn to enjoy a sumptuous breakfast.
An hour or so passed, and they could hear the sounds of shouting in the streets outside. The festivities had started up again....but wait, this didn't sound right. What they heard wasn't the sound of cheering or celebration. It was the sound of panic!
Rushing out into the street, they saw that the sky was a blood red. A huge tornado was sweeping over the city from the west, and hundreds of people were running and screaming, most of them towards the east end of the city. Mazaramus levitated up to get a better view of what was going on. He saw some way off towards the western gates of the city that groups of goblins riding dire wolves, hill giants, and cavalry were moving into the city, slaying any that they caught as they went. The western wall itself was obscured by a bank of reddish dust.
He told the rest of the party what he saw, having to shout above the howling wind and the screams of the fleeing citizens of Akesoli. Mazaramus endeavoured to dissipate the tornado with a weather control spell, but first he would have to get to a safe vantage point away from the buffeting crowds and sheltered from the winds. Mounting his broom of flying he headed for a flat-topped roof with a large chimney-like structure that he could use for cover.
Lithanor cast a polymorph self spell and transformed into a griffon. Carrying Klaus, he headed for the nearest group of dire wolves. Gandi and Morgan tried to push their way through the crowds. It was difficult going, and the two were separated as they went. Sneaky climbed onto the porch of the Next Door Inn, partly to prevent being swept along with the crowd, partly to get a better view of what was going on.
Mazaramus cast his spell to counter the tornado. Gradually, the tornado began to diminish in size, and the winds slowed. Now he could see hovering in the sky, four flying ships. The tornado had almost dwindled to nothing, but then Mazaramus caught a red flash coming from one of the airships. He had to let go of his concentration and dive for cover as a fire ball slammed into the rooftop he was standing on. He retaliated by sending a fire ball of his own at one of the ships. It struck home. The airship reeled slightly from the blast and he could see that parts of it were in flames, though not damaged enough to disable the flying craft. He cast a haste spell on himself and prepared to fly up to deal with whoever was manning these craft.
Gandi had managed to push his way through the crowds to find that they were fleeing from a group of horsemen. These were wielding scimitars and had their faces half covered with cloth against the dust carried on the howling wind. They looked very much like the Sind warriors that they had fought years ago, when the armies of the Master threatened Darokin. He launched himself it the riders, axes swinging. The advantage of being on horseback was to little avail to the riders. Gandi dodged their charges, moving amongst them and hacking at their reins. One of the riders caught him with his sabre, but was thrown clear of his horse and landed in a smouldering heap as lightning leapt from the dwarfs armour.
Sneaky leapt from building to building trying to reach her comrades and join the fray. Finally, she saw a group of dire wolves fighting a griffon some way off. Closer to hand, a woman fell screaming as a dire wolf pounced on her. Sneaky found that the gap between buildings here was considerably wider. Nevertheless, she made a flying leap but landed awkwardly on a porch and came crashing through its timbers. As she regained her breath and stood up, she saw the dire wolf nearby biting at the now dead woman. She leapt forward in anger, driving her rapier through its neck. She found herself now mere yards away from where Lithanor in griffon form and Klaus were battling the rest of the dire wolf pack and their goblin riders.
Morgan, also have a difficult time making his way through the fleeing crowds, found himself confronting two hill giants. One of them swung at him with his club, sending him flying backwards. Shaking his head, he got back up and charged into the hill giants, making sure this time to dodge their blows. He soon felled the pair with his claymore. Surveying the scene, he found that most of the people had fled past him. To the west, the walls of the city were still obscured, but emerging from the dust cloud were rank after rank of Sindian warriors along with numerous groups of dire wolf riders, bugbears, giants and trolls. The invasion of Akesoli had begun!
Session Two - The Fall of Akesoli
Lithanor, Klaus and Sneaky, slew the band of dire wolf riders and turned their attention to the airships that they had briefly seen when they tornado had momentarily abated. Klaus and Sneaky jumped onto the back of Lithanor, who was still in griffon form. Lithanor struggled against the fierce winds but managed to gain height and fly up above the tornado to where the airships were. On the ground, Mazaramus, who had been casting more defensive spells on himself in preparation for taking on the crew of the airships himself, saw the griffon take off and he followed on his broom of flying under cover of an invisibility spell.
Morgan and Gandi were still in the city. Both saw the advancing army. Elsewhere, they could still hear the screams of panic from the fleeing populace as bands of marauding invaders moved through the streets. Both ran eastwards through the city towards the docks. Gandi found himself in the midst of several burning buildings. Putting on his ring of fire resistance, he simply ran between them and continued on. Morgan, moving significantly faster due his boots of speed, encountered more of the invading forces, a group of cavalry driving some of the helpless peasants towards a band of bugbears who mercilessly clubbed and mauled them to death. Morgan fried several of the riders using a lightning bolt from his ring of spell storing. The other riders turned to charge at Morgan.
Morgan drew his claymore as they charged. Swinging it in a wide arc, he lost his balance and stumbled back. Rising to his feet, he swung again as the riders turned once again to face him. This time his sword struck a wooden post that was supporting a building overhand and was barely able to pull his sword free before the riders were upon him. Just then Gandi entered the fray, charging at the bugbears on the far side of the panic stricken mob, felling three of them as he charged.
Lithanor landed on the deck of an airship, partly ablaze from Mazaramus' earlier fire ball. Klaus and Sneaky jumped off of the griffon's back and onto the deck of the ship. Several archers turned to face the three. Elsewhere, they could see skeletons moving about, pulling on rigging or carrying buckets of water to douse the flames. Sneaky looked about and saw on the topdeck near the ship's wheel a robed figure, presumably the captain, directing the crew and controlling the airship. She moved silently and unseen towards the figure, daggers at the ready. As Klaus and Lithanor tore into the archers, Mazaramus surveyed the scene. The fact that the ship was manned by skeletons was a delight to him. He had researched the Rune of Skeletons, and using this he would gain control of them, and with that he hoped the ship itself!
Sneaky had reached the top deck and was in position to plunge her daggers into the robed figure, who was totally unaware of her presence. At that moment, Mazaramus drew his rune near the skeletons.
CATASTROPHIC FAILURE! The rune backfired with devastating effect. The storm that had been wracking Akesoli suddenly intensified. Skeletons and archers were flung from the airship by the sudden winds. Sneaky's daggers struck home. The robed figure's lifeless body went flying from the deck. Sneaky barely managed to grab a handle of the ship's wheel before she too was flung from the ship. Lithanor struggled against the winds and grabbed Klaus to prevent him from being swept overboard. Timbers groaned and sails fluttered about wildly. Within moments, they found themselves struggling to make sense of what was going on. Mazaramus had to duck beneath a rapidly approaching beam and realised with horror that the ship was in a steep dive. Ahead, he could barely make out some strange form near the wheel, which was now being wrenched from the deck by the violent winds. He moved towards this and made a frantic grab for the wheel. An arm grabbed him. It was Sneaky, clinging to the wheel for dear life. She barely managed to climb onto his broom of flying as the rear of the ship rushed past them.
Mazaramus and Sneaky were spinning uncontrollably on the broom of flying.. Above them they could see the wildly turbulent waves of Lake Amsorak. By the time Mazaramus had brought the broom more of less under control (and the right way up) they were far out over the vast lake, several miles from Akesoli.
Lithanor managed to alight in the vicinity of the docks. Further flying was impossible, and it was a miracle that he had even managed to land safely at all. Crowds of people were struggling against the fierce winds. The ships and the harbour were rocking and swaying alarmingly. Still, the people clambered aboard, preferring to take their chances with the ships than be slaughtered by the invaders. Lithanor took refuge in an abandoned building, hoping to take advantage of the shelter from the storm, allowing him to cast a spell. Klaus was grabbed by a familiar figure. It was Greenleaf Vickers.
"WE'VE GOT TO GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE." He shouted, pulling Klaus towards the ships. "WE'LL NEVER GET THEM ALL ON THE SHIPS. WE HAVE TO.....LOOK OUT!!!!" Vickers threw Klaus to the side, and then shouted towards the nearby people to get out if the way. A juggernaut was moving at full speed down the street towards the docks. Vickers and several other people jumped out of the way. Others were not so lucky and were crushed by the monstrous juggernaut. Klaus looked up and expected to see the juggernaut turn about to crush more of the peasants. Instead it carried on going. As it neared the quay, it hurtled over the bank and plunged headlong into the lake.
Klaus struggled to his feet and reached Vickers. He told him he was going to take as many of the people as he could southwards and out of the city. Vickers nodded and headed for the ships. One of the ships had already begun moving, its decks packed with refugees. It listed violently, and it seemed as though it was about to capsize. Just when things couldn't get any worse, tentacles emerged from the lake's murky depths and wrapped themselves about the hull of the ship. Instead of crushing the ship or grabbing at the passengers. The tentacles pulled the ship upright. A huge octopus could now be seen in front of the ship, pulling it safely out of the harbour. Vickers thought this odd as there were no giant octopi in Lake Amsorak. Vickers would later learnt that the octopus was in fact Lithanor, who had polymorphed into the giant octopus to save the ship.
Morgan, facing the three riders, prepared himself against their charge with his claymore at the ready. Gandi had gotten the attention of the bugbears, who now ceased mauling the peasants and turned on the dwarf. Just then, sudden fierce winds swept through the streets. Bugbears, riders and peasants went sprawling in all directions. Gnaid and Morgan were blown along with them. The two fighters struggled against the winds, getting the peasants to grab onto each other and make for what sheltered areas they could. They struggled through the storm ridden streets, heading for the southern outskirts of Akes. At one point they heard an almighty crash as something fell from the sky into the city a few streets away from where they were. They could just make out several collapsed buildings with what looked to be the aft of a ships hull sticking out of the ruins. Eventually they made it out of the city and joined up with more refugees, led by Klaus and several soldiers of Akesoli. Getting as far away from the storm and the city as they could, it was several hours before they could look back and see the scene of devastation.
Black smoke rose from several areas of the city. Whether the storm had extinguished the fires or merely spread it even more was unclear. In the harbour, most of the ships were utterly wrecked. They thought it unlikely that any of the ships had made it out at all. Perhaps the storm had done as much damage to the invaders as it had to the city and its populace, but the truth of the matter was that Akesoli had fallen, and once the storm cleared, would now be a staging point for the invaders to begin their assault on the lands of Darokin.
Over a week later, Morgan, Klaus and Gandi arrive in Akorros on the eastern shore of Lake Amsorak, along with the hundreds of refugees that they led to safety. Lithanor, Mazaramus and Sneaky had already reached the city, with Lithanor being the first to arrive on the ship that he had rescued. Two other ships had made it out of the harbour, bringing more refugees as well as Greenleaf Vickers. The story of Vickers bravery at the port of Akesoli spread throughout the city. As head of one of the nine major merchant houses of Darokin, people were surprised that he showed more concern for the citizens of Akesoli than the financial impact of losing his city.
The six companions now reunited were taken past the citizens of Akorros that were lining up outside the city hall to enlist on the Darokin army. Evidently, someone had a more important mission for them. Morgan was eager to return to Ardelphia to marshall his forces there. He took some comfort in the fact that Ardelphia was in the capable hands of his seneschal, Berloff, an old friend that he had known since before his adventures at the Keep on the Borderlands.
The companions were led through the halls to a room where a high-ranking officer of the Darokin Army was waiting, as well as a mysterious robed figure. The officer introduced himself as General Winter. The robed man was Laran, aide to Prince Jherek of Glantri.
Laran confirmed what the characters already suspected, that the Master of the Desert Nomads had returned. As to the mission that Laran and General Winter, this time is was to be no assassination mission like the last time. The Master is aware of the party and has set up various magical protections and traps should they seek him out immediately. Mazaramus had even tried scrying the Master previously, using his crystal ball, but had only seen a rather disturbing red mist, reminiscent of the red mist that had surrounded the other-worldly malferae that Mazaramus had encountered in the Temple of Death.
Laran proposed instead that the party travel the lands of the Known World, acting as ambassadors, seeking to convince the other nations to come to the aid of Darokin. Laran told them that they knew that the Master had himself sent his own ambassadors, intending to convince these other nations that the Master's only interest was conquering Darokin. To this end, he seeks to keep the other nations out of the war, or even persuade them to join the was on the Master's side. He told the party of a prophecy that tells that brave heroes can break the thrall of the Master's emissaries and thereby bring the other nations of the Known World into the battle for freedom, and that these same heroes would lead a mighty force into battle against the armies of the Master. Laran believes that the party before him are these heroes.
General Winter looked at the heroes, and asked if they were willing to accept this mission. Mazaramus was still interested in capturing some of the airships, so he willingly accepted. Besides, how could he refuse the Princes of Glantri? Lithanor also willingly accepted. A heroic quest of such magnitude could hardly be turned down. Morgan, Klaus and Gandi would do whatever Darokin asked of them (the fact that turning down the mission would result in the forfeiture of their dominion was not even a factor as far as they were concerned). As for Sneaky...anything for a welcome break from running her thieves' guild in Thyatis.
The heroes were each granted the rank of Colonel of the Darokin Armies, and a force of 480 Darokin fighters were assigned to them as a special force. This was not to be sent into battle immediately, but kept in reserve until such time as the party had completed their mission and returned to face the Master's armies. They were also appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the Republic, with full powers to act on behalf of Darokin when dealing with other nations.
The party considered travelling to Glantri first. Some of the Princes, especially Jherek, seemed to have more insight into how to deal with the Master's armies, though the other Princes were reluctant to get involved and preferred that Glantri remain neutral. Finally they decided on Atruaghin. This was to the south of Darokin and made it practical sense to go there first. If Darokin was overrun, it would be almost impossible to reach later. The Armies of the Sind Desert gave Atruaghin a wide berth, not wishing to antagonising them and bring them into the war against them.
Little was known about the Atruaghin Clans. Some believed them to be primitive savages. Others heard tales that they had strange shamanic magic, and that their warriors moved unseen through the grasslands, striking with lightning speed, only to vanish once again before their enemies knew what was happening. Some rumours even suggested that they could take on animal form at will.
The party took riding horses to speed their travel across the lands. Although they had a broom of flying and a flying carpet, they could not carry all six with these. The House of Zebulon was still refusing to function. Why this was, Mazaramus had no idea. Maybe his miswriting of the runes had had an unforeseen magical backlash. Or the proximity of the Master himself was affecting it. Maybe it was even the will of the Gods, and such a potent item had been ruled out so that they could see how the heroes would perform without relying on it. Who knows?
Setting out from Akorros, they arrived at the border of Atruaghin a few days later. A great rocky cliff ran for miles around this realm. Although only about 200' high, and quite easily climbable, there were many places among the rocks of the cliffs where ambushers could pick off any unwanted visitors. Reaching the top of the cliff (and having to leave their horses behind), they surveyed the scene. An undulating countryside, mostly grasslands though dry and gravelly in some places, with small rocky hills here and there.
The heard a shrill cry. Looking up they saw an eagle that was flying roughly westwards. They followed the direction of its flight. Several miles in the distance they could barely make out some large encampment, presumably what passed for a settlement for the Atruaghin people.
They headed for the encampment. Later in the second day they passed through a ravine where the ground rose between two hills. They were near the end of the ravine when a feathered arrow landed in the ground mere feet in front of the party. They saw now in the rocks ahead of them a man in leather skins wielding a bow and with strange markings on his face. The man called out to the party "Strangers! Who are you that wander through the Atruaghin lands?" Lithanor stepped forward and announced that they were from Darokin, seeking the leaders of Atruaghin to negotiate an alliance. At this, the man ordered them to follow. As they travelled, they caught the occasional glimpse of movement in the brush on either side.
Finally, they reached the encampment they had seen earlier. Hundreds of tents, with more men like the the one who had escorted them, along with women and children, similarly dressed in the strange tasselled leather skins. They were taken to the centre of the encampment. There they found a large circular area with some kind of fire pit in the centre. On the opposite side were seated in front of a particularly large tent three men, evidently the tribal leaders. The central one wore a headdress made of many feathers.
Mazaramus approached and reiterated what Lithanor had told the man who had escorted them. The leader, Chief Silver Wolf, responded by telling them that this was not their war. Although they had lived in peaceful coexistence with the Darokinians, the invaders had not intruded on the lands of Darokin. He did tell them that the Master had sent emissaries to negotiate with him. However, they had neither respected the people of Atruaghin nor the land, and their tone had been threatening. Silver Wolf sent the emissaries back to the desert people, with their horses carrying their headless bodies and their heads dragged behind them. Mazaramus respected his decision, though he feared that if the Master conquered Darokin, it would not be long before he annexed Atruaghin into his realm. Chief Silver Wolf told them that he would give this more consideration. In the meantime, they were to stay as guests, which involved partaking of the Atruaghin Smoke Pipe. As night began to fall, they gathered around the large fire that had now been lit in the centre of the circle. Strange visions came to the characters as they inhaled the noxious fumes of the pipe and gazed into the fire.
The following morning, Silver Wolf called the characters before him. He told them of a tribal relic that needed to be recovered. It was believed to be a day and a half away, and only one of true courage and endurance could recover it. He selected his own champion, a brawny yet lithe Atruaghin warrior named Wild Eagle, and invited the party to choose their own champion. For some reason, the party thought that their champion would have to wrestle Wild Eagle and beat him in order to win the right to go on the quest for the relic, so they chose Sneaky as their champion.
Sneaky walked up to Wild Eagle who offered his arm in greeting and acceptance of the challenger. After shaking arms, they stepped back from each other. Chief Silver Wolf raised his feathered staff, then brought it down as he shouted "Begin!" Wild Eagle then began running towards where the gathered tribespeople had parted to form a clear path. Standing there momentarily in bewilderment, Sneaky realised that it wasn't a wrestle, it was a race!
Sneaky was soon outside the encampment and quickly caught up with Wild Eagle and overtook him. Whether she could keep up the pace for any length of time was another matter. Towards the end of the day, she found herself scrambling up a rocky path which led between two large rocks. Looking back, she could see no sign of her competitor. Reaching the top, she ran along the path between the two rocks. By the time she reached the far side, the sun was beginning to set. Below her, she could barely make out in the now shadowy landscape more scrub and some distance away what looked like low, rocky hills or cliffs. She scrambled down the other side of the hill, collapsing in exhaustion in the long grass at the bottom.
She awoke the next day, warmed by the rising sun. Above the skies were clear blue, promising a hot day. She rose and resumed her run. She found the going difficult through the tall grasses that reached over her head, and had to pace herself. She wondered where Wild Eagle was. She hadn't seen any sign of him since the previous day. For all she knew he could have already found the relic and was on his way back to the encampment.
She finally reached the rocky hills. Looking up, she saw that it was an easy climb, and was relieved to find some way up an opening in the cliff wall. A short tunnel only a few hundred feet long with daylight at the far end. She found that this led to a large canyon, about 200 yards across. On the far side she could see two strange rocks, each slightly taller than a man, with something propped in the ground between them, though at this distance she couldn't make out what it was.
Descending into the canyon, she crossed to the far side. She could see that the object between the rocks was some kind of staff driven into the ground. It was adorned with feathers, and near it's tip sparkled a large orange-brown gem. This must surely be the relic that she was supposed to recover. She went forward to grab the staff when suddenly she found herself hurled to the ground. Wild Eagle had seen her going for the staff and had charged at her, bowling her to the ground. Wild Eagle's charge found himself sprawling and crashing to the ground some feet away from Sneaky. As Wild Eagle pulled himself to his feet, Sneaky made a scrambling leap for the staff. Wild Eagle made a grab for her but Sneaky was too fast, and she hoisted the staff out of the ground.
Sneaky was trapped between the rocks. Wild Eagle was before her, blocking her exit. He leapt at her again. This time he found himself flung back as he tried to grab her. Sneaky took her chance and ran for the far side of the chasm. She found another opening similar to the one she had entered the canyon by, She looked back to see of Wild Eagle was pursuing. There was no sign of him.
Half of the job was done. She had recovered the relic. All she had to do now was get back to the encampment before she was completely exhausted. She had been running for two days solid, and in that time hadn't eaten or drank. By the end of the day, she was making her way back the way she thought she had come, heading for one of three strange shapes on the horizon, blindly stumbling towards what she hoped was the ravine between the two rocks. By the end of the day, she collapsed near to where a small brook trickled its way through the grasslands. She wasn't sure whether the water was safe to drink, but she took a chance and drank anyway. Dying of poison or exhaustion made little difference to her at this point.
Back at the encampment, the companions were watching Sneaky's plight through an image created by the tribe's shaman in the flames of the fire. Silver Wolf told them that there would be no shame or dishonour if they rescued their comrade. Mazaramus spoke for the rest of them, telling him that Sneaky would see the ordeal through. Silver Wolf smiled and nodded.
Sneaky awoke once more, the staff still in her hand, and seemed to remember a newt on the other side of the brook watching her the night before. The day was even hotter than the previous day. With a great effort, she rose and staggered onwards. She had no idea where she was going. All she knew was that she had to keep moving forward. Strange swirling sights surrounded her, accompanied by what seemed a continuous humming noise.
Some time later she awoke again. Her senses had returned. The humming noise was the sound of the Atruaghin tribespeople dancing and chanting. celebrating Sneaky's success. Before her was a bowl of fragrant food that she eagerly consumed, and she soon found her strength returning.
Wild Eagle congratulated Sneaky for her bravery and determination. Silver Wolf announced that Sneaky and her companions had shown great honour, proving themselves worthy of the Atruaghin. He would gather the Clans and prepare to battle the forces of the Master. They discussed plans, and Silver Wolf told them that the armies of Atruaghin will harass the Master's forces rather than confront them en masse, using hit-and-run tactics. By doing this, he hoped that the enemies forces would be reluctant to enter Atruaghin, but if they did, they knew the terrain better and would be ready to ambush them.
The party were escorted to the border of Atruaghin and to their horses. Before they entered the realms of Darokin, Silver Fox had his shaman cast a spell on the party and their horses to disguise them as small animals. The Master's armies had were on the move around Lake Amsorak and would soon be assaulting Akorros. If these regions were overrun, they would need a way to cross Darokin without being seen by the enemy. He warned them not to draw any undue attention to themselves as they travelled, otherwise the magic would be broken. Silver Wolf returned to his people and began to marshall his forces for war.
Morgan and Gandi were still in the city. Both saw the advancing army. Elsewhere, they could still hear the screams of panic from the fleeing populace as bands of marauding invaders moved through the streets. Both ran eastwards through the city towards the docks. Gandi found himself in the midst of several burning buildings. Putting on his ring of fire resistance, he simply ran between them and continued on. Morgan, moving significantly faster due his boots of speed, encountered more of the invading forces, a group of cavalry driving some of the helpless peasants towards a band of bugbears who mercilessly clubbed and mauled them to death. Morgan fried several of the riders using a lightning bolt from his ring of spell storing. The other riders turned to charge at Morgan.
Morgan drew his claymore as they charged. Swinging it in a wide arc, he lost his balance and stumbled back. Rising to his feet, he swung again as the riders turned once again to face him. This time his sword struck a wooden post that was supporting a building overhand and was barely able to pull his sword free before the riders were upon him. Just then Gandi entered the fray, charging at the bugbears on the far side of the panic stricken mob, felling three of them as he charged.
Lithanor landed on the deck of an airship, partly ablaze from Mazaramus' earlier fire ball. Klaus and Sneaky jumped off of the griffon's back and onto the deck of the ship. Several archers turned to face the three. Elsewhere, they could see skeletons moving about, pulling on rigging or carrying buckets of water to douse the flames. Sneaky looked about and saw on the topdeck near the ship's wheel a robed figure, presumably the captain, directing the crew and controlling the airship. She moved silently and unseen towards the figure, daggers at the ready. As Klaus and Lithanor tore into the archers, Mazaramus surveyed the scene. The fact that the ship was manned by skeletons was a delight to him. He had researched the Rune of Skeletons, and using this he would gain control of them, and with that he hoped the ship itself!
Sneaky had reached the top deck and was in position to plunge her daggers into the robed figure, who was totally unaware of her presence. At that moment, Mazaramus drew his rune near the skeletons.
CATASTROPHIC FAILURE! The rune backfired with devastating effect. The storm that had been wracking Akesoli suddenly intensified. Skeletons and archers were flung from the airship by the sudden winds. Sneaky's daggers struck home. The robed figure's lifeless body went flying from the deck. Sneaky barely managed to grab a handle of the ship's wheel before she too was flung from the ship. Lithanor struggled against the winds and grabbed Klaus to prevent him from being swept overboard. Timbers groaned and sails fluttered about wildly. Within moments, they found themselves struggling to make sense of what was going on. Mazaramus had to duck beneath a rapidly approaching beam and realised with horror that the ship was in a steep dive. Ahead, he could barely make out some strange form near the wheel, which was now being wrenched from the deck by the violent winds. He moved towards this and made a frantic grab for the wheel. An arm grabbed him. It was Sneaky, clinging to the wheel for dear life. She barely managed to climb onto his broom of flying as the rear of the ship rushed past them.
Mazaramus and Sneaky were spinning uncontrollably on the broom of flying.. Above them they could see the wildly turbulent waves of Lake Amsorak. By the time Mazaramus had brought the broom more of less under control (and the right way up) they were far out over the vast lake, several miles from Akesoli.
Lithanor managed to alight in the vicinity of the docks. Further flying was impossible, and it was a miracle that he had even managed to land safely at all. Crowds of people were struggling against the fierce winds. The ships and the harbour were rocking and swaying alarmingly. Still, the people clambered aboard, preferring to take their chances with the ships than be slaughtered by the invaders. Lithanor took refuge in an abandoned building, hoping to take advantage of the shelter from the storm, allowing him to cast a spell. Klaus was grabbed by a familiar figure. It was Greenleaf Vickers.
"WE'VE GOT TO GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE." He shouted, pulling Klaus towards the ships. "WE'LL NEVER GET THEM ALL ON THE SHIPS. WE HAVE TO.....LOOK OUT!!!!" Vickers threw Klaus to the side, and then shouted towards the nearby people to get out if the way. A juggernaut was moving at full speed down the street towards the docks. Vickers and several other people jumped out of the way. Others were not so lucky and were crushed by the monstrous juggernaut. Klaus looked up and expected to see the juggernaut turn about to crush more of the peasants. Instead it carried on going. As it neared the quay, it hurtled over the bank and plunged headlong into the lake.
Klaus struggled to his feet and reached Vickers. He told him he was going to take as many of the people as he could southwards and out of the city. Vickers nodded and headed for the ships. One of the ships had already begun moving, its decks packed with refugees. It listed violently, and it seemed as though it was about to capsize. Just when things couldn't get any worse, tentacles emerged from the lake's murky depths and wrapped themselves about the hull of the ship. Instead of crushing the ship or grabbing at the passengers. The tentacles pulled the ship upright. A huge octopus could now be seen in front of the ship, pulling it safely out of the harbour. Vickers thought this odd as there were no giant octopi in Lake Amsorak. Vickers would later learnt that the octopus was in fact Lithanor, who had polymorphed into the giant octopus to save the ship.
Morgan, facing the three riders, prepared himself against their charge with his claymore at the ready. Gandi had gotten the attention of the bugbears, who now ceased mauling the peasants and turned on the dwarf. Just then, sudden fierce winds swept through the streets. Bugbears, riders and peasants went sprawling in all directions. Gnaid and Morgan were blown along with them. The two fighters struggled against the winds, getting the peasants to grab onto each other and make for what sheltered areas they could. They struggled through the storm ridden streets, heading for the southern outskirts of Akes. At one point they heard an almighty crash as something fell from the sky into the city a few streets away from where they were. They could just make out several collapsed buildings with what looked to be the aft of a ships hull sticking out of the ruins. Eventually they made it out of the city and joined up with more refugees, led by Klaus and several soldiers of Akesoli. Getting as far away from the storm and the city as they could, it was several hours before they could look back and see the scene of devastation.
Black smoke rose from several areas of the city. Whether the storm had extinguished the fires or merely spread it even more was unclear. In the harbour, most of the ships were utterly wrecked. They thought it unlikely that any of the ships had made it out at all. Perhaps the storm had done as much damage to the invaders as it had to the city and its populace, but the truth of the matter was that Akesoli had fallen, and once the storm cleared, would now be a staging point for the invaders to begin their assault on the lands of Darokin.
A Call for Heroes
Over a week later, Morgan, Klaus and Gandi arrive in Akorros on the eastern shore of Lake Amsorak, along with the hundreds of refugees that they led to safety. Lithanor, Mazaramus and Sneaky had already reached the city, with Lithanor being the first to arrive on the ship that he had rescued. Two other ships had made it out of the harbour, bringing more refugees as well as Greenleaf Vickers. The story of Vickers bravery at the port of Akesoli spread throughout the city. As head of one of the nine major merchant houses of Darokin, people were surprised that he showed more concern for the citizens of Akesoli than the financial impact of losing his city.
The six companions now reunited were taken past the citizens of Akorros that were lining up outside the city hall to enlist on the Darokin army. Evidently, someone had a more important mission for them. Morgan was eager to return to Ardelphia to marshall his forces there. He took some comfort in the fact that Ardelphia was in the capable hands of his seneschal, Berloff, an old friend that he had known since before his adventures at the Keep on the Borderlands.
The companions were led through the halls to a room where a high-ranking officer of the Darokin Army was waiting, as well as a mysterious robed figure. The officer introduced himself as General Winter. The robed man was Laran, aide to Prince Jherek of Glantri.
Laran confirmed what the characters already suspected, that the Master of the Desert Nomads had returned. As to the mission that Laran and General Winter, this time is was to be no assassination mission like the last time. The Master is aware of the party and has set up various magical protections and traps should they seek him out immediately. Mazaramus had even tried scrying the Master previously, using his crystal ball, but had only seen a rather disturbing red mist, reminiscent of the red mist that had surrounded the other-worldly malferae that Mazaramus had encountered in the Temple of Death.
Laran proposed instead that the party travel the lands of the Known World, acting as ambassadors, seeking to convince the other nations to come to the aid of Darokin. Laran told them that they knew that the Master had himself sent his own ambassadors, intending to convince these other nations that the Master's only interest was conquering Darokin. To this end, he seeks to keep the other nations out of the war, or even persuade them to join the was on the Master's side. He told the party of a prophecy that tells that brave heroes can break the thrall of the Master's emissaries and thereby bring the other nations of the Known World into the battle for freedom, and that these same heroes would lead a mighty force into battle against the armies of the Master. Laran believes that the party before him are these heroes.
General Winter looked at the heroes, and asked if they were willing to accept this mission. Mazaramus was still interested in capturing some of the airships, so he willingly accepted. Besides, how could he refuse the Princes of Glantri? Lithanor also willingly accepted. A heroic quest of such magnitude could hardly be turned down. Morgan, Klaus and Gandi would do whatever Darokin asked of them (the fact that turning down the mission would result in the forfeiture of their dominion was not even a factor as far as they were concerned). As for Sneaky...anything for a welcome break from running her thieves' guild in Thyatis.
The heroes were each granted the rank of Colonel of the Darokin Armies, and a force of 480 Darokin fighters were assigned to them as a special force. This was not to be sent into battle immediately, but kept in reserve until such time as the party had completed their mission and returned to face the Master's armies. They were also appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the Republic, with full powers to act on behalf of Darokin when dealing with other nations.
The Test of the Atruaghin
The party considered travelling to Glantri first. Some of the Princes, especially Jherek, seemed to have more insight into how to deal with the Master's armies, though the other Princes were reluctant to get involved and preferred that Glantri remain neutral. Finally they decided on Atruaghin. This was to the south of Darokin and made it practical sense to go there first. If Darokin was overrun, it would be almost impossible to reach later. The Armies of the Sind Desert gave Atruaghin a wide berth, not wishing to antagonising them and bring them into the war against them.
Little was known about the Atruaghin Clans. Some believed them to be primitive savages. Others heard tales that they had strange shamanic magic, and that their warriors moved unseen through the grasslands, striking with lightning speed, only to vanish once again before their enemies knew what was happening. Some rumours even suggested that they could take on animal form at will.
The party took riding horses to speed their travel across the lands. Although they had a broom of flying and a flying carpet, they could not carry all six with these. The House of Zebulon was still refusing to function. Why this was, Mazaramus had no idea. Maybe his miswriting of the runes had had an unforeseen magical backlash. Or the proximity of the Master himself was affecting it. Maybe it was even the will of the Gods, and such a potent item had been ruled out so that they could see how the heroes would perform without relying on it. Who knows?
Setting out from Akorros, they arrived at the border of Atruaghin a few days later. A great rocky cliff ran for miles around this realm. Although only about 200' high, and quite easily climbable, there were many places among the rocks of the cliffs where ambushers could pick off any unwanted visitors. Reaching the top of the cliff (and having to leave their horses behind), they surveyed the scene. An undulating countryside, mostly grasslands though dry and gravelly in some places, with small rocky hills here and there.
The heard a shrill cry. Looking up they saw an eagle that was flying roughly westwards. They followed the direction of its flight. Several miles in the distance they could barely make out some large encampment, presumably what passed for a settlement for the Atruaghin people.
They headed for the encampment. Later in the second day they passed through a ravine where the ground rose between two hills. They were near the end of the ravine when a feathered arrow landed in the ground mere feet in front of the party. They saw now in the rocks ahead of them a man in leather skins wielding a bow and with strange markings on his face. The man called out to the party "Strangers! Who are you that wander through the Atruaghin lands?" Lithanor stepped forward and announced that they were from Darokin, seeking the leaders of Atruaghin to negotiate an alliance. At this, the man ordered them to follow. As they travelled, they caught the occasional glimpse of movement in the brush on either side.
Finally, they reached the encampment they had seen earlier. Hundreds of tents, with more men like the the one who had escorted them, along with women and children, similarly dressed in the strange tasselled leather skins. They were taken to the centre of the encampment. There they found a large circular area with some kind of fire pit in the centre. On the opposite side were seated in front of a particularly large tent three men, evidently the tribal leaders. The central one wore a headdress made of many feathers.
Mazaramus approached and reiterated what Lithanor had told the man who had escorted them. The leader, Chief Silver Wolf, responded by telling them that this was not their war. Although they had lived in peaceful coexistence with the Darokinians, the invaders had not intruded on the lands of Darokin. He did tell them that the Master had sent emissaries to negotiate with him. However, they had neither respected the people of Atruaghin nor the land, and their tone had been threatening. Silver Wolf sent the emissaries back to the desert people, with their horses carrying their headless bodies and their heads dragged behind them. Mazaramus respected his decision, though he feared that if the Master conquered Darokin, it would not be long before he annexed Atruaghin into his realm. Chief Silver Wolf told them that he would give this more consideration. In the meantime, they were to stay as guests, which involved partaking of the Atruaghin Smoke Pipe. As night began to fall, they gathered around the large fire that had now been lit in the centre of the circle. Strange visions came to the characters as they inhaled the noxious fumes of the pipe and gazed into the fire.
The following morning, Silver Wolf called the characters before him. He told them of a tribal relic that needed to be recovered. It was believed to be a day and a half away, and only one of true courage and endurance could recover it. He selected his own champion, a brawny yet lithe Atruaghin warrior named Wild Eagle, and invited the party to choose their own champion. For some reason, the party thought that their champion would have to wrestle Wild Eagle and beat him in order to win the right to go on the quest for the relic, so they chose Sneaky as their champion.
Sneaky walked up to Wild Eagle who offered his arm in greeting and acceptance of the challenger. After shaking arms, they stepped back from each other. Chief Silver Wolf raised his feathered staff, then brought it down as he shouted "Begin!" Wild Eagle then began running towards where the gathered tribespeople had parted to form a clear path. Standing there momentarily in bewilderment, Sneaky realised that it wasn't a wrestle, it was a race!
Sneaky was soon outside the encampment and quickly caught up with Wild Eagle and overtook him. Whether she could keep up the pace for any length of time was another matter. Towards the end of the day, she found herself scrambling up a rocky path which led between two large rocks. Looking back, she could see no sign of her competitor. Reaching the top, she ran along the path between the two rocks. By the time she reached the far side, the sun was beginning to set. Below her, she could barely make out in the now shadowy landscape more scrub and some distance away what looked like low, rocky hills or cliffs. She scrambled down the other side of the hill, collapsing in exhaustion in the long grass at the bottom.
She awoke the next day, warmed by the rising sun. Above the skies were clear blue, promising a hot day. She rose and resumed her run. She found the going difficult through the tall grasses that reached over her head, and had to pace herself. She wondered where Wild Eagle was. She hadn't seen any sign of him since the previous day. For all she knew he could have already found the relic and was on his way back to the encampment.
She finally reached the rocky hills. Looking up, she saw that it was an easy climb, and was relieved to find some way up an opening in the cliff wall. A short tunnel only a few hundred feet long with daylight at the far end. She found that this led to a large canyon, about 200 yards across. On the far side she could see two strange rocks, each slightly taller than a man, with something propped in the ground between them, though at this distance she couldn't make out what it was.
Descending into the canyon, she crossed to the far side. She could see that the object between the rocks was some kind of staff driven into the ground. It was adorned with feathers, and near it's tip sparkled a large orange-brown gem. This must surely be the relic that she was supposed to recover. She went forward to grab the staff when suddenly she found herself hurled to the ground. Wild Eagle had seen her going for the staff and had charged at her, bowling her to the ground. Wild Eagle's charge found himself sprawling and crashing to the ground some feet away from Sneaky. As Wild Eagle pulled himself to his feet, Sneaky made a scrambling leap for the staff. Wild Eagle made a grab for her but Sneaky was too fast, and she hoisted the staff out of the ground.
Sneaky was trapped between the rocks. Wild Eagle was before her, blocking her exit. He leapt at her again. This time he found himself flung back as he tried to grab her. Sneaky took her chance and ran for the far side of the chasm. She found another opening similar to the one she had entered the canyon by, She looked back to see of Wild Eagle was pursuing. There was no sign of him.
Half of the job was done. She had recovered the relic. All she had to do now was get back to the encampment before she was completely exhausted. She had been running for two days solid, and in that time hadn't eaten or drank. By the end of the day, she was making her way back the way she thought she had come, heading for one of three strange shapes on the horizon, blindly stumbling towards what she hoped was the ravine between the two rocks. By the end of the day, she collapsed near to where a small brook trickled its way through the grasslands. She wasn't sure whether the water was safe to drink, but she took a chance and drank anyway. Dying of poison or exhaustion made little difference to her at this point.
Back at the encampment, the companions were watching Sneaky's plight through an image created by the tribe's shaman in the flames of the fire. Silver Wolf told them that there would be no shame or dishonour if they rescued their comrade. Mazaramus spoke for the rest of them, telling him that Sneaky would see the ordeal through. Silver Wolf smiled and nodded.
Sneaky awoke once more, the staff still in her hand, and seemed to remember a newt on the other side of the brook watching her the night before. The day was even hotter than the previous day. With a great effort, she rose and staggered onwards. She had no idea where she was going. All she knew was that she had to keep moving forward. Strange swirling sights surrounded her, accompanied by what seemed a continuous humming noise.
Some time later she awoke again. Her senses had returned. The humming noise was the sound of the Atruaghin tribespeople dancing and chanting. celebrating Sneaky's success. Before her was a bowl of fragrant food that she eagerly consumed, and she soon found her strength returning.
Wild Eagle congratulated Sneaky for her bravery and determination. Silver Wolf announced that Sneaky and her companions had shown great honour, proving themselves worthy of the Atruaghin. He would gather the Clans and prepare to battle the forces of the Master. They discussed plans, and Silver Wolf told them that the armies of Atruaghin will harass the Master's forces rather than confront them en masse, using hit-and-run tactics. By doing this, he hoped that the enemies forces would be reluctant to enter Atruaghin, but if they did, they knew the terrain better and would be ready to ambush them.
The party were escorted to the border of Atruaghin and to their horses. Before they entered the realms of Darokin, Silver Fox had his shaman cast a spell on the party and their horses to disguise them as small animals. The Master's armies had were on the move around Lake Amsorak and would soon be assaulting Akorros. If these regions were overrun, they would need a way to cross Darokin without being seen by the enemy. He warned them not to draw any undue attention to themselves as they travelled, otherwise the magic would be broken. Silver Wolf returned to his people and began to marshall his forces for war.
Session Three - Negotiating With the Glantrians
The party reached Glantri City safely and with good speed. There they met Prince JherekVirayana IV, the red-eyed Ethengarian wizard who had sent Laran to recruit the party. With him were Princess Carlotina Erewan and Prinz Jaggar von Drachenfels. Jherek commended them on gaining the Atruaghin as allies. The tribespeople of the grasslands had some successes in driving off two of the Master's divisions, but feared that even this was not enough. With a wave of his hand, an image of the lands of Darokin appeared on the large table between them. Pointing to the northern and southern shores of Lake Amsorak, he told them that Forts Anselbury and Lakeside had fallen to the invaders, and that the armies of the Master had reached and taken Akorros despite being harassed by attacks from the Atruaghin clans.
In the east, at Selenica, the Ylari had sent an offer of peace to House Al-Azrad, with Selenica coming under the protection of Ylaruam. All that was required was for Selenica to allow a peace-keeping force to occupy the city, while the Darokin troops there stood down. Jherek and Mazaramus both agreed that this 'peace-deal' was more of a prelude to war. It was clear that the Ylari had sided with the Master.
Mazaramus asked whether Glantri itself would assist Darokin. Jherek pointed out that this was what he was hoping for, but he needed a majority of consensus from the other Princes. Carlotina was opposed to warfare, claiming that Glantri should remain neutral. The Master had showed interest only in conquering Darokin and was unlikely to invade Glantri. Jaggar too was not willing to go to war under the present circumstances. He was confident that if the Master's armies dared to invade Glantri, they would be annihilated.
Jherek made clear the dilemma that they were facing. If enough Princes could be convinced to join the war, then the remaining Princes would be honour bound to accede to their wishes. He therefore proposed that the party visit the other five Princes to negotiate with them. To this end, the party agreed to split up so as to save time. Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus would take the flying carpet and visit Prince Volospin Aendyr, ruler of Blackhill, and Dona Carnelia de Belcadiz y Fedoria, both of whose Principalities were at the southern end of Glantri. Mazaramus and Morgan would go north on the broom of flying to persuade Prince Vanserie Vlaardoen XI of Bergdhoven, Prince Brannart McGregor of Klantyre, and Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany, ruler of Boldavia, to join their cause. Meanwhile, Sneaky would remain in Glantri City until they returned.
Lithanor arrived at Volospin's elegant palace in Blackhill. In a large room with many windows high in a tower they could see over the mountains of Southern Glantri almost to Lake Amsorak. A youthful dark-haired man waited there. This was Prince Volospin. He was somewhat surprised to see the elf accompanied by a dwarf and a cleric, the harbingers of the Great Plague that had swept through Glantri 200 years ago. Nevertheless, he accorded them the diplomatic status that they deserved. When Gandi began boisterously pointing out how fearsome the Master's armies were and what they were capable of, Volospin tired of his gruff manner and summoned a gentle wind to sweep away his words. Lithanor made the same argument as Gandi, though in a more eloquent manner. Volospin had seen the devastation of Akesoli, and the abusive manner in which the Master had summoned the desert winds clearly irked him. He told Lithanor to go tell Jherek that Volsopin stands with him.
Mazaramus and Morgan had arrived at Vanserie's stronghold. Large marbled halls decorated with swirling patterns finally led to Vanserie's meeting chamber. We was somewhat convinced with the case that they offered. Vanserie explained that, although Glantri could possibly swing the tide of the war in Darokin's favour, their were other factors to consider. The Sind were not his only concern. Should Glantri take an open hand in the war, Alphatia could see this as a demonstration of power by the Glantrians and could take measures of their own. If some other powerful nation of the Known World would ally with Darokin, then Glantri's involvement would not be so obvious. Before saying farewell to them, he warned Mazaramus, who had shown obvious interest in Vanserie's knowledge of fire magic, to show caution. Some fires burn far hotter than any he had known. This would turn out to be an almost prophetic statement from the Prince.
Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus, carried on a favourable wind called forth by Volospin, landed in a great garden of many colourful flowers surrounded by neatly trimmed hedgerows. A woman tending some roses approached them. This was the Lady Belcadiz, who they had come to see (Gandi had given up trying to pronounce her full name and instead turned his attention to admiring her gardens). Lithanor learned that Carnelia's realm of Belcadiz was right on the border with the Broken Lands. The humanoids of the Broken Lands had been strangely quiet of late. Whether they were massing to invade Darokin, taking advantage of the war, or were themselves preparing to defend their lands should they be invaded was unknown. Carnelia simply pointed out that this matter was best left to the attention of the Glantrian Princes. Should the party attempt to interfere, they could provoke the orcs, gnolls, kobolds, ogres and so forth, bringing them into the war to the disadvantage of the nations of the Known World.
Like Carlotina, Carnelia did not wish to engage in a war with the Master's armies without good reason. However, she was favourable to the elves. If Alfheim were to join the war, then they could count on her and she would muster the armies of Belcadiz to come to Darokin's assistance. Having done all they could, Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus returned to Glantri City, hoping that Mazaramus and Morgan could persuade the other three Princes.
Mazaramus and Morgan flew eastwards towards Klantyre. Ominous black clouds hung over the realm here. As they landed in a large town, they were greeted by several hardy townsfolk. They wore tartan kilts and spoke with thick accents. When Mazaramus said that they had come to meet with Prince Brannart, a look of horror came over their faces. Finally, a tall burly man spoke "If yer be seeking the Lord of Klantyre, yer wannae be taking the road yonder" pointing to a track that led from the town eastwards and up into the mountains. Following the 'road' indicated, they found that after a few miles the trail led to a dank, wet cave. The entrance was closed by a rusty looking portcullis, and perched on the rocks overhanging the entrance were two gargoyles. One of the gargoyles spoke "Who approaches the Castle Klantyre, and what be yer business?" When Morgan told them that they were ambassadors sent by Jherek to negotiate with the other Princes, the other gargoyle spoke. "Yer the ones that Lord McGregor's bin expecting. Yer may enter". At that, the portcullis began to lift with a noisy grating that echoed through the cave.
Venturing into the cavernous tunnel beyond the gate, they soon came to some steps leading upwards through a narrow fissure in the side of the tunnel. Climbing this they found it led to a large chamber with straight walls carved out of the rock. A large table dominated the centre of the room, and they could barely make out a dark figure at the far end of the room. The figure spoke a command word and dim light sprang from candelabra in the corners of the room. He then spoke to Morgan and Mazaramus "I've been expecting ye. Yer showed me yer hospitality in Ardelphia, and I return as such here." Morgan recognised the voice now as that of the cloaked figure that had perused his records some while back in return for constructing a magical ballista. The figure approached. "Ye'll have te excuse me. I've nae had the opportunity to put me face on." They saw now why the people of Klantyre were so terrified of their ruler. A skeletal face with dark eyes glowered at them. Prince Brannart was a lich!
Morgan asked if he found what he was looking for in Ardelphia. Brannart replied that he had been ruling out a possibility, largely concerning Itheldown Island. More ominously, he told Morgan that Itheldown was more Morgan's problem than his. Mazaramus asked if he would be willing to join in the fight against the Master's armies. Brannart replied "De ye think I'd pass up such an opportunity? Plenty of fresh pickings to be found on the battlefield, ehh Mazaramus! I understand ye've dabbled a wee bit in the necromantic arts yerself" Brannart continued " Yer can coont me in! But I'll be asking a wee faver meself". Brannart approached Mazaramus, "What de ye know of the Rad?" Mazaramus' answered with a blank expression.
"I'll tell ye what. Ye find oot what ye can about the Rad...and report it back te me. I suggest ye start at the Great Library in Glantri. Ye may be able te gain certain secrets that so far have eluded me. De we have a deal?" Mazaramus agreed. Brannart continued "Find oot what ye can for noo. Don't be in no rush. Let's deal with this wee war first."
They still had Boldavia to visit. This was further to the north and higher up in the mountains. If anything, it was even more oppressive and foreboding than Klantyre. The townsfolk had closed their doors and shuttered their windows, so they flew on higher up the mountain towards where a castle with tall towers stood perched near the mountaintop, challenging the lightning that danced about it. As they rode up, staying close to the ground in case a sudden wind blew them from the mountainside. As they travelled through the woods on the mountainside, they heard they howls of wolves all about, and after a while had the impression that they were being followed, with dark shapes (or red to Mazaramus' infravision) being momentarily glimpsed in the woods to either side. Finally, they reached the doors of the castle, which slowly swung open as they approached. Beyond was a courtyard filled with beds of dead flowers and leafless shrubs and trees. Across from this, steps rose to another set of doors.
Approaching the doors, these two opened as they drew near. A man waited inside and beckoned them forward. "Come... and be welcome. I will fetch the Master" He paused, then turned. "That is....MY Master....not that Master", pointing in the general direction of the Sind Desert many hundreds of miles away.
Morgan and Mazaramus entered an elaborately decorated yet dimly lit great hallway. As they entered, they heard a voice from somewhere ahead and above them. "Welcome! Please, make yourselves comfortable". A flash of lightning from outside the castle briefly lit up the hall and they saw a handsome cloaked man standing on a balcony at the far end of the hallway. The man silently descended the stairway to one side of the balcony and approached the head of the long table on the centre of the room. He called forth the man who had welcomed them in and told him to bring refreshments for his guests.
Shortly, the manservant returned with food and wine. He then asked the man at the head of table, obviously Prince Morphail, why they hadn't brought the pretty one with them. Morphail looked up and said "Yes! Where are your companions? Sneaky, I believe you call her....and your cleric, Klaus. It would have been most interesting to meet him." Mazaramus explained that they were visiting the other Princes of Glantri. Morphail then turned to the matter at hand, namely why they had come to Boldavia. Morphail was aware of the war to the south between Darokin and the Master's armies. Being the northernmost of the Principalities, even if Glantri was invaded, Boldavia was quite remote. Nonetheless, it concerned him somewhat that Glantri could be threatened. The loss of a few realms to the south was of no consequence to him, but if Glantri City itself were under threat, then he would need to take action.
However, at present, this was not the case. Morphail would answer a call to war should this be the will of the other Princes. Until then, he would remain neutral. He suggested to Mazaramus that he could give one of his group a power that would make them practically invincible. Mazaramus was intrigued. Morphail continued, "Not only would you be invincible, but you would never have to fear death again. Furthermore, you needn't fear growing old. You can remain young forever." Morgan realised what Morphail was talking about. He was offering to turn one of the party into a vampire!
It was clear that Morphail was no mere vampire. Mazaramus asked what drawbacks would be incurred should one of them accept. He knew about the weaknesses, being unable to walk in sunlight, cross running water and having to sleep in a coffin during the day, not to mention the drastic dietary change due to having to drink blood for sustenance. It also transpired that whoever was turned into a vampire would be under the thrall of Morphail.
Morgan had no desire to become a vampire, and declined the offer. Mazaramus was tempted, but Morphail learned that he was a member of one of the other Secret Crafts, and as such was precluded from his offer. Morphail asked the two to concentrate and visualise their companions. They did so, and Sneaky, Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus appeared in the room. Morphail explained that they were not really here. He had summoned their essence so that could make his offer to them too. Lithanor and Klaus immediately declined, and their apparitions disappeared. Morphail looked at Gandi and shook his head. "I don't think I need a dwarf" and Gandi vanished. That just left Sneaky. He repeated his offer (and acceptance of just one of the party to become a vampire would mean that Morphail would add his vote to the Glantian Council in favour of war). Sneaky was tempted, but would have to give ot some thought.
Back in Glantri City, Carlotina had shown Sneaky an image in a crystal ball so that she could see her companions. Sneaky suddenly snapped out of what seemed a momentary trance. Carlotina looked at Sneaky and rather sternly shook her head. She then said simply "No!" Sneaky also realised that she was an honorary tribeswoman of the Atruaghin. If she became a vampire, they would know about it instantly, and the alliance with Atruaghin would be broken.
Morphail was disappointed that none of the party were willing (or acceptable) to take up his offer. Nevertheless, he would keep to his word. He would answer the call to war if the other Princes were in accord.
Mazaramus and Morgan returned to Glantri City. They now had three Princes in favour of going to war against the Master. It wasn't enough, they needed five. Prince Vanserie and Dona Carnelia had made conditional agreements. If Alfheim could be persuaded to come to Darokin's aid, then so would Glantri.
Lithanor was in favour of making for Alfheim immediately. Mazaramus was looking to Ethengar, which was closer. They could then journey to Alfheim afterwards. They decided in the end to go with Lithanor's plan. They had no guarantees that Ethengar would help, and relations between Glantri and Ethengar were tenuous to say the least. Even Jherek was considered an outcast by the nomads of the steppes. Although Lithanor was not from Alfheim, he hoped that there was enough of a bond between the elves of Alfheim and those of the Calarii in Karameikos for them to view him favourably. Lithanor had also made contact with Aurena the gold dragon, and she had agreed to fly them to Alfheim.
In the east, at Selenica, the Ylari had sent an offer of peace to House Al-Azrad, with Selenica coming under the protection of Ylaruam. All that was required was for Selenica to allow a peace-keeping force to occupy the city, while the Darokin troops there stood down. Jherek and Mazaramus both agreed that this 'peace-deal' was more of a prelude to war. It was clear that the Ylari had sided with the Master.
Mazaramus asked whether Glantri itself would assist Darokin. Jherek pointed out that this was what he was hoping for, but he needed a majority of consensus from the other Princes. Carlotina was opposed to warfare, claiming that Glantri should remain neutral. The Master had showed interest only in conquering Darokin and was unlikely to invade Glantri. Jaggar too was not willing to go to war under the present circumstances. He was confident that if the Master's armies dared to invade Glantri, they would be annihilated.
Jherek made clear the dilemma that they were facing. If enough Princes could be convinced to join the war, then the remaining Princes would be honour bound to accede to their wishes. He therefore proposed that the party visit the other five Princes to negotiate with them. To this end, the party agreed to split up so as to save time. Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus would take the flying carpet and visit Prince Volospin Aendyr, ruler of Blackhill, and Dona Carnelia de Belcadiz y Fedoria, both of whose Principalities were at the southern end of Glantri. Mazaramus and Morgan would go north on the broom of flying to persuade Prince Vanserie Vlaardoen XI of Bergdhoven, Prince Brannart McGregor of Klantyre, and Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany, ruler of Boldavia, to join their cause. Meanwhile, Sneaky would remain in Glantri City until they returned.
Lithanor arrived at Volospin's elegant palace in Blackhill. In a large room with many windows high in a tower they could see over the mountains of Southern Glantri almost to Lake Amsorak. A youthful dark-haired man waited there. This was Prince Volospin. He was somewhat surprised to see the elf accompanied by a dwarf and a cleric, the harbingers of the Great Plague that had swept through Glantri 200 years ago. Nevertheless, he accorded them the diplomatic status that they deserved. When Gandi began boisterously pointing out how fearsome the Master's armies were and what they were capable of, Volospin tired of his gruff manner and summoned a gentle wind to sweep away his words. Lithanor made the same argument as Gandi, though in a more eloquent manner. Volospin had seen the devastation of Akesoli, and the abusive manner in which the Master had summoned the desert winds clearly irked him. He told Lithanor to go tell Jherek that Volsopin stands with him.
Mazaramus and Morgan had arrived at Vanserie's stronghold. Large marbled halls decorated with swirling patterns finally led to Vanserie's meeting chamber. We was somewhat convinced with the case that they offered. Vanserie explained that, although Glantri could possibly swing the tide of the war in Darokin's favour, their were other factors to consider. The Sind were not his only concern. Should Glantri take an open hand in the war, Alphatia could see this as a demonstration of power by the Glantrians and could take measures of their own. If some other powerful nation of the Known World would ally with Darokin, then Glantri's involvement would not be so obvious. Before saying farewell to them, he warned Mazaramus, who had shown obvious interest in Vanserie's knowledge of fire magic, to show caution. Some fires burn far hotter than any he had known. This would turn out to be an almost prophetic statement from the Prince.
Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus, carried on a favourable wind called forth by Volospin, landed in a great garden of many colourful flowers surrounded by neatly trimmed hedgerows. A woman tending some roses approached them. This was the Lady Belcadiz, who they had come to see (Gandi had given up trying to pronounce her full name and instead turned his attention to admiring her gardens). Lithanor learned that Carnelia's realm of Belcadiz was right on the border with the Broken Lands. The humanoids of the Broken Lands had been strangely quiet of late. Whether they were massing to invade Darokin, taking advantage of the war, or were themselves preparing to defend their lands should they be invaded was unknown. Carnelia simply pointed out that this matter was best left to the attention of the Glantrian Princes. Should the party attempt to interfere, they could provoke the orcs, gnolls, kobolds, ogres and so forth, bringing them into the war to the disadvantage of the nations of the Known World.
Like Carlotina, Carnelia did not wish to engage in a war with the Master's armies without good reason. However, she was favourable to the elves. If Alfheim were to join the war, then they could count on her and she would muster the armies of Belcadiz to come to Darokin's assistance. Having done all they could, Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus returned to Glantri City, hoping that Mazaramus and Morgan could persuade the other three Princes.
Mazaramus and Morgan flew eastwards towards Klantyre. Ominous black clouds hung over the realm here. As they landed in a large town, they were greeted by several hardy townsfolk. They wore tartan kilts and spoke with thick accents. When Mazaramus said that they had come to meet with Prince Brannart, a look of horror came over their faces. Finally, a tall burly man spoke "If yer be seeking the Lord of Klantyre, yer wannae be taking the road yonder" pointing to a track that led from the town eastwards and up into the mountains. Following the 'road' indicated, they found that after a few miles the trail led to a dank, wet cave. The entrance was closed by a rusty looking portcullis, and perched on the rocks overhanging the entrance were two gargoyles. One of the gargoyles spoke "Who approaches the Castle Klantyre, and what be yer business?" When Morgan told them that they were ambassadors sent by Jherek to negotiate with the other Princes, the other gargoyle spoke. "Yer the ones that Lord McGregor's bin expecting. Yer may enter". At that, the portcullis began to lift with a noisy grating that echoed through the cave.
Venturing into the cavernous tunnel beyond the gate, they soon came to some steps leading upwards through a narrow fissure in the side of the tunnel. Climbing this they found it led to a large chamber with straight walls carved out of the rock. A large table dominated the centre of the room, and they could barely make out a dark figure at the far end of the room. The figure spoke a command word and dim light sprang from candelabra in the corners of the room. He then spoke to Morgan and Mazaramus "I've been expecting ye. Yer showed me yer hospitality in Ardelphia, and I return as such here." Morgan recognised the voice now as that of the cloaked figure that had perused his records some while back in return for constructing a magical ballista. The figure approached. "Ye'll have te excuse me. I've nae had the opportunity to put me face on." They saw now why the people of Klantyre were so terrified of their ruler. A skeletal face with dark eyes glowered at them. Prince Brannart was a lich!
Morgan asked if he found what he was looking for in Ardelphia. Brannart replied that he had been ruling out a possibility, largely concerning Itheldown Island. More ominously, he told Morgan that Itheldown was more Morgan's problem than his. Mazaramus asked if he would be willing to join in the fight against the Master's armies. Brannart replied "De ye think I'd pass up such an opportunity? Plenty of fresh pickings to be found on the battlefield, ehh Mazaramus! I understand ye've dabbled a wee bit in the necromantic arts yerself" Brannart continued " Yer can coont me in! But I'll be asking a wee faver meself". Brannart approached Mazaramus, "What de ye know of the Rad?" Mazaramus' answered with a blank expression.
"I'll tell ye what. Ye find oot what ye can about the Rad...and report it back te me. I suggest ye start at the Great Library in Glantri. Ye may be able te gain certain secrets that so far have eluded me. De we have a deal?" Mazaramus agreed. Brannart continued "Find oot what ye can for noo. Don't be in no rush. Let's deal with this wee war first."
They still had Boldavia to visit. This was further to the north and higher up in the mountains. If anything, it was even more oppressive and foreboding than Klantyre. The townsfolk had closed their doors and shuttered their windows, so they flew on higher up the mountain towards where a castle with tall towers stood perched near the mountaintop, challenging the lightning that danced about it. As they rode up, staying close to the ground in case a sudden wind blew them from the mountainside. As they travelled through the woods on the mountainside, they heard they howls of wolves all about, and after a while had the impression that they were being followed, with dark shapes (or red to Mazaramus' infravision) being momentarily glimpsed in the woods to either side. Finally, they reached the doors of the castle, which slowly swung open as they approached. Beyond was a courtyard filled with beds of dead flowers and leafless shrubs and trees. Across from this, steps rose to another set of doors.
Approaching the doors, these two opened as they drew near. A man waited inside and beckoned them forward. "Come... and be welcome. I will fetch the Master" He paused, then turned. "That is....MY Master....not that Master", pointing in the general direction of the Sind Desert many hundreds of miles away.
Morgan and Mazaramus entered an elaborately decorated yet dimly lit great hallway. As they entered, they heard a voice from somewhere ahead and above them. "Welcome! Please, make yourselves comfortable". A flash of lightning from outside the castle briefly lit up the hall and they saw a handsome cloaked man standing on a balcony at the far end of the hallway. The man silently descended the stairway to one side of the balcony and approached the head of the long table on the centre of the room. He called forth the man who had welcomed them in and told him to bring refreshments for his guests.
Shortly, the manservant returned with food and wine. He then asked the man at the head of table, obviously Prince Morphail, why they hadn't brought the pretty one with them. Morphail looked up and said "Yes! Where are your companions? Sneaky, I believe you call her....and your cleric, Klaus. It would have been most interesting to meet him." Mazaramus explained that they were visiting the other Princes of Glantri. Morphail then turned to the matter at hand, namely why they had come to Boldavia. Morphail was aware of the war to the south between Darokin and the Master's armies. Being the northernmost of the Principalities, even if Glantri was invaded, Boldavia was quite remote. Nonetheless, it concerned him somewhat that Glantri could be threatened. The loss of a few realms to the south was of no consequence to him, but if Glantri City itself were under threat, then he would need to take action.
However, at present, this was not the case. Morphail would answer a call to war should this be the will of the other Princes. Until then, he would remain neutral. He suggested to Mazaramus that he could give one of his group a power that would make them practically invincible. Mazaramus was intrigued. Morphail continued, "Not only would you be invincible, but you would never have to fear death again. Furthermore, you needn't fear growing old. You can remain young forever." Morgan realised what Morphail was talking about. He was offering to turn one of the party into a vampire!
It was clear that Morphail was no mere vampire. Mazaramus asked what drawbacks would be incurred should one of them accept. He knew about the weaknesses, being unable to walk in sunlight, cross running water and having to sleep in a coffin during the day, not to mention the drastic dietary change due to having to drink blood for sustenance. It also transpired that whoever was turned into a vampire would be under the thrall of Morphail.
Morgan had no desire to become a vampire, and declined the offer. Mazaramus was tempted, but Morphail learned that he was a member of one of the other Secret Crafts, and as such was precluded from his offer. Morphail asked the two to concentrate and visualise their companions. They did so, and Sneaky, Lithanor, Gandi and Klaus appeared in the room. Morphail explained that they were not really here. He had summoned their essence so that could make his offer to them too. Lithanor and Klaus immediately declined, and their apparitions disappeared. Morphail looked at Gandi and shook his head. "I don't think I need a dwarf" and Gandi vanished. That just left Sneaky. He repeated his offer (and acceptance of just one of the party to become a vampire would mean that Morphail would add his vote to the Glantian Council in favour of war). Sneaky was tempted, but would have to give ot some thought.
Back in Glantri City, Carlotina had shown Sneaky an image in a crystal ball so that she could see her companions. Sneaky suddenly snapped out of what seemed a momentary trance. Carlotina looked at Sneaky and rather sternly shook her head. She then said simply "No!" Sneaky also realised that she was an honorary tribeswoman of the Atruaghin. If she became a vampire, they would know about it instantly, and the alliance with Atruaghin would be broken.
Morphail was disappointed that none of the party were willing (or acceptable) to take up his offer. Nevertheless, he would keep to his word. He would answer the call to war if the other Princes were in accord.
Mazaramus and Morgan returned to Glantri City. They now had three Princes in favour of going to war against the Master. It wasn't enough, they needed five. Prince Vanserie and Dona Carnelia had made conditional agreements. If Alfheim could be persuaded to come to Darokin's aid, then so would Glantri.
Lithanor was in favour of making for Alfheim immediately. Mazaramus was looking to Ethengar, which was closer. They could then journey to Alfheim afterwards. They decided in the end to go with Lithanor's plan. They had no guarantees that Ethengar would help, and relations between Glantri and Ethengar were tenuous to say the least. Even Jherek was considered an outcast by the nomads of the steppes. Although Lithanor was not from Alfheim, he hoped that there was enough of a bond between the elves of Alfheim and those of the Calarii in Karameikos for them to view him favourably. Lithanor had also made contact with Aurena the gold dragon, and she had agreed to fly them to Alfheim.
Balefire
Aurena set the party down near the northern border of Alfheim. For some reason she had a strange feeling that she was not meant to go any further. Mazaramus attempted flying into Alfheim through the trees on his broom of flying, but pulled short and went to ground when several arrows went flying across the front of him. A number of elves soon emerged from the forest, surrounding the party, with bows at the ready. Lithanor announced that they were ambassadors from Darokin. Upon hearing this, the leader of the elves told the party to follow him.
They were led over the next few days through Alfheim to the court of King Doriath. There the King told the party of their plight. A great red dragon named Balefire had set up its lair in the tomb of King Alevar. If the party could rid them of this dragon, the elves would agree to help Darokin in the war with the Master. In addition, the party could keep a quarter of the dragon's treasure. The heirlooms of King Alesar, however, were to remain undisturbed.
They were led over the next few days through Alfheim to the court of King Doriath. There the King told the party of their plight. A great red dragon named Balefire had set up its lair in the tomb of King Alevar. If the party could rid them of this dragon, the elves would agree to help Darokin in the war with the Master. In addition, the party could keep a quarter of the dragon's treasure. The heirlooms of King Alesar, however, were to remain undisturbed.
Lithanor had no doubt that he could deal with this dragon, and Scorbane was eager to be about slaying this dragon too. Mazaramus cautioned Lithanor that he should not go in alone. Who knew what other guardians and foul creatures were at the dragon's disposal. Lithanor agreed, but in return cautioned Mazaramus, telling him to keep well back when they faced the dragon.
They were shown the way to King Alevar's tomb. It was a large square structure on the ground of the forest. Unseen to the party, being obscured by many leafy branches, a large hole in the top had been torn open by the dragon, allowing it entry to the tomb. Before entering the tomb, they cast some preparatory defensive spells.
Opening the great doors, they found a corridor that ran around the tomb's interior, connecting to several smaller chambers that were found to be vaults with sarcophagi containing other past elven kings and queens In one vault on the west side, Sneaky thought she saw a wisp of smoke, but when she went to investigate, there was nothing.
They had explored most of the outer vaults, but of the central tomb, they had found no entrance. By now, most of their preparatory spells had expired. They conducted a search for secret doors and found one leading to an inner antechamber. This antechamber had a pair of large iron doors in the north wall, flanked by a pair of statues of large lions. Mazaramus guessed that the statues could be amber golems. However, as Lithanor entered the antechamber, they made no move. The rest of the party cautiously followed through the secret door and into the antechamber. It was then that Lithanor moved to open the great double doors. As soon as he did so, the stone of the statues erupted, and the two amber golems pounced to attack. Gandi and Morgan surged forward, with the group under a freshly cast haste spell. The three warriors quickly felled the beasts, though with the sound of the combat and the roaring of the amber golems, the dragon was sure to be aware of their presence.
Lithanor moved once more towards the doors and pulled them open. The rest of the party rushed for what cover they could. Flames billowed through the open doors, filling the entire chamber. Lithanor, Gandi and Sneaky had fire resistance devices, and suffered little damage. Klaus and Morgan also managed to avoid the worst of the blast. Lithanor leapt up and into the large chamber beyond, striking with lightning speed. Balefire, the great red dragon fell dead. Beneath the dragon was a huge pile of treasure. Lithanor could also see the sarcophagus of King Alevar, its lid now pushed open by the great bulk of the dragon.
They were shown the way to King Alevar's tomb. It was a large square structure on the ground of the forest. Unseen to the party, being obscured by many leafy branches, a large hole in the top had been torn open by the dragon, allowing it entry to the tomb. Before entering the tomb, they cast some preparatory defensive spells.
Opening the great doors, they found a corridor that ran around the tomb's interior, connecting to several smaller chambers that were found to be vaults with sarcophagi containing other past elven kings and queens In one vault on the west side, Sneaky thought she saw a wisp of smoke, but when she went to investigate, there was nothing.
They had explored most of the outer vaults, but of the central tomb, they had found no entrance. By now, most of their preparatory spells had expired. They conducted a search for secret doors and found one leading to an inner antechamber. This antechamber had a pair of large iron doors in the north wall, flanked by a pair of statues of large lions. Mazaramus guessed that the statues could be amber golems. However, as Lithanor entered the antechamber, they made no move. The rest of the party cautiously followed through the secret door and into the antechamber. It was then that Lithanor moved to open the great double doors. As soon as he did so, the stone of the statues erupted, and the two amber golems pounced to attack. Gandi and Morgan surged forward, with the group under a freshly cast haste spell. The three warriors quickly felled the beasts, though with the sound of the combat and the roaring of the amber golems, the dragon was sure to be aware of their presence.
Lithanor moved once more towards the doors and pulled them open. The rest of the party rushed for what cover they could. Flames billowed through the open doors, filling the entire chamber. Lithanor, Gandi and Sneaky had fire resistance devices, and suffered little damage. Klaus and Morgan also managed to avoid the worst of the blast. Lithanor leapt up and into the large chamber beyond, striking with lightning speed. Balefire, the great red dragon fell dead. Beneath the dragon was a huge pile of treasure. Lithanor could also see the sarcophagus of King Alevar, its lid now pushed open by the great bulk of the dragon.
Sneaky and Gandi moved to examine the treasures. Lithanor had Scorbane detect for magic, and found amongst the dragon's treasure a magical sword, a scroll and a staff that emanated considerable power. Lithanor called out to Mazaramus, thinking he might be interested in this last item. Morgan called out to Lithanor. Mazaramus had been completely incinerated. Only his burnt robes and a few of his magic items remained where Mazaramus had stood. Sneaky and Lithanor rushed back to examine the remains. Klaus shook his head. There was nothing left of Mazaramus to carry out a raise dead with. Sneaky noticed that his bag of holding was not in the pile of his belongings. Surely this had not been completely destroyed without a trace. She cast a locate object spell and determined that the bag of holding was on the west side of the tomb and was moving! Without waiting for the rest of the party, she dashed off through the secret door and then northwards to the vault where earlier she thought she had seen a wisp of smoke. Gandi and then Morgan ran after Sneaky as soon as they realised that she had run off. Gandi reached the door to the vault just as it slammed shut and a bolt fell into place, barring the door firmly shut.
Sneaky saw nothing in the vault, so she drew her rapier (still holding the sword she had found in Balefire's hoard) and called up its power to detect invisible. Nothing showed. She remembered that the locate object spell was still running so she concentrated once more on the location of the bag of holding. It was behind her. Turning, she saw a man standing there. He held the bag aloft. He said "Looking for this? You can have it. All I want is the sword." Sneaky answered "You know what power this sword possesses! What makes you think I won't use it against you?" The man simply replied "Go ahead!"
Sneaky's next words were "I wish..." With lightning speed, the man moved grabbing Sneaky by the throat with one hand, while the other grabbed the hand holding the sword. Sneaky felt the life drain from her. She finished her sentence ",,,,Mazaramus was here and alive".
Sneaky's next words were "I wish..." With lightning speed, the man moved grabbing Sneaky by the throat with one hand, while the other grabbed the hand holding the sword. Sneaky felt the life drain from her. She finished her sentence ",,,,Mazaramus was here and alive".
The vampire sensed the wizard appear behind him and turned to face him. Mazaramus unleashed a lightning bolt squarely striking the vampire. He reeled and fell back, then looked up his face twisted in anger and his eyes burning with an unholy red glare. Before he could lunge at the wizard, Sneaky drove her rapier through the undead creature, who turned to smoke and drifted out of the tomb through the cracks of a secret door in the west wall.
Sneaky now noticed that the sarcophagus had been opened recently. Within they found the vampire's treasure, including a few magical items. These she indicated to Mazaramus and the rest of the party, who had finally caught up with her. The vampire was still at large somewhere, having retreated to another coffin to regenerate, and there was as yet a small section on the east side of the tomb that had not been investigated. The dragon had been slain, but they didn't like the idea of a vampire roaming loose in Alfheim. Sneaky was feeling the effects of the life draining attack of the vampire. Moreover, she had pushed the laws of magic to their limits. The wish she had used from the sword had brought Mazaramus back to life and into her presence. Furthermore, she had been holding her intelligent rapier at the time of using the wish, something that her blade would be bound to resent.
Before Lithanor had followed to see where Sneaky had run off to, he went to seal the sarcophagus of King Alevar, but found that the dragon's treasure would have to be cleared out of the way first. King Alevar's body was adorned with a fabulous set of plate mail armour, and by his side was a magnificent two-handed sword. Although both of these items radiated powerful magic, Lithanor respected the wishes of the elves and left these undisturbed.. He was about to leave when he caught sight of something gleaming brightly in the king's hand across his chest. It was some kind of crystal shard, like the blade of a dagger, yet with no handle or pommel. Almost unconsciously, Lithanor reached for the crystal. As he did so, it seemed as though the fingers of the dead king relaxed their grip on the shard, as if he wanted Lithanor to take it. What power it possessed or what it was for was a complete mystery, but he was certain that Alevar wanted him to take it.
Before Lithanor had followed to see where Sneaky had run off to, he went to seal the sarcophagus of King Alevar, but found that the dragon's treasure would have to be cleared out of the way first. King Alevar's body was adorned with a fabulous set of plate mail armour, and by his side was a magnificent two-handed sword. Although both of these items radiated powerful magic, Lithanor respected the wishes of the elves and left these undisturbed.. He was about to leave when he caught sight of something gleaming brightly in the king's hand across his chest. It was some kind of crystal shard, like the blade of a dagger, yet with no handle or pommel. Almost unconsciously, Lithanor reached for the crystal. As he did so, it seemed as though the fingers of the dead king relaxed their grip on the shard, as if he wanted Lithanor to take it. What power it possessed or what it was for was a complete mystery, but he was certain that Alevar wanted him to take it.
Session Four - Return to Karameikos
The dragon was defeated, but what concerned the party now was that there was a vampire at large in Alfheim. It was still daylight outside. Even with the dense foliage of the forest the sunlight permeating through would most likely still be fatal to the vampire, so they reasoned that it was most likely still somewhere within the tombs. Also, their experience with Hadric the Velya had taught them that the vampire, having been forced to retreat was for the moment helpless while it regenerated. Checking the sarcophagi they had already come across, they soon discovered one that was being used by the vampire, and he was indeed resting within. Klaus put a quick end to the vampire, driving a stake into its heart, and for good measure, transporting the bones out into the sunlight with the use of a floating disc to ensure that the vampire was forever destroyed.
Just to be sure, they explored the remaining few areas inside the tomb, encountering a few wraiths in the last room, which were quickly destroyed by Klaus' holy power. Satisfied that the tomb was cleansed of all evil, they began to make their way back to the elves.
As they were leaving the tomb, an elven lightship approached to take the party back to the court of King Doriath. The elven king was grateful to the party for ridding them of the dragon and the evil undead that had taken over the tomb, and pledged his support in the war with the Master. Word was sent out to the seven clans to mobilise for war. Doriath's plan was to harass those forces of the Master that were closest to the Alfheim borders, where they could use the forested terrain to their advantage. In addition, King Doriath assigned a company of 240 elven cavalry to the party. These were to make their way across country to Ardelphia to join up with the forces assembling there.
King Doriath also gave them the news that Ylaruam had declared war on Darokin, and was now besieging the city of Selenica. With Darokin City and Corunglain also under siege, this meant that every major city of Darokin had either been captured or was in danger of falling. Only Fort Fletcher and Morgan's army at Ardelphia remained unassailed, and it is here that the armies of Glantri had chosen as their staging point to launch a counter-attack.
Seeing the curious crystal dagger blade that Lithanor had found, King Doriath pointed out that this was half of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Where the hilt was was unknown to the king, as were its powers. All he knew was that it was not in Alfheim, and that the party were meant to have it.
After resting from their ordeal, King Doriath bade them to make haste on their diplomatic quest to the other lands. First though, he had Sneaky be taken to their Tree of Life to have the taint of the vampire's undead touch removed so that she could be restored to full health.
The party debated their next move. Lithanor wanted to travel to Ylaruam to try and persuade them to abandon their alliance with the Master and lift the siege on Selenica. However, reaching the pass that led through the mountains and into the Ylaruam desert would be almost impossible, even with invisibility spells and the like, due to the sheer number of Ylari troops around Selenica. This left them with the choice of either journeying north-eastwards to the dwarven kingdom of Rockhome, and then on to the Northern Reaches of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord, or south to Karameikos and then either Thyatis or the Five Shires. They opted for the latter. For speed, Mazaramus polymorphed himself into a griffon so that they could all fly, with the help of the broom of flying and the flying carpet, and Mazaramus made the entire party invisible for good measure.
And so they flew off, heading southwards towards the Altan Tepe mountains, beyond which lay the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. En route, as they passed over the lands of Darokin south of Alfheim, they encountered a large group of refugees. These had escaped from the outlying villages and farms near Selenica before the Ylari armies had besieged the city. They were heading for Fort Cruth, which lay about halfway between Darokin City and Selenica. What soldiers their were, along with many of the refugees that were capable of fighting, were hoping to join up with the Darokin army, if any remained stationed there, and give the invaders some payback. There was little that the party could do for them, apart from Klaus using a create food spell to provide them with enough rations to see them to Fort Cruth.
A few days later they reached the town of Kelvin in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, the very town where our heroes set out some eight years ago on their adventure at The Keep on the Borderlands. Baron Desmond Kelvin was mobilising the troops ready to set off for Specularum. Baron Ludwig von Hendiks, ruler of the Black Eagle Barony in Western Karameikos, had long been a thorn in the side of Duke Stefan Karameikos, and was taking advantage of the turmoil caused by the War of the Master to launch an all-out assault and take over the Duchy for himself. Baron Kelvin advised the party to make all haste for Specularum, where he would meet them when he and his troops arrived.
At Specularum, the party were duly greeted and led to the Ducal Palace where they would have an audience with Duke Stefan. While they waited in an ante-room near the audience chamber they heard angry shouting coming from the chamber. Lithanor borrrowed Mazaramus' crystal ball and scried the audience chamber. He saw the Baron, gesturing threateningly and shouting. The Baron then paused and looked over his shoulder for some reason. Lithanor ceased his scrying.
Moments later, the doors to the audience chamber opened. Baron Hendriks, with his entourage of bodyguards emerged. Standing close behind the baron were two dark-skinned men wearing Sind robes. Obviously, the Master's emissaries had arrived and had sided with Baron von Hendriks.
As he walked past, he bellowed "I see the Duke has called for his spies!" pointing at Lithanor. He was about to walk on by, but paused when he saw Mazaramus. What inspired the Baron then is unknown. He simply walked up to the wizard and asked why someone of his worth and talent would keep such company. Mazaramus seemed intrigued, and so the Baron led Mazaramus to one side to discuss matters out of ear-shot of the party. "I have need of a wizard of your abilities. What say you join me. Assist in the overthrow of the Duke and you shall be richly rewarded! Perhaps even substantial lands of Karameikos can be yours". Seeing Mazaramus' interest, he told the wizard to meet him in Fort Doom within the next few days to discuss matters further.
Once the baron had left, the rest of the party stared at him with incredulity. Lithanor especially couldn't believe that Mazaramus would sell out so easily. Mazaramus allayed his fears. "Don't worry. I'll just play along and see what I can find out about his armies. Perhaps even carry out a little sabotage while I'm there."
Before they could say more on the matter, a herald appeared and ushered them into the audience chamber, announcing their arrival to the duke as they entered. Duke Stefan apprised the party of the situation. With the baron about to start a civil war, their was no way he could assist Darokin. However, if the party were to help defeat the Black Eagle, that would be a different matter entirely. Lithanor's allegiance was without question. He would travel to Dorneryll in Eastern Karameikos and muster his own force, comprising some 200 elves along with his secret weapon, 40 drolemites - dragon-men constructs of his own creation, fearsome in combat and invulnerable to the attacks of non-magical weaponry.
Most of the Duke's forces were suspected to have been infiltrated by insurgents. The only ones who could truly be counted on were the 6th and 7th Militia, and his own Elven Guard. He knew that the Baron had control of the 13th Militia, plus whatever forces the Master had lent him. It was known to the duke that two ships bearing strange colours had entered Fort Doom, and were most likely transporting troops of the Master. If this was so, then his own troops were outnumbered. Furthermore, a siege was out of the question. The baron knew too well the city of Specularum, it's weaknesses and secret entrances, and the duke was loathe to put the citizenry at risk. Besides, if the Master's forces include any of these juggernauts the party had told him of, the baron wouldn't even need his wizard, Bargle the Infamous, to bring the walls down.
Duke Stefan estimated that it would take about a week to mobilise his forces, and most likely about the same for the baron. Lithanor set off at once to muster the Elves of Dorneryll and bring them to Specularum. Mazaramus departed for Fort Doom, against the advice of Duke Stefan. He warned Mazaramus to take great care and to not underestimate Baron von Hendriks. As well as a highly skilled warrior, he was cunning, intelligent, devious and manipulative.
A far worse fate than being incarcerated in the dungeons of Fort Doom could have befallen the red-eyed wizard. Merely entering the city drew suspicions from the guards on the gates, who cared little that he claimed to have an audience with Baron von Hendriks. The strange looks he got from the townsfolk and rogues that roamed the streets, not least because of his red-eyes, but also the fancy attire that spoke of being more privileged and accustomed to a finer lifestyle. The refusal to hand over his wands and magic items at the entrance to the baron's castle. None of these warranted in the wizard's favour, nor gave him any warning of the kind of devious natured people he was dealing with. He had even failed to notice that his ring of spell turning had been lifted as a fancy bauble by the time he met the baron.
Baron von Hendriks viewed Mazaramus with some disdain at first, until he remembered why he had summoned him here. He renewed his proposition, and learnt of Mazaramus inclination towards necromancy. The baron told him that the graveyards were at his disposal for him to summon an army of undead. Had Mazaramus been more sincere when the baron asked for his loyalty rather than trying to sidestep his oath, who knows, but then the baron was certainly no fool and planned to remove the wizard all along. Above all, Mazaramus forgot the most important factor....Bargle the Infamous. And so it was that when he went to the graveyards to begin summoning his undead that he was totally unaware of his adversaries presence until he heard a single word behind him...."Stun!"
Back in Specularum, the rest of the party soon suspected Mazaramus' fate. Mazaramus had left most of his magic items behind, including his crystal ball. With this Lithanor saw his friend chained up in the dungeons of Fort Doom, prevented from casting or even drawing up his runes by means of special finger braces.
Before Lithanor's return and learning of the incarceration of Mazaramus, the remaining companions had had an altercation fo their own. Clearly, the agents of the Master recognised the threat that the heroes posed and wanted them out of the way. So it was that one night, assassins infiltrated the Ducal Palace, stealing past the guards unseen, and into the chambers of Klaus, Sneaky, Gandi and Morgan.
Sneaky had an uncanny knack of being ever alert, even in her sleep, and so when the assassin entered her room, she was instantly aware of some shadowy form hovering over her bed. The assassin lunged with his knife, but Sneaky rolled out of the bed and the knife hit the pillow where her head had been. Sneaky drew her own dagger, specially made to carry poison, in this case paralyzing poison, and struck back. Her assailant became stiff and then collapsed to the ground. Sneaky shouted out a warning.
By the time Gandi heard the scream, the assassin had already slashed at him. Whatever poison was on the blade was far too weak to have any effect on the sturdy dwarf. Gandi pulled his axed form under his pillow and swung. Two blows were enough to cleave the skull of his foe.
Klaus grabbed his snake staff and swung, wincing slightly from the poisoned blade that had struck him. Were it not for Sneaky's hail he may not even have awoken. The staff then transformed and coiled about the assassin. As soon as it did so, the assassin's body jerked, went stiff and collapsed to the ground.
Morgan didn't have his claymore close at hand, giving his attacker the opportunity to get in a couple of strikes. Morgan punched the assassin squarely in the face. Their was a crunch, and the assassin fell dead at Morgan's feet.
Of the four assassins, only one was alive. Sneaky discovered that the others had a poisoned tooth that they would bite on if they failed in their mission in order to avoid capture. She removed the tooth from the one she had paralyzed, then cast a charm person from a scroll that she had borrowed from Mazaramus.
With the assassin now willing to do anything within reason to aid Sneaky, he divulged the approximate composition of the two divisions of the Master that were in Fort Doom. He knew nothing of the baron's battle plan. When Lithanor returned a couple of days later and they learned of the capture of Mazaramus, they sent the assassin on a mission to rescue their comrade. Needless to say, his mission was unsuccessful, and the poor assassin met a gruesome end from one of Bargle's spells.
With the arrival of Lithanor and the Elves of Dorneryll, and Baron Desmond Kelvin and his loyal troops, the duke's forces were ready. Lithanor had discovered through scrying a little of the baron's plans, including the route he intended to send his forces along towards Specularum. If only Mazaramus hadn't been captured, he would have been highly useful in helping to fight Baron von Hendriks' armies.
Just to be sure, they explored the remaining few areas inside the tomb, encountering a few wraiths in the last room, which were quickly destroyed by Klaus' holy power. Satisfied that the tomb was cleansed of all evil, they began to make their way back to the elves.
As they were leaving the tomb, an elven lightship approached to take the party back to the court of King Doriath. The elven king was grateful to the party for ridding them of the dragon and the evil undead that had taken over the tomb, and pledged his support in the war with the Master. Word was sent out to the seven clans to mobilise for war. Doriath's plan was to harass those forces of the Master that were closest to the Alfheim borders, where they could use the forested terrain to their advantage. In addition, King Doriath assigned a company of 240 elven cavalry to the party. These were to make their way across country to Ardelphia to join up with the forces assembling there.
King Doriath also gave them the news that Ylaruam had declared war on Darokin, and was now besieging the city of Selenica. With Darokin City and Corunglain also under siege, this meant that every major city of Darokin had either been captured or was in danger of falling. Only Fort Fletcher and Morgan's army at Ardelphia remained unassailed, and it is here that the armies of Glantri had chosen as their staging point to launch a counter-attack.
Seeing the curious crystal dagger blade that Lithanor had found, King Doriath pointed out that this was half of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Where the hilt was was unknown to the king, as were its powers. All he knew was that it was not in Alfheim, and that the party were meant to have it.
After resting from their ordeal, King Doriath bade them to make haste on their diplomatic quest to the other lands. First though, he had Sneaky be taken to their Tree of Life to have the taint of the vampire's undead touch removed so that she could be restored to full health.
The party debated their next move. Lithanor wanted to travel to Ylaruam to try and persuade them to abandon their alliance with the Master and lift the siege on Selenica. However, reaching the pass that led through the mountains and into the Ylaruam desert would be almost impossible, even with invisibility spells and the like, due to the sheer number of Ylari troops around Selenica. This left them with the choice of either journeying north-eastwards to the dwarven kingdom of Rockhome, and then on to the Northern Reaches of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord, or south to Karameikos and then either Thyatis or the Five Shires. They opted for the latter. For speed, Mazaramus polymorphed himself into a griffon so that they could all fly, with the help of the broom of flying and the flying carpet, and Mazaramus made the entire party invisible for good measure.
And so they flew off, heading southwards towards the Altan Tepe mountains, beyond which lay the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. En route, as they passed over the lands of Darokin south of Alfheim, they encountered a large group of refugees. These had escaped from the outlying villages and farms near Selenica before the Ylari armies had besieged the city. They were heading for Fort Cruth, which lay about halfway between Darokin City and Selenica. What soldiers their were, along with many of the refugees that were capable of fighting, were hoping to join up with the Darokin army, if any remained stationed there, and give the invaders some payback. There was little that the party could do for them, apart from Klaus using a create food spell to provide them with enough rations to see them to Fort Cruth.
Homecoming
At Specularum, the party were duly greeted and led to the Ducal Palace where they would have an audience with Duke Stefan. While they waited in an ante-room near the audience chamber they heard angry shouting coming from the chamber. Lithanor borrrowed Mazaramus' crystal ball and scried the audience chamber. He saw the Baron, gesturing threateningly and shouting. The Baron then paused and looked over his shoulder for some reason. Lithanor ceased his scrying.
Moments later, the doors to the audience chamber opened. Baron Hendriks, with his entourage of bodyguards emerged. Standing close behind the baron were two dark-skinned men wearing Sind robes. Obviously, the Master's emissaries had arrived and had sided with Baron von Hendriks.
As he walked past, he bellowed "I see the Duke has called for his spies!" pointing at Lithanor. He was about to walk on by, but paused when he saw Mazaramus. What inspired the Baron then is unknown. He simply walked up to the wizard and asked why someone of his worth and talent would keep such company. Mazaramus seemed intrigued, and so the Baron led Mazaramus to one side to discuss matters out of ear-shot of the party. "I have need of a wizard of your abilities. What say you join me. Assist in the overthrow of the Duke and you shall be richly rewarded! Perhaps even substantial lands of Karameikos can be yours". Seeing Mazaramus' interest, he told the wizard to meet him in Fort Doom within the next few days to discuss matters further.
Once the baron had left, the rest of the party stared at him with incredulity. Lithanor especially couldn't believe that Mazaramus would sell out so easily. Mazaramus allayed his fears. "Don't worry. I'll just play along and see what I can find out about his armies. Perhaps even carry out a little sabotage while I'm there."
Before they could say more on the matter, a herald appeared and ushered them into the audience chamber, announcing their arrival to the duke as they entered. Duke Stefan apprised the party of the situation. With the baron about to start a civil war, their was no way he could assist Darokin. However, if the party were to help defeat the Black Eagle, that would be a different matter entirely. Lithanor's allegiance was without question. He would travel to Dorneryll in Eastern Karameikos and muster his own force, comprising some 200 elves along with his secret weapon, 40 drolemites - dragon-men constructs of his own creation, fearsome in combat and invulnerable to the attacks of non-magical weaponry.
Most of the Duke's forces were suspected to have been infiltrated by insurgents. The only ones who could truly be counted on were the 6th and 7th Militia, and his own Elven Guard. He knew that the Baron had control of the 13th Militia, plus whatever forces the Master had lent him. It was known to the duke that two ships bearing strange colours had entered Fort Doom, and were most likely transporting troops of the Master. If this was so, then his own troops were outnumbered. Furthermore, a siege was out of the question. The baron knew too well the city of Specularum, it's weaknesses and secret entrances, and the duke was loathe to put the citizenry at risk. Besides, if the Master's forces include any of these juggernauts the party had told him of, the baron wouldn't even need his wizard, Bargle the Infamous, to bring the walls down.
Duke Stefan estimated that it would take about a week to mobilise his forces, and most likely about the same for the baron. Lithanor set off at once to muster the Elves of Dorneryll and bring them to Specularum. Mazaramus departed for Fort Doom, against the advice of Duke Stefan. He warned Mazaramus to take great care and to not underestimate Baron von Hendriks. As well as a highly skilled warrior, he was cunning, intelligent, devious and manipulative.
A far worse fate than being incarcerated in the dungeons of Fort Doom could have befallen the red-eyed wizard. Merely entering the city drew suspicions from the guards on the gates, who cared little that he claimed to have an audience with Baron von Hendriks. The strange looks he got from the townsfolk and rogues that roamed the streets, not least because of his red-eyes, but also the fancy attire that spoke of being more privileged and accustomed to a finer lifestyle. The refusal to hand over his wands and magic items at the entrance to the baron's castle. None of these warranted in the wizard's favour, nor gave him any warning of the kind of devious natured people he was dealing with. He had even failed to notice that his ring of spell turning had been lifted as a fancy bauble by the time he met the baron.
Baron von Hendriks viewed Mazaramus with some disdain at first, until he remembered why he had summoned him here. He renewed his proposition, and learnt of Mazaramus inclination towards necromancy. The baron told him that the graveyards were at his disposal for him to summon an army of undead. Had Mazaramus been more sincere when the baron asked for his loyalty rather than trying to sidestep his oath, who knows, but then the baron was certainly no fool and planned to remove the wizard all along. Above all, Mazaramus forgot the most important factor....Bargle the Infamous. And so it was that when he went to the graveyards to begin summoning his undead that he was totally unaware of his adversaries presence until he heard a single word behind him...."Stun!"
Back in Specularum, the rest of the party soon suspected Mazaramus' fate. Mazaramus had left most of his magic items behind, including his crystal ball. With this Lithanor saw his friend chained up in the dungeons of Fort Doom, prevented from casting or even drawing up his runes by means of special finger braces.
Before Lithanor's return and learning of the incarceration of Mazaramus, the remaining companions had had an altercation fo their own. Clearly, the agents of the Master recognised the threat that the heroes posed and wanted them out of the way. So it was that one night, assassins infiltrated the Ducal Palace, stealing past the guards unseen, and into the chambers of Klaus, Sneaky, Gandi and Morgan.
Sneaky had an uncanny knack of being ever alert, even in her sleep, and so when the assassin entered her room, she was instantly aware of some shadowy form hovering over her bed. The assassin lunged with his knife, but Sneaky rolled out of the bed and the knife hit the pillow where her head had been. Sneaky drew her own dagger, specially made to carry poison, in this case paralyzing poison, and struck back. Her assailant became stiff and then collapsed to the ground. Sneaky shouted out a warning.
By the time Gandi heard the scream, the assassin had already slashed at him. Whatever poison was on the blade was far too weak to have any effect on the sturdy dwarf. Gandi pulled his axed form under his pillow and swung. Two blows were enough to cleave the skull of his foe.
Klaus grabbed his snake staff and swung, wincing slightly from the poisoned blade that had struck him. Were it not for Sneaky's hail he may not even have awoken. The staff then transformed and coiled about the assassin. As soon as it did so, the assassin's body jerked, went stiff and collapsed to the ground.
Morgan didn't have his claymore close at hand, giving his attacker the opportunity to get in a couple of strikes. Morgan punched the assassin squarely in the face. Their was a crunch, and the assassin fell dead at Morgan's feet.
Of the four assassins, only one was alive. Sneaky discovered that the others had a poisoned tooth that they would bite on if they failed in their mission in order to avoid capture. She removed the tooth from the one she had paralyzed, then cast a charm person from a scroll that she had borrowed from Mazaramus.
With the assassin now willing to do anything within reason to aid Sneaky, he divulged the approximate composition of the two divisions of the Master that were in Fort Doom. He knew nothing of the baron's battle plan. When Lithanor returned a couple of days later and they learned of the capture of Mazaramus, they sent the assassin on a mission to rescue their comrade. Needless to say, his mission was unsuccessful, and the poor assassin met a gruesome end from one of Bargle's spells.
With the arrival of Lithanor and the Elves of Dorneryll, and Baron Desmond Kelvin and his loyal troops, the duke's forces were ready. Lithanor had discovered through scrying a little of the baron's plans, including the route he intended to send his forces along towards Specularum. If only Mazaramus hadn't been captured, he would have been highly useful in helping to fight Baron von Hendriks' armies.
Session Five - A War Within a War
Morgan took command of the 6th Militia and moved out to join up with Lithanor's Elves of Dorneryll, whose scouts had spotted one the Master's divisions moving through a narrow defile between two hilly ranges. Meanwhile, Gandi took the 7th Militia hoping to intercept the main force of Baron von Hendriks.
When Morgan's force came across the 21st Division of the Master, they found that it consisted of goblin's riding dire wolves and Sind cavalry, a unit of bugbear infantry, and backed up by hill giants and trolls, and two wood juggernauts. As well as catching them in a narrow pass where they had little room to manoeuvre, they outmatched the Sindians with missile fire, letting loose with volleys of arrows long before the hill giants could close enough to throw their boulders. The juggernauts were swiftly taken out with a barrage of magic missiles from the Elves of Dorneryll. When the opposing cavalry finally did get close enough to make their charge, at was halted by Klaus' magic, who had summoned snakes to terrify the horses, a cave bear, and an insect plague that turned the goblin riders into a disorganised rabble that were quickly routed.
Lithanor used his own magic, sending lightning bolts streaming through the hill giants, and put up a wall of ice to hamper the trolls advance. Morgan, leading a company of Karameikan warriors, found the commander of the 21st Division who was leading the company of bugbears. Lithanor had sent his drolemites to deal with these. Although outnumbered four to one, the bugbears weapons were totally ineffective against the dragon-men. The Sind commander accepted Morgan's challenge and moved out to do single combat with him, though he was no match and was soon felled. With the loss of their commander, the army fell into disarray and was completely routed. The 6th Militia suffered very few casualties, and these were tended to by Klaus once the battle was done.
Some miles further north, the 7th Militia were closing in on where they estimated the 22nd Division of the Master and Baron von Hendriks 13th Militia to be. They were unexpectedly joined by Mazaramus, who explained how he had made his fortuitous escape from Fort Doom. Bargle had grown bored of visiting him in his cell, trying to glean any information from him after a few days, evidently busy with preparations of his own for the war. Mazaramus considered trying some plan to overpower the somewhat dim-witted lackey that brought him his food. Somewhat malnourished, he had found his fingers coming loose from the brace and might just be able to pull them free and be able to cast a spell. Before he could try his plan, the walls of his cell collapsed, and a large rams head protruded through a hole in the wall. His shackles came free and he pulled the finger brace off (with no small effort and a fair amount of pain and blood). Outside he could hear shouting from one of the baron's officers. "I said these damn monstrosities were unreliable! Back it out of there, now!" He could feel the cool breeze of the air outside. As the juggernaut was brought under control and began to move backwards once again, Mazaramus saw his opportunity. He cast a teleport spell that would take him back to the Ducal Palace. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't risk teleporting into an area with which he was barely familiar, but he had no desire to remain in the dungeons of Fort Doom a moment longer.
Fortunately, his teleport was accurate, and Mazaramus found himself in the Ducal Palace. Olliver Jowett, the duke's patriarch, told him that the armies had already left. His broom of flying had been safely stowed away, along with his other magic items, and Olliver told him the approximate route that the armies had taken. If he moved swiftly, he might be able to catch up with them.
Mazaramus did indeed make good time, and his ring of regeneration was swiftly helping with his recovery from his ordeal. Travelling under cover of invisibility, he found first the armies of the baron advancing towards Specularum. They had to cross a bridge over a wide river, and Mazaramus tokk the opportunity to cast weather control to cause a huge downpour of rain. The river's banks broke, trapping the baron's own 13th Militia on the western side, separated from the Master's 22nd Division, which now had little choice but to continue their advance towards Specularum ahead of the baron's own forces. For good measure, Mazaramus disintegrated the bridge, forcing Baron von Hendriks to seek another way across. Mazaramus swiftly flew back to meet up with Gandi's army before he was discovered.
The 7th Militia were almost upon the 22nd Division, who were now finding it difficult to slog their way across the muddy ground. Even the juggernauts were reduced to a crawl The havoc that Morgan;s forces had caused to the 21st Division was repeated here. The Elven Guard that had accompanied the 7th Militia reduced the juggernauts to burning hulks. Mazaramus used his spells to good effect, using fire balls to harass the dire wolf riders and the trolls. In addition to this, he had loaned his brazier of commanding fire elementals to one of the duke's sorcerers, and Sneaky summoned her djinni to further hamper the enemy. Gandi waded into the advancing bugbears, first felling the commander then laying low many of their number. Mazaramus himself polymorphed into a hydra, his speed augmented by a haste spell, and sent the dire wolfs and their goblin riders fleeing in panic.
Both of the divisions that had come to the baron's aid had been annihilated. Now they needed to hunt down the baron himself. Lithanor's elven scouts had found that the 13th Militia was retreating back to the Black Eagle Barony. They would not be able to catch them accompanied by their full forces, but the heroes themselves, as well as the tireless drolemites and Lithanor's elite elves, could possibly intercept them before they reached Fort Doom.
When Morgan's force came across the 21st Division of the Master, they found that it consisted of goblin's riding dire wolves and Sind cavalry, a unit of bugbear infantry, and backed up by hill giants and trolls, and two wood juggernauts. As well as catching them in a narrow pass where they had little room to manoeuvre, they outmatched the Sindians with missile fire, letting loose with volleys of arrows long before the hill giants could close enough to throw their boulders. The juggernauts were swiftly taken out with a barrage of magic missiles from the Elves of Dorneryll. When the opposing cavalry finally did get close enough to make their charge, at was halted by Klaus' magic, who had summoned snakes to terrify the horses, a cave bear, and an insect plague that turned the goblin riders into a disorganised rabble that were quickly routed.
Lithanor used his own magic, sending lightning bolts streaming through the hill giants, and put up a wall of ice to hamper the trolls advance. Morgan, leading a company of Karameikan warriors, found the commander of the 21st Division who was leading the company of bugbears. Lithanor had sent his drolemites to deal with these. Although outnumbered four to one, the bugbears weapons were totally ineffective against the dragon-men. The Sind commander accepted Morgan's challenge and moved out to do single combat with him, though he was no match and was soon felled. With the loss of their commander, the army fell into disarray and was completely routed. The 6th Militia suffered very few casualties, and these were tended to by Klaus once the battle was done.
Some miles further north, the 7th Militia were closing in on where they estimated the 22nd Division of the Master and Baron von Hendriks 13th Militia to be. They were unexpectedly joined by Mazaramus, who explained how he had made his fortuitous escape from Fort Doom. Bargle had grown bored of visiting him in his cell, trying to glean any information from him after a few days, evidently busy with preparations of his own for the war. Mazaramus considered trying some plan to overpower the somewhat dim-witted lackey that brought him his food. Somewhat malnourished, he had found his fingers coming loose from the brace and might just be able to pull them free and be able to cast a spell. Before he could try his plan, the walls of his cell collapsed, and a large rams head protruded through a hole in the wall. His shackles came free and he pulled the finger brace off (with no small effort and a fair amount of pain and blood). Outside he could hear shouting from one of the baron's officers. "I said these damn monstrosities were unreliable! Back it out of there, now!" He could feel the cool breeze of the air outside. As the juggernaut was brought under control and began to move backwards once again, Mazaramus saw his opportunity. He cast a teleport spell that would take him back to the Ducal Palace. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't risk teleporting into an area with which he was barely familiar, but he had no desire to remain in the dungeons of Fort Doom a moment longer.
Fortunately, his teleport was accurate, and Mazaramus found himself in the Ducal Palace. Olliver Jowett, the duke's patriarch, told him that the armies had already left. His broom of flying had been safely stowed away, along with his other magic items, and Olliver told him the approximate route that the armies had taken. If he moved swiftly, he might be able to catch up with them.
Mazaramus did indeed make good time, and his ring of regeneration was swiftly helping with his recovery from his ordeal. Travelling under cover of invisibility, he found first the armies of the baron advancing towards Specularum. They had to cross a bridge over a wide river, and Mazaramus tokk the opportunity to cast weather control to cause a huge downpour of rain. The river's banks broke, trapping the baron's own 13th Militia on the western side, separated from the Master's 22nd Division, which now had little choice but to continue their advance towards Specularum ahead of the baron's own forces. For good measure, Mazaramus disintegrated the bridge, forcing Baron von Hendriks to seek another way across. Mazaramus swiftly flew back to meet up with Gandi's army before he was discovered.
The 7th Militia were almost upon the 22nd Division, who were now finding it difficult to slog their way across the muddy ground. Even the juggernauts were reduced to a crawl The havoc that Morgan;s forces had caused to the 21st Division was repeated here. The Elven Guard that had accompanied the 7th Militia reduced the juggernauts to burning hulks. Mazaramus used his spells to good effect, using fire balls to harass the dire wolf riders and the trolls. In addition to this, he had loaned his brazier of commanding fire elementals to one of the duke's sorcerers, and Sneaky summoned her djinni to further hamper the enemy. Gandi waded into the advancing bugbears, first felling the commander then laying low many of their number. Mazaramus himself polymorphed into a hydra, his speed augmented by a haste spell, and sent the dire wolfs and their goblin riders fleeing in panic.
Both of the divisions that had come to the baron's aid had been annihilated. Now they needed to hunt down the baron himself. Lithanor's elven scouts had found that the 13th Militia was retreating back to the Black Eagle Barony. They would not be able to catch them accompanied by their full forces, but the heroes themselves, as well as the tireless drolemites and Lithanor's elite elves, could possibly intercept them before they reached Fort Doom.
Session Six - The Fall of the Black Eagle
The heroes, accompanied by the Elves of Dorneryll, pursued the 13th Militia led by Baron von Hendriks. Some 50 miles from Fort Doom, the baron turned to fight. The small band of elves should prove little problem. They would be swiftly dealt with and the baron could safely return to Fort Doom, deferring his coup for another time. He couldn't have been more wrong!
A small force of 240 elves and drolemites faced nearly a thousand troops, led by von Hendriks. Mazaramus covered the drolemites with invisibility 10' radius spells, the heroes had magic to augment their fighting abilities, including casting haste on the entire party, and Gandi quaffed a potion of speed, making him incredibly fast.
There were no juggernauts to worry about this time, only the Sind armies had these, and none had been loaned to bolster the baron's army's own ranks. Across the field, they could see a number of spell casters. Close to the archers, they could see a magic-user and a cleric, probably low-level sub-commanders, and they guessed that the magic-user was one of Bargle's apprentices. Over on the right, behind the main ranks of warriors, they could see TWO Bargle's. So, he had put up his protective magic and cast a mirror image on himself. Baron von Hendriks himself could clearly be seen leading the largest group of foot soldiers.
Mazaramus proposed a plan. He would carry Gandi across the battlefield on his broom of flying, drop him near Bargle, and then swing over to deal with the archers in hydra form while Gandi took Bargle down. Sneaky, with the help of a fly spell, would move over deal with the spell-casters. With their magical power eliminated, they should be able to dominate the battlefield despite being outnumbered. Morgan joined the ranks of Lithanor's elves, leaving Lithanor free to add his own magical support.
Baron von Hendriks sent his skirmisher cavalry around the right flank, hoping to harass his foes with missile fire, but was countered when Lithanor blocked their advance with a well placed wall of ice. Klaus added to the torment by sending an insect plague into them.
Gandi, Mazaramus and Sneaky reached their targets as planned. Sneaky first flew high above the spell-casters, out of range of any detect invisibility spells that they might have running and launched a fire ball from her scroll at them. The magic-user was completely incinerated, but the cleric, protected by his unholy faith, survived. Mazaramus meanwhile, polymorphed into a twelve headed hydra, plunged into the ranks of the baron's archers and proceeded to lay waste to them. Sneaky moved in to finish off the cleric. Now that his foe was visible, the cleric called on his powers and cast a spell at her. The spell bounced back, reflected by Sneaky's ring of spell turning and the cleric was held immobilised.
Bargle had been gesturing and motioning as if casting some powerful spell since the start of the battle, but as yet, no magic had been seen, other than the evident mirror image. No fire balls, lightning bolts, volleys of magic missiles, death clouds floating across the battlefield...nothing! Whatever he was preparing must be quite potent. Gandi charged the wizard, felling both images. He expected the first one to disappear, leaving only the real Bargle which he would then hack to pieces. Instead, two bodies fell. Both bodies were of gray-skinned humanoids with hairless features.....dopplegangers! They had been duped. Bargle had never been on the battlefield at all! Gandi had no time to wonder if even Baron von Hendriks was aware of the wizard's trick.
The main charge of the baron's army, his cavalry straight down the centre at the small groups of elves, was met with a barrage of missile fire and magical volleys. Half of their number were cut down before they got any near to within charge range before they broke and fled. Evidently, they didn't consider the baron worth dying for. The foot soldiers led by the baron, found their advance abruptly halted when they ran into a wall of invisible dragon-men. The baron's foot soldiers fought on bravely, despite being unable to harm their foes. Morgan and his small company of elven swordsmen moved in to join the fray, attacking from the flank. Morgan found the baron and the two became locked in single combat.
Most of the baron's army either lay scattered on the battlefield or were fleeing. Only his swordsmen remained, whittled down to a handful by the relentless attacks of the dragon-men, the skilled prowess of Lithanor's elves, and Gandi swinging axes and felling foes by the dozen, who had now charged in from the rear.
Baron Ludwig 'Black Eagle' von Hendriks, one of the most skilled swordsmen in Karameikos, found himself outmatched by this Glantrian warrior, ruler of what was once the haunted realm of Ardelphia. His efforts at parrying Morgan's fierce blows were futile, and whenever he found an opening for a counter-thrust, Morgan, with surprising skill and speed, effortlessly deflected the blow. Finally, the baron fell. His men around him had fought and died to the last. Mortally wounded, the baron could have been left for the crows, but Klaus moved in to prevent his death. Rather, his fate would be decided by Duke Stefan Karameikos when they took him back as a prisoner to Specularum.
As for Bargle, Mazaramus though he had seen something strange near the edge of the battlefield. Bushes seemed to move aside as though someone or something was invisibly fleeing through them. He gave pursuit, and once or twice thought he caught sight of his quarry, using his lens of seeing to unmask the wizard's invisibility, but Bargle confounded Mazaramus' pursuit, blindsiding and misdirecting him and as such was able to evade him and escape.
Back at Specularum with their captive, Duke Stefan expressed his gratitude and was extremely impressed with the way they had defeated a larger force due to their own heroics. The baron would be put on trial for treason, with the likely result of being stripped of his baronial title and his lands confiscated. The fact that Bargle was still at large concerned him, but this was a matter now for other heroes to deal with. For now, the threat had been dealt with. Moreover, the Duke was now free to lend his support in the War of the Master. He would assemble several militia battalions to be sent north to Darokin, as well as a small contingent of 120 cavalry archers to be sent to Ardelphia to bolster the forces assembling there. Many of the 13th Militia that had fled or surrendered were now eager to swear loyalty to the duke, now that their oppressive former lord was incarcerated. It wouldn't take too much to bring the 13th Militia up to strength from the surrounding populace and the citizens of Fort Doom that had revolted against their former masters and escaped after hearing about the defeat of the Black Eagle.
The mayor beseeched the party to help them. He suspected that the spectres had a lair somewhere within the Shires, but they had been unable to locate it. His suggestion was that the party stand guard that night to drive off the spectres, and hopefully track them back to their lair.
The party made their preparations. Klaus moved about the town, blessing as many dwellings as he could to prevent the spectres from terrorising the townsfolk. Mazaramus lay several continual light stones in strategic positions, hoping to channel the spectres toward where they were waiting, or at least allow the party to spot them sooner.
Just after midnight, the spectres entered the town. In spite of Klaus'es wards, they heard terrified screams from several of the homes on the west side of town, close to where they lay in wait. Gandi, Mazaramus and Morgan ran to where they heard the cries, causing them to split up as the spectres had spread out to several areas of the town. Sneaky had taken up a hiding position near one of the main intersections of streets, and Lithanor and Klaus were close by. A group of three or four spectres sensed the cleric and advanced menacingly towards him. Undeterred, Klaus presented his holy symbol, blasting two of the undead to oblivion, while Lithanor sliced through a third with Scorbane.
Gandi and Morgan soon found more of the spectres, quickly despatching them with their highly enchanted weapons. The remaining spectres fled.
Mazaramus was prepared for this, having previously cast polymorph self and haste, and was able to keep pace with the fleeing spectres. Even when his haste spell expired, he was still able to keep up with them in griffon form, replenishing the spell when necessary. The rest of the party followed as fast as they could, but even with the flying carpet and broom of flying, they were outpaced. Nevertheless, Mazaramus was able to track the spectres to their lair, an abandoned crypt roughly a day and half of travelling from Wereskalot and close to the Cruth Mountains.
Mazaramus scouted out the crypt using a wizard eye and found that the crypt was thronged with scores of spectres, about fifty, he estimated, some of them being spectres of the hapless halfling victims from previous attacks.
Assembled some way off from the crypt, and relatively safe in the daylight, they planned their attack. Klaus would cast a protection from evil spell on each member of the party, rendering them immune to the spectres attacks as long as they didn't attack the spectres themselves. Klaus would walk in and try to draw as many of the spectres as close to him as possible, and eradicate them with a dispel evil spell. Mazaramus would accompany him, ready to cast dimension door on the cleric as soon as he cast his spell and send back outside, where hopefully he would be safe in the daylight. Lithanor also accompanied them, in case anything went wrong. Morgan, Gandi and Sneaky remained outside to protect Klaus after he had cast his spell, and to catch any errant spectres that tried to escape from the crypt.
Mazaramus, Klaus and Lithanor entered the crypt. Lithanor called upon his dragon breath ability learnt from his dracology studies. Klaus strode forward, and as planned, the spectres converged on him. Klaus lifted his arms and chanted his spell. Instantly, half of the spectres were banished, but there were still at least two dozen of them, now streaming towards the cleric, who no longer had the full benefit of his protection from evil spell. Mazaramus sent Klaus to safety using his dimension door spell. At the same time, Lithanor sent out a gout of flame, incinerating most of the remaining spectres.
The spectres now converged on Lithanor. He breathed forth another burst of flame, but five spectres still remained. These swarmed about the elf and drove into him with their life-draining touch. Lithanor screamed in agony. Outside, Morgan and Gandi, hearing the scream, rushed in to the aide of their comrade. Lithanor fought on, now severely weakened by the spectres chilling touch. Mazaramus was reluctant to use his magic on the spectres and make himself a target, but tried in vain to interpose himself between Lithanor and the spectres, hoping that his protection from evil would ward them off. Gandi and Morgan, however, were able to swiftly despatch the last few spectres that were assailing Lithanor.
The evil was defeated. In the crypt they found a goodly amount of treasure, including a few magic items, among which were a bag of holding (which Klaus took, being the only party member without one), and a crystal dagger hilt! Matching this to the blade that they had recovered in Alfheim, it did indeed seem to be the second part to the whole. However, their seemed to be no way to attach the two together. They expected them to somehow magically fuse together, but this was not so, and no magic that they tried would bond them either. What mystery surrounded this dagger was quite perplexing.
Returning to the halflings to tell them of their success, they pledged their support to Darokin and would send their armies forth with all due haste. Humans, and more importantly clerics, were not strangers to the Five Shires, and the halflings were able to call for a patriarch to heal Lithanor of the life draining attacks of the spectres. As a last resort, the halflings had another means of restoring him, but this would mean revealing a certain secret that they were reluctant to share. Sneaky did hear the mayor of Wereskalot briefly refer to something called blackflame, though he quickly fell silent on the matter after this.
Mazaramus considered using a contact outer plane to find out more about the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Unbidden, an image of Laran appeared in his crystal ball. Laran warned him that all attempts to use divination magic of any kind, even by the most powerful of Glantrian wizards, had been blocked or were met with ominous and dire warnings.
The next stop was Ierendi. Travelling to Shireton, the capital of the Five Shires, the halflings provided passage on a ship and they arrived in the Ierendi capital a few days later. First they met with the king and queen of Ierendi. Strongheart and Mercion had once again been elected as king and queen, a position they enjoyed, as it was an honorary title with few if any duties of actually ruling Ierendi. This was left to the councillors.
Strongheart warmly greeted the party, and arranged a feast in their honour. They then spent the next several hours reminiscing over old adventures. Strongheart and his fellows listened with great interest to the tales that the party had to tell. Lithanor had not been present when the party first met Strongheart, and the king was keen to hear how Lithanor had vanquished the red dragon Khordarg, though most of the tale was told by Scorbane, who revelled in his moment to shine.
The talking and sharing of adventures went on until the small hours of the morning. How the party had rescued the princess Corinna of Ierendi (the daughter of one of the kings and queens who had been elected since, in the interim between when the party had last met Strongheart and now) and saved the Minrothad Guilds from an embarrassing incident, the last time they had fought the Master of the Desert Nomads after crossing the Sind Desert, and Mazaramus' exploration of a strange island inhabited by strange elemental forces that he had now made his home, the discovery of s strange alien citadel in the heart of the mountains of the island, and the horror that had lain beneath.
They returned to the matter of the Master, and the war that had engulfed the mainland. Were it up to Strongheart, he would have already despatched the Ierendi armies to assist Darokin. He would arrange a meeting with the councillors the following morning, so that the party could make their case to them.
The following day, the party met with the Ierendi Council. Three wizened old men heard their case. The councillors then told the party that, of late, their ships had been harassed by a giant roc that had made its lair in a nearby small island. Several sailors had been taken by the roc, one of whom happened to be the son of one of the councillors. If they were to rescue these sailors and end the threat posed by the roc, they would be more inclined to assist Darokin.
A ship was provided for them, and they set sail for the small island. Within two days, they sighted the island. Volcanic plumes of smoke surrounded its highest peaks. As they approached, a huge bird emerged from the smoke and headed straight for the ship. Mazaramus took off on his broom of flying, closing the distance. As soon as the roc was within range, he launched one fire ball after another at the roc. The huge creature dodged most of the blasts and continued with its dive towards the ship. Lithanor fired flaming arrows at it as it closed. Mazaramus cast another fire ball. This one hit the roc squarely and it took the full brunt of the blast. The roc now turned and flew straight at Mazaramus, sending him reeling through the air. As the wizard fought to regain control of his broom, Lithanor sent a lightning bolt streaming towards the roc. The giant bird screeched and plummeted into the water.
With the roc dealt with. They continued on towards the island. Mazaramus used his crystal ball to get an idea of where the sailors might be, going on the description given to him of the councillor's son. The image he got was vague, but he got the impression that they were high up above the smoke, and in some kind of nest. At least they were still alive.
The ascent of the volcanic mountain on the island was not without further hazards. A group of three flame salamanders had made the fiery innards of the mountain their home. Fortunately, Mazaramus had the ability to control two of them with his runes, and used these to drive off the third. Further up, a small cave infested with rhagodessae spiders, wherein they found the body of a hapless explorer on which they found a small amount of treasure as well as a ring of invisibility. Finally, their was a huge 200' sheer cliff, which the party easily overcame by simply flying up.
At the top they found the nest. Four small rocs were within, presumably the young of the giant roc. Beyond these they could see the sailors, trapped underneath a net of branches. Mazaramus used a charm monster on one of the rocs while Gandi, Morgan and Lithanor dealt with the other three. Meanwhile, Sneaky made her way across the nest to free the sailors.
Returning to Ierendi, the councillors pledged their support in the war, and would send three royal brigades, each comprised of just over a thousand men, to the mainland by way of the port of Athenos in southern Darokin. Mazaramus had brought the charmed roc back with him, and managed to be able to procure the services of a roc trainer. The roc was quite young, so taming and training it should be quite possible. Strongheart also rewarded the party. A token reward admittedly, but something that would remind them of their times in Ierendi, a jewelled ceremonial weapon for each of the party members. Finally, the Ierendi councillors arranged for transport to their next port of call - Minrothad. With luck, they should be able to complete their journey across the Sea of Dread without being beset by giant rocs, underwater vampires or strange mist-monsters.
A small force of 240 elves and drolemites faced nearly a thousand troops, led by von Hendriks. Mazaramus covered the drolemites with invisibility 10' radius spells, the heroes had magic to augment their fighting abilities, including casting haste on the entire party, and Gandi quaffed a potion of speed, making him incredibly fast.
There were no juggernauts to worry about this time, only the Sind armies had these, and none had been loaned to bolster the baron's army's own ranks. Across the field, they could see a number of spell casters. Close to the archers, they could see a magic-user and a cleric, probably low-level sub-commanders, and they guessed that the magic-user was one of Bargle's apprentices. Over on the right, behind the main ranks of warriors, they could see TWO Bargle's. So, he had put up his protective magic and cast a mirror image on himself. Baron von Hendriks himself could clearly be seen leading the largest group of foot soldiers.
Mazaramus proposed a plan. He would carry Gandi across the battlefield on his broom of flying, drop him near Bargle, and then swing over to deal with the archers in hydra form while Gandi took Bargle down. Sneaky, with the help of a fly spell, would move over deal with the spell-casters. With their magical power eliminated, they should be able to dominate the battlefield despite being outnumbered. Morgan joined the ranks of Lithanor's elves, leaving Lithanor free to add his own magical support.
Baron von Hendriks sent his skirmisher cavalry around the right flank, hoping to harass his foes with missile fire, but was countered when Lithanor blocked their advance with a well placed wall of ice. Klaus added to the torment by sending an insect plague into them.
Gandi, Mazaramus and Sneaky reached their targets as planned. Sneaky first flew high above the spell-casters, out of range of any detect invisibility spells that they might have running and launched a fire ball from her scroll at them. The magic-user was completely incinerated, but the cleric, protected by his unholy faith, survived. Mazaramus meanwhile, polymorphed into a twelve headed hydra, plunged into the ranks of the baron's archers and proceeded to lay waste to them. Sneaky moved in to finish off the cleric. Now that his foe was visible, the cleric called on his powers and cast a spell at her. The spell bounced back, reflected by Sneaky's ring of spell turning and the cleric was held immobilised.
Bargle had been gesturing and motioning as if casting some powerful spell since the start of the battle, but as yet, no magic had been seen, other than the evident mirror image. No fire balls, lightning bolts, volleys of magic missiles, death clouds floating across the battlefield...nothing! Whatever he was preparing must be quite potent. Gandi charged the wizard, felling both images. He expected the first one to disappear, leaving only the real Bargle which he would then hack to pieces. Instead, two bodies fell. Both bodies were of gray-skinned humanoids with hairless features.....dopplegangers! They had been duped. Bargle had never been on the battlefield at all! Gandi had no time to wonder if even Baron von Hendriks was aware of the wizard's trick.
The main charge of the baron's army, his cavalry straight down the centre at the small groups of elves, was met with a barrage of missile fire and magical volleys. Half of their number were cut down before they got any near to within charge range before they broke and fled. Evidently, they didn't consider the baron worth dying for. The foot soldiers led by the baron, found their advance abruptly halted when they ran into a wall of invisible dragon-men. The baron's foot soldiers fought on bravely, despite being unable to harm their foes. Morgan and his small company of elven swordsmen moved in to join the fray, attacking from the flank. Morgan found the baron and the two became locked in single combat.
Most of the baron's army either lay scattered on the battlefield or were fleeing. Only his swordsmen remained, whittled down to a handful by the relentless attacks of the dragon-men, the skilled prowess of Lithanor's elves, and Gandi swinging axes and felling foes by the dozen, who had now charged in from the rear.
Baron Ludwig 'Black Eagle' von Hendriks, one of the most skilled swordsmen in Karameikos, found himself outmatched by this Glantrian warrior, ruler of what was once the haunted realm of Ardelphia. His efforts at parrying Morgan's fierce blows were futile, and whenever he found an opening for a counter-thrust, Morgan, with surprising skill and speed, effortlessly deflected the blow. Finally, the baron fell. His men around him had fought and died to the last. Mortally wounded, the baron could have been left for the crows, but Klaus moved in to prevent his death. Rather, his fate would be decided by Duke Stefan Karameikos when they took him back as a prisoner to Specularum.
As for Bargle, Mazaramus though he had seen something strange near the edge of the battlefield. Bushes seemed to move aside as though someone or something was invisibly fleeing through them. He gave pursuit, and once or twice thought he caught sight of his quarry, using his lens of seeing to unmask the wizard's invisibility, but Bargle confounded Mazaramus' pursuit, blindsiding and misdirecting him and as such was able to evade him and escape.
Back at Specularum with their captive, Duke Stefan expressed his gratitude and was extremely impressed with the way they had defeated a larger force due to their own heroics. The baron would be put on trial for treason, with the likely result of being stripped of his baronial title and his lands confiscated. The fact that Bargle was still at large concerned him, but this was a matter now for other heroes to deal with. For now, the threat had been dealt with. Moreover, the Duke was now free to lend his support in the War of the Master. He would assemble several militia battalions to be sent north to Darokin, as well as a small contingent of 120 cavalry archers to be sent to Ardelphia to bolster the forces assembling there. Many of the 13th Militia that had fled or surrendered were now eager to swear loyalty to the duke, now that their oppressive former lord was incarcerated. It wouldn't take too much to bring the 13th Militia up to strength from the surrounding populace and the citizens of Fort Doom that had revolted against their former masters and escaped after hearing about the defeat of the Black Eagle.
Session Seven - The Haunting of the Shires
Following their victorious campaign in Karameikos, it was agreed that they should go next to the Five Shires next, largely for geographical reasons. From there, they could sail to Ierendi, then on to Minrothad and Thyatis.
The first halfling town they came to was Wereskalot. Expecting a bunch of happy, cheerful halflings, they instead found them very apprehensive and nervous. Once they found the mayor of Wereskalot, he explained the reason for the halfling trepidation. Numerous attacks by spectres, not only at Wereskalot but across the entire Shires, had been taking place at night. The halflings had taken what measures they could, even calling on the assistance of clerics to help ward these fearsome undead off. Despite this, several halflings had been slain by the spectres.
The first halfling town they came to was Wereskalot. Expecting a bunch of happy, cheerful halflings, they instead found them very apprehensive and nervous. Once they found the mayor of Wereskalot, he explained the reason for the halfling trepidation. Numerous attacks by spectres, not only at Wereskalot but across the entire Shires, had been taking place at night. The halflings had taken what measures they could, even calling on the assistance of clerics to help ward these fearsome undead off. Despite this, several halflings had been slain by the spectres.
The mayor beseeched the party to help them. He suspected that the spectres had a lair somewhere within the Shires, but they had been unable to locate it. His suggestion was that the party stand guard that night to drive off the spectres, and hopefully track them back to their lair.
The party made their preparations. Klaus moved about the town, blessing as many dwellings as he could to prevent the spectres from terrorising the townsfolk. Mazaramus lay several continual light stones in strategic positions, hoping to channel the spectres toward where they were waiting, or at least allow the party to spot them sooner.
Just after midnight, the spectres entered the town. In spite of Klaus'es wards, they heard terrified screams from several of the homes on the west side of town, close to where they lay in wait. Gandi, Mazaramus and Morgan ran to where they heard the cries, causing them to split up as the spectres had spread out to several areas of the town. Sneaky had taken up a hiding position near one of the main intersections of streets, and Lithanor and Klaus were close by. A group of three or four spectres sensed the cleric and advanced menacingly towards him. Undeterred, Klaus presented his holy symbol, blasting two of the undead to oblivion, while Lithanor sliced through a third with Scorbane.
Gandi and Morgan soon found more of the spectres, quickly despatching them with their highly enchanted weapons. The remaining spectres fled.
Mazaramus was prepared for this, having previously cast polymorph self and haste, and was able to keep pace with the fleeing spectres. Even when his haste spell expired, he was still able to keep up with them in griffon form, replenishing the spell when necessary. The rest of the party followed as fast as they could, but even with the flying carpet and broom of flying, they were outpaced. Nevertheless, Mazaramus was able to track the spectres to their lair, an abandoned crypt roughly a day and half of travelling from Wereskalot and close to the Cruth Mountains.
Mazaramus scouted out the crypt using a wizard eye and found that the crypt was thronged with scores of spectres, about fifty, he estimated, some of them being spectres of the hapless halfling victims from previous attacks.
Assembled some way off from the crypt, and relatively safe in the daylight, they planned their attack. Klaus would cast a protection from evil spell on each member of the party, rendering them immune to the spectres attacks as long as they didn't attack the spectres themselves. Klaus would walk in and try to draw as many of the spectres as close to him as possible, and eradicate them with a dispel evil spell. Mazaramus would accompany him, ready to cast dimension door on the cleric as soon as he cast his spell and send back outside, where hopefully he would be safe in the daylight. Lithanor also accompanied them, in case anything went wrong. Morgan, Gandi and Sneaky remained outside to protect Klaus after he had cast his spell, and to catch any errant spectres that tried to escape from the crypt.
Mazaramus, Klaus and Lithanor entered the crypt. Lithanor called upon his dragon breath ability learnt from his dracology studies. Klaus strode forward, and as planned, the spectres converged on him. Klaus lifted his arms and chanted his spell. Instantly, half of the spectres were banished, but there were still at least two dozen of them, now streaming towards the cleric, who no longer had the full benefit of his protection from evil spell. Mazaramus sent Klaus to safety using his dimension door spell. At the same time, Lithanor sent out a gout of flame, incinerating most of the remaining spectres.
The spectres now converged on Lithanor. He breathed forth another burst of flame, but five spectres still remained. These swarmed about the elf and drove into him with their life-draining touch. Lithanor screamed in agony. Outside, Morgan and Gandi, hearing the scream, rushed in to the aide of their comrade. Lithanor fought on, now severely weakened by the spectres chilling touch. Mazaramus was reluctant to use his magic on the spectres and make himself a target, but tried in vain to interpose himself between Lithanor and the spectres, hoping that his protection from evil would ward them off. Gandi and Morgan, however, were able to swiftly despatch the last few spectres that were assailing Lithanor.
The evil was defeated. In the crypt they found a goodly amount of treasure, including a few magic items, among which were a bag of holding (which Klaus took, being the only party member without one), and a crystal dagger hilt! Matching this to the blade that they had recovered in Alfheim, it did indeed seem to be the second part to the whole. However, their seemed to be no way to attach the two together. They expected them to somehow magically fuse together, but this was not so, and no magic that they tried would bond them either. What mystery surrounded this dagger was quite perplexing.
Returning to the halflings to tell them of their success, they pledged their support to Darokin and would send their armies forth with all due haste. Humans, and more importantly clerics, were not strangers to the Five Shires, and the halflings were able to call for a patriarch to heal Lithanor of the life draining attacks of the spectres. As a last resort, the halflings had another means of restoring him, but this would mean revealing a certain secret that they were reluctant to share. Sneaky did hear the mayor of Wereskalot briefly refer to something called blackflame, though he quickly fell silent on the matter after this.
Mazaramus considered using a contact outer plane to find out more about the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Unbidden, an image of Laran appeared in his crystal ball. Laran warned him that all attempts to use divination magic of any kind, even by the most powerful of Glantrian wizards, had been blocked or were met with ominous and dire warnings.
A Reunion with Old Friends
The next stop was Ierendi. Travelling to Shireton, the capital of the Five Shires, the halflings provided passage on a ship and they arrived in the Ierendi capital a few days later. First they met with the king and queen of Ierendi. Strongheart and Mercion had once again been elected as king and queen, a position they enjoyed, as it was an honorary title with few if any duties of actually ruling Ierendi. This was left to the councillors.
Strongheart warmly greeted the party, and arranged a feast in their honour. They then spent the next several hours reminiscing over old adventures. Strongheart and his fellows listened with great interest to the tales that the party had to tell. Lithanor had not been present when the party first met Strongheart, and the king was keen to hear how Lithanor had vanquished the red dragon Khordarg, though most of the tale was told by Scorbane, who revelled in his moment to shine.
The talking and sharing of adventures went on until the small hours of the morning. How the party had rescued the princess Corinna of Ierendi (the daughter of one of the kings and queens who had been elected since, in the interim between when the party had last met Strongheart and now) and saved the Minrothad Guilds from an embarrassing incident, the last time they had fought the Master of the Desert Nomads after crossing the Sind Desert, and Mazaramus' exploration of a strange island inhabited by strange elemental forces that he had now made his home, the discovery of s strange alien citadel in the heart of the mountains of the island, and the horror that had lain beneath.
They returned to the matter of the Master, and the war that had engulfed the mainland. Were it up to Strongheart, he would have already despatched the Ierendi armies to assist Darokin. He would arrange a meeting with the councillors the following morning, so that the party could make their case to them.
The following day, the party met with the Ierendi Council. Three wizened old men heard their case. The councillors then told the party that, of late, their ships had been harassed by a giant roc that had made its lair in a nearby small island. Several sailors had been taken by the roc, one of whom happened to be the son of one of the councillors. If they were to rescue these sailors and end the threat posed by the roc, they would be more inclined to assist Darokin.
A ship was provided for them, and they set sail for the small island. Within two days, they sighted the island. Volcanic plumes of smoke surrounded its highest peaks. As they approached, a huge bird emerged from the smoke and headed straight for the ship. Mazaramus took off on his broom of flying, closing the distance. As soon as the roc was within range, he launched one fire ball after another at the roc. The huge creature dodged most of the blasts and continued with its dive towards the ship. Lithanor fired flaming arrows at it as it closed. Mazaramus cast another fire ball. This one hit the roc squarely and it took the full brunt of the blast. The roc now turned and flew straight at Mazaramus, sending him reeling through the air. As the wizard fought to regain control of his broom, Lithanor sent a lightning bolt streaming towards the roc. The giant bird screeched and plummeted into the water.
With the roc dealt with. They continued on towards the island. Mazaramus used his crystal ball to get an idea of where the sailors might be, going on the description given to him of the councillor's son. The image he got was vague, but he got the impression that they were high up above the smoke, and in some kind of nest. At least they were still alive.
The ascent of the volcanic mountain on the island was not without further hazards. A group of three flame salamanders had made the fiery innards of the mountain their home. Fortunately, Mazaramus had the ability to control two of them with his runes, and used these to drive off the third. Further up, a small cave infested with rhagodessae spiders, wherein they found the body of a hapless explorer on which they found a small amount of treasure as well as a ring of invisibility. Finally, their was a huge 200' sheer cliff, which the party easily overcame by simply flying up.
At the top they found the nest. Four small rocs were within, presumably the young of the giant roc. Beyond these they could see the sailors, trapped underneath a net of branches. Mazaramus used a charm monster on one of the rocs while Gandi, Morgan and Lithanor dealt with the other three. Meanwhile, Sneaky made her way across the nest to free the sailors.
Returning to Ierendi, the councillors pledged their support in the war, and would send three royal brigades, each comprised of just over a thousand men, to the mainland by way of the port of Athenos in southern Darokin. Mazaramus had brought the charmed roc back with him, and managed to be able to procure the services of a roc trainer. The roc was quite young, so taming and training it should be quite possible. Strongheart also rewarded the party. A token reward admittedly, but something that would remind them of their times in Ierendi, a jewelled ceremonial weapon for each of the party members. Finally, the Ierendi councillors arranged for transport to their next port of call - Minrothad. With luck, they should be able to complete their journey across the Sea of Dread without being beset by giant rocs, underwater vampires or strange mist-monsters.
Session Eight - Minrothad, Thyatis and Ylaruam
Minrothad! The last time the adventurers were here, they found that the Guild Masters were more interested in making money than taking an interest in worldly affairs, unless this applied to trade, and making more money! Tormaq was currently visiting Minrothad, and warmly greeted the party. It seemed that getting an audience with the Guild Masters was going to be time consuming and possibly costly, though Tormaq had the ear of some of them and reminded them of how the party had helped the Guilds out when they dealt with the velya, Hadric, several years ago, that had been behind attacks that were harassing the Guild's ships.
A day or so later, they were met by some of the Guild Masters, accompanied by a man carrying a handful of charts under his arms. He seemed intent on finding out about the island that the Guilds had given to Mazaramus, and was confused about its disappearance. Mazaramus told him that the island now lay off the Savage Coast, hundreds of miles to the west, and helped him to update his charts accordingly. In their discussions, the matter came up off the creatures that inhabited the island. Mazaramus told them of the strange dinosaurs they had seen, velociraptors, Smaller than those on the Isle of Dread, yet faster and more cunning and intelligent. When asked for a description, Mazaramus provided a visual representation by use of a phantasmal force spell. (Fortunately, Mazaramus was still an honorary Guild Member and was fully licensed to cast spells within the Guild). Some of the Guildsmen were impressed with this spectacle and asked permission to use this themselves, perhaps as entertainment or for use in their museums. Mazaramus response was that they can do what they like with his idea, just so long as the Guild Masters hear them out about the war between Darokin and the Desert Nomads.
Word passed around, and the following day the Guild Masters were assembled. Mazaramus told them of the war, and the possible consequence should Darokin be defeated. Some of the Guild Masters were unconvinced. There was no profit in getting involved in such a war. In the end, Oran Meditor the water elf who was the Ruling Guild Master, pointed out several things. Firstly, that Mazaramus and his friends had helped them in the past, not only ending the threat posed to their shipping, but avoiding an embarrassing incident with their neighbours, the Ierendi. Secondly, that they had rewarded Mazaramus with an island that, as far as they knew, didn't even exist! Thirdly, the Ierendi had already pledged their support to Darokin and as they spoke Ierendi troops were sailing for Athenos to assist in the war. It would not do for the Ierendi to set an example to the Minrothad Guilds by lending aid whilst they refused and sat back. Lastly, and most importantly, if the Sind were to conquer Darokin, this would have dire consequences on the Minrothad Guild's trade. This last fact seemed to hit home. A vote was called, and a majority of the Guild Masters elected in favour of lending their assistance to Darokin. Two armies would be sent as soon as possible oversea to Specularum and from there move to assist Darokin, possibly joining up with the Karameikan forces.
After persuading the Minrothadans to join the war, the party sailed for the city of Thyatis, capital of the Thyatian Empire. As soon as they made port, they split up, going to different areas of the city. Gandi found the nearest tavern and talked to some of the locals about what had been happening. Sneaky checked in on her hideout to see how her thieves' guild was going. Morgan and Klaus went to the guildhall where Rollo Bargmann resided, while Lithanor and Mazaramus went straight to the palace of the emperor.
Not long after Morgan and Klaus arrived at the guildhall, an important looking official, judging by his purple-lined robes and symbols of office, approached them and told them that they were expected at the emperor's palace. He also inquired about the whereabouts of Sneaky and Gandi. Morgan told him that they had no idea where Sneaky was, but Gandi could be found in one of the taverns near the waterfront.
Lithanir and Mazaramus, upon showing their diplomatic papers, were led to a large building near the main palace. There they were taken to a waiting room and provided with refreshments until the other ambassadors that had been with them arrived,
Sneaky's guild had been doing well and making considerable profits. Alcius, the thief responsible for acquisitions told her that their warehouses were filled with many goods of great value from their ;trading' operations. In fact, he couldn't help feeling that things were going too well. Even the Guildmaster of Thyatis had been quiet of late, allowing Sneaky's guild to carry out their operations without interruption. Durgan shared his fellows feelings on this matter. Something strange was going on in Thyatis. Rumours of some new cult that worshipped unearthly powers, and outlying villages where the people were 'not quite right'.
Sneaky decided to visit the Guildmaster of Thyatis personally. Normally, one doesn't seek out the Guildmaster unbidden without very good reason. He seeks you out if he needs to have dealings with you, Sneaky was surprised at how easily she came to the Guildmaster's presence without too many questions. His hideout, usually bustling with thieves, was less lively than she had seen it in the past. The Guildmaster beckoned her forward, and called for one of his attendants to bring wine. He quizzed her on what she had been up to lately and how her guild was going whilst sipping at his wine. There was something about the Guildmaster. In the past he had been warm and friendly, even if only in pretence. Now he seemed sullen and quite serious, almost apprehensive. The Guildmaster held up his glass to be refilled. Sneaky noticed the attendant nod to the Guildmaster as he refilled his drink, and the Guildmaster breathed a sigh of relief.
"I had to be sure it was really you." the Guildmaster spoke. "As you can see, my numbers are somewhat diminished. Quite a few of my operatives have disappeared under mysterious circumstances." He told Sneaky about his own suspicions about a strange cult in Thyatis, more secretive if anything than even the Thieves' Guild. He had sent out some scouts to try to infiltrate this cult, but they had either returned with no useful information, or had themselves disappeared entirely. As such, he was loathe to send out any more of his thieves in case they suffered the same fate. He was also well aware of the war in the west, and that Sneaky should make her way to the emperor's palace as soon as possible. Whatever was going on in Thyatis would have to wait. The war with the Master was a more immediate concern.
When Sneaky reached the palace of the emperor, she saw a group of soldiers entering the compound, led by some official wearing a purple-lined sash over his robes. Between the soldiers she could see someone being carried on a stretcher. Sneaky was taken to the same building that Mazaramus, Lithanor, Morgan and Klaus were waiting in. They were provided with comfortable rooms for the night, and after hearing about the assassination attempt in Karameikos, had guards posted outside their rooms.
The following morning, they were taken to the palace itself. Accompanying them now was a somewhat hung over Gandi, and Sneaky realised now who had been on the stretcher. Shortly, they arrived at a very grandiose large chamber filled with comfortable seats, cushions and tables laden with rich foods. Opposite, large stylised and silk curtained archways led out on to a balcony overlooking the city. Before the balcony stood an imposing and immaculately dressed tall figure. He strode forward and greeted each of the heroes by name. This was none other than Emperor Thincol.
He told them that, although he was concerned about the war between Darokin and the Master, the Empire had matters of its own to contend with, not least being Alphatia and their continued attempts at gaining more dominion over the lands of Mystara. On this point he divulged to the party what he knew of Alphatia's latest attempt at gaining more lands. To the north, beyond even the northern reaches of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord, was a vast, unsettled land known as Norwold. There has long been an agreement between Thyatis and Alphatia that neither would try to lay claim to this land. However, now Empress Eriadna was seeking to circumvent this agreement by sending her son, Ericall to settle these lands and form a dominion there. The Alphatians claim that Ericall will declare this newly settled realm an independent state, with no ties to Alphatia. Thincol has also learned that Ericall intends to call for potential rulers from other parts of the world, including the Known World, Glantri, Darokin, Alfheim and so forth, to help settle these lands, to further emphasize its neutrality. Thincol firmly believes that this is a ruse, and that once established, Norwold will simply become an extension of the Alphatian Empire.
Thincol proposed that should any of the heroes be offered lands in Norwold, that they accept this offer and establish dominions there. However, if they were to swear loyalty to Thyatis, they could help to overthrow Ericall and end the threat posed by Alphatia expanding its Empire. Whatever happened, the lands granted them would be honoured in equal measure by Thyatis. No other debt or obligation would be owed to Thyatis. Securing Norwold from becoming an Alphatian vassal was all that was required. The Emperor didn't preclude the possibility that Thyatis may have to keep its own forces there to prevent further incursions by Alphatia. but assured them that he would do his utmost to ensure that this impacted in the characters dominions as little as possible. Furthermore, if any of the party agreed to assist Thyatis in this matter, then the assistance of the Empire in the war against the Master was guaranteed.
Mazaramus' previous mistrust of Thyatians was rapidly disappearing, especially when Emperor Thincol had kept his word about not interfering with his island. He also liked the idea of having extra lands, especially in the north where he could find untapped resources to aid in his magical creations. Mazaramus accepted Thincol's offer.
Sneaky too was keen to have a proper dominion of her own, rather than a few thieves skulking about in tunnels under the streets of Thyatis. Furthermore, she needn't be answerable to another guildmaster any more. Sneaky also accepted.
Later that day, Mazaramus and Sneaky were taken to the Temple of Ziyuss, Thyatis' supreme deity of justice, the sky, and retribution. There they swore their vow of loyalty before the statue of Ziyuss. The high priest handed a golden dagger to Emperor Thincol, who then proceeded to slice the palm of his left hand. He then handed the dagger to Mazaramus. Mazaramus did the same, followed by Sneaky. Thincol then held up his hand. The high priest motioned for Mazaramus and Sneaky to do the same. This they did, and the three clasped their hands together. Lightning sparked over their clasped hands and then down over their bodies. The lightning quickly faded to nothing. Thincol withdrew his hand, holding it palm outwards and said "The oath is sealed. Let those who break it suffer the Wrath of Ziyuss!" Mazaramus and Sneaky saw that where the cut had been was now a golden seam. They held up their own hands and found the same As they watched, the golden seams slowly faded, with no trace of any cut or scar from where they had sliced their palms.
The pact was made. Emperor Thincol, true to his word, ordered the 14th-18th Cohorts of Thyatis, each comprised of over 3,000 centurions, to be sent to relieve the siege on Selenica by the Ylari invaders.
The party journeyed northwards, beyond the mountains in the north of Thyatis and into the Alaysian Desert towards the city of Ylaruam. The Ylari had already allied with the Master, so they were actually in enemy territory. However, they hoped that the Ylari would respect their diplomatic status. This they did, and they found that they were welcomed and treated with the dignity and respect afforded to them by the other nations of the Known World.
They were escorted to the palace of the Emir of Ylaruam, and soon they were in the presence of Emir himself, Ali Ben Faisal, a rather portly man to say the least. The chamber they were in was very lavish. Silk curtains of purple and light blue adorned several archways around the room. The Emir and his advisors sat in plump pillows around a low round table in the centre, laden with fruits and curried meats. On one side of the Emir sat a tall, black-haired man with a neatly trimmed goatee, who they found out was the Emir's Grand Vizier, Osman Ben Alyoob. On the other side sat men in robes somewhat different to the styles they had seen in the city., and their complexions were more like those who were accustomed to living in the Sind Desert. The party instantly recognised these as the ambassadors of the Master.
They were invited to sit round the table on the rather comfortable looking cushions. They sat, and Mazaramus beseeched the Emir to abandon his campaign against Darokin, stating that in spite of their cultural similarities, if the Master conquered Darokin, it would not be long before he would be looking towards the conquest of Ylaruam. At this, the ambassadors of the Master called him out, stating that his words were nothing but lies, and that Darokin provoked the war. The Master would reward his allies as equally as he would bring down his wrath upon his enemies. Mazaramus was about to retort angrily, and Lithanor was on his feet. Lithanor believed that the Ylari would respond better to an ultimatum than more cautious diplomacy, warning them that their armies would be crushed if they carried on allying with the Master. Before a further heated exchange of words could be carried out, the Emir called for them to be calm. The Darokin emissaries had come with an offer of peace, and should be heard out. First though, he invited them to dine.
Sneaky was suspicious of the foods placed before them, and gave them a quick test for poison. It was quite rich and very spicy, and likely to cause an adverse reaction for anyone not used to the Ylari cuisine, but it was not poisoned. Everybody ate, except for Lithanor, and Mazaramus just nibbled at his food. A few minutes later, Sneaky turned green in the face, and began to look around in panic. Alyoob pointed to the other side of the room, where an open archway led to a veranda lined with plants. Sneaky ran out onto the veranda, reaching the plants just in time.
Alyoob looked at Lithanor. He cautioned him that refusing to eat would offend the Emir greatly. Lithanor nodded, and ate heartily of the food. He seemed intent on insulting the Emir nonetheless, and breathed forth a stream of fire, almost igniting some of the curtains around the room. Alyoob shook his head. Mazaramus was now, like Sneaky, beginning to feel somewhat queasy from eating the Ylari food, and asked to be excused. Alyoob called for some guards to escort Mazaramus and Sneaky to the guest quarters where they could recover.
The negotiations continued, but by now the Emir had lost all interest in hearing what the Darokin ambassadors had to say. Instead, the Grand Vizier spoke to them. "Ylaruam has always sought to live peacefully with it's neighbours. However, these are dark times, and His Eminence feels it would be wiser to safeguard the interests of his people by siding with those from the Sind, whilst securing greater territorial footholds such as Selenica in order to expand the boundaries of the Emirates." It was obvious that the negotiations were over. Alyoob arranged for them to be escorted to the guest quarters themselves. Lithanor insisted that they be shown that Mazaramus and Sneaky were safe. Alyoob replied that it would be unwise for them to roam freely about the palace, but to remain in the quarters provided. He did, however, lead Klaus to where Sneaky and Mazaramus were recovering. When he returned, Alyoob told them that they had best leave in the morning as they had greatly displeased the Emir.
The following morning they were joined by Mazaramus and Sneaky, slightly recovered but still quite groggy. They made their way out of the city via the northern gate. As they were leaving, the guards there tried to stop them. They had seen, poking out of one of Gandi's pouches, a jeweled medallion. The guard captain said "What are you doing with the Emir's seal of office? Hand over your weapons and come with us. You're under arrest." Gandi replied "You're not arresting me. Diplomatic immunity!" as he sent the guard sprawling with a well placed punch. Another guard told one of his comrades to fetch reinforcements. Mazaramus wanted to stand and argue that the medallion had been planted on them, but another guard approached and grabbed him by the collar of his robes. Holding him close, the guard said quietly to the wizard "Run!"
Mazaramus looked quizzically at the guard and said "Who are you?" He replied, "My name is Lepslef. Now run, before you really are arrested." The group ran for the gate, and when they had made some distance between themselves and the guards, they mounted their flying devices and took off across the desert. It took Mazaramus a little while to figure out that Lepslef was Felspel spelt backwards. Once again, this mysterious wizard and master of illusions had come to their assistance.
Several days later they crossed the mountains to the north of the Alaysian Desert and into the Soderfjord Jarldoms, soon coming to a large town known as....Castellan! Sneaky now took a closer look at the medallion that had been planted on Gandi. It was quite valuable, worth somewhere in the region of 7,000 gold pieces. The rest of the party checked their packs to make sure that no other valuable items had been planted on them in an effort to frame them. It was then that Lithanor found that the blade of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak was missing!
Mazaramus used his crystal ball to try to locate the whereabout of the crystal blade. He got a brief image of a box being handed to some men dressed in Sindian garb, but then the image faded. Going after the blade was out of the question. Those that were now in possession of it would be well across the desert by now and on their way back to the Master. They endeavoured to stick to the task at hand, visiting the remaining nations to persuade them to come to Darokin's assistance in the war.
Duke Stefan led the armies of Karameikos across the Altan Tepes and into the Republic of Darokin. They had reached the foothills and could now see in the distance to the north the city of Selenica. Soon he would engage the armies of the Emir of Ylaruam and lift the siege. As they got closer, they could see the smoke from many doused fires within the city. He had expected to see masses of the desert dweller's armies camped outside the city, but there were none. A short while later, a group of elven scouts from Alfheim approached to confirm his fears. They were too late! Selenica had fallen and the Ylari were now heavily fortified within the city.
A day or so later, they were met by some of the Guild Masters, accompanied by a man carrying a handful of charts under his arms. He seemed intent on finding out about the island that the Guilds had given to Mazaramus, and was confused about its disappearance. Mazaramus told him that the island now lay off the Savage Coast, hundreds of miles to the west, and helped him to update his charts accordingly. In their discussions, the matter came up off the creatures that inhabited the island. Mazaramus told them of the strange dinosaurs they had seen, velociraptors, Smaller than those on the Isle of Dread, yet faster and more cunning and intelligent. When asked for a description, Mazaramus provided a visual representation by use of a phantasmal force spell. (Fortunately, Mazaramus was still an honorary Guild Member and was fully licensed to cast spells within the Guild). Some of the Guildsmen were impressed with this spectacle and asked permission to use this themselves, perhaps as entertainment or for use in their museums. Mazaramus response was that they can do what they like with his idea, just so long as the Guild Masters hear them out about the war between Darokin and the Desert Nomads.
Word passed around, and the following day the Guild Masters were assembled. Mazaramus told them of the war, and the possible consequence should Darokin be defeated. Some of the Guild Masters were unconvinced. There was no profit in getting involved in such a war. In the end, Oran Meditor the water elf who was the Ruling Guild Master, pointed out several things. Firstly, that Mazaramus and his friends had helped them in the past, not only ending the threat posed to their shipping, but avoiding an embarrassing incident with their neighbours, the Ierendi. Secondly, that they had rewarded Mazaramus with an island that, as far as they knew, didn't even exist! Thirdly, the Ierendi had already pledged their support to Darokin and as they spoke Ierendi troops were sailing for Athenos to assist in the war. It would not do for the Ierendi to set an example to the Minrothad Guilds by lending aid whilst they refused and sat back. Lastly, and most importantly, if the Sind were to conquer Darokin, this would have dire consequences on the Minrothad Guild's trade. This last fact seemed to hit home. A vote was called, and a majority of the Guild Masters elected in favour of lending their assistance to Darokin. Two armies would be sent as soon as possible oversea to Specularum and from there move to assist Darokin, possibly joining up with the Karameikan forces.
A Deal with the Emperor
After persuading the Minrothadans to join the war, the party sailed for the city of Thyatis, capital of the Thyatian Empire. As soon as they made port, they split up, going to different areas of the city. Gandi found the nearest tavern and talked to some of the locals about what had been happening. Sneaky checked in on her hideout to see how her thieves' guild was going. Morgan and Klaus went to the guildhall where Rollo Bargmann resided, while Lithanor and Mazaramus went straight to the palace of the emperor.
Not long after Morgan and Klaus arrived at the guildhall, an important looking official, judging by his purple-lined robes and symbols of office, approached them and told them that they were expected at the emperor's palace. He also inquired about the whereabouts of Sneaky and Gandi. Morgan told him that they had no idea where Sneaky was, but Gandi could be found in one of the taverns near the waterfront.
Lithanir and Mazaramus, upon showing their diplomatic papers, were led to a large building near the main palace. There they were taken to a waiting room and provided with refreshments until the other ambassadors that had been with them arrived,
Sneaky's guild had been doing well and making considerable profits. Alcius, the thief responsible for acquisitions told her that their warehouses were filled with many goods of great value from their ;trading' operations. In fact, he couldn't help feeling that things were going too well. Even the Guildmaster of Thyatis had been quiet of late, allowing Sneaky's guild to carry out their operations without interruption. Durgan shared his fellows feelings on this matter. Something strange was going on in Thyatis. Rumours of some new cult that worshipped unearthly powers, and outlying villages where the people were 'not quite right'.
Sneaky decided to visit the Guildmaster of Thyatis personally. Normally, one doesn't seek out the Guildmaster unbidden without very good reason. He seeks you out if he needs to have dealings with you, Sneaky was surprised at how easily she came to the Guildmaster's presence without too many questions. His hideout, usually bustling with thieves, was less lively than she had seen it in the past. The Guildmaster beckoned her forward, and called for one of his attendants to bring wine. He quizzed her on what she had been up to lately and how her guild was going whilst sipping at his wine. There was something about the Guildmaster. In the past he had been warm and friendly, even if only in pretence. Now he seemed sullen and quite serious, almost apprehensive. The Guildmaster held up his glass to be refilled. Sneaky noticed the attendant nod to the Guildmaster as he refilled his drink, and the Guildmaster breathed a sigh of relief.
"I had to be sure it was really you." the Guildmaster spoke. "As you can see, my numbers are somewhat diminished. Quite a few of my operatives have disappeared under mysterious circumstances." He told Sneaky about his own suspicions about a strange cult in Thyatis, more secretive if anything than even the Thieves' Guild. He had sent out some scouts to try to infiltrate this cult, but they had either returned with no useful information, or had themselves disappeared entirely. As such, he was loathe to send out any more of his thieves in case they suffered the same fate. He was also well aware of the war in the west, and that Sneaky should make her way to the emperor's palace as soon as possible. Whatever was going on in Thyatis would have to wait. The war with the Master was a more immediate concern.
When Sneaky reached the palace of the emperor, she saw a group of soldiers entering the compound, led by some official wearing a purple-lined sash over his robes. Between the soldiers she could see someone being carried on a stretcher. Sneaky was taken to the same building that Mazaramus, Lithanor, Morgan and Klaus were waiting in. They were provided with comfortable rooms for the night, and after hearing about the assassination attempt in Karameikos, had guards posted outside their rooms.
The following morning, they were taken to the palace itself. Accompanying them now was a somewhat hung over Gandi, and Sneaky realised now who had been on the stretcher. Shortly, they arrived at a very grandiose large chamber filled with comfortable seats, cushions and tables laden with rich foods. Opposite, large stylised and silk curtained archways led out on to a balcony overlooking the city. Before the balcony stood an imposing and immaculately dressed tall figure. He strode forward and greeted each of the heroes by name. This was none other than Emperor Thincol.
He told them that, although he was concerned about the war between Darokin and the Master, the Empire had matters of its own to contend with, not least being Alphatia and their continued attempts at gaining more dominion over the lands of Mystara. On this point he divulged to the party what he knew of Alphatia's latest attempt at gaining more lands. To the north, beyond even the northern reaches of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord, was a vast, unsettled land known as Norwold. There has long been an agreement between Thyatis and Alphatia that neither would try to lay claim to this land. However, now Empress Eriadna was seeking to circumvent this agreement by sending her son, Ericall to settle these lands and form a dominion there. The Alphatians claim that Ericall will declare this newly settled realm an independent state, with no ties to Alphatia. Thincol has also learned that Ericall intends to call for potential rulers from other parts of the world, including the Known World, Glantri, Darokin, Alfheim and so forth, to help settle these lands, to further emphasize its neutrality. Thincol firmly believes that this is a ruse, and that once established, Norwold will simply become an extension of the Alphatian Empire.
Thincol proposed that should any of the heroes be offered lands in Norwold, that they accept this offer and establish dominions there. However, if they were to swear loyalty to Thyatis, they could help to overthrow Ericall and end the threat posed by Alphatia expanding its Empire. Whatever happened, the lands granted them would be honoured in equal measure by Thyatis. No other debt or obligation would be owed to Thyatis. Securing Norwold from becoming an Alphatian vassal was all that was required. The Emperor didn't preclude the possibility that Thyatis may have to keep its own forces there to prevent further incursions by Alphatia. but assured them that he would do his utmost to ensure that this impacted in the characters dominions as little as possible. Furthermore, if any of the party agreed to assist Thyatis in this matter, then the assistance of the Empire in the war against the Master was guaranteed.
Mazaramus' previous mistrust of Thyatians was rapidly disappearing, especially when Emperor Thincol had kept his word about not interfering with his island. He also liked the idea of having extra lands, especially in the north where he could find untapped resources to aid in his magical creations. Mazaramus accepted Thincol's offer.
Sneaky too was keen to have a proper dominion of her own, rather than a few thieves skulking about in tunnels under the streets of Thyatis. Furthermore, she needn't be answerable to another guildmaster any more. Sneaky also accepted.
Later that day, Mazaramus and Sneaky were taken to the Temple of Ziyuss, Thyatis' supreme deity of justice, the sky, and retribution. There they swore their vow of loyalty before the statue of Ziyuss. The high priest handed a golden dagger to Emperor Thincol, who then proceeded to slice the palm of his left hand. He then handed the dagger to Mazaramus. Mazaramus did the same, followed by Sneaky. Thincol then held up his hand. The high priest motioned for Mazaramus and Sneaky to do the same. This they did, and the three clasped their hands together. Lightning sparked over their clasped hands and then down over their bodies. The lightning quickly faded to nothing. Thincol withdrew his hand, holding it palm outwards and said "The oath is sealed. Let those who break it suffer the Wrath of Ziyuss!" Mazaramus and Sneaky saw that where the cut had been was now a golden seam. They held up their own hands and found the same As they watched, the golden seams slowly faded, with no trace of any cut or scar from where they had sliced their palms.
The pact was made. Emperor Thincol, true to his word, ordered the 14th-18th Cohorts of Thyatis, each comprised of over 3,000 centurions, to be sent to relieve the siege on Selenica by the Ylari invaders.
A Feast in Ylaruam
The party journeyed northwards, beyond the mountains in the north of Thyatis and into the Alaysian Desert towards the city of Ylaruam. The Ylari had already allied with the Master, so they were actually in enemy territory. However, they hoped that the Ylari would respect their diplomatic status. This they did, and they found that they were welcomed and treated with the dignity and respect afforded to them by the other nations of the Known World.
They were escorted to the palace of the Emir of Ylaruam, and soon they were in the presence of Emir himself, Ali Ben Faisal, a rather portly man to say the least. The chamber they were in was very lavish. Silk curtains of purple and light blue adorned several archways around the room. The Emir and his advisors sat in plump pillows around a low round table in the centre, laden with fruits and curried meats. On one side of the Emir sat a tall, black-haired man with a neatly trimmed goatee, who they found out was the Emir's Grand Vizier, Osman Ben Alyoob. On the other side sat men in robes somewhat different to the styles they had seen in the city., and their complexions were more like those who were accustomed to living in the Sind Desert. The party instantly recognised these as the ambassadors of the Master.
They were invited to sit round the table on the rather comfortable looking cushions. They sat, and Mazaramus beseeched the Emir to abandon his campaign against Darokin, stating that in spite of their cultural similarities, if the Master conquered Darokin, it would not be long before he would be looking towards the conquest of Ylaruam. At this, the ambassadors of the Master called him out, stating that his words were nothing but lies, and that Darokin provoked the war. The Master would reward his allies as equally as he would bring down his wrath upon his enemies. Mazaramus was about to retort angrily, and Lithanor was on his feet. Lithanor believed that the Ylari would respond better to an ultimatum than more cautious diplomacy, warning them that their armies would be crushed if they carried on allying with the Master. Before a further heated exchange of words could be carried out, the Emir called for them to be calm. The Darokin emissaries had come with an offer of peace, and should be heard out. First though, he invited them to dine.
Sneaky was suspicious of the foods placed before them, and gave them a quick test for poison. It was quite rich and very spicy, and likely to cause an adverse reaction for anyone not used to the Ylari cuisine, but it was not poisoned. Everybody ate, except for Lithanor, and Mazaramus just nibbled at his food. A few minutes later, Sneaky turned green in the face, and began to look around in panic. Alyoob pointed to the other side of the room, where an open archway led to a veranda lined with plants. Sneaky ran out onto the veranda, reaching the plants just in time.
Alyoob looked at Lithanor. He cautioned him that refusing to eat would offend the Emir greatly. Lithanor nodded, and ate heartily of the food. He seemed intent on insulting the Emir nonetheless, and breathed forth a stream of fire, almost igniting some of the curtains around the room. Alyoob shook his head. Mazaramus was now, like Sneaky, beginning to feel somewhat queasy from eating the Ylari food, and asked to be excused. Alyoob called for some guards to escort Mazaramus and Sneaky to the guest quarters where they could recover.
The negotiations continued, but by now the Emir had lost all interest in hearing what the Darokin ambassadors had to say. Instead, the Grand Vizier spoke to them. "Ylaruam has always sought to live peacefully with it's neighbours. However, these are dark times, and His Eminence feels it would be wiser to safeguard the interests of his people by siding with those from the Sind, whilst securing greater territorial footholds such as Selenica in order to expand the boundaries of the Emirates." It was obvious that the negotiations were over. Alyoob arranged for them to be escorted to the guest quarters themselves. Lithanor insisted that they be shown that Mazaramus and Sneaky were safe. Alyoob replied that it would be unwise for them to roam freely about the palace, but to remain in the quarters provided. He did, however, lead Klaus to where Sneaky and Mazaramus were recovering. When he returned, Alyoob told them that they had best leave in the morning as they had greatly displeased the Emir.
The following morning they were joined by Mazaramus and Sneaky, slightly recovered but still quite groggy. They made their way out of the city via the northern gate. As they were leaving, the guards there tried to stop them. They had seen, poking out of one of Gandi's pouches, a jeweled medallion. The guard captain said "What are you doing with the Emir's seal of office? Hand over your weapons and come with us. You're under arrest." Gandi replied "You're not arresting me. Diplomatic immunity!" as he sent the guard sprawling with a well placed punch. Another guard told one of his comrades to fetch reinforcements. Mazaramus wanted to stand and argue that the medallion had been planted on them, but another guard approached and grabbed him by the collar of his robes. Holding him close, the guard said quietly to the wizard "Run!"
Mazaramus looked quizzically at the guard and said "Who are you?" He replied, "My name is Lepslef. Now run, before you really are arrested." The group ran for the gate, and when they had made some distance between themselves and the guards, they mounted their flying devices and took off across the desert. It took Mazaramus a little while to figure out that Lepslef was Felspel spelt backwards. Once again, this mysterious wizard and master of illusions had come to their assistance.
Several days later they crossed the mountains to the north of the Alaysian Desert and into the Soderfjord Jarldoms, soon coming to a large town known as....Castellan! Sneaky now took a closer look at the medallion that had been planted on Gandi. It was quite valuable, worth somewhere in the region of 7,000 gold pieces. The rest of the party checked their packs to make sure that no other valuable items had been planted on them in an effort to frame them. It was then that Lithanor found that the blade of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak was missing!
Mazaramus used his crystal ball to try to locate the whereabout of the crystal blade. He got a brief image of a box being handed to some men dressed in Sindian garb, but then the image faded. Going after the blade was out of the question. Those that were now in possession of it would be well across the desert by now and on their way back to the Master. They endeavoured to stick to the task at hand, visiting the remaining nations to persuade them to come to Darokin's assistance in the war.
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Duke Stefan led the armies of Karameikos across the Altan Tepes and into the Republic of Darokin. They had reached the foothills and could now see in the distance to the north the city of Selenica. Soon he would engage the armies of the Emir of Ylaruam and lift the siege. As they got closer, they could see the smoke from many doused fires within the city. He had expected to see masses of the desert dweller's armies camped outside the city, but there were none. A short while later, a group of elven scouts from Alfheim approached to confirm his fears. They were too late! Selenica had fallen and the Ylari were now heavily fortified within the city.
Session Nine - The Northern Reaches
The hall of the Jarl of Castellan was filled with many burly warriors engaged in drinking and showing off their physical prowess in arm wrestling contests and the like. Gandi overheard two of the warriors, actually part of the Jarl's bodyguard, bragging about their drinking skills, one claiming to be the second best drinker in Castellan. This was enough for Gandi, and he challenged them to take on the best drinker in Rockhome. The Jarl overheard the dwarfs challenge and stood up. "Surely, if you are the best drinker in Rockhome, you wouldn't settle for taking on the second best!"
Moments later, trays filled with tankards of ale were brought forward, and the contest began. Morgan also took a drink, saying "I'll see if I can keep up with you." He was no match for Sven, the Jarl of Castellan, and passed out drunk after his eighteenth pint. Gandi and Sven continued to drink. Both downed their twenty-eighth pint. Neither made it to twenty-nine. Gandi and Sven were passed out asleep, slumped over the table.
Bridgit, the Jarl's wife, addressed the rest of the party. "It looks as though we will have to wait until these have woken up before we can discuss the matter that you came here for, though I suspect it has something to do with the war in the west." She then arranged for the party to be provided with rooms, and had the drunken Gandi and Morgan carried to guest rooms as well.
The following morning....well closer to noon actually...Mazaramus and Lithanor told the Jarl why they had come to the Soderfjord Jarldoms. Sven, still not quite thinking clearly, said "Look! Any dwarf that can keep pace with me in a drinking contest will have my support. So...who are we fighting? Oh yeah, these Desert Nomads over in Dorakin...I mean Darokin." He then told the party that he would send messengers to the other Jarls and call for a meeting of the Jarls in Soderfjord. Meanwhile, the party should go there themselves to persuade the other Jarls to join the war.
The party reached Soderfjord quite quickly, though some of the Jarls had already assembled, and Olaf, the Jarl of Soderfjord, had already heard of how Gandi had equalled Sven in a drinking contest. They estimated that it would be at least another couple of days before the rest of the Jarls arrived, so they passed the time with....another drinking contest!
Undeterred by his efforts in Castellan, Morgan again partook of the contest. Besides, he was beginning to get a taste for the local beer. Morgan was inebriated long before Olaf and Gandi even began to feel the effects, but he continued drinking nonetheless. He barely noticed when Olaf passed out drunk, but was dimly aware of rousing cheers from the other Jarls. Gandi staggered over to him. "Yer shtill goin'? Well let'sh shee thish all the way.!" A few more pints and the dwarf was gone. Morgan turned and raised his tankard to the Jarls. "Looksh like I'm the best drinker in.....where are we?....Shoderford! That'sh the one. Here's to Shoderford!" followed by more cheers.
The meeting finally started, with the arrival of all the Jarls and the drinkers now (mostly) sobered up. Mazaramus, Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor all spoke about how the Master was devastating the lands of Darokin. If this nation fell, they would continue conquering more lands, including eventually Soderfjord and it's neighbours, the Kingdoms of Vestland and Ostland. This seemed of little interest to most of the Jarls. Some considered the war to be too remote to be any threat to their way of life. Others didn't trust to leaving their lands unguarded and open to being raided or taken over by their neighbouring Jarls. Finally, Olaf spoke. "These brave people have come here looking for warriors to aid them in their cause. Those of you wishing to follow me, stand forth now, unless you'd rather stay here to look after your sheep!" A young man with quite a short beard came forward. This was Ragnar, and it was evident that he had travelled the lands of the Known World and learn't their ways and customs. He stood beside Olaf and Sven. A fourth Jarl, Harald, also came forward. Olaf called out again "Is this it? No more?" Mazaramus tried to reason with them, suggesting that if they distrust their neighbours so much, why don;t they all come. This was futile. The remaining Jarls fell into bickering amongst themselves. With a sigh, Olaf turned to the party. "Well! It seems that it will be just us sharing in the spoils of war. We're with you!" Olaf, Sven, Ragnar and Harald held out their right arms and clasped them together in the centre, making a pact of unity.
They decided next to go to the Kingdom of Ostland. Olaf provided them with a longship to make the oversea trip. Here, they found an altogether different culture. There were no drinking contests to be had here. The people seemed more reverent and sombre. A robed acolyte bearing the symbol of a raven met them and led them to the hall of King Hord Dark-Eye. There they found more of the clerics, most of them worshippers of Odin though there were also clerics bearing the hammer symbol of Thor. Even the King's sword-armed bodyguards carried holy symbols. As they approached the King, they saw another robed figure, this one in white robes of Sindian style, an Emissary of the Master!
Mazaramus approached and made his case to King Hord. When he had finished. the Emissary of the Master, who had stood and listened quietly, turned to the King and said,"See how this devil comes and spreads his lies! The Master offers the hand of friendship to your great Kingdom. What he does not tell you is that Darokin provoked the war with the Master, and now they are paying for their foolishness." After this, one of the clerics of Odin approached King Hord and whispered something to him. King Hord then decreed that the Gods have decided that this matter would be settled by the ancient custom of Trial by Combat. At this, the Emissary nodded. He turned to Mazaramus "I shall honour your custom, and I choose this one...", pointing at Mazaramus "...for it is he who dared to come to our Great Temple and tried to claim it as his own!". The Emissary was Al-Aharazed the Arcane, a powerful mage. A magical duel was to take place.
They were taken to the top of a hill where a large flat, stony area was. This was the field of battle. Both wizard's were allowed to pre-cast whatever spells they wanted. Both chose to make themselves invisible and cast detect invisible and fly spell on themselves. Mazaramus also cast mirror image, and both summoned an invisible stalker to seek out and attack the opposing wizard.
The King, several clerics and bodyguards, and the rest of the party were gathered around the field of battle. A cleric approached the King and said "The combatants are ready and on the field". King Hord Dark-Eye peered at the battlefield and said "Where?" He shrugged and called for the combat to begin. For several minutes, nothing seemed to happen. Both wizards were flying about invisibly, seeking the other out. Finally, the two wizards sighted each other. Mazaramus cast a dispel magic at Al-Aharazed. At the same moment the wizard pointed his staff, and a hail of freezing ice pelted the red-eyed wizard. However, Mazaramus had cast his spell in time, and Al-Aharazed went plummeting to the ground. Mortally injured, Al-Aharazed lifted his staff and with his dying breath uttered the command word to blast Mazaramus with another ice storm. Mazaramus' invisible stalker then moved in to finish the wizard off. At the same time, Al-Aharazed's invisible stalker attacked Mazaramus, but Mazaramus swiftly slew it with his magic.
Mazaramus was allowed the spoils, namely all of Al-Aharazed's belongings and magic items. The staff that Al-Aharazed had been using was a Staff of Wizardry. Mazaramus wondered if the wizard's ploy was to draw him in close and then break the staff, hoping to destroy them both. Knowing how fanatical the Master's servants were, this was a very strong possibility. So excited at having such a potent item was Mazaramus, he quite forgot to ask the Ostlanders if Al-Aharazed had brought any spell books with him.
King Hord ordered the sending of an army to join those of the Soderfjord Jarldoms. The Ostlanders weren't too militaristic, regarding themselves more as the bureaucrats and theological leaders of the Northern Reaches.
By the time they reached Norrvik, capital of the Kingdom of Vestland, King Harald Gudmundson had already heard that Soderjord and Vestland had agreed to aid Darokin, and they weren't going to be left out. He had assembled his own army, and this was bolstered by the forces of Duke Stephen of Rhoona. The King had two concerns however, which he shared with the Darokin ambassadors. First, Ethengar had also heard that the Northerners had allied with Darokin, and not being on the best of terms with the nations of the Northern Reaches had reacted by siding with the Master.
His second concern was the matter of getting the armies of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord to Darokin, which was going to be problematic. Although Ethengar were now technically enemies (if they weren't to begin with), Harald had now wish to make matters worse by taking the forces though the steppes, in essence invading the Ethengar Khanate. Going by way of Ylaruam was even worse. Not only that, the Northerners disliked the idea of travelling through the desert terrain. The immediate route, travelling through the mountains of Rockhome, would also be tantamount to an invasion, given that the dwarves were currently neutral. The two other options remaining, going northwards into the Heldann Freeholds, then west and south through Glantri, or by sea, eventually arriving at either Specularum or Athenos, would take far too long.
King Harald advised that if the ambassadors could persuade Rockhome to ally with Darokin, they could at the same time get the dwarves to allow the forces of the Northern Reaches to travel through their lands. He also told them not to underestimate the people of the Heldann Freeholds. Contrary to popular belief, these people were not the savage barbarians that many believed them to be. There was even talk that a new warlord had united the clans there, and had been giving the Ethengarians a hard time.
The party agreed that time was of the essence, and they should split up to speed negotiating with the remaining nations. Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky would head north to the Heldann Freeholds whilst Mazaramus, Klaus and Gandi went to Rockhome to negotiate with the dwarves. Lithanors group would later meet up with Mazaramus after travelling south through Ethengar.
Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky flew northwards, reaching the border with the Heldann Freeholds. A trail led northwards to the Freeholds capital, Freiburg. Close to the border overlooking the trail, they saw an impressive castle, an almost exact replica of Castellan Keep in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos where the heroes had begun their adventuring career. Yet this keep was new, looking as though it had been constructed in the last five to ten years!
Had Mazaramus been with them, he would have recognised the banners flying atop the towers and over the gatehouse, for he had scried this very building some weeks earlier with his crystal ball. At the gatehouse, Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky were invited inside after announcing their names and led to the inner courtyard and to the Keep Fortress. Here they saw one difference between this Keep and the one in Karameikos. Tiered steps led up to a platform before the large double doors leading into th Keep Fortress itself.
Inside, they were met by none other than Bhakragh, the half-orc they had adventured with years ago. So this was the warlord that had been giving the Ethengarians so much trouble! The companions warmly greeted each other, and reminisced for a short while and caught up on each others' latest ventures. Merick and Talanius were currently with the Heldann forces, keeping an eye on the border with the Ethengar Khanate. Maerie, the thief they had rescued from Teki-Nura-Ria, was head of the anti-insurgence division, rooting out spies from Ethengar, and lately, the Master. Lithanor realised now why the castle looked so much like the Keep on the Borderlands, remembering the time when Bharagh had acquired an unusual 'game' in that strange other world called France, in which were the floor plans and designs of Castellan Keep. Bhakragh told Lithanor that he would recall the armies, and have them march south to join forces with the armies of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord. It would be good to fight alongside his old comrades once again.
Leaving the Heldann Freeholds, Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky crossed into the dry steppes of Ethengar. Occasionally they saw small camps with a few horsemen, women and children eaking out a meagre existence in these lands, though nothing like the great warbands they had heard of. These must be headed south towards the lands of Darokin.
A few days later they came to a large encampment. Many warriors roamed about the camp, and war horses enough to carry an army on horseback were also kept there. Lithanor and Morgan made themselves visible and approached the warriors, and almost instantly they were surrounded by warriors, many of whom had bows with arrows nocked and aimed at them Sneaky kept herself out of sight. She had heard rumours that the adopted daughter of an Ethengarian warlord, taken into his own care after one of his raids, had disappeared many years ago, and this princess would be about the same age as Sneaky. Also, their was something uncannily familiar about the steppes, although she couldn't recall ever being here before.
Lithanor and Morgan were taken to the Ethengar warlord, Chanai, who was in overall command of the Ethengar forces on behalf of the Great Khan. Accompanying Chanai were three of the Master's agents. Lithanor and Morgan spoke of how Darokin had been invaded by the Master, and they had no quarrel with Ethengar. Chanai spat on the ground and said that the soft people of Darokin deserved to be conquered. The Master's agents told Chanai that they should have these ambassadors from Darokin exiled from these lands. Morgan argued that the Master's agents were here to ensure his own victory. He cared nothing for Ethengar, and would just as quickly turn on them once Darokin was conquered. The agents continued trying to persuade Chanai to cast out the invaders. In fact, they had insulted the Ethengarians with their words and should be executed immediately. Chanai suddenly grew infuriated with the Master's agents constant suggestions. "Enough! I am Chanai, Warlord of Ethengar, and I will decide what fate is to befall these outsiders." He turned to Lithanor and Mazaramus. "If you have any honour at all, you will face me in single combat. Which one of you has the courage to fight me?"
Chanai expected a show of cowardice, neither wishing to fight him. Quite the opposite. Lithanor and Morgan both stepped forward, each claiming that they should be the one to fight him. In the end, Lithanor reluctantly conceded and allowed Morgan the honour of fighting Chanai. The nomads of the steppes formed a huge ring in the centre of the encampment Chanai and Morgan both stepped into the ring. Morgan drew forth his claymore. Chanai pulled a two-handed sword from its scabbard strapped across his back, then removed the scabbard and tossed it to the side of the ring.
Morgan rushed forward, swinging his claymore overhead, hoping to fell his opponent with a single blow. Chanai dodged aside, catching Morgan, who was now off-balance, with a couple of slices from his great sword. Blood streaming from two gaping wounds in his side, Morgan realised he had grossly underestimated Chanai. He approached more cautiously, calling upon all his training, looking for an opening in his opponents defense. Chanai swung again, but this time Morgan parried and responded with heavy counter blows of his own. The first Chanai parried, but the second found its mark. Now Chanai too was staggering from his wound.
As the fight went on, Lithanor saw across from him the Master's agents gesturing as though casting spells. He barely saw Morgan's ring of spell turning flash briefly, and moments later one of the Master's agents reeled slightly as though fending off the effects of his own spell. Lithanor began pushing his way through the crowd of Ethengarian warriors towards the Master's agents. He had not got far when he was grabbed by an Ethengarian warrior. "Where do you think you're going? Don't you have the stomach to watch your comrade die?" Lithanor, with a strength and nimbleness that surprised the Ethengarian, pulled free. He then pointed across the ring and said "Look there. Don't you see them using magic to affect the combat?" The Ethengarian turned to look at the agents, then back at Lithanor, an astonished look on his face. "Leave this to me, elf. I will deal with this!" The Ethengarian made his way towards the Master's agents, pushing his way through the crowd with greater ease than Lithanor had found. Lithanor did his best to follow. They were almost upon the Master's agents when a sudden awed hush fell upon the crowd.
Morgan and Chanai had fought with equal skill for some time, but finally Morgan found an opening, delivering a series of fierce blows. Chanai fell to the ground and lay still. Morgan staggered towards where Chanai lay. Chanai looked up, blood coming from his mouth. Still he managed to utter "You fought bravely, my friend, and with honour. I now go to join my fathers." Morgan pulled a potion from his pouch. "You're not dead yet" he spoke as he poured the potion over Chanai's bloodied lips. Chanai struggled to drink at first, but managed to gulp the rest of the potion down. Chanai's looked at Morgan in bewilderment and said "Why? Why would you do this? You would save the life of one who is your enemy?" His eyes the closed.
Chanai's bodyguard were now surrounding the two warriors. Believing their leader to be dead, some of them went to grab Morgan. At that moment Chanai's eyes opened again. He lifted himself up slightly on one arm and said "No! He is not to be harmed. As is our code, he fought honourably and should be treated as we would treat our own." Bodyguards moved to help carry Chanai off the field, but instead Chanai struggled to his feet. The warrior that Lithanor had spoken to then approached Chanai and told him of the Master's agents using spells to affect the battle.
The crowds parted, and across from them, Morgan and Chanai saw the agents of the Master. Several warriors had surrounded them, swords drawn and pointed at the agents. Chanai walked forward and addressed the Master's agents. "We will not side with those who fight without honour. Leave these lands now. If you are still in the steppes when the sun is in the same place in the sky tomorrow, we will hunt you down like dogs." He motioned for the Ethengarians to make way, and the nomads began running for their lives.
Chanai turned to Morgan and Lithanor. " I suggest that you too leave. You have a task ahead of you, and Ethengar will not stand in your way. You have the freedom of the steppes and can go where you wish, but do not try to lead your armies through here. Farewell, my friends!" He then clasped the two in turn in the Ethengarian manner of comradeship, before being led by his bodyguard back to his tent.
Mazaramus, Klaus and Gandi had found travelling through the mountains of Rockhome less straightforward than they had hoped. Gandi hadn't been in Rockhome since the years of his youth, and had rarely ventured into Eastern Rockhome. They found the occasional dwarven village and they stopped to ask for directions to Dengar, capital of Rockhome. They had stopped for the night in a tavern when there was a flash of smoke, from which emerged Laran.
Laran told them, despite their urgency, they should double back and travel north into the Ethengar Khanate to reunite with Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky. Laran will then meet with them again and tell them more of why he has interrupted their current mission.
They reached the rendezvous point a couple of days later. As promised, Laran once again reappeared. He spoke of how the armies of the Master were still pouring out of the Sind Desert, though the successes of the heroes in bringing other nations into the war have greatly hampered the Master's plans of conquest. Morgan pushed for more details. All Laran could tell him in the brief time that they had was that a combined army of halflings and Ierendi warriors had driven off the armies besieging Darokin, but Corunglain had fallen.
To the matter at hand and the reason why Laran had diverted them from their current quest. He had learnt that agents of the Master had retrieved the Soul Gem of Light (the Master calls it the Soul Gem of Thanatos), the third part to the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, and were now on their way back to the Master with it. It is also possible that these same agents have the blade of the Crystal Dagger that was stolen from the party. Where they found the Soul Gem is unknown to Laran, only that they travelled from Rhoona in the Kingdom of Vestland, across the southern edge of the Ethengar Khanate, and are now making their way across the border into Darokin to the north of Alfheim. Their current position is about fifty miles to the west of where they are now. If the party moves quickly, they might be able to overtake the Master's agents and retrieve both the Soul Gem and the blade of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Laran emphasizes that the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak may be the only thing that can destroy the Master, which is why they have gone to great lengths to retrieve it themselves. Once he had imparted this information, Laran promptly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
It took the party three days to catch up with the Master;s Agents, during which time they had made themselves invisible again, and Mazaramus had summoned three invisible stalkers to help them when they caught up with them. They found the camp of the Master's Agents in the northern hills of Darokin. The area was wild and unsettled, and believed to be home to bands of orcs and other humanoids. Some 120 Sindian cavalry troops accompanied the agents. The party ignored these, finding the tents of the leaders. The invisible stalkers, however, carried out their instructions originally given, and flew in to attack the troops. Lithanor pulled out his three drolemites (superior to those in his army in that they had breath weapons) and they too joined the fray.
The leaders were taken completely by surprise. A high priest of Thanatos led the small army, accompanied by two wizards. Sneaky slew one of the mages instantly, and her semi-intelligent rapier fed on her victims' magic-infused blood. Gandi's axes appeared out of nowhere and ended the life of the second wizard. Morgan and Lithanor hacked the high priest and slew him before he knew what was happening. They proceeded to ransack the tent, just as they heard a tumult of shrieks accompanied by explosions outside. A Sindian, his desert robes aflame, staggered into the tent before collapsing in a smouldering heap.
They continued to search and found two boxes. One contained a small finely-cut red gem, faintly glowing. The other,as they had hoped, the blade of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. They looted the bodies of what magic items the commanders had, as well as a pouch carried by the high priest containing a thousand platinum pieces. Moving outside, they found the army in complete disarray. The drolemites were laying waste to the Sind troops. men were falling and dying, slain by some unseen force, others were fleeing in panic towards the woods to the south. Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor moved through the troops, hacking down any stragglers. Soon it was all over, apart from the distant shrieks of fleeing Sindians in the woods to the south. Lithanor recalled his drolemites and they resumed their journey to Dengar.
As they travelled, Sneaky took the two parts of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, held them in place and touched it to the Soul Gem. The dagger glowed with a bright white light. When it faded, the dagger was whole. The Soul Gem, however, was still a separate piece, not attached to the dagger as she had expected.
An army of almost 9,000 warriors, some from Vestland, others from Soderfjord and still more of the Odin-worshipping Ostlanders, along with nearly three thousand armoured warriors of the Heldann Freeholds, bearing black shields with a white raven, stood assembled in a horde in a mountain pass. Ahead of them, a huge stone-walled gate blocked further travel along the pass. King Harald Gudmundson, Olaf of Soderfjord, Gustav, Herald of Thor and Commander of the Ostland Army, and Bhakragh, Warlord of the Heldann Freeholds, rode their horses forward to the gates. Harald shouted up to a dwarf behind the parapets atop the gates. "Long have we been allies. We do not come to invade Rockhome. We seek only to pass through your lands so that we can lend our aid to Darokin in the west."
The dwarf stared out at the vast army of warriors, and then back down at the small entourage. "I have no doubt about your intentions. Okay, there was that incident with Rhoona seven years ago. But I cannot let you enter these lands without the permission of King Everast."
Olaf shouted up "Then go and get word, and be quick about it!"
The dwarf replied simply "We can't!"
"Why not?"
"Because of the frost giants!"
Olaf, Harald, Gustav and Bhakragh looked at each other in bewilderment.
"What have frost giants got to do with it?" shouted Harald.
"An army of frost giants are camped in the pass between here and Dengar. We can't get through."
Olaf shouted "So! Let us in and we'll deal with these frost giants."
"I'm sorry! I cannot let you in without the permission of King Everast."
Olaf just put his head in his hand.
Moments later, trays filled with tankards of ale were brought forward, and the contest began. Morgan also took a drink, saying "I'll see if I can keep up with you." He was no match for Sven, the Jarl of Castellan, and passed out drunk after his eighteenth pint. Gandi and Sven continued to drink. Both downed their twenty-eighth pint. Neither made it to twenty-nine. Gandi and Sven were passed out asleep, slumped over the table.
Bridgit, the Jarl's wife, addressed the rest of the party. "It looks as though we will have to wait until these have woken up before we can discuss the matter that you came here for, though I suspect it has something to do with the war in the west." She then arranged for the party to be provided with rooms, and had the drunken Gandi and Morgan carried to guest rooms as well.
The following morning....well closer to noon actually...Mazaramus and Lithanor told the Jarl why they had come to the Soderfjord Jarldoms. Sven, still not quite thinking clearly, said "Look! Any dwarf that can keep pace with me in a drinking contest will have my support. So...who are we fighting? Oh yeah, these Desert Nomads over in Dorakin...I mean Darokin." He then told the party that he would send messengers to the other Jarls and call for a meeting of the Jarls in Soderfjord. Meanwhile, the party should go there themselves to persuade the other Jarls to join the war.
The party reached Soderfjord quite quickly, though some of the Jarls had already assembled, and Olaf, the Jarl of Soderfjord, had already heard of how Gandi had equalled Sven in a drinking contest. They estimated that it would be at least another couple of days before the rest of the Jarls arrived, so they passed the time with....another drinking contest!
Undeterred by his efforts in Castellan, Morgan again partook of the contest. Besides, he was beginning to get a taste for the local beer. Morgan was inebriated long before Olaf and Gandi even began to feel the effects, but he continued drinking nonetheless. He barely noticed when Olaf passed out drunk, but was dimly aware of rousing cheers from the other Jarls. Gandi staggered over to him. "Yer shtill goin'? Well let'sh shee thish all the way.!" A few more pints and the dwarf was gone. Morgan turned and raised his tankard to the Jarls. "Looksh like I'm the best drinker in.....where are we?....Shoderford! That'sh the one. Here's to Shoderford!" followed by more cheers.
The meeting finally started, with the arrival of all the Jarls and the drinkers now (mostly) sobered up. Mazaramus, Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor all spoke about how the Master was devastating the lands of Darokin. If this nation fell, they would continue conquering more lands, including eventually Soderfjord and it's neighbours, the Kingdoms of Vestland and Ostland. This seemed of little interest to most of the Jarls. Some considered the war to be too remote to be any threat to their way of life. Others didn't trust to leaving their lands unguarded and open to being raided or taken over by their neighbouring Jarls. Finally, Olaf spoke. "These brave people have come here looking for warriors to aid them in their cause. Those of you wishing to follow me, stand forth now, unless you'd rather stay here to look after your sheep!" A young man with quite a short beard came forward. This was Ragnar, and it was evident that he had travelled the lands of the Known World and learn't their ways and customs. He stood beside Olaf and Sven. A fourth Jarl, Harald, also came forward. Olaf called out again "Is this it? No more?" Mazaramus tried to reason with them, suggesting that if they distrust their neighbours so much, why don;t they all come. This was futile. The remaining Jarls fell into bickering amongst themselves. With a sigh, Olaf turned to the party. "Well! It seems that it will be just us sharing in the spoils of war. We're with you!" Olaf, Sven, Ragnar and Harald held out their right arms and clasped them together in the centre, making a pact of unity.
They decided next to go to the Kingdom of Ostland. Olaf provided them with a longship to make the oversea trip. Here, they found an altogether different culture. There were no drinking contests to be had here. The people seemed more reverent and sombre. A robed acolyte bearing the symbol of a raven met them and led them to the hall of King Hord Dark-Eye. There they found more of the clerics, most of them worshippers of Odin though there were also clerics bearing the hammer symbol of Thor. Even the King's sword-armed bodyguards carried holy symbols. As they approached the King, they saw another robed figure, this one in white robes of Sindian style, an Emissary of the Master!
Mazaramus approached and made his case to King Hord. When he had finished. the Emissary of the Master, who had stood and listened quietly, turned to the King and said,"See how this devil comes and spreads his lies! The Master offers the hand of friendship to your great Kingdom. What he does not tell you is that Darokin provoked the war with the Master, and now they are paying for their foolishness." After this, one of the clerics of Odin approached King Hord and whispered something to him. King Hord then decreed that the Gods have decided that this matter would be settled by the ancient custom of Trial by Combat. At this, the Emissary nodded. He turned to Mazaramus "I shall honour your custom, and I choose this one...", pointing at Mazaramus "...for it is he who dared to come to our Great Temple and tried to claim it as his own!". The Emissary was Al-Aharazed the Arcane, a powerful mage. A magical duel was to take place.
They were taken to the top of a hill where a large flat, stony area was. This was the field of battle. Both wizard's were allowed to pre-cast whatever spells they wanted. Both chose to make themselves invisible and cast detect invisible and fly spell on themselves. Mazaramus also cast mirror image, and both summoned an invisible stalker to seek out and attack the opposing wizard.
The King, several clerics and bodyguards, and the rest of the party were gathered around the field of battle. A cleric approached the King and said "The combatants are ready and on the field". King Hord Dark-Eye peered at the battlefield and said "Where?" He shrugged and called for the combat to begin. For several minutes, nothing seemed to happen. Both wizards were flying about invisibly, seeking the other out. Finally, the two wizards sighted each other. Mazaramus cast a dispel magic at Al-Aharazed. At the same moment the wizard pointed his staff, and a hail of freezing ice pelted the red-eyed wizard. However, Mazaramus had cast his spell in time, and Al-Aharazed went plummeting to the ground. Mortally injured, Al-Aharazed lifted his staff and with his dying breath uttered the command word to blast Mazaramus with another ice storm. Mazaramus' invisible stalker then moved in to finish the wizard off. At the same time, Al-Aharazed's invisible stalker attacked Mazaramus, but Mazaramus swiftly slew it with his magic.
Mazaramus was allowed the spoils, namely all of Al-Aharazed's belongings and magic items. The staff that Al-Aharazed had been using was a Staff of Wizardry. Mazaramus wondered if the wizard's ploy was to draw him in close and then break the staff, hoping to destroy them both. Knowing how fanatical the Master's servants were, this was a very strong possibility. So excited at having such a potent item was Mazaramus, he quite forgot to ask the Ostlanders if Al-Aharazed had brought any spell books with him.
King Hord ordered the sending of an army to join those of the Soderfjord Jarldoms. The Ostlanders weren't too militaristic, regarding themselves more as the bureaucrats and theological leaders of the Northern Reaches.
By the time they reached Norrvik, capital of the Kingdom of Vestland, King Harald Gudmundson had already heard that Soderjord and Vestland had agreed to aid Darokin, and they weren't going to be left out. He had assembled his own army, and this was bolstered by the forces of Duke Stephen of Rhoona. The King had two concerns however, which he shared with the Darokin ambassadors. First, Ethengar had also heard that the Northerners had allied with Darokin, and not being on the best of terms with the nations of the Northern Reaches had reacted by siding with the Master.
His second concern was the matter of getting the armies of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord to Darokin, which was going to be problematic. Although Ethengar were now technically enemies (if they weren't to begin with), Harald had now wish to make matters worse by taking the forces though the steppes, in essence invading the Ethengar Khanate. Going by way of Ylaruam was even worse. Not only that, the Northerners disliked the idea of travelling through the desert terrain. The immediate route, travelling through the mountains of Rockhome, would also be tantamount to an invasion, given that the dwarves were currently neutral. The two other options remaining, going northwards into the Heldann Freeholds, then west and south through Glantri, or by sea, eventually arriving at either Specularum or Athenos, would take far too long.
King Harald advised that if the ambassadors could persuade Rockhome to ally with Darokin, they could at the same time get the dwarves to allow the forces of the Northern Reaches to travel through their lands. He also told them not to underestimate the people of the Heldann Freeholds. Contrary to popular belief, these people were not the savage barbarians that many believed them to be. There was even talk that a new warlord had united the clans there, and had been giving the Ethengarians a hard time.
The party agreed that time was of the essence, and they should split up to speed negotiating with the remaining nations. Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky would head north to the Heldann Freeholds whilst Mazaramus, Klaus and Gandi went to Rockhome to negotiate with the dwarves. Lithanors group would later meet up with Mazaramus after travelling south through Ethengar.
The Keep on the Borderlands
Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky flew northwards, reaching the border with the Heldann Freeholds. A trail led northwards to the Freeholds capital, Freiburg. Close to the border overlooking the trail, they saw an impressive castle, an almost exact replica of Castellan Keep in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos where the heroes had begun their adventuring career. Yet this keep was new, looking as though it had been constructed in the last five to ten years!
Had Mazaramus been with them, he would have recognised the banners flying atop the towers and over the gatehouse, for he had scried this very building some weeks earlier with his crystal ball. At the gatehouse, Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky were invited inside after announcing their names and led to the inner courtyard and to the Keep Fortress. Here they saw one difference between this Keep and the one in Karameikos. Tiered steps led up to a platform before the large double doors leading into th Keep Fortress itself.
Inside, they were met by none other than Bhakragh, the half-orc they had adventured with years ago. So this was the warlord that had been giving the Ethengarians so much trouble! The companions warmly greeted each other, and reminisced for a short while and caught up on each others' latest ventures. Merick and Talanius were currently with the Heldann forces, keeping an eye on the border with the Ethengar Khanate. Maerie, the thief they had rescued from Teki-Nura-Ria, was head of the anti-insurgence division, rooting out spies from Ethengar, and lately, the Master. Lithanor realised now why the castle looked so much like the Keep on the Borderlands, remembering the time when Bharagh had acquired an unusual 'game' in that strange other world called France, in which were the floor plans and designs of Castellan Keep. Bhakragh told Lithanor that he would recall the armies, and have them march south to join forces with the armies of Vestland, Ostland and Soderfjord. It would be good to fight alongside his old comrades once again.
Duel of the Warlords
Leaving the Heldann Freeholds, Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky crossed into the dry steppes of Ethengar. Occasionally they saw small camps with a few horsemen, women and children eaking out a meagre existence in these lands, though nothing like the great warbands they had heard of. These must be headed south towards the lands of Darokin.
A few days later they came to a large encampment. Many warriors roamed about the camp, and war horses enough to carry an army on horseback were also kept there. Lithanor and Morgan made themselves visible and approached the warriors, and almost instantly they were surrounded by warriors, many of whom had bows with arrows nocked and aimed at them Sneaky kept herself out of sight. She had heard rumours that the adopted daughter of an Ethengarian warlord, taken into his own care after one of his raids, had disappeared many years ago, and this princess would be about the same age as Sneaky. Also, their was something uncannily familiar about the steppes, although she couldn't recall ever being here before.
Lithanor and Morgan were taken to the Ethengar warlord, Chanai, who was in overall command of the Ethengar forces on behalf of the Great Khan. Accompanying Chanai were three of the Master's agents. Lithanor and Morgan spoke of how Darokin had been invaded by the Master, and they had no quarrel with Ethengar. Chanai spat on the ground and said that the soft people of Darokin deserved to be conquered. The Master's agents told Chanai that they should have these ambassadors from Darokin exiled from these lands. Morgan argued that the Master's agents were here to ensure his own victory. He cared nothing for Ethengar, and would just as quickly turn on them once Darokin was conquered. The agents continued trying to persuade Chanai to cast out the invaders. In fact, they had insulted the Ethengarians with their words and should be executed immediately. Chanai suddenly grew infuriated with the Master's agents constant suggestions. "Enough! I am Chanai, Warlord of Ethengar, and I will decide what fate is to befall these outsiders." He turned to Lithanor and Mazaramus. "If you have any honour at all, you will face me in single combat. Which one of you has the courage to fight me?"
Chanai expected a show of cowardice, neither wishing to fight him. Quite the opposite. Lithanor and Morgan both stepped forward, each claiming that they should be the one to fight him. In the end, Lithanor reluctantly conceded and allowed Morgan the honour of fighting Chanai. The nomads of the steppes formed a huge ring in the centre of the encampment Chanai and Morgan both stepped into the ring. Morgan drew forth his claymore. Chanai pulled a two-handed sword from its scabbard strapped across his back, then removed the scabbard and tossed it to the side of the ring.
Morgan rushed forward, swinging his claymore overhead, hoping to fell his opponent with a single blow. Chanai dodged aside, catching Morgan, who was now off-balance, with a couple of slices from his great sword. Blood streaming from two gaping wounds in his side, Morgan realised he had grossly underestimated Chanai. He approached more cautiously, calling upon all his training, looking for an opening in his opponents defense. Chanai swung again, but this time Morgan parried and responded with heavy counter blows of his own. The first Chanai parried, but the second found its mark. Now Chanai too was staggering from his wound.
As the fight went on, Lithanor saw across from him the Master's agents gesturing as though casting spells. He barely saw Morgan's ring of spell turning flash briefly, and moments later one of the Master's agents reeled slightly as though fending off the effects of his own spell. Lithanor began pushing his way through the crowd of Ethengarian warriors towards the Master's agents. He had not got far when he was grabbed by an Ethengarian warrior. "Where do you think you're going? Don't you have the stomach to watch your comrade die?" Lithanor, with a strength and nimbleness that surprised the Ethengarian, pulled free. He then pointed across the ring and said "Look there. Don't you see them using magic to affect the combat?" The Ethengarian turned to look at the agents, then back at Lithanor, an astonished look on his face. "Leave this to me, elf. I will deal with this!" The Ethengarian made his way towards the Master's agents, pushing his way through the crowd with greater ease than Lithanor had found. Lithanor did his best to follow. They were almost upon the Master's agents when a sudden awed hush fell upon the crowd.
Morgan and Chanai had fought with equal skill for some time, but finally Morgan found an opening, delivering a series of fierce blows. Chanai fell to the ground and lay still. Morgan staggered towards where Chanai lay. Chanai looked up, blood coming from his mouth. Still he managed to utter "You fought bravely, my friend, and with honour. I now go to join my fathers." Morgan pulled a potion from his pouch. "You're not dead yet" he spoke as he poured the potion over Chanai's bloodied lips. Chanai struggled to drink at first, but managed to gulp the rest of the potion down. Chanai's looked at Morgan in bewilderment and said "Why? Why would you do this? You would save the life of one who is your enemy?" His eyes the closed.
Chanai's bodyguard were now surrounding the two warriors. Believing their leader to be dead, some of them went to grab Morgan. At that moment Chanai's eyes opened again. He lifted himself up slightly on one arm and said "No! He is not to be harmed. As is our code, he fought honourably and should be treated as we would treat our own." Bodyguards moved to help carry Chanai off the field, but instead Chanai struggled to his feet. The warrior that Lithanor had spoken to then approached Chanai and told him of the Master's agents using spells to affect the battle.
The crowds parted, and across from them, Morgan and Chanai saw the agents of the Master. Several warriors had surrounded them, swords drawn and pointed at the agents. Chanai walked forward and addressed the Master's agents. "We will not side with those who fight without honour. Leave these lands now. If you are still in the steppes when the sun is in the same place in the sky tomorrow, we will hunt you down like dogs." He motioned for the Ethengarians to make way, and the nomads began running for their lives.
Chanai turned to Morgan and Lithanor. " I suggest that you too leave. You have a task ahead of you, and Ethengar will not stand in your way. You have the freedom of the steppes and can go where you wish, but do not try to lead your armies through here. Farewell, my friends!" He then clasped the two in turn in the Ethengarian manner of comradeship, before being led by his bodyguard back to his tent.
The Quest for the Soul Gem
Mazaramus, Klaus and Gandi had found travelling through the mountains of Rockhome less straightforward than they had hoped. Gandi hadn't been in Rockhome since the years of his youth, and had rarely ventured into Eastern Rockhome. They found the occasional dwarven village and they stopped to ask for directions to Dengar, capital of Rockhome. They had stopped for the night in a tavern when there was a flash of smoke, from which emerged Laran.
Laran told them, despite their urgency, they should double back and travel north into the Ethengar Khanate to reunite with Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky. Laran will then meet with them again and tell them more of why he has interrupted their current mission.
They reached the rendezvous point a couple of days later. As promised, Laran once again reappeared. He spoke of how the armies of the Master were still pouring out of the Sind Desert, though the successes of the heroes in bringing other nations into the war have greatly hampered the Master's plans of conquest. Morgan pushed for more details. All Laran could tell him in the brief time that they had was that a combined army of halflings and Ierendi warriors had driven off the armies besieging Darokin, but Corunglain had fallen.
To the matter at hand and the reason why Laran had diverted them from their current quest. He had learnt that agents of the Master had retrieved the Soul Gem of Light (the Master calls it the Soul Gem of Thanatos), the third part to the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, and were now on their way back to the Master with it. It is also possible that these same agents have the blade of the Crystal Dagger that was stolen from the party. Where they found the Soul Gem is unknown to Laran, only that they travelled from Rhoona in the Kingdom of Vestland, across the southern edge of the Ethengar Khanate, and are now making their way across the border into Darokin to the north of Alfheim. Their current position is about fifty miles to the west of where they are now. If the party moves quickly, they might be able to overtake the Master's agents and retrieve both the Soul Gem and the blade of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Laran emphasizes that the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak may be the only thing that can destroy the Master, which is why they have gone to great lengths to retrieve it themselves. Once he had imparted this information, Laran promptly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
It took the party three days to catch up with the Master;s Agents, during which time they had made themselves invisible again, and Mazaramus had summoned three invisible stalkers to help them when they caught up with them. They found the camp of the Master's Agents in the northern hills of Darokin. The area was wild and unsettled, and believed to be home to bands of orcs and other humanoids. Some 120 Sindian cavalry troops accompanied the agents. The party ignored these, finding the tents of the leaders. The invisible stalkers, however, carried out their instructions originally given, and flew in to attack the troops. Lithanor pulled out his three drolemites (superior to those in his army in that they had breath weapons) and they too joined the fray.
The leaders were taken completely by surprise. A high priest of Thanatos led the small army, accompanied by two wizards. Sneaky slew one of the mages instantly, and her semi-intelligent rapier fed on her victims' magic-infused blood. Gandi's axes appeared out of nowhere and ended the life of the second wizard. Morgan and Lithanor hacked the high priest and slew him before he knew what was happening. They proceeded to ransack the tent, just as they heard a tumult of shrieks accompanied by explosions outside. A Sindian, his desert robes aflame, staggered into the tent before collapsing in a smouldering heap.
They continued to search and found two boxes. One contained a small finely-cut red gem, faintly glowing. The other,as they had hoped, the blade of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. They looted the bodies of what magic items the commanders had, as well as a pouch carried by the high priest containing a thousand platinum pieces. Moving outside, they found the army in complete disarray. The drolemites were laying waste to the Sind troops. men were falling and dying, slain by some unseen force, others were fleeing in panic towards the woods to the south. Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor moved through the troops, hacking down any stragglers. Soon it was all over, apart from the distant shrieks of fleeing Sindians in the woods to the south. Lithanor recalled his drolemites and they resumed their journey to Dengar.
As they travelled, Sneaky took the two parts of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, held them in place and touched it to the Soul Gem. The dagger glowed with a bright white light. When it faded, the dagger was whole. The Soul Gem, however, was still a separate piece, not attached to the dagger as she had expected.
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An army of almost 9,000 warriors, some from Vestland, others from Soderfjord and still more of the Odin-worshipping Ostlanders, along with nearly three thousand armoured warriors of the Heldann Freeholds, bearing black shields with a white raven, stood assembled in a horde in a mountain pass. Ahead of them, a huge stone-walled gate blocked further travel along the pass. King Harald Gudmundson, Olaf of Soderfjord, Gustav, Herald of Thor and Commander of the Ostland Army, and Bhakragh, Warlord of the Heldann Freeholds, rode their horses forward to the gates. Harald shouted up to a dwarf behind the parapets atop the gates. "Long have we been allies. We do not come to invade Rockhome. We seek only to pass through your lands so that we can lend our aid to Darokin in the west."
The dwarf stared out at the vast army of warriors, and then back down at the small entourage. "I have no doubt about your intentions. Okay, there was that incident with Rhoona seven years ago. But I cannot let you enter these lands without the permission of King Everast."
Olaf shouted up "Then go and get word, and be quick about it!"
The dwarf replied simply "We can't!"
"Why not?"
"Because of the frost giants!"
Olaf, Harald, Gustav and Bhakragh looked at each other in bewilderment.
"What have frost giants got to do with it?" shouted Harald.
"An army of frost giants are camped in the pass between here and Dengar. We can't get through."
Olaf shouted "So! Let us in and we'll deal with these frost giants."
"I'm sorry! I cannot let you in without the permission of King Everast."
Olaf just put his head in his hand.
Session Ten - The Battle of Evekarr Pass
The heroes stood before the great dwarf King Everast. He told them that under normal circumstances they would be quick to aid Darokin. However, they were troubled by an army of frost giants that had taken up camp in Evekarr Pass, the only route through the mountains to the Northern Reaches. Although of little threat to the city of Dengar, without the protection of his armies, numerous villages could be beset by the giants. Furthermore, one of their battalions guarding the gate at the eastern end of Evekarr Pass was cut off. If, however, the heroes were to help the dwarves rid them of these frost giants, then they would be in a better position to help Darokin.
The heroes agreed to help the dwarves with their giant problem. King Everast provided them with 480 dwarven warriors to help root out the frost giants. They were also given a detailed map of the area showing the box canyon off from the main trail through the pass in which the frost giants were camped. The party made their own reconnaissance of the area, using invisibility and flying above the camp. This confirmed what the dwarfs had told them about their having sentries posted at lookout points above the canyon. They also now knew their numbers, nearly a hundred frost giants along with a hundred and twenty dire wolves.
Mazaramus came up with an idea. Before the dwarves moved towards the canyon, he cast a weather control spell and brought down a blanket of thick fog in the area of the canyon. He would also call up a wall of stone to block the entrance to stop the frost giants from moving out to attack the dwarves. Sneaky, Lithanor and Gandi also contributed to the guerilla tactics to 'soften up' the frost giants. Sneaky ascended the cliff to where a pair of sentries were keeping watch. Totally unaware of her presence, she slew both of them before they even knew what happening. Her initial strike was with the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, but she found that whatever magic it possessed, it was little more than an ordinary dagger where combat was concerned. The giants on lookout on the opposite cliff, being well above the fog bank, saw the giants fall. They prepared to launch boulders at Sneaky but she had disappeared again. Instead, the giants bellowed down into the canyon that they were under attack.
Mazaramus took care of the dire wolves by sending a cloudkill into them. Many of the wolves died instantly as the poisonous cloud engulfed them. The rest fled in blind panic from this nauseous cloud of death. Mazaramus flew back up over the wall of stone before the giants could figure out who or what was attacking them.
Lithanor flew towards where two dozen frost giants had assembled. The frost giants could barely pick him out through the fog, even with their infravision. They readied their axes to deal with this single invader. The elf flew at them with incredible speed and belched forth gouts of flame, instantly slaying a good many of their number.
Before the assault had even started, Sneaky had summoned her djinni, which had transformed into a whirlwind, and was now streaming through the frost giants, causing a huge amount of confusion and sending giants sprawling. Gandi had entered the fray, having been carried over the wall of stone by Mazaramus, and lunged at a group of giants moving towards the entrance to the canyon.
On the other side of the wall, Morgan and Klaus were leading the companies of dwarves towards the entrance, ready to pour through and deal with the remaining giants once the wizard removed the wall. As they entered the box canyon, they could barely make out frost giants fleeing in panic where the fog had been disrupted by the whirlwind. One large group of frost giants had been moving towards where they had seen red flashes in the fog, but Mazaramus dealt with these with a series of fire balls. Those that survived were soon ripped apart by the tornado. The giants that Lithanor had charged were also slain to the last, either by Lithanor's dragon breath or from the blade Scorbane. There was little for the dwarves to do other than mop up, slaying what fleeing frost giants or dire wolves they came upon in the fog.
With the battle over, and quite confident that few, if any, of the giants had escaped, they then searched the camp. A goodly amount of treasure was found, and the dwarves allowed the party to keep a tenth of this, as well as a few magical items, including an efreeti bottle. They also found a note, written by none other than Alrethus, the Master's second-in-command and chief magist. This letter praised the frost giants for their efforts in disrupting the northern nations, and also spoke of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Once again, the importance of this dagger was emphasized. Alrethus' note said that should the giants acquire this item that it be transported with all due haste by the securest means possible to the Master in Sayr Ulan.
Days later they were back at Dengar. Armies of dwarves were assembled, along with the warriors of Vestland, Ostland, Soderfjord and the Heldann Freeholds, all ready to march into the lands of Darokin to drive the Master's armies back into the Sind Desert.
The heroes agreed to help the dwarves with their giant problem. King Everast provided them with 480 dwarven warriors to help root out the frost giants. They were also given a detailed map of the area showing the box canyon off from the main trail through the pass in which the frost giants were camped. The party made their own reconnaissance of the area, using invisibility and flying above the camp. This confirmed what the dwarfs had told them about their having sentries posted at lookout points above the canyon. They also now knew their numbers, nearly a hundred frost giants along with a hundred and twenty dire wolves.
Mazaramus came up with an idea. Before the dwarves moved towards the canyon, he cast a weather control spell and brought down a blanket of thick fog in the area of the canyon. He would also call up a wall of stone to block the entrance to stop the frost giants from moving out to attack the dwarves. Sneaky, Lithanor and Gandi also contributed to the guerilla tactics to 'soften up' the frost giants. Sneaky ascended the cliff to where a pair of sentries were keeping watch. Totally unaware of her presence, she slew both of them before they even knew what happening. Her initial strike was with the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, but she found that whatever magic it possessed, it was little more than an ordinary dagger where combat was concerned. The giants on lookout on the opposite cliff, being well above the fog bank, saw the giants fall. They prepared to launch boulders at Sneaky but she had disappeared again. Instead, the giants bellowed down into the canyon that they were under attack.
Mazaramus took care of the dire wolves by sending a cloudkill into them. Many of the wolves died instantly as the poisonous cloud engulfed them. The rest fled in blind panic from this nauseous cloud of death. Mazaramus flew back up over the wall of stone before the giants could figure out who or what was attacking them.
Lithanor flew towards where two dozen frost giants had assembled. The frost giants could barely pick him out through the fog, even with their infravision. They readied their axes to deal with this single invader. The elf flew at them with incredible speed and belched forth gouts of flame, instantly slaying a good many of their number.
Before the assault had even started, Sneaky had summoned her djinni, which had transformed into a whirlwind, and was now streaming through the frost giants, causing a huge amount of confusion and sending giants sprawling. Gandi had entered the fray, having been carried over the wall of stone by Mazaramus, and lunged at a group of giants moving towards the entrance to the canyon.
On the other side of the wall, Morgan and Klaus were leading the companies of dwarves towards the entrance, ready to pour through and deal with the remaining giants once the wizard removed the wall. As they entered the box canyon, they could barely make out frost giants fleeing in panic where the fog had been disrupted by the whirlwind. One large group of frost giants had been moving towards where they had seen red flashes in the fog, but Mazaramus dealt with these with a series of fire balls. Those that survived were soon ripped apart by the tornado. The giants that Lithanor had charged were also slain to the last, either by Lithanor's dragon breath or from the blade Scorbane. There was little for the dwarves to do other than mop up, slaying what fleeing frost giants or dire wolves they came upon in the fog.
With the battle over, and quite confident that few, if any, of the giants had escaped, they then searched the camp. A goodly amount of treasure was found, and the dwarves allowed the party to keep a tenth of this, as well as a few magical items, including an efreeti bottle. They also found a note, written by none other than Alrethus, the Master's second-in-command and chief magist. This letter praised the frost giants for their efforts in disrupting the northern nations, and also spoke of the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. Once again, the importance of this dagger was emphasized. Alrethus' note said that should the giants acquire this item that it be transported with all due haste by the securest means possible to the Master in Sayr Ulan.
Days later they were back at Dengar. Armies of dwarves were assembled, along with the warriors of Vestland, Ostland, Soderfjord and the Heldann Freeholds, all ready to march into the lands of Darokin to drive the Master's armies back into the Sind Desert.
Session Eleven - Against the Legion of Doom
The tide of the war was turning. The combined forces of the dwarves of Rockhome and the folk of the Northern Reaches had reached Ardelphia. The Northeners, together with the armies of Glantri, began to push back the armies of the Master on the northern side of Lake Amsorak, and soon had Fort Lakeside surrounded. The dwarves had moved south to join up with the halflings of the Five Shires and the men of Ierendi. A sizable force from Alfheim added to their numbers and were now besieging Akorros. Although Corunglain had fallen, the armies of the Master in that city were now cut off and isolated. Furthermore, fresh Darokin troops now had the city under siege, and to their surprise were joined by the hordes from the Ethengar Khanate. Chanai, now recovered from his fight with Morgan, was not going to deny his men the taste of battle, only now they would make the Master's followers pay for their deception.
Attempting to break through once more into the lands of Darokin to the east of Lake Amsorak, four divisions, reinforced by an elite unit, launched an assault against the Atruaghin warriors. The assault proved disastrous for the Master's armies. The Atruaghin, being more familiar with the terrain and using ambush and hit and run tactics, annihilated the invaders.
In the east, the Ylari attempted to break the siege on Selenica, but were beaten back with terrible losses by the combined armies of Karameikos, Thyatis and Minrothad.
Although now completely on the defensive, the Master's forces were far from beaten. In order to totally defeat the Master, the heroes continued with the plan devised by Laran. The Allied Expeditionary Force, composed of warriors from Darokin, Glantri, Alfheim, the Shires, Ierendi, Karameikos, Vestland, Soderfjord and Rockhome, was now fully assembled. In addition, Morgan led his own Ardelphian force of some 800 men and Lithanor had his small force of elves and drolemites from Dorneryll. These made their way south, well away from the lines of battle, to the eastern end of Atruaghin. The plan was to skirt the southern side of the great plateau that took of most of the north of Atruaghin and cross into the Sind Desert to the south of Sayr Ulan, the Master's impromptu capital. They would be joined by Mazaramus in his flying dreadnought and his company of wyverns. Furthermore, the White Dragon, Asleayna, had flown south from her home in the Mountains of Ice to aid her fellows in the coming battle.
Unfortunately, Laran would never learn whether his plan was successful. In a final meeting before they departed on their mission, Laran had tried to instruct the party on how the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak was to be used to defeat the Master. All knew that powerful forces were at work here. The Immortals themselves had vested interests in the outcome of the war, yet were either unable or unwilling to directly interfere in the affairs of mortals. Laran himself knew that divulging what he had learnt to the party would likely yield dire results, and yet he felt that without this knowledge, it was likely that he would be sending the heroes to their deaths. As Laran was about to tell them how to use the Crystal Dagger to defeat the Master, a blinding white pillar of intense heat struck him, leaving only ashes where Laran had stood.
As the Allied Expeditionary Force crossed into the lands of Darokin, the army found itself transformed into a huge swarm of forest animals - squirrels, deer, rabbits and so forth. Morgan's iron juggernaut, constructed by Lithanor with the help of the dwarven engineer Nalia, took on the appearance of a giant elk. The magic of the Atruaghin shamen was working to good effect to disguise the huge army and mask its passing through their lands. Once they crossed over into the Sind Desert however, they were no longer under the protection of this spell, having to rely on swiftness to reach Sayr Ulan without being harassed for the armies of the Master.
The Allied Expeditionary Force was within a few miles of Sayr Ulan when they encountered the Master's elite force, the Legion of Doom. Above the city, which was actually more a collection of thousands of tents inside a stockade, a red cloud swirled. It was evident that flying into the city would be impossible. Fortunately, this far out from the city, the winds were not strong enough to have an adverse effect on any flying.
As they approached the Master's army, a huge sandstorm rose up, seeming to emanate from the Master's army itself, and rushed towards their own forces. The storm swept across the desert with startling speed, and they had very little time to prepare or take cover. For a full half hour the storm and the winds raged about them, then passed, dissipating as suddenly as it had appeared. When it had passed, the army was in disarray. Many of the units comprising the Allied Expeditionary Force had been waylaid or separated, and were frantically making their way back to the main force before the Legion of Doom closed on them.
Seeing how close the enemy force was, Mazaramus descended from his flying juggernaut, leaving the Alphatian Arch-Magess, Celindira, at the helm, and proceeded to hastily construct some makeshift defenses using a move earth spell. Gandi and Morgan gave orders for the army to hold position and wait for the enemy to come within missile fire range. Lithanor summoned up an illusion of another unit of elven warriors, standing just ahead of his own Elves of Dorneryll.
The Legion of Doom relentlessly advanced. To the onlookers, it didn't seem to be all that vast an army. Two large infantry units, each of some 500 swordsmen, and in front of these, leading the charge, were Sind cavalry, two units of 240 horsemen each. Accompanying the force, moving along the right flank, were forty stone giants carrying a goodly number of throwing rocks. Even with some of their number waylaid by the sandstorm, it looked as though the allies may just outnumber the opposing force. However, they could see more sand being blown up in front of the enemy force, and every now and then, huge rocks were flung sideways. They realised that whatever was causing this was moving in four separate lines straight towards them at quite a speed.
Mazaramus flew in over the battlefield, under cover of an invisibility spell. Having a detect invisibility spell running, he soon saw what was causing the strange disturbances. Four stone juggernauts, hidden by invisibility spells and with augmented speed, were hurtling towards their lines. One ran into Lithanor's illusory unit of elves. Though the illusion was instantly dispelled, the juggernaut had been misdirected just long enough for the elves of Alfheim to destroy it with a barrage of magic missiles. A second second barrelled straight into one of Mazaramus' pits that he had created just before the battle. The juggernaut shifted back and forth at the bottom of the pit in a futile attempt to bash its way through the rocks and sand and back to the surface.
Seeing what was happening, Klaus cast a dispel magic at where he guessed another of the juggernauts to be. A third juggernaut became visible. The mages of Ierendi rained magic missiles into it and halted its advance mere yards before it reached the warriors of Darokin. The fourth juggernaut slammed into Morgan's own unit of forty heavy lancers. Horsemen were flung in all directions or crushed under the wheels of the monstrous construct, and even Morgan himself barely escaped being crushed to a pulp, steering his horse aside at the last moment, receiving grievous wounds from the scythes on the side of the juggernaut's huge rollers.
The main army advanced behind the juggernauts. Boulders hurled by the stone giants fell harmlessly wide of the dwarves of Rockhome, led by Gandi. The archers and crossbowmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force let forth their volleys, felling many of the advancing horsemen. Expecting a full on charge, the Sindian horsemen instead stopped short and let loose with arrow fire of their own. Lithanor found it odd that the footmen behind were not keeping as fast a pace as they ought, leaving an obvious gap in their lines. He sent his dragon warriors, hidden by invisibility, towards the footmen that were lurking at the rear.
Soon the strategy of the Desert Nomads became clear. From out of the clouds loomed several airships, kept airborne by some powerful magic, and arrows rained down on the armies of the alliance from above. Although not nearly as big as Mazaramus' flying dreadnought, they more than made up for this in numbers. Celindira responded by hurling fire balls at the airships. Mazaramus landed on one of the airships where he polymorphed into a hydra and proceeded to send the archers aboard sprawling as he attacked, at the same time sending his wyverns to deal with another of the airships.
At the same time, Sindian mages appeared in front of the advancing infantry. They sent their own magical volleys into the Darokin troops and Lithanor's elves. The damage they did was devastating, but were now vulnerable to charges from the allied forces.
Morgan's own secret weapon, the iron juggernaut, now reached the front lines and mowed into the Sind mages, at the same time firing a volley of magical bolts into the stone juggernaut that was mauling Morgan's horsemen. The accuracy of the bolt fire was insufficient, with only a single bolt penetrating the enemy juggernaut's stony armour, and to little effect. It was the Glantrian mages that saved his horsemen from total annihilation, reducing the juggernaut to a pile of stony rubble with their magic.
As yet, the commander of the enemy army had not been sighted. Suddenly, a fire ball flashed on the opposite end of the battlefield, behind the lines of the Sind warriors. There stood Alrethus, second-in-command to the Master, battling some unseen foe. A lightning bolt streaked forth, catching Alrethus in the blast, and there now stood a second wizard. Mazaramus was intrigued and wondered who this second wizard was. Were he not fiercely battling the crews of the airships he would have used his telescope to take a closer look.
The forces on the ground could do little about the airships, and so engaged the enemy forces in fierce hand-to-hand combat. The drolemites had now charged into the unsuspecting swordsmen of the Master. Although they were few, outnumbered twelve to one, the Sindians could not harm them without magical blades. The Master's cavalry had been all but slain or driven off by volleys of missile fire from the halflings of the Shire. Gandi led a charge by the Rockhome dwarves into the stone giants. The dwarves, hungry for battle, felled many of the giants, and several were decapitated by Gandi's axes. The giants turned to flee, but were ran down by the marauding dwarves.
Sneaky had flown aboard one of the airships and picked out the mage that was controlling it. She ran the mage through, slaying him with a single thrust of her dagger. Out of control, the airship lurched and plunged down into the rocky desert. The archers aboard ran about in panic, desperately trying to figure out how to steer the ship, while Sneaky flew off to safety. Asleayna, the White Dragon that Sneaky had befriended, now appeared. She flew at another of the airships and froze its sails with a single blast of her icy breath, sending it plummeting to the ground where it shattered, sending beams, sails, and rigging flying in all directions.
It was now all but over for the Legion of Doom. The remaining airships soon fell to the combined attacks of Asleayna, Mazaramus in hydra form and the wyverns. Celindira had taken the flying dreadnought to bombard the Sind warriors before the Darokinians, the Rockhome dwarves and the warriors of Vestland moved in for the kill. The late arriving Karameikan and Soderfjord warriors came to the aid of the elves of Dorneryll and Alfheim and the iron juggernaut that were now surrounding the remaining swordsmen of the Master.
Finally, the carnage was over. Few of the Master's army had escaped to tell of the destruction of his elite force. Klaus moved about the battlefield to tend the wounded and raise those that he could from the edge of death. Still, many brave warriors had found their end on this battlefield. Mazaramus, having finished off the airships, flew down to where the two wizards had been duelling. Now only one mage stood, a black-haired and moustached man. Nearby lay the limp form of Alrethus, slain at last. Mazaramus greeted the mage, who introduced himself as Sullag. Sneaky joined the wizard and thought that their was something familiar about him. Then she remembered! He bore an uncanny resemblance to a criminal from Thyatis that had been executed for murder. But that man had a scruffy, unkempt demeanour whereas this fellow was neatly groomed and well dressed.
Mazaramus came to a sudden realisation. Gallus! Sullag, or Gallus, shrugged. This was the self-same wizard that had been inadvertently realised from his 'black altar' near the Temple of Death when he magic-jarred their companion, the mujina, Rhuin. Mazaramus subsequent interference had prevented any possible recovery of Rhuin's spirit. Sneaky suspected that Gallus had inherited the mujina's ability to change his appearance. Gallus corrected her, telling her that even though he had possessed the body of a mujina, he had been unable to make use of his inherent abilities. Since then, he had sought a way to recover the spirit that was Rhuin, suspecting that with the destruction of the black altar, hs spirit now roamed at the mercy of the winds. His current body he had indeed acquired from a man who was going to die anyway, a tricky and dangerous undertaking involving split-second timing and a bit of grave-digging combined with illusion magic, the details of which are too technical to go into here.
Gallus reminded them of their more immediate concern. The battle was won, but they still had to make their way through Sayr Ulan to confront the Master. No doubt the battle had been witnessed from the walls of Sayr Ulan, and even now were preparing to send more troops out to fend off the allied forces. An all out assault on the city by the allied forces would be foolhardy, especially with the strange wind above the city, meaning that Asleayna and the flying dreadnought would be of no help. Mazaramus and Sneaky took what magical items Alrethus had on him, with Mazaramus taking particularly powerful ring, and Sneaky taking his dagger, also imbued with powerful magic. Alrethus' Staff of Wizardry Mazaramus allowed Gallus to keep as reward for defeating the wizard, though Gallus said that seeing an end to Alrethus was its own reward.
The heroes adorned themselves in the clothing of the Sind warriors, hoping to get into the city of Sayr Ulan by posing as survivors of the battle that had managed to escape. Mazaramus glowing eyes of fire, however, could not be hidden, even when he covered his eyes with a thick blindfold, so he made himself invisible once more. They made their way towards the city in the desert, hoping that they wouldn't be apprehended immediately for fleeing the battlefield in such a cowardly manner.
Attempting to break through once more into the lands of Darokin to the east of Lake Amsorak, four divisions, reinforced by an elite unit, launched an assault against the Atruaghin warriors. The assault proved disastrous for the Master's armies. The Atruaghin, being more familiar with the terrain and using ambush and hit and run tactics, annihilated the invaders.
In the east, the Ylari attempted to break the siege on Selenica, but were beaten back with terrible losses by the combined armies of Karameikos, Thyatis and Minrothad.
Although now completely on the defensive, the Master's forces were far from beaten. In order to totally defeat the Master, the heroes continued with the plan devised by Laran. The Allied Expeditionary Force, composed of warriors from Darokin, Glantri, Alfheim, the Shires, Ierendi, Karameikos, Vestland, Soderfjord and Rockhome, was now fully assembled. In addition, Morgan led his own Ardelphian force of some 800 men and Lithanor had his small force of elves and drolemites from Dorneryll. These made their way south, well away from the lines of battle, to the eastern end of Atruaghin. The plan was to skirt the southern side of the great plateau that took of most of the north of Atruaghin and cross into the Sind Desert to the south of Sayr Ulan, the Master's impromptu capital. They would be joined by Mazaramus in his flying dreadnought and his company of wyverns. Furthermore, the White Dragon, Asleayna, had flown south from her home in the Mountains of Ice to aid her fellows in the coming battle.
Unfortunately, Laran would never learn whether his plan was successful. In a final meeting before they departed on their mission, Laran had tried to instruct the party on how the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak was to be used to defeat the Master. All knew that powerful forces were at work here. The Immortals themselves had vested interests in the outcome of the war, yet were either unable or unwilling to directly interfere in the affairs of mortals. Laran himself knew that divulging what he had learnt to the party would likely yield dire results, and yet he felt that without this knowledge, it was likely that he would be sending the heroes to their deaths. As Laran was about to tell them how to use the Crystal Dagger to defeat the Master, a blinding white pillar of intense heat struck him, leaving only ashes where Laran had stood.
As the Allied Expeditionary Force crossed into the lands of Darokin, the army found itself transformed into a huge swarm of forest animals - squirrels, deer, rabbits and so forth. Morgan's iron juggernaut, constructed by Lithanor with the help of the dwarven engineer Nalia, took on the appearance of a giant elk. The magic of the Atruaghin shamen was working to good effect to disguise the huge army and mask its passing through their lands. Once they crossed over into the Sind Desert however, they were no longer under the protection of this spell, having to rely on swiftness to reach Sayr Ulan without being harassed for the armies of the Master.
The Allied Expeditionary Force was within a few miles of Sayr Ulan when they encountered the Master's elite force, the Legion of Doom. Above the city, which was actually more a collection of thousands of tents inside a stockade, a red cloud swirled. It was evident that flying into the city would be impossible. Fortunately, this far out from the city, the winds were not strong enough to have an adverse effect on any flying.
As they approached the Master's army, a huge sandstorm rose up, seeming to emanate from the Master's army itself, and rushed towards their own forces. The storm swept across the desert with startling speed, and they had very little time to prepare or take cover. For a full half hour the storm and the winds raged about them, then passed, dissipating as suddenly as it had appeared. When it had passed, the army was in disarray. Many of the units comprising the Allied Expeditionary Force had been waylaid or separated, and were frantically making their way back to the main force before the Legion of Doom closed on them.
Seeing how close the enemy force was, Mazaramus descended from his flying juggernaut, leaving the Alphatian Arch-Magess, Celindira, at the helm, and proceeded to hastily construct some makeshift defenses using a move earth spell. Gandi and Morgan gave orders for the army to hold position and wait for the enemy to come within missile fire range. Lithanor summoned up an illusion of another unit of elven warriors, standing just ahead of his own Elves of Dorneryll.
The Legion of Doom relentlessly advanced. To the onlookers, it didn't seem to be all that vast an army. Two large infantry units, each of some 500 swordsmen, and in front of these, leading the charge, were Sind cavalry, two units of 240 horsemen each. Accompanying the force, moving along the right flank, were forty stone giants carrying a goodly number of throwing rocks. Even with some of their number waylaid by the sandstorm, it looked as though the allies may just outnumber the opposing force. However, they could see more sand being blown up in front of the enemy force, and every now and then, huge rocks were flung sideways. They realised that whatever was causing this was moving in four separate lines straight towards them at quite a speed.
Mazaramus flew in over the battlefield, under cover of an invisibility spell. Having a detect invisibility spell running, he soon saw what was causing the strange disturbances. Four stone juggernauts, hidden by invisibility spells and with augmented speed, were hurtling towards their lines. One ran into Lithanor's illusory unit of elves. Though the illusion was instantly dispelled, the juggernaut had been misdirected just long enough for the elves of Alfheim to destroy it with a barrage of magic missiles. A second second barrelled straight into one of Mazaramus' pits that he had created just before the battle. The juggernaut shifted back and forth at the bottom of the pit in a futile attempt to bash its way through the rocks and sand and back to the surface.
Seeing what was happening, Klaus cast a dispel magic at where he guessed another of the juggernauts to be. A third juggernaut became visible. The mages of Ierendi rained magic missiles into it and halted its advance mere yards before it reached the warriors of Darokin. The fourth juggernaut slammed into Morgan's own unit of forty heavy lancers. Horsemen were flung in all directions or crushed under the wheels of the monstrous construct, and even Morgan himself barely escaped being crushed to a pulp, steering his horse aside at the last moment, receiving grievous wounds from the scythes on the side of the juggernaut's huge rollers.
The main army advanced behind the juggernauts. Boulders hurled by the stone giants fell harmlessly wide of the dwarves of Rockhome, led by Gandi. The archers and crossbowmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force let forth their volleys, felling many of the advancing horsemen. Expecting a full on charge, the Sindian horsemen instead stopped short and let loose with arrow fire of their own. Lithanor found it odd that the footmen behind were not keeping as fast a pace as they ought, leaving an obvious gap in their lines. He sent his dragon warriors, hidden by invisibility, towards the footmen that were lurking at the rear.
Soon the strategy of the Desert Nomads became clear. From out of the clouds loomed several airships, kept airborne by some powerful magic, and arrows rained down on the armies of the alliance from above. Although not nearly as big as Mazaramus' flying dreadnought, they more than made up for this in numbers. Celindira responded by hurling fire balls at the airships. Mazaramus landed on one of the airships where he polymorphed into a hydra and proceeded to send the archers aboard sprawling as he attacked, at the same time sending his wyverns to deal with another of the airships.
At the same time, Sindian mages appeared in front of the advancing infantry. They sent their own magical volleys into the Darokin troops and Lithanor's elves. The damage they did was devastating, but were now vulnerable to charges from the allied forces.
Morgan's own secret weapon, the iron juggernaut, now reached the front lines and mowed into the Sind mages, at the same time firing a volley of magical bolts into the stone juggernaut that was mauling Morgan's horsemen. The accuracy of the bolt fire was insufficient, with only a single bolt penetrating the enemy juggernaut's stony armour, and to little effect. It was the Glantrian mages that saved his horsemen from total annihilation, reducing the juggernaut to a pile of stony rubble with their magic.
As yet, the commander of the enemy army had not been sighted. Suddenly, a fire ball flashed on the opposite end of the battlefield, behind the lines of the Sind warriors. There stood Alrethus, second-in-command to the Master, battling some unseen foe. A lightning bolt streaked forth, catching Alrethus in the blast, and there now stood a second wizard. Mazaramus was intrigued and wondered who this second wizard was. Were he not fiercely battling the crews of the airships he would have used his telescope to take a closer look.
The forces on the ground could do little about the airships, and so engaged the enemy forces in fierce hand-to-hand combat. The drolemites had now charged into the unsuspecting swordsmen of the Master. Although they were few, outnumbered twelve to one, the Sindians could not harm them without magical blades. The Master's cavalry had been all but slain or driven off by volleys of missile fire from the halflings of the Shire. Gandi led a charge by the Rockhome dwarves into the stone giants. The dwarves, hungry for battle, felled many of the giants, and several were decapitated by Gandi's axes. The giants turned to flee, but were ran down by the marauding dwarves.
Sneaky had flown aboard one of the airships and picked out the mage that was controlling it. She ran the mage through, slaying him with a single thrust of her dagger. Out of control, the airship lurched and plunged down into the rocky desert. The archers aboard ran about in panic, desperately trying to figure out how to steer the ship, while Sneaky flew off to safety. Asleayna, the White Dragon that Sneaky had befriended, now appeared. She flew at another of the airships and froze its sails with a single blast of her icy breath, sending it plummeting to the ground where it shattered, sending beams, sails, and rigging flying in all directions.
It was now all but over for the Legion of Doom. The remaining airships soon fell to the combined attacks of Asleayna, Mazaramus in hydra form and the wyverns. Celindira had taken the flying dreadnought to bombard the Sind warriors before the Darokinians, the Rockhome dwarves and the warriors of Vestland moved in for the kill. The late arriving Karameikan and Soderfjord warriors came to the aid of the elves of Dorneryll and Alfheim and the iron juggernaut that were now surrounding the remaining swordsmen of the Master.
Finally, the carnage was over. Few of the Master's army had escaped to tell of the destruction of his elite force. Klaus moved about the battlefield to tend the wounded and raise those that he could from the edge of death. Still, many brave warriors had found their end on this battlefield. Mazaramus, having finished off the airships, flew down to where the two wizards had been duelling. Now only one mage stood, a black-haired and moustached man. Nearby lay the limp form of Alrethus, slain at last. Mazaramus greeted the mage, who introduced himself as Sullag. Sneaky joined the wizard and thought that their was something familiar about him. Then she remembered! He bore an uncanny resemblance to a criminal from Thyatis that had been executed for murder. But that man had a scruffy, unkempt demeanour whereas this fellow was neatly groomed and well dressed.
Mazaramus came to a sudden realisation. Gallus! Sullag, or Gallus, shrugged. This was the self-same wizard that had been inadvertently realised from his 'black altar' near the Temple of Death when he magic-jarred their companion, the mujina, Rhuin. Mazaramus subsequent interference had prevented any possible recovery of Rhuin's spirit. Sneaky suspected that Gallus had inherited the mujina's ability to change his appearance. Gallus corrected her, telling her that even though he had possessed the body of a mujina, he had been unable to make use of his inherent abilities. Since then, he had sought a way to recover the spirit that was Rhuin, suspecting that with the destruction of the black altar, hs spirit now roamed at the mercy of the winds. His current body he had indeed acquired from a man who was going to die anyway, a tricky and dangerous undertaking involving split-second timing and a bit of grave-digging combined with illusion magic, the details of which are too technical to go into here.
Gallus reminded them of their more immediate concern. The battle was won, but they still had to make their way through Sayr Ulan to confront the Master. No doubt the battle had been witnessed from the walls of Sayr Ulan, and even now were preparing to send more troops out to fend off the allied forces. An all out assault on the city by the allied forces would be foolhardy, especially with the strange wind above the city, meaning that Asleayna and the flying dreadnought would be of no help. Mazaramus and Sneaky took what magical items Alrethus had on him, with Mazaramus taking particularly powerful ring, and Sneaky taking his dagger, also imbued with powerful magic. Alrethus' Staff of Wizardry Mazaramus allowed Gallus to keep as reward for defeating the wizard, though Gallus said that seeing an end to Alrethus was its own reward.
The heroes adorned themselves in the clothing of the Sind warriors, hoping to get into the city of Sayr Ulan by posing as survivors of the battle that had managed to escape. Mazaramus glowing eyes of fire, however, could not be hidden, even when he covered his eyes with a thick blindfold, so he made himself invisible once more. They made their way towards the city in the desert, hoping that they wouldn't be apprehended immediately for fleeing the battlefield in such a cowardly manner.
Session Twelve - Sayr Ulan
The guards at the hates to Sayr Ulan paid little heed to the party. As they had hoped, the guards took them for stragglers from the battlefield and asked no questions. The 'city' was actually more a collection of tents of various sizes, surrounded by a wooden palisade. About half a mile away, towards the centre of the city, the party could just make out through the mass of tents another wall, presumably leading into the central section of the city. The strange swirling red cloud above the city ruled out flying over the tents and walls, though Mazaramus could still fly a few feet above the ground, giving him a somewhat better vantage of the city, allowing them to pick a route through the maze of tents towards the gates of the inner city.
Although most of the inhabitants of Sayr Ulan paid the party little heed, their progress through the city wasn't without hazard. Giant scorpions emerged from the sand in a more secluded area of the city, preying on hapless passers-by. The party were more than a match for them and quickly slew them. Further on, a man was frantically trying to control a herd of camels with a whip. The camels stampeded, heading in the party's direction, causing them to dive for the cover of the nearby tents until they passed. A group of tabi, the strange ginger-haired flying monkey-like creatures that they had encountered years before at the lost oasis, harassed the party, trying to steal what trinkets they could, but soon tasted the steel of their blades, the last one that turned to flee being felled by one of Lithanor's flaming arrows.
They were almost at the gates to the inner city when a group of trolls tried to pick a fight with the party. Reluctant to draw too much attention to themselves, they tried to warn the trolls off, but they were determined to cause trouble. Gandi lost patience with them and laid into them with his axes. One was decapitated, its head rolling off into the tents. Morgan and Lithanor followed suit and drew their weapons, and hacked at the trolls. Klaus and Sneaky did likewise, the thief bringing down a troll with a series of lethal slashed with her dagger and rapier. After a brief skirmish, the trolls were all felled. Sneaky and Lithanor went about setting fire to the trolls before they regenerated, including the stray head that was trying to make its way back to its body. When they got to the gates, the found that they needn't have worried about remaining inconspicuous. The guards had been cheering the party on and congratulated them for providing such entertainment.
The inner city was more of the same. Tents of all shapes and sizes littering the place, and near the centre, about half a mile in the distance was a walled compound, only this one had stone walls. It wasn't long after passing through the gates to the inner city that a man stepped out from one of the tents as they were passing and beckoned the party inside saying that he knew who the party were and could be of some help. The party entered the tent, intrigued to find out what he had to offer, though Lithanor was suspicious, and drew his wand of enemy detection. Inside the elegantly furnished tent, the man was accompanied by three beautiful women. The man introduced himself as Abdul. Before he could impart any information, Lithanor activated his wand. Abdul and the three women glowed with red fiery light. Immediately, Abdul's expression changed, exclaiming that that was a foolish act. Baring his teeth, they saw that he was a vampire. Klaus stepped forward, presenting his holy symbol. Abdul dodged aside, avoiding the holy power emanating from his symbol. Instead, one of the three women was blasted into oblivion. Abdul and his two remaining vampire women lunged at the party. Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor quickly dispatched them, running them through with their swords or cleaving them with axes, forcing them to flee back to their coffins on gaseous form.
A search of their tent revealed a compartment covered over by a flap, in which four coffins stood. Readying stakes to finish off the vampires, they opened them. No vampires were in the coffins. Instead they contained a goodly amount of treasure, gold, platinum and expensive jewelry, as well as some magic items. Mazaramus had also found in the tent a skull that emanated magic. He placed his hand on the skull in an attempt to activate its magic. He found himself in mental communion with some higher power, and was able to ask three yes or no questions. He used these questions mainly to confirm the Master's location in the city and that he was well guarded.
Meanwhile, Lithanor had continued searching the tent, particularly around the coffins, and found a section that had been sealed off from the rest of the tent. Slicing through the canvas, he found four more coffins. One of these was empty, its former occupant having already been obliterated by Klaus. In the other three rested Abdul and the two vampire women. These were promptly staked to ensure that their undead existence was ended.
Moving on from the tent of the vampires, they made some headway towards the compound at the centre of the city. At one point they were beset by beggars, but Sneaky diverted them by throwing a bag of gold for them to fight over. Continuing on and putting as much distance between themselves and the beggars, who were likely to draw a lot of attention, they came across a group of four rowdy and drunk fire giants. At sight of the party, they seemed to want to pick a fight. This was a fatal mistake and they grossly underestimated the martial prowess of the party. Four fire giants were left dead in the street, and the party looted them of the gold that they had been carrying in huge pouches.
After dealing with the fire giants, they began to approach the gates to the central compound. A minor nuisance occured when three cockatrices hiding amidst a pile of refuse attacked the party, but these were dealt with without any problems. Lithanor took a closer look at the gate and the walls, observing that their seemed to be a robed figure, presumably a mage, with the guards. It would be prudent to avoid these guards if possible, as it was likely that the mages would ask questions and could discover the party's true intent. Watching the wall, Lithanor found that if they timed it right and were quick, they could slip over the wall unseen and hopefully stay out of range of any of the mages detection spells.
Once over the wall, they found numerous tents, though not as packed as with in the main city sections. Only troops could be seen moving about the compound. No common cityfolk or the like, and it was evident that the tents were barracks for the troops here. At the centre of the compound was a square stone walled structure, about 100' long on each side, with guard towers at each corner. The main gate to this structure was flanked by a pair of stone juggernauts, in addition to the gate guards. Mazaramus proposed that they make their way around to the rear of the structure and avoid the main gates..
They headed for the back of the central structure, giving the patrols a wide berth and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. At one point, a patrol of stone giants seemed headed towards the party, but just carried on straight past without incident. They found a spot by the wall where they hoped they wouldn't be seen from any of the tents or patrols. Mazaramus called upon his runic powers to reshape the stone of the wall, creating an opening for the party to pass through, and sealed it up behind them again.
Inside the structure were ten circular tents, each about 20' across, and a larger one, 30' across, near the centre. Off to their left sat one of the airships. They noted that the sky above was clear, as though they were in the eye of the swirling red storm above the city of tents. They guessed that the large tent near the centre would be where the Master was, given how richly and colourfully decorated it was. First though, Mazaramus wanted to have a look inside one of the closer tents, and so he ventured in. Seeing that the tent was occupied, not by Sindians, but by Darokinians. Mazaramus cancelled his invisibility and spoke to them, asking why they were in this tent. One man came forward and spoke on behalf of those kept here. His name was Eshram Al-Azrad leader of the merchant house of Al-Azrad of Selenica. He had been captured and brought here after the fall of Selenica to be kept as a hostage. The others in the tent were similarly hostages taken from various places that had fallen to the Desert Nomads, most notably Akesoli and Pramayama. The tent was unguarded because the hostages had no hope of escape. Mazaramus told them that they were here to kill the Master. If they succeeded, they would take them to the airship and escape that way, if Mazaramus could figure out how to control it. Al-Azrad wished them luck. Mazaramus and the rest of the party then made their way to the large tent that they presumed was where the Master would be.
They found the Master alone, no guards or henchmen. They recognised him instantly. This was the same man who they had seen frozen in crystalline casket at the Temple of Death. The one who had eluded them when they had thought they had slain him, only to find that they had merely slain his avatar. But the figure in the casket was old. This was indeed the same man but was much younger, rejuvenated somehow. They expected the Master to show at least some apprehension at the sight of the party, given that they had defeated him once before, but no, he seemed unusually confident, even arrogant, as though he was expecting them. He boasted that given that they had gone to such trouble to bring him the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, he would make their deaths quick and painless.
Lithanor, Morgan and Gandi charged. Klaus prepared a spell to aid the party. Sneaky moved silently to the rear of the Master. Mazaramus, for the moment, remained invisible (unaware that the Master had a truesight spell running and could see him anyway) and watched to see if the Master revealed any weakness. Hosadus, the Master of the Desert Nomads flung his arms wide and called on the unholy spirits, sending out a wave of magical energy. Klaus was stunned and rendered helpless by the spell. Lithanor and Mazaramus were suddenly deafened. Morgan, Gandi and Sneaky seemed unaffected.
Sneaky plunged the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak into the Master. She hoped that that would be enough, and the Crystal Dagger would instantly slay the Master. Although the wound she inflicted was grievous, the Master still stood. Mazaramus struggled to correctly intone the words to a spell, his loss of hearing proving to something of an impediment. Still, he managed to complete the spell and sent streams of magic missiles hurtling towards the Master. They rebounded off of his ring of spell turning, and Mazaramus was thankful that he was wearing his own, nullifying the spell harmlessly. Gandi, Morgan and Lithanor slashed and hacked at the Master, bringing him to his knees with a fatal series of blows.
The Master rose to his feet laughing. His wounds simply disappeared. "Now you will die". He pointed a finger at Lithanor and sent a black bolt of deadly energy towards the elf. The bolt was absorbed by Lithanor's scarab of protection. He saw Morgan yell something, and then the fighter and the dwarf leaped at Hosadus, trying to grab him and drag him to the ground. Seeing what they were trying Lithanor followed suit.
Sneaky stepped back bemused. The answer was with the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. But what? She pulled out the Soul Gem of Thanatos, which had now grown to the size of a fist, and touched the pommel of the Crystal Dagger to it. Nothing! The warriors continued to grapple with the Master, bringing him to the ground and pinning him. Sneaky turned the dagger round and was about to touch the point of the blade to the Soul Gem. Instead, she thrust the Crystal Dagger as hard as she could into the Soul Gem. There was in ear-splitting crackle accompanied by a blinding white surge of light that burst forth from the Soul Gem. Sneaky was flung to the ground, agonised by the blast, but still barely alive. The Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak and the Soul Gem of Thanatos were gone!
The Master screeched "You fools! What have you done?" Before he could curse the party any more, the Master seemed to stare at something above him, as though staring into another world. He was beseeching some unseen entity, asking for more time and saying that he had served them faithfully. Hw pleading turned to afrantic "No, no....NO!!!" The years were catching up with the Master. With each passing second, he grew a year older. Sneaky intended that the Master die by her blade than form old age. Sh e struggled to her feet and lunged at the Master with her dagger and rapier. In desperation, the Master flung up his shield. Her dagger arm bent awkwardly against his shield and she felt a strange numbness, as though her life was being drained from her and she collapsed in a heap, just as her rapier thrust found its way beneath his shield, penetrating his armour and piercing his black heart.
Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor found that they were now grappling a lifeless aging skeleton. As they watched, even the bones turned to dust, leaving only his armour and other accoutrements. Sneaky lay on the floor of the tent, as pale as death. Lithanor shouted for Klaus to help her, not realising that the cleric had still not recovered from the unholy word of the Master.
Minutes later, Klaus shook off the effects of the Master's spells and went to assist Sneaky. She was still alive. The blast from the destruction of the Soul Gem had weakened her severely, but it was the Master's magical shield which had a life draining effect similar to those of the undead, that had caused her collapse. Klaus held his hands aloft, calling on the healing power of Pellar. His arms glowed with a bright white light. Holding Sneaky, the light passed into her, restoring her life force, and soon she began to quickly recover from her ordeal.
Mazaramus looked around. The Master was dead. His first thought was of looting, especially the fabulous riches that adorned his tent. Morgan too looked around. He expected there to be some sort of commotion at least from outside the tent. The combat with the Master had hardly been quiet. No sounds of approaching guards. No cry of alarm going up. Nothing. Had they all been deafened by the Master's spell?
Morgan, Sneaky, Klaus and Gandi could still hear each other. Morgan went to the opening of the tent to look out. He saw only blackness. Not the blackness of night, but total impenetrable blackness. He called to Mazaramus to see what he made of it. Turning around, he saw the wizard searching gathering up richly decorated cushions and stuffing them into his bag of holding. He ran to Mazaramus, grabbed him and pointed to the entryway. Mazaramus frowned for a moment, then with a look of recognition, walked towards the blackness. He ran his hand over the opening, then smiled, pulling out the House of Zebulon.
The blackness disappeared, revealing the streets of Glantri City.
Their work was done, but the war was not over yet. The first thing Mazaramus did was use his crystal ball to find out what was happening in Sayr Ulan. The strange red vortex had dissipated completely. The Allied Expeditionary Force swiftly and efficiently dealt with any of the Master;s armies that tried to break out of the city. Celindira in the flying galley and Asleayna harassed those within the city with a combination of fire balls and ice blasts. The airship they had seen in the Master's compound had taken flight. Mazaramus scried this too. Al-Azrad and the other hostages were aboard, and the ship itself was being piloted by Gallus, who had graciously taken off his amulet vs crystal balls and ESP as if anticipating that Mazaramus would check up on them. The airship was now headed north-eastwards for the safety of the mountains of the Principalities of Glantri.
The war raged on for another three months. The forces of the Master desperately tried to hold their ground. The Atruaghin clans had held Fort Anselbury under siege for some time and now began their assault. The defenders were all but wiped out within a day and the fort was reclaimed. Combined armies of Rockhome dwarves, Alfheim elves, halflings of the Shires and the warriors and mages of Ierendi battled the elite forces still holding Akorros, finally defeating them after many weeks of fierce fighting.
The armies of Glantri had driven off the picketing forces around Fort Lakeside and brought the fort itself under siege. Meanwhile, the warriors of the Northern Reaches and the Heldann Freeholds bypassed the fort, moving on to besiege Akesoli.
In the east, Duke Stefan Karameikos led the armies of Karameikos, Thyatis and Minrothad in an attempt to drive the Ylari from Selenica. Though their numbers were somewhat fewer than they had been when they first took the city, they drove back the attackers time and again, until eventually Duke Stefan called off the assault, remarshalling his forces. After all, the Ylari had nowhere to go.
At Corunglain, forces of Darokin and Ethengar were joined by the elves of Alfheim. who were now back up to full strength after taking Akorros. They mounted a full scale assault, and the beleaguered defenders were put to the sword or surrendered. As soon as Corunglain fell, word reached the remaining armies of the Master, who now surrendered. the Darokinians were merciful, despite what their country had been through, and allowed them to return to their desert. Besides, Darokin was in no state to accept prisoners of war.
The Ylari holding Selenica sued for peace, though Ali Ben Faisal, Emir of Ylaruam insisted on being allowed to keep hold of Selenica, which he had won by right of conquest. The Ethengarians, or at least some of the clan leaders, stated that Darokin should grant them territory in return for their assistance, though Chanai reminded them that they had fought for the pride of Ethengar, not territorial gain.
Mazaramus, Lithanor, Sneaky, Morgan, Klaus and Gandi had once again saved Darokin, and were duly rewarded. It would perhaps be months or even years before Darokin fully recovered from the devastation caused by the war. The rulers of Ardelphia would be busy for some time helping to restore Darokin. Lithanor longed to return to Dorneryll, at least for a time. As for Mazaramus and Sneaky, Emperor Thincol would soon be expecting them to make good on their oath...
Although most of the inhabitants of Sayr Ulan paid the party little heed, their progress through the city wasn't without hazard. Giant scorpions emerged from the sand in a more secluded area of the city, preying on hapless passers-by. The party were more than a match for them and quickly slew them. Further on, a man was frantically trying to control a herd of camels with a whip. The camels stampeded, heading in the party's direction, causing them to dive for the cover of the nearby tents until they passed. A group of tabi, the strange ginger-haired flying monkey-like creatures that they had encountered years before at the lost oasis, harassed the party, trying to steal what trinkets they could, but soon tasted the steel of their blades, the last one that turned to flee being felled by one of Lithanor's flaming arrows.
They were almost at the gates to the inner city when a group of trolls tried to pick a fight with the party. Reluctant to draw too much attention to themselves, they tried to warn the trolls off, but they were determined to cause trouble. Gandi lost patience with them and laid into them with his axes. One was decapitated, its head rolling off into the tents. Morgan and Lithanor followed suit and drew their weapons, and hacked at the trolls. Klaus and Sneaky did likewise, the thief bringing down a troll with a series of lethal slashed with her dagger and rapier. After a brief skirmish, the trolls were all felled. Sneaky and Lithanor went about setting fire to the trolls before they regenerated, including the stray head that was trying to make its way back to its body. When they got to the gates, the found that they needn't have worried about remaining inconspicuous. The guards had been cheering the party on and congratulated them for providing such entertainment.
The inner city was more of the same. Tents of all shapes and sizes littering the place, and near the centre, about half a mile in the distance was a walled compound, only this one had stone walls. It wasn't long after passing through the gates to the inner city that a man stepped out from one of the tents as they were passing and beckoned the party inside saying that he knew who the party were and could be of some help. The party entered the tent, intrigued to find out what he had to offer, though Lithanor was suspicious, and drew his wand of enemy detection. Inside the elegantly furnished tent, the man was accompanied by three beautiful women. The man introduced himself as Abdul. Before he could impart any information, Lithanor activated his wand. Abdul and the three women glowed with red fiery light. Immediately, Abdul's expression changed, exclaiming that that was a foolish act. Baring his teeth, they saw that he was a vampire. Klaus stepped forward, presenting his holy symbol. Abdul dodged aside, avoiding the holy power emanating from his symbol. Instead, one of the three women was blasted into oblivion. Abdul and his two remaining vampire women lunged at the party. Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor quickly dispatched them, running them through with their swords or cleaving them with axes, forcing them to flee back to their coffins on gaseous form.
A search of their tent revealed a compartment covered over by a flap, in which four coffins stood. Readying stakes to finish off the vampires, they opened them. No vampires were in the coffins. Instead they contained a goodly amount of treasure, gold, platinum and expensive jewelry, as well as some magic items. Mazaramus had also found in the tent a skull that emanated magic. He placed his hand on the skull in an attempt to activate its magic. He found himself in mental communion with some higher power, and was able to ask three yes or no questions. He used these questions mainly to confirm the Master's location in the city and that he was well guarded.
Meanwhile, Lithanor had continued searching the tent, particularly around the coffins, and found a section that had been sealed off from the rest of the tent. Slicing through the canvas, he found four more coffins. One of these was empty, its former occupant having already been obliterated by Klaus. In the other three rested Abdul and the two vampire women. These were promptly staked to ensure that their undead existence was ended.
Moving on from the tent of the vampires, they made some headway towards the compound at the centre of the city. At one point they were beset by beggars, but Sneaky diverted them by throwing a bag of gold for them to fight over. Continuing on and putting as much distance between themselves and the beggars, who were likely to draw a lot of attention, they came across a group of four rowdy and drunk fire giants. At sight of the party, they seemed to want to pick a fight. This was a fatal mistake and they grossly underestimated the martial prowess of the party. Four fire giants were left dead in the street, and the party looted them of the gold that they had been carrying in huge pouches.
After dealing with the fire giants, they began to approach the gates to the central compound. A minor nuisance occured when three cockatrices hiding amidst a pile of refuse attacked the party, but these were dealt with without any problems. Lithanor took a closer look at the gate and the walls, observing that their seemed to be a robed figure, presumably a mage, with the guards. It would be prudent to avoid these guards if possible, as it was likely that the mages would ask questions and could discover the party's true intent. Watching the wall, Lithanor found that if they timed it right and were quick, they could slip over the wall unseen and hopefully stay out of range of any of the mages detection spells.
Once over the wall, they found numerous tents, though not as packed as with in the main city sections. Only troops could be seen moving about the compound. No common cityfolk or the like, and it was evident that the tents were barracks for the troops here. At the centre of the compound was a square stone walled structure, about 100' long on each side, with guard towers at each corner. The main gate to this structure was flanked by a pair of stone juggernauts, in addition to the gate guards. Mazaramus proposed that they make their way around to the rear of the structure and avoid the main gates..
They headed for the back of the central structure, giving the patrols a wide berth and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. At one point, a patrol of stone giants seemed headed towards the party, but just carried on straight past without incident. They found a spot by the wall where they hoped they wouldn't be seen from any of the tents or patrols. Mazaramus called upon his runic powers to reshape the stone of the wall, creating an opening for the party to pass through, and sealed it up behind them again.
Inside the structure were ten circular tents, each about 20' across, and a larger one, 30' across, near the centre. Off to their left sat one of the airships. They noted that the sky above was clear, as though they were in the eye of the swirling red storm above the city of tents. They guessed that the large tent near the centre would be where the Master was, given how richly and colourfully decorated it was. First though, Mazaramus wanted to have a look inside one of the closer tents, and so he ventured in. Seeing that the tent was occupied, not by Sindians, but by Darokinians. Mazaramus cancelled his invisibility and spoke to them, asking why they were in this tent. One man came forward and spoke on behalf of those kept here. His name was Eshram Al-Azrad leader of the merchant house of Al-Azrad of Selenica. He had been captured and brought here after the fall of Selenica to be kept as a hostage. The others in the tent were similarly hostages taken from various places that had fallen to the Desert Nomads, most notably Akesoli and Pramayama. The tent was unguarded because the hostages had no hope of escape. Mazaramus told them that they were here to kill the Master. If they succeeded, they would take them to the airship and escape that way, if Mazaramus could figure out how to control it. Al-Azrad wished them luck. Mazaramus and the rest of the party then made their way to the large tent that they presumed was where the Master would be.
They found the Master alone, no guards or henchmen. They recognised him instantly. This was the same man who they had seen frozen in crystalline casket at the Temple of Death. The one who had eluded them when they had thought they had slain him, only to find that they had merely slain his avatar. But the figure in the casket was old. This was indeed the same man but was much younger, rejuvenated somehow. They expected the Master to show at least some apprehension at the sight of the party, given that they had defeated him once before, but no, he seemed unusually confident, even arrogant, as though he was expecting them. He boasted that given that they had gone to such trouble to bring him the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak, he would make their deaths quick and painless.
Lithanor, Morgan and Gandi charged. Klaus prepared a spell to aid the party. Sneaky moved silently to the rear of the Master. Mazaramus, for the moment, remained invisible (unaware that the Master had a truesight spell running and could see him anyway) and watched to see if the Master revealed any weakness. Hosadus, the Master of the Desert Nomads flung his arms wide and called on the unholy spirits, sending out a wave of magical energy. Klaus was stunned and rendered helpless by the spell. Lithanor and Mazaramus were suddenly deafened. Morgan, Gandi and Sneaky seemed unaffected.
Sneaky plunged the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak into the Master. She hoped that that would be enough, and the Crystal Dagger would instantly slay the Master. Although the wound she inflicted was grievous, the Master still stood. Mazaramus struggled to correctly intone the words to a spell, his loss of hearing proving to something of an impediment. Still, he managed to complete the spell and sent streams of magic missiles hurtling towards the Master. They rebounded off of his ring of spell turning, and Mazaramus was thankful that he was wearing his own, nullifying the spell harmlessly. Gandi, Morgan and Lithanor slashed and hacked at the Master, bringing him to his knees with a fatal series of blows.
The Master rose to his feet laughing. His wounds simply disappeared. "Now you will die". He pointed a finger at Lithanor and sent a black bolt of deadly energy towards the elf. The bolt was absorbed by Lithanor's scarab of protection. He saw Morgan yell something, and then the fighter and the dwarf leaped at Hosadus, trying to grab him and drag him to the ground. Seeing what they were trying Lithanor followed suit.
Sneaky stepped back bemused. The answer was with the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak. But what? She pulled out the Soul Gem of Thanatos, which had now grown to the size of a fist, and touched the pommel of the Crystal Dagger to it. Nothing! The warriors continued to grapple with the Master, bringing him to the ground and pinning him. Sneaky turned the dagger round and was about to touch the point of the blade to the Soul Gem. Instead, she thrust the Crystal Dagger as hard as she could into the Soul Gem. There was in ear-splitting crackle accompanied by a blinding white surge of light that burst forth from the Soul Gem. Sneaky was flung to the ground, agonised by the blast, but still barely alive. The Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak and the Soul Gem of Thanatos were gone!
The Master screeched "You fools! What have you done?" Before he could curse the party any more, the Master seemed to stare at something above him, as though staring into another world. He was beseeching some unseen entity, asking for more time and saying that he had served them faithfully. Hw pleading turned to afrantic "No, no....NO!!!" The years were catching up with the Master. With each passing second, he grew a year older. Sneaky intended that the Master die by her blade than form old age. Sh e struggled to her feet and lunged at the Master with her dagger and rapier. In desperation, the Master flung up his shield. Her dagger arm bent awkwardly against his shield and she felt a strange numbness, as though her life was being drained from her and she collapsed in a heap, just as her rapier thrust found its way beneath his shield, penetrating his armour and piercing his black heart.
Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor found that they were now grappling a lifeless aging skeleton. As they watched, even the bones turned to dust, leaving only his armour and other accoutrements. Sneaky lay on the floor of the tent, as pale as death. Lithanor shouted for Klaus to help her, not realising that the cleric had still not recovered from the unholy word of the Master.
Minutes later, Klaus shook off the effects of the Master's spells and went to assist Sneaky. She was still alive. The blast from the destruction of the Soul Gem had weakened her severely, but it was the Master's magical shield which had a life draining effect similar to those of the undead, that had caused her collapse. Klaus held his hands aloft, calling on the healing power of Pellar. His arms glowed with a bright white light. Holding Sneaky, the light passed into her, restoring her life force, and soon she began to quickly recover from her ordeal.
Mazaramus looked around. The Master was dead. His first thought was of looting, especially the fabulous riches that adorned his tent. Morgan too looked around. He expected there to be some sort of commotion at least from outside the tent. The combat with the Master had hardly been quiet. No sounds of approaching guards. No cry of alarm going up. Nothing. Had they all been deafened by the Master's spell?
Morgan, Sneaky, Klaus and Gandi could still hear each other. Morgan went to the opening of the tent to look out. He saw only blackness. Not the blackness of night, but total impenetrable blackness. He called to Mazaramus to see what he made of it. Turning around, he saw the wizard searching gathering up richly decorated cushions and stuffing them into his bag of holding. He ran to Mazaramus, grabbed him and pointed to the entryway. Mazaramus frowned for a moment, then with a look of recognition, walked towards the blackness. He ran his hand over the opening, then smiled, pulling out the House of Zebulon.
The blackness disappeared, revealing the streets of Glantri City.
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Their work was done, but the war was not over yet. The first thing Mazaramus did was use his crystal ball to find out what was happening in Sayr Ulan. The strange red vortex had dissipated completely. The Allied Expeditionary Force swiftly and efficiently dealt with any of the Master;s armies that tried to break out of the city. Celindira in the flying galley and Asleayna harassed those within the city with a combination of fire balls and ice blasts. The airship they had seen in the Master's compound had taken flight. Mazaramus scried this too. Al-Azrad and the other hostages were aboard, and the ship itself was being piloted by Gallus, who had graciously taken off his amulet vs crystal balls and ESP as if anticipating that Mazaramus would check up on them. The airship was now headed north-eastwards for the safety of the mountains of the Principalities of Glantri.
The war raged on for another three months. The forces of the Master desperately tried to hold their ground. The Atruaghin clans had held Fort Anselbury under siege for some time and now began their assault. The defenders were all but wiped out within a day and the fort was reclaimed. Combined armies of Rockhome dwarves, Alfheim elves, halflings of the Shires and the warriors and mages of Ierendi battled the elite forces still holding Akorros, finally defeating them after many weeks of fierce fighting.
The armies of Glantri had driven off the picketing forces around Fort Lakeside and brought the fort itself under siege. Meanwhile, the warriors of the Northern Reaches and the Heldann Freeholds bypassed the fort, moving on to besiege Akesoli.
In the east, Duke Stefan Karameikos led the armies of Karameikos, Thyatis and Minrothad in an attempt to drive the Ylari from Selenica. Though their numbers were somewhat fewer than they had been when they first took the city, they drove back the attackers time and again, until eventually Duke Stefan called off the assault, remarshalling his forces. After all, the Ylari had nowhere to go.
At Corunglain, forces of Darokin and Ethengar were joined by the elves of Alfheim. who were now back up to full strength after taking Akorros. They mounted a full scale assault, and the beleaguered defenders were put to the sword or surrendered. As soon as Corunglain fell, word reached the remaining armies of the Master, who now surrendered. the Darokinians were merciful, despite what their country had been through, and allowed them to return to their desert. Besides, Darokin was in no state to accept prisoners of war.
The Ylari holding Selenica sued for peace, though Ali Ben Faisal, Emir of Ylaruam insisted on being allowed to keep hold of Selenica, which he had won by right of conquest. The Ethengarians, or at least some of the clan leaders, stated that Darokin should grant them territory in return for their assistance, though Chanai reminded them that they had fought for the pride of Ethengar, not territorial gain.
Mazaramus, Lithanor, Sneaky, Morgan, Klaus and Gandi had once again saved Darokin, and were duly rewarded. It would perhaps be months or even years before Darokin fully recovered from the devastation caused by the war. The rulers of Ardelphia would be busy for some time helping to restore Darokin. Lithanor longed to return to Dorneryll, at least for a time. As for Mazaramus and Sneaky, Emperor Thincol would soon be expecting them to make good on their oath...
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The heroes will return
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Test of the Warlords
wow you did it! Great arc. did your campaign end there?
ReplyDeleteNo, still going. Been a while since I updated it (plus we had a few weeks off from playing, largely cos of the Christmas period). Back on it and catching up with a few sessions now.
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