onsdag den 30. april 2014

Session 24

Day 102 (1st cycle of summer, 24th day)
Quickly Nevron casts invisibility and heads back to the warehouse. There he sees a shadar-kai pick up the wand and bid 8 orcs to follow him. Nevron runs back to the church and gets the other Sons, who meanwhile had been somewhat healed by Elias.

They run down the streets, catching up with the shadar-kai and the orcs. The Shadar-kai tries to make a run for it, while the orcs stop the Sons, but Nevron turns him into a turtle. One of the orcs then picks up the turtle and continue towards the battle in the southern part of the town. 

Nevron casts fly to catch, which breaks the polymorph, but he manages to stall the Shadar-kai while the rest of the Sons kill the remaining orcs. 

Once the fight is over, Arath and Urnyx limb very wounded back to the church, to the heals of Elias, while Nevron flies out of harms way towards the battle and orders the golems to break from the fight and head north, into the water, to guard the crystal coffin. 

They all meet up by the docks, where an orc atop a huge lizard is parked, surveying the area. The Sons give him the slip and board a small boat and sail away from Ashfield, which is now burning, lost to the orcs.

Day 103 (1st cycle of summer, 25th day)
After sailing a short while, they stop to find the tracks of the army, which they do. It appears to be heading east. They continue to sail east, and during the night, they pass by the gigantic orc army.

At evening, they arrive in Chalkam, which has been mostly evacuated, leaving only able-bodied soldiers behind.

Day 104 (1st cycle of summer, 26th day)
They continue towards Ironville Crossing, passing Riverburn, which has been sacked completely.

Day 106 (1st cycle of summer, 28th day)
They finally arrive in Ironville.

Almost immediately, they head towards the palace, to talk to Hagron, Nevron's uncle. As it turns out, he is now a close advisor to Warlord Sophie Ran. Sophie asks the Sons to help her with a problem. Some nobles (presumably) have hired an assassin's guild called the Blackhawks to kill her. She is busy enough due to 50.000 orcs heading her way, and doesn't need any distractions. 

Arath dumps off his plate armor to be refitted with a smith.

They hire a sage called Mostrat to look into the coffin and the sigils.

They learn from Hagron that Togir of the Short Brothers is supposed to know something about the assassination.

Day 107 (1st cycle of summer, 29th day)
After dinner, the Sons find Togir in a small tavern called the Drunken Halfling down in Sewer, the poorest of the wards. He quickly tells them that Silas, a rogue who has worked in the kitchen of the palace, is the one to have contact with the assassins. At first, he says it is because the Short Brothers want to keep Sophie as warlord, but when pressed, he admits that he was told by the high-ups the day before the Sons arrived that they would come and ask, and that he should cooperate. 

Shortly before midnight, the Sons track down Silas in his house near the Fish Market. A bluff and some gold later, he has agreed to show them the way into the palace the next evening. 

Day 108 (1st cycle of summer, 30th day)
Instead of going home, the Sons hide outside Silas' house. They are not disappointed. A bit later, he leaves the house. Using his divine magic, Arath tracks Silas through the dark city, to the very place Silas has set for them the next night. There they see Silas meet up with 9 dark-clad humanoids and head into the sewers.

The Sons follow them into the sewers, but quickly find themselves ambushed, when (at least) two assassins jump Urnyx as he comes down the stairs.

onsdag den 23. april 2014

Session 23

Day 95 (1st cycle of summer, 17th day)
The Sons investigate the crystal coffin some more. Nevron, with the help of Arath and Urnyx (and later Esmaralda), determine that some of the symbols are enochian, which is the written language used by celestial beings, angels. He also determines that some of them indicate that the coffin is protected a variety of things, from dispel magic, to the elements and radiant/necrotic energy. It seems to be completely immune to everything. They consider tossing it over the edge, 60' down, but in the end decide to bring it along.

Nevron polymorphs and digs a tunnel out of the cave, and they drag/roll the coffin down to the raft and sail off for Porrac

Day 97 (1st cycle of summer, 19th day)
They arrive in Porrac, after a two-day journey through the swamp. Only once did they run into trolls, when Urnyx was surprised by three trolls during his shift one night. But once the initial surprise was over, the three trolls weren't really a problem for the Sons of the Phoenix.

Day 98 (1st cycle of summer, 20th day)
The Sons leave Porrac, after buying a cart and two mules for the crystal coffin.

Day 100 (1st cycle of summer, 22nd day)
Passing through the Bluestone Hills, the Sons meet a bard called Izabel. She is heading towards the Swamp of Death, having heard about the undead infestation. The Sons are vary to share info with her, so they part ways the next morning.

Day 102 (1st cycle of summer, 24th day)
The Sons return to Ashfield. Outside they find the remains of a lot of soldiers. Some orcs, but mostly Ashfielders, Starkholders and Lochhursters and some from Ironville.

They receive a message from Elias, telling them to hurry to the church. Before heading in, they hide the crystal coffin by pushing it into the river, before heading into Ashfield. After crossing the river, they run into some orcs and some ogres. The some more orcs in the streets, before they enter a house and save a girl from being raped. They bring the poor, chocked girl to the church, where they face off some more orcs, before leaving the girl there, while they follow a bloody trail to a nearby warehouse. There they find Elias, who is being kept by an orc, and his invisible ogre mage. The two are quickly dispatched, but especially Arath and Urnyx are by now quite wounded. The ogre mage manages to blow a horn before dying, and the Sons pick up Elias and storm out of the warehouse, narrowly avoiding 20-30 orcs storming the warehouse.

lørdag den 19. april 2014

Heaven

Is there something wrong with Heaven? Well, Heaven is not really what I imagined it to be, but on the other hand, Heaven is so much more. It's a bit like living in your most pleasant memory. Not repeating it, but reliving it, in an infinite amount of ways, in a constant state of indifference and rapture at the same time. That's the closest description I can give of Heaven. No, there is nothing wrong with Heaven. Now the angels on the other hand. They are not at all what you would expect.
Written by Marquan the Sage in "Musings on the afterlife", attributed to the late Sir Renard, who at the time had been dead for 213 years.
Heaven is a plane. Heaven is a place. Heaven is so much more. It is the place where the good souls are supposed to go, when they die. It's where Bahamut resides, along with all the angels. If you follow the Fourteen, it is where Pelor, Torm and Lathander and their followers reside. It is a place of good, of peace. Pelor can be found in the Temple of Life, Torm in the Halls of Justice while Lathander resides in the Forge of Eternal Light.

In reality, Heaven is many places. It is an infinite amount of places. Or rather, it is a number of planes equal to the number of souls currently residing in Heaven.

You see, the dark of the place is that each soul make it's own Heaven, in it's own image. The more powerful and the more true a soul is, the bigger that place is. So Bahamut, the arch-angels and the three aspects naturally have fairly big areas under their influence, but the rest, well it's not like they are stuck in a closet, but there are definitely boundaries nearby. And worst of all, if such a thing can be said about Heaven, is that at first and most of the times always, the souls are confined to their own Heaven. Only through time, luck or experience, can they learn to navigate and enter the Heaven of others.

That limitation doesn't apply to the angels, nor to the gods, obviously.

Quel'Terath

So you have heard about the treasures of Quel'Terath? Let me save you some time, lad. Give me your money and your knife. Let me cut your throat. At least that way, your money stays in human hands. If you enter the forest, you will not find gold and riches, just death.
Yarm Beersling, Innkeeper, the 100 Kingdoms 
Quel'Terath, also called The Elven Refuge. A large forest untouched by man.

The forest has always belonged to the elves, but in the old days, it was a place open to all, where you could visit the elven cities and mingle with the fay folk. Those days are long gone. Because of the greed and violence of human rulers, the elven king and queen long ago closed their borders.

For more than 900 years, no non-elf has set food inside Quel'Terath and lived to tell about it. Instead it has become a place of refuge for elves all around Gemnos that has seen their territory encroached upon, whether it be by humans, orcs or something else all together.

So, little is known about the place today. But the ancient stories tell of a place full of life, with beautiful crystal palaces seemingly grown from the earth itself. They speak of the King and Queen of elves, eternal and wise, of a fusion of art, magic and song intertwined into the fabric of reality. The stories also speak of riches beyond the wildest dreams of the richest mortal king - something which may explain why so many have tried to attack and take control of the elven empire. Naturally all have failed, because as the old stories go, Quel'Terath the forest is alive and protects the elves.

In fact so little is known, that sages today do not even know if King Dernath and Queen E'virha still rule the empire of elves, as they did 900 years ago. Normal elves do not live that long, but elven royalty has been known to obey other rules.


High Imprecator Julius Maccra

You say the Magna Maccra has too many laws? My Lord, allow me to disagrees. For example, there is no law against saying such a thing, which, now that I think about it, there ought to be. I mean, speaking ill of this masterpiece will surely not encourage others to follow it to the letter, aye? And not following the Magna Maccra to the letter is going against Torm's will, aye? And what happens to those that defy the gods? 
High Imprecator Julius Maccra 
Before the Second Demon War, before it was called the Cursed Lands, the continent was dominated by the Empire, later called the Fallen Empire during and right after the Second Demon War. Officially the Empire was ruled by it's emperors, but in reality, it was ruled by a series of High Imprecators, the most famous of which is High Imprecator Julius Maccra.

Born as noble, High Imprecator Julius Maccra made a rapid rise to fame and power within the church of Torm. But it became soon apparent that the traditional teaching of Torm did not fit him well. He founded the Crusaders of the Silent God, a fraction within the church that believed not only in order, but also in the necessity to spread the order aggressively to neighbor nations. They believed they were destined to bring order to the entirety of Gemnos and that those who opposed them were not fit to rule, nor have a say in how they were ruled.

Under his guidance, the Crusaders of the Silent God prospered and so did the Empire. Neighbor nations fell to the imperial armies and the word of Torm was spread. High Imprecator Julius Maccra soon became the most trusted advisor of the Emperor and for almost 40 years, he was the de facto ruler of the Empire.

While High Imprecator Julius Maccra was aggressive when it came to spreading the word of Torm and bring order and justice to all nations, he was still a visionary man. The Empire became a good place to live, food was plentiful and crime was almost eradicated at some point. A free man of the Empire could walk almost anywhere unharmed, as other nations knew that the Empires retribution would be swift and hard, should any one of their citizens be subject to attack.

It was also a period of time where libraries and other places of learning were built by the hundreds. Aqueducts sprung up all over in the Empire, making sure there was water for all. In general you could say that High Imprecator Julius Maccra used the considerable wealth of the Empire to improve the lives of all. All those who followed the laws, that is.

It was also a time that saw the Magna Maccra created, the greatest tome of law man has ever written.  While some might think there were too many laws, one can not read the Magna Maccra and not be impressed. The laws were simple and to the point. They were easy to understand and so was the punishment should you break the law. Torms word (or at least as the Crusaders interpreted it), written by High Imprecator Julius Maccra, had become law.


fredag den 18. april 2014

The Wall of Gemnos

The wall of Gemnos is the oldest building in Gemnos. No one knows who built it,  but as long as man has recorded history on Gemnos, the Wall has been there, eternal, tall and unbreakable.

More than 3000 miles long, 100 feet high and about 60 feet thick, built with flawless stones dipped in magic, the Wall cuts across from the Narrow Sea across the plains of Lamar, around the Mountains of Zark, separating Varnor from the Republic and all the way to the Sea of Djabi.

It is said it was built to keep out flesh-eating monsters who roamed the plains of what is now the Republic, before the dawn of man. Whether that is true or not is very hard to say. Throughout the ages, the wall has had many purposes. For examples, nomads of Varnor have been using it for hundreds of years as a way to pass into adulthood. Amongst the tribes, any boy wanting to be a man only had to travel to the wall and scale it without help.

Today it has three primary functions. First of all, it serves as a border between Varnor and the Republic. The towers, located with 1500 feet between them, are manned by Varnor. Second of all, the wall serves as a trade road, running across the continent. Third but not least, the wall is a city onto itself. Or rather many small villages. All along on top of the wall, communities has sprung up, along the trade route. With the wall being 60' thick, the 20' in the middle is road, while the rest is used for buildings.

torsdag den 17. april 2014

Session 22

Day 86 (1st cycle of summer, 13th day)
The fight with the dragon is brutal. The dragon's breath weapon is lethal, and it's ability to instill fear into even the bravest causes a lot of problems for the Sons. Nevron goes down, almost dying, but Arath rescues him with a mad dash. The fight continues, and they do manage to wound the dragon, enough for it to decide to retire to it's lair to have more advantage. 

The Sons decide that they are fighting a losing battle and that they need a new plan. So they make a strategical withdrawal.

Day 88 (1st cycle of summer, 15th day)
The Sons arrive back in Porrac. They convince Aaron and the villagers that Acidbreath has made an alliance with the demon that has destroyed the other villages and that they are next. The Sons want to take advantage of Aaron's ability of contacting the dragon to lure it into a track.

They also convince Esmaralda to make them a foul-smelling concoction that will protect them somewhat from the acid.

Day 91 (1st cycle of summer, 16th day)
After days of preparation, the Sons of the Phoenix have Aaron and the villagers call on Acidbreath, having set up a fake offering. The Sons hide in a boat next to the dragon-statue.

Acidbreath arrives, but notices the Sons, killing Aaron. Fight starts and soon Urnyx latches on to the back of the dragon, hacking away it's life. It's a long and brutal battle, but in the end, the Sons of the Phoenix can call themselves: Dragonslayers.

Day 92 (1st cycle of summer, 14th day)
The villagers and the Sons celebrate the death of the dragon.

Day 95 (1st cycle of summer, 17th day)
The Sons arrive back at the dragon's lair. After dealing with some trolls, they find and enter the lair through the underwater entrance. Inside the lair, they find the dragon's hoard, which includes a lot of money, some gems and artifacts and also a couple of magical items and potions. But most noteworthy is the coffin-esque crystal with a blonde man inside.

As they discuss what to do, they receive a vision of Elias sitting in a circle of candles:
Hurry home. Ashfield will soon be under attack by the orcs. I don’t think we can hold for long, given the size of the army.

mandag den 14. april 2014

The Brave Wyverns

I swear to the gods, I was dead. Or so I thought. I had gotten lost from my unit exploring the ruins of Re'tabar, when round the corner came a dozen demons. They surged forwards, claws and fangs bared, ready to rip me to pieces. As they closed in and jumped towards my throat, I saw 4 humans turn the corner further down the street. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, but it never came. Seconds later the demons were dead, and Esteban was creating a portal so I could return to my unit. I didn't have a scratch, nor had I heard a sound. But Karan's sword and Red Jack's dagger were bloody with green ichor.
Yurik, Soldier in the Fallen Empire's army, year 5697

Karan Demonslayer, Red Jack, Arthuro the Pure and Esteban Timebender. Legendary names embodying courage, determination and a little bit of insanity.

In 5698, what has later come to be called the Second Demon War, had been going on for 20 years. The People of the Cursed lands had fled south and north, and only soldiers and the bravest of souls were left on the continent. 

For twenty years, the four friends fought and bled, first to preserve the Fallen Empire, then get it back from the demons. 

Karan Demonslayer. According to the stories, 7 feet tall, wielding his magical greatsword Raknaaroak in one hand, capable of splitting a demon in one stroke, yet gentle and a consummate story-teller. In battle, he was the leader of the Brave Wyverns. 

Red jack, named as such for his dark past. The assassin that saved the world. The most wanted criminal in the empire turned himself in, volunteering his services to the Emperor. What a story. 

Arthuro the Pure. A priest of Pelor that would not budge in his faith. Captured and tortured for more than a year by the demons, Arthuro's faith kept him alive where lesser man would have abandoned all hope and broken. Finally ripped to pieces by the Red Triad before returning as an angel and helping the other Brave Wyverns close the portal.

Esteban Mindbender. Said to be so powerful he could bend time with his will. While Karan was the leader in battle, Esteban was definitely the brains before and after the battles. A once-in-a-millenium mind coupled with powerful divinations, Esteban usually had contingencies built upon contingencies layered over more contingencies. He analyzed and prepared for every eventuality, and is more than anyone else credited with turning the tide against the demons, closing the portal and saving millions of lives during the war.

The Birth of the Seven Army Nation

The Seven Army Nation? It might not have been the grandest of ideas, but it sure beat the alternative at the time.
-Eletha Moonray, year 5846 
In early 5776 the western part of the Cursed Lands, now known as the Seven Army Nation, was ravaged by war and had been for a long time. With people returning to their lands after the devastating war against the demons, the power vacuum had created anarchy and chaos everywhere.

For the first 15 years, chaos stayed within the cities who were being repopulated, as diverse individuals tried to assert their influence and struggled for power. Then, with the advent of warlords who acquired control over the cities, the struggle expanded in scale, and many wars were fought. Warlord against rebels, warlord against warlord, warlord against anyone nearby not bowing to him.

For 45 years, there were wars on and off, and the people were suffering as no one had time to tend their crops, if they were even allowed to stand as many were simply burnt down by the enemy. Thus the people was starving, but the seven warlords kept coming at each other, like rabid dogs. There was little hope of peace, as the warlords refused to meet and discuss terms face to face.

Fortunately for everyone, Eletha Moonray thought otherwise. Already a powerful political figure before the Second Demon War, the seemingly eternal elven ruler had as always kept close ties to all men of power in some capacity from her hidden Crystal Palace in Oakwood. Some warlords valued her council, some were smitten by her otherworldly beauty while others were - allegedly - afraid that she would ally herself with another warlord.

So when Eletha called on them, they travelled in secrecy to Oakwood. Although they had no idea that she had invited all of them to her palace, they would probably have come none the less.

What happened in the Crystal Palace is sketchy at best, as none of the warlords spoke of it in details for many years, and most never said anything at all. But in 5811, on his deathbed, Ergard Durant, warlord of Lochhurst, revealed some of what might have happened.

For five days and five nights, the warlords were adamant that they did not want to create a nation with more than one ruler. And none of them had any interest in having one of the other warlords as ruler. After five days Eletha had enough and the seven warlords were called to her throne-room.
My Lords, it has come to my attention that you have not yet managed to find a solution. You have spent five days in my palace and nothing has come of it. I know you mistakenly believe that I merely invited you here to facilitate the possibility of finding a solution. You could not be more wrong. I invited you all here, because I want a solution. I want peace, and believe me, I am accustomed to have things my way. 
You now have until dawn to find a lasting solution. If you do not have one that you can agree upon, I will have you all executed right here, on the dais in front of my throne, and maybe your successors will be more amendable. 
Also, just in case you think you can make a fake deal, return to your castle and then continue your petty struggle for power, let me enlighten you. While you have stayed in my castle, my royal mage has stolen a little bit of your soul and keyed it to a gem kept in safety. Should you double-cross me, I will crush the gem, your life and your soul, leaving you to haunt the Underworld for eternity.
Any questions, my lords? I thought not. Now leave and I will be seeing you at dawn.
Now, this may just be the ramblings of a dying old man ravaged by disease of the mind. All other accounts speak of negotiations, diplomacy and a wish to make something good for all men. Then again, it might just be the truth.


søndag den 13. april 2014

Nalindor

There is no chain of command as you are used to in the Empire. Sure, they might pay me, at least once in a while, but as far as you are concerned, I am both Emperor, First Dragon-General, High Priest of Cyric and whatever else you might need. One person makes the decisions, and that is me. Best get used to that, Shell-head*, or you will find yourself unarmed and outside the palisades. 
-Orak Redscale, First Scale in New Kyz, Nalindor, year 5848
Located all the way to the west, Nalindor is the last place on Gemnos not fully explored. Only discovered in 5839 , the continent still holds many secrets.

In the 10 years since the discovery of Nalindor, many nations have sent explorers and colonizers to the west in order to stake their claim on this new territory.

What they have discovered is a thick jungle inhabited by bloodthirsty, flesh-eating goblins, albino mutes and very large and aggressive animals of all kinds. Rumors further speak of ancient civilizations discovered deep in the jungles, but each nation keep whatever they have discovered in the dark. Furthermore, the other rumors speak of encounters with intelligent blue ogres, dark elves living above ground, monsters warped by the Mists of Madness and ancient ruins built by what must be gargantuan creatures.

10 years into the colonization, each nation present on the continent holds one or two towns at the most and perhaps a handful of villages. While playing settlers is very appealing to some, the colonization of Nalindor has yet to be a smash hit. Sure, many nations are involved, but due to a lack of big find (gold, diamonds or something else very valuable and in big quantities), the nations aren't that invested, and being sent there can in many circles be seen as a punishment - and probably is. Thus the people living in Nalindor come in two kinds. Either they are a rough bunch or they are grossly incompetent but too well connected to have executed. Both kinds best be avoided.

*Shell-head is a derogatory term for young dragonborn. It implies they have recently hatched and are thus still very inexperienced.

lørdag den 12. april 2014

Session 21

Day 84 (1st cycle of summer, 11th day)
After some long deliberations and a Contact Other Plane ritual cast from scroll, the Sons decide to find Acidbreath and try to figure out more about why the demon was looking for it.

Day 85 (1st cycle of summer, 12th day)
As the Sons make their way through the Swamp of Death on a raft, they run into a troll. And another. Soon they are being hunted by a lot of trolls, and figuring that more are arriving, Nevron transforms into a pegasus and drags the raft away at high speed. 

Day 86 (1st cycle of summer, 13th day)
After almost 3 days of traveling through the rancid swamp, the Sons arrive at the place described as being near Acidbreath's lair by Swamprot. A large body of water, with a hilly island in the middle and an old oak on top of the hill. On the way, Urnyx has caught some fish that black dragons supposedly like, and the land is to offer up the magic spoon, which is unique, as incentive to not kill them.

They climb to the top of the hill and hang the fish from the oak. And wait.

Swamprots arrives and the Sons engage in diplomacy with the great black dragon. Unfortunately, the journey through the swamp has somehow rendered their ability to lie and persuade void, and the aggressive black beast soon tires of their transparent bullshit and draws in breath to shover them in acid...

mandag den 7. april 2014

The Death Dancers

The Death Dancers? What a quaint notion. You do realize that no such organization has never existed within our church, right? Those are just lies spread by other divine agents. Probably by the church of Torax. I can assure you that our Dark Lady needs no mortals to get her souls. She just takes them, if it is their time.
 - High Raven Hrolar, Starkhold

The Death Dancers are an ultra-secret, outlawed branch of the church of the Raven Queen. Following a version of reality that none other are privy to, the Dancers see themselves as the prolonged arm of the Dark Queen, bringing death to those that deserve it, those that should have died. At least, that is according to themselves. Or rumors. Some perceive them as nothing more than very expensive and effective assassins for hire.

Either way, the Death Dancers, said to be cloaked in black and wearing raven and gold masks, allegedly leave no one alive who sees them. The magically-trained orphans raised by the church of the Raven Queen strike at night, in the dark, with their silver daggers and never leave any clues.They do leave behind a black raven feather whenever they kill.

Marquan the sage

Marquan the Sage - what a pretentious title! But I must admit that the man knows what he is talking about. But if you want him to talk, you better bring a cartful of gold or a book he has never read, otherwise you will never even get to ask the answer you badly want an answer for. I do however wonder at times, if he really gets his information just from his books. They must be some books...
-Jack 
Rumors about the old man abound. Some say he struck a deal with a devil, in order to get access to all the knowledge of Hell, while others claim that he is kept prisoner by warlord Grik Clogmark, ordered to research how to make Eletha fall inlove with the gnomish warlord.

But fact is that Marquan the Sage is famous all over the Seven Army Nations and in the days of yore, he was often consulted by men of power, both warlords, high priests and adventurers but these days, only the warlord of Rosewall, where Marquan resides, seem to have access to the aging man and his rooms filled with ancient books and scrolls.


The Black Mass

It's kinda ironic - or frightening perhaps. Despite the fact that Kranak was the head of a church that kidnapped thousands of people and tried to turn them into undead, despite all the vile things he did against our fair city, he will always be known as the father of Krakas the Dark.
 -José Stark, year 5846
The priests of the Raven Queen were for a very long time exclusively run by women. Around 5310, that changed and the Black Kings were formed. A male-only fraction of the church, which through the years grew to power, a in some parts of Gemnos even managed to wrestle control from the women.

The Black Kings were focused, nay obsessed with the death aspect of the Raven Queen. Only through death could you truly understand the Dark Queen, only through death could real power be gained. In fact, all members of the fraction had to die before joining. Not for long, obviously, because it resurrection was not the way to come back, nor was undeath. No, you had to die, just for a minute or two, then be brought back through the will of another priest, if you wanted to join.

At first viewed with some distrust by the general population, the Black Kings soon found themselves admired. Dying for their faith, only to come back, even stronger. Now that was something even the common folk could admire, and in some areas of Gemnos, the Black Kings flourished.

After the Second Demon War, when people returned and built what is now Starhold, the Black Kings had a huge part in the rebuilding and their power in Starkhold grew. Come 5750, it was a forced to be recognized.

High Priest Kranak took office and was not only running the church, but also a close advisor of the Starks.

However, unbeknownst to everybody outside the church, the Black Kings had begun to push the teachings of the Raven Queen in another direction. Obsessed with death and power, the clergy had begun experimenting on live victims to create intelligent and obedient undead. They thought they could find a way to create an unbeatable army and conquer the Seven Army Nations. For years, literally thousands of people disappeared and were experimented upon, and had the experiments been allowed to go on, surely the Black Kings would have been able to complete and perfect their necromantic ritual.

Unluckily for them, someone in the dark of things decided to spill the beans and the Starks were told what their close allies were doing in the dark dungeons of their temples.

High priest Kranak and all other Black Kings were brought to justice in Starkhold and had their heads chopped up, while (allegedly) the Death Dancers of the Dark Queen brought swift justice to all other followers of the Black Kings. In a few weeks during 5797, the Black Kings, along with their temples, were no more.

Of course, as everyone knows now, Kranak left behind a son, Krakas, who would soon grow to be even more infamous than his father.

onsdag den 2. april 2014

Session 20

Day 79 (1st cycle of summer, 6th day)
The Sons climb down the hillside, and attempt to sneak in on the cyclops necromancer, as he is casting his ritual. As they get almost within striking distance, a huge skeletons bursts out of the ground, and the fight is on. While Arath occupies the skeleton, Urnyx runs up and turns upside down the the giant cauldron, while taking a beating. As he does so, the necromancers calls for his minions, and about 250 zombies come crashing out the city gates, headed for the fight.

The fight drags on. The skeleton dies, but the Sons are severely and cursed, but finally manage to kill the cyclops and run away, mere seconds before they are engulfed in the undead wave coming towards them.

They hide in the jungle, and double back and climb up on the hill, where they rest. 

Day 80 (1st cycle of summer, 7th day)
The next morning, the undead have dispersed. As they climb down and prepare to head south to warn the village of Porrac about the undead which might be coming their way, a severely wounded man comes stumbling out the jungle saying:
Byedra. Demons. Help
Arath heals the poor man, whose name is Arthur. He says that he is from Byedra, further to the west. He tells the Sons that demons (which look like gorillas) attacked the village. He begs them to help. They leave immediately for Byedra.

Day 81 (1st cycle of summer, 8th day)
As they arrive to Byedra, they find a burnt out village. A kid named Simon appears out of hiding, and tells that a half-orc in armor arrived, asking about who to reach Acidbreath. When the village couldn't  or wouldn't help him, he summoned 4 demons and set them on the village. Simon survived by hiding, but noone else seemed to have survived. As the Sons are talking to the kid, two demons surprise them, jumping in on them.

With the demons dead, they head towards Porrac, with Arthur and Simon in tow. They sail along the coast and arrive in Porrac the next day.

Day 82 (1st cycle of summer, 9th day)
They talk to Aaron, the leader of Porrac, but not much is learned, other than there has been a longstanding arrangement with Acidbreath: Money for protection and existence. He does point them towards Esmeralda, an old woman living just outside the village.

She tells the Sons that she knows little, other than Swamprot, a local druid is the man to talk to. For a little payment, she tells them where to find him. As the Sons leave, she does a reading on Urnyx.
I see you fighting your brothers, killing them out of duty, if not pleasure
Leaving Arthur and Simon in the village, the Sons head northward, in search for Swamprot.

Day 83 (1st cycle of summer, 10th day)
On the way north, the Sons are attacked by a hydra, who destroys a lowhanging bridge the Sons are passing over. The fight takes place in the water, and even though the 5-headed beast is fearsome, it still is no match for the Sons of the Phoenix.

Day 84 (1st cycle of summer, 11th day)
The Sons finally find Swamprot, an orc druid. He is not convinced that telling them where Acidbreath lives is the right thing to do. They debate back and forth.