mandag den 21. juli 2014

Session 30

Day 125 (2nd cycle of summer, 10th day)
After clearing out the fort of skeletons and sending John-John the cook and Katy on their way south, the Sons decide to head north to find the ravine where the demon, while inhabiting Petyr, supposedly ditched the mace from Aurac's temple. 

Day 129 (2nd cycle of summer, 14th day)
After some days traveling through the mountains and hills, they find the spot and with a little magic help, they locate the mace, laying at the bottom of the ravine. Amazingly, no one had taken it. They turn back and head towards Hellmouth, which they passed a few days earlier, in order to locate the fire key, which was dropped in it, many years ago. 

Day 131 (2nd cycle of summer, 16th day)
The Sons of the Phoenix arrive at Hellmouth. They climb it, and while peering through the gasses with an Arcane Eye, they notice a hidden ledge leading down the inside of the shaft, to a hidden doorway. 

They descend into the volcano, and scout magically ahead. It seems that although the doorway is built for large creatures, the inside has hints of dwarven craftsmanship. And lo and behold, the first chamber is guarded by 4 duergar dwarves.

The Sons hit them hard and fast and manage to take them out, before they can activate their alarm system.

mandag den 14. juli 2014

Rh'lor Ashbringer

Yes I burn people. I burn enemies of Kossuth. Are you an enemy of Kossuth? 
Rh'lor Ashbringer, year 5843, Belcoast.
While the old highpriest with the flaming hair says some outrageous things at times, he is still well liked and well respected in Belcoast. Along with Mother and Jasper Ladjeer, he runs Belcoast, if not in name, then in action. He is also widely considered one of the most powerful priests in the Cursed Lands, a fact he never fails to mention nor to display. For example, in 5846, he resurrected a priest that had been dead more than 150 years just to prove a point.

Marcus Twayn

Marcus is a menace to all organized religion. It is a wonder that he hasn't been killed yet.
Marcus Twayn is a famous bard, storyteller and writer, who lived in the Cursed Lands from 5613 to 5682. He travelled a lot and told many stories, but what made him famous was his criticism of the different religions and gods. For years he studied the many different faiths, and in 5665 he wrote a book called: The Illusion of Faith, in which he dismantled every single faith on Gemnos and claimed to know what the faiths were really about. Greed, power and murder.

Obviously, in a world where just about everyone belong to a faith, this was not popular. But it did start some debate on the position and influence of the many churches of Gemnos.

The Raven Book

Think of the possibilities, if I had the Raven Book. Every person who ever died, and why? I am pretty sure there is a lot of money to be earned there.
Jack, sometime, somewhere. 
According to lore, the Raven Book is an gigantic and infinite book, made of black marble covers with pages of bone and ink of souls. It is supposedly located in the heart of the Mausoleum of Death, where the Raven Queen resides, always guarded by twelve angels of death, fallen angels sworn to the Raven Queen.

The book, an artifact from the dawn of time, is claimed to speak the secrets of all the other gods, as well as the names of all creatures who have died on Gemnos and why they have died. On the last page, the true name of the Raven Queen is written.

The First Men of Gemnos

More than 11.000 years ago, men and women were created by Gemnos, by the Twins, or so the legends go. Those men and women, the first batch, if you will, are collectively called the First Men of Gemnos. They were paired in families by the Twins, and to this day, 57 families still exist around the world of Gemnos. Maybe not all of them can run an unbroken line to the First Men of Gemnos, but by and large, those 57 families are recognized as such. All of them wield power to some extend. Some are wealthy merchants, some are nobles, some are even kings and emperors. One way or another, they have over the years influenced the direction of life on Gemnos.

Archibald the Wizard

I can guarantee you, that a magical missile can not find it's way around a Wall of Force formed as a wall. The fact that the missile can not see the wall does not mean it will ignore it. You have completely misunderstood how these spells work, young man. Now go to your chamber and reread Magical Spell Theories Volume 2 and 6 again, and do not present yourself before me or any of your piers, until they are understood.
 Archibald, to a student, year 5809
While Marlin runs the Academy, Archibald is by far considered the best teacher of the wizards present there. It is said that he knows more about the theories of magic than any other alive in the Seven Army Nation. That is of course a hard thing to refute or prove, but none the less, that is the claim.

Archibald is an aging human, who has spent the last 50 years teaching at the Arcane Academy. Although he is quickly approaching 90 years of age, he doesn't seem a day over 70, and when talk turns to magic and how spells are structured, he could easily pass for a young man of 30.

These days he doesn't teach so much, but rather serves as a consultant to those especially gifted.

The Purple Death

The Purple Death was the work of Natalia Blackhorn, I tell you. Her demons brought the magical plague with them from Hell. Next time they bring a plague, there will be nothing left, then they can rule Gemnos, as they have always intended.
Anonymous wizard of the Arcane Academy. 
In the year of 5784, a plague swept across the Cursed Lands.  It was called the Purple Death due to the purple lumps that were the first symptom of infection. Purple Death might have been a odd choice of words, since it was not *that* lethal. Only about 2 or 3 out of 100 died from it, but almost half of the population was infected, and many were extremely weakened for months and months. In fact, more died from starvation due to nothing getting harvested that from the plague itself.

The plague broke out in a small town in the Kingdom of Drahar. From there, it spread north, east, west and south, and within weeks, most of the Cursed Lands were infected.

The plague never spread outside the Cursed Lands, mostly because the Empire of Zun and the Kyzian Empire completely closed off their borders and all who attempted to flee were sent back or killed.

Some sages has later speculated that the Purple Death was a magical plague, spread on purpose, but none have been able to prove so. The fact that such a plague has never been observed before or after and the fact that not a single person outside the Cursed Lands was ever documented to have gained the Purple Death, are the two chief arguments for a magical plague.