East of Ironville (map)

1 hex = 100 miles, red line = national borders

Session 40

Day 198 (1st cycle of autumn, 10th day)

On the next morning, the Sons bid farewell to Gandolfo the Magnificent and proceeded towards Agatha's hut. 

Late afternoon, they exited the fey forest and found themselves at the lake. They soon realized that this was the Dragon Lake near Lochhurst, or rather the equivalent. There was a much quicker way back to the portal.

As they pondered on how to cross the lake, they were attacked by two wyverns, which they dispatched without too much trouble.

Day 199 (1st cycle of autumn, 11th day)

At night, six werewolves surprised the Sons. While the fight was short, it was brutal. 

In the morning, Nevron realized that it is always a full moon in the Faerie, and that he better get the cursed removed, just in case the many bites he had sustained had infected him.

The Sons made a raft and sailed out on the lake. They had only been sailing for about 15 minutes, when another wyvern caught up with them. Nevron jumped in the water to hide from it, but the other two decided to stay on the raft. They both went in when the wyvern crash-landed on the wooden raft. While Aran was drowning and Nevron trying to save him, Urgyx managed to finish off the foul beast.

Towards evening, they got to the island.

They explored a bit, and found the hut. It turned out to be empty, but the doorframe was portal to another place. They ended up in some connected corridors filled with webbing, magical suggestions and fog they couldn't see through. There Agatha ambushed them. The fight was long and hard, and for a long time, it looked as if things were going to go against the Sons. Only through luck and tenacity did the Sons turn the tide when Nevron managed to pin her down via a wall of force, so that the two others could take her down. It was still a very close thing, but in the end, she died. As she did so, the magical fog and web disappeared. All they were left with was her parting words (when she thought she was winning) and the fact that Nevron seems to find the name Metrova familiar.

You Sons of the Phoenix are persistent. Although this is as far as you go. You will die in a few moments, and you will die knowing that you were too late. The Orb is now with my masters and they have all necessary information on our tests. Do not worry. The plague will not spread from Ironville, so only the children there will die. Once they are dead, just one more test remains, before the full force of the Dark Trio is unleashed on these realms. And while Metrova conducts his experiment, you will be watching from the Underworld.

History of Gemnos

As written by Antonii Kufku. All dates are approximations.

The Primal Era: 12.000-8.000 years before the Twins’ Arrival

-12.000 

At first, there was nothing but the Mists of Madness. Then came the Twins and created Gemnos. They pushed back the maddening mists and began creating and building a paradise, a place for us. But at first, the Mists were powerful. They warped every creature that the Twins created and placed on Gemnos.

The first of such creatures are today known as the aboleth. They still exist to this day, although they are fewer now and lurk in the darkest corners of the Underdark

It is unclear who or what the Aboleths ruled over back then, presumably it was whichever other creatures the Twins created that didn’t get warped. But we do know that the Aboleth ruled over a good chunk of Gemnos for about 2000 years. The Aboleth controlled a the area along the coastlines of Gemnos, from the area around the Federation of the Inner Sea, all the way down south, along the northern coast of Kounark and up along the eastern coastline of Torabor. 

-10.000 

Then from the Astral Sea surrounding Gemnos and Mists, ancient beings of immense power came and waged war on the Aboleth, driving them underground. Gemnos had a new ruling race, but they never had the time to settle in and built. They occupied aboleth strongholds and cities, but the Twins did not created Gemnos for them and had by now realized that Gemnos would only belong to their children if they helped things along. So they created monsters of destruction in order to deal with these ancient beings of power. The Tarrasque. The Kraken. The Hydra. All examples of the monsters that the Twins created to wage war.

The battle lasted for a thousand years, shaking Gemnos at its core. Lands were sunk, oceans rose, coastlines altered and even reality and the multiverse around Gemnos was warped and changed by this war. Heaven and Hell were created, along with the Elemental Chaos and the Pillars of Heaven.

-9.000 

After being beaten and expelled from Gemnos, the ancient beings split into several factions, and spread out over the new multiverse. Those that ended up in Hell became devils and demons, those that ended up in Heaven became angels, those that ended up in the Elemental Chaos became the Vaati, which later became the genie, and those that ended up in the Pillars of Heaven became Modrons.

With Gemnos secure, the Twins created the dragons and the couatls. The dragons to be their will and weapons, the couatls to be their messengers. And then they set the dragons upon the monsters they had created to get rid of the ancient beings. The Dragons, which were far more numerous than the couatls, were created down in the mountains of what is now Drakolyz, and spread out from there, although for unknown reasons, they mostly kept their lairs down south, near the southern mists. But they did go to war everywhere and won, destroying the mad creations of the Twins. 

The Lost Era: 8.000-4.000 years before the Twins’ Arrival 
-8.000

Giants are created in what is now Quel’Terath and the Iron Kingdoms. They were different from today, and only two races, regular giants and the fomorians. Soon the two radically different giants found themselves at odds with each other. At first, fomorians had the upper hand, pushing back their cousins. 

At the time, dinosaurs, big scaly, wingless dragons, roamed almost everywhere on Gemnos.

-7.500 

The first early and primitive versions of humans, dwarves, halflings and gnomes began to populate gemnos, although the dwarves, who were created in what is now the Iron Kingdoms, were quickly enslaved by the giants and the gnomes, which were created in some hills in what is now the Republic, were quickly enslaved by the dragons. Meanwhile, the early humans were created in what is now the Kingdom of Erathis and the halflings were created on the plains of what is now the Cursed Lands on Nimalar. Also around this time, another race was created, the gith. 

-7.000

The Empire of Vaati, which by now dominated the Elemental Chaos, spread to Gemnos, due to the assault of the Queen of Chaos and her demonic host. The war continued for a couple of hundred years on Gemnos, down in central and southern Torabor. Both hosts ended up leaving Gemnos to continue their fight elsewhere, although some believe they were forced away by the dragons. 

-6.500 

The first and only fomorian empire was founded and at it’s peak, it stretched from northern Ortygal and all the way down south to Varnor. 

-6.300 

Mind flayers in huge numbers came out of the mists in Nalimdor and spread out over most of Gemnos, covering a wide belt from west to east in central Gemnos. Just about everyone was enslaved, although a small part of the fomorian empire “survived” in what is now the Iron Kingdoms and Quel’Terath, which means the original dwarves weren’t enslaved either. 

-5.500 

Led by the gith, the humans and halflings rebelled. Helped by gridlocks, a new magical creature created for the purpose, and of course the dragons, the “good” races managed to topple the empire of the mindflayers and send them packing back into the Mists.

-5.300 

The Giants formed their own empire, which at it’s peak stretched from Quel’Terath and way down south. In the process, the giants destroyed what was left of the fomorian empire in and took overlordship of dwarves. The last fomorians fled to the Faerie. 

By now, most of the plains of Nimalar were populated by the tribal halflings who roamed the plains.

-4.500 

After years of friction, the dragons and the giants went to war. It was a brutal war, but even with their mighty shamans and the living weapons they created (behirs and rocs), the giants were no match to the fury of dragon armies. The giant empire was destroyed, their cities ruined, and most giants were killed or spread out in small enclaves. The dwarves were finally liberated and they made their home in the mountains that are now the Iron Kingdoms.

-4.400 

Around the same time, the elves were created in Quel'Terath

The Ancient Era: 4.000-0 years before the Twins’ Arrival 

-4.000

Almost 5000 years after they are first created, the dragons finally got around to form their empire. The empire covered all of Torabor, most of Kounark and southern Anglar. Their rule was more or less absolute. 

Also at the time, was the rise of the Yuan ti empires. One empire covers most of Nalimdor and the other is located in the southeastern corner of Nimalar. On Nalimdor, every human and gith was exterminated - more or less. A few gith made it out, and fled through an ancient Vaati portal, or so the story goes. 

-3.900 

By now, the elves of Quel’Terath had organized themselves and formed the Kingdom of Leaves, also aptly named the Empire of Elves.

-3.500 

The Kingdom of Leaves is shaken by civil war. Two brothers fight for control of the Kingdom and some are driven underground, later becoming what is now known as drow.

Meanwhile, the growing populations and the many wars had caused the dinosaurs to be extinct on both Torabor and Kounark. 

-3.000 

By now humans, halflings, goblinoids, gnomes and orcs are physically and mentally more or less as they are today. They also begin to appear in many corners of Gemnos, populating it.

-2.500 

After a revolution amongst their slaves, the Yuan-ti empire on Nalimdor fell. The one on Torabor soon followed and the snake-men reverted back to smaller scale dominions.

At this point, the dinosaurs were extinct on both Nimalar and Anglar as well.

-2.400 

The mightiest dragons of every color banded together in a desert in northern Torabor and created the dragonborn, a servitor race in their own image, or almost.

-2.200

The dwarves formed the Iron Kingdoms

-2.000 

The dragon empire crumbled under the weight of politics and deception

-1.500 

Down south in the western part of Kounark, the first human empire empire rose, built on the ruins of the dragon empire. Ruled by a master caste of warlocks, arcane tinkering was at a premium and many living weapons were created. Most notably the chimera, the gnoll, the ettin, the owlbear and the bulette. The warlocks were ambitions and stark raving mad, at least for the most part. They struck a deal with the Lords of Hell for even more power, and were transformed into tieflings. 

-1.000

The warlock empire imploded when a gigantic earthquake ripped it’s capital in pieces and plunged all of their most powerful and influential people into the sea.

Meanwhile on Nimalar, the humans had succeeded in nearly destroying all tribal halflings. Very few remained “free” and roaming, the rest assimilated into the culture and civilization of the humans.

-450 

The first half-elf was created.

0 

The Twins reveal themselves to man. For unknown reasons, it is called their arrival as well. At this point in time, Nalimdor was all but empty of civilizations, except for numerous small human flesh-eating tribes. On the other hand, Nimalar had already formed many kingdoms and it's population was growing exponentially. Most of Torabor was small villages and semi-nomadic tribes, while Kounark was fairly advanced also, except for the area covered by the warlock empire, as it had been left in ruins. Anglar, which by far had been ravaged by war most times, was just developing villages, except for the Iron Kingdoms and the Empire of Leaves, that is.

Session 39

Day 195 (1st cycle of autumn, 7th day)

The Sons left for Oakwood and the druid grove found mentioned in some texts. They arrived there a couple of hours later, and talked to a druid named Harold, who was somewhat hesitant in allowing them to pass through. But they managed to convince him that they could hold their own against monsters in the Feywild, even hags such as Agatha.

Once through the portal (which was a space between two menhirs, activated for a few seconds once a day by saying "Safe passage home" in elven), they ran into Zika, a dryad. After some back and forth, they agreed to plant some acorn in a circle in Oakwood for her, in exchange for information about someone who knew where to find Agatha. She did warn them against seeking out the hag, as she was "nasty business".

Once the deal concluded, they headed north and west along the river to find Barkskin. They were attacked by some animated trees and an owlbear, before they at evening found an abandoned crystal tower. Inside was spell-trapped, but Nevron managed to dispel quite a few, and they found some magical spells and potions.

Day 196 (1st cycle of autumn, 8th day)

The next day they continued, and after an episode with their makeshift raft that fell apart while traversing the river, they found Barkskin. Unsurprisingly, Barkskin turned out to be an old treant, and while he wanted nothing to do with their gold, he did want some help killing some phase spiders who had nested nearby in a valley he couldn't access due to his size. 

Once the spiders had been killed, the Sons were told how to find Agatha, and they continued north. 

Day 197 (1st cycle of autumn, 9th day)

As they awoke and the magical shelter faded, they were attacked by three trolls. They quickly dispatched them and moved on. Soon enough, they ran into a huge dinosaur and a big snake, but Nevron polymorphed it into a tortoise and they moved on, putting some distance between themselves and the fearsome monster.

At night, as they were about to stop for a break, they met with Gandolfo the Magnificent, a traveling gnome bard. Suspicious at first, the Sons eventually warmed a bit up to them, and they got talking. They learned about a magical fair nearby, that Agatha was a powerful spellcaster, that her hut was magical and much bigger inside than outside and that she had a minotaur pet guardian named Moo, who had a big axe.

Timeline of 7AN campaign (Sons of the Phoenix)

Gods and church branches - overview

Session 38

Day 185 (3rd cycle of summer, 34th day)

The Sons spend a couple of days researching Garos (one of which Nevron spent temporarily insane), but could find nothing about him. Apparently, Saint Michael's right hand was an angel named Ulmator and it had been so for at least 1000 years. After the research and some dancing around the pot, the Sons finally decided to try to break the crystal coffin, which was no longer protected against divine magic.

Arath started to hit it with his hammer, which he had infused with divine magic. Soon the crystal coffin cracked, and Garos emerged. He seemingly completely ignored the Sons, picked up an iron rod on the floor and infused it with magical runes only to drop it on the floor and vanish.

Day 186 (3rd cycle of summer, 35th day)

Nevron researches the rod and figures out that if they strike it on a hard surface and says his name, they either summon him or his consciousness. 

The Sons decide to take a trip back to the mine where they released the demon, to question the worshippers of Mask that were trying to keep the demon entrapped, maybe they know more.

During their research, they also learn that Natalia Blackhorn is the only mortal who knows of the reason why Ter-Zoth wanted Garos specifically.

Day 190 (1st cycle of autumn, 2nd day)

The Sons arrive at the mine and find it as they left it. They pick up the bodies and return home.

Day 194 (1st cycle of autumn, 6th day)

The Sons arrive back at Ironville, only to find the gates closed and black flags running the towers. There is a plague in town.

Talking to Morninglord Henry, they learn that only the kids are so far affected. It started 5 days ago.

The Sons track down patient zero, a boy named Jacob, the son of the miller. After some more investigating, they find out that he must have been affected by the plague at the South Marked, where he went to watch some street artists. There, an old woman gave away candy to all the kids, and apparently showed them a black box full of stars. Or something. 

The Sons deduce that the box must hold the curse/plague, which explains why it can not be cured. Destroying the box is the only way to save the children. Further research reveals that the old woman looks suspiciously like the figurine they found when they killed the Death Knight. Said figurine was placed in Oakwood, so they research famous hags or witches in Oakwood. Only the name Agatha turns up, but she does not live in Oakwood. Instead she lives in the Feywild connected to Oakwood. The Sons also find a story about a druid grove not far away, where the druids once helped some adventurers cross over. They decide to go there to find Agatha and the black box.

At some point during their research they are also reminded of the fact that Eletha Moonray, the spiritual leader of all elves live in Oakwood, that she doesn't like Xuk and Natalia Blackhorn and sits upon a crystal throne in a crystal tower.. Now, where did the crystal for the angel-trap come from again?