Dorador

I will never forget the first time I saw Dorador. We were coming in with the Blue Griffon and I was standing at the stern. What I saw caught me by surprise. Dorador had been attacked and destroyed. It was in ruins. I yelled, warning the sailors, but they just laughed at me. I didn't understand, but had no choice but to wait as they told me. As the Blue Griffon came closer to shore, I realized that Dorador was not in ruins, but rather built amongst the ruins of a city of giants. 

Black lines: Walls
Thin grey lines: Ancient giant walls, ruined, 3-7 feet high
Thick grey lines: Ancient giant walls, 30-60 feet high
Thin brown lines: Streets, paved
Thick brown lines: Ancient Streets, paved, 60 ft wide
Red circles: Circle of Visions, ancient magic showing seemingly random illusions

Location

Dorador is by far the biggest city on Nalindor. Located at the end of Tranquil Bay, at one of the few places in central Nalindor, where a ship can get close to the shore.

Size

Dorador has just north of 12.000 inhabitants, but covers the area of a city of almost twice that. Built amongst the ruins of an ancient giant city, it is full of 30-60' tall stone walls, remnants of a lost time. 

Ruler

Dorador is ruled by the Duke of Dorador who is elected every 5 years by and from the seven noble families. The current Duke of Dorador is James Eden, is the second in line. To help him run the day to day business, he has the High Council, which consists of 3 people chosen by their peers. 1 merchant (chosen by the guilds), 1 noble (chosen by the noble families, can not be of the same family as the Duke) and 1 military (chosen by all officers). The high priest of the Erathis church also has a non-voting spot in the Council.

Trade

Main products: Sugarcanes, coffee, rum, soybeans and corn.

Main exports: Sugar, coffee and rum.

Aside from trade with the other continents, Dorador also trades somewhat with the other city in central Nalindor, Maarak, which lays about 120 miles to the north. All trade is conducted via ship.

Weather

Just as in the rest of Nalindor the weather in and around Dorador is very wet and hot. Temperatures never drop below 20 degrees, even at night, and on average are around 30 degrees during the day. Slightly  more during the summer, slightly less during winter. It rains a lot, more than 280 days of the year, almost most of that rain falls during the night. Violent thunderstorms are also quite common.

Places of Interest
The Fields:
Outside Dorador are the fields that feed the city and earn thousands of gold to the nobles and merchants of Dorador. Corn and soybean to eat, sugarcanes and coffee plants to process and ship to the other continents, where sugar and coffee are in very high demand.

Circle of Visions:
Ancient circles, with arcane symbols yet identified. All are exactly 14 feet, 3 inches in diameter and all show seemingly random illusions of creatures, items and areas at random times during night. Most of these have not been identified yet.

The Red Ring:
A perfect circle, 66 feet in diameter, surrounded by red stones which do not exist elsewhere on Nalindor or Gemnos. An arena has been built around the red stones, used for gladiatorial fights, debates and other sort of entertainment.

The Giant Well:
An ancient well, going more than 200 feet deep. 20 feet wide, with a 6 feet "wall" around it. A ramp has been built, in order for human-sized creatures to be able to use it and get water up.

Erathis Temple:
The single largest building in Dorator. A great square building, with a circular temple in the middle. Aside from the temple, which is open to the public, the building is also home to what is rumored to be the biggest library of Dorador, although it is completely closed to the public.

Nira Temple:
Large domed temple with an oculus. You enter by passing through the legs of a 30-foot statue of Nira, who is depicted holding a child in each hand. Very popular amongst the workers of the land outside Dorador, but also against those that make their money from the land. Each morning is started with a morning prayer and the sacrifice of an animal at dawn.

Torax Temple:
Fairly large domed temple with an oculus. You enter through a portico with granite columns. Not very popular, seems poorly visited.

One God Shrine:
This church to Bahamut was only finished 6 months ago. Ever since it was finished, the red cloaks with the platinum dragon has multiplied in the streets of Dorador, preaching Bahamut being the only god, the other gods being frauds. There are already been several clashes between the priests of Bahamut and the other clergies.

Areas:
Docks:
This is where the many ships bound for Dorador arrive. Run by the Harbormaster, the docks are usually a fairly chaotic place, where you can get the latest news. There are many a great many taverns to feed the hungry and thirsty sailors. After hours, it is a hard and unforgiven place, with many fist-fights.

Entertainment:

These areas are full of inns, taverns, playhouses, ladies of the night and many other forms of entertainment. These parts of town are usually open far longer than the other and very noisy. 

Government:
This area is only home to 4 buildings. The palace of the Duke, the High Council's Chambers, the Taxation Office and Dorador's Administrative Building.

Industry:
This is where the sugarcanes are changed into sugar, the coffee plants into coffee, rum is made and all sorts of different products are made. Smiths, jewelers, cobblers and everything else normally produced in a city.

Middle Class:
Mostly single and double story buildings spread out wide apart.

Military:

Mostly consists of officers' quarters, barracks and training grounds.

Lower Class:
Buildings here are closer together than in most other areas of Dorador. Mostly made of a mixture of wood and stone, this is where most of the workers of Dorador live. Rarely patrolled, the law of the strongest often applies here.

Ruins:
Areas covered in so many ruins and stones that building there has proven a waste of time so far. Often the spot for clandestine meetings.

Slum:
These areas are chaotic at best, with no streets, no lights, few open spaces. Buildings are made from wood and even sugarcanes. Fires are common, brutality everywhere. Here people live almost completely by their own set of rules.

Temple:
Only four major buildings (temples of Erathis, Nira, Torax and Lathander). Lots of small shrines to various gods there as well.

Trade:
Centered mostly around the 3 big marketplaces (The Market, the Food Market and the Bazaar) of Dorador, these areas house vendors and shops of all sorts. Some are permanent, some are just where the things produced in the industry areas are sold. From dawn to dusk, it is very crowded, very lively. After hours, there are very few people here.

Travel:

Boatmakers, stables, caravans and such are found here.

Upper Class:
Seven large mansions belonging to the seven noble families along with barracks for the house guards and servants are all you will see here. The ground is covered in grass and stone-paths lined with marble statues and beautifully cut bushes.

Warehouses:
Lots of warehouses, where the goods coming in and going out of Dorador are stored. Usually heavily patrolled and sometimes guarded.

Central Nalindor

1 hex = 6 miles

Session 53

Day 286 (1st cycle of winter, 36th day) - countdown day 26

Somehow, the Sons managed to get Nevron back on his feet, and the battle raged on, the demi-lich assaulting them with death howls and draining necromantic attacks. Unfortunately for the poor undead, a paladin armed with a mace of disruption is no picnic. Soon the demi-lich lay destroyed on the floor. The ritual had stopped and the danger passed.

The Sons ported back to Starkhold and immediately started to work on their plans. They told José Stark everything about what was going on, and told him they were going to summon Aura right outside his gates.

Arath struck the gong, sending a ripple through the multiverse. And then everybody waited. Half of the city on the walls, the Sons of the Phoenix outside..

Day 287 (2nd cycle of winter, 1st day, year 5850) - countdown day 27

As the sun rose, the clouds parted and Aurac arrived, easily the largest dragon anyone had ever seen. After some groveling and greetings, the Sons told him the jist of what was happening. They hatched a quick plan and Aurac then allowed them to ride with him, as he flew faster than they thought possible over the lands of Gemnos, to the Great Crevasse. 

Day 290 (2nd cycle of winter, 4th day, year 5850) - countdown day 30

As they arrived, they could see the Ironville army was spread out in a semi-circle around the ancient portal, but not in very strategically sound places.

As they landed near Sophie Rans command tent, Aurac made sure the 30.000 troops weren't going to rush to the defense of the possessed warlord, while the Sons attacked her, trying to force Ter-Zoth out. As soon as they attacked her, the orc-ogre-cyclops army sounded the attack, crashing into the now terrified army from Ironville. 

Soon after, Natalia Blackhorn appeared at the portal, starting the ritual, while her surprise for Aurac arrived, the Three had lay in ambush, as the evil alliance had long known that Aurac might be involved. 

The fight raged on. Urnyx killed Sophie Ran, forcing Ter-Zoth out. But the Sons were already somewhat wounded. Nevron managed to banish the demon temporarily, while Arath brought Sophie back from the dead to lead the army once again. With Ter-Zoth back, things quickly took a turn for the worse. Even Urnyx went down to the massive onslaught by the demon, but in the end, they managed to slay him. But it wasn't over. Everywhere people were dying, feeding the portal and Natalia Blackhorn. After chucking down almost every potion they could find, the Sons rushed towards the portal. A cyclops intercepted them, but Nevron quickly managed to suggest it to lead the way to the portal instead of killing them. 

Once at the portal, the Sons faced Natalia Blackhorn, the greatest warlock of the Cursed Lands. Fortunately for them, she was sustaining the portal, and could not use her full power. Yet, even at that, she was certainly a match for our 3 heroes. Especially her spears of pure force ripped through the Sons at quick pace and death was imminent. Urnyx went down. Arath was also gravely wounded. Nevron was running out of magic to toss at her. With Urnyx bleeding out, Nevron managed to hypnotize her and keep her in trance while Arath got Urnyx back on his feet so that they could fell the evil tiefling, stopping the ritual and saving the world.

Session 52

Day 285 (1st cycle of winter, 35th day) - countdown day 25

After finishing up in the church of Shar, the Sons returned to the temple, to check up on the Lathander priests and get some healing from Morninglord Henry. The darkness was covering a circle roughly 400 yards in radius at this point and did not seem to slow down, even though a third of the ritual had been disrupted. 

After some debates and talks, the Sons planeshifted to the Faerie, landing at the foot of the hill. The promptly proceeded to move further away and set up for the night in a Leomund's Shelter. 

After sleeping soundly, the Sons made their way through the junglelike wood towards the church. Just outside, they were attacked by 11 fey goblins. Nevron tried to negotiate with them, but with no luck. The goblins died quickly however, even though they did manage to wound the Sons enough to force them to heal a bit up, before heading in. 

Inside the church, they found themselves facing Rau-Dragor, a black dracolich with pisonic powers. The fight was long and brutal, with Urnyx being caught in the firm grip of dragon-fear more or less from start to finish. Yet somehow, the Sons managed to kill the undead dragon and once again, Nevron dispelled the ritual easily.

They spent the rest of the day and the night in the church.

Day 286 (1st cycle of winter, 36th day) - countdown day 26

The next morning, Nevron planeshifted the Sons into the Underworld and headed straight for the church. Inside, they found 9 shadar-kais protecting a shadar-kai shadowcaster who by all accounts was sustaining the ritual. As the Sons plowed their way through the shadar-kais, they could almost smell victory. Right until the skull of Aziir Nak'tell floated out from behind the altar. The demi-lich howled and Nevron dropped to the floor, his heart beating slower and slower.

Session 51

Day 282 (1st cycle of winter, 32nd day) - countdown day 22

The next day, the Sons returned to the Church of Shar to investigate. They found it was warded against teleportation and the entranced was glyphed several times over. The Sons instead entered through the holes in the wall, and checked for more traps, but found nothing. Urnyx tried to alter the symbols drawn in chalk, hoping that it might screw with the ritual, just in case.

Day 283 (1st cycle of winter, 33rd day) - countdown day 23

The last clerics arrived from Ironville and Morninglord Henry finished his hallow of the area near the temple of Shar.

Day 284 (1st cycle of winter, 34th day) - countdown day 24

As the sun went down, the ritual started and necrotic energy started to pour in through the three portals, convalescing into the Orb of the Void (which suddenly appeared in the middle of the portals) before pouring up into the air, slowly beginning to cover the sky around the temple.

The Sons peered into the portals and found out that they all lead to the same spot (the Shar church) on the three different planes. 

The Sons hurried to the one on Gemnos, arriving a couple of hours later. Krakas was in full swing, surveying the ritual. 

Avoiding the glyphs, the Sons tried to surprise him, but his spells warned him of them coming and he had a few surprises ready. Symbol, a reversal of gravity and an icestorm later, and things began to look as if they would soon end for our heroes. But slowly and surely they clawed their way back from the edge of mortality and after a very long fight, one of the most powerful necromancers of the Seven Army Nation lay dead at their feet and a third of the powerful ritual had been disrupted by the magical skills of Nevron. 

Session 50

Day 278 (1st cycle of winter, 27th day) - countdown day 18

The Sons decided to stay at the temple and inspect it, then await for night to fall and see what happened. 

Day 279 (1st cycle of winter, 28th day) - countdown day 19

After finding out that the temple became increasingly powerful during the night, the Sons took turns sleeping and keeping lookout.

Suddenly 3 demons arrived, looking for the Sons, as told by their master. The Sons managed to ambush them, and even though the demons took a while to kill, the magic of the Sons made the fight very easy. 

With the demons dead, the Sons moved their camp to another hidden spot in the crevasse and continued to keep watch of the temple.

Sometime after dawn, but before they were fully rested, a Gelugon arrived, also looking for the Sons. This fight proved somewhat harder, but in the end, the demon was sent back to Hell. The Sons decided to move their campsite further away to sleep in.

Once they awoke, they returned to the temple and figured out that the power had once again diminished. They deduced that the power was keyed to the darkness, not the time in relation to the beginning of the ritual.

The Sons ported back to Ironville and their tower to make further plans. They spoke to Ruby and Elias, then paid Morninglord Henry a visit and told him all about the undead plot and the ritual. He immediately offered help, and it was decided that his priests would travel to the temple the next day, and that he and a couple of priests would teleport along with the Sons when they went back.

Day 280 (1st cycle of winter, 29th day) - countdown day 20

The Lathander priests left for the Shar Temple.

Nevron teleported Ruby to the east, to the Faetown army, to find out about their status.

Day 281 (1st cycle of winter, 30th day) - countdown day 21

The Sons ported back to the Shar Temple, along with Morninglord Henry, a couple of priests and the golems. Shortly after arriving, Nevron took flight and scouted the surrounding area. About 2-3 miles away, he found the building that Urnyx had felt previously. It turned out to be a large, ruined Shar Temple. However, inside there was clues that led him to believe someone or something was preparing a ritual of some sort - the floor was completely cleaned of debris and chalk had been used to draw up preliminary symbols.

Session 49

Day 277 (1st cycle of winter, 26th day) - countdown day 17

After a good night's rest and some planning, the Sons, once again looking like orcs, returned to the camp and made their way to the command-tent inside the cave. There they debated and thought up all sorts of crazy plans involving the bag of beans that Urnyx was carrying, but when it did not produce the desired result, they decided to face off whoever was inside the tent head on. As it turns out, it was the Glabrezu they encountered in Faytown, once again masquerading as an elf. Unfortunately, he had two Bone Devils lurking around invisible, and the fight proved quite a mouthful for the 3 Sons. But in the end they prevailed and the demons died and were sent back to Hell.

With the demon dead, the Sons started to look for the Fey presence that Urnyx had detected. They identified him as the purple orc giving orders. After a while, the alarm was sounded, someone had figured out that the demon in charge was dead. The purple orc went in to find out, and the Sons followed, still cloaked with illusion to make them look like orcs.

As the purple orc was about to contact Ter-Zoth, or someone else, the Sons attacked. The purple orc turned out to be a Formorian of exceptional strength, and only after a long and hard battle did the heroes manage to come out on top, although Urnyx was left mishapen from it's Evil Eye.

Badly hurt and wounded, the Sons teleported away when discovered by the orcs.

Day 278 (1st cycle of winter, 27th day) - countdown day 18

With John-John checking in the night before and telling them he had found a temple, the Sons teleported back to Starkhold and left immediately for the Black Hills. There they inspected a Shar Temple but Urnyx detected another ruin within 3 miles. Maybe there were more temples.