Chapter Nineteen - The Dark Wizard of Netheril

Session was held 30th of June at the Altar of Games

Melkor made Arius very upset. Poor kid.

As the great peril loomed over the Kingdom of Darnon, Arius prepared himself for a speech that was meant to raise the last remaining men for the final battle. Melkor had declared that they would should move with haste towards the city of Berdusk that was currently besieged by the Red Wizard Alzarseth. Melkor pointed out that encountering Alzarseth was crucial if they wished for Darnon's best, as the Red Wizard gathered strength with every passing hour.
But Arius found himself troubled by the late events. Melkor had always been close to him as a mentor and foster father, but now as it had turned out that the Black Wizard actually was his father, he had great problems accepting the truth. Even more so as his legitimacy for the Crown of Darnon had been forever lost. Although he still struggled with his thoughts, Arius heartened the remaining soldiers to join him for the final march. A march that was destined to end in suffering of many without a promise of victory.

The Final March
The preparations for the Last Stand of Justice were made roughly in one day. During their planning meet with the last remaining rebellion leaders they agreed that General Almatheus Ochrefield, Dortherion, Count Anthrop and Constantin Almert would join them for the last march. Uddard Blackcaster was nominated to act as regent while our heroes would be making war elsewhere, and he promised to give his fullest to prevent the conquered cities descending into turmoil. Cidela Pepperpath and Lot were stationed to guard the Cube of Tybor during the march and while Melkor would do his magicks.  During the meet Ochrefield stated they managed to raise around thousand soldiers for the march, many of them ex-Blackhelms who had deserted from King Osanders army.

While planning for the tactics, Blackcaster brought up alarming news. It had turned up that the carcass of Merthoflagrion, the red dragon that was slain few weeks ago in the Battle for Asbravn, had vanished into thin air. Blackcaster assured the rest that there was no reason to worry and that natural explanation for the disappearance of the huge rotting serpent was to be found.

Next morning the small army of tired freedom fighters began it's march towards Berdusk. Captain Ochrefield  calculated that march would take four days to the Great Bulwark, where they could ask Colonel Erebald (well known sympathizer of Free Darnon) and his men to join them. But before that they would have a long forced march ahead of them that would really test the endurance of the men.

Route of the Last March. 

The men marched almost two days in a row with minimum rest, but outside the village of Borhus they finally had a little rest among the village houses and maturing crops. After the nightfall when the camp had been built and most were fast asleep, Melkor was still writing to his notebook.

Zelthaum the Eldritch

Suddenly he noticed how his magical amulet began to hover on his chest, and how inside the tent every other item of magical nature did exactly the same. Arius woke up as his sword Ilbrandir began to float away from him, and soon all of our heroes charged out of the tent to see what was causing this magical anomaly. And as a thunder shook the camp, great giant appeared in front of them.He declared to be Zelthaum the Eldritch, claimant to possess the Cube of Tybor. The gigantic man listened no reasoning and the ownership of the Cube had to be dissolved with arms. Zelthaums gargantuan bastard sword was a force to be reckoned and his magical abilities boosted his power further, but as so many times before, our heroes proved to be triumphant. The giant was soon slain, heroes claim for the Cube restored and soon the camp returned to peaceful slumber.

The One who Returned
At dawn, the camp was dismantled and the march continued. Sun didn't illuminate their path anymore as a dark gloom had fallen over Darnon. The black clouds over Berdusk had grown even thicker, and the dense veil of darkness was spreading over the lands with ever growing speed. It was clear that Alzarseths magic was the cause of this unholy gloaming that hung heavily over the land. The army moved with haste towards the border Bulwark, and two days later they reached Hope's End, a refugee village outside the Morihig border station. The village was empty, sacked by the conquering army of Alzarseth. But death reeked also at the border station. Colonel Erebald, who was expected to join them, hang gutted, upside down with his close officers at the camps gate. Douglas donned his ring of invisibility (freshly acquired from Asbravnian merchant) and went for a quick recon mission. The thief soon returned and informed the others that the border station had been overrun by undead warriors. Jared was encouraged by these news and promised to get rid of the menace with his positive energy bursts granted by his deity Lathander. Talk about being positive, the crazed cleric walked all alone in the middle of the soldiers of unlife. An undead officer in black full-plate ordered them to turn because the border was closed, but the priest launched his positive burst that tore the skeleton army apart, but only partially, as many of the creatures rose again.

Death Knight Irongrave and his zombie-dragon steed.

By releasing the burst, Jared also evoked the high commander of the depot of living dead. Great doors of the wall gatehouse fell, as a gargantuan beast crawled in. And look, the beast was Merthoflagrion, once slain red dragon that had risen again. The zombie dragon had a rider, donned in black full-plate, wearing a cracked helm with huge deer antlers, and the rider was the greatest of the Skull Riders, Captain Irongrave. He was slain in the battle of Treeward, but now the captain was bestowed with unholy powers and risen as a Death Knight. As a response to clerics energy burst, Irongrave grunted "Here only you can die" and launched a volley of unholy fire towards Jared, knocking the priest down. Then the dragon vaulted to the sky and swiped behind our heroes, frying many soldiers with it's fiery breath. Furious battle ensued as the Death Knight dealt punishment from the Beyond. As Jared regained his consciousness and was ready to continue the battle, he unleashed another burst of energy, decimating the weakened Death Knight and his terrible minions. Without these superpowers of our heroic cleric, many of the men would have died in the claws of the skeleton horde, now they could sigh and wait for day or two longer for the Kothian blades to slay them.

The army marched through the border gate and gasped as they saw malevolent powers growing in the berduskian sky. A great red sphere glowed it's death on the doomed city and it was now crystal clear that there was n more time to be wasted. With a forced march our heroes and their army struggled onwards, but soon general Ochrefield had to call for a quick rest. They headed to a farm called "The Verdants" where the men gathered fresh water and crops for fast nourishment. But encounter followed as the main building was already occupied. A great warrior launched forward, killing two soldiers. He told the heroes to back off, but when questioned, the man, called Strong-Dong, revealed that he was serving a master. And the master answered when he was called forth.

Here Strong-Dong and Man-with-a-pointy-hat both marvel
how well the Man shot his arrow into Ebonmars ribs.

A wretched shadow of a man walked out of the building, and soon our heroes recognized that familiar scumbag, he was Lord Lullicius Ebonmar. The fat coward had escaped from Berdusk just before the siege, and was hiding here with few of his menservants. It didn't take long from our fellowship to negotiate Strong-Dong to leave his slavemaster and join for the glorious battle. That obese bastard tried to sneak out of the situation but by heroes command, a man with a pointy hat & feather stopped his escape with a well aimed arrow. The pointy hatted man was complimented for his bravery in action. The owners of the Verdant-farm were found and released from the basement, and they gave their sincerest gratitude for our heroes. During the night the farmer Matteus Verdant finished his issues with Lord Ebonmar who was left to die on the yard. As morning came even more hazily than the others before, resting troops found Ebonmar hanged into nearest tree. Many wondered how that chapped farmer had strenght to lift that fat carcass high up in the air. After this scene the last camp was dismantled and the march for final judgement began.

The Last Strike 

The red glowing orb over Berdusk and it's besiegers.

The Last Army of Free Darnon progressed with rather hasty pace, even though they were marching to their evident deaths. As the last hills and meadows of berduskian farmlands were left behind, the army reached a last little hill before the city, and on the top of that our fellowship finally saw how dire the whole situation actually was. The city was completely surrounded by besieging force. Dark black clouds hung heavily over the city, and in the middle of the clouds a gigantic red orb pulsated, sucking red energy from the city and the besieging forces to itself. And from that red eye, a small line of that same red energy streamed into a small mountaintop, which glowed with bright light. There on that artificial peak (that wasn't there before, foul magic of the red wizard once again) Alzarseth did his magics in order to destroy Berdusk.

Only one unit of enemy troops was not under the same lure that doomed Berdusk. These men guarded the small peak where the archmage was conjuring death and demise for thousands. Our valiant crusaders decided to head straight towards the peak in hope of intercepting the conjuring. The enemy let them proceed quite a distance until three-men sentry rode towards them. Their leader, Shadhum Khozo, the leader of Kothian mercenaries, announced that his master is currently occupied and cannot attend their business whatever it was. But mercenary captains speech was interrupted by the red mage himself telepathically saying "Shadhum, I do have time"
And with this sentence, dust began to move in a circle of hundred feet radius. And from that circle rose half-dozen enormous metal blades that reached the sky, still circling with blinding speed, enclosing our heroes into   deadly cylinder. And inside that cylinder was Alzarseth the Red. As predicted, the mage was wearing deep red robe, his face looked powerful, and his eyes stared under pitch-black brows.
This is the speech Alzarseth held when addressing our heroes:

"We meet at last! The King is dead, long live the King!

Congratulations Ariendur, there's finally a man on the throne who righteously deserves it!

And you must be Douglas of Berdusk. It seems that you've lost your face?

The priest of Lathander, Jared. We shall talk about the matters of faith later when all this is over, for then whe truly have time for it.

Oh but Melkor the Black, Confidant of Queen Aeliathe, The Wise Man of West, Descendant of the Great Ancient Wizards of Netheril. Far have you traveled from your books, and even farther from the havens of rationality are your thoughts, how do you believe that you'll ever reach your goals when even your closest ones do not know about your endeavors?

Melkor, let me explain to your little friends..

Don't you remember? You arrived to Iriaebor long time ago, visions of long gone artifact in your eyes. You had managed to dig up that the arch-wizard of the city could possess an item of tremendous power and you decided to investigate this lead. Yes, the Eye of Karsus was mine back then already, even though I had not yet unleashed it's true powers. 

Melkor and Arius back when everything was well.

You conspired with the beautiful Queen, but did you do it for love, I dare not to know. You managed to discover a lot, but much was yet to be discovered, when something unexpected happened. The Queen succumbed as did her first-born, prince Ariendur. But the people of Darnon didn't know that the boy was actually alive and safe, as the Queen foresaw her own death and gave the baby to you Melkor. Little prince was kept hidden in your servitude until now, as I couldn't suspect you back then when I order the Queen and her bastard to death! Yes, I gave that order as the weakling King Osander could not do it. Power is a cruel game my friend.

See, deaths of the Queen and the prince were good excuses for radical shifts in the power balance of the kingdom, because all these years that you call as grim years of tyranny and fear, were only running in for the terror machinery that will lift me to greater power. The Cult of the Bitter Lord has proven itself as crucial aid for my endeavor and without the Queens death and the national mourning that followed it, I couldn't been able to introduce it for the masses, not to mention spreading it.

But what comes to you Melkor, after receiving the boy, a sinister plan began to grow it's roots in your mind. I am even little envious how cunning your plan was. You raised the boy to obedient young man, and you never told him about his true origins. But when the boy turned eighteen, you betrayed him for the Order of the Black Cliff, who had been searching for him all these years. Then you rescued him from the dungeons and told all these tales and lies how he would be the legitimate king of Darnon and how the young prince would act as the sword of righteousness and release the kingdom from tyranny. And the boy believed and your route for power opened. People of Darnon dismissed the tyrant and welcomed Arius with great cheer as their new rightful King. Your success has been great and you almost managed to mess my own personal schemes. But Melkor, your destination is still ahead of you, but now you have managed to create your own machinery for power, which shield might be more polished than mine, but the insides are as covered in smut as mine. And now that  long forgotten artifact is at your grasp, The Eye of Karsus. You have been pursuing it all this time, heedless of anything else... As I said, power is a cruel game.


But now I must continue my own agendas. Extracting the souls from a whole city and from the army besieging it, in order to raise myself to godhood, is not a task done with ease. I am flattered that you've come to share my day of ultimate triumph. Thank you.

And with these words the wizard vanished and the great metal blades that formed the cylinder descended back to earth. Melkor grinded his teeth in anger, as the others looked at the wizard in disbelief, how could he betray them in this horrible manner. Arius especially was completely blown out. His blank expression was wiped when the earth below them began to tremble. As they backed up, the ground fell into abyssal pit more than hundred foot wide. And from the red depths of the pit rose a terrible many clawed and eyed abomination later identified as Elder Odopi.

And thus began the final battle for Darnon.

Manifestation of Tybor

Arius, Jared and Douglas struck against the bizarre aberration of hell, while Melkor concentrated his energy in awakening Tybor from his Cube. The Odopi trampled over many and struck forcefully with it's crooked claws. It grappled Arius and swallowed him. There Arius remained for almost the rest of the battle, fighting the nightmarish innards for his freedom. The creature struck Jared down, mangling the priest badly, but just then Melkor managed to release Tybor. With great white light, the ancient wizard manifested over his Cube, glazing furiously to the top of the peak where Alzarseth did his spells. Then Tybor released a burst of force that knocked the Red Wizard down, ending his dire spells. By that instant the red glaring orb on the sky of Berdusk began to fall. And just before reaching the rooftops it exploded with great white light. Force of the explosion tore down towers and walls, knocked the besieging army down and when it reached our battling army, reeled many. Soon the battle ensued, and the manifestation of Tybor withered slowly away. For a moment the Red Wizard was gone, but then he returned with terrible wrath.

Arius managed to force himself out of the Elder Odopi, just in time to help Douglas who had been left completely alone as Jared had succumbed to terrible agony. The young prince saw Alzarseth standing on a hill, but the wizards appearance had changed from the previous. The Archwizard was a twisted visage of it's former self, and it was quite apparent that the Red Wizard was a lich, terrible undead spellcaster of tremendous power.

Alzarseth the Red

The maddened Red Wizard began his battle by casting the feared Meteor Swarm upon our heroes. While dodging the terrible blaze, Arius was puzzled by Melkors apparent absence. The Black Wizard had put his eye on the Eye of Karsus, a powerful artifact that he had desired for so long. Now it laid unused on the ground as Alzarseth had thrown it away in his whims as he failed to re-activate it, thanks to Tybors strong dispelling charge. And so, Melkor abandoned his friends and pursued his own goals instead, a move that sealed our fellowships destiny.
As the traitorous loremaster disappeared into a dimensional door, Jared, who had already been struggling, was slain by Alzarseths meteors. None could have seen what happened next. The death of the faithful priest evoked a terrible spirit that had been lurking inside the priest since his first demise in Battle of Durunmer. Now the cleric corpse transformed into a shape of terrible demon that growled:

In some sources Arius is portrayed with a horned helm,
but like true heroes, he fought bareheaded. 

 "I am the Harbinger of Gor-Marrak the Eater of Nations! Alzarseth, your time has come!
And in instant the demon began to slay the men around it, progressing towards the Red Wizard who flew his spells on it. One of the spells was Horrid Wilting that killed brave Constantin Almert. Arius also rushed towards the wizard, as he wanted to deal with him personally. Some said later that his plunge towards the hill was archetype portray of recklessness, as he rushed through prismatic spray-spell to face archmage lich  and a terrible demon of horrific hellish power. But the daredevil hero did it, and for a moment he battled alongside with the demon. Alzarseth could not withstand such an attack for long, and our young king struck his glorious sword through the lich, slaying the Evil that had tormented Darnon for decades! Off-balanced by the shock that followed the Red Wizards destruction, the demon took the advantage, and even though Douglas did his best to support Arius in battle against the creature that once had been their friend, the demon struck Arius down with it's mighty heaves.

Arius fell, and while laying there in the middle of the battlefield, he felt his end coming. He saw how Douglas screamed as he tried to save his friend, but Arius couldn't hear him no more. Memories of wondrous adventures full of joy and friendship, rushed to his mind, but then the shadows began to roll over him. Everything grew darker and darker, and as Arius felt he was succumbing to the eternal darkness he knew that this is it, his end....

And amongst the shadows,
there,
there was MELKOR!

Chapter Fifteen - Out Of the Ruins We Rise Forever, Into the Battle We March Together

Session was held 26th of November at the Alter of Games

Setting the Standards
A week had passed from the battle of Treeward, and the news of Captain Irongrave's demised had reached Iriaebor. The rebels who survived had moved their camp temporarily deeper to the Reaching Woods, where the heroes gathered around a campfire. Since the end of the battle, Melkor who had finally came back from his travesties, had kept his distance to the others. The rumor said that the wise wizard was preparing their next bold adventure, and once again, the rumors weren't exaggerated. Once again, his visions pointed to direction that none of the heroes were able to guess, as the mad wizard told the others that they were going after the Standard of the Fallen, a legendary banner carried to battle by ancient Arakhar, the Fallen King.
.

One of the rebels drew the meeting around the campfire. He slightly altered
the looks of our heroes to avoid prosecutions if the rebellion would go
awry, as all the meddlers would certainly be executed.

The wizard continued revealing his plan. After they would have recovered the magic banner from the ruins of Dakhet Mar, they would gather the rebels and march to Hluthvar. Melkor ordered Dortherion to spread a word of rebellion, "as hundreds of lights surround the city, rise against your oppressors, join the rebellion!", while they would be plundering Dakher Mar. The enigmatic old man also riddled how he would also claim Asbravn during the same attack. Many were left puzzled how the wizard could perform such a feat of conquest, but after all, Melkors pompous scheme was the last hope of Free Darnon.

Soon after giving instructions to those who were left to the makeshift-camp, the steeds of destiny galloped across  the plains of northern Darnon. They rode with the classic composition. First rode prince Arius then his mentor Melkor the Mighty. Their security advisor, Douglas the Nimble, followed Melkor, and lastly came Jared the Restorer, holy man of Lathander. Two days of aggressive striding trough the lands finally bought them to the cursed ruins of Dakhet Mar. Melkor explained the ruins to be the sole remnant of a ancient kingdom that ruled the Western Heartlands more than millenia ago. The Fallen King, whose tomb they were seeking was a legendary emperor who fought with five thousand men against an eastern horde of unimaginable size. The legend says that the king died, along with most of his warriors, but the horde was unable to topple the Standard of the Fallen King. None has ever discovered the tomb, but as always, Melkor was sure that luck would be at his side.

Ancient ruins of Dakhet Mar in a gloomy light.

Circling the ruins without a clear heading, the adventurous party of heroes came across a group of tents, sheltered among ancient monoliths. One man who was left to guard the tents attacked our heroes, taking Jared as a hostage, but teh brooding situation was soon resolved and the threatener captured. he revealed that rest of his group had gone under the ruins in order to excavate something that he refused to mention. At that time, Melkors spidersenses began to tingle, and our brave explorers descented under the ruins.

Karman Fatta

The journey through narrow shafts and ancient tunnels was at least perilous, but finally they reached the bottom. There were four explorers trying to break through the floor, as our heroes entered. Their leader turned out to be Karman Fatta, a mercenary (and highly successful according to his own words) who had insulted our braves over a year ago. It was only a matter of a little spark, that fueled their meeting into a  open clash, where, of course our heroes triumphed. Fatta was left alive and he swore to aid Free Darnon to enroll and train more soldiers. After dealing with the mercenary king, our heroes were able to delve deeper. Fatta had been able to ventrue to the doorsteps of the tomb of the Fallen King, and soon our heroes found themselves inside the tomb.

It was nothing like an ordinary crypt of the dead, nor catacomb. The tomb was immense set of traps that had been waiting for centuries to taste the blood of foolhardy graverobbers. It was Douglas's time in the limelight, as he cleared trap after another without being pierced, crushed, cut, incinerated, vaporized or disintergrated! They defeated waves of skeletons, horrid construct that bolted a mayhem of blades towards them and finally they were able to penetrate in to the inner sanctum where lied the remains of the Fallen King. And this time literally, as they had to break in through the floor, as the "x marked the spot".

What they witnessed as they descended into the inner crypt, was a huge cylinderical shaft in front of the sarcophagus of King Arakhar. In the middle of the shaft, several feets below the floor-level was the Standard of the Fallen, it's banner carefully bound. Melkor warned that without his order, the banner would not be unbound. But before they were able to claim the standard, the Fallen King released his one last trap, as three Helmed Horrors assaulted them. The ancient constructs were not the ordinary type, as they re-animated again and again, even tough our heroes continued to strike 'em down. It was Melkor who perceived to lift the lid of the sarcophagus, and he managed to pry it open all by himself! And thus they saw the gloomy lights in the eye sockets of the once mighty emperor, and by sundering it's head, they were able to defeat the helmed horrors for good. Without further ado, our heroic plunderers proceed to cash the check, as Douglas was magically transported into the center of the shaft to reclaim the standard. Once again they faced a menacing trap, but by Melkor's astonishing magics, Douglas was released in no time.

The Battle of Two Cities
Our fearless tombdelvers set their course back to the makeshift camp of rebels. Two days later, at nightfall, they reached the remnants of Free Darnon. While they had been away, hundreds of volunteers had joined the ranks of the rebellion, and reinforcements poured in at constant rate. People at the camp were preparing for the march that might turn out to be their last, but they were ready. Rarely has the people united so strongly against their rulers, and as the flame of justice burned in their hearts, our heroes joined the brave people, and began their march for freedom. From Hluthvar to Asbravn, and finally to Iriaebor, they followed prince Ariendur in his quest to take the throne from cruel tyrant Osander II.

As the army of the oppressed reached the walls of Hluthvar, hundreds of torches were lid. by this sign, Hluthvarians knew that they were to stand against the city guard. Weakened by the defeat at the Battle of Treeward, troops garrisoned in the city were smashed quickly, and contrary to their own king, those pledging for their lives were left alive. Melkor led his friends to the Keep of Hluthvar, where they had to wedge their way through the Iron Wall, elite soldiers clad in full plate. But near the hall of the Lord Protector Mornburg, they ran into regiment of soldiers. There a young noble with a shining armor of polished steel stepped forward to address our braves. Turned out that the young noble was prince Saldor, son of Osander II Grivald.

Prince Saldor in one of his promo potraits, quite a champ.

 He urged the heroes to route their troops out of Hluthvar, but before any further diplomacy was introduced, a beast that had broken loose from the dungeons attacked the regiment and our brave champions. Why there was a demon bound into the dungeons, no one knows, but soon that malevolent outsider was banished for good. Prince Saldor was captured and given to the angry mob, and our liberators followed Lord Protector Mornburg, who had escaped during the turmoil.

They found out that in his hall, behind his grand seat, was hidden a room with a surprise. There was only a strange looking mirror in the that tiny little room. Melkor identified the mirror as the rippler of Soldengraad, strange device of teleportation. In stressful situations, one has to make quick callings, and before they knew, Melkor pushed everyone into the mirror. Unlike Melkor has expected (he thought that the rippler was connected to Asbravn), our trans-dimensional travelers found themselves from the middle of a desert. All that they could see was landscape desiccated into scales. There was no sun, but still they felt the heat and light of direct sunlight, nor was there night. Only clear blue sky, scorched landscape and sun. But in the distant horizon they saw a glimpse of light. They took it as a benchmark and began walking towards it. As they finally  were reaching it, it disappeared and emerged directly behind them. Puzzled from the strange dimension that had captured them, they yet again followed the light, and it vanished. Melkor began to suspect that they were somehow trapped inside the mirror. They repeated this journey of theirs many times, until Melkor had enough and summoned Petreskobal, an imp that they were able to bind with it's true name.

Fearful creature advised them to keep on the direction, even tough the light disappeared. The hint proved to be successful as they pushed on and found a small red book, partially buried in sand. As they opened the book, all they saw was deep space. Suddenly the sky began to change, and the same infinite space surrounded them with it's distant suns and immense galaxies. And before them rose a figure of colossal size. The figure belonged to a mage with ultimate power, and as Melkor identified him as Alzarseth, the mage spoke to our little adventurers. "You chose to seek the power I wield, and thus you chose your own destruction" And with these words he changed into a gargantuan purple worm that attacked our  planar-braves. Luckily to our heroes, they had slain worms before, so killing the worm was plausible. The battle was grievous, but once again the ones whom we cheer proved to be victors.

But as the worm died, the surrounding space began to twist, spiraling towards it's toothy yet dead maw. It soon escalated, and our wormkillers struggled against a void that was sucking the whole dimension in it, but at some point, everyone has to bend, and one after another, the void engulfed them..

To Be Continued...

Chapter Five: Cross the Kingdom in search for adventures!

Session was held 10th-12th september at the Gustaf's Hideout

After plundering the Sparlklestone mines Melkor decided that it was time to pursue his own agendas for a while. As our heroes ravaged the supper that Tremeld Sinivihta served them in the Foresthouse Inn, Melkor revealed that their next destination would be the city of Asbravn, Darnons biggest city after the capital Iriaebor. They would cross the Hasturs Crossing and travel to the town of Darkshallow, and after resting there for a night, they would continue to Asbravn.

Before taking the path to Asbravn, our fellowship decided to update their pseudonyms. And thus Melkor became Lemor, Arius became Suira the Slayer, Douglas chose the name of Keldorn and Jared wished to be Valygar Blackbag. And together they would be called the Luskan Renegades, group of fearless mercenaries from Luskan.

To Darkshallow!
June 5th or 5th of Kythorn in Faerunian calendar our proud posse left for their quest. Their able steeds galloped to the Crossing of Hastur where they helped to farmers, Krent and Urvald to cross the stream with their donkey. After this valiant act they continued to east, towards the town of Darkshallows. It was almost an evening and it was grievously clear that they wouldn't make it to the town this day. To crown all, they saw riders in eastern horizon. Luckily for our "Luskanian mercenaries", the riders weren't the notorious Riders of the Black Cliff, popularly known as Skull Riders. They were Lieutenant Conder and his men, soldiers from the city of Asbravn on their way to the western borders. Little did Lieutenant Conder know when he started to question our heroes about their origins, that those few questions with bit too sharp tongue would turn to demise for him and his men.

It was 'bout noon next day when our merry brotherhood reached the town. If a little town can be a dead place, Darkshallow was even worse. Everything was grey and way beyond the best before-date. Old wooden church with unmarked belfry governed the center of the town, while housing gave room for the fishermens huts in the waterfront of lake Darkshallow. After questioning the barsmaid Adele in the Red Apple Inn it became clear that the new priest Father Lonhard with his men had become a hammer of tyranny and oppression, murdering three fishermen without a trial on a charge of devil worshipping acts of treachery. Old fisherman Keoff Nattarley knew few details more and advised our heroes to inquire man called Mulroon, Father Lonhards right hand, fat & drunk mercenary often seen rumbling in the Red Apple.

Terrible setback!

Day became night and our heroes cunningly digged the facts out of Mulroon while he was drinking heavily. Three executed boys were innocent and father Lonhard had framed them up for his own motives. Along theu inquiry, Arius and Douglas challanged Mulroon to a drinking game, resulting in small bar fight which ended when Douglas kicked Mulroons knee-cap to smithereens. While Melkor and Jared were sober next morning, Arius and Douglas were far from it. Troubled by massive hangover, they fought themselves up as Adele came knocking in, warning our heroes from a lynching mob waiting outside the Inn. Our fearless party decided to face the villains as there were no other exit than the front door, even though the dusty windowpanes of the Inn didn't clearly show what they were up against.

On the yard there were father Lonhard and his four men. Accusing our heroes of devilish treason, Lonhard launched an sudden attack against them, summoning a fiendish dire wolf (horrible beast from the Monster Manual) to aid his dark cause. Battle ravaged terribly, wounding our heroes badly, but leaving the enemy dead and maimed. Only Lonhard managed to escape, even though Melkor launched a lightning bolt against the evil cleric. Following the priest to the church, the fellowship ascended steep stairway into a small chapel or chamber which revealed a secret tunnel into a small underground pond most likely linked into the lake itself. There was father Lonhard fording into the body of water, while a altar of stone stand on the edge, and on the altar there were three skulls, still covered in recently dried blood. Melkor finished the crazened cleric with yet again precise bolt of lightning, but the battle was far from being over. From the pond arose a slimy being later identified as Uchuulon (search from the Stormwreck guidebook), a horrible a crustacean aberration with loads of slime and tentacles. The creature suprised everyone with it's speed and before Arius even managed to lift his shield the unearthly beast punctured it, piercing it's deadly crab-like claws into poor prince's stomach, raveling his guts and pulling the life out of him (The DM Jakubias rolled 20 + 20 + success, scoring a instant kill, which he celebrated shortly). This atrocious act shocked everyone, as Arius's mangled corpse fell to the floor.

Altought horrified by the creatures blow, rest of our heroes quickly resumed in action, dragging Arius away from the creature, grabbing Lonhards golden medallion that Douglas had spotted earlier and escaping through the tunnel. The monstrosity was hampered by the cramped tunnel so our heroes had time to set the whole church in fire, burning away the devil and the slaughtered corpses of their enemies.

As the heroes watched yet another religious building reducing to ashes the few villagers thanked them from their heroic act and oathed to help them whenever they would need assistance. Rest of the day our shattered fellows gathered themselves up and mourned their fallen comrade. Melkor knew that in order to pursue his own goals, the revival of Arius would crucial, so they mustered old cart from the townsfolk and begun their slow journey towards Asbravn, Arius laying cold in the cart.


To Asbravn
Next day, after succesfull campnight beside the road, our fellows were getting closer to the city, they rescued a injured man from small group of marauding commoners. Man was Nemerd Stonetower, an official in the city of Asbravn, in his way to Darkshallow for statistics and drafting. He demanded to be escorted to Asbravn, and promised speak the heroes in no matter what time it would be when they would reach the gates. The man stood behind his words, and even recommended a tavern/inn called Whispering Maiden near the gates. From there the heroes began their quest of finding out a person suitable to improve the general condition of poor Arius. Cuven the Whispering Maidens innkeeper knew old man called Sembor, who once long time before the current state of tyranny and intolerance, operated as a powerfull cleric. And so our heroes met the old priest and convinced him to help Arius.

Upon the resurrection of Arius, old man Sembor demanded to hear the boys full name, and as Melkor pronounced the boy to be Ariendur Grivald, the long lost prince of Darnon, the old geezer was petrified. So honoured by the chance to save the prince and maybe save the whole kingdom, the old cleric began chanting powerfull mantras for his deity Lathander, who shone his brilliant light upon the body of Arius who soon rose alive yet again but still confused by the terrible depths of faithless death. This act drained the last og Sembor, who fell on his chair, propably knowing that his deed would later change the future of the kingdom.

The fellowship was whole again, and there was no better way to bring Arius back in business than going on as usual. And so Melkor began searching the house of Four Winds, a possible site holding valuable writings which could reveal secrets that Melkor was looking for. Instead of finding a huge library, Melkor found out that the house was turned to a guard post. Luckily a man called Walther Purpletide, former apprentice of Ulverus the Sage, the master of lore who once lived in the house of Four Winds. Purpletide told Melkor that the texts he was after were carried into ancient dungons below Asbravn, shortly before Ulverus was captured and convicted for life in prison as a traitor. And so Melkor knew the next step of his quest.


Meanwhile Jared and Arius were searching for new shield for Arius to replace the pierced one. But this search soon escalated into a sidequest where they were searching for the urn of Brella Kempwoods husband. A burglar who stole the urn, called Mulk, was found in Rustys, old rundown boozer, but he escaped to the roofs, resulting in spectacular rooftop chase scene. But as always, the heroes caught the villain, and they received tons of gratitude from Brella, who even gave her husbands young dog called Hero to Arius, who promised to raise the dog to be a ferocious beast but also a loyal friend.

In search for the ancient texts

Next morning Walther showed up ready to take the reunited heroes to old waterdrill, situated near the keep of Asbravn. After dealing with two guardsmen patrolling the waterdrill, our heroes managed to ascend in to the well, and found a collapsed section of wall revealing the old dungeons. There they moved through the ruins consisting of ancient houses and streets, partially buried in rubble and soil over the long centuries. They found three old metal sheets, size of a small book, covered in strange writings. Melkor promised to study it's secrets later. They also encountered horrible carrion crawlers with their paralyizing tentacles. Business as usual, the critters were soonm slaughtered with ways untold. After the crawlers, the heroes were also encountered a rapture locust swarm, horrible creature that hypnotized and filled it's victim with euphoria as it was eaten alive by the swarm. The swarm also was utterly destroyed. And soon after the swarm, as the company reached the safe deposit of Ulverus the Sage's books, they realized that the swarm had destoyed the books.

After long minutes of searching, they were lucky to discover a metal chest holdin Ulverus's journal infused with drivel about the apocalypse soon coming because of the actions of Red Wizard Alzarseth who was in high standings in the King Osander II court in Iriaebor. In the chest there also was a small but potent book, Tome of Worldy Memory which Melkor identified to be useful whenever a knowldege about anything was needed. And then Melkor found what he was looking for, a withered book which soon deteriorated into his hands, but a important page survived, which he preserved in his pocket, not showing it's content to the others, insisting that it would play key factor with Arius and his sword.

As the merry band surfaced and moved to the Whispering Maiden, their thoughts were set into the Sunset Mountains, the next waypoint on their incredible adventures, where Arius's sword would find it's true powers. But what secrets Melkor kept hidden from the others...