Chapter Eighteen - How did this happen, how could this happen, How did the empire fall?

A new chapter had begun in the tale of our bold adventurers. As they fought and conquered the terrible entity known as Vasuthant, the armies of Darnon were at move. The date was 29th of May, 1373 DR when the mercenaries of Darnon began their pillage in the farmlands surrounding Berdusk. At that date, the war began. But our heroes didn't know about the southern events just yet. The village of Triel was devastated from the battle with that unholy entity, so our braves had to ride all night long to Scornubel. There they managed to catch few hours of rest, until the sentry of High Lady Rhessajan Ambermantle woke them up and summoned them to a meeting. There the High Lady, ruler of Scornubel, told our fellowship about the events, and suddenly our freedom fighters realized how compromised their urge for Free Darnon really was.

General Ochrefield
Father of Cidella Pepperpath

Lady Ambermantle calmed our braves and told that the supply wagons that they requested earlier were ready to go, and that the draft for thousand able warrior had been completed. Even Melkor was quite surprised as General Almatheus Ochrefield stepped forth from the shadows and declared that he would lead the troops alongside of our heroes. General Ochrefield had been exiled from Berdusk as a harbinger of ill-omens just days before the city was besieged, even though he only tried to warn the city council from the danger.

Late that afternoon, the battalion was on the move. The troops were also to escort the supplies to Asbravn, and only a quarter having a horses, the journey was going to take a while. While moving through the Reaching Woods, our heroes pondered on the strategics of coming war. General Ochrefield adviced them to collect the troops in Asbravn, and strike to the back of the besieging Darnonese army. Despite their careful plannings, they had to adapt for ill news, as a messenger from Asbravn rode to them. The freshly liberated city was facing new menace as the main force of darnonese Blackhelms had begun their march from Iriaebor, stopping only when Asbravn would be mere cinders. Troubled from the news, our valiant heroes decided to ride to the city as soon as possible, leaving General Ochrefield to advance with the Scornubelian battallion. Trustworthy aid Lot and Hero the dog would also stay with the troops, guarding the supplies and secretly watching over the Cube of Tybor that was hidden into the supplies.

Riding their steeds to death, our heroes of Free Darnon reached Asbravn by dusk, barely getting inside among the last remaining peasants before the gates were closed for good. Dortherion welcomed our adventurers, clearly relieved by seeing them, as they were the only hope Asbravn currently had. At that time the marching Blackhelms were at the horizon, and by nightfall the city was besieged. Dortherion estimated that the enemy numbered four or five thousand, as they only had one and a half - two thousand men. As the night grew darker, and hundreds of torches surrounded the city, a small diplomatic convoy of Blackhelms rode to the gate. There their spokesman, Orbald Vornhel, the mouth of the king, wished to discuss about the terms of Free Darnons surrendering.

King Osander II's terms for the surrendering of the rebels were that every notable person of the rebellion would have to be handed over (except Douglas who was presumed to be dead due his constant changes of appearance) and punished. Also, Prince Saldor was to be released immediately, the King to be nominated as the sole ruler of Darnon and the rebellion to be disolved. Our heroes laughed at these ridiculous claims and kicked the kings mouth back to the dog pack surrounding the city. And this act began the bloodshed.

During the night, the catapults and trebuchets  pounded the city, causing much damage and death. Without Jareds cunning use of summoning magics, the devastation would have been much worse, but his air elementals crippled the throwing machines for several hours.

The bombardment stopped as the new dawn peaked. The enemy forced half a dozen captives (peasants and p.o.w) to step foward, and unless our heroes would free Prince Saldor, the captives would be put to the sword. Even though some empathies for the prisoners were heard among the Asbravnians, freeing the prince was out of question, and to prevent possible torture, Melkor shot a fireball on the prisoners and their captors, killing soldiers and civilians alike. This awakened the beast, as the besieging army began their first true assault on the city.

The magics of Melkor and Jared slayed dozens and the attack was destined to fail. But a small task force of extreme efficiency managed to crawl into the city via ancient catacomb tunnels, and the broke Saldor out of the dungeons. It was really close that the enemy would have succeed in freeing the prince, but Arius and Douglas were conscious of the situation, and together they prevented the escape.

Many died during the first assault that lasted for the day. It was painstakingly obvious that as the enemy would have regroup and launch another one, the city would most likely fall. Fate of Asbravn was in the Scornubels battallion that was on it's way, and in the abilities of our brave heroes, who were the spine of defense. The coming night was restless, the bombardment continued and strange movement was noticed among the enemy ranks. When the morning came, a horrible sight awaited. The enemy had piled the corpses and carcasses of the fallen into two gargantuan piles of grotesque nature. And, worst of all, they had opened the burial mounds that served as the resting place for those who had died during the liberation of Asbravn few weeks ago, and added these heroic dead to the piles. Although intimidated by the corpse piles, Melkor also noticed that the Banners of the King himself had arrived, and even from the distance, a ominous red cloaked figure was seen standing next to King Osander II.

But then all evil broke loose. The piles of bodies began to move, as giant arms and legs were formed from the bones of the dead. Melkor identified the profane monstrosities as necronauts, one of the most sinister creations known to man. The abomination shambled towards the city walls with unnatural speed, and crushed against it like giant battering rams. Terrible was the fury of those greater evils, and as fast as they killed brave men on the wall, they added the fresh corpses to itselves, strengthening the undead vigor. As our heroes fought against one of these necronauts, Dortherion, Cidella, Count Anthrop, Karman Fatta and Dacatrin the sorceress tried to hold back another one.

Even though the creations of unimaginable evil were tough as hell, our heroes managed to destroy the first one. And as they did, they saw a glimpse of hope, as the Scornubelian battalion charged to the flank and rear of the enemy. Arius that his moment had came, and he rushed through the battlefield, his eyes locked to the King Osander II who was having his stand against General Ochrefields troops. Kings bodyguards were some of the finest warriors in the realm, and only with the help of the other heroes, Arius manage to break through and face the king. By this moment, Melkor had noticed that the  red cloaked man next to the King was not Alzarseth the Red, but just a mere look alike cleric that was to secure the king. The false Red was soon struck down and Arius swung his blade, Ilbrandir, towards the king, and look!

The King of Darnon, Osander the Second was struck down.

The defeated King lied on the battlefield with a mortal wound, but before his death, he spoke to his victor, and he said:
"Ariendur, come closer.. Yes, you look much like your mother. And now I see, and now I repent.
I could have kept you as my son... but your mother.. The betrayal was too much..
But betrayal lurked also in the words of the Red Wizard. Slay that apostate.. Save Berdusk.."

The King coughed blood and continued:
"Ariendur, now as I see you there.. You are like the son I always wished for..
Your deeds are already like the deeds of a King.. But a right for the crown you have not!
You are just a bastard of a queen bitch! Do you understand! You live in a lie!"

The Kings face distort in pain and terror:
"That man! That face! Queens Mentor
Aeliathe! How could you..."

And with those words, the King of Darnon took his last breath. Arius turned around to see what had struck such a terror to a dying man, and for his horror, he saw Melkor, his mentor. 

Arius cried in shock as he realized that Melkor was his real father!

Eventually the battle ceased. The death of the King had struck a final blow to the moral of the Blackhelms and many fled. The necronauts were destroyed, but only by the sacrifice of Karman Fatta. The bold mercenary will be remembered. Asbravn was safe. At dusk, the heroes gathered around a campfire to discuss about their next move. Melkor insisted that they would have to act against the besieging army outside Berdusk, as the Red Wizard was there. The old schemers was sure that sending the king here was just a diversion planned by Alzarseth to win more time, for what, that Melkor didn't know. The others agreed with Melkor that the rest of the army of Free Darnon had to move quickly towards Berdusk, but one of them said nothing.

Arius stared into nothingness as he began to understand that his claim for the crown was gone. The old wizard was his father and he was just his mothers bastard with no legitimacy. He didn't know how to push onwards as now or never he felt that he was just a young man, whose whole life was a lie, and whose sword was stained with the blood in a unjustified treason.

He was nothing more than a

SON OF A BITCH

Chapter Seventeen - Calm Before The Storm

Session was held 28th of January at the Altar of Games

Asbravn's streets were full of grief.

Governing the City
As the new dawn rose over the city of Asbravn, the ones who survived the perilous night were able to witness the full scale of devastation. Bloodstained streets glimmered like rivers of ruby as our heroes wandered around the city. Although terrible price was paid, they were still seen as liberators, and the battle against the Red Dragon  was remembered for generations. Cidela Pepperpath had rode to the city at dawn and joined the heroes company as they were to begin re-organizing the governance in the city. Newly promoted Count Anthrop vowed to assist our heroes in their struggle to stabilize the mangled city and by his initiative they arrived to Asbravn's Chamber of Commerce. The old wooden building had survived the blazes of dragonbreath and swarming undead and while the keep was reconstructed, it would serve as the center of governing. High Merchant Massime Rodour welcomed the new rulers to the Chamber and showed them the great table known as the Scale where they should hold their "court".

As they made themselves comfortable around the Scale, a former captain of the cityguard marched in. He presented himself as Erga son of Ereg, grandson of Egra the Trollslayer. He pledges to form the new cityguard with eighty surviving guardsmen who aren't too loyal for king Osander II. Our newly elected governors didn't oppose this proposition and thus Erga returned to the streets to stabilize the chaos. After enstablishing the city guard, our valiant heroes retired for a lunch and a nap in one of the surviving inns. The Velvet Weight served fine meals and warm beds for our dragonslayers, and they slept a little while Count Anthrop continued on the management tasks.

Later on the afternoon, Count Anthrop dragged our dreamers back to the newly established court. There they had to execute some justice, as Antrhop presented them several crooks from Lord Protector Mornburgs old court to answer for their misbehavings.

Death to traitors!

Our new judges condemned ex-bailiff Fraknar Anderser and his collector Jalivar to be executed, along side with torturer Two-Tongue (who tortured Jared and Arius a year ago) and Stygon, a priest of the Bitter Lord. They were to meet their end at next high noon.
Speaker of Mornburg, Salvard Greybridge, official Nemerd Stonetower and widow Lady Marin Mornburg were condemned to imprisonment until their negative point of view would be drastically changed. Sorceress Dacatrin (who battled against them just a day ago!) convinced Melkor to be better left alive, as her services would be much of use, so she was declared as an ally.

After pronouncing the sentences, Antrhop presented several vacancies to be filled. Our homebrewn lords appointed bloodhound mercenary Huss the Hound to be the new constable. Valiant Ser Albaster Typhion vowed to serve as a non-corrupt bailiff, while Walther Purpletide, familiar sage (the last apprentice of Ulverus the Wise), promised to act as an advisor.

Misha & Sasha

Count Anthrop volunteered to act as the new Speaker and High Merchant Rodeurs lawyer Uddard Blackcaster was elected as the chamberlain/senechal to advise our heroes in legal matters.
 New chamberlain Blackcaster promised to present several legal issues during next morning and advised our court of kings to take a rest. And so they ought to do,but old trader Geodyf Mirnov stormed in to the courtroom with his two dazzling daughters. Fortune in his eyes, the oldtimer tried to pitch his daughters Misha & Sasha to our city-liberators, but only Douglas took the bait.

A whack straight into forehead,
that makes a beheading remarkable!

After a full night of debauchery. our heroes struggled to get up to see yesterdays convicts to be executed. Because the city had no executioner anymore, Arius was forced to deal his own justice, as he was the most capable swordsman around. Beheading's were done without any errors and Mornburgs crooked administration was finally dealt with.

Kingdom Come

After the justifiable public killings, our lawmakers returned to the Chamber of Commerce to pass some laws and edicts. Newly appointed chamberlain Uddard Blackcaster had prepared several important articles. Thus they ordained:

• The Kingdom of Free Darnon was founded 23rd of May 1373DR. With his legitimate claim to the throne, Arius was humbly crowned as Ariendur, King of Free Darnon.
• Pleas of aid were send to Cormyr, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. 
• The Church of the Bitter Lord was banished as heresy and all worship of the forsaken god will lead to trial. Old religions like Lathander and Chauntea were restored to their former standings.
• Mornburgs hidden treasure that was found from the Keep Asbravn will be spend in repairing the keep and the city
• A messenger was send to Hluthvar calling Dortherion to march the army of Free Darnon down to Asbravn, as recoil of some sort was expected from behalf of King Osander II. 
• Pardons were promised for the prisoners of war that are willing to join the Free Darnon
• It was also decided that the surplus wealth from Mornburgs stash would be spend in Scornubel. The heroes would venture there personally to make necessary arrangements with local administration in order to buy weapons, equipment and rations for the citizens of Asbravn.

It wasn't mentioned in the official records that our brilliant posse would also make some personal purchases of magical sort, and also a quick trip to town of Triel in order to meet up with trusty henchman Lot and to dig up the Cube of Tybor that was hidden there months ago. 

Here the artist was somewhat mistaken,
the attempt was made with a dagger, not a spear,
although the two are easy to confuse.

After the lawmaking, High Merchant Rodour took our heroes for a short walk around the city. Despite the city's general turmoil, many wished our heroes well while they paced through the streets. They even met familiar faces such as Brella Cempwood who had bestowed them with Hero, Arius's dog that currently was in Triel with Lot. While on the streets, one of the Mirnov daughters addressed Arius and they broke up from the delegate to have a private conversation. Neither of them knew that an assassin was lurking nearby, and the first attempt for Arius's life was made. The assassin however botched his big moment and our young King sliced the bastard in half with his legacy sword, Ilbrandir. Merry tale for the assassin to tell at the ferry.

The new dawn arrived with dozen hundred soldiers from Hluthvar as Dortherion arrived with haste. They had few units of reinforcements with them, such as a brigade of halfling slingers from Corm Orp. While our heroes prepared to leave for Scornubel, Dortherion and master mercenary Karman Fatta was to stay and organize defenses in Asbravn. Dortherion also told about the intel reports suggesting that King Osander II had only his mercenary armies to move towards Berdusk. All the Blackhelms were still in Iriaebor and thus a serious menace lingered near Asbravn. 

After they had dealt with the last governance issues in Asbravn, our bold adventurers saddled and strode towards the village of Darkshallows. They expected a nostalgic reunion with the villagers that they once saved from peril, but the cruel forces of King Osander had preempt our adventurers, and only death and suffering waited in the village. Our fellowship which was accompanied by Cidella, could only behold with sadness as every single villager hang from a noose in the branches of ancient grey oak. Day later, our travelers arrived to the Crossing of Hastur, and later that evening they stayed the night at Tremeld Sinivihta's Foresthouse Inn at the border of Reaching Woods. The old innkeeper warned our journeymen( and women) from new dangers lurking in the woods. Some being of immense evil wandered around the forest, leaving only trail of dead vegetation, trees and animals behind. Slightly discouraged, our wayfarer slept their night with caution, and after the daybreak they plummeted to the woods.

Return to the Cube

Arius after his upgrade/extreme make over/pimp my knight

As the innkeeprer had warned, the forest indeed possessed an atmosphere of evil. In the midway of the forest trail, our heroes finally found something quite alarming. Two dozen dead men lied scattered around the road, and a trail of dead grey trees diverged from the path. They all seemed like their life force had been sucked out of them, and with great caution our travelers continued towards Scornubel. Even though the signs were there, they arrived safely to Scornubel. Captain Kluskan of the cityguard, the Red Shields, introduced our heroes to the ruler of Scornubel, Lady Rhessajan Ambermantle, who was appointed shortly after the United Murderes - crime syndicate was erased from the city (by our heroes of course!) Lady Ambermantle recognized them as the sole rulers of Free Darnon and agreed with terms of trade with them. While the wagons for supplies were to be organized, our dear merchants marched to the shops to boost local economy with theirs tremendous hoards of gold. Fully upgraded and equipped, they still had time for the supply-wagons to be ready, so they decided to fetch Lot and the Cube of Tybor from Triel.

After full night of sleep at the Jumping Jugs, our heroes rode to Triel. The journey only took half a day. Village of Triel was the same as it used to be, although a strange stone statue had been mounted in the middle of the village. It didn't taka long to our fellows to recognize the statue to be Hashim, their old friend who was killed in Triel. Touched by the memorial, the moment soon turned to joy as Lot run to them. As the reunion took place, many memories where shared and laughter was heard all across the village. The village chief, Elvar the Grainlord soon joined the heroes, only to be terribly insulted as he found out that our braves were not the men they had told him ages ago. As a strong supporter of King Osander II regime, The Grainlord asked for the fake-diplomats to leave.

Artists view of the atrocious look of the Vasuthant

Our political plotters decided to obey Grainlords request (which was completely unheard of, given their eagerness in violence) but they first went to the house where the Cube was stored. Lot was slightly disappointed from the turn of events as he had savored great reverence within the village. Nevertheless, the cube was still buried untouched in the basement of the house, and as they dug it up, Melkor received strange message from the Cube. The old wizard assured the rest that the cube was just happy to see the heroes and downplayed the importance of the message. As they were making their way out of the house, Elvar the Grainlord appeared once more, carrying a amulet associated to Alzarseth, the Red Wizard. The bitter chief insulted the heroes and as he cursed them, great darkness descended from the sky. Terrible undead known as the Vasuthant attacked. Battle was grievous as many innocent villagers died, as the abominations life sucking powers did great damage to anything living around it. And to top this, the thing altered time itself. But don't you worry world, the champions of Light were near as this gargantuan evil erupted, and with amazing expertise of our good guys, the unholy creature released by the evil red wizard was destroyed.

And this my friend, was the first thunderbolt of the storm that would change the face of Darnon forever.

Chapter Sixteen - Night When The Kingdom Was Engulfed By Fire

Session was held 4th of January 2012 at the Altar of Games

Constantly warping darkness and void surrounded Melkor. He had been suspended in this state of nothingness for ages, or so it felt. Actually it had been mere seconds ago when the purple worm of Alzarseth died and sucked everyone into the void in it's death throes. But suddenly Melkor heard a sound, a distant voice,calling..

Lord of Vision

Xul-Molor in his alien cell.

Melkor regained his consciousness and found himself trapped in a small cell with the rest of the fellowship. Old and crazed  man stood in front of him. His clothes were tattered, face unkept, but yet he showed marks of exceptionally high intelligence. Man introduced himself as Xul-Molor, a planar walker and astral traveller, magically trapped into this small cell. As the rest of the party slowly woke up, Xul-Molor explained that they had been lost in time and space, but he saved them from that harsh destiny with his astral beacon. Most of his planar magic had been suppressed by his captor, but he was able to uphold the beacon. The old star traveller told how he was trapped into a astral web and later auctioned to his current captor, Kularqoroth the Seer. Now that he had summoned the heroes from the void, he would finally be able to escape. He explained how they would have to find his belongings as they are needed for planar travel, and firstly they would have to knock the alien-like cell door and call for Yig the Jailer. 


Promise of freedom was enough for our heroes, and they soon began executing Xul-Molor's plan. Yig answered the call and as the mighty off-shoot of a demon and a grimlock opened the cell door, soon-to-be-prince Arius plunged on it. They exchanged some blows and eventually the monstrous guard was dead. With Yigs keyring, our brave heroes searched through the rest of the jail-section and witnessed terrible scenes of torture and forced magical mutations. They found only one captive alive and sane, but he charged towards the exit, only to meet his end in the mandibles of terrible UMBER HULK! Our escapees landed their avenging strikes on the huge monstrosity, but it summoned an ally, an another one, precisely as terrible. These creatures gazed confusion into Arius but luck was on our heroes side, once again.  They continued to push onward, and after short leaps over abyssal chasms they reached their goal, the lair of Kularqoroth the Seer.

Kularqoroth

As they forced themselves to Kularqoroths hidden chamber, they realized that they were facing a beholder! The buoyant aberration proved to be an elusive little bugger as it floated beyond swords reach, firing it's deadly eye rays, targeting everyone.
Even Melkor had to use more advanced tactics with his spells, first running out of the antimagic cone projected by beholders central eye, and then firing his own spells at the monster. Finally the bulb was dead, and Xul-Molor was able to recover his delicate apparatuses of planar travel. But before they could escape from the grande chamber, one urgent case of healing magic had to be applied on Douglas, who had turned to stone by Kularqoroths devilish eye ray.

Douglas, looking like he was meant to look.

 Luck was on their side once again as Xul-Molor proved to be one nifty magician, and he healed Douglas with his amazing spells. This act of gratitude had some intriguing side-effects as our dexterous rogue had his old appearance back, lost almost a year ago in a process of resurrection! No longer did Douglas look like a charismatic Rashemenian swashbuckler, now he was plain old Berduskian scumbag! In an instant they also understood the consequences of this transformation, as they would have a lot's of explanation to do to all their allies and contacts who knew only the old Douglas. The possibilities of anonymity were also acknowledged, as none of their enemies would know the search for him now. Douglas did not reveal whether he was glad to have his old looks back or not, but the others didn't have the time to ask, as Melkor rushed them to travel through the planes once again!

Battle for Asbravn
aka
 How Melkor cleansed the city of Asbravn

Xul-Molor urged everyone to form a circle, and with quick words of arcane meanings he took them to a trip back to Darnon. The strange wizard brought  them to Asbravn, to the chamber where the pair of Soldengraads Rippler had been, where they should have gone upon stepping to the mirror. With swift words of farewell the astral traveller wished luck on their side, and hoped to see them again someday and disappeared, leaving our heroes alone in a closed chamber with half-dozen guards. Well, the guards were nothing that they could not overcome, as within the first seconds of their appearance, Arius launched his sword through the abdomen of one unaware guard sergeant, splitting the poor man in half. As the first blood was drawn, the battle soon escalated into a full scale carnage.

Dacatrin the Sorceress

Lead by Arius and his legendary legacy sword, Ilbrandir,
our liberators slayed their way to the grand hall of the Keep of Asbravn. There they were delayed by volley of arrows, two Asbravnian noblemen Counts Polewright and Gorlund  lead by Brother of the Black Cliff called Anthrop. They were backed by sorceress Dacatrin. Her magicks were almost even with Melkor, as she cast chain lighting and reverse gravity upon our brave party. As the battle ensued and blood was spilled, Lord Protector Gustaf Mornburg, who had been observing the outcome escaped, forcing our heroes after him. The sorceress was eventually defeated by Melkors magic, but she managed to escape. The two poor noblemen serving their lord perished in combat, but brother Anthrop managed to fight off the keen blade of Arius, and proposed an agreement. Thus he was known as Anthrop the Oathbreaker, and he even managed to haggle the title of count for himself by pledging loyalty for his new lords. Well, as the kingdom grows, one needs regents at the time of absence.

Encouraged by their new yet bit shady ally, the freedom fighters began pursuing Lord Protector Mornburg who had escaped to the roofs and walls of the keep. They experienced minor resistance as they purified their way to the rooftop of the keep. There, in the highest watchtower, The Lord Protector of Asbravn, Gustaf Mornburg performed a short obscure ritual with a solid gold pedestal depicting imagery of occult nature. This ritual proved to be a summoning chant, that activated the pedestal (given and instructed to Mornburg by Alzarseth, or so Melkor later reasoned). Flash of light turned the night sky into thunderstorm, and from the maelstrom a huge red dragon descended, puffing it's fiery breath on our heroes. The dragon, Merthoflagrion, began swooping around the keep, performing deadly flyby attacks. Quickly enraged (so quickly that for a blink of an eye he considered the career of barbarian instead of a prince) Arius climbed to the watchtower and slayed Lord Protector Mornburg. Even though  the oppressor of Asbravn was dead, that didn't solve the dragon problem, and the massive creature of immense power had to be vanquished in traditional methods. As even Melkor struggled to do any harm on the glorious archaic being, Arius and Douglas challenged the beast on hand to hand combat.

The red dragon tore horrible open wounds with it's mighty claws, smashed men to ground with it's huge tail, knocked it's opponents down with it's wings. But the bite. The bite almost proved to be too much for Arius. Only by sacrificing his trusty spiked small shield "Pinocchio", he managed to escape his ultimate end in the jaws of Merthoflagrion. The dragon was powerful, but even the strong may fall when they're facing an enemy that is fighting for their freedom. And so did Merthoflagrion, as it tried to escape, a final killing blow was landed, and the dragon plunged down from mid-air, crushing the whole entrance to the keep.

Arius battling Merthoflagrion,
drawn by one of the surviving guardsmen that witnessed the epic battle.

As the soldiers and guards were closing in the keep, Melkor remembered the Standard of the Fallen and ordered Arius to unfold and wield it. So he did, but little did he know what consequences it would have. The power of the banner was even beyond Melkors expectations. It's call was widely heard, and answered, to terror of many. It was so, that as the banner withered into nothingness, the vast armies of the dead answered to it's final call. Summoned by the call of the Fallen King, the occupants of the ancient catacombs under Asbravn, began surfacing, killing and slaying everyone that stood in their way. The living dead didn't attack the one's who cowered in fear, but everyone lifting a weapon against them received a death penalty. Aghast by the terrible mistake they had done, our poor city-conquerors couldn't do anything to prevent the massacre. Jared tried to channel divine energy into the what-was-left of the standard, but his efforts were in vein. Not until the first rays of light reached the streets of the city, the army of the dead was finally put back into the eternal rest. It is said that the cleansing of Asbravn took nearly a fourth of the city's population as casualties, many of them innocent.

Nevertheless, Free Darnon now held two-thirds of the cities of Darnon, although the one that was left, Iriaebor, was nothing like it's two smaller cousins. During the morning as our heroes were inspecting the terrible damages they had done to the city, a messenger arrived with a peculiar note. It had been spotted that the vast mercenary armies camping outside Iriaebor were put on the move, but they weren't coming north towards Asbravn, the armies began their march to west, towards Berdusk. Even Melkor was puzzled by this unexpected turn of events, but more than anything he suspected that the Red Wizard, the One-that-should-not-be-mentioned, Alzarseth, was behind this. 

But before any hasty reasoning's were made, our champions of Free Darnon decided to keep a 

DAY OFF!

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 Seven - Like a cutting blade they cross the Kingdom, again!

Session was held 20th of November 2010 at the Altar of Games

After the unleashing of sword Ilbrandir's true legacy powers, Arius, Douglas, Jared and Karaz the dwarf climbed down the long ladders that went from the Witchkings workroom to the mountain top. Finally they ascended back to the workroom where Melkor was waiting for them. The old sage looked troubled but he congratulated young Arius from gaining the swords true power, but after the formalities the wizard stepped up and revealed what he had learned from the mind projection of the Witchking.

Melkor the loremaster told the others that they would soon leave for Berdusk, a free city southwest from here, near the bulwark borderlands of Darnon. They decided to leave at once but Karaz the old dwarven friend of Melkor told them that he would stay in Asbravn for a while, maybe doing some money as a smith. But their return to the plains was put in halt instantly after leaving the Witchkings tower. Sharply croaking winged creature plummeted downwards shrieking how the heroes would "pay for their meddlings" throwing sharp and fiery spikes from itself. And as our heroes prepared to battle against this flying devil, crackling sound behind them bringed forth unexpected doom. Three gargoyles which were waiting over the towers giant doorway charged on our heroes backs, slaying the unfortunate Douglas outright (the DM once again threw a instant death, 20+20+success), ripping away the poor rogue's ribs, thus exposing cavities that Melkor didn't even know to exists. Rest of our heroes fought hard against these stony creatures, and finally won the expectionally violent combat.

They found that the gargoyles carried strange amulets bearing a unknown wizards personal symbol. Melkor was unable to identify who was the mage and they forgot the matter as they began to mourn their fallen comrade. In the mids of their grief, Jared had a insight from his god Lathander that there was a way to bring back Douglas, altought he would never be a same man again. They buried Douglas under heavy stones, but took few pieces of his remains and his personal belongings with them, in order to carry out Lathanders plan.

To repair the unrepairable

After two days of unbearable hiking, they were back at the gates of Asbravn. The gatewatch did not suspect them as they were too busy in catching a halfling murderer and thus checking under every cloak and skirt. Jared pronounced that he needed several rare oils and unguents in order to bring back Douglas, and so they decided to ventrue to the house of old cleric Sembor who gave his life in bringing back Arius just few weeks ago. And yes, they smelled the few weeks when they arrived to the clerics house. Horrid stench of decay lurked in the basement where they left the cleric, and now Jared had to ascend to the holy man's final rest and search for the ingredients. Our beloved priest succeed and cast the spell of Reincarnate granted by Lathander as his domain spell. Under a carefully set linen the oils and remains of Douglas started to realign and after an hour of transformation, a new man rose from the floor, threw away the cloth and behold! He looked nothing like Douglas anymore!

After recovering from the initial shock caused by the new form of Douglas, the others explained it all to the poor reincarnate. Douglas was shakened at least but proved to be a good sport by gathering his things and they were on the move again! After re-equipping themselves with ranged projectiles amongst all the other things, Karaz the dwarf wished them farewell as they rode out of the city in order to plunge into the southwestern parts of their beloved realm in peril.

Their stride through the lush plains of Darnon went well, but eventually the adventure came forth to our magnificient four. A man, venerable in age, walk towards them, crying his eyes out, his mouth covered in dry blood. It soon became apparent that the tongue of the poor geezer was cut off, so all he could say was plain mutter. Melkor demanded him to calm down and gave to him a inkpen and a piece of parchment. The senior, named Oldaar wrote how group of men, propably a cult of some sort that he could not define (mainly because he was from west, passing through the kingdom) had kidnapped his granddaugher Brennia and headed south. The heroes were convinced, there was a damsel in distress!

Damsel in distress!

They rode against the night, stopping only to ask guidance from few locals. Eventually they managed to track down the slavering party to a group of old buildings, propably a farmstead nearing the state of crumbling. There those villanous captors celebrated around two large campfires, few of them set in guard around the buildings. By their keen eyes they spotted five guards carrying long spears, falchions on their belt and sporting long, groomed mustaches. Melkor identified these men as Kothian Mercenaries. There was also two knights in company of a old cleric, propably the leader of the gang. The knights were most likely Initiates of the Order of the Black Cliff. Our master deceivers crafted a battleplan where Melkor and Arius would stay in the cover of darkness while Jared and Douglas would march into the camp disguising themselves as travellers. Gramps Oldaar and Hero the Dog would stay guarding the horses mile or so away.

Everything thing went according the plan, and our proud "travellers" managed to arouse the campers so, that they exposed their true agendas as northern sect of the Church of the Bitter Lord, advancing towards Iriaebor while harvesting fresh "ceremonial vessels" as they called their young captives. As swords were drawn and spears thrust, Melkor the Battlemage summoned a vicious ice storm on their enemies, leaving their enemies crippled and frozen. The battle ensued, and the cult followers received reinforcements as two more initiates rode to battle, but all that was in vain as our heroes once again triumphed over their enemies. One of the Kothians managed to slay three of the captives but the others were saved, including Oldaars granddaughter Brennia. One of the ex-captives was called Cidela Pepperpath, maybe young in age but proven as a warrior. The other were a young man, almost a boy and a farmgirl from Asbravn.

Oldaar thanked the heroes, and everyone was touched by the reunion of the gramps and his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Jared was forced to heal one of the seriously wounded Kothians as he begged for mercy and redemption. Nothing is better for a servant of Lathander than saving a evil soul back to the good side, it beats even killing the bad guys! The rescued young man told his name to be Lot, he was a squire looking for a new master to serve, and even though Arius was just barely older than him, the boy asked for to be a squire for him. Arius eventually agreed and Lot told that when Arius would purchase a real lance, he would be called Lance-Lot! Despite the grim setting, a spontaneous laughter echoed far and loud!

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...