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 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 Thirteen - Why To Be Just The Hero Of The Century When One Could Be the Legend Of The Millenium!

Session was held 15th of July at the Altar of Games

Life without the Wizard


Arius fitted a traditional Berduskian noble outfit,
only to find it too tight around his belly.

It had been over two weeks when Melkor left the others for his quest of personal power and wisdom. The others had struggled across Darnon while dragging the bony corpse of Jared with them, and reached Berdusk. There a High Priestress of Lathander the Morninglord had resurrected Jared in exchange of bringing back the Font of the Rising Sun aka the bowl. But before their first quest without the brain, Arius had to perform the second ritual of his legacy sword. Whilst Arius was rubbing coal and mercury to his fine blade, the others auditioned and hired a free-writer to keep track on their adventures and later on, to write up a complete biography in order to make some serious amounts of gold.


This responsible yet profitable task was assigned to certain Kaius Sapphirequill (yours truly) and he began his tremendous work by listening the complete story so far, told by the rest while Arius was wanking some enchantment on his sword.

As Arius completed his ritual, everyone were ready to began their journey to the Purgatory, burned down village some miles west from Iriaebor. There were rumored to be a man called Syrralt, ex-priest and traitor of Lathander who had stolen the Bowl for his own dark deeds. The heroes were to capture and bring justice on him, and to return the bowl to it's righfull owners. As Melkor was still missing, it was decided that Cidela Pepperpath would act as substitute for now on.

Journey to the Purgatory began with unconvential measures. Our braves loaded their mounts to a barge that was destined to sail up the river Reaming all away to the Sunset Mountains. Master of deception, Douglas, disguised our riverfaring posse and their mounts, and none of the authorities questioned these "miners" and their "beasts of burden". Journey via the river went well and our strike force stranded few miles before the Purgatory to close with it by feet/hooves. On 23rd of August 1372Dr  they began approaching the Purgatory, known as the village of Orp Sarkan before it's fiery demise in 1368dr when the Skull Riders rode in, slayed and burned the whole village.

The Purgatory, one can't wait to have a vacation there!

Everything in Purgatory was in ruins. Only stone foundations and charred structures remained. In the middle of the village was the market square, place where a great massacre occured four years ago. Dozens of stakes stood there, with charred, impaled corpses of the villagers still hanging in them. Our heroes were disgusted and upset from this heinous massmurder of innocent people. No signs of Syrralt were seen, until they discovered a tent hidden inside a ruined house. Their investigations at the tent came to sudden stop as unidentified riders approached the market square. Our defenders of justice hide themselves and eavesdropped the riders, who were mercenary vanguards lead by a Skull Rider. Fifteen men began patrolling the ruins, some of them Kothians, some Skogarrim, and five of them Blackhelms, Darnonese soldiers.

Our magnificient hiders continued to hide, and investigate the tent, and they discovered strange writings and trigonometric diagrams that depicted a certain location in the ruined village. Carefully inching to avoid the soldiers attention, they moved to the location and found a basement. Inside it they discovered a ropeladders that descended into a narrow chute. By using these ropeladders, they soon found themselves from a underground passage. Eventually the passage came into a halt and opened into dark underground cave. They saw glimpse of torchlight from the otherside of the cave, and witnessed how Syrralt tried to join into Undersea-God-Cult of fishmen, Kuo-Toa. The situation provoked combat, and a scaling began. Our seekers-of-lost-relics had quite a nuisance from Kuo-Toa harpoon-men who hurled their weapons with deadly accuaracy. Nevertheless, the bug-eyed seamen were bout to suffer a defeat, when the unexpected happened.

Curiously, the Kraken stripped Arius and clad him a loincloth!

From the middle of the cave, where a 50ft wide pool of underground water lied, rose a tremendous monster, a kraken, a creature of immense size and diabolical intelligence. The kuo-toa began shrieking "It's Moolowik the Hoarder" and the balance of the battle quickly changed, as the gargantuan entity began amassing both Kuo-Toa and our braves with it's 60ft long tentacles. Quick in wit, our bold warriors began an expeditious retreat, as Douglas managed to nick the bowl. The Kraken, Moolowik, caught Arius as he was running into the passage, but instead of eating him straight-away, the masterbrain proposed a deal to our dim-witted prince-to-be. Arius agreed with the giant-squid, and he was released to live another day. He only had to promise to bring a steady supply of human sacrifices to the abomination, and the creature would crush the riverharbor of Iriaebor when the heroes would try to seize the capital. Forthright suggestion don't you think.

Like the rat leave a sinking ship, our heroes escaped the Purgatory and began their trip back to Berdusk. And soon the Font of Rising Sun was back in the goldring-rich hands of the worshippers of Lathander. And then, yet another adventure unfolded for our heroes.

Change in Order

While our proud adventurers were in Berdusk, Cidela Pepperpath's father, General Almatheus Ochrefield suggested that they should open up the border a little bit. What he meant was that the heroes would infiltrate the borderstation Morihig, which was located at the great gate that dominated the landscape. This gate was the only way through the massive bulwark, and the camp Morihig was the main base for the soldiers stationed in the guardtowers of the bulwark. Inside the camp, they would track and assassinate General Traaghar, a evil man in responsible of many unnecessary deaths of civilians trying to leave cursed Darnon. His demise should open his post to Colonel Erebald who Ochrefield knows to have sympathies for the rebels, and much lesser thirst for blood, unlike the current commander general Traaghar.

To execute the change in order, the schemers left Berdusk and disguised themselves through the gate. While

Dash-line is the way in, dot-line is the way out.

they walked through the camp they observed everything that could aid them on their mission. After the camp they stayed in a shack village known as Hope's End. It had spontaneously sprung up after the construction of the Great Bulwark as many homeless refugees were denied to leave Darnon, so they stayd and camped near the gate. From the misery of Hope's End our soon-to-be-assassins survailed the camp, learned the basic schedule of the camp, including the changes of the watch, and took careful note on the personal customs of General Traaghar.
 

Finally as all the in's and out's, cons and pro's were mapped, our vigilantes begun to move. They assaulted four soldiers patrolling at the Hope's End and escorted a coal cart to the camp. Cidela was to drive the cart, and as they would close the inner gates, a cart wheel would broke to cause distraction. Douglas managed to jury-rig the wheel perfectly and the distraction went as planned. Cidela coloured it futher with her womanly virtues.



Cidela used pair just like these.

Our braves crossed the campbridge to the southern portions and stayed hidden inside a tent, until the time was right. Approx. 2.am Douglas began to sneak towards the HQ. He climbed to the Generals window with the aid of Jareds air walk spell. Luckily the general was asleep, although just faintly, and Douglas performed the notorious Coup-de-Grace, and the assassination was done. They escaped the camp by going out to meet some local girls, and the gateguards didn't notice their hoax. As they left the camp, they forced the whole shacktown of Hope's End to escape with 'em, as they knew that when the murder would be discovered, a great deal of violence would rain down on the civilians.

After the incident at the Morihig borderstation, our heroes once again crossed the Crossing of Hastur, from where they met commoners who were willing to join the rebellion. This oppinion was shared by many that they came across and one led to another and our alpha-rebels found themselves from village of refugees known as Treeward, located in the northern parts of Reaching Woods. There they stayed for three months, instructing able men and women in the secrets of martial warfare. Many were ready to sacrifice themselves for the better tomorrow, and our humble revolutionares soon understood that Darnon was changing, and the moment of truth was closing rapidly. Familiar foresters, Constantin Almert and his sidekick Viril Massar, continued to hone the skills of their upcoming rebel army, as the heroes were needed elsewhere. A call of distress came from the Pass of the Setting Sun in the eastern borders of Darnon, at the Sunset Mountains. There the Order of The Black Cliff had outsourced the responsibility to direction thats atrocity triumphed even the infamous Captain Irongrave. Place where the evil lurked was called Mor Shathûr.

Man Called Tree

It was mid-november and our fellowship proceed towards the city of Hluthvar. Day before it, a curious incident occured. On a small hill lied a rustic cabin accompanied by a weathered tree with dark red leaves. This aroused our adventurers attention. They rode past four gravestones and at the cabin they found one yet to be buried. A skeleton of a man rested on a small bench nect to the cabin door, holding tight on a rusty sword. Before our dear anthropologists managed to search the cabin for loot, a deep whispering voice caught their attention. In the old tree was a man, chained to it. He was old, grey and his skin was rindy as the tree. Bark had covered over half of the chain around the tree, and was slowly engulfing the man itself. Man was bent to the shape of the tree trunk, and his bones were clearly dislocated. The man told our heroes how he had been chained to the tree over a lifetime, as his captor rested under the first and most worn-out gravestone, near the cabin. Man who's skeleton rested near the cabin was his last guard, and the grandgrandson of his captor, Alestur Grimmoir.

Man Called Tree, as he called himself, had murdered and raped Alesturs young wife somewhere around the late 1240's. Rightfully enraged, Alestur had fastened him around this tree outside their homevillage of Hluthvar which now was a city. There he sworn to see the Man to wither and languish until the end of his miserable life, as death would be to pleasant for a murderer like him. Fed only to keep him barely alive, the Man outlived Alestur, who's son Sarmald continued his fathers duty. Eventually Sarmalds son, Farmald put his father to rest and continued his grandfathers calling. But the chained man lived on, and the decades turned into a century. Eventually, Alesturs grandgrandson Haravald, last of his dried out lineage, died somewhere around 1350's and the Man Called Tree was left unguarded. He believed this to be a boon, as none would feed him anymore. But he didn't die.

Man Called Tree suspected that the tree had something to do with it, as he recalled the leaves to be bright green when he was tied around it. Now the leaves were blood red, and Man Called Tree was sure that the wretched plant had grown roots inside him. He asked the heroes for amnesty, and hoped them to strike the rusty blade of Alestur through his heart into the rotten core of the cursed tree. Although he showed no signs of regret, the heroes agreed to do so. Man Called Tree's last wish was that the adventurers would bury poor Haravald who had died in watch over two decades ago. And as the blade reached the trees core, Man Called Tree finally had his rest.

After burying Haravald, the tree dropped it's first red leaf, that slowly floated to Haravalds grave. Our scales of justice continued their journey and left the site that had confined four generations in a one act of revenge, and continued towards the pass of Setting Sun. They passed Hluthvar, a small city that was just a village when Man Called Tree had done his heinous act, and decided to liberate it as soon as Melkor would return as they had heard that great terror was practised in there.

And as their mounts hooves struck lightning, the darkness of the Pass of Setting Sun rose before them, and the darkness had a name,

MOR SHATHÛR

Chapter Nine - Portal-Travelling in the Footsteps of a Ancient Cult

Session was held 29th of January 2011 at the Altar of Games

It had been slightly over a week ago when Melkor the Wise got his hands on the Cultes Netherenes, eccentric tome that together with ponderous research in the libaryvaults of Oghma's Temple revealed much to the wizard. With a bombastic display of prestidigitation he shared his mad scheme to the rest of the fellowship, and the acceptance was mixed. Scepticism was quaranteed as he announced that they would travel to a volcano via ancient portal in order to obtain the Cube of Tybor, an mysterious aertifact which significance was unknown. After supressing all the laughter of disbelief they gathered their ranks and rallied to the Twilight Hall, a Temple of Deneir in Berdusk that also hold the unspoken headquarters of Those Who Harp, the Harpers.

Later on, they arrived to the Twilight Hall where cleric Danius Lumbertide received them and listened to their request. Mister Lumbertides stance was indifferent to their cause, but then Melkor saw his old friend among the people of the temple. General Almatheus Ochrefield served in the army of Darnon twenty years ago until he was exiled as the wave of terror engulfed the kingdom, and he knew Melkor well and promoted their cause to Lumbertide. And when they revealed that Arius had the right for the crown of Darnon, the cleric rushed the party to a rendezvous with High Lady Cylyria Dragonbreast, the leader of the Twilight Hall branch. High Lady Dragonbreast promised their support in the quest for the Cube of Tybor in order to liberate Darnon, and they gave Melkor the missing pieces of the puzzle.

And so, the mad scheme goes like this: First of all, after equipping themselves with rations and new magic items received via late adventure's loot they would ride the western bank of river Reaming to the north, where they would cross the river Reaching and stop to Scornubel. This would take five days. After well slept night in the already familiar city, they would ride to north, passing the Trielta Hills from west until they would reach the treeborder of the Forest of Wyrms. From there they would continue on foot, until the Ossuary of Wyrmwood, old site of Cult of the Dragon, now possibly forlorned. From there they would found the portal to the Smoking Mountains in the Empire of Unther far far away in east, where they would seek the extinct volcano known as the Cauldron of the Wyrm. And inside that Hell on Earth they should find Harafalg the Giant in whose possession the Cube of Tybor is. As simple as that.

Nice plans, and now the practice
After receiving futher guidance in form of cartography, our heroes returned to Dancing Tulip to prepare for the upcoming journey. Two days later, 11th of July 1372DR they launched the expedition according to the plans. From their newly acquired friends Hashim and Lot followed them on their journey, as Cidela Pepperpath stayed in Berdusk due her own whims. On the third day of journey, in halfway to Scornubel, severe rainfall hindered their movement into fraction. As they pushed through the grey curtain, three malicius trolls surrounded and jumped on them. A horrendous fight occured against these tough skinned humpbacks, as they regenerated even the most ghastliest cuts. Eventually, after building a pyre over every trollish carcass our heroes managed to take a breather. They even came across with small trollnest which provided them with minor loot.

Soon they were on their way again, all away to the river Reaching where they were suppose to take a ferry across. But the ferryman apologized and instructed them to meet Baron Von Schuberg, a nobleman willing to charge the ferryservices personally. Infuriated they rode to Barons vineyard estate, where they were received on a sunny patio. The opulent baron, Konarld Von Schuberg boasted to our humble heroes how gruelling his work in eminent position in the United Merchants was, and how he needed a time off from it with his family and riches at this summer-estate. Eventually Arius got pissed of and gave the baron the finger, plunging the afternoon into gore-filled slaughter. After liquidating practically everyone except the servants, our vigilantes let the poor peasants working in the vineyard to plunder the estate, while the ferryman took them to the opposite bank.

The magnificent band soon reached Scornubel where they found themselves from the Jumping Jugs tavern, once again. They relaxed for a while until a familiar face crept in. It was Mordiggian, main usurer of the United Merchants/Murderers. He questioned the PCs from the murder of Baron Von Schuberg who held a high title in the ranks of United Merchants and demanded them to solve the murder and also to eliminate the resistance once and for all, or they would face the deadly charges from the bloody assault. The merrymakers promised to bring forth the killers but after well rested night in the tavern they slipped out of the city, and doing so they burned their bridges to Scornubel for awhile.

The Ossuary of Wyrmwood

The adventure continued and they spurred their steeds towards the Trielta Hills. After three long days of thunderous gallop they reached the treeborder of the Forest of Wyrms. Lot the squire promised to take the steeds to the town of Triel, where he would caress them meanwhile the heroes would plunder some volcanos. And so they diverged and our fellowship seasoned with the swordmanship of Hashim penetrated the ancient forest. Carefully following the maps given by Harpers they managed to avoid any encounters with the terrible dragons nesting in those woods. Eventually they discovered the site which was the entrance to the Ossuary, or once were as now it resembled more like a hole in the ground. Anyhow, they descended down to the abandoned upper levels, and advanced carefully, witnessing signs of battle and decay everywhere. Eventually they found a pristine door, which served as a entrance to lower levels that Harpers never managed to cleanse. Well crafted iron door featured a prominent dragonhead made of gold, and the dragonhead spoke to the party. It riddled our heroes and as they solved the magical gatekeepers silly rhymes they managed to pass it.

Once again they walked through countless of corridors and chambers, abandoned yet untouched by gruesome battle. Once again, a door featuring a dragonhead idol blocked their way. This time it didn't show any signs of opening and Douglas the trapexpert managed to find a trap from it, yet he didn't have the skills to discharge it. And so came Jared, the servant of the Morninglord and with quick words he conjured a hole in the wall besides the door, revealing the corridor behind the trapped door. Unluckily for him, he also eradicated the containers holding the acid that was supposed to splash out from the dragons mouth if the trap would have been triggered. Jared was able to withstand the corrosive backlash.

And so they entered to the final chamber of the ossuary. It was a huge vault, holding a small underground lake within. And against this lake rose a steep cliff, starting ascending from the doorway. And on the top of the cliff was a circural structure, roughly ten feet in diameter, acting like a window to strange realms. As they closed in to the portal they saw it displaying reddish mountaintops of the faraway empire of Unther. As Melkor begun to study the apparatus in order to achieve a safe journey, others kept guard, and not in vain, as a unknown force of soldiers showed up in the doorway.

The small regiment begun asceding the cliff, and a leader of these bloodhounds shouted the final warnings to our heroes, Consisting of Kothians, Skoggarrim and Darnonese soldiers, they were in a perfect form for Melkor to cast his fireball on them, and so did the wizard. Struck down by the blaze and offguard, Douglas rushed to the regiment to cleave out these mercenaries with his forbidding sneak attack. Oh how he wished that he wouldn't been so hasty, as from nowhere charged a man clad in black fullplate. This man, a Skull Rider, Knight of the Order of the Black Cliff wielded a bastard sword spewing forth ice and frost. Battle against these bounty hunters was fierce, as they even had a mage behind their ranks. The Skull Rider, the antagonist, fought hard, as his servitude to the Bitter Lord gave him powers unimaginable, but as good guys so often do, our heroes crushed the force ment to be the lash of the king in his hunt for the stray heir. Upon dying, the skull rider cursed our heroes and declared that his father, captain Irongrave would avenge his death.

Fatigued by this grim feuding, our glorious band of adventurers caught a breath as they gazed in to the portal that show'd them volcanic vistas of high black mountains spewing forth thick black collums of smoke.

Somewhere there was the Cauldron of the Wyrm, and a giant, sitting on the Cube of Tybor.