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 Fourteen - Misery & Sorrow at the Black Gates of Mor Shathûr

Session was held 9th - 11th of September at the Gustav's Hideout

Black Tower of Mor Shathûr

The sun rose as a grey behemoth as our heroes were penetrating deeper in to the Pass of the Setting Sun. It was first of december and a rain of hail was covering the black earth. Jared who had greeted the sunrise for his divine spells introduced the heroes to two local shepherds called Gudard and Blabbermouth-Benj. They told about the menace at the dark tower, how it was held by savage tribe of orcs called Gujat Kragor, the Long Tusks. These vile humanoids had tormented the pass since their rise to power, hampering the traffic at the pass to zero and reducing the land available for pasture to a quarter. Thus the shepherds agreed to help the Hope of Darnon, and showed a secret passage to the tower, once used by lusty monks of Deneir, as the main gate to the pass was overrun by the orcish horde.

Scruffy depict of Mor Shathûr.
It was made in haste as the danger was imminent.

When the night embraced the lands, our brave assailants proceeded to the secret entrance. The peasants returned to their herds, awestruck by magics performed by Jared who opened the large stone door blocking the secret passage with a single spell. Ancient tunnel led the party to a small meeting room, where a riddle of seven sins puzzled our heroes for a while. They passed it eventually and proceed onwards, eventually entering a guardsroom filled with orcs. Then began the violent bloodshed once again, and a sudden rush of death soon claimed the whole tower. The orcs of Gujat Kragor were fierce creatures of great might, as it were rumored that they mated with the ferociest of  mountain boars, at least if one's to believe the shepherds. Nevertheless, no orc proved to be mighty enough to resist the final punishment delivered by our glorious rampagers, and level after level were purified of the green menace.

From window slits of the higher levels of the tower our roughnecks saw that an another battle had ensued in the pass that the tower guarded. Unknown force of horseriders had attacked the orc camp, and the greenskins were getting beaten at the outside as well as inside of the dark tower of Mor Shathûr. Soon our heroes reached the top and encountered the horrendous leader of the tribe. "BIG MUTHAFUCKA", as it called itself, was propably the biggest orc one has ever seen, and its huge greatclub pounded Arius again and again. The struggle against the green giant was excruciating, but no orc were to spoil the great destiny that awaited our brilliant goodies and as the humongous bulk of the half-boar/giant/orc slumped down the staircase, they knew they were victors once again.

The Long Tusks also suffered a defeat outside the tower, and our braves met the horseriders. Their leader identified himself as Dortherion, a captain of one hundred riders from far north. They had rode in the name of Lord Alexander of the House Teudor, the ruler of the free city of Rhaum. Dortherion explained that Ariendurs mentor, Melkor the Wise had send a message to his Lord Alexander, and requested aid for the struggle of free Darnon. Thus the riders began their journey south, and luckily they found the heroes here. The riders of Rhaum also had company from another ally of Melkor, Balthor the Bothered, his old associate in magic and wizardy.

With these new allies, our brave champions of justice began their journey back to Treeward, the sanctum of refugees and rebels. Once there, Dortherion promised to begin training in martial arts for the commoners that are willing. Three war-smiths that had rode with him from the north also promised to teach the arts of weapon&armorsmithing for the village smiths, to increase the quality of equipment in the use of the rebellion. It should be noted that Treeward was constantly growing, as the need for change in Darnon grew everyday stronger and stronger. The village had allured several powerful figures to join, such as cleric Thendous Grayish, who shared spiritual guidance for the rebels. Man called Ralhold Silvermace had been selected to act as a village elder while the heroes were absent. Also, familiar barbarian, Baltrus the Hot-head joined the ranks of rebellion, chanelling his temper against the oppressors.

Howl in the Dark


Guulvorg

 Just a ten-day later, important guest arrived to Treeward. Thul Gilial was a scout from the elven kingdom of Evereska. His mission was to observe the kingdom of Darnon and areas near it, and now he came to warn the heroes from the terror that had arisen from the Sunset Mountains. Apparently, the death of the leader of Gujat Kragor had enraged the orcs. Thus the greenskins let loose a mighty beast known as Guulvorg. Thul Gilial urged the adventurers to slay the monstosity with haste, as it would certainly rend apart the unprotected villages east from Hluthvar.

And so the went, once again, and few days later, only some miles east from Hluthvar, the monster slayers arrived to small village of The Valley of Hluth. The night had settled and our braves witnessed terrible carnage, as several of the small villagehuts had  been torn apart, and dismembered corpses of the villagers lied scattered. Then a great howl broke the silence, and the giant beast attacked. Crossbreed of a worg and a dire wolf, the proportions of the huge wolf were unnatural. Nevertheless, if it bleeds, it can be killed, and so did our brave justifiers that they stroke down the vile abominations that the orcs had released for revenge, and the outskirts of Hluthvar had been saved.

Operation Leverage
Two weeks later, the heroes attended to a new affair that was mainly designed by Dortherion. They were to rob the armoury of Hluthvar, as the rebellion desperately needed more equipment and gold to fund itself. The strike was intended to be timed into the new years celebrations, as the city was less populated by the brothers of the Black Cliff, as the Cult of the Bitter Lord had a grande ceremony in Iriaebor. They were to use secret smuggling tunnels that ran under the city with the aid of freedom fighter-agents deployed earlier.

As the night of the New Year came, the Operation Leverage begun with a bang. Our heroes, Arius in front, smashed in to the well fortified armoury, cleaving down any resistance. Only true opposition they encountered was a commanding Brother of the Black Cliff, Captain Wormwood and his Defenders of the Iron Wall elite soldiers, who had grouped in to defensive positions at an arms vault. Nevertheless, their full plate armors and tower shields were opened like a tin cans, as our brave raiders pryed themselves through.
As the weapon-vault was secured, the aiding rebels begun to carry the arms out of the vault, to the smuggling tunnels, as the heroes focused their attention into solving a key-puzzle of a door that would lead into the inner-vault. Eventually the puzzle-mechanics were outsmarted, and our justified looters hit a motherlode, as the inner vault encased three chests of gold, one shiny magical mithral chainshirt and a peculiar item that resembled a deck of cards.

As they were carrying the chests out of the vault, sounds of battle ensued from the upper level, and the crude elevator to the vaults came crushing down. The party had to climb up via small staircase that were only accessible from the vault, and they found that the operation had been compromised. Dortherion and his men had barely fend off city guards who had tried to seize back the armoury. Thus the party and the leftover rebels dashed out of the armoury, rushing through the city alleys towards the entrance of the smuggling tunnels. Altough the route was short, many fell to the spears and swords of the pursuers. They had to force a  cave in at the tunnels entrance in order to escape, but the danger was far from over. Trapped into the dark tunnels, they began navigating hastily towards the exit outside the city. Then something went wrong. A creature attacked from a dark side tunnel, striking Douglas unconscious. Trapped in the cramped tunnels, Arius struggled to drive away the shadowy attacker, but before they managed to take a breather, they noticed that Douglas was missing, someone or something had dragged him to the numerous sidetunnels..

Sorrow at the Staggering Elk
As the shorthanded heroes finally entrenched themselves from the tunnels that might have proven to be one's doom, they proceed the the Tavern of the Staggering Elk that was located at the outskirts of Hltuhvar. In the case that something would go wrong during the armoury assault, they were to regroup there.
Douglas was still missing, and even though the operation achieved it's goal in gaining resources, many brave lives were lost. As the grand schemer and master executer of the operation, Dortherion took the losses heavily. Constantin Almert, who had supervised the transfer of the loot from the armoury to the tunnels, grieved after his long time hunting partner, Viril Massar, who was lost at the streets and alleys of Hluthvar.

Three days later, the main group of the participants at the armoury, left Staggering Elk. Lead by Dortherion, they headed back to Treeward, as our heroes were to stay and search for Douglas one last time. One might call it destiny, but a mule cart reined by old lady called Mirmos Sliver arrived to the yard of the Staggering Elk. The old lady asked from innkeeper Guysses the Sembian for a pitcher of water, as she was accompanied by two men in poor health. By whim, Jared paid heed to the conversation between the Innkeeper and the old lady, and he followed her back to her cart. There lied Douglas, looking gaunt, covered in filth. As the thief lingered between life and death, Jared used his divine powers, and restored the vitality back to the weathered rogue.



Luckily, Douglas managed to escape.

 As he was revived, Douglas told the others how he had woke up in a torture chamber. The torturer had asked him questions about the rebellion, but he had resisted the attemps, and eventually managed to break free and slay the man. After this he had escaped with another prisoner called Valvar. They had crawled through a narrow duct, full of sewage and contagious diseases. That explains his poor condition when Jared found him, and why Valvar had lost his life. Without the old lady Sliver, whom is to be thanked for picking up the two men to her cart, both of them would be dead.

Lord of the Hill 
Month and a half later the rebellion, known also as the Free Darnon faction, had gained major foothold in the northern parts of Darnon. Still a constant menace lingered as mercenaries streamed to Darnons capital, Iriaebor. The force that camped at Iriaebors outskirts could easily crush the rebellion, but for some unknown reason no movement of that sort had been noticed, and that worried the leaders of Free Darnon the most. But they were not the only ones with worries. Dundast Greygoblet, the halfling villagechief of Corm Orp had turned to the heroes for assistance. He and his entourage of his kin were overthrown by bunch of hill giants. And now he wished to get back to his village by the hills. The adventurers could not say no to the miserable littlelord, and so they headed north, through ice and snow that now covered the once so lush plains of Darnon.

Hill giant brothers Knuffa, Tor Tor and Rummaruk had enslaved the halfling villagers, and enstablished their lair to the villages centre. As our giant-slayers spied and work on their tactics for slaying them, they noticed an increase in giants number, two giants from the Anauroch desert had came to greet their distant cousins. Our brave slayers were not boggled by this, and decided to launch their attack to liberate the villagers. It is no common secret that fighting against giants is a hazardous task to do. This our brilliant braves were to find out, as the great clubs wielded by these potent yet imbecile slavers hammered down onto them. As brutal as the clash was, the humongous intruders were beaten and their northern kin driven away. The villagers who had endured the exploit of the giants cheered and began to organize a massive celebration for their liberators. The heroes, who were exceptionally modest this time, presented the village to its chief, and returned back to Treeward, knowing that they had gained new, yet small, allies.

End Of It All
It was 8th of May, 1373DR, and our dear adventurers rode along the treeborder of Reaching Woods. Arius, Cidela, Douglas and Jared had made a trip to Scornubel where they had visited the markets and shops in order to update their equipment. At the same time they had paid a visit to Mordiggian, the boss of United Merchants, or United Murderers as some knew them. It should be noted that Mordiggians tyranny at Scornubel no longer bothers city. And so, after this succesful campaign to neighbouring free city, our jolly lot were returning home, to Treeward.

Their ennobled state of mind soon changed into concern, as one of Constantin Almerts rangers, Ralfar, rode against them. He carried a message of most tremendous importance. The base of Free Darnon and safe haven for the refugees, Treeward, was under attack! Ralfar explained that with the morning mists, few hours ago, a large army commanded by Skull Rider Overlord, Captain Irongrave, had sieged the village. Also during the night, a great magical wall was conjured to the treeborder, in order to prevent the refugees from escaping, companied by antimagical barrier that blocked Balthor from sending the heroes a message of distress. As a skillfull rider, Ralfar himself managed to slip out before the King's Army closed in, and begun the search for the heroes, as their aid was desperately needed.

They rode along with the wind, as every moment was closer to the destruction of Free Darnon. Although their ride was a noble lunge through miles, they arrived too late. The battle had commenced without them, and the rebellion was losing in every single field. The struggle had taken place in a opening in front of the village, and even though the forest gave some cover for the rebels, the vision was horrendous. The well armed professional soldiers of King Osander II hacked down  masses of inadequately equipped rebels, and as zealous as they were, they didn't stand a chance. Only the men of Rhaum, who were led by their brave captain Dortherion, managed to fight back. But they toiled in vain, as the Brothers of the Black Cliff slayed men like pigs. There are no words that can describe how those vile servants of the Bitter Lord killed and dismembered their victims that day. In the middle of the battlefield was a large wagon, from where three poles towered towards the sky. To these poles, three tortured figures were bound.

Shocked by the slaughter in front of them, our fateful heroes plunged their mounts to the ranks of the enemy, striking down every single Black Helm, Skogarrim Mercenary, Bitter Lord fanatic and Skull Rider who crossed paths with them. Their fury was only increased as they saw how Balthor The Mage was mortally shot down from the sky with a powerful arrow of the Bitter Lord, where he was pouring his fire evocations down onto his enemies.

Even though they began their chivalrous charge in the lance formation, soon only Arius was advancing towards the head of the snake, Captain Irongrave. The others were hindered on their way, thus leaving the half-elf prince to face the menace alone. Just before reaching Irongrave, a  sudden blast knocked Arius and his horse to the ground. As he forced himself up he saw how Irongrave held Dortherion from his throat, as the minions of the Skull Rider Captain stabbed Dortherion again and again. Arius threw himself against the Captain of the Black Cliff, challenging him to a duel. As gallant as he was, Arius struggled against the Hammer of Doom, a powerful warhammer that was given by the Bitter Lord himself to Irongrave, his loyal servant. Jared tried to reach Arius to aid him, as he saw the upcoming doom, but too late. A powerfull blow knocked our brave prince prone, and as Irongrave was to deliver the finishing strike, a flash of bright green light occured. The Skull Rider Captain quailed in pain, and with a terrible cry, the champion of evil fell dead on the ground. And lo, on a hills surrounding the battlefield, stood Melkor!

The Return of Melkor

As Captain Irongrave was slain, the forces of King Osander II began to shatter. Melkor had summoned celestial dire lions to his aid, and soon the army was driven back. Only the Skogarrim barbarians and the fanatics of the Bitter Lord had to be killed to the last of them, so blinded were they by their lust of blood.

Finally the battle was over. As the cold drizzle drummed faintly the armors of the ones who fell, it was obvious that only the most lucky ones survived that day.In addition to the countless who had given their lives in order to defend the Free Darnon, Melkors old friend, Batlhor, had been slain. Hot blooded half-orc barbarian Baltrus was also killed, but severly wounded Dortherion managed to see another day, as did 32 of his men. Constantin Almert lost his eye as he led his rangers agains the back ranks of the enemy. In addition to him, only four of his men survived. Constantin also found out that one of the three figures bound to the pole-wagon was his friend Viril. They had tortured him to reveal the location of Treeward, and he had most likely been alive when the battle ensued.

Not even the return of Melkor gave consolation to the ones who survived, as months of hard work, not to even mention the lives lost, came to nought. And the worst part was that sacrifices like the battle that day, were only prelude for all the grief that was yet to come in order to liberate Darnon from it's tyranny.

As the night drew it's dark curtain over the scene of sorrow, our exhausted warriors sat around a campfire to hear what Melkor had to tell for an excuse of his long absence. The Wise Wizard told a magnificent tale how he had ridden to the shore of the Sea of Swords, where he had entered the ponderous vaults of Candlekeep. He had researched for ways to use the Cube of Tybor for their advance, and he was convinced that they could supress the powers of Alzarseth, the Red Wizard, who reigned as the archmage of Iriaebor. This would grant them an great advance in the battle for the throne. Melkor also told that he had used lot's of resources in order to gain new allies for their cause, and he felt that he had been quite succesful in that. Dortherion expressed his doubt that Free Darnon would never be able to restore it's ranks, as many good men had fallen that day. But the others who had travelled with Melkor before, saw a familiar glow in the eyes of the beloved magician, and it marked for yet another foolhardy adventure!

The enigmatic mage chuckled silently, slowly smoking his pipe.