The Prison Campaign

The Town & Prison of Harkon
The Characters
NPCs
Eberron Information
Robs D&D Homepage

Cyril Blightbane Human Enforcer (Booth)
Zarion Kalashtar Psion (Buck)
Gabriel Xophiel Illumian Inquisitor Cleric of the Soveriegn Host
Darius Shifter Scout (Cheez)
Rathian Half Elf Swashbuckler (Freddy)



Ebberron, World of intrigue and danger. A world of magically fueled technology and politically driven warfare, Five Nations lay spread across the continent of Khorvaire. 5 Nations having just emerged from the century long Last War. Though the treaty has been signed armies continue to clash. The Graywall mountains marks the boundary between the countries of Breland and Droam and it it there were the war still rages most violently. Nestled in a valley deep in these mountains is the town of Harkonthorp. Above the town looms the skull tower the orcs call Orok-Kor. Known better to humans as Harkondeep prison. Haven for the continents most vile and vicous criminals. The boys of Harkonthorp are returning now, their visage changed by the tides of war.



Campaign Summary:
The party members all grew up together and went off to war as one. They returned to find the small village they called home in shambles. They re-established the city’s prison and hunted down many dangerous criminals. They built the Prison up and then resurrected the town. They joined the ruling council and carved out a city. They came into confrontation with a Vampiric Psion named Calderus who sought to dominate the continents leaders. They slew him but were once again betrayed by an evil organization known as the Lords of Dust. Eventually they defended the city against a great assault and killed the Lords of Dust. At the height of the greatest victory they learned that rulership was not for them. They founded their own organizations where no cooperative operation was necessary. Through many adventures and battles these young men rose to become great and powerful Lords.



Adventurer Summaries:

-0-The Days of Old:
The party were all friends working at Harkondeep prison. They were soon drafted and went to war. For 3 years they served and fought many battles in distant lands.

-1st-Through a Mirror, Darkly:
The party hunted Lex Datimer to the Goblin city of Indestrcutable. They captured Lex and his accomplice who was a fugitive from a mirrorverse of somekind.

-2nd-Judgement and Execution:
The party went to Blackwood Cleft Citadel to question a man named Ridder Nettex about an Outlaw they were Hunting named Tark Durklin.

-3rd-Judgement and Execution: Part 2:
The party prusued Tark Durklyn to the a monastaery atop Mount Tarsis. They Captured him and built a contraption to keep him improsioned for the trip home.

-4th-The Spectrum of Justice
The Party traveled to Ardev and excepted a contract to hunt down an assassin named Jacob Sanz.

-5th-The Spectrum of Justice Part 2
The party went on a ferry ride hosting a poker touranment and eventually hunted down the assassin Jacob Sanz.

-6th-Whispers of the Vampires Blade Part 1
The party was hired by The Dark Lanterns in Ardev to hunt down the rogue agent Lucan Stellos who had stolen the Soulblade. The party traveled out of the nation of Breland and into Trolanport, the capitol of Zilargo.

-7th-Whispers of the Vampires Blade Part 2
The party followed the Vampire Lucan onto the Airship Cloud's Destiny and engaged in a massive ship to ship battle which culminated with Gabriel utterly destroying Lucan.

-8th-Grasp of the Emerald Claw: Part 1:
The party traveled undersea to reach the continent of Xen'drik in order to hunt down the warforged named Scimitar who was traveling with Dukarde in the adventuring party kown as Halac's Heroes. Halac and his men were tracking the emerald claw. The party encountered an agent of the Emerald Claw who killed Cyril and Gabriel. They were later revived.


-9th-Grasp of the Emerald Claw Part 2:
The party was still on the continent of Xen’drik tracking Halac’s Heroes as they tracked the Emerald Claw. They were still searching for the warforged named Scimiater who had stolen the identity of one of Halac’s Heroes. They traveled far south down a dangerous river and reach the ruins of a Giant civilization. They killed many Emerald Claw soldiers and an undead sorcerer.

-10th-Grasp of the Emerald Claw Part 3:
The party joined with Halac’s heroes and captured Scimitar. The also completed the creation pattern to create the primitive warforged Xulo whom they later destroyed.

-11th-Interlude—The Business of Blood and Punishment:
The party began construction on their endeavors in town and Cyril recovered his soldiers from the Prison Fortress of Dragonkord.

-12th-Mission Lost
The party went to hunt down a fugitive near Ardev. The party split up and met with an ill fate of which they do not remember.

-13th-Redemption:
The party awoke in Dragonkord Prison and were added in escaping. They returned home having to defeat a warlord named Sandemon for control of the town.

-14th-Voyage of the Golden Dragon: Part 1:
The party attended the Christening party of The largest airship ever constructed (The Golden Dragon). There they battled hostage takers and defused a bomb which would have destoyed the ship and killed hundreds.

-15th-Voyage of the Golden Dragon: Part 2:
The party was hired to travel with the Golden Dragon on its maiden voyage. They investigated many strange events including the fake death of a Karrnath scribe and the true death of a Thrane Cardinal. They also battled and killed Sea Baron Malinko who had designs on destroying the ship.

-16th-Voyage of the Golden Dragon: Part 3:
The party joined up with Lord Martain and traveled to a ruined Giant Citadel in Xen Drik. There they battled Gunter the Necromancer. They retreated but later caught Gunter in an illusion. He almost got away but Wrathian caught him. The party then battled Martain and made him a life long enemy.

17th: Voyage of the Golden Dragon: Part 4:
The party battled a Drow Druid who assaulted the Golden Dragon airship with numerous monstrous creatures. The Drow and her white dragon eventually pulled off their assault and the party was able to return home to Harkondeep.

18th: Not Built in a Day
Town business. Malinko brought to prison. Agreement made with Droam. Father tells of Adamantine. Dunny attacked and nearly killed. Killer found and killed himself. Government reformed.

-19th-When the bad men come:
An invasion force of Pirates invaded Harkonthorp and broke Paldrith Malinko out. 16 residents were killed.

-20th-Assault on the Aerie of the Slavelords: The party travled to the pirate city of Suderham in the Lhazaar Principalities. They overcame 2 dungeons and defeated the slavelords. They recaptured Paldrith Malinko.

-21st-Dirty Deeds
Party found out Wraithian attacked Dunny. Council of Wrath hunts Wrathian. Wraithian goes on trial. Much inner turmoil. All is resolved.

Interlude: 5 Years
5 years pass. Harkonthorp becomes Harkon City.

-22nd: The Treachery of Shadows
The Finsiher kidnaps all the children of Harkon City and begins a copycat killing spree. He is revealed as Zarion and thwarted.


Interlude: Old friend, New Enemies
Party has Zarion revived. Get their missing memories back. Learn that the Lords of Dust wiped their memories and turned them over to Droam to instigate war.


-23rd: Vampires and Liches
The party went to Sharn to kill the Psionic Lich Calderus. The slaughtered the Tyrants theives guild who had all been spawned into vampires. Finally they were confronted by Calderus who cast them into a Maze.


-24th: Prisoners of the Maze
The party found themselves trapped within the Maze of Calderus. They soon discovered the would need to gather 4 keystones to make their escape


-25th: Dimensions of Flight
Still trapped within the maze of Calderus the party traveled to 4 bizzarre demiplanes to gain 4 keystones before finally escaping the maze.


-26th: Chaos Rising
The party ventured out to facilitate diplomatic relations with the surrounding settlements near Harkon City. They battled a Vampire Coven and killed a tyrant who had usurped control of a werewolf town.


-27th: Chaos Rising
The party killed Adar Durn of the Lords of Dust and made a pact with his master Adar Malkin to stand against Calderus.


-28th: Enemy at the Gates
The party traveled to Karrack Keep and killed 5 white dragons. Next they stood against the Death Knight Garthax who was marching an army against Harkon City.


-29th: The Haunted Lodge
The party explored a haunted hunting lodge and finally captured Lucian in a Soul Gem.


-30th: Bloodlines
The party began hunting the Clones of Calderus. Cyril was killed but resurrected.


-31st: Return of the King
The party killed off all the Clones of Calderus. They restored the King of Breland and finally killed Calderus.


-32nd: Ashes to Ashes:
The party adventured out the realm of the dead and returned home to find their city under siege. The defeated the Lords of Dust and helped to defeat A Daelkyr Lord or Madness aswell as a massive Red Dragon.



The Full Record

-0-The Days of Old:
-Cyril-Zarion-Gabriel-Rathian-and Darius (as NPC)
It was the beginning of another day. Much like all the days that had proceeded. But today things were about to change. The Characters were all employed at Harkondeep prison and were heading to work just as they’d done every day prior. Up until this time the small village of Harkonthorp had remained displaced from the ongoing war. Not long after arriving at work a division of Brelandish troops arrived lead by Colonel Dultar. The Colonel spoke with Warden Redler and the new came soon after. The war was raging out of control and all the nation was exercising all available options. The able bodied men of Harkonthorp were drafted and the prison was being liquidated to produce Shock troops. Three days later the characters were gathering up the prisoner for the long march. One cell was empty. Administrator Tinks informed his friends that it was the cell of a serial killer named Lex Datimer. The prison officers began a search in the limited time they had left but they were unable to locate the escaped prisoner. Boss Kurgen uncovered evidence that Lex Datimer had fled. The prison officers and prisoners marched off with the army. They marched some 500 miles east to a massive encampment outside outside the city of Wroat. The prison officers were to receive special officer training because their martial profession provided them a leg up. The characters were sent to basic combat assessment. Zarion was immediately dismissed and sent to the wizards division. Cyril, Rathian, and Dukarde excelled and were selected for specialized combat training. Rathian declined to instead receive training with the Shadowguilders as that was the division that had selected his half brother Darius. Gabrielle was noticed by the training Sergeant Batlore who noticed his holy symbol and thus sent him to the healers. Zarion arrived at wizardry assessment training and was not quite fit for that either. At some point in the training Zarion created some effect that alarmed the instructor. A moment later a half elf named Yulorian came and took Zarion. Each of the characters received specialized training according to their strengths. Cyril was taught the ways of the enforcer by Mar Grimthold, he would serve at the vanguard of assaults. Predominant in training was the skills of leadership and effecting morale. Zarion was brought to work with a small sect of Psionically enabled Kalashtar. Psiops was used in collusion with the Shadowguilders for interrogation purposes and also to determine tactics and intentions of enemy commanders. Rathion and Darius came to work with the Shadowguilders in different capacities. Darius served in scouting missions while Rathion was part of a special unit that was to quickly strike behind enemy lines to disable archers, siege equipment and supply lines. Gabrielle became a battle healer. Tasked with fighting his way through the mayhem to ensure the survival of the officers. The other prison officers were assigned positions as well. Dukarde became a battle commander like Cyril, and Tinks was assigned to games and theory. Over the course of the next two years all the characters traveled with the 4th legion. They took part in 5 major engagements in 3 nations. They were present at the Battle of Cyrdon were they entire nation of Cyre was ahnilated by a massive arcane incineration. On the 15th day of Argith in the year 996 the Treaty of Thronehold was signed. The hundred year Last War which had been raging across the continent had ended. The Characters were discharged and were heading home.
(3-17-05)

-1st-Through a Mirror Darkly:
-Cyril-Zarian-Gabriel-Darius-
After 2 years of war the boys of Harkonthorp were returning home. As they arrived in town they interrupted the funeral of Old Mayor Gharton. He had been killed battling a bear. The men were welcomed and their return was celebrated. The town seemed in very bad shape as their had been no business for the shop keepers and very few men to tend to the necessities. The party soon met up with Tinks who had also just returned from the war. The town had sent 30 or so men to fight and 19 were confirmed dead. The party and Tinks were the only ones to have made it back so far. The men all came to the same realization. They would have to reopen the prison. They consulted Dunny and he told them to speak to Misses Redler. Miss Redler agreed she would give them the key but they might first wish to consult with Father. Father being some strange creature who lived in the mountains north of the town. The party ventured fourth and was soon ambushed by an Ogrillion and his squad of mites. The Mites attempted to use flasks of oil and torches to fry the party but they were uncoordinated. Zarian charmed 3 of the creatures while his party members smited the others. By nightfall they had reached a large natural pond at the heights of the mountains. There behind a waterfall they found Father's cave. As they entered they could hear a powerful voice order them to stop. Father never revealed himself but simply spoke from a distance. Father told them that many races had claimed dominion of this territory but he had been here before them all. He said that in the past the rulers of Harkonthorp had honored his domain. The party agreed they would do the same and asked if they could reopen the prison. Father granted their request but told them never to set foot in his lair again. If they did he would kill them. Instead they were to find someone who could serve no other purpose and to send him to father. This person in future times would act as an ambassador. He gave the party a large tooth necklace that this person was to where. The party arrived back in town the next morning. They hooked up with Tesdon the handyman and opened the prison. There was much work to be done. Half way through the day a prison wagon came into town. The driver was a guard calling himself Trent Dotson. Trent explained he had traveled from the prison of ChateauHold in Thrane for a prisoner transfer. The prisoner in question was non other then Lex Datimer. The party took the prisoner and the gold for his holding charge. Darius grew immediately suspicious of Trent as he had embellished Lex’s reputation. He followed him our of town. Meanwhile back in the prison Zarian had his suspicions. He utilized a mindlink to communicate with the prisoner. The prisoner explained that he was not Lex Datimer but instead he was a Guard named Trent Dotson. Datimer had pulled a switch. The cocky basterd had even reprovisioned at Dunny's and enjoyed some drinks at bar, all the expense of the prison. As Zarian and the party ran outside they called to Darius. Lex heard the call as well. A chase ensued as Lex took off in the wagon. Zarian and Gabriel took pursuit while Darius caught through the woods hoping to later cut the wagon off. A moment later Cyril came riding up on a horse he had stolen from the stables. He scooped up Zarian and Gabriel as the horse struggled to pursue. Meanwhile Lex let the horses do their own driving while he took to shooting at the party. As the party approached Darius came from nowhere. Darius leaped up on the wagon and engaged Datimer. As the combat continued the horses had gone off the road. While Darius battled Cyril was catching up. Gabriel attempted to stick his sword in the wagon wheel only to have himself flung off the horse. Darius realised they were heading for Hagens bluff and tried to jump on one of the horses. He failed and fell underneath. Cyril began to pull on the reigns of the horse as he saw the cliff. Not being a skilled rider Cyril flew over the horse as Zarian held on. The wagon along with Datimer went flying off the cliff. The horse almost came to stop but its front hoofs had cross and the horse followed. Zarian found himself sliding off the horse to stand at the very edge of the cliff. Darius ran to edge to see if he could catch a peek at the falling wagon. His keen sight allowed him to see the falling wagon with Datimer attempting to crawl into the cab. The wagon crashed 700 feet to the vast swamp below. Darius lead the party down a secret path to the swamp. There they encountered 3 gnomes riding a giant turtle and claiming salvage rights. The gnomes were the Grazarius brothers, Gart, Bart, and Hector. Once the gnomes established the identity of the party they changed their approach the offered to split the treasure and be done with it. Later they charged the party for crossing the swamp. Inside the wagon the party found the supplies Datimer had bought at Dunny’s, which included a now shattered mirror. To their surprise they did not find Datimer’s body but instead the body of a well dress goblin with a mechanical eye. The gnomes identified the goblin as being a resident of the Town Indestructible. The party paid the gnomes to take them there. A day later the party came to the Town Indestructible. The town was a technological wonder built of steel. The town itself had been built and contained on a small island of land within the vast swamp. Once inside the town they were met by Constable Ordock. They informed the constable why they were there and he brought them before the Mayor and the Magistrate. The mayor was very kind and seemed to be pushing an agenda of friendly town relations. The magistrate recognized the party’s investigation as lawful and said constable Ordock would help them. The constable identified the dead goblin as Nuchek, the master of the steel foundry. The party went to the steel foundry and learned that Nuchek had just been around a few hours ago. They also learned that Nuchek had told his men that Lex Datimer was a friend and to be treated as their master. Darius soon went looking for Datimer and come upon him wondering through town. Cyril and Darius chased Datimer through the streets. Datimer headed for the safety of the foundry but that was where Zarian and Gabiel were waiting. The chase went over rooftops and eventually into a resident. As Darius and Zarian came upon Datimer he was in a bathroom with his hand pressed against a mirror. Darius threw a dagger shattering the mirror. Datimer turned with a confused look in his face. Meanwhile Datimer’s reflection in the broken mirror shouted for him to run. Darius took Datimer down and Cyril joined the fray. During the grapple Datimer seemed to focus for a moment. As Gabriel watched he saw the image in the broken mirror change so that it was viewing some random Goblin shaving his face. Datimer somehow reached through the mirror to steel the razor and to employ it as a weapon. It mattered little though as he was overcome. Cyril manacled him and beat him to unconsciousness. When Datimer fell unconscious he changed form to be revealed as an amorphous mirror skinned humanoid. The party searched the foundry for answers but found none. They concluded that Datimer had the power to travel through mirrors. That’s how he had escaped so many times. He must have switched places with Nuchek during his fall from the cliff. Then disguised as Nuchek he had ordered his men to treat Datimer as Master. He had then reverted to his true form and was planning his next move. Feeling somewhat satisfied the party returned home. Back at the prison they were getting set to interrogate the awakening Datimer. Then came a pounding. A sound like metal on metal. Darius went to investigate. At the mirror in Datimer’s cell he saw a looming figure. It was another much larger mirror skinned creature bearing strange equipment. Soon another Mirror figure appeared through the portal of the mirror. This one bore red robes. The big man was revealed to be Kadeem, a bounty hunter of the mirror world. The robed figure was his interpreter. Kadeem was seeking a fugitive from his realm named Noran. The party explained they knew no one named Noran but were holding Datimer. Kadeem soon offered a prisoner transfer. The party did not understand until Kadeem produced the real Lex Datimer. Apparently Datimer was indeed human. The creature the party had finally caught was a fugitive named Noran. Kadeem explained that Noran and Datimer had been operating together for years. Extending their own criminal pursuits in both worlds. The party made the exchange but Kadeem seemed transfixed. He inquired about the spirits that he somehow sensed. Kadeem liked the idea of the spirits preying on the prisoners. With the parties permission he made the mirror a permanent window into Noran’s future holding cell. Datimer and Noran had committed their crimes together and so now they would languish in punishment together. Tinks would later note the efficiency of getting 2 prisoners in one cell. One trapped in the cell. The other trapped in the mirror. The party had secured their first prisoner but there would be much work to do.
(3-23-05)

-2nd-Judgement and Execution: Part 1:
-Cyril-Zarian-Gabriel-Darius-Rathian-
It taken a few weeks to get the prison back to operational status. But the party along with Tinks (The administrator), Tesdon (The Handyman), and Bug (the new goblin guard) were well underway. Longevity of deeds of ownership had been established and Father Hax had named the 4th elder to join Misses Redler, Dunny, and Mr. Deedskin on the council of elders. There would have to be a new mayor soon. Tinks soon informed the party that he had managed to send a message using the still functional Sending machine in the old warden’s office. He had contacted Sharn as Cyril had requested. Soon many transmission’s starting coming in with obvious questions. “What was the status of the prison”, “Who was in charge”. Another transmission informed the people of Harkon that they were now living outside Breland borders and were to relocate within safe border’s in accordance with the Graywall Levy or to live at their own peril. Not long after yet another transmission came through from house Sivis informing the party that they were not licensed to operate the sending machine. Tinks was the first to bring up that some form of order need to be established. After much deliberation it was decided that the prison would be run by a three man council consisting of Cyril, Zarian, and Gabriel. Though both Darius and Tinks were part of the initial motion to reopen the prison they seemed none to concerned with being members of the council. Though Tinks asked if he could receive a nice salary. Gabriel retorted with offering him half the proposed salary. Soon other men that had just walked into the conversation were contributing to it. Eventually Tinks hastily agreed to accept this half salary for a probationary period. Then other contract negotiations ensued. Tesdon was also received less then what he thought was fair. Zarian feeling as though Tinks had been mishandled took the gnome aside and tried to give him 15 GP but also added that “Lets not have to find another Tinks in another town that wants to relocate you”. The implication being that Tinks could be replaced. This statement stung Tinks though he had not the courage to say so. The gnomes emotions were confused as why would Zarian be the only one to notice him being mistreated seek to rectify the situation, and then say such cold words. A few weeks prior Tinks was enthusiastic about this new venture. He had reunited with some of his friends in an endeavor that would undoubtedly require and make most efficient use of his various talents. Together he and his childhood friends would make a bid to save the town they loved. Now Tinks was the odd man out and as it happened he was indeed replaceable. As things developed Gabriel started payouts only to find Tinks would not accept. The gnome announced he would need some time to think things over. Rathian grew tied of the gnomes behavior that Rathian considered atrocious. Rathian threatened the gnome and yelled at him. Tinks grew enraged at this intrusion of Rathian who had only arrived in town moments ago and virtually nothing to do with what was transpiring. Rathian advanced on the gnome and Cyril interjected before it could go any further. After Tinks left the part went inside to see about using the sending machine. The mysterious magical device seemed non-functional to the group of former guards. During the earlier conversation Rathian and Rinrock had entered town, the two newly discharged soldiers had returned home and would soon take their place in the prison. Render escorted Rinrock up to the prison and the party approached about being the ambassador to Father. Render agreed and even seemed honored to be able to serve any part in things. Cyril gave him the necklace and there was yet another employee on the books. Not long after 3 mites arrived. They were the three wretched goblinoid creatures Zarian had charmed on their last mission. With Bug interpreting it was hastily decided they to would serve the prison for 1 SP a week. They soon went to see Misses Redler about getting the combination to the warden safe. Misses Redler was busy but they intercepted Tinks there. Cyril pleaded with the gnome and pushed him to say what he wanted. More then anything Tinks seemed hurt and confused. After some pushed Tinks declared he would like a title, and some respect, and his originally asked salary, as well as promise that if things should become prosperous down the road that he not be forgotten. Cyril pushed the other members to agree and Tinks went back to work. Not long after Tinks return with a message from the Sending machine. It seemed that a known outlaw was in the area. A man named Tark Durklin and that this outlaws accomplice Ridder Nettex was being held at Blackwood Cleft, a Breland outpost citadel no more then 35 miles away. A reward in the amount of 2,000 GP had been put out for this mans capture and a enforcement of imprisonment note in the amount of 4,000 GP. This amount of money sounded to be an unimaginable sum to the party and they were soon preparing to leave. They left Tinks in charge and set off. After just a few hours of travel they soon encountered an armored Minatuar soldier who had obviously just come out of battle. He was carrying a second unconscious Minataur. He pleaded with the party to heal his friend. He said his name was Galar and his nephew Dulch had been injured in a battle across the border. The party soon discerned that the Minataur served the army of Droam and that the war was not exactly over. They recognized the Minataur as but another soldier serving his duty. They healed his friend and Galar said he would remember them. By nightfall they were coming upon Blackwood Cleft Citadel to find it under siege. A army of some 300 hobgoblins, orcs, and Minataurs were laying siege to the citadel. The party used much subterfuge to sneak into the river and come at the Citadel from behind. They were soon noticed and a huge effort was made to cover the party while they entered the citadel. A mans life was lost in this attempt. Inside they were greeted by the competent Commander Tral who brought them before the citadel Commander Major Gallard. The party explained their mission and the Major accommodated them. The party was taken to cell where Tark Durklin’s accomplice Ridder was being held. At first Ridder would not respond to questioning but with some mental manipulation from Zarian he adjusted his attitude. He came to bargaining terms with the party who agreed to let him free if he gave them information. He at first seemed to only tell what he needed to facilitate his escape. But after a while he seemed to come to the conclusion that his position would be better served with Tark dead and thus he began volunteering information. It seemed this Ridder Nettex operated in the Breland city of Ardev. There he was contacted by Tark who needed him to get in touch with a group called The Lords of Dust, a Tyrannical Cabal that coordinates throughout the continent. Tark having become one of the most hunted men in Breland history was seeking to gain sanctuary from the Lords. A meeting was set and Tark was to travel to some unknown destination on Mount Tarsis, one of the highest mountains in the world located in the southern Graywalls. Tark was making Ridder accompany him. Before they left Tark had sent Ridder to the church of the Silver Flame to have a crossbow bolt blessed. Not long after reaching the Graywall mountains the pair had been chased down by soldiers from Blackwood Cleft but Tark had escaped. After gathering their information the party inquired about the ongoing siege. Commander Tal explained that in the morning they would counterattack. Rathian displayed remorse about the soldier who had lost his life while facilitating the party’s entrance. The party agreed they would stay till morning and take up arms once more. When morning came Cyril demanded to be put at the vanguard of the assault. The party joined him. Commander Tal took note of the courage of the men of HarkonThorp. The guards paved their way with burning oil and cut out into the goblinoid ranks. The discipline and strong formation of the Breland troops proved too much for the ill coordinated Droamites. Soon the sieging force was driven off. Commander Tral aided the party above and beyond his call. He provided them with horses that he would need returned and a dossier of Tark. The dossier contained shockingly detailed information on the outlaw and would most likely prove vital to his apprehension. The dossier explained that Tark’s MO was kidnapping for extortion purposes but that he was particularly brutal. After his last sentencing he had escaped and killed almost a dozen people in the pursuit that followed. After his escaped he had returned and assassinated the judge who tried him and the prosecutor who had gained his conviction. A witness had been put in protective custody but Tark had somehow gotten to her and burned her still beating heart while she was incapacitated. After hearing this the party began to salivate at the thought of finding this wretched creature. And a creature it seemed he was. The dossier contained information on Tark's mysterious desert dwelling race that was known to employ fire magic. The party had now equipped themselves with the knowledge, the tools, and the motivation to bring this bloodthirsty son of whore to justice. The party would start their investigation were the guard had captured Ridder. They had private Dex, one of 6 brothers take them to the location. Darius acquired the tracks but Tark’s seemed to mysteriously disappear. The party would have to go for Mount Tarsis in hoped to reacquire the trail. This endeavor would have to wait however as the party was about to fall victim to an attack. For in this part of the Graywall mountains roamed a pioneering group of evil Satrys known only to themselves as the Sadistic six preyed on weary soldiers and adventurers for slaughter. The group came upon the party and began to taunt them. The party displayed no fear and explained that the Satyrs would soon all be dead. The Sadistic six seemed to relies they may have misjudged the party’s power and disengaged. Upon reaching the maximum distance of their bows the Six turned and began as assault. Arrows rained down on the party as they ran for cover. The party began to employ their military tactics of advancing for cover. After taking barrage after barrage of arrows the party was closing the distance. Meanwhile Darius had circled around and was now hailing his own arrows down on the Satyrs. This distraction provided the remaining party members with all the time they needed to reach the Six. A melee ensued and the party’s assault was overwhelming. After a vicious battle only one of the six remained and he was fleeing. Zarian, having exhausted his magic to no effect and having taken one too many hits from arrows lost his normally calm demeanor. A roar was heard throughout the Graywall mountains as he unsheathed his dagger for first time in 2 years. The party turned in terror to see the source of this scream. Zarian was charging and the Satyr had no were to run. Before the Sadistic one could react Zarian had embedded his blade into the Satyrs chest hilt deep. The party searched the fallen Satyrs and regrouped. The vicious battle had left them exhausted but there was still a long road ahead. For Mount Tarsis was many miles away and Tark Durklin had already a head start. Tark had already been judged for his crime and now the swift hammer of justice was set in motion.
(3-30-05)


-3rd-Judgement and Execution Part 2:
-Cyril-Zarian-Gabriel-Darius-
The party had been traveling through rough mountain passes for four days. It was an arduous trek but one they were now fully invested in. The outlaw they were hunting (Tark Durklyn) had committed atrocious acts. The party now stood near the base of Mount Tarsis, one of the largest mountains in the world and the highest elevation achievable in the Graywall Mountains. The party needed to reprovision and so they entered the small encampment of BitterEnd. They bought all the mountain climbing supplies they could find. While there Cyril learned that a climber named Jesper Hillkiller had been attacked one day prior. They spoke with the dwarf and he explained he had seen a man on fire and went to aid him. The man fit Tark’s description and was apparently using an innate power to enflame his body. Tark choked the man and left him to die. The party now had confirmation that they were on the right trail. Hillkiller provided them with a map for the most accessible route to the top of mount Tarsis marking the location of his attack. The party set off on a grueling ascension into bitterly cold temperatures and thinning air. Darius chose to take no special precautions against this and soon began to pay the price. As they neared the top they came into artic conditions thick with snow and freezing winds. They soon saw a badly wounded Frost giant charging them. The frost giant was being pursued but was now coming for the party. The party tried to defend themselves but the giant was overwhelmingly powerful. The giant grabbed up Gabriel and began cutting him. Zarian utilized a mindlink to discern the giant was attempting to give his pursuers something else to eat. Either way it mattered not for the giant had one of the party members and now he was going to meet the rest. The party pursued the injured giant soon were able to kill him. As they turned they could see those who had inflicted so much damage on the giant. It was a pack of enormous winter wolves. The leader of the Winter wolves (Longtooth) agreed to take the party above the veil if they would give over the kill. The party agreed and the wolves did as they said taken the party above the cloud line that they referred to as the veil. The party soon encountered a group of skiing Furchin halflings. The party befriended them and they agreed to bring the party back to their lodge so that they could heal the unconscious Gabriel. Back at the lodge the party meet with the whole clan of Furchin who helped nurse Gabriel back to health. While at the lodge the party learned that there was a Monastery devoted to the Sovereign host at the very top of the mountain. On the following morning they set out and quickly reached a monastery placed high atop a mountainous perch. Darius soon established Tark Durklyn’s tracks lead inside. Outside the monastery were 2 angelic statues with crossbows that point right at the door of the Monastery. On each statue was engraved an inverted symbol of the Sovereign Host. Above the door of the monastery was a strange magical sundial. The party learned through experimenting that by covering the dial a stone would slide down over the door of the Monastery. Meaning that at night the Monastery was sealed. The party debated for some time about how to infiltrate or smoke out the monastery before at last knocking on the door. A Rahkasa clad in monastic robes opened the door. He said he was called Simar and that he presided here. The party explained their situation but were very delicate in their diplomacy. Simar did not like the idea and questioned the party’s legal legitimacy. The encountered continued and the party learned that Simar was once a member of the lords of dust but had been sent here as his ideas did not align with the other lords of dust. The party continued their presentation and Simar asked that he be allowed to meditate on the matter. He said the party could enter but they would have to give over their weapons and armor. Once inside the party saw there were 15 other monks present in the meditation room and they all appeared exactly the same. Every monk appeared as a bald human as though they were all twin brothers. Soon Simar was finished and he announced he would not allow the party to search his Monastery for Tark. The party then presented him with Tark’s list of crimes and explained they believed that Tark might actually be working for the Lords of Dust and may attempt to kill Simar. Finally Simar agreed they could search for Tark within the monastery but they could not shed blood. Simar closed his eyes and ordered the other brothers to do the same. At that moment the illusion concealing the identities of the monks vanished and they were revealed as they truly were. Many were Rahkasa’s and the rest were an assortment of minataurs, orges, and other strange races. Tark was not in the room but there were other chambers to be searched. In the basement the party found an equipment room where their items as well as many others were being held. Tark Durklyn turned as he had already required his items. Gabriel immediately used his magic to Hold the villain. Then Darius stripped him of his weapons. Tark though held was still able to activate an ability of his. He turned into a pile of Sand. Some of the party members began to recover their items while others tried to trap or contain the sand. Soon the holding enchantment was broken and the sand escaped. Zarian tracked it into a room where it had escaped through a chimney. Zarian remained behind while the rest of the party pursued. Out side Darius caught up and he saw Tark take an abandoned dog sled and ride it down the extremely steep slope. Darius grabbed a sled and followed. Gabriel and Cyril were immediately on board. A bizarre pursuit began. Cyril was thrown off the sled from the violent motion. Meanwhile Zarian was up top loading the parties equipment on a third sled. Darius and Gabriel were in close pursuit of Tark. Tark began to slow down in attempt to get in range of some of his abilities. Darius recognized this and started to slow down. They were playing a dangerous game. Finally Zarian grew impatient and just launched his sled with 705 of the parties equipment. He came screaming down the slope. The dislodged Cyril hoped on board. Because the other sleds had slowed down Zarian and Cyril quickly caught up. Darius and Gabriel finally just rammed Tark's sled and the 2 sleds became intertwined. Tark and Gabriel began to do battle. Soon the madness was increased as Zarian and Cyril collided into the already 2 intertwined sleds. This mess did not last long as Gabriel bull rushed Tark right off the sleds and into the snow. The rest of the party intern abandoned sled. As the party rushed to get Tark they could see him blowing a horn of blasting. He soon called down an avalanche that only Zarian managed to avoid. The party regrouped after individually digging their way out. Then they dug down to Tark who had used his enflaming ability to create a tunnel. As they reached the end of the tunnel they came onto the thick mists of the veil. From out in the expanse they could hear whistling. Tark held the advantage here and was taunting them. Darius shifted and used his scent tracking to get closer while Cyril pinpointed the exact location of the Chaotic creature. The party came on the outlaw in one last ditch assault. Tark began to tear into the party proving to be more then a handful. In the end it was Cyril utilizing expensive climbing equipment who managed to beat Tark into unconsciousness. The party had lost virtually all of their equipment but had gotten their man. They took Tark back to the Furchin lodge and recouped for a long while. They were going to have a problem transporting the resourceful Tark Durklyn. This led to the create of a contraption. They converted a wooden chest into a holding coffin. They filled it with water so Tark could not flame. They modified a snow mask and attached a pipe to create a breathing tube. They covered the tube with a bag so no sand could escape. Finally the furchin equipped it with skies. Over 2 weeks later the party was returning home to the strangest reactions in town. Still they had captured their man and had picked up payment at Blackwood Cleft. Justice was served.
4-5-05


-4th-The Spectrum of Justice
-Cyril-Zarian-Gabriel-Darius-
The party had just returned from their long trek to Mount Tarsis. They had Tark Durklyn captive in a specially rigged box. As they arrived in town they soon learned Tinks had gone missing. A quick search turned up that Tinks had been locked in the prison vault. Tinks explained he had been pushed in. There were marks on his back that provided evidence that he had been pushed in by one of the spirits. The party soon turned their attention to talking care of certain issues at the prison. During this time Zarion encountered a different kind of spirit. He found himself drawn to cell 3C. There he established mental communication with a spirit calling himself Made'us. Madeus was benevolent and sought only companionship. He would soon begin aiding Zarion in his efforts to learn magic. One of the issues being discussed was the bank account of the old prison. Inside the vault there were bank notes in some amount of 47,000 gold pieces. But Tinks suggested there were likely to be liens against the account due to the fact that by Breland drafting the prisoners and forcing them to war the prison had defaulted on their agreements to imprison these men. The party soon received a transmission from Breland central Command asking that Tark Durklyn be brought to the city of Ardev for further prosecution. The party was soon establishing plans for a full on expedition. They purchased two horses. One at the stable and one from Misses Redler. They had Dunny build them a wagon and then converted it so it could accommodate Tark Durklyn’s contraption. The party was soon taking numerous requests for supplies for people in town. Meanwhile they were trying to figure a way to convert a prison cell to imprison Tark Durklyn. While the party went to Ardev Tesdon and Bug would travel to the goblin town of Indestructible for metal and supplies. Some 4 weeks later the party arrived in Ardev. It had been a long journey that had exhausted their rations. Once there they turned Tark Durklyn over to the officials. Then they hit the bank and learned there was very little money left in the account of the old prison. They decided to open a new account for the prison and some of the party members opened their own accounts. Tinks visited with House Sivis and secured an agent that would work at the prison. The party bought many supplies which Zarion arranged to be transported to the town through other means. Cyril purchased a fiendish Doberman and Gabriel purchased some horses. One night while wondering through town the party heard a crash and saw a headless body fall from a window. They ran to investigate and found a second headless body in the room. Two people had been beheaded. Darius followed the tracks but they disappeared at the window. The authorities soon arrived and the party moved on. The following morning the party was invited to the City guard citadel to meet with a man named Lucan Stellos. Lucan explained he worked for the dark lanterns, the Kings intelligence division. He explained the man whose body fell from that window was Artemis Thurge, an assassin. The other dead man was Gimzlo Stedwin, a well known thief. Their murderer was one Jacob Sanz. A former assassin who worked for a sect of the Shadowguilders called the Blackscythe during the war. Assassination was banned in the waning years of the war. Jacob was reassigned but proved too brutal to be productive. It came to light that he was recruited through Project Daedalus. A recruitment project aimed at gathering particular individuals of the monster races who had special abilities. It was revealed that Jacob was a strange member of a mysterious race the wizards call Proteans. They are fiendish in their natural appearance. They are born killers. Driven to extinguish life the way others are driven to eat. For the last 2 years Jacob had been acting as a contract assassin. The dark lanterns had acquired information which indicated that that 3 thieves known as the Shallin Syndicate had robbed a bank in Thrane and had now fled to Breland. House Kundurak (The Banking House) had hired the Jacob to assassinate the thieves to set an example. Jacob was already wanted for countless killings but Breland Central Command was definitely not going to tolerate sponsored revenge by way of assassination. The party was made an offer to hunt Jacob Sanz down and bring him back dead (3,000 GP reward) or alive (6,000 GP reward). They immediately accepted. Lucan went on to explain that the laundered gold had been tracked to the bank in the nearby city of Galethspyre. It was assumed that finding Jacob personally would nearly impossible. It was wiser instead to try and reach his next targets before he did. The remaining 2 thieves were Endo Talonvar and a gnome named Orboto. The party was granted the use of 4 Magebred horses and set off to Galethspyre leaving Tinks behind to look after all their many interests including Tark Durklyn. The magebred horses proved to be exceptionally fast and had the party transverse the 2000 mile distance to Galethspyre in 4 days. Upon arriving in Galethspyre they went immediately to the bank. There they picked up a special warrant that had been forwarded there by Command. The Bank was able to inform the party that the foreign laundered gold had been deposited by a wealthy merchant named Gonto Alizair. Gonto runs an annual Poker tournament on his ferry boat. The foreign coinage was one small amount of the entrée fee. Whoever the thief was it seemed he was entering this tournament. The party went to see Gonto and he was very helpful. He would allow the party to be on his boat the night of the tournament. He also comped the party’s stay at the finest hotel in the city. The party arrived at the Exquisitore’ and enjoyed themselves. They spoke with the Hotel Manager Mister Fireforge and learned that 11 of the tournament entrants were staying in the hotel. They investigated a little but learned nothing conclusive. The following the party was eager for night to come so they could get to this tournament and hopefully get their man.
-04-12-05


-5th-The Spectrum of Justice: Part 2:
-Cyril-Zarian-Gabriel-Darius-
The party had reached the city of Galethspyre and boarded the S.S. Wild card. A ferryboat that would be holding the 7th annual Stud tournament. Here among the poker players they believed was a thief named Orboto Rue. A thief being hunted by an assassin named Jacob Sanz. They were tasked with capturing this Jacob Sanz. There were many characters on board the ship. Notable among these was… Bentin Swords, a wise swashbuckler, gabbler, card player with a Rapier of returning,
Gormox the Intolerable, an ogre who could play poker but not speak common,
Thoren Murdock, a famous bounty hunter poorly disguised,
Lucan Stellos, the member of the Dark Lanterns who hired them but now in disguise,
Captain Matteus Blank, Captain of the Galethspyre guard but running ship security,
Douglas Portabella, A Halfling poker player the party suspected could be Orboto,
The ferry was nicely setup with bunk rooms for all the players and a huge bar with a large party area. Inside was a large room with many tables and huge vault containing the 150,000 GP that awaited the winner of the tournament. Cyril began to suspect that Orboto had not come here to play but rather to steal the 150,000 GP. The party gathered as much information as possible with limited leads. As the games began the party was fairly certain that Douglas Portabello was infact Orboto Rue. The party searched the halflings quarters and discovered some strange items hid in a smoke box. One was a strange magnifying glass and the other some kind of apparatus the party believed could be used to breath underwater. They began to search other rooms when soon there came a commotion. One of the players had cheated and was being thrown overboard. A moment later he was eaten by sharks. This bizarre event was followed by another as a dozen weresharks boarded the ship and began marauding. The party along with Captain Matteus and Thoren Murdock killed the creatures before they could cause too much damage. In the aftermath the party suspected the whole event might have been a distraction and urged Gonto to check the safe. Inside the vault there was just a pile of gold pieces. The money had been looted. The crowd was outraged. Douglas Portabello entered the safe and claimed the remaining 30 gold pieces for himself. Gabriel refuted this and tried to grab him. The halfling was too quick and ran out to the deck and hurled something off into the distance. The party tried to chase him down but he went overboard and escaped. Captain Matteus took a boat and Darius accompanied him. Thoren Murdock took another boat and Cyril and Zarian accompanied him. Gabriel remained on board. Darius and Captain Matteus hit shore first. They split up to find Orboto. The other arrived a few moments later. While Darius and Cyril were searching they saw who they thought was the Captain approaching. It was not the Captain but instead it was the assassin Jacob Sanz. He had taken the form of the Captain some time ago. Jacob approached the party to gain their attention then fled. Jacob made sure to run by the rest of the party as he was being pursued. Soon the whole party save for Darius was chasing him. Zarian sent a mental message to Gabriel. Gabriel grabbed a boat and started heading for the land. Gormox the ogre joined him. As Darius was about to join the pursuit he heard a scream coming from the opposite direction. He soon came upon the freshly beheaded body of Douglas Portabello (aka Orboto Rue). Darius picked up a second set of tracks that matched the assassin. He began to follow. Meanwhile the rest of the party was in a losing pursuit. Zarian read Jacobs thoughts and got two sets of thoughts. One was thinking it must lead the party away. The other though was to track someone down. After hearing this Cyril broke off and began to run back the other way. Zarian used a ghost sound to make it sound like Orboto was still alive. Jacob took the bait and ran right into an ambush. The assassin was a lethal combatant but luckily so was the Thoren Murdock. Soon the battle was joined by Gabriel and his new ogre companion. Cyril heard the mental call of Zarian and rushed to joined the battle. Cyril arrived in time to join the mob facing Jacob. Together these men cut Jacob down. After Jacob fell his body evaporated into dust and the dust blew off in certain direction. The party began to follow and soon joined up with Darius who had been following the tracks the whole time. They followed this track till it ended at a lightning rail line. A train had just passed. The party jumped down onto the freight train and began a search. Darius discovered that the assassin had tracked someone else onto this train. They assumed it was the other thief Endo. They soon found they were correct as Endo was doing battle with Jacob. Jacob was about to decapitate him when Endo just disappeared. Gabriel heard the thief utter the word “Deposit” just before disappearing. The party came down upon Jacob once more. After Cyril scored a hit on the creature it tore in half and now there were two Jacobs. The party continued to battle them both. Soon the ogre Gormox joined the battle. Jacob had many tricks but the party eventually knocked him unconscious. As the battle came to an end so did the train ride. The train had stopped in the Capitol city of Wroat. The authorities their assisted the party greatly. Soon the party was back in Ardev. They spent another week their sorting things out. Both Tark Durklyn and the newly capture Jacob Sanz had been prosecuted and sentenced to Harkondeep Prison. The party’s new friend Lucan Stellos investigated a strange coin the party had found on the train. The coin proved to be a magical “Coin of Deposition”. By saying the command word “Deposit” one could enter an extradimensional room inside the coin. This is how the Shallin Syndicate had been robbing banks. Infact Endo was inside the coin when the party had found it. Inside with 150,000 gold pieces stolen from the ferry. The party received a series of hansom rewards for all their deeds. Endo the thief would be extradited to Aundair but Lucan promised to put in a word for them. With Lucan's advocating the party had made out well. The party finally gathered all their supplies and some new employees they had picked up and traveled home. The new employees included Gormox the ogre, Duden the guard, and Faxton Dur, the House Sivis communicator. The party returned home some months after they had left. Tesdin had completed the specially tailored cell for Tark Durklyn and the people of Harkonthorp had received the supplies Zarian had sent. The prison was up and running and things were looking up in HarkonThorp.
04-19-05


6th:Whispers of the Vampires Blade Part 1
-Cyril-Zarion-Gabriel-Darius-
The party was joining Tesdon on a supply run to Ardev. There, Zarion hoped to acquire a laboratory. While in Ardev they received a summons that brought them to Korrath tower. As they reached the tower there was no guard to greet them. They soon learned that they needed to provide their papers to a beggar outside before they could be granted entrance. Inside the tower they came upon a conservatory wherein dwelled an elderly man.

The man introduced himself as Viorr and said he had a mission but first required a test. The party passed his test by subduing a dire ape and then returned to learn of this mission. “Captain” Viorr informed that party that he was a commander in “The Dark Lanterns”, the king’s intelligence network. He needed the party to hunt down and capture a rogue agent named Lucan Stellos. The party was shocked upon hearing this name. Lucan had hired the party for their last mission after which he went above and beyond to make sure the party was well taken care of. The party had thought they had made a friend but now they would have to hunt the man down. Viorr explained that some days ago Lucan had convinced an otherwise loyal agent to grant him entrance into the King’s Vault in Sharn. He had stolen a weapon called the Soulblade and escaped. He had arrived in Ardev just a day ago but had left before Viorr could capture him. Viorr said that Lucan had a sister named Grilsha in town but she could not be located. The party agreed to hunt Lucan down and set out immediately. They took 3 magebred horses that the guards provided. Headed east toward Trolanport where it was believed Lucan was heading. Viorr had also mentioned the name “Krell” but had no useable information beyond that. Not more then two days out of Ardev the party saw a gnome wearing a helm riding at full velocity in their same direction. The gnome would not stop to speak and was moving to fast to be caught. That night while set in camp the party was attacked by 2 Ettercaps. They dispatched the creatures and continued their journey. They arrived in Galethspyre and tried to reacquire Lucan there. Their old friend Gonto was most helpful providing food, lodging and his own personal horse known throughout the realm as Lord Drakar. The party later received information from the swashbuckler Bentin Swords that a black caravan had passed through town at high speed. The guard provided the party with information indicating this caravan had left through the east gate. The party took the ferry across and headed south into the Capitol City of Wroat. There they sought information from the library and from sages but gathered nothing important. They rested and left on the east road headed into the country of Zilargo. A couple days out they again ran into the helmed gnome. The party forced him to converse. When the gnome took off his helm he revealed himself to a Goblin. When threatened he increased his size to some eight feet. The Goblin had no wish to speak to the party and thus the encounter had ended. The following day the party reached a mountain range where Cyril decided the party should leave the road and attempt to cross the plains. The party traveled for many more days passing through the city of Reven and Tzanthus. The following day after leaving Tsnathus they came in sight of the black caravan.

A pursuit ensued and the party soon came under attack by lightning bolts and fireballs. A red haired women the party identified as Grilsha was driving the wagon and wielding magic against the party.

Eventually the party overcame the wagon and Grilsha could not hold up. She flew off the back of the wagon and then vanished. Inside the wagon the party an empty coffin filled with earth. Cyril then remembered seeing a trail of mist exit the wagon. The party now believed that Lucan was a vampire. Not long after this encounter Darius who had been tracking the party joined the mission. The party decided that Lucan was still headed for Trolanport and so would they. They traveled south and cross an immense bridge to enter the sprawling capitol of Trolanport. The population of the city was predominately gnomish and the city had more canals then streets. Transit here seemed to be provided by small boats. The party sought out twin gnomish sages who informed them that Krell was a person. Neya Ir’ Krell was the Aundairian Ambassador in town and she would be holding a masquerade ball that night. The party would have a strict dress code and was by invitation only. The party began to scheme a way by which to gain admittance into this party. If Lucan had come here to see this Krell then it was likely this party could be a good information-gathering locale. The Hunt for Lucan had only begun.
04-26-05


-7th-Whispers of the Vampires Blade Part 2:
-Gabriel-Zarion-Darius-Cyril-
The party had traveled far and wide and reach Trolanport, the capitol city of Zilargo. They had come seeking Lucan Stellos, former agent for the Black Lanterns, The King’s Intelligence agency. Lucan had apparently turned evil and stolen The Soul Blade from the King’s vault. During the first leg of the adventure the party had discovered that Lucan was now a vampire. Evidence they had acquired led the party to believe that Lucan would be attending a Masquerade Ball at the Aundarian Embassy that evening. Perhaps to speak to Ambassador Neya Ir’Krell. The party procured some costumes and were attempting to purchase a party invitation from a man when Zarion tried to read the mans thoughts. This attempt resulted in the man attacking Zarion and escaping. Zarion filled out a report with the city guards then returned to accompany his friends. The man they had encountered had purchased a Tiger mask so the party was sure they could spot him at the party if he attended. Upon reaching the ball Cyril bought an invitation off of a halfling. He then entered the ball smuggling the rest of the party in the Coin of Deposition. Once inside the ball the party kept a vigilant eye out for Lucan while also enjoying themselves.

Eventually Lucan made himself apparent by attacking a guard. A massive melee ensued concerning the party, Lucan, Lucan’s sister Grulsha, the city guard, the Embassy guard, and a special unit of guards that would later be revealed to be The Royal Eyes of Aundair. The party managed to knock Grilsha unconscious but Lucan escaped in mist form. After the battle, Meena, the leader of The Royal Eyes utilized her authority to custody of Grilsha. The party was asked to leave. Some time later Cyril arranged a meeting with Ambassador Neya Ir’Krell. The Ambassador was evasive at first but when the party explained that Lucan was now a vampire she grew concerned. She explained that she and Lucan had added each other in the past but now she feared that he had become something fully evil. She agreed to aid the party with information but that they would owe her one in the future. She told them that she arranged transit for Lucan on a House Lyrander air ship called Cloud’s Destiny. She had given him transit papers and password that would give him passage. The party quickly departed heading for the air dock. They arrived at the towering air dock to find Cloud’s Destiny readying for final departure.

As they approached dockworkers swarmed to attack. As the party combated the gnome workers they could see the man whom had worn the tiger mask sneaking aboard the ship. Except now the man wore no mask but instead had actual tiger claws. The party defeated the gnomes and barely got on board the airship before it departure. They were immediately encountered by the ships captain. The captain demanded their papers. It seemed the password was not enough. The party quibbled with the captain to no avail. He would not let them travel onboard. He turned the ship around and kicked the party off. All except Darius who had hidden the moment he had climbed on board. As the ship departed leaving the party behind Darius climbed down the ships hull using his slippers of spider climbing. The party went inside the coin of deposition while Darius used the Hand of the Mage to scoop up the coin. The party managed to get onboard after all. They stowed away and rested the night into the next day. The following day the Goblin the party had met near Wroat entered the storage chamber they were hiding in and preformed a search. He did not find the party. Later Darius met up with the Tiger man who revealed himself to be Sasha, a weretiger on a mission for The Lords of Dust. He too was hunting Lucan. Darius and Sasha agreed to aid one another as long as their interests did not conflict. During this conversation the coin of deposition was picked from Darius’s pocket by some unknown halfling thief. The thief went below decks only to find Cyril exiting the coin. Cyril knocked the halfling out and the party began to use the halflings guest room as their base of operations. The party started going door to door using detect evil. Eventually they found evil behind a door and left Darius to handle it. It was not Lucan but instead a large Minataur warrior. Darius angered the Minataur and it pursued him. The minataur trapped Darius in a storage room. Finally Darius escaped and tried distracting the Minataur by throwing a sail over him. The minataur inadvertently fell overboard. The party proceeded to search the Minataurs chambers. During this search a call could be heard from above. “Skyraiders Starboard, all hands to the deck, all passengers below.” The party tried to use the diversion to search but soon grew concerned about the attack. They began to go above deck where they could the battle in full fury. Another Air ship had pulled up behind Cloud’s Destiny, It was the Emerald Claw ship known as Jade’s Fury. The crew members on the Fury had launched 4 skiffs with assault soldiers tasked with taking the Destiny. The air skiffs did not have their own power but could glide through the air. In addition there was gnomish cavalryman riding an airborne terradactle and wielding a lance. The party soon came under attack from the Emerald Claw raiders. They killed them as they came but were taking heavy damage. The captain of the Destiny and his crewmen were battling above deck with the aid of Sasha in Hybrid Tiger form. Soon the party was being flanked by 2 teams of raiders. The leader of the raiders came to join the battle as well but was met by a Barghest (A large wolf-like creature with a goblinoid face). The party was also joined by a female warrior who proved her worth in battle. The party slaughtered all the raiders below deck including the leader. They came above deck to find the other boarders had also been slain. But the attack was not over. A fourth Skiff was circling, its riders using missile attacks. The Gnome rider was also making swooping attacks. The party joined the surviving crew, Sasha, and the Barghest in retruning fire. Cyril commandeered a Ballista and began a barrage of fire against the attackers. The Barghest dimension doored onto the Skiff and started doing serious damage. Soon all the attackers were nearly dead. That’s when mist began to rise from below deck. Lucan materialized on deck and began attacking the party. The pursuing airship drew closer. Its captain could be seen pointing at Lucan and declaring ramming speed. The party was fearing death grew desperate. Gabriel and Cyril decided there was only one choice. Lucan had to die now. Gabriel unveiled his holy symbol and called upon the power of the Sovereign Host to smite the vampire Lucan. The vampire was overcome by divine energy and utterly destroyed. A moment later the two airships collided. The elemental bonds on both ships were crushed. The massive hulks now embedded in one another began to fall. As they did the elementals of each ship were unleashed. One an air elemental, the other a fire elemental. Though the ships were both destroyed the battle still could not end. The two titanic elementals clashed and more destruction ensued. The party escaped onto a skiff, as did the crew and all others on board. Moments later the falling wreckage impacted with the ground followed by an enormous explosion. It took the party some time to reach the ground on their floating skiff. They searched the wreckage to find nothing. Lucan was now destroyed with no evidence of his death. Though Darius had recovered the Soul Blade. The party was way out in nowhere and it would take a long time to get home. Especially since they would have to go by way of Trolanport to reacquire their horses and wagon. They traveled south till they reached the city of Sterngate. There they bought tickets for the Lightning rail. While waiting at the station the party reunited with the others whom had escaped from Cloud’s Destiny. Sasha said he was returning to his employers to report on what had occurred. Though Sashsa worked for a reportedly evil organization he seemed to leave a good impression with the party. The Barghest was there as well. But he had once again taken goblin form. The goblin traveler, the helmed Gnome, and the Barghest creature were all one in the same. He introduced himself as Lahorak and revealed he worked for the daughters of Sora Kell (Rulers of Droam). He had been sent to recover Lucan for the agent held valuable information on all matters of the world. His mission was apparently over it seemed though he told the party he suspected they might meet again. He bid them goodbye and went on his train. Finally it was time for the party to depart. They took the Lightning Rail south to the city of Zolanberg. They stayed for a short time then decided it wiser to take the Lightning Rail further south to the city of Korranberg. While Korranberg they visited the world famous Korranberg library. After some research they embarked on a sea vessel that arrived in Trolanport some 17 days later. They recovered their horses and wagon and then began the many week trek back into Breland. Gabriel returned the mighty steed Lord Drakar to Gonto while passing through Galethspyre. When the party finally arrived back in Ardev they quickly met with Viorr, their employer for the Dark Lanterns. Viorr was greatly disappointed that the party had not brought Lucan back alive. He was further disappointed they had not brought back any proof of death. Viorr explained it would be extremely difficult to give them the gold promised them because they had failed to provide the necessities of their warrant. In any event Viorr was able to garner the party half the reward. He said if further evidence came to light that Lucan was in fact dead that the rest of the money would be deposited into their account. So for all their effort the party received one fourth of the gold they were after. Half because Lucan was killed and half of that because no proof of death was provided. So the party took a reward of 2,500 gold pieces. Not an enormous amount for 3 months worth of work. Viorr said they would probably not meet again but wished the party well with their endeavors. A week or so later the party finally returned home. Tinks was upset because he had hoped the party would have returned earlier so he could travel to Graywall to buy out the inventory of a closed library. In the time since the party had left there had been 3 new hired at the prison. They were Jonny Black, a young Harkonthorp kid who had just come of age. Goph Neder and his friend Ollie Wood, 2 men enlisted in Ardev by some fliers many weeks back. The party had to some degree completed their task and quieted the Whispers of the Vampires blade.
05-04-05


-8th-Grasp of the Emerald Claw: Part 1:
Gabriel-Zarion-Cyril—Darius-and an appearance by Rathian-
It had been many weeks since Harkondeep had received any messages from anyone. Meanwhile many things were progressing in town. Tink’s returned from Graywall with enough librams to populate a small library. Tink’s and Zarion began to make plans to collectively open a library in town. Many new homes had sprouted up in Harkonthorp thanks to the developer Gurtle Mack. Gurtle Mack would soon begin negotiations with the party for many ideas including a library, a barracks, and an underground tunnel to connect the prison to the prison supply silo. Faxton, the representative from house Sivis had Gurtle Mack restore a small shop for him use as a Sending station. Things were progressing well in town. Finally a message came through. A contract was being offered to the Harkondeep party to track down and assassinate a war criminal named Erwin Jastor. The Harkondeep party turned down this offer on the premise that they were not assassins. Later on that day another son of Harkonthorp would return. Dukarde had finally come home. It seemed after the war he had hooked up with an adventuring party known as Hallac’s heroes. This adventuring party consisted of Hallac (Shifter Ranger), Tank (Warforged Warrior), Detlin Solnar (Half Orc Cleric of the Silver Flame), and Dukarde. Halac’s Heroes had come to Harkondeep with a prisoner in tow. This adventuring party had been contracted to capture a criminal named Dorgrym Hayd. Dorgrym was a killer and a cannibal. He had been preying upon the villages in eastern Breland. With the arrival of Dukarde there was much rejoicing and a friendly reunion. Halac turned the prisoner over to Harkondeep and a transfer of funds was sent by Breland Central Command. Later that day the party came to find Dukarde in the prison harassing prisoner Lex Datimer. The party did not take kindly to this. Tinks explained he thought it would be ok for Dukarde to wander around. The prison guards were all given instructions that this was not to happen again. The party explained to Dukarde they could not have anyone wandering around in their prison. Things only grew worse as Tank appeared and he was wearing a shoulder guard he’d taken from Tool. Tesdin grew extremely angered over this and began to scream at Tank. Eventually Tank returned the shoulder guard and Dukarde offered endless apologies. Zarion wanted Dukarde to empty his pockets but he refused. Dukarde returned later and offered more apologies. The party seemed to except but damage had been done. After this madness the party began to discuss the fact that they had not done any business as of late. The decided it was time for a party name. After some discussion they settled on “The Keepers of the Deep”. They began to make plans to make the Harkondeep operation known throughout the land. Perhaps this would gain them a contract. Before they could really put any of these ideas into action a message came through from House Cannith (The Dragonmarked House of Making). The message was for Halac’s heroes. Halac read the message and it seemed they were being contracted to hunt down some stolen Schemas. (Schema’s are scam tics to forge magical items). It seemed that Halac’s heroes had been on a continuing mission in service of Lady Elaydrin of Sharn. They had been gathering a series of Schemas to comprise a creation pattern for some yet unknown magical item. Now all the Schemas they had gathered had been stolen by suspected agents of the Emerald Claw. Halac’s heroes set out immediately to hunt down these Emerald Claw agents. The newly dubbed Keeper’s watched the excitement and then were left alone. They decided they would travel to the far distant city of Sharn. Dukarde had told them so many things about the magnificent city and the party wanted to see it for themselves. The traveled many days east and quickly visited the bank in Ardev. They next made their way to Galethspyre. Upon arriving in Galethspyre they contacted Harkondeep to learn that Tesdin had been attacked and was badly injured. The party decided they needed to return home. As they tried to exit the city they immediately encounter Viorr, The agent of the Dark Lantern’s (The King’s intelligence agency) who had hired them for their last mission. Viorr explained he had rode from Ardev to find them. He was desperate and needed their help. The party said they had to return home. Soon this encounter was joined by Darius and Rathian who had rode from Harkondeep to catch up with their party. Cyril ordered them back to handle the problems at home. With that matter settled the party went with Viorr. Viorr brought them to a secret location beneath the bath houses and told them what had happened. He told them of an evil warforged named Scimitar. Scimitar was a mercenary and evil adventurer who had often worked with The Emerald Claw. Scimitar’s body had been found in Sharn some weeks ago. Investigators learned later that it was not Scimitar’s body. The serial code was right but the magical encoding was wrong. The magical encoding identified the body as Tank. It seemed Scimitar had usurped Tank’s identity and was now on a mission for house Cannith. The party would have to track them down. If Scimitar could be brought back alive the party would be paid 13,000 gold or half that amount if he were killed. The party accepted and Viorr immediately sent them down to the docks. At the docks the party met captain Hyam, captain of the Sea Dart. The Sea Dart was an experimental vehicle. An elemental powered underser vessel.

The party would be traveling to the continent of Xen’Drik. There in the city of Storm reach they would try to pick up the trail of Halac’s heroes.

As Halac’s Heroes would be trying to pick up the trail of The Emerald Claw. After a few days of travel the ship was soon attacked by a Dire Shark accompanied by many Locathah.

The Locathah stayed distant letting the shark do the damage. The shark attacked the Sea Dart and damaged it to the point where captain Hyam needed to resurface. As they began to resurface they were soon caught in a web of netting set up by the Locathah. Captain Hyam ordered his men out to cut the webbing. Some of the party went with them. While outside the shark attacked and actually swallowed Cyril. The rest of the party came to kill this shark. Eventually Cyril freed himself and Zarion killed the shark. They cut the netting and resurfaced. After 2 hours of repair they were back on their way. Many days later they arrived near Stormreach. Captain Hyam docked his vessel away from the city and said he would wait 30 days. The party made their way into the city and began investigating any clues as to Halac’s Heroes or the Emerald Claw. After much investigation Gabriel found some success at the church of the silver flame. The clerics there said that the cleric of Halac’s Heroes had come through and that he had left on an expedition. Though they did not know where. The party decided they had to have traveled south down the river and that they would probably have to do the same. The party soon received a message from someone claiming to have answers. They met this man in alley way only to find him to be an agent of the Emerald Claw. He was an undead Bodak. The party fought valiantly but the creature was powerful. With his death stare it killed both Cyril and Gabriel. In the end Zarion was just barely able to kill the creature. But his friends were dead. He sought aid at the Church of the Silver flame. They called down their high priest Zalorum. Zalorum said that the stare of the Bodak would turn his friends into Bodaks themselves. They had already begun to change. He said he might be able to save them with an ancient ritual but he would need 10,000 gold pieces to secure the needed relics. The party borrowed the money from the prison account as well as their own pockets and provided the money. The ritual was long and arduous but successful. After the ritual the high priest was greatly injured. He had given of his life to return the dead party members. The party thanked him greatly and then proceed to nurse they friends back to life. While Gabriel was resting he began to relies he had seen a face in his near death state. The same face he had seen when he had destroyed Lucan Stellos. The face appeared as an ancient vampire or perhaps something much eviler. Two days later the party had regained full strength. This mission had already cost them too much. Someone would have to pay.
05-11-05


-9th-Grasp of the Emerald Claw Part 2:
-Cyril-Zarion-Gabriel-with Darius and Aryndee(Jackie)-Muroni(NPC)-
The party was far from home. They had traveled to the city of Stormreach on the distance and ancient continent of Xen’drik.

They were tracking a Warforged called Scimitar. Scimitar had terminated a kindred Warforged called Tank and assumed Tank’s identity within the adventuring party known as Halac’s heroes.

Halac’s Heroes were hunting a faction of the Emerald Claw that had stolen 3 schemas to a 4 part creation pattern. Halac’s heroes had been on a mission for lady Eleydrin of Sharn to complete the pattern. After an encounter with an undead Bodak that had nearly destroyed the party, they had recouped and were once again ready to proceed. As they exited the Black Axe Tavern they were met by Muroni. A priestess and dedicated scholar of the Dragon Prophecy. She explained that the prophecy had spoken of great events of which were to occur here and that these events would involve the party. She asked if she could journey with them in hopes of witnessing these events. The party agreed. Some time later Muroni mentioned she had almost joined up with the wrong adventuring party. She had seen Halac’s Heroes and said that she had seen the Warforged go to the airship dock alone. The party went to this airship dock and did not find the attendant susceptible to their interrogation. The party returned and with an outright bribe of some serious gold they got all the information they could have ever wanted. It seemed 2 days prior the airship “Jade Phoenix” under flag of the Emerald Claw had docked. A day prior to this the warforged of Halac’s Heroes had dropped off a message for the captain of the Jade Phoenix. The former captain of the airship Jade’s Fury which the party had seen destroyed. The captains named was captain Rarwog. Apparently he too had survived the devastation of the two airships. In any event the Jade Phoenix had departed yesterday. The lady at the docking tower provided the party with a map to the location where The Jade Phoenix was heading. It was a remote region about 500 miles south down the Rachi River. The location was indicated on the map as the site of ancient ruins. The party next went to The Morgrave university expedition to gain some knowledge of these ruins and the dangers they might encounter on the way. The head Provost Bariss Kraven of the expedition agreed to meet with them and was very helpful. The Provost explained that these ruins were once served as a temple and arcane laboratories for the ancient Giant civilization of Xen’Drik. It seemed the expedition had once explored the ruins but their people never returned. The Provost further explained that the Wild Jungle was far too dangerous and it would be much wiser to reach the ruins via the Rachi River. This brought the party to Captain Chinzero and his elemental powered riverboat “The Marlow”. For a fine price the captain agreed to bring the party down river. Rathion and Darius had separated from the party at this point as Rathion had gotten involved with something else. The ride down the Rachi River was dangerous as expected. No more then a day into the journey the ship came under attack from a hill giant marauder. The giant began throwing boulders. Cyril went to battle him but was attacked by an enormous anaconda. The ship was forced to stop to save Cyril. He was nearly slain but with the force of the party and the crack shot of Captain Chinxero the battle was won and Cyril was taught the ancient credo “Never get out of the boat”. 4 days later the party was reaching their destination. A pair of enormous stone hand statues marked the outer region of the ruins. Near these hands the party saw a self sustain air skiff hovering. Someone had brought landing party but the master airship was not present. The party approached and encounter a group of Emerald claw guards. The guards were friendly and explained that they were indeed from the airship Jade Phoenix. They had sent a party into the ruin and these novice guards had remained behind to guard the Skiff. After a surprisingly enjoyable conversation the party proceeded to the ruins. The ancient Cyclopean ruins were enormous. This came as no surprise as of course the ruins would be giant sized as were its inhabitants.

The party began to explore the ruins and soon discovered that the ruin more recent inhabitants were wild drow elves. The party came upon the aftermath of a battle were the emerald claw had killed many of these drow. Not long into their expedition the party was assaulted by a troop of drow who had presumably returned to reclaim their lair. The party killed them as quickly as they had come. Soon the party had opened the doors to the second level of the ruins. This unleashed an endless flow of water. As they entered this level they had to cop with water at a depth of 2 feet. It was here where an ambush came. An undead creature appearing as a bloated hulk (Drowned) whom may have once been elven attacked. The creature’s mere presence effected the party as though they were trying to breath underwater. Soon the party members began to suffocate and fall unconscious. Once again the party was nearly destroyed.

During this encounter Cyril and Gabriel noted they had sensed the creatures presence before it had actual appeared. The party had retreated and agreed not to enter that level again. Instead they sought to circumvent that level entirely by scaling the wall of the ruin and finding an entrance into the third level. It was on this level where the party encountered an undead sorcerer and a detachment of Emerald Claw soldiers. The party quickly attacked but the undead sorcerer escaped. After the battle a quick search revealed a Ziggurat (def. A terraced pyramid) with many symbols.

It seemed the sorcerer was studying the ruins of the ziggurat for some unknown purpose. The party did not concern themselves with this mystery as they were here to capture the Warforged known as Scimitar. After fully exploring this level the party returned to the lower levels were they encountered room inhabited by a gargantuan Scorpion that was apparently worshipped by the drow. The party elected not to take this path either. They once again resorted to scaling the walls and successfully reached the fourth level. There they encountered a large band of Emerald Claw soldiers led by a 4-armed troll. The party cut them down but were exhausted by the battles end. They wanted to push through but they were too weakened and wounded to proceed. The party next came to a massive throne fit for a titan.

There studying the throne was a female provost of the Morgrave University expedition. She explained she was being held captive by the Emerald Claw and that she was studying the throne for them. This conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the undead sorcerer who had escaped the party earlier. Cyril engaged him and finally Gabriel destroyed the creature. After the battle the provost could not be located as she had fled. As the party conversed they released they had all heard a voice in their mind speaking to them. The voice which echoed with power had stated “Complete me”. Later as the battle had gone on the voice had stated a series of strange statements concerning animal parts and other nonsensical madness. Cyril wanted no part of this and his party was not going to argue. The group was still in no shape for further battle. As the party began to exit the chamber strange lights began to appear in the air. Darius could hear whispers near the throne. The party ran away to seek shelter from whatever was about to happen. They ran through a series of rooms before finally reaching a dead end. The barricaded the door and took some rest.
-05-18-05-


-10th-Grasp of the Emerald Claw: Part 3:
-Cyril-Zarion-Gabriel-Darius-And Halac’s Heroes-
The party had crossed the seas to the distant and wild continent of Xen’drik. They had reached the ruins of an ancient Giant civilization. They had come tracking the Warforged Scimitar who had stolen the identity of one of the members of Halac’s heroes. After resting in one of the rooms the party continued their search of the ruins. After some exploration they came upon Halac’s heroes. The current roster of Halac’s Heroes contained Halac, Dukarde, Detlin Solnar (Half orc cleric), Murf (Dwarven rogue), and Tank (actually Scimitar in disguise). Gabriel immediately took notice that Halac was a Changling bearing a disguise of some kind. Disguise. The party began to consider that possible more then one member of Halac’s heroes was not who they claimed to be. Halac’s heroes greeted the Keeper’s of the Deep. Dukarde came to greet his comrades and found himself dragged aside. The party explained the situation and showed Dukarde their warrant. Dukarde went back to Halac’s Heroes and began interrogating Tank (Scimitar). Halac vouched for Tank that only added to confusion. Detlin sought to end this state of confusion with a detect evil, He immediately grew alarmed and began to back away from Halac’s heroes. Then battle commenced. Halac (The Changling), Tank (Scimitar), and Murf (asshole) attacked both the party and Dukarde. A melee ensued. Mid way through the battle the real Halac appeared. He had been badly beaten and mugged but had returned for vengeance. Outnumbered and overwhelmed the infiltrators began to fall back. The Changling was killed first, then Murf went down, leaving only Scimitar. He opted to flee but was endlessly pursued. The real Halac’s heroes managed to bring the warforged down. The Keepers of the Deep put their man in custody and were all set. Then the two parties began to discuss consolidation. The Keepers of the Deep elected to aid Halac’s heroes in completing their mission to recover the 4 schemas of the Creation Pattern. In an unprecedented move The Keepers of the Deep combined forces with Halac’s heroes to create a Super adventuring party. They decided on a room by room search of the Ruins. Their first room was nearly their last. They climbed into the attic of the ruins to be overcome by dozens of giant spiders. The new super adventuring party was nearly destroyed. They retreated and returned the following day to finish off the remnants of these vile and malicious arachnids. A search found nothing. The party next went after the undead creature that had nearly killed them in the dark water chamber. This time the party was prepared and though it proved difficult that did at last defeat the beast. On the next day of searching the party returned to face the giant Scorpion it seemed the drow had been worshipping. The beast was terribly powerful but fell to awesome onslaught the party presented. Next the party began to fixate on one door they knew to be trapped with a “Wail of the Banshee” spell. After many games concerning robes and bizarre tactics the party captured what was behind the door. It was a relic that would later be revealed to be a minor artifact (Tooth At ta Ir). While exploring further the party fell victim to a pit trap which killed Halac. A few moments later Halac was revived. Thus I was revealed that Halac was virtually unkillable. The party proceeded to kill off every living inhabitant of the ruined complex. Having searched it in entirety the party was forced to examine the information they had. To aid in this Detlin used a “Speak with Dead” on the Changling who had replaced Halac. They gathered the following information. The Changling’s name was Garrow. He served the Emerald Claw and the Blood of Vol (A necromantic Cult). He had in the past disguised himself as Captain Rarwog (Captain of the airship Jade’s Fury), Provost Elya of the Morgrave University (whom the party had encountered), and Halac. His mission was to combine the schemas and to use the creation pattern. Other evidence that Halac had gathered lead him to be believe their yet another chamber unreachable through physical means. The pieces of the puzzle were spread about the Ruins. On the uppermost level there was a giant throne inscribed with many names. Then in two different locations within the ruins lied large Ziggurats inscribed with symbols. The party eventually discovered that a large lens like device they had discovered was a code breaker to read these symbols. The party was able to gather 6 names from the two Ziggurats. They pieced together that the names were actually the names of stars. After much deliberation Darius mounted the giant throne. As soon as he sat in the throne the ceiling above him disappeared. He could see the sky above. The clouds clear to present him with an unbridled view of the constellations. As he spoke the names of the six stars they began to glow. When all 6 names were uttered the entire party was transported to the hidden chamber. There they saw a massive forged with mechanical devices. These devices were all connected by steel cords to one central location. There in the center of this room was an archaic and ancient primitive Warforged. It seemed the giants of the ages lost had learned of technology much as the humanoid races had done centuries later. There on an altar in the room was 3 of the 4 schemas. Halac revealed that he possessed the 4th schema. This incited Cyril that this information was withheld. Halac explained that they were still searching for the other 3 so it made little difference. And in light of recent events he had grown not to trust those around him. So at last they had recovered the Schemas but there before them was what the creation pattern was made for. After some debate it was decided that they would assemble the creation pattern and see what happened. As they assembled the final piece the creation pattern began to glow. Muroni began to speak. All the party members turned to the lady they had been traveling with since Stormreach. Muroni explained that had feeling had come over her. A great and terrible event was occurring. “The Pattern of the Prophecy forever unfolds in profound ways. This day, we have witnessed the culmination of one verse of the Prophecy, and the beginning of another.” The party was not thrilled about this statement. Halac tried to remove the last Schema but it was too late. The creation pattern began to glow then moved to burn into the chest of the giant primitive warforged. “I am Complete” the construct explained. “Xulo is whole. And now Xulo has a body”.

With that the warforged moved forward to dismember those who had just breathed it life. Neither Halac’s heroes nor the Keepers of the Deep stood down. The Warforged moved forward into a ferocious onslaught. It hammering blows began to wear on the party. Detlin was nearly killed. Halac was put down. Cyril stood toe to toe with the construct while Gabriel bore in with devastating evocations. Xulo was destroyed as quickly as he had been created. After the battle the two parties were left to decide what to do with the Schemas. In the end it was decided Halac’s Heroes would bring 3 of the Schemas back to Lady Eleydrin for their payment. The Keepers of the Deep would hold on to the other Schema to keep it safe. Once these issues were settled it was time to attend on getting home. Darius had learned earlier that the river boat the party had come in had been attacked and might have been destroyed. Meanwhile Halac’s heroes had used a magical folding boat to get here and that had been similarly lost. There was no way home. The party came upon the air skiff they had encountered earlier and then released that the Skiff must have come from somewhere. They tracked it down and finally came upon The Jade Phoenix. An airship in service of the Emerald Claw. There was one man left on ship to guard it. The party overpowered him and took control of his ship. This guard would later be dropped into the ocean. The Party dropped Muroni off in Stormreach where Cyril promised her they would meet again. While in Stormreach the party found Captain Chinxero whose ship had been damaged beyond repair. The party hired him to be their airship captain. The also took two of his crewmen and a guy Zarion had befriended on docks some weeks ago. The party traveled to Wroat where they dropped off Halac’s heroes. Dukarde said he was going to return home with the party. The party next went to Galethspyr where they turned custody of Scimitar over to Viorr of the Dark Lanterns. Viorr said they had regained his confidence. The party picked up their horses and at last returned home.
-05-25-05-


-11th-Interlude—The Business of Blood and Punishment:
-Cyril-Zarion-Gabriel-Darius-
The party had just returned from their extended expedition to the wild continent of Xen’Drik. They had returned with Dukarde and their newly acquired airship. Along the way they had picked up Captain Chinxero to helm their airship and two of Chinxero’s crewmen. A dockworker from Strormreach called Battleaxe (Ben Akers) had also come along. The party arrived just in time to see the new prisoner transfer. Endo the thief had been incarcerated and sentenced to Harkondeep for 10 years. Tinks admitted the prisoner and then told the party of events that had occurred in their absence. Prisoner Dorgrim Hayd had damaged his cell twice and Tesdon had brought in some special compounds from Indestructible to reinforce the cell. Meanwhile Gurtle Mack had completed the underground tunnel from the prisoner to the Supply Silo. Dukarde had traveled back with the party and went off to see his family. During the next few weeks. The party saw to their own personal ventures. Zarion made provisions for the reconstruct of a building in town to be rebuilt as a Library for him and Tinks. Cyril took out a 20,000 gold piece mortgage to employ Gurtle Mack to construct him a keep. Gabriel paid to have the church renovated and repaired. Darius had Gabriel enchant a short sword for him. The party now known as The Keepers of the Deep created a symbol for their organization and a mark as well. Eventually all these endeavor were cut short when a disturbing message was received. The message was intended for a different prison but some mix-up in the sending code had transmitted it to Harkondeep. The message was sent by Breland Central Command to a particularly vile prison in Droam known as the Prison Fortress of Dragonkord. It seemed that the Droamites had captured some prisoners of war and had solicited Breland Central Command for a compensation in return for the prisoner’s release. Breland Central Command has responded by saying nothing would be paid for the prisoners they were claiming to have captured were in fact dead. Faxton explained that under the rules of House Sivis they had to ignore the message and resend it to its original destination. Tinks interfered when he read the names of the prisoners. Later Cyril would read the names and find them all to be members of the Blacklance brigade that Cyril had commanded in the wars. Cyril decided he would need to save these men. The party took the airship 5000 miles west to the Prison Fortress of Dragonkord. The prison was huge holding near 1000 prisoners. The party came under a partial pretense to verify the status of the prisoners. Cyril was brought to meet with the warden of Dragonkord prison. A Fire giant with serpentine features named Trask. Trask questioned who Cyril was representing. After a short discussion Trask grew keen and offered Cyril two options. He could pay 1,000 gold pieces a head for the prisoners immediately. Or he could pay 1,000 gold pieces a week to keep them alive. Cyril paid the 1,000 gold pieces and informed the Warden if anything happened to his men in the mean time he would kill him. Cyril would threaten the Warden a second time before leaving. The party traveled to Ardev and Cyril took out a personal loan for 4,000 gold pieces and pooled all his resources to come up with the needed 9,000. He returned and the Warden released his men. Cyril threatened the Warden again before departing. The Warden seemed to consider Cyril's aggression as humorous and allowed the party to disembark. The men Cyril saved could not go back to Breland and considered their massive debt to their former commander. They agreed they would serve Cyril as they did in the war.
05-31-05


12th: Mission Lost:
-Zarion-Cyril-Gabriel-
The events of this mission are greatly lost or forgotten. The party embarked on prison business to the city of Ardev. Along the way the party came into disagreement and almost came to blows. All 3 party members decided to go their separate ways. It is likely the party members would have resolved their differences had they not been interfered with. Unfortunately the events that followed remain a mystery to the party.


13th: Redemption:
-Cyril-Gabriel-(featuring Zarion in comatose state)-
Cyril found himself being interrogated by the Dark Lanterns (The intelligence division of Breland Central Command). They wanted to know all the information regarding Harkonthorp as an advance post for the planned invasion of Droam. Cyril knew this to be false and explained as such. Soon Cyril’s cohort General Maelstrom was brought in and urged Cyril to speak the truth. This was of course all an illusion perpetuated to get information from Cyril. For an unknown duration the entire party had been enduring this and many other forms of interrogation. But this time the illusion was breaking down. The interrogators realized this and ended the session. Cyril could hear a conversation occurring between a voice he knew and an unknown woman who was presumably among the interrogators. Cyril recognized the mans voice as that of Trask. The Fire Giant Warden of the Fortress Prison of Dragonkord, deep within Droam. Trask was arguing against such treatment of soldiers but it seemed the interrogators had greater authority. That of Droams rulers. Not long after Cyril regained consciousness again and this time was able to open his eyes and move about the room. Within his hand had been placed a key to free him of his manacles. Cyril found Gabriel and Zarion bound similarly within interrogation chairs. Their heads had been shaved and now bore massive scars. A crown like device was placed over the heads of Cyril’s friends that seemed to keep them unconscious. Cyril awoke Gabriel who found a copper coin in his hand. They next tried to free Zarion but he would not regain consciousness. He instead lay dormant as his eyelids move continuously violent. Gabriel examined the copper coin to discover intricately carved images within it. Inside of the interrogation room there was an ocular device that allowed him to see these markings in greater detail. They appeared to be a very loose map with notation along the way. The party gathered that someone was aiding their escape. By following the map the party soon found the supply closet that housed all their belongings. They used their magic coin of deposition to hold the comatose Zarion. They used the map to navigate through the prisons lower dungeons. They killed two ogre ravager guards and an Ettin before advancing to the furnace level. They negotiated past and came upon an elevator. As directed they got off on the prison level used to hold the large sized prisoners. Here they entered a hatch that connected to one of the mighty furnace chimneys. They were nearly burnt alive before exited another such hatch some 3 levels up. They existed into a ventilation shaft that connected to the prison kitchen. Inside this shaft they found some curious items. Laying there in the shaft was an old pipe and an etching on the wall. The etching read “Thanks for the stay, L.D.”. The party concluded this was Lex Datimer. His record reflected that he had indeed escaped from Dragonkord many years prior. The party now believed their friends had tapped him for information. The party was nearly spotted while exiting the ventilation shaft but a fortunate riot had broke out. Amid the excitement the party negotiated along the ceiling pipes out of the kitchen and past the cafeteria ending eventually in a massive piping room. Here they found a bag of sand concealing within it a vial of acid. They used the acid to melt a hole on a massive pipe. They crawled through yards of foul shit and piss before eventually ending in an enormous pipe of piss and shit and things much fouler. This pipe marked the end of the party’s map. The pipe exited the prison wall but was blocked by intercrossing bars. The party used the remaining acid to start a break in the bars followed by brute strength. They narrowly avoid being eaten by a resident Otuygh. The party was now hanging by a rope over a 300ft long drop. They were attempting to swing the rope into the prison wall so Cyril could use his spider harness. During this process the party could hear the calling of Warden Trask. The Warden now stood perched on a balcony above. He was accompanied by 2 Ettins and 3 Ogre Berserkers bearing hand held ballistae. The Warden explained that it was to his advantage for them to escape, but not to survive. As all seem lost in came the Jade Phoenix. Crew on board included General Maelstrom, Tesdon, Tool, Benton Swords, Goph Nedner, Battleaxe, and Captain Chinxero. They rescued the party crewing little damage. The wardens airship came to pursue but thanks to a device constructed by Tinks it fell to sabotage. The party returned home to get a most discomforting debriefing. It seemed they had been gone for over a year and a half. Only recently had they been contacted by Cyril’s former Commander Mar Grimthrone informing them that the party was being held at Dragonkord. Tinks made an arrangement with Lex Datimer for information in exchange for Datimers escape. Next Dukarde infiltrated the prisons employment by demonstrating his skill at arms and penchant for mayhem. He wore a steal mask and adopted the identity of Kildorn. Not long after taking employment he was assigned to be the Warden’s observer to the party’s interrogation by the envoys of Sora Krell. Meanwhile much had occurred in Harkonthorpe. The small hamlet was now a bustling town more then 3 times the size then the party remembered. Within the towns center now lied a makeshift citadel. It seemed a local warlord named Lord Sandemon had taken residence in Harkonthorp. He had raised a small army of some 50 men and was playing an increasing role in town affairs. After only a few hours of rest the party went to see this Sandemon. The meeting did not last long before a battle was set the next morning. The party gathered everyman they could including Marcus Spoon and the fastest horse on the continent. The party went to war with an army of 26. Sandemon brought his 50. The men of Harkondeep fought valiantly and Sandemon was overwhelmed. By battles end Sandemon and his subordinates were all captured. The enemy army took 2 dozen casualties while the Harkondeepers took only 3. After the battle the party met with the Council of Elders and the council was expanded to 6 to now include Cyril and Gabriel. The Keepers of Harkondeep had returned. Back the prison Tinks was going to enjoy a smoke before heading home. Unfortunately he found his pipe missing from his desk draw. He called the party in to see what else he found. Carved in the bottom of the draw was an inscription. It read “Thanx for the stay, L.D.”.
-5-10-06-


14th: Voyage of the Golden Dragon: Part 1:
-Cyril-Gabriel-Wraithian-Darius-
The brothers Darius and Wraithian were returning to Harkonthorp. Darius had been apart of the mission that had seen the party lost. He had tried to follow Zarion but failed. Eventually after the party split Darius went to find his brother whom had taken up the study of sorcery in a distant realm. Now the brothers were returning after almost 2 years absence. They were shocked to see how the town had grown and were met with great rejoice upon their arrival at the Prison. The party was gathered around considering all that had enfolded since their disappearance. Tinks presented evidence that Mar Grimthrone had been the one who had anonymously informed Harkondeep that their party members were being held at Dragonkord. As the party debated this they received another transmission. It had been transmitted by Vior Maelek of the Dark Lanterns. It was an invitation to a christening to occur at Tower Lyrandar in Scarn. A few days later the party found themselves at the apex of the tower attending a high society party for the Christening of the largest airship ever commishioned. A mammoth construction some 200ft in length bearing two elemental housings. The party would be among the first to board “The Golden Dragon” and see its wonders.

The party was soon introduced to the ships Captain (Alistair Lyrandar) and his chef artificer. The captain explained the ship had been originally commissioned to be a war vessel but had been only partially constructed before the Treaty of Thronehold was signed. It languished for years before a group of private investors fulfilled its completion and commishioned it to be a luxury cruise vessel. After the brief discussion with the captain the Chef Artificer gave the party a tour of the ships engineering room. Within the ships engine room lied a maze of pipes through which a transfusion of power integrated the ships water elemental binding with its fire elemental binding. The party continued its tour by visiting the House of chance, The Golden Dragon’s resident tavern and gambling den. The party enjoyed some exciting games of 3 dragon ante before being banned from the table by a dealer move known as the Tiamat. The party did a great deal of hobnobbing including the with great mayor of Scarn. After a brief dinner the party was enjoying a dance when things began to go downhill. An assault team consisting of 9 Hobgoblins and 2 minatuars stormed the ballroom. They took hostages and ushered everyone into the House of Chance. There their leader Brimstone Brakkar announced that they had a bomb on board and intended to hold the ship ransom until they were paid the tidy sum of 200,000 gold pieces. A relief seemed to overtake the crowd at this. Many of the wealthy merchants explained that everyone should remain calm and all would be ok. The party did not wait long until issuing an all out attack. Eight people were instantly executed but the party seemed to barely notice. They began a melee that continued until another hobgoblin came on deck telling his master that the man below had no intentions of waiting on a ransom. The party went below except for Gabriel who remained on deck engaged in combat. In the engine room the party met more resistance from hobgoblins and Minataurs. They cut through them till eventually reaching a badly scarred whip thin human bearing artificers tools. The man wielded a crossbow with deadly precision utilizing the weapon to break open valves unleashing deadly hot steam. The party was too aggressive and the man found himself overwhelmed. He did however manage to drink a potion of gaseous form and begin an escape through a vacant steam pipe. Gabriel having just come on the scene responded with an area dispel which left man resubstantiated within a 5 inch pipe. Blood and bone shards covered the floor. A quick search did not reveal the bomb and so Cyril and Wraithian left to go seek the fire elemental binding room. Just a few rooms down the pair came upon a Warforged Juggernaut equipped with a massive iron clamp on one hand. The warforged served the human they just killed and was maintaining a getaway skiff in the cargo hold. Meanwhile back in the engine room Darius used his tracking abilities in cohesion with Gabriels search. Together they located an arcane dismissal bomb hidden with some pipes. Gabriel arcane knowledge revealed to him that the bomb would detonate in 36 seconds or if moved it would detonate in 6. Gabriel developed a plan and Darius executed. Darius removed the bomb initiated the failsafe 6 second detonator. He quickly affixed the device to the water elemental binding core. As expected the water elemental binding overcame and negated the explosive effects of the bomb. The ship had been saved. The party had a few moments to rejoice before being encountered by the massive warforged juggernaut.

A short battle ensued before Cyril was finally successful in dominating a creature. The thing would now be his slave. The party had saved the ship but a heavy cost to the cities elite. An investigation into this night events would follow.
-5-15-06-


15th: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 2:
-Cyril-Gabriel-Darius-
Following the violent and tragic events of the previous night the party was detained at a Breland Citadel. Some of the party members did not have their legal papers so their identities had to be established. During this period the party was contacted by a member of the Dark Lanterns whom gave them some water and told them not to tell that they had received their tickets to the Golden Dragon christening from them. Soon after the party was debriefed by Master Inquisitor Clarence Norbook. Norbook’s primary concern was that the party had attacked the hostage takers with blatant disregard of the hostages. As a result eight hostages were instantly executed. Many of these were important figures in Sharn’s Elite. Gabriel gave his account of the events and he honestly believed that they had heard the ship would be destroyed before they attacked. Cyril knew this was in correct, as it was Cyril who initiated the attack. He remained silent as Gabriel gave an inaccurate but beneficial account of events. The inquisitor also inquired as to the whereabouts of Wraithian who seemed to have disappeared before they were accosted. The party did not worry, as they knew Wraithian was prone to such disappearances. They told the inquisitor they knew nothing of him. The inquisitor then pressed the party on how they came to Sharn. The inquisitor seemed to have suspicions of the truth. That the party had come on board an unregistered seized airship. Darius openly lied and said that Wraithian had teleported them there. Due to the benefits of the water the party had consumed they were able to ass this story on. The inquisitor was satisfied and the party was only detained for a while longer. Before they could leave they were visited by a member of the Magewrights seeking more information on this teleport spell. Apparently 2 dozens years ago a rift in the ethereal plane had developed which prevented teleportation on Ebberron. The party just said that only Wraithian would know. Soon after the party was released by the captain of the guard. He congratulated the party on their victory but informed them that the events that occurred had become a bone of contention to the general public of Sharn. Many people believe the party had acted recklessly and caused the deaths of so many. Still others touted the party as heroes. Shortly after leaving the citadel the party was brought to see Lord Winslow. A powerful and influential land developer whose cooperation was primarily responsible for the completion of the Golden Dragon. He awarded the party a 4,000 GP reward and arranged a further payment of 9000 GP to have the party remain on board for the ships maiden voyage. The party agreed. Later the party had a brief encounter with Halac’s Heroes at the Bank in Sharn. During this meeting one of Halacs men noted that Gabriel and Cyril had dark aura’s upon them. The party went to the Sovereign host for help who eventually redirected them to a specialist at the Church of the Sovereign host. It seemed this dark aura was the mark of a powerful evil being who resides in Sharn. A undead being called Calderus whom the party had meddled with before. It was Calderus who had dominated Lucian Stellos and made him steal the Soulblade (See Whispers of the Vampires Blade). When Gabriel had slain Lucian he had been marked by Calderus. Now the party had come within Calderus’s domain. The clerics removed the mark and told them people more powerful then themselves were seeking this fiend. It would be better for them to simply leave Sharn. The party told the clerics they would soon return to aid in the hunt. The party next made communication with the prison. Tinks informed them that Breland was reviewing a reconsideration of business with the prison. It seemed the party’s methods were now being called into question. Tinks informed the party that he had sent them their to network and that the party was failing miserable. His last message urged the party to be diplomatic. The party spent only a day or so in Sharn before they had had enough. Back on board the Golden Dragon the party was greeted once again by Captain Alistair. Not long into the Voyage the party met with an interesting cast of characters. Among these were Sedge Adavarn Karnath Ambassador to Breland and his undead bodyguards, accompanied by Gunter the scribe. There was also Cardinal Menalos of the Silver Flame, Thrane Ambassador to Breland and his Paladin Body guards. Below decks the party met Sea Baron Paldrith Malinko and his entourage. As soon as the party went below decks they came upon the ships engineer unjamming the very pipe that Gabriel had imploded the saboteur. The pipe was now jammed by a silver sphere. Gabriel investigated to find the item arcane marked with a strange symbol. At dinner the first night The 2 ambassadors came into conflict. It seemed the Karrnath tradition was to animate their dead as soldiers and servants. The Cardinal being of the Silver Flame found this to be an abomination. The argument ended quickly with the Cardinal knocking down Gunter the Scribe as he disembarked. Later Gunter was found dead. The Captain asked the party to investigate as he had a massive storm brewing to contend with. The party investigated and it seemed the Karrnathian scribe was killed by injecting poison. The Karrnathian’s reasonably suspected the Thrane Cardinal and his people. The party soon uncovered a Ruby pendant from the dead mans chest. It had necromantic magic that Gabriel identified as being a soul housing now hosting a soul. Some time later the party was in the house of chance when a melee broke out. It seemed a goblin servant had spilt beer all over a house Orien Courier. During the fray the courier found that one of his missives (very important message) was missing. He started choking the goblin that brought an onslaught of goblin servants. The ships Medani guards joined in and chaos grew. Eventually all the goblins were knocked out and the courier (Logar) surrendered. During this melee Darius had noticed Jenks the halfling bartender secretly place a sheet of paper in one of the pirate’s pockets. The party recovered this paper from the pirates and promised to handle it. Gabriel brought the matter up with Jenks who assured him he was doing good work and then paid 500 GP for Gabriel to forget about it. As the storm grew worse more and more guards were needed on deck to aid the captain. A short time after this occurrence Darius heard trouble. Following it up it seemed the two Thrane Paladin were going straight for the Karrnath Ambassador. They began battling the Medani guard in the hall. The battle was soon joined by the Karrnathian Skeletons and even more Medani guards. A massive melee was ensuing. Gabriel sat and watched the battle as Cyril and Darius traveled to the Cardinal’s quarters. Eventually Gabriel had to pick a side so he used his powers to incinerate the Karrnath Skeletons. This effectively ended the battle as the Paladins then surrendered to the Medani guards. Meanwhile Darius and Cyril had made a gruesome discovery. The Cardinal was now dead having died by ingesting poison. Not long after Gabriel realized the Soulgem was now empty. The party began to speculate heavily. They about to go looking for the ships engineer when he appeared from the laboratory door. The party said they wanted to talk to him but he explained he had to see the captain. A short while the party was still waiting for the engineer. Eventually they asked the ships resident message and relaxation therapist (Zan) to go find him. Zan returned explaining that he had woken the engineer and he would be here as soon as he was dressed. The party thought this odd and so Gabriel went to investigate the Laboratory door. Upon opening the door he smelled the gas that filled the room within. Thindertwigs attached to the door ignited and a massive explosion followed. The forecastle along with the inner stateroom were exploded. The party was nearly killed. The ships engineers went to work trying to repair the ship as the party debated what the hell was happening. In the rumble they found Zan unconscious. But unconscious he appeared in his true form. That of a Doppleganger. After a quick investigation they found Zan was a former member of a thieves guild called the Tyrants in Sharn. He was now fleeing this guild and had nothing to do with what was occurring on the ship. The party decided they could however utilize Zan to recognize another dopple ganger. Back in the house of chance the party saw one of the pirates using a silver sphere as payment. When asked the pirate explained these spheres were currency in the Lhazar principalities. While going door to door with this strategy the party found that now Gunter the scribe’s body was missing. An investigation revealed that Gunter had stood up, cast invisibility, moved to the edge of the ship, polymorphed into a flying creature and left. The party continued their investigation until at last Zan recognized a doubleganger. It was one of the Medani guard near the house of chance. The party asked to speak with him when The Sea Baron Paldrith Malinko arrived with his men. Paldrith acted friendly but it soon became apparent what was occurring. A massive melee ensued.

The pirates used their tumbling abilities to gain superior battle advantages. The Sea Baron proved to be quit an opponent dodging virtually every strike while dishing up crippling blows. He quickly brought Cyril down. The ships cook and bartender joined the fray proving to be more then accomplished warriors. Soon the Medani guards arrived attacking everyone. The legendary adventurer Lord Martain simply enjoyed a beer and watched with glee. Gabriel managed to hit Malinko with a harm spell but no one could finish the cunning pirate off. The battled continued on much to Martains approval. Eventually in one fleeting charge Darius managed to cross the melee talking numerous hits as he charged ending finally with his blade impaled upon the Sea baron. With their master gone the other pirates fell and the rest of the combatants surrendered. A subsequent interrogation of one of the pirates illuminated some events. It seemed Sea Baron Paldrith Malinko had been constructing the Cloud Dancer. The largest air ship ever constructed. That is save for the Golden Dragon. The Golden Dragon alone would be able to challenge the Dancers air superiority. Because of this Malinko needed the Dragon destroyed. He had paid Telgith to plant the bomb at the christening party. The ransom attempt was only used to gain the muscle of Brakkar Brimstone and his henchmen. The ship was always intended to be destroyed. When that attempt failed Malinko arranged passage and had his doppelganger arrange the explosion that rocked the Dragon. This disaster would if nothing else embarrass Captain Alistair and besmear the Golden Dragons maiden Voyage. In the coming days Malinko had plans to either totally destroy the Dragon or take control of it. After this the party was met by the ships cook Kovane and the bartender Jenks. They explained that they worked for the Dark Lanterns and that they had their own missions on the ship. Jenks had stolen the missive and planned to replace them with forged ones which ordered the halt of house Orien’s exploration of Xen Drik. Breland Central Command feared what power and wealth House Orien might garner from the wild lands. So at last the party was partially enlightened. Three different games were about on this maiden Voyage. The Dark Lanterns business had failed. The Sea Baron was defeated which for the most part ensured the ships continued safety. But the third mystery remained greatly unsolved. A debate proposed that it was likely an agent of the Emerald Claw who had come onboard as Gunter. Then faked his own death, then killed the Cardinal. All the end of fostering enmity between Thrane and Karrnath. Unfortunately this agent had escaped. The party took a deep rest that night. It was still only their first night of this 6 day voyage.
-5-23-06-


16th: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3:
-Gabriel-Cyril-Wrathian-
The last half of the party’s journey to Xen Drik had been uneventful. The damage sustained to the Golden Dragon was extensive and would require a longer stay in the city of Stormreach. The party decided they would make use of this time to relax. That was until Lord Halas Martain appeared. Martain, the most famous adventurer of all time had been onboard the Dragon for is maiden voyage but he had declined to assist in battling the forces that had reaped so much destruction on the vessel. He had enjoyed watching the party defeat Paldrith Malinko and his forces. During this battle it seemed Martain had come to respect the party’s abilities in combat. Martain now came to them with a mission. He was going to explore the site a ruined giant citadel. There presumable to gather ancient knowledge and vast riches. Only problem seemed that Martain would only agree to a superior split of the treasure. Though Martain was the superior power the party could not agree. Eventually a compromise was made and the adventure was on. Martain borrowed an air skiff from the Golden Dragon and guided the party deep into the jungles. Martain displayed vast knowledge of the jungles creatures. With his guidance the party arrived safely at the giant citadel. Inside they found very little save for a vicious trap which enervated the live energy from the entire group. After being sufficiently weakened by this trap the party was primed for the confrontation which awaited them. As would later be revealed Martain had learned of this citadels location from notes he had taken from Gunter’s room onboard the Dragon. (Note: Günter was an agent of the Emerald claw which had faked his death then killed the ambassador from Thrane. All this had been done to foster war between the nations of Thrane and Karrnath. Gunter had escaped before the party could catch him.) Now the party had seemingly by coincidence been brought to Gunters lair. Gunter, A Necromancer, was now about the business of raising an undead Giant army to lay siege upon the city of Stormreach using this Giant citadel as a base of operations. So the weakened party fell prey to an onslaught of marauding undead giants and trolls. Martain having been blasted by a horrid wilting cried for everyone to run. A chase ensued. The pursuing undead set off a guardian trap which animated stone guardians giving the party some aid. Then Martain turned to make a fight of it. Standing alone against these forces Martain quickly fell. The party joined the battle just as Gunter, the necromancer appeared. This would have been the end to the keepers of the deep if it were not the fortunate appearance of Wrathian. A massive spell duel ensued and Gunter was forced to retreat. Equally as depleted the party also fled. Back on the Golden Dragon the party’s mocking of Martain brought about a huge argument. Sometime later the party heard that Martain was bad mouthing them all over town as they had done to him on the Golden Dragon. The party confronted him on this and from this encounter the two sides somehow agreed to go back after Gunter. The expedition would leave in an hour. An hour later Gunter appeared with a wizard he had hired from the Wayfinder’s foundation. Gabriel immediately it was Gunter in disguise. He waited for the right moment and then they all attacked. Gunter was clever and managed to take flight and escape. An invisible Wrathian followed him for miles until at last he was able to catch him. Wrathian had the drop on the necromancer and followed through with cutting him down. He returned with the body and all rejoiced. Martain collected a reward he had prearranged with the Wayfinder’s Foundation. This angered Cyril to no end as he considered that reward something they should all share. The party left and turned the Necromancer over to the Thrane Embassy. The party collected numerous rewards they would not share with Martain. Finally the party decided they would head back to the ruins to look for treasure. Upon arriving there they found that Martain too had made his own way there to the same ends. With him he had a group from the Morgrave University. The two parties argued endlessly. Some time later while exploring a pool of water both Gabriel and Cyril were imprisoned by a Gelatinous Cube. Martain made fun but eventually helped Wrathian free his compatriots. Inside the cube Gabriel had located a shield of magic. Martain wanted his cut and another argument ensued. Finally Martain left. The party followed suit later to learn that their skiff was missing. After a long walk home the party learned that Martian had activated the automatic return feature on the skiff with a note attached that said “Leave without us”. Cyril was angered to no end and went in search of Martain. Upon finding him he started a melee. They went fist to fist and Martain seemed to be winning him over. After numerous outbursts from Gabriel Martain punched the cleric in the face. Gabriel responded by magical holding Martain. Then Cyril said “Let’s take this guys stuff”. The guards arrived and Martain made the whole thing go away by assuring the guards it was nothing. But it was clear that Martain felt deeply angered that Gabriel had used his magic and the party was about to rob him. After this sad encounter the party ran to catch a ride back aboard The Golden Dragon. They had once again had enough of Stormreach.
5-30-06 - 6-6-06


17th: Voyage of the Golden Dragon: Part 4:
-Gabriel-Cyril-
The party had concluded their stay in Stormreach (Port city of Xen’drik), they were departing aboard the Golden Dragon (The largest Airship ever constructed). Just as the ship was departing the party was enjoying some drinks at the House of Chance (ships onboard casino). Screams could be heard from afar, it seemed the many wondrous creatures brought aboard to fill a zoo back home had broken out. The party found the House of Chance under attack by 8 monstrous scorpions. Gabriel could see outside the house of chance a squad of Dire Apes making for the decks above. These creatures seemed to be moving in cohesion. The bartender Jenks (secretly a Dark Lantern agent) joined the battle and together the party defeated the creatures. The party could hear sounds of battle coming from all parts of the ship. They next moved to exit the House of Chance into the grand banquet hall. From a distance they could see 4 massive 30ft long ill tempered anacondas making proper use of the banquet hall by indulging on some passengers. From across the way the party could see the ship’s cook (Kovan, also a Dark lantern) preparing for battle. The party’s numbers grew to 4 as they took to combat with these vicious creatures. Cyril was nearly killed in the battle while Jenks the bartender was not nearly as lucking. Kovan mourned the death of his colleague but there was still much more battle to be had. Down the hall the party could see the Medani ship guards battle a host of additional Scorpions. They elected to see to the battle above decks but their charge was halted by cries from the engine room. Upon arriving in the elemental binding chamber the party witnessed the ships engineer (Telgrin) being utterly assaulted by a Dire Bear of tremendous size. The party engaged the beast and cut it down. Still all this battle was wearing the party down. Telgrin was able to heal the party with his limited Artificer abilities. Telgrin explained that these creatures were under the control of a Savage Drow female. The party continued their path of extermination to the upper decks having been joined now by the surviving Medani guards. Upon arriving there they found most of the crew had been downed but only a single dire ape remained. After killing the ape the party was able to assess the situation at large. It seemed the Drow female was now at the helm of the ship controlling the vessel so as to bring it into the jungle. Meanwhile a squad of 6 drow warriors mounted on pterodactyls were assaulting the vessel. The captain appeared to be frozen in ice. Cyril made for the Drow female while the remaining party members along with the Medani guards took to combating the other drow. Cyril found himself first halted by a wall of fire that he pushed through. He took the Drow female into a grapple of which she escaped by wild shaping into an elephant. By this point Gabriel arrived with an Ant magic field generating from his body. This forced the Drow female back into her natural formed. Seemingly trapped the cagey Drow bull rushed Cyril through the wall of fire and out into the open. Gabriel moved in but they could not keep her contained. The Drow female leaped from the ship seeming to disappear as the party looked to see her fall. Just as quickly the Drow reappeared on the other side of the vessel atop a large white dragon.

The situation had unfathomably grown worse. Gabriel used his anti-magic field to free the captain who immediately took to the helm. Gabriel manned a ballista while Cyril let loose with his bow. The captain utilized the Golden Dragons defense. He summoned the ships huge fire elemental to take form in defense of the ship. Of course with the fire elemental loosed the ship had lost propulsion and would now begin to descend to the jungle below. The drow female took to her own flight while see ordered her dragon to take out Gabriel. Gabriel could do little to defend himself as the dragon took him in his mouth and let him loose off the ship. Gabriel would plummet to his death. After seeing to Gabriel the dragon entered into a titanic duel with the fire elemental. Meanwhile the Captain and Kovan had finished off the drow soldiers and now stood with Cyril against the Drow female. A firestorm changed this resistance as Cyril and the Captain were knocked into unconsciousness. Meanwhile Gabriel had saved himself from certain death by depositing himself in the Coin of Deposition. After the coin had landed he exited and found himself in the jungle. From the bush came a running Lord Martain. Apparently people in town had seen the ship veer and Martain had come a running. With little conversing Gabriel and Martain were back where they started, exchanging insults. Martain came into attack but found himself repelled by Gabriel’s Sanctuary spell. After Gabriel had charged up he entered into melee. He simply was no match for Martain who quickly brought him to near unconsciousness. He cried out “I give up, you’re the best”. Martain stood there with a perplexed look on his face distracted just long enough for Gabriel to once again enter into the all-solving Coin of Deposition. Sometime later Cyril awoke below decks. It seemed Kovan on his last limb had dragged Cyril and the Captain below decks whilst the enemies dealt with the Fire elemental. With the fire elementals defeat the drow and her dragon had broken off their attack. The captain explained that after the fire elemental was defeated it had returned to its housing but would require 24 hours to recharge enough to power the ship anew. This meant the ship would have to rest in the dangerous wilds for this duration. They suspected that the Female Drow had released this and either given up or planned to return anew. Now that the ship had soft landed in the jungle Cyril went out to find Gabriel. With the luck of Kovan and his ranger skills they discovered that Martain had taken Gabriel with him. After a short time it was decided that Cyril and Kovan would escort the passengers out the dangerous jungle to the safety of town. The captain and his crew would remain with the vessel to protect it through the night. Back in town Cyril tracked Martain down at the Morgrave University. After ferociously hunting for Martain Cyril remembered he was still gravely wounded and in no shape to charge in and take down the mighty Martain. Martain told Cyril he could help ho find Gabriel for a thousand gold pieces that Cyril claimed not to have. They argued a little and then separated. Later Cyril would find Gabriel crawling out of a pile of manure. Apparently Martain had the coin identified and then deposited tons of manure inside to accompany the resting Gabriel. After washing up the party joined an expeditionary force from house Lyrandar to get the airship jump-started. This mission was successful and the party returned safely to Sharn in 6 days time. After a brief meeting with Mister Waldorf Winslow the party received payment and returned to Harkondeep. There waiting for them was legal papers verifying the legitimacy of their airship and the lifeless body of the Warforged Kray. The party had earned their rest and were relieved that at last the Voyage of the Golden Dragon had concluded. After
06-21-06


18th: Not Built in a Day:
-Gabriel-Cyril-Wrathian-
The party had returned from a long expedition to Xen’Drik. Wraithian was about studying a spell book he had taken off the evil necromancer they had battled there. As Gabriel and Cyril were arriving at the prison they came across Dukarde with the prisoner Endo in capture. Apparently Endo had escaped for the fourth time. Cyril displayed his unhappiness and talked to Tinks about spending some extra funds to secure the master thief. Later that day the prison received 10,000 GP for their newest prisoner. It was Paldrith Malinko, the pirate who conspired to destroy the Golden Dragon airship. He had been found guilty of Murder, Arson, destruction of property, and a dozen smaller crimes. His sentence was 20 years. He had even been transported to Harkonthorp under alias. He promised his friends would rescue him but offered to buy his way out for 22,000 GP. Sometime later Gabriel and Cyril were at City hall as requested by the town council. Misses Redler, Dunny, Mr. Deadskin, and Burt Mack were in attendance. Father Hax was not there because he had since retired due to old age but had named Gabriel his advocate on the council. The council explained they had reorganized the council. Now there would be 5 council members. The original 4, which were automatically seated by the four longest, deed holders in the town. Gabriel would be allowed as an advocate of Father Hax. The 5th position would be a creation that would be dictated and assigned by the other 4 members to whom they believed could best defend the city. Furthermore the separate positions would each carry the responsibilities of separate aspects of conventional governing. The departments were broken down as follows.
Councilwomen Redler: Education, Social Issues, Public Health
Councilman Dunny: Labor, Commerce, Agriculture
Councilman Deadskin: Treasury, Taxation, Business
Councilman Hax (Gabriel): State, Interior, Foreign Affairs
Councilman Cyril: Justice & Defense
Shortly after the meeting Wraithian was inquiring to Cyril as to who he should see about building a tower. Cyril deferred him to Dunny. As Wraithian approached Dunny in the street Dunny said he’d been looking for him. Dunny explained that some time ago Wraithian had pushed Tinks around and that Dunny would not tolerate such treatment of little people in his town. Wraithian ridiculed Dunny and invited him to do something about it. He continued to egg Dunny on with endless insults. Dunny said he would have Wraithian fined. Eventually this degraded into Wraithian casting a spell. Dunny readied for battle. Cyril managed to calm this down as Wraithian turned invisible and continued to follow Dunny around. While all this was going on Gabriel visited with his father who was sick. Father Hax chastised Gabriel about paying greater homage to the gods who gave him his power. Back in the main town Dunny had decided he knew a way to handle this. He steamed off to Argith's house. (Argith is a town scumbag and father to both Wrathian and Darius). Dunny started yelling at Argith how his son was a scumbag. It almost became a fight when Cyril broke that up. Later in the day Cyril and Gabriel went to check out the new bar that had sprung up overnight. It was the Fallen Tavern owned by Mister Sorgard and his partner Haits Magurn. Mister Sorgard was very kind and his establishment seemed outstanding. He told the party they could eat and drink whenever they wanted for free. Later that night Cyril was awakened to hear there was a disturbance. Apparently Dunny had been attacked and nearly killed during the night. After being healed Dunny explained it was a half-orc who attempted to hit him with a spell and then beat him into unconsciousness. A boy next door had seen the Half orc making off with some stolen goods. Dunny totally believed it was Wraithian who had used his magics to disguise himself as a half orc. The A team joined up with the B team and began an investigation. They followed tracks which lead out of town for hours then turned east for an hour then lead directly back to town. As the tracks approached town they transformed from Half-orc tracks to human tracks. Then the tracks lead right into the prison. The party locked down the prison and performed magic lie detection tests on all workers and prisoners to no avail. The only person remaining who had been in the prison that day was Wraithian. When Wrathian returned suspicions were high. But he passed the lie detector test. The party next went to Wraithians father house. Their Wraithian father also passed the lie detector test. During this encounter Gabriel noticed two men spying on him. They turned out to be two young men from town (Brice and Merker). They explained they were just being nosy. Wraithian knew the two young men as friends of his father and he took them aside to straighten everything out. Later the party found Pat Ruger the stable master involved with an angry mob that wanted justice. Cyril got them to disperse. Next the party went to check out an adventuring party that was in town reportedly traveling with a Half orc. This adventuring party was The Company of the Golem.
Dramon Steelforge –Half Elf Fighter
Shenon Firebright –Elf Cleric of The Silver Flame
Grizant the Eadicater –Dwarf Evocater
Ism Wrath –Changeling human rogue
Thrall –Bugbear Barbarian
Things got a little testy between Gabriel and the parties dwarf but the parties leader and Cyril kept things calm. The fact that one this parties group was a rogue brought on suspicion but all was dispelled as this party agreed to be subjected to the lie detector test. The party next went to see Misses Redler who informed them that Dunny had snuck out of town. The party explained they had almost no leads left and that they would have to retrace their steps. They went back and traveled the tracks through the woods. This time they found the stolen goods from Dunnys house having been buried. While there they stumbled upon the two young men from Argiths house. It was Brice and Merker. Wraithian explained that these men were very sneaky and that he had hired them to investigate. The party was suspicious but they let the two young men go. The following night Cyril was awoken again. The killer had seemingly attacked again. This time it was Argith. Argith explained he had been sleeping when awoken by the half orc walking through his house. A battle ensued and Argith came out the winner. The half orc was revealed to be Matt Gudkin. A young man in town with a good reputation. The little boy who had seen the half orc the first time could not positively identify the half orc due to grievous wounds. The town was happy with these results though Old Mister Gudkin was horrified that his son could do this. Later that day the party saw the Droamite Dragonkord airship flying a flag of truce. They wanted to meet. Later that night a meeting was arranged. Attended the Droamites was…
Trask, Fire giant Warden of Dragonkord prison where the party was formerly held.
Lahorak, a goblinoid agent of numerous talents in service to Sora Krell
Suscaren, A yuan-ti wizard Charak of Gar-thimrule, A Blackscale lizardman, master of the hunt for DK prison
Lahorak explained how the party had come to be in their captive. They had been captured by a Beholder named Arax who found them doing recon for invasion into Droam. After the many interrogations the party had undergone the Droamites now believed the party had told the truth. Harkonthorp was not the vanguard for some invasion and they probably were not doing recon in Droam. Sora Krell, a ruler of Droam now believed this had all been fabricated by Arax the beholder to some greater goal. The Hag lord did not like being manipulated. But now Arax was gone and the Droamites had run out of leads. Lahorak wanted to know how the party’s friends had learned of their imprisonment in Dragonkord. The party explained it had come from an unknown sender from the Breland Citadel but that Tinks had deduced it was secretly sent by Mar Grimthold, Cyrils mentor who had helped the party before. Lahorak propsed an alignment to figure out who was behind this manipulation. On this one goal both groups would exchange information. During this meeting Gabriel had some bad words for the Droamites. He scornfully turned down a request to see the prison. Also Charrak seemed very respectful if not challenging of Cyril. Sometime after this meeting Render came to Cyril and Gabriel and told them father wanted to see them. Waiting on a hill was Dukarde and some new guy in town named George. George was a 50ish man with a muscular physic and experience eyes. Together they went before Father who asked if they thought they had enough power now to slay him for this dominion. The party agreed they did not. George said he had no further interest in war and just wanted to live out his life peacefully. Father acknowledged this and sent him away. Finally after establishing the parties interest in growing the town Father told them he could give them resources to that goal but it would be for the towns growth and not for personal greed. The party agreed to this. Father then provided them with a map showing numerous veins of Adamantine beneath the town. The party returned to town hopeful for the town’s future. (THE TRUTH: Wraithian altered self to look like a half orc and beat Dunny into unconsciousness, leaving him to die. He then stole some of Dunny goods to make it appear as a robbery. He purposefully let the child across the way see him. He then traveled 4 hours out of town and buried the goods. He traveled east for an hour then came back to town. Once back at the prison he feigned surprise at what had happened and went out to join his party. When submitted to the lie detecting test Wraithian’s will allowed him to fight off the magic so that he was believed. While at his fathers house talking to Brice and Merker Wraithian told them to find a half orc to blame this on and that their reward would be at the end of a map which lead to Dunnys stolen goods. That’s why Merker and Brice were in the woods. What happened at Argith’s house none of the party members yet know. Not even Wrathian. But it can be assumed. Cyril and Gabriel had some suspicions but found no evidence. Essentially Wrathian pulled off a perfect crime.).
6-26-06


19th: When the bad men come:
-Cyril-Gabriel-Darius—featuring NPC’s Dukarde, Benton, Tinks, and others-
It was early in the morning. A week since the death of Matt Gudkin. Cyril had just picked up the paper work to request funds and permission to raise a town army. As Cyril and Gabriel were heading into work they saw a hawk fly down with a message. The message read “An invasion force coming immediately, maybe 90 men. –Dukarde” With limited time the party made what precautions they could gathering a fighting force consisting of about 30 men. The force consisted of The party, The B team (Maalstrom and Benton Swords), Cyril’s army of 5, Tinks, Tesdon, Gormox the intolerable, the entire guard of the prison, The towns 3 hunters, and another dozen or so men of fighting caliber. Gabriel climbed the prison to see if he could the invading force. What he saw was 3 airships each docked a mile away from the town. Shortly after 3 different forces invaded the town. They were essentially 3 pirate airship crews coming from North, east, and south. Each of the 3 invasion forces consisted of 30 armed men all of excellent combat experience. The party and the B team went to face the middle army. The lead pirate there announced himself as Captain Andar Pierce of the Iron Mantle. He said if they handed over Paldrith Malinko no one had to die. Cyril refused and the battle began. Darius having just returned to town had met up with Dukarde and now joined the battle. The party and the B team took on 1 of the 3 invasion forces while the other 2 forces sandwiched the towns fighting force. In a short while the towns entire fighting force was killed or unconscious. The party had managed to kill off 1 whole invasion force leaving them to stand before the prison facing the remnants of the other 2 forces. Captain Pierce had sought to escape into the new bar in town only to be killed. Mister Sorguard sent his Bartender out to help. In exchange for an offer Cyril made promising no taxes for a year. When the invading forces were down to 17 they fled. Cyril and Gabriel ran around to check the back of the prison while Darius tended to Tinks’s wounds. Around back they found the back door of the prison blown off the hinges. A trail of water led within. Inside they found the remainder of their guards as well as their entire airship crew cut down. Beside them were the bodies of 4 more pirates. Some kind of insertion squad who had snuck in the back. Above they found another pirate being eaten through the bars by prisoner Dorgrym Hayd. They also found Paldrith Malinko’s cell empty. Prisoner Endo explained that 6 pirates had snuck in and were engaged by the forces that were stationed on the roof. Captain Chinxero and the airship crew joined the battle but defeated. Only the pirate leader remained. He freed Malinko and they escaped. Darius tracked these men out back where their tracks led into the river from which they had also came. The party now saw the southern airship disembarking. They healed whom they could and went to pursue. It soon became evident that the pirate airship was too fast. That’s when Darius noticed a small submersible in the river below. After about an hour of trying the party successfully hooked this submarine and dragged it back to town. Inside they found a crew of two who agreed to tell them where Malinko was heading. It seemed the Sea Baron’s base of operations was on the northern most island of the Lhazaar Principalities some 2500 miles away. The party conceived a plan to rest and then to use an airwalk spell to catch up to the pirates. They estimated it would take the pirates 4 days to reach their destination. By way of Airwalk, even including resting the party could catch them within 2 days time. The treasure from all the slain were placed in the treasury and the party rushed to bed. Tomorrow they would hunt down Malinko. Of the 87 pirates who had invaded the town, 18 escaped, 31 were captured, and 38 were killed. Of the 32 men who comprised the fighting force, 16 were killed. This casualties included 4 prison guards (Gormox, Both Mites, and Ollie Wood), 2 of Cyril’s army (Colonel Strom & Sergeant Nomar), all 3 of the town’s hunter (Mick Dagget, Jack Clankett, & Hackman), the entire airship crew (Chief Dundza, Yeoman Beamon, & Yeoman Battleaxe), and 4 townsfolk.
7-6-06


20th: Assault on the Aerie of the Slavelords:
-Gabriel-Cyril-Wraithian-and Tor(NPC/Nyjul)
Paldrith Malinko had been broken out of Harkondeep Prison. The party would now track him down. After interrogating some of the captives they’d taken the party learned that the Sea Baron’s secret base was located on the northern most island of the Lhazaar principalities some 2,500 miles away. They prepped the airship and set off. During their flight they were accosted by a Karrnath air patrol. Once the party was identified they were extended every courtesy. Having reached the island the party knew of a slave-trading base to start their search. They departed the airship and traveled inland. There they found an abandoned slave-trading base. Nearby they found a hidden passage into a mountain. Within the mountain was a massive maze filled with many dangerous traps. After battling numerous creatures including ogres, gnolls, and Geletanous cubes the party found the dungeon’s caretaker. It was an old illusionist named Wimpell Frump. Upon arriving at the dungeon’s final chamber they were met a by team of elite gnoll warriors led by non-other then Yeenogu. The Demon God of Gnolls. Gabriel immediately saw through this and the numerous other illusions in the room. The party systematical destroyed this force and overcame the illusionist. After healing Frump he immediately turned on his masters, The Slavelords. Apparently Malinko was the leader of a group of sea captains who maintained a secret city. Here with the city of Suderham they were using slaves to build the largest airship ever constructed known as Cloud’s Destiny. The Destiny was actually smaller then the Golden Dragon and that is what led Malinko to attempt to destroy the Dragon. Frump explained that he had to serve the slave lords or faced being killed. The party about half believed him but were willing to free him for full cooperation. He told them exactly where Malinko’s lair was and even drew them a map. The party exited the dungeon and snuck into the city. The city was built atop an island that rest within a body of water that had developed in the hole of an inactive volcano. An illusion made the island invisible from above. The party headed to a house of ill repute where a secret passage led to the slave lord’s underground lair. Inside they joined up with a bounty hunter named Tor who had been sent by Mister Winslow to find Malinko. They immediately trusted him. The Party defeated many traps and a few guards before finally confronting the slave lords. Malinko was there with his 5 captains. They had been waiting for the party. The battle was close but in the end the party was victorious. They took Malinko into custody and returned home.
NOTE: This adventure was an original D&D adventure from 1981 (A3)
07-10-06---07-27-06-


21st: Dirty Deeds:
-Gabriel-Cyril-Wraithian-
Cyril and Gabriel were seeing to town affairs. Things were progressing quickly. Gurtle Mack’s 5th cousin Dagar Mack had arrived with a fighting force of 30 to look after Mack interests. Thus was born the Dagar Mack garrison complete with a working guard facility. Meanwhile Mister Winslow, the wealthy business man from Sharn had sent 20 men to be trained by the party. Thus was born the Winslow detachment. Meanwhile 80 or so able bodied men had arrived seeking the well paying employment of the prison, the guards, or Cyril’s standing army. Notable’s among the new arrivals included Sargeant Zader Mox, a grizzled war veteran, Glen Dimburn, a former lawman, and Ashton Vaz, a small petite individual with a heart of gold. Meanwhile Gabriel returned to Sharn to visit the Cathedral of the Soveriegn host in hopes of getting approval to set a church. He met with Cardinal Valdor who not only approved the church but gace him 20,000 GP to build it. He also supplied him with 15 followers of the faith led by Champion Fearos Wardawn. After leaving the Cardinal Gabriel saw Dukarde who had accompanied him receiving a terrible beating at the hands of his arch enemy Draco Blade. As Gabriel was returning the Fullgrave Clan was arriving. The Fullgrave Clan was a mining clan from Dunny’s homeland. They had been called in to setup mining access. Dunny set up a standing deal that those who mined the Adamantine would receive 30% payment and the Fullgrave Clan would receive 35% for getting the whole thing started and for the continued maintenance of the mines. Mister Deadskin had also made headway. He had set up a standard of taxes which would be collected by one Leland Fudworth. The Prison would pay 100 GP a month and 10% of all profit. Determining profit would later appear to be a problem. As all these events were moving along something from the past was about to rear its ugly head. Wraithian who was deep in research found himself surrounded by an adventuring party. They declared themselves the Council of Wrath and proceed to beat Wraithian into unconsiousness. Later Wraithian would awaken naked with only a map of the woods near by. Wraithian found the party and together they went out into the woods to find Wraithians’s equiptment buried. Cyril and Gabriel released it was time to investigate what had actually occurred between Dunny and Wraithian. This endeavor proved ridiculously difficult. In the end the whole thing came to court with Cyril proscecuting and Misses Redler sitting as Judge. In the end it seemed that Dunny did not hire the Council of Wrath as seemed obvious. Dunny was cleared of all charges. Dukarde who had interfered with the investigation was charged with obstructed but released with time served and a small fine. Wraithian’s prosecution went on for a while but Edgar Dobbler did a fine job of defending him. In the end Wraitian was found not guilty of attempted murder but was found guilty of breaking and entering. He was sentenced to 3 months hard labor as well as a 3000 GP fine which included charges for contempt. With this madness behind the party it seemed the future could once again resume its natural course.


Interlude: 5 Years
Five years went by in HarkonThorp. With the discovery of the adamantine the town underwent unprecedented growth. Miners came to mine. Families came to settle. Business’s followed the money and a once barely sufficient town now had virtually unlimited capitol. Cyril had outlined the building a massive wall to outlay the limits of the city. Only two years in the town was growing faster then the wall. Now after five years the wall had finally met completion. Concealed within the massive wall was a small city. Dunny and Gurtle Mack had used all their contacts to bring in more and more dwarves to mine the Adamantine. It seemed no matter how much they mined the vast Military country of Breland could buy it all. Breland’s interest had become prominent that the nation had established an Embassy in the now recognized Independent city. The growth of industry had lead to many Dragon marked houses setting up in town. A new era was dawning in Father’s valley, or so he thought as the ancient looked down upon Harkon City.


22nd: The Treachery of Shadows:
-Cyril-Gabriel-
Cyril and Gabriel had both found some free time. The two friends had had so little time in recent years to just relax. As the duo strolled down the street Gabriel noted that Cyril had gained weight. Both former adventurers felt they were paying the price of a bureaucratic existence. They stopped for a drink at Mister Sorgard’s Saloon. They were soon joined by Goth Nedner. Goth had long ago been a young guard at Harkondeep prison who showed great promise. Over the years Goth had come take command of Harkondeep’s third retrieval team. Joined by another adventure named Grigg he had established G-Force. Both Cyril and Dukarde had dismissed this group as being sad successor to their own parties. But now after 5 years Goth’s team had brought in 22 additional prisoners. A total greater then Cyril or Dukarde combined. The party spent the night getting drunk and awoke the following day. They had slept into the afternoon and had missed the commencement of the Owlbear festival. A festival that celebrated the beginning of fall. The festival was complete with Owlbear floats, Stilt walkers, dancers, and even a clown for the children. After the festival was over the party was enjoying the many delights of the Autumn Dawn Tavern. They soon heard a woman screaming. The party quickly discovered that many of the cities children were missing. After an hour-long investigation they had learned that over 150 children were missing and each an ejected Jack in the Box in there bedrooms. Apparently the clown at the festival had given many children these Jack in the Box’s. Gabriel quickly produced a Jack in the box that had not been ejected. He opened to see an apparition with a clown face jump out and attempt to grab him. There was great evil at work in Harkon City. The party was soon summoned by Tink’s who said there was a gift-wrapped box mysteriously left at the prison. What the party found inside was a jack in the box with a message.
“Greetings incompetent rulers and fools, its time to grab your weapons and tools, A trip for the day, thanx for the stay, find me where metalsome monsters play. The Finisher”
The party struggled with the riddle. Cyril thought that “metalsome” monsters might mean the goblins of Indestructible. Gabriel was certain it had to do with Warforged. Tink’s pointed out that the phrase “Thanx for the stay” was the message Lex Datimer had left. It seemed Datimer had returned and was running this game. Gabriel and Cyril embellished in research and decided it had to do with Warforged. They learned that many Warforged had been created in the ruined country of Cyre. Tool had been created in a city called Anwar. The party headed there to look for one man in whole nation. Many days later the party found themselves battling a raging monster in the ruins of Anwar city. They encountered a treasure-hunting Gnome before decided this was not the place. They poured over a map of the ruined nation and randomly picked another location to search. They found a ruined keep being rebuilt by Lord Sandemon. Sandemon had conquered Harkon Thorp before being ousted by the party. During that exchange Cyril had found Sandemon to be a kindred soul. A connection that led to Sandemon being freed. Sandemon now welcomed the party as friends. After a quick and friendly exchange the party headed home feeling foolish for ever having traveled this way. Many days later they arrived in Town Indestructible. The goblins all hailed their good friends and told them of their current plight. It seemed the town was sinking in the mud and nothing could stop this. The town had considered relocating, a prospect that seemed grim due to current affairs. Apparently a warlord named Gar Xax was carving our a realm for himself in southern Droam. The warlord already had his sights set on Indestructible. The Goblin’s petitioned the party for asylum in Harkon City. The party said they would do what they could but they had more pressing problems. They explained to the Goblins about their mission. The goblins had no idea about any of it but said they would help in anyway. Cyril took to beating the streets and soon learned that the master of the Foundry, Gable Wonderrook, had not shown up to work in many days. The party broke into his home to find two melted iron golems. Beyond that they found the Buildmaster’s assistance hung up on spinning wheel as a mock carnival of the dead. The same music of the Jack in the Box’s played here. The party was soon approached by a 7ft tall cloaked figure. The figure wore the same smooth white mask that the clown and the Jack’s had worn. Battled quickly ensued and as the mask and the cloak fell to wayside the creature was revealed to be a Shadesteel Golem.

Constable Ordock joined the battle to aid the party. The Golem proved to be a handful but in the end Gabriel momentarily was able to disable the Golem long enough for Cyril to destroy him. A moment later a 3ft wooden golem with a tigerface came walking out. The little golems head popped off to reveal a Jack bearing another message.
“Little man Chaos sat on his Winter Wolf, eating his Remorhaz and Mephits, Along came the Sandman crept behind em’ and burned his damn house down The Finisher”
The party quickly determined that this involved their second mission where they had hunted Tark Durklyn. A Hassaf capable of transforming into Sand and producing fire. Outside the party found a man they had heard screaming during their battle. The man had been screaming “Kill me” over and over again. But now the man had no memory of such actions. Soon the party was flying near Mount Tarsis. The airship could not fly to the extreme altitudes so the party was left to walk. As they transversed the clouds they came upon an old acquaintance. It was the Winter Wolf known as Longtooth. The Cold creature greeted the party warmly. He mentioned that he thought he had smelled the party earlier. This mentioned had the party wildly speculating. Longtooth agreed to have one of his wolves guide the party to the monastery atop the mountain. The party found the monastery just as they had left it and were greeted by Samar. Samar was Rakhasa and outcast of the Lords of Dust. During their meeting Samar mentioned the Lord’s of Dust but the party could not hear the words. They heard the sentence just not the phrase “Lords of Dust”. The party believed Samar was just not saying the name of the organization. This assumption would later be proved false. The party explained that they needed to enter and search the monastery. After their last encounter Samar agreed. They soon learned that one of the monks had not come out his room this day. Downstairs the party found the dead man mutilated badly. As they approached the creature came to life. The party now stood face to face with arcane altered undead abomination (A Spellstitched Vireous Drinker).

The creature quickly lashed out with his tongue blinding Cyril. In fact Cyril’s eyes seemed to disappear and then reappear on the face of the undead beast. The creature nearly killed the party before Gabriel was able to call upon his gods to utterly destroy the fiend. After its death a bony arm burst out of the creature’s ribcage to produce a message held in a fist.
“Hickory Dickory Doc, the mouse ran up the clock, multiple pursuers climbed the tower and chopped his fucking head off. The Finisher”
Now the party had made the connection to “The Finisher”. They now feared this could be a copy cat killer Finishing the murder sprees of the Prison’s inmates. Gable Wonderrook had been the last man attacked by Lex Datimer. The undead they had just faced had been the last man attacked by Tark Durklyn. The party did consider that their third prisoner Jacob Sanz had used a Scythe for beheading killings but they did not consider who his last survived victim had been. But almost instinctively they sensed the Prison was in trouble. They had earlier speculated that this whole ruse might be an end to make the prison vulnerable. Now they felt this nightmare could be coming true. Just like at the last encounter the party came across a man who at been screaming near by. This time the phrase was “You are betrayed”. Suspicions were rising as the party pushed the airship’s elemental drive beyond capacity to get back to Harkon City. They soon found that the Prison sending machine was not receiving messages. They instead sent warning to the Harkon City Sending station. When the party arrived back at the prison all alarmed had been sounded. Dukarde had arrived with Benton Swords, Goph Nedner and G-force was on the scene, even General Malstrom and the Army had arrived. Inside the party found Tink’s staring into the Cell of Endo the thief. Endo had been party of an elite thief trio whom had robbed a bank of House Kundarak. The Dragonmarked house had responded by hired the assassin Jacob Sanz to assassinate all the thieves. Jacob had killed the other two thieves but never got Endo. Instead Jacob was captured by the party. Endo too was captured and incarcerated in Harkondeep. Endo had actually been released only two days prior. Now Endo lie back in cell, beheaded, six Scythe lay spread around his body. Next to the body sat a Jack in the Box. The party took the box outside and opened it. This time they found only a message. No monster to attack them. This relief quickly ended when they realized the Jack had been a magical trigger. Every cell in Harkondeep had just been opened. The party charged in to find all the prisoners attempted to escape. Dukarde quickly declared that they should each go after one of the more dangerous prisoners. Cyril took on the mad Barbarian Cannibal Dorgrym Hayd who was using a dead guard body as a weapon. Dukarde took on the Warforged Scimitar. Benton Swords was dealing with the pirate Paldrith Malinko. Gabriel went after Tark Durklyn. All the party could see Jacob Sanz who quickly made his way to the cell with the Scythes. He began cutting himself that had a cloning effect. There were soon 8 Jacobs splitting up to different exits. Cyril managed to Dominate the basted and order him back to his cell. After a long and chaotic battle the forces of Harkondeep had put down the insurrection. But somewhere in the madness Tark Durklyn had escaped. Cyril tried to follow him but had little success. Soon Dukarde got involved and managed to dig up a trail. Dukarde was soon joined by G-Force who assured the party they could handle it. The party was convinced and thus focused their efforts back to the task at hand. They returned to read the message left behind.
“Did all the kings horses and all the kings men bring home their children again. See you for dinner. The Finisher”
The party was beginning to figure out the pattern now. They knew that Dorgrym Hayd had been the next prisoner locked up. The Barbarian was a mass murderer and was known for eating his victims. As before a screaming had been heard. This time the phrase was “Get ahead”. The party could not make sense of this even though they had discussed jumping “ahead” in the order of the pattern. The party got the information needed from Dukarde as it had been Dukarde and Halac’s Heroes who had brought in Dorgrym Hayd. Dorgrym’s last attackee was a young boy named Danner in the small village of Gavindale in eastern Breland. A few hours later the party arrived and found their way to Danner’s farm. Inside they found the now full grown Danner diced up into pieces and set about on numerous plates. A table of dread had been set complete with pitchers of blood. The table was being set by bizarre arcane creations. At the head of the table sat yet another aspect of the Finisher. This time it was an arcanly twisted aberration. (Zern Experiments).

The battle quickly commenced and the party was stunned to find the larger creature emitted an anti-magic field. Without their magic the party was quickly being defeated. But they went back to the old ways of hack and slash and finished the bloody battle intact. Under a serving tray was the next message.
“Its almost over, Gods will be done”
A farmer near by had been heard screaming the next phrase… “he knows you”. The party used the sending machine on the Airship to communicate with Tink’s concerning the next prisoner. This was the Hobgoblin Holy Slayer Argen Falco. Falco’s last attempted victim was a cleric of the Silver Flame from the city of Xandrar. The party sent word ahead to that city that an attack on the church was eminent. They once again fired up the Airship beyond safe operation point. They made Xandrar in record time. The fact that party had sent advance warning would prove pivotal. There were still many steps left to the Finisher’s game but this time he was caught in preparation. Whoever was operating the Sending machine in Xandrar had sent the message out quickly. The Cleric’s having received it responded immediately. The Finisher was interrupted in his preparation and ended up having to slaughter everyone in the church. As the party arrived The Finisher was still setting the scene. The party called out warnings into the church basement giving The Finisher time to prepare. Gabriel managed to heal one priest and told him to run and get help. As the party descended into the crypt level they found The Finisher and an Astral Construct awaiting them.

In truth the Finisher they could see was a Simulacrum. The true finisher had turned invisible but could not stop himself from remaining to watch the battle unfold. After a few moments of exchanging pleasantries the party was now certain this Finisher was some one who knew them intimately. They feared when the mask came off it would be Wraithian behind it all. Gabriel engaged The Finisher while Cyril battled the Construct. Of course the Finisher knew Cyril’s capabilities and had designed the Astral Construct to exact specifications. Cyril was incapable of harming the construct. Meanwhile Gabriel was able to shrug off some of the Finisher’s attacks. One of Gabriel’s newly acquired powers protected him from an Enervation Spell. Whoever the Finisher was he was not up to date on the party’s abilities. Gabriel quickly destroyed the Simulacrum that only served to enrage the still invisible Finisher. It was time for the game to end. The Finisher revealed himself by assaulting Gabriel with a Dispel Magic. Gabriel responded in kind. A Spell duel ensued. After many rounds of Combat it was The Finisher who would win this battle. He successfully got through Gabriel’s defenses with a Fuseflesh Power. As Gabriel fell he realized the first hint at the truth. He recognized this ability as not being a spell, but instead a Psionic Power. Gabriel’s flesh grew around him imprisoning him in a cocoon and binding him to the stone floor. The Finisher removed his mask to reveal the face of a friend. The Face of Zarion. Cyril could see it was more then just his friend he was battling. After Cyril had been killed long ago he had returned to life with an innate connection to death. Cyril and Gabriel had both gained a kind of deadsight. Within Zarion’s body now dwelt the spirit of some other being. Cyril charged into combat with Zarion all the while being bombarded by the Astral Construct. As things began to grow worse for Cyril reinforcements were arriving. Only three guard were able to enter the melee before Zarion cut off the entrance with an Ectoplasmic Wall. The Astral construct contended with these guard while Zarion dealt with Cyril. In the end Cyril could not hold up against the Psionic onslaught. Cyril fell just as more reinforcements were arriving. A powerful cleric of the Sovereign Host had arrived on the scene and was turning the tide. Eventually the Astral Constructs summoning grew to term and he vanished. Zarion now faced an onslaught. In a final attack against the party the creature possessing Zarion took Cyril’s sword and Impaled himself. The Incapacitated Gabriel saw the spirit of Lucan Stellos leave Zarion’s lifeless body. Before the body had hit the floor the Cleric Savior had cast a Rejuvenation on Zarion. Instantly jerking his soul back into the body. Gabriel was free a moment later. Back the church of the Sovereign Host the party was regrouping. Zarion had returned to his comatose state. The party returned to Harkon City to discuss their next move. Cyril contacted Psi-Cor for aid with Zarion. They were responded to by Yulorian. The Half elf that had trained Zarion. Two days later Yulorian arrived. Yulorian was able to educate the party on the different powers of a Psion. With this knowledge the party was able to locate the children of Harkon City. They had been kept all the while in an extra dimensional room in Zarion’s quarters. The children had just been a lure. It wasn’t pretty but the party had dealt with the threat of the Finisher and recovered the children of Harkonthorp

Interlude: The Return of Old Friends, and the Revelation of New Enemies.
The party had called upon the Psion Yulorian to aid with Zarion. After examining Zarion Yulorian concluded that his consciousness had been fractured. During the Illithiad interrogation Zarion had entered into a Psionic duel with the invader. Then the pair had been broken apart. Since that time both Zarion and the Illithiad had pieces of one another’s Psyche and both lie comatose. This comatose state was the perfect vessel for the Spirit of Lucan Stellos. Upon taken command of Zarion Vessel a new persona had formed. Though Lucan was greatly in control both Zarion and the Illthiad had contributed to the Finisher’s actions. It was Zarion crying out for help that had resulted in clues along the way. Yulorian conclude that Zarion would have to be reunited with the Illithiad and two master Psions would have to perform the a reunification of broken minds. Yulorian went on to say that portions of Zarion’s mind had been wiped. He told the party that everything pertaining to “The Lords of Dust” had been erased. The party could not hear these words spoken but this time they caught on. Something In the party’s minds prevented them from hearing, seeing, or acknowledging anything pertaining to the Lords of Dust. Yulorian spent the next couple of weeks helping the party recover their lost memories. It was more then just the Lords of Dust. There was virtually a whole year that had wiped from the parties mind. The year previous to their awakening in Dragonkord Prison. The party was horrified to discover what had befallen them. The Missing Chapter:
The lost portion of their memories began when the party had split up on a mission. Zarion and Cyril had gotten into an argument that lead to Zarion leaving. After Zarion departed Gabriel too went off on his own. All party members had split. Zarion and Cyril now remembered being reunited with their party but Gabriel remembered something different. The party had rejoined Gabriel but it was a ruse. Basically two Rakshasa agents had gone under guise as the other party members. Both Zarion and Cyril had fallen for this. Gabriel saw through the illusion but was overpowered. It seemed shortly after the party had broken up they had all been captured by the Lord of Dust. They next awoke in chains. They were being looked over by two Rakhasa Lords.

The Lord’s discussed the fate of the party. Adar Durn was apparently the regional lord who had taken the party hostage. The other Lord was Adar Valkin, his superior. Adar Durn planned torture the party for information and then to dispose of them. Adar Valkin had other plans. He advised to use the party to stir up aggression between the nations of Breland and Droam. The party would be sold to Sora Krell through an intermediary (A Beholder). Once the party was captive by the forces of Droam the Lords of Dust would reveal this captivity to Breland. The party ended up in Dragonkord prison. They fell victim to attacks from a massive Hobgoblin prison gang. They found aid from an old Breland General named Nadmark. The General kept the party alive while they were in general population. Eventually the party was moved to a sub-terrain level where they were interrogated and mind probed by Illithiad’s serving Sora Krell. (These events fill the gap between adventures 10 and 11). The party now had valuable information involving so many things. They set off to Dragonkord Prison where they negotiated the release of General Nadmark for the price of 15,000 GP. Harkon City agreed to pay the fair on Cyril’s word alone. Next the party went through negotiations to contact Sora Krell. They met a dead end but soon contacted separately by the Illithiads. A meeting was set and the Illithiads came to Harkon City. They too appeared to want their compatriot cured. Yulorian and the lead Illithiad successfully revived Zarion and the Illithiad Xaad. Next the party spoke with the council of Elders and arranged for the Goblin’s of Indestructible to take up residency in town. General Nadmark took up residency in town. Meanwhile Zarion having been returned to full power was but a shell of the man he once was. Some say he would never fully recover. But enthusiasm for his new life soon began to grow when Zarion found that in the intervening years Tink’s had actually constructed the Library the two had spoken of so many times. Tinks had even quartered off a part of the structure. An engraving on the door labeled the east wing as “The Priory of Psion.”

23rd: Vampires and Liches:
-Cyril-Gabriel---Shar (NPC)-Zan (NPC)-
The party was debating which of their enemies to hunt down first. The candidates ranged between the Lich Psion Calderus in Sharn or the Lords of Dust. They elected to investigate the army that had been amassing in Droam. After a quick investigation, which rendered little info, the party quickly altered this course and headed for Ardev. Before they had left the party had joined up with a Changeling Sorcerer named Shar. Shar Tsarran had arrived in Harkon City responding to an ad by Dukarde to join Dukarde’s party. Having stopped the party for directions, Shar was quickly assimilated into the Keepers of the Deep. Once in Ardev the party contacted Viorr Maelek. An agent of the Dark Lanterns (Brelands Central Intelligence) and friend to the party. Viorr had little info on the Lich Calderus but told the party that there was a Cleric of the Silver Flame named Odan Modus who had spent his life hunting the lich. Sometime later the party arrived in Sharn and quickly made their way to the Cathedral of the Silver Flame. Once there they were informed that Odan had retired and was no longer on a quest to destroy the lich. The party went to man’s house and found him a shattered semblance of Cleric. Apparently Odan had led many crusades against the Lich. On his last mission he had been magical age and now was a wretched and helpless figure. Odan was able to tell the party that he suspected that the Local thieves guild known as The Tyrants was under the control of the Lich. The party had heard of this guild before as they had encountered a rogue member of this guild named Zan who was attempting to escape the guild. Eventually Zan came into the employ of Mr. Winslow. The party next went to visit with Mr. Winslow who informed the party that Zan was now living under the identity of Beltor. They found Beltor and he agreed to help them storm the guild house. While in Sharn the party also made some other rounds. Gabriel hooked up with the Magewrights. He met with a man named Epstern who was very helpful with buying and selling magic items. Meanwhile Cyril visited an old friend who was now a General. It was General Valos who was happy to see his old friend. A few hours later Zan brought the party to a storefront that was in fact the gate to the Thieves guild. The party killed the man at the desk and located the secret entrance. Beneath the shop they came upon a magical door. After much trial and error the party found that you needed to spread the blood of a guild member on a Skull insignia for the door to activate. They proceeded through the magical doorway and into the converted sewer complex that served as the Guildhouse. They were immediately encountered by a Lich Sorcerer named Ankoz. The Lich tore into the party with Cone of Colds and Acid Fogs. After destroying the Lichs’ Mirror images the party was able to start chipping away at the Lich. Eventually this damage triggered a Contingency that transported him away. The party found the Lich’s lair and looted some treasure. They proceeded on to find a group of thief vampire spawns. They were accompanied by a Medusa Vampire. Gabriel turned the creatures while Cyril tore into them. Behind this the party came upon a room filled with Coffins and more Vampire Spawns. Again Gabriel’s holy power repelled the fiends. Next the party came to a room with a large mirror and a coffin. Sometime later the party would learn this mirror was no mere piece of furniture. This was the Mirror of Abyssal Damnation. Anyone looking into the mirror would find their soul ripped into the Abyss. Their earthly body replaced by an evil clone. This is what occurred when Zan looked into the Mirror. Zan turned and the party and was quickly killed. His body reverted into a Demonic Dretch. Shortly after a Vampire Cleric appeared using the mirror to shield his attacks. The party killed this cleric but found great difficulty battling his Stone Golem. After the battle the party needed to rest. Shar called up a Mordenkainen’s mansion and the party took their rest. After a half hour of sleep the party was awakened. It seemed someone was Scrying on them. They concluded little could be done about this and went back to bed. The following morning upon exiting the Mordenkainen’s Mansion the party found a welcoming party. They were engaged by many of the vampires they had already faced as well as the Lich Ankoz and the Guild master Sangre. Sangre was currently under the possession of Lucan Stellos. This time however Gabriel was fully prepared to battle undead. After an arduous battle the party had slain all enemies though Lucan’s ghost did manage to mock them. The party looted the now vacated guild then sought to explore further. They waited into the sewers till eventually coming upon something terrible. Deep in the sewers they found Melthaloggot, an Old Female Black Dragon. The creature had been bound here 300 years ago, its wings severed, and an adamantine collar binding it to an altar. The party concluded that the Dragon probably guarded something and were planning to kill it. That’s when Calderus contacted the party. He explained he had plans for the Dragon and it would be unwise to attack it. It seemed Calderus enjoyed watching the party’s futile efforts against him but now the party threatened something he cared about. The party soon concluded the Lich was far more powerful then that at first thought. They rationalized that their problem was not with Calderus but instead with Lucan. They asked the Lich what he would require in exchange for Lucan. The Lich considered this at length then responded. He started by telling them about an organization known as the Chamber. The Chamber was a consortium of Dragons that sought to alter the Prophecy of Eberron. One such Silver Dragon laired in the Karrnwood and maintained a book of prophecies known as the Vodar Codex. Calderus explained that the party should be familiar with the Chamber as one its members Sarvalax laired near their city. A being they knew as father. Calderus offered a trade to the party. If the party would kill Charok-Tor the Silver and claim his eggs and the Codex, Calderus would hand over Lucan. The party decided they would instead try to kill the Black Dragon. About a minute into the battle with the Black Dragon, Calderus appeared in person and ascended upon the party. The lich opened with a Psionic Wail of the Banshee that killed Shar. He followed this up with a Miasma Power that made Cyril futile, his mind cast into a fantasy. Gabriel managed to battle with the Lich and even to Harm him. It seemed Calderus had underestimated the party. But the Lich still held all the cards. He revealed a set of 4 orbs and cast them Gabriel claiming they might meet again. These orbs transported Cyril and Gabriel into The Maze of Calderus.

24th: Prisoners of the Maze
-Cyril-Gabriel-
The party had finally been confronted by the Psionic Lich Calderus. The Lich had quickly dismantled the party but Gabriel had managed to harm the undead fiend. But just as he met with Success Calderus had damned the party. Using 4 multi-colored orbs Calderus had banished the party into a Maze of Madness. The party began making their way through the maze. They were soon joined by a Drow Sorcerer who aided them for a time before separating from the party. Within the maze they found many different tributes to King Baronel, Ruler of Breland. Within the confines of the maze the party battled Stone Golems, Archers, Voor Lashers, and Chaos Knights. There were numerous traps and bizarre puzzles including a lever room of insanity. The party had some trouble mapping the maze due to the fact that the maze had invisible teleportation properties which. Eventually the party encountered Mar the Jestor. Mar explained that he was the court fool of Baronel but had been cast into this maze for making too many jokes about the King’s nepotism. Mar told the party that he knew that to escape the maze they would need 4 colored stones. Gabriel cast a “Find the Path” spell to find the first of these stones. The party began making their way back across the maze being led by Gabriel’s divination spell. They soon came upon Pynyck the Sorcerer. Pynyck had long ago been driven insane by the maze and had become its master. He spent his maddening days infusing his magic into bizarre works of art. Pynyck was at first overcome by the party but managed to regroup. He wrought a fair amount pain upon the party before Gabriel slew him. Gabriel’s divinations brought in to 4 rooms surrounding a central chamber. Behind these 4 doors lied 4 separate demiplanes. Somewhere on these demiplanes were stones that could unlock a door and free the party from the madness of the maze.
(Note: The Maze series is a Classic Greyhawk series by Rob Kuntz. The Co-DM of Gygax's original Greyhawk Campaign. In its original setting it dealt with King Ivid of the Great Kingdom. The modules played here are 3rd edition updates stripped of their Greyhawk Specific material and published by Swords and Sorcery.)


-25th-Dimensions of Flight:
-Cyril-Gabriel-
The party had faced the Lich Calderus and been cast into his maze. Now they would need to travel to 4 strange demiplanes to recover the keystones needed to escape the maze. The first door led the party to the realm of Enot. Beyond the door lay a mountainous demiplane approximately 25 square miles in size. The party was ambushed by a mad horde or Orcs, Ogres, and Stone Giants before seeking an easier means to their goal. Gabriel once again employed a “Find the Path” spell in conjunction with an Airwalk spell to accomplish the straightest path to their destination. Their tranversed the mountainous realm until finally reaching a cave that served as the entrance to Enot’s complex. At the mouth of this cave the party battled formidable Blackspawn Exterminators. The party exterminated them and proceeded within. The snuck past some Basilisks before finally coming to face the War Troll general of Enot’s army. This troll was some kind of monstrous super soldier. He nearly killed the party before falling. After the troll’s death the party found the Keystone they needed stitched into the troll’s strange Mineral Armor. They returned to the maze and the next leg of this quest. The next realm was that of Baal. It was a baron desert at the end of which rose a mountainous pinnacle. Within this pinnacle the party infiltrated a complex and came upon the master of the realm. It was a Demonoligist Sorcerer known as Baal. Baal laid in wait for the party but to no avail. He was quickly slain. Within his library the party found the keystone. The next realm was that of Pujarn, Lord of Ice. This realm was one of utter winter and chilling cold. After a long overland flight the party came upon a massive ice Pinnacle. A spiral staircase within brought them to a single ice chamber. In the center of the chamber was a throne atop which sat a naked albino with a diamond crown. The figure introduced himself as Pujarn, lord of Ice and asked the party to request their physical desires. The party requested the keystone and Pujarn produced it. Gabriel prepared to take the item while Cyril readied himself to attack the albino. In a heartbeat Cyril was imprisoned in ice. Pujarn again offered the keystone but Gabriel was tentative. Eventually Gabriel took the stone and freed Cyril. Outside the party could see thousands of Winter Wolves coming for them. They quickly returned to the maze. The 4th and final realm was that of the happy hunt. This was a woodland domain with a nice town. Everyone in town was preparing for the great hunt that was to transpire the following day. The party bypassed this town and found their way to a massive tree. Within they encountered an ethereal fox that explained he had the Keystone but would require a sacrifice. They were given 4 options. They were Cyril’s arm, Gabriel’s tongue, Mar the Jester’s life, or the Green bow. After a short conversation the Fox added he would also accept the Fox Head Spear that he despised. He told the party this weapon was held by one of the hunters in town. The party headed into town and relaxed at the inn. There they learned that the spear was held by a man named Vulpine. They went to his house and arranged an arms deal. Vulpine would trade the spear in exchange for the powerful Hollow Blade. The party quickly bartered the item to the fox and made their way back to the maze. They used the keystones and finally escaped the maze. They climbed a spiral staircase that exited through a secret passage and into an entrée chamber. There stood two guard who the party quickly overcame. They unbarred the doors and exited out into a city. After only a moment the party released they were in Sharn. They had just exited out a large yet nondescript tower. They ran off into the streets and found their way to Mr. Winslow’s house. Mr. Winslow provide them a place to rest and even some information. Winslow’s argents discovered the tower to be a secret base of the Breland Citadel. During this conversation Winslow began to bleed from the ears. He was soon possessed by Calderus. Calderus mocked the party and enjoyed a conversation with them. It seemed Calderus took great joy in meddling with the party. He told them he had underestimated them and would not do so again. He explained they would be well served to leave Sharn and return home. They might just have enough time to enjoy their lives. He told them instead of meddling in his affairs they should track down the Lord’s of Dust. Enemies they might actual be able to defeat. He told them the location of one of these Lords of Dust. He said there was a town 60 miles south west of Ardev. He said the town was secretly run by an assassin’s guild whose true master was Adar Durn, a Dustlord. The party seemed content to take this advice and get out of the city. Before disembarking Calderus left the party one final gift. Mr.’ Winslow keeled over dead. The party underwent a weeklong interrogation before being cleared of any wrong doing in regards to Mr. Winslow. They spoke to many interrogators and some powerful Wizards. After attending the funeral of their good friend Mr. Winslow the party returned home.


26th: Paths of Darkness:
-Cyril-Gabriel- (Halloween)
The party returned from Sharn a Jaded unit. It seemed those they would declare their adversaries were vastly more powerful then they had anticipated. Both the Lords of Dust and the Lich Calderus appeared to be beyond their ability to confront. The party went before Father and explained him all that had occurred. Father was concerned that he had not anticipated many of these events. But the events themselves seemed not to concern him. He told the party he would consider these matters and contact them if his considerations required him to do so. But even this statement seemed only to get the party to leave his cave. The party next turned to town matters. It seemed the city council wanted the party to travel to the surrounding settlements on a mission of good will. To foster further trade and unity in the dire lands of the Graywalls. Later that day the party was accosted by Gophon Kane, the famous Gnome Novelist. He was apparently writing a new novel about famous adventurers. He requested an interview with the party as he had also down with Lord Martain and Halac. The party agreed to help and told him everything. The following day as the party was leaving town they encounter the Helmed Mercenary known as Draco Blade. Draco was well known to be the arch nemesis of Dukarde and a far superior combatant. Draco was looking for Dukarde presumably to embarrass him once again. Gabriel provided Draco with Dukarde whereabouts and even encouraged the conflict. Cyril was cordial but warned against illegal activities within town borders. The party next encountered G-Force who was leaving to hunt down a Vampire known as Deskryn. G-force seemed to have things well in hand so the party proceeded on their mission. The traveled to the nearby Thorp of Twin Oaks. What they found was a town living in fear. The populous was generally unhelpful but it was apparent that no one was leaving their homes. Unable to make any headway the party proceeded to the next town. They ventured into the deep woods where lied an isolated lumber town called Deepwood. Upon arriving in town the party saw a body hanging from a tree in town. They were soon met by the town’s mayor Edvard Kitich. Edvard was overly friendly and most helpful. He explained that the man hanging from the tree was Trammil who had butchered a local priestess. The party decided to investigate this incident and soon found Trammil’s diary. Within the diary was record of a group called the pack. It seemed at some point a huge wolf called Gnarlpaw had dominated the pack and taken control of their activities. Gnarlpaw was using the wolves to mine and hoard gold for him. Eventually the party learned that Trammil and many of the people in town were in fact werewolves. This Gnarlpaw had come out of nowhere and now ruled through fear. Eventually the party was able to draw Gnarlpaw out. They appealed to his underlings and they responded. The party joined by the werewolves killed Gnarlpaw. Upon his Gnarl reverted to the form of a man. It seemed that Gnarlpaw was actually Armon Bistle. A merchant who had come to possess a powerful magic item that allowed him to transform into Werewolf Lord. Armon had moved to town not long and used this item to take over the town. With Armon dead the townsfolk expressed great gratitude. Though the town was mostly werewolves they seemed a friendly people and an accord was struck. The party had helped the town of Deepwood and established better relations but this events seemingly had nothing to do with what was plaguing the small thorp of Twin Oaks. The party returned to Twin Oaks and were joined by the werewolf Nero. Once there they decided it was time for answers. They charmed a local townspersons and were able to discern what was occurring. It seemed a few days ago 5 mysterious men had come to town. They were vampires on the run and looking for a place to hide. They had taken the town’s children hostage and were holding the town in a grip of fear. The party infiltrated the farm where the children were being held. They killed two of the vampires there and freed the children. Next they went to the bar where they soon discovered the remaining vampires were hiding. In the wine cellar they found the remaining vampires accompanied by their master Deskryn. The party killed all of the vampire spawns but Deskryn proved to powerful. The party fled into the sunlight and then set the bar on fire. Deskryn would have nowhere to hide. The barkeeper was angry and ran inside to save some of his belongings before the place burned to the ground. An hour later the structure was destroyed but no dead vampires. Cyril quickly discerned how Deskryn had escaped. The Vampire had to have dominated the innkeeper. When the innkeeper ran inside Deskryn had turned into a bat and concealed himself in a vat. The barkeeper had then fled bringing Deskryn along with him. Nero tracked the barkeep to a new by cemetery. The party dug up a grave and could hear Deskryn’s pleas from within. They wasted no time tearing the door off the coffin that quickly killed Deskryn by way of sunlight. Having solved the problems of Twin Oaks the party had done another solid job. The party spent the next week fostering relations with a few other towns in the area. Their diplomacy was met with mixed results. On the trip home the party encountered G-Force. Apparently they were the ones who had driven Deskryn from his lair. They were pissed when they learned the party had slain Deskryn instead of capturing him.
(Note: This was essentially two mini-adventures from Wizards Website, “A Harvest of Evil” and “Bad Moon Waning”.
-10-30-06-


27th: Chaos Rising:
-Cyril-Gabriel-
The party had just returned from their mission to foster relationships with nearby settlements. They returned to find Dukarde’s adventuring guild burned to the ground. Dukarde himself had once again been defeated by Draco Blade. Draco had severed Dukardes limbs and subjected him to vast abuse. Benton Swords had interceded and also been defeated. Benton lost an eye for his efforts. Gabriel regenerated Benton’s eye but heaved abuse upon Dukarde. Later Garbiel offered to regenerate Dukarde but he refused. Cyril had Draco declared an outlaw for burning down the guild and G-Force was dispatched to bring him in. Meanwhile the party had their own fish to fry. Upon Gabriel’s urging it was decided that they would go after the Lords of Dust. Calderus had provided the party with a location of one of the Lords. A Rahkasa named Adar Durn. Calderus had claimed that Adar Durn was master of an assassin’s guild who ruled a small town 60 miles south west of Ardev. The party fired up the airship and pursued their vengeance. The arrived in the small town of Garotten and found the people there remembered them. It was here that the party had split up. This was the mission where they had been captured and their memories wiped. After being in town for a few hours the party found all the stores closing and the men of the town heading for the keep. It seemed everyone knew it was going down. The party considered a direct assault might not be wisest. They returned to the airship and traveled to the nearby city of Galethspyre. They visited their old friend Gonto who helped them procure scrolls. After being equipped the party returned to Garotten to settle the score. They entered the town’s keep and found it mostly abandoned. They battled some Wights and some Feral Golems before reaching the lower levels. The assassin’s guild was running the town and had a fine welcome for the party. All the guild members were within one large room concealed by Illusionary walls. All 20 members launched a sneak attack with poison laced Blowguns. This certainly would have slain the party if not for their “Delay poison” Spells. Even with this defense the assassin’s had reaped a great amount of damage. The party fell back to a more defensible position. A game of cat and mouse ensued but eventually the party slaughtered the entire guild. In the room beyond they found their enemy. Adar was awaiting the party accompanied by the guild masters and a Cleric of the Mockery. He had prepared a Projected image and numerous other illusions that the party quickly saw through. As battle began the true master assassin revealed herself and launched a death attack against Cyril. The cleric and the Adar reigned down a flurry of Flame strikes, Cones of Cold, Fire Balls, and Chain Lightning’s. The master’s assassins sought flanking positions. Cyril went down quick but was quickly healed by Gabriel. The party fought their way through the underlings and then to the masters. Cyril cut down the cleric as Gabriel prepared the final blow. Adar Durn could sense his eminent defeat and took the opportunity to escape. He revealed a contingent teleportation device and attempted to activate it. To the Adar’s surprise the device failed. Gabriel wasted no time and quickly performed the “Slay Living” spell. After the battle as the party shuffled through the Adar’s possessions they soon found a gem. A moment later the Gem projected an image. It was the Image of the other Lord of Dust who had been involved in their capture. Another Rahkasa known as Adar Malkin. The Adar instructed the party to read a message that they had found on Adar Durn’s body. The message was a letter from Calderus to Adar Durn. It went as follows…
“Adar Durn, We are not acquainted but we have common relations. And in this case common enemies. My intelligence indicates that the forces of Harkondeep intend to seize upon your town. Their leaders know of your existence and will seek you out. They are greatly powerful for beings so young and should not be underestimated. They are ultimately the children of Sarvalax and minions of the Chamber. The ancient one has taken special interest these subjects and thus it is likely if captured they could be used against him as leverage. Take measures against these foes. The one known as Gabriel is partial to spells such as Slay Living and Harm, He also has the potential to empower himself with Spell Resistance and Spell Turning. He can see through illusions and can deflect a single negative energy attack. The one known as Cyril is a typical war veteran using conventional melee maneuvers. He has virtually no defense against magic and is reckless. Neither of them employ an exit strategy and wont account for yours. When you have finished my subordinate Garthax will contact you for the destruction of Harkondeep.”
It seemed that while Calderus had provided the party with Adar Durn’s location he had also provided Adar Durn with all the information he had needed for a trap. Adar Malkin did not appreciate being manipulated. He had dispelled Adar Durn’s contingent teleport device. If Durn could not clean up his mess then his death would serve to quell the anger of the party. Adar Malkin now proposed an alliance against Calderus. The party found the charismatic Malkin very convincing and agreed to this alliance. Malkin told the party that a mysterious General named Garthax had commandeered a Breland force and had marched for the Graywalls. This General had also requested the blueprints to an obscure keep north of Harkon City. It seemed this Garthax was serving Calderus and would soon lead an army against Harkon City. The party returned home and made provisions. They spoke with father who advised only to meet this army in the open ground. Not to let them siege the city. The party prepared the city the best they could but could not just sit and wait. They considered that Garthax needed something from Karrack Keep and thus decided perhaps they should get their first.
11-14-06


28th: Enemy at the Gates
-Cyril-Gabriel-The army of Harkon City-
Having made an alliance with the Lords of the Dust the party was now seeking to deal a blow to the Vampire Calderus. Calderus had sent his minion, The Mysterious Garthax to sequester an army from Breland and march on Harkon City. But Garthax was first going to visit Karrack for unknown reasons. The party prepared the city and then Airwalked to Frosthaven. The small capitol of the former Barony of Icenvale. While in flight they could see the army of Garthax approaching the city. Upon their arrival they met with Councilman Thaddeus and the female Paladin Orielle. They spoke for the Guild council, the current government of Frosthaven. They explained the history of Karrack Keep. It seemed the keep was long ago the throne of power for the barony. Many still believed that the rod of rulership still remained there. Whoever held the rod was the ruler of the Barony. Though no one now would approach the keep as those who did never returned. The party warned the city of the coming army and they too made provisions. Upon arriving outside the keep the party was immediately attacked by a mammoth riding Frost Giant. They killed the creature only to find three more in wait within the Keep’s walls. The keep was more or less in ruins the upper levels had no walls and had instead been turned into solid ice. The party proceeded following tunnels that wound through the ice. After only a few minutes they fell pray to 4 young adult white Dragons. The party was nearly slain. After a long battle only one of the dragons was still alive. Wounded and exhausted the dragon sought to escape. The party was elated and after healing up they were ready for another go round. Deeper in the cave they found the mother of these dragons. It was a huge white dragon known as Hinterbite. Not long into the battle Gabriel was able to Bestow Curse upon the creature. This enchantment rendered the great beast virtually harmless. The party’s work seemed cut out for them until the younger dragon arrived. The battle continued for a while until the young dragon sensed an invader in its mother’s hoard. The dragon entered the hoard chamber only to be slain by a massive fireball. The party spied the area to find a massive warrior in ancient armor sorting through the hoard. The party took some time to heal up and prepare again for battle. They returned to find the warrior having left. There was evidence that indicated that this warrior (Presumable Garthax) had come for a magical axe). The party returned to Frosthaven now bearing the rod of rulership. They ordered the people to evacuate to Ardev as they could not stand against the army. The party hung around to see the forces of Garthax sack the abandoned city. They then returned to Harkon City to make preparations. The army of Garthax appeared 4 days earlier then expected but still things were ready. Cyril and Gabriel led the army of Harkon City to meet their adversary. Garthax rode out to meet with Cyril and Gabriel just before the battle. Garthax was accompanied by Lucian Stellos who had apparently possessed one of the white Dragons the party had battled. Garthax gave no reason for his invasion other then to take control of the city. Though Garthax did say he would observe the rules of warfare. General Maalstrom and Cyril both noticed that General Garthax’s armor and his military tactics were indicative of a period some hundred years ago. After returning to his forces Garthax used his magical axe to summon an additional 400 men all apparently wearing the armor and regalia of a century past. These additional forces caused Cyril to have to call up 400 militia to join his forces. Two armies each numbering approximately 1400 clashed just outside Harkon City. Cyril’s command structure seemed to hold. Gabriel commanded the special operations unit consisting of Knights, Paladins, Clerics, and Warmages. Dukarde and Benton Sword’s also led units. Throughout the battle Vex Altar showed great heroics using his Calvary unit to cut through the enemy lines. As the battle wore on the militia forces on the left flank crumpled entirely. The forces of Garthax tried to pivot around the flank to take out the archers but Cyril was able to close his right flank around to meet them. This maneuver left Cyril’s personal unit surrounded on all sides. They began to take heavy loses. It was however at this point that the bulk of the invading forces were being crushed. All at once it seemed that Garthax could no longer keep his troops together through fear. A mass surrender ensued. As the battle was breaking down Garthax challenged Cyril to one on one combat. Cyril could have had his forces seize all at once on the invading General but instead chose to meet him in one on one combat. The battle was close and Cyril was near defeat. He knew he had maybe one more strike and when that was expended Garthax did not fall. The strike did however dislodge Garthax’s helm revealing an undead face. It seemed this Garthax was a Death Knight. Yet another undead agent of Calderus. Garthax tried to strike Cyril down but his undead form was failing him. He had sustained too much damage. His body slowly dissolved into dust. After the battle the army returned to the nearby city to find it too had been attacked. Garthax had apparently conjured up Harkon City’s dead to attack the city from within. Luckily Cyril had left the majority of the Militia to protect the city. Goff Nedner, assisted by G-Force, Tinks, Mr Sorgard, and the Minatuars had all aided in fighting off these forces. After the battle the casualty toll was 130. More then half of this was Militia. Over 250 prisoners were taken. Sometime later Dukarde came to summon Cyril. Dukarde was leading up the effort to bury the risen dead. Every corpse had been accounted for but one. The corpse of the town’s founder, Gunther Harkon. It seemed Calderus had played a cruel joke. Raising the body of Harkon and sending him against the city he had built. In the days that followed the party learned that Frosthaven would recognize them as the leader of their town as the party held the Rod of Rulership. Cyril commanded them to assemble a council to rule. Among the prisoners taken was Colonel Talon Lomak whom Gabriel had once saved when he served Breland. The party dealt with Talon as far as punishment. The POW’s would serve to repair both Harkon City and Frosthaven for a period of 3 months before being released under promise of never rejoining the Breland military again.
11-21-06-


29th: The Haunted Lodge:
-Cyril-Gabriel-Darius-
The party was tending to the business at hand after the massive battle just a week ago. In the wake of this Darius returned to town to be greeted by his old party mates. They were enjoying each others company when an urgent call summoned them to frost haven. Apparently their POWs had been attacked. After the battle in Harkon City the captured POWs were tasked with rebuilding Frosthaven. As this was occurring the peoples of Frosthaven were returning home. The people will still angry at the Brelish and a riot erupted. Cyril settled the matter and warned any further attacks would meet with a forceful response. After these events Vex Altar informed the party that the famous green lodge was located nearby. The lodge was famous for being the headquarters for some of the world’s most spectacular hunters. But they had not been heard from in decades. The party traveled to the nearby lodge to find it frozen over. It had been abandoned for some time. After killing some Frost Giants outside the party proceeded to explore the lodge. Inside Ghostly creatures attacked them. Chief amongst these adversaries was a 12 headed cryohydra. The party found the place to be completely abandoned. There was some evidence that the hunters had been killed by these Ghostly creatures having returned for their vengeance. As the party was leaving they found an odd site. A gimp half orc was trying to pull an unconscious white dragon out of the door of the lodge. After some interrogation the party discerned the half orc to be possessed by Lucian Stellos. Lucan had been possessing the White Dragon. He had taken command of the Frost Giants who had served the White Dragon. He next captured Ogrum, the representative to Father from the Orc City of Graywall. Lucian had followed the party after they had killed his Frost Giants. But as Lucian entered the Lodge he lost possession of the White Dragon. This was a side effect to the coterminus conjunction occurring within the lodge. Lucan then had to possess his captive and try to recover the strong dragon body. The party caught him in the midst of this and knocked him out. They traveled to Ardev and got intact with the church of the Silver Flame. Eventually they hired an exorcism master named Father Von Mason. The Father was able to exercise Lucian and trap him in a Skull Soul Gem. The party released Ogrum and arranged for him to return home. The party had managed to finally capture Lucian Stellos and better yet, adversely effect Calderus.
(Note: This adventure was off Wizards Web site by Owen Stephens)
-11-29-06-


Interlude:
Winter had hit hard and a cold night claimed the lives of many of the cities elders. Among them was Gabriel’s Father (Father Hax). With the death of Father Hax Gabriel’s position on the council disappeared. He new position was created for him. Meanwhile Father Hax’s position had to be succeeded by the town’s next eldest landowner. This turned out to be Argith, town hooligan and father to both Darius and Wraithian. Meanwhile word came in that the three rulers of Droam had been simultaneously assassinated. A civil war was brewing in Droam and the party suspected that The Lord’s of Dust had something to do with it.


30th: Bloodlines:
-Cyril-Gabriel-
The party was called to a meeting of the towns ruling council. Just recently the Vampire Calderus had reanimated the form of the towns founder (Gunther Harkon) and sent him to wage war against Harkon City. This injustice would not go unpunished. The party had been content up till now to simply avoid Calderus as he was far too powerful to confront. Now it seemed the council was going to force the confrontation. Before this meeting could conclude however another person joined the discussion. Calderus entered into a room of stunned individuals. He had come to find out how the party had survived and had been prepared for his invasion. Now having been in town he had learned everything. Calderus’s massive psionic ability allowed him to read the minds of those he encountered. Sometimes even at great range. Calderus admitted his surprise to the party’s alliance with the Lords of Dust. He went on to mock the council though as he began revealing their individual secrets. Declaring that Cyril secretly seeks to rule alone. That Dunny was the outcast prince of a dwarven royal family. That Misses Redler was the offspring of an unnatural union. Stating that most of the cities residents are in fact descended from former prisoners or instead are those who hide here as a refuge from something they seek to escape. He said that it was Dunny and the other elders in town who had had the famous Gnomish Novelist Morten Kane attacked and run out of town for asking too many questions. Specifically that Tink’s did not want it to be revealed that his father Mister Owlbane was actually a wanted criminal. Eventually Dunny had had enough and struck Calderus. As he did Calderus disintegrated in red crystals. It was of course not the real Calderus. The party began going over how they could strike at Calderus. They would soon find aid from an unlikely source. Gabriel was carrying a soul gem that housed the trapped essence of Lucian Stellos. Lucian had once been a crusader of good and operative of the Dark Lanterns of Breland. Eventually Lucian came to be controlled by Calderus. Calderus changed Lucian into a vampire spawn and sent him to break into the Sharn Vaults to steal “The Vampires Blade”. He was subsequently tracked down by the party and utterly destroyed by Gabriel’s divine magic. That was not however the end of Lucian. He returned anew this time as a ghost still bound to Calderus. Lucian’s primary goal was to spy on the party but eventually he was caught and tapped in this soul gem. Upon entering the gem Lucian was cut off from Calderus’s control. He reverted into the good man he once was. Now he was telepathically communicating with Gabriel in hopes of aiding the party in destroying Calderus. He told the party everything he knew. That Calderus controlled all of Breland via the King. He now sought to once again convene the council of Thronehold so he could take control of all the Nation’s leaders. He told the party that to destroy Calderus they would first need to eliminate Calderus’s contingencies. Specifically they would need to eliminate Calderus’s clones. He said he did not know where they were but he knew where Calderus had procured his cloning technology. There was a secret base in the Mournlands run by a man named Egun. This is where the party would start their quest to eliminate Calderus. The party used Windwalk to travel this great distance and found this underground as described. As they went to entered they were immediately engaged by an Advanced Stone Golem. The guardian was powerful but well within the party’s capability to defeat. Somewhere during this battle a miscalculation was made. In an instance everything changed. A lucky blow by the Golem sent Cyril crashing to the ground. Gabriel pulled back but it was too late. Cyril was dead. Gabriel tried to use a raise dead incantation he had procured from one of the Lords of the Dust. It was not successful. He returned home and made greater efforts. Eventually after communing with his gods he was successful. He performed the ritual within the prison walls. The prison itself was a Coterminus rift between the prime material and Dolurh, the realm of the dead. The proximity of Dolurh made it possible for Cyril’s soul to reclaim his body. The party regrouped and set back upon their quest. They returned to the Mournlands and quickly defeated the Golem. They moved inside to find the complex Lucian had told them about. It was an underground cloning facility. Inside they found discarded experiments that resembled many people they had encountered. Apparently during the Wars Breland had instituted project Daedalus. The goal of the project was the create enhanced soldiers. Halac was a result of this. He was genetically engineered with Trolls to give him virtually unlimited regeneration. Later monstrous creatures were incorporated. Jacob Sanz was one such as this. Eventually the project was shut down but the project’s founder restarted them in this secret base. The party found this man named Egun. But it was not actual Egun but instead a clone. It seemed Calderus had come here and taken the real Egun. His assault triggered the animation of Egun’s clone. Generally clones lay dormant until the original is killed. The soul then transverses to the clone and it awakens. Through his research however Egun was able to animate clones of still living individuals. These he called Beta Clones. The problem he could not solve was that these Beta Clones could only live 7 days. Since the real Egun’s abduction his clones have had to continue to clone themselves every seven days. Maintaining their research in journals. It was soon revealed that Egun’s cloning attempts had begun years before. One of his first clones was of his own child. His wife thought him made and was leaving taking their child with them. He cloned the baby and through continuous maintenance had kept that one Beta Clone alive. This seemed possible only because the original was still in an early genetic state at the time of Cloning. The Child was Dukarde and the Clone was Draco Blade. Though Egun knew nothing about Draco’s torture of Dukarde. Inside the complex the party found clones of many elder men. Egun explained that’s how he funded his continued operations. Those clones were of men within an organization known as the Aurumn. A confederation of wealthy businessmen across the face of Khorvaire. One of the clones had already awoken but Egun would not say who it was. Though this was soon revered as Mister Winslow soon arrived. The party rejoiced to see their friend alive. He now returned to have himself once again cloned. He explained that he was laying low until Calderus was done away with. This revelations entertained the party greatly but they did have business to attend to. Egun told the party that after many escaped clone scenarios he began incorporating a traceable compound into his clones. If Calderus was using his technologies he could supply the party with a device that could track them down. He gave the party a magical compass and it was time to go.
-12-13-06-


Interlude: It had been sometime since Cyril and Gabriel had traveled with Darius and Wraithian. During the interim the Brothers had many adventures traveling the face of Khorvaire. More recently the brothers had spent time in Sharn working with the Wizard’s Circles in their attempts to break the Teleportation barrier. The brothers returned home to find their small town now a sprawling city. They soon met up with Dukarde who convinced them to help him hunt down Draco Blade.


31st: Return of the King
-Cyril-Gabriel-Darius-Wraithian-
The party was on a collision course with the Vampire Psion Calderus. They had procured a compass like device that would track down Calderus’s clones. After leaving Egun’s cloning facility Cyril and Gabriel had joined up with the brothers Darius and Wraithian. The brothers had joined up with Dukarde in hunting down Draco Blade. At some point they had split up and Darius had tracked Draco to the Cloning Facility. With that at a dead end the brothers once again rejoined the party. They Windwalked and found the first indication of clone. It was a nondescript piece of land in northern Breland. Darius searched around and found that the earth had recently been moved. There was also a small copper pipe sticking out of the ground. After some digging they found a coffin with a Calderus clone within. They quickly killed and found another copper pipe leading underground. Wraithian summoned an elemental to help with this problem but instead got more then he bargained for. It seemed Calderus had picked this location because it had Wild Magic characteristics. As a result instead of a regular earth elemental Wraithian got an extremely powerful elemental and personal servant to Grumbar, Lord of Earth. Non the less the elemental had to obey Wraithian. The elemental went underground and opened up a nearby chamber. The copper pipe ran 30 feet from the coffin and into a small chamber where Calderus had hide supplies. Among the supplies were numerous thought Crystals and a thought bottle containing psionic energy (PSPs). Additionally there was a young black dragon held in temporal stasis. The party took the dragon and left. Outside they found Dukarde waiting for them. After a few moments of conversing it was clear this was not Dukarde but instead Draco Blade. It seemed Draco had felt violated and was now going to punish the party. Before this could come to fruition however the party saw their very own airship landing nearby. Dukarde soon appeared and challenged Draco to a final duel. There was much built up and just as it was about to begin Dukarde called out “Get him”. With that Halac’s heroes appeared accompanied by G-force and together their blasted Draco with an array of missile attacks. As the smoke cleared everyone soon released the battle was far from over. There were now 10 Dracos. It seemed Egun had upgraded Draco with the same powers Jacob Sanz exhibited. Slashing weapons would only cause Draco to multiply. A massive melee ensued and it seemed Dukarde’s forces were failing. The party joined the battle and after several minutes Draco was defeated. Cyril had actually dominated one of the Draco’s and had him prisoner. This almost had Cyril and Dukarde going to blows. In event that Draco died when Halac burned the original Draco. This was the end of Draco Blade. After the battle there was ill feelings all around. Halac separated his group and they set off to aid another of Halac’s comrades. The party was clear to push on. It was time to find the next clone. After Windwalking a great distance the party was now in some remote mountainous terrain. They soon found their way inside a small complex. It appeared to be the ancient burial site of some long forgotten monastic brotherhood. Inside they battled past undead guardian and vampires. Eventually they found the next clone of Calderus and slew it. Again the body was accompanied by a baby dragon held in stasis. Next to the dragon a human was held in Stasis. It was King Baronel of Breland. The party took the dragon and the king and began to exit the complex. On the way out they came upon a large coffin they had avoided on the way in. Gabriel went to search the Coffin and found himself teleported inside. At the same instance the Lich within the coffin teleported into Gabriel’s position. A battle ensued but the party was able to handle the Lich even without their powerful cleric. They cut into the coffin and found Gabriel now held in Temporal Stasis. The party traveled to the nearby city of Blackpit to find help. There was little help to be gotten but eventually Wraithian was able to dispel the stasis. While in Blackpit the party learned that many of the armed forces in the area had been mobilizing and moving east. The party feared Calderus was making another attack. They decided to head home and check it out. While Windwalking they soon saw Castle Arakain, the seat of the King of Breland under attack by its own troops. The party did not understand this and so they proceeded home. They found Harkon City to be safe and sound. They took a few days making preparations then once again went out to face Calderus. Before they could leave they were aided once again. Adar Durn of the Lords of Dust contacted Gabriel and explained it was time to go after Calderus. Gabriel replied it was a little late. They were already knee deep into that process. The Adar went on to saw that his research had rendered some aid. He had designed a silver laced steak that they could implant in Calderus’s chest once he was down. After this he had a ritual the party could perform to utterly banish Calderus to Doluhr, the realm of the dead. The Adar opened up a temporary unstable gate and supplied these items to the party. The party once again used the compass to find the last clone. It was of little surprise that it directed the party to Castle Arakain. The party did some recon inside and found the clone to be not of Calderus but of King Baronel. The party had the real King with them in stasis. They snuck inside the castle and then brought the King out of Stasis. They explained the situation and the King took charge. They entered the Throne room and it took little time for things to get sorted out. The real King engaged the clone in combat and defeated him. After the clone died the real king got the clones memories. He told the party to travel through a magical gateway in his quarters. The King would have to remain behind to deal with the current siege on his Castle. The party followed the king’s instructions and sure enough there was a gateway within a tapestry in the King’s quarters. The gateway exited into a large extra dimensional room. Inside the party found the real Egun working within a cloning facility. More clones of the King were currently in production. The party had Egun go back the way they came as they traveled on. At the other end of the Extra dimensional room was another gateway. Beyond the party found a chamber with multiple gateways. This was some kind of magical crossroads that Calderus used. Instead of entering the other gateways the party decided to explore the complex they were in. They soon came upon a young adult dragon that was bound and apparently often fed upon by Calderus. Next to the Dragon was a book with Cryptic Writings. It seemed Calderus fed exclusively on Dragons. He had been doing so for so long that the Dragonblood had formed a connection between Calderus and the Dragon prophecy. Much of that prophecy was recorded in the book. Still no sense could be made of it. The party moved on and soon came upon their enemy. They entered a large throne room were stood Calderus and Garthax the Deathknight. Calderus seemed shocked to see the party and immediately Dimension Doored away. Garthax would instead engage the party. Throughout the battle Garthax hammered away with massively powerful assaults. Barrages of Unholy Flamestrikes. Hellfire blasts, Horrid Wilting, and the like. In the end Garthax was cut down. Just as he fell Calderus returned now prepared to face the party. A massive spell duel ensued. Calderus focused much of his attention of Gabriel but was slowing wearing the party down. In the end it was a Disintegrating blast from Wraithian that set up the final strike by Darius. Calderus fell. A moment later Cyril imbedded the steak in his chest. Gabriel and Wraithian set up the pentagrams and other needed components and began the ritual. At the incantations conclusion the room began to glow and a beam of light erupted consuming Calderus’s remains. It was over, Calderus had been destroyed. But it did not end there. The Incantation continued and the party soon felt themselves consumed. They had been betrayed by the Lords of Dust. A conclusion they themselves could not believe they did not see coming. As the incantation faded the party was now on a strange and distant plane.
12-20-06-


32nd: Ashes to Ashes:
-Cyril-Gabriel-Wraithian-
The party had defeated Calderus but just as they had destroyed him they themselves were planeshift to Dolurh, Realm of the dead. Around them was an endless Gray Expanse. Souls could be seen walking mindlessly to unknown and macabre destinations. As they began to get their wits about them they soon released that they had been joined by the soul of Lucian Stellos. Lucian had been trapped in a soul gem but upon entering this plane found himself freed. Lucian having been here before would act as the party’s guide. The next thing the party noticed was a small worm crawling around on the ground. The creature seemed to have the remnants of humanoid face. Lucian explained that it was Calderus. The party was content with this fitting end and rejoiced. Cyril found himself being drawn toward something and after a few hours of travel the party came upon a soul piling stones atop one another. Upon closer inspection Cyril recognized the man as the one who had murdered his father and scarred him as a child. Lucian explained it was the plane pulling Cyril to his vengeance. Cyril refused to extract it. During this encounter another soul came wandering upon the party. It was the soul of Gunther Harkon, he seemed to recognize the party yet not entirely. He examined them for a few moments and then proceeded forward. The party elected to follow Gunther that soon brought them into harms. Way. Four Bloodfiends had taken notice of the party. Lucian explained the fiends came here to harvest souls. Wraithian quickly forecaged the fiends and the party proceeded onward. They followed Gunther for time until his destination became evident. As they came over a hill they soon saw a familiar sight. It was the Tower of Orok Kor, The Prison of HarkonDeep. Gunther approached within one hundred feet of the tower and then dropped to one knee. The party entered the tower to find it only a shell. Inside they could see souls torturing unseen opponents. From time to time they could catch a glimpse of events unfolding within the prison. Soon the party was met by a soul who was not mindless. An ancient Hobgoblin Sorcerer appeared and introduced himself as Madeus. Cyril remembered Madeus aiding him when he had died as well as being a mentor to Zarion. Madeus explained he had created the tower long ago for a group of druids known as the Covenant of the nine. Madeus had lived during the time of the Hobgoblin Dhaakaani empire when goblinids ruled Khorvaire. Them came the Daelkyr, a race of super fiends from Xoriat, the realm of Madness. The Daelkyr were eventually defeated and their remaining six generals were bound in the earth. This tower was the prison of one such creature. Because the tower was a coterminous nexus with Dolurh it could never become coterminous with Xoriat. That is why the site was chosen. This encounter was interrupted by a group of travelers. They appeared as seven young elves encompassed in light. In reality they were seven Deathless and ancient elves astrally projected themselves into this place. The elves were led by Hath Himrule, an ancient adversary of Calderus (Tanos Kul). Hath Himrule was able to provide some background information. He explained that long ago the Dragons ruled Xen’drik and when the time came for them to leave they sought to bestow rulership upon the giants. At this time the drow were slaved to the giants. The Red Dragon Chaar Ambral tried to teach the ancient Dragon magics to the Fire Giant King Kaandar. But Kaandar could not learn them. Instead, his slave Tanos Kul paid attention and the Dragon was content to teach. Eventually Kul would come to rule the Giant king through domination. Hath Himrule came into conflict with Kul when the giants came invade the elven homeland of Argonesson. Eventually they defeated the giants and killed Tanos Kul. Only to learn later that he had risen as a vampire. For many hundreds of years Tanos laid low until arising anew as Calderus. The party informed the elves where they had left Calderus and the elves went off to retrieve him. Before they left they told the party of man named Lurkoz who maintained a castle nearby. They said he was like the party and knew many roads. A few hours later the party was arriving at this castle. Many souls could be seen constructing an outer wall for the castle. Within the castle the party came upon this Lurkoz as he was relaxing. He was being mosaged and fed grapes by many female souls. He was also accompanied by a Githzerai Monk. The party quickly recognized this Lurkoz as Lex Datimer. The party was shocked to see him and Datimer shared in their confusion. It seemed Datimer did know many roads indeed. Apparently what Datimer had been doing from the get go was acquired slaves for his after life. In addition this Githzerai monk was some form of Sineater who could guarantee a clean conscious. After been tracked down in the prime material Datimer had come to this plane to hide. Though he was not yet dead. The party quickly arranged an agreement. Datimer mentioned that the party must have come to see the other tower. It was here the party learned of another tower just like their own. Datimer agreed to take the party there and also to get them out of this plane. A few hours later the party came upon the other tower. It looked very similar to Orok Kor but not quit the same. Outside the tower stood 4 guardians (Astral Stalkers). As the party approached they found the soul of Adar Durn kneeling before the tower. Inside the tower the party found a shell. Like before they caught brief glimpse of the prime material plane. They could see many figures in a circle including a Minataur and a Rakhasa. They were apparently torturing a Satyr. The party could have investigated further but instead left. Datimer took them to an abandoned and ruins tavern. Within the tavern there was a door hanging off the hinge. Datimer put the door back on the hinge and used a skeleton key to open the door. It revealed a magical portal. Beyond the portal was a massive tavern with seemingly endless banquet rooms. All manner of creatures were seen including devils, angels and other more bizarre beings. Datimer explained this place was The Four Winds, a sort of layover in the planes run by a powerful being known only as The Whiskey Man. All planes were accessible through the many doors within the Tavern. Datimer explained the only problem was he had destroyed the doorway to Eberron. But he suspected there could be another and only the Whiskey would know. The party chatted with this Whiskey man who appeared as a 7 foot tall bearded human. Even The Whiskey Man did not know the name Eberron so the party began asking around the tavern. They found some help from an extraplanar adventurer named Lukas aswell as a Gatorman Bounty Hunter named Tlemizar. Eventually an angelic being named Brom figured it out and the party was on their way. They left Datimer behind and traveled through the portal. Beyond they found a tavern populated with Demons. Gabriel immediately noticed that while the demons were fully interactive they were in fact illusions. Outside the tavern was a massive metropolis built of white stone. The entire city was populated by illusionary fiends. The party soon learned the name of the city was Ashtakala but that was of little help. They did come upon a main fortress with real creatures lurking about but it did not seem like a good idea to engage. As the party went to leave they found the city surround by a massive magical sandstorm. The party made us of an antimagic field and escaped. Beyond the sandstorm was a barren and dead forest. After some overland travel the party found a small hamlet. At the tavern they learned they were in The Demon Wastes. A region on the far north western tip of their continent. The party utilized Windwalk and traveled back to Harkon City. They came upon their city to find it in dire conditions. A 10,000 orc army had assembled on the Droam side. While a 4,000 man army had assembled on the Breland side. Cyril found his second in Command General Maelstrom held up at the keep. Maelstrom explained that the city council had begun arguing and as a result they had enacted article 64. An law that reverted the city government back to its original state. The council then voted Dunny emergency powers to deal with the current crisis with one voice. Cyril found Dunny manning the wall. Dunny did not trust the Brelish. But Cyril soon rode out to find his old mentor Mar Grimthrone in command. Cyril returned and Convinced Dunny to let the Brelish Soldiers shore up the city. Dunny turned over defense of the city to Cyril. Not long after the Droamites began invading. As the Droam forces started overcoming the wall a new threat emerged. A colossal ancient Red Dragon was marauding through town. The party went to face the creature joined by Dukarde. The Red Dragon was staggeringly powerful. Even after Wraithian managed to dumb the beast with a feeblemind spell it seemed the party would all die. It was then when the battle was joined. A sonic boom was heard and the Emerald Dragon Sarvalax arrived. Sarvalax was no where near the Red Dragon’s size but the party hoped they had weakened the Red Dragon enough. Sarvalax cried out for the party to get to the prison. The party arrived at the prison and quickly bypassed a Wall of Force. Inside they found that the Vandyr alliance, The Lords of Dust had infiltrated the prison and taken the identities of prisoners. They were now feeding magic into the base of the tower. It seemed all that was occurring was manipulated to raise chaos that would fuel the imprisoned Daelkyr fiend held beneath the tower. The party engaged and battle ensued. Among the Lords of the Dust were Adar Malkin, Adar Karrath (Black Rahkasa), Adar Thord (Rakahasa Warrior), Adar Torum (Minataur who pretended to be the towns Druid), Adar Ginis (Yuan Ti Pure Blood Slayer), and a Beholder. Gabriel immediately killed Adar Malkin as Wraithian began forcecaging the other lords. The Beholder would intermittently use his antimagic eye to render the party feeble. Dukarde engaged the Beholder giving the party a chance. One by one the Lords fell. The Minatuar proved to be the most powerful but in the end he too fell. The Beholder tried to escape but was shot down. The party exited the tower to see the Red Dragon kill Sarvalax. Render stated that Father would not be happy. The party was confused as they had been told that Sarvalax was Father. Render stated that Sarvalax was Father’s Familiar. Shortly after the eastern end of the city began to collapse under a massive land shift. Father was rising. Now towering over the city was a 600 foot tall Elder Elemental Patriarch. The Red Dragon fly into to battle him. Father began to tear the Red Dragon apart as the party ran to join the battle. It was then that the tower began to shake. From the bowels of Harkondeep prison the Daelkyr arose. The fiend was man sized but had appendages indicative of monstrous beings. As The Daelkyr moved forward plant life died. Buildings warped and reality shifted. Father cast the Red Dragon aside as the Daelkyr flew to combat the great elemental. As the epic battle began the party ran to engage the wounded Red Dragon. After a few minutes of battle Cyril finally delivered the killing blow to the Red Dragon. The party turned to see the Daelkyr finish off father. The party retreated to the prison but the Daelkyr was coming back. As the fiend engaged the party they seemed powerless. It was then a familiar voice was heard. Misses Redler had ushered the children down and was making them sing. There were these strange songs that Misses Redler had taught all her students in Harkonthorp. She always said they were ancient elvish limericks. But in reality they were incantations of order to combat the Daelkyr. With the fiend weakened Misses Redler urged the party to attack. The Daelkyr recognized Misses Redler as a Gatekeeper but now had other problems. The party bombarded the Daelkyr but he was still very powerful. The battle continued until finally the party put the creature down. Afterwards Misses Redler showed the party how to seal the creature back In the tower. With the fall of the Daelkyr the Droam army started to retreat only to find another Droam army waiting to attack. The invading forces were crushed. The party soon found the other Droam army to be led by former Warden Thrask (The Fire Giant). Apparently after the assassinations of Droam’s three leaders the nation had broken down into three separate regions. Thrask had been leading his army east for weeks. Thrask asked if Harkon City would sell Adamantine to anyone. They agreed and a peace was made. The Lords of Dust had been defeated and the day was won.



Aftermath:
The city had suffered massive destruction. It take year to rebuild. One good point was that where Father had fallen had closed off the city’s weakest point. A few days later the party traveled to Father’s cave as they believed Father would have wanted them to have his treasure. What they found was seven Dragons of the Chamber overhauling the place. The party spoke with them briefly but when it became apparent the party was not getting any treasure the conversation went bad. The party brooded over the treasure they would not get and how unfair life was.


Epilogue:
The city council assembled with the party to decide how to proceed. Gabriel took this opportunity to not advocate for his reinstallation into the city council. He had little interest in rulership from the beginning and his skills were not in that area. Cyril too step down declaring that no matter who was in the council he still ruled. The council had grown used to these loud mouth braggerts and let them speak. While the party were great heroic combatants they had almost no ability to communicate effectively or in an other area or diplomacy. Cyril returned to Frosthaven gave the rod of rulership to the female paladin. They would rule themselves. Though he stipulated that he be given title and allowed to build a keep. Gabriel began establishing churches in the surround areas and soon became a bishop. Overtime Cyril got less and less aid from Harkon City as the relationship drifted further and further into begrudgery and many ties were severed. Gabriel while not adopting an adversarial posture could find no reason to interact with the city officials. In time Harkon City grew anew without the heroes that had brought it back from the brink. Zarion’s priory of Psion became a hub for Psionic activity and a place of great knowledge. Wraithian joined up with Benton Swords and established Cutlass Freight. A pirate themed shipping company that meet with quick success. Darius remained a strange and lonesome individual traveling the nearby regions in search of the unknown. Dukarde continued to find his place aiding Cyril in the beginning and then trying to restart his adventuring guild. He remained an enigmatic personality of mixed regard. In time new heroes arose and they too displayed an arrogant and confrontational demeanor. Not even the former party members were given respect by this group. But there was nothing they could do cause they were now old and feeble.

THE END