Book #01

Prelude Empty Mansion

Our story starts with Zero Uhlit, a portly rogue, poking his nose where it shouldn't be in a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of Deepingwald on The Islands. Thinking the mansion is empty and wondering what treasures it might hold he spied a couple of ruffians up to no good. They unleash a vicious guard dog and Zero has to fight for his life. As the fight starts, Tradden Aversward, a lean, youthful fighter, charged with tracking some unsavoury types on behalf of the Deepingwald Guard comes across the mansion and joins the fray. The fight is swift but not without cost, as Tradden takes a blow that nearly fells him, Zero only prevents the pair of them being bitten to death by confusion the hound and bolting it out of the house.

Taking refuge in the mansion to bandage Tradden the pair discover a trapdoor underneath a rug guarded by an lightning trap. Heading down into darkness they find a maze of tunnels and behind a door they stumble upon the incarcerated Khalin Grundokri, a dwarven warlord, bound and gagged, his last memory being of going to sleep in his own bed at the barracks of the Border March.

Heading further into the tunnels the trio are accosted by a swarm of bats, scratching and biting as they screech past, and eventually come to a large chamber with a pit. There they are attacked by rats and manage to swat and beat them away. At the bottom of the pit, wrapped in iron chains laid a robed man, Kireth Majere, a half-elven wizard who Zero frees from his bonds. Continuing through the tunnels, with barely a word of thanks from Kireth, they wind through stalagmites and undulations until the tunnels open up into a much larger cavern, about a hundred feet across, with a small, vacant camp.

A quick check of the campsite revealed nothing of major interest with the exception of a desk whose drawers appeared to be locked with magics. The group took the option to break the drawer open with the use of Khalin's hammer. As the desk shattered to pieces an alarm rang out over the cavern, magicked in the air with a ghastly illusionary mouth shouting "Intruders! Intruders!". Despite the noise the group remained and searched the contents of the drawer that had been spilled on the ground - blank sheets of parchment, many ink stained as a bottle of ink had been smashed by Khalin's strike. One of the papers had some writing on, possibly some form of Elvish, with talk of ‘new recruits’ and ‘mind-washing’. The bottom of the sheet had a single piece of text that was not obscured though - ‘Light must be snuffed, perfection decayed, order dissolved, and minds fragmented.’ Zero had shuddered when he read it. Another item that had spilled from the drawer was a small amulet - a cheap wooden affair on a leather strap. It was plain, wooden, very well used judging by the smooth rounded edges, and practically worthless. Its only distinguishing feature was a small swirl decorated into one side of the wood, filled in with some dark dye. Kireth had pocketed it for later study.

With the alarm halting its screeching the group had moved across the chamber to find some further rooms, shored up with beams and lined with cart tracks as though a mine was once here. In storerooms Tradden found what he could only describe as a makeshift cell, manacles lining the walls and scrawled on the stone wall, perhaps with a mixture of fingernails and blood a single word - ‘lowfield’. Another cell nearby held the bound form of Celestia Gaia, a female elf with golden hair, unconscious and much the worse for wear.

Moving further on, now desperate to get back to light and fresh air, the group found a mine shaft with pulleys and gears and a platform some hundred feet above. Lowering the platform, they all got on and started the slow manual effort of winching themselves to the top. Catastrophe nearly struck when the ropes got stuck, but acrobatics from Tradden managed to ensure that everyone stayed in one piece on the platform and they steadily rose to the top of the shaft, breaking out into the light, and finding themselves in a small hut, with a large open door streaming in sunlight. By the look of the hill and the woods beyond they realised the passageways and caverns had led them a little further than they had thought, and they were at the other side of the peaks surrounding Deepingwald, a brace of leagues from the city.

Starting the march back the group encounters a clearing, with a group of men, huddled around a campfire. A few commoners by the look of it, but on closer inspection they appeared to be a couple of armoured individuals and a man wearing a cloak carrying a gnarled staff. The group were spotted and the group took up arms; the man with the gnarled staff staring at Kireth and shouting, "You will be dissolved. You will decay, be snuffed, fragment!" The group turned the battle well with the aid of Kireth's Flaming Sphere and eventually had floored all but one man who they wanted to take captive. However, rather than be taken prisoner the man ran straight for the flaming sphere and jumped directly into the heart of it. All that remained were cinders.

The group wearily trudged back to the city, heading to the Captain of the Watch to report what they had found. Despite Tradden's best attempts to ingratiate himself with the Watch Captain riches were not bestowed on the group. However, the Captain did offer the group a reward should they take up a mission on the dangerous voyage to the east to the Old Continent. Arranging board and passage on The Guiding Fire for the group and a contact named Kassar the Captain alluded to the mission being to follow and track an individual heading to the Old Continent and the new founded town of Blackengorge, giving Tradden a sealed parchment with more information and swearing Tradden not to open it until they reached the mainland.

With the thrill of adventure and the unknown in all of them the group set sail on The Guiding Fire heading east and to Blackengorge. The journey is not smooth, however, as a storm brews some days out to sea and Celestia spies Kassar signalling across the waves with a lanthorn. As a vast bolt of lightning crashes over the sky, Celestia sees a single striped sail against the bleak horizon, moving straight towards them. The crew had talked about the striped and black sails near the main continent, and The Guiding Fire’s first battle and the loss of The Epideixis.

The striped sail pulled alongside and hordes of hobgoblins, orcs and goblins boarded, taking on the crew of The Guiding Fire and the group in a pitched battle. As the striped sail pulled away a little, a bolt as long as a spear caught Abrahams, the Captain of the ship in the midriff and pinned him to the main mast. Despite the Captain's mortal injuries he still helped direct the crew to beat away the boarders, but the striped ship remained not far away, the beating of their spears and clashing of their shields like a chant on board their ship. Zero could spy the outline of the horde’s ship through the inky blackness, slowly moving away from The Guiding Fire. Shadowy figures danced about on the deck, but most prominent were three horned figures, taller and broader than a man stood on the quarterdeck, with axes held aloft, aimed at the foredeck. He also saw another shadow, small and spindly crawling up to the top of the fo’c’s’le, towards the figurehead at the prow of the ship.

As the shadow arrived at the prow the chanting and spear-beating ceased as one. An eerie keening could be heard emanating from the enemy ship. The water began to boil, great pockets of it exploding over the side and sending spray across the deck of the ship. The group looked around trying to understand what was causing the water to churn so, and then one of the sailors shouted, "A monster, a sea monster, we must flee!" Then with eldritch slowness black tentacles, many feet long, began to squirm and wriggle onto the deck from over the side of the ship and seek out their targets. A guttural cheer came from the other ship, all of the group could see the ship now as they were being carried into the air by the tentacles. On the quarterdeck of the enemy ship stood three huge horned figures, half-man, half-bull with bronzed armour and their axes gleaming. Slowly shifting down from the prow of the foredeck was the spindly figure – returning to where ever it came from, its role completed. Orders could be heard being barked from the largest of the three horned figures, and the ship started to turn about and head to the north.

Further splinters could be heard from The Guiding Fire below and then the sea took her – rushing in and consuming the sleek vessel. As she sank below the boiling waves the last the party saw of her was the shattered mast and Captain Abrahams still pinned, going down with his ship.

All of this seemed to happen in slow motion for Celestia, her eyes transfixed on the beast trying to stem her fear and agony. As the beast started to sink into the now calming waters to consume its prey her chest began to burn, she lost her breath, and a light sprang from the amulet around her neck. Bright it was, and seemed to mirror the starkness of the stormy clouds and the chaos of the rolling sea with grey and blue and green rays streaming out of it and over the beast’s black tentacles. Suddenly the beast gave a roar, and whipped its tentacle around, releasing and flinging the hapless adventurers and the lifeless bodies of the sailors across the surface of the water, where they skipped across and eventually plunged into the icy blackness. Almost at the same instant the ship’s only lifeboat, bobbed to them across the surface of the water. Khalin managed to drag people out of the water and get them into the boat with his unearthly dwarven endurance. The light from Celestia’s amulet dimmed slightly, leaving the party in a soft glow, out on the open ocean – now calm. Drifting, ever so slowly drifting, the group finally succumbed to fatigue, and blackness filled them all.

Chapter #01 Into the Shadowhaunt

The first chapter sees our intrepid heroes act on behalf of the Blackengorge Town Council, searching for and finding two lost sons of the town in a nearby mausoleum. This mausoleum, and the secret chambers beneath, have been populated by a mad half-elf, called Helvec, who seeks to sacrifice the two boys for his own nefarious ends.

Through strength, wits, and magic the group stop the villain's plans and return as heroes to the small town, the boys safely rescued. Some lore of the world they now live in is found, but further mysteries deepen.

Chapter #02 An Odd Couple

While Kireth studies, Celestia looks for enlightenment at the temple, and Zero entrenches himself in the inn, Khalin and Tradden agreed to assist one of the villagers, the elf smith Caldring, in looking for iron ore in the swamps to the southeast beyond the lake.

The group headed into the marshes where Caldring spotted an iron cartwheel. As she tried to pull it out she fell into the swamp with a splash, but resurfaced with skeletons not far behind!

The group managed to dispatch the skeletons, but not without Caldring using her runic magic, causing a mist to descend on the group. When the mist finally cleared Caldring was nowhere to be seen. But then her shouts were heard some way off in the swamp and when Tradden and Khalin arrived, she was being attacked by ghoulish figures.

With great difficulty the ghouls were vanquished, but Caldring fared badly, being knocked unconscious. Tradden and Khalin looked for some nearby shelter to get the elf warm and let her recover. But there they were attacked by a slime.

Chapter #03 The Doors Beyond

Khalin and Tradden set off for the island in the middle of the lake to explore the Tower of the Mists in the hope to bring Kireth some further texts to translate.

No sooner had they stepped on the island when they were attacked from above! After a brief battle with some stirges they entered the ruins of the tower, only to be confronted by a clutch of spiders.

With no luck investigating the upper floors of the tower the pair find an entrance to a basement where they were immediately attacked by yet another strange creature, a rust monster. With Khalin injured, Tradden pokes around.

They return from the Tower of the Mists with more questions than answers after battling flying stirges, giant spiders, and a curious beast, a rust monster. They have found a hidden forge in the cellars of the Tower, one harnessing an earth fire. But what manner of man or beast could use such a heat?

They also found many pieces of smithy work, untouched by the rust monster, and have left them all, including the strangest – some strange chain mail – with the smith Caldring as they head to the Council to report their finds.

Chapter #04 The Goblin's Lair

Charged with investigating and perhaps even clearing a goblin warren near Blackengorge, the party headed off to the lair behind a waterfall.

Encountering a strong force of goblins and kobolds outside the lair they were eventually victorious, and made their way past the cascading water into the inner chambers. There they encountered a stronger force, with a brute of a goblin that required all of their teamwork to overcome.

Its treasure revealed riches, as well as a hidden message of a spy within the town. The group now return to Blackengorge to report on their findings.

Chapter #05 The Road Eastwards

With spirits high and adventure on the wind the group have set out eastwards on the old road towards the gate in the gorge wall, with their final destination being a burial site off to the east. Going had been fairly easy as they approached the ruins of the old road gate, but they were attacked by a giant wyrm. They managed to dispatch the creature, but as the rains and darkness fell they have had to seek out shelter, spying an abandoned shack in some woods. It had appeared their luck had turned, but unfortunately that is not the case as a pack of wolves descend upon the party.

The group managed to fend off the wolves, and their leaders slipped away into the forest - an uneasy night's rest followed and the party awake bleary eyed and tired in the morning. Travelling north through the forest they have eventually found their intended destination, but it looks as though someone else has already gotten there first! After dispatching them and spending time looking for a campsite nearby to rest, they spot a pair of goblins who flee into the trees to the north.

After chasing them down, killing one and cornering another, the party find themselves ambushed by the goblins' tribe.

Chapter #06 The Forest Ruins, Part I

The party have rested in the forest some six leagues or so northeast of Blackengorge after two intense days of exploration and skirmishes. Refreshed from uninterrupted rest they head towards the shattered ruins of a stone building to the north. Descending the stone staircase they arrive in a lit chamber, with goblins lying in wait!

Descending into the gloom of a long forgotten ruin in the northern forest the party have found what appears to be more than a goblin lair. They have dispatched many goblins, including a chieftain, Balgron the Fat, and his pet torturer. An incarcerated goblin gives them some clues and the party have moved on to locate the chieftain's treasure. Heading into some caves they encountered vermin and strange cave fishers, and even more bizarre creatures, such as kruthik and slimes. Now they have entered some foul smelling chambers and encountered dwarven zombies and the remnants of a skeletal legion.

After battling goblins, strange creatures, and legions of undead they have discovered a dwarf hiding out in a hidden room, resting up to recover, before he ventures out once more.

Chapter #07 The Forest Ruins, Part II

Descending into the gloom of a long forgotten ruin in the northern forest the party have found a tale of kidnap! A dwarf named Rangrim, from the mainland they believe, has joined them before they descend into the depths of the ruins to rescue his friends, and hopefully the missing elf ranger, Gilmorril.

The group encountered resistance in the form of well-disciplined hobgoblins, but with the help of Rangrim dispatched them, and headed further into the complex, negotiating traps. Death now hangs in the air around them as they find another chamber full of undead.

Chapter #08 The Forest Ruins, Part III

The group encountered resistance in the form of well-disciplined hobgoblins, but with the help of Rangrim dispatched them, and headed further into the complex, negotiating traps, and more undead. Finding Gilmorril in a sinister cathedral underneath the ruins, as well as some of Rangrim's allies, they descend into the bloody depths to thwart the evil menace below.

Finding the missing elf Gilmorril and preventing a priest opening a portal to unleash the horror within on the land, the heroes are now exhausted, bloody, and injured and have to deal with the prisoners they have released.

The heroes have made a long and tiring journey back from the ruined keep bringing with them natives of the land. As they stop at the Gorge Wall Gate, however, wolves seeking revenge close in on them, drawn by the scent of blood.

Chapter #09 The Annals of Pelor

Scene #01, The Light of Pelor (The 22nd to 24th Day of Ches in the Year of the Sudden Journey)

Awakening from a restful sleep after their tiring journey to the ruined keep, and with no sign of the now missing Rindall, the heroes take time to search for answers closer to home by carrying out investigations in and around Blackengorge with varying results.

Tradden and Zero break into the Lowfield house on a hunch, but come away with nothing except some sharp new clothes for Zero, whose exertions see him take a nap in a patch of snowdrops. The rogue would later help Caldring within the earth-fire forge to spring open the devices to make protective stones for the town. Tradden carries on to Caldring’s to talk armour and sweet nothings, but arrives late back to the Council meeting having had a bunch of Pheasant’s Eye Daffodils and poetry thrust at him. Already depressed by foliage attack and unresponsive elf smiths, Tradden’s day gets worse as although Altair’s Talon Aukan can identify the eagle totem Zero has been carrying, a prick on his finger from a nasty vine at the stone circle causes hallucinations, unconsciousness and nearly death for the fighter.

The newly invigorated Khalin gets the lay of the land, learns of tieflings, dragonborn, and goliaths. Checking on the recently rescued wanderers, a delirious Gilmorril rambles about horns, and the tale of Lee-da-Gaar and the Bloodreavers is told by the monk himself, who also goes on to astound Khalin by describing the ancient Battle of The Gorge Wall where King Elidyr fought his doomed last stand against the ‘Ruler of Ruin’ who crushed the ‘Flame Imperishable’ once the ‘Last Legion’ had fled, with the tantalising prospect of further records still intact at the monk’s dragon-overrun temple. The warlord finds a new dwarven friend in the old, tattooed dwarf, Borik.

Kireth gets up to whatever secretive things Kireth does, including persuading the reticent scribe Beltak to join them on their likely forthcoming trip. Even the mage is mystified when he awakes to find a single hyacinth on his pillow.

Scene #02, Wagons Roll! and Scene #03, The Pineforest Ruin (The 25th to 26th Day of Ches in the Year of the Sudden Journey)

With an optimistic set of tasks from the Blackengorge Town Council, the heroes set forth east, bound for the Nentir Vale. Now travelling in a convoy comprising of the heroes, Altair’s Talons, and a wagon named Amud Rur (‘Rolling Thunder’) pulled by two oxen, their progress over the still mostly intact cobbles of the Old Road is swift. Kireth maintains a stiff upper lip when, two dozen leagues from the western edge of the Vale, by the Gorge Wall Gate, he spots a great shadow, blotting out the night stars as it moves south with apparent purpose.

Progress remains steady and the convoy starts to discover remnants of yesteryear. Firstly a long-destroyed building, perhaps an inn, reveals an oddly intact standing stone within which a magical drawer yields a few coins, some delicately carved stones and oddest of all a snowdrop that desiccates at even Zero’s feather touch. Next, Tradden and Zero scout an intact building which shows signs of a recent fight. As Kireth, Khalin and the scribe Beltak join the two humans the building is once again beset with combatants as the bodies of dead humans and gnolls rise up against the heroes, triggered by the effects of a strange, ornate orb keyed to a mysterious undead being of great power that almost overcomes the group, only beaten back after a mighty struggle.

Scene #04, The Great Planes (The 26th to 28th Day of Ches in the Year of the Sudden Journey)

The bruised and battered heroes nearly make it three battles in one day after stumbling back to camp only to find the Talons nearly mistaking them for an enemy force. The tiefling Sorrow sings the ensemble almost to sleep before the morning brings a new problem, a deadfall tree in the middle of the road which suggests a deliberate felling. Kireth’s magics make short work of it (literally) and the group start to investigate a leather strap found entangled in the roots before being hurried on their way by the howl of wolves!

Another ruin provides shelter for the night and a significant wolf attack is held at bay by Kireth’s growing magical defences until mysterious horns in the distance seem to cause the wolves to break off and scurry to the north.

In the morning the path continues to wind east but the convoy finds the way blocked again, this time by giant spiders webs. Tradden and Rangrim scout and find out the truth – no spider did this. Orcs – it’s a trap!

After finding an old ruin along the way and a useful map they have managed to make good progress despite the attempts of undead and wolves to delay them. However, they now face a new problem, with a trap laid by orcs.

The group chased down an orc that stole some of their goods from the wagon along the Old Road and have managed to overcome the forces that met them at the orc’s stronghold. They now rest and explore the stronghold to try to find their goods.

In the dead of night the group have heard the trundle of a wagon, laid in wait to ambush it, and have slain a troop of hobgoblins.

The heroes head north from the Pineforest, across the treacherous Stonemarch, in search of a place called the Mouth of the Sleeper.

Chapter #10 The Mouth of the Sleeper

The heroes head north from the Pineforest, across the treacherous Stonemarch, in search of a place called the Mouth of the Sleeper. They find an old and gnarled wood and venture within, spotting a group of goblinoid mercenaries across a frozen creek.

The heroes break through the Coilwood and past awaiting troops at a frozen creek in search of a place called the Mouth of the Sleeper. Ascending a steep hill they are confronted at the summit.

Battling at the summit of the white face adorned hill in the Coilwood, the heroes manage to overcome a force of orcs and the reappearance of strange black creatures. Exploring the domed chambers within they try to open a secret door, only to find that a statue does the work for them, revealing hungry ghouls!

Dusting themselves down they continue to explore further below and stumble upon a bloody figure. The eyeless figure seems to have more than thoughts in its head, spewing forth more black abominations but the heroes managed to overthrow them.

Deciding to venture south, rather than risk the blade bridges they find to the east, they encounter a sprung trap, but the corpses of past victims appear to rise against them. After dispatching the hung victims and discovering parchment upon parchment, they return to the bridges and spring a trap, eventually overcoming a giant orb of a zombie with a missing eye. Navigating an eyeball contraption and descending further they arrive in what appears to be a ritual chamber, but with dead bodies strewn around.

Examination of a strange bloodied cloth on a stone reveals more than what Khalin hopes for. As black abominations descend from a portal above the party battles valiantly, finally warding them off and destroying the portal.

Chapter #11 Armour of Thorns

Leaving the perils of the Stonemarch behind them, the group head east and north to meet up with Altair's Talons at the northern range of the Cairngorm mountains. A lone peak with a shattered outcrop awaits them for the meeting point; before they attempt to cross the mountains through the orc-guarded pass and finally reach the Nentir Vale.

Finding a magic circle within the foothills they start a chain of events with the music of the wind that ends in a blast of lightning and thunder. Reeling from the shock they recover to see an insurgence of goblinkind that ends in a battle that they just about win. From the blast is born a female dwarf and the group take her under their wing before travelling north in the mountainous foothills to find the meeting place with the Talons.

There they find the Talons under siege and combat the orcs that harass them, but not before one of the ogres in the foes' group collapses the cave entrance that many of the Talons may be sheltering in.