A quick recap of the campaign so far:
The party started as mercenaries and hired blades for the Brass Coalition, an alliance of Flatlanders who rebelled against the Arventinian presence in the Flatlands. After a few months of fighting, the Brass Coalition was crushed, and the adventurers soon found themselves out of work and out of coin.
They took a few jobs both outside and inside the city, and before long they became involved in the dealings of a mysterious nobleman named Gion Thysas. Under the profitable employ of a shady senator by the name of Tawni Abbas, they investigated the plans of the mysterious Thysas family. It was soon discovered that Gion himself funded the Brass Coalition as a smokescreen so he could scour the city for an artefact without attracting attention. After the party saw off his Vecna worshipping sister Olga Thysas, Gion was soon found under wererat-infested ruins in the slums. The artefact was found too, a strange orb made of meteoric material. Soon after the Starlock Alain Fu recieved dreamlike instructions from a mysterious presence known only as Qlippoth, asking that the party trek to the Tower of Sulla, and complete a esoteric ritual there.
Leaving behind Christophe's elven companion Orrind, the party trekked to the Tower, and defeated the black dragon that had made the tower it's roost. Fu conducted the ritual as instructed, and the ranger Eored obtained an ominous mark on his neck. Under instruction from the Starlock guild in the southern city of Salamonis, the party was soon trekking south. When they arrived they were told they had stumbled across an ancient prophecy, and Eored had been marked as a 'Champion of Qlippoth'. They were told that there are three further champions - an Erathi paladin named Rufus, a rogue named Yaztromo, and a powerful eladrin mage called Mr Sapphoro - and the surviving champion was allowed access to an ancient vault which contained a long forgotten but powerful price. the Starlocks would aid the party in this goal, in exchange for the item itself.
The party took work in Salamonis, and soon the Starlocks had divined the whereabouts of the other three champions of Qlippoth. Rufus had been slain by Sapphoro, Sapphoro himself was back in Arventine, and Yaztromo was here in Salamonis. The party tracked Yaztromo down to a temple of Ioun, and followed a trail of murdered priests, before slaying Yaztromo.
The party made haste back to Arventine to seek out Sapphoro. Upon thier return, they found the city in disarray. many high profile citizens had been arrested, and martial law had been declared. Seeking out their long term friend Sirius of the Slums and busting Tawni Abbas out of prison, they discovered that Sapphoro had somehow managed to gain influence over several senators, and was steering the city for nefarious purposes. While cracking down on the Thieve's Guild, he was also holding the city back from aiding the northern city of Vos, which has recently become under siege by savage Zhentarim mercenaries.
With the help of the Thieves Guild, the party infiltrated the home of Senator Laertes, a Hidden Lord of Arventine who was under the thrall of Sapphoro. They explored the catacombs under the estate, and after cutting through Sapphoro's orc allies, they discovered the source of the conspiracy: a Mindflayer creature from the Underdark, that had Laertes and many other ranking officials under it's alien powers. The party soon dispatched the creature, but amidst the carnage, Sarah (recently outed as the runaway daughter of Duke Trevec Lachance, lord of the Gallantrian city of Gilleon) slew Laertes himself.
Despite this, the party were considered heroes of the city, and given rewards, amoung which was Balthazar's appointment as a Hidden Lord, and Sarah's admission into the famed Thousandhead Mercenaries. But there was still work to be done. Sapphoro had fled to the caves beneath the city, and the party were quick to persue. They found him deep in an abandoned mine, and after a great battle, Sapphoro was slain. It was discovered that Sapphoro was in the employ of the very Zhentarims who were beseiging Vos, under the leadership of an unknown general called "the Winter King".
The goal of the Champion of Qlippoth complete, all that remained was for them to collect their reward from the Vault, which had now opened. Revealed to Eored as being on an island in the Inner Sea, The party took passage on a shabby ship under the captaincy of a rum-soaked man named Castello. They found the Vault to be rife with strange, Far Realm beings, and after some fighting, soon found themselves deep in the Vault's treasure room. In an ancient chest they found a strange book, the only knowledge of which was from Sapphoro's notes, claiming the book to be the Cyrinishad; a tome containing the life-force of long dead evil god, a tome that has been sought for centuries by a mysterious cult named the Blind Varlets. The party after much consideration, chose to take the book from the Vault.
Fame is fleeting in Arventine, and the party returned to little pomp apart from a generous bankrolling from Tawni Abbas. They took it unto themselves to seek out their missing companion Orrind. They discovered he had fell foul of a gangmaster of Khare named Forkiz Geung. Despite finding and battling the Drow bounty hunter Tinve Aleez'abaen, they had followed a cold trail, and Orrind had already been taken to the dread city of Khare...
Meanwhile, the party were approached by several mysterious messengers. The first was a herald from the city of Gilleon, begging Sarah to return to her family... but only with the Cyrinishad in tow. The second was an elf named Sinifae, who claimed to work for the organisation known as the Harpers, and asked for them to bring the tome to the Direwoods, near Vos.
Choosing from Trevec Lachance, the Harpers and the Starlocks, the companions decided to take the tome to the Harpers. Leaving the city behind the army now marching to Vos, they aided the village of Pel's Hollow with a witch problem, and promised to rescue their children who had been kidnapped by Zhentarim outriders. Upon reaching the beseiged city of Vos, the party are now less than a day away from the Direwoods, and finding out just what danger they have landed themselves into now....
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