ARVENTINE: Map of Gallantria

Desert of Skulls Chapter 1 - Welcome to Iskandria. 

As the party sight land, their long sea voyage finally coming to an end, they spy another ship on the horizon. It quickly draws alongside and the Everessememe soldiers crewing it insist on searching the party's ship. The fail to find whatever it is they were looking for, but realise the Zhang Zhou is a graduate of the University of Mongxar and thus obliged to offer help to soldiers on the Emperor's business they requisition him for their secret mission. They refuse to let Gordon join Zhang, but do promise to return him to the small port town of Iskandria, where they suggest that the party wait in the meantime.

As the party sail into Iskandria, they see an ancient, but slightly crumbling, town. Despite a large number of berths, the docks are mostly deserted save for a single merchant vessel and a few listless dockhands. One of them informs the party that the docks are normally bustling, but recently caravans travelling along the desert road have been prevented from reaching the town by a group of 'mad northmen'. The party then make their way to Iskandria's premier eatery, Hammurabi's grill for a bite to eat. Whilst feasting on delicious grills, the enthusiastic Hammurabi asks for the party' help: a tribe of horrible lizard men have recently taken up residence by an oasis normally used by his camel and sheep herds. They are eating the normally well-treated camels indiscriminately and Hammurabi asks the party to drive them off, a task for which they will be rewarded with gold and free grills for life.

The party next visits the Caranvaners' Guild whose head, Ilu-Shuma, asks them to deal with the Northmen who have been raiding the caravans travelling into Iskandria. They are striking out of the hills surrounding the desert road and killing or taking captive the passengers and crew of any caravans that pass, leaving the cargo strangely untouched. The party agree to help and head off to the west gate, passing through the marketplace on their way.

In the market, the party encounter a mad beggar who babbles to them about elves having stolen his name, asking if they could find it if they are going into the desert. Before he can be questioned further he scarpers, terrified by the monstrous faces of Gordon and Charlie Martin. With the exception of Gordon, the part also all buy sunhats.

Their business in town concluded for the time being, the party head into the desert. They find the lizardman tribe by the oasis and are told by their shaman to go away – it's their oasis now. The draconic-speaking Strawson attempts to negotiate but fails and the party leaps into battle. After our heroes make short work of the Lizardmen's front line and artillery the shaman surrenders and agrees to lead the tribe back to the hills where they used to live.

After the battle is done, Gordon and Charlie's sharp eyes spot a figure on the edge of the hills to the north – the party is being watched. Suspecting that it was one of the Northmen that they are after, the party goes to investigate. After some disagreements over which way the tracks lead from the hill, the party decide to follow Gordon's lead. However the have spent too long deliberating and as they are walking along the bottom of a narrow ravine, bowmen appear at the top and they see a boulder being manoeuvred into position at its mouth – the party are being ambushed! Luckily Gordon manages to push the boulder back the other way before it can crush the party. The northmen seem uninterested in talking, their leader merely instructing his men to take the Goliath alive as he would make a fine meal for 'Mother Wyrm'. After a tough fight the northmen go down and on the leader's corpse the party find a crude map indicating a path through the hills.

The map leads to the party to a rune-covered cave mouth and they proceed to enter. Inside they find “Mother Wyrm” - an enormous snake that the northmen had been feeding their captives to. Faced with such obviously dangerous beast, the party dig deep into their reserves and vanquish the monster in under thirty seconds.

ARVENTINE: Chapter 2: "A Problem Most Dire(woods)"

With the party back together, the heroes prepared for the week-long trek north to the Direwoods, to uncover the true story behind the Harpers and Baba Yaga. The road north was quiet except for a few traders and farmers heading to the markets of Vos and Arventine. Passing first through the salt-flats, then across the Merildor Hills, and finally along the coast road, they arrive in sight of the dark and ominious looking Direwoods.

Suddenly, Eored had a feeling that they were being tracked. Sure enough, a band of ranger looking types surrounded them, weapons at the ready. Their leader emerged, a man in rough leathers with a bushy black beard and long black hair tied back in a topnot, Flatlander-style. He introduced himself as Brynam Riv, and demanded that the party submit to a search. Recalling her youth in Gallantria, Sarah Lachance recognised the name Riv as one of the noble houses of her home realm. By proving his association with Melora, Christophe convinced Brynam a search was not needed, and Sarah pressed the man on why a Gallantrian noble was so far from home. Brynam Riv seemed prickly, and avoided the question, simply asking her what the lost daughter of Duke Trevec Lachance was doing travelling with mercenaries out east.

After some discussion, Brynam revealed that him and his rangers were hunting a cabal of infernalist devil-worshippers that has absconded into the Direwoods. He skillfully avoided the topic of the purpose of this hunt, and instead recruited the party to aid him. Brynam told them that the Fey of the Direwoods had gone feral, and killed several of his men, impeding his search. In the hope of finding either the Harpers or Baba Yaga, the heroes agreed to search the forest. Brynam told them there was a warlock who dwelled in the forest called Igris who might be able to help them. As they departed, Brynam told them to be careful of an unknown creature who stalks the forest, known only as 'The Wolf Mother of the Woods'.

The Direwood was an eerie place, utterly devoid of any signs of wildlife. Fearing the worst, the party search around and find some Hellish symbols engraved on several trees, which soon turned into a trail deep into the forest. Soon they came to a wooded canyon where a cave entrance lay beneath. Clambering down ropes, they investigate the cave, to see it had infernal runes etched on the entrance. Creeping inside, they came to a large chamber bedecked with poisonous mushrooms with a battered and bloody door at the far end, and and a passage leading further into the cave complex. In the passage they found a moribund wilden lashed to the rocks by his own tendrils, but before they could investigate further, wild looking eladrin emerged from the ivy covered walls and attacked.

A furious battle took place, with some opportunistic hags joining in. After the rabid fey were dispatched the hags fled, and the party gathered their wits. They returned to the sleeping wilden, but as Balthazar approached him, vile Hellish runes glowed suddenly all around them, and two chain devils emerged out of the aether and attacked. With a cry of 'back devils!' the party slew them, only for a smoky, possessing devil to slip out of the wilden and take over Sarah. After a battle of wills with the devil, Sarah banished it from her mind, and the thing was slain. Free of the possession, the wilden thanked the party and told them of what had happened. He claimed that several black-cloaked humans had arrived a few days prior and performed an occult ritual on the fey-oak that lay at the heart of the cave, tearing out its heart. With the fey-oak dead, the connection to the Feywild was broken and the fey, now trapped in the Material Plane, were driven mad with rage. He feared for the fate of Igris, worrying that the eladrin had killed him in their frenzy. When asked, the wilden knew nothing of Baba Yaga or the Harpers. Gifting Eored with a fine wilden bow, he thanked the heroes once more and slunk wounded out of the cave.

Returning to investigate the door in the previous chamber, the party notice it is covered in scratches and has been busted off its hinges. Inside they found a rude living quarter with a table of alchemical ingredients bubbling away, and the savage and broken body of Igris. Upon examination, they find Igris to be recently dead, and vow to take him to be raised when the adventure is over, if at least to quiz him on the nature of the witch Baba Yaga.

Steeling themselves, they leave the body of Igris in his chambers, and head deeper into the cave to find the desecrated fey-oak. The party enter a large chamber with crevices in the floor, and strange fungus growing from the walls. At the back of the chamber they see a sorry looking oak, with a great rend in its trunk. in the center of the room is a vast creature, a mixture of a spider and a giant tick, 8 foot tall with beautiful irredescent chitin tipped with lethal looking barbs. It was an Arachonoptrix, the fabled 'Wolf Mother of the Woods', a magnificantly dangerous Feywild predator made up of two creatures: a mindless savage animal, and a psionic parasite within, working in harmony. As the Arachonoptrix lept at the party they fought back hard, avoiding it's acidic mandibles. Strange goblin-like creatures called Nilbogs crawled from the crevices to join the fight, wierd fey that heal through damage, and suffer through healing. Solving the mystery of the Nilbogs the party soon dispatched them, and eventually killed the Arachonoptrix. Landing the final blow, Sarah tore off a fragment of chitin to fashion into a helmet.

While the others recovered, Eored and Christophe approached the ruined fey-oak, and found a strange drawing pinned inside the gaping wound. (see prior post). It was a Tartarigraph, a cryptic request from infernalists to the Hells themselves, a plea that accompanies a sacrifice, in this cast the fey-oak itself. Through a commune with his god, the paladin of Melora understood that he could heal the tree, but only at great cost to himself. Eored offered to step up, but Christophe felt it was his holy duty to do this himself. Reaching into the wound, the Paladin's lifeforce bled slowly into it. As it healed, to everyones horror the wound began to hungrily close around Christophe's arm. Despite the assistance of Eored, Christophe was too slow, and his arm just below the elbow was crushed and torn off. Despite the horror of losing his limb, Christophe knew he had healed the forest, and his lost arm would become one with it, feeding it.

Wasting no time, the party quickly examine the Tartarigraph. The collection of images made no immediate sense, but they recognise three symbols: the rune of the Black Mage of Mampang, the lily of Gallantria, and the grail of house Lachance. The rest of the image a mystery, they return to gather up Igris' body and head back to Brynam Riv. The going it hard, with Christophe's ability to climb reduced by his severed limb, and the burden of carrying Igris. Suddenly they are confronted by the beginnings of radiant portals all around them, oozing the same substance they fled from in the journey from Khare. With some arcane trickery, Alain Fu managed to dismiss the portals for now, and the party pressed on. With the end of the forest approaching, they deemed their ordeal nearly over. But in the fading light, Eored noticed torchlight in the distance, a mass of torches all around them, approaching them slowly...

Tune in next time, for Chapter 3: "A Farewell to Arm".      

ARVENTINE: The Tartarigraph.

The obscure request to the Nine Hells that the party found in the desecrated Fey-Oak tree in the Direwoods:

"The Tartarigraph"

ARVENTINE: Paragon Chapter 1: "How Balthazar Beat City Hall"

Charging the portal up with their diamond reagent, the party open up a passage to Fu's tower in Arventine. However, things are never simple for our heroes. Facing some turbulence as they flew across the planes to their destination, the companions found themselves in a strange landscape: a tall white marble canyon, where a thundering wave of radiant energy flooded towards them. Darting over rubble, the party just managed to reach a dormant portal, and flee for their lives through it. They arrived back in Arventine to see Fu's butler Parp diligently greasing up the tower. The party discover to their confusion that their strange delay had kept them away from the material plane for nearly ten months, and much of Arventine had assumed they had died in now infamous 'Massacre of Khare', and the denizen of Scholar Street had their greedy eyes on his tower...

Not allowing this strange occurrence to irk them, they set about their original intention; bringing the traitorous Blind Varlet Tawni Abbas to justice. This proved problematic. Enough time had passed for Balthazar to lose his Hidden Lord status, but after an enlightening trip to the City Library, they discover he still retains the right to pursue a grievance against another Hidden Lord. The party seek out a meeting with the Hidden Lords, and after a tense negotiation surrounded by twenty of the deadly Hidden Priest Avengers, they manage to arrange a Trial of Combat against Abbas.

 With the battle laid on for tomorrow morning, the party set about reacquainting themselves with Arventine. A trip to the Golden Lamprey Inn has the companions meet with their old friend Sirius, no longer working as Tawni's gopher but instead now an influential doyen in Glipkerio's Thieves Guild. Christophe has a pleasant reunion with his girlfriend Marigold, now running a orgiastic service in the Grove of Melora. Believing this to be the will of his lady Melora, Christophe makes use of the grove's new 'service' and has a fertility statue commissioned.

As the night draws in, curiosity leads the party to strange street mystic. Claiming to be a chosen of Ioun, the mystic grants the group a tarot reading, only to divine the sentence 'YOU DID NOT DIE AT SHAREAT'. Spooked at this, she determines that the party has somehow avoided a destiny that Ioun herself had bestowed upon her. With knowledge of this 'dissonant destiny' condition, the party assume there must be some connection between this and the strange radiant light they encountered in the portal.

The morning of the Trial soon came, but Tawni was not done with his tricks. Successfully poisoning Sarah Lachance's breakfast, he managed to hamstring the party for the fight. As the party made their way to the Hidden Lord's sepulchre, Tawni had also laid on some assassins to take them out, but they were easily dispatched, and the Arventine river gained a few more bodies.

After the ceremonial pomp was completed by the Hidden Priests, Tawni's champions were introduced. A Tiefling fire mage, a minotaur arena champion, a veteran of the Brass War, a brash cleric of Erathis and an old friend - the were rat crime lord Scurrilous Gunny, scarred from fire and lusty for revenge. But the party were fighting fit, and dispatched all but Gunny and the Tiefling to the grave. Cursing Christophe's name and vowing a 'blood debt', Gunny slunk away, determined that this would not be the final time they meet...

Justice was soon to be done. Balthazar was called up to pass sentence on Tawni Abbas. As Balthazar called for the execution of Abbas, the tricksy senator activated a magical ring, and teleported away. The party wasted no time in racing to his estate to stop his escape from the city. Finding his estate servants in the process of packing pocessions into carts, the party put these carts to the flame and storm inside. There they found preparing for the road. Shocked, he fell to his knees and begged Balthazar to allow him to flee to Evaressemme, were they would never hear from him again. Full of rage, Balthazar wastes no time in running Abbas through with his blade. As the duplicitous senator bled out in disbelief at his end, the party ransacked what pocessions are left in his house. In his vault they find a portion of the Abbas fortune, a fancy shield and a curious essay on some Dawn War golems called "The Iron Four".

 With the death of Tawni Abbas, the party gain some closure on the terrible events they have been a part of. However, one issue is still bothering Fu: the Neighbourhood Watch Committee of Scholar Street wanting his tower. They roll by the estate of one of these berks, a horse trader. After some heated words, Fu ends up turning the horse trader's mind to pulp, and they make their swift exit, glad that the honourable Balthazar wasn't their to witness this. Perhaps this is not the last our heroes have seen of the Scholar Street Neighbourhood Watch Committee...

CHAPTER 1.5: "A PREVIOUS OWNER"

At a loose end, and with Sarah still recovering from her poisoning at the hands of the now dead Tawni Abbas, the party head to the Golden Lamprey to attend an "evening of food, poetry, wine and excess" event that the Temple of Corellon is laying on. The heroes party on until the wee hours, and wake up with fuzzy heads, with the tavern surprisingly serene in the morning light. Eored is gone, and they party vaguely remember him saying he wanted to attend the "Bow and Arrow Expo" going on in the Blackhand District today. Searching for breakfast, the peace is soon broken as Parp charges into the inn, shouting that something has gone terribly wrong with the tower.

As they chase across the city, Parp explains that during his daily greasing, He found a stone, rune-covered disc under the floor of the basement and when he went o grease it, the grease came alive with black, creeping veins.

As expected, the tower was a mess when the party arrived. The black misty tendrils of the Shadowfel rose off it, and the Scholar Street Neighbourhood Watch Committee stood around it, tutting and shaking their heads. Over calls of anger at the eyesore the tower had become, the party push through the crowd and into the tower. Inside, the walls are a mass of living black veins, all seemingly originating from the basement. As they descend downstairs, they encounter a raging portal, and after looking around find a diary entry from a previous occupant of the tower - a 'Cressida' - who seemingly wanted to sojourn into the dead realm of the Shadowfel. Naturally, Christophe, Balthazar and Fu bundle through the portal.

Now deep in the Shadowfel, they find themselves confronted by a gothic looking facsimile of Fu's tower. Inside they encounter Shadar'kai, a shadowy version of Parp, a strange machine and a grumpy undead butler, before ascending to the top of the tower to find Cressida. Cressida herself, mistakenly trapped in the Shadowfel, asks the party to help her and her Shadar'kai return to Arventine, in exchange for a share of the dark kingdom she will turn the city into. The boys had their fill of things from other planes wanting to set up 'dark kingdoms' on the Prime Material, and so dispatched the sorceress. Returning home, the party take the stone disc and stow it (for some reason) in the library so that Cressida can never return.  

With the Tower back to its greasy self once more and the Neighbourhood Watch placated (for now...), the party turn their attention to more serious matters. With the role of the Witch of the Direwoods - the mysterious Baba Yaga - in the machinations of the Blind Varlets still a puzzle, they prepare to return once again to the Direwoods to confront her...  

ARVENTINE: Timeline.

HISTORY OF THE ARVENTINE CAMPAIGN, IN THE YEAR 2500 A.C. (After Cataclysm)

 

14^th Febuary – 28^th June: The Brass War. The Brass Coalition, an alliance of Flatlander tribes go to war to Arventine. They are resoundly defeated.
 

1-2th July: The party find work with a local merchant, who claims his caravans have been going missing in the mountain passes. The party find a tribe of goblins led by a chieftain called King Knak, who they capture and hand in to the authorities of Brindlehowe. The local merchant explains that they will find more work to the south, in the city of Arventine. 

3-10^th July: The party arrive in Arventine, and take some dubious grave robbing job. Falling foul of the family who owned the tomb – the Thysas family – they end up caught in a conspiracy. Aided by the wealthy senator Tawni Abbas, they defeat the Thysas family and acquire the Orb of Qlippoth.

 

11-13^th July: The party investigate the Tower of Sulla, and after defeating a black dragon, Eored is branded with the Mark of Qlippoth.

 

14^th July – 7^th August: The party travel across the Southern Flatlands to Salamonis to meet with the Starlocks.

 

8-10 August: The party meet with the Starlocks and find out the truth about the Vault. After taking a job with the Mage’s Guild to recover a jewelled skull, the party track down Yaztromo to a temple of Ioun and slay him.

 

11^th August – 2^nd September: The party return to Arventine. Upon arrival, they find the city under martial law, and refusing to aid Vos.

 

25^th August: Seige of Vos begins.

 

3-5^th September: The party rescue Tawni Abbas from the prison. With the help of Glipkerio the head of Thieves Guild, the party hunt down Sapphoro and destroy him.

 

5-7^th September: The green Star of Qlippoth is visible in the sky.

 

6-8^th September: The party travel to and from the Vault of Qlippoth, retrieving the Cyrinishad from the Far Realm. They meet Castello, the drunk seacaptain.

 

9^th September: Tinve Aleaz’abaen kidnaps Orrind and takes him to Khare.

 

10-18^th September: The party travel to the Dire Wood on the behest of the Harpers.

 

19^th September: The Seige of Vos ends, Arventine is victorious.

 

19^th September – 11^th October: The party travel to Khare, by way of the perilous Shahamunti Peaks.

 

12-15^th October: The party investigate Khare, and defeat Zod the Immortal. The Eclipse begins, and the party eventually battle and defeat the Pilgrim.

 

15^th October: The Eclipse occurs above Khare. Few survive.

 

16^th October: The party enter the portal in Sapphoro’s shop to Arventine, to seek revenge on Tawni Abbas.  

 

ARVENTINE: Finale - "Alain Fu and the Clone-o-saurus"

            As the Pilgrim and his vile coterie of demons and Blind Varlets enter the Palace of Lord Azzur of Khare, a memory is stirred in the minds of Balthazar, Christophe and Alain Fu. They remember a day during the Brass War, a day blanked from their minds by Varlet magick, where they were sent to recover some missing Flatlander scouts. Following a trail of bandits through the wilderness, the young party come across a strange ritual site, where they are beset by thugs in black garb, and a strange undead spirit who they dispatch by deactivated a standing stone. From over a bluff, suddenly a horde of cultists with blindfolds emerge led by a man who they recognise now as Tawni Abbas, the sponser and friend of the party. He told the party that they would lead Alain Fu on a great adventure to retrieve the Cyrinishad and grow in power ready for his sacrifice during the Eclipse… 

            Back in Khare, the Pilgrim attempts to seduce Fu to his side one last time, explaining to him that Fu is a clone of the Pilgrim, made to take his place as the Annointed One who would bring Cyric into the world. He tells the party that Fu was once the best of the Varlets, but he went mad with the constant whispering of Cyric from the Far Realm and fled. But the Fu was not for turning. The party drew steel and charged the Pilgrim, and an epic battle broke out. While Sarah battled a Blood Demon from the darkest pits of the Abyss, Balthazar and Christophe set about dispatching a Vrock, a huge vulture-like demon. Eored and Fu focused on the Pilgrim himself, destroying the strange clones that kept an impenetrable shield over him. Just as the battle seemed to be going in the party’s favour, the Pilgrim took magical control over Christophe and made him take out the Cyrinishad. Suzzarn leapt from the shadows and snatched the book and attempted to flee the palace. Thinking fast, Sarah and Balthazar ran after him, taking him down and stopped the book from falling into Varlet hands. Battered and bloodied, the party took the fight to the Pilgrim himself, and with a swing of her feywildian axe, Sarah LaChance cut him down. 

            As silence fell over the battle, so did the sounds of demons from outside. Emerging from the Palace they saw their efforts had vanquished the Eclipse, and all that was left of Khare was lifeless rubble. As they explored the smoking ruins, Alain Fu determined that the death of his creator had bestowed upon him the power to destroy the Cyrinishad once and for all. Summoning an aspect of the ancient sorcerer Cyric, with his magics Fu obliterated his spirit and the book burst into cinders, never to threaten Allansia again. 

            After a rest and a fruitless search for onions in devasted Khare, Balthazar suggests they investigate Mount Shareat for anything they may have missed. Strangely reticent about going there, Christophe protests, but the noble dragonborn warlord heads there anyway. The mountain is quiet, but in the shadows of an ancient standing stone Balthazar finds an moribund Orrind, his feet and hands severed and his eyes and tongue removed - seemingly the work of the sadist Forkiz Geung. He is carried back to Khare, and after a quiet moment, Christophe allows the cleric to slip off to death, to finally be at peace at Melora’s side. 

With victory still swelling in their hearts, the party realised there was one final loose end in all this grim business. Tawni Abbas has betrayed them, led them on a merry dance into the hands of the Blind Varlets. After acquiring a diamond from Lord Azzur, they made their way to Sapphoro’s shop and activated the portal to Arventine. Stepping in, they steeled themselves in anticipation of justice to come…