Welcome to my Forgotten Realms page. This page presents information from my latest campaign set in the area of the city of Escalant in in the year 1357 DR.
Escalant is relatively independent city on the edge of Thayan territory on the North Shore of the Wizard's Reach on the Inner Sea. It is a member of a loose confederation of like minded cities to the west of it.
The Player Characters are members of a neo-mercenary company that polices the confederation, called the Legion of the Free Cities. The Legion are called upon in times of dispute to aid individual cities in time of need, and also aid citizens of the Free Cities whenever necessary. Since the Legion is made up of a diverse group of people from a number of different lands, and each may speak his own language, the members of the Legion are given nicknames by their companymates at induction, so that everyone can understand and pronouce their name.
The party is as follows:
When the campaign begins, the PC's have just been initiated into the Legion, and are performing duties according to their skills.
Below will be some links relating to the campaign:
My Legion of the Free Cities.
A closeup of the environment surrounding Escalant.
A map of the village of Resen, a client village of Escalant along the Lapendrar. Where the PCs resided for sessions 1-7.
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Interlude: Session 8: Return to Escalant (08/04/01)
The PCs moved to Escalant in the Interlude of Session 8, and Chapter 2 details their struggles to infiltrate the thieves guild there.
Chapter 2: Rogue Vs. Rogue (was: A Night of Fire)
Chapter 3:Life as a Mercenary
After Chapter 2, the PCs found they had a price on their heads from the very people they were trying to find. They fled to the Chessentan city of Soorenar on Kythorn 1, 1358, to flee those who might be trying to hunt and kill them. Hiding as another mercenary company in a land of mercenary companies sounds like a good idea. Now they have become The Beholders, with their sigil being a Beholder, charging on a shield of Red with a Blue border. They have accepted the task of a Nobleman, Hectanos Junxtapos of Soorenar, who is interested in artifacts of ancient Untheric origin. He is paying the party to go to Southern Chessenta to find an ancient Untheric border post that may have old clues to the locations of ancient magic there.
A map of southern Chessenta.
The PC's entered the border post, and discovered that it actually was an ancient temple to the forgotten Untheric deity named Enlil. There were difficulies along the way, like an attack by a number of Darkenbeasts and ghouls--created creatures that appear to have been placed there by someone. Finally, after discovering a portal mechanism at the bottom of the Ziggurat that was at the center of the post, they opened it with a ritual found in the portal area. At the same time, an unknown party attempted to break down the entrance to the building that the players had entered. The party ascended and prepared for the inevitable batter. Their opponent broke in, and descended to where the PCs were lying in ambush. They were humanoids, really, with snake-like scales covering parts of their bodies, and some had pointed ears and very angular faces, almost elfin in features. During the battle, it turned out that these snake-like humanoids, as well as some very reptilian dinosaurs are being led by a long black serpent creature, a naga of some type. As the dinosaur-like creatures (imagine a velociraptor) were still hanging around the naga, the PC's fled out thruogh the portal, and ended up in rural Chessenta, about 300 miles NW of the location of the Keep. However, they are armed with knowledge of something called Enliant's Rest, and the location of some type of Monastery deeper in the Adder Peaks.
The PC's return to Soorenar, Chessenta, where they begin their research into Enliant's Rest. They peruse the library of their masters, and find references to Enliant all over the place, specifically that he was a Sargist of Unther almost 3 milennia ago. One of the tomes references a work called Scions of the First Empire, a copy of which is owned by a rival house of Junxtapos called House Sarlios. After a near-distastrous battle with a were-crocodile that nearly infected Ordell and Skellen, they purchased the tome, and discovered key information on Enliant's Rest, printed below. Now they are on their way to Saden, and then to Enliant's rest to look for the Blade of Enlil, also known as the Sword of Gleaming Pearls, which should be buried with Enliant, as he was the last Sargist (Priest-King) to use the blade.
The PCs travel to the place called Enliant's Rest, and discover that it is a tomb nestled in one of the low mountains of the Adder Peaks. They investigate the tomb, and discover a set of mosaics inside. Each appears to depict a scene of one type or another, although none can decipher what they might mean. Each has a theme running through it, though, the pickaxe in black standing on end, which appears to be the symbol of the ancient deity Enlil, who disappeared from the Realms nearly 2 milennia ago. They continued through the tomb, and defeated several foes, finally coming upon Enliant himself, who appeared to have risen as undead after all of this time. After stunning the PC's through some foul magic, they recovered to finally defeat the undead Priest-King, and gain his sword, and other items fit for a king. However, when they exited from the tomb, much more time had passed than they had expected, and it appeared to be the blustery cold of midwinter, and the party's horses appeared to be gone. They trudged back through the grasslands to Saden, and when they arrived there, the world seemed it had changed. The Lord of Saden was gathering mercenaries to his banner to overwhelm the elves of the Chondalwood. Akanax was conscripting young men into its army (for what reason, no one knows). The party arrived in Soorenar with Enliant's Sword, and they recieved their payments from House Junxtapos. Now, they are free agents again, and they can take whatever jobs they wish, as soon as they clean up some loose ends...
When Mestrel hears of the mercenaries travelling south, he immediately makes plans to return to his home in the Chondalwood. The party decides to travel with him, after being bidden by Assuran himself during the casting of a vary disturbing Augury by Fluffy. They travel south, and enter the forest from the north. Mestrel knows of a different tribe of elves this far north, if he can contact them, perhaps there is a way to make an alliance with them against the humans. After wiping out a company of mercenaries from a group called the Fists of Bane, they are ambushed themselves by a group of elven warriors, and taken to a neutral location, where they gain an uneasy truce. One of the elves mentions that the elven tribes to the south and east of them have all but been wiped out by some reptilian form of life that they have not seen before. Refugees have been floating in for several tenday, and tribal warriors have been busy repulsing the human invaders and the new reptilian incursion. The reptiles appear to be magic users of some type, with mind-control abilities as well as fast-moving and claws and sharp teeth. The party's suspicions are confirmed when they fight a pitched battle on a path in the forest. Their opponents are the velociraptors that they fought earlier, with the assistance of snake-like creatures not unlike the naga they fought in the Western Fortress, the ziggurat that they know now is called Assuril. The reptiles are escorting captives of another tribe to the SE, a place that was once one of the larger villages of that tribe. One of the villagers mentions that the village holds some relics to Rillifane, if the party could retrieve those relics, it would be useful in the war. The relics are harmful to Serpents and Reptiles. If they are still there, they would be a large boon.
The party makes its way to the village of Dieiliya, which is set high up in the trees, in elegant huts set amongst the bowers. They engage in a fierce battle against a tribe of kobolds supported by archers that shoot serpents as arrows. They find strange medallions of a dragon's head about the neck of the archers, and through knowledge gained by Fluffy in the Church of Assuran, he determines that it is a symbol not seen by any in these lands for milennia, that of Apep, who was an old Mulhorandi deity of Serpents and Dragons during the First Empire. He disappeared at the beginning of the Second Empire, never to be seen again. Finally, the kobolds are routed, and the party retrieves the spear and armor of Kentayil, weapons used against the serpents of the Adder Peaks in ages past. They also find a tome written in the strange language of the elves, telling of the story of Kentayil. It is very old, as no Wood Elf knows how to make tomes like this. They also find an area of mystical energy, with an area strewn with blood. After some thought, Hoot determines that the central room of this area has been used as a portal, exactly as the same type of portal below Assuril. In fact, it might actually go there. Also found is an inscription in Elvish (not the runic Wood elvish). "Rillifane has granted me comprehension, they speak of the Shrine of the Rock. We are being taken there. Our people are being sacrificed so that the Dark Lady may be reborn. I fear her face in my dreams." They also have a dream that evening. Each person dreams of themselves as a man wreathed in cold. He faces a sinously curvy woman, backlit by torch light. However, they cannot hear what is being said. They know something is being discusses, as the emotions passed in the dream are first curiosity, then annoyance, then anger. Finally, the woman gestures sharply, and the world dissolves in light.
The party is not sure how to proceed, so they destroy the room as best as they can, and leave the village, after which they split up. Depressed at the lack of loot to be found in the Chondalwood, yet they are confident that they have dealt a blow to reptilian threat. Mestrel wishes to go home, to see if his village has been ravaged, while the rest of the group returns the refugees to another tribe. They will meet in Akanax, hopefully around the 15th of Kythorn, 1358. Hoot and Copper travel with Mestrel, being easily able to keep up with him.
As they travel south, they see nothing but empty villages, and dead elves and even a few dead halflings. They finally make it to Mestrel's tribal lands, and all they see is devastation, and when they reach his home, there is no sign of his tribe, or his family. All that he finds is a small stick figure doll. They return to Akanax, extremely depressed.
The remainder of the party return to Akanax along the way on the ground, and review what they know. Why did the humans attack the Chondalwood now? Does Lord Saden know of the serpentish attacks on the elves there? Why doesn't any one else know of the serpentish attacks? They return to Akanax without any fanfare.
Chapter 4: The War of Retribution
Mestrel, Hoot, and Fluffy rush back to Akanax, however, on the 15th, they are buffeted by a huge storm. As night falls, the storm abruptly clears, and the largest, and most glorious meteor shower erupts from the sky. It is the night that has been foretold in Fluffy's dream, and he is to rush to the central city, where he was told he will meet someone. He hurries as fast as possible, and he barely makes it to the city, just in time to see a huge meteor streak into the city, and strike the Temple of Assuran in the city. As he approaches the Temple, he hears cries of dismay. "Hippartes was in the temple! Our King is slain!" Copper hovers over the temple, and as the smoke clears, he sees Hippartes rising unwounded from the fires guttering out around him.
Hippartes has been subsumed by Assuran himself. It appears that the Gods have been banished from the heavens and are now walking the Earth! Assuran (also known as Hoar), importunes Fluffy to join his cause, to band all of the cities in Chessenta together and invade Unther! Fluffy finds himself again caught in circumstances beyond his control and the group finds themselves in Soorenar, this time to convince the nobility to join their cause, and to also look for more clues in history to the fates of something new, shards of divinity left behind when Gods die. While in Soorenar, the party convinces the nobility that Assuran is walking the earth in Chessenta, as reports of other Gods walking the Earth to the east and north begin to surface. They also find that the faith of the Old Ones is still strong amongst the commoners, a faith that if gods such as Enlil, Marduk, Inanna, Nergal, and others were to return, that the poor would not be so poor. It turns out in Soorenar, at least, that faith has been boosted by one man. Elyus Junxtapos has met with Enliant, the mummy that the PCs had thought they had slain in Session 24! Elyus is also an expert on Untheric history, and he has discovered the location of Divine Energy Well on the top of Mount Stronmus, in the Riders in the Sky mountains. After discussing this with Assuran, Assuran tells the party to take this well from this upstart and he will use it in the War to Retake Unther.
The party travels to Mordulkin, and there in the library of a noble house, they find that Elyus seeks to use the well to reclaim Enliant's divinity, and have Enlil be reborn! The party, still nursing a grudge a year old, want nothing more than to weaken him further. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, they realize that they have found a possible lair of Tchazzar, the Great Dragon of Chessenta, and a demigod favored by nobility. As both sides meet at the top of the mountain, they realize that they need each other to defeat the guardians inside. However, Tumbler and Mestrel ambushes one of the fighters after defeating the last guardian, and during the pitched battle over the Divine Well, the scroll that contains the spell to Control the Well is almost lost. In the end, Elyus is defeated, and Copper casts the spell to control the energy well.
In the valleys below, the armies of Chessenta are holding a fractious alliance together. All of the cities of Chessenta have reluctantly agreed to ally under Assuran's banner, and they are moving to Thamor, a village to the north of Unther, where it is known that an Untheric army is awaiting them with Ramman at it's head. Whatever the battle to come, it will be gigantic. Copper and Assuran talk about the tactics of using the Well, and it is determined that the party will be a part of Hippartes bodyguard during the battles. As the army approaches Thamor, reports of battles between Anhur's faithful and the sauhuagin of the Alamber are heard, along with a possible landing on the coast.
On the 11th of Eleint, there is a great battle between the two armies and their attendant deities. The party fights at Assuran's side, defending him from the spells of the high priests of Ramman and Gilgeam. Ramman and Assuran fight toe to toe, with each throwing gigantic bolts of lightning. Their reflected magic leads to destruction amongst soldiers unlucky enough to be caught in the middle. Even with Copper feeding him energy through the Well, Assuran appears sorely pressed. Finally, just as it appears all is lost, Assuran reflects Ramman's third bolt of lightning back at Ramman and slays him with his own lightning. The battle, is over....
or is it? Riders from the east report a second army amongst hills, rapidly moving east. It is Anhur! Almost immediately, Anhur balloons to a gigantic height and importunes those faithful to him amongst the armies to rebel against the Chessentans and join him in his fight against the Sauhuagin and leave these puny Chessentans to their own graces. The battle, even as the Untheric army surges to fight again, and chaos breaks out in the Chessentan ranks as mercenaries begin to switch side, is still in question.
Hectanos Junxtapos, Elyus uncle (and not a black sheep), tells Copper that he must channel the divine well to him. Copper, drained of spells, like the rest of the party, looks confused at the Soorenaran nobleman. Finally, as he looks closer, he realizes that again, Enliant and the party have met again. It appears he was hiding in the army, even from Assuran himself. Copper, realizing that all is lost if he doesn't do this thing, reluctantly allows himself to become the conduit to Enliant, giving him the thing that they meant to deny him from. The conduit comes alive, and it feels like a firehose of energy compared to the tiny bit that Assuran could channel. Copper manages to channel energy to Fluffy and himself, replenishing their spells for one last titanic battle. Enliant drains the Well completely dry, and he balloons to a gigantic height. He directly challenges Anhur and importunes all of the Chessentans and Unther to fight for a new age, one free of repression and full of prosperity for all. The Untheric army is heartened by his return, and their generals ally themselves with the Chessentans. Anhur, initially focused on the divine remnants of Ramman, realizes that he has just walked into a hastily formed trap, and must fight a deity as well if he wants Ramman's godhood. His armies are fresh, and they press into the fray, harassing the tired armies of Unther and Chessenta.
In the end, however, the death of several generals (caused by the party's attack on their ranks), and Anhur's realization that Enlil (now reborn) is a stronger foe than he realized, causes the Mulhorandi armies to retreat. Enlil's armies hold in abeyance, and regroup for a day while considering pursuit. Assuran, once recovered, thanks the party for their assistance, and he grants them essentially one wish from him to do whatever they want. Tumbler bathes in the blood of Ramman's corpse, and he feels quite a bit different than before the battle, but he's not telling how. Copper asks to leave as he wants to find out where Waukeen is walking the Realms and be with his Goddess. Mestrel and Ordell return to the Chondalwood, where they ask Assuran to stop the logging of the forests there. He agrees. Fluffy stays with the army, as does Knuckles and Nicklas, each a leader of men. Hoot returns to Soorenar to study at the College there for the time being, and Cricket returns to his Monastery, and asks to correspond with Assuran about ancient Untheric history, as he writes a comprehensive tome on Untheric History.
A History of Chessenta for the common man
A (crappy JPG map of Chessenta
Prestige Classes for PCs and NPCs
First, a shout-out to Bill Brickman, whose game I played in last fall gave me a great idea for a campaign. I freely admit I took the core of his Raven Banner idea, and made it part of the Realms. I'd like to think I did it justice. Here's Bill's Page. I'd also like to thank Eric L. Boyd, not only for the books that he has written, but because a post to a mailing list I frequent was the seed for a really great idea that gave new life to this group.
From some page on the internet someplace....
I Am A: Neutral Good Elf Mage Ranger
Alignment:
Neutral Good characters believe in the power of good above all else. They will work to make the world a better place, and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about, whether it goes for or against whatever is considered 'normal'.
Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.
Primary Class:
Mages harness the magical energies for their own use. Spells, spell books, and long hours in the library are their loves. While often not physically strong, their mental talents can make up for this.
Secondary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.
Deity:
Mystra is the Neutral Good goddess of magic. She is also known as the Lady of Mysteries. Followers of Mystra wear armor and carry shields with her symbol on them. Mystra's symbol is a ring of stars.
Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy of NeppyMan(e-mail)
I am 81% Evil Genius
I am pure evil. I lie awake at night devising schemes of world domination, and I will not rest until all living souls bend to my will.
Take the Evil Genius Test at fuali.com
