Tenanye 15, 22CR – 9-29-22CR:

The heroes thoroughly loot the lower levels of Perac, taking care to gather up all of Nils Cadak’s forbidden texts on crystaltech as well as Iareth’s extensive collection of books on gatecraft, magical artifice, alchemy, summoning and herbalism.  Their expedition to Perac has proven to be even more profitable than they could have imagined, but they now feel a sense of urgency knowing that Korelith may be secretly controlling a number of influential and powerful individuals on the continent.  They make haste to return to Falgenburg, but bad weather deters their plans and the journey back takes a full two weeks.  However, the heroes do take advantage of the long journey to practice their class skills and further develop teamwork maneuvers as a cohesive group.

9-30-22CR – 10-2-22CR: Having returned to their home city, the party rests and catches up on local news.  The Cymos clan has been warring more aggressively with the Night Eyes, who are being stretched to the limits of their resources by the undead enforcers of the Cymos.  Peace and cooperation has solidified between the Cathedral of Jenoic and the Artificers’ guild thanks to Delsin’s intervention and diplomatic efforts in midsummer.  Thentis checks in with his father, who is more pleased than ever at his son’s rising fame in Falgenor; his heroics have provided Lord Dragomir new business opportunities in Falgenburg ever since the return of the stolen merchandise in midsummer.  Chyann relaxes with her good friend Shanassar, and also checks on the catatonic children who are still being cared for by the Temple of Shandae.  Balale scribes scrolls and continues to develop new spells through his personal research in hopes that he will be accepted into the Manari.  Kaso follows up on his efforts to forge a trade alliance between Lady Jordonhimmen of Jordheim, the Salgeror dwarves of Kaganish, and the guild merchants of Falgenburg.

10-3-22CR: Determined to discover who their allies and enemies are once and for all, the heroes meet with Biotras at his home to interrogate him about the strange and dangerous occurrences surrounding the scrying crystal he gifted to them many months ago.  Their suspicions are realized when, upon revealing the crystal to the Biotras, Korelith takes control of his body and forces the poor wizard to bite out his own tongue.  Thentis expends his psionic energies to hold the lich’s emerging consciousness at bay while the heroes and a shocked Lord Ichthien physically subdue Biotras and rush him to the nearest temple, which happens to be the Arrinite compound at the edge of the merchants’ district.

Katje, who is at her father’s side for this horrific turn of events, is also revealed to have a darkshard implant.  Her kidnapping and imprisonment at the hands of Miarch now makes sense: the artificer/assassin must have implanted the crystal while she was interred at the Twin Falls marauder complex.  Katje valiantly struggles against Korelith’s attempt to possess her, fighting off the lich’s mental domination until she finally collapses into unconsciousness. Both she and her father are taken to the secret catacombs below the main Arinnite compound and shackled in golden chains, which are covered with divine symbols of Arinnite warding magic.

            A careful search of Biotras’ private chambers turns up another hidden darkshard crystal ball, which may have been planted there by Miarch or another Cymos agent, or perhaps was placed there by Biotras himself while he was under Korelith’s influence.  All indications point to a larger conspiracy at work to place these controlling shards at key areas where they might work their dark magic on influential members of the Council of Falgenburg.

10-4-22 – 11-3-22CR: A flurry of activity occurs during the month of Shandaeval; Biotras is held in relative safety at the secret underground Arinnite compound along with Katje while the heroes uncover the Cymos clan’s ultimate plan for the city of Falgenburg: they have used Councilor Windtaer and Biotras himself to plant a massive network of darkshard crystals throughout the city in order to manifest a vaster and more powerful Darkening effect than ever before. 

The heroes meet frequently with Sehkmet, the Director of the Arinnite temple in Falgenburg, intensifying their alliance with the operatives of the Sun Goddess.  The month is a combination of tense waiting and whirlwinds of activity.  Having discovered the hidden crystalline orb in Biotras’ bedroom, the party widens its inquiry around the city for similar objects.  What they find is startling: using a combination of Divine Arinnite magic, Thentis’ psi-disciplines, and new spell (“Detect Darkshard,” level 1) hastily researched by Lord Ichthien and Balale’s efforts, the heroes uncover a network of these “darkshard” crystals buried and hidden in locations around the City.  The crystal ball found in Biotras’ bedroom is one of these darkshards, as was the crystal ball given to the Heroes by Biotras.  These two shards have been stored at the Arinnite compound, but they are active and dangerous – Korelith could manifest his psychic presence in them at any time.

The heroes debate informing the High Council of this (and of Biotras’ condition), and after a long debate it is agreed that they will request a private meeting with only High Chancellor Delken Sorle, and his confidante Allaeon Markus, the Secretary of State and Paladin of Jenoic.  Sorle and Markus dispatch trusted allies to assist the Heroes in uncovering the Darkshards.  No less than twenty crystals are discovered, and when their locations are overlaid on a map of the city, they form an octagonal frame around which the Darkening effect is to be focused.  Apparently, Korelith has a backup plan using these more powerful, potent darkshards… fully 90% of Falgenburg will be covered by the Darkening, should they activate.  The Falgenburg city guard is on high alert, but Sorle and Markus do not made the citizens aware of the threat yet, to avoid mass panic and a chaotic exodus from the City.

Hali spends four days incognito, searching the underground criminal areas of the city for a solid contact among the Night Eyes.  He reports back that a faction of the Eyes, led by an assassin named Maelin, is fed up with the Cymos’ intimidation and strong-arm tactics.  The Cymos have been striking deep into the assets of the Night Eyes for months, and she intends to put a stop to it.  Maelin is willing to provide the party with a contingent of eight loyal Night Eye rogues and assassins, many of whom are experienced in combat against the Cymos.  She will also accompany the heroes herself.

The Arinnites, led by Sehkmet Al-Zanieda of Hathorae (and Brother Joseph the archivist), hold Biotras and Katje Rondaen securely in their hidden catacombs beneath the City.  Sehkmet has an additional ten Arinnites (1 Holy Assassin, 4 priests and 5 warriors) to spare that may be deployed as the heroes wish.  Brother Joseph will be available via ESP Medallion contact as he watches over the bound body of Biotras from the Arinnite catacombs.  Sehkmet herself is unable to travel with the Heroes, as she is recalled to Saradhassa for consultations with her father Ishak. 

On 10-31-22CR, under cover of the chaos and excitement surrounding the All Souls’ Night Festival, the heroes and their allies depart Falgenburg, heading south for Urgor City and Biotras’ “safe house.”  Korelith seems to hold a tactical/strategic advantage, in that the heroes do not know precisely how to breach his hidden fortress without reactivating the gates that they previously disabled.  Even so, it is decided that the best lead the party had was to investigate the safe house.  Maelin’s loyalty is proven when they reached UrgorCity, as she helps navigate the dangerous criminal elements present there, and also arranges for discreet lodging and provisions for the group.  Her Night Eye assassins discover the exact location of the safe house, and all that remains is for the heroes and their allies to enter the safe house and find a way into the hidden Cymos fortress, which is in all likelihood tucked safely away in the Plane of Shadow.

As of 11-3-22CR, the heroes and the Falgenburg authorities have not managed to safely disconnect any of the crystals from the connected matrix.  Korelith seems to have the ability to cause heart stoppage and seizures in anyone (priest, wizard, sorcerer, psionicist, mundane) who attempts to interact with the darkshards.  This same technique was used to cause Balale to have a heart attack and expire when the heroes were near Perac.  Katje is instrumental in discovering this, and saves the lives of an Arinnite priest and a high ranking member of the Sorcerer’s Guild with her unnatural and disturbing insight and connection to Korelith’s will and thoughts.  Katje believes that the Cymos have breached the Elven ruins of Niannon in Moridar, where more powerful artifacts were kept, and that Korelith is using his collection of artifacts to enhance his powers.  Katje seems to be herself, and spends the better part of a week helping the Arinnites devise a pair of golden shackles/bracers that allow her to maintain control over her mind and body, but also allow her freedom of movement.  Korelith’s exact plans are unknown, but he is holding a proverbial knife to the neck of the City with the threat of the darkshards activating.  Can the mad lich’s true motives be determined in time to save the citizens of Falgenburg?  The fate of the city, as well as the fate of Biotras, Katje, and the heroes themselves, hangs in the balance.

11-4-22CR: Under the cover of night, the heroes begin the final assault on Korelith’s sanctum in the Plane of Shadow.  Assisted by a squad of Night Eye operatives led by the guild mistress Maelin, and a cadre of holy warriors and undead hunters from the Arinnite temple in Falgenburg, the heroes battle the powerful but overconfident Captain Crackbones and his minions in the outer yard of the Cymos safehouse in Urgor City.  Once the foolish Crackbones is defeated (and his powerful eldritch pistolblade is claimed by Katje, who finished off the villain with a blast of magic), the party searches the safe house; inside, they find a series of spell triggers and a strange guidebook which seems to be the “Cymos Training Manual.”  After reading through the surreal Training Manual, the heroes discover that they will need to leave allies behind to activate the spell triggers – which in turn activate a series of teleportation gates – to advance further into the sanctum.  They choose a team of six operatives from among the Night Eyes and the Arinnites and activate the gate to the sanctum in the plane of Shadow. 

            At that moment, Korelith activates the matrix of darkshards his operatives had planted all over Falgenburg, plunging the entire city into a massive Darkening and loosing his auxiliary forces into the city via temporary gates powered by the darkshards.  Chaos and death have come to Falgenburg, and the ongoing status of the battle is reported by the Arinnite archivist Brother Harold through the ESP medallions.  The situation grows more desperate by the minute, as all of Korelith’s remaining Cymos soldiers engage the Falgenburg city guard in a house-to-house running battle.  The heroes quickly make their way inside the sanctum.

Inside, they are immediately engaged in a running combat by Korelith’s former lover, an undead sorceress called General Vael.  Despite the death of Maelin early in the battle, they cut through dozens of lesser Cymos minions and Deathmark soldiers, frustrating Vael and causing her to teleport away.  She then releases every fey zombie in the complex upon the heroes simultaneously, but the party is up to the challenge, handily defeating the zombies with solid team tactics.  A search of the facilities turns up more than two dozen crystal chambers, in which half mad reanimated corpses are being systematically and forcibly indoctrinated for conscription into the Cymos organization.  Apparently, Korelith has discovered some method of using intersecting psionic, divine and arcane energies to trap sentient souls into skeletal bodies, and subsequently driving those souls mad until they have no choice but to serve his twisted purposes as giggling Cymos madmen.  Though this discovery disturbs the heroes, they have no choice but to quickly continue onward.  The group advances through the next gate, leaving another six allies behind to keep the gates open.  They are now on the doorstep of Korelith’s innermost sanctum, where the lich himself almost certainly lies in wait.

            Another fierce battle awaits the party on the other side: Iljaerus, the Cymos commander who dealt them such a setback in their first foray in the 8-sided room, has prepared an ambush with two elite Deathbringer soldiers and numerous elite Deathmark.  They engage Iljaerus and dispatch his band with shocking speed and efficiency; the party is well coordinated and at the height of its power to date.  Korelith taunts them from a distance, but his words seem ever more ineffectual.  Far be it from the mad “King of the Undead” to act optimally while under such duress – on the contrary, the lich foolishly destroys his General, absorbing Vael’s energy back into himself for the final battle with the heroes he has grown to hate so much.

            Moving through the final gate, the heroes come at last the Korelith’s power center: a room of eight enormous darkshard pillars infused with arcane energy, and the lich himself encased in a solid crystalline wall at the far end of the room with only his immense bony tentacles exposed so that he may manipulate his crystal matrix.  Adjacent to Korelith’s room is a long corridor which leads to what seems to be a surgery room.  Sensing what he must do, Delsin moves quickly to secure Katje upon the surgery table and activate the delicate equipment in order to remove the darkshard from her chest.  He despairs of finishing the work in time to join the battle, but to his surprise, the recorded voice of the heroes’ old foe Miarch speaks up, squaking cheerfully “time compression field activated!”  While the other heroes battle Korelith in the next room, Delsin is able to finish three hours’ worth of surgery in just over 30 seconds of actual time.

            As Delsin hurries to save Katje’s life in the surgery room, the rest of the party engages Korelith in a battle to the death.  The mad lich blasts them with dark eldritch fire, smacks them with his skeletal tentacles (which are infused with negative energy), and taunts them with an unending stream of insane babble.  They are frustrated at first by the fact that his body is apparently immune to their attacks, since it is embedded in a crystal wall – but as Balale and Thentis study the room for vulnerabilities, they realize that the pillars which power Korelith’s abilities might be shattered by attacks from the heroes’ soulforged weapons.

            While attempting to evade Korelith’s whipping, grasping tentacles and his spell fire, each member of the party begins striking a different pillar with his or her soulforged weapon, and Korelith curses their names as he realizes they have found a vulnerability in his defenses.  Two pillars crack and shatter, then a third, until six of the eight are broken and the lich is raging against his self-imposed crystal bonds.  As each hero shatters a pillar, he or she notices that the soulforged weapon used for that purpose instantly grows more powerful, absorbing some of the escaping energies of the pillars.  Delsin arrives with Katje (who is now free of the darkshard and hence Korelith’s control over her) at that moment, and the two of them complete the destruction of the pillars; Delsin fires a holy bolt into one and Katje plunges her pistolblade into the other, each of them gathering energy from the pillars to power their soulforged weapons as the other heroes have done.

            “All right, now you’ve really pissed me off!” shouts Korelith, as he breaks out of his crystalline barrier at last and reveals himself fully: he is a huge and gruesome combination of giant humanoid skeleton and crystalline scorpion-like arthropod, and he scuttles across the floor of his ruined chamber to engage the heroes in a final melee.  He screams out “You’ve ruined everything… and I’ve worked so hard to impress him!”  Who “him” is, is not readily apparent.  Though he is fast and powerful, Korelith fights foolishly and with too much blind rage – at every turn, the Heroes of Falgenor have dealt his organization setback after setback, foiling his plans to turn Falgenburg into his new monument to himself and the greater Cymos cause: the Undead City of Cymos-Kor. 

Thentis fires off blast after blast of psychic energy, while Delsin takes aim with Iareth’s hunting crossbow, shooting a barrage of holy bolts into the body of Korelith.  Kaso slashes and parries with Taskmaster, fearlessly holding firm against the snapping claws and twitching tail of the mad lich.  Balale uses a number of timely counterspells to protect the party from Korelith’s dark magic, as well as providing ranged support with his own magic and his collection of powerful wands, scrolls and rods.  Taledira stands proud and keeps her companions on their feet with well-timed prayers of healing and the blessings of Arinna, while Hali cunningly outflanks the villain to make it easier for his friends to land telling blows.  Chyann unleashes a frothing fury of twin blades upon the lich, finally striking him down with a pair of massive critical hits which shatter his crystalline nerve center and his unceasingly talkative skull.  After final twitch and the remnants of an insane giggle, Korelith’s body finally ceases to move and is destroyed.

11-5-22CR: Korelith’s matrix of crystal pillars is broken and the mad lich himself is utterly destroyed by the Heroes of Falgenor.  The Cymos clan is no more; its forces have been broken and cleansed from both the outpost at Niannon and the sanctum in the Plane of Shadow.  Unfortunately, the wizard Biotras Rondaen dies in dreadful throes of agony, unable to separate his essence from Korelith’s.  As the lich dies, the crystal embedded in Biotras’ chest – which is linked to Korelith’s soul energy – bleeds out its dark essence into Biotras’ body and kills him.  Thanks to Delsin’s precise surgical work, Katje is spared the same fate, since her crystal was removed by Delsin before Korelith’s destruction.

            The Jae-Kor are successful in their assault against the Cymos forces attempting to outflank the heroes from the gate in the northern caves of Niannon. The dream serpents wipe out the Cymos reserves in Niannon, routing them and destroying every last undead soldier. 

            The daegoroth lord Freeman meets with the heroes and strikes a deal with them, now that he is no longer beholden to the interests of Korelith: he will quietly dispose of Tobias Windtaer, whose darkshard crystal remained inert and quiet during the battle with Korelith.  Freeman is concerned that some fragment of the lich’s essence may have survived within Windtaer, and Thentis also has political aspirations which require the quiet removal of the councilman.  Freeman deals with Windtaer as he agreed; the possessed councilman is killed quietly and his body is never found… it is assumed he died in some horrible way during the Great Darkening.  Freeman makes no further appearances in Falgenburg, and his current whereabouts are unknown – he considers himself and the heroes to have settled their mutual scores evenly.

Jarrod (the 6^th and only surviving Night Eye Thug who accompanied the heroes into the Cymos Inner Sanctum) declares the Night Eyes of Falgenburg allies of the Heroes.  Jarrod also personally accepts an offer from the heroes to serve as their permanent cohort and bodyguard/doorman at the Twin Falls headquarters.

11-7-22CR – 1-2-22CR: The heroes are invited to a cleansing ritual at Niannon, led by Aan-Jae-Kor, to return to elves’ spirits to rest and to honor the sacrifice of those Jae-Kor dream serpents who gave their lives in the battle against the Cymos.  The story of Kir-Jae-Kor’s capture and subsequent corruption by torture at the hands of the Cymos is sung into the harmonic record of the Jae-Kor, with several heroes taking part in the song.  After the solemn ritual concludes, Aan-Jae-Kor names them friends and offers her support in return for the same from the heroes, if either group should need the other in the future.  The remaining Jae-Kor dream serpents return to their sacred springs and dreamstuff nodes to guard the weak spaces in the fabric of the two merged planes.

            For the next two months, the heroes celebrate their great victory over Korelith and the Cymos clan.  They are renowned throughout Falgenor and the greater Northern Alliance area for their deeds, and their friendships among themselves solidify and grow closer.  Thentis, Balale and Delsin collaborate on a complex architectural upgrade project for the Twin Falls headquarters, which gets underway on 11-20-22CR.  Chyann is overjoyed to discover that the catatonic children, who were affected thusly by the initial Darkening effect brought on by Korelith’s machinations, have fully recovered thanks to the heroes’ efforts.  Katje stays loyally by the side of Kaso, Hali and Delsin, and the four of them become fast friends – they share many vigorous dances at the Yuletide Ball on 12-24-22CR, which is held at the Grand Ballroom at the High Council building in Falgenburg.  Taledira rejoins her Arinnite brothers and sisters at the Falgenor enclave, but promises to remain an ally of the heroes so long as she draws breath.  Thentis appears to be in line for the position of Secretary of the Treasury on the council, with the disappearance of Windtaer. Chyann and Balale begin their search for the pretender Adjatay, hoping to report his deceptions to the true Manari wizards, but no sign of the man can be found.

1-3-23CR: The heroes accept the Vasx artificer Khaedoor’s invitation to visit his observatory on Asarya.  After exchanging greetings and establishing a bit of trust, Khaedoor activates his crystaltech viewscreen and shows the heroes a series of images captured 22 years ago.  They see the truth of a significant event which occurred during the Convergence: the purple falling star that was seen streaking across the sky during the initial carrier waves was in fact the bodies of Jenoic and the Exile locked in a desperate struggle for dominance.  Jenoic and the Exile are now one gestalt being, fighting for control of a single body.  The planet Herself, Gaia, may be reacting to this struggle by attempting to manifest its own sentience as a new deity (but this last piece of information is Khaedoor’s theory only; he does not express it as a certain truth).  By collecting and using artifacts, developing potential artifacts such as soulforged weapons, and cultivating true believers and worshippers, the power of the three entities may increase or decrease.

After hearing this shocking news, each of the heroes is given a choice: will they sacrifice their soulforged weapons of legacy into Khaedoor’s aetherpool, which he claims will return the weapons’ energies to the Planet, or will they keep the weapons and continue in their struggle towards power and understanding within Gaia’s Dream? 

The weapons they carry are charged with the energy of Gaia, Jenoic and the Exile.  By proving themselves “significant” through deeds of faith and daring heroics, the weapons have become a part of them – powered by their souls from within and the Planet without.  They can throw away the weapons and forsake their destinies, by returning the energy to Gaia and letting Her recycle it into new possibilities.  Or, they can work toward the destiny of their choosing, with their soulforged weapons as their tools.

Balale does not hestitate in carefully separating his iron shod staff into its three component pieces and placing them in the pool; his natural connection with the Planet and all its life energies seems to be deepening by the day, and his desire to see Her empowered moves him to act thusly.  Chyann chooses to carry her two-bladed fang sword with her, swearing to remove the pretender Adjatay’s head from his shoulders with it.  Thentis also chooses to keep his ancestral scimitar, vowing to solve the mystery of his ancestor Aethis’ death.  Delsin keeps hold of Jareth’s hunting crossbow, as he feels strongly that his work is not finished… such a weapon might well come in handy during a journey to the Dreamlands.  Kaso also retains his blade Taskmaster; he is loath to give up his “pretty good sword,” as it has served him reliably and well while allowing him to prosper as a warrior.  Katje ponders for a long time before deciding to keep her new soulforged eldritch pistolblade as a tangible symbo of Jenoic’s continuing struggle – she vows to keep fighting for her deity with all the tools he has provided for her.

Before departing for whatever the future might hold, they drink a toast of fine dreamwine with Khaedoor and thank the vasx artificer for his assistance and willingness to share information so freely.  And so the Heroes of Falgenor pass into the next phase of their campaign against the spreading darkness.  How they have chosen to act, and how they will choose to act in service of the Planet, its people, their deities, and themselves will undoubtedly have future repercussions as Gaia’s Dream continues…

The Heroes of Falgenor