Session 11-8-08

Nerida 26, 22CR - Alindor 3, 23CR

Nearly ten months have passed since the liberation of the Elsir Vale and the destruction of Tiamat's mighty 5-headed aspect at the Fane of the dragon goddess.  Peace has returned to the lands of the Elsir Vale and the Valley of Obelisks to the north; the threat of demonic invasion through the machinations of Azarr Kul and his ancestor Mu-Tahn-Laa has been eradicated.  The lands are not safe... in the times since the Convergence, nowhere is truly safe, it seems... but the rule of law has been re-established and the banners of King Markus Oberwald fly proudly and without challenge once again.  The brave heroes who banded together to defeat the wyrmlord Azarr Kul and his Red Hand of Doom hordes have each been granted lands and titles as lords and ladies of Oberwald:

Jack Dunstan now rules the Barony of Dunstan, 3 square miles of rolling hills, well-irrigated farmland and light forests in the western reaches of the Elsir Vale, west of the rebuilt town of Drellin's Ferry and north of the Thornwaste.  There, he has established a horse ranch and has begun researching the mundane and arcane breeding and training techniques to introduce magebred horses to Gaia.  Further, Jack has deepened his research into dreambrands - both his own and others' - and is trying to develop a special 'brand that will help his horses travel through the Dreamlands and resist malevolent Dreamlords' magic.  Jack's love for the raven-haired warrior woman Sorrana Anitah of Drellin's Ferry grows deeper and more profound as the months pass and he establishes his household at Dunstan.  Sorrana is named inheritor of Jack's estate, and the two stay up many nights smoking and talking with Besha, the mysterious merchant with the fuzzy gold beard and locks.  As it was Besha who helped Jack to first unlock the power of his own dreambrand, and as the strange merchant was unfailingly helpful to the war effort against Azarr Kul, Jack makes it known that Besha is welcome in Dunstan any time.

Ayotunde Taenik, the young and lusty priestess of Shandae, chose for her estate lands (dubbed Shandae's Furrow by Jack Dunstan on Beltain, Maia 1 23CR) to lie north to the edge of the demon-blighted Slaughterscar from the foothills at the south of the Valley of Obelisks.  The southern tip of her lands, and the location of her stronghold, is the verdant cave of vines where Ayo once planted a single cherry seed.  She intentionally chose this demon-infested landscape with the hopes of cleansing and purifying it in the name of the Earth Mother, her Goddess Shandae.  Ayo spends many sleepless days and nights encouraging natural flora and fauna to establish themselves in the wastelands of the 'Scar, and as time passes the land begins to transform from a war-blasted and ravaged blight into a wild and green valley.  Ayo uses stone shape and the talents of the local Kagan dwarves to build a spiralling stronghold into the side of her cave's hill.  She develops her herbalism and potion-brewing skills, using both common and exotic natural plants and fungi of the region to enhance her knowledge (see Research and Letters to Eko). 

Altaer Twiceforged (formerly Altaer Fangmaw - see Altaers Aftermath) settles relatively close to Ayotunde's lands, though his own barony - named The Forge by Altaer - is west and slightly south of Ayo's project in the Slaughterscar.  When offered an opportunity to choose a small barony for himself by King Markus Oberwald, Altaer too remembered his harrowing journeys through the lands near the Slaughterscar and the foothills to the south.  Eclectic and curious as ever, despite the terrible and painful changes that his resurrection at the hands of Bahamut have wrought, Altaer selects a barony of three square miles around the hourglass cavern through which the party once passed on its way to the Slaughtergarde Armory for the first time (see Azarr Kul's Ambition Session 4-28-07).  The sorcerer spares no expense in hiring dwarven laborers and smiths to upgrade and maintain his forge facilities.  Altaer soon discovers the time-extending properties of this strange, double-funnel shaped cavern, realizing that for every three hours which seem to pass inside the cavern, only two actual hours have passed.  He becomes further obsessed with his armor-crafting and magical research, using the cavern to speed his work by a factor of 1.5... and is rarely heard from while working ceaselessly to expand his knowledge, power and holdings.

Kaelin, the feather-adorned crusader of Gwardo the Dissident, establishes a more urban domain for himself just outside the city of Sumberton in the heart of the Valley of Obelisks.  The filking crusader has always wanted to own a public house, so he goes about the business of acquiring licenses and breaking ground for a new gambling house, bar, restaurant and hostel known as the Hexahedron.  Shaped cubically as are the six faces of a common gambling die, the Hexahedron is intended to be an attractive stop for traveling adventurers, merchants and dignitaries, parting them from their cash in exchange for a pleasant stay with comfortable amenities.  Kaelin also works hard to establish good relations with the local guard posts, and hires his own mercenaries as additional protection (for a small fee, of course) for those traveling to and from Sumberton.  But the Hexahedron has a more colorful and less public face, as well.  Kaelin has not only established several secret rooms and hidden passages in and out of the Hexahedron, but established a laboratory and brewery wherein he concocts dreamdraughts - a new and exotic line of hallucinogenic potions designed to establish or further one's connection with the Dreamlands of Faerie.  Further, Kaelin is not above milking the ignorant or the foolhardy for extra cash to finance the expansion of the Hexahedron, so he works in quiet and subtle ways to bribe the local thieves' guild to send some "business" his way.  An information-for-marks exchange is established with Vintra Marktunsel, the halfling owner of the Sly Wink Tavern and Smokehouse in Sumberton, and not incidentally the guildmistress of the Slinking Shadows guild, which frowns upon violent crimes and makes its margins in gambling, burglary and pickpocketing... right in line with Kaelin, Lord Hexahedron's own moral code.  He intends to build an intelligence network that spans the continent of Talirae, or perhaps beyond, and make his own mark on the world in the name of liberty.

Klar Bloodflayer, Lord of the Fane of Ijruk, has established a wide-ranging rule across multiple tribes of orcs in the Wyrmsmoke Mountains of the Elsir Vale.  After the defeat of Azarr Kul, in which Klar played no small part, he took up the mantle of Chieftain of the Wyrmsmoke Bloodflayers - a title which was stolen from him in his youth by his father, the dead wyrmlord General Hravek Kharn - and took the throne of Azarr Kul within the Fane of Tiamat for himself.  Renaming the Fane after his own deity, Ijruk One-Eye, Klar spread the word that true leadership and valor had returned to the Bloodflayers, and the shadow of Azarr Kul's armies had been lifted from the Vale.  Given his mighty combat prowess and his reputation as a hero and liberator of his people, Klar quickly rose in power and prestige.  He rules peacefully over his mountainous territory, brokering deals between the savage humanoids of the region and maintaining harmonious relations with the humans of the Vale as befits his status as a war hero.  However, Klar is now less concerned with the fate of Gaia and the struggle between light and darkness than with his personal holdings, and although he is a true ally and friend, his adventuring days are over for now.

Alindor 3, 23CR

Though all the lands of Oberwald - including both the Elsir and the Valley of Obelisks - have remained peaceful since the destruction of Azarr Kul, there is much turmoil elsewhere in the northern reaches of Talirae and across the surface of all Gaia.  During the dead of winter, in Chelmont 23 C.R., a tragic accident (or perhaps a merciless conspiracy - see the Falling Stars, Rising Hope 9-28-08 log) led the mighty legions of Moridar, the ancient Dragon Empire of the north, to invade its former allied nation Hathorae and brutally occupy Hathoraen lands at the order of the young Dragon Emperor, Royce Ralaevar.  Two days ago, Ralaevar slew the beloved paladin Weylorn Orren, president and supreme elect of Hathorae, laying open his throat and bleeding him out upon the ground even as he begged for mercy for his people.  This shocking event has caused a ripple of political unease across the continent of Talirae, but none of the free nations has the strength or numbers to stand against the might of the Moridarn legions.

In another series of events related to the invasion of Hathorae - but known only to a scant few (see Falling Stars Session 10-11-08) who are now imprisoned by the Moridarn army in occupied Hathorae - the god of the gnomes, Merin Jewelshine, the Shining Garnet, the Great Prankster, and all of his vanished people - have returned from their forced imprisonment in the Far Realm of Chaal-Nathra and are now re-born into Prime Material Gaia.  The gnomes were the victim of a strange phenomenon during the Convergence, known as the Vanishing, which seemed to affect only their race.  During the final waves of the Convergence, just as the purple star fell across the sky and impacted the surface of Gaia, the gnomes instantly and collectively vanished to the last man, woman and child.  Just as suddenly, they have returned!  All over the face of Gaia, on the morning of Alindor 1 (Prankster's Day, on the Gaian Calendar) small caches of gnomes seemed to spontaneously erupt from the earth itself, boiling to the surface in greasy, slimy pods of green-brown organic muck. 

Ayotunde bears witness to this rebirth personally, as a clutch of six naked, messy gnomes erupts from beneath the roots of her saplings in the Slaughterscar.  Mewling and disoriented, the gnomes eventually regain their bearings and realize they have been freed from the torment of the Far Realm and are actually back on their home plane and planet.  As their lands lie along a main trade route, Jack and Sorrana also host several small parties of newly-returned gnomes at Dunstan's manor house for a few days following their rebirth, providing warm food, strong drink and smoke, and comfortable lodgings for the gnomes.  As for the gnomes themselves, they seem remarkably well-adjusted considering their 20+ year imprisonment in the realm of Kyuss.  Oddly, though, they have not aged at all.  The child-gnomes who vanished during the Convergence are still children, and the same holds for gnomes of all other ages.  It is as though only a few days or weeks have passed to the befuddled gnomes, but they are collectively delighted to have received succor.  Yet the gnomes also seem a bit more driven, a little less gleeful and somewhat more focused... down to the last individual, they seem driven to gather all of their numbers at the Imperial City deep within the hills of the Ver-Shaon.  After a few days of recovery, gnomes across the planet begin packing and planning for the journey back to their city and their seat of power.  There are rumors of some great prank to be played upon their adversaries, of whom Kyuss the Worm-That-Walks is now named first... but the gnomes will not speak of it to those outside their own race, except to say "...watch for the signs; you will know them when they appear."

The party, consisting of Altaer, Ayo, Jack and Kaelin, has gathered together at Jack's manor house in Dunstan to discuss the return of the gnomes, the occupation of Hathorae and the execution of Weylorn Orren.  Forces across the planet seem to be moving and gathering momentum, and the heroes would be remiss in their duties as stewards of the land and protectors of the light if they did not address these sudden, stunning changes.  It is a pleasant, cool evening and the thaw has yet to take away winter's chill fully, so the companions take company together in Jack's private quarters before a roaring fire, passing drink and smoke as they discuss the events of the day:

Jack and others recall something that Azarr Kul said before their battle in the Fane: "You who have impeded my ambition shall now see it as it ripens into fullness.  This is a right and good destiny for all of us, to be witnessed in battle by the gods and all the powers of this world and others!"  It seems that one of the reasons Azarr Kul raised his Red Hand army was to prove his worthiness or significance in the eyes of various powers.  Aside from the obvious power - Tiamat - little more can be said of this aside from conjecture.  However, the companions all agree that many hidden forces seem to be moving and aligning themselves in recent years.

All agree that the political situation in Hathorae is dire and regrettable, even moreso because it seems that the third (and southernmost) member of the Northern Alliance - Falgenor - is in no position to challenge Moridar.  Further, there are confirmed rumors through certain of Kaelin's intelligence networks that a permanent gate has been constructed between Falgenor and the Faerie realm of the Dreamlands, and that open trade between the fey and the mortals of Falgenor has ensued.  While Falgenor's coffers have grown heavy with profits of late, its army and birth rate is still recovering from the decimation of the pre-Convergence Harbinger War and the nation is in no position to stand up to Moridar.  Given the recently uncovered plot against its capital, Falgenburg, which culminated in the averted near-catastrophe brought on by the criminal undead Cymos Clan, the nation of Falgenor is focused on its own internal struggles and cannot spare any significant help for the occupied Hathoraen people. 

There is also trouble on the literal horizon, as Jack and Sorrana have watched the southern sky darken over the past months with an ever-larger cloud of smoke rising from the Thornwaste.  The Ghostlord, Urikel Zarl, still survives in his massive stone lion atop the highest mesa in the wastes, choking the land with a spreading blight and corrupting the noble lions of the thorny savannahs into brutish ghosts. Though the lands of Oberwald are now peaceful and prosperous for the most part, this dark blight contaminates the midlands between the Elsir and the southern Vernirwold, the heartland of the nation.  While the Ghostlord was a coerced ally of Azarr Kul, he is also known by the companions to be a blighter, a corrupted druid who is driven by an unceasing need to spread his pestilence.  The heroes agree that the threat of the Ghostlord is significant, and they also know that they are personally responsible for returning his phylactery to him during the Red Hand war.  As long as his phylactery survives, the Ghostlord can never be permanently destroyed.

Alindor 4, 23CR

Jack and Kaelin are unsure what path to take, so after the meal and visit at Dunstan concludes they return on owlback to Kaelin's domain at the Hexahedron to the north.  There, Kaelin introduces Jack to his "head room" and the two of them sample the first finished batch of Kaelin's dreamdraughts.  The brew proves potent, and they receive a disturbing vision of the Ghostlord Urikel Zarl, a pathetic and wheezing lich, cowardly and domineering as he lords over the helpless lions of the Thornwaste in a sadly deranged mockery of true druidic stewardship.  Zarl drowns the living lions in a vat of necrotic waste, torturing their souls until they mutate into hateful, baleful ghost brutes.  This vision makes Jack and Kaelin recall their pitched battle in the Ghostlord's lair against the bonedrinkers and wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller, where they fought back-to-back against the very pool in which the lions are drowned (see Azarr Kul's Ambition Session 9-29-07).  The vision continues, and now the two entheogenic travelers see the Ghostlord implanting a blackened tooth - his phylactery, they remember - into the empty socket of a still-living lion, thinking to hide it inside the body of one of his "charges."  They take on the vision of the poor panicked beast as it awakens, running madly through the thorns trying to escape what has been implanted inside it.  The lion runs and runs, slashing its own flesh with thorns as it makes for a shadowed mesa somewhere in the wastes to hide and die to escape this torment.

The vision ends, and Jack and Kaelin recover from their reverie.  Jack finds that during the vision, his dreambrand has been smoking and is still burning hot to the touch when he comes to.  His skin is not actually burned, but it smells hot and takes nearly an hour to cool to normal.  Later, Ayotunde confirms the truth of what they have seen with a divination of her own.  Shandae speaks into her mind: "In the cave of corruption beyond the mesas lies the heart of the evil you seek."

Alindor 5, 23CR

Now determined to destroy the Ghostlord's evil and stop the blight forever, the companions join up at Dunstan and agree to travel by owlback into the blighted Thornwaste to confront Zarl and destroy his phylactery.  Jack and Kaelin are fairly certain they can find the cave they saw in the vision - where the phylactery-implanted lion lies - once they are airborne.  Together the four friend mount up on owlback and begin their flight south.  The day is clear and calm, with a cool breeze out of the north at their backs.  As they approach the Thornwaste, smoke and fire begin to cloud their vision, and a clear trail of burned and burning briars can be seen for miles around.  It seems that some sentient being has been systematically burning through the 'waste for weeks, as though searching for something and eradicating the Ghostlord's blight all at once.  Their flight continues south, past the great mesa where they see Urikel Zarl's stone lion edifice still standing, past the burning heart of the Thornwaste and towards the dry, hilly periphery of the wastes where Jack and Kaelin think their quarry has run to.  It seems the burning path of fire and smoke follows the same path they do.  Two reanimated zombie dragons swoop down from the Ghostlord's mesa and give chase, but Altaer casts an invisible wall of force behind the party to cover their rears, causing the two dragon zombies to crash with a satisfying splat.

As late afternoon arrives, the owls begin to tire but a great conflagration can be seen up ahead in the dry hills.  Gently spurring their owls on, the party swoops down to investigate, cruising about 10 feet above the ground.  At the edge of a shadowy mesa, they see the source of the burning path: a huge, fiery man-shaped figure with blazing antlers riding a sled of pure fire, drawn by a half dozen flaming hounds.  Standing over 15' tall and nearly as wide, the figure radiates searing heat, predatory menace, and watchful protectiveness in equal measure.  Ayotunde identifies it as a lesser aspect of Jenoic, a Wild Hunt of elemental fire.  At first, the Wild Huntsman seems ready to hunt the four owlbacked adventurers, but then its white-hot burning eyes take their full measure and seems to understand that they, too, seek the infected lion.  With a roaring howl, it calls off the hounds and turns away, moving back into the burning Thornwaste with astonishing speed. 

With the burning Huntsman gone, Altaer uses his own fiery bursts to mercifully and quickly put down the surviving infected lions and to burn away the blight in the shadowed caves.  He and the others are confident that the Huntsman will finish the job and burn away all the blight - if they can find and destroy the Ghostlord's phylactery and defeat him at last.  Fortunately, Jack discovers the phylactery, just as he and Kaelin had seen in their vision, inside the socket of one of the dead lions.  He pries the blackened tooth free, and after confirming with Ayo, Kaelin and Altaer that it is indeed what they seek, he readies his scythe in one hand, flips the phylactery up in the air with the other, and then cuts it clean in half with the scythe before it can touch the ground.  As it is destroyed, the tooth explodes into a fine black powder, its evil magic dissipating forever.  The Ghostlord is now vulnerable to permanent destruction, and is certainly aware that his phylactery has been pulverized.  The heroes mount up to fly with all haste back to the great mesa, hoping to catch Zarl before he can flee for parts unknown and begin crafting a replacement.

The Threefold Sundering