LEGACIES CAMPAIGN SUMMARY

MML001 – “Hybrid”

Mathilda Hawthorne arrives home at her studio flat in the Citadel district to find an envelope made from fancy, hand-made paper sitting on her computer desk. She has never seen the envelope before, and is certain it wasn’t there when she left for work that morning. Inside the envelope is a largish coin-like medallion made of a reddish gold. Imprinted on one side is the image of an older man’s face with wild hair entangled with leaves and berries and a beard made of what appear to be kelp leaves. The other side of the coin depicts a younger man’s face, beardless, but with the same wild hair entangled with leaves and berries. Whereas the older face appears to be benevolent and sad, the younger face appears to be mirthful yet cruel. A tiny inscription is imprinted on both sides of the medallion. Viewing the inscription under magnification reveals that it is some crudely-rendered, undecipherable script.

Meanwhile, in the same building, Viktor Tegmark hears a furtive scraping outside his door. Investigating, he discovers a similar envelope containing an identical medallion. He leaves his apartment and runs into his acquaintance, Mathilda, on her way to the library. They share information, and decide to cooperate in their library investigation. At the library they fail to find images or mention of it in rare and antique coin reference guides. After a couple of fruitless hours in the library, they decide to get a bite to eat at a local café.

In another part of town, in his warehouse laboratory, free-lance Gnomish inventor Velko hears a loud thump on his freight door. Checking his security monitors, he sees nothing until he pans down to the loading deck and notices an envelope lying there. Its contents are identical to those of Viktor and Mathilda. Velko examines the medallion under magnification, and runs a search on the ‘Net for similar images. He discovers that the two images are nearly identical to the logo used by a high-end antiques dealer in Silegby named Rold Lehan with an address on Citadel Hill. Examination of the security surveillance outside his lab, Velko discovers that the envelope was apparently delivered by what appears to be a very large, black bird which appears only vaguely and briefly in a couple of frames of video. Disturbed by what he has seen, Velko calls Mr. Lehan’s office, and makes an appointment to meet with the antiques dealer. He then decides to check out the premises beforehand, and takes a ride into the Citadel in his disguised, armored vehicle.

Meanwhile, a circus has set up its tents and pavilions in a field outside of Silegby. Animal handler Boris Bergman and his friend Adriana “Wolf Girl” Aloo decide to go out for a night on the town before having to perform the next evening on opening night. Adriana was born with hypertrichosis, a condition characterized by excessive growth of body and facial hair. Her entire body and face is covered by long, silky sandy-brown hair, and Boris encourages her to wear a concealing shawl and scarf as well as the long frock that she normally wears to go out. The two take a train into the Citadel, the oldest and most historic part of town, and decide to have a few drinks at a dark and smoky lounge called Café Maloof. Exotic, Istarian music emerges from the blue-neon lit interior, and they take a seat in a dark booth to watch the belly-dancing show. A heavy-set man in his sixties, looking flustered and scared, brushes past them, and drops a heavily-laden envelope on the floor. Rather than trying to return it, Boris opens it and decides for the moment to keep the heavy, gold medallion he finds within. Boris then decides to take the now drunk Wolf Girl someplace where he can sober her up. They slip out of a bathroom window, and make their way to a nearby coffee house for some espresso and food.

Arriving at Lehan’s address, Velko discovers that it is a medieval town castle, fully restored to its former glory on one of the more revitalized and gentrified streets of the Citadel. The doors are locked and the place appears to be shut down for the night. A well-lit coffee house across the street attracts his attention, and he decides to go for a snack and perhaps to gather some information. The young waitress explains that she has seen Mr. Lehan only once or twice being driven in a long, flashy black sedan, but otherwise rarely sees him. As he waits for his coffee and sandwich, Mathilda and Viktor arrive and take the other sidewalk table. Viktor runs an image search for the medallion on his laptop, and turns up the Lehan antiques business logo. Seeing the image on Viktor’s screen, Velko decides to introduce himself, and the three begin to share information.

Boris also notices the image on Viktor’s screen, and then sees the same heavy-set man who dropped the envelope making his way to Café Maloof up the street. A while later, the man returns and stands in the light of the coffee house. Velko, Mathilda and Viktor offer assistance, and the man tells them he has lost an important envelope. The man introduces himself as Dr. Reese Bauman, director of the Royal Archives at Silegby. Once he learns that they also received the mysterious medallion, he tells them what he knows: the images on the medallion are associated with the ancient pagan deities Nehal or Oken, although the red gold from which it is cast is normally associated with early cults of Roski. The script is a rendition of Old Caerdolan, but the language is unknown to him. He also made the connection to the antiques dealer, who had agreed to meet him that evening at Café Maloof. Dr. Bauman was stood up, and on his way out of the lounge he lost the envelope with the medallion. While searching for it on the street, however, he discovered a flyer posted on a street lamp advertising a circus in Silegby. A banner over a stylized image of the circus pavilion, its animals and performers, shows two gold medallions remarkably similar to both sides of the medallion that all of them have received. Dr. Bauman believes they have all received a message, and intends to visit the circus.

Hearing some of this conversation, Boris takes Adriana back to the circus, and notices for the first time the large banner over the entrance to the Big Top with the depictions of the medallion. Believing in magic and divination, he decides to pay a visit to the circus’ Rhua fortune teller, Madame Zahara. She is crass and uninterested in anything but satisfying her sexual cravings, but agrees to examine the medallion. She seems genuinely interested in it, but possibly because it is a heavy piece of gold and doubtlessly worth some money. She pronounces it “cursed” but Boris decides not to trust her, and takes it back. In his own sleeping quarters he discovers that someone has left him another identical medallion in an envelope on his bed.

The next morning Velko keeps his appointment with Mr. Lehan. The lovely and stylish receptionist shows him to a luxuriously appointed sitting room and offers him a mimosa. He doesn’t wait long before a coolly handsome man with disturbingly pale gray eyes and in an impeccably tailored, trim suit introduces himself as Mr. Rold Lehan. Velko tells Lehan that he is interested in Gnomish history, and in artifacts having to do with Gnomes of historical note, particularly Gnamek Gearbuckle, who was advisor to Murad I, the human king credited with uniting the Warlander kingdoms. Lehan assures him that he has several items believed to have belonged to Gnamek Gearbuckle and proceeds to show him an assortment of mostly uninteresting laboratory glassware and contraptions associated with medieval alchemy. The only item of real interest, however, is concealed in a cloth-covered cabinet. Lehan opens the cabinet, revealing a gold-plated humanoid construct of Gnomish stature and proportions. He describes it as “an early Gnomish Tick Tock device,” and says it is scheduled to be sold at auction and expected to fetch an exorbitant price that Velko knows he cannot afford. Velko nevertheless asks to be put on the bidding list, and takes his leave.

Meanwhile, Mathilda and Viktor pay a visit to Dr. Bauman in the Royal Archives. Mathilda brings the family heirloom that she has recently inherited for Dr. Bauman to examine. It is an antique sword, in flawless condition, inscribed with medieval emblems and a hallmark. With it is a shirt of golden chain-link armor woven tightly like fine wool. Dr. Bauman is immediately impressed by the sword, saying that he believes it to be a Holy Avenger, the prized weapon of the best and most devout of the ancient holy knights of Roski. Judging from the inscriptions he believes the sword to have belonged to a high-ranking knight of the Order of St. Gwendolen, and possibly even the saint’s sword itself. The hallmark identifies it as having been made during the reign of Pope Naxo XXI, who sat on the papal throne during St. Gwendolen’s lifetime. Dr. Bauman urges Mathilda to guard the sword well, avoid showing it off, and encourages her to learn as much as she can about it. He shows an interest, but is distracted by the immediate concern with the mysterious medallion. He tells them that he plans on visiting the circus that evening.

Mathilda and Viktor agree to reunite with Velko that evening at the circus. They drive out together in Velko’s armored car to the field where many of Silegby’s citizens have arrived to be entertained by the strange and exotic circus. Along with the Big Top there are other sideshow exhibits, including The Wolf Girl and something billed as “The Phoenix of Happiness”. The three run into Dr. Bauman, who suddenly finds that someone has slipped his lost medallion back into his coat pocket. Dr. Bauman receives a telephone call from a colleague who has identified the language of the medallion’s inscription as an obscure and ancient dialect related to old Rhua, and translated it to read, on the side with the older face, “I am Absolution” and on the younger face, “I am Heaven’s Vengeance.” Despite several guesses, they are unable to decipher the significance of the inscriptions before they are distracted by a commotion at the gate to the circus grounds.

They recognize Boris from the coffee house, riding on a horse out the front gate of the circus grounds. Following him, Boris reveals that his friend the Wolf Girl has gone missing and he believes she is lost in the nearby woods. They agree to help, and track the girl to a clearing where they find her writhing in ecstasy upon a stone slab as a pack of six werewolf man-beasts prowl around her, snapping at each other in a kind of wild dance of dominance.

Using his powers to mimic the physical abilities of animals, Boris takes runs into the clearing and catches the werewolves’ attention, leading them away from the clearing as the others try to coax rescue Adriana. At first she is feral and unreasonable, but eventually they are able to coax her away toward the waiting car. Boris takes to the trees, but is forced to put himself in danger again when the werewolf pack stealthy head back in response to Adriana’s feral howls. Securing Adriana in the back of the armored vehicle, the others with Dr. Bauman escape back to the circus, the werewolves in hot pursuit. Velko even manages to run one of them down with his armored car.

Back in the circus, Boris sees a man he has never seen before enter the Phoenix’s tent with what looks like a large bird of prey on his arm. He remembers his horses telling him that they smelled a “bird man” entering their stables, and possibly his sleeping quarters too. Velko is also reminded of the large bird-like image that appeared on his security surveillance video, and they decide to investigate. Inside the tent is dimly-lit, and there is a roped off center stage with a large perch. On the perch is a large bird of prey, as big as a condor but with deep, bluish coloration to its plumage. From behind it appears to be wearing a falconer’s hood, but when it turns around, the hood is revealed to be an ornate head-dress and the bird’s head that of a beautiful and glamorous woman. The “bird” then speaks in low, hypnotic tones, urging them all to sleep. They are suddenly overcome by drowsiness and fall into a natural sleep. Only Boris manages to escape this trap, but when he returns and attempts to stop the bird, she commands him to stop and to feed his sleeping companions to the wolves. Under the bird’s spell, Boris obeys, picks up the sleeping gnome and drags Mathilda away. They manage to snap Boris out of the bird’s spell just in time, and return to save Viktor who lies sleeping as the bird continues to plant suggestions in his mind.

Mathilda slices the tent’s supporting cables, bringing it down on the bird as Velko uses his levitation device to carry the sleeping Viktor out. Now trapped under the canvass, the bird lets out a raucous alarm, and to stop it Boris mimics the weight and strength of an elephant, jumping down upon the trapped bird and ending its cries.

The show under the Big Top is underway, with clown and acrobat performers entertaining the full house. The ringmaster, Zoltan, announces a very special performance with the appropriate air of suspense, and orders that the lights be shut down. The companions notice that a large pack of werewolves has been allowed to sneak in under the bleachers, taking their places under the unsuspecting audience. A pair of roustabouts armed with shotguns searches for those who have killed the Phoenix. They decide to cause a disruption by casting light upon the ringmaster, whose performance begins to falter. Using her sword, Mathilda slashes an opening in the tent, allowing moonlight and a way out. The crowd begins to panic as the werewolves howl and begin to attack, and Boris and Velko take on Zoltan, who reveals himself to be the master werewolf.

During the ensuing battle, Mathilda begins to discover some of her sword’s amazing powers. Viktor displays seemingly magical transdimensional abilities, using his powers of teleportation to conjure a crowbar that he uses to collapse the bleachers and trap most of the werewolf minions. Velko uses the catapult from the Human Cannonball act to fire the Strong Man’s barbells at Zoltan, but the master werewolf is only momentarily stunned by the blow that would have been fatal to a normal man. Velko and Boris manage to occupy Zoltan’s attention long enough for Mathilda to smite him with her sword, stripping him of his unholy power and ending his life.

Meanwhile, as the crowd of spectators disperses, the majority of the evil carnies rush in too late to save their master. Just as the companions escape from the Big Top, a lightning bolt strikes its center post setting the canvass ablaze in supernatural fire. The burning tent collapses, trapping the werewolf minions and other carnies, whose screams and death throes echo in the fire-lit night.

Reuniting with Dr. Bauman at Velko’s armored car, the companions see the shadow of a large, bird-like thing fly overhead and disappear into the shadows of a nearby copse of trees, from which emerges the neat and trim form of the antiques dealer, Lehan. He tells them that he sent them each the message of the medallions to bring them together for a common purpose and to test their commitment to a shared legacy that must accept and realize. Lehan assured them that they would have some time to think about things, and that more would be revealed to them soon enough. He promised to contact them soon, and then left. The companions then agreed to return to their respective homes to recover from the horrors they’ve experienced, and to contact each other in a few days to discuss Lehan’s cryptic words and apparent offer.

MML002 – “Book of Shadow”

Having fallen asleep at his computer again, Viktor Tegmark wakes up to find a devil sitting on the arm of his sofa. The black creature has horns and a spade tail, and leaps at him, thrusting him against a wall as it clutches at his throat. It leans in close, its breath a miasma of rot and feces, and wags a finger at him warningly before vanishing out the open window. Viktor gasps and chokes as much from the stench as from the iron grip of the fiend, which he still feels even though he has been released. He runs out of his apartment and down the hall, banging on the door to Mathilda Hawthorne’s apartment.

Waking to the sounds of banging on her door, Mathilda checks quickly gets out of bed. Viktor is at her door at 5:00 A.M., out of breath, and barely making sense as he tells of a demonic visitation. Mathilda grabs her sword and accompanies Viktor to his room, but all that is left is the slowly dissipating stench, and a plate of rancid leftovers sitting on the arm rest of the sofa, and swarming with flies. After discussing the possible significance, Viktor tells her that he wishes to speak with a priest. After all, who better to deal with the diabolical than a holy man?

Meanwhile, in Velko’s laboratory, Boris and Adriana are waking up. Adriana is sniffing every corner of the space they’ve been allowed to sleep in, and she tells Boris that she sees and hears things differently somehow. Boris tells her that she’s become a lycanthrope, and that her senses have become heightened. He asks her what she remembers of the night in the wood, and she tells him she remembers the wolves and a sense of euphoria she felt. Boris is concerned that Adriana might not be able to control her lycanthropy and become dangerous. For the moment, he will watch her. Adriana does not wish to be locked up in Velko’s lab, and asks if Boris will accompany her out for a bite to eat somewhere. She craves meat.

Outside, Boris senses a presence, and catches the faintest scent of an exotic perfume that he recognizes as belonging to the Rhua fortune teller, “Madame Zahara”. He attempts to track her, but only determines that Madame Zahara was in the vicinity of Velko’s front door step sometime in the evening. He agrees to go with Adriana to find a nearby café where they can have breakfast. Along the way, Adriana seems fascinated by seemingly mundane things: a pigeon eating old breadcrumbs on the street, a damp spot next to a wall in an alley, and the texture of an old stone wall. Boris gently prods her into ignoring these things, and guides her into the café. Here, Adriana orders sausages and barely cooked rashers of bacon. Boris watches her as he drinks his coffee. He is also on the look-out for signs of their former employers, at least one of who has escaped the destruction of the circus.

Suddenly, Adriana catches sight of something across the street from the café. She bolts out the door, and begins crossing the street as a low-slung, red convertible sports car speeds toward her. Boris rushes out the door, and leaps into the street, knocking Adriana out of the way of the speeding car just in time. The car screeches to a halt and its startled driver quickly steps out to see if everyone is okay. He is a handsome young man in his late 20s with neatly-trimmed, dark hair and impeccably dressed in a tailored suit. The young man apologizes for nearly killing them, and introduces himself as Sherrod Altair. Adriana gazes at him with undisguised attraction as he offers to buy them lunch, but Boris brusquely declines the offer, and insists that Adriana stay away from him. Disappointed, the young man returns to his idling car, and with a final glance of interest, drives off.

Boris admonishes Adriana for her behavior, and she angrily storms off, showing signs of rebellion. Boris follows her back to Velko’s lab, where she settles down to sleep again.

Meanwhile, Father Cornelius Descartes, or “Father Neale” as he is better known to his congregants, prepares for the day’s services. In his office he receives a call from Dr. Reese Bauman, head of the Royal Archives, and some-time member of Father Neale’s congregation. Dr. Bauman requests a meeting with Dr. Neale for that evening at 7:00 P.M., after Father Neale hears his last confession. Soon after, Viktor Tegmark also calls and schedules a meeting with Father Neale for that evening.

Viktor and Mathilda then call Velko and report the demonic visitation of that morning. They agree to meet and pay a visit to Mr. Rold Lehan to respond to his cryptic offer of revealing information to them.

Along the way, they are contacted by Dr. Bauman, who explains to Mathilda that he has thought of a means by which she might more conclusively identify the sword and armor that were left to her as an heirloom. He tells her of a painting believed to be the only portrait of St. Gwendolen painted from life. It is a portrait of the saint painted by Lord Marmion of O, or one of his children, who were contemporaries of the saint. It shows St. Gwendolen in her middle age, dressed in her golden armor, and cradling her famous blade. The hilts and pommel of the sword are painted in exquisite detail, and if they match the designs and markings on Mathilda’s sword, then it would provide the provenance she needs to identify it as St. Gwendolen’s sword. The portrait was kept by Marmion’s descendants for many generations, was nearly destroyed in a fire, and eventually auctioned off to pay some debts. It now belongs to an eccentric collector of medieval art and literature, who had it painstakingly, and expensively cleaned and restored to the way it, looked prior to the fire. Countess Lydia Wolfram does not allow it to be photographed or examined closely. It hangs in her impressive, private library. The only photographs available show the portrait with its obscuring soot and smoke damage. Many details are blurred or completely obscured.

Once in Lehan’s plush sitting room, he once again appears to them in his neatly trim, tailored gray suit, and disturbingly pale gray eyes and white teeth. He tells them that they have somehow been marked as dangerous by an evil faction that operates in Silegby, and that he will help them discover the reasons if they help him with something. Lehan gives them the following history:

When Dothos, the first Dolami priest, first climbed to the cave at the summit of Mount Hierat, he found the original manuscript of the Book of Light, written in a strange, hieroglyphic language etched on plates of pure gold. Eventually, the plates remain in the ancient shrine, although many rubbings and copies were made (from which the earliest versions of the Book of Light were derived). What the legends never mention is that Dothos also found a second set of plates, made of blackened silver, and etched with similar symbols. The contents of this book are not known to most people, and even its existence was kept mostly secret. The book was known as the Book of Shadow, and was the said to be the antithesis of its golden counterpart. Dothos ordered that the Book of Shadow be translated, but forbade that copies be made. One Dolami named Eyrados disobeyed, and secreted a copy of the translated manuscript out of Korma. Eyrados was murdered on the road, and the book fell into the hands of a Caerdolan aristocrat named Scathos. Scathos used the power of the book to summon up dark forces, and many people suffered as a result, but his attempt to rise to power came too late, and he was killed during the uprisings that ended Caerdolan rule in the west. The manuscript was believed lost then, but in fact it was secreted away and ended up in the hands of a Faranxian nobleman named Ferran. He happened to have a secret printing press, and managed to manufacture several copies of the book, including copies of the illustrations. The book was eventually discovered by the Church, and a ban was placed upon it. Anyone caught with a copy of the book faced harsh punishment, and all copies were believed to have been burned. Legend has it that four books escaped the pyres. Throughout history scholars and wizards have searched for the surviving copies, and all but one were eventually discovered. One copy was obtained by me. Another is said to be kept in the vaults of the Papal Archives in Korma. The third copy is in a private collection in Silegby belonging to the Countess Lydia Wolfram, an eccentric aristocrat from O. She guards her collection jealously, and detests me, but her interest in the Book of Shadow is that of a scholar, and she will give access to one or two scholars who might show her some tidbit of information to pique her interest.

Lehan then offers this information in the form of an envelope containing facsimiles of two of the Book’s illustrations. He tells them that he wishes them to gain access to Lydia Wolfram’s book and surreptitiously photograph the illustrations therein. Showing her the facsimiles will convince her that they possess a previously unknown surviving copy with slightly different details in the illustrations. This will pique her interest and make her more amenable to them. They take the envelope with the two facsimile illustrations, and leave Lehan’s house, although they are unhappy with Lehan’s cryptic allusions to secret plots that may pose a danger to them.

After the evening worship service, Father Neale hears the confessions of several of his parishioners. Most are regulars, but after a long wait, a final person enters the booth. Through the grate he is vaguely aware of a beautiful, dark-haired young woman with a faint, but exotic perfume.

“Father, I’ve come to confess my sins,” she says in a low, vaguely-accented voice. “I’ve killed five men this week with my bare hands… and you shall be the sixth!”

Shocked, Father Neale nevertheless draw away fast enough to evade the superhuman blow of the young woman’s hand, as she smashes through the metal grate of the confessional and goes for his throat. Father Neale rushes out of the confessional as the beast in human guise wrenches her hand from the broken grate, and chases after him. He manages to escape to his office, where he locks and bars the door. As he breathlessly searches through his desk drawers, the creature bangs and claws at the door to his office. He finds a blessed Roskian solar disk and flask of holy water just as the terrible noise at the door stops. Suddenly, the creature appears at the barred window to his office, teeth bared and face contorted into an abomination of humanity, and smashes the glass in an attempt to enter and murder him. The bars on the window hold, and with a quick prayer, Father Neale douses the creature with holy water, making her shriek in agony as she leaps away and vanishes into the night.

Shaking with horror and disbelief, Father Neale is startled by a knock at his office door. It is Viktor Tegmark coming to keep his appointment, along with Mathilda, Boris and Adriana the Wolf Girl. They find a badly-shaken Father Neale, who describes to them the horrible encounter with the creature that appeared in the form of a young woman. Father Neale informs them that he has a scheduled meeting for that evening with Dr. Bauman, and Velko wonders if someone is killing people associated with Dr. Bauman in an attempt to keep him from getting help. He calls Dr. Bauman, and they learn that Bauman is in traffic on his way to the church.

Using his levitation device, Velko climbs to the top of the church and then levitates high above the highest steeple. He locates Bauman’s car approaching, and then notices what at first appears to be a shadowy human form hiding behind one of the church steeples and watching Bauman. When Bauman enters the church, the figure spreads a pair of long, narrow wings and takes flight into the night sky. Using his telescopic goggles, Velko gets a closer look at the giant winged figure, and sees only that it is so dark that it appears like a moving hole in the sky from which no light can escape. Shaken, he descends back to the church and rejoins the others in Father Neale’s office.

Meanwhile, Father Neale has calmed down enough to search through his books for images of the kind of fiend that visited Viktor early that morning. He determines that the fiend is an Incubus; a kind of devil that specializes in nightly visitations on humans, where it often attacks them sexually and sometimes murders them. He shows Viktor a medieval woodcut reproduced in a book, depicting a black devil sitting on the chest of a suffocating human lying in bed.

Once rejoined by Velko and Dr. Bauman, they review recent events and information gleaned. They learn that Dr. Bauman has had several appointments that day. Only one of them was foiled when the Minister of Culture failed to keep his appointment. They later learn that the minister committed suicide that afternoon by leaping out of his office window. The discussion leads back to the murder of Bauman’s student, Harvey Kerr, at the hands of the she-monster Sarita, who fits the description of the thing that attacked Father Neale. This leads them to discuss the cover stone discovered two years ago by underground metro workers, and on which Dr. Bauman and his archaeological team have been working on since.

The cover stone, Bauman explains, is of late Caerdolan make; quite possibly as late as the Kanderu emperors, and seems to be used to lock in a chamber of some sort. Using his special powers, Viktor penetrates the cover stone with Velko’s multi-tool, and describes a classic Caerdolan nobleman’s burial chamber beyond: a large, circular room with a high corbelled arch. Flags on the floor spiral in toward a dais upon which stands a huge stone sarcophagus with a high-relief sculpture of the deceased warrior in repose carved on its lid. Niches on the walls of the chamber contain mummified guards and burial items lie strewn about on the floor or in clay vessels. A hole in the chest of the carven figure suggests that some sort of small, narrow object is meant to be inserted there.

Using Velko’s device to scan the interior, they determine that an object shaped roughly like a spike with 13 irregular facets is meant to fit in the hole. Velko’s computer creates a holographic projection of what the spike might look like based on the shape of the opening. Viktor then begins to penetrate the sarcophagus itself, discovering not only that it is empty, but that a series of strange, metallic gears form some sort of mechanism beneath it. This leads them to believe that the sarcophagus and dais perhaps form an ancient elevator leading down to a deeper burial chamber. Before they can make another move, however, two things suddenly happen.

First, Viktor hears a low sound like a very deep gong somewhere beneath the chamber in which he stands. Secondly, the rest of the party hears what sounds like many leathery wings approaching from further down the tunnel. Moments later they are viciously attacked by the advance scouts of a hoard of small, black leathery demons. Bolstered by Father Neale’s faith and Mathilda’s Holy Avenger, they manage to fight off the demons long enough to climb back up to the surface and before the rest of the hoard arrives. They hear the demons’ shrieks and gibbering echo up the access shaft.

After this encounter they press Dr. Bauman about the “key” that Harvey Kerr and Sarita had spoken about, and the key that apparently opens the burial chamber. Bauman tells them that such keys, while rare and even beautiful, have never been given much historical value. The Archives owned one that was de-accessioned, and sold at auction. The winning bidder was none other than Countess Lydia Wolfram. They agree to meet the following day and part ways for the evening.

The next day they spend researching and organizing what they know. They decide to pay Lydia Wolfram a visit to learn what they can, and possibly obtain the key but without doing what Lehan wants them to do.

Lydia Wolfram’s estate is a medieval town castle full restored into an elegant, modern residence. The heavy, wooden door is carved with images of people tormented by demonic figures and over the door, a key stone is carved with a shield and family crest depicting the head of a wolf with the curling horns of a ram. A GnomeTech camera eye watches them from above.

The door is answered by a severe-looking female gnome who tries to dismiss them for not having an appointment. Flashing a glimpse of one of Lehan’s photocopied illustrations earns them a second chance, and the gnome leads them into the house, up a grand staircase, and into an opulently-appointed library that apparently takes up most of the castle’s second floor.

Countess Lydia Wolfram is an elegantly-dressed human aberration. Steel gray hair elegantly, if conservatively set, and dressed in a formal suit and pearls, the countess is bent by age and illness, and her made-up face marked by grotesque moles and a pock-marked overgrown chin and nose. Her pale gray eyes seem to bore into anyone she looks at, and her voice is deep and gravely. She stands upon a small, wheeled device that has the look of archaic GnomeTech, and which she steers and operates with her cane, inserted into a socket and acting like a steering column. They notice that the handle of her cane is a silver sculpture in the form of a masculine humanoid head with a wolf-like snout and ears and a ram’s horns growing out of his shaggy head. On her finger she wears a silver ring with a cabochon divided down the middle, being glossy black on one half and clear and colorless on the other. The ring is identical to the pinky ring worn by Rold Lehan.

She insists on knowing where they obtained the photocopies of the illustrations, and Mathilda tells her that they come from a copy of an old book that she inherited from a deceased uncle. The countess claims to have known her uncle, and insincerely offers her condolences on his departure. She asks if she may see the book, offering to buy it for a fair price if it is to her satisfaction. Mathilda explains that the book is fragile and in pieces, but as far as she knows, complete. The countess assures that that her knowledge of this particular book is profound, and that she is best suited to assess the book’s value upon its examination. Meanwhile, they plant a tiny camera in the vaulted ceiling of the library through which Velko and Father Neale keep surveillance from Velko’s armored vehicle parked down the street.

The countess agrees to let them examine her copy of the book, and while she fetches it, they have a brief moment to examine the library. A giantess nearly 8 feet tall and wearing a tailored man’s suit keeps watch over them as they do. They immediately see the portrait of St. Gwendolen, encased in glass and hanging between the two nearest windows overlooking the street below. In the back of the library is a large bank vault, and next to it a life-size marble sculpture in the classical style depicting a severe, youthful man wrapped in a concealing traveler’s cloak and with a walking staff. At his feet stands a tiny sculpture of a second youth naked except for a small strip of flowing cloth across his body and with a diadem over his curling locks. They identify the sculpture as an obscure Caerdolan deity known as Eymdol (“white stone” in the Caerdolan language), an ancient solar deity that was supplanted by Roski with the conquest of Kuonrhua. The tiny figure is Roski, and the arrangement of the sculpted group is a heretical reversal of the classical arrangement of having Roski as the dominant figure and Eymdol as his subordinate.

A quick examination of Lydia Wolfram’s copy of the Book of Shadow reveals that it is an ancient volume bound in black leather with no title page or embossing. Thirteen wood-cut illustrations are interspersed between pages full of text printed in an oddly archaic type-set and a language that appears completely alien to them. Along with the illustrations and texts are diagrams and formulae for spells and rituals. The illustrations themselves seem to depict arcane representations of Caerdolan deities.

Eventually, Lydia Wolfram insists that they leave; again making them the offer to pay handsomely for the copy of the book that Mathilda supposedly inherited if she is allowed to examine it and determine that it is worth owning. After leaving, she orders an agent named Marta to follow them, and those in the vehicle watch as a lean, mannish woman wearing a suit and carrying a walking stick, exits the building and follows them down the street.

They lead her to the café near Lehan’s house, and sit within plain view. Paying close attention they hear her softly acknowledge an order given through a wireless ear-piece, and interpreting her murderous intentions, decide to leave fast. In the middle of the street, however, Marta draws a sword from her cane and attacks them. They manage to disarm her, but before she can be questioned, she is suddenly flung up into the sky out of sight. Using his high-tech goggles, Velko spots her at an altitude of approximately 25,000 feet, and then falling down into an urban neighborhood several miles away. They notice the silhouetted figure of a man at the window of Lehan’s house before they knock on the door. Velko is determined to return the Tick Tock as he believes it is a spy for Lehan and not to be trusted.

Inside, Lehan and a third assistant appear to have just arrived from a formal engagement. Lehan offers them a glass of red wine, and asks if they accomplished the task he asked them to perform for him. At this point they decide to confront him about the Book of Shadow. Lehan does not appear to be too concerned that they refused his request. Just then Velko is struck by Lehan’s affectations: the red wine, his pinky ring, his company logo, and the mysterious medals that he used to draw their attention.

“Trans-dimensional beings,” Velko says, under his breath, catching Viktor’s attention. He repeats the statement, and then addresses Lehan and asks him outright if he is indeed the god Nehal.

Lehan is evasive, but never denies the accusation. He explains to them how the gods gain their power and their nature by those who worship them, and by the nature in which they are worshipped. He tells them that long ago, at the height of the Caerdolan empire, the gods gave a gift to the emperors in the form of a magic torque – an object of great power – with the ability to control the minds of others, even of masses of people, and to bend them to the emperor’s will.

This is how the empire was formed, but Roski charged a small group of would-be heroes to take the Torque and to keep it safe, and the empire fell, and no others were able to gain the power of the Torque, and the Archon of Roski granted the heroes long life and prosperity in return for their constant vigilance. Their descendents would forever carry on that legacy of vigilance, but while the Torque lay hidden, the heroes and their gifts also slumbered. Evil also slumbered, but now it once again stirs and seeks the thing that would restore the power and dread of Caerdolan into the world once more.

Lehan also presses Dr. Bauman about the Key of the Archivist, revealing to the others that Bauman’s special talent lies in deciphering scripts and languages. They surmise that his power perhaps protected him from deciphering the glyphs on the cover stone since their utterance as words probably possesses some hidden and dangerous power.

Again, Velko presses Lehan, but Lehan refuses to admit to anything directly except to say that he wishes to help them stop the evil that awakens, although he cannot intervene directly. He fears that even lifting his hand against the countess’ agent may have alerted the powers that be. Velko now decides to keep the Tick Tock after all, and tells the others that he feels more inclined to trust Lehan now. Lehan once more tells them that they must return to Lydia Wolfram’s house, so that they may better understand their own roles in the history that is unfolding before them.

The next day they return to Lydia Wolfram’s house, determined to get the key that they believe is in her possession. Using his powers of transdimensionality, Viktor enters the mansion and the bank vault in the library, where they believe the key must be secured. Viktor finds two velvet-lined drawers full of similar objects, and takes them all.

Back in the vehicle, they examine the objects. They are all multi-faceted, crystalline spikes – some brilliantly colored while others completely clear. None of them fit the exact shape that Velko’s computer generated, and they presume that perhaps the countess keeps the most important key on her person.
The next day they keep watch on Lydia Wolfram’s house, noting that the giantess leaves on foot to run some errands. While she is out, Viktor once again enters the house transdimensionally, while Velko uses his technology to bend the light around him, thereby becoming invisible, and then bypassing the countess’ electronic defenses. Meanwhile, wearing her armor under her clothes, Mathilda waits to come to their assistance if required.

Inside, Velko hears a terrible gasping sound from behind the countess’ desk. Investigating, he finds her gasping her last breath as dark blood wells up and out of her mouth. Just then he hears a crash from the back of the library and finds that someone has doused the curtains and tapestries with flammable liquid and set fire to the room. He sees Sarita, the dark-haired young woman, prowling away toward the window and smashing the glass that protects the portrait of the saint before throwing the priceless painting into the flames.

Believing that she might have found the key, Velko confronts Sarita, who fights him with inhuman strength and agility. Velko burns her by throwing a vial of Father Neale’s holy water on her thigh. She flees downstairs, but is stopped by the giantess, Tallulah, who is at least a match for her in strength. Eventually, Sarita gets the upper hand, throwing Tallulah against a wall and stunning her before running into the kitchen. There Mathilda enters through the back door, facing her with her drawn sword, and Velko corners her from behind. Obviously afraid of the Holy Avenger, Sarita leaps through a barred window and escapes down the alleyway, Mathilda in hot pursuit.

Viktor and Velko escape with only minor injuries as the countess’ house burns down around them. As the sirens converge on the conflagration, they escape into Velko’s armored vehicle and escape. Meanwhile, Mathilda finds herself confronted by Sarita, who turns to fight like a cornered, feral animal. With a single, heroic stroke Mathilda beheads Sarita, ending her tormented and murderous life. Searching the body, Mathilda finds the prismatic crystal key that they had searched for in a pocket of her black cargo pants.

Later, in Velko’s lab, they hear a news report about the lethal fire that caused the death of the Countess Lydia Wolfram, and the disturbing news that authorities are searching for two unnamed individuals who appear in the countess’ surveillance videos. The images displayed are of Viktor Tegmark in the vault and a sword-wielding Mathilda Hawthorne in the kitchen.

In the end, they agree to stick together and learn all that they can about the enemy that seems to be working against them, and to discover the full nature of the secret that has brought them all together.

MML003 - "Pure"

Ilyana Ferickje has come looking for Viktor Tegmark because of his particular research interests. She tells him that her brother is suffering from a very strange ailment that has baffled all doctors and psychologists that she’s taken him to. Her brother specifically asked that she contact Tegmark. The brother, Ilya Ferickje is suffering from a bizarre form of insanity wherein he cannot speak because all he is capable of uttering is a series of sounds that have very odd and frightening effects. The language is actually “The First Language”. This is supposedly the language of the gods and the language of Creation. So far he is able to communicate by writing, but it seems that he is losing even that ability. He is becoming increasingly frustrated. Through their investigations, Viktor and the others learn that he is being hunted, and that there is a Bosporan aristocrat in Silegby who says she can cure him. The real reason for Ilya Ferickje’s transformation is that he is becoming a transcendant being. The Powers of Darkness want him because, by using the language of the Making they can also begin the Unmaking, which is what they want to do to throw the world into Chaos and start a new order.

Having eliminated the terrifying Sarita, and having been implicated in the arson death and destruction of Countess Lydia Wolfram and her collection, the companions temporarily seek shelter in Velko’s lab. Meanwhile, Viktor confirms his appointment with Ilyana Ferickje, who explains that he is their last hope for help for her brother, Ilya, who is suffering from an affliction that they believe is somehow related to his research on interdimensional travel.

They arrange a meeting in a semi-private sitting area of the hotel lobby where the Ferickjes are staying. Viktor agrees to wear a wire to the meeting while Velko and the others listen to the conversation.

Ilyana Ferickje is a beautiful and stylish young woman in her mid-twenties with dark hair and eyes. Her brother is tall and lean with bright blue eyes. He is handsome despite looking somewhat unkempt and disheveled, and he carries a bitter expression on his angular features.

Ilyana explains to Viktor that her brother was working on complex mathematical equations to prove the existence and manipulation of hyperspace. Funding for the research was provided by an organization known as the Silver Twilight. Just when Ilya seemed to have made a breakthrough, he was struck with a puzzling affliction: he cannot speak in any language, and every attempt to utter a sound results in a bizarre and frightening effect. Ilyana quietly asks her brother to whisper Viktor’s name, and when he does, the sky darkens and Viktor senses an electricity run throughout his entire body, leaving him shaken and feeling momentarily disoriented. The others also experience the darkening of the sky, but do not hear anything.

Ilya communicates by writing what he wants to say on a writing tablet. He insists that he wishes to “find the source” of his affliction and then to “go there.” He doesn’t elaborate on what he means by that, exactly, but he is very emphatic about it.

Meanwhile, Ilyana explains that they attempted to get the help of Viktor’s mentor at the university, but the professor was murdered right before their eyes by an assailant with a strange primitive axe. [The axe is later identified as a ceremonial battle axe carried by the Varanáa tribe]. The Ferickjes took the murder weapon, washed it of blood, and kept it. Father Neil and the others surmise that Ilya Ferickje’s utterances are the “First Language” which the scriptures refer to also as the “Language of Making and of Unmaking”. They hypothesize that perhaps something is causing Ilya to change in some way, but cannot imagine why or how.

Viktor agrees to help them – at least to look into it. He rejoins the others, and they begin discussing the situation when suddenly Dr. Bauman calls them sounding terrified and distraught. He tells them that his secretary of twenty years has been murdered. The police have been called, but he is afraid and wants to join them.

Arriving at the scene, they pick up the distraught Professor Bauman and drive him back to their base of operations. Bauman is feeling responsible for his assistant’s death since it seems that people in his company are being murdered. He tells them that the police determined that she was chopped up with a kind of axe. The axe may be similar to the one that Ilyana showed them as the murder weapon she removed from the corpse of the scientist they had first approached for help.

The companions surmise that Bauman’s secretary was murdered because she stood in the way of the murderer locating something of interest in Bauman’s office. They decide to return to Bauman’s office that evening and search for any clues that might have been missed by the murderer or the police. Returning to the scene of the crime they find that the police have roped off the desk, and there is still a great deal of dried and congealed blood and gore all over the place. There are letters and papers, all blood-soaked, that have been thrown out or are lying on the desk. After searching the mess the only item of interest they find is a letter of invitation to a banquet hosted by the Silver Twilight Organization addressed to Dr. Reese Bauman. The date of the banquet is five days from now.

While beginning to search the office they hear a noise in Bauman’s office beyond and then suddenly see a light up through the blurred glass window of the door. Breaking through they catch a glimpse of a shadowy form jumping out of the open window (which is five stories up from the street). A pile of papers on Bauman’s desk has been set on fire, and in moments the fire alarm and sprinklers go off.

Looking out the window they catch a glimpse of a medium-sized, flying animal like a large bat flying off into the night. Using his animal powers, Boris stealthily follows the creature, which flies directly north, until it begins to leave the city limits. Boris then returns to rejoin the others, reporting what he saw.

They return with Bauman to Velko’s lab where they take a rest while allowing the computer to identify the axe and to continue research on the First Language.

While discussing their options they decide that they need a captive to question; someone from the opposing side. They arrange for a meeting with the Ferickjes and plan to have Mathilda and Boris break into the Ferickjes’ hotel suites while Viktor and Father Neil interview the Ferickjes.

The next evening they go to the Ferickjes’ hotel and meet once again in the lobby. Viktor introduces Father Neil to Ilyana and her brother, and they discuss the problem at hand.

Meanwhile, Boris and Mathilda scale the hotel wall up to the 14^th floor, where the Ferickjes have two adjacent rooms. On the balconies they find strange little charms made of beads and amulets. Inside Ilyana’s room they find more charms, including a kind of rosary wrapped around the door knob at the room’s entrance. Ilya’s room is more bizarre.

In his room they find that the walls are covered in what appear to be rows upon rows of either mathematical equations or cryptic glyphs or both. The writing is done in pen, grease pencil, and pencil, and some of the rows of writing seem to be squeezed in between others. The writing seems to visually emanate from the door to the closet, which has an odd drawing done in red and black grease pencil. The drawing appears to be a series of strange glyphs or symbols arranged in a complex spiral terminating in a symbol that they have seen before representing the goddess Bau-Tiamat encased in a binding circle. Opening the door to the closet they find themselves looking at something impossible: a sheet of glass like a tall window looking out onto daylight. After gazing out at what cannot possibly be, they close the door.

Meanwhile, Boris listens outside the door and hears a furtive sound just out in the hallway. He sees a tall, dark man with tattoos on his face turning to leave, and after waiting a few seconds he opens the door and sees the man entering a room across and further down the hall. Boris and Mathilda make a quick plan to capture the man. They wait a few minutes, and then break into the room just in time to find the man beginning to undress. He grabs a machine pistol from the nightstand and opens fire on them, but misses, and Boris mimics the strength of an elephant to pick up the bed and slam the man with it. The blow is strong enough to knock him unconscious, and so they bind him and drag him out of the room, and out the window to the waiting armored vehicle.

Once they have their captive, they drive him out to a suburban motel where they rent a room for a few hours to interrogate him. The man turns out to be a Varanáa assassin covered in mystical tattoos. Velko shows his aggressive side when he threatens to burn off the warrior’s sacred tattoos if he does not agree to truthfully answer their questions, and begins to do so. During the interrogation the man reveals that he is working for a group known as the Silver Twilight, and that they are dangerous enough that even his people fear retribution. His task was first to kill off certain people who would help the Ferickjes end Ilya’s affliction since their goal is to let Ilya’s transformation run its course. The Silver Twilight wants to control Ilya Ferickje once he has become what he is becoming. Meanwhile, the man kills ritualistically because he is a priest of his people, and believes the ritual murders increases his strength and that of his clan.

After burning some of his tattoos, Velko releases the warrior who runs off into the night, but before their very eyes a pair of winged monsters – barely visible in the light of the parking lights – descend on him like birds of prey and tear him to pieces.

Contacting his friend, Sadira Kandivinova, Bauman introduces her as an expert on ancient languages, particularly ancient liturgical languages and ancient Caerdolan. They arrange for another interview with the Ferickjes, and this time confront them about their connection to the Silver Twilight and their knowledge of the First Language. Ilya is confronted about the portal he has created in the closet of his hotel suite, but he shrugs off the comments and questions, explaining (in scrawled notes) that the urge to create such a portal came to him one night, and that he was overcome by an overwhelming anxiety until he completed it. He doesn’t know why he created it or if there is some secret purpose for it.

With Dr. Kandivinova’s help, they hypothesize that Ilya Ferickje is somehow undergoing a transformation into a being of the same “species” or level of existence as the founders of the Roskian pantheon. In essence, Ilya Ferickje is becoming a “god”, and the language that he is speaking is the language of making and unmaking, the power to create or destroy realities. They then realize that possession of this power would pose a terrible danger to existence itself, and that the Silver Twilight is likely trying to gain control of it.

Once in Ilya’s room, they allow Dr. Kandivinova to examine the portal. She confirms that the script is a “pure” form of the script that later became the liturgical or sacred writing of Caerdolan as well as other cultures (including, possibly, that of lost Erum). As they examine the scripts a horrid creature of shadow begins to manifest in a corner of the ceiling. Mathilda fights the creature using her holy blade, while Velco and the others, in an act of desperation, leap into the portal in the closet. They materialize in a hallway of what recognize as Castle Ferickje, although in some earlier period of time. In the castle yard below, undead corpses walk about mindlessly. An overpowering sense of unwholesomeness pervades the hallway, and they decide to try finding the magical mirror that was supposedly contained in the castle, and which allows travel across space and time.

Meanwhile, Mathilda manages to destroy the shadow creature, but then finds herself without her companions. Making a difficult decision, she jumps through the portal and rejoins her friends. In the castle, Sadira, Bauman, and the Ferickjes figure out how to cast a powerful spell to transport them back to their own time, using the castle’s own powerful magic as a nexus. The spell works just in time to avoid being torn to pieces by the undead creatures prowling the castle, and they end up suddenly joining a tour group in their own time, where the castle has become a museum and tourist attraction.

Over the next few days they return to Silegby and pursue their investigation on the Silver Twilight and its motivations and plans for the Ferickjes. Then, while arranging to meet with the Ferickjes again at their hotel, an unmarked van pulls up to the front of the hotel and the Ferickjes along with Bauman are abducted. The companions follow the van to yet another town castle in the old city which belongs to a Bosporan noble and Silver Twilight member named V.I. Kanderu (who eventually is revealed to be “Princess Vidra Kanderu, a descendant of the last emperor of Caerdolan).

Sneaking into the town castle they find Bauman in a dungeon cell, and witness a strange phenomenon. Terrified and distraught, Bauman commands the guards to leave him be in a strange voice that they have never heard before, and the guards seem compelled to obey him. Eliminating the guards, they question Bauman about this phenomenon, but he seems disoriented and unaware of anything odd. They put aside that line of inquiry and decide to continue searching the town castle for the abducted Ferickjes.

They locate meet a young woman who identifies herself as Lady Maya Ivras, and force her to show them the way to the princess’ chambers. These chambers are guarded by more of her henchmen, who they force to stay away by threatening Lady Maya. Once inside the chambers they are confronted by a strange sight: the room is large and mostly empty except for two large, alien-looking plants that move with malicious and predatory intent. A large, black chain mesh curtain partially obscures a kind of stage or platform, dimly illuminated, and on which sits a woman dressed in rich robes. Her face is obscured by a veil, but her long black hair trails onto the platform. She speaks addresses them in with haughty words in a deep, rich voice, and threatens to destroy them if they do not keep from meddling in what she claims to be her coming into her birthright. She undergoes a strange transformation, becoming huge in size and draconic in shape.

Deciding to attack her, they first fight the vicious guardian plants, and attack her, but she escapes through a trap door before they are able to engage her. Mathilda is nearly killed by the acid of the plants, but is saved by the actions of her companions. Following the dragon princess through the trap door they descend into a deep catacomb beyond which they pass into an ancient cavern. In the main chamber of the cavern, a ritual is underway in which several robed and masked cultists chant before a carven image of the terrible goddess Bau-Tiamat in her aspect as Black Earth Mother. Chained and gagged, Ilya and Ilyana Ferickje are to be sacrificed in a ceremony meant endow the princess with Ilya’s power.

After a terrible fight, the companions manage to free Ilya and Ilyana and destroy the princess before she is able to transform herself into full draconic form. The cultists are routed or destroyed, and the temple desecrated. The Ferickjes and Dr. Bauman are then returned to Velco’s lair to rest and recover from their ordeal.

Later that night, Ilya Ferickje wakes up and quietly motions to Sadira that he must leave her. Before their very eyes his physical body vanishes, replaced by a barely perceptible form that appears almost like a human shape with no features, but filled by a black void with a star field. He gestures a farewell to them, and especially to his sister, and then vanishes completely from their plane of existence.

Satisfied that the threat of Ilya’s mastery over the language of making and unmaking is now beyond the reach of those who would take it for themselves, the companions bid farewell to Ilyana Ferickje, who thanks them for their all their help, promises to help them in any way that she can with their own quest, and then departs for her home in the land of her ancestors.

Legacy of the Archivist

Reese Bauman mopped his brow with his old pocket handkerchief. Traffic into the Citadel district was particularly bad for this time of day. At 62, Reese was no longer prone to impatience, but his student Harvey had sounded so anxious on the phone.
“The cover-stone, Dr. Bauman!” he had said with more urgency than he had ever shown in the years they had worked together, “There’s a key! The stone takes a key!”
The cover-stone had baffled archaeologists since it was first uncovered two years ago by workers digging an underground Metro extension. Reese and his colleagues had opposed any public works beneath the Citadel for years, but their efforts had mostly been frustrated by the need for progress. Ancient sword blades, rusted beyond recognition and broken potsherds couldn’t convince the powers that be that archaeology in the nation’s most historically important place was worth more than the need for new public works.
This thought ran through his mind as he turned off the main avenue and onto one of the steep, narrow streets that cut into the clutter of ancient stone city blocks built up along the slopes of the Hill of the Citadel. Who lives in these old apartment buildings anyway, he wondered? Or perhaps that was the point; the old neighborhood was ripe for revitalization. Bored with the sameness of track-housing in Brettwood, or perhaps wishing to out-do their townhouse neighbors in Kingshill, Siligby’s yuppies might dish out a fair amount for luxury condos carved out of ancient town castles and abbeys on the Hill. The thought depressed him, but then came the discovery of the cover-stone, and archaeology became popular culture over night.
A massive carved stone, circular in shape, set into an even more ancient post and lintel underground structure leading into the heart of the Hill. On its outer surface were bas relief carvings of a style that suggested a late Caerdolan period, and inscribed all over with glyphs and runes meant to shut out the world. For a thousand years or more the ancient spells had worked. The stone had been left undisturbed, and its secrets safe. And yet, the stone had not been ready to reveal its secrets just yet. Engineers had determined that the post and lintel structure it supported was unstable, and it would collapse if any attempt were made to move the massive stone. Only by means of extensive support structures could the chamber be opened safely, and such an undertaking was expensive work; too expensive for anyone to want to fund until now.
Reese marveled at the way that one distant and seemingly unrelated event could have such a profound affect on his own work. The discovery of dragon bones – real dragons dated to the recent past – in a suburban swimming pool excavation across the ocean in New Vineland had in an instant given credence to the texts to which Reese had devoted his life’s work. Texts that had always been considered the fanciful fiction of a medieval lunatic had now been given new life as possible eye-witness, historical accounts. Ah, B’auk, how you have been vindicated, Reese thought to himself.
The medieval scholar had been royal archivist of Siligby under Murad I, and both tutor and chronicler of Tarus the Red before retiring to write and publish his Warlands Chronicles. His accounts of fire-breathing dragons and shape-shifting savages had always been treated by scholars as fanciful embellishments in what was otherwise a fair account of the federation of petty kingdoms under Murad I during the 10th Century. In the Chronicles, B’auk had hinted at a great power hidden beneath Castle Siligby, in the bowels of what had once been ancient Caerdolas. B’auk had dedicated his life to the study of Caerdolan, often expressing admiration for the achievements of that hostile race, while shuddering at the price they had paid for greatness. Reese felt an intellectual and emotional kinship with old B’auk. How difficult it must have been for a man of letters to live in such a hostile world. For even Caerdolan had valued science and learning more than the brutal kings and savage chieftains that ruled during B’auk’s time.
Now the discovery of real dragons showed that perhaps B’auk had been accurate in his descriptions, and that perhaps magic and even the gods might have a place in the modern world. In an instant, B’auk became a best-selling author, and New Age cults of Tiamat and modern Druids had cropped up on college campuses and village squares. Pilgrimages to long-ignored megalithic sites and any old building where some half-hidden glyph could be discovered became popular holiday excursions. Anything that even hinted at having belonged to ancient Caerdolan became instant commodities: barely recognizable segments of silver hoop money, blackened and pitted by age, fragments of masonry indistinguishable from modern quarry stones, or peat-saturated bits of planking dug up from the Black Fens could be sold for obscene amounts on online auctions as “authentic” Caerdolan artifacts. It was disgusting, and yet Reese was grateful in a way. The renewed interest in Caerdolan had made it possible for projects like his to be funded.
And now a breakthrough: Harvey Kerr, Reese’s most promising student, had discovered a possible mechanism for opening the cover-stone, hidden amongst the intricate carvings and glyphs. The ancients were known for their mysterious ingenuity, and an ingenious mystery was just what the public wanted to hear about now.
He squeezed his car into the makeshift parking lot of the old Chapel of St. Elohar, and climbed out with a spryness that he hadn’t felt in decades. Despite his bulk, he nearly ran the length of the narrow alley behind the church, and didn’t fret when he stumbled on the broken pavement of the ancient square beyond. What had been meant to be a ventilation shaft for the new subway line was converted into a point of ingress directly onto the site. He paused to catch his breath.
Mopping his brow with his handkerchief again, he noted that some of the lights strung down the length of the shaft had gone out.
“Harvey,” he called down the shaft. “Sarita?” Neither of the student archaeologists responded. He looked for the project engineer, who was supposed to be supervising the construction of the supporting structure, but he was nowhere to be found.
A flashlight, he thought. I need a flashlight. He contemplated making the run back to the car, but decided against it. Instead, he went to the side door of the chapel rectory, where the priests had allowed his team to store some equipment in one of the pantries. The place was eerily quiet. It wasn’t unusual for the priests to disappear for days at a time, lost no-doubt in some deep devotion. Even Roskianity had an ancient and arcane look about it on the Citadel Hill, as if the Reformation had failed to penetrate the defensive walls that had once kept marauding pagans out.
He grabbed a flashlight off a metal chest, and rushed back out. The depth and angle of the shaft daunted him, and for a moment his resolve nearly faltered.
“Harvey!” he called out again, surprised at the shrillness of his voice. What was wrong? Were his students out somewhere? But Harvey had sounded very anxious on the phone. Why would he abandon the site now when he had expressed how urgent it was for Reese to come and see for himself.
Carefully, Reese descended the makeshift wooden steps. The line of strung lights blacked out about fifty feet down. The rest of the way was darker than possible in the world under the sun. He turned on the flashlight, and it faltered somewhat. He cursed his idealistic students for insisting that they boycott GnomeTech devices. Reese didn’t give much weight to the notion of technological imperialism, especially when descending into the black earth with a fading light. Who cared that the little beasts were sitting atop mountains of money, when what they sold above all was reliability! Reese hit the failing flashlight three times with the palm of his hand, and coaxed it into brightening up again. He continued his descent.
“Harvey,” he called out again, almost in a whisper. He didn’t know why he was scared. He hadn’t been scared of the dark since he was a boy, so long ago that it might have been written in B’auk’s now famous Chronicles. He breathed a sigh of relief when his feet crunched down on the gravely floor of the tunnel.
The beam of his light glistened off the damp walls of the tunnel, chewed up and polished by the teeth of the boring machine that had stopped when a sharp-eyed operator had spotted the ancient carvings. He walked a few paces and caught a glimpse of someone standing in front of the stone just before the flashlight went out completely.
He swore, and began hitting the flashlight with the palm of his hand, attempting to bring it back to life again.
“Is that you, Sarita?” he called out. The figure had seemed slim and dark in the fading torchlight. He was less familiar with his newest student. She was friendly and eager, to be sure, but she had never seemed to want to share in the thrill of discovery with him as Harvey Kerr had. For her, Reese, indeed the whole department had been merely a means for her to have her own, private victories. Fair enough, he had thought.
“Sarita,” he repeated.
“Yes, Professor Bauman,” came the girl’s sultry voice out of the dark.
“Where’s Harvey?” Silence.
“Why are you here alone in the dark?” he asked again.
“I was born into darkness, Professor,” she said. Her tone seemed strange, at once distant and present. “I find solace in the dark.”
“Where is Harvey?” he asked again. “He made a discovery… you made a discovery, I mean together. Didn’t you?”
The light grew weakly from the flashlight of its own accord. He had let his arm drop, and a faint yellow circle of electric light illuminated the earth, imprinted with the marks of work boots. He could barely make out the form of the young woman standing lean and dark before the huge, carved circular stone. Something kept him from raising the light to shine upon her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to blind her, but rather, that he feared some terrible and unknown consequence to this action.
He moved the beam slowly toward her, careful not to shine it upon her face, and then an electric fear ran up his arm and down his spine, threatening to make him collapse where he stood. On the ground, near her feet lay the crumpled form of Harvey Kerr. He couldn’t see any blood, but the stillness of the form made him fear the worst.
“What’s happened here?” he asked, his voice rasping. “Was there an accident?” The last question had been said without conviction. He knew it was no accident even before he had asked it.
“Some sacrifices must be made sometimes,” Sarita said, or the thing that seemed to be Sarita said. The tone of her voice seemed alien in the darkness.
“You killed him? For what?” Reese asked, surprising even himself for voicing the accusation.
“He was in my way,” she said. “And the Dark Power requires blood.”
“What?”
“Come to me!” she commanded, and for a moment he felt the urge to dash himself against the carved stone and spill his blood and brains upon it. He stood his ground.
She gasped in the dark; a sound barely audible.
“Truly, you carry the Legacy of the Archivist!” she said with something like excitement, if not joy.
“I don’t understand?” he said.
“Oh but you do!” she said. “That’s just it. Only you understand the significance of the stone. Only the Archivist carried the true Key, and only he was entrusted with the knowledge of the power within!”
“I don’t know what you mean!” Reese said, backing away. He felt an inexplicable terror, a primordial fear of this slightly-built girl. Then, despite himself, “B’auk didn’t know anything about this stone. He doesn’t mention it in his works.”
“He knew!” Sarita hissed. “He knew because the blood of Caerdolan ran through his veins, just as it does through mine… and yours.” She moved forward, slowly and deliberately, stepping over the lifeless body of what had once been Reese’s friend and protégé.
“No!” Reese said. “I don’t know anything about this business! You’re mad, and you’re a murderer! That’s all I know!”
Sarita’s hand went up, palm facing out toward him. A faint glow seemed to shine out from the depths of her eyes, like the eye-shine of a cat.
“No!” Reese cried out again, and this time found the strength to shine the light in her face. She hissed out an animal sound, and brought the outstretched hand to shield her mad eyes.
“Back!” he cried with as much courage as he could muster in his voice. In an instant memories of a childhood in the north country came flooding back to him, of morning worship services in the country church with his mother and father, the rising sun blazing in a dazzling spectacle of color through the stained glass rose window above the altar. The memory was superimposed upon another, impossible memory that was his and yet not his. A foreign mother as real as his own, crushing herbs in a stone mortar by a peat hearth, the morning light streaming through autumn leaves no less spectacular than the stained church glass.
“The power of Caerdolan failed!” he heard himself cry out in a voice that was at once his and yet someone else’s. “The Light prevails, and the Darkness is swept away! Go back into the Void where you belong!”
He thrust the torch forward, and the feeble beam seemed emboldened by his words. It surged brightly like a ray of sunlight, and the Sarita thing cringed and growled like a savage beast held at bay. Then the light went out, as suddenly as it had flared up, and he was plunged into darkness.
For what seemed like long hours he stood alone in the dark. Although he could not see anything at all for some time, he was somehow instinctively sure that the dark thing was gone. His fear paralyzed him where he stood, but slowly his limbs began to move. A faint light made its way down from the opening far above. It took all his will to make it to the shaft, and begin the ascent. He felt shame at abandoning Harvey’s body in the dark. My dear boy, he thought, I am so sorry. He didn’t know what he had to be sorry for. Perhaps it was the Archivist again. He wondered this as he wondered whose tears burned down his cheeks.
He wiped his face with his sleeve, and the roughness of the tweed startled him. He looked up and blinked as he began his ascent into the light.

The preceding short story was written to introduce players to Legacies, a role-playing campaign set in the World of Caerdolan familiar to some from D&D Warlands, D&D Mainlands, Caerdolan, and Castle Ferickje but set in a modern era. The story revolves around a cast of player characters some of who possess supernatural abilities inherited from ancient ancestors who defeated a Great Evil and were then charged with keeping it from ever returning. The powers or abilities but mostly the "calling" are the Legacies passed down to their descendants.

The player characters will be from all walks of life. They can be rich or poor, educated or not, even have criminal tendencies, but they must not be evil by nature. I don’t mind if someone makes a petty thief or even someone who has fallen into hard times and steals or turns tricks to make a living, but no murderers, kidnappers or rapists please… I’ve been asked if I would allow vampire characters. The answer is no. Vampires in this universe are inherently evil beings who have sold their souls to the Darkness in return for an eternal half-life. There is no goodness left in them to be redeemed, and so they cannot be the protagonists of this story. Player characters can be flawed – in fact I encourage this – but they must be inherently good, and have the possibility of redemption.

The supernatural abilities will be relatively low-powered, but cinematic. They can be heightened awareness, psionics, sorcery (in D&D terms), heightened physical abilities, unnatural fighting prowess, mechanical/gadget wizardry, etc. We are using the new Mutants & Masterminds 2nd edition because of its versatility with crafting powers and skills and its elegance in combat. Power level in Mutants & Masterminds will be 4 (giving 60 points). I had considered D20 Modern or Urban Arcana because they are appropriate for the genre setting, but having played them, I still feel that the new M&M 2nd is probably better suited. Please do not think of your characters in terms of classic superheroes, however. The character types I’m looking for are more akin to the character types in Urban Arcana than what one immediately sees in the pages of Mutants & Masterminds. That said, I also don’t want to use the archetypes, races, and so forth in Urban Arcana, which is another reason not to use that game system. I don’t want people distracted into making modern-day Drow, etc.

All the races available in the World of Caerdolan D&D campaigns will be allowed here, although please tell me early on if you plan on making a demi-human as their roles in the culture and society of modern-day WoC is somewhat complicated and requires more explanation. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the WoC campaigns, I will allow Gnomes, Dwarves, Half-elves and Halflings as well as the more common humans. Gnomes are the most common and visible demi-humans in the WoC followed by Dwarves and then Halflings. Elves exist, but are rarely seen in the D&D setting and virtually never encountered in Legacies. I will not allow Elves as player-characters, but will allow Half-elves if you can convince me with a really great background story.


I've been waiting here
Waiting for faith
And the word to fall.
Now the darkness comes
And I'll pray for
The end of us all.

Don't let the dark into me
We killed the angels that warned us of you
Don't let the dark into me
We raised the tower of Babel for you
Don't let the dark into me
We let the children build temples for you
Don't let the dark into me
Don't let the vengeance of Heaven be you…
Dark, Gary Numan

Warlands Campaign Description

D&D WARLANDS CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
February 2002 – February 2004


The following is a summary of all twenty modules that comprise the campaign titled D&D Warlands, along with supplemental background material where available. Module titles in parentheses are the original “working titles” versus the “descriptive titles” applied later. The first summary is the longest because it includes background information that is not repeated in the other module summaries.
Summaries are based on review of module notes and the GM’s memory. I apologize in advance for any errors or omissions.

WL01 “Dark Wedding” (“Something Fierce”)

Nine days after the end of the great Battle of the Fields of Caerdolas between the rival kingdoms of Silegby and Aerellus, the end of hostilities is to be sanctified by a marriage between Prince Keobahn, heir to the throne of Aerellus, and Princess Nuara, last surviving child of King Murad of Silegby. In the battle, 10,000 men fell on both sides, including King Leoman of Aerellus and Prince Durad, only son and heir of Murad. The war was costly and left the kingdoms of Silegby and Aerellus crippled and vulnerable to attack from without. An alliance between the two stands as their only hope.

In attendance at the royal wedding, held in the courtyard of Castle Silegby, are knights of the two royal houses, and various lords of the lands about, as well as royal subjects. Among them are the fighting woman Kesna, who trained in the martial skills when her father and brothers were killed fighting in Silegby’s many wars, the ranger Gest, loyal member of a mysterious brotherhood of royal trackers and scouts, and the druid Calanthe representing the ancient sisterhood who serve the old spirits of wood and field, and the oldest gods of the land. Also in attendance is a delegation from the Duchy of O, across the water, proposing an alliance between Silegby and the mainland realm. Leading this delegation is the priest of Roski Friar Bencovus with his acolytes Brother Samuel and Brother Milner, as well as the courtesan Magda and her ladies in waiting. Among these is the mischievous young Kanti. Finally, with the knights of the allied kingdom of Errolan, is a young wizard named Rigby, sent by his master to observe and report. Two warships of the Northmen have landed near Silegby too late to lend aid in the battle, but the Northmen warriors, distant kin of Murad’s serve as the king’s personal honor guard during the ceremony.

The wedding ceremony is suddenly disrupted by a blast of brimstone and a pillar of black smoke that rises up over the gathering and suddenly explodes into a hypnotic pattern of magical light and color. All watch in enchanted stillness as a dark-cloaked figure of a man unfolds from the shadows of the crowd, and enveloping the princess in his mantle, vanishes without a trace. Moments later, they are released from their enchantment, and chaos ensues as accusations of treachery fly, and swords are drawn. Gest and Calanthe offer their services and at once set off in search of the princess while the others attempt to make some sense of the events and begin a search of the citadel. Eventually, it is determined that a single man – a sorcerer or wizard – abducted the princess and carried her off heading north across the fields toward the kingdom of Aerellus. Gest and Calanthe, however, determine that this is a magical ruse, and that the kidnapper in fact headed north and west toward the Bretwood, the forest that lies nearest to Silegby. Gest, Calanthe, Kesna, Kanti, and Rigby track the mysterious stranger into the Bretwood and find a party of travelers murdered on the road. At this point the tracks become confused, and what had been the trail of a man becomes that of a panther. Within the wood they find tokens of the princess’ passage but eventually lose the trail until they meet a peasant from Errolan who tells a story of an attack by the Varanáa, a barbarian hoard who have threatened the outlying kingdoms of the Warlands for over a hundred years. The Varanáa are said to be sorcerers and shape-changers as well as savage warriors, but it had been decades since they had made such a bold attack against a fortified kingdom.

Arriving in Errolan, the adventurers find cottages and farmsteads burning, and the mutilated bodies of farmers and knights of the realm strewn about the fields. The castle of Errolan still stands, though its roofs are burning and many of the warriors that defended it lie dead. Old Lord Errol, ruler of Errolan informs them that the Varanáa took many of the women and children of Errolan as slave captives, leading them north to the river, where a fleet of black ships awaited them. The ships were of Northman make, and headed east, downriver to the coast. A Northman settlement is known to have been established there, without leave of Lord Errol, in whose realm it lies, and Lord Errol believes them to be from the Northman kingdom of Andrisgerda, whose king is Beor the Old. Local knowledge has it that the Varanáa do not make ships, nor do they make steel weapons, but those that attacked Errolan were armed with steel axes and armor of Northmen design. They fear a deadly alliance between the Varanáa and the many Northland realms that follow Beor the Old.

Meanwhile, the Varanáa dead are examined, and it is learned that the tattoos they wear are enchanted, giving them supernatural abilities, including the ability to change their shapes into those of animals. The tattoo magic is believed to be a perverse marriage between druidic nature magic and demonic sorcery.

The adventurers are given a flat-bottom river boat to sail down river in pursuit of the Varanáa. Confronting the Northmen at the new settlement, they are assured that they are there by leave of Murad, high king at Silegby, and that they will do what they can to help. They also claim that, by order of their king, Beor the Old, they are not to engage the Varanáa in battle though they will assist the Warlanders by sailing with them to where they know the Varanáa to be camped, an old Northman trading post in the north of the lands, named Sturm.

Sailing with the Northmen, they reach Sturm, only to find that it is an uninhabited post with a strand of flat beach on which the Northmen have built a few semi-permanent dwellings and storage buildings across a narrow inlet from where the Varanáa have erected heathen totem poles and buried caches of preserved food and goods. It is here that Gest finds the magic whale bone club and Kanti her bone amulet of invisibility.

They track the Varanáa and their prisoners inland to a densely forested region infested with goblins and prowling giant reptiles, until they reach a protected canyon in which the Varanáa have built a large, semi-permanent village. Just outside the canyon they meet a wandering Gnome illusionist named Gnamek, who joins their party and offers his help.

Sneaking into the Varanáa camp they witness a savage ceremony wherein several of the captives are slaughtered by Varanáa in bear form, and by a black dragon-like creature that reveals itself to be a transformed Varanáa chieftain. Stealthily entering the village, they locate Princess Nuara in a cave in the cliff side of the canyon, drugged and tattooed with the mark of a snake on her back. She is guarded by a large warrior wielding a battle axe, who is killed by Kesna in single combat.

Using stealth and magic, they free the prisoners, and escape along the stream that flows out of the Varanáa canyon. They return the princess to her home and father, only to learn that Prince Keobahn has returned to Aerellus demanding that Nuara be returned to him or he will declare war once again on Silegby. Nuara is not herself, and her father worries for her. The Varanáa tattoo is doubtless an enchantment that appears to be affecting her mind. Rigby is sent back to Errolan with aid from Silegby and a message to be taken to Aerellus that Nuara is safely in her father’s house. The sorcerer-mage that abducted Nuara is revealed to be a Varanáa chieftain named Varanye, who lived for part of his life among the Northmen and secretly in the Warlands and even in the cities of the Mainlands. Nuara claims to remember nothing else about him, except that she could not resist the power of his gaze. The Varanáa threat now takes precedence over any other local grievances, and a truce is called in order that the united realms of the Warlands may stand in defense against the common threat of the Varanáa. The Gnome, Gnamek offers his services as advisor to the king, and Murad accepts and gives him quarters in the old wizard’s tower of Castle Silegby.

WL02 “The Tombs of Caerdolan”

Gest, Kanti and Calanthe ask leave to go with the rangers and scouts of Silegby in search of Varanáa incursions on the borders of the kingdom. Meanwhile, Kesna and Gnamek are asked to investigate claims by local farmers that the fallen corpses buried in the Battle Mound have been seen walking the night in the open fields. They take with them two loyal men-at-arms of Murad’s house: Wilhelm and Kerry.

While camping on the edge of the Bretwood they see the wandering corpses of two fallen warriors making their way from the nearby Hill of the White Horses, so named because of the colossal stylized images of white horses carved into the chalk beneath the topsoil of the hillsides. Local legends claim that the last emperors of ancient Caerdolan built their tombs beneath those hills and marked them with the image of the sacred horse.

Curious, Kesna and Gnamek lead their party to the last of the Horse Hills, and after searching for some time, find an inconspicuous opening near its summit. Careful examination of the opening reveals that it has been recently tampered with, and they cautiously descend into the darkness of a deep shaft. At the bottom they find an opened door slab leading down a corridor that has been lit with torches. Small burial chambers branch out from the main passage, and in these they find the stone sarcophagi of ancient Caerdolan officials who served the last emperors of Caerdolan. Among their effects are a magical golden measuring rod in the tomb of an ancient architect named Ekor and a golden stylus and writing board in the tomb of an ancient scribe named Elnara.

While exploring the tombs, they are suddenly faced by undead terrors: animated skeletons wielding swords and axes. Barely escaping with their lives, they finally enter the beehive-domed tomb of Emperor Nairo, 24th Ruler of Caerdolas. Here they find piles of treasure, including enchanted weapons and shields. Wilhelm takes an enchanted longsword for himself, while Kerry selects a magic shield with the device of the imperial honor guard of Caerdolas emblazoned upon it. More skeletons drive them further into the passageways, leading them to the tomb of the next ruler, the emperor Meru. Beyond that they enter the tomb of Emperor Kanderu, whose rule was said to be the cruelest of all. Here they find inscriptions that describe a powerful artifact known as the Torque of the Ages. It is claimed to be a gift of the gods to the emperors of Caerdolas, so that they may be invincible in warfare and rule the world.

According to Kerry, whose mother is descended from Caerdolan nobility, Emperor Kanderu made many enemies, even amongst his lords and his own household. It is said that only by treachery from within could Caerdolas fall, and Kanderu’s policies made that possible. The last ruler of Caerdolas was Kanderu’s daughter Anaanara, who ruled only three years before she was assassinated. However, her body was never found after her loyal priests dressed it for burial, and the location of her tomb was never revealed in the days of the decline of the empire. The Torque vanished with her as well, and legend has it that he who finds the tomb of Anaanara will also find the Torque.

While exploring the tomb of Kanderu, they are suddenly attacked by more undead horrors, and by an evil half-elf necromancer named Hayek. Hayek claims to be descended from the imperial house of Caerdolan and claims the Torque as an heirloom of his house. He defends his claim savagely with his animated skeletons and a deadly magical artifact known as the Rod of Infernus. Hayek and his undead minions are eventually dispatched and Gnamek claims the Rod of Infernus for his own. In Hayek’s possession they discover a black stone amulet carved into the image of a solemn death mask and set upon a metal jewel with ancient symbols associated with death magic. In his hand he held a carved rock-crystal spike, which the deduce fits neatly into a hole in the lid of Kanderu’s sarcophagus.

Doing so, the entire dais upon which the sarcophagus sits is revealed to be a mechanical device that descends down into a secret chamber beneath that of the emperor Kanderu. The chamber is a circular Caerdolan burial chamber similar to the others that have seen except for the location of the sarcophagus. A sarcophagus carved of gleaming white alabaster with the relief sculpture of a beautiful woman stands on the western wall of the chamber flanked by two massive, life-like statues of warrior women armed with huge crystal swords. Unimaginable treasures fill the chamber of the last Caerdolan ruler, but Gnamek and Kesna decide to leave the chamber undefiled and seal it lest anyone else attempt to steal the dangerous legendary treasure reputedly laid to rest with its mistress. Gnamek closes the chamber, tossing the key in at the last moment before the colossal mechanical door shuts, and they return to Silegby laden with other, lesser treasures and the trappings of the defeated necromancer that had been terrorizing the land. Gnamek, Kesna, Wilhelm and Kerry swear an oath never to reveal the location of Anaanara’s tomb.

WL03 – “The Tower”

King Murad orders his wizard Gnamek and the ranger Gest to find two children who went missing. A ten year old girl named Holly, only child of Sir Eckbert, a knight of Silegby, and her closest friend Jonas, son of Wilhelm, man-at-arms of Murad’s house. Also missing was Holly’s nursemaid, a woman named Nanetta.

Examining the room, the adventurers deduce that Nanetta abducted the children in the night, and escaped with help from someone outside. Tracking the nurse maid and her accomplice, Gest leads the rest of the party outside of the city, and across the open fields as far as the Bretwood. Just within, they discover the damaged remains of a cart and the corpses of Nanetta and a man dressed as a common traveler. Gest determines that the cart was attacked by several armed men, but the children escaped into the woods. The armed men followed the children through a narrow strip of the Bretwood emerging at an ancient ruined watchtower of Caerdolas overlooking the sea.

Inside the tower, they find the savagely mutilated bodies of several brigands, but no sign of the children. Descending into the depths of the tower, they discover a network of dungeons and passages still intact and haunted by ghouls. Beneath the last passageway, they find steps cut into the living rock leading down to a natural tidal cave. The cave has been made into a mockery of a throne room, where drowned warriors cursed to undeath serve a lich that was once a noble lady of Caerdolan named Ashaafra. Ashaafra holds the children captive. Her plan is to perform a ceremony that will transfer her soul into the body of the young girl Holly, and sacrificing Jonas to the dark god that she must appease to accomplish this.

After fighting off the ghouls, the adventurers destroy Ashaafra by destroying the amulet she wears, the necromantic artifact that allows her to maintain her lich form. The children are returned safely to their respective parents, and the adventurers once further earn the respect and gratitude of the lords of Silegby. Wilhelm pledges his loyalty to Gest and Gnamek from then on.

WL04 – “The Evil Millpond”

In the highland realm of Ooweghir, young children have been mysteriously disappearing. Lord Maltenor of Ooweghir, younger brother of King Murad, has sent word to Silegby requesting that the “great wizard” Gnamek be sent to Ooweghir to learn the nature of the disappearances. The adventurers set off to Ooweghir, which lies way off in the north of the Warlands in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Its stronghold stands on the eastern shore of Lake Malma, the deep and narrow lake at the bottom of the fertile valley. Lord Maltenor’s Great Hall is made of massive timbers carted from the Greatwood, and built upon massive pilings just off the shore of the lake and in the ancestral style of the Warlanders. Maltenor and his queen, Ariya offer the best hospitality available, as well as the services of the royal bard, Evro. In conversation, Gnamek eventually learns that Evro is in fact a wizard, but wishes that this information be kept from Lord Maltenor.

Exploring the valley of Malma, the adventurers confront a shepherd named Lorgham and his wife Greta. The shepherd and his wife lost their young son, their only child. Disturbed by the shepherd’s mistreatment of his dog, Gest offers to buy the dog, and uses his abilities to speak with animals to communicate with the dog. In this way, they learn that the dog is familiar with the killer’s scent, and tracks it to the nearby mill.

The mill is owned by a man named Munro, a relatively wealthy and worldly man married to a shrewish woman who is never satisfied with the exotic gifts and riches her husband gives her. Gest learns from the dog, Tobias that the scent of the killer is on the miller and his wife. Casting a sphere of truth, Gnamek forces the miller to admit that he has been abducting children to feed the creature that lives in his millpond. The miller tells a horrible tale:

Returning from one of his journeys, he discovered that an evil creature known as a Banelar emerged from the depths of Lake Malma and into his millpond. It devoured his wife, and then used its magic to take on her form. The Banelar promised to keep the wife’s form and spare his life in return for regular feedings of fresh meat. At first the Banelar was satisfied with fish, fowl, and the occasional lamb or sheep, but eventually it began to demand children. Driven insane by the creature, and under its spell, the miller began the grizzly work of bringing live victims.

Realizing that it has been discovered, the Banelar in the form of the miller’s wife attacks the adventurers by casting an explosive fireball at them. It eventually reveals its true form – that of a huge serpent with prehensile tentacle-like barbells on its face that it uses to wield magic wands – and continues to attack them. Using a coordinated series of attacks, the adventurers manage to strike down the Banelar, but not before the miller’s house and the mill itself are consumed with flames.

The adventurers remove the Banelar’s head and have it smoked and cured so that they can return it to Silegby for further study. Lord Maltenor sends them back to Silegby with treasure and his gratitude, and Gnamek takes the wands that the Banelar wielded. Gest takes Tobias with him to become a loyal companion. Upon their return, they report to Murad, and Gnamek betrays Evro’s secret, believing that it will someday be of use to himself and to Murad to know of it.


WL05 – “The Monastery”

Reports arrive in Silegby of a terrible calamity that has occurred in the nearby village of Quillach in the west of the realm of Silegby. Gnamek and Kesna are sent to investigate along with Kerry and the archer Rana. Before reaching the village, they are confronted with the ominous presence of a great stone monastery built on a hill overlooking the valley and the village therein. The monastery was built on the site of an old Caerdolan watch-tower looking out over the sea, now sanctified by the Bishop of O and occupied by the Monks of Saint Elohar, a heroic figure of the early days of the Church of Roski. Something seems wrong with the monastery, and the adventurers decide to explore it first.

Upon closer examination, they notice that the monastery appears to be abandoned. There is no sound and no movement within. They enter the courtyard of the cloister and are set upon by demoniacs in monk’s robes. Fighting their way further into the monastery, they eventually find the abbot, Brother Longonas, cowering in a small chapel off the communal dining hall. He appears to be on the edge of insanity, but desperately clutches a silver gilt ceremonial scepter with a jeweled crystal chamber containing a small amount of dark, reddish-black fluid. The scepter, he explains, is a reliquary containing the holiest of the monastery’s relics: the blood of Saint Elohar himself, miraculously maintained fresh and in a fluid state. The demon-possessed monks avoid the small chapel because of the presence of the relic, and Brother Longonas believes that he is the last survivor of his order. He is wracked with guilt, and pathetically reveals the story of how he gave into the weakness of his flesh, and dabbling into forbidden arts, attempted to summon a demon of desire, a succubus to do for him what no goodly woman ever would. The reward for his sin was that he called forth, not a submissive little temptress as he had desired, but the demon queen Befana, Torturer of Flesh and Souls.

Brother Longonas’ sin caused Roski to withdraw his blessing from the monastery, and Befana was free to summon forth the hoards of her minions from the hell she rules. These in turn took possession of the hapless monks, and allowed her to cast a spell of enchantment upon the nearby village of Quillach, trapping all of the villagers in a terrifying limbo where they were hunted each night by hell-spawned monsters. Only in the blood of Saint Elohar was did Roski’s power remain, and thus was Brother Longonas able to survive and suffer the guilt and anguish of seeing his brotherhood devoured by the demons of darkness.

Resolving to rescue the cursed villagers, Gnamek and Kesna urged Brother Longonas to redeem his soul by helping them to banish the demon queen back to the hell from which she came. Fighting their way past her minions, they made their way down into the catacombs where the dead monks lie buried, and to a deep well chamber where the demon queen held court in a mockery of the Throne of Heaven; a giant she-devil with four arms ending in claw-like hands holding huge curved swords and attended by slavering, demon-possessed acolyte monks.

Sending a magic fireball into the chamber, Gnamek destroyed her demoniac minions, inciting the wrath of Befana who cast a spell of fear by ringing the deadly blades of her swords. Overcome with the fearful enchantment, Gnamek, Rana, and Kerry fled from the well chamber, leaving Kesna and Brother Longonas to face the demon queen alone. Befana balked only momentarily at the site of the reliquary, then sliced off Longonas’ head with a stroke of her paired swords before chasing after Kesna. Picking up the reliquary, Kesna ran for her life down the dark passageway, throwing caltrops in her wake to slow down the pursuing Befana. With Gnamek’s help Kesna leapt climbed out of the catacombs and using magic and what courage remained to them, they collapsed the roof of the catacomb upon Befana, driving her back down the well and into the hell that spawned her.

Journeying to the village of Quillach, they discovered that the villagers had been saved by their actions, and Kerry volunteered to remain and defend them as they relocated their homes and belongings to the next valley, rebuilding the new village of Quillach away from the accursed place. Upon their return to Silegby, the story of Longonas’ betrayal and the curse on the monastery prompted Friar Bencovus to send for holy knights of Roski and clerics from O to re-consecrate the monastery and reclaim it in the name of Roski. The Blood of Elohar was entrusted to Brother Samuel, a devotee of Saint Elohar, who eventually surrendered it to the Knights of Elohar, an order of missionary paladins founded by the saint.

WL06 – “The Accursed Grove” (“The Evil Oak”)

While Gnamek and Kesna fight the demonic evils of the Monastery, rumors of a terrible catastrophe befallen upon the Danaan, the Druid order of the Bretwood whose ancient powers once protected the woods and fields of the Warlands, reaches Silegby. Calanthe the Druid begs the king’s leave to return to the Sacred Grove. Accompanied by Gest and Kanti, Calanthe returns to find that the ancient site has been defiled, and that the Great Oak and altar of the Daughters of Dannu has been toppled and ruined by some evil force.

Using his wood craft, Gest finds the entrance to an underground passage where the earth is soaked in blood and the remains of forest cruelly slaughtered forest Gnomes. The passage leads deep into the earth beneath the Grove, where they discover the evil burial chamber of an ancient Caerdolan witch priestess, cursed to walk the night in undeath and feed upon the blood of the living along with the acolytes that served her in life.

In the deepest chamber they find the seven elders of the Druid Order, poisoned and ensorcelled and dressed as sacrificial victims to the ancient goddess of Caerdolan, Bau-Tiamat, who was worshipped in place of Dannu. Weakened and defeated, the Druid high priestesses are helpless in the fight against the vampiric horrors of the tomb, but the adventurers manage to bring them out into the sunlight, and slay the vampire queen before burning the unholy altar and destroying the power of Caerdolan that defiles the Sacred Grove.

The High Priestess of the Danaan then tells Calanthe of the old secret of their order: the ancient evil of Caerdolan that was entombed by the ancestors of the Danaan, and sealed with the blessed magic of the Great Oak. Yet they underestimated the dark power of Caerdolan, which festered and grew over time, and with the coming of the Varanáa came forth in power and dread and caught them unawares. The most part of the order was destroyed by the evil power, and the strongest of them survived, but only to be ensorcelled and bound for the ultimate sacrifice that would destroy the power of Dannu and replace it with that of the Dark Mother, Bau-Tiamat.

Planting her oaken staff in the ground, the High Priestess called forth the power of Dannu, and the staff grew green and gave lead and branch, and miraculously took root and in moments became a great oak of giant size as if it had been one of many years. Thus was the power of the Grove restored, but the order greatly diminished, and Calanthe was ordered to return with the coming of the Spring Feast take part in the Mysteries of the Oak that is shared with the Brotherhood of the Wozen, the male Druid order of the Warlands. Having destroyed the ancient evil and restored the Sacred Grove, the adventurers returned to Silegby with news of the emergence of this ancient evil and the possible connection with the Varanáa invasion.

WL07 – “Land of the Crescent Moon” (“Sherrod Part One”)

Amidst much spectacle and exotic fanfare, the Drylander merchant Tyrus arrives at Silegby, bringing rare goods, exotic delicacies, and greetings from Prince Sherrod of El Maloof. King Murad decides to take advantage of the situation, and send a delegation to appeal to Sherrod as a friend. He asks the adventurers to meet with Prince Sherrod and open up relations between Silegby and El Maloof. Brown-skinned, and dressed in the loose-fitting cotton and silk robes of the Drylanders, Tyrus is revealed to be none other than the merchant friend that B’auk always speaks so fondly of for bringing his favorite almond biscuits, as well as tales of distant adventures and exotic artifacts. In fact, most of the people of Silegby and the surrounding villages welcome the arrival of Tyrus’ ship with its red and green lateen sails and gilded masthead, for the highlight of the merchant’s visit is usually a circus-like auction that is as much a theatrical spectacle as it is a mercantilist venue. The arrival of the Drylanders brings color and a spirit of revelry and carnival to the war-torn kingdom of Silegby.

Many exotic artifacts and goods are sold during the auction, and greatest of these is the Dragon Lance, an ancient and magical weapon forged by the Storm Giants during their ancient war against the Dragons and which no dragon armor can withstand. Although only Odium, Tyrus’ giant servant, can easily wield the weapon, Murad insists he must have it for the defense of Silegby against the Varanáa and the rumor of their dragon host. Sealing the bargain, Murad then orders Gnamek, Gest, Kesna, Kanti, and Calanthe to return with Tyrus to El Maloof, the seaside city of the westernmost Dryland kingdom, ruled by the young prince Sherrod. The adventurers are to approach Sherrod as emissaries of peace from Silegby as the sister city of El Maloof, in the hopes of sealing a defense alliance between the two kingdoms, and carry letters of introduction from Murad offering their services to the prince. Accompanying them is a shipment of goods as gifts and tokens of friendship, including twelve virgin slave girls taken captive from the house of the Northman Beor the Old. Accompanying the adventurers is Brother Samuel, priest of Roski and of the missionary order of Saint Elohar.

After a long ocean voyage, they arrive at the shining port city of El Maloof, the Jewel of the Sea, with its white walls and gleaming blue-tiled domes and gilded spires. The greatest of these domes and spires tops the great temple of the Moon Goddess Istare, patroness of El Maloof and of most of the kingdoms of the Drylands whose horned crescent moon adorns every spire and banner in the land. They are received with great honor at the royal palace of Prince Sherrod, and Kesna and Kanti are made comfortable in the royal harem. Here they meet the royal wives of prince Sherrod, who range in age from the wise and seasoned Sharifah to the child bride Sagirah. They soon learn that at twelve years of age, Sagirah nevertheless carries the prince’s second child. Here they also befriend Noura, a royal concubine with the sacred power of healing hands.

Meeting with the chieftains of the roving bands who pay tribute to El Maloof, Sherrod introduces them to the adventurers, who are asked to help find the tribe of bandits that terrorizes the desert caravans and the villages on the boundaries of the kingdom. The bandits are believed to have a secret lair hidden by dark magic. Using their own magic, the adventurers divine the location of the hideout, discovering an ancient citadel in the desert hidden within an enchanted canyon of rock and protected by a pair of magic stone griffins.

The adventurers set out to attack the bandits’ stronghold by secrecy, sending Sherrod and his troops to cut off their escape through the back of the canyon. Using great skill in stealth and magic, they enter the stronghold and kill every bandit they encounter. Entering the inner sanctum of the stronghold they discover it to be a shrine to Tiamat maintained by a wizard-priest in blue robes. The priest eventually reveals himself to be an Abishai, a demon servitor of Tiamat, who summons lesser demon servitors to destroy the intruders. After defeating the demons and defiling the shrine, the adventurers break the spells protecting the bandit stronghold and Sherrod’s army rides in to destroy or capture the remaining bandits. The adventurers claim the treasures of the shrine, but surrender the plunder of the bandits to Sherrod, who distributes it among their many victims. Among the treasures of the shrine are magical weapons and armor, including a sword of ancient Ateb which Kesna claims and the complete accoutrements of a Zarkeen, the enchanted warriors of the ancient Erumites. They return to El Maloof, where Sherrod offers them a house near the palace to accommodate them during their extended stay.

WL08 – “The Beast in the Desert” (“Sherrod Part Two”)

A group of nomadic chieftains tells of a beast that preys on their flocks, camels, horses, and even people. No one has seen it, and lived to tell about it, but the beast grows bolder, and its attacks are getting closer to the settlements. The adventurers ride into the desert to the oasis town of El Golea on the edge of the Great Desert. Beyond only a tiny oasis named Djado offers even the barest sustenance and water in the deep desert before reaching, after many weeks, the fertile lands of the southern kingdom of the black-skinned Omo.

The leader of El Golea is a wise old lore master known as Sheik Jamsheen, whose first wife, Bethada is a healer and priestess to the Moon Goddess. Jamsheen tells the adventurers that the beast comes out of the deep desert, usually at night and devours livestock and any lone traveler unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open after dark. He believes that it is a demon monster come forth from the accursed Erum, lost city of the Erumites, which was swallowed up by the desert in ancient times.

Accompanied by a local desert guide and falconer named Nusswan, and aided by the accounts of camels and goats with whom Gest communes using his ranger’s magic, the adventurers track the beast into the deep desert and discover it to be a brown dragon, a terrible and cunning beast which hunts by lying in ambush beneath the desert sands. In the battle that ensues, Nusswan is slain by the dragon, but the Warlanders slay the dragon, which with its last breath curses them with the vengeance of its kindred and tantalizes them with rumors of the riches of the Lost City. The dragon’s hide is flayed off of its bones and made into armor, and the remains burned on the open sands as a beacon to the vultures and beasts of the desert wilderness. Nusswan is buried with great honor, and in homage Gest befriends the trained falcon and gives it the name of its former master.

Back in El Golea, the Warlanders are received with great honor and the dragon’s death celebrated with feasting. They are given gifts of treasure and among them several jars containing the magic summoning of elemental wind spirits as well as an amulet of the genai, allowing them one wish from a powerful djinn spirit.

During the festivities, the Warlanders listen to many tales of the lore of the desert people, and among them tales of an ancient time of prosperity when the caravan routes were controlled by the Golden City of the Erumites, built upon the shores of a wide freshwater lake in the heart of the desert. After ruling for 1,400 years, Erum was attacked and besieged by an army of witch kings from Caerdolas. The siege lasted for five years, during which time a curse was laid upon the land by the black arts of Caerdolan. In that time the great lake began to dry up and its waters became a caustic poison. Many Erumites died of famine and thirst, and many were slain or taken prisoner when they attempted to break the siege. A few, it was said, managed to escape by some unknown means, for it was well-known that the lords of Erum were great wizards, though their magic was used for the gathering of erudite knowledge and riches rather than for warfare. In time the lake became a dry and desolate salt flats and the city disappeared altogether under the desert sands, and became the haven of demons brought forth by the devil worshipping lords of Caerdolan. Only the temple of Istare, Queen of Heaven, was left undefiled, for the power of Istare was great in Erum and her priestesses and holy warriors never faltered in her defense. Thus, it is said, that during the night of the full moon Erum emerges from the desert sands and stands bright and clear under the silver light of Istare. Only then may any daring enough to brave the demon hoards find and enter the lost city.

WL09 – “The Lost City”

Having listened to the tales of the lost city of the Erumites, Brother Samuel recalls the legend of his patron, Saint Elohar whose travels it is said took him to a lost city in the desert inhabited by devils and the ghosts of the damned. Elohar’s faith and courage protected him as he battled the demons of darkness, and he emerged from the city alive but badly wounded as he had lost the hand that wielded his holy morning star mace, the sacred weapon of his priesthood in honor of their sun god Roski. According to the lore of Brother Samuel’s order, the relics of Saint Elohar remain inviolate by evil or decay, and it is one of the sacred missions of his followers to find and gather the sacred relics and return them to the tomb of Elohar in Korma.

Intrigued by the tales of the lost city, its legendary riches, and wanting to help Brother Samuel in his mission, the Warlanders agree to use their magic to divine the location of Erum during its appearance at the next full moon. Relying mainly on their scrying magic and on Gest’s tracking skills, they eventually find the location of the lost city, just where it appears at the next full moon.

Leaving Tobias and the other animals outside, the adventurers enter the city, which is preserved as it was when the desert first devoured it, but devoid of all human life. Instead, hoards of demon larvae, vulture-like fiends, and other creatures of the Abyss roam the streets in chaos. The adventurers are nearly overcome when they find refuge in the Temple of the Moon.

The temple remains inviolate, and its garden courtyard blooms with fragrant jasmine under the moonlight as it did long ago. Sitting in the shadows is a tall, gaunt figure in golden armor with fish motifs on his helm and sword hilt. The warrior greets them, and calls himself Narud.

Narud tells his sad tale: After the siege of Erum ended, the lords of Caerdolan retreated, but not before placing a terrible curse upon the city that had defied them. The lake that was its life-blood sickened and then dried up, and those who did not flee the city, died of disease and starvation. Among those who would not leave was a beautiful young priestess who served in the temple of Istare tending the eternal hearth flame. A knight of the city, a Zarkeen, loved her, and would not leave her. But in time she died, and for many days the Zarkeen would not leave her grave until the high priestess of the temple came to him and spoke, ‘Oh woeful knight, guardian of that which was once sacred but now diminished, take comfort that she whom you love suffers no longer, but sits at peace in the presence of the Queen of Heaven.’ The knight met her gaze and replied, ‘There is little comfort in knowing that she was taken from me by the evil curse of an invading warlord! Save your soothing words for those on whom they are not wasted. I shall remain by her side and at least watch over her resting place until it is my own time to go to her.’ The priestess looked on him with sorrow, but her gaze hardened all of a sudden and she spoke again: ‘Then your errand shall be brief, for soon you will die as we all shall, and there will be nothing left of us save dry bones to be worn away by the sands. Yet, were you to swear an oath unbreakable to She Who Gave Birth to All, then perhaps your words are not spoken in vain, and your devotion shall be tested for all time.’ To this the knight merely replied, ‘So be it. This oath I do swear, to defend the temple of the goddess to whom my beloved had pledged her life.’ ‘Then,’ spoke the priestess, ‘I take away the pain and anguish of life, and I give you the gift of unlife, that you will not wither nor crumble to dust, but walk in death’s shadow forever!’ With that she faded from his view, and he thought that his eyes were deceiving him, or that perhaps it was some trick played upon him by hunger and thirst. Yet he did not die, and even after all had gone to waste, and the desert sands hissed through the street so that all grew dark and still, he did not die.

He is the Zarkeen of Erum, who pledged his eternal service to Istare before the fall of his great city. He was changed into a lich, an undead creature doomed to walk in the shadow of death for all eternity. Thus he guards the temple of his goddess, and is able to reside in the city even when it is submerged beneath the burning desert sands.

To Brother Samuel’s pleas for rumor of his quest, Narud answered, ‘You speak of the wanderer who came here before you. It had been centuries since he came, though it was long after the curse that destroyed my people. He was a holy man from far away in the north, and there was a light in his face that spoke of a fair country and an ancient woodland people. He battled with the demon Shahaanar who rules the fiends that haunt the city, and he wounded the demon, and scarred him. Yet he was also wounded, and lost the hand that wielded his great maul. I have heard whispers from sad spirits that still haunt this place, that the hand remains unspoiled, and that it is holy still, and a scourge to the demons and other unclean things, and even Shahaanar the demon lord cannot abide it.’ Thus did Brother Samuel know that he was on the trail of his patron, Elohar.

Through a secret passage in the bowels of the temple, Narud shows them the way into the royal palace of Erum, and using great stealth they make their way up until they are discovered by monsters. They hide within a crack in a wall and emerge on the upper halls of the palace, where they find the severed hand of Saint Elohar, lying fresh as the day it was hewn off his arm. Taking up the hand, and wrapping it reverently in the folds of a prayer cloth, Brother Samuel helps his companions by keeping the demon fiends at bay long enough for them to climb a high stair to the top of a tower. Here they are confronted by flocks of screaming vulture-like fiends escorting the many-armed, demon lord Shahaanar with his instruments of Abysmal torture.

In a desperate move to escape, the adventurers leap through a portal opened on the roof of the tower by some ancient wizard of the Erumites, and find themselves in a steaming jungle where the stars of the sky look different. The moss-covered stones of an Erumite observatory, now fallen into ruins lie tumbled beneath them.

WL10 – “Stones on the Black River” (“The Lost City, Part 2”)

Having escaped through a portal, the adventurers find themselves deep in a dark, flooded rainforest full of strange animal sounds. They make their way to a village surrounded by a palisade of heavy timbers inhabited by a forest people calling themselves Urudu. The Urudu are led by a woman named Nalha. She is a descendant of an ancient people who built towers nearby in the jungle. Their descendants form a ruling caste in Urudu called the Erumu. They are taught some mage spells that are handed down from parent to child. The Erumu do not know all of the secrets of their ancestors, but they are the only ones allowed to enter the now sacred, abandoned cities. With Nalha’s help, the adventurers will travel by river to the abandoned city of Alahum, explore its ancient buildings and courtyards, in search of the portal that will take them back to their own world. They discover, however, that the city is not really abandoned.

The Urudu fear the terrible Caiba; strange half-breed creatures believed by some to have been created by ancient and perverse wizardry. The Caiba are rare, and normally encountered only deep in the forest, away from human settlement. Recently, however, they have been attacking even the palisade walls of the village. Nalha tells them that she suspects the beasts are somehow being controlled by a witch banished from the village for practicing her evil magic. The adventurers agree to help the Urudu, who in turn offer to lead them to the abandoned city of the Erumu.

Hunting the dreaded Caiba, the adventurers learn that they are in fact Owl Bears; horrid creatures known in the ancient lore of their own lands. The Owl Bears attack them as if ordered by an unseen and unheard master. After a terrible fight, the Owl Bears are defeated, and their master revealed. The Urudu witch, her disfigured face shielded behind a horrid leather mask and garbed in a long robe of bark cloth painted with intricate, magical symbols. The witch is more resilient than she appears, and casts horrid spells against them, but in the end the adventurers strip her of her magic, protective robe and throw her to her death at the bottom of a ravine.

Having fulfilled their part of the bargain, the adventurers return to the Urudu village, and Nalha entreats them to take part in the Guayanes ceremony, using magical hallucinogenic plants to go on a vision quest. During the ceremony, they see themselves flying through the forest canopy and entering the ruined city with its towers and temples, and they see the glowing eyes of an ancient black dragon that lies slumbering in the deep chamber of the main temple complex. Nalha tells them that the dragon is known to the Urudu, who name it Macocael which means “He of the Ever-Seeing Eyes”. Beyond the dragon’s lair stands the Temple of the Sun, upon whose summit a second magic portal has been inscribed.

Outfitted with canoes and guides, the adventures set off upon the waters of Cahubayaque, the Ancient River whose waters flood the forest bringing life to its denizens. After meeting many dangers they encounter a secretive people: primitive forest gnomes, known to the Urudu as the Caracaracols or “the Scabby Ones”. These gnomes have fled from the realms inhabited by humans, who violate the clay jars in which they bury their dead. The gnomes have taken to living a secretive existence in the deep forests near the edge of the dreaded city of Alahum. Recognizing Gnamek to be of their distant kindred, the Caracaracols agree to lead them to the city after their Urudu guides flee in terror of the stones marking the long overgrown roads leading to its gates.

Soon the adventurers find themselves before the gates of the city. Its outer walls have been flooded, and black dragon spawn swim in the dark, murky waters that drown the towers and guard houses of Alahum. By magical means they are aware that the dragon sleeps but lightly, but a passage from one of the guard houses leads down beneath the water and earth and into the deepest chamber of the city. Using his magic, Gnamek casts a spell so that they may all walk unseen, and teleports the party past the black form of the huge creature. Bringing up the rear, Brother Samuel accidentally makes a noise which rouses the dragon to fury.

Barely escaping from the monster’s lair, they flee across the open plaza of the city and up the steep stairs of the temple to the chamber at its pinnacle wherein the magic portal has been inscribed. The dragon emerges in all of its dark and deadly glory, following their scent, yet cautious as it tracks its unseen quarry. At the top of the temple, they cast the spell that opens the portal just as the dragon’s gaze penetrates the gloom of the chamber. Believing that they have been discovered, Brother Samuel runs out of Gnamek’s sphere of invisibility and attacks the monster, which nearly destroys him before Gest and the others can recover him and escape through the portal.

Since Erum the Accursed has since returned to its sandy grave, the adventurers find themselves shaken but mostly unharmed on the hot sands of the Great Desert under the sun. Their animal companions waiting faithfully for them along with their desert guides.

WL11 – “The Mayada”

The adventurers have returned to El Maloof to learn that Calanthe has set off to find a mysterious order of druids in the Alatean Mountains to the south and west of El Maloof. According to Sherrod, the Mayada are a tribe of cannibal women who feed on the flesh and blood of any man that ventures into their territory, and generally do not abide any strangers. Sherrod also tells them that they are relatively close to a sacred shrine to a saint known as Haataja, which is famous for the miraculous gifts bestowed upon pilgrims who visit.

Setting off on camel back across the desert, the Warlanders arrive at the town of El Nassre, on the edge of the fertile lands watered by the cool streams that run off the snow-capped Alateans. Here they trade in their camels for horses and follow the pilgrims’ road to the town of Hatajaana, a bustling town of merchant shops, inns, and tea houses which has grown around the sacred shrine of Saint Haataja.

The shrine itself is a small, castle-like structure with a bronze-clad dome atop a hill of rock that stands alone at some distance from the line of hills that forms the start of the gradually rising land that eventually becomes the Alatean Range. Crowds of pilgrims dressed in a myriad of costumes from many lands stand in line, or cluster together to await their turn to enter the shrine. Local vendors walk up and down the queues selling prepared food or hot tea in crudely made clay cups. The crushed shards of thousands of these cups paint the pilgrims’ path a reddish hue, giving it the nickname, “Trail of Blood.” Other vendors sell ornate chalices and clay cups to pilgrims wishing to “drink the blessings of Saint Haataja.”

At an inn called The Eagle, the Warlanders meet a traveler from a far Eastern land. He introduces himself as Se Joen, and they welcome him to accompany them on their journey. Showing their letters of introduction from Sherrod, the Warlanders are led by Mullafi, the commander of the guard post, to the front of the queue where they are introduced to Davino, high priest and guardian of the Shrine of Haataja. While leading them through the old, stone building – a kind of ornate chapel for receiving pilgrims and decorated with painted murals depicting the life of the saint – Davino explains the significance of Haataja in the scheme of things: A holy man of an ancient order dedicated to achieving enlightenment through mediation and abstinence, Haataja is said to have aided the ancient hero Alatos on his quest to defeat the demon queen Tiamat. Later in his life, Haataja was frozen solid while meditating in a cave. His body remains inviolate, and still bestows blessings of clear mind and insight to the faithful.

Entering a cave at the back of the chapel they descend a set of long winding stairs, worn smooth by the passage of countless pilgrims, and enter a large, cold cavern glistening with ice and illuminated by many hidden lamps. A gathering of pilgrims bow and pray against a low brick wall built along the edge of a small, dark pool of water, into which they dip the ornate chalices and cups sold by the vendors above. In the midst of the pool, upon an island of frost-covered stone, sits the barely visible figure of a small, frail man in ancient, tattered rags, completely encased in a block of ice. A series of partially hooded lamps have been artfully hidden behind this, illuminating the frozen saint from behind with mysterious effect. Davino invites the adventurers to partake of Haataja’s blessings, and offers them a drink from the pool. Upon doing so, they immediately feel a refreshing clarity of mind and perception.

Returning to the chapel, Davino then offers to answer their questions regarding Calanthe. News of her passing through town did indeed reach him, and it is known that she sought word of the Mayada, the ancient order of nature priestesses whose stronghold lies somewhere on the forested slopes of Mt. Mindeveh, most sacred in the Alatean Range. Davino explains that the Mayada are worshippers of an ancient earth goddess named Mamura, believed by some to be an earlier and more savage incarnation of Istare or possibly Annu. The Mayada are said to drink potent wine mixed with a ground paste of medicinal herbs and poisonous mushrooms that send them into a furious rage during which they run shrieking naked through the forest tearing apart any living thing they can catch with their hands and devouring the flesh raw. The local people fear them, and few ever climb the slopes of Mindeveh except perhaps the odd adventurous trapper. According to Davino, the Mayada are guardians of a great secret somehow related to the legends of the hero Alatos, believed by many to have been an earthly incarnation of Roski, and who ascended into heaven from the summit of Mindeveh after slaying the Dragon Queen.

Setting off once again, the adventurers follow the old trail that leads to the slopes of Mt. Mindeveh. Along the way they are hunted by a tribe of secretive, giant humanoids covered in hair and wielding stone-tipped lances. Fending off the first assault, the Warlanders find themselves confronted by a band of women, clad in strange cloaks and wearing leafy branches in their long, tangled hair. Among them is Calanthe, clad similarly, but set apart by her pale skin and hair. Calanthe greets her old friends, and together with the other women, leads them to a hidden stronghold in the deep woods of the mountainside, where they are introduced to Elaata, leader of the Mayada druids.

Calanthe’s arrival, it seems was auspicious, as it coincided with a terrible crisis. Five days earlier, Elaata explains, a wayward traveler collapsed at the gate of the Mayada stronghold. He appeared to be old and haggard, half-starved and dressed in the badly tattered remains of a traveler’s outfit. The Mayada took him in, fed him, and healed him. He seemed content, but still weak from his ordeals, and somehow unable to speak for very long without becoming fatigued. All they learned was that his name was Dainalos, and that he had escaped from the clutches of primitive creatures after his party of pilgrims had become lost in the forest. After two days, the women charged with caring for him found his bed empty. A search for the stranger revealed only that he had disappeared with a pony from their stables and their greatest artifact: the Mayada Key. This artifact was brought to their sacred place and enshrined by Mayadara, founder of their order, and lover of the hero Alatos.

Alatos, after whom the mountain range was named, was an ancient mythic hero who did battle with the dragon queen Tiamat upon the summit of Mt. Mindeveh, defeating her and imprisoning her spirit within the Abyss. The gate to this prison was sealed and locked with a great artifact said to have been bestowed upon Mankind by Roski, the mythic enemy of Bau-Tiamat. Alatos entrusted the Key to his lover Mayadara before dying of his wounds. His body was consumed in white flame before her eyes, and it was with great anguish and sorrow that she left the summit and founded the sacred place of the Mayada druids on the slopes of the mountain. Since then the Mayada have been the guardians of the Key, and have never allowed anyone to see it, let alone carry it. Now the thief who calls himself Dainalos has defiled the shrine and stolen the Key, and Elaata believes that he can only mean to unlock the seal and release the dragon queen into the world.

With the guidance of the Mayada, the Warlanders set off for the summit of Mt. Mindeveh, fighting their way through wild beasts and frigid snow storms until they reach a cave of snow and ice. Before the cave a huge serpent-like creature rises before them, barring their way. The serpent speaks to them, claiming to be the guardian of the summit, and enemy of all dragon kind. Attempting to appeal to its sense of reason, the adventurers assure the serpent that they too are enemies of dragon kind, but the creature rears up menacingly, accusing them of harboring one of dragon kind among them. It then attacks Kanti, swallowing her whole. Horrified, Gnamek casts a dimensional doorway, allowing the rest of the party to bypass the creature as he remains to combat it in the hopes of saving Kanti. With Gnamek’s spells and Kanti’s tenacity, they defeat the creature, and Kanti barely escapes with her life from the carcass.

Once inside the cave, the Warlanders find themselves in a vast ice cavern with high ledges upon which roost strange, winged reptile-men with long bird-like beaks. In the midst of the cavern, upon a dais of ice an altar of crystal or ice glows faintly, and near it stands a man dressed in black leather with a great cloak of white fur. In one hand he holds a black wooden staff and in the other a large, crystal object like a spike of beautifully faceted diamond. In the ensuing battle, the Warlanders are beset upon by the vicious Pterafolk, but manage to disrupt the deadliest of Dainalos’ spells until he is finally destroyed. Upon dealing the killing blow, Kesna gazes for a moment into the glistening, glass-like floor of the dais and sees the horrid Tiamat with her many heads seething with malice gazing back at her before fading like a ghost into the depths of the ice. Deeply affected by the encounter, Kesna does not celebrate the victory she shares with her companions, and forever after appears haunted as if by a phantom of dread.

Having secured the Key, the Warlanders return it to the Mayada who send them off with gifts and the blessings of friendship, and urge Calanthe to return to them someday if she can, as they will forever after consider her to be one of them.

The Warlanders and Se Joen then return by the long road to Sherrod’s realm of El Maloof, where they learn that in their absence Brother Samuel has committed a crime against their host. Horrified by the memory of his own childhood enslavement, Brother Samuel steals into the harem and frees the twelve Northlander slave girls sent to Sherrod by Murad, hiding them out with a family of Omo merchants living in the settlements just beyond the city walls. Sherrod has ordered that they be recovered and Brother Samuel arrested. The punishment for his crime, Sherrod explains, would most certainly be death or castration. Angry at Brother Samuel, but refusing to leave him to his fate, the adventurers discuss plans to escape by stealth, but they agree to appeal to Sherrod for mercy on Samuel. Gest visits with Sherrod, who tells him very frankly that both he is willing to show Samuel clemency and send him off in secrecy from El Maloof for the sake of friendship, the debt owed to them for all of their assistance, and for the sake of the alliance between Silegby and El Maloof. He fears an invasion from the powerful armies and fleets of Korma waving the banner of Roski, and hopes to hold off such an invasion with an alliance of peace. In the end, the adventurers leave quietly aboard Tyrus’ ship with their Northland girls and a disguised Brother Samuel for charges. Se Joen decides to return with them to see the distant Warlands for himself, and perhaps help if he can in the war against the Varanáa.

WL12 – “Island of the Small Folk”

While sailing back home the adventurer’s ship is suddenly caught in a terrible storm. The masts break and fall into the sea, threatening to drag them down before they are forced to cut away the rigging. The ship is tossed and spun in the maelstrom and all looks bleak until Gnamek remembers the Amulet of the Djinn. Summoning forth the spirit, it appears in the sky like a terrible giant with ancient spells marking its body. The creature calls itself Zefir, and offers to grant them one wish to fulfill the oath of the amulet, after which they must cast it into the sea. Gnamek asks that they be saved from the storm, and the Djinn in an instant carries their ship off the tossing sea and setting it down upon a shore, vanishes into the wind, which dies down as suddenly as it began.

Recovering from their fright and toil, they sleep on the shore but awake to find that they have been set down upon a green and pleasant land, though prone to chill mists. Searching for timber to make repairs upon the ship, they encounter a beautiful young Halfling girl who introduces herself as Garland. She assures them that her people will help provision them and find the timber they need, and leads them back to her village, built within a quarry, but in every way seeming like a prosperous little burg. The mayor of the town is a stout and wise Halfling named Eiben, who thanks them for safely escorting his daughter Garland home. He listens to their case, and proposes a bargain. In return for all the timber they might need, as well as all the food, water and other provisions that the Halflings have to offer, the Warlanders are asked to rid them of a clan of stone giants that has appeared out of the rocky heights of Mt. Curabad in the island’s wilderness interior.

Partaking of the Halflings’ hospitality, the Warlanders hear tales of the arrival of the Giants. Legend has it that a great tunnel was delved deep in the roots of Mt. Curabad, joining it with the Blue Mountains, the range that divides the Warlands from the northern wilds beyond. Although the entrance to the tunnel was sealed long ago by some god of a long-forgotten tale, the petty hill Dwarves that live near the mountain have recently taken to mining in the higher elevations, and the Halflings believe that these Dwarves may have broken the seal and opened up their lands to dangers from beyond. The Halflings have been powerless to stop the giants, who they say can move about unseen using some magic.

Setting off to the mountain, the adventurers find signs of the giants’ pillaging, and easily track their giant footprints in the earth. They hear noises from unseen giants, but do not encounter them on their first night. Soon they track a pair of hill Dwarves who attempt unsuccessfully to escape. The hill Dwarves warn them that they are being hunted by the invisible giants, and finally agree to treat them like guests in their home in return for their freedom. The Warlanders are led to a warren of petty hill Dwarves dug out into one of the larger of the nearby foothills, where they are introduced to the patriarch, an old Dwarf named Lemnis. His sons, whom they have spared, agree to help them stop the giants, but seem nervous in telling of how the giants emerged from the mountain side, saying that they believe that they opened the way that had been sealed for centuries by blasting in their search for precious ore.
The adventurers come up with a plan whereby they will hunt down and destroy the giants, giving the Dwarves the opportunity to undo their mistake by blasting a portion of the mountainside and sealing up the entrance by which the giants have emerged.

Making their way to the slopes of Mt. Curabad, they track the giants to a trail leading up into the rocky heights. Here they encounter two large, ugly hill giants who begin to hurl boulders at them. Using their skill and cunning, they manage to kill the two young giants only to find themselves faced by a worse enemy: the giantess mother of the two, with a pack of Dire Wolves trained as hunting hounds. After defeating the giantess, the Dwarves make their way up the mountain but Lemnis is killed in an accident that sets off some of the explosives he is carrying. His grieving sons continue up the mountain side and complete the task of sealing the opening.

Meanwhile, the patriarch of the giant clan, Vromme, exacts his revenge by attacking the Dwarven homestead. The adventurers return, and using magic and stealth, manage to overcome the giant’s invisibility magic and defeat him.

Returning to the Halfling village, the adventurers are feasted and their deeds celebrated and rewarded with offerings of food and all the timber they need to complete the repairs on their ship. Within days, the ship is re-fitted and they set sail, the peak of Mt. Curabad just visible above the dense cloud of fog that surrounds the island.

WL13 – “The Serpent Strikes” (“Varanáa, Part One)

Returning from their sea voyage, the adventurers discover that Silegby is seemingly besieged by the armies of the Mainlander Duchy of O. Knights in full plate armor gallop about the fields before the gates of the city, and hundreds of tents and pavilions house their army. The ships of O, bearing the emblems of the Church of the Sun, crowd the harbor. The adventurers are greeted by a knight named Gaspar of O, a kinsman of the duke, who questions them regarding their origins and their intentions. Satisfied that they are not enemies, he allows them to enter their city, where they are immediately approached by Kerry, man at arms of Silegby, carelessly brandishing the shield of Caerdolan that he recovered when he entered the tombs of the Caerdolan rulers. Kerry tells them that the Varanáa have attacked again, and were it not for the arrival of the duke’s fleet, things would have gone ill for Silegby. Murad himself was attacked in the night, and was nearly slain were it not for Wilhelm, who took the blade himself. Now Wilhelm lies dying in his chambers from what was apparently a poisoned blade.

Hurrying to the castle, the adventurers seek Wilhelm’s chamber and Brother Samuel immediately attends to him, laying on healing hands and praying for his recovery. Meanwhile, the others attend to the king, who tells them what happened. Nuara, the king’s daughter, appeared to him in his bed chamber in the night, and cursed him. Her words and the look in her eyes pierced him worse than any blade could have, and he would have succumbed had Wilhelm not heard the commotion from outside the room and entered. Nuara attacked her father with a knife fashioned into the shape of a serpent with two heads, but Wilhelm parried the blade, which pierced his arm. Before Nuara could be fully subdued, Varanáa scouts entered through the window, and a melee ensued. The king’s guards joined the fray and killed one of the Varanáa, but not before Nuara was taken away again. The Varanáa attacked the city in force, but were driven off when the Knights of O arrived, unlooked for in a fleet of ships. The duke’s army remains encamped outside the city walls, and the duke has elected to camp with his men rather than reside within Castle Silegby as Murad’s guest.

In the next few days, reports come in from all over the realms of the Warlands of Varanáa attacks on towns and villages. A large Varanáa force was reported moving west along the Forest River that divides the Greatwood from the Bretwood, and it is believed that Nuara was with them.

At the king’s request, the adventurers set off once again into the Bretwood, where they meet the wood elf prince Kelvaro and his rangers. Kelvaro tells them that his people have been tracking a great force of the Varanáa in the forest who have camped on the south bank of the river, on the Bretwood side. Kelvaro recognizes Gest and Calanthe as friends of the woodland folk, and agrees to help them however he can. He sends scouts to continue tracking the Varanáa and then goes off to bring whatever help he can. He warns them that the Varanáa have their own scouts that take on the form of birds, mainly giant cuckoos and ravens.

Tracking the Varanáa, the adventurers find them camped in large numbers on a sandy bank of the river where a Northman longship has been beached. Cuckoos fly about the trees that line the riverbank, and the adventurers manage to shoot some of them before being spotted. Before giving battle against overwhelming odds, Gnamek casts a powerful illusion of a great black dragon emerging from the river, and speaking to them. He subdues the Varanáa forces through trickery until the real black dragon chieftain emerges, carrying a large black serpent on its back. The serpent instantly transforms, revealing itself to be none other than the princess Nuara dressed in Varanáa style and bearing a tattoo of a coiled snake on her back. She appears to be under some sort of spell, and looks lovingly into the eyes of the black dragon.

Seeing an opportunity, Kanti hurls an explosive ball of fire at the black dragon, seeking to set fire to the ship and the Varanáa crew beyond. The blast destroys the ship and severely cripples the dragon, but unfortunately, Nuara is caught in the blast and the Warlanders watch in horror as their princess is consumed in flames. The Varanáa are instantly released from Gnamek’s spell, and a bloody melee ensues. The adventurers fight fiercely, but they are out-numbered, and the battle looks to turning against them when suddenly a hail of Elven arrows rains down upon the Varanáa. Kelvaro and an army of Wood Elf archers emerges from the river and drives off the Varanáa, slaying all but a small few who manage to fly away in bird form.

Taking up Nuara’s remains, the adventurers return to Silegby with heavy hearts at the thought of bringing the terrible news to the king. On their way, they meet refugees from the kingdom of Aerellus, reporting that their kingdom was overrun, and Prince Keobahn barely escaped with a handful of his warriors to the neighboring realm of Errolan.

WL14 – “Gwalophylax”

Devastated by the news of his daughter’s death, Murad retreats into his private study to mourn in solitude. B’auk approaches the adventurers, and expresses his concern for the king’s state of mind, saying that Murad has asked him to bring him whatever lore he can find in the library regarding the Torque of Ages, the legendary weapon of power of the Caerdolan emperors. B’auk fears that Gnamek and some of the others know its location, and urges them to keep it secret as he believes it is too powerful and treacherous an artifact to be used, even in the desperate defense of the kingdom against the Varanáa. Murad eventually emerges from his study, and indeed orders Kesna as the Keeper of Keys, to open the Forbidden Vault in the bowels of Castle Silegby, which legend has it leads to the place where the Torque lies hidden. At B’auk’s insistence, Gnamek and the others convince Murad to let the Torque lie hidden yet, while they discover more about the Varanáa movements in hopes of finding a weakness.

Meanwhile, word arrives that Duke Piet of O has raided a Varanáa camp and captured several boys left behind by the Varanáa to guard equipment and stores. One of these boys, Karu, speaks the common tongue and bears colors and tattoos different from the others. Investigating, the adventurers discover that Karu is indeed red-haired and covered in red tattoos unlike those they have already seen on other Varanáa. Interrogating the boy reveals that he is the son of a Varanáa warrior and a captured Warlander lady named Alathea, daughter of Lord Errol of Errolan. This makes Karu the illegitimate grandson of Errol and the only surviving heir to the throne of Errolan. Karu also reveals that he has secretly harbored a hatred for his father’s people as they sacrificed his mother to their god-king Vara. Karu was himself ridiculed for his Warlander parentage and his red coloration, and tattooed with the marks reserved for Varanáa women. He is an outcast of his people, trained as a warrior, but living almost as a slave. Calanthe takes charge of him until Murad orders that he be taught the ways of “civilized men” in B’auk’s care. B’auk welcomes the opportunity to learn from the boy whatever he can of the Varanáa.

B’auk soon learns that the Varanáa language bears very close similarities to the written Caerdolan texts that he has studied for most of his life, and hypothesizes that the Varanáa are at least partly descended from Caerdolan refugees who fled the destruction of Caerdolas. He begins to catalogue descriptions of Varanáa customs and rituals as related by Karu. Through Karu, they also learn that the Varanáa homeland lies in a distant land across stormy seas, and that they fled across the seas in ancient times on the backs of dragons. Two of these dragons have since returned with the Varanáa vanguard, seeking out vengeance against their respective enemies. The first of these to arrive is known as Gwalophylax, and ancient green dragon driven off as a wyrmling by White Oak the Wise, king of the Woodland Elven realm of the Greatwood. Karu and his forces traveled for a time in the company of a Varanáa force led by Gwalophylax into the Greatwood, shrouded in spells of stealth, intent on catching the Elven king unawares.

Fearing the worst, Gest begs the king’s leave to go to the aid of the Wood Elves. Murad agrees, but orders that he secure an alliance between the Elves and Silegby, the first true alliance between Elves and Men in the Warlands since the founding of Caerdolas long ago. The adventurers once again set off for the north, passing through the Bretwood and crossing the river into the realm of the Elves. Here they soon encounter Kelvaro and the march wardens of the southern borders of the Greatwood. Hearing the news of the dragon from Gest and his friends, Kelvaro fears the worst for his people, and orders all of his warriors back to their stronghold in the heart of the Greatwood. He asks Gest and the others for help, and leads them back.

Near the heart of the woodland realm, they encounter more wood elf warriors wandering in scattered bands. They bring ill tidings of a secret attack upon the doors of their stronghold, and of the deadly breath of the dragon that killed many of their people. King White Oak was slain by the dragon while defending his household, and his body was hung upon a pillar by a Varanáa spear. Many of the elven women and children were driven off in bondage by the Varanáa, who were otherwise kept from pillaging the treasuries and armories of the elves by the greedy dragon. Gwalophylax now lies in watchful rest upon the hoard that he has gathered within the elven stronghold.

Grieving over his father’s death, Kelvaro nearly runs rashly to face certain death when Gest urges him to remain calm and seek justice by a calculated plan. The adventurers approach the Elven stronghold and find that the Varanáa have all left. An acrid reek issuing from the gaping doorway of the Elven stronghold warns of the dragon within. Kelvaro and his warriors show the adventurers a secret entrance to the stronghold, and together they come up with a plan to slay the beast. Before they are fully prepared, however, Gwalophylax detects their presence, and they are forced to implement their plan prematurely.

Overcome with wrath at the sight of his father’s impaled body, Kelvaro attacks the dragon head on with a spear. Meanwhile, Calanthe summons hurricane force gales, and the rest of the party joins in the melee. In the ensuing battle, Kelvaro wounds him grievously with his spear, but is himself stunned and nearly killed. Kanti reveals the measure of her power by changing her shape into that of a dragon, and fighting the more powerful Gwalophylax in a battle of tooth and claw. In the end, Gwalophylax is mortally wounded by the elven spear, which breaks in the process. With his dying breath, Gwalophylax mocks them, and warns that his brethren are not far behind, and one among them – Aurophylax – even now makes a wasteland of the mountain kingdoms of Dwarves and Gnomes. Fearing for the safety of his people, Gnamek decides to return to Keegan Par, the kingdom of the Gnomes, but not before tracking down the Varanáa and rescuing the Elven prisoners. They catch up to the Varanáa a few miles up river, and catching them unawares, slay them all with the help of the vengeful wood elves.


WL15 – “Aurophylax”

Having heard from the dying green dragon Gwalophylax that an even larger, more fierce red dragon named Aurophylax is heading for Keegan Par, the adventurers set off at once from the Elven kingdom in the Great Wood to the Blue Mountains in the north and east where the Gnome capital lies.

On the road they first encounter the wizard Evro fleeing the northern realm of Ooweghir. He warns them that the timbers of Ooweghir are no fortress defensible against the dragon. He offers no help other than to tell them what he knows of Aurophylax: an ancient red dragon said to be particularly fond of gold. Evro spends a night with the adventurers before heading south to Silegby, where he plans on taking a ship to the Mainlands.

The following day, further along the road, the adventurers encounter a party of Dwarves with singed beards and scorched armor, heading south along the road as fast as they can. Questioning the Dwarves, they learn that the Dwarven city of Mickelburg has been decimated of its population by the dragon Aurophylax, who attacked suddenly and without warning. Mickelburg is the northernmost of the Dwarven cities of the Blue Mountains, and faces the wilderness on the northern slopes of the mountains, believed to be the hunting grounds of Varanáa barbarians. The dragon has gathered the great treasure hoard of the Dwarves of Mickelburg and made it his bed. Greatest of the treasures is the Golden Barque; a full scale model of a Northman dragon long ship fashioned of pure gold, and commissioned by the Northman Chieftain known as Beor the Old. The ship was to serve as the Northman’s burial barque, but was never delivered.

Emboldened by the adventurers’ resolve to slay the dragon, three of the Dwarves agree to accompany them, lead them to their city, and help in the destruction of the monster. The rest of the Dwarves continue on the south road to bring news to Murad in Silegby.

At the crossing of the main road and the road leading to Ooweghir, they meet a youth wearing padded armor and carrying a sword too big for him to wield. The boy is Faolan, son and heir of Maltenor of Ooweghir and nephew of Murad. Faolan has taken it upon himself to track a band of Varanáa warriors that have abducted his beloved Dymphnia, granddaughter of the Northman Beor the Old. Faolan fears that the Varanáa are taking the maiden to their master, Aurophylax.

The North Road passes through the mountains by means of a broad break in the range known as the Pellarin. Mt. Pellar, to the west is the domain of the Gnomes, and somewhere beneath its pine-clad slopes lies the great Gnomish capital of Keegan Par. The eastern wall of the pass is formed by the wild, wooded slopes of Mt. Raedemas, upon whose slopes the Dwarven citadel of Mickelburg is built.

Upon the slopes of Mt. Pellar they meet a Gnome scout named Sherval. He was an age peer and fellow academy student who had no aptitude for the magical arts. Sherval reports that the dragon attacked the Dwarven city a fortnight ago, and for days afterward was seen patrolling the sky over Mt. Raedemas hunting the remnants of its scattered people. A few times Aurophylax flew over Pellas, and once attacked the gates of Keegan Par, but the Gnomes were warned by the attack on their Dwarven neighbors and their defenses were too strong. They fear the worst for the Dwarves of Mickelburg as few refugees have sought refuge with the Gnomes. They do not know how to defeat the dragon, but live in fear of venturing outside of their city.

Sherval leads them back to Keegan Par by a secret entrance. Once through the long, dark passage, those who have never beheld the Gnomish city are amazed by its many wonders: artificial lights shine upon bridges of stone and great buttresses of riveted steel. Wagons of wood and steel roll upon tracks, spewing forth smoke and steam, and people move from one level to another upon platforms suspended by chains and operated by unseen mechanisms. The whole city is a bustling, subterranean hive of activity, powered by huge engines that throb and rumble far below.

Upon a high ledge, a mansion of steel and stone houses the ruler of Keegan Par, an old Gnome known only as the Great Gelf, dressed in a flashing coat of brocade silk and silver studs. The Great Gelf greets Gnamek warmly, and welcomes his companions, although it is soon apparent that not everyone shares the old king’s sentiments. Gnamek’s old mentor, Piarus, seems to disapprove of Gnamek’s new bearing and choice of company. Nevertheless, Piarus obeys his king, and agrees to help them in whatever way he can in destroying the dragon.

Meanwhile, the Great Gelf informs them that Aurophylax’s recent rampage upon Mickelburg is only the latest and most terrible assault upon the northern kingdoms by the Varanáa and their allies. Some in Keegan Par have even said that the Dwarves of Mickelburg brought their own destruction upon them with their greed. For it is believed that they have forged many axe heads and swords for the Northmen of Beor’s house, and many of these same axe heads have ended up hafted upon Varanáa war clubs.

Prince Ranyon, only son and heir of the Great Gelf, has taken a small company of his bravest and most trusted companions north through Varanáa controlled lands in search of the distant kingdom of the Cloud Giants, said to lie somewhere far in the north. This kingdom, known in ancient times as Banriocht, was once a defense against dragons in the northern lands, and the Gnome prince seeks to make alliance with whatever remains of the Cloud Giant folk.

Since the dragon’s attack upon the Dwarves, Gnome scouts have traveled far and perilously, even to the brink of the burned out Dwarven citadel. They report that Aurophylax has left the main gate unblocked for his own use, but has closed off all other entrances into the citadel with tons of rubble and debris. Even the gate to the Underway was blocked; the great subterranean highway connecting the various Dwarven realms and those of the Gnomes. Nevertheless, the Dwarves in their company reveal that they had secret ways of entering the citadel, and some of these may yet remain.

Gest and Kanti, along with some of the Gnome scouts, explore the Underway while Gnamek and the rest of the party plan an attack on the dragon. The scouts return with news that all of the subterranean passages have been blocked. Meanwhile, they come up with a plan of assault: knowing that the dragon covets gold more than anything else, and that the Golden Barque is his most prized possession, Gnamek sends Aurophylax a dream wherein he is betrayed by the men of Beor’s house, who plan on stealing it and returning with it to their lord. The dragon awakens from his dream with furious fire, and takes flight, lighting up the mountainside as he speeds south to where the Northmen are camped by the river. They judge that it will take the dragon two days to fly the distance, and set off at once to the gates of Mickelburg, taking care to avoid any Varanáa war parties along the way.

Upon the threshold of the Dwarven citadel, they find the princess Dymphnia of the Northmen, wandering as if under an enchantment. Faolan tries to console her, but can only lead her about senselessly, and it is determined that she has fallen under Aurophylax’s dragonspell. Once in the city, the Dwarves are horrified to see the extent of the destruction, and find the charred remains of their people trampled and broken by the passing of the dragon. They quickly descend to the treasuries and armories of Mickelburg, where they set a trap for Aurophylax in one of the riches of the treasuries. Here the Dwarves reluctantly reveal a hidden vault, undefiled by the dragon, containing a priceless cache of Mithril arms and armor. The Dwarves arm themselves, and ready for battle.

With a day of entering the citadel, they hear the rumor of the dragon’s return. They position themselves within the armories, and as the dragon enters, they realize that he has caught their scent and is suspicious. Nevertheless, Aurophylax is confident in his own strength and falls into their trap when he viciously attacks an illusion cast by Gnamek.

Once trapped within the confined space, the adventurers assail the dragon from all sides, and eventually strike the fatal blow. The Dwarves approach him to gloat upon his destruction, but Aurophylax casts an enchantment upon them that makes them go berserk and threaten to slay one another. The adventurers manage to stop the Dwarves from killing each other just as Aurophylax breathes his last breath.

In gratitude for slaying the dragon, the surviving Dwarves offer to make masterwork weapons and armor for them. They also surrender the Barque to them in payment for their efforts. Meanwhile, an army arrives from the Dwarven capital of Dwarrow, intent on fighting Aurophylax, but surprised to find him already slain. The Dwarves promise to send what aid they can in the defense of Silegby, and to deliver the Golden Barque to them along with their new weapons and armor.

The adventurers return to Keegan Par with news of the dragon’s defeat, and rest briefly before they return upon the south road for home. Dymphnia is restored to her right mind, and returns with Faolan and his new companions to Silegby. News of Aurophylax’s destruction spreads, and the Elves of the Greatwood honor the Warlanders on their road home.

WL16 – “Beor the Old”

Soon after they return to Silegby, Murad summons the adventurers to his chambers, where he tells them that he wishes for them to sail north to Andrisgerda, to the land ruled by Beor the Old. “There,” he says, “I would have you learn what intelligence Magda has gathered, if she still lives, of the true nature of the alliance between the Northmen and the Varanáa. Although he has proven himself faithless in the past, I believe that Beor is at heart a worthy ally, and if there is a chance that he can be brought back to the side of Silegby, then I would ask that you do all that you can to make it so. But if there is nothing that can be done, and there is nothing left of the once mighty king but a treacherous Varanáa slave, then I would have you destroy him utterly! You must not tarry, neither must you let your mission be known to others, particularly Duke Piet of O. Leave here under cover of darkness, and travel to the mouths of the Great River. There I will have a fully manned ship waiting for you to take you to the Northlands.”

They sail north to the misty shores of Andrisgerda, and to the golden-roofed hall of the old Northman king, who receives them with honor and hospitality. Fearing treachery, Gnamek decided ahead of time to enter Beor’s kingdom invisibly and spy out its secrets.

King Beor appears to live up to his epithet. Although he is tall and robust, he has long, silver-white hair and a long beard, and gazes through eyes that have seen much over the long years. His Northmen are tall and strong, and while in battle, are also a superstitious people who fear the dark shadows of wizardry. Besides the king himself, the most feared man in the great hall is Waljan, the king’s advisor. He is tall and lean with dark hair cut close on the sides but running long down the middle, Varanáa style. He has the dark eyes of the Varanáa, but dressed in the black, studded leather and crimson cloak of a Northman prince. Sitting at the king’s side is Lady Magda, her belly swollen with child.

Waljan questions the adventurers suspiciously, challenging them to reveal their motives. When confronted with his Varanáa appearance, he admits that he lived among the Varanáa for many years as an ambassador of King Beor, and that he was subjected to many of their rituals and customs. Waljan takes advantage of their visit to make a suggestion to the king: “Perhaps, sire, they may prove their worth and their friendship by volunteering to undertake the task of ridding us of that which most recently and bitterly plagues us: the were-worms that have come down upon us from the mountains to the north.”

Beor will actually ask them to do this favor, and will even offer to arm them, and to send men to assist them. Magda encourages them not to turn down this mission, and she manages to tell Kanti by secret messages that she would meet with them later that evening: “For the were-worms are a menace unlooked for and unexpected that has come down upon us from we know not where! They are as savage men who change into the form of dragons and prey upon our people and livestock. If you rid us of this plague, you shall have the unending friendship of Beor the Old and all the people of Andrisgerda!”

After delivering their message from Murad and agreeing to investigate the matter of the “wereworms,” the adventurers retire to the rooms that have been provided for them. Magda visits them, and tells Kanti that she carries Beor’s child, and possibly his heir. She tells them that King Beor is caught between a rock and a hard place, and thus, his allegiances have been unclear. She believes that he is ultimately true, but will let him explain his situation in his own words. In the meantime, she warns Kanti and the others to be on their guard. For, while the king may be true, there are those among his men whose allegiances are firmly with the Varanáa, and Waljan is one who wears it proudly.

Meanwhile, still invisible, Gnamek follows Waljan out of the great hall, and up the slope of the hill of the citadel past the sacred graves and shrines to Sky Father and the other gods of the Northmen. Waljan enters the open post and lintel threshold of a barrow mound, and inside begins to chant in an ancient language that Gnamek recognizes as Draconic mixed with the syllables of Old Caerdolan.

“Oh mighty Tiamat, Mother of all that is Eldest, come forth and guide me! Reveal to me my enemies!”

As Gnamek watches, a ghostly form begins to coalesce in the small fire of the shrine, and the horrid image of a woman appears with five hissing dragons heads upon long sinuous necks where a human head should be. The hideous being speaks with inhuman voices, and says in Draconic: “Fool that thou art! Thou dost not see with thine own eyes that thy enemy is upon thee!”

With that, Waljan turns to look upon Gnamek, who attacks him before fleeing the growing spirit of Tiamat. Gnamek rejoins his companions, reporting what he witnessed, then returns to the harbor, where he dispels his invisibility and makes his presence known to the harbor watches, announcing his arrival as Murad’s wizard, sent as an emissary to King Beor.

Rejoining his companions, Gnamek confronts Beor with the news of Waljan’s loyalty to the goddess of the Varanáa. Beor admits having known of this, and assures them that he is also aware that they have been sent by Murad to kill him if his loyalties were untrue. Beor admits to having collaborated with the Varanáa, but only because they are holding his kinsfolk hostage. For years the people of the Northlands have sailed into the distant west, where they encountered exotic peoples they called Skraelings. Many of these Skraelings were peaceful, but many were also warlike, and some spoke of a terror that stalked the woods in animal form, but were not animals, nor were they truly men. In time, the Northmen encountered these creatures, the Varanáa, who attacked them using dark magic, and captured many of their men, women, and children as slaves. The Varanáa learned that they could trade hostages for weapons of steel and ships to sail upon the seas. Soon, Varanáa warriors were sailing in Northman longships and landing on the coasts of the Warlands, in the northern wildernesses, which they soon made their own. Even into the Northlands, to the realm of Andrisgerda, did the Varanáa make incursions, though they did not settle there permanently, and Beor was forced to deal with them lest his grandsons and their families be sacrificed to the dark gods of the Varanáa.

From Beor and Magda, the adventurers also learn more of the Varanáa god-emperor, Vara. Magda also knows where Waljan keeps a map of the Varanáa homeland, and the location of Vara’s citadel. She agrees to help them find the map so that they can return it to Murad in Silegby, and possibly launch a desperate attack against Vara himself.

Meanwhile, the adventurers set off for the Northman settlement of Forset, site of the last Wereworm attack. The settlement has been burned to the ground, and all the livestock slaughtered. Only a single hound escaped the devastation, and speaking with it, Gest manages to learn that the Wereworms are actually Wyverns led by a Firedrake of some sort. They also learn the direction in which the worms flew, and track them to a cave on the upper slopes of a nearby mountain known as Torstun. Inside the cave, they find a network of tunnels, passages, and great halls carved of stone in the fashion of the great Dwarven cities they have visited. The citadel appears to have been abandoned a long time ago, however, and yet something rumbles deep in the lowest dungeons. The scent and heat of a great dragon of enormous size and power rises from below, and the adventurers avoid it on their way up to the cave of the Wyverns.

A huge cavern open to the cold winds holds a hoard of ancient treasures, giant urns of bronze cast with figures of giants and monsters, and once masterwork armor and weapons now rusting away in decay, its golden traceries still gleaming beautifully upon the pitted steel. Before they can plan properly, they hear the sounds of the approaching wyverns, returning from their hunt. There are twenty of them, huge in size, and the last of them a deep red with a glowing red ball at the end of its tail. The wyverns attack, and the Firedrake fills the cavern with flames.

In the ensuing battle, the adventurers are singed and terrorized, but in the end the wyverns are slain when their leader falls, and a huge, glowing red gem like a fire opal is extracted from the swollen end of the Firedrake’s tail. Once slain, the wyverns revert to their true form: all are Varanáa warriors of high rank, and the Firedrake is none other than Waljan himself. With his dying breath he curses them, urging them to “enjoy this brief victory, for in the end, all shall perish under the might of the Queen of the Abyss!” With that he dies, and the adventurers are free to take back their trophy to the king.

Emboldened and shamed by the adventurers’ actions, Beor takes up his sword and armor, and pledges his allegiance once more to Silegby. He hands his gilt sword to Gest and urges him to deliver it to Murad, and to say to him that Beor the Old shall come to claim it himself so that he may fight once again at Murad’s side.

Beor then loads the adventurers’ ship with gold and many strong weapons and shields of Northman make to take back to Silegby, and promises to come to their aid as soon as he can muster his forces.

Returning to Silegby, they deliver the sword and message to King Murad, who bears the news with grim satisfaction. The adventurers learn that Murad was once married to Beor’s daughter Martuva, whose mother was the mysterious Adjanáya, a captive Varanáa. Martuva in turn gave Murad his son Durad, killed in the recent war against Aerellus, and his daughter Nuara.

Hearing the news that Magda and the adventurers bring of the Varanáa and their movements, Murad resolves to strike at the heart of the enemy. He informs Gnamek, Gest and the others that he has called a War Council, and that all of the lords of the Warlands, and all of their allies among the free peoples of the land, have been called together and will meet in Silegby to discuss a united front against the Varanáa.

WL17 – “Murad’s War Council”

Murad has summoned the leaders of all the free peoples of the Warlands along with their allies to a war council to decide on a course of action to rid them of the Varanáa threat. It has been seven days since they have arrived by ship from visiting with Beor the Old, and they are called to a war council ordered by King Murad. Arriving in the wide council chamber, they notice that there are many lords and knights of the Warlands here, including Prince Keobahn and several knights of his house, knights of Errolan, priests and knights of Roski, as well as the Duke and knights of O. There are also Dwarves and Gnomes of the mountains, Elves of the Greatwood, as well as Prince Sherrod and Captain Tyrus.

Murad addresses the council first, summarizing the history of the situation with the Varanáa so far, as it is known in Silegby: For too long we have fought each other, and paid for it with the blood of our brothers, our sons, and our daughters. Too long we have ignored the threat that has been gathering great strength and hatred against us, and perhaps too late we have realized our folly. In the days of my father and my father’s father, the Varanáa were known to us, but at first they were thought to be a scattered people, savage yet weak in numbers and weapons of war. In the days of my youth our northern marches were beset upon by hoards of Varanáa savages, and only with great loss were we able to drive them back beyond the mountains. In those days we had the friendship of the Dwarves of Dwarrow and Mickelburg, as well as with the Northmen, who are as ancient kindred to us. It was by the wisdom and cunning of King Beor of the Northmen as a statesman, rather than his prowess as a warrior that peace was, for a long time, achieved with the Varanáa. But as we have seen, the fruits of that alliance have brought grievous hurts to both our houses, and to our folk. For Beor took to wife Adjanáya, a daughter of a Varanáa accounted a king after their fashion, and from her issued forth Martuva my queen, who gave me my ill-fated children Durad and Nuara, and through them whom I loved, the Varanáa have infiltrated our houses and caused much grief. It a terrible curse for any man to live to see such evil days in his old age, yet I do not regret that I have lived to see strange wonders and to have known worthy and valiant folk whose deeds are worthy of songs of the heroes of old. For what king or lord of our lands has ever lived to see such deeds as those which have been accomplished by the strength and prowess of the sword maiden Kesna, the wood craft of the ranger Gest – unequaled in this world save perhaps by the best of the Elven folk of the Greatwood, the cunning of the Lady Kanti, and the indispensable wisdom of our sage Gnamek, whose hidden powers amaze us and bring fear to our enemies? Thus I have told my story, and the history of the Varanáa as I have lived to see it, and now I will leave it to others who have since learned more to tell this council what is known, and what there is to fear from our enemy.

He then allows Gest, Gnamek and the others to speak, bringing the rest of the council up to date on what they have discovered in their adventurers against the Varanáa, and specifically after their encounter with the dragons of the north. B’auk also tells them what he has learned from Karu, of the connection between the Varanáa and the ancient witch lords of Caerdolan.

The Elves of the Greatwood corroborate this by recounting the tale told among their people of the great hoard that was driven out of Caerdolas as it burned, and came seeking refuge with the Elven people only to be turned away by their king White Oak the Wise. “For our king did not trust these drinkers of blood and slayers of children, as we had heard said of the Caerdolan, and least of all did he trust the lord Vara, who lead them out of the ruin of their city! Now we hear that the Varanáa worship a living god they call Vara, a being of ancient power, and it seems to us, as I am sure to many here, that the ancient Caerdolan lords had the power to become as terrible immortal beings. And yet, in our desire to live apart from the wars and ways of Men, we have not given sufficient heed to the Varanáa threat, nor did we see the coming of their old vengeance against us until it was too late, and Gwalophylax the accursed ruined our land and slew our king and our loved ones.”

The Gnome representatives of Keegan Par along with the Dwarves of Mickelberg and Dwarrow report that the Varanáa have amassed in vast numbers in the northern end of the valley of the Pellarin, and with them is a dragon of immense size and strength, of the breed of Aurophylax, only greater still. “Not with all the combined strength of the Dwarven citadels, nor all the secret war machines of the Gnomes can the North Road be kept for long against the Varanáa and their worms, though we fight to the last warrior!”

To this Prince Faolan and Sir Maol of Ooweghir add that the strength of their people, the northernmost Warlander realm, is of no use wasted in a hopeless defend of their small, lakeshore citadel, now swollen with the refugees from scattered tribes and remote farmlands that have poured in seeking refuge. “Rather our Lord Maltenor seeks to lend his strength to that of his elder brother Murad, and fight by his side in the defense of the South. For if Silegby falls, then all hope is lost for the lesser realms.”

After hearing this, Prince Keobahn stands to address the council. He gazes wickedly in the direction of the adventurers, hatred burning in his blue eyes, and then speaks: “I have heard fearful words here today from many strange folk, be they of Elven kind or Dwarves, or Gnomes that seem to have walked out of children’s tales. But I say this: neither the hunting archers of Elven wood, nor the watchful eyes of Dwarf or Gnome have kept the Varanáa out of our lands, and none who have called themselves friends were there to help us when Aerellus was destroyed and our people taken or left upon pikes to become feast to carrion birds. This young princeling claims that Ooweghir swells with worthy folk, but they remain locked away and hiding in their hill town while we fight and die upon the battlefield. For the Varanáa do not come only by land, but by sea and sail up river to our lands at Aerellus and Errolan, in ships built by the hands of Northmen, and with axes made in Dwarven smithies they cleave our helms and shields. I see men here from many realms and many lands, and I say that it is by our strength and our courage, and not by wizardry or Elven magic that we must destroy this enemy. It is time for new leadership, and that which has not already lain with the enemy!”

At this there is an angry murmur among the assembly, and among the knights of Murad’s house, for many here know the references to Murad’s mixing of the royal blood with that of the Varanáa. Wilhelm begins to draw sword at Keobahn, but is stopped by the sudden crash of the doors as a party of Northmen in full armor burst in, led by a mighty lord and ancient lord in gilded armor.

“Late have I arrived!” bellows the old king, “yet not so late that the swords of Andrisgerda shall not be drawn alongside those of Silegby. Too long have my eyes been blinded by a veil of Varanáa sorcery and false counsel. We claim kinship and friendship with Silegby, and offer what assistance in arms and ships as we can spare. I, Beor who was called Old when yet Murad was called the boy king of Silegby, have arrived as promised to reclaim my ancient sword, that it may be drawn along side that of Murad’s on the battlefield.”

Murad rises to greet him, and it is like a meeting of old friends brought together once again after many years of distance and feud. Murad orders that Beor’s sword be brought to him, and presents it to the old man in friendship. Then Murad addresses the council again: “It is well that we have such worthy friends and allies here, and that old kin strife has been forgiven, for though we have little hope to defeat such vast hoards and accompanied by dragons and sorcerers, still our cause is not without hope. Yet our true chance does not lie in strength of arms against so many, but in destroying the heart and mind of the enemy. Only by killing Vara in the heartland of the Varanáa, where he does not expect us to strike, will we shatter their resolve, and only a small party of the most cunning has any hope of accomplishing this deed, while the greater part of the strength of the Varanáa is occupied with our own defenses here.”

“But who will leave the defense of his homeland on such a fool’s quest?” Keobahn asks, eyeing Gest maliciously.

“I, at least shall go,” Gest announces, “since it is the will of the wise, and not least of all my king’s, with whom my allegiances still lies, and if fool’s quest it be, then so be it. Yet even a fool may make the killing stroke, if by his foolhardiness he dares to leave his place of hiding.”

To this, Keobahn bristles, but is cut short by the other adventurers, who step forward to join Gest in the king’s quest. Finally, Murad commands that B’auk accompany them in their quest, and after his initial shock, B’auk bows in assent, and gazes forward with steady resolve. “I do not bear the sinews of a warrior. My hands and limbs soft from a life shut behind stone walls, and eyes dimmed by long hours reading by candle light. In place of a shield, I have carried books and scrolls. My hand has wielded a quill rather than a sword, and my armor has been the lore that I have gathered in the service of my king and my people. Though I do not know what use these things may be against such an enemy as threatens to destroy us, I will go, and I will die if I must the death of my warrior fathers, if it is to defend that which I love, and if it will make even the least difference.”

With this the council murmurs its approval, and the many offer the adventurers what help they can. Captain Tyrus offers to take them across the Sea of Ice to their destination, and King Beor offers them his enchanted longship. They are provisioned for a long journey, and the ship is manned by some of Beor’s elite guard. B’auk has received leave of Murad to bring Karu along with them, for the boy has great knowledge of Varanáa ways, and harbors a hatred for Vara that will eventually cause him to defy any will that would keep him from exacting his vengeance.

Gest meets with Lady Cadema in her chambers, and she gives him a jewel passed down in heirloom from her mother’s people, who were more than a little Elven. She sends him off with the blessings of her new god, Roski, and the promise of a lifetime of love and devotion upon his return. With their final farewells, the adventurers and their companions set off upon dark waters toward the land of the Enemy.

WL18 – “Fire and Ice”

For days, the adventurers have sailed upon a sea of ice. Strange lights flicker and crackle in the sky above, and whales seem to accompany them as they navigate the dark, ice chocked waters. Suddenly, as the pale wintry sun sets weakly into the misty sea, their ship is rocked and bumped, and they stop suddenly as if held by some unseen force. A great webbed hand, glistening black like the hide of a whale, grabs hold of the side, and a massive head life a cross between a giant man and a killer whale gazes at them with fierce eyes. Its lip-less mouth spreads wide, revealing rows of pointed teeth, and it speaks to them in a voice that is at once the high-pitched sounds of a whale and the strong, low tones of the ocean depths. Some of the warriors aboard the ship rush to strike at the being, but are ordered to cease at once, for the wise among them know that it is foolish to attack this thing.

“I have come to bring you a warning, and ask a favor in return: sail north of this route lest you encounter a force that you will not be able to endure. A fleet of ships manned by Varanáa devils sails this way, and the skies are darkened by dragons. Sail north by lanes that I will guide you through, and you will be safe, and in return you shall set foot upon the land that you will see, and therein lend aid to the people who call my name in prayer against a terror that comes to them from the earth. They will know you when they hear my name upon your lips, for I am known to them as Skaanáa, the Lord of the Northern Sea.”

With that the giant sea lord disappears into the icy depths, and their ship turns north, seemingly of its own accord. A pod of killer whales leads them through channels in the floating ice until they espy a rocky, snow-clad shore with ghostly mountains rising pale in the distance. On the shore they see a long gray sealskin boat turned upside down, and nearby a tiny hut crudely fashioned of piled rocks. A lonely figure crouched low sits near the mouth of the hut. Approaching it, they see that it is a small man, whose face is made pale by a chalky paste, and whose brows, lips, and hair are stained a deep, vibrant blue. He wears his hair Varanáa style, but he bears no tattoos, and is covered completely in a cloak of white seal fur.
The stranger looks at them curiously, but without fear. He speaks a broken version of the common tongue, and introduces himself as Numan, the Outcast, shaman of the Helarnáa, the Ice People. Numan offers to show them the way to the stronghold of his people, but says that he cannot enter with them. “For it is forbidden for me to do so, lest milk sour and wombs grow barren!” He shows them to a valley between the arms of a snow-clad mount, at the back of which stands an old fortress of cyclopean stone masonry with heavy, squat towers that look almost to have been grown out of the surrounding rock. Upon its battlements stand warriors dressed in hides and fur cloaks, and carrying spears and clubs, intricately carved from whale bone.

At first the Helarnáa receive them with suspicion, but when they learn that they have been sent by Skaanáa, they honor them, and extend to them their hospitality. The Helarnáa explain that recently they have fallen prey to tribe of frost giants that have come down from the barren north in summons to some call to war. The giants prey upon their livestock and decimate all the game in the area so that the Helarnáa have no food stores for the long winter that has come upon them. “What’s more, these giants are not satisfied with starving us to death! They hunt us down like seals, and prey upon our people! Our warriors hang skinned from poles to dry in the sun and wind, and there is nothing we can do but shut ourselves in our ancestral stronghold and starve!”

When asked about Numan, the warriors scoff, saying that the shaman is an outcast freak of nature, and of little help. The elders, however, explain it differently: “Long ago our ancestors were a great people who wandered here from a warm, green land, and they were led by a powerful witch king who demanded the blood of children to feed the dark goddess that he worshipped. They were caught in the worst storm that ever there was in the northern sea, and their ships were splintered and smashed upon the ice flow. Many died then, but still many more survived, and there were those among them who said that the storm was a last warning from the Sky God, Páarun, that we were not to follow the evil ways anymore. Those who spoke against the leader were put to death, and a terrible battle ensued wherein the warriors that followed the witch king were victorious. What ships remained were too few to carry all of our numbers, and with the outcome of the battle, those of the vanquished who were not slain were left to die upon the ice. Among them were the outcast, the deformed or the insane, the blind and deaf and dumb, and all the rest forced to march at the tail end of the host, or to lie in sickly death in the bilge hold of the ships. In that hour, these outcasts proved their strength, for they helped the rest to build homes and make a life out of what they could out of ice and sea. Chief among these outcasts was a numan, that is the word for one who is neither man nor woman, but has qualities of both; a hermaphrodite, which our forefathers believed possessed mysterious powers, and yet whose presence was an affront to nature. This numan became a leader among our ancestors, in the absence of princes and lords, and with his wisdom and powers this stronghold was built out of the barren rocks. Since then, when one is born, he is honored as a magical being, a healer, and a spiritual leader among our people. Yet, they remain outcast and must live beyond the confines of our homes, in the sacred place that is the meeting of the earth and the sea. For the Numan is said to be descended in spiritual lineage from that first Numan who led our people in our darkest hour, and his kind is closest, it is said, to the lord of the sea, who has sent you to us.”

B’auk is fascinated by the elder’s story, immediately pointing out the connections to the legend of the flight of Vara and his Caerdolan refugees. The adventurers agree then that the Helarnáa are descended from Caerdolan, and distantly related to the Varanáa. Not only that, but they have an ancestral enmity with the Varanáa that may make them worthy allies.

Agreeing to help, the adventurers begin to assess the defensiveness of the fortress, and to take stock in the weapons of these people. They have no steel, relying heavily on implements of stone, bone, and ivory. While they are making fast their defenses, they are suddenly assaulted by huge stones hurled at them from afar. They see the shapes of giants throwing stones with their bare hands or with giant slings, and while the walls of the fortress hold fast, it becomes obvious that their gates and fortifications will not withstand such an attack indefinitely.

Working out a plan to draw away the giants, Gnamek once again becomes invisible, and taunts them with a barrage of insults and challenges. The angry giants follow his racket away from the fortress and out toward the snow drifts near the coast. The rest of the adventurers follow as well, and see that the giants have wrecked Numan’s home. The giants threaten the adventurers, but are daunted by their magic and skill.

Finally, the exhausted giants stop their attack to rest, and to listen to what Gnamek and the others have to say. With B’auk’s help, Gnamek recalls the ancient and legendary war between the giants and the dragons, and how mortals fought on either side. They point out that the Varanáa have summoned the race of evil dragons out of their slumber and gathered them together to fight for them, promising them dominion over their ancient enemies. Moved by Gnamek’s words, the giants grow hot with ire as old hatreds burn within them. Enfuriated, they reveal that Varanáa wizards have been among their people, promising them plunder in human lands, but never once revealing to them that they were in league with the dragons, “and yet we have always smelled something draconic about them, and we have never truly trusted their words!”

With that Numan swims in from the sea in the form of a seal, and with him comes the sea lord Skaanáa, who addresses the giants: “Open your eyes, sons of snow and rock, and see that your true enemies are not these people who live in fear amongst the barren stones and frozen seas, but those who march with dragons in their ranks, and who for too long have claimed dominion over the north! Take back the lands that the gods made yours, and strike against the Varanáa. For it is not yet too late for the giant folk to find redemption in the eyes of the gods.”

With that, the giants agree to leave the Helarnáa in peace, and go east and strike at the Varanáa from their rearguard, and thus do their part in the battle that threatens to destroy the Warlands. Skaanáa offers to put the adventurers back on course, and to guide their ship by safe paths upon the sea so that they may arrive at their destination unseen by hostile eyes. The Helarnáa thank them as well, and swear to do their part in harrying the Varanáa, and even to send what force of fighting men they can to the war in the east. The adventurers then sail away into the west, and south to warmer seas where they soon sight the green shores of the lands that for a thousand years have endured the tyranny of the Varanáa.

WL19 – The Silver Sorcerer (Varanáa, Part Two)

Having sailed for many days, their ship enters warmer waters, and passes by islands teeming with sea birds. Soon after the lookout sights what appears to be the mainland, they sail up to what appears to be the mouth of a great river. Skin boats and wooden structures with drying meat stand abandoned near the shore. There is no other sign of human activity. Beyond this a dark line of trees marks what may be a vast forest, much of it lost from sight in gloom and mist. Setting off the long boats, the adventurers land and examine the boats. Carved totem poles mark the mouth of a wide river emptying into the bay. Karu examines the poles, identifying them as Varanáa clan carvings. Hearing the sounds of people approaching, the adventurers immediately go out of sight.

They are surprised to see that the approaching people are two teenage girls with blond, plaited hair, and dressed in the manner of Northwomen. They load their baskets with some of the drying meat, and then head back the way they came, toward the river bank. Following the girls, the adventurers see a great settlement of humans. On the near side of the river there are houses built in the style of the Northmen’s houses, but not as grand as many they have seen in Andrisgerda. The largest structure here is a tall, wooden temple with the posts carved into the stylized images of the Sky Father. Many women and children work and play on this side of the river. Some of these are Northmen while others appear to be brown-skinned natives dressed in deerskins. The far side of the river has more houses, built in the domed style of the Varanáa. A large earth mound has been raised in the center, upon which a rounded temple of stone and timber has been built. Smoke issues out of an opening at the top. Varanáa women and children can be seen along moving about the far bank. The women are dressed in long loin clothes and short capes, and their bodies are covered in blood red tattoos similar to those on Karu.

Using his powers of illusion, Gnamek makes the entire party appear like locals. They move about the village more or less undisturbed until they are suddenly confronted by a man with silver-white hair and silvery gray eyes, dressed like a Northman priest, and leaning upon a staff of silver birch. The man walks with a limp, but he gazes directly at them knowingly.

“I know why you have come,” he says, “And I will help you if I can. There are those among your enemies who will see what I see as well. Come with me into the temple where you will be safe for the moment.”

Cautiously, they agree to go with him, and through the temple walls they are able to look out while remaining unseen. The silver-haired man introduces himself as Adro, and explains that he can be a powerful ally to them, but he has been ensorcelled by the dark lord of this stronghold, a Varanáa warlord who is one of Vara’s most trusted lieutenants. Killing this warlord and destroying the temple of Vara on the far bank will help free the Northmen and other slaves, and will cripple Vara’s army, “for this stronghold controls the mouth of the river, by which Vara’s armies and supply shipments pass out to into the eastern sea.”

The Northmen are descended from colonists that sailed far into the west, and became captives of the Varanáa. Many of these are descendants of Beor the Old. Because of the wild grapes that grow in abundance, the Northman called this land Vinland, and the settlers have since been known as Vinlanders. Their name for the tribal peoples they encountered is Skraelings, but since their captivity, the Vinlanders have reserved that derogatory term only for the evil Varanáa, who keep native peoples as slaves and hostages as well.

Adro tells them that, at sundown that evening, a shipment of slaves and food is to be sent across the river by barge for a terrible ceremony scheduled to occur at midnight. Twenty slave women are to be sacrificed by the hideous shape-shifting Blood Witches in honor of Vara and the dragon queen Tiamat. The adventurers work out a plan by which they will hide among the cargo on the barge, and wait for the ceremony to begin, when all of the Varanáa will be preoccupied. Gnamek will use his illusions to hide them within the cargo.

Doing so, they wait for night fall, and as the barge lands and is unloaded, the adventurers stealthily make their way around the village, now abandoned as the Varanáa women dance their terrible dance to the sounds of drums, rattles, and clappers. The twenty largest and most tattooed women dance in a circle around the bonfire as the rest of the village chants.

Climbing the mound, they realize that a warding circle has been drawn around the structure. They do what they can to avoid this, and then sneak toward the entrance to the temple. Two large, Varanáa warriors stand guard outside the threshold of the temple, each carrying a large battle axe. Gest and Kesna attack the guards, who are only momentarily caught off guard, as Kanti and Calanthe enter through the door. Meanwhile, Gnamek flies in through the smoke hole at the top.

Inside the temple, they see a shrine with an image of the dragon queen and a large, dark gem glowing faintly with an inner light. In the center, a round flat stone like a lid carved with arcane symbols bears a small hearth in its midst. Gnamek approaches the altar, but is attacked by a terrible guardian: a huge snake rears up and strikes at him with poisonous fangs. As the altar is attacked, the flame in the hearth rises up into a column of fire and smoke, bursting its way up through the smoke hole and into a huge pillar that coalesces in the sky into the shape of a huge, demonic dragon, bristling with spikes and horns.

Desperately, Kanti uses her new-found powers and transforms herself into a brass dragon, the form of her draconic ancestor, and taking flight, engages the demon dragon in aerial combat. The fight is terrible, and Kanti holds her own, despite being outmatched by her foe’s size and strength.

On the temple doorstep, Gest and Kesna are faced with a new foe as the two guards transform into giant saber-toothed cats, while in the ceremonial square, the Blood Witches transform into hideous, she-ape-like monsters.

As Gnamek slays the guardian serpent, and Gest and Kesna slay the first of the two guards, Calanthe turns her attention to the altar, calling upon the forces of nature and the goddess Dannu to defile the unholy power of Tiamat that binds the altar, and shattering the gem and the statue.

In an instant they hear a noise from across the river like a raging storm, and out of the roof of the temple to Sky Father rises a great silver dragon, gleaming in the moonlight. At that moment, Karu stabs the eldest of the Blood Witches in the back with a poison dagger, slaying her and sending the rest of the Varanáa women into chaotic fury. Karu fights for his life with his dagger and axe as Gest and Kesna dispatch the second shape-shifting guard and turn their attention to the hideous Blood Witches.

The silver dragon flies across the river, and with his breath weapon, lays waste to the Blood Witches and most of their followers. Those that are left are finished off by Gest and Kesna on the steps of the temple mound, as the dragon flies up to join Kanti in her fight with the demon dragon. The fight is terrible, and the flames of the demon set alight the Varanáa village as the three dragons clash over the river. Finally, in a concerted attack, Kanti and the silver dragon slay the demon, which falls in smoldering ruin into the cold waters of the river. The surviving Varanáa women and children are scattered into the woods, many of them hunted down by their former slaves, and the adventurers are cheered as liberators.

Later, the silver dragon reveals to them that he is none other than Adro the priest, imprisoned by Vara in human form, and only by severing the power of Tiamat from the temple could the spell be broken. The demon dragon was none other than the Varanáa warlord himself who, like the rest of Vara’s lieutenants, has the power to transform himself into one of the dragon queen’s abysmal brood. He then offers Kanti the opportunity to fly with him to meet her ancestral kin; the race of good dragons who are gathering in the north to fight their evil brethren in the Varanáa war. Kanti agrees to go with him, answering a call that she had been fighting up until then, and after bidding farewell to her companions, flies off in dragon form to the north of the world.

Meanwhile, the rest of the adventurers take rest with the former slaves of the Varanáa, who have sent runners to all of the nearby villages announcing the death of their dreaded warlord. They learn that several smaller villages and semi-permanent camps can be found all along the banks of the river, and it is a ten day march inland to the great Mound City of Vara. This is corroborated by Waljan’s map, which they still carry, and after many exchanges of friendship, they set off in canoes upon the river as far as the next settlement. Meanwhile, following native guides, Kesna and her warrior henchmen take a different route, intent on spreading gathering as many followers as they can from among the tribes that live in fear of the Varanáa.

WL20 – “The Final Battle” (“Lord of the Varanáa”)

The Vinlanders have informed the adventurers that Vara and the Varanáa power base is a vast city known as Unvdatlvi Gaduhvi (Mound City). The city is mostly abandoned now with the exception of women, children, and slaves. From here, from a massive pyramid-like palace, the god emperor Vara watches all and rules an empire that stretches for hundreds of miles in all directions. Most of the tribal peoples that live in these lands live in fear and hatred of the Varanáa, and many are willing to help the ones that have overthrown the evil warlord of the River Mound. Many of their warriors, however, have been forcibly conscripted into the Varanáa army as their families have been taken away to live as hostages in the shadow of Vara’s dark temple.

Paddling their canoes as far as they dare, the adventurers pull up onto the river bank and hiding their boats, make their way stealthily into the forest. Stealthily, they approach a fire-lit camp where a ceremony is being held. Native people sit attentively around a bonfire, as a shaman in a red-painted wooden mask dances and sings a song of power. Gest speaks to the dogs that guard the camp, reassuring them that they are friends as Gnamek casts an illusion, making his party appear like natives, and they enter the camp, joining in with the spectators. The native people are frightened of the Varanáa, but willing to take up the call and unite against the evil that has oppressed them for so long. They fear, however, for the lives of those held hostage at the Varanáa capital. The adventurers assure them that a great force has arrived to do battle with Vara, and vanquish the Varanáa as they did the stronghold at the mouth of the river. They urge the natives to spread the word among the tribes that the end of Vara is near.

Meanwhile, they follow the marked trail leading to Vara’s city, encountering more villages and camps along the way that they sway to their cause. As they near the city, they hear rumors that Vara occasionally appears in the form of a great, many-headed dragon. B’auk supposes that Vara, as has been suggested before, channels the power of Tiamat. The adventurers learn that Vara rests within the confines of his shrine after he manifests his powers, and decide that this is the strategic advantage that they need.

Arriving at the edge of the city, they see that it is built within a deep, round valley, like a great crater, the floor of which is neatly divided into sections by canals. In the center of the crater, a great table-like hill rises up crowned by seven great mounds; six surrounding a larger seventh. The mounds are surrounded by a palisade of enormous logs, and each of the six mounds has a stone structure upon which sits a young red dragon. The largest mound has a round temple with a domed roof similar to other temples to Vara that they have seen, only grander.

Stealthily making their way down into the crater, they find that most of the houses in the outer districts are made of timber with bark thatch roofs, and house native women, children, and elderly men. These are the families of those warriors pressed into military service by the Varanáa, held hostage here. A wide, circular canal divides the outer districts from the inner ones. The houses within the confines of the canal are of stone and timber, and house primarily Varanáa women, children, and elderly men, who have not gone to fight in the Warlands.

As night begins to fall, the adventurers seek refuge in an empty home in the outer district. Karu warns them that at nightfall the Blood Witches will be out on the prowl and will slay anyone that they find out of doors. Noticing that water in the radiating canals flow out from the central hill, they deduce that there may be a subterranean river or system of springs beneath the hill, and possibly a system of caverns. They also point out that it is the perfect den for dragons, but likely the last way suspected of an infiltration.

Meanwhile, Gnamek thinks of a plan to make Vara use his powers so that he must rest. Using his magic, Gnamek sends a dream to the youngest and most impressionable of the red dragons, playing upon the creature’s hatred for humanity and lust for power, and suggesting that the dream is a sign from Tiamat that the young dragon challenge Vara and take its place at Tiamat’s side. The young dragon awakens in fury and flame, and a cacophonous melee ensues, lighting up the mound city with dragon fire. Suddenly, from the central temple, a huge column of glowing smoke rises up, and from it the gargantuan form of the multi-headed Tiamat appears, catching up the rebellious young dragon and devouring him before the eyes of all, then setting fire to many of the houses in the city, Varanáa or otherwise, before dissipating back down into the temple.

Deciding that the time is right, the adventurers make their move. At the darkest hour of the night, they stealthily make their way to the canal, and pass into the Varanáa districts undetected. Discovering the culvert by which the water issues out into the canal, they enter the dark cave, which is cold and filled with the stench of dragon. They pass through the dark caves unnoticed by the sleeping wyrmlings, and emerge beneath one of the lesser temples where a young red dragon once sat. Using magic and skill, they bypass a great warrior tattooed like a Varanáa warlord, but with the golden hair and fair eyes of one of the Northmen. The warrior wields a great axe, and wears a helm crowned with dragon wings.

Into the great temple they descend, down many flights of stairs, eventually entering a large, circular burial chamber familiar to those who have defiled the ancient tombs of the Caerdolan lords. In the center of the chamber, upon a raised dais, stands a large alter-like stone sarcophagus, its lid decorated with a high relief sculpture of a warrior in full armor bearing a great sword.

As they pass through the threshold, they walk upon the marked path of stone tiles, but soon the undead warriors ensconced in alcoves in the walls, become animate and attack. Summoning a hurricane wind, Calanthe holds the undead guardians back as her companions converge on the sleeping Vara.

Approaching the dais, they raise the sarcophagus lid, finding the figure of a man with stone-like gray skin, and dressed in the full regalia of a warlord of ancient Caerdolan. Faded tattoos seem etched into his hide, and his demonic yellow eyes open the moment they gaze upon him. Instantly, Vara rises out of his resting place, summoning forth his dark powers and loosing terrible magic upon his attackers. Over and over again, Vara seems to deflect their attacks, but as he begins to summon a deadly fog, Gnamek casts one last powerful spell. Just as Vara attempts to resist the spell, Karu strikes at his ankle in the form of a rattlesnake, breaking his concentration, and causing him to take the full brunt of Gnamek’s spell. Instantly, Vara’s body is transformed into stone, and with that, Gest strikes a blow that knocks the stone head from its body. The temple begins to tremble as Tiamat’s power is cut off from its foundations, and the adventurers flee for their lives, taking Vara’s stone head with them. B’auk surprises everyone by drinking a potion from his stores that transforms him into a living flame that then flies out with the wind.

At the surface, the red dragons have been thrown into chaos with the fall of their master. The great warrior, momentarily confused is confronted by the heroes, who convince him that he should fight on the side of his father’s people, and their friends. Instantly, the warrior uses his Varanáa magic to transform himself into an enormous red dragon, and he fights with the younger red worms as the adventurers escape to the outskirts of the city.

Great spouts of flame and molten rock spew out of the ruin of Vara’s temple, and rains down death and destruction upon the Varanáa city. The native slaves flee for their lives, and the adventurers use their magic to fly back to their waiting ship.

Meanwhile, Kesna leads an army of the united tribes against the remaining Varanáa strongholds, now faltering and crumbling with the fall of their god king.

After many days of sailing back home, the adventurers arrive to find Silegby in flames. The walls of Murad’s castle are in ruins, and many fires still burn, but the king’s pennants still fly. Inside, Lady Cadema and her maidens attend to the wounded, and not least of all King Murad, who was crushed in the jaws of a dragon on the battlefield. Lady Cadema warns them that the king will not last long now, and at their request, takes them to the king’s chambers.

Inside, Murad lies still in his armor, crushed and broken, and gives them his blessing and his thanks for their great deeds. He falls into a deathlike sleep, but Calanthe and B’auk summon their healing powers and save him from death. Meanwhile, Cadema tells them of the terrible battle fought right at the gates of the citadel, and in the sky above, and how many fell, including Kerry of the king’s honor guard. Just when all seemed darkest, something seemed to have snapped, and the dragons turned upon their Varanáa masters. It was terrible to behold, and yet hope seemed to return as most of the Varanáa were either slain or driven north by the dragons. Prince Sherrod and his Maloofian knights sailed their ships up river, and Duke Piet of O along with Prince Keobahn of Aerellus led the remnant of the ground forces in the route of the Varanáa.

That evening, with his loyal companions for witnesses, and before the eyes of Roski, Gest wed the lady Cadema with Murad’s blessings.

Later, a small party of armored knights of O comes riding from the north, led by Sir Gaspar, who reports that the last of the enemy was destroyed at the river. The dragons found their own defeat as a great hoard of good dragons shining in the morning light came from the north and fell upon them, and with them came giant folk in armor and wielding great lances and axes. The Varanáa were driven to the edge of the river, where they turned for a desperate fight, and even then the allied forces of the Warlanders might have met defeat, for the Varanáa still outnumbered them, when help came in the form of armored Dwarves and Elven archers, and many Gnomes with machines of war. Then Prince Sherrod and his men sailed upon the river in their ships, and with that the last of the Varanáa fell.

The knights returned victorious, but hearing that Cadema had wed Gest in his absence, Prince Keobahn invoked an ancient custom and challenged Gest to single combat. Beor the Old served as Gest’s second, but despite Keobahn’s skill and fury, Gest emerged victorious, hewing Keobahn’s head from his shoulders.

The adventurers were hailed with great praise, and Murad retained his throne. Gest reclaimed Cadema’s ancestral home from the brigands that had overrun it during her absence, and dwelt there as its lord. Gnamek was made royal archivist and given B’auk’s library and studies to replace the tower that was toppled by the attacking dragons. B’auk was appointed chief advisor to Lord Karu of Errolan, and Calanthe took up the role of elder Druid of the Danaan along with her newborn daughter. Kanti returned to the lands of the good dragons, and upon her return, Kesna was made Mistress of Arms and Chief of the King’s Honor Guard of Silegby.

In the days that followed, much suffering was averted by the aid which came from across the water in ships from the realm of O. The young Duke eventually returned to his realm, but many ships still came bearing carpenters and stone masons, and laden with cargos of food and clothes for the wounded and homeless survivors of the last Varanáa war. King Beor and his new bride, Magda, returned to Andrisgerda, and with many thanks and oaths of friendship, Sherrod and his knights sailed with captain Tyrus back to their warm homeland. The Monastery of Saint Elohar was rebuilt and sanctified once more near the village of New Quillach, and a great building project was undertaken in Silegby to build a cathedral to Roski, the new god of the Warlands. With this came a new time of peace, though true peace was ever fleeting, for the Warlands would never fully outlive its name, and its people never fully change their warlike nature. But for a time there was peace, and the heroic adventurers enjoyed a much earned rest.

THE END

APPENDIX ONE: Origin of the Warlands
(As recounted by B’auk, royal archivist)

In the beginning the people of the Warlands were a wandering tribe, mingled with the tribes that we know as the Northmen. In those days, they lived in a kingdom far to the east, and their chieftain was named Stenolf, a man of great strength and courage, who along with his sons, Hrani, Lang, and Mord and their people, wished for a realm to rule as his own. Taking what provisions and wealth that was their due, Stenolf and his sons took to their ships and set out on the windswept sea, enduring a terrible storm wherein Stenolf’s queen, Dalla, was lost along with many other of their folk until Stenolf offered up golden treasures to the Lord of Storms. No sooner had the ruddy gold vanished beneath the waves, than the storm blew over, and the sailors sighted the coast of a sweet and verdant land. Throwing their household gods to the waves, they landed upon the shore, and began building their homes on the rocky beach where the wooden idols had come to rest. Such were the ways of our ancestors.

Landing their ships, the people of Stenolf at once saw that they were not alone in this new place, for there were other folk who lived in peace off the land. They had no king, but were ruled by a priestess named Condanu. Having lost his wife to the storm, Stenolf proposed marriage to the priestess, offering up the wealth of his ancestors for a dowry. Condanu agreed, and Stenolf took her for his wife. Two sons were born to Condanu, named Ref and Rolf, and a daughter named Rana. The younger children were well received by Stenolf’s elder sons save Mord, who saw them as an insult to the memory of his mother. He plotted to slay the youngsters, but their mother Condanu learned of the evil plot from a faithful servant, and using the magic passed down to her by her people, she wove a cloth with an enchantment upon it protecting any who wears it from dart or blade. She then spoke to her husband, the king, and bade him send Mord away on a quest to recover an enchanted golden arm band said to be worn like a ring by a giant in a wild northern land. Stenolf gave in to his wife’s request, and sent Mord on the quest, but his brothers Hrani and Lang accompanied him. They set off in search of the giant’s ring, and had many adventures and suffered many perils in the wilds.

Meanwhile, the children of Stenolf and Condanu grew strong and wise, and wisest among them was Rana their sister. She knew all things of wood and stream, and even knew the language of those things that crawl in the mould. A great priestess of the earth goddess she became, and all who knew her honored her for her wisdom and her powers. Her brothers Ref and Rolf grew to manhood, becoming great chieftains among their people, and sought the wisdom of their sister in matters of importance. From then on the kings of our land have sought the wisdom and guidance of the Druid folk, the Danaan and the Wozen, in the rule of the land, until the coming of Our Lord Roski.

In time Mord and his brothers returned from their quests, which had taken them to the ends of the Earth, and seeing the realms that their younger brothers had made for themselves, grew angry and waged war upon them. And so the first of many kin wars was started, and Rana wept, for she saw that forever after peace would elude the land of her mothers, and the warlike blood of her fathers would prevail. Thus the Warlands became what they are, and from the children of Stenolf came the ruling houses of our time. And while the kings and lords look back to the line of their fathers, and thus claim kinship to the Northmen, many others remember their mothers, and the people who lived under the protection of the Goddess. And many still remember in their hearts the dark majesty that was Caerdolan, and there are many among us in whose veins the blood of Caerdolan still flows. And all of this, together in long lines of mixed blood ancestry, gave rise to us, the proud people of the Warlands.

APPENDIX TWO: The Varanáa

The History of the Varanáa (as told by Lord Karu of Errolan, and recorded by B’auk, royal counselor and archivist of Silegby)

Long ago we were kings, and our houses were palaces of stone and great timbers carved in the forms of beasts and dragons. In that time all other peoples worshipped us, and feared us, and many offerings were made to us upon burning altars, and many riches we had, and gold, and jewels, and stones of many fabulous shapes and hues. For many lives of men we lived thus, and we sailed upon the oceans of the world in ships of red and gold that roared with the smiting fire. We were gods then.

There came a time when we were betrayed by those to whom we showed favor. For there was jealousy among our worshippers, and there were those among us who were weak and who encouraged their servants to believe that they were worthy of glory, and there were those who mingled with and married those of lesser race. In time our altars were toppled, and our palaces looted and destroyed, or filled with peasant rabble, and upon our thrones sat beggar kings, usurpers and would-be gods. Our people were cruelly slain or sold off in chains, or driven forth from our cities as a lion may sometimes be driven out of its cave by mean jackals.

Thus did our great citadel of Cair Dolas fall, and its stones were removed to become the huts of peasant farmers and the gold of its great domes was carried off by petty Dwarves and Gnomes that shun the sunlight, and so it is that we have forever held enmity with such folk. And in our dispossession we were driven north across the wilderness to the lands of greedy folk, and what few treasures we carried with us were spent on the tolls and the heavy price taken by those to whom we pleaded for succor in our plight. And we do not forget the hospitality that was shown to us on our road, and to the Elves of the Greatwood we owe most our rancor and vengeance. For though we had never had alliance of friendship, neither had we reason for quarrel, and in our many wars of conquest and plunder, never had we trod upon their lands lest it was to pass through quickly on our way beyond. Yet, the Elves turned us aside in our moment of need, and at the onset of winter, and forced us to march north to our doom.

Many of us died on that terrible journey through the mountain passes, and it was a much diminished host that emerged finally to see the thaw of spring in the valleys in the north of the world. And yet, it was only the strongest of our people who survived, and that strength grew as our people grew. For in the northern lands we met few other folk, and the legends of giants and dragons had kept that land empty of all but a few wandering tribes of a savage folk, tall in stature and strong of limb, but possessing only the most primitive of weapons, and implements of stone, bone and horn. And they had magic of spirits and of wood and earth, and they had men and women who were as priests after their own fashion. Many things we learned then of wood and rock, beast and bird, and of the fish of the rivers and sea.

Many things also did our priests teach these folk of the stars and the shadows, and of hidden things, and one priest among many – a king of our people named Vara – rose up in power and taught us many things. And it was Vara who first called forth the Great Mother, from whose belly came forth all life in the world. She who sees all with many eyes, and whose voices can be heard in the stones of the earth and the rumblings of thunder and waves, and whose breath brings forth the fires and the poisons and the winter kills of the earth. She whose wings cause the winds to blow, and at whose whim fall the rains or creep the pestilences of man and beast, the red pox and the gasping fever. For Bau-Tiamat is the Mother of all things, and at Her command is life given or taken away. And it was Vara who spoke with the Voice of the Mother, and who became her earthly consort, and through him were the secrets of the Blood Magic passed on to our witches, and the Death Magic, and the Ink Magic, and thus were our people given the gift of shape-shifting, and of walking without form or shadow. And to appease the Great Mother Vara demanded blood sacrifices, and the fat children of our enemies were burned upon altars of dragon fire. Thus were we feared once more, and grew in power and might in distant lands, where men had never heard of us before. And we gave thanks to the Mother, and swore allegiance to the god king Vara, and we became known as the Varanáa, the People of Vara.

Varanáa Potter’s Song (Translated by B’auk, Royal Archivist of Silegby)

We gathered mud from the river at low tide.
At low tide when the water runs sweet and no seal hunts the trout.
Our hands were blue-gray from the mud carried in woven baskets.
With blue-gray hands we turned the mud, and the vessels grew and took shape.
The kiln-mound swallowed the mud shapes we turned.
Into the dark, smoky womb went the mud and out came the hard clay vessels.
From the mouth of the kiln-mound came the vessels for holding water.
From the dark hole came the vessels for cooking food.
From the fiery earth place came the vessels for burying the ash and bones of our dead ones.

Lament of the Varanáa Women

No longer shall we walk unseen in the wood.
No longer shall we hunt the salmon that runs in the foam.
No longer shall we embrace beneath the sweet-scented pine boughs.
For the ink witch is howling, the black ships are sailing, and my beloved’s axe falls far from home.

How shall I see him take flight from a shore?
How shall I feel his soft tread on the loam?
How shall I whisper his name to the wind?
The night sounds deceive me, Great Mother receive me! For dragon fires smolder, the fallen now molder, and my beloved’s voice fades far from home.

Now I am bleeding from cuts on my skin.
The blood witch has marked me, no more shall I roam.
Red lines for the widow, in ashes I wallow. For few are returning, the black ships are burning, and my beloved now rests so far from home.


APPENDIX THREE: Creation Myth

The Creation Story (as recorded in the Book of Light, the original of which is enshrined in the Great Temple at Korma)

In the beginning there was Chaos. There was no light, and the sky and sea were as one massive, roiling and boiling maelstrom in which nothing could live except spirits that were wild and without Law. Chief among these was Oken, who in the tongue of Men is Wozen, and his mate who is Bau or Annu, who is also called Tiamat, the Mother of Dragons. Wild, these spirits were, and wildest of all were Oken and Bau, for they ruled by might and the terror of their countenance rather than by Justice. Like great winged beasts, they appeared horned and fanged, and breathing death and destruction upon all. Many children were born to these terrible spirits, and many were no sooner born than they were instantly devoured by their terrible mother. Yet many others survived also, and among these were two who were unlike the hoards of demons that plagued the world in that time. Dzeum was the first born, who was later known as Sky and Páarun, but his sister Istare followed soon after, for she held her brother’s ankle as he emerged, and sang a song of soothing and of sleep that saved them from their mother’s ravenous hunger.

Seeing the birth of these children, Oken saw his own destruction, and the end of his reign, and opening his mouth wide, he swallowed all of the boiling waters of the universe, intent on drowning the two young gods. But seeing the beauty of Istare he paused, overcome by a terrible and illicit lust. In the moment of his distraction, Dzeum leapt up into a roiling cloud, and taking up one of the thunderbolts that was stored therein, struck his father dead. With his axe he cut open the belly of the dead Oken, and out poured all of the waters of the universe, forming the seas, the oceans, the rivers and the lakes of the world.

Bau then saw what had happened to her husband, and belched forth her rage in caustic poisons, withering flames and deadly cold. She summoned forth her terrible brood, who took on the forms of dragons and chased the children into the Darkness. They hid themselves in a cave, wherein they read the signs that the mortal races of the Earth would someday come, but only when the world was made ready for them. In these signs, Dzeum and Istare saw the nature of these frail, mortal beings, and grew to love them as parents love their own unborn children. Thus it was that they undertook the First Changing of the World, though they knew that they must have others to help them in this great labor.
In that hour Dzeum and Istare pledged their love to each other, and before the Law were married. In the second hour two sons were born to them and in the third a daughter.

Now the eldest of the sons was Mahar, who was ugly of face and form, but strong and unyielding. His fists were like hammers of stone, and his skin like granite. In his voice was heard the rumblings of the earth, and his delight was in the making of metals, and crystals that he gave to his mother, so that the light of her eyes might shine in them. More like unto Dzeum was Mahar, in countenance and temperament, and he often took up the thunderbolts of his father into battle, or to make the fire from which he forged his terrible hammer.

The younger son was Roski, who was as beautiful of face and body as his brother was ugly. So beautiful was the new-born Roski that Dzeum was blinded upon first glance. Istare cast upon her younger son a veil of shadow that hid the boy’s radiance, but it was too late, and forever after Dzeum went about blind in one eye. In those days of Shadow and Chaos Roski walked always cloaked in the veil of night that his mother had cast upon him, for the hoards of Bau Tiamat still hunted them, and they were not yet ready to be revealed. More like unto his mother was Roski, rather than like his father. For Roski saw all things, both secret and open, and his laughter warmed the barren earth. Music and poetry were his love, and he made the colors too.

Dannu was the daughter born to Dzeum and Istare, and although the youngest of the three children, she was wise and even tempered. A love of living things she had, and especially of growing things, and the fruits of the earth. Yet, she divined that these things would not be until the First Change was accomplished, and with her tender touch marked the time for the growth of things, for their maturation and their harvest, and ever since have the years been reckoned. Even so, Dannu marked that the hour had come for them to be revealed, and beckoned to her brothers to do their part in the First Change.

Thus did Roski rise up in the East unbidden, and the First Day was reckoned, and his Light was as something new and terrible to the wild spirits that haunted the earth. Many of them hid beneath the dark places of the world, and many others cast themselves out into the Void. Yet there were also many who were moved by the beauty of the new god, and came to him. Of these some eventually followed Mahar and others followed Dannu, Dzeum or Istare, each according to his nature, until a great host of spirits had assembled on the side of Law.

And on the side of Chaos arose Bau Tiamat in fire and destruction, and there were dragons in her wake, and demons sprung forth from the earth where she tread. In the battle that ensued mountains were thrown down, and the earth was rent apart so that the waters of the oceans poured into it, and new seas were made as other went dry. And the desolate places of the world were made, and the valleys where rivers would run. Then Bau Tiamat reared up and her heads were wreathed in cloud, and her tails caused maelstroms in the depths of the sea, and she spread her great wings so that the light of Roski went dark, and she opened her terrible maw to bring fire and death upon the world. In that moment, Roski arose once more, small it seemed, but beautiful and terrible as the morning star, and thrust his golden spear deep within the terrible, fiery maw of Bau Tiamat, and it struck deep to her heart, piercing all the way to her bowels so that her belly was rent open. So ended she who gave birth to monsters, the mother of all strife and calamity. And yet from her ruin came life, for the waters of her belly flowed into the ocean, and from thence came all manner of scaly kind: the fishes and serpents of the seas. And from the filth and slime of her innards all slimy and soft-bodied creatures of bog and fen were born. From her bones all the earth was made fecund, and made good for things that grow upon it.

Thus was the world made ready for humanity, and the gods made Order out of Chaos. Mahar fashioned the mountains and the strong places, and Dannu blessed the forests and fields. And while Dzeum ruled the sky and all beneath it, Istare his queen ruled by his side, and her realm is that which lies beneath roof and tent. For her blessings are given most to the household and those who keep it. Yet Roski rose high above, bringing warmth and beauty into the world. And all remember that without light Chaos reigns, and without warmth there is no life. And forever more Roski is honored above all the other gods.