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First Arc: The Shrouded Truth
Session One
Your story starts in the city of Darkwood. You have come together in this city for various reasons. Currently you are under the care of Evelyn “Ivy” Belarien. Evelyn has asked you to begin and earn your keep and therefore sent you on your way to look into a problem. On this journey you were joined by a veteran adventurer, who was to act as you guide. Besides your group another group joined, and you are currently on your way in a pair of wagons heading south.
Session Two
Having solved the problem with the wolves in the area and found the reason of why they were there you returned to Darkwood. Ivy congratulated you and gave you a free round on the house that same evening. The coming days you notice new people coming to the city. Mainly Knights of the Fallen Leaf and people looking like scouts. You reckon that this must be due to the orc band you reported travelling in the mountains. Your day starts in Ivy’s busy tavern over lunch.
Session Three
Looking into the case with the missing miners you encountered some orc troubles along the way. With this information you were asked to join an extermination quest to remove the orcs. Besides this you were asked to look into some undead issues in the local swamp. You found that the undead problem in the swamp maybe was due to a curse. On your way to the swamp you met an old friend and a lost tribe member of Tura. Back in Triadur your day starts in the tavern The Rat.
Session Four
Being assigned to lead a group through the mines, you set out to exterminate the orc infestation. During the campaign you encountered a group of elderly orcs and children hidden in the mines. Using this group of orcs as hostages, you quickly secured the mine entrance and cut off the escape and back line support for the fighting orcs outside. In the last moments of the fight the orc leader managed to escape into the mountains. Your group set out to hunt down and kill the orc leader. After the fighting it was agreed to let the orc camp stay and work in the mines but under strict supervision under Triadur. Back in Darkwood you found out that Evelyn (Ivy) was taken away by some unknown people but she left some clues for you. These clues led you to some old ruin and this is where you start.
Session Five
Entering the ruins you were immediately hit with a foul stench of death and decay. Barely able to keep your stomach contents inside you ventured forth into the ruins. Just after a few steps the ruins opened up into a great hall with two rows of pillars leading further inside. Along the outer walls you notice strange markings and images which could be telling the origin of these ruins. Venturing further in going pass piles of corpses you soon notice the end of this great hall. Almost at the end you see a large figure kneeling in a circle of corpses. You defeat this guardian and ventured further in. Inside you rescue and meet a tree spirit with the help of the former court wizard of the Phamore queen. This spirit asks you to safe all her saplings that have been spread all over the world. Back in Darkwood you encountered a group of druids while you were looking into one of the tree spirits trapped there. You agreed to meet the druid elders to ask for help. You start you morning just outside Darkwood ready to travel north. Benji and Bazz excused themselves for not being able to travel any further with you.
Session Six
Heading north toward Flint castle you encountered a robbed tax collection wagon. You tracked the robbers to thier camp and captured most of them alive. At Flint castle you delivered the captives and got a quest to look into some strange behavior of the local animals. On your way to the quest you had a meeting with some druids to discuss your findings regarding the cursed tree spirits. They agreed to help and look into the problem. At the forest your investigation lead you to the cause of the strange behavior. You quickly dealt with it and headed your way back to Flint casle to report. Just as you exited the barracks you noticed a weird sound from the compass you got earlier from Darian. The timer had run out…
Session Seven
A darkness is spreading across the sky. Looking closely you notice strange arcane circles within the darkness. Shortly after black snow started to fall and you begin to hear screams throughout the streets. Strangely the only affected by this darkness were humans. Confusion and panic spreads in the city. You quickly decide to hasten your travel plans and head out for the capital. You meet the Queen shortly after arriving or so you thought. On the throne was not a human queen but an elf which Earl recognized as Inioch Belarien. In an act of desperation and foolishness, you attack. Barely escaping death, you chase after Inioch. Searching through the almost empty castle, you find a hidden room on the top floor. Entering the room, you see something like a garden with trees, flowers, grass, running water etc. In the center of the room, you notice a staff sat in the ground. Floating above the staff a head size black crystal spins slowly with an ominous glow. You do not know why but Tura takes the staff and pulls it free from the ground. An instance after you hear a great boom from outside and at the same time the queen and Brea falls to the ground lifeless.
Here ends quest for The Shrouded Truth.
Second Arc: The Beauty of Chaos
Prologue
Some months have passed since the tragic event, The Black Winter. The black winter caused almost all humans to die. Some other races suffered loses but only a few. Everything almost came to a standstill. The surviving people had a hard time to try to cope with the situation. Towns and cities lost many of their people because of no trade and food shortage. Noble families lost their power because politics and money could not feed the hungry. Some tried to resurrect some of the dead but all failed. It is as the soul itself was gone completely.
You start the day in Darkwood. Evelyn seems to have taken on the role as an administrator for the town. Her good connections with varies adventurers, town guards and militia gave her a certain degree of influence. The last few months a mist began to expand within the vale south of Darkwood. It expanded all the way from the mountains to the south gates of Darkwood. Many dwarves from Triadur left the city because trade was becoming harder. Only few dwarves remain to keep some of the forges running. The main races seen in Darkwood now are dwarves, orcs, Halflings and elves.
Session Eight
Your random party was asked to escort a dwarf Pharasma cleric and a hooded gnome. The cleric needs to help the gnome’s village with a disease that is currently active. On the way you notice that there is some kind of illusion on the gnome and the dog mount the gnome uses. Arriving at the village you were asked to look into the cause of the sickness while the cleric tries to cure the sick. You find the source of the disease in a cave behind a waterfall. In the cave you notice some remains after some battle. Further in the cave you find a rotting dragon which is most likely the cause of the disease. With the information you head back and cure the gnome village. Back in Darkwood you meet Evelyn and the widow of Flint Dawn. You were asked to head north and look for an artifact, the Soul Mirror. The artifact Soul Mirror can be used to get into contact of souls. Travelling north you see more of what the black winter event caused. Arriving at the mansion which should hold the artifact you find it infested with undead. With no big effort you clean them out and find the artifact
Session Nine
Taking a closer look at the mansion grounds you find something that looks like a mausoleum. Upon entering you hear a faint ringing noise and a cold feeling. Heading further in you find a circular room with alcoves. In the center of the room you find the source of the ringing noise hovering above a casket. Lying beside the casket you think you found the former head of the Van Wilhelm family. You searched through the room and found some equipment and empty caskets. After your little grave robbing trip you head back south. You do get a feeling that the roads have become more insecure with the increase in monster attacks. Arriving in the small farm village harbor you rest for the night. The rest didn’t last long. During the night you get a feeling of some unnatural cold. Shortly after you find the village is being invaded by a horde of undead. With the help of an intimidating orc you succeed in pushing the undead back and close the rift from which they seem to have come from. Reporting back in Darkwood you hear that similar rifts have been appearing other places. Evelyn tells you that there seems to be an imbalance in the Ethereal plane which is the cause of this. This same evening Evelyn and the widow of the Flint Dawn try to use the artifact you returned to contact her lost husband. Early next morning your new orc cleric companion tries to cast spirit sense and try to contact the spirit world. You see a scared spirit on the verge of turning but before you could act the spirit is snatched away by what seems to by an ethereal spider. You begin you morning back in Evelyns inn.
Session Ten
Evelyn asked you to deliver something to Triadur. You found two options to reach the dwarven city. Either by river or caravan over the mountains. You choose the first option. During the trip you visit The Rat which you have visited during your time in Triadur but it has moved out in the middle of the misty lake. Arriving in Triadur you find it almost completely empty. Only a few dwarfs remain. You deliver the package and choose to take the mountain route back to Darkwood. During the trip you decide to camp for some days to finish a device to locate the rifts. With the finished device and a deal with a frost giant you find a rift in the middle of a frost giant city. You close the rift and find that no one had survived. You decide to return to Triadur and use the newly build teleport circle to return to Darkwood. What you see after you gather your thoughts after the teleport is a city in chaos. A horde of undead led by a zombie dragon is attacking the city.
Session Eleven
Within the chaos you try to get a grasp of the situation and how to help. Going amidst the wounded you find that around half of the small gnome tribe is missing. You agree to help find out the fate of the missing tribesmen. A dog from the tribe joins you to guide you on the way. Heading northwest around the undead horde you arrive at the tribe camp site. What you find are a few undead stragglers that seem to have been left behind. The camp is completely destroyed and there is nothing left to salvage. After a short discussion you decide to head further west and look for the rift you detected. You find the rift and manage to close it after a trying battle. Now your only goal is to get back to Darkwood before the horde reaches the town. Back within the safety of the town walls you find that the town has been preparing for the coming battle with the horde. You get assigned to the west gates. Looking over the battlements you see dark clouds in the sky approaching. Beneath the cloud you see rows upon rows of undead ranks. Some people panic by both the sight but also the stench coming from the horde. Shortly after you hear an icy voice above the whole town telling you of the impending doom and you have until twilight to prepare for eternal suffering. Twilight is here and the battle begins. The battle continues on for hours with no end in sight. The power balance is constantly tilting to either side until you hear the signal for retreat. A few seconds after you hear a booming explosion followed by a deafening roar. As you run back toward the second defense line you look over your shoulder and watch as a huge dragon breaches the northwest wall…
Session Twelve
While retreating further back toward the river. You come across the bridge and notice dwarves working on the bridge. It doesn’t take long for you to hear the bridge collapsing. You take a well earned rest. Shortly after you wake up you notice five pillars of purple/red light shooting up into the cloud above the city. It looks like the pillars of constant pulsating stream of light affect the cloud. The cloud is slowly growing in all directions. People around you are becoming more alert as you hear an attack is imminent. Undead begin to swarm into the river and trying to come across. A line of boats on the other side is lit ablaze and creates something like a firewall. During the attack you encounter a group of undead blink dogs and gnomes. After the worst attack is over you discuss to do something against the light pillars. Heading out using the sewage systems you move unnoticed around the city. Getting close to the first pillar you see five robed figures around a dark floating crystal. You hear the robed figures chanting something in unison that seem to match the pulsing of the light pillars. You quickly take action and attack. Even though surrounded by robed figures and undead you defeat them swiftly. But you don’t get much time to rest. The undead dragon is on the move. After a hard fight you take down the dragon and move to the next pillar. Not as easy as the first pillar the second pillar was a tough challenge. After the fight you decide to retreat back across the river. After resting you wake up and prepare for what is to come.
Session Thirteen
As you step out from your resting place, you immediately get an earie feeling. There is a strange silence in the area. Not sure, what that feeling is you head out to find Ivy. You head across the streets and notice that the area past the river is covered in a light mist. At this moment, you notice that there are fewer people around. The earie feeling from earlier was from the lack of people. Heading on you find Ivy in the command building. Ivy notices you as you enter the building and signals you to get closer. You get a quick rundown on what has happened during the night and agree to head out to stop the remaining light pillars. Arriving on the other side of the river, you experience a familiar chill in the air. A rift most have opened in the direction of the light pillars. Even with this knowledge, you head on. Soon after, you enter the densest part of the mist. The air around you is freezing causing your breaths to freeze instantly. Heading on you find it strange that you still have not encountered any of the teams that should have been here. It is like there is no trace of them anywhere. You manage to navigate through the mist and enter the core. Crossing the boundary of the mist, you get a feeling as if you are crossing a planar boundary. In the core area of the mist, you see the remaining three pillars and a rift in the center. You notice two beings standing in front of the rift. One looking like a wraith with red glowing eyes and a strange calm aura. The other a robed figure with a strange mask. Both looking in your direction. You get closer to the beings in front of the rift. Suddenly you hear a voice. Almost like a whisper. Trying to listing carefully to the voice, you hear an unknown rasping like language. The whisper seem to come from the wraith. A few moments after you hear the robed being talking in the common tongue. Long story short you get to know the reason why the undead are invading. You get a grace period of one day to prepare yourselves for the end. Instead of taking the agreement serious, you want to try to take out the light pillars. It took some time for you to navigate through the mist but getting out you only took a few moments to clear the remaining pillars. Heading back to camp you Inform Ivy of what you have found out regarding the Chime of Rebirth. You remembered that you have seen a device that looked like the Chime in the mansion of Von Wilhelm and agree to head there. What you find at the mansion is that Von Wilhelm is performing a ritual to resurrect his family members. You try to stop the ritual but are quickly overpowered and forced to help perform the ritual. During this, your holy orc friend sacrificed himself by using the deck of many things and was imprisoned somewhere. The ritual ends and the family resurrected but Von Wilhelm himself lost his soul in exchange.
Session Fourteen
3 months after
Around three months have passed since the undead invasions. Life after was hard and slow but hopeful. Darkwood was left in ruins. Over half the city was destroyed. The western part was too badly damaged and manpower was low. So in the three months after only the eastern was partly restored. Your party helped where you could. Brea helped boost hope and morale through the hard times. Sleg reluctantly helped with food scavenging and gathering. Earl with his nature magic helped with cleaning areas and cultivating to increase food. Sparky helped built and manage an orphanage.
Going forward, Get info on soul magic, collect orichalcum
With a somewhat stable situation Evy asked you to look into a few things. First look for info on the magic used to collect souls. And second look for and retrieve rare orichalcum artifacts.
Meeting the lord of the forest
Heading to the capital to try and find some information in the royal library on soul magic. You quickly find out that the capital area is overgrown and infested with all kinds weird creatures. It doesn’t take you long to meet the lord of the area. After a few misunderstandings you get the information you seek and head back.
The trials
Your next step of your journey is to head to an unknown place and look for more information. Arriving at your destination you find yourselves in place with different trials. After a few difficulties you arrive at the end looking at something that resembles a mirror. You manage to activate the mirror and before you appears a strange looking woman.
Session Fifteen
The Deal
You talk to and agree on a deal with the Chaos Witch. If you help her, she will give you what you seek. Distrustful but with little choice you decide to accept. You are to stop some beings from spoiling the “fun” for her.
Heading to the Arena
On your way to your destination, you meet a small party. Coincidentally they have a similar goal as you. The party looks to consist of a Pharasma Paladin, Pharasma Cleric and a mercenary fighter/barbarian. Sparky notices a weak holy aura coming from the Paladin and Cleric. You agree to join up for this task.
The Arena
Arriving at the destination. You find the place managed by a demon. After a lengthy discussion, you decide on a sneaky plan and infiltrate the place. You manage to beat the demon and demolish the camp. In the process, you acquire your first orichalcum item in the form of an orb.
The Plateau
Your next target is Heart of Kilrem in a ruin in the desert of the Plateau. You manage to travel there and are currently just a small distance from the ruins.
Third Arc:
Prologue
It’s been 60 years since the end of the last campaign and new adventurers emerge in a world changed by past events.
An adventuring party consisting of two elves, two dwarves and a human embark on a quest together in the city of Starhaven. Their contact has found an assignment by a dwarven blacksmith, who is missing his promised materials. Several Iron ore deliveries from a local mine have been attacked and the ore stolen. After much deliberations, a contract was signed with the dwarf and the group sent to the city’s guardhouse, in charge of securing good transfers. There was only a single survivor at the last attack, but the dwarf had not been allowed access to ask her what had happened.
Upon arriving at the guard house, a fancy wagon was parked outside and a human nobleman, identified as belonging to the Voss Group, exited the establishment and went on his way. He did not look amused. With some negotiations, the party was able to convince the guardsmen guild to allow for a conversation with the lone survivor, who told about wolfs and a sudden, unexpected attack. She did not see much, but seemed to be withholding information out of fear. With a deal made, the party decided to put themselves in harm’s way, hiring themselves into the guardsmen’s ranks to work as protectors of the next caravan, all to try and lure out the secret assailant. With 3 wagons borrowed for the task, they set out and drove for the mines. On their way there, they did run into wolves, but also another creature they did not expect. A troll or at least hints of it in the shadows. Fending off the attack they finally made it to the mines. Once there, the party took a side quest and agreed to clear the mine of big, troubling spiders. And big they were, one of which was particularly huge. It was a hard fought victory, but a victory nonetheless, helping with the party’s funds.
The following morning, the iron ore was piled in the carts and off they went. They heard rumors from a little goblin of the aforementioned troll and his whereabout, as well as pessimistic chatter from other travellers and the stopping points along the road. They weren’t attacked though, deciding to park their wares in a midpoint safehaven and travel out to where the troll’s den was supposed to be. They found the place, but were ambushed, surviving and thinning the pack of wolves, but with the troll still darting off.