And here we have the team that set in motion a ten-year scheme to release a demon of immeasurable power onto the world!! FOOLS
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Gilga and the boys
Below, a rendering of the undead Gilga standing over the beheaded corpse of Lord Aaron as the great Bayoomba lunges at him from above and Kerkas rushes up the gravel to purge him with divine magic!
And here we have the team that set in motion a ten-year scheme to release a demon of immeasurable power onto the world!! FOOLS
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
And here we have the team that set in motion a ten-year scheme to release a demon of immeasurable power onto the world!! FOOLS
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Backstory: Karuk, the orc priest from Shirish
Shirish - the orc village on the western edge of the dire peaks, overlooking the dark seas.
Shirish is a small village, comprising of a mix of coexisting orcs, humans, and a small number of elves.
This has naturally created some breeding between races - thus leading to half-orcs, and in some rare, often disturbing cases, half orc/half elves.
The village's main religion is that of Abadar, the god of wealth, merchants, enterprise and holy-magics. This was brought about when the orcs witnessed the destruction of Terraxus from afar, and a small band of rangers from the east had descended upon them, wishing to seek trade and commune, bringing gods and rare items with them.
Another religion practiced in strictest secret, deep within the caverns just south-east of the village is that of Zogadug. The main priest for the church of life and death is Edrazor, an old and withered, grey orc. He is not very trusted by the majority of those whom live in the village, however to those who practice his faith, he is treated as a father.
The small town is run by a powerful and respected Orc, Godrung, a warchief and fighter of strong renown in the dire peaks! His small band of raiders often patrol the northern peaks, seeking out new tests for their strengths in the ways of hill giants, young dragons and otyughs.
The few elves and half-elves that live alongside these beastly counterparts run the merchant side of things and inspire training in the ways of the arcane arts. Although small and often disregarded as mere playfulness, the magic-wielding elves of the peaks are nothing to be smirked at.
On one fateful eve, remembered by a few, a cloaked stranger entered the village. He appeared to be looking for something.. something he knew the orcs had attained at some point, and was willing to trade a great amount of gold for it. This was dismissed as nonsense and he was asked to leave on many occasions.
Not believing that the orc warchief or his head priest or wizards were telling the truth, the man, under the cover of night, broke into the forbidden cave of Zogadug - reaping and removing any who stood in his path. Whatever it was the man found, he screamed in excitement at its recovery and had hidden it before anyone could have noticed. Elisa, Karuks lover, a beautiful half-elf archer in the village, also studying under the clergy, had attempted to stop the stranger, and was struck down by a strange dark bolt.
A disease awakened in her the next day as Karuk was tending to her wounds, one which did not appear to have any known source of treatment. The priests in town were all very afraid that day and not one bore a smile for as long as karuk could remember until the day he left in search of answers... ..whatever had been taken, was clearly of grave, serious importance to his clans healers. He vowed then and there to dedicate his mind to the teachings of zogadug, and to bring his lover back from the dark place she was sent to.. and to put an end to the dark, cloaked figure that took her from him.
Karuk also, before leaving the village, undertook a massive initiation into the church of life and death, being taught the basic ways of healing, the understanding and respect for the dead, and how to bend the undead to his will. He vowed he would use whatever powers came to him to bring his lover back, as he truly feels within himself, that she should not have been taken from this world, and that this sin must be undone, thus, restoring, motherfucking balance.
**Regarding Zogadug.
Zogadug was a swirling chaos that appeared out of the cosmic energy left behind in the aether after lolth had finished constructing her world, Udossta Valshath. He came to be and occurred as the carrier and bringer of the dead to the other side. Being of such simple and dark design, Zogadug has no true emotion when it comes to the dead or the transition from life to death, however, he has slowly been able to form an empathy for those whom he traffics daily. He, therefore, holds very dear to himself, the energies that surround both the divine death magics, and the ones that bring life. Maintaining this balance is of utmost importance to Zogadug.
He has been said to have been seen at very rare points in time, wandering the dire peaks and badlands of the continent by world-weary travellers - these sightings often being brushed off by listeners as simple fantasy. All articles of his sightings have, however, maintained similar descriptions of a tall, dark character, wearing the skull of a ram, and carrying a scythe resembling a spinal cord, with a cloak of feathers and leaves.
Not truly ever relating to or forming friendships or relations with other gods, Zogadug is a very lonely and isolated diety.. weather this speaks to his disturbing appearance and demeaner or his intimidating nature is relative to the god who considers him.
Those whom worship Zogadug often come to him during times when matters of life and/or death are of utmost importance to them, so much so that it begins to consume their entire nature or being, or sense of self. His followers are zealous, as he is, and always seek a balance in life and death, often seeking others to look after and see through to death, so that they too may be carried safely to the other side.
Zogadugs symbol is that of a skull surrounded by thorny vines, sometimes vines with rose petals growing off them. Romantic as it appears, it is usually colored in tones of grey.
Zogadugs favored weapon is the morning star, signifying the first star, the lone light in the sky.
Shirish is a small village, comprising of a mix of coexisting orcs, humans, and a small number of elves.
This has naturally created some breeding between races - thus leading to half-orcs, and in some rare, often disturbing cases, half orc/half elves.
The village's main religion is that of Abadar, the god of wealth, merchants, enterprise and holy-magics. This was brought about when the orcs witnessed the destruction of Terraxus from afar, and a small band of rangers from the east had descended upon them, wishing to seek trade and commune, bringing gods and rare items with them.
Another religion practiced in strictest secret, deep within the caverns just south-east of the village is that of Zogadug. The main priest for the church of life and death is Edrazor, an old and withered, grey orc. He is not very trusted by the majority of those whom live in the village, however to those who practice his faith, he is treated as a father.
The small town is run by a powerful and respected Orc, Godrung, a warchief and fighter of strong renown in the dire peaks! His small band of raiders often patrol the northern peaks, seeking out new tests for their strengths in the ways of hill giants, young dragons and otyughs.
The few elves and half-elves that live alongside these beastly counterparts run the merchant side of things and inspire training in the ways of the arcane arts. Although small and often disregarded as mere playfulness, the magic-wielding elves of the peaks are nothing to be smirked at.
On one fateful eve, remembered by a few, a cloaked stranger entered the village. He appeared to be looking for something.. something he knew the orcs had attained at some point, and was willing to trade a great amount of gold for it. This was dismissed as nonsense and he was asked to leave on many occasions.
Not believing that the orc warchief or his head priest or wizards were telling the truth, the man, under the cover of night, broke into the forbidden cave of Zogadug - reaping and removing any who stood in his path. Whatever it was the man found, he screamed in excitement at its recovery and had hidden it before anyone could have noticed. Elisa, Karuks lover, a beautiful half-elf archer in the village, also studying under the clergy, had attempted to stop the stranger, and was struck down by a strange dark bolt.
A disease awakened in her the next day as Karuk was tending to her wounds, one which did not appear to have any known source of treatment. The priests in town were all very afraid that day and not one bore a smile for as long as karuk could remember until the day he left in search of answers... ..whatever had been taken, was clearly of grave, serious importance to his clans healers. He vowed then and there to dedicate his mind to the teachings of zogadug, and to bring his lover back from the dark place she was sent to.. and to put an end to the dark, cloaked figure that took her from him.
Karuk also, before leaving the village, undertook a massive initiation into the church of life and death, being taught the basic ways of healing, the understanding and respect for the dead, and how to bend the undead to his will. He vowed he would use whatever powers came to him to bring his lover back, as he truly feels within himself, that she should not have been taken from this world, and that this sin must be undone, thus, restoring, motherfucking balance.
**Regarding Zogadug.
Zogadug was a swirling chaos that appeared out of the cosmic energy left behind in the aether after lolth had finished constructing her world, Udossta Valshath. He came to be and occurred as the carrier and bringer of the dead to the other side. Being of such simple and dark design, Zogadug has no true emotion when it comes to the dead or the transition from life to death, however, he has slowly been able to form an empathy for those whom he traffics daily. He, therefore, holds very dear to himself, the energies that surround both the divine death magics, and the ones that bring life. Maintaining this balance is of utmost importance to Zogadug.
He has been said to have been seen at very rare points in time, wandering the dire peaks and badlands of the continent by world-weary travellers - these sightings often being brushed off by listeners as simple fantasy. All articles of his sightings have, however, maintained similar descriptions of a tall, dark character, wearing the skull of a ram, and carrying a scythe resembling a spinal cord, with a cloak of feathers and leaves.
Not truly ever relating to or forming friendships or relations with other gods, Zogadug is a very lonely and isolated diety.. weather this speaks to his disturbing appearance and demeaner or his intimidating nature is relative to the god who considers him.
Those whom worship Zogadug often come to him during times when matters of life and/or death are of utmost importance to them, so much so that it begins to consume their entire nature or being, or sense of self. His followers are zealous, as he is, and always seek a balance in life and death, often seeking others to look after and see through to death, so that they too may be carried safely to the other side.
Zogadugs symbol is that of a skull surrounded by thorny vines, sometimes vines with rose petals growing off them. Romantic as it appears, it is usually colored in tones of grey.
Zogadugs favored weapon is the morning star, signifying the first star, the lone light in the sky.
The Undead Incursion, and the levelling of Brumswinkle..
The morning of the following day crept upon those sleeping closest to the front gates faster than it did anyone else in Brumswinkle - as the sounds of dogs being shot ensued, flanked with screams and yells from the few troops whose shifts were still in progress, bolstering ranks and requesting backup as the undead neared.
Brog awoke and immediately started running through town to fetch those who were not already awake and alert - summoning Lord Aaron, hundreds of his soldiers he had personally trained, and those in the mage academy. The Priests from the temple followed brog hurriedly as they knew time was of the essence, bringing with them the thousands of vials of holy water they had managed to accrue, taking them straight to the academy to be divied up between the ranks of adepts and the counsel. It was at this point that Sebastian and Kirix awoke to join the fray within the academies walls, only to see brog guiding people out, and the clergy, Karuk included, handing out vials of holy water to all who were exiting the building. They too were handed a series of vials.
The two rogues that were in town on a... 'mission' of sorts... the.... 'merchants', were heartily enjoying waking up to the calming voice of their innkeep and new close friend, Horros, within the comforting, enclosed confines of his inn and tavern, Kreth! A hot breakfast was passed around for all those enjoying the lock-in for the day, and the rounds of ale and drunken cheer commenced!
As the area around the front gate started to fill and crowd with those ready for battle, Sebastian requested a blessing from his friend, the cleric, before hoisting himself up ontop of the barracks. Hakache, having now awoken from his new abode with the Lord Aaron household, strung together his fighting garb and gear, and departed, seeing his mother doing much the same, his brothers hiding under the dining table. The ranger made his way towards the center of town, to find things already beginning, as roars descended over the foothills, and swathes of the undead menace started to descend on the moat.
Dead crows, the size of men, descended on the archers manning the top of the gates, all of them taking ages to destroy, only to explode into murders of small crows that continued their wretched assault! The zombies had just about reached the moat, and all those at the front braced themselves for an impact when a small undead dragon screamed out of the ranks and slammed down into the front entrance, only to be halted by Kerkas, who was exerting all of his energy into a ward against the undead! The menace attempted to break the shield and roared in rage, completely distracted by this irritating temporary barrier. Brog at this point charged past Kerkas and threw a rope over the beasts head, leaping forward and swinging ontop of the thing to assault it from atop its shoulders!!
A number of disturbing images swept past the eyes of any close enough to behold the sights at the front gates - An undead giant began to wade towards the front wall, only to be stopped by Typhus, who shapechanged into a giant, himself, locking hands with the thing over the gate! The swarm at this point had finally started to trample over itself in the moat and had overcome the holy barrier, beginning their climb over kerkas' shield, and the very walls themselves, the archers and mages with their vials of holy water stemming the tide only ever so slightly. More Crows started to tear down onto those behind the gates as this went on, Lord Aaron slicing one in half, leaving his men to deal with the murders that exited the corpse. Sebastian, Hakache and Brog all noticed at the same time as Gilga, the horrifying leader of this menace, stepped out from the mist of his ranks and slowly waded through the bubble Kerkas had put up, paying no heed to it or him. ...
20 soldiers ran towards him, ten to the dragon and ten to gilga, as he made his way into town. He lashed out and fell six of them in seconds, not slowing. Lord Aaron let out a trembling roar and charged the brazen warlord, locking weapons and putting the two into a deadly mortal combat that none could intrude on. Sebastian, realising he was not going to add any aid to this disturbing duel, pulled out the strange flask Michael had done the courtesy of bestowing on him at one point, and leapt over the wall to the masses of zombies, and drank every last drop of it!!
What followed was a sight none will ever see again in their lifetimes.. A titan erupted from the ground outside the gates, growing and growing to epic proportions until it dwarfed even the giants that stumbled past and around him as they were incinerated by fireballs that were flying out from the zenith of the mages academy, leagues away. The obsidian beast of burden almost touched the clouds, wreaking havoc and destruction amongst the swarm of the diseased with its 6 arms and crushing, mountainous legs!! Sebastian lost control as his transformation neared its end, a red haze covering his vision, as he wrestled for dominance! The terrifying creature swung down onto the masses with four of its hands, smashing down into the crowds around him, sending out shockwaves of might and destruction, sending friend and foe alike reeling to the ground, and tearing down the once proud family business that was the inn, Yondallas Rest!!
As more fireballs stemmed from the articulate hands of Markis towards the ravenous dirge of giants, and the monstrous Sebastian tore into their flanks from the front, Brog started stabbing his way up the spine of the dragon heralding the force infront of Kerkas, right up to its neck and decapitated the beast, before performing a magnificent leap from its reanimated corpse to one of the legs of the giant wrestling Typhus over the battlements!!
The zombies finally started to pour over the walls at this point, wresting control of the front gate, and falling over them, into the main streets of Brumswinkle. The horde had arrived.
The bard in town had begun her song to inspire courage and hope amongst all within the surrounding central area of town, aiding the soldiers around her in their desperate fight against the coming swarm, as Lord Aaron continued his razor-sharp duel with the menacing and dark, crowned, reanimated barbarian warrior before him. The clergy and wizard adepts in town had continued their barrage against the teaming might of the zombies with their almost unending supply of holy water vials - incinerating masses of them before they were able to hit the towns main forces. Kerkas and the now invisible Kirix continued to aid those around them with supporting spells and sent some extra power in the way of divine inspiration to Hakache as he brandished his longsword, charging Gilga to aid his father in his fight!
The ranger rushed towards the dark figure, but before he could land any sort of attack, the barbarian nimbly dodge an assault of Lord Aarons and sliced outwards with his frozen glave, almost rending the lords son straight to an icey grave!! "NO SON!!!! THIS IS MY FIGHT, HEAL YOURSELF AND HELP THE TOWN!! DO IT," yelled Lord Aaron, bolstering his sons will to fight on and sending him back. The boy drank down his one healing potion and started sprinting back towards his home for further aid, noticing the bard in town also skitting back, as she was being chased by a small band of undead, now that the breach was widening and more were pouring through.
Sebastian had regained conscious control of his disturbing large body for a moment amongst the mayhem, and quickly went to assist the others, smashing two giants into the ground, as yet another was incinerated before him by Markis from afar. He started to see a haze soon after, and could feel his control slipping yet again as rage boiled up within him from the delight of all of the destruction.. ..his obsidian fingers starting to twitch and tingle, his mind slipping into the background..... .. The guards at this point were being pushed back and losing more and more to the ravenous foes besetting them. As more fell, more arose, their friends returning to bite and gnaw and lash at those they once sought to protect. The horde had pushed the fight back into the center of town, around the statue of plib, the cleric Karuk and his mounted friend, Kirix, with their backs to the golden field, were fending off a dozen of the risen, as more ran past, chasing the ranger and bard, hundreds to the north almost swarming ontop of the flanks of trained townsfolk attempting to protect their loved ones!
Two horrific occurances took place over the course of the next 30 seconds... as the enraged and furious obsidian hulk to the north suddenly leapt hundreds of feet into the air, dropping down to crush all beneath him. More than 700 of the coming waves of undead were crushed or pulped or obliterated or sent flying to untimely second deaths by the crushing, earthquake-manifesting crescendo of the jump, shockwaves and rocky destruction pulsing out for miles.... Brumswinkle buckled, and the ground started to give way, as those in town were again, thrown back on their feet, or worse. The statue in the center of town, and the area surrounding it, gave way to a sink hole, falling through alongside many of the army, including Lord Aaron and his pursuer. The bridge that allowed crossing between the crescent and upper circle had fallen, taking with it the zombies chasing the bard and ranger.. more of the small town cracked and wavered, severing the connection between the western slums and the crescent, crushing the cave beneath town, and further destroying Yondallas Rest. The town was in ruin. The giant facing off with Typhus and Brog fell, the half-ogre and head of the sorcerers guild moving on to face other important threats.
As Gilga and Lord Aaron continued to connect weapons and strike at eachother, each taking and giving disturbingly large and viscious assaults, a new horrific sight wandered into the town through the gate... Aryall. Bearing the hat of hatreds, all whom looked upon her saw one thing: that which they hated most in this world. The first to react to this was Kirix, who was already commanding an orb of boiling water which he had been using to help fell the giants assaulting the town - he sent it crashing down on what he perceived to be the worlds tallest man, an offence in every way to his struggle to maintain dominance over all! By this point, Hakache had managed to heal himself back at the house of Aaron, and ensured that his brothers were kept safe. He then mounted Bayoomba, The Long Sex, and the two leapt heroicly over the massive divide between the crescent and upper circle, back to the action!! The bard decided to make her way west towards the slums, as she had noticed a giant laying siege to the inn, Kreth!
By now, the giant to the west had punched massive holes into the weak foundations of the building, crushing most within, including, sadly, the charismatic and friendly orc owner, Kreth. The Tengu rogue within was still unharmed, having managed to nimbly dodge the brazen, bulky fists! He wasn't, however, able to dodge the next thing that came for him, in the way of a large undead crow. Charlie, who happened to have run like a madman to Kreth once he realised how scary the attack was going to be in the morning, leapt in a frenzy from out of nowhere, wielding what looked to be a hand bound in bits of bone, at the attacking dead avian, aiding the tengu!
With some fantastic effort, Karuk had started channeling positive energy in the area surrounding him, wiping out many of the undead coming for him and his friend in the upper circle. The battle below them waged on between the two titans, and giants were still coming. Sebastian by this point had gained some control again, and leaned over to grab the giant laying waste to Kreth - he proceeded to throw him at the lumbering oaf wading over the river veldt to the east, missing and crushing what once was the market place, and the docks. The obliterated corpse of the giant he threw clogged up the river it rolled in to, severing its connection to the channel dividing both halves of town, and flooding the eastern slums - the eastern giant pressed on to attack Hakache, who was responding in kind with holy rocks, blessed by Karuk, which he pelted at it from the slings attached to his mounts antlers.
Aryall had started to boil and cook, her hat all but ruined and the magic burned away. Her true form was revealed, and as brog waded his way into the central area, he pulled out what explosive potions he had left, seeing the hundreds of zombies surrounding her as she wandered towards those still living, and flung away. The resulting explosion was more than enough to cook away and obliterate over 50 zombies, including the returned form of one of his closest friends. This would cost the head priest of town, however, as he had already lost one son that day... and now both were gone... One caught in the fires, a sad victim to friendly fire. The rage that started to filter through the small, loving man, sent him kareening into the remainder of the horde filtering into town, and he sent out a pulse of such powerful divine energy that it wiped out 90% of the remaining attackers in town!!
The hulking form of Sebastian, still under his control, managed to wade over to the final giant to the east, picked it up, and started squeezing out whatever undead life was coursing through it. All eyes turned to the furious mish-mash of blades and fury in the hole in the middle of town, over the destroyed statue of plib. The two seemed evenly matched for as long as the battle had been waging, until a moment of simple hesitation. As the two each dodged oncoming attacks from hakache, and the few undead that had fallen down with them, Gilga took a massive gash to his side from the searing and powerful holy blade wielded by Hakaches father, before swiping a clean and unholy, frozen assault straight through Lord Aarons neck. The long-praised saviour of Terraxus, one of the 7... had fallen. As his body slumped down to the rubble, knees buckling over fallen foundations and marble, Brog, Hakache and Karuk all screamed toward Gilga with everything they had - - - and before any blade could reach the mad usurper, the divine energy reaching out from karuks staff tore into the barbarians flesh and burst out from it, a final resounding 'thank you' coughed out from between his lips. Gilga, the proud, the brazen, the mighty last barbarian on Udossta Valshath, of the Bloodmyst bloodline, slayer of Lord Aaron, turned to ash.. his frozen glave, the strange page he held, and his dark, golden, gemmed crown, falling to the ground.
~ to be continued.
Brog awoke and immediately started running through town to fetch those who were not already awake and alert - summoning Lord Aaron, hundreds of his soldiers he had personally trained, and those in the mage academy. The Priests from the temple followed brog hurriedly as they knew time was of the essence, bringing with them the thousands of vials of holy water they had managed to accrue, taking them straight to the academy to be divied up between the ranks of adepts and the counsel. It was at this point that Sebastian and Kirix awoke to join the fray within the academies walls, only to see brog guiding people out, and the clergy, Karuk included, handing out vials of holy water to all who were exiting the building. They too were handed a series of vials.
The two rogues that were in town on a... 'mission' of sorts... the.... 'merchants', were heartily enjoying waking up to the calming voice of their innkeep and new close friend, Horros, within the comforting, enclosed confines of his inn and tavern, Kreth! A hot breakfast was passed around for all those enjoying the lock-in for the day, and the rounds of ale and drunken cheer commenced!
As the area around the front gate started to fill and crowd with those ready for battle, Sebastian requested a blessing from his friend, the cleric, before hoisting himself up ontop of the barracks. Hakache, having now awoken from his new abode with the Lord Aaron household, strung together his fighting garb and gear, and departed, seeing his mother doing much the same, his brothers hiding under the dining table. The ranger made his way towards the center of town, to find things already beginning, as roars descended over the foothills, and swathes of the undead menace started to descend on the moat.
Dead crows, the size of men, descended on the archers manning the top of the gates, all of them taking ages to destroy, only to explode into murders of small crows that continued their wretched assault! The zombies had just about reached the moat, and all those at the front braced themselves for an impact when a small undead dragon screamed out of the ranks and slammed down into the front entrance, only to be halted by Kerkas, who was exerting all of his energy into a ward against the undead! The menace attempted to break the shield and roared in rage, completely distracted by this irritating temporary barrier. Brog at this point charged past Kerkas and threw a rope over the beasts head, leaping forward and swinging ontop of the thing to assault it from atop its shoulders!!
A number of disturbing images swept past the eyes of any close enough to behold the sights at the front gates - An undead giant began to wade towards the front wall, only to be stopped by Typhus, who shapechanged into a giant, himself, locking hands with the thing over the gate! The swarm at this point had finally started to trample over itself in the moat and had overcome the holy barrier, beginning their climb over kerkas' shield, and the very walls themselves, the archers and mages with their vials of holy water stemming the tide only ever so slightly. More Crows started to tear down onto those behind the gates as this went on, Lord Aaron slicing one in half, leaving his men to deal with the murders that exited the corpse. Sebastian, Hakache and Brog all noticed at the same time as Gilga, the horrifying leader of this menace, stepped out from the mist of his ranks and slowly waded through the bubble Kerkas had put up, paying no heed to it or him. ...
20 soldiers ran towards him, ten to the dragon and ten to gilga, as he made his way into town. He lashed out and fell six of them in seconds, not slowing. Lord Aaron let out a trembling roar and charged the brazen warlord, locking weapons and putting the two into a deadly mortal combat that none could intrude on. Sebastian, realising he was not going to add any aid to this disturbing duel, pulled out the strange flask Michael had done the courtesy of bestowing on him at one point, and leapt over the wall to the masses of zombies, and drank every last drop of it!!
What followed was a sight none will ever see again in their lifetimes.. A titan erupted from the ground outside the gates, growing and growing to epic proportions until it dwarfed even the giants that stumbled past and around him as they were incinerated by fireballs that were flying out from the zenith of the mages academy, leagues away. The obsidian beast of burden almost touched the clouds, wreaking havoc and destruction amongst the swarm of the diseased with its 6 arms and crushing, mountainous legs!! Sebastian lost control as his transformation neared its end, a red haze covering his vision, as he wrestled for dominance! The terrifying creature swung down onto the masses with four of its hands, smashing down into the crowds around him, sending out shockwaves of might and destruction, sending friend and foe alike reeling to the ground, and tearing down the once proud family business that was the inn, Yondallas Rest!!
As more fireballs stemmed from the articulate hands of Markis towards the ravenous dirge of giants, and the monstrous Sebastian tore into their flanks from the front, Brog started stabbing his way up the spine of the dragon heralding the force infront of Kerkas, right up to its neck and decapitated the beast, before performing a magnificent leap from its reanimated corpse to one of the legs of the giant wrestling Typhus over the battlements!!
The zombies finally started to pour over the walls at this point, wresting control of the front gate, and falling over them, into the main streets of Brumswinkle. The horde had arrived.
The bard in town had begun her song to inspire courage and hope amongst all within the surrounding central area of town, aiding the soldiers around her in their desperate fight against the coming swarm, as Lord Aaron continued his razor-sharp duel with the menacing and dark, crowned, reanimated barbarian warrior before him. The clergy and wizard adepts in town had continued their barrage against the teaming might of the zombies with their almost unending supply of holy water vials - incinerating masses of them before they were able to hit the towns main forces. Kerkas and the now invisible Kirix continued to aid those around them with supporting spells and sent some extra power in the way of divine inspiration to Hakache as he brandished his longsword, charging Gilga to aid his father in his fight!
The ranger rushed towards the dark figure, but before he could land any sort of attack, the barbarian nimbly dodge an assault of Lord Aarons and sliced outwards with his frozen glave, almost rending the lords son straight to an icey grave!! "NO SON!!!! THIS IS MY FIGHT, HEAL YOURSELF AND HELP THE TOWN!! DO IT," yelled Lord Aaron, bolstering his sons will to fight on and sending him back. The boy drank down his one healing potion and started sprinting back towards his home for further aid, noticing the bard in town also skitting back, as she was being chased by a small band of undead, now that the breach was widening and more were pouring through.
Sebastian had regained conscious control of his disturbing large body for a moment amongst the mayhem, and quickly went to assist the others, smashing two giants into the ground, as yet another was incinerated before him by Markis from afar. He started to see a haze soon after, and could feel his control slipping yet again as rage boiled up within him from the delight of all of the destruction.. ..his obsidian fingers starting to twitch and tingle, his mind slipping into the background..... .. The guards at this point were being pushed back and losing more and more to the ravenous foes besetting them. As more fell, more arose, their friends returning to bite and gnaw and lash at those they once sought to protect. The horde had pushed the fight back into the center of town, around the statue of plib, the cleric Karuk and his mounted friend, Kirix, with their backs to the golden field, were fending off a dozen of the risen, as more ran past, chasing the ranger and bard, hundreds to the north almost swarming ontop of the flanks of trained townsfolk attempting to protect their loved ones!
Two horrific occurances took place over the course of the next 30 seconds... as the enraged and furious obsidian hulk to the north suddenly leapt hundreds of feet into the air, dropping down to crush all beneath him. More than 700 of the coming waves of undead were crushed or pulped or obliterated or sent flying to untimely second deaths by the crushing, earthquake-manifesting crescendo of the jump, shockwaves and rocky destruction pulsing out for miles.... Brumswinkle buckled, and the ground started to give way, as those in town were again, thrown back on their feet, or worse. The statue in the center of town, and the area surrounding it, gave way to a sink hole, falling through alongside many of the army, including Lord Aaron and his pursuer. The bridge that allowed crossing between the crescent and upper circle had fallen, taking with it the zombies chasing the bard and ranger.. more of the small town cracked and wavered, severing the connection between the western slums and the crescent, crushing the cave beneath town, and further destroying Yondallas Rest. The town was in ruin. The giant facing off with Typhus and Brog fell, the half-ogre and head of the sorcerers guild moving on to face other important threats.
As Gilga and Lord Aaron continued to connect weapons and strike at eachother, each taking and giving disturbingly large and viscious assaults, a new horrific sight wandered into the town through the gate... Aryall. Bearing the hat of hatreds, all whom looked upon her saw one thing: that which they hated most in this world. The first to react to this was Kirix, who was already commanding an orb of boiling water which he had been using to help fell the giants assaulting the town - he sent it crashing down on what he perceived to be the worlds tallest man, an offence in every way to his struggle to maintain dominance over all! By this point, Hakache had managed to heal himself back at the house of Aaron, and ensured that his brothers were kept safe. He then mounted Bayoomba, The Long Sex, and the two leapt heroicly over the massive divide between the crescent and upper circle, back to the action!! The bard decided to make her way west towards the slums, as she had noticed a giant laying siege to the inn, Kreth!
By now, the giant to the west had punched massive holes into the weak foundations of the building, crushing most within, including, sadly, the charismatic and friendly orc owner, Kreth. The Tengu rogue within was still unharmed, having managed to nimbly dodge the brazen, bulky fists! He wasn't, however, able to dodge the next thing that came for him, in the way of a large undead crow. Charlie, who happened to have run like a madman to Kreth once he realised how scary the attack was going to be in the morning, leapt in a frenzy from out of nowhere, wielding what looked to be a hand bound in bits of bone, at the attacking dead avian, aiding the tengu!
With some fantastic effort, Karuk had started channeling positive energy in the area surrounding him, wiping out many of the undead coming for him and his friend in the upper circle. The battle below them waged on between the two titans, and giants were still coming. Sebastian by this point had gained some control again, and leaned over to grab the giant laying waste to Kreth - he proceeded to throw him at the lumbering oaf wading over the river veldt to the east, missing and crushing what once was the market place, and the docks. The obliterated corpse of the giant he threw clogged up the river it rolled in to, severing its connection to the channel dividing both halves of town, and flooding the eastern slums - the eastern giant pressed on to attack Hakache, who was responding in kind with holy rocks, blessed by Karuk, which he pelted at it from the slings attached to his mounts antlers.
Aryall had started to boil and cook, her hat all but ruined and the magic burned away. Her true form was revealed, and as brog waded his way into the central area, he pulled out what explosive potions he had left, seeing the hundreds of zombies surrounding her as she wandered towards those still living, and flung away. The resulting explosion was more than enough to cook away and obliterate over 50 zombies, including the returned form of one of his closest friends. This would cost the head priest of town, however, as he had already lost one son that day... and now both were gone... One caught in the fires, a sad victim to friendly fire. The rage that started to filter through the small, loving man, sent him kareening into the remainder of the horde filtering into town, and he sent out a pulse of such powerful divine energy that it wiped out 90% of the remaining attackers in town!!
The hulking form of Sebastian, still under his control, managed to wade over to the final giant to the east, picked it up, and started squeezing out whatever undead life was coursing through it. All eyes turned to the furious mish-mash of blades and fury in the hole in the middle of town, over the destroyed statue of plib. The two seemed evenly matched for as long as the battle had been waging, until a moment of simple hesitation. As the two each dodged oncoming attacks from hakache, and the few undead that had fallen down with them, Gilga took a massive gash to his side from the searing and powerful holy blade wielded by Hakaches father, before swiping a clean and unholy, frozen assault straight through Lord Aarons neck. The long-praised saviour of Terraxus, one of the 7... had fallen. As his body slumped down to the rubble, knees buckling over fallen foundations and marble, Brog, Hakache and Karuk all screamed toward Gilga with everything they had - - - and before any blade could reach the mad usurper, the divine energy reaching out from karuks staff tore into the barbarians flesh and burst out from it, a final resounding 'thank you' coughed out from between his lips. Gilga, the proud, the brazen, the mighty last barbarian on Udossta Valshath, of the Bloodmyst bloodline, slayer of Lord Aaron, turned to ash.. his frozen glave, the strange page he held, and his dark, golden, gemmed crown, falling to the ground.
~ to be continued.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
The Story -- continued
* And so it was that the party managed to make their way back to Brumswinkle, stealing with them the safe Aaron household.
Upon returning to Brumswinkle, however, it appeared they'd lost something in exchange. Gilga had been through and passed on to somewhere else during their absence, and now the mad squid was torn down, Kane and Barry nowhere to be found.
The town also appeared very intent on securing itself further as Gilga had allegedly been spreading word that a dragon was indeed descending upon it to annihilate them, and that Aryall and co. had betrayed them to him. Proving these allegations incorrect, they steadfastly worked towards helping to calm the town down, as they went about trading and sorting out the riches and spoils they had amassed from their exposure to the dragons den.
It was during this time that Brog returned to attempting to reconstruct his 'Brogs Boys' company, a small idea he had considered awhile ago before the teams trek south had ever begun. His previous venture had cost the lives of a few disturbed friends of the local 'bone' trader, Charlie... one Ree, Rennis and Frank. All burned alive during an 'incident' that took place in the original BB barracks.
While this was being reconstructed in a new area closer to the front gate of town, with the help of Smith, the reformed local drunk and ex-paladin in tow, and Stickyfingers, the aptly named fighter with the cursed swordhand whom once posed as a pursuer of Gilga, some new figures emerged in town. A ranger, from the north west foothills, named Hakache, an alchemist from North Port, named Sebastian, and an orc cleric bearing the corpse of his over, from the northern Dire Peaks.
These characters all appeared in Brumswinkle for unique reasons and slowly started to form a friendship together in the local tavern, The Golden Field. A sorcerer-apprentice from the wizards academy, Kirix, had also been familiarising himself with the grounds outside of the academy during this time, and started to befriend the newcomers, as did Aryall the pure.
The new friends quickly came upon and met the charismatic Brog and were inducted in to his 'organisation' as the new initiates for brogs boys. He advised them they'd be undertaking an initiation within the next few days which he had planned out to test their mettle. This would not eventuate, however, as news soon swept through town that the livestock from the northern farms in town were starting to see disease and plague, which was affecting food and the livelyhood of those nearby.
Aryall banded together the new adventurers, and after some investigating they discovered the source of the plague - a local farmhouse just outside of the towns walls. After purging this, along to the sweet melodies strummed by a bard fan-girl of Aryalls who happened to be in the area, they noticed a zombie crow quickly exiting the scene, north. This was shot down by Hakache, and the group agreed to scout further north.
A half days walk went on over the northern plains along Plibbs path, and the group stopped, towards the evening, noticing that indeed, the entire horizon line was moving. Steadying their eyes and watching closely, the group realised this was an army of the undead... it's destination uncertain to them. To determine the armies exact size and nature, the bard who had followed them summoned some light-globes and sent them outwards towards the disturbing sight, lighting it up! This of course caught the immediate attention of the force and its leader, turning the thousand eyes on the group and their town behind them... .. A quick note to the sudden change in their direction, their speed, and how far away they were, suggested to the ranger of the group that they had approximately 4 days until the arrival of this daunting army.
Racing back, the group commited the next 4 days to alerting town and making preparations. By the night before the assault, they had prepared a mote, thousands of vials of holy water, trained over 500 townsfolk in the basic arts of combat, and readied the wizards and clergy.
- an interesting thing also happened on the night before the assault..
Aryall, amassing a large amount of oil from town and some potions, summoned a steed and headed north, to meet the man whom she assumed was leading the force. And indeed, it was Gilga, bearing his golden crown. Something was different about him, however... he was dead. Dead and walking... And now holding his glave with one hand, the other holding what appeared to be some kind of page or scripture.. his dead eyes, now black holes with tiny red embers within them.
Arriving not 100 meters from the horde, Aryall left her steed and readied herself for the ordeal facing her. Pouring oil over the grass infront of her and lighting it, before stepping back and loosing a potion of frost to construct a small wall infront of her before imbibing a potion of giant growth to become huge, she prepared for undead barbarians arrival, as he had temporarily halted his armies march and started to charge at the woman.
A ray of harsh light was shot out of the paladins sword at Gilgas face, temporarily slowing his ascent, before bowing down to pray, and finally lobbing an explosion potion at the fiend as he continued his deadly sprint. The barbarian was far too agile for the explosive attack and leapt past it, gracefully falling over the paladin with his glave and slicing it straight into her shoulder and down through her armor and over her chest as he landed at her feet, missing with his second attack and connecting with his third, gashing another massive, icey wound out of her.
Realising she had but seconds left, Aryall the pure dropped her sword and shield, raised her hands and started to unbuckle her armor and garb. The act appeared to cause a reaction in the fierce warrior, piercing into some hidden strand of consciousness left behind from his previous self, buried deep in his mind. She continued on, bleeding out copiously and slowly advancing on the warrior, his terrifying screams of rage echoing over the foothills, reaching into every crevice and nook beyond Brumswinkle and the forrest of Aggad'savol. Almost upon the barbarian, Aryall stated calmly to him, 'I like your crown, Gilga.. but what good is a king.. without a queen', and reaching into her bag of holding, she pulled out her hat of hatreds, placing it on her head. <--- (little sidenote here that she had actually forgotten, the hat of hatreds is a cursed hat. it appears to one as a hat which shall change the wearers look to that of something of their choosing. It, however, will only ever make the wearer look like whatever it is the viewer despises and detests most in the universe.)
Upon seeing this vision appear before him, the barbarian flew into a rage she had never seen and sliced the paladin in half. This scene, as it played out, was being watched by the alchemist, Sebastian, and the head of arcane wizardry in the academy, Markis, as sebastian had come to warn him of aryalls sudden, and worrying departure. What they saw horrified them, but what scared them more was what occurred after her slaughter... For Gilga then, in a sort of undead manner, staggered over to the corpse of the girl, lifted up the page in his left hand, and began to read it. A dark, swirling energy swathed out from the dead skin of the grizzly man and entered her fallen flesh, reinvigorating it and stitching it together. After a few minutes, Aryall arose, bent over to pick up her sword, and slowly started marching forward alongside him, as the army caught up with the two and slowly enveloped them.
~~~
Tune in soon for the incursion.
Upon returning to Brumswinkle, however, it appeared they'd lost something in exchange. Gilga had been through and passed on to somewhere else during their absence, and now the mad squid was torn down, Kane and Barry nowhere to be found.
The town also appeared very intent on securing itself further as Gilga had allegedly been spreading word that a dragon was indeed descending upon it to annihilate them, and that Aryall and co. had betrayed them to him. Proving these allegations incorrect, they steadfastly worked towards helping to calm the town down, as they went about trading and sorting out the riches and spoils they had amassed from their exposure to the dragons den.
It was during this time that Brog returned to attempting to reconstruct his 'Brogs Boys' company, a small idea he had considered awhile ago before the teams trek south had ever begun. His previous venture had cost the lives of a few disturbed friends of the local 'bone' trader, Charlie... one Ree, Rennis and Frank. All burned alive during an 'incident' that took place in the original BB barracks.
While this was being reconstructed in a new area closer to the front gate of town, with the help of Smith, the reformed local drunk and ex-paladin in tow, and Stickyfingers, the aptly named fighter with the cursed swordhand whom once posed as a pursuer of Gilga, some new figures emerged in town. A ranger, from the north west foothills, named Hakache, an alchemist from North Port, named Sebastian, and an orc cleric bearing the corpse of his over, from the northern Dire Peaks.
These characters all appeared in Brumswinkle for unique reasons and slowly started to form a friendship together in the local tavern, The Golden Field. A sorcerer-apprentice from the wizards academy, Kirix, had also been familiarising himself with the grounds outside of the academy during this time, and started to befriend the newcomers, as did Aryall the pure.
The new friends quickly came upon and met the charismatic Brog and were inducted in to his 'organisation' as the new initiates for brogs boys. He advised them they'd be undertaking an initiation within the next few days which he had planned out to test their mettle. This would not eventuate, however, as news soon swept through town that the livestock from the northern farms in town were starting to see disease and plague, which was affecting food and the livelyhood of those nearby.
Aryall banded together the new adventurers, and after some investigating they discovered the source of the plague - a local farmhouse just outside of the towns walls. After purging this, along to the sweet melodies strummed by a bard fan-girl of Aryalls who happened to be in the area, they noticed a zombie crow quickly exiting the scene, north. This was shot down by Hakache, and the group agreed to scout further north.
A half days walk went on over the northern plains along Plibbs path, and the group stopped, towards the evening, noticing that indeed, the entire horizon line was moving. Steadying their eyes and watching closely, the group realised this was an army of the undead... it's destination uncertain to them. To determine the armies exact size and nature, the bard who had followed them summoned some light-globes and sent them outwards towards the disturbing sight, lighting it up! This of course caught the immediate attention of the force and its leader, turning the thousand eyes on the group and their town behind them... .. A quick note to the sudden change in their direction, their speed, and how far away they were, suggested to the ranger of the group that they had approximately 4 days until the arrival of this daunting army.
Racing back, the group commited the next 4 days to alerting town and making preparations. By the night before the assault, they had prepared a mote, thousands of vials of holy water, trained over 500 townsfolk in the basic arts of combat, and readied the wizards and clergy.
- an interesting thing also happened on the night before the assault..
Aryall, amassing a large amount of oil from town and some potions, summoned a steed and headed north, to meet the man whom she assumed was leading the force. And indeed, it was Gilga, bearing his golden crown. Something was different about him, however... he was dead. Dead and walking... And now holding his glave with one hand, the other holding what appeared to be some kind of page or scripture.. his dead eyes, now black holes with tiny red embers within them.
Arriving not 100 meters from the horde, Aryall left her steed and readied herself for the ordeal facing her. Pouring oil over the grass infront of her and lighting it, before stepping back and loosing a potion of frost to construct a small wall infront of her before imbibing a potion of giant growth to become huge, she prepared for undead barbarians arrival, as he had temporarily halted his armies march and started to charge at the woman.
A ray of harsh light was shot out of the paladins sword at Gilgas face, temporarily slowing his ascent, before bowing down to pray, and finally lobbing an explosion potion at the fiend as he continued his deadly sprint. The barbarian was far too agile for the explosive attack and leapt past it, gracefully falling over the paladin with his glave and slicing it straight into her shoulder and down through her armor and over her chest as he landed at her feet, missing with his second attack and connecting with his third, gashing another massive, icey wound out of her.
Realising she had but seconds left, Aryall the pure dropped her sword and shield, raised her hands and started to unbuckle her armor and garb. The act appeared to cause a reaction in the fierce warrior, piercing into some hidden strand of consciousness left behind from his previous self, buried deep in his mind. She continued on, bleeding out copiously and slowly advancing on the warrior, his terrifying screams of rage echoing over the foothills, reaching into every crevice and nook beyond Brumswinkle and the forrest of Aggad'savol. Almost upon the barbarian, Aryall stated calmly to him, 'I like your crown, Gilga.. but what good is a king.. without a queen', and reaching into her bag of holding, she pulled out her hat of hatreds, placing it on her head. <--- (little sidenote here that she had actually forgotten, the hat of hatreds is a cursed hat. it appears to one as a hat which shall change the wearers look to that of something of their choosing. It, however, will only ever make the wearer look like whatever it is the viewer despises and detests most in the universe.)
Upon seeing this vision appear before him, the barbarian flew into a rage she had never seen and sliced the paladin in half. This scene, as it played out, was being watched by the alchemist, Sebastian, and the head of arcane wizardry in the academy, Markis, as sebastian had come to warn him of aryalls sudden, and worrying departure. What they saw horrified them, but what scared them more was what occurred after her slaughter... For Gilga then, in a sort of undead manner, staggered over to the corpse of the girl, lifted up the page in his left hand, and began to read it. A dark, swirling energy swathed out from the dead skin of the grizzly man and entered her fallen flesh, reinvigorating it and stitching it together. After a few minutes, Aryall arose, bent over to pick up her sword, and slowly started marching forward alongside him, as the army caught up with the two and slowly enveloped them.
~~~
Tune in soon for the incursion.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Summarising the story up and until where we last left off!`
RIGHT.
A lot of writing ahead of me tonight but that's okay.
*ahem*
So to briefly skip through, without losing too much detail from, where I last left off, up until where we currently now are in the timeline of Udossta Valshath.
The group, having finished helping the tavern, Kreth with its issues, were given some advice by local street boys that there were some odd comings and goings from a cave underneath town. Upon investigation they discovered a large den of thieves that appeared to be mining within it! A fight broke out and Ethiel was asked to cast the same spell he'd once used to defeat the thieves here before, and he brought about a tremendous sink hole in the area that ruined their mining operation. Brog defeated their leader, a fellow named Anton, and noticed a strange blade on his person. He took it, and it fused itself to his hand, unable to be let go of or dropped! This would, after some time, be eventually removed from the half-ogres hand via a remove curse spell.
Aryall, Gilga, Brog and Ethiel then moved on to a neighbouring halfling settlement to the east of Brumswinkle to settle the issue of a disturbing plague that had suddenly visited upon them. It was spreading fast and needed dealing with immediately. Upon entering the reclaimed, overgrown and decayed Drow fort-turned halfling villa, they were introduced to a cleric by the name of Korag, who also served Iomedaie and hailed from Terraxus. He was also there to help with the plague, and with his assistance the team ventured down through the sinkhole in town to some drow dungeons and a subterranean passage. The party was separated near the end of this venture, and Korags betrayal was revealed! Presumably sent to in fact murder Aryall as ordered by the head of the church, herself, Korag attempted to put her to rest - utilising a strange amulet around his neck which gave him tremendous power.
The team was able to subdue the madman without killing him. Aryall cut off his swordhand as punishment and allowed him to leave, taking his dessicated hand with him. Gilga retrieved the strange amulet and put it on. The solution to the plague was eventually discovered in a curious and strange talisman, found within the subterranean river below town that connected to their well - it appeared to be polluting it. The group quickly returned to brumswinkle, enquiring about the talismans make and purpose. No answers were to be had, but a remove curse spell was cast on it and then it was smashed - curing the surrounding areas of the seemingly magical plague. Gilga also started hearing voices.
The party briefly returned to Kurath to take some of the spider silk they found from the large, undisturbed ballista around the fort, as well as to search further the caverns below. They found what they presumed to be an escape the archaic had used to delve down to the underdark hundreds of years ago; wanting to explore this, Brog shoved Ethiel down into the abyss, knowing a strange artefact he had found might save him from his fall - which it did, although he remained forever lost. We have yet to ever see or hear from him again.
~~
Upon returning to Brumswinkle from having successfully wiped out the plague, the team were hailed as true saviours of the Four Corners, and their valor was brought to the attention of the two Brumswinkle brothers, Kerkas and Xannan. Xannan sought immediate council with the group, requesting that they aid him in furthering Brumswinkles progress with the introduction of industry and taxes. Kerkas on the other hand proposed that they help stop his brother from attempting to run the town into ruin. While Gilga and Brog enjoyed the idea of taking coin for enforcing a rule of sorts over town, Aryall brought about reason and managed to bring the town together in unison by introducing a monthly festival to Brumswinkle, The Tithe! Once a month all are brought together to celebrate the town and bring a small pittance each to the temple as tax, which is then distributed amongst those who would build and further the town.
As the first celebration of the monthly tithe came to a close, a strange ship sailed into town bearing strange cargo - 4 dark figures were spied disembarking by Gilga and made their way towards the golden field. The team made their way down to investigate and assaulted by a ragtag team of disturbing characters sent from North Port to assassinate the barbarian. The fight seemed evenly matched until one of the attackers was slain. Two fled back to the boat, leaving a fighter behind, and fled before they could be caught. The one left behind had a cursed sword attached to his hand, the same that Brog once bore.
It was not long after this that the four received word from Lord Aaron, a local hero in town who was now retired, that his family had been stolen from him... by a dragon during the night. A lowly, white dragon, a beast by the name of Devagastus. He left a message for him, advising that he only had a number of weeks to come and retrieve his loved ones, or else he would devour them and return to assault the town. The party eagerly joined forces with the powerful hero, and set off on a long journey.
To summarise the huge quest, the group travelled south, through a small halfling town named dagben where they were attacked by over 150 kobolds, which had ransacked the town. Gilga at this point also started bearing tremendous pains from the amulet he held, and almost turned on the party. Like a drug-stricken welp he was forced down by lord aaron and held while brog and aryall took the thing off him using their swords and buried it leagues away where he could not find it, wrapping it in 3 different cloths, chaining and locking it, blessing it, burning it, and burying the thing.
They went on further south past a fort named the Fortress Stairs, which appeared to have been frozen over. They were advised by a small team of resistance outside of the top gate that the dragon had flown over during the night and unleashed a furious blizzard that had scorched the fort with ice and sleet! A tremendous army of kobolds had then rushed through, slaughtering most of their men during the confusion. The group went through and removed the assailants, clearing the fort and making it safe once more for the men in the keep. They saw in the distance a large army making its way in their direction. At this point they were joined by a young rogue/wizard from the academy who had been tailing them for a few days. Sent by Markis to test his skills, he offered them happily.
The group set off in the night from the fort, south and around the foothills of Nazareem, tracking the oncoming raiding party of gnolls, giants and kobolds. Unleashing a fury of explosive potions and arrows while the stupid creatures slept, they aroused confusion and anxiety amongst them, causing the army to turn on themselves. After the defeat of the huge force, they pressed onwards, towards the camp that they had sprung from, and burning it to the ground. It was upon defeating the chieftain gnoll and his retinue of guards who had leapt from the burning wreckage, that the group picked up an interesting golden crown, a fantastic frozen glaive of stupendous power, and some frozen leather.
Gilga picked up the crown and put it on immediately as they studied the items they had accrued, and it sent a terrible shock through his mind, rearranging his ideals and mind into something sinister and evil. Lord Aaron noticed this and attempted to remove it, causing the barbarian to attack him. The scuffle was short lived as the barbarian grabbed the icey glaive and sprinted back north, towards the fortress stairs.
Realizing they were running out of time, the party was unable to deal with the loss of their comrade, and pressed on, towards an elven fort that looked remarkably like Kurath. It was here that they were given the assistance they needed to cross the mighty Tundra just south to get to the icey peaks of Agadeem where the dragon lay.
After a days rest and a days march, they made their way in, and using a strange artefact, navigated their way towards the peaks. The trek towards the dragon and the labyrinth inside the mountains proved long, arduous and extensive, but the party persevered. They finally reached his lair and within, the attack commenced, both sides sharing terrible blows and swings! The dragon was eventually felled, and Lord Aaron reunited with his children and wife! The group discovered lots of fascinating items within the dragons domain, including a strange orb within which a dark and mysterious figure lay watching them. Steen yelled 'YOURE NEXT' at the figure, before the connection was severed.
The return north was a long one, and the party, upon making their way back to The Fortress Stairs, found it in a dark... bloodied state. many severed hands lay outside the front entrance to the structure, strange symbols of skulls with rays of light emerging from them painted on the walls with blood, and what appeared to be a forest fire behind the fort on the northern side of the hill. Making their way in, they were greeted by anti-paladins and dark priests, a number of which were summoning a writhing sphere of flesh and teeth in the main dining hall, comprised mainly of the hands of those they'd slaughtered. Upon dealing with the disturbing incursion, the group made their way out the other end of the Fortress Stairs, to be greeted by Korag, who had returned... a dark obsidian blade sticking out of the cauterized stub where once was his hand.. which now dangled from his neck, by a chain. He appeared to be speaking to it..
The crazed cleric attacked the party and they were not able to kill or subdue him - steen took a crazy long shot however and destroyed the amulet around his neck which he appeared to have managed to retrieve back from Gilga, or had dug up from the ground himself!! When the amulet was destroyed, a portal appeared, showing a dazzling and tremendous city, which pulled at the cleric it materialised around, dragging him through. His hand fell off him and was left behind, picked up by the rogue as they continue on past the massacred dagben and back to town.
~~~~
I'll continue on tomorrow when i've had some sleep!!!
~~ * below, some art that corresponds to the events and characters mentioned above - -- -
.jpg)
A lot of writing ahead of me tonight but that's okay.
*ahem*
So to briefly skip through, without losing too much detail from, where I last left off, up until where we currently now are in the timeline of Udossta Valshath.
The group, having finished helping the tavern, Kreth with its issues, were given some advice by local street boys that there were some odd comings and goings from a cave underneath town. Upon investigation they discovered a large den of thieves that appeared to be mining within it! A fight broke out and Ethiel was asked to cast the same spell he'd once used to defeat the thieves here before, and he brought about a tremendous sink hole in the area that ruined their mining operation. Brog defeated their leader, a fellow named Anton, and noticed a strange blade on his person. He took it, and it fused itself to his hand, unable to be let go of or dropped! This would, after some time, be eventually removed from the half-ogres hand via a remove curse spell.
Aryall, Gilga, Brog and Ethiel then moved on to a neighbouring halfling settlement to the east of Brumswinkle to settle the issue of a disturbing plague that had suddenly visited upon them. It was spreading fast and needed dealing with immediately. Upon entering the reclaimed, overgrown and decayed Drow fort-turned halfling villa, they were introduced to a cleric by the name of Korag, who also served Iomedaie and hailed from Terraxus. He was also there to help with the plague, and with his assistance the team ventured down through the sinkhole in town to some drow dungeons and a subterranean passage. The party was separated near the end of this venture, and Korags betrayal was revealed! Presumably sent to in fact murder Aryall as ordered by the head of the church, herself, Korag attempted to put her to rest - utilising a strange amulet around his neck which gave him tremendous power.
The team was able to subdue the madman without killing him. Aryall cut off his swordhand as punishment and allowed him to leave, taking his dessicated hand with him. Gilga retrieved the strange amulet and put it on. The solution to the plague was eventually discovered in a curious and strange talisman, found within the subterranean river below town that connected to their well - it appeared to be polluting it. The group quickly returned to brumswinkle, enquiring about the talismans make and purpose. No answers were to be had, but a remove curse spell was cast on it and then it was smashed - curing the surrounding areas of the seemingly magical plague. Gilga also started hearing voices.
The party briefly returned to Kurath to take some of the spider silk they found from the large, undisturbed ballista around the fort, as well as to search further the caverns below. They found what they presumed to be an escape the archaic had used to delve down to the underdark hundreds of years ago; wanting to explore this, Brog shoved Ethiel down into the abyss, knowing a strange artefact he had found might save him from his fall - which it did, although he remained forever lost. We have yet to ever see or hear from him again.
~~
Upon returning to Brumswinkle from having successfully wiped out the plague, the team were hailed as true saviours of the Four Corners, and their valor was brought to the attention of the two Brumswinkle brothers, Kerkas and Xannan. Xannan sought immediate council with the group, requesting that they aid him in furthering Brumswinkles progress with the introduction of industry and taxes. Kerkas on the other hand proposed that they help stop his brother from attempting to run the town into ruin. While Gilga and Brog enjoyed the idea of taking coin for enforcing a rule of sorts over town, Aryall brought about reason and managed to bring the town together in unison by introducing a monthly festival to Brumswinkle, The Tithe! Once a month all are brought together to celebrate the town and bring a small pittance each to the temple as tax, which is then distributed amongst those who would build and further the town.
As the first celebration of the monthly tithe came to a close, a strange ship sailed into town bearing strange cargo - 4 dark figures were spied disembarking by Gilga and made their way towards the golden field. The team made their way down to investigate and assaulted by a ragtag team of disturbing characters sent from North Port to assassinate the barbarian. The fight seemed evenly matched until one of the attackers was slain. Two fled back to the boat, leaving a fighter behind, and fled before they could be caught. The one left behind had a cursed sword attached to his hand, the same that Brog once bore.
It was not long after this that the four received word from Lord Aaron, a local hero in town who was now retired, that his family had been stolen from him... by a dragon during the night. A lowly, white dragon, a beast by the name of Devagastus. He left a message for him, advising that he only had a number of weeks to come and retrieve his loved ones, or else he would devour them and return to assault the town. The party eagerly joined forces with the powerful hero, and set off on a long journey.
To summarise the huge quest, the group travelled south, through a small halfling town named dagben where they were attacked by over 150 kobolds, which had ransacked the town. Gilga at this point also started bearing tremendous pains from the amulet he held, and almost turned on the party. Like a drug-stricken welp he was forced down by lord aaron and held while brog and aryall took the thing off him using their swords and buried it leagues away where he could not find it, wrapping it in 3 different cloths, chaining and locking it, blessing it, burning it, and burying the thing.
They went on further south past a fort named the Fortress Stairs, which appeared to have been frozen over. They were advised by a small team of resistance outside of the top gate that the dragon had flown over during the night and unleashed a furious blizzard that had scorched the fort with ice and sleet! A tremendous army of kobolds had then rushed through, slaughtering most of their men during the confusion. The group went through and removed the assailants, clearing the fort and making it safe once more for the men in the keep. They saw in the distance a large army making its way in their direction. At this point they were joined by a young rogue/wizard from the academy who had been tailing them for a few days. Sent by Markis to test his skills, he offered them happily.
The group set off in the night from the fort, south and around the foothills of Nazareem, tracking the oncoming raiding party of gnolls, giants and kobolds. Unleashing a fury of explosive potions and arrows while the stupid creatures slept, they aroused confusion and anxiety amongst them, causing the army to turn on themselves. After the defeat of the huge force, they pressed onwards, towards the camp that they had sprung from, and burning it to the ground. It was upon defeating the chieftain gnoll and his retinue of guards who had leapt from the burning wreckage, that the group picked up an interesting golden crown, a fantastic frozen glaive of stupendous power, and some frozen leather.
Gilga picked up the crown and put it on immediately as they studied the items they had accrued, and it sent a terrible shock through his mind, rearranging his ideals and mind into something sinister and evil. Lord Aaron noticed this and attempted to remove it, causing the barbarian to attack him. The scuffle was short lived as the barbarian grabbed the icey glaive and sprinted back north, towards the fortress stairs.
Realizing they were running out of time, the party was unable to deal with the loss of their comrade, and pressed on, towards an elven fort that looked remarkably like Kurath. It was here that they were given the assistance they needed to cross the mighty Tundra just south to get to the icey peaks of Agadeem where the dragon lay.
After a days rest and a days march, they made their way in, and using a strange artefact, navigated their way towards the peaks. The trek towards the dragon and the labyrinth inside the mountains proved long, arduous and extensive, but the party persevered. They finally reached his lair and within, the attack commenced, both sides sharing terrible blows and swings! The dragon was eventually felled, and Lord Aaron reunited with his children and wife! The group discovered lots of fascinating items within the dragons domain, including a strange orb within which a dark and mysterious figure lay watching them. Steen yelled 'YOURE NEXT' at the figure, before the connection was severed.
The return north was a long one, and the party, upon making their way back to The Fortress Stairs, found it in a dark... bloodied state. many severed hands lay outside the front entrance to the structure, strange symbols of skulls with rays of light emerging from them painted on the walls with blood, and what appeared to be a forest fire behind the fort on the northern side of the hill. Making their way in, they were greeted by anti-paladins and dark priests, a number of which were summoning a writhing sphere of flesh and teeth in the main dining hall, comprised mainly of the hands of those they'd slaughtered. Upon dealing with the disturbing incursion, the group made their way out the other end of the Fortress Stairs, to be greeted by Korag, who had returned... a dark obsidian blade sticking out of the cauterized stub where once was his hand.. which now dangled from his neck, by a chain. He appeared to be speaking to it..
The crazed cleric attacked the party and they were not able to kill or subdue him - steen took a crazy long shot however and destroyed the amulet around his neck which he appeared to have managed to retrieve back from Gilga, or had dug up from the ground himself!! When the amulet was destroyed, a portal appeared, showing a dazzling and tremendous city, which pulled at the cleric it materialised around, dragging him through. His hand fell off him and was left behind, picked up by the rogue as they continue on past the massacred dagben and back to town.
~~~~
I'll continue on tomorrow when i've had some sleep!!!
~~ * below, some art that corresponds to the events and characters mentioned above - -- -
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Friday, October 11, 2013
Karuq and Brian
Brian, the head necromancer for the wizards guild - watching over as Karuq, the half-Orc cleric digs up his friends
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Last week, aryall bid the world adieu
- cutting forward to the story as it is currently unfolding, we find aryall making her exist last week.
She attempted to confront and console her old, departed friend, Gilga, on the field of battle before his legion of undeath descended on her town.
She was sliced in half.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
She attempted to confront and console her old, departed friend, Gilga, on the field of battle before his legion of undeath descended on her town.
She was sliced in half.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:George Street,Haymarket,Australia
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