Sol Povos: The Sundering

So, we're leaving the centaurs and the Bakinawa behind to attack Kuldas  Keep and Duke Crowe (the centaur-killer), which they'll do in a couple of weeks, and we've stopped by the foothills where we arrived and found that the portal we came through is indeed gone.

Marshall tries again to restore the enchantments on Tavros' two-handed scimitar, but fails.

We continue through the outlying farms for most of a day before arriving at Kuldas Keep. Everyone we run into is talking about the vortex in the sky and the end of the world. The best information we can get (from centaur mages) is that it looks like it hurt the Nightwings, and it was some sort of powerful magic.

Tavros: "So, Marshall... if the portal has closed, do you suppose that our bodies died out in the real world? And if so, and if we do escape and return, could we resurrect our bodies and all be twins?"

Marshall: "Beats the ever-lovin' abyss out me."

Leira: "No idea."

Kuldas Keep is a fairly large city; Leira spends 1,000 gold on diamond dust to get enough for four uses of Stoneskin.

Marshall goes looking for better armor. He hears a rumor that there might be some up north, but around here the best he can find are some potions of magic fang and barkskin. He decides to hold off for the moment.

We go find a library, and Tavros and Leira settle in do research on the history of Fanaxia. The big revelation is an event known as The Sundering - a legendary event passed down in stories. Fanaxia wasn't always an island; there was land around it. So people occasionally try to sail in search of other lands, though to no good effect. But there's no real detail about what the Sundering actually was, or the events leading up to it. Also, nobody can agree on when it happened; there's no timeline. The other big event in the history of Fanaxia is the rise of the Dark One - a powerful wizard and the king's chief advisor, who lived in a castle in what is now the lost march. He practice the dark arts and attempted to assassinate the king; he was punished, and buried in the black acre. Since then, it's rained constantly and the priests of Urgroth have come to power. The north part of the island is all but independent now, as the king stays in his castle and the priests have poisoned his mind. Trade is mainly by sea.

Sandorn castle (in the lost marsh -- it was the home of the Dark One) has not been found since the dark one was banished. It seems to move around: frequently visible, but never in reach. Also, the Dark One's name has been obliterated, removed from any record or monument where it might once have existed.

We set out to find out more from the people around us. Leira and Alexej mostly end up on the dance floor at a small club, but Tavros and Marshall manage to talk to some of the locals.

The current Lord Crowe is the descendant of Walter Crowe, centaurs-bane, who led an expeditions south from Fanax to drive the centaurs out. The family crest is a centaur dying on a human warrior's spear.

The duke has a wife who uses her wealth to help with the poor; rumor has it that she no longer shares his rooms, and the Duke keeps a harem in one wing of the castle. "Bald Johnny", the Duke's minister of trade, is rumored to be the one who's really in charge. The duke has two sons, and the heir Sadon is as spoiled and lecherous as his father; the younger son Forthwind is a merchant up in Styre on the northern half of the island.

So what's the deal with the king? Nobody's sure, but he doesn't make public appearances. The priests speak for him. Some people even think that he's dead. He does have a son, who disappeared mysteriously about fourteen years ago. He had two other children, one stillborn and one who died very young; Bryce, the one who vanished, would have been the only heir.

Marshall pulls up at the hall of records and sets out to charm the recordskeeper there; he starts asking about "civics" and the history of the realm: land ownership, history of buildings; he starts looking over the public records. He's not any sort of expert, but there's a Kaz estate north of Fanax that's still owned by a member of the Kaz family: a grandson, Hadrian, usually referred to as Old Man Kaz.

Tavros, in the library: Kaz was General Kaz, supreme commander of Fanaxia; he allied with the dark one, and his sword was used to cut off the dark one's hand. Krony, on the other hand, was obscure; he's known mainly as a lieutenant of the Dark One.

A few people ask us about the Great Vortex; Tavros claims (not very successfully) to be a simple lizardfolk from the edge of the marsh, who knows nothing of such matters. Marshall, on the other hand, claims that this is the beginning of a rebirth of the light; didn't everybody see how it affected the nightwings? In telling his story to those who'll listen, however, he discovers that nobody has heard of the Nightwalker. The nightwings, sure, but not the Nightwalker.

Marshall asks some more questions about the timeline; the shadows and nightwings are generally considered to be the servants of the priests of Urgroth, who came to power in the last thirty years following the execution of the Dark One.

Having learned as much as we can, we head north. In the city of Fanax, we try to do research again; interestingly, there's no record of the Cassadias that we've encountered. We learn a bit more about Kaz, and his turn to support the Dark One. We look to see if there are other churches, but... there aren't. The priests of Urgroth have pretty well shut those down.

Old man Kaz is still around, though the family is disgraced. Tavros goes looking for a library or a museum or somesuch, to see if anybody has any information on Krony; Leira manages to find some information indicating that Krony was a particularly talented mercenary.

Tavros, remembering a detail from the Black Acre, does some research on Vecna -- who apparently was a childhood friend of the Dark One.

Marshall tries again to restore Ruin's falchion, but fails.

Having done a bit more research and found a bit more information, we consider our next steps. Castle Fanax is more of a palace, but it's also swarming with priests of Urgroth, and shadows, and Nightwings, and... yeah. Castle Dinoden, home of the magiknights, is  probably a better destination for us. But this is this party, and so we check out castle Fanax.

The west wing is surrounded by powerful magics, so Marshall and Tavros both study it with Detect Evil. The shadows and the nightwings seem to avoid it, and maybe to try to keep people out of it; the evil in the west wing is of a different flavor from the shadows and the nightwings, as if it perhaps comes from a different god.

We leave castle Fanax and head for Castle Dinoden. There's an aura around the castle, which Marsall recalls from his last visit. It's an ancient magical enchantment on the castle walls that keeps the shadows out.

The last time Marshall was here, he was incorporeal and the elf party was being chased by shadows. We present ourselves at the gate, and Marshall re-introduces himself now that we're here in a less ghostly format.

Gorm the giant answers the door and greets Marshall with a very large pat on the head. "AHH! Christobol want see you!"

He takes us into the main hall, which Marshall remembers; there's a tapestry on the back depicting the punishment of the Dark One. Christobol and Alexej are reunited, happily.

Tybalt is the grizzled, older leader of the magiknights. Rygar is a half-elf; there are two other magiknights, and the two giants, and  Christobol, and the dire bear.

It's been months since we were last here; but it's only been a couple of days for them.

Marshall demonstrates his ability to turn into a gargantuan snake. The magiknights are a little freaked out by this, but Marshall turns back to a human: "Ain't that cool, y'all?"

They're all just staring at him.

Christobol: "So... what happened? How are you here? Does that mean that you're dead?"

Marshall: "Well..." He explains about the spell that brought us here, his vision-quest to help drive out the evil here, and our quest to learn more about Kaz, the Dark One, and Krony. He also asks about the really evil Presence in the west wing.

Tybalt: "Ah, yes, the west wing. There's some sort of field around it; we don't think it's the work of the Dark One's followers. We've been trying to get in there for years."

Marshall: "Any idea why?"

Tybalt: "Do you recall the third punishment, when the Dark One's soul was banished to the abyss? We suspect that something went wrong with that, perhaps the west wing has somehow been claimed by creatures of the abyss."

Tybalt: "The Dark One was clever. I wouldn't put it past him to make a deal with something in the Abyss. I worry that his banishment somehow worked to his advantage. But, of course, we haven't seen the king in thirty years so it's impossible to tell."

Tavros: "How well is Castle Fanax defended? Could we fight our way inside?"

Tybalt: "Not unless there are a lot more of you."

Leira, to Marshall: "Couldn't you do that thing with the vortex that hurt them all again?"

Marshall: "Well, I mean..."

They're very impressed that we've taken down a Nightwing. And Christobol has vouched for us. Marshall tells them about the Nightwalker, and Tybalt pounds his fist on the table. "So it's true! The nightwalkers are real. This is... very discouraging. There's one who supposedly lives in the castle: Simaron. Supposedly he sits on the king's throne while the king withers in his bedchamber."

Rygar: "There's no way the king still lives. Nobody's seen him in thirty years."

Christobol: "So... what brings you back? You still haven't told me: did you die?"

Tavros does his paladin thing and explains what we're here for and where we're at. They're fairly well convinced that we're out of our minds -- who would let themselves be all-but-killed by a spell to get here? -- but they understand the sort of information we're looking for.

Tybalt: "Old Man Kaz is crazy as shit, but he's probably still your best source of information."

Tavros: "Is there anything we can do to help you?"

Tybalt: "No, but if you find any additional allies please send them to us."

Tavros opens his mouth to say something about the snake priests and the centaurs, but Marshall elbows him and he keeps his mouth shut.

We stay the night, and Marshall tries to restore Tavros' weapon again and finally succeeds. They tell us a little about the order, and it was a pretty varied bunch of elite warriors sworn to protect the king. The one who are left now are mostly martial in their training, but it wasn't always that way; they had mages and clerics and rogues and others, in their heyday.

We head north to the black acre. It's a large cemetery, the main cemetery for Fanaxia. Marshall leads us to the noble area, and the shadows don't immediately sense us the way they did when we were incorporeal ourselves.

Marshall leads us to the back corner; there's an empty mausoleum. "Here lies ________ lord of Sandorn Castle, Archmagister of Fanaxia, right hand of the king." There are two steles: General Kaz, formerly supreme commander of fanaxia, executed as a traitor; Krony, servant of the Dark One. There's also a simple headstone: "Here lies Vecna, my friend."

Leira looks at that, and starts digging; she eventually gets to the wood of a coffin. We dust it off... it's child-sized. Leira is starting to lose her shit.

We decide to open the coffin.

It's empty.

We are... verklempt.

But Tavros is beginning to think that this is actually worthwhile, so he digs up Krony: it's an adult, human-sized coffin, but also empty.

Kaz, on the other hand, is actually a corpse in his coffin.

Marshall casts Speak With Dead. The corpse sits up: "Who disturbs my rest?"

Marshall: "We're concerned citizens and we think you might be able to help us understand what happened." He starts asking questions.

Who is Krony and what is his relation to the dark one? He's the dark one's servant and does his dirty work.

Who is Vecna? Kaz does not know a Vecna.

Who is the Dark One? He is the prophet.

What was the dark one trying to accomplish? To rule all of Fanaxia, as was his right.

Does the dark one have any heirs? I don't know of any.

Did the Dark One want to be banished to the abyss? ...Nooo.

Marshall: "Rest... sleep."

We head north to Kaz manor.