The premise behind this campaign was to have a party of "monster race" characters who were trying to be heroic and convince the "racist" people around them to be more accepting of diverse peoples and cultures. It started with Grauk Bogwalker's adventuring party, transitioned to Kradahn's group, moved to Kanith's party, saw a short life with Pinky the kobold's team, and finally morphed into an evil campaign with Esposach's crew at the end. The different groups allowed me to explore DMing the old Oerth modules.
Session 661-663:
N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God
RPG Date 576 CY (a.k.a. 1356 DR)
On Oerth: Grauk Bogwalker grew up in a Lizardfolk tribe living in Rushmoors at an old, forgotten, elf keep (in ruins) serving a green dragon – not knowing that he was actually half-dragonborn/lizardfolk; he looked just like all of the other lizardmen. After being trained as a rogue by a wandering pirate (Ovar Mastman), Grauk Bogwalker got tired of life in the tribe and decided to hire himself out as a mercenary.
While working for a hobgoblin boss, Grauk refused to kill 2 captured elves (who were warning the locals about an evil reptile cult). The boss took Grauk prisoner, sold all of his stuff, and sold him to the evil reptile cult (along with the 2 elves – Dorian and his sister Llywillan). Grauk woke up in a cell, near the 2 elf fighters and 4 human commoners. He escaped by stealing the keys from the cleric guard. He then let the others out while the cleric retreated to another room. The elves helped him kill the evil human cleric worshipping the naga. Then they killed the naga, took all of its loot, and rested for an hour.
Grauk & his elf allies (Dorian and Llywillan), while escorting the escaped human commoners, killed a wight & then persuaded 4 troglodytes to let them pass. They (assisted by the human commoners fighting for their survival) knocked out 2 troglodytes (but Dorian died). Then Llywillan split off to take the 4 human commoners home to the village of Orlane (and conduct the burial rights for her brother). Grauk went back to the den of the naga and allied with the 2 troglodytes. They rested and then had an ALPHA LIZARD BATTLE ROYALE to determine who would lead their group; Grauk won. They traveled for a day until they encountered and killed a big brown Bear. They traveled for another day, encountering and killing 6 stirges.
They traveled for a day. Grauk was knocked out by a new troglodyte they encountered who claimed leadership of the group. The new leader tried to get them to attack and kill Llywellan & the 4 human commoners; Grauk had to kill the new leader and 1 of the other 2. The surviving troglodyte was named Ekul and he accepted Grauk’s tribe name of Bogwalker.
Grauk and Ekul then met up with Llywillan and the humans. They traveled for a day, to the village of Orlane, where they had to kill the evil constable & 2 soldiers. The mayor thanked them & let Grauk keep 10% of the loot from the den of the naga (since it was all stolen from the villagers and others in the surrounding area). The villagers decided to erect statues of the Llywillan, Grauk, & Ekul as heroes since they killed the naga & the evil constable.
Grauk had learned how the cult of the naga had been kidnapping people from the inn so he convinced the mayor to search the inns for secret passages and they found it at the Golden Grain Inn. The mayor arrested the evil cult members. Grauk used the magic shield from the loot as trade to buy the Golden Grain Inn. They explored the caverns underneath and found snakes, ghouls, a mud pit, & a valuable naga statue.
Down time: Grauk spent all of his money and traded most of the loot. He got Ekul trained as a barbarian, had a magic tattoo put on Ekul to get rid of his poison stench, & had someone teach the troglodyte common (+250 days). They renamed the inn to The Mud Pit Taver-Inn and allowed the cook (rogue) to run the place; it makes enough money to stay in business, sometimes with a little profit. They spread the word in the marsh that the Village of Orlane will trade with lizard-kin & bullywug. Grauk recruited a bullywug cleric named Zenfis to join his adventuring party.
[RPG End Date: The last day of Year 576 CY.]
664-665:
B1-9: In Search of Adventure
RPG Start Date: Year 577 CY, Festival 1, Day 1
In the Village of Orlane, at the Mud Pit Taver-Inn:
On the first day of the year 577: Grauk, Ekul, & Zenfis went to eat breakfast upstairs where they found out an elf wizard was waiting for them. Melf Nadul II, the son of the famous wizard Melf (who created the spell Melf’s Acid Arrows), hired the group to clear out bandits & monsters from a castle in the woods that he recently purchased; he bought it, but doesn’t have time to go kill the bandits & monsters there because he’s busy doing magical research. He believes there’s a sentient magic golden medallion hidden somewhere in the castle. He agreed to pay each party member 100 GP, let them use of his horses, & they also got to keep 50% of the loot from the old castle. On their way out of town, the group hired off-duty guard Val (the fighter) to accompany them.
They traveled for 4 days to get to the castle. Along the way, they fought a group of 8 orcs that almost wiped out the party; the orcs had already killed another adventuring party. The group avoided some apes and an ogre. They met a group of 30 gnomes hauling a wooden ship to the river. Grauk agreed to let the gnomes borrow the horses as long as they eventually brought them back to Orlane.
Near Melf’s Castle, the group encountered 8 kobolds who were leaving because they were unhappy with the “evil lady & the wizards” who have moved in. Grauk convinced the 8 kobolds to work for him. They then fought 6 troglodytes before heading into the castle. Inisde, they fought: 10 goblins, 3 wolves, 4 hobgoblins, 2 skeletons, 5 zombies, 1 gray ooze, an evil priest, 7 bandits, and an evil Lady Cleric. They also rested until the next day.
The group continued clearing out Melf’s Castle for him, which meant fighting: 2 large spiders, 3 fire beetles, 5 giant rats, & 2 giant snakes before going down the secret tunnel to the underground level. Down there, the group took on: 1 doppleganger (pretending to be a damsel in distress), 3 hobgoblins, 2 wizards, 10 guards, and the Commanders. There were another 10 guards that Grauk spoke with and flirted with – winning over 1 of them and convincing the others to stand down. By this point, all of the kobolds died except for the 1 they had left upstairs guarding a pile of copper pieces. They retrieved the magic gold medallion as well.
Grauk, Ekul, Zenfis, Val, the kobold (Merk), and the human guard (Jasdon) then spent 4 days journeying to Orlane. Grauk decided to hire Val & Jasdon to work as guards for the Mud Pit and assigned the kobold as part of his permanent adventuring party (equipping him with the magic armor & shield they got from the adventure). They settled up with Melf II, got paid, explained everything that happened (including realizing the gnomes might have stolen the horses), and found out that Melf II has hired Llywillan (the elf lady who escaped with them from the naga cult) to go with him to the castle. Melf II was very happy with their work and said he’d be happy to hire them again in the future and recommend them to others.
[RPG End Date: Year 577 CY (1357 DR), Month 1, Day 2]
666:
U1-3: Sinister Secret at Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 1, Day 2
Grauk and his crew spent a month taking care of business – buying stuff, training, fighting, etc. After that month, Ovar Mastman (Grauk’s pirate mentor) arrived at the Mud Pit Taver-Inn with an opportunity while also mentioning that he was gone for so long because he was getting wizard training. Ovar also explained that the people of Saltmarsh (respectable fishing village, ruled by a village council) had 2 problems (1 was a haunted mansion [on a cliff, looking out at the sea, used to belong to an alchemist] that may have treasure, the other was a group of lizardfolk who have moved into an old abandoned “keep” near them). Ovar figured Grauk was the perfect person to help in Saltmarsh since he was a heroic lizardman & the people there might respect him – also, for finding the mission, the pirate would like a 10% commission of any loot acquired. Ovar then pulled out a scroll of teleport & asked Grauk’s group if they wanted to leave immediately. They did.
At the village of Saltmarsh, the town council met with the Bogwalkers. The noble human Arborius took Grauk aside and explained that the council was a mere formality and he was the 1 who truly ruled over the village. The dwarf merchant Tenbar (who sells tools) bonded with Grauk. The group heard from an old poacher who admitted to trying to steal some wine from the haunted mansion claimed he heard ghastly shrieks and piercing wails and ran away.
Grauk and his men went out to the haunted mansion, where they fought: 4 skeletons, 2 gnolls, 1 smuggler, and 1 illusionist wizard (who they tortured for info & learned that the place wasn’t haunted, but rather he was using his illusions to hide his smuggling operation). The group then went back to village and gave crates of nice noble clothes they found to both Tenbar and Arborius. They also gave crates of the alcohol they found to the villagers. They got Ovar to help them go back to the mansion and they tried signaling the smuggler ship, but it didn’t work; they got no response.
The next day the noble’s people come to check out the mansion. The Bogwalkers went back to Saltmarsh proper to get their reward of 500 gp from the council in a public ceremony that allowed the people to see lizardfolk as heroes. They spoke with several locals, including the cleric of Pelor who removed curse from the magic rock Grauk had picked up. They also got a map to the lizardfolk “keep” in the swamp. In the swamp, they spent the night with an encampment of Bullywug; 1 of the guards took a liking to Grauk and told him about the vault with a helm of water breathing.
The lizardfolk “keep” turned out to be a hill with caverns. The chief met with them and explained that the sahuagin took over their other home – which is why they retreated to this place; they would prefer not to live this close to the humans. He also mentioned that he’s been trying to ally with the bullywug, merfolk, and aquatic elves to go defeat the sahuagin. Grauk convinced him to also consider allying with the humans. They agreed to a plan: send Zenfis to negotiate with the aquatic elves, send Ekul & Merk back to the humans with a note from the Chief, and Grauk will go to scout out the sahuagin lair. In exchange for his help taking out the sahuagin, the chief would give this keep to Grauk.
The next day Grauk got potions from the lizardfolk shaman (and a map). The group split up as per the plan. Map! Grauk traveled through the swamp for 2 day on his own (other than meeting up with the human ranger Axel; Grauk persuaded the ranger to go to Saltmarsh and help negotiate the peace between the races). When Grauk found the sahuagin race he hid his stuff in the swamp under a big rock and then surrendered himself to the sahuagin. They locked him in a room until the chief was available to talk to him. The chief accepted him as a slave, which gave Grauk a chance to gather intel about the place. Grauk also befriended some of the guards, especially 1 named Hoffin. The next day, Grauk got permission to walk about freely on the ground level. That night he told the chief all about the races combining together to come kill the sahuagin, explaining it would be a shame for so many of his people to die in defense of the place. Grauk successfully convinced the sahuagin to evacuate. Before leaving, Hoffin told Grauk the name of an island and said he hoped that someday they might be able to meet each other there again.
After watching the sahuagin evacuate, Grauk got his stuff from the swamp and went back to the lizardfolk base (which took 2 days). He arrived to see a meeting of the races in progress (with the lizardfolk, humans, bullywugs, aquatic elves, Axel, Ekul, Zenfis, & Merk). Grauk (natural 20!) convinced the group that the fellowship of the races must be maintained for the sahuagin to stay away – that the alliance is powerful when working together. Grauk also made a deal to give the bullywugs the keep the lizardfolk are currently in (since they were going to move back to the sahuagin one) as long as the bullywugs leave it open for trade with everyone, they gave Grauk a room there, and they gave him the helm of water breathing. They sent Axel to go help broker the peace with more human villages in the Kingdom of Keoland. Grauk, Ekul, Zenfis, & Merk then returned to Saltmarsh to speak with Ovar.
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 2, Day 12]
667:
I2: Tomb of the Lizard King
RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 2, Day 12
Ovar bought the “haunted” mansion outside of Saltmarsh Village and decided to use it as a home for his wizard studies as well as a place to run a pirate operation; while the others were dealing with the sahuagin and such last time, Ovar contacted the smuggling ship the SEAGHOST and made a deal with them. He is now their commander. He also paid them to release their aquatic elf prisoner, Oceanus, who agreed to work as a servant/guard/apprentice to Ovar. Additionally, Ovar will make sure the SEAGHOST’s operations don’t upset the good political situation the Bogwalkers have created in the Saltmarsh region.
The Bogwalkers spent 2 weeks helping Ovar fix up the house. During that time Grauk spent his extra time with Tenbar the dwarf merchant. Then the ranger Axel showed up with news that they were needed for a quest. He spoke with Count Brunis Eor, who harbored resentment against lizardfolk that goes back over 200 years from his family feuding with the Lizard King Sakatha of the swamp. Over the generations, they have sent group after group into Sakatha’s tomb and no one has ever returned. Evil lizardfolk claiming to be Sakatha’s followers have raided and bothered Eor’s southernmost village Waycombe. Count Eor won’t consider peace with the lizardfolk until the tomb of Sakatha is cleared out.
Grauk, Ekul, Zenfis, Merk, Oceanus, and Axel traveled together to Count Eor’s palace and spoke with him. They then went to the village of Waycombe (5 miles north of the swamp – mostly burned down and evacuated) where they met the bard Mervil, the owner of the inn (who sold the inn to them since he was leaving), and the crazy local man Stephan Demanis (servant of Sakatha). After hearing tales from the bard and speaking with the crazy Demanis, they decided to split the party. Axel, Zenfis, and Oceanus stayed behind with the bard. Grauk, Ekul, and Merk went into the swamp led by Demanis.
When the group arrived at the tomb of Sakatha, they discovered the lizardfolk guards and surrendered to them so they could be taken inside to speak with the leader. Once they got inside, they met the black dragon Aulicus – but he wasn’t the lizard king. Down below, they met Sakatha & realized he was a vampire wizard Lizard King! Merk was mind-controlled. Grauk told Ekul to pretend to be mind-controlled. Grauk then went alone to negotiate with Sakatha, where he was able to stake the vampire and kill him. He also staked the vampire’s bride. After killing those 2, Grauk found out that their deaths caused all of the mind-controlled servants to be released. Grauk got good loot from the vampire, but he ended up having to deal with Aulicus on the way out. Aulicus demanded the magic items and half of the coinage returned to him. The lizardfolk agreed to serve Aulicus and Aulicus agreed not to terrorize the human villages in exchange for an annual tithe (at least 1,000 gp a year).
The group rested and then went back to Waycombe with the 10 humans they rescued. Grauk reported the events to the party members who had stayed behind. The bard decided to join the group. They then returned to Count Eor’s palace and told him what had happened. Grauk paid for ownership of Waycombe so they can turn the deserted village into a place for trade with lizardfolk and bullywug. They waited 8 days for a public ceremony recognizing them as heroes. During those 8 days, Grauk returned to visit with Aulicus and revealed that he had romantic feelings for the dragon. He then went to the ceremony but realized he wanted to go visit the dragon again so he sent his adventuring party back to Saltmarsh, to Ovar’s place, while he went back to the black dragon once again.
The dragon finally accepted Grauk’s affection and discussed how Grauk was a special lizardfolk with draconic blood – with the assumption that the green dragon Grauk’s tribe served was either his father or grandfather. Grauk then had to decide where to go. Would he go back to the Saltmarsh to his group, to his tribe to discuss his true parentage, or stay with Aulicus longer?
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 3, Day 20]
668:
Setting up "Sea Trek" Island Adventures
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 3, Day 21
Grauk talked with Aulicus (who can turn into elf form) for a week (decided they were a couple) and harnessed his sorcerer powers. Grauk sent a message to his group that he was going to his tribe to speak to them about his parentage. He then spent travel time to get back to his birthplace, the Rush Moores, on horseback.
Grauk’s home tribe greeted him and he went right to the green dragon who confirmed that he was his grandfather. He then found his mother and spoke to her (explaining that she could move to Orlane if she wanted to). Grauk bought a trained giant lizard to ride (and sold his horse). He then went to talk to the local bullywugs. After that, he went to Orlane to check on the Mud Pit Taver-Inn. He sabotaged the other inn since his inn wasn’t making much money.
Grauk then spent more travel time crossing the Kingdom of Keoland to get back to the Saltmarsh Village area; he finally made it to Ovar’s mansion. Ovar offered missions with his ship the SEAGHOST at 25% profit to him & his crew, 75% to Grauk’s team. Grauk sent the bard and ranger out on PR duty to the local human villages and then asked Zenfis, Ekul, and Merk to come with him on the sea missions. Oceanus the aquatic elf is contracted to come along, but to stay with the ship 100% of the time. The SEAGHOST crew has 8 sailors onboard; Captain Grauk picked the most experienced as his 1st mate.
Their first two missions will be to go to Hepmonaland to drop off a crate with a human tribal shaman and see if the shaman needs anything. Then they are to take a crate from the shaman to the the wizard Zelmar of Resternford village at Lendore Isles. They will bring with them a magical 2-way communication scroll to be able to message back to Ovar at his Saltmarsh mansion (where he will be working on magical research and making more magical items – including another communication scroll for Grauk to be able to communicate with Aulicus).
[RPG End Date: 577, Month 4, Day 28]
669:
I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City & L1-2: Lendore Isles Series
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 4, Day 28
Grauk spent a day finding poisonous snakes & extracting poison. He then set sail with his team and the crew of the SEAGHOST. He spent time getting to know them as they sailed from Saltmarsh to Hepmonaland. Grauk picked his usual crew as his “Away Team” and exited the ship with the crate for delivery. They met the tribal humans and were led to the tribal village where they met the shaman. The Shaman said the crate they were supposed to pick up had been stolen by the Yuan-Ti raiders of the Forbidden City who also enslaved bugbears and bullywugs. The shaman’s son was sent to guide the group through the jungle to try to the get the box back from the Yuna-Ti.
On the way, they stopped to find the “Frog God” who turned out to be a frog-like green dragon with “water fire” as his breath weapon. Grauk convinced the “Frog God” (FG) to go with them, turn them all invisible, and planned to take on the leader of the Yuan-Ti to claim leadership over them. FG turned into elf form to travel with the group. They ambushed a group of 2 Yuan-Ti guards, killing 1 and capturing the other. The captured Yuan-Ti gave them enough info that they decided to use Grauk as a “prisoner” and have this person challenge the Yuan-Ti leader for command of their people. The plan worked, getting the group (with the rest of them invisible) to the leader’s HQ. They then killed the lead Yuan-Ti and took out the wizards supporting him. The new Yuan-Ti leader freed the bullywugs and the bugbears and suggested that Grauk’s people leave as well. They got the magic crate and went on their way. They returned the Shaman’s son and they spent a night celebrating with the tribal humans.
The SEAGHOST then sailed to the Lendore Isles to the port town of Resternford, where they delivered the magic crate to the wizard Zelmar. Zelmar asked them to stick around in case his business partner Pelitar had any additional requests for them. They got drunk and then slept. The next day, Pelitar told them about the mysterious murder of the Baron of Garroten and asked them to investigate. For payment, Grauk asked to be teleported to Aulicus and back.
At the swamp home of Aulicus, Grauk discovered the dragon now had a jade palace with more lizardfolk guards. He explained to the black dragon that adventuring again has made him think that maybe they should put their relationship on hold until he could retire – but the dragon convinced him to wear a belt to turn him into a woman “Grauka” and to get pregnant with children for the dragon. Grauk agreed, with the understanding that the dragon would raise the children while he/she continued adventuring.
After being impregnated, Gruaka rejoined her group (explained the situation with the new gender), and they had the wizard teleport them back to the Lendore Isles. They investigated the murder. Grauka used her pregnancy as an excuse to speak with the local villagers and follow up on clues/leads. She discovered that the captain of the guard was corrupt, that there was an assassin’s guild, and who the members were. She also rallied the local villagers, including retired adventurers, to help with the cause. By the end of it, they had rescued the baroness and her daughter before they too were assassinated. The jeweler Ohlatta, who turned out to be a wizard and psionicst, was a huge help. She was able to mindread the assassins and recommend that the baroness execute them. In appreciation for Grauka’s help, the baroness gave her an unoccupied fishing cottage along the beach of the town lake.
For next time: Grauka decided she wants to stay at this cottage for the next 3 months, until her clutch of eggs should be ready to be released so she will be able to give them to the black dragon. In the meantime, the SEAGHOST will probably just stay at the port.
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 6, Day 25]
670:
UK2-3: The Sentinel & The Gauntlet
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 6, Day 26
Grauka continued living at her fishing home at Lendore Isles for 3 months; during this time she romanced the half-orc weaponsmith and prepared to release her clutch of eggs for Aulicus. Ovar sent the crew (with everyone except Grauka to do SEA TREK missions). At the end of the 3 months, Ovar teleported to Grauka and brought her to Aulicus with the eggs for their children (which will be born as 6 boys: 3 black, 1 green, 2 mixed-colored). Both Ovar and Aulicus offered Grauka quests and she chose to complete the one for Aulicus first.
Aulicus sent Grauka, with 2 lizardfolk guards, to the area south of his swamp known as Berghof in search of 2 magic gloves known as “The Sentinel” and “The Gauntlet.” Grauka and her guards traveled through the area near the villages of Hallbridges and Chiswell before arriving at Kusnir. In Kusnir she got to know the old man Papa Kurst, 3 lumberjacks, the local taver-inn owner, the general store female owner Farlinnin, and Farlinnin’s husband (the cleric of Ehlonna) Kit. She heard there was a druid nearby named Aspen, but she never spoke to him.
She followed rumors of the family that supposedly had the white glove known as “The Sentinel.” Their home was overrun by an evil group run by a skulk (chameleon humanoid); Grauka found the dead family members there. She made an alliance with a mercenary wererat working for the skulk and teamed up to kill the skulk/bandit leader (who had the white magic glove). She then sent the wererat to work for Aulicus and returned to the main village area of Kusnir, where they declared her a hero for killing the skulk. The mayor allowed Grauka to purchase the abandoned lakeside villa of the deceased family.
Grauka also took on a side quest to investigate a fort of monsters that turned out to be an illusionist woman with her 4 half-orc sons and 2 mountain lions on chains. The illusionist and her sons had already cleared out the real evil monsters from the fort, the xvart. Grauka made an alliance with them and got an invisibility potion that came in handy later.
The next clues about the black magic gauntlet led Grauka to the village of Gannaway and a keep in the mountains (Adlerweg Keep) said to be run by gnolls (who were actually working for an ogrillon and a 2-headed troll). The elf wizard mayor of Gannaway, Miramar, encouraged Grauka to be careful in dealing with the gnolls in the mountains. With much confidence, Gruaka used her “monster race” to her advantage and her feminine charms to flirt with the gnoll guards and get access to their chief/leader to propose an alliance with Aulicus. Ultimately, the fear of Aulicus overpowered the gnoll leader’s fear of the troll commanding them and they decided to work with Grauka (though they initially imprisoned her in a cell). The gnolls then killed the ogrillon and the troll, declaring their new allegiance to Aulicus the dragon.
One of the gnolls went with Grauka and her lizardfolk guards when she returned to the black dragon. Aulicus was happy to have the magic gauntlets and rewarded Grauka by agreeing to spare the lives of the gnolls. She made sure the gnolls understood they couldn’t raid the villages anymore so now the gnolls must find monster lairs and such in the mountains in order to continue plundering others.
After spending some quality time with Aulicus, Grauka realized she needed to decide whether or not to actually accept another mission from Ovar.
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 7, Day 14]
671-673:
B2: The Keep on the Borderlands
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 7, Day 21
Kradahn the Poet, Half-Orc Paladin of Pholtus (Light & Law) journeyed to Saltmarsh Village (near Ovar’s mansion) to talk to the villagers about the Bogwalker Clan. He met 3 dwarf fighters and 1 lizardfolk at the Merry Mermaid Inn and performed for the night. A kobold joined the group in the morning. The dwarves were Hervim (red armor), Narvim (green armor), and Karman (gold armor). The kobold was Batak, a Cleric of Kord. The lizardman was Lynol the rogue. They all went together to Ovar’s Mansion, where he met them and gave them a recruiting mission to become a part of the Bogwalker Adventuring Company (with the requirement that they must give 50% of the loot back to the local community).
They then travelled a day out to the “Caves of Chaos” where monsters were said to have a bandit/slavers hideout. Before going inside, they were ambushed by 8 kobolds that they had to kill; despite trying to reason with them, the kobolds insisted on fighting to the death. Kradahn then led the group into the 1st cave; they fought 6 more kobolds. Then the group rested in the trees outside since the dwarves were badly wounded. The next morning, more kobolds came out of the cave, totaling 20 more. The group then explored the caves, found the food storage room and rested there (drinking the wine and eating the food with the door blocked by barrels).
They then went up into the next cave entrance, which was the base of some orcs. The group fought and killed 16 orcs before they realized they needed to rest again.
The group found the Orc Chief with his bodyguard; as they killed them, 10 more orcs rushed into the room! Kradahn picked up the chief’s magic shield and the group killed all of the orcs. The paladin then sent Hervim and Narvim back with Lynol to get a wagon from Ovar for all of the loot. The guys who stayed searched the caves and waited 2 days for the others to show up with 2 mules and the wagon. During that time, Kradahn learned that Karman, whom he had nicknamed “Goldy,” was looking for a casual relationship but that Batak wanted a significant other. Kradahn wondered if he should romance either one of them, but decided to wait it out.
Kradahn and his team returned to the caves and had to kill 30 goblins, the goblin leader, and 4 hobgoblins who all rushed out of the goblin caves! By the end of the battle, everyone was unconscious except for “Goldy” (Karman) and “Red” (Hervim). They loaded all of the loot and their buddies into the wagon and drove off to rest. The group woke up and sold the loot, other than the stuff they could use. As per their agreement with Ovar, they returned 50% to the local villagers and then split the rest amongst themselves.
Ovar told the group that they had proven themselves and could now call themselves part of the Bogwalker Adventuring Company. Kradahn talked to the group and told them that he wanted them to go back since they had heard bugbears were supposed to be there with slaves they hadn’t found yet. That meant there were more hidden caves. Hervim and Narvim weren’t sure they wanted to go back, after the entire group was almost wiped out.
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 7, Day 28]
674-675:
More B2: Keep on the Borderlands
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 7, Day 28
*Clarification: Kradahn is a half-orc/dwarf (commonly referred to as a dworc).
Kradahn, “Goldy” Karman, Batak, and Lynol convinced the other 2 dwarves (Hervim & Narvim) to return to finish clearing out the Caves of Chaos. When they arrived, they found the ogre cave and it forced a fight to the death (which it lost). Then they went into the hobgoblin cave and killed the army of 25 of them and took their warlord leader prisoner. They then rescued the slaves: 1 bugbear woman, 3 kobolds, 2 humans, 1 dwarf, 1 goblin.
They then fought and killed the 8 bugbear soldiers and took their chief prisoner. The group rescued more slaves: 3 hobgoblins, 2 gnolls, 1 bugbear, and 1 huge human wildman. Everyone then went to eat and rest at the supply wagon (with the loot they had been collecting). The monster race members wanted to leave, but first the group told them about the Bogwalker Adventuring Company and Ovar’s Mansion. The group also gave them weapons and armor so they wouldn’t be defenseless in the wild. The wildman/barbarian said his name was Rawr and offered to guard the wagon and the other rescued slaves while the group continued.
The group then went into a cave with 12 stirges and a minotaur, all of whom they were able to defeat. The group then rested at the wagons with their loot and their new allies that they had rescued from enslavement.
Kradahn led his team into the gnoll caves, killing the defiant 13 gnolls and their leader (a “Fang of Yeenoghu”). They then took a short rest before going into the cave with the undead and evil clerics setup as a temple of Chaos; in there, the group killed: 8 evil clerics, 36 zombies, 32 skeletons, and 1 evil cleric leader. They also destroyed all of the alters to Chaos and found a medusa that they had to kill after she pretended to be a helpless female prisoner.
The group then took all of the loot, the rescued slaves, and their 2 prisoners (the hobgoblin & bugbear leaders) back toward the village so that they will be able to sell the loot, give the town back their 50% share of everything, hand over the slaver leaders to the authorities, and debrief Ovar about the mission. They will probably also want to tell their adventuring tales to the local bard at the Merry Mermaid Inn and the 3 dwarf cousins might even introduce Kradahn to their uncle Tenbar, the owner of a store in Saltmarsh (and 1 of the members of the town council).
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 8, Day 3]
676:
A1-4: Scourge of the Slave Lords
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 8, Day 3
Kradahn, Karman (“Goldy”), Hervim, Narvim, Batak, and Lynol returned to Saltmarsh Village and the people declared them heroes! Ovar accepted the challenge of de-cursing the magic longsword the group found (though it will take him a long time to figure out). They split up the rest of the loot, giving the villagers their 50% as promised. They donated the barrels of ale, brandy, and wine; Saltmarsh held an impromptu festival in their honor. Much drinking and partying ensued. The dwarves introduced Kradahn, Batak, and Lynol to Uncle Tenbar, who has been living in Saltmarsh as a merchant and as a member of the village council. Tenbar then introduced the group to the human noble leader, Arborius.
They found out that Grauka and her team have taken a break from adventuring to live with Aulicus in the black dragon’s Jade Palace Island of the Hool Marsh while also taking time to build up the new Waycombe Village for trade. Oceanus the aquatic elf has been made Captain of the SEAGHOST with the human crew remaining under his command.
Arborius offered to let the dwarves purchase the Caves of Chaos for 10,000 gp with the suggestion that since it is about 1 day’s journey to the north, near the coast, it would make for a fine dwarf trading village. The purchase depleted the group’s funds, but they all agreed to convert the old Chaos Temple to a temple honoring the trio of Kord, Moradin, and Pholtus. Hervim and Narvim offered to go setup their base there and start sending out invitations for others to move in and join them. They convinced Uncle Tenbar to move his shop and become the dwarf village administrator running the place. Thus each of the 6 adventurers (Kradahn, Karman, Hervim, Narvim, Batak, and Lynol) contributed 1,667 gp to buy the Caves of Chaos.
They got to know Rawr the barbarian and a guy who used to be a wererat (but has been cured and joined the adventuring company – the half-elf/human sorcerer Brando who loves to cast magic missile). The town’s captain of the guard interrogated the prisoners and learned the location of the base they were selling slaves to; he then told the group about the intel. The prisoners were executed.
The group (Kradahn, Goldy, Batak, Lynol, & Brando) bought a carriage and 4 horses. They then traveled the 300 miles to go after the slave lords. On the way, they had some random encounters: 5 bandits, 2 basilisks they avoided, 2 orcs, and 2 orc war chiefs (OWCs – they took them as prisoners). Kradahn decided to trust the 2 OWC’s. The OWC’s told them where the Slave Lord’s ruined temple keep was so they went there; once they got out in the courtyard, the OWC’s ordered the 3 orc and 4 half-orcs there to attack Kradahn’s group. The bad guys won and took them captive as slaves.
The group woke up naked in a cave on an island, with an exploding volcano. They escaped the caves, ran up through a shantytown, to the beach, and fought 5 orc guards. They rescued 3 male prisoners and saw ships leaving from the docks; the female slaves were being loaded onto 9 ships to be taken away. The ship with their gear was the WATER DRAGON, but they didn’t have time to get to it. Instead, they managed to get to a ship with kobold pirates and surrendered themselves so they wouldn’t die on the island. The 5 members of the Bogwalker Adventuring Company and 3 male slaves were taken below deck and chained up with 5 female slaves.
While talking to the kobold captain (who said he would sell them all to the gladiatorial arenas), Kradahn [rolled a natural 20!] and broke out of the chains. He then had to fight the captain to death and convince the other 10 kobolds to follow him. After taking over the ship, Kradahn ordered them to follow the slave lords for a while and then realized they weren’t strong enough to take them on; instead, he ordered the kobolds to take them to the kobold’s slaver contact. Kradahn then took Goldy into the captain’s quarters and initiated their romantic relationship. It had been a very stressful day!
They sailed for 3 days and then arrived at the port town of Convergence, where the kobolds told them their contact was staying at the Avenger’s Palace Taver-Inn and Gambling Hall. The rescued slaves thanked the group and then went to find their way back to their normal lives. Kradahn, Goldy, and the kobold 1st mate then went to talk with the officials while the rest of the kobolds went to go through the portals to visit a temple of Pholtus to learn about their new captain’s god (as per his orders). The Lt. Mayor of Convergence said the mayor wasn’t available, but he dispatched 2 guards to help Kradahn deal with the spy.
They then captured the spy and his 3 assistants, who had incriminating documents that they were trying to hide. After that, Kradahn and Goldy went through the portal to the City of Greyhawk (at the Green Dragon Inn) and got directions to the Temple of Pholtus. Once they arrived, they saw the circle of kobolds learning about Pholtus from 2 of the clerics. They then returned to Convergance and spoke to the guards about the spy documents to find out the location of the slave lords (their next destination was the island of Sybarate in Jaklea Bay, in the Azure Sea). Kradahn realized Goldy wasn’t going to work out as a long-term relationship so he spoke to his cleric Batak about a relationship. They spent the night at the Avenger’s Palace and then headed out.
Batak became the 1st mate of the ship, which they renamed OCEAN’S LIGHT (in honor of Pholtus); the previous kobold 1st mate became the 2nd mate. They then sailed to Saltmarsh (to Ovar’s place to resupply their gear). At Sybarate, they learned that there were 2 political noble families that rivaled each other. The governor’s daughter Juliana ran off with the son of his opposition, Orlando. Kradahn agreed to find the missing lovers after going after the Slave Lords at their safe house. The governor sent 5 of his guards with Kradahn’s group. At the Slave Lord manor they took on 5 orc guards before going inside to fight the 6 slave lords (4 of the Slave Lords died in battle, but the human cleric and half-orc fighter survived and were taken prisoner). Kradahn’s group then collected the bounty on the Slave Lords and rested.
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 8, Day 16]
677:
UK1: Crystal Caves; X1-3: Isle of Dread, Castle Amber, Xanathon
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 8, Day 16
The guards told the group that the captured slavers were interrogated and revealed the locations of their outposts; the governor then sent that intel to his allies so that those bases could be cleared out and destroyed.
Juliana is Governor Sybar’s daughter; he already offered 5,000 gp reward and said surely the Amber family would likely also pay a 5,000 gp reward for the return of Orlando. He sent a messenger to their castle across the island to verify this. Kradahn’s group rested and then spoke with the Governor of Sybarate again. They found out that the Amber family’s castle had been overrun with monsters. The governor agreed to allow 5 guards to go with Kradahn’s group to rescue the Amber family (even though they are political rivals of the governor).
At the Amber Castle, the group fought: a young adult blue dragon, 4 intellect devourers, a stone giant, a galeb duhr, a flame salamander, 2 fire snakes, and a hydra. They took a long rest before engaging the hydra. After rescuing the family, they spoke with Sir Stephon Amber (the leader, Orlando’s father) who thanked them and also gave them more quests: Stephon’s father was cursed by the Xanathon an evil cleric of Chaos; Stephon has a magic portal to the island of dread, a place terrorized by an adult green dragon and dinosaurs; he also offered the reward to rescue his son Orlando and Juliana from the enchanted garden they fled to. The group rested again and then went off to the Crystal Caves and Porpherio’s Magical Garden.
At the Crystal Caves, the group helped 2 ghosts by burying their bodies. In exchange, they received a Holy Longsword! They also fought an ochre jelly before going through the magical waterfall and dealing with leprechauns, pixies, and Oran the Green Lord (who was obviously magically charmed by Porpherio’s Fountain). Orlando & Juliana were also under the influence of the magical fountain so they group had to destroy it to release the magical barrier and free the minds of everyone there. Oran thanked them and said he would take the fey creatures back to the Plane of Fairies; he offered his friendship to the group and said they could speak to him in their dreams. Due to Kradahn’s request, Oran also gave them a potion to cure Sir Stephon’s father from Xanathon’s curse.
They brought the couple back, cured old man Amber, and had a celebratory festival at the island’s capitol; they also rested. Kradahn donated 10% of his loot to his church. They then returned to the Amber family castle and went to the Isle of Dread to fight the evil green dragon and its dinosaur minions! The group recruited 5 catfolk from the island to help before going to the fight. The killed the dragon with 3 alosauruses and 1 triceratops. Then they gave half of the hoard’s gold and gems to the catfolk village (making them forever allies). They recruited 2 catfolk fighters (1 male, 1 female) to come be a part of the Bogwalker Adventuring Company; the catfolk explained that they were on the world of Mystara.
The sorcerer used the scroll and plane-shifted the group back to Sir Stephon Amber’s castle, where they reported their success. Sir Amber agreed to make armor and shields out of the scales from both the blue and green dragons (1 suit of platemail & 2 shields from each color); he estimated it would take 3 months.
The group sailed for 3 days and Kradahn brought his core group to the evil Chaos Temple run by Xanathon. At the temple, the fought the 4 evil clerics and the goristro demon that they summoned; the group then destroyed the temple. After all of this adventuring, they decided to take some downtime at Saltmarsh Village & the new dwarf trading village, which needs a name.
[RPG End Date: 577 CY, Month 8, Day 27]
678:
O1: The Gem & Staff; WGA1-3: Falcon Trilogy
RPG Start Date: 577 CY, Month 7, Day 21
Grauka took off the gender-change belt and became Grauk again. Zenfis left (with a few lizardfolk) to start a temple in The City of Greyhawk, hoping to spread the word of SEMUANYA and to help continue Grauk’s mission to gain acceptance for their “swampfolk” races by “normal” society. Three Months passed in which Grauk’s babies were born and Ovar updated Grauk about the successes of the Bogwalker Adventuring Company.
Aulicus asked Grauk to go to the City of Greyhawk and steal 2 items from some evil wizards in the city (a yellow gem and a magic staff), offering the idea of using a visit to Zinfis as a cover story for why Grauk, Merk, & Ekul went there. They used a teleport scroll to appear outside the city and went in, getting rooms at The Whistling Fish Inn in the River Quarter along Marsh Street, owned by Gruenab the Hill Giant (the victim of a curse put on his father Bozzob, who was not originally a giant). They checked on Zenfis at the temple (where there were 2 lizardfolk clerics and 1 human cleric as well) and then they went shopping and such. Zenfis ended up being attack by an evil Cult of Iuz, whose members wore a distinctive pendant around their necks. One of the evil wizards Grauk was planning to steal from ended up being a necromancer working for the Iuz Cult, as did Nestor Morden (the Deputy Constable) and a jeweler from the nearby marketplace.
Grauk became friends with the giant at the inn, who allowed him to store some of his stuff while he went stealth; the giant also made a deal with Grauk and chopped off 1 of his fingers to keep pickled in a jar in case he is ever killed in the future (in which case the giant will use the finger to have him reincarnated. Grauk also became buddies with “Lefty” Leftfoot the Halfling with a restaurant being used as a contact place for the local thief’s guild. Grauk had Lefty’s people steal the magic staff Aulicus wanted from the necromancer while he worked to steal the magic gem from the other evil wizard’s tower. At that tower, Grauk seduced the ogre guard and convinced the apprentice to teleport away to work for Ovar.
Another ally Grauk made in the city was the “human” noble wizard Mizaab (who wore cool green robes, bracers of defense, magic flying shoes, and magic rings), owner of GRAY MANOR (which was guarded by 5 treants). Mizaab’s political connections allowed quick access to the mayor and to other prominent city officials.
During some daytime activities, Grauk purchased a run-down inn and then paid a gnome building company to demolish it so they could build him a new, much better property that he plans to call the “Drunk Monster’s Inn.” Over the next few days, he secured several potential future employees for the place (including: the ogre as bouncer, the giant as bartender, a tiefling woman as a waitress, 2 half-orc servers (1 male, 1 female), 1 lizardfolk, 3 bullywug, and 3 goblins). Grauk also secured writs of citizenship for himself and the ogre.
Grauk had his team join forces with Mizaab, Mordenkainen’s female apprentice in the city, and the elf wizard working at the tower near his shop (actually the multiclass bard/wizard Elios III who was wished back into existence by his father) to take down the Cult of Iuz working for a woman called THE FALCON who had been turned into an evil super naga; they had to collect evidence of corrupt guards & city officials and then take them down, as well as take out the monster lairs. They agreed to use the loot from these successes to build a goblin rehabilitation center and an orphanage named after Grauk.
Grauk decided he really liked his time in Greyhawk and that he wanted to stay while his new inn and the orphanage were both built. That caused more time to pass, all the way to the year 578. During his down time, Grauk built up his reputation in Greyhawk and secretly joined Lefty’s thief’s guild. He also spent time with Aulicus and his children.
[RPG End Date: 578 CY, Month 1, Day 1]
679-681:
B7: Rahasia
RPG Start Date: 578 CY, Month 2, Day 1
After getting their dragon-armor and making sure all of the bases of the Slave Lords were really cleared out (and the slaves returned to their rightful homes), Kradahn’s division of the Bogwalker Adventuring Company arrived at the Free City of Greyhawk to check out the new resources of the Bogwalker Clan.
Grauk had recruited more adventurers and formed another division of the Bogwalker Adventurers called the Bogwalker Specialists (with Kanith the Wizard and 4 orphans: Cade the Druid, Rake the Rogue, and the fighter twin brothers Opal & Ochre). Grauk then assigned Zenfis to give them missions, thus making the Temple of Semuanya a meeting place for them in Greyhawk (but also with a group room available to them at the Drunk Monsters Inn).
The 1st mission for the Bogwalker Specialists Team was to go help an elf village. Zenfis gave them all healing potions before they headed out. He also let them borrow a wagon with horses to take to cross the river and go into the forest to help the elf maiden Rahasia (whose father and fiancé disappeared while investigating a nearby temple). The group traveled there for several days, getting to know each other better along the way.
They arrived at the elf village and heard about the evil human cleric who kidnapped 2 elf women and took over the temple (probably with goblin and orc mercenaries). They also emphasized how sad Rahasia was because her father and fiancé both went missing. The elves fed them lunch and then they went to the temple. At the temple: the group fought a small water elemental, a small gargoyle, 5 goblins, and 4 bandits. They found 2 statues, realized 1 was Rahasia’s father, and then took a long rest at the cart (with the statues and loot in the cart). Then they went back to the elf village and showed Rahasia the statues; she was sad and promised them that her 2 elf lady friends were not evil even though the goblins had told the group they were; they realized the ladies might have been possessed or under a spell. The group returned to the temple and fought 10 more goblins and a gelatinous cube.
The group went back into the temple after resting and fought a tough flesh golem and the evil cleric (who disappeared in a cloud of smoke). They then chased down the evil cleric through his secret tunnel and killed him and his 2 panthers. They studied his notes and realized he was Rahib, the one who had kidnapped the women and that there was also a wizard down in these tunnels somewhere with an evil gem that had been used to store the souls or some evil witches. The group rested in his bedchambers.
The group then fought a Yuan-Ti Malison with another evil guard and 4 goblins. They got the keys to the prison cells and rescued Hasan (Rahasia’s fiancé). They brought him back to Rahasia, who was very thankful to be reunited with her lover. They then returned and fought 4 skeletons, 1 gelatinous cube, and 2 bandits (after getting a neat talking book). They then found and rescued 1 of the elf women and then the 2nd one as well! They brought them back to the village and rested.
In their next assault on the place, the group fought: 3 orcs with 2 more powerful orcs and then the evil Bahar (wizard). They barely survived (seriously, the wizard’s fireball made it an almost TPK with only Ochre left standing to kill the wizard), but then they destroyed the evil panther alter. They rescued a bunch of people who had been turned into metal statues (the magic went away after Bahar’s death) and then they brought them out to the elf village. The elves then had a festival of celebration for the group. The group also returned Rahasia’s stolen magical pendant to her, rested, and destroyed the evil Black Opal Eye gem that had been used to store the souls of the evil witches.
Hasan and Rahasia invited the group to come to their wedding, which is scheduled in the near future. They assured them that they will be guests of honor.
[RPG End Date: 578 CY, Month 2, Day 8]
682-684:
Return to the TOEE; S2: White Plume Mountain
RPG Start Date: 578 CY, Month 2, Day 10
Jennithar Rhengold, female half-elf cleric of Ehlonna, arrived at the elf village after the wedding of Rahasia and Hasan; Jennithar asked for help dealing with an evil cleric of Lloth that had been poking around the area of the Temple of Elemental Evil (TOEE). She feared he would try to bring back to cult of elemental evil and asked the adventurers (The Bogwalker Specialists of Kanith and the 4 orphans) to please go stop Lareth at his moathouse HQ with his order of mercenary knights and hired monster guards; she told them they could keep all of the loot from the place, but they must kill him and stop Lloth’s forces so they will not have a chance to attack and retake TOEE.
The group accepted the quest and Jennithar led them to the moathouse, with 2 days of travel; she gave the group healing potions and then hid in the trees while the group went toward the place. They fought and killed: 4 Giant Frogs, 1 Young Adult Blue Dragon, 5 Gnolls, 5 Gnoll Pack Lords, and 3 Drider.
The group then charged into Lareth’s final hallway & chambers, fighting/killing: 10 Evil Knights, Lareth the Beautiful, and the 5 Giant Spiders summoned by Lareth. After killing Lareth & his men, the group discovered the evil cleric’s journal explaining his devotion to Lloth and her plan to bring Tharizdun/the Elder Elemental Eye back into the world to spread chaos. She had also been the one behind the chaos temples that have sprung up in recent years (at the Caves of Chaos, with the slavers, and the panther temple [from the previous adventure] in the nearby forest). Apparently Lloth has been quietly working behind the scenes to distract people while she has been grasping for more power.
The group then decided to clear out the rest of Lareth’s minions: 10 Bugbears. They went back outside to see Jennithar, Rhengold, female half-elf cleric of Ehlonna, who thanked the group for removing the threat of Lareth & his forces from the area.
Kanith brought his team back to Greyhawk and reported their success to Zenfis, debriefing the missions and explaining the connection to Lloth the Spider Queen. They traded their loot, made their donations, and bought some things for themselves; Kanith bought himself some nice clothes, a nice carriage, and 2 riding horses.
The next day they were given an urgent mission: 3 powerful magic items (Wave, Blackrazor, and Whelm) that Mordenkainen had stored away in his vaults had been stolen and a note left behind with a challenge from the evil wizard Keraptis. Mordenkainen’s female apprentice (who revealed that she is actually Mordenkainen’s daughter!) has asked Zenfis to send a team to retrieve them from the lair of Keraptis, the evil wizard (who may or may not be a gnome or halfling or human from 1300 years ago). The payment will be 60,000 gp (with 10% going to the Bogwalker Clan account) if they return the items to her.
Mordenkainen’s daughter gave Kanith (and the 4 Orphan adventurers) 2 teleport scrolls and a map of White Plume Mountain so they could teleport there and back when they were finished, but they asked her to teleport them there. They went into the lair of Keraptis, dealt with several interesting traps, and fought/killed: 2 gnome wights, 5 Flesh Golems, a Vampire named Ctenmiir with WHELM (Lawful Neutral Sentient 2-handed Warhammer +3 that stuns opponents who fail a DC 15 CON save; Attuned Wielder gains Prof. in Warhammer while holding it). The group then rested in the vampire’s bedroom.
The Bogwalker Specialists continued at White Plume Mountain, getting past traps and paying off 2 succubi with nice jewelry. They also spoke with 2 evil gnome werewolves, eventually convincing them to help in the fight against their evil master Keraptis. They also took on an efreeti that took a liking to Kanith (who had WAVE the Sentient Neutral Trident of Fish Command +3, Attuned Wielder gains Prof. in Trident and Water-Breathing & Underwater Action Abilities). Kanith refused to kill the efreeti so they left him tied up and took WAVE with them. They all then confronted the “Halfling” known as Keraptis who had BLACKRAZOR the Chaotic Neutral Sentient Greatsword +3 (Attuned wielder gains Longsword Prof while holding it, a soul-stealing weapon!). During the battle, the Halfling wizard used timestop and almost wiped out the group with its extra rounds; he also summoned the efreeti to fight for him and Kanith got upset with the group after the wizard was dead (and turned into its true form as an Oni) because they went ahead and killed the efreeti (even though he had previously asked them not to).
At the end, Kanith teleported the group back to the Temple of Semuanya in the City of Greyhawk, where they spoke to Zenfis and asked for Grauk. Grauk came by to get the 3 powerful weapons, but the rogue from the group wanted to negotiate so Grauk used his magic scroll to check with Aulicus (who said to negotiate, but that he would pay up to 300,000 gp for the 3 legendary items). Grauk then got the group to agree to 195,000 for the items and said he would personally explain the situation to Mordenkainen’s daughter. He also sent Zenfis to teleport to Aulicus with the items.
The group divided up their loot and had an unspoken moment of realizing Kanith probably wouldn’t adventure with them anymore. Kanith then went to the Temple of Pholtus and paid 30,000 gp for a true resurrection for the efreeti! The efreeti thanked Kanith and offered to be his new adventuring companion. They agreed they liked each other, but they didn’t want to rush a romantic relationship too quickly. Kanith and the efreeti then went to the magical marketplace and sold all of Kanith’s stuff (except for his bag of holding) so he could buy a Robe of Eyes and a Staff of Charming.
[RPG End Date: 578 CY, Month 2, Day 20]
685:
WG12: Vale of the Mage
RPG Start Date: 578 CY, Month 2, Day 21
Down Time:
After Kanith cut ties from the Bogwalker Specialists, he found out the druid Cade took leadership of that group and recruited a goblin sorcerer to replace Kanith’s role as arcane caster. While Grauk visited with his family (putting up defenses for the Jade Palace in the swamp with a wall around that part of the swamp and they put a hydra in the lake) and Kradahn extended the Bogwalker Naval Fleet to consist of more ships (being appointed Admiral of the fleet with a total of 4 new ships added), Kanith spent time working (as a researcher, guest lecturer, and creator of magic scrolls) for his former wizard school to pay for fighter training for his efreeti companion (named Nox Bolari). The efreeti needed about 6 months for his training, thus leading up to…
578 CY, Month 9, Day 1:
A cleric calling himself JK (he was Jayson Krimeah II – the half-human/drow child of Jayson Krimeah and Tysiln San – with white hair, dark olive skin, and purple eyes) showed up at the Temple of Semuanya with a mission that Zenfis thought would be perfect for Kanith & the efreeti; JK requested the aid of the Bogwalkers because he feared some necromancers that have come into his family’s valley were there to kill his parents and take over.
Background Explained: For decades JK’s dad, Jayson Krimeah (pale olive skin with gray eyes) known as “The Black Mage” has controlled a valley in the Barrier Peaks Mountains with mostly elves and gnomes living in it, though there are some mountain dwarves and some humans (who call themselves “tree people”). "The Black Mage” took on a drow lover named Tysiln San (dark gray skin, white hair, purple eyes), who was also a wizard; the couple had one child: “JK” II. When JK’s adventuring group decided to retire, despite the fact that he wanted to journey more in the name of his god Olidammara, he returned home and found that a group of necromancers had requested to stay as guests of his father. JK feared the 6 people were “the bad kind of evil” and not entirely what they claimed to be since one of them carried a sword and wore platemail and another one wore chainmail and carried a mace.
Kanith used his last teleport scroll to send himself, Nox, JK, the carriage, and the 2 horses to the Valley of the Mage and then they drove to a gnome village. At the gnome village they spoke to the leader about his desire to build airships and how “The Black Mage” won’t let him. The group then went to the inn and hired the group of 8 kenku adventurers.
At JK’s family keep, the group had dinner with “The Black Mage,” his drow wife, and the 6 members of the necromancer group. After dinner, Kanith went and smoked on the balcony with “The Black Mage” so they could strategize how to deal with the necromancers the next day. During the night Kanith tried to visit with the 2 weakest members of the necromancer group and realized they were hoping to kill him so he went back and slept with the efreeti (sealing their relationship as a real couple).
After breakfast the next day, Kanith distracted the cleric of Nerul while everyone else assaulted the other 5 members of the necromancer group since it was obvious the necromancers really were there to kill JK’s family and take over the valley. [OMG! Everyone died except for Nox and Kanith in an epic RPG battle that started in 2 different locations and ended in a library that was burned to the crisp.] Nox and the human servants/diplomats encouraged Kanith to file a claim for ownership of the valley. They rested and then Kanith brought 2 diplomats (via teleportation) to Geoff and Keoland to file his paperwork, explaining that he and Nox were the companions of the son of “The Black Mage” and thus the closest heirs to the land. The plan worked, with the assistance of the diplomats, and the paperwork was filed for Kanith & Nox to have joint ownership of The Valley of the Mage.
Kanith then took the 2 diplomats to the City of Greyhawk, to the Temple of Semuanya to visit Zenfis and offer an alliance to the Bogwalkers (establishing himself as officially separate from the Bogwalkers, but willing to work with them for their mutual gain). Zenfis offered to have one of his lizardfolk clerics of Semuanya go work for Kanith (and stay at the citadel as a representative of the Bogwalkers); Kanith and Nox graciously accepted the ambassador.
Kanith and Nox went with their 2 diplomats to tour the villages of the Valley of the Mage to establish their political presence. Kanith adopted the nickname “The Red Mage” and agreed to kill a young adult green dragon for the elves (and then return the loot it stole from them). He also accepted a diplomat from each of the 3 races to live at his keep. He gave the gnomes the good news that they could start building their airships. The human “tree people” were concerned about giant crocodiles so Nox & Kanith went with 8 of their barbarians and helped slay them.
After touring the villages, Kanith and Nox planeshifted to the City of Brass for a day to sell magic items and recruit a new cleric, a female tiefling of the Toril goddess Sune (love and beauty, light domain), for their adventuring party. They then returned to their keep/citadel at the Valley of the Mage, where the diplomats from their villages were moving in: the daughter of the elf leader, the son of the gnome leader, and the barbarian nephew of the humans (who insisted on having a tree house built in the garden as his living quarters).
[RPG End Date: 578 CY, Month 9, Day 7]
686:
S3: The Barrier Peaks; I11: Needle [Modified]
RPG Start Date: 578 CY, Month 9, Day 8
Kanith’s servants explained their roles under “The Black Mage” and how they hoped to proceed under his rule in the future. “Chief of Staff” Vuldo makes most of the little day-to-day decisions. Kanith & Nox decided to allow Vuldo to continue in his duties as long as he logs all of the important decisions and actions. Kanith also wrote a letter to the baker back in the City of Greyhawk that he liked, with a job offer to come be the official chef at the citadel; the letter was delivered by the Bogwalker Lizardfolk Cleric of Semuanya who took the Bogwalker Clan their 10% of the profits from the previous mission.
Elf scouts working for the Valley of the Mage discovered some sort of monster lair in the Barrier Peaks Mountain Range that needed to be cleared out; they believed it to be the den of the strange, fearsome beasts that have plagued the Kingdom of Geoff for the past year and thus if they cleared it out, they would be helping their political/diplomatic situation with the principality to the south of the Mountain border.
Kanith took Nox and the Dalma (their Tiefling cleric); they found a crashed spaceship and had to kill the 12 alien Vege-Pygmies outside. From the aliens, the group retrieved a keycard to access the outer doors. They went in and fought 4 Displacer Beasts. They explored for a while, finding: a medical lab with a Nurse Robot & 4 Police Robots; a library with an AI that communicated with them about its homeworld; 3 Will-O-Wisps, 9 Dopplegangers, 1 Umberhulk; a shuttle bay with a Mindflayer & its 4 Intellect Devourer servants guarding its shuttle. They killed them all, except for the Mindflayer; they fought the Mindflayer inside the shuttle as it flew out of the place, eventually getting the alien to surrender to them, but unfortunately having destroyed his command console; luckily, the shuttle was on auto-pilot and brought them to the planned destination…
The shuttle took them to a clearing with an obelisk is a 50’ tall pillar 20’ wide at its base with a clearing around it of about 400 feet – near a bullywug village. An adventuring group was checking on the pillar and ended up thinking Kanith’s group was evil (since he was with an Efreeti, a Tiefling, and a Mindflayer). When the adventuring group attacked, Kanith’s group killed 2 of them and tied up the other 4 (leaving them there for the bullywugs to be able to untie in the near future). Kanith then allowed the Mindflayer to hack into the obelisk to open the door – the stairs down took them to 2 Aracnian men who were manning an observation station.
The Aracnian Techies explained that they would need to confiscate all of the alien technology; they had a teleport pad (like on Star Trek) that beamed the group up to their moon base, where the Aracnian leader spoke to them and explained that now that they’ve been found – due to their “Prime Directive” the Aracnians would have to leave this world, but that they had been studying the cultures and such for scientific reasons. Kanith gave them his tome that he wrote about the world and even wrote them more notes. The group rested there (the leader gave Kanith an alien wine bottle) as the Aracnians planned their withdrawal. The Mindflayer stayed with the Aracnians and dropped off Kanith’s group at his citadel in the Valley of the Mage. Before saying goodbye, the Aracnian leader talked to them about the danger of Lloth “The Spider Queen” and thus Kanith retrieved Lareth’s journal from his things at the citadel and gave it to them for study.
Note: That adventuring group could come back in the future for vengeance if they figure out the identities “The Red Mage” with the Efreeti & Tiefling: “Blondy” the Human Fighter, “Slim” the Human Wizard, “Ghost” the Halfling Thief, “Smiley” the Human Cleric, the deceased “Finder” the Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric, and the deceased “Blaze” the Elf Eldritch Knight.
At the citadel: Kanith, Nox, and Dalma found out that the Semuanya cleric had returned with the baker. The baker happily made a good meal for them all. The adventuring party then got the carriage with 2 servant drivers and headed off on a diplomatic mission to Geoff (to let them know that the Vege-Pygmy threat was now gone, thanks to their hard work).
[RPG End Date: 578 CY, Month 9, Day 13]
687-688:
GDQ1-7: Queen of the Spiders
RPG Start Date: 578 CY, Month 9, Day 13
The group traveled a few days via carriage through the hills, to Geoff to speak to the leaders. Kanith, Nox, and Dalma found about 60 peasants evacuating the Geoff area, looking for a new place to build homes. Kanith wrote them a writ so they could travel to his citadel and get the administrator to talk with the leaders of the elves, gnomes, and “tree people” to find them a place to settle in his lands. Nox also signed the letter.
A day later the group then arrived at the capitol of Geoff and arranged for a meeting with the Grand Duke. Dalma went to check out the religious temples and such while Kanith and Nox met with the Grand Duke. Kanith explained about the Vege-Pygmy people (explaining that they were like zombies). The Grand Duke explained that the hill giants of the Crystalmist Mountains have been causing problems for his people and the people of Sterich to the south.
On the way to Sterich, the group encountered about 150 evacuating peasants. Kanith gave them the same offer, but explained that he’s about to go deal with the giant and they can wait. The cleric directed them to wait in Geoff for news. The group then went to stay at The Lonely Inn in the nearby village. The waitress there explained that the capitol of Sterich (a city called Istivin) was covered in “magical darkness.” She also told them about the notice from the King of Keoland’s soldiers leaving notice that the area needed the assistance of adventurers. The group rested and, the next day, traveled within a few miles of Istivin and saw the sphere of “magical darkness” covering most of the city. Instead of going into the darkness, Kanith decided they should look into the mountains for the source of the problem.
Kanith told the 2 elf guards/carriage drivers to stay back on the road while he, Nox, and Dalma went to the keep of the Hill Giant Chief Nosnra; 3 hill giant guards had them wait outside while the chief was informed about them. Nosnra and his wife Solka then spoke to them down from the tower balcony. They had good talks and convinced the Hill Giants to take them to the Frost Giants. The Frost Giant leader Jarl told the group to prove themselves by fighting his 2 white dragons. Kanith, Nox, and Dalma defeated the dragons and then they had a feast and a chance to rest.
The Frost Giant’s base had a teleport to the volcanic area of the mountains with the keep and caves of the Fire Giant King Snurre [who is featured on the cover of the 5E PHB]. The group was introduced to Snurre and then negotiated to have an ambassador sent to the Valley of the Mage, to have an embassy setup, and to release 2 noble centaur prisoners (Sedgar and Chaunsleaf – who head off to live with the elves in the Valley of the Mage). Kanith and Snurre actually got along so well that Snurre introduced him to his wife, Queen Frupy.
King Snurre then encouraged the group to challenge Brazzemal the Adult Red Dragon Sorcerer to honorable combat (with the drow guests watching the battle). After killing the dragon, they revivified him. The dragon agreed to move into the cave at the Valley of the Mage (and to not attack or steal from Kanith’s people there). The drow (10 of them) spoke with Kanith’s team and agreed to get their female noble leader Nedylene, to join them for dinner. King Snurre was amused that he was the host for a human-drow negotiation dinner. Nedylene explained that her family house worshipped Elemental Evil and not Lloth; the High Priestess’s house worships Lloth. They made an agreement that Kanith & Nox would kill the High Priestess and Nedylene would take credit. The group then rested before heading out the next day.
The group’s drow allies sneaked them into the “Vault of the Drow” in the Underdark, to the capitol called Erulhei-Cinlu. They fought and killed: 20 Gargoyles, 68 Shadows, 15 Drow Guards, 2 Large Spiders, 1 Glabrezu Demon, 4 Drow Clerics, 1 Drow Mage, and 1 Drow High Priestess. They then returned to the carriage with the key to the “magical darkness web” covering Istivin. Their drow allies sneaked them out again and took credit for killing the High Priestess, allowing their family to regain control of the city!
After returning from the secret mission to the underdark – Kanith, Nox, and Dalma went back to King Snurre’s keep. They rested and then they planned King Snurre’s assault on Lloth’s “magical darkness” demon-god-web sphere that covered Istivin. Kanith’s team insisted on being a major part of the attack. Kanith also teleported to get the red dragon to help. The army consisted of: Pyrohydra, chimera, trolls, ogres, orcs, hill giants, frost giants, fire giants, the dragon, Nox, Dalma, and Kanith.
The Fire Giant King’s army took about 4 days to march through the mountains to the city of Istivin. The King of Keoland had 12 guards and a Commander setup outside of Istivin; the commander was impressed by the army Kanith had garnered. For the actual battle, the army killed Lloth’s army of drow and spiders going in. Kanith, Dalma, and the dragon then swooped in on Lloth (throwing the fire bead necklace [with 5 beads of 7th level fireballs], and breaking the Staff of the Magi on her – with the dragon teleporting them out)! [They did 615 points of damage, taking Lloth down to 0 so that the rest of their strike team only had to hack at her unconscious body to finish her off.] They banished Lloth from the Prime Material Plane so that she would give up her plan of conquering Oerth!
King Snurre agreed to have his people carry the remnants of Lloth’s steam-powered spider ship to the gnomes of the Valley of the Mage (so the gnomes can repair it to help defend the valley) and to then join in on a huge feast/celebration for victory (10 days later). In the meantime, Nox & Kanith used the efreeti’s plane-shift ability and the bottle of wine from the Aracnians to teleport to them and let them know not to worry about Lloth bothering Oerth anymore. They also returned the rest of the technology stuff they had left in their bag of holding. The Aracnians thanked them. The King of Keoland showed up with his entourage; he took Kanith aside in private and explained that the adventuring party from the previous session wanted the king to issue an arrest warrant for murder but that he won’t because he believed Kanith’s story about self-defense. The King of Keoland left an ambassador and also expressed being impressed with the Bogwalker philosophy of allying with Fire Giants, Efreeti, Tieflings, etc.
Kanith then went out and gave a speech, declaring his land a “Neutral Zone” under the rule of no king, where all races and groups could come to negotiate peace and alliances. In his speech he said: “From the corpse of Lloth herself comes an alliance of all the races. My land will be available for making peaceful relations between all of us… there’s nothing we can’t do when working together – be it dragon, giant, human…” Kanith & Nox then publicly declared their engagement to get married and everyone at the festival cheered for them.
The red dragon convinced Kanith to build a tower over his dragon cave and use it as his actual home while still going and working in the political building at the citadel with the ambassadors from the other races. In appreciation of Kanith’s work, the Grand Dukes of Geoff and Sterich funded the construction of The Red Dragon Tower (4 stories tall: 1st floor kitchen and living room, 2nd floor library, 3rd floor bedroom, 4th floor magic lab with the red dragon’s cave underneath) and the King of Keoland paid for the magic elevator to be installed inside. It took about a month with the expedited building process. The tower was built with no doors but with windows and a balcony that required a magic password to get through.
During that month Kanith borrowed Grauk’s Belt of Sex Change so he could turn into a woman and get pregnant with Nox’s child, hoping to have a half-Efreeti/human (Genasi) baby in the near future.
[RPG End Date: 578 CY, Month 11, Day 5]
689:
O2: Sword of Vengeance
Down Time: 1 Year:
Kanith (as a woman, from the Belt of Sex Change) spent 9 months pregnant (during which time he married Nox and took his last name: Bolari) & had the baby genasi twins (1 boy & 1 girl). During the year, they built up the walled capitol city named after Kanith’s last name (from before he married Nox): Seldan City, in the area around the citadel [east of Woodsdeep in those 4 hexes which include Javan River and the spots above it]; they also had a ranch built near the Red Dragon’s Tower to grow cows to feed to the dragon. Nox spent some of his time that year training as a paladin. Kanith returned the magic belt to Grauk’s Jade Palace.
During that year, Grauk continued raising his children at the Jade Palace and Kradahn continued running the Bogwalker Naval Fleet.
579 CY, Month 11, Day 18…
An elf warrior (well known hero) named Erystel came to visit with Kanith. Nox was captured by a red dragon with a LAMP OF GENIE IMPRISONMENT and then flew away into the mountains. Kanith found out, teleported to Brazzemal, and brought him back to the servants to try to identify the dragon by what he looked like. Brazzemal concluded that the perpetrator was Khordarg, who maintained a base on the other side of the mountains, where the hills meet up with the desert. Kanith, Dalma, and Erystel then teleported to the area of Khordarg’s lair (arrived before Khordarg) and took on the red dragon’s lair defenses: 10 hobgoblins, 1 Hobgoblin Warlord, and Histizt (the female Red Dragon). The group barely survived, with an awesome battle that left just Kanith & Histizt standing at the end (with Kanith causing her to sleep). Kanith collected the hoard, which included 2 baby red dragons and the sentient magic longsword SCORBANE [+2, +4 versus dragons].
There was a river village at the edge of the desert. Kanith took his team there (Village of Pramayama) to rest for the night. On the way, Erystel befriended the baby dragons. At the village, Kanith bought some meet and fed the dragon babies so that he too befriended them. Dalma and Eyrstel ended up sleeping together at a room in the inn (she got pregnant). The next morning: Kanith teleported the 2 baby dragons down to Brazzemal’s lair. They then setup a defense at the Citadel with elf archers and gnome wizards. When Khordarg showed back up attacking the citadel (thanks to the letter Kanith left behind at his lair), the group was able to kill him. They retrieved the maic lamp with Nox in it from the dragon’s dead body; Nox then destroyed the lamp.
Kanith claimed Scorbane, the neutral-aligned sentient sword (who was very appreciative of being rescued from the evil red dragon’s lair). Erystel and Dalma split up the loot for the 3 of them. Erystel and Dalma also wanted to go back and help the people of Pramayama because there is an evil man who calls himself THE MASTER who rules over the desert, enslaves people, and makes them all pay him taxes and gifts in exchange for him letting them live. Kanith agreed they could go deal with that situation next.
[RPG End Date: 579 CY, Month 11, Day 19]
690:
X4-5: Master of the Death Temple; WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins
Kanith sent some of his elf guards and gnome wizards with Dalma and Erystel to go into the desert (to Pramayama and beyond) to take out “The Master” of the Death Temple who was enslaving people. [The NPCs took care of the situation.]
Meanwhile…
Mordenkainen’s daughter hired Pinky the Kobold Monk and Krieger Ironfoot the Deep Gnome Trickster Cleric to go clear out monsters at the ruins of Castle Greyhawk. She explained that with her father and the rest of the Circle of 8 distracted/busy that the place has once again grown infested with bandits, treasure seekers, and various monsters. As payment, Pinky & the cleric would get to keep all of the loot they took from the invaders.
When Pinky and Krieger arrived at the castle ruins, they found that a group of dwarves had setup a base guarding the War Tower and were charging people “taxes” as a percentage of whatever they looted down below. They negotiated 25% of the loot for payment to the dwarves. The dwarves “tested” them by having them kill the 4 skeletons in the “closet” room next to the cool DEMON FACE entrance to the dungeon; Impressed, the dwarves then let the duo go down there. Pinky & Krieger killed 5 more Skeletons, 4 Zombies, and 1 Troglodyte. They also captured 3 Troglodytes who agreed to work for them. They then rested up in the safe ground level with the dwarf’s base of operations.
When Pinky, Kreiger, and their 3 Troglodytes went back down into the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk they killed 5 “Blackblade” Orc mercenaries, and 10 Giant Ants; then ran into trouble with a group of 12 Zombies. They managed to kill 2 Zombies, but then they were overwhelmed. Everyone was killed and eaten by the undead except for 1 Troglodyte, who managed to run out to safety while the zombies were killing and eating everyone else. This proved the dwarves accurate from earlier when they said only about 20% of the people who go down their return (they had also pointed out that the last guy who came running out complained about undead – which is exactly what the lone Troglodyte survivor did as well).
[RPG End Date: 579 CY, Month 11, Day 21]
691-692:
WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins
RPG Start Date: 579 CY, Month 11, Day 21
Esposach the Half-Imp (who was the slave of a powerful Pit Fiend) had been summoned (and enslaved, again) to work for an evil wizard who worked for “The Master” of the Desert Temple of Death. When Kanith sent Dalma leading a group to save the people of Pramayama and their neighbors, they also liberated this Half-Imp (who offered to work with them/Kanith). Kanith decided to send the Half-Imp to the City of Greyhawk to work with Mordenkainen’s daughter (as an apology for the White Plume Mountain incident since he heard a rumor that she was still upset about that).
Mordenkainen’s daughter, Felicia, was glad to see Esposach arrive (she wasn’t put off by him being a Half-Imp). She grouped him with a human cleric and human sorcerer (the Hyacinth Brothers) to go help clear out Greyhawk Castle. The 2 brothers had a basic wagon with 2 horses. On the way out to the castle, the group was ambushed by 8 goblins. They killed 7 goblins and 1 of the monsters (named Breek) turned on his friends to join with Esposach and the Hyacinth Brothers. They all rested in the nearby cave. When they tried to leave, they were attacked by 4 medium-size Dire Wolves. They rested again.
As they approached the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, they saw the Troglodyte leaving; he told them about the Pinky group that got eaten by zombies. Upon arrival, the group met up with the dwarves (on the 1st Level of Castle Greyhawk’s Tower of War) and negotiated the “tax” from their loot at 25%. The dwarves rented them a room to sleep in and explained their control over this level.
The next day Esposach and his group finally went down into Level 2 and killed 10 zombies and 10 giant ants before finding the dead bodies and loot from Pinky’s group They continued, killing 1 Ogre and the Otyugh that guarded the ladder going down to the next level. They decided to go up and rest with the dwarves protecting them before venturing deeper into the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk.
[RPG End Date: 579 CY, Month 11, Day 25]
693:
WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins: Part 2
RPG Start Date: 579 CY, Month 11, Day 26
The dwarf leader of the Tower of War asked Esposach to go spy on the elves at the Tower of Power and gain their trust/see what it would take for them to leave without open combat between the 2 groups. When the group went over, Esposach went in cat form and explored (finding 30 elves total: 1 wizard, 1 captain, 2 sergeants, and 26 fighter/archers); he then went and checked out the ruins of the Tower of Zagig and found mostly rubble with an area that could potentially be cleared to explore more down below. Meanwhile, his group convinced the elves to let them use a group room to sleep in as guests. Esposach discussed strategy with Breek the Goblin Fighter and the Hyacinth Brothers (Karraway the Cleric & Kallan the Sorcerer). The group went back to the Dwarf leader and gave him the intel about the place.
Esposach led his group back down into the dungeon below the Tower of War, where they encountered an Orc scout party. He made a deal with the Orc Commander and got them peacefully escorted to the Orc Chief’s quarters where the Chief asked him to kill 2 Trolls who worshipped Vaprak (since the Orc Chief wanted everyone to worship Nerull). Esposach’s group succeeded at killing the 2 trolls and received a golden statue (and the trust of the Orc Chief) as their reward. They realized the Orcs kept at least 10 Duerger and several Troglodyters as slaves. They rested that night.
The next morning, the Chief sent them down to the next level to deal with the Wraith Clerics of Nerull. Esposach engaged in a test by the wraiths of dealing with an endless pit of poisonous snakes surrounded by acid (this also served as his official initiation ritual as a cleric of the death god Nerull); Esposach succeeded the challenge after surviving for at least a minute on the Island of Endless Poisonous Snakes. He then plotted with the Wraiths about how to send the Orc Army at odds with the Dwarves and Elves up above (to get rid of them all in a 3-way battle). Piece by piece, the plan fell into place with the 3 factions against one another: Elves v. Dwarves v. Orcs – with the Wraith Clerics of Nerull ready to clean up the battlefield to take the bodies as undead. Unfortunately, for Esposach to pull off the plan he had to engage in an evil act and let the wraiths kill the elf’s archmage. When the dust settled, the Wraiths took the alter of Nerull and moved it away from this dangerous dungeon so that it could be in a more proper place (not claimed by Mordenkainen’s family).
With the Orcs, Trolls, Ogre, and Wraiths gone – the 40 Duerger and 25 Troglodyte slaves were freed by Esposach, but they were not yet comfortable living in free society so they asked to work for him as paid workers. Esposach agreed, with the Troglodytes earning their way by clearing out the additional monsters down below and helping to get all of the loot out. The Duerger were especially happy to help with hidden passages and such. But that meant Esposach and his adventuring companions needed to find a way to have the 65 freed slaves living in a peaceful place while adjusting to normal society, so they needed to buy a huge group home.
The group spent 8 days with wagons going back and forth to the City of Greyhawk for all of the loot. They were able to purchase the combined adventuring group (Esposach, the Hyacinth Brothers, and Breek as owners) the keep on the hill in the older part of the City of Greyhawk – allowing the former slaves (40 Duerger and 25 Troglodytes) to live there “renting” rooms (paying for their stay with work instead of coins) by repairing the keep and then maintaining the upkeep (with some of them employed at other locations to bring in money). Esposach also used money from the loot to buy himself a magic belt to increase his strength.
Esposach reported to Felicia that he cleared out the Tower of War and that he would start working on the Tower of Power next (to be followed by the Tower of Zagig). He also made a thief contact in the city and used the contact to get info about a couple of Nerull worshippers who lived in the slums. That let him to the home of Arelica and her husband Valran, who negotiated 10 gp a week for normal pay and 20 gp a week for hazard pay (they plan to mostly guard the cart/base) for Esposach during adventures.
[RPG End Date: 579 CY, Month 12, Day 12]
694-696:
WGR1: Part 3; WG7; Animated Series HB; Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
RPG Start Date: 579 CY, Month 12, Day 13
When Esposach gathered his forces (the Hyacinth Brothers, Breek the Goblin, and his 2 wagon guards) to head back to the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, Felicia Mordenkainen approached him with an offer: the sentient sword known as The Blade of Chaos had been stolen from her family’s vault and her father needed it returned. Scrying revealed that the thief hid in a cave (where 2 Ettins killed him). The cave’s location was mostly on the way to the ruins so she was hoping they’d take care of this for her. When Esposach and Felicia couldn’t agree on how much she would pay him to do this mission, she left saying she’d just hire someone else instead.
Esposach went ahead and brought his group to the caves, killed the Ettins, and retrieved the sword, who thanked them for freeing it; sentient weapons don’t like being locked in vaults where they get bored and lonely, nor did this one like being stuck in an Ettin lair. The group rested and then made their way to Castle Greyhawk. Esposach had his guards hide with the wagons in the forest while he took his team to check on the ruins. The previous tower (the Tower of War) was still clear, with its levels having been:
*Level 1 = Ground Level = Barracks, Stables, Armory
*Level 2 = Training/Practice Rooms
*Level 3 = Caverns for Storage
*Level 4 = Quarters for Commanders, Servants, Kitchen, Dining
*Level 5= Initiation Area with Acid Pit/Island and Study Rooms
*Level 6 = Temple
In the Tower of Power, the dungeon entrance was a carved stone of a giant dragon’s mouth. As the group progressed through the levels and dealt with the enemies (12 Bandits, 20 Gnolls with a Gnoll War Chief, traps, dead adventurers, 4 Mummies with a Mummy Lord, illusions of 15 Iron Golems, 1 Zombie Beholder, 2 Flesh Golems, 2 Stone Golems, 1 Beholder, and 4 Wizards), they learned its 6 levels were:
*Level 1 = Ground Level = Shrine to Boccob and Library
*Level 2 = Dining Hall, and Quarters
*Level 3 = Zagig’s Family Crypt
*Level 4 = Beholder Cavern
*Level 5 = Wizard’s Lab with Summoning Rooms
*Level 6 = Wizard Academy with Dorm Rooms
During their adventure in this lair: the group killed the Bandits, Esposach killed the Gnoll War Chief, they convinced the Gnolls to leave (except 1, who joined the group), looted the dead adventurers (which included a Ring of Mind Shielding with the soul of an elf bard inside, as well as a petrified statue of his fighter friend), destroyed all of the mummies (during this battle the cleric died), handed over the Blade of Chaos to a team sent by Felicia (in exchange for 300,000 gp), disbelieved the illusions (eventually), killed the beholders, killed the golems, intimidated the wizards into leaving, and managed to get a “City in a Bottle” that had imprisoned a bunch of people into an extra-dimensional plane (bigger than a city). They took the magic bottle outside and broke it, freeing the people inside.
Their actions thus unleashed Tiamat and Venger, as well as a bunch of other people (humans, Gnomes, Lizardfolk, Bullywug, Orcs, etc.). The group that stood out to Esposach’s team, that they followed into the forest to talk to while the other creatures ran off or flew away, was a group of kids/teens with magic items (Hank the Ranger, Eric the Cavalier, Diana the Acrobat, Presto the Magician, Shiela the Thief, Bobby the Barbarian, and their pet Uni). They made a deal: this wasn’t the world the kids were from and thus if Esposach’s group could find a way to get them home, the kids would give them the magic items. They all then loaded up the loot and headed back to the City of Greyhawk. Esposach brought the kids to Zenfis at the Temple of Semuanya and worked out a deal for banishment spells to be used to send the kids home (with Uni staying to live with the local druids). The kids thanked Esposach’s group, handed over the magic items, and warned that the evil villain Venger would probably try to come for the weapons sometime in the near future. They also heard that the city was on high alert since Tiamat had been seen flying overhead, though she kept going; it frightened most of the people in the city and would likely bolster any power the dragon cultists of this world had.
Esposach updated Felicia on the situation, explaining that only 1 tower remained but had rubble blocking the way down. He also pointed out the powerful items and portals down below in the Tower of Power so she decided to pay to have a team of guards go secure the location, as well as to have a team clear out the rubble. This gave the group some time to rest in the city (while trading out loot and such) and then some more days to wait out in the nearby forest, in anticipation of having to fight Venger.
[RPG Start Date: 579 CY, Month 12, Day 28]
697-698:
WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins: Part 4; WG6: Isle of the Ape
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 1, Day 1
Note: Esposach did pay for a true resurrection for the elf that was stuck in the Ring of Mind Shielding, but that guy wanted to stay in the city at the keep and re-acclimate to society (because his soul was trapped for over 100 years). Breek the Goblin and Macer the Gnoll both banked their extra loot money and left Esposach as the beneficiary on their accounts.
Esposach, Kallan Hyacinth, Breek the Goblin, Macer the Gnoll, and their 2 wagon guards (Arelica and Valran) were attacked by Venger on his Nightmare with his Shadow Demon minion and an assassin (Casseulet with a Cloak of Elvenkind); the group killed those enemies and took the Nightmare. In Venger’s robes was a ritual book to combine the 6 magic items from the kids [from the previous session] into a powerful artifact called Tiamatbane; the ritual would take 12 hours and would have to be performed by an arcane caster using the ritual book.
Instead of doing the ritual, Esposach decided to return to the City of Greyhawk and sell the magic items to Mordenkainen’s daughter (after he destroyed the ritual book). This impressed the sorcerer Kallan, who saw it as a sign that Esposach wasn’t as evil as he seemed lately. The wagon guards offered to be a part of the actual adventuring party with equal loot share; Esposach accepted. The group left the Nightmare at their keep with the elf to take care of it. Esposach bought out Kallan’s share of the group keep and told his thief’s guild contact to put out word that he wanted to purchase a Talisman of Ultimate Evil and/or a Whip/Shortsword/Rapier of Nine-Lives-Stealing.
Esposach took his adventuring team down into the secured ruins of Greyhawk Castle so they could go down to the portal room in the Tower of Power and go to the Isle of the Ape (to retrieve the Crook of Rao). Kallan figured out how to activate the portal to the Isle of the Ape; before going, Kallan pointed out that he had purchased a scroll of plane-shift so he would be able to teleport them home, but that they had better keep him alive or they would be stuck in the crazy monster world forever. Esposach insisted that Arelica stay behind and wait 2 weeks so that if the group didn’t return, she would hire a wizard or sorcerer to go in after them with a scroll of plane-shift.
When Esposach, Kallan, Breek, Macer, and Valran arrived at the Isle of the Ape they found themselves in jungle. They had to fight 20 jungle thugs and ended up setting the jungle on fire in the process. A clearing had dinosaurs, but they avoided them and followed the river. At the hill next to the cliff/waterfall they found a shaman/druid sacrificing a woman. Four giant apes attacked the group. As they killed the apes, the gargantuan-sized 4-armed Ape King Oonga [with Legendary actions to stomp once and bite 3 times]. charged toward the group. They tactically retreated to the jungle and decided they could take him on.
In an epic battle against Oonga, Breek the Goblin was killed while Kallan, Valran, and Macer were all knocked unconscious. [The battle came down to Esposach with 13 HP and Oonga with 3 when Esposach got the killing blow.]
Esposach used the tongues spell to convince the primitive druid to guide them to the “holy cave” with the Crook of Rao so they could take the loot and get home. There were several powerful magic items there. The druid offered to come home with them so they plane-shifted back to Arelica with him. They went back to the City of Greyhawk to trade out loot and to bring the druid to their keep so he could study the ways of Nerull and learn the common language from the elf.
Next time, Esposach hopes to finish clearing the ruins of Greyhawk Castle by taking on the Oni and their defenses in the Tower of Zagig.
[RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 1, Day 8]
699-701:
WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins Part 5
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 1, Day 8
Esposach, Kallan, Macer the Gnoll, their 2 guards (Valran & Arelica), and their druid (from the Isle of the Ape) returned to the City of Greyhawk after destroying the Crook of Rao. The druid agreed to live at the keep. They traded out the loot from their adventuring. Esposach transferred the funds from the dead goblin’s account, into his own. Making his way to a tailor shop, he requested special cloaks for his team (rust colored with the symbol of Nerull on the back).
Esposach, Kallan, Macer, and Valran went down into the Tower of Zagig with Arelica waiting outside (with the team hired by Felicia Mordenkainen to secure the ground level, a.k.a. Level 1). At Level 2, they killed a Basilisk, 2 Trolls with Fire Resistance Rings, 1 Stone Golem, and 1 Oni. They got the 2 Cyclops to work with them, but 1 of them died. They also had Felicia’s team take up a petrified wizard from the ruins. They then rested.
The 2nd level from the ruins of Castle Greyhawk was mostly the ruins of an old art gallery with collapsed areas. Esposach led Kallan, Macer, Valran, and their new Cyclops buddy down to Level 3 where they killed 24 Skeletal Minotaurs, 1 Supreme Ghost Elf, 1 Fire Giant Mummy Lord, and 1 Oni Lord. The level also contained a Pyramid with a 1-Way Gateway to the Abyss (which they didn’t go through). They then rested.
They went down to level 4, where they fought 2 Iron Golems and 1 Oni Lich in its lair of skeleton bones. They then rested.
Esposach, Kallan, Macer, Valran, and the Cyclops all went down to Level 5 of the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, where they spoke with the Mighty Adult Red Dragon Farcluun (who had Figurines of Wondrous Power and 2 half-dragon wizard sons). The dragon’s lair also contained 12 Minotaur Statues that would come to life if intruders got within 10’ of each of them. Esposach temporarily paid the dragon 200,000 gp for passage down to Level 6.
At Level 6, the group fought and killed 4 Oni. They then rested and went in to fight the Demilich guarding the library of Zagig! The Demilich was too much for them, but they managed to capture it in the Bag of Holding long enough to run it up the stairs and throw it at the Red Dragon. Farcluun and his sons fought the Demilich (with the half-dragons getting sucked into its teeth soul gems); the Red Dragon won the battle, destroying the Demilich. Esposach took advantage of the situation to have his group attack the Red Dragon, killing it and taking its loot. They destroyed all of the Minotaur statues as well.
They went back down to Level 6 to get the loot from Zagig’s library. They put his sarcophagus in the portable hole and befriended the magical Giant Owl familiar (that had survived on magic berries all these years). They left the magic mirror and the sleeping/stasis beautiful elf woman (since touching either of those items would “teleport them to another world” according to both the Red Dragon and the Giant Owl).
With their mission a success, the group traveled back to the City of Greyhawk. First they ventured to the Temple of Zagig and donated the sarcophagus (as a donation from “The Guild of the Red Mage” – thus giving Kanith credit since he sent Esposach on this mission in the first place). The group went to the stores/bank and split up their loot/profit. They reported to Felicia Mordenkainen about completing their objective. She hired Kallan to preside over the ruins of Castle Greyhawk while it is being rebuilt by her team; Kallan said the others could come visit him anytime there (he had already told them he’d be leaving the group at the end of this and that they’d need to hire a new caster to replace him).
Esposach renamed his keep “Greyhawk Keep” and allowed the Giant Owl to live there. He contemplated calling his adventuring group the Greyhawk Adventurer’s Guild (though that would spell out GAG). They spent a week of downtime to gain the abilities from the magical tomes from Zagig’s library [that add +2 to stats]. They ended with a little extra shopping, since they did become quite wealthy from this mission.
[RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 1, Day 25]
702:
Maze of Zayene Series
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 1, Day 28
Arelica and Valran revealed to Esposach that they were part of the “Cult of the Shriven Sickle” (secretly worshipping Nerull) in the City of Greyhawk, but that thieves killed the other members; they were excited to have someone to spread the word of Nerull in the city, but they cautioned Esposach to keep it a secret. Arelica asked to use Esposach’s resources to recruit members to quietly re-grow the cult there, make money as hired assassins, and plot vengeance against the thief’s guild that caused them problems in the past. He agreed, as long as she kept the illegal activities away from his property.
Nox sent a letter inviting Esposach and his group of adventurers to come to the Valley of the Mage to be Honored by him & Kanith (to thank them for their letter and the spell scroll they sent to Kanith). Valran and Arelica stayed behind at the keep.
On the way, Esposach decided to check on the gnolls who went to the Gnarley Woods to battle the elves there; the elves told him that they suggested the gnolls and Nerull’s followers go to Rel Astra, the only city known to openly have a temple of Nerull that the citizens are ok with; the elves assumed those groups took their advice because they left when they saw that the elves outnumbered them. The elves then suggested Esposach take Macer and Cyclops to Hommlet, where a wizard could teleport them and their carriage to their desination.
In Hommlet, they had a bunch of fun. They met Carlina (the sad Half-Orc fighter living the life of a simple farmer) and Spugnoir (who had been adventuring and protecting the village from bandits and orcs) at the Welcome Wench Inn (as well as others). As a future quest, Esposach offered to help unite Carlina with her son (the Prince Elster in line to inherit the throne of Furyondy who has never met his mother). They arranged for Spugnoir to teleport them to the Valley of the Mage the next day, but in the mean time they decided to go to the druid and get reincarnated into new bodies (and to get drunk afterward).
Jaroo reincarnated the group (Esposach as a Fire Genasi, Macer as a Halfling, Cyclops as a Dwarf; they then paid to redo it so that both Esposach and Macer came back as Red Dragonborn and Cyclops as a High Elf). The group decided they were happy with their new bodies because it would allow them to fit in better than being a Half-Imp, Gnoll, and Cyclops.
Drunk, Esposach slept with both the owner of the Welcome Wench Inn and his wife (he might have impregnated her). The next morning Spugnoir took them to the Valley of the Mage, where elves showed them the way to the new capitol city. They went to their meeting with Nox, who was playing with the Fire Genasi twin children. Kanith came and joined their discussion, thanking Esposach for his good work in Greyhawk.
A Knight of Hextor arrived with a secret letter from the High Cleric of Hextor who used to be the Chief Advisor to Overking Ivid V of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. The letter was addressed to the “Leader of the Valley of the Mage” (it implied that Kanith was needed to come help since the Overking Ivid V had fallen into a depression as a result of the death of the queen two months back; the letter also contained phrases that they suspected were a form of thief’s cant). Esposach could read the thief’s cant and realized it implied the Church of Hextor would be ok with the Leader of the Valley of the Mage assassinating Overking Ivid V and claiming the throne since they thought he was the king’s cousin (The Black Mage of the Valley); the insane mage Zayene had corrupted Ivid V and thus the Overking might also be going mad, obviously making bad decisions that defied the law and hurt the common people. Kanith wouldn’t have a claim to the throne, but Hextor’s followers consider themselves allies with the followers of Nerull so Esposach could make some good political allies while there. Nox suggested Kanith and Esposach go together with Macer and Cyclops (while Nox stayed to run the Valley of the Mage and take care of the children).
Hextor’s Knight brought a teleport scroll that Kanith used to send them to the temple of Hextor nearest the Overking’s Palace. When they arrived, the monks and clerics had been sent across town with a distraction while a Marilith Demon assassinated the High Cleric. Kanith, Esposach, Macer, and Cyclops killed the demon and spoke with the servant left at the temple. When the clerics and monks returned, they realized that the main suspect, the only person in the area insane enough and yet powerful enough to summon that demon and have the High Cleric killed, was Zayene.
They rested up and prepared for the next day, when they would confront the Overking and/or the insane wizard Zayane.
[RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 2, Day 10]
703-704:
Maze of Zayene Series; WG8: Fate of Istus
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 2, Day 10
Continuing at the Temple of Hextor in Rauxes, the Capitol of the Great Kingdom [which is somewhat near Rel Astra]: the group of Kanith, Esposach, Macer, and Cyclops decided to split up. Kanith went with some monks of Hextor to go confront the insane wizard Zayene Xaene at his tower (though he ended up being unavailable so they were turned away) while Esposach took Macer and Cyclops with him to meet with Overking Ovar Ivid V. At the royal audience chamber, Esposach’s group walked into a teleport trap activated by Zayene Xaene.
At the magical “Maze of Zayene,” Esposach’s team fought and killed: 2 Xorn, 4 Gladiators, 2 Ogres, 2 Vampire Spawn, and 1 Vampire (though Cyclops had to be revivified by Esposach). When confronted by Hrolga the Barbarian Lady, Tigress (the Weretiger), and their 8 additional Gladiator guards – Esposach convinced them to stand down because they had realized these enemies were also followers of Nerull. Esposach explained that he would be a better leader for them than the insane wizard Zayene Xaene. The ladies agreed and hid Esposach’s team for the night, with Tigress guarding them. She also seduced Esposach after turning them all into Weretigers [making them immune to nonmagical/nonsilvered damage from bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing attacks – but also resulting in Tigress getting pregnant with what will be a fully natural Lycan baby]!
The next day Esposach (now calling himself “The Crimson Death”), Macer, and Cyclops (along with their new zombie minions) ambushed the lich Zayene Xaene in his own lair, with 2 of his Gladiator guards. The battle developed into an epic combat with Cyclops killed, Macer banished, and the lich trying to escape down into the sewers below where there were a dozen more zombies serving Zayene. Esposach ended up alone, destroying the zombies and killing Zayene. As has become custom, Esposach went and revivified Cyclops after the battle. His group rescued the true Overking (who had been taken prisoner and replaced by clones created by Zayene). The Overking ordered all of the clones destroyed and offered Esposach a reward for saving him. Esposach took his team back into the sewers and found the infamous Tapestry of Nerull (to become the new Guardian of the Tapestry in service to his god) and to destroy Zayene’s phylactery; they succeeded in both missions.
Esposach also obtained all of the notes about the plague known as the Red Death (which was suspected to have started in Chendl a few weeks back and has spread to Furyondy and beyond – killing hundreds, but looking like it’ll develop into killing thousands). Esposach gave the notes and supplies from the lich’s lair to Kanith so that Kanith would be able to spread the cure for the Red Death and help build good political relationships for the Valley of the Mage.
Kanith met with Overking Ivid V and discovered that the man was very power-hungry and a warmonger, who theorized that within the next 5 years Iuz and the “horned ones” would strike and a massive war would consume the world; the Overking of the Great Kingdom intends to take advantage of the situation to grow his empire, but Kanith refused to do anything more than offer the Valley of the Mage as a neutral territory.
Esposach asked for his reward in the form of a Lich Tome (that would some day allow Esposach to put together the rituals to turn himself into an undead); the Overking was happy to respond and also tasked Esposach to go to Rel Astra and try to take over from the Nerull clerics there because he has been unhappy with their declaration as a “free state” existing within the territory of the Great Kingdom. The new high wizard of Ivid’s court, Karoolck, teleported Esposach’s team to Rel Astra. There, Esposach convinced the city leaders that they were better off relocating to the Valley of the Mage than staying in their town, where they would be targeted and potentially wiped out by the forces of Overking Ivid V. The leaders of Rel Astra expressed that they could likely convince 80% of the population to move and they began the procedures necessary to make that transition, including arranging for wizards to teleport them and their belongings. Esposach already planned of where the Rel Astrans should go to make their base: at the mountains with the side-river near the open border of the Valley of the Mage (that way their naval fleet could exist in the river and allow for quick troop movement of their undead armies to help defend the valley, if necessary).
For next time: Esposach intends to build up a keep at the capitol city of the Valley of the Mage (spending at least 800,000 gp on it, moving his resources from the City of Greyhawk, possibly selling his keep there) and to help arranging to finish moving the residents of Rel Astra while arranging for their new homes to be both at that mountain and in/near the capitol of the Valley of the Mage while Kanith needs to go to Chendl (and possibly Verbobonc) to get out the cure to the Red Death Plague.
Note: At some point, they may want to recruit Hrolga (with her Flaming Longsword +2 and Tigress with her Whip of Pain [DC 15 Con save or stunned until the save is made at the end of the target’s turn] to also move to the Valley of the Mage.
[RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 2 Day 12]
705-708:
Fate of Istus
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 2, Day 13
While Esposach was busy (moving the Rel Astans, recruiting people, and planning his new keep), Kanith went to Chendl to meet with King Belvor IV. Kanith brought Spugnoir and 2 teams of gnomes with clerics, sorcerers, and guards. Their plan was to first bring the cure to Chendl and then split off half of the gnomes to go to Verbobonc and cure people there. Spugnoir went and spoke with 10-year old Prince Elster Aben and his half-gnoll friend, getting them to agree to come to the Valley of the Mage (where it’ll be safer since it looks like a war may be about to break out in Chendl with Iuz’s forces possibly taking over there).
The Half-Elf guard Merrin Hallek took Kanith out to the hunting grounds, where King Belvor was visiting with his new friend Torc (but Torc turned out to be an imposter Ancient Red Dragon who had killed the real Torc). A force of 75 monks and 25 fighters from the Scarlet Brotherhood ambushed them in an attempt to assassinate King Belvor. The false Torc was unhappy and fought back against everyone. Kanith rescued King Belvor, sending him away with a fly spell and ended up having to kill the false Torc alone after the Half-Elf was killed.
Belvor thanked Kanith for rescuing him, allowed him to rest for the evening, and said his men were searching Torc’s residence to find out what info was hidden there.
In the morning, King Belvor told Kanith about how the false Torc was really working for Iuz and that the dead body of Carlan Dieg from Verbobonc was found with the dead body of the real Torc. Belvor asked Kanith, since he was departing for Verbobonc already, to look into the matter at the Dieg family manor there. Kanith agreed and teleported over with his group of gnomes (while Spugnoir brought Prince Elster Aben and his half-gnoll best friend to the Valley of the Mage to hang out with Nox and the genasi twins).
Kanith and a gnome guard approached the Dieg family manor but left when they found 30 guards there with an arrogant captain. Kanith went back to Verbobonc and spoke with Viscount Wilfrick, the leader of the city (follower of St. Cuthbert with the Horn of Valhalla) and explained about his team providing the cure for the plague and about the situation with Iuz and the Dieg family. Kanith then left his gnome guard with the clerics and sorcerers to go approach the Dieg family manor alone.
Alone, Kanith killed: 30 guards, 3 underpriests of Iuz, and their Draco-Basilisk (Dracolisk). Still at the Dieg family manor, Kanith realized there was a Cleric Lich of Iuz so he teleported out to get Esposach (who was happy to join his friend in battle against the foe). The 2 of them fought and defeated Helthrax.
Kanith and Esposach were attacked by Morgorath the Beast (who looked like a lesser tarrasque fully equipped with magical defenses and weapons). They defeated the monster (thus destroying the phylactery of Helthrax along with the monster) and reported back to Viscount Wilfrick that they had removed the threat of Iuz from Verbobonc (for now). Viscount Wilfrick rewarded them with expensive jewelry and offered them manors in Verbobonc, but they both declined the homes. He also acknowledged that he would reach out to King Belvor IV in Chendl and consider an alliance, as Kanith had encouraged him to do earlier when they met.
Next time: Both Esposach and Kanith want to take some down time to build up the Valley of the Mage. [RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 2, Day 15]
709-711:
The Red Hand of Doom
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 2, Day 15
Down time played out (10 months):
Spugnoir went and got Carlina from Hommlet to come live with Prince Elster and the half-gnoll at the capitol palace in Bristol, in the Valley of the Mage (with the intention of the kids being raised by the 2 of them and being able to spend time with the Genasi twins as they grow up).
Esposach sold his castle in Greyhawk and moved his people to Drellin’s Ferry Farm Village (near the mouth of the Valley of the Mage, where the right side river goes into the mountains), which was being built up as a city (renamed to New Rel Astra. He also decided to have his 800,000 gp castle called “Dark Blood Castle” [with his servants and his Nightmare] built there [in the mountains] instead of Bristol. He also bought land at 300,000 gp [6 Hexes on the Valley of the Mage map, which included mountains and the mining rights] for the refugees from Rel Astra to build on and live on. Esposach also donated 65,000 gp to help pay for Efreeti guards for the Valley of the Mage. He spent his time getting to know the refugees and positioning himself as mayor/leader of the city. Additionally, Esposach authorized mining a secret tunnel to go in and out of the valley (that would be collapsible as a trap in case anyone discovered it).
Macer the Red Dragonborn spent his 600,000 gp buying a 5-mile Hex of land (50,000 gp) and building up his castle (500,000 gp) and establishing farms with servants (50,000 gp) across that land. He was then known as Lord Macer Redscale. He found himself a lizardfolk wife and had 4 baby girls.
Cyclops the High Elf spent 50,000 gp buying a 5-mile hex of land and another 25,000 building a noble estate with a manor. That left him 16,000 gp to spend starting up vineyards for making wine. He was then known as Lord Cyclops Vines. He found a Wood Elf wife and had a male baby.
Kanith spent about 9 months building a 25 mile-long wall at the mouth of the valley, with the help of 2 gnome wizards (making it 18” thick stone). He also had his elf scouts trying to find dragons in the mountains: they found 7 Dragons (3 Red, 2 Green, 1 Gold, 1 Bronze). Kanith spoke to them individually, starting with the metallic dragons. The Gold Dragon said he was moving out because of the “build up” in the area. The Adult Bronze Dragon said he would help defend the Valley if Kanith built him a nice fortified tower at the edge of the mountains/valley where he could keep his treasure in a vault; Kanith agreed and spent 15,000 gp on the tower. In dealing with the Red Dragons, Kanith upset them and they teleported away (leaving their kobold minions to become servants for the Valley of the Mage). He gave 12 Kobolds to Macer and the other 38 were assigned to guard the wall. In dealing with the Green Dragons (mated pair) in a spruce forest in the mountains, Kanith found out they just wanted to be left alone.
Kanith and Nox spent 300,000 gp from the town funds to build 20 fortified watchtowers in the mountains around the Valley of the Mage. They went to the City of Brass and paid for 25 Efreeti guards to be on-call to start yearlong contracts to help defend the city (all paid up front, spending all of their money except for 10,000 gp).
Kanith convinced Aulicus to build a castle in the swampland just inside the Valley’s outer wall (as per the deal, Kanith gave him the land: 3 Hexes in exchange for the defenses being put into place at the portcullis for the river). Aulicus and Grauk realized that if the war threatens their territory in Keoland, this would be a good place for their children to go to be safe. Aulicus and Grauk spent 500,000 and named it Bogwalker Castle, positioning 100 guards (50 Lizardfolk, 50 Bullywugs). Kradahn accepted a job from them as the Lord Regent of the Castle, serving as the leader of the army there (with 3 warships at his command at some river docks setup for the castle). They will plan to eventually build this place up as a trade town (but that will cost even more money and take more time).
Kanith and Nox went and spoke with the giants to warn them that Iuz is probably going to start a war soon. The giants said they were excited because they could possibly conquer some of the weakened human territories once the war started. Kanith told them to defend the Valley of the Mage and the giants could do whatever they want. He offered them the territory abandoned by the dragons that teleported away.
The gnomes repaired Lloth’s Spider Ship (which Kanith ordered to be positioned at Bogwalker Castle with a troop of gnomes) and finished producing 5 flying ships (4 of which to be full of Elven archers and 1 reserved for evacuation and magic scrying).
[End Downtime at: 580 CY, Month 12, Day 15]
High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul, Blue Half-Dragon General, commanded an army (calling themselves the RED HAND OF DOOM) serving Tiamat that wanted to take over the Valley (so it would become the Valley of the Dragons). Thei plan: first they will attack the city at the edge of the valley, then they will attack the capitol, and hope the people will surrender to them!
Kanith, Nox, Esposach, Macer, and Cyclops were on a boat scrying on the Red Dragons when they discovered their plan to assault New Rel Astra. They teleported to the citizens to unleash the undead army of defenders and then teleported to fight and kill the leaders of the army. They took out: 2 Sphinxes, Abrithiax the Adult Red Dragon, and Koth the Bugbear Archmage. They then assisted the undead army in taking out all of the army at that location.
They rested at Esposach’s castle.
The servants reported that a Druid-Lich was in the area. Kanith, Esposach, Nox, Macer, and Cyclops teleported to him. They found out about ”The Ghostlord” who had info about Vecna being the one who convinced the dragon army to attack the valley since he wants Nerul’s forces weakened. Apparently Vecna is planning to re-enter the world and finally become a god by somehow taking over Nerul’s portfolio. They decided to give “The Ghostlord” a hill area hex of land to the north of Esposach’s territory in exchange for the his loyalty.
The gnomes at Bristol magically messaged Kanith that the capitol was under attack by another army from the Red Hand of Doom. The group teleported in and took out the leaders: 5 Sphinxes, Ozyrandion the Adult Green Dragon, 3 Half-Dragon Archmages, and Regiarix the Adult Black Dragon. They then helped their forces take out the army of over 3,000 attackers down below.
The Bristol guards interrogated some POW Kobolds and found out where the lair was for the rest of this army. According to the Kobolds, all that was left of the Red Hand of Doom Army were their leaders at the secret HQ in the mountains, which supposedly including at least a couple ancient dragons (but they didn’t mention that one of those ancient dragons was Tiamat herself!).
The group rested. They also spoke with the Druid-Lich, wanting him to go research more about Vecna.
Kanith, Nox, Esposach, Macer, and Cyclops joined together (with 2 Elf Clerics in an Apparatus of Kwalish) and went to the location of the secret mountain base of HQ the Red Hand of Doom to take out what is left of their forces. They rescued the 3 Elf Rangers who had been taken prisoner and they killed: Tyrgarun the Aduly Blue Dragon, Varanthian the Ancient White Dragon, 10 Bluespawn Gladiators, 7 White Half-Dragon Priests, General Azarr Kul the Blue Half-Dragon, 2 Erinyes, and Tiamat! When they killed Tiamat, she discorporated back to the 9 Hells and thus will not be able to reenter the Prime Material Plane for at least 100 years. During the battle, Esposach used a powerful spell to summon Nerul’s Angel of Death (Solar) to help and ended up having to revivify him, along with Macer and Cyclops, at the end of the battle. The Angel of Death took a magic necklace as his reward and promised to look into the Vecna situation for them before he left.
The group collected Tiamat’s massive treasure hoard and rested. Next time they hope to take more downtime to prepare for dealing with both Vecna and the possible coming war. [RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 12, Day 18]
712:
WG9: Gargoyle; WG10: Child’s Play; WG11: Puppets
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 12, Day 18
Esposach, instead of starting downtime, decided to go into the 9 Hells to seek out his former mentor (a Pit Fiend on the 8th Layer serving Mephistopheles) and ask him to help him get a Fiendish body, hopefully something powerful. He told his group that he was leaving for the Hells (just brought his Flameskull with him), traveled in Weretiger form, and purchased transportation down to the 8th Layer.
He found the lair of his former master/mentor and requested an audience. Esposach announced himself and explained that he had changed bodies and he wishes to again – but this time to a stronger Fiend body. In exchange for the body, he was required to complete a quest: find out who was the secret leader of the Gargoyles of the Valley of the Gargoyles near the village of Rockburgh that ordered the destruction of the evil temple in the woods nearby, kill that person, and use a special magic item to destroy that person’s soul. His former master informed him that Yeenoghu was also looking for this person and if Yeenoghu finished the mission first, then the deal would be off.
Esposach returned to his Dragonborn form, put his Flameskull in his bag of holding, and went back to Oerth to Rockburgh. Rockburgh on the Marsh is a village near the Hool Marsh Swampland. Inspired by the activities of the Bogwalker Clan, the people there have an alliance with the Valley of the Gargoyles located near them so that they live in peace/non-aggression with the 185 Gargoyles there. First he spoke with Stumpy the Halfling Thief who helped him buy a new, strong white horse. Then he befriended Lady Ailen the High Elf Cleric who traveled with him to see the druid Old Man Henderson (and his assistant, the 17-year old druid girl they called Blackthumb). The druids told them about 2 Half-Orc Assassins named Mot and Yuri who operated a merchant’s shop in the village. Blackthumb decided to join Esposach in his quest.
Esposach had Lady Ailen and the guards distract Mot and Yuri while Blackthumb watched his back and he sneaked inside. He found a shrine to Yeenoghu and a map marking the location of the secret demon/devil worshipping temple in the woods. Esposach exposed the Half-Orcs and they were arrested. He and Lady Ailen both went and spoke with Father Theodus, the leader of the Temple of St. Cuthbert (and the leader of the village). Esposach also spoke with the Half-Orcs in jail, finding out about a lady who was still at the evil temple in the woods who claimed she turned a great hero named Wolf (who had killed the others from the temple) into a rabbit.
The next day, with his new lady friends, Esposach went to the ruins of the evil temple in the woods and found Marya Darkeyes there crying. She was a former cleric of St. Cuthbert who had turned into a wild-magic sorcerer. She explained that Wolf was from the Kingdom of Rhesdain from the Yatil Mountain area and that Wolf had an adventuring companion who opened up a portal and brought them home after she turned Wolf into a rabbit. She also admitted that she had told Yeenoghu’s people about it and that they were likely searching the woods near Rhesdain because Wolf has killed many tribes of Gnolls over the years.
Esposach told Ailen she could keep the horse but that she and Blackthumb should return to the village. He then had Marya Darkeyes teleport with him to Rhesdain, where they hunted down the adventuring companion of Wolf. Esposach used his Iron Bands of Bilarro and had Marya pretend to be his prisoner. The trick worked and Wolf’s companion ventured with them out into the woods. Agents of Yeenghu (2 Glabrezu demons pretending to be Gnolls) killed the companion and agreed to work with Esposach and Marya. They joined up with 6 Fomorians and 3 Lamias in capturing and killing rabbits. Marya recognized the one she turned Wolf into, Esposach grabbed Wolf, and they plane-shifted out to the 9 Hells.
Esposach purchased them travel down to his mentor and brought Wolf, announcing him as the target of their quest, the secret leader of the Gargoyles. Though Marya balked at this and Esposach suddenly realized he had messed up and assumed that since Wolf had killed the people at the evil cult that he was also the secret leader of the Gargoyles; but he felt it was too late so he went with it and convinced Marya to lie to back him up. His pit fiend former mentor was convinced and gave Esposach his new Horned Devil body. After the body-swapping, Yeenoghu himself showed up exposing Esposach’s mistake. Esposach insulted Yeenoghu and allowed the angry beast-god to kill Marya.
Yeenoghu revealed the true secret leader of the Gargoyles was Aulicus the Black Dragon, who had the magic crown that controlled the Gargoyles. That meant Esposach had to either go kill Aulicus and destroy his soul or else these powerful evil beings would kill him. Esposach agreed to go finish the task. Yeenoghu left. Esposach went into stealth mode and infiltrated the Jade Palace of Aulicus. He got past the guards and found the target asleep underground on a pile of treasure. Esposach summoned a Planar Ally, an Air Genasi Assassin that he paid with his mind-shielding ring. The 2 of them killed Aulicus. A group of Kobolds ran in, but it was dark and they couldn’t see the assassins.
Esposach returned to the 9 Hells, purchased travel, and made his way to his mentor once again. The pit fiend was pleased that the mission was finally completed. He encouraged Esposach to lay low and not upset powerful people for a while, to which Esposach and chuckled and pointed out that he plans on taking on Vecna as soon as the evil lich shows himself. Seeing his old master like this, Esposach realized how much he missed him, wanted to please him, and hoped to be with him again. He was upset he wasn’t allowed to stay for at least a while.
Returning to the Valley of the Mage, Esposach informed Kanith that as long as they stay neutral in the coming war that the Fiends probably won’t attack the Valley of the Mage.
Meanwhile, the now widowed Grauk heard about the assassination of Aulicus and moved his resources from the Jade Palace to the Valley of the Mage (because he didn’t think he could defend the swamplands without Aulicus) where they already had Bogwalker Castle setup with Kradahn in charge of 3 warships. After moving, Grauk got an invitation from Spugnoir and Carlina to move his children to the protections of their fortified embassy palace in Britstol (the capitol of the Valley of the Mage) where Prince Elster Aben of Furyondy and his half-gnoll best friend Gulnarin are both planning to wait out the coming war.
[RPG End Date: 580 CY, Month 12, Day 25]
713:
WGS1-2: Blades of Corusk & Vecna Lives
RPG Start Date: 580 CY, Month 12, Day 25
They took another 9 months down time: Esposach found a woman and romanced her so he could pass his legacy down via a child: a Drow Priestess named Va’Zarbreena (which means Honored Haunted Matriarch) who gave up her faith and was looking to move on with her life. They romanced each other and he convinced her to quickly marry since there was a war coming. She assured Esposach that her priestess knowledge would allow her to perform rituals so that their child could be born as a Drow and not a Tiefling/Devil. Their baby girl was born at the end of the downtime.
When Grauk went through all of the treasure left behind after the death of Aulicus, he found 250,000 gp (of which he gave 200,000 to Kanith & Nox to defend the Valley) and the 3 legendary weapons from the lair of Keraptis: Blackrazor (sentient greatsword that requires attunement from a non-lawful creature), Wave (sentient trident that requires attunement from a creature that worships a god of the sea), and Whelm (sentient warhammer that requires attunement by a dwarf). Grauk paid for training in the greatsword so he could use Blackrazor; he got Kradahn to attune to Whelm since he was half-dwarf/orc, and he asked an Aquatic Elf ally to attune to Wave. The 3 of them spent months traveling the world beating up on evil people trying to get info about the assassin who killed Aulicus. When they failed at that mission, Grauk accepted that he would need to move on and came back with the others to protect his children and the Valley of the Mage.
During the 9 months, Kanith used the 200,000 gp that Grauk gave him to hire 16 more Efreeti to defend the Valley of the Mage (for a total of 41, all on call) he also bought 8 magic weapons (+1 Longbows for his guards). Kanith & Esposach have an understanding that when it’s time to deal with Vecna, Kanith will help…
[End Downtime at: 581 CY, Month 9, Day 18]
The Angel of Death visited Esposach, Macer, and Cyclops and suggested a mission for them (Vecna has returned and killed the Circle of 8, but not Mordenkainen); since they don’t know where the Sword of Kas is, the Angel of Death wants them to find the sword Dreamsinger (which can lead them to several more magical swords, which can be combined to summon a powerful god-being who would owe them a favor, which they can use to ask him to fight Vecna for them; what the Angel of Death didn’t mention was that those swords were known as the Blades of Corusk, they will summon Vatun if the proper ceremony is done, but that he is secretly working for Iuz and this is all a trick so that Iuz can pretend to be Vatun and get the Barbarians in the north to start warring with the Dwarves, instigating the beginning battles of the war).
Before heading out, Esposach tried to convince his drow wife to come along and she insisted on remaining with the newborn baby. Esposach, Cyclops, and Macer went to the City of Rookroost and recruited an elf bard lady to guide them through the barbarian lands and help them find the swords. With her help, they found the cave with the 1st blade: Dreamsinger. It was guarded by a Gnome Illusionist pretending to be an Ancient Shadow Dragon. After getting the sword from him, the bard was able to get a vision of the location of the next sword; they went and defeated the wizard Randrin Meverast (who had just killed 3 Hags and taken the 2nd sword from them: Greenswathe).
With 2 of the 5 Blades of Corusk, the group then went to the Orc “Holy City” of Garel Enkdal, where Esposach challenged the chief to honorable combat to win the 3rd Sword: Stalker. Esposach won, but used revivify to bring the Orc Chief back to life afterward (so he could continue ruling over the 25,000 orcs there). The 4th Sword was held by Kabloona Starskull (the albino fighter champion of the barbarians). Esposach sneaked into her tent during the night and stole the weapon: Edge. The wolves and guards were alerted and they followed the group as they flew away. For the 5th Sword: Harmonizer, the group quickly flew to the ice lake where a large Rakshasa Warmage had 2 large Remorhaz-blooded worm monsters. The Rakshasa (they later learned) had been hired by Ehlonna’s Temple (at the old Temple of Elemental Evil location) to try to stop the barbarians from uniting the swords and bringing back Vatun.
The barbarians charged in and the elf bard tried to get them to let her “do the ceremony” there (since she was secretly an evil agent of Iuz and part of his evil plan to manipulate everyone), but Esposach insisted that they teleport back to his place with the Rakshasa. The Angel of Death appeared when Esposach called out to him. They gave him the blades and he teleported away after thanking them. Esposach suddently realized the situation felt odd. The elf bard lady also left. He went and used the Tapestry of Nerul to directed commune with his god. Nerul informed Esposach that the Angel of Death had betrayed them, was now working for Iuz, and had manipulated him.
The group reasoned that the elf bard probably teleported back to the barbarians and that she and the Angel of Death were bringing Vatun back in front of them because she seemed so eager to do that. When they went outside, they saw that she had killed the Rakshasa. Esposach revivified him and got him to teleport the group back to the barbarians. They saw Vatun and convinced him to kill both the Angel of Death and the Elf bard. They had no way of knowing that “Vatun” was actually Iuz in disguise, deciving them and the barbarians; he announced that the barbarians would go battle the Dwarves of Stonefist.
Esposach returned with his group. He realized he would prefer the Rakshasa to his cold Drow wife so he invited the Rakshasa to move in with him and asked his wife for a divorce. She took 20,000 gp and the baby and moved to Bristol since she figured that was the most well defended city in the Valley of the Mage (also there were other children/babies there). Nerul declared Esposach his new Chosen and appointed Macer as the Temporary Guardian of the Tapestry (until a more suitable candidate arrives).
The next day, Felicia Mordenkainen showed up with a mission. They gathered Esposach, Cyclops, Kanith, and Nox with her to go after Vecna’s forces. She explained that with the Circle of 8 killed by Vecna that her father is focusing his resources on trying to bring them all back alive. They have uncovered a graveyard base of Vecna’s ruled by Vampires who should be able to tell them both the location of the Sword of Kas (which is being guarded by Gnomes) and the location of Vecna’s ritual to try to summon his army from the past.
Esposach, Kanith, Cyclops, Nox, and Felicia fought and defeated: 12 Cultists, 10 Vampire Spawn, and 5 Vampire Lords. They got the info they needed and then went to the gnomes, where Esposach completed the rituals of the prophecies and was awarded the Sword of Kas by them. The sentient sword told Esposach to insult Vecna so Vecna would try to imprison them, where Kas was imprisoned, so they could give Kas the sword and plane-shift them all back to Vecna. Felicia brought her chest from the Domains of Dread with the plan to let the Dark Powers there imprison Vecna and Kas during the final battle.
Both of their plans worked, with them getting Kas and bringing him to Vecna. They didn’t know Iuz would send 10 Cambions to challenge them during the battle. After the Cambions arrived, Felicia unleashed the chest and the Dark Powers took Vecna, Kas, and the Cambions away. With the enemies defeated, Felicia brought the guys back to Esposach’s home in the Valley of the Mage. She went back to her father. Kanith and Nox went home. Cyclops went home. Esposach went to find out exactly what it would be like sharing his bed with the Rakshasa.
Next time: They anticipate the war with Iuz will spread across the world and hope to defend the Valley of the Mage.[End Downtime at: 581 CY, Month 9, Day 22]
714:
Greyhawk Wars Board Game
RPG Start Date: 581 CY, Month 9, Day 23
The battles of the war lasted through the years 582, 583, and 584. For most of the time 5 main factions went at each other (Iuz’s Forces, The Great Kingdom’s Forces, The Nyrond Alliance, the Furyondy-Keoland Alliance, and the Scarlet Brotherhood). After the Great Kingdom’s armies, the Nyrond armies, and the Scarlet Brotherhood armies were all neutralized King Belvor IV of Furyondy led his troops on a desperate campaign against Iuz’s monsters. Ultimately, Iuz’s Forces took down King Belvor IV (he fought to the last man).
At that point, Iuz came to the Valley of the Mage and announced that he could conquer the world and he wanted their land/power. Once he attacked, Kanith & Esposach unleashed their secret armies. They also convinced the all of the other neutral people on the continent, except for the Free City of Greyhawk, to join in with him to reclaim the area around Keoland and Furyondy. Once Kanith’s armies held those grounds, it was enough to cause Iuz to give up his plans for world domination. He had come far, but realized it was over. It was time to hold a peace summit and sign a treaty; they picked the Free City of Greyhawk since it was still neutral. [RPG End Date: 584 CY, Month 12, Day 25]
715:
Rary the Traitor; Return to White Plume Mountain
RPG Start Date: 584 CY, Month 12, Day 25
With a cease-fire called, the war parties had representatives meet together at the neutral grounds of the Free City of Greyhawk. People expected Mordenkainen to show off the Circle of 8 (since he had time to bring them back to life), but instead he asked the Bogwalker Clan to provide security with his daughter overseeing the location for the day.
Grauk and Kradahn worked with their Aquatic Elf friend and Over Mastman, who offered them a toast when they were done setting everything up. Over betrayed them, along with the Aquatic Elf, and stole their 3 legendary weapons (that were from the lair of Keraptis). They left a Green Dragon behind to stall when a servant came in the room and saw that they had used a sleeping potion on Grauk and Kradahn (which had been slipped into their drinks). Ovar and the Aquatic Elf teleported out, leaving the Green Dragon to guard the window.
Hearing the servant yelling for help, Esposach went in and questioned the Dragon, who was happy to distract him and waste his time. Kanith and Nox, along with the Tiefling representative for Iuz, and Felicia Mordenkainen joined Esposach. They figured out that the items were stolen to join with a 4th weapon back at White Plume Mountain for some sort of immortality ceremony (Nox knew something about this, but not a whole lot). Nox teleported Esposach to get Cyclops and the Rakshasa, took them to White Plume Mountain, and then returned to Kanith.
The peace proceedings continued with Kanith & Nox making recommendations that allowed Iuz to keep a lot of the territory in the North (including Dwarf and Barbarian lands) while most of the other factions would be able to go back to living where they were before. Prince Elster Aben had accepted the crown that day and become King Aben I of Furyondy; he was at the proceedings and agreed with the results. All of the parties signed and Kanith offered for Iuz’s representative to establish an embassy in the Valley of the Mage with hopes that, in the future, they could talk through their problems and differences (instead of going to war).
Esposach’s group fought through White Plume Mountain and got the weapons back, killing the Aquatic Elf, Over Mastmen, several gnomes (including 1 claiming to be the “real Keraptis”) and Nox’s cousin Nix (who also claimed to be the “real Keraptis”). When Esposach reached the secret bottom level, it had a platform over some lava. There was an undead druid and a lava monster. Esposach completed the ritual “for immortality” that destroyed the 4 weapons – but instead of making him immortal, it created a human baby. They realized the baby was Keraptis reborn.
Esposach decided to bring baby Keraptis and the Rakshasa with him and go live in the 9 Hells. He signed over his manor to Macer (so Macer could continue protecting the Tapestry of Nerull). Esposach went to his Pit Fiend Mentor and discussed the baby. He realized that Mephistopheles took credit as the “whispering Serpent” who gave magic secrets to Keraptis, Vecna, and Acererak so he offered to trade the baby to Mephistopheles in exchange for a palace with a position of respect working for him (as long as his duties there didn’t go against Nerull). Mephistopheles agreed and pondered that maybe one day this baby could grow up to do an even better job than Iuz did at trying to take over the world.
In the end, Esposach had achieved his life goal of winning respect from his original master/mentor. Kanith and Nox returned to the Valley of the Mage to continue raising their children. Grauk and Kradahn went back to Bogwalker Castle in the Valley of the Mage to raise Grauk’s 6 boys.
[RPG End Date: 584 CY, Month 12, Day 28]
716: Greyhawk Generation 1 Epilogue
On Oerth the years passed: 585-600 CY (1365-1380 DR for Toril).
[The Spellplague won’t happen until 605 CY/1385 DR).
Esposach continued living in the 9 Hells serving Mephistopheles and Nerull. His Drow daughter, whom he named Lilith, grew up with her mother (Va’Zarbreena of House Do’rahel) in the Valley of the Mage. Because of the magic rituals that were done to keep Lilith from being born as a Tiefling, she was aging/maturing in a human lifespan instead of an elf/drow. Va’Zarbreena taught Lilith to be tough, to survive no matter what, and she even paid to have a monk come teach her daughter how to meditate/fight/defend herself. Lilith developed a respect for Gulnarin Eyestalker when she traveled to and from the Valley of the Mage and Furyondy with her mother.
Gulnarin Eyestalker (the Half-Gnoll son of Tyra) grew up alongside King Elster Aben as his best friend and loyal advisor. Furyondy was in horrible shape as a kingdom after being devastated in the war. Most of the common people of Furyondy did not like that Carlina came to live in the palace (because she was a Half-Orc “Queen-Mother”), though they did respect Spugnoir as the Royal Court Wizard and High Advisor to the King. Eventually Gulnarin left to go see what it would be like to live with the Gnolls – hoping to understand his heritage. He received training as a barbarian, but ultimately did not like the savage activities of the Gnolls. He also missed King Elster Aben, whom he realized he loved very much, so he returned to his best friend.
Grauk used his resources to get his 6 Half-Dragon sons (3 Black, 1 Green, and 2 Mixed-Scales) whatever they needed. He and Kradahn were great friends and lived together in the Valley of the Mage, working for Kanith and securing security and peace for the people there.
Kanith and Nox remained happy together and raised their twin Genasi children. When the people of Furyondy demanded that King Elster Aben get married and produce an heir, they were surprised that King Aben proposed to their daughter. She didn’t care that he was about 9 years older than she was; she was excited about the chance to be a queen and said yes. They had grown up as childhood friends, after all, and she liked him a lot.
In the year 599: King Elster Aben and Gulnarin were 29 years old; Grauk’s 6 Half-Dragons were 21 years old; the Genasi twins were 20 years old; and Lilith was 19. They all attended the wedding of King Elster Aben I of Furyondy and his Fire Genasi Bride of the Valley of the Red Mage. It was a beautiful ceremony, but the people of Furyondy were unhappy when the year 600 rolled around and there was still no heir to the throne. The Queen wasn’t pregnant (yet)…
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