Legacy 1A:
Coru’s Lion Knights
&
The Shieldbreakers
1334 DR / 554 CY
Abeir-Toril:
[Modules: FR12 Horde Campaign & FR15 For Gold & Glory]
The Shieldbreakers (an ogre mercenary company of over 300 warriors who refused to kill unarmed people) was hired in the Kara-Tur region, where 2 of their newest recruits were killed in battle. The rest of the group left the area and returned home. Naoku the war cleric and his druid wife Kinara found the 2 dead ogres and reincarnated them with magic scrolls. Bok came back as a human and Glek rematerialized as a dwarf. Bok & Glek were willing to adventure with Naoku & Kinara, but they insisted they call their group The Shieldbreakers.
1335 DR / 555 CY
Abeir-Toril:
While looking for work, the Shieldbreakers stayed at a tavern with a visiting group of dwarves. Bok found himself a human girl friend while Glek romanced one of the dwarf women. They ended up buying the ladies a nice traveling wagon and having them come along with them. Both women ended up pregnant and giving birth while the men were hired to be part of Yamun Khahan’s army (mainly patrolling the region). Bok’s new wife Freda Dragonbane named their son Brock and Glek told his wife Gultana Barrelgut to name their son Kelg (which was Glek spelled backwards). Kinara decided she also wanted a child.
1336 DR / 556 CY
Abeir-Toril:
Akoru, son of Naoku & Kinara, was born. The Shieldbreakers fell into a routine of patrolling the area, but not actually going on adventures since they were making decent money and spending time with their families. Coru, Naoku’s brother, went through a portal to Mystara by himself when his brother’s adventuring party said they didn’t want to risk the dangers of this other mysterious world…
Mystara:
[Modules: BSOLO: Ghost of Lion Castle]
Coru ended up in the town of Sarsdell, at a tavern where the locals were speaking of the legend of the great wizard Sargon and his haunted castle. The tavernkeeper introduced Coru to the two human wizards Eztar and Zayghel before introducing him to the 3 elf fighter/wizard brothers Nathel, Philiam, and Leesmith. The tavernkeeper convinced them to form an adventuring party and gave them each a magic journal that communicated with the master journal back at the tavern. The mission was to go confront the ghost of Sargon and retrieve his magic possessions.
Only 1 person at a time could go into the magically-guarded haunted Lion Castle so they picked straws. Zaygel won the first attempted entry. He promised the others he would make notations in the magic journal as he cleared each room. After Zaygel made it into the castle and set off several traps, he was eaten by a panther.
They drew straws again. Philiam went next. He made his way inside, found Zaygel’s equipment, and killed 1 giant ant. He went all the way to the basement (where he found 650 gp worth of gems) and killed 2 giant tiger beetles, 1 giant ferret, and 1 poisonous snake before being killed by a menacing gnoll.
Nathel volunteered to go next and ventured out to avenge his brother. He followed the same path as Philiam and confronted the gnoll, but was also killed by the evil creature.
The next drawing of straws determined Coru as the next adventurer to try his luck. He studied the notes from the magical journal before making his way. Determined not to focus on treasure until after dealing with the ghost, Coru tried paths the others had not taken. He used his ring of invisibility to help bypass monsters, found a gem worth 1,000 gp, and made it to Sargon’s study. The ghost of Sargon appeared, congratulated him, named him as his heir, gave him a lion signet ring and all of the items in the castle. Before leaving, Coru used magic missiles to kill the gnoll and retrieve the gear of the dead adventurers.
Leesmith agreed to join up with Nathel and thanked him for avenging his brothers. Eztar asked to be hired to stay behind and manage Lion Castle for Coru while he went off adventuring. They worked out an agreement with Eztar being paid quite well for his work.
[Modules: DDA3: Eye of Traldar]
Coru and Leesmith encountered an adventuring group (Planter the human fighter, Callari the elf wizard, Mary the human cleric, Sageborn the human wizard, and Fisher the human fighter) that had been working as caravan guards and were looking for new work. A man ran out, pursued by attackers. Everyone decided to help defend the 1 man from the 7 attackers to even out the odds. Killed all but 1 of the bandits, who ran away. The rescued man was Alexei Schelepin who explained that the men were slavers who took his cousin and elf friend, as well as an elven magical gem from the Lake of Lost Souls; the slavers were from the Iron Ring at Fort Doom. The group escorted him to the town of Luln.
In Luln, the group was ambushed by 5 bandits, 1 bandit leader, and 1 evil wizard while in a shop; they killed Alexei and Callari before the group could finish them off. The dead shopkeeper left them a clue to go to the Growling Griffon and ask for Leraith. They went there and visited with Leraith, who was under a magical curse, who provided them with a plan to sneak them into Fort Doom as peasants.
The group left with a wagon full of turnips (disguised as peasants selling food to Fort Doom – which is a city named after the fort in its center). They met their contact in the city and made their way into an underground chamber. To accomplish their mission (retrieving the gem known as the Eye of Traldar), the group continued on. They killed: 2 ghouls, 3 skeletons, 4 giant rats, 1 carrion crawler, and 2 zombies; unfortunately, Leesmith was killed by the undead.
The group rescued an escaped servant of Fort Doom and then killed: 1 gnoll, 3 zombies, 1 bugbear, and 1 pit bull. They rescued Paurus (a human merchant from Specularum) and 4 human guards from Luln (Tibor, Imren, Tadeus, and Maraden). The 4 guards accepted weapons and joined the party in their quest. They killed Gebhard the Torturer and rescued 10 local hostages. They killed 4 skeletons, 1 ogre, 5 orcs, 5 soldiers, and 1 watch sergeant.
Inside the actual keep, the group killed: 18 guards, 20 orcs, Lt. Galleret, and 6 skeletons; Sageborn, Imren, Tadues, Maraden, and Planter were all killed in action – thus leaving only Coru, Mary, and Fisher alive to continue the mission. The 3 of them confronted and killed: Paurillian the evil cleric, Menelaus the slaver, Nikolai Monescu the alchemist, Lt. Aenolas, 14 more guards, 6 more orcs, Captain Tiberian, and Todosz the slaver; Fisher and Mary both died, leaving only Coru to secure the Eye of Traldar and all of the loot (which included some war plans and military intel).
Coru put on a black cloak, secured 2 horses with a black carriage, and rode out of town to Luln, where he handed over the info he had secured and paid his condolences to the families of his fallen friends. He decided to keep the Eye of Traldar and the magical gear recovered from the enemies, but he sold the extra loot from the adventure.
Upon returning to his assistant Eztar at Lion Castle, Coru showed the other wizard that they now had over 11,000 gp and plenty of magic items to equip future guards for the castle. Eztar set about hiring servants, hiring guards, and distributing the equipment.
[Modules: DDA1: Arena of Thyatis & DDA2: Legions of Thyatis]
Coru needed some experienced adventurers. He interviewed some people who told them their story… Nanoc the human fighter and Leriava the human thief met at the Villa Osteropolus during a luxurious party thrown by Helenites. Many of the people at the party were getting drunk and hooking up; Leriava caught Nanoc’s eye and they ended up spending the night together. They also befriended Vanar the elf wizard and a dwarf who called himself Bronzehammer.
In the morning, they all woke up having been drugged and captured into slavery to be forced to fight in the gladiatorial arenas – the Arenas of Thyatis. They went through an initiation in the coliseum caverns, in which they had to kill: 4 wolves, 2 giant shrews, 6 kobolds, 1 kobold leader, 4 giant centipedes, 1 wererat, and 1 carrion crawler. They were then inducted into the Order of the Sands. They were forced to fight other gladiators, lions, tigers, and wolves for over a week. Their master was Maximitus and his enemy Helenites arranged for them to escape.
Nanoc, Leriava, Vanar, and Bronzehammer decided to get vengeance and attacked their master in his house, having to kill him, his son Asterian, his brother-in-law Diocletian, 8 guards, and the drugged out sorceress Elemaledai. Nanoc and Leriava were the only 2 to survive the intense battle.
Yalag the orc retired gladiator met with Nanoc and Leriava about the drug conspiracy and how the Order of the Sand should petition Emperor Thincol to investigate when he returns. Meanwhile, a riot broke out in the city because gladiators – inspired by Nanoc’s group – are protesting and fighting against their enslavement and abuse. Young gladiator Carolus joined the group. They fought a jungle cat before Yalag told them to go down into the catacombs to escape; the imperial legions were coming into the city to restore order and might kill Nanoc and Leriava on sight; 3 other fleeing gladiators joined with Nanoc and Leriava.
In the catacombs, they killed: 4 giant rats, 4 ghouls, 2 zombies, 7 crawling hands, 1 giant spider, and 7 evil acolytes; they also rescued several people who had info about Helenites’ guilt as the secret leader of the drug cartel. They brought those citizens up and presented them to the officials. They also offered themselves as witnesses since they had been drugged at the party.
During the night, Helenites tried to have them assassinated; the group had to kill the 2 assassins and an invisible stalker. The next day, the trial was a success. Helenites was found guilty of treason, murder, and tax evasion. Not wanting to stay in Thyatis, they left and found out about Coru’s Lion Castle. Coru decided to hire them.
1337 DR / 557 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: DDA4: The Dymrak Dread & Accessory: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos]
Coru, Nanoc, and Leriava were hired by Roderick, the Lord Forester of Dymrak, to kill monsters living in the Dymrak forest. They killed: 2 lizard men, 6 goblin guards, 1 goblin sorcerer, 1 goblin war chief, 1 goblin Lt, 12 giant centipedes, and 1 orc. They rescued Jalven, the elf prisoner. They continued, killing: 1 giant spider, 6 zombies, and 1 wight. Mission accomplished.
When they returned to Lion Castle, Leriava realized she was pregnant with Nanoc’s child. The group decided to take a year off from adventuring. During that time, Jalvan studied as a cleric since he wanted to stay with the group and help them in the area they most lacked. Coru spent time courting Mistress Sascia, the townsmaster of Luln who wanted to acquire a noble title. He proposed marriage and to offer her a title as the Lady of the Lion (with the last name Sargon, as previously bequeathed to Coru by the ghost wizard). She said she would accept if the Lion Knights defeated her nemesis Baron Ludwig von Hendriks of the Black Eagle Barony (Lord of Fort Doom) and his court wizard Bargle.
Coru formed a plan. He bought a flying carpet and had himself, Nanoc, Jalvan, and Eztar go invisibly to Fort Doom. Eztar cast silence and they broke into the window of the evil baron’s bedchambers at night while he was sleeping. They grappled him and tied him up before he could wake up. They killed him without anyone hearing anything. They proceeded to get Bargle, but it was more complicated because the wizard had an alarm. Bargle killed Eztar and Jalvan before Coru took him down with a hideous laughter spell. Nanoc tied up the evil wizard and finished him off.
As a result of the lack of leadership in the Black Eagle Barony, Sascia was able to get her Luln troops to invade Fort Doom and declare it free from its villainous ruler. She accepted the marriage proposal, they had a quick wedding, and she was soon son pregnant with Coru’s child. The king of Karameikos was so impressed by the transition in power that he officially recognized Lady Sascia Sargon for her hard work and appointed her, and her new husband, the leaders of their region. Coru was not interested in politics so he left that to his wife while he looked for new adventuring opportunities.
When Lariava’s baby girl was born, Nanoc insisted they name her Nanocia. Coru and Sascia named their son Corbin Sargon. Even though Lion Castle was the official headquarters of the Lion Knights, the party was living in the city with Lady Sascia. Thus Nanoc and Leriava left their son with her servants when they needed to head out on quests.
1338 DR / 558 CY
Abeir-Toril:
Naoku, Kinara, Bok, and Glek were part of the 4,000 men in the battle known as “The Conquest of the Commani” who defeated the 3,000 Commani – though they lost over 1,000 men themselves. After the battle, they took time off to celebrate with their families. Naoku cross-trained as a wizard so he could think of himself as a master of both the divine and arcane.
Mystara:
[Modules: X6: Quagmire]
The Lion Knights (Coru, Nanoc, and Leriava) had 7 people who wanted to join them (Hugi the dwarf fighter, Harold the dwarf fighter, Hrothgar the human rogue, Magnus the human wizard, Leander the halfling fighter, Idris the elf fighter-wizard, and Katharos the human cleric) so they took them along when the city of Quagmire asked for emergency assistance; their port town was sinking into the sea.
The team chartered a merchant ship and sailed to Quagmire; they were intrigued by the giant seashell shape of the enclosed city. But before they got to the city itself, they found an army of 360 evil lizardfolk who were trying to stop all ships and starve out the citizens of Quagmire. The team eliminated them (group by group), but Idris and Katharos both perished in the battles.
At Quagmire, the group encountered 12 men who tried to force them to give up their weapons and fought the group when they refused; the Lion Knights had to kill them. They found 14 women and 16 children inside. The city leader was dying and asked them to relocate the others to Thanopolis. They put the women and children on the ship and went to check out Thanopolis.
The group encountered and killed 40 bandits, 1 gelatinous cube, 20 gnolls, and 6 trolls; Hugi the dwarf, Leander the halfling, and Leriava were all killed. Nanoc became very upset and went on a rampage, leading the group to kill: 24 goblins, 1 goblin king, 4 dire wolves, 3 giant spiders, and 10 bats; Magnus was killed by the enemies. They realized this was no place to leave the citizens, but they did find out the location to a third city.
The third city was already sunken so they had to use the magic items they found to explore in the water. A black pudding ooze monster killed Hrothgar. A group of 23 mermen killed Harold before Nanoc and Coru could finish them off. They rescued Kazandra Slagoman, the daughter of a merchant from Slagovich. Coru and Nanoc then fought and killed the leader of the evil mermen.
They brought Kazandra home to her father, collected a nice reward, traded out loot, and found jobs for the rescued citizens of Quagmire (so they could start new lives in Slagovich).
[Modules: X9: The Savage Coast]
Still in Slagovich and once again accepting new members, the Lion Knights added Kantik the human cleric, Aber Kadra the human warlock, Bjorn Tofyte the dwarf fighter, Khan Harlan the human fighter, Leif Folitum the elf fighter-wizard, and Luki Lightfinger the human thief. The Cartographers Guild of Slagovich offered the team 100,000 gp if they mapped out Orcs Head Peninsula in the region known as “The Savage Coast” and the clerics of the Brotherhood of Light offered 6 healing potions, a bag of holding, and a ring of telekinesis to anyone who reported back on the exact activities of the Lawful Brotherhood in that region.
Coru paid their chartered ship’s captain another 5,000 gp to take them to complete these 2 missions. On the way, they rescued a merboy and released him. The group killed 80 cannibals and rescued 20 children from them; Aber Kadra and Khan Harlan both died in the attacks. The crew also had to kill: 1 mermaid and 1 t-rex; the t-rex killed Bjorn Tofyte and Luki Lightfinger.
They found and killed: 16 lupins, 40 pagans, 20 rakastas.4 araneas, 20 snappers, 20 acolytes, 12 warriors, 2 white apes, 1 gargantuan white ape; Leif died, but they managed to get horses and mules. The group used guerilla warfare tactics to take out 1 trolls, 4 ogres, 72 orcs, and the orc chieftain. They continued on, killing: 29 warriors and 1 evil cleric; they liberated 19 women from them, where were very thankful (so thankful that Kantik impregnated 1 of them while Coru and Nanoc each impregnated 2 of them). They brought the women back to their ship.
As they continued, they killed: 4 dragonnes that were guarding a wrecked ship with lots of treasure. Kantik and Leif were both killed by an evil wizard. After exploring, they returned to the ship and sailed back to Slaogvich to collect their rewards. They brought the 20 rescued children and 19 rescued women back to Lion Castle, where they could live off of the wealth collected by the team. Coru didn’t want to tell his wife about his infidelity so he convinced her that the women were all happily living as a willing harem for Nanoc.
1339 DR / 559 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: X12: Skarda’s Mirror]
Coru and Nanoc waited around for the babies to be born. They named Kantik’s son Kantik II, Nanoc’s 2 new children were Nanoc II and Banoc. They named Coru’s 2 daughters Niva and Nova.
Coru and Nanoc journeyed to Threshold and interviewed new recruits to the Lion Knights: Delson the human war cleric, Lady Kerole the human fighter, Lady Trylia the human thief, Linderan the elf fighter-wizard, Lady Nesmis the halfling fighter, and Kindel the human wizard. They were hired by Teranon to investiage the magic mirror that seemed to have trapped his son Retameron and daughter-in-law Halia when they had gone after the evil wizard Mallek/Skarda.
The Lion Knights went to the village of Verge, to the tower home of Retameron and Halia, the location of the magic mirror. The group fought and killed: 1 ochre jelly and 1 mirror fiend, but Skarda’s Mirror was not in the tower. The group rested and that was when Skarda and 10 of his men ambushed the group; the Lion Knights killed the evil wizard and 9 of his soldiers. They got the last one to tell them the password for teleporting in and out of the mirror and give them all the intel about the inside, where Skarda had another 500 soldiers and his prisoners.
Teleporting into the mirror, the group killed the 500 enemy soldiers; Lady Karole, Lady Trylia, Lady Nesmis, and Kindel all perished in the battle. The collected the gear (including 200 horses) and rescued 3,000 slaves before freeing Retameron and Halia from the dungeons. To show their appreciation, the couple gave the group their belt of giant’s strength. They all left the mirror and Delson prayed to the gods to destroy the old artifact (after which it cracked and lost its powers). The group donated the loot from the defeated army and the horses to help the slaves start new lives at the village of Verge.
1340 DR / 560 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: X8: Drums on Fire Mountain]
Coru, Nanoc, Delson, and Lindoran took an exploration quest into the jungles of Teki-nura-ria Island – hired by Malmir the elven sea captain and his master Rollo Bargmann; the island was inhabited by boar-worshipping tribal half-orcs. The group killed: 2 giant spiders, 3 white apes, 88 tribal warriors, 3 tribal clerics, 2 giant lizards, 1 giant snake, 1 hydra, 10 topis, 1 green ooze, 2 ochre jellies, 2 gelatinous cubes, 5 ghouls, 2 agarats, and 4 wood golems; Lindoran, Delson, and Nanoc were all killed but they liberated 40 children, whom Coru brought back to the ship.
Enraged at the loss of his knights, Coru ordered Malmir to take him home. He dropped off the 40 children at Lion Castle before using the loot he had gotten from the quest to hire an army of 200 mercenaries to join him in finishing the quest. Malmir sailed the group back to the island. Coru ordered his mercenary army to war with the natives, taking out 160 warriors and 170 women while liberating 40 more children. Coru’s troops advanced, taking out: 2 displacer beats, 4 shadows, an evil adventuring party, and the wereboar master of the island named Kalnakaa. The mercenaries suffered heavy losses, with only 49 of them surviving.
Coru used Kalnakaa’s magic portals, where his army killed: 4 displacer beasts, 17 topis, 17 white apes, 1 purple worm, 25 small earth elementals, 12 crystal statues, 20 small fire elementals, 127 stirges, 25 snakes, 1 flame salamander, 1 bone golem, and 2 small juggernauts; only Coru and 1 of his mercenaries survived the excursion. Coru appointed that man, Navin, as his new personal bodyguard. They returned to Malmir at the ship and sailed home, where Coru deposited the children at Lion Castle and hired more servants to help out.
1341 DR / 561 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: X11: Saga of the Shadow Lord]
Coru’s wife was busy with politics and raising their son Corbin. The 19 women at Lion Castle were raising Nanocia, Kantik II, Nanoc II, Banoc, Niva, Nova, the 20 islander children, and the 80 half-orc kids that Coru had adopted.
Coru recruited new Lion Knights: Mriva the human cleric, Rannulf the human wizard, Draego the dwarf fighter, and Sergeant Burrows the halfling fighter, Allonrik the human fighter, Kavien the human thief, Miridor the elf fighter-wizard, and Renia the human fighter. Once they joined, Coru let them use better gear from the adventures he had been on. The 9 Lion Knights and Coru’s personal bodyguard Navin travelled to Wendar in search of the missing powerful magic item known as Elvenstar.
Lord Gylharen, the wizard-king ruler of Wendar, welcomed the Lion Knights at his citadel. He explained the past war with the evil forces of the dark realm of Denagoth to the north of the Mengul Mountains and how the Elvenstar’s power helped the wizard-king win the war. A year ago a traitor stole the blue sapphire gem. After that a horrible drought happened in Wendar. They assumed the necromancer Teriak ended up with the Elvenstar. The king also revealed he had a spy in the village of Geron that they could contact for more info. He asked them to return the Elvenstar to him and claimed he was the only one who knew how to use its power.
On the road, the group was ambushed by 20 bandits that they easily killed. A large blue dragon surprised them, killing Allonrik, Renia, and Burrows before the group could slay him. Miridor insisted they cut up the body parts to later use to make magic items and that they spend a couple days searching the area for its lair; they found the place and took the dragon’s treasure.
The group found a cloud giant’s caslte, where they killed: 4 orcs, 1 cloud giant, 2 dire wolves, 1 spectre, and 6 skeletons. They decided to use the castle as a safe place to rest once they cleared the enemies. On the road again, they killed 10 evil guards before making it to the village of Geron. They found their contact, Sean the trapper, and got the local intel from him. The team confronted and killed: Captain Beran, the sheriff, Parx the evil cleric, Susa the witch, 6 acolytes, 2 guards, Lane the spy, Neru the evil cleric, 1 flame salamander, and Camla the sorcerer (who admitted to being the one who stole the Elvenstar and revealed, through mind control, thatit was now at Gereth Minar – 100 miles to the north); during the battles, Dreago and Mirva were both killed in action.
Coru, Navin, Kavien, Miridor, and Rannulf headed toward Gereth Minar. On the way, they killed 40 orcs and found out the evil army was gathered nearby with: 3,000 orcs, 700 hobgoblins, 700 goblins, 80 human lancers, 500 human archers. The group decided to avoid the army by sneaking through the forest. They encountered a messenger on his way to recruit Vitriol, a black dragon to join the evil army; they killed the messenger and then went to the dragon themselves. They told Vitriol they wanted to negotiate and showed him the decapitated head of the blue dragon to intimidate him; it turned out the blue dragon was his enemy so he was glad the party had killed him. The group agreed to pay the dragon 10,000 gp and let him keep the spoils of battle if he helped them defeat Teriak and the evil army.
Vitriol flew the group to the tower of Landryn Teriak, a.k.a. “The Shadow Lord” and helped by dispelling the cloud kill spell guarding the place. They killed the 20 guards, a medusa, an owlbear, an evil high cleric, Teriak’s bodyguard, and the Shadow Lord himself; Navin, Kavien, and Rannulf perished in the battle. Only Coru, Miridor, and Vitriol were left standing at the end. The dragon snatched Elvenstar and told the others he had a plan.
Vitriol flew Coru and Miridor above the evil army of about 5000 people, told them that the Shadow Lord had sent him to gather them all together, and then used the cloudkill effect from the gem on the army below. It quickly killed most of them. The survivors swarmed the dragon and killed him. Coru and Miridor finished off the enemies with fireballs and retrieved the treasure. Coru contemplated keeping Elvenstar for himself, but Miridor insisted they return it to the wizard-king of Wendar.
In Wendar, they were so happy about the team’s success that they granted both Miridor and Coru titles of nobility as barons and gave them each 3 hexes of land to lord over in the region. They thanked the wizard-king, but sold their lands and traded out the gear/loot/treasure they had left over from the adventure.
When they returned to Lion Castle, Coru officially declared Baron Miridor Feadiel the Lord of Lion Castle while he went to spend time with his wife as the Baron Lord of the Black Eagle region (including Fort Doom and Luln). One of the women at Lion Castle seduced Miridor and got pregnant with his half-elf child so he insisted they marry; she was Murna and thus became Baroness Murna. They named their son Miridor II. With their combined resources, they had over 500,000 gp at Lion Castle with 100 servants and 100 guards working for them.
1342 DR / 562 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: CM7: The Tree of Life]
Coru and Miridor traveled to the village of Feador, to the home of elf clan Feadiel, to present gifts made out of the slain dragons: black dragon platemail, black dragon scalemail, and blue dragon shields. They found out from Miridor’s cousins that their family’s magic “Tree of Life” was dying out and the cousins (and their human druid friend Pepo) were embarking on a mission to try to save it by killing the evil human archmage Moorkroft IV. Coru and Miridor joined the cousins (5 fighter-wizards, 2 clerics) and Pepo (who was especially happy to use the black dragon scalemail and a blue dragon shield).
The group traveled through the woods, but journeyed back after the red dragon Sulfar burned the village to the ground killing the remaining members of the clan who were living there. Sulfar had turned invisible, but one of them heard him move. They battled and Leadyl sacrificed himself to finish off the dragon. They cut up the dragon and put usable parts into a bag of holding to make magic items out of later. They had funeral services for the dead before moving on.
They came upon 5 werewolves battling with some sprites, killed the lycans, and told the sprites about their quest; the sprites sent them to the treant knowns as “The Old King of the Woods.” He told them it could be spritiual roots that are damaged and encouraged them to seek out a rainbow that could teleport them anywhere they wanted to go. When the went to the waterfall waiting for the rainbow, they encountered 12 nixies that lured Pepo and Myris into their pond and tried to drown them. The party had to kill the nixies, but Myris died in the battle.
The next day, the magic rainbow bridge appeared and the group went through it. Sulfar’s brother, Fosfar the red dragon ambushed them; Miridor broke his Staff of Power to injure the dragon, but it sent Miridor off to another plane. Only Coru survived the dragon’s breath and Fosfar flew away so he could survive. Left alone, Coru looted the dragon’s treasure and the bodies of the dead adventurers. He then turned invisible and started flying as he continued to investigate. He made it through the portal to an ancient elven land filled with ruins.
Coru befriended a group of centaurs and gained 30 allies willing to help him attack the Moorkroft IV’s tower, especially since the wizard had recently taken the centaur leader’s son prisoner. Using his magic items, Coru invisibly sneaked through the tower and rescued the captured centaur boy while the 30 centaur warriors took out the guards and distracted Moorkroft IV, who fly out to battle them on his pet wyvern. Coru finished off Moorkroft IV with a lightning bolt after half of the centaurs were killed by Moorkroft IV’s meteor storm.
While the remaining centaurs celebrated their victory, Coru looted the tower; he didn’t know that Moorkroft IV had 2 clone bodies waiting and that, in his dying moment, his spirit and mind escaped to the closest one. The naked clone body (a.k.a. Moorkroft V) used his spells to finish off the centaurs and then invisibly surprise Coru, using a hold person spell to capture him; seeing the great wealth of magic items and treasure on Coru, Moorkroft V decided to take him prisoner and torture him for information rather than outright kill him.
Coru woke up cold and naked in the dungeon after he refused to give Moorkroft V any information about his home or his family during the first torture session. During the second torture session Moorkroft V relentless punished Coru, but the imprisoned man refused to give away his secrets. The evil wizard said he would call in his army of 5,000 orcs and use the red dragon’s treasure as means to control Fosfar.
Eventually, Miridor found his way back to Mystara on the prime material plane and was sad to learn that his adventuring party hed not returned; he assumed they were killed battling Fosfar and/or Moorkroft IV. Miridor used his wealth to purchase a wish from a wizard that allowed him to teleport to the sanctuary of the ancient elves. He performed the ritual that brought their spirits out of the trees, but they accused him of being a traitor and put him on trial. After hours of explaining, Miridor was found not guilty and allowed to lead the army of 3,000 elves to take back the Tower of Light (where Moorkroft V was living).
Miridor, the 3,000 ancient elves, and 100 centaurs waged war against Moorkroft V riding Fosfar the red dragon and his 5,000 orc soldiers. Blood covered the battlefield as both sides suffered heavy casualties. The entire elven army (including Miridor) was killed, but they took out Fosfar and 2,200 orcs along the way; Moorkroft V also died, but he went into his last clone body. That left Moorkroft VI with 2,800 orcs. The evil wizard was victorious over his family’s ancient enemies. The only good that came from the battle was that Coru was able to use it as a distraction; he still had a spell in his memory so he turned himself invisible and escaped from the Tower of Light without any gear or wealth.
[Modules: MV1: Midnight on Dagger Alley]
While on the run, Coru ended up in the city of Goldstar. He befriended 3 adventurers staying at the local inn. The elf thief Harl Hightree told him about his quest to collect magical components for a wizard, the half-elf assassin Sobat Thantis told him about his goal of solving riddles that could lead to treasure outside of the city, and the human monk Scarl Skagell confided in Coru that he was on a secret mission to rescue Princess Luwella.
Using their intel, Coru went about the city trying to solve all of the quests while gathering gear for himself. He defeated an evil kenku, fought several thiefs/gamblers, had everything stolen from him again by a gang of thieves, killed city guards, and rescued Princess Luwella; he received a reward for 1,000 gp. With that money, he bought a spellbook and recruited the 3 adventurers from the inn to travel with him.
[Modules: X13: Crown of Ancient Glory]
While in Vestland Coru and his 3 new companions (Scarl, Sobat, and Harl) found shelter at the monastery at Ruthin. The leader there, Devlin, was an old friend of Scarl’s from years ago. Devlin introduced the group to the old man Annacks, head of the Royal Council of Vestland; Annacks asked for their help retrieving the stolen Sorona Crown and finding the true heir to the king in order to restore legitimacy to the throne; he told them about the deaths of the king and prince, but also about Tenitar – the secret twin brother of the prince. They accepted the mission and, the next day, headed north.
They rested at an inn, where they assured a local that they were not there to harm him. They continued on, encountering wounded royal soldiers and a caravan of gypsies. They eventually found Gregorian, who was actually secretly Prince Tenitar (but they didn’t know that yet).
Captain Rolf and 4 patrol officers stopped the group and questioned them; they explained they were on the look out for Ethengarians; Scarl pointed out that one of the officers looked like an Ethengarian, which started a battle between the 2 groups; Coru was the only survivor, thanks to his fireballs and lightning bolts. He found an encoded note on the Ethengarian, which proved the soldier was a spy.
Coru made it to Lake Erid and Gyl Erid Isle, home of 20 evil human clerics and their ogre guards. He pretended he wanted to join the evil order. Once he was allowed inside, he got to know High Cleric Axemines and the others. He had to go through the motions of studying the worship of the minotaur order for several weeks.
Coru found out they had the dead king as an undead. He convinced Axemines to let him speak privately with him; Coru cast hideous laughter on him, tied him up, and killed him before heading to the room with the undead king and killing him as well. He retrieved the Sorona crown (as well as other treasure), turned invisible, and flew out of there. Hiding in the woods and resting, Coru communed with the magic crown; it was wise and let him know that Gregorian was Prince Tenitar.
Unfortunately, Gregor/Tenitar had been kidnapped and Coru had to go rescue him. He used stealth, mostly staying invisible and flying where he needed to go. He sneaked into the dungeons of Seaforth Tower, but did not find the prince there; instead, Coru found Captain Thurman of the seagoing ship Redraven. He turned him invisible, cast fly on him, and they both made their way out to Seaforth Bay. Unfortunately, the evil duke had left an officer and 4 guards on the Redraven. Coru and Captain Thurman surprised the men, killing them all. They then recruited 10 sailor-fighters and equipment with Coru’s money. They also hired Colgrim to transport horses for them, to be waiting down at the bay when they returned in the ship. The magic crown told them where to sail to find Ala, the sea witch who had kidnapped Prince Tenitar.
Once in the cave entrance to the sea witch’s tower, the 12 of them killed the 30 lizardfolk crew from the sea witch’s ship. They went inside and fought 6 trolls; 4 of the sailors died. As they progressed they killed the sea witch’s 3 high level fighters, but 3 more sailors died in combat. They made their way to the sea witch’s chambers and killed the female magic-user there; the battle seemed too easy. Gregor/Tenitar was in the bed.
What the group didn’t know what that the sea witch had her assistant stand in her place to trick the group; she had placed the prince’s soul in a gem and was possessing his body. She wanted to be “rescued” and brought back to become king so she could use those resources to get vengeance against her own brother. The next day, the group figured they needed to officially unite the prince and the crown at a public place with plenty of witnesses – either Ruthin Monastery or the capitol of Norvvik.
Coru, Captain Thurman, 1st Mate Sven, 2nd Mate Lork, seaman Erik, and Prince Tenitar (possessed by Ala the sea witch) sailed back toward the monastery. On the way, their ship was ambushed by the Golden Eagle ship sent by the evil duke. Some well placed fireballs from Coru sank the enemy vessel. When they went aground, Colgrim was waiting with horses. He revealed that the duke had charged them with treason.
The group was ambushed by 14 fighters on their way to the monastery; Erik, Lork, and Sven were killed before the group finished off the attackers. They continued to the monastery, where they told the good Duke Stephen Rhoona about the crimes of the evil Duke Vana Cullen. Cullen resisted arrest and the group had to kill him. Duke Rhoona prepared a coronation ceremony for Prince Tenitar to become king. During the ceremony, they placed the crown on his head and it forced out the soul of the sea witch while returning Tenitar’s soul.
One of the group noticed a monk who had been following them had a glowing ring at that moment so they grappled the man, pinning him to the ground. Tenitar explained what had happened with the soul-swapping. They realized the supposed monk was an agent of Ala the sea witch and her soul was in the gem he was carrying. They executed the sea witch and her minion. King Tenitar said he wanted to reward them so he bestowed upon Captain Thurman the Dukedom of Estine with Seaforth Tower. Coru accepted a financial reward since he was already a noble.
[Modules: CM5: Mystery of the Snow Pearls]
Going for a walk alone, Lord Coru came across tracks and found dead animals, a dead troll, a dead giant, and an elf from the Yetta clan being killed by a monstrous elephant-like man with tentacles coming out of its stomach. He was too late to save the elf, but he finished off the strange creature and collected the elf’s gear. He read the man’s journal; the elf came on a mission from his brother, to use 3 magical snow pearls to find the missing 4th one, to collect together some special broken tablet pieces, and to put an end to the evil trickster wizard.
In completing the quest, Coru killed: a roc, a wyvrn, trolls, a mud golem, snakes, wolves, living statues, and the strange wizard behind it all. Coru also dealt with some very annoying people in the village of Gyer. In the end, Coru brought the magic snow pearls back to the elf who needed them to protect his village’s “Tree of Life” and was thanked for his hard work.
1343 DR / 563 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: CB1: Conan Unchained]
A letter arrived from Nanoc’s brother Conan; it was a magic map that could teleport someone back to the lands Conan and Nanoc were originally from. Coru used the map, visited with Conan the human fighter-thief, and let him know what had happened to Nanoc. Coru and Conan quickly bonded, sharing stories of Nanoc; they decided to adventure together for awhile, along with Conan’s companions Juma and Nestor.
The 4 of them were hired as mercenaries to the Turanian army. In the night, the army was attacked by shadows; the party killed 10 of them. The rest of the shadows killed the 5,000 men of the army and left. Soon, 32 nomadic raiders arrived trying to capture and enslave the party. The party killed all but 6 of the raiders before being taken prisoner.
Coru, Conan, Juma, and Nestor were tied up and brought back to the raider camp. The base included 3 main leaders, 56 raiders, and their 20 women. The camp was attacked by 50 Turanian soldiers; during the battle, the captured group broke free and joined the fray by attacking the leaders of the raiders. At the end of the battle Coru, Conan, and Juma stood victorious with 10 raiders surrendering to them, pledging their service to Conan as their new leader (since he killed the previous leader). The 20 women came out from the tents and offered themselves to the men. Coru said he already had a wife so Conan and Juma each took 10 women. During the week, Conan impregnated 5 of them and Juma impregnated 3 women.
After reviewing the info left behind by the raiders, Conan told the others that they were going to raid some caravans that were coming through. Coru said he didn’t think that was a good idea, but Conan insisted. They defeated all 3 caravans, but their 10 raiders and Juma all died in the battles. Coru explained to Conan that he didn’t like killing merchants.
On the way back, they met up with a Turanian officer (Rutan) and his group of 20 soldiers. They found out that the rest of the army was killed by the forces of Bhir-Vedi, an evil wizard. While they were gone, one of Conan’s women (named Amrastisi) was captured by a gargoyle sent by Bhir-Vedi. Rutan suggested they gather everything up and take an abandoned Turanian ship to sail to go fight the evil sorcerer, but the women would have to help as crew of the ship. Conan told his now 19 women the plan and they agreed to help.
Even with the women and soldiers, their Turanian war galley was moving slowly in the water. As they sailed out, a pirate ship with 50 men came to attack them but Coru used his fireballs to sink the ship. They also encountered a merchant ship that Conan forced to surrender to them; aboard were 20 mercenaries that they had to kill before they could take the treasure in the hold; they lost 4 soldiers. They took the 40 slaves from the merchant ship to help crew their warship. During the week long voyage, Conan impregnated another 4 of his women.
Once they reached the coast they had to fight 2 stone golems. Coru told Conan they should free the slaves and women, but Conan wouldn’t listen. Conan ordered the 40 slaves to stay at the ship with the 19 women and 5 of the soldiers while the other 10 soldiers and Officer Rutan advanced with Conan and Coru. They made their way through a maze and killed a manotor (the opposite of a minotaur, with the body of a bull and the head of a man). There were also a bunch of summonings that killed the 10 soldiers before they were defeated.
Coru, Conan, and Rutan made it to Bhir-Vedi’s Tower of Necromancy. He had traps waiting for them. They had to kill a giant snake, an ape-like man, and avoid pit traps. They found Amrastisi locked in a cell, but Bhir-Vedi was above with the key. Coru used his magic to open the cell and free the woman. The stairwell up to Behir’s ritual chamber had another trap: once they were inside, grates closed down over the exits and sleeping dust was sprayed out of the walls; Rutan and Amrastisi both quickly fell asleep while Coru and Conan resisted for a while. After about 18 seconds, they were all down.
Bhir-Vedi took all of their gear and chained them up. Coru, Conan, and Rutan woke up seeing the evil wizard (who now had Coru’s ring of protection and cloak of displacement) sacrificing Amrastisi on a large ritualistic alter. Bhir Vedi said they would each die like that, one each night, as part of a ceremony to enhance his magical power. The next day, none of them could break free from their chains. The evil wizard sacrificed Rutan. Conan finally broke free from the chains and used them as weapons against the wizard. Bhir-Vedi summoned an air elemental and, together, they killed Conan. The air elemental then returned to its home plane.
Afraid for his life, Coru told the evil wizard that if he spared him, he would tell him where he could easily go pick up 40 slaves, 19 women, and 50,000 gp. Bhir-Vedi used necromancy to turn Conan into a zombie and had him carry the chained Coru along to investigate the situation. Once they were down near the ship, Bhir-Vedi saw the 5 soldiers and decided he could easily take them out if they put up a fight. He called out to the people on the ship that he was their new master.
The 40 slaves joined the 5 soldiers in battling the evil wizard and zombie Conan. The slaves freed Coru from the chains after killing the zombie, but then all of the slaves and soldiers died as the wizards let off their spells. In the end, Coru stood victorious and the evil wizard was dead. The 19 women waiting at the ship congratulated Coru before he went and finished looting the wizard’s tower.
Coru tried to explain to the 19 women that they weren’t his property, but they acted like they needed him to take care of them. Since Coru knew of no way to return home, he agreed to live at the Tower of Necromancy with the women; one of them, Laya, seduced him and was soon pregnant. During the year he engaged in magical research.
1344 DR / 564 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: CB2: Against Darkness!]
The children were born: 4 sons of Conan (Florian, Detlev, Adelger, and Urs); 5 daughters of Conan (Alina, Mirja, Nicola, Katarina, and Frieda); 2 sons of Juma (Damir and Baqir); 1 daughter of Juma (Shahama); and 1 daughter of Coru (Dora). Coru befriended the adventurers Prospero (the military general), Nzinga (the Amazonian princess), and Pelias (the illusionist); they told Coru about Thoth-Amon, the powerful evil wizard who was trying to take over their world.
Thoth-Amon lured the group to the lair of Akivasha (the lady vampire wizard who had been helping Thoth-Amon); Coru, Pelias, Nzinga, and Prospero traveled to her chambers, along the way killing: 1 earth elemental, 2 winged gaunts, 1 water elemental, 8 giant crabs, 10 priests of Set, 2 poisonous snakes, and 1 giant lizard. Akivasha and her consort Ameriga (the powerful fighter) killed Prospero, Nzinga, and Pelias after Coru fell victim to Akivasha’s vampiric charm.
That night Akivasha passionately made love to Coru; the next day she let him decide if he would willingly stay on his own as her immortal lover. He asked about Thoth-Amon and Akivasha told Coru all about the evil wizard’s plans. Coru said that, if Akivasha and Amerigo helped him kill Thoth-Amon, then he would agree to become Akivasha’s willing mortal love slave. She liked that idea. The 3 of them traveled by night, easily killing 4 war dogs and 6 serpent folk.
At the Asubar Temple of Set, they killed 2 gynosphinxes, 16 serpent folk, 2 fire elementals, 1 black lion, and 1 man-ape before getting to Thoth-Amon’s chamber; along the way, Amerigo was killed. They confronted Thoth-Amon, his 2 snake guardians, his invisible stalker, and the Aspect of Set. After a huge spell battle, Akivasha managed to vampiricly charm Thoth-Amon and they all worked together to destroy the Aspect of Set. Akivasha then allowed Coru to kill Thoth-Amon, leaving just the 2 of them alone after the battle.
Akivasha declared Coru her mortal slave. Coru was hoping to study her ancient tomes and look for a spell that could send him home. Unfortunately, as she well knew, he was not yet powerful enough to learn such spells. Instead, she brought him to a powerful warlord and forced him to train as a fighter for a year until he had the power to defeat the warlord in battle and take command of an army of 100 mercenaries.
1345 DR / 565 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: RS1: Red Sonja Unconquered]
The fighters Red Sonja, Galon, and Kynon – along with their wizard buddy Achmal had just recently fought and killed: 7 wolves, a succubus, 2 wild boars, 2 gargoyles, Lord Rekam, and the evil wizard Sotha (who was trying to gain powerful magic through the bracelet of his dead brother). Along the way, they had befriended 90 Djemal soldiers and Commander Gaven.
With Gaven’s army behind them, Sonja’s team came to slay Akivasha. They used invisibility and fly spells to slip past her mercenary army before the big battle began. They found Akivasha naked in bed with Coru, who looked very embarrassed. Meanwhile, Gaven led his soldiers in defeating the mercenary army; Gavin and 11 of his men survived the battlefield to join in on the vampire slaying. In the end, the invaders all fell in battle; Akivasha forced Coru to help her as she stabilized (and tied up) a few of their enemies long enough to allow Akivasha to bring them back as vampire spawn. This included Sonja, Kynon, and Galon.
[Modules: Labyrinth of Madness]
With her ancient knowledge, Akivasha knew of a secret mountain valley with primitive humans and an entrance to a dungeon with magical treasures. She teleported herself, Coru, and her 3 vampire spawn there to attempt to loot the place. She warned the team before they entered that the location was a base of snake worshippers and that it was known to drive people insane if they stayed there for too long.
They went down the stairs to a level that contained an artifact that caused minds to switch bodies. It swapped Sonja and Akivasha, but Coru resisted its effects. Sonja, using the master vampire body, ordered everyone else to kill her undead body with Akivasha in it. They succeeded and then escaped back up the way they had come. Sonja used the blood of the master vampire body to give Kynon and Galon their freedom; they were glad to have their own willpower again. When they went back down, Coru ended up in Kynon’s body, with Kynon in Galon’s body and Galon in Coru’s body.
They found a hatch that took them down to a different level, where they fought 8 trolls and 8 black puddings; they realized the regeneration effects caused skin to come back like snakeskin. The dungeon also contained sigils that gave them tattoos to grant them access to more areas. They continued, defeating more monsters and traps: 1 blood water elemental, 5 flesh golems, 1 umber hulk, 1 basilisk, 1 neo-otyugh, 3 thornslingers, 1 gelatinous cube, and 2 adventurers who had been turned into yuan-ti. This event caused Coru to realize they would also eventually turn into yuan-ti the more they healed/regenerated while in this dungeon.
They found themselves in a nasty trap with 2 medusas and 6 manticores; Galon was petrified before they finished off the monsters. They continued, defeating: 10 ogre skeletons, 1 iron golem, 2 more adventurers turned yuan-ti, and 1 marilith (who cut them up so much that they all turned into yaun-ti when they healed/regenerated). When they went deeper down, they encountered 3 beholders that destroyed Kynon before being defeated. Coru and Sonja rescued 7 human prisoners and equipped them with gear to help them fight.
In the final level of the dungeon, they rescued 86 more people (whom Sonja used her vampire powers to calm down and direct ahead with them) and defeated: 1 lamia, 1 hydra, 3 shambling mounds, 2 yuan-ti adventurers, 3 giant scorpions, the corrupted titan Aerthun, the quasit Xxilgh, 5 flame salamanders, 20 wights, 8 spectres, 1 skeleton champion, 2 wraiths, 1 mimic, 3 and crypt thing abominations. Unfortunately, everyone they had rescued died along the way [not that they were purposely used as cannon fodder, but they were weak]. They made their way into the chambers of the lich lord Im-Ravin. They freed the trapped paladin Sorril, who helped them defeat the lich. Sonja was destroyed during the battle.
The paladin was appreciative of being rescued and didn’t ask for any of the treasure so Coru kept it all for himself, in his portable hole – including a copy of The Book of Vile Darkness. Unfortunately, Coru was stuck in the body of a yuan-ti vampire. Sorril stayed by Coru’s side to assist with travel as they made it back to the Tower of Necromancy. Sorril decided to live there with them while Coru researched ways to return his body to normal.
1346 DR / 566 CY
Mystara:
[Modules: RQ2: Thoughts of Darkness]
One day, while Coru and Sorril were arguing about whether or not Coru should use the Book of Vile Darkness to try to find answers, they were surrounded by gray mists that pulled them into the Domains of Dread (with the evil book)! They were in the realm of Bluetspur, outside of Mt. Makab. They stopped a group from torturing a woman by killing 2 drow mages, 8 duergar fighters, and 20 steeders while also capturing 10 drow fighters; Sorril died in the battle. Coru let the paladin die in peace, but he turned the 10 drow fighters into vampire spawn to do his bidding.
The rescued woman was Annitella, a human who had been turned into an aberration by the evil mind flayers who lived here. She needed Coru to get a magic staff and save the man she loved to prevent the elder brain and mind flayers there from gaining more power. She said that in exchange for helping in the mission, she could direct them to the Brotherhood of Contemplative Power, who could reward them each with a wish. Coru agreed to help.
Coru, his 10 vampire drow warriors, and Annitella fought: 3 vampire mind flayers, 6 stone giants, 12 mind flayers, 10 drow mages, and 1 blood elemental. They also saved 5 human slaves (and equipped them) before Annitella was captured by the enemy. They defeated Lyssa Von Zaravich (Strahd’s sister), the high master illithid, and 5 mind flayer mages. They rescued 50 more slaves, but the previous slaves had died, along with 8 of the drow vampires. That left Coru, his 2 drow minions, and 50 slaves to figure out what to do next.
A strange man who had been experimented on brought the group to the slave pens and labs. There, the group defeated: 2 mind flayers, 10 drow fighters, 4 drow mages, 10 duergar warriors, and 30 mind controlled slaves. Half of the rescued slaves died, but they then rescued another 50 slaves; thus 75 slaves were following after Coru and his 2 vampires. As they continued, they liberated 10 pregnant human slaves before killing: 5 more mind flayers, 2 drow fighters, Bonespur, and 1 nightmare.
They saved Annitella and destroyed the magical apparatus that was being used to empower the elder brain before going in to fight the elder brain. In the final battle, the boss was joined by 10 mind flayers (5 of whom were mages), 8 drow mages, and 20 drow fighters. Most of the slaves died in the battle, as well as the man Annitella loved. They brought the elder brain down to where it was bleeding to death, but in its last moments of life it used its psionic powers to teleport them all away. The survivors were Anitella (who told them how to get to the order she spoke of that would reward them), Coru, 1 drow vampire (named Vargit), and 2 pregnant humans (Dorja and Suti).
Coru, Vargit, Dorja, and Suti went off into the mist and found the Brotherhood of Contemplative Power in Barovia, exactly where Annitella told them they would be. They gave the people there the magic staff and info from Bluetspur and received their magic rewards. Dorja and Suti wished to be sent back to their homes. Coru had Vargit wish for Coru to have his normal, non-vampirc and non-yuan-ti body restored. After that worked, Coru wished to have himself and everyone at the Tower of Necromancy reunited at Lion Castle.
Coru introduced all of the Lion Castle residents to their new roommates - everyone from the Tower of Necromancy. He was also finally reunited with his actual wife and explained that, while off adventuring, he had an affair and ended up with an extra daughter. At first she wasn’t happy, but he pointed out that he had made over 1 million gold while adventuring and they could use it to not only raise all the kids (since he had turned Lion Castle into an orphanage of sorts), but also to fortify the Black Eagle Barony.
Before retiring to raise the next generation, Coru led the Black Eagle army in an assault on the Tower of Light and finally defeated Lord Moorkroft and his army of orcs. He finally felt he had avenged those who lost their lives there in the past.
1352 DR / 572 CY
Abeir-Toril:
The War of Semphar:
Yamun Khahan’s forces focused on raiding wealthy caravans of The Silk Road and The Golden Way. In 1359 delegates from Semphar, Cormyr, the Dalelands, Sembia, Implitur, Thesk, Rashemen, Mulhorand, Khazari, and Shou Land all met to discuss the raids. Yamun Khahan sent his own General Chanar Ogh Kho with 10,000 warriors to force the group to accept taxes on caravans and Khahan as supreme emperor. Khahan sent his son Hubadai, leading 50,000 men, and conquered much of the area.
1355 DR / 575 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
Kay Swift (the cartographer’s daughter who had a fling with Me’Urra Thoron - when Ehlonna’s Avengers came through Dagger Falls - and accidentally got pregnant) gave birth to a half-elf son and named him Fritz. During Kay’s pregnancy, her father paid to get her fighter training. After recovering from giving birth, Kay left her son with her father while she went out into the world, looking for Me’Urra to give him the good news about their baby.
1356 DR / 576 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Modules: Ruins of Adventure]
Kay started by going to Phlan, where she heard there was an elf wizard helping clear monsters from the area. On her way there, she randomly encountered 11 forest elves and told them her story/reason for adventuring. As a result, 9 of the elves decided to join her in her quest. Kay and her 9 new elf friends encountered 15 gold-seeking dwarves who, hearing their story, assumed there was much wealth to be pillaged from the monsters in and around Phlan so they also joined – bringing the group to a total of 25. They found a caravan that had been raided by kobolds; all of the people were dead with their goods stolen. The tracks led back to a cave.
Kay’s group was attacked by 30 kobolds: they killed 29 and interrogated the last one; sadly, 5 of the dwarves died in battle. Their prisoner told them if they didn’t kill him, he would help them get the treasure in the kobold lair. He told them all about the place, the guards, the king, where the treasure was hidden, etc. The group rested. The next morning, they found themselves surrounded by Jurin (the human bandit) and 29 of his men. Kay negotiated with Jurin and made a deal for them to raid the kobold lair together; Jurin killed the kobold after making sure they had all the intel they needed.
Kay’s group made for 20 people plus Jurin’s group of 30; the 50 of them took on the 250 kobolds at the secret kobold caves: the only people left standing at the end were Kay, the elf archer who called himself Stormleaf, and Jurin. They rested and split up the 12,000 gp worth of loot. Jurin took one of the dwarf wagons and rode off.
At Phlan, Kay and Stormleaf took the other 2 wagons and headed toward Phlan. Kay and Jurin encountered and destroyed a skeleton, a zombie, and a wight – gaining a short sword+1 and a warhammer+2. They sold their extra loot, wagons, and mules before meeting with the town council (who knew nothing about Me’Urra). Kay and Stormleaf teamed up with some locals to clear out Valhingen Graveyard; the locals died during combat, but they destroyed: 75 undead and gained a mace+2, a shield+2, and 32,000 gp worth of extra loot.
The Shieldbreakers (Naoku, Kinara, Bok, and Glek – with a wagon carrying their wives and children) arrived in Phlan and met with the new local heroes Kay and Stormleaf, who were happy to join The Shieldbreakers when they heard about their successes in battle. Together, they worked as a cohesive team and used their profit to hire the Ogre Shieldbreakers to come help them clear the town of dangers. The unit of 300 cleared more of the Phlan area (of over 1,000 enemies): Cadorna Textile House, Mantor’s Library, Stojanow Gate, Podol Plaza, Kuto’s Well, the Temple of Bane, Kovel Mansion, the lizardfolk lair, the hobgoblin lair, the nomad camp, the thri-keen village, the Zhent outpost, Sokol Keep, Sorcerer’s Island, and Valjevo Castle. In the end, the ogres were all dead but the party ended up with amazing gear (magical weapons, armor, items) and 272,000 gp. They donated 200,000 back to the city for rebuilding and defense and divided up the rest so that they each got 12,000 gp. In appreciation, the City of Phlan built a park with statues in honor of The Shieldbreakers: Naoku, Kinara, Bok, Glek, Kay, Stormleaf, and an ogre standing with them to represent the fallen mercenaries.
[Modules: DQ1 The Shattered Statue]
The Shieldbreakers travelled to the kingdom of Cormyr, where they met a group (Guy d’Mountparneau the human paladin, Eustace the human cleric, Maxx Longstalker the human ranger, and Kelvin Nikkelbane the wizard) and joined them in their mission to find pieces of a statue and reunite them for the powerful wizard Amelior Amanitas. Together, they killed many gargoyles, wyverns, evil wizards, a red dragon, and a dragonwight. Along the way Kinara, Guy, Maxx, and Kelvin perished. They brought the parts and tomes to the wizard who hired them and collected their 25,000 gp reward. Eustice took Kinara’s place in the Shieldbreakers.
[Modules: FR14 Great Glacier: Snow Baby]
Eustace’s old friend Jervin Wesselitt came down with a horrible sickness that could only be cured with a special rare magical ingredient found at the Great Glacier so the Shieldbreakers bought some magic teleportation scrolls and went there. They hired local hunter Kahil Brogman as a guide to help them find the kupuk eggs needed to cure Jervin. Along the way, 3 winter wolves with frost breath killed Kahil before the group could kill them. They also killed a polar bear and a tentacle monster. They saved a pregnant woman and her mother, whom they teleported to safety after getting 12 kupuk eggs. They returned in time to save Jervin and sold the remaining eggs for 10,000 gp. They also found out that Naoku’s son Akoru (who had been in their caravan) had decided to set off on his own (since he was unhappy after the death of his mother).
1357 DR / 577 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Modules: Lords of Darkness]
After taking a short vacation, the Shieldbreakers took on work clearing out a bunch of undead. They eliminated: 26 skeletons, 31 bandits, 8 hyenas, 15 zombies, 1 ghast, 6 stirges, 6 ghouls, 46 giant rats, 3 giant centipedes, 12 snakes, 20 wights, 1 shadow, 9 lizardfolk, 2 dinosaur skeletons, 5 mummies, 2 giant crocodiles, 2 vampires, 1 crystal ooze, 4 ghosts, 1 air elemental, 10 spectres, 1 ghost spider, 1 gelatinous cube, 2 gargoyles, 1 stone golem, 1 vampire lord, 1 mummy lord, and Alokkair the lich. With the new loot and their previous loot, each of the 6 members of the Shieldbreakers had about 32,000 gp.
[Modules: H1 Bloodstone]
Recruiters from the village of Bloodstone (populations: ~1,000) in the Kingdom of Damara (which had been at war with the Kingdom of Vaasa) hired the Shieldbreakers to come defend it. The Shieldbreakers used their money to hire the 94 soldiers of the Red Raven Mercenary Company (whom Naoku knew from the Hordelands conflicts) to join in the defense.
On the way there, the group saved the town of Valls when a traveling circus has its creatures break lose: 1 bulette, 1 lamia, 1 werefox, 1 chimera, 1 xorn, 1 gibbering mouther, and 1 ancient blue dragon. They killed all of the creatures but the werefox, who was actually an elf maiden named Herwellyn; Naoku cured her of lycanthropy. She fell in love with him, moved into the Shieldbreakers caravan with him, and was soon pregnant with his child (a half-elf girl that they would name Arita - elven for Silverfox). As they continued on, they had to take out: 120 enemy soldiers, 10 hill giants, 1 male ancient red dragon, 1 female adult red dragon, and 1 male young red dragon. Having suffered heavy losses, the group was down to only 50 people. They collected the treasure from the dragons and rested.
The remaining Sheildbreakers and Red Ravens next encountered 150 hostile Halfling archers that Naoku convinced to stand down. A group of faerie dragons and pixies were their next obstacle, but Naoku’s wife was able to negotiate passage with them and the centaur youth that were farther along up the road. The group saved an old farmer and his 2 daughters from 10 drunk orc bullies. The group finally arrived in Bloodstone, where the city wall was in decay. They reported to Baron Tranth, his daughter Lady Christine, Quillan the Sage, and Abbot Aldric. The Baron explained the main problem was the army of 1,200 bandits (with at least 1 powerful wizard and cleric) that controlled Bloodstone Pass and had forced them to pay taxes to them.
The group spent time training the citizens and preparing for battle. Lady Christine fell in love with Stormleaf. Eustace became friends with the local Abbot Aldric. Naoku discoved the local tavern regular Haldan and the fletcher Jamison were spies and had them publicly executed. Stephan the Innkeeper was a former mercenary so they made him a unit commander.
Battle 1: Tax collectors from the bandit army came, unprepared for resistance, and were defeated. Battle 2: A punitive expedition was sent since the tax collectors never returned. Battle 3: The “Midnight Attack” in which assassination attempts were made on the Shieldbreakers and undead were raised from the town’s graveyard. The evil cleric, a minon of Orcus, led the undead in attacking the city and was protected by 4 demons. Battle 4: The rest of the bandit army descended upon the city! Ultimately, the town prevailed. Almost all of the Red Ravens, 400 of the citizens, and Eustace were killed. Baron Tranth approved the wedding of his daughter and Stormleaf; he appointed Stormleaf the new baron and retired. The Shieldbreakers celebrated the wedding of Stormleaf and Christine, after which Baron Stormleaf announced he planned to stay in Bloodstone (with the valley to lord over and his now total of 50,000 gp share of the group loot) and said goodbye to his friends.
1358 DR / 578 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Modules: Curse of the Azure Bonds]
The Shieldbreakers (and their 6 Red Raven employees) traveled in their caravan to Phlan because Kay was hoping some of her contacts would have found out where Me’Urra was at. Unfortunately, no means of magic could locate him on Toril so she assumed he had a magic item that prevented detection. Rastafan Dimetar, a noble from Cormyr, recruited the group to find King Azoun IV’s runaway daughter Princess Alusair. Rumors were that she was spotted in Tilverton and might be with the cleric Gharri of Gond.
While travelling, the group spent a night camping with The Nameless Bard, who told them Princess Alusair was spotted in Westgate sailing with pirates after running off with the High Cleric of Gond. Later, the group was ambushed by: 9 Fire Knives thieves, 12 drow mercenaries, 2 evil clerics, and 2 Zhentarim mages. The Red Ravens were on guard duty and alerted the others before being killed off. The enemies managed to knock out the Shieldbreakers and their family members who travelled in their caravan with them.
Naoku, Bok, Glek, and Kay woke up in the Windlord’s Rest Inn in Tilverton with magic tattoos on their arms. They had no idea what had become of their family members who were in the caravan with them. The Temple of Gond was across the street. Out the window, they spotted a carriage with the purple dragon symbol of Cormyr. They were not locked inside so they ventured out and spoke with the gnome innkeeper Thungor Triblane. The gnome revealed that 3 days ago a red-cloaked man rented their room and 2 days ago a group of redcloaked men dropped them off with all of their weapons and armor, claiming they had found the group “left for dead along the road.” The group realized a month had passed since they had been ambushed!
Thungor also revealed that King Azoun IV of Cormyr had arrived in town, officially to work out a treaty, but unofficcialy rumors said he was looking for his daughter. Thungor’s wizard-sage friend Filani looked into the magic tattoo symbols for the group and revealed they represented: The Fire Knives, the cult of the dead god Moander, the Zhentarim, the Red Wizards of Thay, and Tyranthraxus – the evil monster from the Pool of Radiance in Phlan. Filani also provided the group with a letter of introduction to Elminster and suggested they seek him out in Shadowdale. The clerics at the Temple of Gond could not remove the magic tattoos.
Outside, Vandergahast and Giogi Wyvernspur (hired by the King of Cormyr to imitate him to draw out assassins) arrived and spoke to the town. The magic tattoos made the Shieldbreakers feel compelled to attack the man they thought was the King of Cormyr; Bok was unable to resist the urge and ran toward Giogi with his sword and mace drawn. Theis caused turmoil in the street. Vandergahast saved Giogi. The town guards then attacked the Shieldbreakers, who didn’t want to kill the local men. Instead, they fled into the sewers with Cutthroat McGill.
McGill took them to Artur Grossman, Guildmaster as the thieves (not the Fire Knives). Grossman offered to pay the group to take out the Fire Knives at their nearby hideout and gave the group a map. The Shieldbreakers accepted the mission and gathered more intel, finding out that the evil alliance working against them included Dracandros (a Red Wizard of Thay).
To stop this group of Fire Knives, the group traveled and killed: 2 giant crocodiles, 4 trolls, 25 thieves, a gas spore, 4 spectres, 2 clay golems, 2 hill giants, 15 hell hounds, 12 guards, 1 otyugh, 1 evil cleric and 1 lion – all before rescuing Princess Alusair and their kidnapped family members from holding cells. Alusair knew the way to Radatha’s lair and told them how to take out the rest of their enemies. They also discovered the magical lab of Kybor – who was killed by Tyranthraxus.
They took out Radatha the Thief Lord, his hell hound, and his honor guard of 5 master thieves and 5 master fighters. Before killing Radatha, the group let him reveal that this has all been a vengeance plan to kill King Azoun IV for having kicked out the Fire Knives years ago and that the group would have to kill the evil leaders who put the tattoos on them in order to remove them. Bok and Glek were killed in the battle, but the Temple of Gond raised them free of charge.
In travelling through Yulash, the group took out a Zhent patrol of 13 fighters. A Red Plume patrol from Hillsfar attacked them to take their gear, so the group had to kill the 11 of them as well. The group then went to the troop HQ in Yulash and killed their evil captain, his 50 soldiers, and a will-o-wisp. They stumbled upon a ruined Temple of Helm where they saved the human fighter Alias, the saurial paladin Dragonbait, and the human cleric Mixilia from a shambling mound and 20 vegepygmies. Alias told the group about her experiences with a magic tattoo that made her do the bidding of evil so they joined up to take out Moander’s forces.
The Shieldbreakers and Alias’ group went down in the secret temple of Moander that they found and killed: 40 vegepygmies, 6 shambling mounds, 20 cultists, a stone guardian, 2 algoids, and High Cleric Mogion of Moander. Mogion had a letter from Lord Fzoul Chembryl of Bane at Zhentil Keep. Alias’ group left the party to go deal with their own affairs. The Shieldbreakers made their way to Zhentil Keep; on the way there, they met a female halfling bard Olive Ruskettle/Stevie Nickelplate who told them Fzoul Chembryl was – in fact – in charge of the keep right now because Manshoon was away on business. The group made their way into the city known as Zhentil Keep without any fights and made their way to the Tower of Fzoul.
Once inside, they went to Fzoul’s chambers, where the evil lord called them his guards and explained that they were both an experiment and an investment. Before he could finish his speech, Kay grabbed the stolen Blade of Lathander and attacked him. Fzoul activated the magic tattoo and brought Naoku, Bok, and Glek under his control. The 3 of them subdued Kay. From behind them, the Bane High Inquistor Ginali, the beholder Orox, 6 more Bane fighters, and 7 more Bane clerics entered the room and attacked Fzoul. The halfling bard stopped the mind control, but Fzoul told the Shieldbreakers he would remove the Zhent symbols from all of them if they fought off the invaders while he escaped. They agreed and he teleported out after meeting his end of the bargain. The group killed the beholder and Genali, thus the rest of the Bane forces temporarily retreated to another room to regroup. Olive/Stevie suggested they all escape out a window and rush out of the city before the guards started gathering to kill them all. The Shieldbreakers complied and Olive bid them goodbye after they departed Zhentil Keep.
The group then went after Dracandros in the village of Hap, where he had a dracolich lording over the people. The Shieldbreakers killed 13 drow guards, 2 efreeti, and 3 salamanders. They returned the stolen loot to the villagers. They went up Haptooth Hill, killing: 2 red dragons, 10 drow fighters, 1 drow cleric, 6 salamanders, 1 efreeti, Crimdrac the dracolich, 1 green dragon, 1 black dragon, and 1 blue dragon. Dracandros escaped by teleporting out to Myth Drannor.
On the hunt for Tyranthraxus and Drandros, The Shieldbreakers met up with the wizard Akabar Bel Akash and went to Myth Drannor. They went through “Death’s Gateway” (the burial glen). They continued on, fighting: a banshee, 37 bees, 12 ghouls, 1 umber hulk, 5 skeletons, 5 zombies, 1 giant skeleton, 3 bugbear zombies, Remarkus the lich, 1 lamia, 2 gargoyles, and Dracandros possessed by Tyranthraxus. They used the aritifacts they had gathered to put an end to Tyranthraxus and remove the final tattoo markings on them. They sorted out the loot: 300,000 gp, a ring of 3 wishes, a djinn ring, an ebony fly figurine of wondrous power, 1 portable hole, and 2 large bags of holding. Elminster showed up and congratulated them, offering to teleport them to any location in the Realms.
[Modules: Ruins of Myth Drannor Box Set & FR Box Set Advs (Halls of the Beast-Tamers & Fall of Lashan)]
Knowing the danger of magical wishes, the group sold the ring of 3 wishes, the djinn ring, and the figurine of wondrous power to Elminster. That meant Naoku, Bok, Glek, and Kay each had 228,000 gp worth of group loot. After resting, the Shieldbreakers had Elminster teleport them and their caravan back to Myth Drannor so they could continue exploring the ruins. In exploring the Halls of the Beast-Tamers and Lathan’s Fall, the group killed: 1 otyugh, 1 vampiric ixitxachitl, 2 sea trolls, 1 xorn, 3 shriekers, 1 gorgon, and 1 chimera. They befriended a trapped tabaxi woman after freeing her.
The Shieldbreakers made their way through more ruins and crypts, killing: 5 stone golems, 1 doombat, Azimer the lich, 1 insane sorceress, 1 demon, 4 stirges, 7 giant spiders, 1 mimic, 24 zombies, 5 wights, 44 skeletons, 1 young red dragon, 1 adult red dragon, 4 red dragon hatchlings, 6 ogres, 5 bugbears, 4 gargoyles, 2 ettins, 1 mindflayer, 4 vrock demons, 1 blazing bones, 6 dread, 1 beholder, 10 windghosts, 5 trolls, 1 hezrou demon, 1 wyvern, 1 lythlyx, 1 magebane, 1 behir, 1 hobgoblin, 3 bone nagas, and 1 dark naga. They retrieved the “priceless“ elven artifact known as the Arm of Valor and an additional 630,000 gp worth of loot. They returned the Arm of Valor to the elves and sold the rest of the items before dividing up the loot – bringing their total to 406,500 gp each.
The Shieldbreakers paid the elves to teleport them to Dagger Falls because Kay wanted to visit with her father and son. She told her family that she was rich and she loved the adventuring life. She offered to buy her father a noble estate. Even though the Shieldbreakers tradition had been for them to have their wives and kids travel with them, Kay convinced the group to all put their money together and build noble keeps/estates in Bloodstone while also donating to better fortify the city walls. Naoku, Bok, and Glek only agreed because it made their wives happy. The group spent the rest of the year setting up their new homes. With Stormleaf already living in the central keep of Bloodstone, the Shieldbreakers had their 4 keeps built at the 4 corners of the city.
1359 DR / 579 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Modules: Halls of the High King]
A merchant named Panthras approached Naoku, Bok, Glek, and Kay with a quest while they were out at a tavern in Waterdeep (after teleporting there to buy more teleport scrolls and supplies for Bloodstone); he asked them to guard a shipment of weapons on its way to the Moonshae Isles, to Iristan Kendrick (the High King of the Ffolk). They accepted the mission.
That night, the wizard Flamsterd teleported in to speak with the Shieldbreakers; he told them his land, the Moonshaes, were in need of adventurers like them to combat the forces of the evil god Bane. He told them to report to the ship called The Mermaid Sword in the morning, but Naoku questioned Flamsterd and asked if the group could more quickly accomplish their goal by using their portable holes and teleporting all of the weapons. Flamsterd chuckled at the fine idea and said that yes, indeed, they could avoid the dangers of the sea voyage.
Once in the Moonshaes, the Shieldbreakers took out a group of bandits, an army of undead and evil clerics, iron golems, evil druids, and a beholder. They also rescued the High King from an assassination attempt. They destroyed the Bane alters and sold the loot, ending up with 40,000 gp each. High King Iristan Kendrick considered them all heroes and held a feast in their honor. They told him to visit their families any time.
[Modules: H2: The Mines of Bloodstone]
They returned to Bloodstone and found out: the minions of Orcus, from under the Bloodstone Mines, have turned Abbot Aldric into a vampire and he used his powers to summon rats, wolves, and worgs to attack the city. Baron Stormleaf and his wife had a half-elf son (whom they named Stormleaf II). During the year, Stormleaf had to kill Aldric and save the city while his friends were away adventuring. He also killed 2 remorhaz and negotiated deals with the nearby Orothiar Clan of 500 dwarves, the 400 centaurs in the valley, the halfling village, and the 100 pixies so they could work together if another evil army attacked the valley.
Stormleaf joined Naoku, Bok, Glek, and Kay when they went to clear out the dangers in the Bloodstone Mines so it could start making more money for the region. They defeated: 12 stone giants, 1 greater basilisk, 44 duergar, 1 spirit naga, 3 demons, and 2 succubi; they rescued 2 deep gnomes and discovered a tunnel down into the Orcus-worshipping duergar kingdom of Deepearth.
The Shieldbreakers collected 100 dwarf soldiers, 100 centaurs, 25 halfling fighters, and 20 pixies so they could enter Deepearth with an army of 300 people. Their army killed: 4 shriekers, 1 giant shark, 50 shadows, 50 carrion crawlers, 100 duergar soldiers, 1 xorn, 2 intellect devourers, 20 ropers, 1 neo-otyugh, 2 umber hulks, 4 rust monsters, 12 displacer beasts, and 6 spectres; meanwhile, their army dwindled down to just themselves, 40 dwarves, 50 centaurs, and 5 pixies.
Lalibela, a demigoddess of the nixies, gave Bok Dragonbane the sentient Holy Avenger sword named Crusader [with the additional power to disintegrate a demon on a natural 20 and to commune with Lalibela once per week] because he was a worthy paladin warrior. The also encountered a patrol of 150 deep gnomes and convinced them to take them to the deep gnome king, King Ruggedo. Ruggedo agreed to work with the Shieldbreakers with a plan for the gnome army to fight the duergar army as a distraction while the Shieldbreakers mount an assault on the Temple of Orcus.
While the deep gnomes and duergar battled to the death, the plan worked and the Shieldbreakers led their army into the Temple of Orcus. They killed: 2 stone golems, 1 mimic, 1 lurker, 56 guards, 110 acolytes of Orcus, 1 hydra, 6 manticores, 1 catoplepas, 6 hell hounds, 2 gorgons, 2 adult red dragons, 1 tarrasque, 3 iron golems, 1 ancient black dragon, 8 priests of Orcus, 100 dark guards, and Orcolla the High Priest of Orcus with a demon bodyguard. That decimated their forces down to just the 5 Shieldbreakers and 5 centaurs. They thought they were done, but a legion of undead showed up with 100 zombies, 80 ghasts, 50 wraiths, and 20 spectres; the remaining centaurs, Bok, and Glek all died.
The 42 deep gnomes who survived the battle outside joined Naoku, Kay, and Stormleaf in a rush to stop the final forces of Orcus from summoning him: 24 evil priests, 50 dark guards, and 6 demons. They stopped the ceremony, but in the end it was just Naoku and Kay standing victorious with loot worth 5 million gp. They returned to the gnome king with news of the battle and he offered them a reward so they asked for Stormleaf, Bok, and Glek to be resurrected. They also formed an official alliance with the deep gnomes and then returned to their city.
Thanks to teleport scrolls, they sold their loot in Waterdeep, purchased supplies, and hired miners and guards to come to Bloodstone.
[Modules: H3: The Bloodstone Wars]
Living as nobles and leaders in Bloodstone, the Shieldbreakers realized they had come a long way. The Bloodstone Mines was averaging a profit of 8,000-10,000 gp a month for the treasury of Bloodstone, which would keep the city rich if things continued on without problems. The Council of Bloodstone consisted of retired baron Tranth, Baroness Christine, Quillan the Sage, Tokan of the dwarves, Kiros of the centaurs, William of the halflings, King Ruggedo of the deep gnomes, and all 5 members of the Shieldbreakers (Baron Stormleaf, Kay Swift, Bok Dragonbane, Glek Barrelgut, and Naoku the Wise). While the traditional means of transport for the gems would be caravans, they were making enough money to afford to have Naoku continue using teleport scrolls for trade.
Word travelled fast and Bloodstone experienced a population explosion. The nearby Duke of Arcata became enraged at the build up in the area and demanded 25% of their profits and for Baron Stormleaf to swear fealty to him. When Stormleaf refused, it was obvious war might ignite with Arcata (joined by the forces of Vaasa). Soon 11 assassins with venom daggers tried to kill the Shieldbreakers, but they failed.
The Arcatan Army launched its offensive, beginning the Bloodstone Wars. They fought for months, with Vaasa providing reinforcements for Arcata (trolls, ogres, frost giants, evil humans, and undead). The Bloodstone Army conquered Arcata, Carmathan, Ostel, Morov, and Polten. Thus the battles caused the former lands of Damara to reunite under the protection of the Bloodstone Army.
Retired Baron Tranth told his son-in-law that it was time to declare the Kingdom of Damara reborn under the leadership of King Stormleaf, Queen Christine, and the Knights of Bloodstone (Sir Naoku, Sir Dragonbane, Sir Barrelgut, and Lady Swift). Despite the war not ending (looking more like a standoff), Stormleaf agreed and made the official proclamation. To continue with old tradition, King Stormleaf moved his family to Heliogabalus (the old capital city) and appointed the paladin Sir Bok Dragonbane the new Baron of Bloodstone.
[Modules: H4: The Throne of Bloodstone]
The Bloodstone Wars continued with the main forces of both Vaasa and New Damara at a stalemate – at the Ford of Goliad, knowing that whoever crossed first would suffer more loses and likely lose the war. The Shieldbreakers knew they needed a different strategy to overcome the Witch-King of Vaasa. They gathered the new Council of New Damara and discussed the fact that Vaasa’s power likely came from demons, especially from Orcus. They also found out that Witch-King Zhengyi (a lich), at his citadel, had a portal that functioned as a gate to the Abyss.
The Shieldbreakers brought 5 gnome wizards and 10 dwarf fighters with them, teleporting to the evil citadel. Outside, they faced: 2 demons, 4 perytons, 1 purple worm, and the ancient white dragon Arctigis (with a ring of spell-turning). They attained a luck blade with 2 wishes remaining, but they lost their 5 gnome wizards and half of the dwarf fighters. Inside, they confronted and destroyed Vaasa’s Witch-King Zhengyi and his demon gaurdians (with the other 5 dwarf fighters dying in battle). Zhengyi had a special Talisman of Orcus. They cleared out the rest of the citadel, killing: 1 banshee, 1 death knight, 100 green slimes, 20 salamanders, and the demon lord Klavikus.
Naoku theorized that they could use the connection to Orcus through the talisman and their 2 wishes to make Orcus and all of his followers forget everything they have ever known about Bloodstone/Damara and the Shieldbreakers – thus removing the threat of Orcus. As far as they could tell, the plan worked so they destroyed the alters and the portal to the Abyss. Once the news spread that the Witch-King was destroyed and his citadel conquered by King Stormleaf’s team, the Vaasan Army backed away and dispersed – ending the war.
King Stormleaf told his friends that he couldn’t adventure with them anymore so he was officially retiring from the Shieldbreakers (for the second time), but he suggested they retire to lord over New Damara with him. They thanked him for the offer, but let him know that they had already accepted another mission…
[Modules: More FR12 Horde Campaign]
Back in the Hordelands, The Shieldbreakers were called upon by their old boss Yamun Khahan to assist in the defense of the city of Dhaztanar (under General Huga Gun Ho) in what became known as “The Battle of the Eastern Gate” (when nomads led by Gugan Cho Han attempted to seize the city for the Semphari leader Abu Bakr). Thanks to the assistance of the Shieldbreakers, Abu Bakr formally surrendered. Meanwhile Khahan himself held his forces in the “Battle of Manass,” forcing the Khazari to surrender to him. He then united all of his forces – over 200,000 warriors – and invaded Shou Lung. The Shieldbreakers helped at the “Battle for Shou Lung” as part of the 40,000 reinforcements that arrived with Khahan’s son Hubadai. After that, it appeared that the rest of the Shou Lung forces (which were over 300,000 men – but too spread out) would easily be defeated (in time). The next major event was the “Battle of the Sorghum Field.”
Khahan sent The Shieldbreakers and 5,000 other warriors with General Ogh Kho to Thay. They ended up fighting the “Battle of the Griffon Legion.” General Batu Min Ho took over Khahan’s forces there and forced the Thayans to make an arrangement with them. Szass Tam agreed to have some Thayans join Khahan’s army if they could work together to attack Rashemen. The Shieldbreakers had reservations about working with Thay, but agreed to stay on for the next big battle – which they said might be their last.
1360 DR / 580 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[More FR12 Horde Campaign]
The Rashemen forces, with their witches, were facing both the armies of Thay and Khahan. At the “Battle of the Lake of Tears” Rashemen Iron Lord Hyarmon Huzzilthar managed to have his forces hold together, taking out about one-third of their enemy forces. The Shieldbreakers disliked working with Thay so they ended their contract with Khahan.
King Azoun IV of Cormyr organized a crusade with the Dalelands, Sembia, Cormyr, and the free cities of Tantras, Hillsfar, and Ravens Bluff. With intel from the witches of Rashemen (and some extra troops on loan from the dwarves of Earthfast and the orcs of the Zhentarim), they took on the weakened army of Khahan. King Azoun IV also recruited The Shieldbreakers since they knew Khahan and his forces very well. This led to the “Battles of the Golden Way” in which both sides suffered heavy losses. King Azoun IV personally killed Khahan on the battlefield. That action broke the spirit of the Horde army, which fled eastward and dispersed.
[Modules: 2E Draconomicon Adventures]
Not wanting to retire yet, The Shieldbreakers accepted a job working as guards for the steel dragon Ferreous while he attended a meeting where he feared he might be assassinated. The group killed an evil adventuring group, a dracohydra, and 5 old red dragons (with the help of 5 good dragons). The good dragons sent them on a series of missions to slay some evil dragons. In tunnels beneath the mining town of Dalath, they killed Maldraedior the “Millennium Dragon” and his minions (10 evil clerics, 9 evil dragon knights). At the Karatorn swamp they killed Ralas the black dragon and his wife, Uerwen the black dragon (along with their minions: 6 green slimes, 4 trolls, and 1 ghost); rather than kill the 6 baby black dragons, they teleported them to New Damara to be raised to serve the kingdom. They travelled west of Myth Drannor hunting down the green dragon named Verthie and his minions (Rassaloud the dragon cleric, and 50 cultist guards). After slaying those enemies, the group convinced the 350 nearby dragon cultists to go find something else to do with their lives.
1361 DR / 581 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Maztica Box Set]
Famous for standing out in large battles, The Shieldbreakers were invited by Captain-General Cordel of the Golden Legion to join in his voyage to explore the continent across the ocean (Maztica) and setup a fort there with his army of 500 men. Once in Maztica, the Golden Legion defeated thousands of Mazticans because their more primitive arrows and weapons were less effective against metal armor.
1362 DR / 582 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
After victories at the Battle of Ulatos and several other places, Cordel established Helmsport. The Kultakans surrendered their army of 20,000 to Cordel after their leader was killed in battle. The Shieldbreakers did not enjoy slaughtering the Mazticans and thus they sailed back to Amn with some of the Eagle Knights and Jaguar Knights that were sent back to impress the merchants of the Sword Coast.
1363 DR / 583 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Modules: Hordes of Dragonspear]
Naoku was hired to lead the Daggerford Army against a force of evil that were threatening the area so he brought Bok, Glek, and Kay with him. The pit fiend Baazka assembled an army with 500 kobolds, 500 goblins, 300 orcs, 200 hobgoblins, 100 bugbears, 100 ogres, 3 horned devils, and Maelestor Rex the ancient black dragon (over 1,700 monsters). In response, the Shieldbreakers gathered: 100 elves, 100 dwarves, 300 peasants, 200 militia, 100 infantry, 100 Waterdeep guards, 50 rangers, and 50 paladins of Ilmater (for a total of 1,000 people fighting for the sake of Daggerford).
The first major battle was in defense of The Way Inn, with a victory going to team Daggerford. The Shieldbreakers scouted into the Misty Forests and found a druid’s council that told them about the “Spear of the Dragon” crafted from one of the horns of Maelestor Rex (which was allowing Baazka’s servant Vasarius to control the dragon). By killing Vasarius or destroying the Spear of the Dragon, Maelestor would be free to do as he wished (which might not be attacking Daggerford’s forces?). The Shieldbreakers returned to their army in time to fight the major battle of the two armies – at Dragonspear Castle. They suffered heavy losses, but managed a victory when Maelestor Rex was freed and Baazka was killed (on the Prime Material Plane). With less than 100 people surviving the battle, there were no victory celebrations.
1364 DR / 584 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
The Shieldbreakers took a year off to contemplate whether or not they should retire; they spent most of the time in Bloodstone with their families. Kay purchased a noble estate in Waterdeep and had a magic portal installed at both locations for her family and companions to go back and forth for visiting and trade. All of them donated money to help fund the growth and defense of the kingdom.
1365 DR / 585 CY
Abeir-Toril Shieldbreakers:
[Modules: Nightmare Keep]
Naoku, Bok, Glek, and Kay returned to adventuring as the Shieldbreakers when King Azoun IV of Cormyr told them about the discovery of lichlings and an old keep in the Veilstone Peaks; over 100 soldiers went into the supposedly abandoned keep and none returned. The group agreed to investigate and travelled to the villages of the Veilstone Peaks. The locals told them about old earthquakes, undead, and lost treasures.
At Wolover’s Keep they killed: 7 giant centipedes, brown mold, 3 ghost bats, 4 strangleweeds, 1 zombie dragon turtle, 1 living web, 1 giant leech, 4 shadows, 1 lurker, 1 gray ooze, 2 spectres, 8 piercers, 27 lichlings, 6 flying glass skeletons, 4 glass golems, 2 wraiths, 1 purple worm, 1 giant slug, 4 umber hulks, 8 trolls, 1 tube worm, 8 muck-men, 3 heart spiders, 2 eyestalks, 1 ghost, and Icelia’s Skull; along the way they saved Jharold the human mage and Lenzmin Tier the human fighter. The keep exploded and Kay was the only one to make it out alive; due to the explosion, she was unable to recover the bodies of her fallen friends.
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