TOPIC: R4. Princes of the Apocalypse

PRINCES OF ELEMENTAL EVIL …..CONTINUED …...AGAIN.

A terrible threat gathers in the North. Savage marauders wreak destruction, orcs and goblins encroach on the frontiers of fairer folk and monsters are on the prowl - bringing fear to settlements and homesteads. Sinister strangers lurk in shadows, whispering about changes on the horizon. This year is marked by unseasonable and quickly shifting weather patterns. Tales spread of floods, windstorms, wildfires and earth tremors.

These troubles have a source. Malevolent servants of elemental forces gather in the Sumber Hills. Fanatics to their cause, claiming ancient fortresses and ruins for their bases of power and establishing themselves in the underground chambers of long-abandoned Tyar-Besil – a former Dwarven stronghold.

Evidence proves their rivalry; but are the cults uneasy allies or bitter enemies to each other? What catalyst lies behind their rise? Can anyone halt the elemental cults from unleashing their full destructive force on the North?

This will be the fourth rotation of Princes. Potentially lots of recapping to do. I thought I'd lessen the amount to be discussed at the table by dropping in a few snippets of info here as a gentle reminder of what has happened so far.


To answer Hugh - you're all level 7 (though not all on the same amount of XP) and yes I have most character sheets. I know I don't have Burlap but think I have all the rest. I'll check for certain was soon as I get the chance.

It is the year 1491 in Dale Reckoning – The Year of the Scarlet Witch. A group of disparate characters bands together out of mutual convenience on the road to the Dessarin Valley. Most have set out from Waterdeep or its near locality. All are journeying to the Dessarin Valley for his or her own reasons. Bandits attack you on the trail. You later learn that increased levels of banditry, smuggling, river piracy and other nefarious activities are all linked to the elemental cults raising funds for themselves.

Red Larch
You spend your first days in Red Larch, a town built on a crossroads on the western edge of the valley. Viggi needs to heal up. Bort makes an impression at Father Revaunder’s All Faiths shrine. Kahlan nearly gets strangled by a disembodied hand at the Necromancer’s cave. Father Revaunder informs Alfalas about a missing delegation from Miribar. Burlap purchases a book of dwarven lore from Endrith Vallivoe’s bric-a-brac store (after casting Charm Person on Vallivoe to get the book on the cheap). It is signed by its author, Bruldenthar – one of the missing delegates. Endrith recently acquired the book from Womford, a river port to the south.

The Missing Delegation
The delegation from Miribar was last seen departing Beliard more than a tenday ago, and has not been seen since. They were escorting the body of a knight, killed fighting orcs in the Spine of the World, to Summit Hall in the Sumber Hills. The knight was to be interred with honour at Summit Hall, the chapter house of an order of paladins known as the Knights of Samular. Also, the delegation included a prominent dwarf historian named Bruldenthar who was transporting his collection of tomes of dwarven lore to Waterdeep.

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Feathergale Spire
Investigations lead to Feathergale Spire. An imposing tower. A spyglass watches over the valley floor. A feast. A manticore hunt. Treachery in the morning. The Howling Hatred (air cultists). A letter to Thurl Merosska (commander of Feathergale Spire cultists) from his beloved queen, Aerisi Kalinoth. The mention of Black Earth cultists and the Sacred Stone Monastery.


Womford
Womford. River port. Traders. Workshops. Antiquities. Stolen goods. A water genasi named Shaolar and his first mate, Pike (river smugglers). Shaolar is killed, Pike taken prisoner. Sailing up the Dessarin river aboard the Rivermaid (Shaolar’s keelboat) to Rivergard Keep.


Rivergard Keep
Decrepit ruin. The demise of Burlap’s kestrel. The coming of Burlap’s rat (Ratty Rat). Nightfall approaches. Crushing Wave (water cultists). Jollivar Grimjaw (commander of the keep) and his invisible bitch. Alfalas with his sword ‘orphanmaker’ versus 300lbs of snot and tusks. Alas for Alfalas.

Bort stands alone in the courtyard versus two great hairy beasts; his companions bravely run away. The trouble with river ghouls. At last the dawn. I spy an underground river – no boats – another time maybe?

Summit Hall
The arrival of Slade and Ellass. Earth tremors and ankhegs in the hills. Slade leads you to Summit Hall. A sanctuary in the wilderness. Here reside Lady Ushien Stormbanner and the Knights of Samular. Ushien greets Slade “Welcome home my son”. Several days rest and recuperation. Ushien confirms the missing Miribar delegation was indeed bearing the body of a knight to be interred with full honours at Summit Hall. Evidence shows the delegation was ambushed by cultists wearing gilded tin masks: monks of the Sacred Stone Monastery.

The Eastern Frontier
For several weeks now, the Iceshield Orcs have been raiding homesteads along the eastern frontier of the Dessarin Valley. Lady Ushien wastes no time in encouraging the party to head east to offer protection to the innocent. A journey east across the wildlands. Wolves attack the camp. Ellass is bitten. On the frontier, locals are gathering at Kerbin Dellmon’s farmstead. Drums in the forest. An army of orcs and ogres approaches. For two days raged the Battle of Dellmon Ranch. The squashing of Ratty Rat. The coming of Snaky Snake. The retreat of the Iceshield Raiders. Return to Summit Hall. A heroes’ welcome.

The Sacred Stone Monastery
In a secret valley. Kahlan the sneak. Breaking and entering. The kitchen staff. Burlap casts fireball. Flaming pot washers!! Ellas looks unwell. Studious monks in the scriptorium. A tome entitled Marlos’ Testament. What the party learns:

●Marlos Urnrayle is the Prophet of Earth.
●He was drawn to a place called the Fane of the Eye by powerful visions. There he found Ironfang – the holy implement of elemental earth – and took it for his own.
●Marlos established the Temple of Black Earth in the ruins of a long-forgotten underground dwarven stronghold.
●Marlos nurtures something called the Black Geode, and when all is ready the Evergrowing Mountain shall come and remake these lands in his own image.


Meeting the Locals
The Abbess of the Sacred Stone Monastery, in her gilded tin mask proves almost too much in combat – almost. The old man in the alchemic laboratory is not happy about your intrusion: get out of my lab! Down in the mines. Dodging orogs and ogres. Prisoners in the cells. Well hello Bruldenthar (he of the missing Miribar delegation). Burlap accidently forgets to mention he possesses one of Bruldenthar’s prized tomes. Wait here in your cells. We’ll be back in a few minutes to free you all (honest!).


A Night in the Crypt
Zombie attack in the creepy crypt. The magnificent sarcophagus of ‘Samular Caradoon. Defender of the North’. But isn’t Samular (founder of Summit Hall and the Knights of Samular) buried at Summit Hall? Let’s lift the lid. It’s empty. Ellas looks really unwell. What’s that behind us? An angry umber hulk nearly eviscerates Bort and Ellass. An ancient stone stair leads down into the depths. Ellass thinks something doesn’t smell right about the stair. Slade thinks something doesn’t look right about Ellass.

The Restless Night
Nearly bedtime. Ellass looks really, really unwell. What fine teeth you have! Werewolf! The return of the grumpy old fella from the lab. He seals Ellass in Samular Caradoon’s sarcophagus for the night, then sweeps majestically out of the crypt. “You have until morning and I want you all out!” A night of growling and scratching.

The Morning After the Night Before
Ellass emerges. Elf again. He feels so alive, senses sharpened and ravenously hungry. Let’s get going before grumpy comes back. Freeing the prisoners – just like you promised – albeit somewhat later than expected. Fisticuffs with the guards. The ogre’s serious hygiene issues don’t stop Ellass sinking his teeth in. Revulsion and disgust amongst the witnesses. Time to leave.

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