The Progeny of the Damned Saga
Page 1

Years passed. In 1007 AW, the gods decided that the land needed to be remade, for Zinsaber's 1000+ years of existence had tainted it, as had his acension to godhood. Therefore, Mathurin (now Mythala) began to change the land as slowly and painstakingly safe as possible. Regardless of how gentle he wanted to be, however, his best efforts still put many in their graves, and tremors erupted throughout the land as trees sprouted instantly, land rose from the sea, and sea washed over the land. This era had come to be known as the Great Schism.

Not only great strife come from Mythala's acension... new workers of magic, called sorcerers, had appeared throughout the land, natural talents for the arcane magic of wizards appearing in strange and unusual places. These talents did not need to memorize spells as wizards did, they rather learned the art innately, and some say that Mythala himself taught them. One of these sorcerers was a half-elven entertainer named Jaeron. He, along with his partner "Chugs" Marwin, traveled from town to town, telling many of Mythala's new gift of natural magic to the people. They were thrown out of several towns on their ears for speaking the name of the new god of Magic and Healing; many blamed him for the great quakes that shook the land, and few listened to the clerics of the gods who said that such was necessary. Instead, a few left the world of civilization to commune with nature, and others formed monastic orders.

The city of Kommnach had been rebuilt, and was now a large, bustling collection of houses, businesses, and commonfolk once again, lying just north of the town of Rainfur, and served by the Porican River to the north and the Marad River to the west. Earthquakes were all too common in this time, so a distant rumble only caused minor concern, though some cursed the gods for their work, others blessed them. However, one day, the distant rumble turned into a mighty quake; never before since the beginning of the Great Schism was the tremor so intense! The sky began to turn black as pitch as, in the distance, a huge black column could be seen rising from the earth... in the direction of the canyon known as Mythala's Fault. The magistrate of Kommnach, Lord Ferrich, demanded that adventurers present themselves to investigate the phenomenon. Among the volunteers were a human monk named Stanin Darkwind, a pompous and aloof fellow who hated half-breeds, the half-elven reluctant cleric of Mythala Llael, who had angered his god enough to cause him to lose all but the most basic of his spells, the bards "Chugs" Marwin, a half-elf, and SilverStar, an elf, the half-elven sorcerer Jaeron, the half-elven paladin of the god of war Dartal named Ansalon Featherwing, and Emerald, a young halfling rogue suffering from amnesia. In addition, a young half-elven barbarian named Legoldur joined the group after the promise of fifty gold pieces, and an elven wizard called Slainnious Na'i Del was elected (well, forced by a geas spell) to lead them.

Immediately, the group left for Mythala's Fault. Four huge glowing orbs emerged from the canyon, one alone, a bright gold, and three smaller green ones following shortly after. Shortly after this, the huge black column rising into the sky lashed out with three great black tentacles and grabbed Emerald, Stanin, and Jaeron, then disappeared, and the sky resumed a bluish hue as once before! (They were taken to Zaisha's quest, link coming soon!)

Those that remained, Chugs, Slainnious, Llael, Ansalon, Legoldur, and SilverStar, continued down into the canyon, finding a large cavern carved into the side. The cavern, they found, led to a large library deep below the surface, directly under where the old city of Lindaton used to sit, maintained by a group of kobolds and two tame ogres, led by a brave (for a kobold) soul named Bobo. They found two books there. One was the "Book of the Gods" which detailed how the old gods of lore were bound near this particular library for over a millenium by the new gods, Anala, Dartal, and Givelba, after the old gods had angered Mithril, called in the book the "One Over Many". The group guessed that the gods had escaped, and thus the black column and the huge glowing orbs were somehow related to this event. Had Mythala released the gods in one of his earthquakes?

Right or wrong as they were, the other book was a black book that would only open for Llael and Slainnious, called the "Book of Loss". When opened, this book shot out a blinding beam of evil, destructive power, such that it pained the paladin of Dartal Ansalon to touch the book at all.

The group returned to the surface via a strange portal just before the library collapsed upon itself in another earthquake. They traveled back to Kommnach, where Lord Ferrich was briefed on the information they'd gained. They'd tried to withhold the books they found from him, but then the geas spell kicked in and began killing Slainnious until they relinquished the books. After looking at both of them, the lord returned the books and bade them deliver a message to King Dittoc Orcsplitter of Strogitston. They were also approached by the tavernkeeper after Lord Ferrich left them, who identified himself as one against the magistrate, and also had them deliver a message to Dittoc. They agreed, and headed north to Strogitston. They were soon joined by Stanin, Emerald, an elven cleric named Pariel, Jaeron, Ewe the gnome illusionist and his familiar Thair, and Zaisha the elf.

On their way, they got lost in fog, and found themselves taken by Llael's innate senses for finding women to a deserted and mystical graveyard, where, yes, there were women, but they were all dead!... All but one, an old friend of his, Renee the cleric of Anala! She was companioned by a half-orc barbarian named Malachi and Scior, a sly and cunning human. These three had been caught within this graveyard for one day, unable to leave, and the adventurers heading to Strogitston found that they, too, could not escape. Assailed by zombies and other various undead, the group of living sought the nearest shelter they could find, first trying to enter a fenced mausoleum, but the gate was locked, and they failed to open the lock. The mausoleum itself had a large name written in elven script:

"Rengar Qal"

"Gaarik DaRuth"

"Daxaranathein"

Near a small pool of water, who should they find but Bobo the Kobold lurking in the darkness! Bobo had somehow escaped the collapse of the library and now sported a magical item that shielded him from all harm, a small bracelet adorned with religious symbols of the "new" gods. It seemed that that particular bracelet would have come in useful if natural cowardly instinct had not taken over, for two groups of orcs then began their attack, one from the front, one from behind. The rear group was dealt with by Slainnious and SilverStar easily, but Legoldur, Zaishalla, and Malachi were having a time of it with the orcs they were fighting, for the orcs had priests of Gruumsh, the old god of orcs, and they were healing their fighters! At this, the group realized that their earlier theory was correct, and the old gods had escaped, for healing would not have been possible calling on their names otherwise.

Somehow, the orcs had gotten ahold of an ogre, for now this ogre attacking the rear of the party, and the only one who could fend him off was Llael with his claymore. The situation was looking grim for the heroes... until a giant dragon's head rose up from the pool of water with Bobo between its ears! The dragon breathed a pink mist which dropped the orcs... and Zaishalla, Slainnious, Stanin, and Malachi, as well. The paladin of Anala that was with them went to kill them, swearing that the pink mist emanating from the dragon's maw knocked out any with evil intent in their heart. While SilverStar killed the orcs that had fallen, and Legoldur ran after the ogre, who had run from the mist, Llael argued for the lives of Stanin and Slainnious, for he knew that Zaisha and Malachi were not evil, a fact that the paladin was able to ascertain using his ability to detect the presence of evil. The paladin forced Llael into a vow that the "evil ones" would be taught to leave their evil ways behind, and Llael took on Slainnious as an adopted child, or other similar relationship. Renee did the same for Stanin.

The dragon wanted a sacrifice for its trouble, and Bobo, sweet Bobo, was all too happy to pay with his own life. Without much more thought to him than a half-hearted rescue attempt, the adventurers went onward, until one of the traps of the catacombs, set-- more than likely-- by the orcs, claimed the paladin of Anala. Most of the group, figuring he was a jerk and got what he deserved anyway, walked past into a large stone chamber with a single stone altar caked in places with dried blood. While Slainnious, SilverStar, and Ansalon investigated this strange table, Malachi and Legoldur went on, finding a pit of fire with two gargoyles therein! The gargoyles attacked, and nearly killed Legoldur, who was only saved by the intervention of the group and the spirit of Daxar! After the two gargoyles were taken care of, Daxaranathein turned to the adventurers, telling them about the war that the "old" gods Gruumsh, Nerull, and Erythnul were waging on the god Mythala, who had somehow acquired all the blame of imprisoning them that likely belonged to the "new" gods Anala, Dartal, and Givelba, for Shalstor and Nereidia had been neutral in that conflict. Furthermore, Daxar offered knowledge and teaching to any who would ask, and several of the group were taken for brief moments to ask questions and gain answers, however cryptic.

Llael, however, was not to be spared cold hard truth. He was taken to two months in the future, when Strogitston would be completely destroyed by followers of the "old" gods aforementioned. Daxar also warned Llael of Slainnious Na'i Del, for she had connections to the Saberian Way, a group of elves that had sworn a blood-oath against all humans.

Soon afterward, the group left Daxar with a key to Gaarik's tomb so they would have a place to sleep for the night, and in the tomb, they discovered a livable inn-type setting, complete with beds and gifts for their journey, one being a marvelous jewel-bedecked sword. Malachi took these things, and the group spent the night in Gaarik's tomb.

The cemetary finally let them leave, but not without the warning: "You will return!" The heroes, of course, figured that the cemetary was proclaiming their deaths, but they decided it was best not to ask to make sure, and left the cemetary. They soon reached Strogitston and met with the King of the Dwarves, Dittoc Orcsplitter. They handed Dittoc the letter that the innkeeper in Kommnach had given them (for they had torn up Lord Ferrich's letter), and then traded knowledge and supplies. Some of the adventurers noticed with annoyance and confusion that Chugs and Dittoc were good friends, however... After this, the group split (Link coming soon back to Zaisha's quest) in two, half going with Llael and Chugs to investigate the books they had found with the local scribe, while the other half joined Jaeron and Zaishalla in investigating an unknown threat from beneath the earth.

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