A Call to Adventure

 

A Call to Adventure... 

You have found yourself here, in what is commonly called northernmost "province" of the Kingdom of King John.  His City of Kias in the south is besieged by the God King Mok Turosh, the farthest north his reach extends is here, only recently released from war with the Elves of Westfolden.  You seek freedom from service in the army, and perhaps a life for yourselves, on your terms, and if your lucky, maybe an adventure or two that does not involve dying on the front lines in the south, as the lands of Men begin to fall to the Kordic nations.

At least in the north there is no real rule of Law.  Inbaranen of the Elves, and King John have agreed not to enforce their rule in these lands and so the truce between them stands, for now.  While it is said the Emiisaries of Inbaranen can be met on the road.  They are sworn not to rule the Northern Province or as they call it Honilee, nor invoke or enforce their laws there.  The same is true for John, though the Sages guild exists and servants of the Hidden Tower are everywhere.  Boats are landing each month with refugees and retired knights, soldiers and adventurers, but no courts, no dungeons, no Guard, and no Army.

The Northern Province or Honilee, is a world in itself, bordered by the two most powerful nations left in the east, the Elves of Westfolden, under the rule of the Heirophant Inbaranen, his Leafwinders and the Legendary Invoker Army.  The way to their doors lies to the west, high up in the mountains that cradle the lands.  While The Kingdom of King John is now accessible by boat alone as the dead of the Incusion war that littered the Bench, rose almost overnight and now prove the main trade road to the north unpassable be even the King.

Many stories have come to you from the North.  Many wonders and deeds whispered down past the Break from tinkers, travelers, merchants, hermits and sailors.

Tenwillows Cove

It is said that Witches hide and ruin the lowlands of the Province and devour men, and hoard hearts, and pervert women to witchcraft and malevolence.

It is said they tutor the mind and addict the soul to darkness.

It is the very best of the lands of the south that they control, fertile, dairy’s, farm lands, orchards with gardens that seem to produce abundance without reason.  And the men there are slaves and prisoners of the will of the witches.  That the women seek seed for a private army of monstrous slaves, that they feed on blood and the unwilling, that the fruit is cursed with illusion and that the tables are full of lies, not abundance.

Will you venture there, to Tenwillows, Mora, Lakewater and the other abundant and beautific towns to the south, perhaps to free the people there from the grip of this evil?  Can you untie the true knot of the Coven of Tenwillows and burn the rot of the witches from the south with the Light of Aday?

Inbaranen and the Invoker Armies of Westfolden

Stories have also reached you that the Truce between John and Inbaranen is about to expire.  That the cause of further peace must be taken up by the people of the province, a hero, or hero’s who with their will alone, chose to face the Druids Champions and sue with their own blood through combat a peace of another 100 years. 

Will you face them on the open road, the Dreaded Emmisaries of Inbaranen, will you confront the Invoker Army, will you challenge the Son of Idigbrien on the peak and buy this peace with your very life?

The Gate of Akua

The stories also tell of a great Nature Blue dragon that has come to the province, that sinks boats and terrorizes the road, claims the lands and asserts power through slaves.

They say it is Akua returned.  Aku of the Ballad, Bell and Akua.  Akua the progenitor of the great lance the Fang of Akua, wielded by that ignoble Vampire in the south.  And Bell the half elven knight that defeated Akua and threw him down from his peak in over the plains of the south those many hundred years ago.  

They say the Dragon is as old as time, and has all but locked the province in its house, taken the few heros that dared to face it and devoured them and turned the other powers to its will.  They say the cities will fall into service to the Dragon unless someone defeat its slaves, and force it from tis lair and possibly kill it, if you Can kill a Great Nature Dragon.

Can you?  Have you killed a wild dragon?  Can you face its slaves and defeat them on your way to its lair in the Hills of the Outcast, can you free the peoples, open the road, save the ships from the bottom of the sea and send off the dragon that seems intent on enslaving the entire province?

Myskateel

They also say a great and powerful Assassin, the leader of the Smiluvenni, has made the Northern Province his home since before time.  That he is deceitful, invisible, secretive and works through his Understay to put out the light that is the race of Man and the rule of Gods.

They say the Smiluvenni are an army of assassins that are the agents of the Understay.  That they draw out and douse the Light wherever it shines.  That good rises only as high as the intent of their blades.  That the King himself has killed many assassins, that hero’s are not safe from their baldes or the will of their ultimate master the dreaded Myskateel. 

Can you infiltrate the Smiluvenni, defeat the Understay and his army of assassins and find your way to Myskateel’s lair and remove him from power?

Mok Turosh

In the south a war rages, the Uprising it was called, until they wiped the City of Kesh from the map and scattered those peoples, killed Korlain, and broke the last of the High Elvin houses on their crude blades.  That the Kords are every evil humanoid thing, Ogres, Trolls, Goblins, kobolds, giants, all of these evil things are united now under the banner of Mok Turosh, the God King of the Evil Demi Humans, walking the earth, killing with its own hands, propelling his army north to extinguish man from the world.

With all, only a handfull of City States remain free from or embroiled in a fight for their lives against the God King.  The Elvin Kingdom of Westfolden, the City of the Last King, The Northern Province or as the Elves call it, Honalee, The Hidden City that was once called Free Winds, before the army swept through it and robbed it of life, Tulnimoon in the South, the City of Varmeylius, second of the triune children of Pholtus.  There are the remaining City States of the Ptolegies, mans southern Sea King Cousins, there is Dan, Hardwall and Gap of the Vasting, hold out strongholds, all Plagued or beseiged by the armies, and in the north, there is still Lydia and Tarsus.

Oovardiis

They also say there was once, of old, before the elves were ruled by a druid and were ruled by Great Houses of timeless Elvin Dynasties, that the earliest of them, Oovardiis, had tamed Honilee by taking it from the dwarves, and driving out the Western Men, who after that fell into legend alone and are now just myths. 

They say the Great Lich made a garden of Honilee and lived in its entirety as though it were his own house.  They say the great western swamp that is called the NeHi was his garden pool, that the high peaks of Olinal were his apartments, that the Great Forests were his orchard. 

They say also that he broke himself into 9 pieces and in them slept the sleep of eternity. 

They say that those Simulacra wander and terrorize the Northern Province still, that John killed one of them during the incursion war as they fought on the side of the Elves, and that an Evil Great Nature Dragon killed another, that was seen as a threat to its territory.    

They say the when the Simulacra have all been destroyed, Oovardiis will rise again and only then can he be permanently destroyed and his darkness and evil lifted from these, his ancient lands.

Can you destroy the Simulacra of Oovardiis in order to re-materialize him, so that he can be killed permanently?

The Wardens

                It is said that there is a lot of work to be done for the hope of Man and the Light. 

It is said the Wardens Service seeks heroes of renown to find and to defeat evil and darkness across the world.  That there are more Great Nature Dragons than just Akua and Myskateel. 

They say that Oovardiis is not the only lich that seeks to devour time itself. 

They say the legacy of the Western Men stands to fall open upon Darkness or Light depending upon who can find the Tombs of Amon, and the Western Men, retrieve their artifacts and agency and with that ancient power, stand up to the forces that seek to wash over men, to drown their legacy in a permanent darkness

They say the Wardens seek to read the treasures and magics of the world to find these evils and these tools of great power and harness them for the fight they see coming, a final conflagration, an apocalypse of all time, fought for the souls of the Gods themselves.

They say the Sages are their eyes and ears, and that the greatest of these great evils are called the Circle of Nine.  An Antiparchy of terrible power that if ever united, would easily clean man from existence.

Can you help them?  Will you let the Sages guide you?  Will you become a Warden, and ride their magics to far away lairs and topple the evil within and resurrect the ancient powers of the Western Men?

The Lock

It is also said that the dwarves have built more underground than all beings of all times have built above the ground.

They say that every cave, every well, every basement, and every tomb is somehow secretly connected to a Great Lock of passages, and roads. 

It is said that long ago, the dwarves contended with Orvardiis and lost, and that he flooded their mines, and cities and passages with undead, and that only after centuries of struggle were they able to reclaim the few of their cities and passages, the rest being lost to powerful roving undead. 

It is said the many halls and chambers and all the tombs of all the dead from the dawn of time to the death of Boltar, are all but lost, and the vast uncountable riches of the many dwarven kingdoms lies helplessly in the grasp of powerful undead.

Can you break the lock and destroy the many dead there and so return the kingdoms of the Dwarves back to them?  Can you enter and overcome the evil of those places and claim the wealth and power of the ancient lineages of dwarven kings?

Malfator and the Gray Veil 

As all know.  Malfator the Gray Veil inhabits and animates the flesh of the dead.  Malfator’s power alone gives them the ability to step through the veil that separates our world from the other side.  His power alone injects into this world through them for his evil purposes.

As we all know, the undead serve him directly or indirectly through merely existing.

As we know, he sees us through the eyes of the dead and can speak to us through the mouth of the dead. 

We all know of the Aspects of Malfator as well.  The three faces of living flesh that he wears to walk the earth as a living being.  His Aspects, the Aspect of Suffering, the Aspect of Deceit and the Aspect of Slavery, living beings that trod the earth and seek out his dark purposes.

As we know, the only thing that keeps the dead from rising again is blessing, through magic or divinity, the body in death and a proper burial.

As we know, Undead are treacherous, even the most benign of the newly raised from the field of battle to the Vampire lords and the Liches and the Wraiths that haunt time itself.

As we know Malfator slew Leah’dah during the Ushering, and she was divested of divinity, and failed to usher in the New Light, and so passed into etheria without leaving the world an heir of the light of Pholtus, but leaving also, many strong agents of Light, Healing and Life in the world in her stead.

As we all know, Malfator stepped in and slew her when the wheels of time coalesced and become the well of eternity for that briefest of moments and he locked them open, stood in the place of Death and spread his veil to cover the way from this life to the next, in the great beyond, trapping all life an all souls here, in the world, to live or to sleep here in death, or with his hand, rise again as undead.

As we all know, Malfator must be confronted and slain in order to close the gates of eternity and allow the wheel sof time to again turn their separate ways, and birth again the god of death.  As only he can repair the passage for our souls to find transition and peace into the great beyond.

As we all know, His aspects must be bound and laid to rest together in lost sanctity, in order to pull Malfator from the Gap and manifest him in form and allow his own death to be achieved.

Just kidding, no one knows this, only the Primerium of Facta Necromanta guards this secret, and she is not telling anyone!

Can you open the Bench in the south by driving the dead there to eternity?  Can you Tear the Veil off of Malfator, face and lay low the God and return the Legacy of Pholtus to the world?

Whatever Fate waits you or whatever Destiny you hope to carve from the world, do not despair, you are not alone.

The Leahdists are what remains of the practitioners and lay people that worshipped Leah’dah who are, now that she is dead, the only thing that remains of her religion.

They have taken over the performance of ceremonies, marriages, offering burial rites.

They tend the shrines, worship at the Temples and inter the dead, where they are able, and where evil has not over run.

They love Leah’dah and the Old God, though prayers do not bear fruit, and divine aid never comes.

They keep the stories of the Ascendants alive and the sing the line of Pholtus, and guard the old rites though they are divorced of the power that used to infuse and propel them.

The Exvocates are those of her Priestesses that still live, and wander the world healing and aiding the ill, the wounded, the lame, the dying and the poor.  Though they never speak, they guide how they can.  They are always attended by their Guardsman, many of home are venerable in age as they are almost all human, and only those who were very young at the time of the ushering are still alive.  They visit places of rest and healing rather often, and most towns have a Clearing that is dedicated to the aid and comfort of the ill and wounded.

There are also Hermits, or, those who were not priestesses or Guardsmen, but were involved with the Godess and her Order none the less who still strive to make the world a better place and aid those who would overthrow evil.  They have knowledge of secret paths and armories, they know the ways to the temples and forts of Leahdah and they know the words to pass the gates and the guardians, and some know the older ways, the places of Pholtus and the Tombs and Keeps of the Ascendants, and will guide those good souls there for weapons and healing and power.

Aday.  One of the last living Avatar’s of Pholtus.  He is a demigod in his own right, was the companion and Friend of Leah’dah.  He was divine before Pholtus entered his own Ushering and raised Leah’dah, Malfator, Varmelius, Matherial, Peytah and Igyaya, his Generals, into godhood.

Aday still wanders the many places of the province and contests the influence of evil in the realm.  Adventures have met him, he has slain some who have leaned to far towards evil, and others he has saved from traps and prisons and the larders of dire and malevolent things.

He is found at the Field of Day where the strongest of warriors fight to the death for his favor.

Arnimoon.  The Great Nature White Dragon that watches the high places and guides the Council of Winds.  She is a powerful force of good that fought the Simulacra Archo above the Port of Brighton, she tore the Wing of Akua, and Drove the Vampires from Tolacoro.  She is an active and invested agent of the Light and has her own force of agents and hero’s who with her guidance, seek out and eliminate evil.  She frequents the strongholds of her allies and is not an uncommon sight in the northern province.

Suel.  Another Great Nature Dragon, a Green one.  As old as Akua herself, Suel is a friend of Elves and has sought to protect the Wild and the Fey of these lands since Yula, the father of the Gray Elves first entered the lands and named them Honilee.  Suel fought with men against Inbaranen’s Incursion against men and stood with Dual at the Bench as Ayvathor the Leafwinder slew him with Tearbringer, and ended the rule of Men in the Northern Province.  It was Suel the blinded him, and drove off the the other leafwinders and saved many thousands of men women and children for three days and the arrival of John and the front of his army and in the Vanguard, where he sued Inbaranen for peace and they wrote the truce on the mule stone.

Suel is greatly invested in the efforts of men as well, and when seen is often in the company of a sage from the Observatory.   

Suel aids all he can that seek the destruction of evil.  His glade is a beacon to all those who strive against evil.  The Vale of Aden is guarded by powerful servants of good, and seems to have a gathered quite a group of adventurers.

The Sages of the Sages Guild or the Watchers, or Facta Diva, are the Great Sages in service to King John.  They are in the world to guide all kinds to the betterment of men and the protection of the light. 

The Wardens Service, is an arm of the kingdom of King John.  They are co-organized with the Sages Guild, though many see the Warden’s as agents of the Sages.  In fact, this “Service” is specifically the far reaching hand of King John.  The Wardens are responsible for facing evil all over the world.  They are often times teleported into lairs, or regions that conventional travel might take years to reach.

With their divinatory powers, the Sages Guild are able to investigate rare treasures that are brought to them and read the past of them.  This sometimes leads them to artifacts that can either help human kind or hurt it.  The Wardens retrieve evil artifacts and kill malevolent evil of a powerful nature, and also help besieged soldiers, provide aid to allies and retrieve good artifacts and magic items for use by the powers of good.

As PC’s reach 5-7^th level, so long as they are good, will be contacted by the Wardens service to work for or with them.  Wardens have access to the magical vaults of the King, and the support of the Sages guild.  It is not uncommon for Adventurers to encounter Wardens on some kind of mission.

An Agent is a character that is inducted into the Wardens Service.  Only Sages or other Facta powers do not gain this title when attached to a Cleave.  Agent is a permanent office.  It comes with credentials.  An agent is entitled to aid in the realms of King John, but most of their authority comes with the completion of their mission.

A Warden is the name given to the Agent that is elected to run the Cleave.  It cannot be a sage or any other servant of the Hidden Tower.  There are no other requirements other than the vote of the Cleave.  The Title of Warden is only used during the mission.  After the Mission the Warden returns to the Status of Agent.  A Warden makes all the decision’s of the cleave.

A Cleave is the name given to a group of Agents, and their Warden, along with their support from the sages Guild and or the Hidden Tower.   A cleave lasts only as long as the mission.

This is an example of how a Cleave of the Warden's Service works;

**A group of Warden's were teleported to Many Rivers along with Taritor; a Servant of Facta Pria, Two sages, the Emissary Wellin, and Argent of the Vistilry of Ingveroon.  They spoke with some of the adventurers gathered there and accepted 7 to their ranks for the mission was to;

·         Re-enter Arbor, a Leah’dic Fort eight days ride from Many Rivers, and to

·         drive out the Wights, and their leader and any other servants of the Gray Veil that are encountered, and

·         Verify or restore operation of the Moonwell, that was likely destroyed by or prior to the occupation of the Wights.

·         Find and retrieve the mace, Arginald.

·         And if the Fort is Corrupted, remove what remains of the Pholtic and Leah’dic legacies to Phylukon for safe keeping

The Emissary Wellin, knows the roads and the lands and had visited the Fort when Leah’dah lived.

The two sages are the preeminent experts on the Fort.

The Agents were selected for familiarity facing and fighting Wights, and are comfortable in the mountains.

Taritor is seeking an Item likely held in Arbor, taken from a Peytic Witch who died there at the hands of the Wights, and also has experience navigating Leah’dic ruins, and is on Sebatical in the Northern Province for the Facta, and offered a hand.

Argent is seeking the Master of the Wights, a dark being tutored by Malfator himself, and is the one responsible for initiating this Cleave with the Sages Guild. He is also their to find and slay the Peytic Witch who was raised and perverted by Malfator into service.

2 of the seven adventurers invited into the cleave have been to Arbor before and fought the dead there.  All the Adventureres have been a part of a cleave before.  One was once an Agent.

        They were successful in in destroying the wights, there were 14 wights in all.  Three of the adventurers died fighting them.  One was revived by Matherial herself.  One had a contract with the Sages guild for resurrection and his finger was collected by one of the sages, and all of his possessions.  The other was jarred by the dark thing that controlled them and his body was destroyed in the fight.  The Emissary was also jarred after the adventurer and he fled into the wilderness.  The Fort was indeed corrupted and the cleave gathered the few sacred items that remained as well as Argineald which was wielded against them by the dark thing.  It blinded and paralyzed Taritor who recovers still in the Hidden Tower.  At the initiation of the Sages, the relics were sent to Phylukon, and three new agents arrived via teleportation to help the cleave, as the warden determined that tracking down and freeing the emissary and destroying the dark thing that possed her was their next course of action.  All but one of the surviving adventurers refused to go further, and were paid and released.  From there, traitor also left, but Argent continued on, as that was his primary objective.  That is where their story ends for now and that is basically how a cleave works.

 

The Servants of the Hidden Tower are about in the world at large.  Though the Hidden Tower was not always called this, it used to be the College of Sorcery in the City of Freewinds in the south.  But the City of Freewinds fell to the God King decades ago, but the Tower, well protected and hidden still remains in the ruins of that city.  Those who come and go from the tower, do so magically or with exceptional skill and stealth as the God King has taken it as a slave city.

                The organization of the tower and its Facta’s are detailed elsewhere but know that Servants are abroad in the world, seeking to acquire Facta power and serve their own obscure purposes.  Purposes that often align with the Kingdom but not always.

                They can be obvious in their appearance, and will often sell their assistance for identifying magic, or reading the history of things or even casting some spells. 

                They rarely hang out together, as they quite literally almost all oppose each other.  If you have something they are looking for, be carefull, they want it, and will rarely take no for an answer.

                However, they are powerful, independent agents for good in the world.  They have an interest in the perseverance of the world of men, and are sometimes able to be convinced to help causes that abut or even overlap their own interests.

                There are 8 Facta’s, and scores of Facta Powers in the Northern province seeking their own enrichment and growth as well as that of their Facta’s.

 

Adventurers abound in the wide world and though most of the world’s inhabitants see them as psychopathic killers and a-moral opportunists, for the most part, Adventurers seek the survival of the world of Men, albeit, in a twisted kind of way.

                Now our Player Characters fall into this category and it is easy for farmers to see adventures as a form of uncheckable evil amongst their own kind, it is hard to judge a person who has come from nothing and now commands power on a level reserved for demigods and eternal beings.

                It is wise for adventurers to seek out their own kind and develop contacts and friends amongst their peers.  A party may need 8 strong fighter types, and that is a valuable pool of NPC’s to draw from.

 

The Freeblades Guild might be the single greatest resource for adventurers in the world of men.  Get your membership early, get your Chest, and use the board.  These are the fundamentals or adventuring life, learn them early if you want a longer life.