The Principal Party
Current State of Play
December 2008
It's been six months since the last update so it's time to give this page another shake-up
At present, the campaign and our principal characters' movements cannot help but revolve around the War between Alphatia on the one hand and Glantri, Thyatis and the Heldann Territories on the other, which in time will come to be known as Wrath of the Immortals.
Having escorted Teldon to Sundsvall at the request of Duke Stefan Karameikos, Karnus and Lana participated in negotiations with Empress Eriadna and her team of advisors (these included the ex-Emperor Tylion IV and Admiral Haldemar of Haaken, famed explorer and captain of the Princess Ark, now the Empress' foremost adviser on military matters and foreign policy). A treaty was concluded, whereby Eriadna formally accepted Karameikos' independence and neutrality in the War, and vowed not to allow her forces to enter Karameikos if/when the War spread to the continent of Bryn. In exchange, Karameikos undertook firstly to combat the forces of the Master of Desert Nomads and secondly not to assist Thyatis against the Alphatians. As a final concession, Eriadna agreed to consider gifting resources to bolster magical learning within Karameikos … once the more pressing concerns of the War were out of her way.
The Karameikans were privileged when Eriadna divulged certain pieces of information she had gleaned through her information network, though she refrained from providing much specific detail:-
that evil Immortals were known to be masquerading under façades of benevolence, e.g. legendary heroes such as "Balthac", a figure of darokinian folklore who was believed to have died in single combat with a mighty red dragon, and "Drrynden", a hero of Helskir who was presumed to have vanished long ago amid a mysterious fog. Both these individuals, supposedly, had been elevated to Immortal status and were actively recruiting followers. The Karameikans' exploits in Helskir and Aasla had revealed Hel, Patroness of Death and Re-Birth, to be behind the Order of Drrynden while Eriadna had grounds to believe that Balthac was a sham faith also;
that the conquest-crazed Heldannic Knights had been far more active in recent times than had been presumed, and in Eriadna's view they posed a threat on a level which was equal to the combined might of Glantri and Thyatis;
that the Glantrians have access to dangerous and volatile magics which are threatening the safety of the world as a whole - the Immortals have given her clear indications that the Glantrians cannot be left unchecked, lest their activities trigger the destruction of the planet. She left no doubt that Etienne D'Ambreville was chiefly to blame in her view, labelling the head Wizard-Prince a reckless and arrogant fool.
Whilst the treaty was considered a great success for the most part, Lana was obliged to surrender the magical staff of King Lucinius I to Eriadna, who sympathetically declared herself unable to pass over such a golden opportunity.
Once the treaty was wrapped up, Lana teleported home to Specularum to deliver the news to Duke Stefan but was aghast to find her liege in audience with emissaries of the Master of Desert Nomads, ruler of Hule and conqueror of the nation of Sind. They were accompanied by the Duke's cousin Ludwig van Hendrikks, the Black Eagle Baron. This unlikely pairing sought to convince Duke Stefan that an alliance with the Master was the most sensible option open to him. It was suggested that the Master would be content to stop at the acquisition of Darokin; Lana's eyebrows rose on hearing this. After the Baron and his companions were dismissed from the audience chamber, Lana delivered her report of the new treaty whilst Stefan and his ministers contemplated Karameikos' next course of action.
Stefan seemed pleased with the outcome of the Alphatian negotiations, that much was clear. Lana was left with the impression that the Grand Duchy would not remain as such for long, and that Stefan would proceed to declare himself King, finally autonomous from the Thyatian Empire to the east. It is hoped that the new Kingdom of Karameikos will go to the aid of neighbouring Darokin, its capital city still heavily besieged by the Master's forces. Away from Darokin City itself, the Master is known to have entrenched himself and secured most of the western side of the Streel Plain in particular.
The Darokinians and the Hollow World
Meanwhile months before, the Darokin party had traveled to the Hollow World at the direction of their patron Rheddrian and were astounded not only to discover this previously unheard-of territory, but also to learn that the Heldannic Knights had discovered the Hollow World earlier than the Alphatians and had established a strong presence there. Their disbelief was compounded when the shaft connecting the two worlds collapsed unexpectedly. Seemingly the mis-guided cleric Kelter Zerben, a follower of the Immortal "Balthac", had not only passed information to the Heldannic Knights enabling them to launch a surprise attack on the outpost of Haldemar and set most of the town ablaze, but this unwitting individual had also triggered the collapse of the shaft which had connected the upper and lower worlds. These events brought about the death of hundreds of innocent civilians and, according to the claims of survivors, had been put into motion at the bidding of the pseudo-Immortal "Balthac".
The survivors of Haldemar, bereft of any meaningful offensive or defensive capability and faced with hostility from the local tribes as well as the Heldannic Knights, agreed that it was imperative news of the catastrophe should reach the upper world. So, the Darokins split into two groups - one consisting of Sylarin, Adriana and Jeremy who would make their way in a gnomish tunneling vehicle through the collapsed shaft. The other group consisting of Dudley, Solchia and Giovanni would take a less direct journey aboard the Tipsy Tyrant - one of the few Alphatian flying vessels to have survived the blaze - and would follow the route which Prince Haldemar had mapped as leading back to the surface world through one of the polar openings. Whichever group emerged back into their home world would be charged with notifying the Alphatian authorities, and time would be of the essence.
The first group managed the trip first, and emerged starving and half-suffocated into Pittston on the island of Aegos after weeks of slow progress. They were quickly conveyed to Aegopoli where they were brought before King Heldebaran No-Man's-Fool, who recalled meeting Kelter Zerben weeks before, then they were transported to the Alphatian capital of Sundsvall to a personal audience with the Empress herself. Eriadna informed the Darokinians that Kelter Zerben too had managed the trip back to Aegos in a gnomish vehicle, and had openly cursed the name of Balthac which he now understood to have been a front for a conniving female Immortal. Kelter had managed to slip away from the authorities in Pittston and his current whereabouts remained unknown.
A fuller account of the Darokin party's journey to the Hollow World can be read HERE
Perhaps most significantly, Lana's new pet giant ferret remains in polymorphed form while the inconvenience of Immortal interference continues on the Prime Plane. Stowed inside Lana's tinderbox in the shape of a snail, the ferret's gender and name have yet to be determined. Lana isn't sure how she'll go about restoring the animal to its normal state, seeing how she has no access to the Dispel Magic spell, however she is confident that she'll figure something out.
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What lies ahead for our intrepid adventurers, spread as they are across the Known World (or in Karnus' case, on another continent)…?
Lana
Newly returned from Alphatia, Lana remains physically drained from having been raised from the dead and would benefit from a fortnight's bed-rest however events at home outweigh her personal needs. Assuming Duke Stefan announces his intention to assist the Republic of Darokin in combatting the Master, Lana will probably travel on her flying carpet to the port of Athenos where Karameikan troops await instructions, then will Teleport to Darokin City to assist in lifting the siege. The many varying delights of Sundsvall - in particular a certain enchanted cookbook available for purchase - will no doubt compel her to return in the near future.Karnus
No doubt glad to be shot of Lana after weeks confined aboard the flying carpet, it is probably accurate to view Karnus as conflicted - on the one hand, he longs to return to his beloved Glantri and resume study at the Great School, while on the other hand he is enthralled by the wonders of Sundsvall and the ready availability of magical commodities. Having fulfilled the vow he swore to himself that he would protect Teldon and Lana on their journey and having also played a key role in concretising the treaty between Karameikos and Alphatia, it remains to be seen what Karnus' next move will be. A return trip to the home of Myskuramis perhaps? Or a visit to the nation of Thothia from which Hutaakan culture is suspected to have derived? Or a return to Glantri to report his findings to the Wizard-Princes…?Drewen
Our dwarven hero finds little time for adventure as he continues to oversee construction of the partly-subterranean complex which is to serve as home to the regrouped Goldenhammer clan in the fringes of the Altan Tepes in north-eastern Karameikos. Preliminary investigations have revealed the region surrounding the clanseat to contain valuable metal and mineral ores, which Drewen's clan will likely be charged with mining on the Duke's behalf. It might even be the case that Drewen will be granted a dominion over the outlying lands.Vasily
The distrustful cleric of Halav continues his quest for an ancient traladaran relic - a sceptre once wielded by a traladaran paladin on a crusade into the Glantrian province of Boldavia, an area reputed to be haunted by powerful undead. Vasily has been commanded by the Church of Traladara to seek the paladin's tomb in the hope this artifact can be returned to Karameikos. Vasily must tread a lone path and given that Glantrian law outlaws clerical magic on pain of death, his quest promises to be fraught with peril.Threy
Threy was detained while his companions escorted young Valen Karameikos out of Alfheim and back to his family in Specularum. It has now come to light that Threy was subjected to examination by the powers of Neutrality in the mini-dimension known as the Observatory. Having endured a sequence of tests set by the mysterious Olmundvar, including being forced to confront the ghosts of his past, Threy faced one final challenge - that of freeing his twin brother's soul from the evil phenomenon known as Stalkbrow. Threy's brother died during the traumatic encounter but attained peace. For his part, Threy was returned to the Prime Plane but found himself catapulted to a far-flung corner of the Known World where he has been wandering a bleak landscape for weeks, sustained only by his clerical abilities. One can only presume Threy has re-appeared in the Desert of Sind, far to the west, where he will need to keep his wits about him if he is to evade the ever-vigilant forces of the Master of Desert Nomads.