RedShirtNo5
First Post
Prelude
It is a troubled time for the Seven Kingdoms. For six months, the Wind Riders have heard rumors that a rolling storm of chaos-stuff is traveling toward the Seven Kingdoms. At the center of this storm is the Shard of Sharn, a powerful artifact of chaos, not seen for a millennium. According to the myth, the Shard itself is not evil, but "where chaos goes, evil follows."
The adventurers have been traveling through the statocracy of Kordash toward the dwarven mountain kingdom of Thorbardin. The dwarven cleric Thantar hopes, once they reach the mountains, to strike a blow against the orcs occupying his ancestral hall, Thorbaldar. "And," says Thantar, "no blasted chaos-stuff is going to reach us inside a dwarf-delve." After a short detour to visit Sir Reynard's father, the Wind Riders have resumed traveling toward the mountains.
But when the adventurers reach the low foothills, they see that the chaos-storm has arrived. Dense thunderclouds, lit from the inside by green and purple flashes of light and accompanied by occasional deep thunder, roll across the sky to the north. Even at a distance, Geldar, Ka'hari and Kindrid feel subtle perturbations starting to disrupt their magic. The Wind Riders spur their mounts forward, trying to reach shelter in the hills.
After half an hour of hard riding, the storm clouds are nearly on them, and a light rain begins. This close, the adventurers see that the flashes of green and purple light are spread from near the ground up into the clouds. Each flash starts as a point of fire that explodes outwardly in a flat circle to form a ring of green or purple flame, and then vanishes.
The adventurers are still riding when a flash expands into a horizontal ring of green fire about one-hundred feet away. Out from the ring drop ten 4-foot tall humanoid creatures. Each creature has wrinkled and mottled gray skin, fangs and jagged red nails. Geldar the Azure Mage is the first to react. Instantly analyzing and sifting probabilities with his genius-level mental calculations, he quickly deduces the optimal response. When the smoke from Geldar's fireball clears, all ten of the creatures are nothing more than burned-out husks.
"Hmm. Do we know they were evil?" asks Ka'hari.
"When gray-skinned creatures with fangs and claws drop out of an interdimensional portal, what are the chances they are good?" replies Geldar. "Besides, I'm fairly sure these are the same sort of creatures that we fought in the Tower of Enlightenment. They are called manes, and they are from the Abyss."
Satisfied with Geldar's quick solution, the Wind Riders try to live up to their name, and ride faster while the flashes of green and purple light come more frequently. After about fifteen minutes, another flash of green light and a load roar bursts directly above them. Out of the ring of green fire drops a four-armed insectoid creature with a bright red exoskeleton, white claws and white mandibles. The creature falls twenty feet onto the ground, apparently stunned.
But before any of the party can react, a blinding flash of purple light explodes around them.
It is a troubled time for the Seven Kingdoms. For six months, the Wind Riders have heard rumors that a rolling storm of chaos-stuff is traveling toward the Seven Kingdoms. At the center of this storm is the Shard of Sharn, a powerful artifact of chaos, not seen for a millennium. According to the myth, the Shard itself is not evil, but "where chaos goes, evil follows."
The adventurers have been traveling through the statocracy of Kordash toward the dwarven mountain kingdom of Thorbardin. The dwarven cleric Thantar hopes, once they reach the mountains, to strike a blow against the orcs occupying his ancestral hall, Thorbaldar. "And," says Thantar, "no blasted chaos-stuff is going to reach us inside a dwarf-delve." After a short detour to visit Sir Reynard's father, the Wind Riders have resumed traveling toward the mountains.
But when the adventurers reach the low foothills, they see that the chaos-storm has arrived. Dense thunderclouds, lit from the inside by green and purple flashes of light and accompanied by occasional deep thunder, roll across the sky to the north. Even at a distance, Geldar, Ka'hari and Kindrid feel subtle perturbations starting to disrupt their magic. The Wind Riders spur their mounts forward, trying to reach shelter in the hills.
After half an hour of hard riding, the storm clouds are nearly on them, and a light rain begins. This close, the adventurers see that the flashes of green and purple light are spread from near the ground up into the clouds. Each flash starts as a point of fire that explodes outwardly in a flat circle to form a ring of green or purple flame, and then vanishes.
The adventurers are still riding when a flash expands into a horizontal ring of green fire about one-hundred feet away. Out from the ring drop ten 4-foot tall humanoid creatures. Each creature has wrinkled and mottled gray skin, fangs and jagged red nails. Geldar the Azure Mage is the first to react. Instantly analyzing and sifting probabilities with his genius-level mental calculations, he quickly deduces the optimal response. When the smoke from Geldar's fireball clears, all ten of the creatures are nothing more than burned-out husks.
"Hmm. Do we know they were evil?" asks Ka'hari.
"When gray-skinned creatures with fangs and claws drop out of an interdimensional portal, what are the chances they are good?" replies Geldar. "Besides, I'm fairly sure these are the same sort of creatures that we fought in the Tower of Enlightenment. They are called manes, and they are from the Abyss."
Satisfied with Geldar's quick solution, the Wind Riders try to live up to their name, and ride faster while the flashes of green and purple light come more frequently. After about fifteen minutes, another flash of green light and a load roar bursts directly above them. Out of the ring of green fire drops a four-armed insectoid creature with a bright red exoskeleton, white claws and white mandibles. The creature falls twenty feet onto the ground, apparently stunned.
But before any of the party can react, a blinding flash of purple light explodes around them.
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