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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerakSpielman" data-source="post: 486322" data-attributes="member: 7464">Brief History of Events leading up to the Current Situation(Note: Many side-adventures occurred to supplement this main storyline. Much detail has been omitted for briefness.)    The party was discovered and assembled by a nobleman named Trevor Idlespear, a Hero Scout for the King of Silleria. He noted the abilities of the members separately and arranged to meet them together. He hired them to clean out the abandoned Myrtolo Keep, lost during the Gossland war, which just ended. The party traveled to the Keep and cleaned it out, receiving their reward. They were told to travel the lands, doing good deeds in the name of the King. Some of the Heroes considered this directive rather irritating, especially since Trevor Idlespear seemed unwilling to help them in any material way.    It wasn’t long before they uncovered clues regarding the location of the Eye of Vecna, taken by Hero-Sages of two centuries ago for banishment. Apparently, the Hero-Sages failed. The Heroes, after much trial, time travel, scuffling with blue dragons and juju zombies, prevailed, and completed the ritual to lock the Eye away from the multiverse forever in a pocket of raw Time.This earned them the wrath of the Temple of Vecna, which had been plotting these many years the subjugation of the Kingdom of Silleria. The Vecnoids tricked the Hero Serena into donning a cursed Glove of Storing, and when the King shook the hands of the members of the party to indicate his pleasure at the good jobs they’ve done, the Glove activated and destroyed him in an instant.     A Vecnoid, posing as the High Priest of Hieroneous, charged the Heroes with murder, but they escaped and retreated to the Temple of Fharlanghn, where the High Priest attempted a True Resurrection of the King. It failed, and the High Priest divined that the Kings soul must have been trapped in a gem. If the Heroes want to clear their names, they have to retrieve the Soul Gem.Meanwhile, a small army shows up and burns the Temple of Fharlanghn down, scattering the clerics to the open road on the orders of the High Priest of Hieroneous. Figuring out that this priest must be a Vecnoid imposter, Canter swears he will not rest until he has attained revenge for this act. Before they part ways, the High Priest of Fharlanghn gives Canter a scroll of Hallow, with instructions to cast it in the main sanctuary of the Temple of Vecna if he gets a chance.    (Note: In my campaign, Hallow/Unhallow is more potent and difficult to eliminate than it is as stated in the PH. This would seriously mess up the Vecnoid temple for some time, if successful. The idea being that the Unhallow cast on the Vecnoid Temple was cast a long time ago by the highest level Cleric they had, but at that time, he was not 20th. The High Priest of Fharlanghn is 20th, and his scroll of Hallow is the more potent version of the spell.)    One thing led to another, and the Heroes recovered the magical one-of-a-kind axe Tunneler from the hands of some devious Kuo-Toa. Using the unique properties of Tunneler, they gained entrance to the old, forgotten way into the Temple of Vecna, knowing they would have no chance at a frontal assault. Using Hats of Disguise, coupled with the fact that the Vecnoids were not expecting infiltrators, they managed to catch the second-in-command, a priest named Malz Akir, alone in his quarters. They got around his absurdly high AC and killed him, using a combination of grappling and attack spells. A well-placed Death Ward saved Fjorda from a Destruction spell, and the battle was theirs (as well as the nifty magical stuff).     Meanwhile, Canter manages to Hallow the main sanctuary of the Temple in the name of Fharlanghn. All hell starts to break loose as the Vecnoid clerics realize that their Temple doesn’t feel right any more. While they’re getting organized, Canter dons Malz Akir’s armor and, using his Hat of Disguise and some lucky rolls impersonates Malz Akir and visits the High Priest. Having learned from Malz Akir’s journal where the King’s soul gem is hidden, they convince the senile High Priest to take them there (a secret library) where they discover the soul gem (and destroy it to free the soul), some treasure, and a crystal ball, which Serena takes gleefully. The Vecnoid High Priest is killed, and Canter uses Sending to tell his own High Priest to start the True Resurrection to restore the King to life.    However, all is still not well. Malz Akir’s journal also described an ally of the Vecnoids, a Vampire named Murnig Ulbrig, is constructing some sort of hideous Ultimate Weapon involving multiple Spheres (of Annihilation???). It will be complete in two weeks time, whereupon the wizard Cabals will be destroyed and the Kingdom will fall under the subjugation of the Vecnoid army, still very much intact.    The Heroes return to the Fiernas Cabal to find out what they can about this Vampire, and discover he has a fortress in the far North. This Tower is protected by some kind of permanent Dimensional Anchor, surrounding the premises and preventing teleportation in or out. Serena concludes that this effect would have to be created by some sort of unique, very powerful magical device. If they can destroy it, they should be able to teleport in and out at will. Further research reveals that Murnig was, before becoming a Vampire, the head of an evil wizard Cabal. He could easily be 20th level, and the wizards of the Fiernas Cabal do not believe the Heroes can defeat him in open combat. The icing on the cake is that the Tower is so far north that, to put it bluntly, the sun set a month ago. It is not expected to rise again for about 2 more months.    Leaving the Sillerian Cabals to handle the Vecnoid army, the Heroes get themselves teleported North to a small village near the Tower of Murnig Ulbrig.     That is where we join them.Next: The Party travels all the way to the front door.</blockquote>

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