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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
The Banewarrens
- Thread starter GruTheWanderer
- Start date
Keia
I aim to misbehave
"Man, talk about making the women weak in the knees when I approach. I think this is going a bit too far." Titus ponders his situation for a few moments, knowing the opportunity to question or capture the elf is past. "Let's head back and see if the others affected are still experiencing troubles or if they have worn off. This may be a non-issue in a few minutes."
GruTheWanderer
First Post
The strange events of the last minutes are the subject of much talk in this area. The five of you are hailed as heroes by those you helped (like the half-orc and the halfling), and numerous bystanders offer to buy you a drink or a meal. The city watch came and took away the elf who experienced the visions and the unconscious man who fired blue lightning.
Apparently there were other incidents of this sort in nearby parts of town. Pits opening at people's feet, doors and windows popping open without cause, shopkeepers starting to glow or grow or drip acid. In most cases, a dispel magic or rendering the victim unconscious have solved the problem. Beyond that, no one has any explanation for the bizarre events.
Apparently there were other incidents of this sort in nearby parts of town. Pits opening at people's feet, doors and windows popping open without cause, shopkeepers starting to glow or grow or drip acid. In most cases, a dispel magic or rendering the victim unconscious have solved the problem. Beyond that, no one has any explanation for the bizarre events.
Uriel
Living EN World Judge
Verakka sheathes his weapons, checking to make sure that there is not blood on the first.
Turning to Iliar, he smiles (though it most likely looks unsettling, the smile of a Lizardman) and says 'Please forgive me, friend. In the Darkness I seem to have wounded you...'
Turning to Iliar, he smiles (though it most likely looks unsettling, the smile of a Lizardman) and says 'Please forgive me, friend. In the Darkness I seem to have wounded you...'
GruTheWanderer
First Post
The mist and the sparkles do not go away on their own, but clerics from several of the city's temples arrive in the area not long after the incidents. They go about providing dispel magic and remove curse to those in need, free of charge. Strange occurences have been reported throughout the city, and many organizations want to know why.
Without further clues, you return to the inn, where you are treated to food and drink by grateful locals.
Several hours later a tall, stately woman in green robes enters the inn's common room. Her hair is long and red, and she carries a thin, crooked staff. As she approaches your table you see that her right arm is a magically animated piece of red glass.
She introduces herself as Jevicca Norr and tells you that she has heard of your courageous involvement in the afternoon's chaos. She asks a few questions, but it is clear she already knows most of what happened. She offers to fill you in if you will hear an offer her organization has empowered her to make.
Without further clues, you return to the inn, where you are treated to food and drink by grateful locals.
Several hours later a tall, stately woman in green robes enters the inn's common room. Her hair is long and red, and she carries a thin, crooked staff. As she approaches your table you see that her right arm is a magically animated piece of red glass.
She introduces herself as Jevicca Norr and tells you that she has heard of your courageous involvement in the afternoon's chaos. She asks a few questions, but it is clear she already knows most of what happened. She offers to fill you in if you will hear an offer her organization has empowered her to make.
Keia
I aim to misbehave
"Wow, helpful clerics are much better that what I was going to have done - which was have Krug knock me out! Much less pain involved."
Titus is interested in what the woman has to say, "Talking doesn't cost anything. Sit down, have a drink, and let's hear what you have to say."
Titus motions for a waitress and tries to remember if he has heard anthing about a Jevicca Norr.
Titus is interested in what the woman has to say, "Talking doesn't cost anything. Sit down, have a drink, and let's hear what you have to say."
Titus motions for a waitress and tries to remember if he has heard anthing about a Jevicca Norr.
GruTheWanderer
First Post
Jevicca sits and tells you a story of the city's history.
"In the ancient recesses of time, a powerful and benevolent cleric set upon a well-intentioned plan. In those days, evil was on the decline and the forces of darkness had been routed in almost every field of battle. The master of evil dragons had been chained, and even the fell races of orcs and goblins, once more numerous than the races of humans, dwarves, elves, halflings, or gnomes - had squirmed back into their meager, shadowy refuges.
With malevolence on the wane, the cleric Danar Rotansin sought once and for all to ride the world of the remaining evil influences. This powerful figure began to gather up all the evil artifacts, objects of dark power, trapped essences of vanquished fiends, demonic relics, and even the last vestiges of particularly horrible diseases. Danar called all of these things "banes" and imprisoned them. He believed that, if destroyed, the banes would simply release their evil into the world to wreak more havoc and bring about other darknesses. Destroying banes begat new banes.
Danar used powerful spells and magic items to accomplish his task, working tirelessly. As his collection of banes grew he began to bury them beneath his tower, Mosul Pearl, located near the sea. Danar constructed a vast catacomb, well warded and sealed, deep underground, and he called it the Banewarrens. He also found allies who believed in his cause to aid him. Chief among them were the dragon known as Saggarintys the Silver King and a celestial named Bastion, Guardian of the Morning.
But Danar's goal was folly. Concentrating so much raw hatred and despite - so much darkness and evil power - in one place was a terrible mistake. His actions drew the attention of vile intelligences of whose existence Danar had never even dreamed. These secretive forces manipulated events (and perhaps even time and space) to ensure that the Book of Inverted Darkness fell into the hands of this well-meaning cleric.
The Book of Inverted Darkness is an artifact older than the world itself. Scribed by gods and demons, its pages contain vast lore (only the Book of Eldritch Might contains greater lore, it is said). Unfortunately for Danar Rotansin - and the world - the book presented this dreadful knowledge using supernatural techniques, giving it an irresistibly seductive quality.
While he intended to seal the book away with the rest of the banes, Danar lingered over its pages for just one instant too long. Its cunningly crafted words beguiled him to keep the book by his side. Soon, he read more. And more.
And still more.
The book consumed Danar. He neglected his quest to gather the remaining banes. He withdrew from his family and comrades. The book's dark lore corrupted his spirit and twisted his mind. The lure of the dark power and forbidden knowledge was too much, even for Danar. Danar Rotansin became Eslathagos Malkith - the Dread One. With the vast resources of the banes he had gathered and the knowledge he gained from the Book of Inverted Darkness, the Dread One withdrew into his tower, also renamed: Jabel Shammar. He emerged only a few years later, launching an attack so devastating, it threatened to tear the world asunder. His might knew few bounds, and with his magical aid, the armies he created or summoned conquered the surrounding lands with ease.
The earth itself, no longer able to tolerate the concentrated evil that Eslathagos Malkith and the banes represented, thrust Jabel Shammar away from it, creating a tall, impossibly high and narrow spire atop which the tower stood, its former pearly hue turned black as night. From there, the Dread One could survey the world - a world he desired to either conquer or crush entirely.
Only the actions of all the mortal races, led by powerful and stalwart heroes (many of whom had been friends and companions of Danar) stopped the forces of Eslathagos Malkith. It is said they carried the battle into the halls of Jabel Shammar itself. When it was over, the Dread One lay defeated. The world's greatest heroes sprawled dead and dismembered around him. Most of them had lost not only their lives but their souls to their foe's magic and the banes he wielded.
Some bit of Danar - the good and true man he had once been - still remained, however. His spirit, now free of corruption, managed to seal the Banewarrens once again. Although his quest remained uncompleted, and some of the banes were released again when he became Eslathagos Malkith, the warrens still contained vault upon vault of evil artifacts, foul creatures, and vile relics that it keeps away from the world at large.
Unless the Banewarrens should ever become unsealed again."
"In the ancient recesses of time, a powerful and benevolent cleric set upon a well-intentioned plan. In those days, evil was on the decline and the forces of darkness had been routed in almost every field of battle. The master of evil dragons had been chained, and even the fell races of orcs and goblins, once more numerous than the races of humans, dwarves, elves, halflings, or gnomes - had squirmed back into their meager, shadowy refuges.
With malevolence on the wane, the cleric Danar Rotansin sought once and for all to ride the world of the remaining evil influences. This powerful figure began to gather up all the evil artifacts, objects of dark power, trapped essences of vanquished fiends, demonic relics, and even the last vestiges of particularly horrible diseases. Danar called all of these things "banes" and imprisoned them. He believed that, if destroyed, the banes would simply release their evil into the world to wreak more havoc and bring about other darknesses. Destroying banes begat new banes.
Danar used powerful spells and magic items to accomplish his task, working tirelessly. As his collection of banes grew he began to bury them beneath his tower, Mosul Pearl, located near the sea. Danar constructed a vast catacomb, well warded and sealed, deep underground, and he called it the Banewarrens. He also found allies who believed in his cause to aid him. Chief among them were the dragon known as Saggarintys the Silver King and a celestial named Bastion, Guardian of the Morning.
But Danar's goal was folly. Concentrating so much raw hatred and despite - so much darkness and evil power - in one place was a terrible mistake. His actions drew the attention of vile intelligences of whose existence Danar had never even dreamed. These secretive forces manipulated events (and perhaps even time and space) to ensure that the Book of Inverted Darkness fell into the hands of this well-meaning cleric.
The Book of Inverted Darkness is an artifact older than the world itself. Scribed by gods and demons, its pages contain vast lore (only the Book of Eldritch Might contains greater lore, it is said). Unfortunately for Danar Rotansin - and the world - the book presented this dreadful knowledge using supernatural techniques, giving it an irresistibly seductive quality.
While he intended to seal the book away with the rest of the banes, Danar lingered over its pages for just one instant too long. Its cunningly crafted words beguiled him to keep the book by his side. Soon, he read more. And more.
And still more.
The book consumed Danar. He neglected his quest to gather the remaining banes. He withdrew from his family and comrades. The book's dark lore corrupted his spirit and twisted his mind. The lure of the dark power and forbidden knowledge was too much, even for Danar. Danar Rotansin became Eslathagos Malkith - the Dread One. With the vast resources of the banes he had gathered and the knowledge he gained from the Book of Inverted Darkness, the Dread One withdrew into his tower, also renamed: Jabel Shammar. He emerged only a few years later, launching an attack so devastating, it threatened to tear the world asunder. His might knew few bounds, and with his magical aid, the armies he created or summoned conquered the surrounding lands with ease.
The earth itself, no longer able to tolerate the concentrated evil that Eslathagos Malkith and the banes represented, thrust Jabel Shammar away from it, creating a tall, impossibly high and narrow spire atop which the tower stood, its former pearly hue turned black as night. From there, the Dread One could survey the world - a world he desired to either conquer or crush entirely.
Only the actions of all the mortal races, led by powerful and stalwart heroes (many of whom had been friends and companions of Danar) stopped the forces of Eslathagos Malkith. It is said they carried the battle into the halls of Jabel Shammar itself. When it was over, the Dread One lay defeated. The world's greatest heroes sprawled dead and dismembered around him. Most of them had lost not only their lives but their souls to their foe's magic and the banes he wielded.
Some bit of Danar - the good and true man he had once been - still remained, however. His spirit, now free of corruption, managed to seal the Banewarrens once again. Although his quest remained uncompleted, and some of the banes were released again when he became Eslathagos Malkith, the warrens still contained vault upon vault of evil artifacts, foul creatures, and vile relics that it keeps away from the world at large.
Unless the Banewarrens should ever become unsealed again."
GruTheWanderer
First Post
Keia said:
Ptolus is a city of adventurers, where grandiose tales and wild stories fill every pub. However, more than a few stories are told about Jevicca Norr, and all of them suggest she is quite powerful.
I'm including a map of the city. I will be relating more description of Ptolus in the following days.
2. St. Gustov's (Brother Fabitor's church)
3. The Griffon (meeting between guard and halfling)
4. The Ghostly Minstrel (place to contact Jevicca Norr)
5. The Grand Cathedral (meeting with priests of Lothian)
8. The Manor House (tunnel to Banewarrens)
10. The Estate of House Vladaam (destination of halfling)
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