This is a rough second draft of the mythos behind the campaign I'm running for a new group. The PC's have started as 1st-level not really knowing each other and unless another DM takes over (we're in a round-robin DM'ing situation), I intend for them to eventually confront Skodi without his heart, and so he'll be a 9th-level solo with a bunch of azer and flaming undead dwarves with him.
Setup: the PC's are traveling to a small hamlet that is a rest point before entering a mountain pass. Although it is winter, it is far harsher than it should be in this area and has been for almost two months. Trees have started to wither and animals have sought refuge in warmer areas.
Unbeknownst to the PC's the cenotaph of a fallen demigod, which contained his frozen heart, has been defiled. The action caused the shattering of the veil between this reality and the Feywild which in turn caused a mirrored portal to open between dusk and dawn. On this side, the cenotaph sits in a frozen wasteland, whilst in the Feywild, it sits in a tropical wonderland.
A party of foolhardy adventurers stumbled into the cenotaph and stole the heart thinking it was some sort of gem. Without realising it they exited into the feywild and were hunted by the heart's guardian until only one of them found their way back to this world.
Stumbling back to the hamlet, he encounters the PC's and begs for their aid as several fey wolves descend upon him. Sheltering in the hamlet's tavern, they are accosted by the Guardian of the Heart and his minions (fey creatures) that he commands to infiltrate the tavern. He will send as many as he can before dawn but until then cannot risk going in himself lest the power of the heart be used against him, and he fails in his duty. But he also cannot risk the knowledge of the heart being in mortal hands, and so must destroy anyone involved with it.
What's more, the heart is causing a transference of energy between the two realms. It must be returned to the Feywild and the portal must be closed or this entire realm may fall into the grip of an ice age whilst the Feywild might wither and become a fiery desert.
The Heart of Winter
In ages past during the wars between the Gods and Primordials, two valiant fighters stood out from their peers and became legends in their own time. These two were the dwarven brothers known as Skodi the Merciless and Yjolnir the Brave.
Though the dwarves were given the spark of life by the All-Father Moradin, they were shaped by the elemental forces of earth and forged in the elemental forces of fire and cooled in the elemental forces of frost. It was because of this that the two brothers sided with the Primordials in their struggles against the Gods.
So valiant and furious was their commitment and effect that many of their peers were inspired to follow the brothers. And so they led a mighty cohort into the teeth of their enemy and stood firm in the face of overwhelming odds.
Because of their efforts, the Primordials won a key victory which halted the machinations of the Gods. The Primordials agreed that the brothers should be rewarded for their efforts and so too should those who had chosen to follow them.
And so they were gifted with a fraction of the Primordial’s elemental power; Skodi was given the power of fire whilst Yjolnir was given the power of frost. With them, their followers split into two camps and were rewarded in kind. Here rose the first giants of frost and fire.
Skodi became the King of the Fire Giants. His eyes were black orbs with fiery pupils and his hair and beard were flaming tendrils. He wielded Orosk: the Flaming Sword, a massive sword of blackened iron that blazed with fire whenever it was swung. In his chest beat the living fire that fueled his lust for battle.
Yjolnir led the Frost Giants as their King. He changed into a white-skinned giant with mercury flowing through his veins. His touch froze everything. He wielded Tkadi: the Axe of Winter, whose blade continuously melted and refreshed itself. Yjolnir’s grip froze it into such a fine edge it could slice through even the hardest of metals.
Banishment
Although the giants were a major force and helped win many battles, ultimately the Primordials lost the war. The Gods could not tolerate such a force as the giants in the world and so they banished them to the Feywild.
A few of their people escaped the forced exodus and remained hidden away in the secret places of the world, biding their time until the return of their kings.
Those who were cast into the Feywild, however, lost their connection to the Primordials and so their power was diminished. Here were born the azer and erisi: the fire and frost dwarves respectively.
Whilst Yjolnir settled into a glacier and his people began building a new home, isolated from the rest of the denizens of the Feywild, Skodi had no area he and his kin could dwell. Their fiery natures and need for conflict gave rise to a great war in the Feywild.
As time went on, the creatures of the Feywild were no match for the son of flame. His lust for battle could not be quenched and nothing but the total domination of the Feywild would end this war and with it, the entire realm.
A Brother’s Fury
In desperation, the creatures of the Feywild sent a representative to Yjolnir in the form of Cera, a nymph of astounding beauty. Though Yjolnir was reluctant to fight his brother, he was immediately smitten with Cera and so did as she asked.
Upon witnessing the destruction his brother had wrought, Yjolnir realised that nothing but his brother’s death would stop him. He had been gripped by the madness of his own power and had laid waste to everything he conquered.
Yjolnir fought for the creatures of the Feywild and his people fought with him, bringing the power of frost against the power of fire. The resulting stalemate forced Skodi to hatch a cunning plan; he would kill Cera and have his own brother blamed.
Skodi had it as a condition that she come only with Yjolnir and so it was that he invited Cera to a treaty negotiation. Feeling safe in the frost giant’s presence, she agreed. But upon meeting Skodi, the King of the Fire Giants attacked her. Before he could stop his brother, she was thrust into his Yjolnir's arms. Yjolnir reached out to her reflexively and only realised his mistake as she froze in his grip.
Skodi then began to unveil his grand scheme to his shocked brother. He enlightened Yjolnir about how he had found a way to leave this realm and rejoin the Primordials. Of how he would destroy this realm and everything in it to get back to the world and how he wanted his brother by his side for every moment of it.
So caught up in his own reverie was he, and so convinced was he that his brother had no choice now but to join him, that Skodi did not notice the rising anger in Yjolnir. Yjolnir lashed out at Skodi with a fury-born strike that pierced flesh and crushed bone. Pulling his fist away, he held in it the fiery beating heart of his brother.
Yjolnir the Sleeper
Knowing that the power of the flame within his brother's heart could not be let to corrupt another, Yjolnir sacrificed his own power to freeze the heart.
The effort drained him, and though immortal from the touch of the Primordials, the loss of the power they gifted him with was too much for him to withstand. Before collapsing into a deep slumber, he commanded the erisi to build a tomb for the heart and a guardian that would protect it for eternity. And so they did.
The Feywild rejuvenated itself and all the destruction Skodi had wrought upon it was forgotten. The azer fled to the deepest reaches of the Feywild and crossed the border into the realm of Fire, where only they could bear the scorching heat of the domain. The erisi quietly left to live in their glacial kingdom in the high mountains of the Feywild, never to be heard from again.
Time went by and the two brothers laid in their resting places undisturbed. One sleeping for eternity and the other a decaying remnant of an era long past.
The Heart Beats
Through the millennia the cenotaph that contained the heart was forgotten. There were no records of its construction and no tales of its location. But the events that had led to it’s building were such that they could never lay dormant forever.
And so it was that an intrepid group of adventurers had heard the tale of a tomb with an ancient treasure, buried for aeons and untouched. Following the natural leads, they discovered the cenotaph and retrieved the heart, thinking it was a priceless gem.
Though the guardian destroyed them, it was too late, the damage had already been done. The touch of a living being had awoken the ancient power within it. And with the faint beating of the heart, so too awoke it’s owner.
Skodi the Heartless
Hearing his heart beat for the first time in countless millennia, Skodi awoke from his death and rose from the earth with only one thought upon his rotten mind: find the heart and renew his power.
His petrified remains, charged with the awakened spark of flame that once beat within his chest, became an undead abomination of charred flesh and bones of coal. Skodi the Heartless strode forth into the Feywild and called upon his brethren, both living and dead, to come forth and aid him.
And so now the azer and their fiery ancestors scour the Feywild for the Heart of Winter and will stop at nothing to regain it. Should they find it, however, Skodi will rise as powerful as he ever was, and this time there would be no-one who could stop him!
Setup: the PC's are traveling to a small hamlet that is a rest point before entering a mountain pass. Although it is winter, it is far harsher than it should be in this area and has been for almost two months. Trees have started to wither and animals have sought refuge in warmer areas.
Unbeknownst to the PC's the cenotaph of a fallen demigod, which contained his frozen heart, has been defiled. The action caused the shattering of the veil between this reality and the Feywild which in turn caused a mirrored portal to open between dusk and dawn. On this side, the cenotaph sits in a frozen wasteland, whilst in the Feywild, it sits in a tropical wonderland.
A party of foolhardy adventurers stumbled into the cenotaph and stole the heart thinking it was some sort of gem. Without realising it they exited into the feywild and were hunted by the heart's guardian until only one of them found their way back to this world.
Stumbling back to the hamlet, he encounters the PC's and begs for their aid as several fey wolves descend upon him. Sheltering in the hamlet's tavern, they are accosted by the Guardian of the Heart and his minions (fey creatures) that he commands to infiltrate the tavern. He will send as many as he can before dawn but until then cannot risk going in himself lest the power of the heart be used against him, and he fails in his duty. But he also cannot risk the knowledge of the heart being in mortal hands, and so must destroy anyone involved with it.
What's more, the heart is causing a transference of energy between the two realms. It must be returned to the Feywild and the portal must be closed or this entire realm may fall into the grip of an ice age whilst the Feywild might wither and become a fiery desert.
The Heart of Winter
In ages past during the wars between the Gods and Primordials, two valiant fighters stood out from their peers and became legends in their own time. These two were the dwarven brothers known as Skodi the Merciless and Yjolnir the Brave.
Though the dwarves were given the spark of life by the All-Father Moradin, they were shaped by the elemental forces of earth and forged in the elemental forces of fire and cooled in the elemental forces of frost. It was because of this that the two brothers sided with the Primordials in their struggles against the Gods.
So valiant and furious was their commitment and effect that many of their peers were inspired to follow the brothers. And so they led a mighty cohort into the teeth of their enemy and stood firm in the face of overwhelming odds.
Because of their efforts, the Primordials won a key victory which halted the machinations of the Gods. The Primordials agreed that the brothers should be rewarded for their efforts and so too should those who had chosen to follow them.
And so they were gifted with a fraction of the Primordial’s elemental power; Skodi was given the power of fire whilst Yjolnir was given the power of frost. With them, their followers split into two camps and were rewarded in kind. Here rose the first giants of frost and fire.
Skodi became the King of the Fire Giants. His eyes were black orbs with fiery pupils and his hair and beard were flaming tendrils. He wielded Orosk: the Flaming Sword, a massive sword of blackened iron that blazed with fire whenever it was swung. In his chest beat the living fire that fueled his lust for battle.
Yjolnir led the Frost Giants as their King. He changed into a white-skinned giant with mercury flowing through his veins. His touch froze everything. He wielded Tkadi: the Axe of Winter, whose blade continuously melted and refreshed itself. Yjolnir’s grip froze it into such a fine edge it could slice through even the hardest of metals.
Banishment
Although the giants were a major force and helped win many battles, ultimately the Primordials lost the war. The Gods could not tolerate such a force as the giants in the world and so they banished them to the Feywild.
A few of their people escaped the forced exodus and remained hidden away in the secret places of the world, biding their time until the return of their kings.
Those who were cast into the Feywild, however, lost their connection to the Primordials and so their power was diminished. Here were born the azer and erisi: the fire and frost dwarves respectively.
Whilst Yjolnir settled into a glacier and his people began building a new home, isolated from the rest of the denizens of the Feywild, Skodi had no area he and his kin could dwell. Their fiery natures and need for conflict gave rise to a great war in the Feywild.
As time went on, the creatures of the Feywild were no match for the son of flame. His lust for battle could not be quenched and nothing but the total domination of the Feywild would end this war and with it, the entire realm.
A Brother’s Fury
In desperation, the creatures of the Feywild sent a representative to Yjolnir in the form of Cera, a nymph of astounding beauty. Though Yjolnir was reluctant to fight his brother, he was immediately smitten with Cera and so did as she asked.
Upon witnessing the destruction his brother had wrought, Yjolnir realised that nothing but his brother’s death would stop him. He had been gripped by the madness of his own power and had laid waste to everything he conquered.
Yjolnir fought for the creatures of the Feywild and his people fought with him, bringing the power of frost against the power of fire. The resulting stalemate forced Skodi to hatch a cunning plan; he would kill Cera and have his own brother blamed.
Skodi had it as a condition that she come only with Yjolnir and so it was that he invited Cera to a treaty negotiation. Feeling safe in the frost giant’s presence, she agreed. But upon meeting Skodi, the King of the Fire Giants attacked her. Before he could stop his brother, she was thrust into his Yjolnir's arms. Yjolnir reached out to her reflexively and only realised his mistake as she froze in his grip.
Skodi then began to unveil his grand scheme to his shocked brother. He enlightened Yjolnir about how he had found a way to leave this realm and rejoin the Primordials. Of how he would destroy this realm and everything in it to get back to the world and how he wanted his brother by his side for every moment of it.
So caught up in his own reverie was he, and so convinced was he that his brother had no choice now but to join him, that Skodi did not notice the rising anger in Yjolnir. Yjolnir lashed out at Skodi with a fury-born strike that pierced flesh and crushed bone. Pulling his fist away, he held in it the fiery beating heart of his brother.
Yjolnir the Sleeper
Knowing that the power of the flame within his brother's heart could not be let to corrupt another, Yjolnir sacrificed his own power to freeze the heart.
The effort drained him, and though immortal from the touch of the Primordials, the loss of the power they gifted him with was too much for him to withstand. Before collapsing into a deep slumber, he commanded the erisi to build a tomb for the heart and a guardian that would protect it for eternity. And so they did.
The Feywild rejuvenated itself and all the destruction Skodi had wrought upon it was forgotten. The azer fled to the deepest reaches of the Feywild and crossed the border into the realm of Fire, where only they could bear the scorching heat of the domain. The erisi quietly left to live in their glacial kingdom in the high mountains of the Feywild, never to be heard from again.
Time went by and the two brothers laid in their resting places undisturbed. One sleeping for eternity and the other a decaying remnant of an era long past.
The Heart Beats
Through the millennia the cenotaph that contained the heart was forgotten. There were no records of its construction and no tales of its location. But the events that had led to it’s building were such that they could never lay dormant forever.
And so it was that an intrepid group of adventurers had heard the tale of a tomb with an ancient treasure, buried for aeons and untouched. Following the natural leads, they discovered the cenotaph and retrieved the heart, thinking it was a priceless gem.
Though the guardian destroyed them, it was too late, the damage had already been done. The touch of a living being had awoken the ancient power within it. And with the faint beating of the heart, so too awoke it’s owner.
Skodi the Heartless
Hearing his heart beat for the first time in countless millennia, Skodi awoke from his death and rose from the earth with only one thought upon his rotten mind: find the heart and renew his power.
His petrified remains, charged with the awakened spark of flame that once beat within his chest, became an undead abomination of charred flesh and bones of coal. Skodi the Heartless strode forth into the Feywild and called upon his brethren, both living and dead, to come forth and aid him.
And so now the azer and their fiery ancestors scour the Feywild for the Heart of Winter and will stop at nothing to regain it. Should they find it, however, Skodi will rise as powerful as he ever was, and this time there would be no-one who could stop him!
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