The Rise of Felskein [Completed]

[Ryltar]

Just discovered this gem of a story hour. This far, I've only managed to read up to Session 4, but it is a captivating read! I especially like the little behind the screen insights you give, especially as your DM'ing style has some parallels to my own. Please keep up the good work!

[edit]Finished with Session 7 a few minutes ago. Great work! I was sad to see that

Spoiler

Ming died off so early - she had the makings of a great character.

On this note - you said in one of the first posts in this thread that you required each player to come up with a list of flaws and secrets. Would you mind sharing these

Spoiler

for the characters that have already fallen, especially for Ming

? I'm sure this would make for insightful reading.

 

[Iron Sky]

Glad you're enjoying it Ryltar. When I finish up the story hour (another post or two), I'll start putting up the characters. I still have most of their sheets around somewhere and Xyque has Harold's.

 

[Ryltar]

And I'm up to speed. Looking forward to those final posts.

One thing I have wondered about - is there any specific reason you chose to convert to 4e in mid-campaign? E.g., did you feel that 4e mechanics would suit your playing style / the story better, or did the change happen for another reason?

 

[Sanzuo]

We played the whole campaign in 3.5. We switched to 4th edition after it was over.

 

[Ryltar]

Ah, then I was mistaken - I took your post saying 'Bumping to say our first 4e session ever kicked ass' as an indicator for a mid-campaign switch. My bad .

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 31, Part 23

The world turned upside down and inside out. At least, that was what it felt like to Bail. One second he and Kormak were standing on the upper level of the Spire of Direction watching the walls melt and run down into the water around them, the next, the whole world seemed to turn white, then black, then colors beyond his capability to describe or understand.

He was sure he was roaring with rage, shouting with joy, and weeping, all at the same time. Gravity reversed and he clung to the floor to avoid plummeting up into the sky and then suddenly it was over, and he found himself sprawled on the floor next to Kormak, the world slowly reorienting and returning to its natural state.

Except, it seemed almost more natural than it had before. He felt more alive, the sky seemed more blue and the clouds drifting through it more white, the touch of the silversteel on his palms more vibrant. It had felt like an instant and an eternity that the world had been ending, but it must have been closer to the instant than the infinite. The walls of the Spire had finished running down and had cooled, while beyond, the Radianus Sink was no longer boiling.

Silently, he and Kormak walked and slide down the slagged sides of the Spire until they were standing on the scorched earth of the island.

“Now what?” Kormak said. “We swim back to... where are we going next anyway?”

Bail squinted at a faint plume of black smoke to the north. “I guess we ride on that boat over there.”

They stood and watched it approach until figures were visible packed in on its deck.

“Of all the... is that Harold on that ship?” Kormak said.

Bail growled then shook his head. “Doesn't matter.”

Kormak glanced at him with a quizzical expression but Bail ignored him. “We'll just have to boat take us to the eastern edge of the Sink, drop us off at the southern end of the Freeholds.”

“And then what?”

“And then we see what sort of world we've remade.”

***

Epilogue

The Endless Sands were replaced by an endless sea, waters rushing in against the towering walls of the new Greater Felskein. There was tension and war as the peoples of the Skylands, hither-to separated by vast stretches of sky, found themselves immediate neighbors – but there were also new alliances and friendships, instant trade networks springing up and fortunes made and lost in weeks.
Harold returned to the Crystal Towers to find that the dead had turned on each other, the liches once under Thessalock's heel withdrawing with as many of the dead as they could to underground, dark kingdoms where they battled each other, the peoples of the Freeholds, and the rapidly rebuilding Crystal Towers. Harold was soon a Magister – most of the others having fallen to the onslaught of the Rerisen Tower. He was not the same Harold that had left the Crystal Towers so many months before, but no one could doubt his dedication to the Crystal Towers.

He became the Magister of the Navy, bringing in gnomish shipwrights from the slowly rebuilding Steamport and constructing a navy to dominate the vast sea that now surrounded the Crystal Towers on all sides.

Bail, joined by Hundred-scales the Shining and the handful of dragons that remained of the fallen Bahamut's Overcouncil, united the squabbling peoples of the Freeholds, creating a powerful empire that formed the beating heart of Greater Felskien, a locus of trade and learning, ruled with a fair though sometimes draconian government. Kormak and his order kept the peace, removing dissenters and rebels who would threaten Bail's rule and battling the dead of the Lich Barons that lurked beneath the Freeholds.

Two True Stones were never reclaimed – those held by Thessalock and Lady Hadral. They found massive craters not far from the Span and just north of Gleam as Thessalock fled the Crystal Towers upon the destruction of the Ashen Tower and as Hadral fled the uprisings in Gleam. The Grimwythe had not allowed any of the True Stones to survive beyond their reach.

Suniel and Keeper were never seen or heard from again, though Bail and Kormak always wondered.

Near the end of their long years of governance and feeling their age, Bail and Kormak gave up their positions and sought out Harold. Though half-mad and gnarled with age, Harold agreed to their plan. Together, the three of them gathered together in a steamship to sail to the far side of the world, a final adventure to find their long-lost companions.

That was the world's final sight of them, sailing out into unknown waters, the ancient human at the helm, bow leaning against the gunwale, his thoughts still on the beloved Crystal Towers he left behind, the grizzled dwarf leaning against the railing and complaining about this and that while patting Dog's great-great grandson on the head, and the half-dragon, massive adamantine sword slung across his back, standing at the prow, gazing into the horizon.

Here ends:
The Rise of Felskein.

 

[Iron Sky]

Author's note:

I started writing this story hour two-and-a-half years ago, about a game we started a year before that. Though my inspiration varied, sometimes sitting down to type with an air of resignation, other times my hands literally shaking as I typed, so excited was I to tell the next piece of the story, it is done.

It's happy and sad both to see my time working on it coming to a close - until this point it was still a living, breathing thing, the energy of the story drifting around in my head waiting to be engraved in digital stone. It has been a constant, fulfilling part of my life for these years I've been working on it, a stable source of quiet contentment amidst the ups-and-downs of daily life.

I'm grateful to everyone who commented as I was writing - there were times when I might have stopped if it weren't for someone dropping in for a moment. I wrote this for me, but I also wrote it for all of you and so knowing that others were out there sharing in on my brief view into the lives and adventures of Ming, Ilsa, Suniel and his rag-tag band of followers, Harold, Grok'nar, Kezzek, Bail, Kormak, and all the others that make up this tale - it's been an honor.

My time working on it isn't over yet, there's still the rogue's gallery to post and I'll probably go back through, edit, and compile the whole thing into a .pdf over the upcoming months, but the main work is done. I'll work on it a bit every week until it is entirely completed to my satisfaction and before relegating it to the dusty ENWorld archives, drifting slowly through the back pages into a quiet oblivion.

This too shall pass.

And such is life.

 

[steeldragons]

Bravo, Iron Sky.

I am truly honored, pleased and lucky to have been able to find your Story Hour and catch up on it all soon close to the end.

Reading the campaign as a whole has been quite an inspiration. Not only helping to spark my drawing in recent months but for campaigns and plots of my own toiling around in my brain.

You and your players have much to be proud of and we readers/ENworlders have much to be grateful for.

I'll look forward to the "official" edits/rewrites/pdf and the rogue's gallery will be awesome! (...and can't wait til you guys start up a new game & Story Hour. hint. hint. )

I raise my goblet to you.
Well done.
--Steel Dragons

 

[Ryltar]

Pardon me for just echoing what has already been said multiple times . This was a great read, and I'm very thankful that you actually saw writing this story hour through to the end. I can't tell you how often I started reading a promising SH, only to find that it petered out in the middle of the campaign due to lack of time or interest or whatever. I've even been guilty of that myself. So: 'mad props' to you .

That being said, some rambling thoughts, in no particular order:

I must say that I liked the beginning of the story hour the most (which, no doubt, is as much a product of your writing as it is of me favoring low to mid-level play). I thought that the characters there had a more ... how shall I put it ... more of a connection, good chemistry, and mixed really well. The atmosphere appeared, for lack of a better word, friendlier.

In the latter stages, the relationships were quite often strained (and if this had been my party, knowing my players, Harold would not have survived his turning on Bail. Heck, they might have killed him just for constantly nagging them with his Crystal Towers ). Aside from Kormak's bickering, I kind of missed Ming's sarcastic remarks (and butt-grabbing ).

I must admit that I sometimes got lost once the story became truly 'epic' (I think this started after they reached Port), and had to go back and reread earlier parts several times. For some reason, I also kept mixing up Kezzek and Kormak . Still, what I liked very much is how you continued to slowly open up the vista to encompass the wider world, from the humble beginnings to the party travelling downriver. The thing that took me by surprise was the Fae forest episode - I hadn't expected them to be in any way relevant to the resolution of the story.

Also, I would have liked to see a resolution (read: big fight ) between Suniel and Thessalock. Pity, that.

For me, the standout moments from the story were:
- The beginning. From the party meeting up to them leaving town, every word was pure brilliance. But I have to single out the first Iron Sky confrontation, the devious Hobgoblin trap, and the 'Suniel'/Altar revelation cliffhanger.
- The downriver trip and fight versus the Treant.
- Suniel's confrontation with his son and the accompanying roleplay. Heartbreaking.
- The Corpse Ramp! Devious stuff.
- The Grimwythe - the way you foreshadowed the threat was excellent.
- Harold's rampage through the castle when he tried to retrieve his bow.

In closing, let me say that I am really looking forward to the PDF compilation (which I'd definitely print, bind and put into my Story Hour Shelf of Really Excellent Reading (tm) ). Also, I'm hoping that once your current campaign wraps up, you'll DM another (and grace us with another great story).

I know I'll be reading it.

Cheers,
Ryltar

 

[Iron Sky]

Thanks for the comments Ryltar. To address some of them:

The beginning of the story hour(the first page at least) has the advantage of me going back through and editing it last summer. Most of the rest of the posts I've given them a quick look over for basic grammatical stuff but haven't done an actual novel-style edit.

As for atmosphere, it was friendlier, part due to the mood I was trying to create and part because of PC chemistry. It took everything the party had to keep Harold from killing Bail (and visa-versa) and the atmosphere within the party was strained in-and-out of game far more than I let on in the narrative.

I hadn't ruled out an epic final confrontation between the party and Thessalock early in the campaign, but things quickly escalated beyond the scale where Thessalock was really relevant. I really had no idea exactly where or how this campaign was going to end, it just progressed organically as I presented what was going on in the world and they (mostly) picked what seemed to be the most important stuff to get involved in.

The session where Suniel has the "big reveal" about him and Thessalock and his son was one of the best roleplaying sessions I've had in a decade-and-a-half of roleplaying. I was shaking with excitement and nervousness for most of it.

Since this game occurred, I ran a 4e game from level 3 to 16. I had only a fraction of the inspiration this one had and far less developed characters. I recorded all of them when we were playing in case I was going to turn them into a story hour, but I'm not sure. It had some (IMO) awesomely cool world elements, neat encounters and some sweet combats, but it wasn't nearly as inspired(especially paragon tier which was mostly combat-after-combat).

I'm not sure if we'll return to that game or if I'll start up a new one with a bit more time spent on world and character development before the game starts.

We'll probably be playing Sanzuo's Dark Sun game for a while yet, so it'll be a while before I produce another story hour... unless I get really inspired to write up the awesome d20 campaign that I ran that is mentioned in the first thread. That was like 5 years ago though and lots of the details are fuzzy, but we still talk about some of the coolest parts of it.