Rituals and Martial Practices

Rituals and Martial Practices


I'm going to rule that PCs can learn Rituals without the Ritual Caster feat, as long as they are trained in at least one of the key skills (Arcana, Religion, Nature, or Heal). If you have both the Ritual Caster feat and are trained in a key skill, you can take a +2 bonus on the skill roll.


Likewise a PC can learn a Martial Practice without Practiced Study, as long as they have a key skill trained.  If they have both they get +2 on the skill roll.

Knowledge skills for monster threat assessment.

I'm going to allow checks on Nature/Religion/Arcana/History/Streetwise etc to assess monster threat level within the following bands.  Threat level will be for typical representatives, it's possible that a particular unusual creature could fall outside the band on either the high or low end.

Low Heroic: 1-3 - eg goblin
Heroic: 4-7 - eg orc
High Heroic 8-10 - eg ogre
Low Paragon 11-13
Paragon 14-17
High Paragon 18-20
Low Epic 21-23
Epic 24-27
High Epic 28-30+

Whether the check DC is easy, medium or hard will normally depend on how famous or obscure the monster is; assessing dragons is easy, while assessing some obscure creature from MM3 might be hard, or even impossible if no one hasever reported meeting such a thing before.
A failed check close to the DC may get vague information, within a 2-3 band spread, while a badly failed check means you have no idea.

Altanian Warrior Lodges & Sword Knights

Altanian warriors who have proved themselves in battle are inducted into one of their clan's Warrior Lodges.  All but the smallest clans have several Lodges.  Warrior Lodges are normally for men only, with the exception of the female-only Ivory Swan Lodge.  Each warrior lodge is headed by a Sword Knight, a great warrior who wields an ancestral blade and follows the Way of the Sword founded in ancient time by Bondorr, the ascended hero.  There are also itinerant or questing Sword Knights.  There are inner mysteries which only the Sword Knights are privy to.

Each clan within a geographic area such as the Carnelian Plains typically has the same or similar set of warrior lodges (White Wolf, Ivory Swan, etc), 4-8 per clan, so the lodges are cross-clan, create some cross-clan affinity, and are thus a useful social glue when eg Altanian war leaders need to gather the clans for major warfare.  Naturally they are also rivalrous intra-clan, and compete to see eg which can carry out the most successful raids, gather the most orc heads, etc.

A typical Altanian clan has around 200 combatants (varying from around 30 to over 300), not including elites/leaders like the Sword Knights.  Around half (100) of those are bravos, half are Lodge warriors, typically 5 Lodges with around 20 warriors per lodge.  Men, even married men, tend to spend more time in their communal Lodges than in the huts of the womenfolk, who do all the vegetable farming and gathering of produce.

Sword Knights

The most common Paragon Path for the Sword Knight PCs is Sword Master, one who has devoted himself to mastery of his ancestral blade.

Sword Master

Prerequisite: Fighter

You and your blade are as one. You are a master of the sword, able to employ your steel in ways that no lesser warrior can even imagine.

SWORDMASTER PATH FEATURES

    Steel Defense Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also gain a +4 bonus to AC and Reflex until the start of your next turn.
    Steel Grace (11th level): When you charge with a light blade or a heavy blade that is not a polearm, you can use cleave, reaping strike, sure strike, or tide of iron in place of a melee basic attack.
    Steel Blitz (16th level): When you score a critical hit with a light blade or heavy blade, you regain the use of a fighter encounter attack power that you have already used during this encounter.


Precision Cut: Swordmaster Attack 11

You slip your blade past an enemy’s armor and slice your foe just so, leaving a bleeding gash.

Encounter        Martial, Weapon
Standard Action      Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Special: When you make an opportunity attack, you can use this power in place of a melee basic attack.

Emergency Pregen PC Starter Level

You can either bring along a PC of the Party Level, or just turn up.  If you just turn up and there is space available, you will be given a PC (LFR Pregen) of the following level.

Party Level    Pregen PC Level
4-6                      5
7-10                    8
11+                   11

Map of Bisgen

Bisgen (Altanis; Town, Pop. 2,248 within the walls; TL 4): Population: human 92% [mostly Altanian or Nerathi-Alryan, a few Lagoldurman and other], half-elf 3%, elf 2%, halfling 2%, other 1%); Resources: Horses.  Wealth Limit: 840gp.  Area approx 1200'x1800', 49 acres (1 acre =  43,560 square feet); 960 square feet per person, 45 persons per acre.

Authority Figure: Parre, female Altanian, Baron of Bisgen, ex-adventurer, reveres Mitra (LG)

Important Characters: 

Eldrin, half-elf wizard mistrusted by the populace - Arcane Rituals to lvl 8

Nasan Tara, Altanian veteran master of the herds

Lord Halvath Cormarrin, leader of the Nerathi aristocrat faction

Lady Elizabeth Moondew, young Nerathi aristocrat

Malaarax Astlar the Potion-Brewer, old 'hedge wizard' - Brew Potion Ritual lvl 5

Hans Tegel, jovial Innkeeper

Karad Griven, devious merchant/fence

Harper, rich brothel-keeper

Torgle Mult, sleazy Innkeeper

Arak, master armourer & weaponsmith

Sydow, priest of Bondorr - Martial Practices (MP2) and cult rituals to lvl 8 

Cerille, attractive, auburn-haired priestess of Erathis - Religious/Healing rituals to lvl 6
Kaveri Narr, Half-elf horse trader, also has house in Renth

Tomgar Alhandrus, 'Trader Tom' - cheerful trader in magic trinkets (can typically get PHB 1&2 to lvl 3 at list price)

Bisgen was established several thousand years ago by a wandering tribe of Altanian nomads. Parre, the current ruler, is known as one of the traitor barons in the court of the Overlord. She rules over a prosperous small town made rich by continuing trade with the elves at Renth. She sends troops to help Renth patrol the Carnelian Plains and the areas to the south. Bisgen is noted for the quality of its horses and merchants travel to the village to bid on them.  There is a small herd of elven steeds in the care of Nasan.

Cerille of Erathis

Sydow of Bondorr 

Defense

Bisgen enjoys a strong strategic location at the Bisgen Bridge, the only crossing point on the fast-flowing Endgate River.  To the south are the horse meadows and the estates of the old Nerathi nobility, sheltered on three sides by the Endgate River and by the more placid Onslaught Stream, so named for the many battles fought on its banks.  To the east the land rises towards the Castellan Mountains, and the road towards Bulwark's Breach is kept heavily patrolled against bandits and raiders, although the Altanian Winged Ape clan which roams there has been much depleted recently by Arang-Tok raids, and is considered little threat.  Bisgen is currently allied with the Tigerclaw Clan south of the Onslaught Stream, they provide a useful line of defense against the Arang-Tok.

Originally all of Bisgen lay south of the river, with the river itself providing the defense to attackers' northern approach, but during the Empire of Nerath the Alryans extended the defenses with a northern gate and curtain wall.  This provides a two-line defense for the heart of the city, which remains south of the river - should the north wall be lost, the defenders will abandon the north town, retreat to the bridge and seek to collapse it, thus sealing off the rest of town from attack.  This assumes that invaders approach from the north, as has repeatedly been the case with Altanian raiders from the Carnelian Plains, with Jackalwere packs, and with the gnolls of White Ruin.   A southern or western defense would need to be mounted on the river banks far from town, while an eastern approach remains the major concern.

"Make my Gameworld METAL!"

This thread on RPGnet has been inspirational :)

Arvias

Arvias, level 7
Human (Avalonian), Sorcerer
Spell Source Option: Wild Magic
Human Power Selection Option: Heroic Effort
Avalonian Benefit - Cold Affinity
Inherent Bonuses
 
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 8, DEX 16, INT 12, WIS 11, CHA 20
 
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 8, DEX 15, INT 12, WIS 11, CHA 17
 
 
AC: 19 Fort: 15 Ref: 18 Will: 22
HP: 50 Surges: 5 Surge Value: 12
 
TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +9, Bluff +13, Diplomacy +13, Intimidate +13, Nature +8
 
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +6, Athletics +3, Dungeoneering +3, Endurance +2, Heal +3, History +4, Insight +3, Perception +3, Religion +4, Stealth +6, Streetwise +8, Thievery +6
 
POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Human Racial Power: Heroic Effort
Sorcerer Attack 1: Dragonfrost
Sorcerer Attack 1: Chaos Bolt
Sorcerer Attack 1: Frostbind
Sorcerer Attack 1: Chromatic Orb
Sorcerer Utility 2: Elemental Shift
Sorcerer Attack 3: Ice Dragon's Teeth
Sorcerer Attack 5: Thunder Leap
Sorcerer Utility 6: Swift Escape
Sorcerer Attack 7: Chaos Storm
 
FEATS
Level 1: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Stormhawk's Vengeance
Level 2: Arcane Spellfury
Level 4: Unarmored Agility
Level 6: Staff Expertise
 
ITEMS
Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing)
Adventurer's Kit
Staff Implement x1
Summon Winds
Portend Weather


Rank: None. Previously served as Ship Magist on a mercenary vessel hunting pirates
Sex:M
Race: Avalonian
Homeland: Valon
Age: 29
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 140 lbs (updated - I realised 8 and a half stone might be a little too light, even for a scrawny mage)
Colour of - Hair: White/blonde- Eyes: Blue - Skin: Pale, tinged blue

Appearance: A troubled looking man, used to being hunted. Mid-length pale blonde hair, almost white worn with no hat, and beardless, appearing clean shaven though in fact just does not have facial hair growth. 

Clothing is well worn cloth (to begin with), though it has hints of finery beneath the miles of travel. Girt with a dagger and carrying a staff.

Demeanour: Since leaving Valon and travelling south, Arvais has become used to mistrust and dislike due to his magical talents. He seems to revel in this somewhat and is quick to use his tongue and his wit to either dismiss any naysayer (intimidate) or try to diffuse a situation (diplomacy) when the need arises, though he speaks no more than is necessary - often in short and sharp statements, allowing his appearance as a northerner and the stories of the Ice Wizards to speak in his silence. He also has a number of interesting physical tics, and is often seen wringing his hands or touching his face and hair.

History/motivation: After being cast out of the School of the Ice Wizards, family and indeed the city of Valon itself after killing three classmates, including his brother with a burst of untamed magic after cruel encouragement from an overzealous and somewhat twisted instructer during a class at the age of 17, Arvias has left behind his noble upbringing and become a traveller.

He has found his way south, and despite the southerner's dislike of magic, has always found that when push comes to shove, most people would rather have a mage behind them, even if they were more worried that he would stab them in the back in the end. Ships were the most common, and he served the most time as a magist on different mercenary crews. Eventually, during in a particularly brutal encounter with savage pirates, he put forth his power and utterly destroyed the enemy, but the mercenary ship was quickly engulfed in a malestrom and shipwrecked.


Arvias has spent the intervening time on the road, taking any opportunity to earn gold, unscrupulously if necessary.

Now Arvias seeks to master his magic and earn a reputation worthy of return to the North.


DM: He was ship's magist on a Twin Shores (Antillian Trading Coster) pirate-hunter ship out of Mysk, the Winged Maiden, which Varek served on as a Marines sergeant - they found the pirate vessel Red Dog, but during the brutal battle, a sudden massive storm destroyed both ships - the two PCs were among the few survivors who made it to shore. Varek may suspect that Arvias might have had something to do with the maelstrom...

The Skydome - Rescued Captives

Three captive slaves were rescued from the Skydome Orcs.  While you are resting after your exertions, they introduce themselves.

Calari (pretty, slender brunette female) and Valios (fair-haired youth) are Ghinorans, kidnapped from a farming village on the River Cedarwade east of the Castellan Mountains several months ago by the bandits of Carchimish, a notorious brigand stronghold.  They and numerous others were sold to the Nerathi slaver Bissel Ket, who took them west across the mountains through Bulwark's Breach.  The orcs of Skydome took them as part of a toll for the slavers' safe passage.   Both seem traumatised by their experience at the hands of the orcs.

Lyssana (beautiful, curvaceous brunette female) is the girl who awoke but kept silent when the heroes crept up on the sleeping orcs.  She is Altanian, with a slightly coppery complexion, and claims to be a Princess, a daughter of old chief Hagaros of the Winged Ape Clan.  Three months ago her camp in the hills north of here was raided by a strong force of Arang-Tok orcs, aided by sorcery.  Hagaros was killed, Lyssana and many other Altanians were captured; the survivors fled north.  Most of the captives were taken south, she was claimed as a prize by one of the orcs, Bulgoth, the one Varek dispatched while sleeping, and taken to the Skydome.

Lyssana, Princess of Winged Ape Clan

Continuing & New PCs

For new PCs brought in after the game switches to Mondays, the easiest thing would be for new PCs to have some connection to one of the two continuing PCs.  Both are Altanian (reddish skinned barbarian human) Fighters:

1. Varek of the Tigerclaw clan, a wandering former pirate and mercenary who recently served as the head of Parre of Bisgen's guardsmen, and has been leading raids against both Zehir snake cultists and the Arang-Tok orcs, and  

2. Rameses of the Mountain Lion Clan, from a long line of Altanian noble chiefs, descended from Ral Hoth-Nor who led the Altanian auxiliary forces at the Battle of Gedden when the Empire of Nerath was destroyed by the gnoll horde of White Ruin.  Rameses has been accompanying Varek, he recently learned of the 'Neo-Nerathi' who blame his clan for the fall of the empire.

A new PC could be related to one of them, been a pirate or mercenary alongside Varek, or been one of Parre's soldiers.

Edit - new PCs

1. Nathir the Red (Jason) - archer/guide from Renth, a red-haired human of mostly Tharbrian ancestry.
2. Arvias (Jon) - far-travelled Avalonian human Sorcerer, wild mage.
3. Garvas (sp?) (Damian) - Gishmesh Hexblade, equally far-travelled.

Behind the Curtain - NPC Demographics

Cross-Posted from ENW.
I take a very 'numerocentric' or objective approach as DM, I like the sense of progression it brings. If anything I think it is an easier approach in 4e, because PCs power up more slowly than in prior editions, and it's easy to create workable demographics from the start where eg 'normal people' exist throughout the Heroic Tier range.
One thing I did in my Wilderlands campaign (Southlands) was to set a 'baseline mook' value at 5th level minion. This was done with an eye to keeping such useable throughout the Heroic Tier, allows for eg 'experienced mooks' who are 9th level minions (so twice the XPV) without straining disbelief, and fits well with the monster demographics in the 4e Monster Manual and Monster Vault. I think it helped a lot that I started the campaign at 3rd level.


Some sample demographics IMC:

Typical peasant farmer or townsman - minion-2 Human Rabble
Orc commoner - minion-4 Drudge 
Typical Altanian barbarian nomad 'bravo' - minion-5 Skirmisher
Human Lackey - minion-7 (eg cultist)
Typical Altanian barbarian 'warrior' (Lodge member) - minion-8 soldier
Orc warrior - minion-9

"Standard monsters" are typically 5 levels lower, but fit in the same sort of scale, eg: 

Human common Bandit: skirmisher-2 = min-7
Orc Raider: skirmisher-3 = minion-8
Orc Berserker: brute-4 = minion-9
Altanian or Orc Reaver: skirmisher-5 = min-10
Altanian Sword Knight: soldier-8 = min-13

I'll typically mix up 4th level brute orc berserkers with 9th level minion orc warriors rather than treat them as being the same monster, but that will depend on circumstances - eg in my previous campaign when I ran a mass battle with dozens & dozens of combatants I made the human knights min-8 (instead of soldier-2) and the gnolls min-10 (instead of skirmisher-5) for convenience & playability.

Major Dates of the Wilderlands

Time is commonly reckoned in BCCC - Balozkinar's Corrected Commoner's Calendar, a dating system established around 3970 BCCC by the eponymous Overlord of the City State and widely adopted throughout the Pazidan Peninsula.  Viridistan and areas under Viridian influence use "Year of the City" which dates from the founding of Viridistan is BCCC-100 years.

BCCC

-2927 (est): Rise of the Dragon Lords in ancient Oricha.

-2391 (est): War of the Pious and Philosophers; creation of the Dragonborn in Oricha.  The Pious are victorious, Science and Logic are banished from the Wilderlands.

-600: The Dragon Empire is engaged in a devastating century-long war with the Demon Empires of the far south.

-575: The Uprising of Bondorr & Ghinor.  Altanians, Dragonborn and proto-Ghinorans join to bring about the fall of the Empire of the Orichalan Dragon Lords.

-540: Rise of the Ghinoran Successor States.

101: Founding of Viridistan.

500: Founding of the Empire of Kelnore by Krieg the Elder.

1000: Rise of the Dragonborn Empire of Arkhosia in Oricha.

1500: The Sorcerors of Turath, a Ghinoran city-state in eastern Altanis, drive out the Empire of Kelnore from Pazidan.  Founding of the Empire of Bael Turath.

2500: War between the Empires of Bael Turath and Arkhosia culminates in the Rain of Glorious Doomfire, destroying both empires.

3075: Legendary founding of the City State of the Invincible Overlord by Larsandrow Longsword and his allies.

3227: Founding of Warwik by exiles from the early City State.

3700: Founding of Nera by exiles from the City State, rise of the Empire of Nerath in Altanis.

3970: Uncovering of the Calendar Obelisk, creation of BCCC dating system by Ralibarn the Wise.

4149: Gnolls cross the Plateau of Bendigroth and enter the lands of the City State, beginning of the Gnoll Times.

4187: Gnolls under White Ruin pass through the lands of the Shield Maidens and enter Nerathi territory. 

4197: Battle of Gedden, army of Nerath under King Elidyr destroyed by White Ruin, sack of Nera.

4200: Battle of the Line - Gnoll attack on Bisgen turned back by Cormarrin.  End of the Gnoll Times.

4434: Present day.

_________________________

Ancient Empires of Altanis - Boundaries

Empire of Nerath (ca 3700-4200 BCCC): Founded by exiled Alryan nobles from the City State of the Invincible Overlord.  Northern boundary at the River Greyrush & Lake of Temple Deeps, abutting Tharbrian, City State and Skandik territories.  Extending south over the Ghinarian hills, beyond the Lake of Visions into northern Arkhosia/Oricha.

Bael Turathi ‘Empire of Glorious Doomfire’ (ca 1500-2500 BCCC)– founded by Ghinoran colonists who interbred with the indigenous Altani, eventually carving out a powerful sorcerous state from the decaying empire of Kelnore.  Interbred with demons to create the Demonbrood/Tieflings. Battleplain Gwalion (Viridistan/Tharbrians) in the NW, Plain of Cairns and Sea Rune (Amazons) in the NE.  South to the Ghinarian Hills and the dismal swamps SW of the Castellan Mountains, abutting the territories of Arkhosia.  Destroyed in war with Arkhosia by the backlash from the Rain of Colourless Fire which annihilated Bael Turath, then by subsequent Altanian slave uprising.

Dragonborn Empire of Arkhosia (ca 1000-2500 BCCC) – Founded by the Dragonborn, a race created as slave warriors by the Orichalan Dragon Lords.  From the southern borders of the Turathi Doomfire Empire, south across Oricha and Isle of the Blest, with outpost colonies in Ghinor beyond the southern sea.  Capital Arkhosia in northern Isle of the Blest and other cities along the Straits of Oricha were destroyed by the Turathi Doomfire, eliminating Arkhosia in a single blow.

Empire of Kelnore (ca 500-1500 BCCC) – Founded by Northmen who copied and adapted Ghinoran culture.  Extent as described in WoHF, across all Altanis/Pazidan and far to the NE.

Ghinoran Successor States (ca -500 to +300 BCCC) - arose in the aftermath of the destruction of the Orichalan Dragon Lords.  Ghinoran city-states spread across Ghinor, Oricha, and the Ghinarian Hills, with outposts far to the north and west. 

Empire of the Orichalan Dragon Lords (-2927 to -575 BCCC) – The only major power to survive the War of the Pious and Philosophers which destroyed the power of science across the Wilderlands.  The Dragon Lords were humanoid entitities who bound the power of the mighty Dragon Kings to their will.  At its height, the empire extended across all Pazidan, the Antillian Peninsula, and beyond, far into Ghinor to the south, and north across the Winedark Sea.  Following a disastrous century-long war with the Demon Empires of the far south, Orichala was destroyed by a combined slave uprising of the Altani tribes under Bondorr (now god of swords), the Dragonborn slave warriors, and to the south the proto-Ghinorans under Prince Ghinor.



Altan Federation(ca -4000? to -2391 BCCC) - This almost unknown technological and peaceful culture predated the rise of the Dragon Lords, and was destroyed by them before and during the War of the Pious and the Philosophers. Originators of the Warforged.  There are indications that the Altan in their desperation may have allied with the alien Markab.  Probably was roughly coterminous with modern Altanian territories in Pazidan, north to the Roglaras/City State territories.

The Course of Empire

This series of 19th century American paintings depicting the rise and fall of a great empire has a lot of resonance for me, and fits with the Wilderlands' theme of civilisation vs barbarism, with countless great empires lost in the dust of history.

The Savage State

The Arcadian State

The Consummation of Empire

Destruction

Desolation

4e PC Upkeep Costs

4e PC Upkeep Costs

---

Adapted from: Making money matter (forked from Abstracting Wealth) - EN World: Your Daily RPG Magazine

I use info from pre-4e D&D, especially 3e, which seems to fit ok with 4e norms. So basic peasant subsistence is 1 sp/day; that's what you pay an unskilled labourer if there is plenty of surplus labour, it's enough to keep an active human male from starvation, it's also the cost of a maidservant in your castle - you're not really paying her, maybe an occasional sp at holiday time, but feeding her & keeping her supplied with clean linens etc adds up. A mercenary infantryman in barracks costs 2 sp/day, 6gp/month; that covers his equipment, good eating (equivalent to that Inn meal every day), booze money etc.

For PCs:

Wealthy: 200gp/month.
A wealthy, luxurious lifestyle (eg successful mercenary Captain) is 50gp/week, 200-250gp/month. That kind of cash establishes you as having higher social status than the 6gp/month riff-raff, lets you develop useful contacts, and other in-game benefit.

Middle-Class: 40gp/month
At the "we're successful!" level; a middle-class lifestyle (eg mercenary junior officer) is 10gp/week, 40-45gp/month.

Upper Working Class: 10gp/month.
For the unsuccessful or novice adventurer, they sleep 5 to a room (1 sp) and eat 1 meal/day (2sp), the 3sp/day is 2gp/week or 8gp/month for long-term stay. Call it 10gp/month including equipment, clothes, booze & sundries. A little less than what a mercenary sergeant or elite soldier makes IMCs. Also covers journeyman artisans and similar.

Lower Class: 3gp/month.
If they can't afford that, then the life of the 1sp/day, 3gp/month peasant labourer awaits - sleep in a ragged blanket on a dry(ish) stone/reed floor with 30 other men for 1cp/day, get your food from the market with plenty of hot broth and porridge and you can eat for ca 5 cp/day, if there's regular work you still have 4 cp/day for patching your rags and drinking plenty of weak beer at ca 2 cp/gallon... Not such a bad life by historical standards. But if there's no regular work, you better hope you saved some cps, or it's a choice (at best) between starvation and beggary.

BTW IMCs costs roughly equate to 1 cp = $1, 1gp = $100. This means that the 1 sp/day labourer is bringing in around $10/day, even at Purchasing Power Parity he’s better off than a substantial portion of Earth’s population in 2011. The intention is to create something vaguely pseudo-medieval, resembling neither modern US/UK nor the grinding poverty that has been the lot of most people since the invention of agriculture brought us the Malthusian Trap.

Southlands Campaign Timeline

BOOK ONE


S1: Day 1 - 16/6/4434 BCCC
Six weeks into the Dry Season, the ground is firm but the grasslands are still lush and green.  On the road to Stone Axe Inn with the half-elf Theyvatta Corin, wife of the kidnapped human merchant Cosgovin Corin of Renth - she is bringing money to the Inn to buy him back from Shadar's brigands.  Saryth & Megaera rescue Lady Chelarre Foxwood of Bisgen from a brigand ambush, with the help of an Altanian Shifter.  Two brigands flee. Reaching the Inn, they investigate the cellars, discover a hidden door to the catacombs, and rescue the serving girl Jana from being sacrificed on an altar to Tsathoggua by the Necromancer Malac Roake.  They kill him and destroy the altar, taking the Staff of Olnehr from him.  Later Saryth is ambushed upstairs by four magic-wielding Hamarkhite assassins, who want the Staff.  They are quickly dispatched.


S2 Day 2: At the Inn, the heroes are recognised by some of Shadar's brigands, and a battle ensues in the Inn courtyard.  The heroes dispatch all 12 brigands.  The Altanian warrior Rameses approaches them with a mission to loot a ruined temple on the west bank of the River Endgate.  Talking with the slaver Bissel Ket, he agrees to stay at the Inn and negotiate with Shadar to buy 'scribes', hopefully including Cosgovin Corin, Theyvatta's husband.


S3 Day 3:  Morning - a new coach arrives for Lady Foxwood from her estate, she thanks the heroes and rewards them with 100gp, then departs.   Theyvatta Corin stays at the Inn, the Innkeep Hagar Gudmunson keeping an eye on her safety.  The heroes join with Kytor the Red, a wandering mercenary, and head south on the road to the crossroads north of Bisgen, where a weathered, horned skull sits atop a sign-post of red stone.  They head northwest into the dusk.  A full moon rises, and they are approached by an 'old man' who claims his horse is fallen in the mire.  The heroes are not fooled by the Jackalwere, and when the 'Plains Demons' attack the heroes kill them all.


They cross an ancient stone bridge over the Samhain Stream, camping for the night by the river.


Day 4:  Heading south-west along the Samhain Stream the heroes are attacked by Bullywugs near some abandoned river-huts.  The frog-creatures are swiftly dispatched, but Kytor acquires a chest infection from fungal spores released by their pet frog, and has to abandon the mission.


S4: Saryth, Meg & the Shifter continue south past the confluence of the Samhain & Endgate rivers, meeting three more adventurers seeking the Temple, including a Thief, an elf Ranger, and the druid Noon.  The two groups join forces and reach the temple in swampy ground near the west bank of the Endgae.  A great battle with lizardmen and their guard drakes ensues.  As the lizardmen fall, their Yuan Ti mistress emerges from the still flooded vaults beneath the temple.  Her entrancing dance avails her not, she is slain and the above-ground ruins looted.  The heroes begin their journey back to Bisgen, camping that night on the plain.


S5 Day 5 (20/6/4434): The group reach Bisgen around noon for some R&R, and split up.  That evening (9pm) several of the heroes are approached incognito by Parre, the 'Traitor Baron' of Bisgen, who offers them 2,000gp for Shadar's head.  She also gives them the aid of her best warrior Varek of the Tigerclaw, the head of Parre's guardsmen in Bisgen.


Day 6: The group hired by Parre heads north, back to the Stone Axe Inn.  Bissel Ket & his slavers are still there.  That evening a dozen bandits turn up, with three scribe-slaves, not including the kidnapped merchant Cosgovin Corin.  A great battle breaks out, Bissel & co also attack the heroes, but all are defeated, among the dead is Shadar himself.  Bissel is captured, interrogated, and after revealing a little about Thulseus Doomfire & the fate of Rameses' sister, is executed by Varek.  Total bodycount is some 12 brigands and 8 slavers.


S6 Day 7: The heroes meet Bulwark, an Altan Warforged whose own adventurer party was recently ambushed by Shadar's bandits, and join up with him.  Fatigued by the great battle, the heroes rest 6 hours then (4am) gallop north through the night towards Shadar's Den, aiming to take the remaining bandits by surprise.  With some difficulty they reach the bandit fortress before dawn - Varek having rather expected a mere collection of tents - and set fire to the south-west tower. The sleepy bandits come out to address the fire, the heroes charge in and start slaughtering.     The battle rages long, but as dawn comes up (6am) the heroes stand victorious.  One bandit leader, the crossbowman 'Deadeye' Bosk, uses the other survivor of Bulwark's old group, the captured Nerathi paladin Lady Lucinda deLampton, as a hostage, and is able to escape alongside three other brigands, much to Varek's annoyance - the bandits stole their horses, along with the saddle-bag holding Shadar's head!.  But Lucinda is freed and thanks Bulwark for rescuing her.  Shaken by her experience, she decides that adventuring may not be for her.  Varek executes another captive, a bandit wizard.   The heroes rescue dozens of captives from the brigands, including, at last, Cosgovin Corrin.  Leaving Shadar's Den in flames they return to the Stone Axe Inn, where Theyvatta & Cosgovin are tearfully reunited; they will accompany a merchant caravan back to Renth.


Day 8:  The tired but victorious group return to Bisgen on foot, where a somewhat grouchy Parre rewards them despite the lack of Shadar's head.  Varek tells Parre he is leaving her service.  Parre, being a fellow Altanian, understands his wanderlust and accepts with relatively good humour.


Days 9-15 (to 30/6/4434 BCCC):  The heroes rest & relax a week in Bisgen.  Most spend freely; Varek spends vast sums in a week-long binge that will become a local legend.  Bulwark investigates various Warforge-related rumours.   Seeking to discover more about Thulseus Doomfire, now rumoured to be a snake-cult leader with a fortress on the west slopes of the Castellan Mountains, Varek instead hears of Zehirite snake-cult activity centred around Valoth Mett, a rich Nerathi merchant with an estate near the Endgate River riverbank, a mile west of Bisgen.  Mett has been buying many slaves who go into his estate and never come out.   Human sacrifice has been illegal in Bisgen since Parre decapitated the old Nerathi Baron Valomar 20 years ago(4414 BCCC)  and seized power - Valomar was a follower of the evil death/murder god Hamarkhis, whereas Parre reveres the Lawful Good power Mitra.


S7 Day 16 (1/7/4434 BCCC): Varek, Megaera & Rameses decide to investigate the Mett Estate.  Varek incites a crowd of his sycophants with tales of watered beer, and persuades a friend, the veteran guardsman Meltor, to come along on one last adventure.  Meltor, despite being mere days from retirement, agrees...


The heroes & crowd walk the mile to the Mett Estate, and scale the outer wall, though Meltor falls, a premonition of things to come.  They enter the Villa - no sign of Mett, but a big Altanian Sword Knight (Kaleos) & 8 armed servants demand they leave.  A fight quickly breaks out, Varek is hard-pressed by the Sword Knight and Meltor is poisoned by the weapons of the servants, dying horribly.  However the heroes and their lackeys soon triumph, leaving the hall splashed with greenish blood.  Angered at Meltor's death, Varek dismisses the crowd of sycophants who return to Bisgen, and uncovers a secret trapdoor beneath the throne - steps lead down into the earth...  Varek, Rameses & Megarea descend into a den of Zehirite Snake Cultists; hacking through cultists, serpents, more cultists, slaying the cult leader Valoth Mett - Varek is rescued from the jaws of a giant sacred crocodile.  Somehow the heroes prevail, and after some looting (Varek taking the Dragonslayer Longsword of Vallos from its wall fixture) they return to Bisgen with four Tharbrian slave girls rescued from Mett's intended sacrifice.


Megaera starts her own investigations into the names on a letter found on Mett's corpse, indicating a widespread conspiracy - "Nerath Restored".  Meanwhile Varek leaves his old broadsword with Meltor's widow and her young son Kardath, then leaves the four slave girls (Clarissa, Rae, Becca, Lucille) with the innkeep Torgle Mult.  Mult promises to treat his new 'tavern girls' right.  The girls seem a bit nervous...


Varek emerges from the Inn to the stench of smoke, and flames in the distance - the crowd he whipped up have embarked on an anti-Nerathi race-riot...  Parre won't be happy.


S8 Day 17 (2/7/4434 BCCC): Saryth and Megaera intimidate & calm the anti-Nerathi rioters trying to break into the Moondew villa, they disperse.  Parre's guardsmen soon arrive, bust a few heads and restore calm.  ca 3am Varek is summoned to explain himself to Parre; he and Saryth quickly fetch the rescued slave-girls, before they can be taken from Torgle Mult by five men in Cormarrin livery. Parre hears the explanations, she questions the slave girls in secret.  Rameses expresses interest in Lady Moondew's wellbeing.  Parre suggests Varek and co make themselves scarce for a couple weeks, as the Nerathi aristocrats will soon be up in arms over the massacre of Valoth Mett and the riot.
The heroes decide to investigate rumours of a Warforged to the south and leave by the Bisgen south gate before dawn, riding south through the estates, paddocks and horse meadows of Nasan Tara, Master of the Herds.  As the sun rises in the east they camp in a hidden dell by the Onslaught Stream, rest 6 hours then swim the stream with their horses, into Tigerclaw Clan territory.  The group are swiftly stopped and questioned by Tigerclaw scouts, Varek's kinfolk, and escorted SW towards Sarn's tower.  The group reach Sarn's tower towards evening, and rest again.


Day 18 (3/7/4434 BCCC): Next morning the group approach Sarn's tower from the east, hoping the glare of the morning sun will help blind the Arang-Tok orcs.  They enter the village and eliminate a nest of orcs in the old chief's hut, question & kill the orc berserker Anux, then attack Sarn's Tower itself.  Scaling the walls, they dispatch a few orcs - then a red-eyed, hand-bladed steel figure appears leading the orc defense - Azm Zealot!


S9 Day 18: Saryth is wounded by an orc arrow on the battlements, others destroy Azm Zealot and kill the orcs, including Sarn, capturing surviving orc drudges.  Having freed the village they ride east and report to a council of the Tigerclaw wise-women and war-chiefs.  War-Chief Kalgol agrees to occupy the former Red Bear village with Tigerclaw warriors; the wise woman Mama Kala is sceptical.


Day 19 (4/7/4434): PCs return west to Sharn's Tower with 40 Tigerclaw warriors; send message north to the Red Bear clan.


Day 20 (5/7/4434): PCs ride east 60 miles across Tigerclaw territory, camping on the plain.


Day 21 (6/7/4434): PCs ride east up into the western slopes of the Castellan Mountains, reach the road pass through the mountains (Bulwark's Breach) and follow it south to the orc-occupied Skydome tower overlooking the pass.  Group camps out of sight of the orcs.


Day 22 (7/7/4434): Morning - PCs prepare to attack the Skydome.


S10 Day 22 (7/7/4434): Rameses persuades the Skydome orcs to let himself, Bulwark & Varek into the Skydome tower.  Once inside they proceed to kill every single orc in the place, plus a couple of worgs and a dire boar.  One captive girl is killed in the fighting, two girls (Calari, Lyssana) and a captive youth (Valios) are rescued.  The heroes rest in the tower and plan to explore the sealed pits beneath the Skydome...


BOOK TWO




S11 Day 23 (8/7/4434): The group rest overnight in the Skydome tower.  Bulwark is joined by Saryth, recovered from her wound, and by Megaera, who now sports small horns and a forked tail.  The three of them leave to escort the two Gishmesh slaves home and then explore the Warforged crypts said to lie beneath Madcat mountain.  Rameses and Varek remain, planning to explore the pits beneath the Skydome before taking Lyssana home to her people; however Rameses develops a high fever, the consequence of his wounds suffered against the orcs.


Meanwhile, Arvias & his Gishmesh Hexblade friend had met aboard ship years ago, and met again recently in the port town of Renth, known for its hemp rigging-ropes, finest in the Wilderlands.  They decided to go search for the mysterious Skydome, rumoured to hold lost sorceries of ancient days, and joined up with Nathir, a local tracker and guide.  In the Skydome tower they found piles of dead orcs and three people, Altanians - the warrior Varek of the Tigerclaw, the princess Lyssana of the Winged Ape, and the wounded warrior Rameses of the Mountain Lion.


While Lyssana tends to Rameses, Varek joins the three newcomers and they descend into the pits under Skydome, where they are immediately attacked by hordes of zombies who pour in from two directions: humans, orcs, hobgoblins and ogres.  A long and bitter struggle ensues, both Varek and Nathir go down, but eventually the heroes prevail, destroying 16 shufflers, 6 flesh-crazed zombies, and 2 undead ogre-hulks.  After catching their breath, they open a door onto an old wizard's laboratory-study.  Drops of water drip from the ceiling, marking the dusty floor.  The air is chill.  Arvias recognises valuable reagants on the lab table, while the shelves contain many Ritual books.  Then ghostly forms emerge from the walls...


S12 Day 23 (8/7/4434)
While the spell-wielders Arvias and Garvas are overwhelmed by black mist, the warriors Varek and Nathir are unaffected.  They battle the Wraith Sovereign and his Wraith Figments, joined by the dwarf adventurer Dunstan Ironforge of the dwarf hold at Kolda.  Victorious, they place vials of alchemical reagants in a 2,000-year old Turathi mahogany chest, using priceless Nerathi ritual texts as packing material.  Arvias & Garvas recover enough to return upstairs.  Venturing on, the trio disturb a Purple Worm, and all flee the tower.
Princess Lyssana of Winged Ape clan and Rameses of Mountain Lion Clan announce they are in love and are to be wed.  Rameses also retells Lyssana's account of Nerathi necromancers active around an old tomb in Winged Ape territory.  Garvas & Arvias escort Lyssana and Rameses north back to Winged Ape territory, while Varek, Nathir and Dunstan the dwarf ride back west towards Sarn's tower.  They cross the Onslaught Stream.  As the sun is setting in the west, they near the ruins of the great statue of 'Itzlazam, King of Kings' - now reappeared from the Void - passing it they are attacked by three spiders, which appear from nowhere to leap at them.  Dunstan's pony is killed, but Varek and Nathir slay their attackers, the third spider vanishes just as it appeared.  They camp on the plain, having ridden some 50 miles west.


Day 24 (9/7/4434):  60 miles west across the plain brings Varek Nathir & Dunstan to Sarn's tower at nightfall.  Varek is greeted warmly by the 40 Tigerclaw warriors there, led by the veteran Sword Knight Koltan.   They report ambushing and wiping out a small orc patrol the previous day (8/7).


Day 26 (11/7/4434): Varek sets Dunstan to work improving the defenses of Sarn's Tower, sends scouts (including Nathir) south to check on Orc activity, and himself heads north, swimming the mouth of the Endgate river, avoiding the plesiosaurs that lurk out to sea, and entering Red Bear Clan territory.  He is taken to the tribal council, where over the objections of the Wise Women he persuades a hundred Red Bear warriors to join him in war with the orcs of the Arang Tok.  


Day 27 (12/7/4434): Varek returns to Sarn's Tower with his Red Bear warriors.  The Tigerclaw scouts have returned, reporting little sign of orc activity; Nathir found some dire weasel spoor near the coast, but it seems the orcs rarely visit the seaside.


Day 28 (13/7/4434): The group hold a council of war.  It is decided that rather than march directly on the fortress of the Arang-Tok, they will take all the men south along the coast, then head east to the orc-ruled sulphur mines at Barath.  A runner is sent east to the Tigerclaw to request more warriors for Sarn's Tower.


Day 29 (14/7/4434): Varek leads 140 men out of Sarn's Tower with Dunstan, Nathir scouting ahead, and head south along the coast.


Day 30 (15/7/4434):  Heading south ahead of the army, Nathir encounters and kills a stalking dire weasel. 


Day 31 (16/7/4434): Heading south-east away from the coast, the army follows a small river upstream eastwards.  A little before sunset they spot the target - the sprawling, palisaded sulphur mining colony of Barath ahead, with a tower on the highest of three huge boulders, huts perch on the remaining two. They have travelled 90 miles in three days, but the tough Altanian warriors are ready to fight.  Varek, Dunstan and Nathir plan the attack.


S13: Day 31 (16/7/4434): With the sun setting behind them, the Altanian horde races across the meadows west of Barath and storms the wall, tearing down the semi-rotten palisade with rope and grapple-iron.  The wild mage Arvias, who has been following them, races up to join the fight.  Led by Varek, Nathir, the Gishmesh hexblade Garvas, and three Red Bear Clan heroes (Mari the Old, Haak the Warsinger, and the Sword Knight Zane), the Altanians surge in and fight their way to the three huge boulders at the centre of Barath, where they face the orc chief, orc storm shaman, two earth-shaking orc pummelers,  four armoured ogre mercenaries and four crazed orc pyromaniacs, who attack them with fire-bombs.  A young red dragon flies from the orc shaman's tower to join the battle, which is long and hard.  The young dragon blasts the heroes with fire, then lands, grabbing Nathir, only to be swiftly overwhelmed.  
As combat rages, shouts go up as the orc's sulphur mining slaves - humans, halflings, and others - rise up from their pits to join the fray.  At last the Altanians triumph amid heaps of corpses as the orc shaman falls dead from the tower, but Nathir and Varek are both badly wounded.  On inspection the orc shaman appears to be female.


S14 The heroes and their horde finish the sack of Barath with an assault on the Antillian Merchants' warehouse, directed by the halfling slave Henry Sallowroot and aided by the undercover Paladin Galadhil of Mitra (PC).   A merchant is captured alive, two Antillian mercs surrender and are recruited by Varek.


Day 32 (17/7/4434): They rest the night and leave at dawn after setting Barath and the Sulphur Mines ablaze, vast clouds of black smoke roiling into the sky.  The Antillians' ship is sent north with the wounded and a guard of Altanian warriors under Sir Zane.  
Marching west for the coast north of the river, Nathir spots Troll tracks. 


Day 33 (18/7/4434): They reach the coast that evening and camp within sight of the sea.  That night camp-fires are spotted to the north-east.


Day 34 (19/7/4434):  Scouting pre-dawn, Nathir & Garvas ambush and wipe out a party of 4 Orc scouts.  The dead orcs' leader has scar-markings as Arang-Tok Sacred Band, the Chosen of Midor and equivalent in rank to an Altanian Sword Knight. Meanwhile, Varek's sleep that night is disturbed by strange dreams: 

Night on the plains, under a sullen sky.
A gaunt, black robed figure with an ebon ring stands beside a river, the lights of a walled town in the distance. 
He raises a hand, on which gleams an ebon ring set with a great ruby, the symbol of ancient Bael Turath... Sorcerous energies crackle, and from ancient burial cairns, the long dead warriors of Fallen Nerath burst forth, rusted blades in their gaunt hands. 
Dozens of them... hundreds...


Tal Lorvas watched as the ancient burial cairns split asunder and the warriors of Fallen Nerath arose once more.  To the east the sky was reddening with the colours of a new dawn. Lorvas raised his right hand, the ruby ring of the Demon Empress shining brightly.  His speech was well-prepared.


"Comrades!  Those who here with El'dyr bled!  Those who oft Cormarrin's led!  You rise now to fight again!"


Three hundred pairs of dead eyes regarded the Necromancer.  Three hundred bony hands gripped weapon-hilts.  Lorvas called out once more to the assembled Vasthrong:


"We stand on sacred ground!  Here on this soil, on this sacred night, you brave three hundred at last turned back the White Ruin!  Here, you saved our people from final annihilation!  Here, they buried you once - to sleep, to dream, until Nerath had need of you again.  Comrades, that time is Now!"


Lorvas turned, gesturing dramatically toward the distant township.


"Our city, Bisgen, has fallen to Red Barbarism!  Traitors and red savages infest the streets!  Join with us now - join with Cormarrin's sons - and free our land!"


He paused. The dead shuffled closer eagerly, moaning, sword-butts clanging on rusted shields.  He had them.  Lorvas smiled slightly. 


"All of you here this night!  By the power of this ring, forged in the fires of Bael Turath, I request and require your allegiance!"      


He raised the ring higher.  Three hundred dead warriors bowed their heads, falling to their knees... One did not kneel.


Lorvas had half-expected this.  He tried not to show fear as the lone figure strode towards him through the ranks of the dead.  Tall, broad-shouldered and gaunt, clad in blackened armour of ancient design, blue witchfire shone balefully from eyes more than two centuries dead.  The sword he held showed no sign of decay.  
The dead warrior stopped, three paces from the Necromancer, regarding him coldly. Now it was Lorvas' turn to incline his head in humility.


"Commander Cormarrin. It is an honour."


"Why have you summoned me?"


"Commander - Nerath is fallen, but her sons still need you.  Your sons - the House of Cormarrin still endures.  But twelve score years have passed since you defeated the Ruin Horde.  Now the Red Savages swarm and multiply on the plains.  Even Bisgen has a Red baron, now.  The times are changed, the faithful are few..."


"It is not enough." 


Sweat glistened on the young Necromancer's brow.  This was the critical moment.


"There is more, Commander. Some among us have kept the faith.  For centuries we have laboured to restore fallen Nerath.  We have mastered the dread magics of Bael Turath.  We have harnessed the power of the Black Sun.  Bisgen is just the beginning, Commander.  Their own dead will rise to join our armies.  The time is now.  Nerath will rise again!"


For a long moment there was silence.  Fear dug icy fingers into Tal Lorvas' heart.  
But at last, slowly, Cormarrin inclined his head.


"Very well."


He turned then, regarding the far-off town.  


"The children... You must spare the children."


Dawn, 19/7/4434 BCCC: The Altanian Plains west of Barath



Hidden in the long grass, two orc scouts of the Arang-Tok watch the Altanian army assemble by the sea-shore.  The cries ring out:


"BONDOR!! BONDOR!!"


To the north-east, the army of the Arang-Tok is approaching, calling out to their god:


"MIDOR!! MIDOR!!"


One orc scout looks to the other.


"Grashduk?"


"Yeah, Buglut?"


"Grashduk... They're yellin' Bondor, we're yellin' Midor... 


"Grashduk, do you ever think, like..."


"What?"


"Do you ever think, like, we're all really worshippin' the same god of ultra-violence, each in our dif'rent ways...?"


"Buglut?"


"Yeah, Grashduk?"


"Shut up."


S15 Day 34 (19/7/4434): The Arang-Tok attack.  With rebel slaves on the flanks, the Altanians strike at the heart of the Orc army. Varek, Nathir, Gaspar, Arvias and the Red Bear Shaman Uncia attack and kill the Arang-Tok's chief and their high priest of Midor, leaving the orcs in some disarray.  The Altanians then fight their way out from the heart of the orc horde, leaving mounds of dead. The southern half of the rebel slaves under Henry Sallowroot drive off the hill orcs, then scatter into the swamps to the south. The Altanians join with the retreating northern half of the rebel slaves under Galadhil to continue north, the badly bloodied orc army shows little sign of pursuit.


19/7/4434: Nerathi march on Bisgen.  Undead army rendezvouses with the Human forces. That evening, Halvath Cormarrin demands that Parre hand over the town.  She refuses and closes the gates.


20/7/4434: Nerathi prepare siege ladders.


21/7/4434: First Nerathi assault on Bisgen repulsed with much slaughter.  Siege begins.


23/7/4434: Nerathi siege catapults begin firing flaming pitch-balls into Bisgen.


Day 38 (23/7/4434): The battle-weary Altanian force at last returns to Sarn's Tower, joining the men earlier sent back on the captured Antillian merchant ship. The Red Bear clan warriors are permitted to re-occupy the village. Grim tidings - an army of the dead is besieging Bisgen!


Day 39 (24/7/4434): Varek, the heroes, and the remaining 18 Tigerclaw warriors still fit to fight, travel 30 miles north-east to the camp of the Tigerclaw, arriving that night. The war-chief thanks Varek, makes him a Sword Knight of Bondor. The old priest Sydow presents Varek with the legendary Armour of Bondor, said to have been worn by Bondor in his struggle aeons ago against the Orichalan Dragon Lords.


Varek is inducted as a Black Eagle sword knight. He stands a vigil all night in his armour, helping the smiths reforge his ancestral sword of Vallos, which he now has the holy right to bear. And as dawn shows in the sky he can be found practising forms on the court outside the forge... 


Day 40 (25/7/4434): The heroes gather intelligence: it seems that the undead besiege Bisgen from the south-east, while the forces of the Nerathi houses are camped south-west of town, preparing ladders and siege engines. They decide to scout out the situation. The group swims the Onslaught Stream, Arvias gets into difficulty but is hauled ashore by Nathir and Gaspar. They meet Nasan Tara, the old Altanian Master of the Herds, and Varek persuades him to hand over the last six horses he was taking down to the river.
They ride north around 20 miles, seeing no-one. Around 3pm they spot the Cormarrin Estate and decide to investigate, scaling the back wall into private gardens, then running across the lawn towards steps that lead up to patio doors.  A woman at an upper window calls out an alarm...  


S16 Day 40 (25/7/4434): Varek and co invade the mansion, kill 15 of the 16 defenders (4 House soldiers, 8 lackeys, 3/4 archers), and capture Meg & Tessa Cormarrin, Lord Halvath Cormarrin's wife and sister.  They  are fairly powerful wizards - Meg raised the four dead Nerathi soldiers as zombies. Varek interrogates the women, then after looting the vast wealth of the Cormarrin vaults he and Nathir execute the noblewomen, but leave Meg's three children alive. They have the noncombatant servants build a corpse-pyre outside, then fire the mansion and ride off east (ca 4pm).  Black smoke rises into the sky once more.
Nathir leads the group east and north through the countryside round behind the lines of the besiegers, avoiding contact with the Nerathi and their undead host. After travelling about four miles they reach the Endgate river two miles east of Bisgen ca 5.30pm. At nightfall Nathir tries to swim downstream into the city, but is lost in the treacherous current.


S17: Varek & co joined by Ionel, Parre's scout, who has crossed the Endgate river via a soggy raft. Attacked by Nerathi cavalry - Varek kills their leader, the Paladin Lady Lucinda deLampton, while his men escape (a drunken old Red Bear warrior, Maari, wanders up & is cut down), then falls to a rain of sword blows, but awakens in the Temple of Bondor in Bisgen; the great diamond in the Armour of Bondor's chest plate has turned to dust. Varek consults with Parre, a challenge is issued to Halvath Cormarrin, presumably eager to revenge the death of his wife and sister. 


Day 41 26/7/4434
Ionel, Gaspar & Uncia ride south all night, evade an undead patrol, cross the Onslaught Stream, and reach the Tigerclaw.  They consult with Chief Kagol, Priest Sydow, and Mama Kala, and begin mustering the Altanian clans for war with the Nerathi.


Dawn - After a night with the Tharbrian girls in war-damaged Mult's Inn, Varek faces Halvath Cormarrin in a duel to the death outside the city walls. The battle is vicious, but Varek at last prevails and decapitates the Nerathi commander, to cheers from Bisgen's defenders.  Commander Cormarrin requires him to leave Halvath's head; Varek complies, on condition that Halvath not be re-animated.


Day 42 27/7/4434 Altanians mustering.


Day 43 28/7/4434 Red Bear and Winged Ape begin mustering at the Tigerclaw camp.  Rameses leads the Winged Ape; Haak the Warsinger the Red Bear. At sunset, from Bisgen's north wall Varek and Parre can see a sinister horde approaching from the  north, across the Samhain Fields.


Day 44 29/7/4434 The Altanians cross the Onslaught Stream at dawn and march north towards Bisgen. North of Bisgen, dawn reveals a thousand ghouls arrayed under Borritt Crowfinger. Seeing this, Varek has Parre withdraw all civilians from north of the river, Parre makes ready to destroy the Bisgen bridge if the north town falls.
An hour before sunset, the Altanians are confronted with the Nerathi human army 5 miles south of Bisgen, who have broken camp to intercept them. Varek and Parre can see that the undead south of Bisgen are also splitting up, one part moving south to intercept the Altanians in support of the living Nerathi.


S18 Day 44 29/7/4434: Arvias gives a stirring speech. The Altanian clans attack and swiftly annihilate the human Nerathi force, killing all 280 of them before the Nerathi undead warriors can arrive.  Cormarrin and his 130 dread warriors arrive, Cormarrin demands the Altanians withdraw.  They refuse and battle commences.  The Altanians target Cormarrin and quickly bring him down, though the dread warriors around him drive off the Altanians and kill many, including Uncia the spirit shaman.  Arvias and Ionel rally the Altanian centre; on the Altanian flanks Haak and Rameses skillfully envelop the small dread warrior force.  Disheartened by the loss of Cormarrin, the dread warriors fall back towards Bisgen with heavy losses.


Watching from Bisgen's south wall, as night falls Parre and Varek see the undead retreating north to rejoin the larger force under Tal Lorvas. Then reports arrive from the north wall - Borritt Crowfinger's ghoul horde is advancing on the city...  


Nightfall

Altanians:
The Altanian clans to the south have 662/800 men still fit to fight, luckily they are not fatigued despite the long march and 2 battles. BR 91.
Parre has 550 men in Bisgen, mostly levy militia. BR 82
Total: 1212

The Nerathi Necromancers:
Tal Lorvas has 90 severely fatigued Dread Warriors, plus another 140 or so fresh, 230 total.
Borritt Crowfinger has around 1000 ghouls.
Total: 1230


The Altanian horde has a slight issue now - many of the men want to break off combat and begin looting the fabulous wealth of the defenceless Nerathi noble estates (deLampton, Wynson, Foxwood, etc) that are scattered across the countryside nearby. Meanwhile the sun has set, and it will soon be full dark, and old Sydow receives a Sending from Parre's wizard Eldrin Halfelven that a ghoul horde is about to attack Bisgen from the north.

The Tigerclaw War-Chief Kalgol suggests an immediate attack to destroy the remaining Nerathi Dread Warriors, before the Altanian horde can fall to looting the Estates. He suggests gathering a strong force of Sword Knights and other heroes (Arvias, Ionel etc) to strike directly against Tal Lorvas; if the Necromancer can be destroyed hopefully his army will fall to dust or be otherwise incapacitated. 


Party XP end Session 18: 21,756. 10th level is at 20,500.  11th level is at 26,000.


S19 Nightfall Day 44 29/7/4434
Arvias and Ionel are joined by a friendly Goliath from the Castellan Mountains and 5 Sword Knights as they assault the centre of the Nerathi Dread Warrior line south of Bisgen.  In bitter fighting 4 sword knights fall, though the last, the Altanian hero Tal, destroys Tal Lorvas' Burning Skeleton; 3 Skeletal Cyclops Tomb Guards and 2 of 3 advanced Chillborn Zombies are also destroyed, before the tide turns against the Altanians.  The Dread Warriors of ancient Nerath drive back the Altanian horde.  War Chief Kalgol consults with Arvias and decides the Altanians will retreat south to lick their wounds. 
Meanwhile, in Bisgen Parre decides to commit all her men to defend the north wall. The ghoul horde swarms the wall, but the first wave is driven back with terrible losses on both sides, 200 ghouls are destroyed.  The second wave takes the wall.  After hours of fighting and with hundreds dead, Parre's surviving men fall back to the Bisgen Bridge.  Parre gives the order to the stonemasons to destroy the bridge; a small contingent of heroes will need to hold the bridgehead until the collapse...


S20 Night Day 44 29/7/4434
Bisgen's defense of the north wall has been led by Gurstang, a Skandik Paladin of Mitra. Parre leads Varek, Eldrin Halfelven, and Gurstang with a force of her veteran Lancers to hold the bridge against the onrushing Ghoul horde. They fight fiercely, but the ghoul horde is hundreds strong and supported by the vampire lord Nexull and by Boritt Crowfinger, whose death magic roots Varek to the spot. First Gurstang falls, then Varek. Then Parre is  overwhelmed.  Eldrin, the last one standing, is on the bridge amidst a sea of ghouls when the masons finish their work and the bridge collapses, sweeping him and several ghouls into the deadly torrent. 
The ghoul horde is trapped on the north side of the river, and Parre has already given the order to abandon the town.  With Tal Lorvas and his Dread Warriors miles to the south pursuing the retreating Altanian barbarians towards the Onslaught Stream the people of Bisgen flee east, screened by their remaining soldiers, towards Winged Ape Clan territory.  The future will be harsh and uncertain for them, but they evade the armies of the dead.  As dawn rises over the eastern mountains, with the noble Rameses now Clan Chief of the Winged Ape it seems likely that many will survive.
Tal Lorvas at last returns to meet his old master, Borritt Crowfinger, in the semi-ruined city of Bisgen.  The new capital of Restored Nerath is now a ghost town, where only the dead walk...