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[RPG] Swords Against Khyber
Jun. 16th, 2007 08:24 pmChapter 8: The Dragon Wakes
The heroes take the lightning rail from Vathirond towards Sharn, to deliver the khyber shard recovered from Bluehearth to Baron Merrix. While en route, someone sets off an incendiary in the baggage coach of the lightning rail and several of the party go to investigate it. Vandal (suspicious fellow that he is) heads back towards the private coach arranged for the party by Merrix’s letter of credit. There he finds Qella, a dark cloaked half-elf woman trying to pick the lock. A scuffle follows, and Vandal manages to disarm the daring thief. When Corlan arrives, Vandal has him watch Qella while he steps into the coach to find a window open, and the magical haversack containing the dragonshard gone. A dimly visible figure flees from the path of the lightning rail in the distance. Qella chooses that moment to literally vanish into the shadows, so Vandal and Corlan do the only thing they can think of: leap from the lightning rail to pursue the thief.
Achon and Marik arrive from fighting the fire just in time to see Corlan make the leap. Having no idea what’s going on, they follow, Achon quipped that Vandal must have stolen the shard. The four adventurers quickly regroup and pursue, as a mysterious flock of crows flies overhead. They catch up to see their quarry is Achon’s warforged servant Drudge, surrounded by Karnathi zombies. The crows resolve into the form of Maralon the necromancer, an old foe of Achon’s. The skeletons decapitate Druge before the heroes can reach him, handing the haversack over the Maralon. They then occupy the heroes long enough for the necromancer to transform again, and the murder of crows vanishes into the night.
Drudge’s severed head speaks to the heroes, claiming to contain a part of the spirit of Starrin d’Cannith, the patriach of House Cannith, lost on the Day of Mourning. He tells them his faithful servant Drudge was prepared as a failsafe. The dragonshard they have recovered is the Heart of Khyber, the prison of a mighty Raksha demon lord. It was used as part of an ultimate binding ritual to create an impenetrable ward around Cyre, but caused the Day of Mourning instead. The demon seeks to cause death and destruction, and the Heart inspires avarice and desire in the hearts of those in power. Others will attempt to possess it, and use it like Cyre did, with terrible results. Only in the Demon Wastes to the far west can the Heart be cast into the furthest depths of Khyber, keeping it from the hands of the living.
Returning the Vathirond on foot, the party learns sometime during the night all the warforged in the town up and left, doing violence to anyone trying to stop them. They walked straight into the mist surrounding the Mournland and disappeared. Moreover, word has come from nearby Starislaskur and Wroat that warforged are leaving those areas in numbers, all headed east... towards the Mournland. Unable to track Maralon, but suspecting the necromancer is headed to Karnnath, the party decides to make their way to Flamekeep, the stronghold of the Church of the Silver Flame and capitol of Thrane. If what they have learned is true, the powers of the Five Nations and beyond must be warned.
The heroes take the lightning rail from Vathirond towards Sharn, to deliver the khyber shard recovered from Bluehearth to Baron Merrix. While en route, someone sets off an incendiary in the baggage coach of the lightning rail and several of the party go to investigate it. Vandal (suspicious fellow that he is) heads back towards the private coach arranged for the party by Merrix’s letter of credit. There he finds Qella, a dark cloaked half-elf woman trying to pick the lock. A scuffle follows, and Vandal manages to disarm the daring thief. When Corlan arrives, Vandal has him watch Qella while he steps into the coach to find a window open, and the magical haversack containing the dragonshard gone. A dimly visible figure flees from the path of the lightning rail in the distance. Qella chooses that moment to literally vanish into the shadows, so Vandal and Corlan do the only thing they can think of: leap from the lightning rail to pursue the thief.
Achon and Marik arrive from fighting the fire just in time to see Corlan make the leap. Having no idea what’s going on, they follow, Achon quipped that Vandal must have stolen the shard. The four adventurers quickly regroup and pursue, as a mysterious flock of crows flies overhead. They catch up to see their quarry is Achon’s warforged servant Drudge, surrounded by Karnathi zombies. The crows resolve into the form of Maralon the necromancer, an old foe of Achon’s. The skeletons decapitate Druge before the heroes can reach him, handing the haversack over the Maralon. They then occupy the heroes long enough for the necromancer to transform again, and the murder of crows vanishes into the night.
Drudge’s severed head speaks to the heroes, claiming to contain a part of the spirit of Starrin d’Cannith, the patriach of House Cannith, lost on the Day of Mourning. He tells them his faithful servant Drudge was prepared as a failsafe. The dragonshard they have recovered is the Heart of Khyber, the prison of a mighty Raksha demon lord. It was used as part of an ultimate binding ritual to create an impenetrable ward around Cyre, but caused the Day of Mourning instead. The demon seeks to cause death and destruction, and the Heart inspires avarice and desire in the hearts of those in power. Others will attempt to possess it, and use it like Cyre did, with terrible results. Only in the Demon Wastes to the far west can the Heart be cast into the furthest depths of Khyber, keeping it from the hands of the living.
Returning the Vathirond on foot, the party learns sometime during the night all the warforged in the town up and left, doing violence to anyone trying to stop them. They walked straight into the mist surrounding the Mournland and disappeared. Moreover, word has come from nearby Starislaskur and Wroat that warforged are leaving those areas in numbers, all headed east... towards the Mournland. Unable to track Maralon, but suspecting the necromancer is headed to Karnnath, the party decides to make their way to Flamekeep, the stronghold of the Church of the Silver Flame and capitol of Thrane. If what they have learned is true, the powers of the Five Nations and beyond must be warned.
