Campaign

The Kemen Campaign takes place on the Northeastern continent of the Kemen World and is governed by the rules in D&D 4E. The principle characters of the campaign are Elpheba, Osiris, Max Blackrock and Valonia. The game begins in Spring, September 12th 1025, during the Age of Blood.

Session 1
Run Date February 7th, 2014.

Introduction Scene 1:

Elpheba, a tiefling warlock, has been summoned by the High Council of the Magestocracy. She travels to the ninth, and top floor, of the Tower of Azimuth and into the council chamber.

The entire council is present for this assignment (which Elpheba finds odd). The members include Archmage Soheirdan, Archmage Alys, Professor Marenkul, Knight Commander Bradock, and Bishclerc Phial.

There she is assigned a mission to fetch Archmage Eldar as he has failed to report in for some time. His last known whereabouts was at the Chasind Fairytale Inn in the town of Westhold which lies to the North on the West Trade Road. He has apparently gone off on an important field research mission.

As this is Elpheba's first mission as a graduated mage she is to be assigned an Order Watcher from the Order of Smite. The Order Watcher is to ensure that her job is done correctly, and so she does not run from the Magestocracy now that she is no longer a student. She is told that they will be leaving the next morning to go to Westhold.

Introduction Scene 2: A few hours later

Osiris, a deva invoker, is standing in the Order of Smite barracks courtyard just outside of the Tower of Azimuth. There he is approached by Knight Commander Bradock just a few hours after his meeting with Elpheba. Bradock assigns him as Elpheba's Order Watcher, ensuring that she complete her mission and not turn rogue. Bradock also commands Osiris to report to him any and all details of the mission upon his return, he also indicate that the mission is more important than the council seems to admit.

Introduction Scene 3: Approximately 3 weeks after the events at the Tower of Azimuth.

Max Blackrock, a human fighter, sits in his small home in the city of Westhold, his father Gendrick Blackrock asleep in the bed beside him being quite ill. As time passes Max recalls his dreams of being an adventurer as a child, as well as his father's violent disapproval on the matter.

Suddenly Gendrick shoots up in his bed, staring in Max's direction, obviously distressed and very ill. He tells Max that he dreamt of his mother, Astrid who was standing in her adventuring gear, giving him a disapproving glare. Gendrick admits his guilt to Max for stiffing his dreams at every turn. He tells him that his mother was the famous Astrid Tum, something Max had not known. He tells Max to follow his dreams and that if he wants to he can sell the smithy to Ban Targ so that he can afford his own adventuring gear. Gendrick dies during the night, peacefully and at ease.

Introduction Scene 4: The Next Morning

Valonia, a hamadryad druid,  finds herself in the gardens of Westhold admiring the flower arranging skills of the dwarves (something she finds surprising). she has arrived only recently from the Medius Woods where her curiosity has led her to explore the town and it's strange peoples.

She sees a man walk by, obviously very sad. She has never seen someone sad before. She decides to follow him. She watches as the man buries his father, and after a time decides to speak to him. Through the conversation Max is somewhat put off by her, but Valonia's looks seems to ease the situation. He allows her to follow him to the market where he needs to purchase his adventuring gear. There Valonia finds plenty of shiny things to occupy her time.

Chapter 1: The Curious Case of Archmage Eldar.

Elpheba and Osiris arrive at the Chasind Fairytale Inn in Westhold after 3 weeks of uneventful and slow travel on a carriage from the Tower of Azimuth.

The decide to enter the establishment and speak with the owner, a squat dwarf named Balford. Balford admits that he knows Eldar and that he is staying in one of the rooms above, though he hasn't seem him at at least a week, though he admittedly tried not to pay Eldar any attention due to his... eccentricities. With some negotiating and convincing Balford agrees to allow the adventurers admittance into Eldar's room.

The trio find the room in a state of chaos, books on the floors, drawers torn through and a mysterious figure jumping out of a window holding a satchel. Elpheba and Osiris give chase across the rooftops, eventually succeeding in having their quarry fall from the rooftops into the market district, and right between Max and Valonia.

Max immediately recognizes the thief, a local tough named Brennan who works for Ban Targ. Seeing Elpheba and Osiris on the rooftop above he correctly determines that Brennan has taken something of theirs and pins him down. Three more of Ban Targ's goons arrive and they start a fight trying to aid their captured comrade. The heroes successfully fend off the thugs ensuring not to kill them. The authorities arrived but seeing that the altercation seemed to have been caused by Ban Targ's men he decides to leave the heroes and the thugs alone, somewhat fearfully, and giving Max a warning about opposing Ban Targ. Elpheba asks the guard if he saw Eldar, he admits that he did notice him, leaving town and travelling South on several occasions.

The satchel was recovered and given to Elpheba. Inside the bag the players see a leather bound journal and a black octahedron runestone, with ancient elvish runes carved into it. Valonia recognizes the symbols from ancient scrolls which speak of horrible events.

The heroes decide to join together and bring the unconscious thugs to Max's home. There they interrogate Brennan where he admits to stealing the runestone and journal. Ban Targ pays well for rare artifacts. He also admits that he saw Eldar go south a few weeks ago, but never returned. Lastly he said that its rare for anyone to bring artifacts back from the ruins nearby, as most have been picked clean, therefore the runestone is very valuable.

The heroes return to the Chasind Fairytale Inn where Balford gives them the key to Eldar's room. There they find a map that seems to indicate the location of the ruins in question. Max asks for outside help and someone points out that there is a bridge somewhere along the river.

The heroes allow the thugs to leave after turning out their pockets, Elpheba, Osiris, and Max stay the night in the home, Valonia stays in the nearby forest and meets them in the morning.

They meet in the morning where Valonia introduces them all to Jim her companion wolf. They begin travelling south towards the bridge when Valonia inadvertently trips on spider webbing. Initiating an attack from spiders. The heroes quickly dispatch them and continue on their way, albeit slightly stickier than before.

A few days later they arrive at a bridge though it is in terrible shape. At the bottom of the bridge lies a cart with the symbol of the Magestocracy, any goods were removed and no bodies can be seen. After some risk the heroes make it across, though the bridge is in much worse shape as a result.

A few hours later they arrive at the ruins. It is composed of a number of stone columns, dwarven statues and a large stone slab at the bottom of a recently dug out pit. The nearby camp has been ransacked with tents collapsed and belongings tossed about. It is there that they find Eldar's Journal. In it Eldar talks about his work in the ruins, the stone slab at the bottom of the pit and his discovery of the runestone in the Tower of Azimuth and how it led him there. The final entry seems to imply that the stone slab is the entrance to an ancient crypt. He also postulates that the door will only open to a particular type of magic. There is also some indication that he is being followed or watched. The last line of the entry trails off and the corner of the page seems to be rotting away.

Osiris and Valonia worked together to decipher the markings on the stone slab and uncover the following riddle. ''“Only those who wield the weapons against the foes herein may enter. A test of your commitment to preserve the life of the realm. Present I with the radiance of your resolve and I shall reveal to you the way.”'' The heroes correctly determine that the slab responds to radiant magic. Osiris casts a spell upon it and the slab seems to vanish, at the same moment a rush of air leaves the crypt and blows past the heroes. The runestone begins to glow a bright, radiant green that can be seen through Elpheba's pack. The statues about the camp seem to come to life and make a mad dash towards Elpheba. The heroes correctly determine that the runestone is their prize and begin to play keep away. Eventually they dispatch their opponents. They then enter the crypt.

Upon entering Elpheba notices that the architecture of the crypt matches that of the Tower of Azimuth. They notice traps in the first room but manage to navigate around them. In the next hall the notice an explosive trap that seems to have been disarmed, there they fight 2 zombies and 2 skeletons. Elpheba recognizes the two zombies as being students from the Tower of Azimuth who studied under Archmage Eldar. In the next room they find the hallway collapsed, but recent digging on the crypt wall has broken into an adjacent cave system. Just in front of the cave are two cots, as well as several empty crates of supplies. There is some evidence that one of the two people using the cots was bound. In the cave they find 4 more zombies, once again students of Eldar's. This time the zombies are wielding pickaxes. After a grueling battle, the heroes manage to dispatch these foes.

Session 2
Run date February 28th, 2014.

The party, clearly exhausted after the chain of encounters thus far decided to rest outside of the crypt and try again in the morning. After an uneventful evening they re-entered with renewed vigor, discovering that not much had changed within. They quickly returned to their prior position and pressed onward into the crypt. They finally came upon a large altar where they could see Archmage Eldar  on the ground being tortured by a frightening wight. One they were finally noticed the wight stabbed Eldar in the belly with a ceremonial dagger, leaving him for dead. The wight then summoned a number of skeletal minions which the party was able to quickly vanquish. The wight eventually succumbed to Osiris' holy magics.

The party rushed to Eldar's aid where he warned them of a potential traitor among the the High Council. He then asked them open the ceremonial altar in the crypt and take its content to his colleague Balkan Holt in Westlund. He said that dire consequences may follow if unworthy mages were to get their hands on the crypt's contents. Eldar then died from his wounds.

The party managed to open the altar, losing the runestone in the process. The altar opened and a glowing green orb flew out of it and out of the crypt. Inside the casket the players found the body of a dwarf dressed in fancy armor clutching a shining book shaped slab of metal. The corpse was also chained with pure silver to the base of the casket, an unusual burial to be sure. Elpheba grabbed the book of steel and they then heard a door behind them unlocking. As they passed through the door the players discovered 5 statues that had a striking resemblance to their group. Each of the statues was holding a magic weapon which each player felt belonged to them.

The party then left the crypt to discover that the weather had turned sour very suddenly, green strikes of lightning, intense winds, and loud thunder claps overwhelmed the senses. Suddenly the climate calmed and a giant green orb appeared in the sky. When investigating the book in the orb's light the players discovered that they could turn ghostly pages upon which runes were written that none of them could read. While playing with the book they eventually determined that it was warping their perception of reality, flipping backwards seemed to peel back the veil of time, while flipping too far forward showed empty pages. Upon investigating the ruins while having the book at a moment in the past Osiris suddenly had the feeling that he designed this crypt to act as a prison. Something he did not share with the others.

After several hours of experimentation the party decided to start travelling north, first toward Westhold and eventually further north to Westlund. While travelling they determined that only they seemed to be affected by the book's perception alteration. Upon arriving to Westhold they discovered that the entire town had left the streets and were hold up in their dwellings. After a few minutes of walking through the saw a young girl running through the streets screaming, apparently being pursued by five undead hounds. They dispatched the hounds and attempted to console the young girl however she quickly dissipated before their eyes. Before vanishing she had been demanding access to a man's home, which he refused, but upon noticing the party he invited him inside.

The man introduced himself as Blair. He explained that for the last 3 days the town had been plagued by phantasms which seemed to loop and eventually vanish. He said that it all started when a mysterious tower appeared on the edge of the village. The party decided that they would explore the tower, suspecting that they perhaps played a role in its appearance.

Session 3
Scheduled for Friday March 14th, 2014.