After 12 DM sessions over six weeks, the 1st plotline is done! Here is a synopsis a player wrote up:
Searinaak looked around the tavern with a toothy smile, happy to see the old patrons had returned. He pushed himself up from his chair with a flourish, stretching his wings as he whirled around, the tail of his black and orange coat trailing behind him. Now was the moment to enshrine his family to the populace. The moment he'd spent a decade looking for. With a silent prayer to Baraxiis, the red dragon began to speak to those gathered...
"So who wants to hear the story of how the nightmares came to be banished? How those who haunted dreams came to fear the dreamers?"
Searinaak cleared his throat, putting on his best showmanship.
"Let us first go back to the beginning. For no story is complete without a villain, and history provided us with a truly horrid one in the vile Ixcheal. There is a distant and alien world where we go when we sleep, known as the Dream Realm. A realm of existence ruled by thoughts and hopes, fears and doubts, speculation and reflection. It's a realm all who sleep know well, and those who don't sleep, well...we'll just have to pity them while they stumble through this part of the story in confusion, won't we?"
The red dragonborn gives a smile and a wink at that last comment, picking up his wine glass and theatrically taking a sip.
"But there is another part of the Dream Realm, which we also know too well. A twisted, horrific realm that none seek to go, but we find ourselves drawn too by our deepest fears and darkest regrets. The Far Realm. The Realm of Nightmares. And it is here where Ixcheal was born. A creature clad in robes of fear, with a bulbous head, empty eyes and tentacles drooping from it's face. Ixcheal was a monster who wanted nothing more than to bring the Realm of Nightmares to reality, and would do so through the unsuspecting minds of those peacefully sleeping.
But long ago, Ixcheal met his match. A dwarven hero by the name of Bombus Steelbeard faced Ixcheal's minions, cutting through the nightmares of the ancient age and sealed the Nightmare Lord into a gem, contained in the pommel of his axe. But alas, Bombus was all too mortal, and death eventually took him. His axe was buried with him, and with him it remained for many years. But with Bombus's spirit no longer present, Ixcheal grew bold, and began to prey on the minds of those who walked the tomb.
He tricked some unsuspecting, nameless individual into taking the axe, using an illusion of Bombus. For there are no greater illusions than those from the sleeping realms, formed from the wild and unchained minds of its visitors. The nameless individual believed themselves to be honoring Bombus, aiding in his rest. And at the ghosts behest, they broke the axe, only to find they had unleashed a horror long forgotten."
Searinaak walks over to the fire, standing with his back to it, letting his winged shadow loom over the room for effect.
"And the Nightmare Lord wasted no time resuming his quest. From his throne of forbidden thoughts, he invaded the dreams of the Caesincharis, turning their worst fears to reality. Floating spheres of teeth and eyes acted as his heralds, infecting people in their sleep, incubating until they were ready to burst forth from the eyes of their hosts. Then they would wreak havoc on all they gazed upon, destroying them with acid and flame or reducing them to dust. And those horrific images would push other people closer to the realms of nightmares, where the process would repeat. Soon, as you all know, sleep itself became an object of horror, something all longed for yet rightly feared to claim."
The dragonborn walks away from the fire, letting it light the room.
"But Ixcheal wouldn't have his way for long. For it was not soon after his rampage begun that I and my family visited the village, and we saw for ourselves what was happening. Right in front of me, a woman's eye burst from her head, turning into a monster of teeth and eyes. But the monster was ill prepared, and despite all its many eyes, failed to see the spear that would pierce it, and bleed it of its life.
My family and I were not going to let this nightmare continue. It is, after all, our charge to protect the forest and it's inhabitants, and so we set about to do just that. I, Searinaak, gathered my dull witted but fearsome brother Karxinaak, the often grumpy but ever powerful dragonborn arcane swordsman Auron, the crafty and cunning human skald known as Renard Sounds the Horn, the once slave but now a free and loyal servant Tink, and on occasion, the weaponsmith and wildsman known as Oddvar.
And together, with my families backing and aid, we set off to find a way to banish Ixcheal from the forest. First, we needed to find a cure to the infection that could occur to those who slept, and find a cure we did. A simple Remove Blindness spell would destroy the incubating monster, and we quickly spread this knowledge so that the militia could provide aid to those on the verge of becoming a new host for their worst dreams."
Searinaak takes a large swig from his wine glass, and then hops up onto a table, seating himself on its edge. He continues his oration, making the most of his deep and gravelly voice to create a grim atmosphere.
"But what of the wizards you've heard so much about? Surely, they have a place in this tale, you must be thinking. And they do, my friends. As you shall soon hear.
Curing the infections was helpful but it would not stem their tide. I spent many days thinking and discussing with my comrades what we must do, until at last I realized where the answer lay: in the tomb of Bombus Steelbeard. It was he, after all, who first sealed Ixcheal! But of course, Bombus Steelbeard was dead. How could he give aid to us, whose plight was occurring so long after his stay on this world? Well, my friends, there are ways for the long dead to lend their aid to the living.
We recruited Zombor, the brother of Torgor, and with his aid went to investigate the tomb of Bombus. Carved on the walls of his tomb was the tale of his battle against Ixcheal. How he fought the nightmares, revealed the truth from their illusions, and sealed Ixcheal within an orb. To accompany these images was a song, which explained the process he used...only the key part of the process had been chipped off! It seemed Ixcheal was not naive as to how we might seek to combat him.
But he was not clever enough. For in the holy texts of Baraxiis lies a way with which we can speak with the dead. We might not be able to have a full conversation and discuss the weather and local trade, but we can ask them key questions, which was exactly what we needed now. And so with Renard at my side, offering his peoples chant of old, I invoked this ancient Baraxiian ritual, and was granted an audience with the long dead spirit of Bombus Steelbeard.
The dwarf was not pleased, as you might imagine, to learn his ancient foe was freed. And he wasted no time in revealing how we could defeat him. The dust of planar rubies and shadowsteel combined with an orb of glass, and the appropriate magics would recreate the Orb of Containment once used to seal away the Nightmare Lord. Then, we need only bring it close to his true self, and he would once again be removed from the minds of dreamers."
Searinaak places the wine glass on the table, then hops down and strokes the spines on his chin in faux thought.
"But where do we find dust of rubies and shadowsteel from another plane? Well my friends, that is where our wizards come in. Although they were reluctant and we had to haggle and barter, we were able to persuade them to lend us their aid in this matter. They would locate the components, and my companions and I would retrieve them. It took them several days, but they did indeed find the components, but their location proved a new obstacle."
He paused for effect, feigning worry.
"They were in the depths of the Elemental Chaos. And not only that, the Orb of Containment would take forty years to construct, even if we had the components! But I was not discouraged, and nor were my companions. We studied and discovered that deep in the Elemental Chaos was a nexus of elements, where fire, water, earth and air were all one, and time flowed at a speed far greater than our own. Were we to bring the orb to this place, it could be prepared in a matter of hours!
Unfortunately, that still meant we'd have to go into the Elemental Chaos. For those unaware, the Elemental Chaos is a realm without the rules and restraints of our own. There, fire burns on oceans, the earth is lifted into the air by the wind, and tornadoes ride beside tsunamis. The vengeance of the gods usually reserved for their most foul tempers were commonplace in the Chaos. But we had no choice, did we? We could not abandon the forest to Ixcheal. Such would be a violation of our charge, and not to mention, would deny us our new home, for which we are most grateful to have. No, despite the risk, I and my companions agreed to enter the Chaos and construct the orb.
Our wizard friends were kind enough to open the door, so to speak. They provided a portal through which we could enter, although were able to offer little else in aid. Not knowing what to expect on the other side, we entered."
Searinaak picked up his wine glass and looked at it, then downed the remainder all at once.
"The Elemental Chaos is aptly named, my friends. Try to imagine the world as though you were truly drunk, standing in a lightning storm on top of a burning building, and perhaps you'll begin to get an idea of what it was like. It was only through the arcane mastery of Auron that we could survive at all. He channeled his strength into a shield to protect us from the elements, although it caused him great strain and agony. The Chaos does not like visitors. As we literally walked through fire and hacked through ice, the elements themselves came alive and attempted to beat us back. Constructs of earth the size of buildings tried to mash us into the earth, while winds so sharp they could cut flesh and bone tore at our scales. My brother, Karxinaak, truly displayed his courage here. For he placed himself between the elements and us many times, enduring blows that would have killed the hardiest of men. Where Auron's shield held back the myriad of elements, it was my brothers heroism that saved us from defeat in battle.
And yet that was not the strangest thing we encountered there! We came across a man in robes of green and blue, walking through the chaos as though it were nothing. Truly, a strange sight to behold. When we spoke to him, he was quite enigmatic, hinting at things to come and that may have been. Who was he, you ask? Well, I wish I could tell you, but he remains as much a mystery to me as he was to you. However, he lent us his aid in the form of a magical shield, allowing Auron some much needed rest. At last, we found the nexus of elements, and I placed the orb within. There it 'cooked' for awhile, until it was complete, and ready to seal the Nightmare Lord once again.
We bid farewell to the mysterious stranger. I hope I see him again, but I've a feeling I may not. Our mission complete, we made our way back out of the Chaos, glad to have an earth beneath our feet that wasn't randomly erupting into flames."
Searinaak took a very deep, slow breath, closing his eyes for a moment before continuing.
"Only one obstacle remained; facing Ixcheal himself. We soon found that Ixcheal's fortress was located exactly where any common man might have guessed. In the depths of the Thardakalok. A land where a kingdom free of draconic rule once stood, and where it tore itself apart in a nightmare of its own making, it's people unable and unwilling to handle the responsibility of rule. Now only a scar upon the world remains, where the veil between planes is thin, and monstrosities roam freely. Where else would Ixcheal have called home, but the site of the worst nightmare the world has known?
We faced many creatures there. A towering demon wreathed in flame, ancient golems who seek only blood, still believing themselves caught in a war whose manufacturers died a thousand years hence, spiders the size of houses who wielded magical webs capable of binding a caravan, gargoyles of rock wielding jagged axes of otherworldly steel, and foul illusions twisted into all manner of abomination. Ixcheal even sent visages of himself, but we did not waver. We knew our duty was a great one and we could not fail.
I brought the fires of Baraxiis to bear on all who stood in our way, reducing them to ash. My brother rent them limb from limb with his bladed staff, painting the cursed land with their blood. Auron wielded his magics, melting and freezing our foes from afar, and slashing them in two with his sword up close. Renard lent us his song and his steel, inspiring us to fight on even when things looked their darkest.
With a trail of destroyed monstrosities behind us, we finally approached the blackened fortress of Ixcheal. Rain poured down around it, the road reduced to thick mud under the downpour. Thunder cried out in the distance; the gods making their demand that Ixcheal be destroyed. There was no light in this place, save for that which we brought with us. We were, quite literally, the only illumination in the night.
I did not expect what would face us next. Stepping forth from the shadows was none other than...ourselves. Ixcheal had crafted twisted mockeries of our own selves to pit against us, and the shades wasted no time in attempting to destroy us. The shadow selves possessed all of our skills, all of our tricks and spells, and all of our equipment. They were truly copies of us, but what they lacked were our minds. As we fought on, we caught on to their techniques, our own techniques, and adapted to combat them. I found quite a few weaknesses in my own defenses, much to my embarrassment!"
The dragonborn gives a slight chuckle and rubs the back of his head.
"How strange it is to say this, but our flaws were our salvation. Those weaknesses we so often overlooked became the key to our victory. Our shades, unable to overcome the flaws given to them by their creators, were defeated, leaving the path clear to Ixcheal's fortress.
He was desperate now, my friends. He conjured monsters of the darkest sort and threw them at us in waves, but by now it was too late. We no longer feared him; he feared us. And we cornered him in the back of the fortress, where on the nexus of a leyline that he'd dare to corrupt for his own use.
We brought the orb close to him, and Bombus's revenge was complete. Ixcheal was helpless before it, and was sucked in and confined inside. But that was not enough. Not this time. He had made the people of this forest suffer, he had tormented them, killed them, feasted on their fears when they were most vulnerable. And I thought, this creature did not deserve to simply spend eternity in sleep. It should now be him who experiences the nightmare.
And calling upon Baraxiis, I did just that. No longer does Ixcheal sleep in peace. He is condemned to the very nightmares that he sought to control and propagate. He shall burn for eternity for his crimes against the forest!"
Searinaak says the last line with zealous fervor, before smiling warmly at everyone gathered.
"And so our story comes to a close. I do hope you all enjoyed it. I know that you have looked upon me and my family with distrust and apprehension, and rightly so. The dragons of Firepeak have been no friends to the Forest of Hope. But if you take away one thing from this story, let it be that the clan of Iglathnagor and those who work for us are not your enemy. This is our home, and we will protect it and all who live within it, as loyal vassals of Cynoprosopi."
The dragonborn gives a sudden playful grin.
"But if all that isn't enough to convince you of our sincerity, maybe this will! Innkeep, everyone's drinks for tonight are on me! Not just the ones they order from now, but all the ones they've had so far! I'll pay for them all! Tonight is a night for celebration! To the death of Ixcheal, may he suffer forever!"
Searinaak raises his glass to the air, and decides to join in the revelry. Whether it's singing songs, telling stories, dancing or drinking contests, tonight, he is all too willing to oblige..
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New plotline starts Monday! Get on Talernon server!!
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