Rousing the Dragon

Sections: Main | Campaigns | Characters | NPCs | Locales | Culture | History | Artifacts | Maps

Campaigns: Slaadi Invasion | Northern Strife | Heroes & Traitors | Hollows | Black as Pitch | Air Islands of Nack | BUFD Wars

Air Islands of Nack: Flight of the ElectroZephyr | Malevolence in Pursuit | Rousing the Dragon Rousing the Dragon (DMed by David W.) Now that Selubrius has been slain and both the Canary Scrolls and the Orb of Dragon Command in their possession, the adventurers now must strive to awaken the dragon goddess Locqwerthalyn while fighting off their enemies, including the vampire lord Luciditus Diovax, the Molten Juggernaut and the Empire of Nack itself! (Current adventure.) 

If you would like to read about the first two "seasons" of this campaign, visit the Flight of the ElectroZephyr page and the Malevolence in Pursuit page.

For character information, go here.

Episode 1: “Uniting the Tribes”
Date: SH 671, February 5 - 13

Played by Balasar, Freia, Halcyon, Kamenos, Lats, Lilhani, and Poppy

Alas, a new page has been turned for the heroes who would awaken the sleeping dragon! With both the Orb of Dragon Command and the fabled Canary Scrolls securely in the possession of the adventurers, the power to awaken the dragon goddess Locqwerthalyn can now be realized. Yet, a massive obstacle remains in their path: the Nack Fleet and the Empire itself is using everything in its power to prevent this catastrophic event, for the dead goddess represents everything they stand for, and their plans for the ultimate domination of the airborne realm would surely be foiled!

After obtaining the scrolls, the adventurers exited the Tomb of Locq and traversed the darkened valley under a midnight moon. In the distance, white wisps called their names in an attempt to lure them into an ambush, but thanks to the unexpected spiritual and telepathic guidance from the recently slain Selubrius, Lilhani determined that it was indeed a trap. Meanwhile two soldiers known as Balasar and Kamenos of the vampire-slaying syndicate known as the Vengeful Sun were deep in the island, tracking down two known vampires: a handsome man named Brodeau and a slender woman named Noniye all the way from Namara. They silently followed them through the woods of the primordial island of Locq and learned that they were planning to meet their superior, Valosine, who is none other than the right hand of the enigmatic Lord Diovax himself! After hours of tracking, they followed the two vampires into a great valley clearing and saw the unmanned ElectroZephyr in the distance.

As they hid in the brush and waited for something to happen, a battle between the vampires and the returning adventurers broke out! Instantly, Balasar and Kamenos joined the fray to help out these unknown individuals. Lats quickly cast a darkness spell to hide his companions while both Lilhani and Freia began to maneuver around the edges of the battlefield in an attempt to flank Valosine and the others. All the while, Halcyon joined in the melee with Balasar and Kamenos in an attempt to subdue Noniye and Brodeau while Valosine used her vampiric magic to unleash an aerial assault upon Poppy. As the battle raged on, Brodeau managed to climb aboard the ElectroZephyr and promptly initiated the liftoff process. Acting quickly, both Lilhani and Halcyon managed to get at him before the ship could truly take off. Meanwhile, Noniye was fighting off Kamenos and Balasar and shortly thereafter quickly climbed aboard the ship. Valosine, seeing that this battle was quickly turning against them, abandoned the ship and took the form of a bat, but not before Poppy had managed to strike her with a Branding Smite, making her bat form illuminated and therefore easily spotted. After killing both Noniye and Brodeau as they fell off the ElectroZephyr, Halcyon had charged the lightning bolt from the ship itself and blasted Valosine out of the sky. With all three vampires vanquished, the group quickly introduced themselves to Balasar and Kamenos and decided to return to their ship, the Black Albatross, upon which the Vengeful Sun elite had followed the vampires to the island.

There they rested aboard the ElectroZephyr and spent the next day strapping both the Black Albatross the and the vampires' ship to the underside of the ElectroZephyr. After explaining their overall situation and the grand goal of awakening Locqwerthalyn, Halcyon had the great idea of attempting to recruit the natives of Locq, who must have some sort of kinship with the ancient goddess. After spending a day and a night tethering the ships together, the group decided to scout the surrounding area and see if they could come into contact with any natives. Lats, Kamenos, Poppy and Freia headed out first, and after a couple hours of hiking through densely packed forests, they came across a small clearing filled with thatched huts and blue dragonborn children running about, being watched over by their mothers. Poppy and Freia went in while Lats and Kamenos stayed back in the shadows in case anything bad happened. Poppy, translating the guttural draconic language of Nrukianak for Freia, learned that the dragonborn mother, Lizabet and her son, along with the rest of the natives in the clearing, were part of the Locquian tribe that called itself the "Blue Lightning." Freia also learned that the men were out during a two-day hunt and if they were to have a proper audience with them, they should wait for seven days until the next Locquians Moot.

Meanwhile, Halcyon, Lilhani, and Balasar were keeping watch on the ElectroZephyr while there companions were away, and the dragonborn noticed two wyverns fighting each other off in the distance and some distant cheers and grunts in the same direction. She headed off on her own to investigate the situation. After some hiking, she discovered a group of blue dragonborn betting on the fighting wyverns. When she came into view, the leader introduced himself as Dantak, and they were extremely curious about this golden dragonborn who claimed to come from across the great sky. After some tense discussion, the warriors decided to see the great wyvern Balasar called the ElectroZephyr, and later that night, when the rest of the scouts met back up at the airship, the Blue Lightning tribesmen took them to the star-clearing where they partook in bloodmead, dwarven ale and elven wine. There they agreed to convene at the Locquians Moot and discuss the awakening of their legendary and forgotten goddess Locqwerthalyn.

Ten tribes in total met at the Locquians Moot, in total over a hundred fierce dragonborn warriors who were curious to see the powers of the ElectroZephyr and the promises of glory and the reawakening of their goddess. The adventurers as a whole made a great speech and Halcyon unleashed the lightning fury of the ElectroZephyr. After a great cheer, a dozen of the fiercest warriors agreed to travel with the group to garner more allies to fight against both the vampire lord Diovax and the Nack Fleet!

Notes: The adventurers did well to unite the ten tribes of Locq, and Balasar learned a bit more about the mysteries of her heritage. Halcyon enjoyed shooting off the lightning bolt from the ElectroZephyr. Lilhani came up with some random antics, including drafting some forged documentation for the dozen or so dragonborn in the event that they are stopped by anyone in service of the Nack Empire. Kamenos and Lats became fast friends who could bond in silence as they both became the de facto hidden lookouts for the party, and Poppy did a great job translating everything into Nrukianak after she so happened to learn it on a whim mysteriously in some hidden part of her personal history. Overall, a great session! (Sorry for the horrendously long summary, but that's just what happens in RP-heavy sessions!)

Episode 2: “Sparinon is Burning!”
Date: SH 671, February 13 - 28

''Played by Balasar, Halcyon, and Kamenos

With Halcyon at the helm, it took the ElectroZephyr two weeks to travel through eastern snowstorms from the mystical island of Locq to the elven reservation island of Sparinon in an effort to ally with the disgruntled Svar-tu elves against the Nack Empire, in essence to gather an army and a fleet large enough to face off against the dominating Nack Fleet. Upon arriving at the merchant city of Brindarry on the edge of the island, the adventurers quickly learned that the hidden capitol city of Sparinon was under siege by rogue soulless dragons -- the same ones who were originally spontaneously created by the engines developed by the Dragon Shipwright's Guild.

A distant smoke rose from the center of the island, so the adventurers acquired the help of one Halgondas, a noble of House Waterlight, and his retinue to escort them to the hidden gateway to the central city. Seeing that their elven counterparts were gracefully traveling above the snow level while he and his party were struggling to walk through waist-deep snow, Halcyon cast water walk on himself and his companions. After trekking through the snow for two hours, Halgondas himself performed the secretive Svar-tu magicks in order to unveil the illusion surrounding the gateway, which immediately revealed several elven corpses littered about the entryway and along the road-branches higher above in the city proper. Several houses were ablaze and a handful of brave elven warriors were facing off against insurmountable odds -- dragons of all size and color were destroying everything in their path! It looked as though the majority of the siege was all but over, and the dragons were merely finishing off any stragglers. Upon seeing this travesty, Halgondas immediately ran off and hid while his retinue, enraged by what they saw, charged forward toward the central Palace of the Svarsun, hoping against hope that their queen Vlaya of House Skyflower and her unborn child were still alive. Meanwhile, as Balasar, Kamenos and Halcyon struggled to react to this situation, they were beset by a handful of dragons who spotted them from a short distance.

Halcyon quickly drew out the fabled Orb of Dragon Command and utterly possessed one of the attacking dragons, commanding this silver to turn on his fellow dragons and unleash a sweeping cold breath upon them. Meanwhile, Balasar did battle with one dragon head-on and Kamenos wrapped around from behind to deal backstabbing attacks. A brass dragon reared up and blasted Kamenos off a ledge, but the tiefling barely managed to grab onto another ledge from behind, sweeping himself back onto solid ground. Eventually, the silver dragon shook off his enchantment and began tearing at his attacker Halcyon. As a final measure, Halcyon cast the powerful spell control water which melted all of the snow within 100 feet, including that which was currently falling. He formed the snowmelt into a massive orb that he hurled against the remaining dragons, utterly crushing them and sending their broken corpses to the land 100 feet below. Still possessing the power to manipulate this floating mass of water, Halcyon quickly molded the mass into a disc shape which allows Balasar and Kamenos, still under the effects of Halcyon's spell cast a couple hours ago, water walk, to simply jump atop the disc. With Halcyon also atop, he flew his party across the snowy road-branches of Sparinon directly toward the Palace of the Svarsun, crashing the water itself into the grand front doors which burst them open, flooding the outer cloister of the palace. Inside, they could see in the distance a great red dragon holding none other than the pregnant Vlaya Skyflower hostage. "Ahh, greetings old compatriots!" the dragon called from the distance. After seeing the adventurer's confused looks, he said, "What, don't remember me? It is I, Thex, your savior atop the Radiant Tower!"

Until next time!

Notes: The group decided it best to leave Dantak and the other twelve Locquians aboard the ElectroZephyr, since their draconic presence would've likely sent all of the civilians of Sparinon in a panic. Hopefully they won't upset the comatose Naïlo Enna... Halcyon realized that the Orb of Dragon Command can completely control any single dragon, among other things. Kamenos narrowly avoided death, or at least a nasty fall -- good thing he's super acrobatic! And I find it sort of strange that Balasar, an armor-clad dragonborn can strut about without people really looking twice -- she practically a one-of-a-kind dragonborn in this region! That is of course excepting the Locquians, but they don't count because they aren't even on anybody's radar. Also, for more information on the heroes' initial interaction with the soulless red dragon Thex, see Episode 5: “A Stern Talk with Lord Diovax”.

Episode 3: “The Curse of Barratu”
Date: SH 671, February 28

''Played by Balasar, Elizagerth, Halcyon, Kamenos, Lats, Leucosa, and Lilhani

We begin today's story with a little bit of ACTION! BAM! Halcyon crashes a massive amount of snowmelt water into the front doors of the Palace of the Svarsun, completely flooding the otherwise beautiful outer cloister of the palace. Within, several dragons are immediately agitated into action and attack the infiltrators! Immediately Halcyon finds himself in a sticky situation and Balasar is forced to lay on hands upon her unlikely ally to keep his soul afloat while the rest of her companions bravely battle the dragons. Meanwhile, Lilhani and Kamenos are vying for the "most deadly" title as they slash and slay their way through multiple dragons. In the end, the initial waves of dragon are utterly defeated and the larger red dragon Thex looms up to the closed portcullis leading toward the inner cloister and further the inner harem. Lilhani managed to taunt the dragon into unleashing a fiery breath that once again nearly killed the previously unkillable Halcyon. But before the dragon could do any further harm, Lilhani unleashed the power of the Orb of Dragon Command to halt his attacks, and while he was under the spell of the orb Halcyon managed to cast a geas spell, issuing with it a vague command to destroy the vampire Diovax. Bear in mind, the geas spell is slated to last 30 days, until March 28th at roughly mid-afternoon. And as part of commanding the dragon thus, he clawed his way through the closed portcullis and immediately leapt into the skies, flying quickly away from the city of Sparinon.

It was at this point that Elizagerth, Lats and Leucosa miraculously showed up just in time to do some dragon-ridden palace exploration! In the short hallway leading to the inner cloister, the heroes saw a great marble statue of the Svar-tu goddess Myralda, and further within the massive cloister were two statues on either side, one of the the androgynous Sakarin and the other of the equally androgynous Lorressa. But before the adventurers could inspect these massive statues further, two dragons, one black and one blue, entered into the cloister, appearing to be on some sort of patrol. Lilhani, acting quickly, used again the power of the Orb of Dragon Command to control a silly blue dragon named Sliss to convince his black dragon buddy that the battle in Sparinon was going on... somewhere else? I dunno. Either way, Lilhani explained it very well and it worked! The two dragons keeping guard in the inner cloister promptly flew off and the heroes found out quickly that the archway leading to the harem was blocked by an invisible magical force field. However, Vlaya Skyflower, now the queen of the elves in Sparinon, was on the other side of the force field! She told them that there was a way to break the field but that they needed to go to the temple which was further within the palace itself. To put more pressure on the situation, Vlaya was very pregnant and at that moment, the stress of the situation put her into labor, so the adventurers were spurred on by this news. They fought their way through several other dragons in an elongated courtyard which also included a bathhouse, a wine-bar and a barracks of some sort. Either way, it was a very long and tactically driven battle that has no damn place in a damn summary!

Anyhoo, the group eventually made their way to (legends of) the hidden temple and immediately discovered a quandary: the usual group of the Elven Pantheon of Svar-tu were represented in marble statues. These included Sakarin, Lorressa and Myralda. But a fourth and unknown deity's likeness was depicted in marble here. Fortunately, a few of the more religiously knowledgeable adventurers were able to determine that this barbed-wire wreathed elf was none other than Barratu, the elven god of pain and curses. Open worship of this deity is forbidden throughout the elven community, so it was very interesting to see him here in the temple of nobility! Either way, Halcyon invoked divine intervention to hopefully determine what to do with these statues and break the force field to Queen Vlaya and her unborn child. He was at first unsure of whether his plea to the dark goddess Runsted worked or not until he saw a ghostly likeness of her appear in front of him. She reached into the statue of Barratu and withdrew a small bead with which she gestured artfully in a particular fashion before crushing the bead, as if to show Halcyon what to do with it. So Halcyon took the Bead of Barratu for safe-keeping, believing it to be the key with which he would break the force field. Meanwhile, Lilhani took the Wineglass of Sakarin while Kamenos took the Sphere of Lorressa and Balasar took the Flower of Myralda just in case.

Upon returning to the archway leading to the harem, Halcyon followed Runsted's wordless instruction and smashed the Bead of Barratu. In an instant... he was gone. Vanished! Nobody could immediately determine what had happened to the half-elf! But his dance had apparently shattered the force field nonetheless. And Lats was forced to step in and assist in the delivery of the Vlaya Skyflower's newborn baby girl, who was to be named at a later date which would coincide with generational line of House Skyflower's family poem and with the assistance of a cleric of Myralda... seriously, it's a long and fascinating topic about the deep-rooted culture of the Svar-tu but it has no place in a summary! Anyway, upon her recovery from giving birth in the early hours before dawn the next day, Vlaya told the adventurers that Halcyon had unwittingly sent himself to the cursed realm of Barratu: a dark and desolate pocket plane nestled on a cliffside that loomed precariously over an endless abyss... or something like that. But all was not lost! Vlaya was one of the elves who could create a dimensional gate to this worrisome plane of pain and so she did precisely that. Vlaya drew many sigils onto the ground of the inner cloister which opened up a small window to this blackened world, and the group stepped through. The ground beneath them was so darkened as to be an invisible and infinite abyss. A reddened sky rest above them and looming in the distance was a great Palace of Pain resting atop a crag...

Notes: Just so we're clear, Queen Vlaya was not alone but instead had her mother, her younger sister, and a small retinue of royal cousins and the like within the harem with her. None of them were important enough to name. Lats Boldengrin and Elizagerth both thought it would be a good idea to fill the Wineglass of Sakarin with the wine they found in the winery nearby. Elizagerth promptly chugged it and instantly fell into a deep passion for the first women he saw: Lilhani. Hilarity and awkwardness ensued, but the half-orc was able to contain his lust and keep it mostly to his feeble mind. When Halcyon crushed the Bead of Barratu, his entire world went black to the point of absolute sensory deprivation. Time itself was lost as he struggled to hold onto his sanity as the emptiness teared at his psyche. His physical possessions, including his weapons and armor and other items on his person, were left behind in the Svarsun. Elizagerth recognized this opportunity immediately snatched Halcyon's animated shield and the wicked ranseur Akaid. I wonder how Akaid, which houses the will of Belial, will respond to this wreckless barbarian wielding it? Hmm...

Episode 4: “The Tree of Pain”
Date: SH 671, February 28 - March 5

''Played by Elizagerth, Freia, Halcyon, Lats, Lilhani, and Umer

After stepping through the massive gate created by Queen Vlaya, Lats used his eyes of the eagle to discern that amidst the dark and desolate landscape which could only be Barratu's Plane of Pain, there was a solitary landmark: a massive fortress-like structure off in the distance that seemed to rest on the edge of a cliff that plummets into a blackened abyss. The crew began their trek through this hellish landscape, shuffling across black dirt and peering up at an overcast filled with reddened clouds with a hint of naive optimism. And after traveling a full day, they slowly realized that true rest was impossible and that they would have to march up to the unknown fortress for days without sleep. Selubrius telepathically informs Lilhani that sleep must be somehow impossible on this plane, and it's clear that exhaustion must be the first form of pain that visitors feel when arriving.

On the second day of marching, the group stumbled upon a figure standing still with its head tilted toward the ground. After closer inspection, it appears to be Halcyon, but he looks as though he's aged substantially, and is now rather decrepit-looking. He states that he now has a mission to find the dragonborn Umer Deszeld upon the Tree of Pain, so they band together and continue their arduous trek toward the distant structure.

Seven days in total pass, leaving both Halcyon and Lilhani extremely exhausted, before they finally approach the bridge leading up to the front doors of this massive structure. Upon the bridge, a bone devil, Qalox, demands a fee of magical items for entry to the Temple of Anguish. Thinking quickly, Lilhani offers Qalox a draw from the Deck of Many Things. After drawing the Throne card, Qalox becomes extremely elated and allows them passage.

Within the foyer of the Temple of Anguish, the adventurers find several torture devices and four doors, the central two of which depict a thorny tree but are locked, with keyholes large enough to fit intricate, possibly magical items. Paddy then piped up, stating that he was pretty sure that the key to the left Tree of Pain door was something that you'd wear, perhaps a crown or helmet. With that clue, the party ventured on into the outer area to the right named the Human Forest, within which dozens of pikes sticking out the ground impaled individuals -- some of which still managed to stay alive despite thick pikes breaching through their entire torsos and through their mouths.

As they began to inspect the pikes and the moaning individuals on them, they were attacked by shadowy demons which they quickly dispatched. They found one particular elf on a pike who was wearing royal garments and a jewel-crested clown. Halcyon knocked the pike down and let the poor elf bleed out to death while taking his crown. At this point, he and Elizagerth began brutally mauling the individuals impaled on the pikes, at which point a huge voice bellowed from the skies above, "How dare you kill my subjects!" It was the Elven God of Pain, Barratu! Suddenly, in the distance, the group saw a large figure with four arms standing still with glowing red eyes and a body that seems to be made of twisting steel razors as those impaled on the pikes began to whisper, "The Shrike, the Shrike..." As soon as the creature appeared, he disappeared, and the voice from the sky grew silent.

The group headed back to the locked door in the foyer and inserted the elf's crown, unlocking it. Within they found the Tree of Pain and thousands of individuals screaming and moaning in agony, impaled upon its multitudinous thorns. Before they could look for Umer, the Shrike suddenly appeared and began slashing at the heroes. After a gruesome battle, they managed to shatter the Shrike into a pile of broken blades. Upon the destruction of the Shrike, Barratu's deep rumbling voice booms in, and he offers each of the adventurers passage out of the Plane of Pain in exchange for their service and worship.

While deciding what to do with that offer, they experiment with the Relics of the Svar-tu Pantheon, and Freia discovers that after planting the Flower of Myralda near the base of the Tree of Pain and pouring water onto it, the Tree's leaves suddenly turn from black to green and the thorns upon it shrivel back into its branches, releasing the thousands of individuals impaled upon them. And after climbing to the top of the tree, Lats could see that the power of Myralda also pierced the red overcast clouds directly above the tree, revealing a bright blue sky beyond. They find Umer within the tree and heal him while practically ignoring the rest of the nameless individuals who are all on the brink of death, despite being released from the Tree.

As the adventurers were discovering more about the realm they were in, they decided to dig deeper into the Temple of Anguish in search for both answers and treasure. They entered the Hall of Psychosis and struggled against the multiple mirrors placed in there that made them each individually think that others were attacking them or that they were attacking themselves while also performing insane acts of various kinds. Freia could read a riddle that was repeated above each mirror:

Soma and psyche, guile and glamour,

we show not your reflection, your face or your manner.

Pain and pleasure, king and pawn,

when you see with your mind, the glamour is gone.

Halcyon and Lilhani worked together to investigate these mirrors while staving off the pending insanity and discovered that the mirrors, while impervious to damage of all kinds, shattered like glass when attacked with the eyes closed. They quickly destroyed all the mirrors, which revealed an unmarked map of the Temple of Anguish. Using the spare clues of this map, they realized that there was a secret area just off from the Tree of Pain. A door was suddenly revealed when they went back to the area with runes etched into it saying that it was the Chamber of Unending Misery. Within, they found an ancient human man tied to a massive wooden wheel which was slowly spinning while attached to a rod in the wall. The man's arms and legs were broken and twisted into the spokes, and he revealed himself to be Rustingard Nack I, the founder of the Organizations of Nack and the man which the entirety of the Air Islands of Nack are named after. The group engages in a brief discussion with him regarding escape from the Temple of Anguish, but after only a few moments they realize he is a hateful wretch who, even in a state of eternal pain, cannot let go of his powerful prejudices against dragons and elves alike. The group decides to plunder his private hoard which was left out in front of him and leave him in the chamber for the rest of eternity.

Notes: Halcyon has experienced an untold amount of time in a completely sensory-deprived state, and has subsequently gone quite insane. Qalox, upon drawing the Throne card from the Deck of Many Things now is in the possession of a fortress somewhere on the Material Plane. Which one is anyone's guess. Although the Shrike was destroyed, his being the physical avatar of Barratu leads one to believe that it may not be truly dead. Halcyon and Elizagerth managed to kill of several innocent individuals that might have provided valuable information. Freia proved useful in discovering the potential of the Flower of Myralda despite her relative uselessness in the fight against the Shrike. Lats discovers that his fists are more magical and powerful than actual weapons in the fight against the Shrike. Lilhani proves to be by far the most useful in fights against a solitary powerful enemy. And Umer finds that he is nearly as insane as Halcyon as he internally questions his life goals.

Sections: Main | Campaigns | Characters | NPCs | Locales | Culture | History | Artifacts | Maps

Campaigns: Slaadi Invasion | Northern Strife | Heroes & Traitors | Hollows | Black as Pitch | Air Islands of Nack | BUFD Wars

Air Islands of Nack: Flight of the ElectroZephyr | Malevolence in Pursuit | Rousing the Dragon