Last time in the land of Taladas...
From RPGwiki
On returning from Ravenloft, all seems well in the Vale of the Mage. Both the fort and the Mage's tower are in one piece, and it seems that the adventurers were only away from Taladas for a matter of hours. Even the Trident has returned to normal!
However, the life of an adventurer is not a quiet one. The brothers Airrider were summoned to the house of Alec "Ol' Fireball" Burbarr, head of the white mage's guild, and asked to assemble an adventuring party to journey to the ruins of Bissel City. The purpose of the mission is twofold - to gather information on the ruins now that the Minotaur threat has receded to see whether the lands to the north can be re-settled by Bisselians, and to see if any magical items can be recovered. It is twenty-one years since Bissel City fell, and for much of that time it was under Minotaur control. However, it is now said to be overrun with the undead.
Meanwhile, the usual suspects of Noman, Smith and Schallat found themselves drinking with Halvar at the Inn of the Whistling Fish (Schallat having just purchased a horse cadaver, which he would later re-animate). The merriment was interrupted by a brawl outside, which Noman swiftly broke up. At the centre of the brawl was a Minotaur centurion named Tibus Vorrimus. He bore the mark of the League, and claimed to have been in the service of Senator Fidiman, based in a keep to the north of Bissel City on the old border with Swinn. Vorrimus claimed that the keep had been attacked by forces loyal to "the Crimson Queen", but he had managed to escape. He offered his services to Noman, in return for which he would reveal a secret - the secret of how Bissel City's walls came to be breached on the third day of the fateful seige twenty-one years ago. However, before he could speak further he was poisoned by his ale.
With the approval of the Council of Twelve, the PCs set out on their quest. They stopped off in Boremium, and killed a dangerous troll that had been praying on the villager's livestock. The next day, they set off through the Forest of Geld, and passed beyond the border of of the Dutchy of Bissel into the Conquered Lands. Deep in the forest, the brave heroes set up camp, and were attacked during the night by a wizard of immense power. The wizard was not alone - eight armoured fighters did their very best to slay the PCs.
However, it is a courageous foe indeed who would attack such an accomplished band, and the heroes of Waltdorf triumphed. The wizard, who seemed to be attacking them from the ethereal plane itself, managed to escape, leaving no clue as to who he was or why he attacked.
The adventurers found themselves in the ruins of Bissel City, which appears to be deserted. They holed themselves up for the night in an abandoned Inn.
During the night, the Inn became surrounded by hundreds of deathly-white creatures - the Orroghu. The beings resembled orcs, but with oversized eyes and ears, chalk white skin, and an absence of the usual psychoses one associates with orcs. The Orroghu captured the PCs (who wisely decided not to pick a fight), and the Orroghu used mysterious psionic powers satisfied themselves that the adventurers' meant them no harm. Negotiations followed, and the heroes were allowed to leave unharmed. Before doing so, the PCs were taken by the Orroghu to the north wall of the city, where so many years ago the Minotaur army had breached the city's defenses. As expected, the wall lay in ruins. However, it was covered in sulphurous crystals and the edges of the breached wall were inexplicably smoothed. In the market square beyond the breach, the Orroghu showed the PCs a bizarre, four-sided pit which the Orroghu claimed lead all the way down to the deepdark.
The PCs then departed, travelling further north to Fidiman's keep, now occupied by the Crimson Queen herself. After a fierce and savage battle with some of the Queen's troops, the PCs were met by the Queen who allowed them to stay at the keep. She demanded tribute, and for No-Man this had dire consequences indeed. The Crimson Queen told the adventurers that there had been a traitor within the Bisseleans, who had helped the Minotaurs breach the city wall, though she did not know who the traitor was nor how the breach was achieved.
Shaken but unharmed from their encounter with the Crimson Queen, the adventurers returned to Waltdorf. The Airriders reported to the Council, who agreed that the arrival of the Orroghu should be cautiously welcomed. Brother Smith prepared some provisions to take to the Orroghu, who were running out of food. NoMan returned to his duties with the city watch, but upon reporting to his boss Rarn Lupin, the grizzled captain claimed that NoMan "stank of eggs" - an observation he made to each of the PCs in turn. Lupin was at the siege of Bissel, and went missing for several months afterwards, apparently having lost his memory due to being hit by a misplaced fireball. Meanwhile, back in the Vale of the Mage, Schallat prayed to his depraved god and saw cryptic signs. The PCs decided to return to Bissel, with Lupin in tow, to deliver the supplies to the Orroghu and to see if they could discover any more clues as to what REALLY happened all those years ago.
The heroes arrived safely at the ruins of Bissell City, and were met once more by the Orroghu who were grateful for the supplies. The Orroghu said that the party was free to search the city as they wished. The PCs decided to search the Thieves Guild first, which was still standing, and overcame the traps contained therein but found nothing of note. They then decided to see whether the three Wizards' Guilds had been spared the destruction wrought on the rest of the city. To their dismay, they found the once-mighty White Wizards' Guild had been completely destroyed - all that remained was a rubble-filled crater. By contrast, the tiny Black Wizard's Guild was still standing, its occupants seemingly having fled (leaving behind a number of magic wands).
However, nothing could have prepared the heroes for what they found at the crumbling but still standing Red Wizards' Guild. The magic users in the party, priests and mages alike, found that entering the Guild caused them to double up in agony and vomit uncontrollably. Indeed, Brother Smith was thrown across the street by an unseen force when he tried to enter. NoMan, by contrast, was able to enter unharmed, and found within the rubble a small, black, shiny pebble conspicuously lying in the centre of the entrance hall. Upon picking the stone up, he found it to be inexplicably heavy. With the stone moved out of the Guildhouse, the magic users were able to enter and search. A concealed potions laboratory was discovered, and a miniaturised Hawk was able to enter via a small hatch and retrieve an onyx statue of the depraved god Usa-Hiteh. The adventurers soon deduced that a hole in the back of this statue was the same size and shape as the mysterious stone, and once the stone was inserted into the statue its effects seemed to cease. The magic users discussed this, and (though scarcely believing it) determined that the pebble could be one of the mythical Deadening Stones - fragments of the fireball thrown at Taladas by Takhisis to commence the Cataclysm.
The heroes then returned to the mysterious square hole in the marketplace beyond the ruined north wall. They bravely descended it, and found a bizarre geometric chamber shaped like a pyramid sitting atop a cube. At the base of this vast room was a large fissure, seemingly leading to the Deepdark. The adventurers entered this fissure and came upon a stalactite-filled cave, whereupon they were attacked by an immense horde of hook horrors and hideous, flying grell. The adventurers fought bravely and managed to drive off these foul creatures, and in doing so discovered a strange, yellow cuboid crystal no bigger than a man's fist.
Wisely, the PCs left the fissure and sealed it using powerful magicks. They set off homewards, only to find a small band of Crimon Queen minotaurs being attacked by a group of Swordwraiths. The pious Brother Smith drove away these lost, sad spirits, but the Minotaurs showed no thanks. Instead, they demanded that the PCs accompany them to Fidiman's Keep, as ordered by the Crimson Queen. The heroes of the Vale had other ideas though, and the outnumbered minotaurs had little choice but to let them pass.
Upon returning to Waltdorf, the PCs split up. Hawk went to the Mage's tower in the Vale, and through diligent research determined that the bizarre cuboid crystal was made primarily of sulphur, and had at one time been a strange, dungeon-dwelling creature known as a gelatinous cube. Some of the other heroes visited the Inn of the Whistling Fish, where a large crowd of patrons was strangely and inexplicably subdued. The adventurers determined that the beer had been poisoned with an unknown substance, though the identity of the poisoner and the purpose of the poisoning remains unclear. Stranger still, Festus, the goblin owner of the Inn of the Cracked Cup, somehow managed to be in two places at once - both at the Inn of the Whistling Fish and also at his own tavern.
At a hastily convened meeting of the Council of Twelve (led by Vice Baron Gorge, due to Baron Rushmont being taken ill) it was determined that the Deadening Stone must be destroyed in the fires of Hitekel, lest it fall into evil hands. This task was deemed so serious that Gorge himself would lead the adventuring party. Meanwhile, the heroes of the Vale were instructed to meet with the Crimson Queen as she had demanded.
In due course, the PCs arrived at Fidiman's Keep (having survived an attack by a flock of Eyewings, hideous denizens of the Abyss). Here, the Crimson Queen set out in fevered tones her plan to capture Kristophan and create a new Minotaur empire, the empire of the Crimson Moon. The Queen revealed that she and her followers worship Lunais as a goddess, and have renounced the old Minotaur traditions of atheism. The Crimson Queen offered the PCs a bargain to take back to the Waltdorf council - raise an army to join the Queen's forces in the attack on Kristophan, and in return she would allow the council access to the Kristophan libraries where the identity of the traitor of Bissell is kept, and would also enter in good faith into negotiations for re-drawing and securing the Bissell/Leagueland borders.
The heroes retired to their rooms (expect for NoMan, who again entertained the Crimson Queen in private), but were awoken just before the dawn by the sound of an Orcish war-horn......
