The Fourth Sending of Darkness - Monthly Summary
Asheron's Call - Leafcull, 10 P.Y. (Nov '99)
Nearly 11 years since the death of the Dereth Olthoi Queen, and after a long lull in Isparian arrivals, a great surge of new Aluvian, Gharu'ndim, and Sho adventurers were called from Ispar to Dereth by mysterious portals in their homelands.
Sudden Season - Frostfell, 10 P.Y. (Dec '99)
Turmoil engulfs Dereth as the temperature drops and snows are falling everwhere. In northern Osteth, the great explorer Geoffrey Tremblant and his party have gone missing. Could the two events be related? To make matters even worse, during this time of celebration, strange magic have brought even the playful snowmen to life.
Dark Thaw - Snowreap, 11 P.Y. (Jan '00)
With the destruction of the Great Work in the depths of Frore, the snows have begun to melt. But new creatures have begun to appear on the landscape. They appear to be crystal fragments, the remains of the Great Work. What power have the adventurers unleashed upon Dereth?
Shadows of the Past - Coldeve, 11 P.Y. (Feb '00)
The reappearance of an ancient Empyrean structure, the Obsidian Span, became the first shadow of the past to intrude on Isparian life on Dereth. Soon adventurers discovered the process that Lord Atlan used to design weapons in the Shadow Wars, but would they be powerful enough to tip the scales against the dark shadow that loomed in the skies?
Darkness Ascendant - Wintersebb, 11 P.Y. (Mar '00)
The festive spring atmosphere of flowers, bees, and marriage ceremonies was disturbed by a series of earthquakes preceding the appearance of bizarre Shadow Spires. These enormous constructions burst from the ground near the towns of Khayyaban, Tufa, Sawato, Tou-Tou, Cragstone, and Eastham. Travelers reported seeing Spires in the deep wilderness as well. Though brooding and malevolent-looking, the Spires floated harmlessly over the land for many days. During this time adventurers began to notice that the Shadows were uttering unusual cries upon their destruction. Scholars did not know what to make of these death proclamations, until The Arrivals. The abductions began soon after.
Many adventurers reported being magically pulled into the Spires, and subjected to a battery of questions by three invisible presences, each distinguished by the tone of its questions. Some of these questions were quite unfathomable, referring to people and events not yet familiar to humanity in Dereth. Most shocking, however, was the final question: Which of the six towns visited by the Spires should be destroyed? Some of the abducted answered with a random town, in fear of the power shown by the unseen presence; others chose a specific town out of spite. A few refused to choose. All were returned uninjured.
As the month progressed, disturbing changes were wrought in the heavens. The sun shrank, turning a dim, bloody red. The dark clouds faded to a sulfurous tint during storms. The moons of Alb'arel and Rez'arel swelled to grotesque size, and some feared they were falling. Through it all, the form of a demon lurked along the northern horizon, visible only during the most violent tempests.
In the face of what seemed to be an impending catastrophe, the people of Dereth worked feverishly to prepare their defenses. Many sought the ancient weapons of Atlan that had been recovered during the previous month. Studying the Atlan weapons and referencing clues in ancient texts, the Master Smiths Jibril ibn Rashid, Koga Hideki, and Alean the Steel Forger managed to create suits of Gemstone Armor using the gems and shards taken from Shadows and Crystal Fragments.
At the end of the month, an expectant silence hung over Dereth, broken only by the howl of the Spires and the frantic hammering of the Master Smiths. Tremors shook the island, as if something within the earth was stirring . . .
Thorns of the Hopeslayer - Morningthaw, 11 P.Y. (Apr '00)
The strange events of the past 4 years paled in comparison to PY 15. New sick wet sounds could occasionally be heard coming from the spires - as if something were hatching.
The banderling thief, Gertarh, was found murdered. A note was left on the body by a mysterious assassin named Oswald: Farewell Gertarh. Its a shame I had to kill you, but the price on your head was too great and my purse too light.
The Gharu'ndim assassin, Hamud ibn Rafik, revealed more of his plans in a letter to his daughter Devana. The letter also revealed his belief in a growing corruption within himself due to his continued close contact with the Shadows. Adventurers discovering the letter found that it hinted at a place of power, the Nexus. This place was somehow important to the Shadows and located somewhere in the Direlands.
The Shadows, who were believed to be in retreat, revealed that they were merely gathering for war. At first their attacks occured far from civilization in the Direlands, but danger soon appeared nearer to home.
To combat the Shadow threat, many sought a legendary weapon, the Silifi of Crimson Stars, which once belonged to Wari al-Sha'im one of the followers of the Isparian hero Musansayn.
The Shadow assaults continued as heroes discovered a means of entering the spires. There they confronted the powerful Shadow Generals, Black Ferah and Ler Rhan. During one of the Shadows' assaults, pieces of a key were discovered in six of the spires. Heroes retrieved the pieces and assembled a Shadow Key that gave them access to the Nexus. They fought their way to the bottom where they defeated a Nexus Shadow Captain. The Captain guarded a door to the core of the Nexus, and a far more ominous creation: the Nexus Crystal. The Nexus Crystal was destroyed and the Shadows retreated for a time...
Heroes' Respite - Solclaim, 11 P.Y. (May '00)
After the destruction of the Nexus Crystal, the shadows retreat brought a period of respite to the weary heroes of Dereth.
During this period of time a Gharu'ndim noble, Jaleh al-Thani, led a group of pioneers to the western shores of the Direlands. There he managed to erect a new town within those untamed lands. The town was named Ayan Baqur, and Jaleh recruited many of the best minds in magic, alchemy, and metallurgy to his service. Thus far, these exceptional individuals have managed to improve the entire cataloging system for magic formulae, in addition to producing a new sword, the rapier, and several types of potions.
Despite these advances, all was not perfect in this new oasis. A town drunk, Ulgrim the Unpleasant, had taken up residence within the town, making wild and farfetched claims about a variety of current events to anyone willing to stand him a drink. More disturbing though was the arrival of a Virindi achmage named Claude who soon was running the magic shop in town. Spattered blood on the floor of his shop and a decaying corpse in the bushes behind it, aroused the suspicions of even the dullest of patrons of his shop.
Additionally, several other omens of darker times ahead appeared around Dereth:
Heroes seeking the opportunity to become members of Hamud ibn Rafik's Tenebrous Edge discovered to their horror that Hamud's psychological corruption by the Shadows had physically manifested itself. Ironically, the man who had left his land to avoid the corruption within his beloved Zharalim had fallen victim to a grosser corruption--becoming a living shadow.
In Northern Dereth, other events also suggested future trouble in the land. While less obviously sinister, the infiltration of one Bandit Chief MacDugal's men into Neydissa Castle seemed a probable cause for concern. MacDougal's man, Gormling, taking advantage of the Lady Tallial's grief over the loss of her lover Sir Jofferey Tremblant, had managed to weasel his way into the position of seneschal in the castle.
Finally, several items belonging to Gertarh's killer appeared in various places around the land. Both Hamud's daughter Devana and MacDugal's lieutenant Jorgensson were in possession of daggers belonging to the green armored assassin named Oswald, indicating that the assassin had recently visited them.
The Paths of Destruction - Seedsow, 11 P.Y. (Jun '00)
While the Shadows remained quietly in retreat, the influence of the Shadow Spires caused a flux in portal space. During the previous Shadow invasion, random portals had spawned across the landscape and now some of these portals had connected across many worlds leading to the appearance of more powerful creatures in the Direlands. Heroes that braved the more dangerous wastes of the Dires reported encountering more powerful Lugians, Banderlings, Shreth, and Skeletons.
Meanwhile, explorers in Osteth discovered that some of the spires, which had so long hovered in place above the craters from which they had erupted, were now moving slowly across the land. The reason for these movements and the cause of them remained an enigma.
Mages throughout Dereth also began researching new magicks in earnest. A new type of war magic--the streakers--was rapidly discovered, but more powerful spells were rumored to exist as well. A new spell component had been discovered by clever trophy crafters who found that they were able to form a diamond scarab from the heart of a Diamond Golem, a creature previously believed at best to be the stuff of fairy tales or at worst the rantings of drunken adventurers. Having discovered this powerful new component, sorcerers began researching in earnest to discover ways to utilize the scarabs. At the suggestion of a mage named Zanth, a group of sorcerers formed the Council of the Collegium Arcanum. After a period of frustration and failed research, the combined efforts of the council led to a breakthrough by A'Zeal of Frostfell who cast both a new set of disc spells as well as a new class of wall spells.
Additionally, the bowyer Yuan Hanzu, despairing of the inferior quality of many of the bows currently in use in Dereth, found that, by improvising from the parts of many of the creatures of Dereth, he could create a composite bow worthy of the bows made on Ispar. Likewise, an Aluvian named Barnar the Tinker, working on the basis of the discoveries made by Yuan Hanzu, was able to create a superior crossbow. With these innovations, many archers and crossbowman began scouring the land for the grisly "parts" needed to create these superior weapons.
To Raise a Banner of Flame - Leafdawning, 11 P.Y. (Jul '00)
The Shadow Spires continued their slow, imperturbable glide over the landscape, moving towards goals none could yet guess. Small groups of shadows could still be found wandering the landscape, but their army, and their generals, remained sight unseen. Many began to wonder what the enemy was planning, if anything. Some optimists insisted that the dark ones had forgotten about this world, and gone on the bigger conquests elsewhere.
In north- and southwestern Osteth, residents were harried by an influx of creatures from the Direlands, driven east by the new, ferocious creatures that arrived in Seedsow. They were not the only creatures busy, however, as the massive lugians discovered an ore with unique properties in the Linvak Mountains to the south. Soon they had opened three mines to recover this “Chorizite,” which appeared to be conventional metal that had somehow been rendered magically “dead,” and could not be affected by enchanters. When humanity discovered this marvelous material, the workers quickly found themselves overrun with eager would-be miners.
While the lugian miners logged a staggering number of workplace accidents with their supervisors, Isparian sages found a variety of uses for Chorizite. Refined and forged, it could make weapons capable of piercing all protective enchantments to self and armor, although these weapons also shrugged off all manner of arcane enhancement. Ground, it could be used as a reagent by mages. As a result of Chorizite's unique properties, spells that used powdered Chorizite were able to dispel enchantments on their target. Distilled, the ore could be used in alchemy, allowing those skilled in this art to make drinkable potions that would dispel low-level enchantments.
Meanwhile, one of the earliest defenders of Dereth was found to be not quite as dead as had been earlier assumed. The crypt of Mi Krau-Li, perhaps the most famous user of the Sho jitte weapon (some said he was the only user) was found empty. A note found nearby complained that he had been buried alive, and had gone off to complete his work. Explorers did later find Krau-Li, quite dead and half-decayed, but still maintaining that he was alive. In exchange for the return of one of his older jittes, he offered the reward of his newly developed “improved” jitte.
The smiths of Dereth also developed new weapons. Swordstaves and tridents came into use by spear users, as did spiked clubs for those who preferred the mace. Perhaps inspired by the ingenuity of humans, the mewling drudges “developed” wooden boards with nails stuck through them, and used them to poke innocent passers by. The giant lugians took this “innovation” one step further. Young lugian hooligans were soon to be found bashing one another with bigger boards, and bigger nails.
The biggest news of the month was the discovery of a passage to a heretofore-unknown island. A pair of undead heralds arrived in the Direlands, one in the northeast at the undead fortress of Chalicmere, and the other in the southeast, at a trio of sandy old crypts. In exchange for huge sums of money, these emissaries would cast a portal to the island of Aerlinthe, lying to the northeast of Dereth.
Aerlinthe was an intensely volcanic island, with several peaks ringing a central lagoon. It seemed, in fact, that the island's nature had been the death of its original population long ago; a ruined port was discovered along the southeast shore, its inhabitants frozen into positions of horror by falling ash. Many fossilized undead skeletons still wandered the island, as did a host of bizarre new creatures. Coral golems lined the navigation channel into the lagoon. Tenuous vapor and plasma golems roamed the calderas of the volcanoes and the underground.
Intrepid adventurers, following instructions found on the bones of an undead Empyrean smith, managed to restart the old forge mechanisms built into the central mountain of Tenkarrdun. With a rumble that could be heard as far away as Ayan Baqur, the volcano came to life. Plumes of magma and a hoard of powerful blue-white fire elementals issued forth from the caldera of great Tenkarrdun. Those who visited the steaming crater found themselves overwhelmed and driven back.
However, the sighting of a great beast brought them back for more. The "Behemoth of Tenkarrdun,” a huge and powerful (though stupid) magma golem, had crawled up from the depths of the mountain to blister and squash all who dared approach its home. It was, eventually, overwhelmed and killed. Some say a mere duo managed to slay it, others insist that it took an assault of nearly a hundred to bring it down.
Unfortunately, Aerlinthe has managed to keep its remaining secrets for the time being. As Leafdawning drew to a close, the bulk of the invading force of fire elementals still held the caldera of Mount Tenkarrdun. While many searched unsuccessfully for some obscure, hidden method to end their reign, few seemed willing to directly challenge them in open combat. Perhaps this was due to the fierce conditions in the crater, or perhaps because what commanded the occupying forces could not easily be discerned.
Taste of Twilight - Verdantine, 11 P.Y. (Aug '00)
Verdantine will be a month truly remembered by scholars. While the the armies of shadow remained at bay, an unusually large amount of scraps of parchment were recovered from the corpses of the living dead and strange lumps were found on the most powerful of the shadows. Hardy adventurers adventurers assembled these scraps of parchment as well as the disgusting lumps of unidentifiable matter. When examined by scholars, the assembled pieces resolved many questions heretofore unanswered about the forces that opposed the Isparian refugees to Dereth.
As scholars studied and debated this new found treasure trove of information, veteran mages and warriors continued their assault on the fearsome fire elementals that had erupted from the bowels of Mt. Tenkarrdun on Aerlinthe during the previous month of Leafdawning. The destruction of a hellfire that seemed to lead the firey onslaught was followed by more eruptions on Dereth itself. Both Mt. Esper and Mt. Lethe, which had begun to quake the previous month with the restoration of the forges at Tenkarrdun, spewed flaming creatures that sought to destroy whatever living flesh they could find. Courageous adventurers again sought to destroy the leaders of these destructive forces of nature, and on finding and vanquishing them found a semblance of peace restored to the craters of the roused volcanoes.
With the destruction of the invading fire elementals, adventurers on Aerlinthe continued their assaults on the undead that seemed to call the island their home. The undead, realizing the strength of their opponents, attempted a retreat. Cut down before they could use the portals they had summoned for their escape, these unholy creatures realized too late that they had provided the Isparians entry into the long hidden heart of Aerlinthe: the keep of the Mistress of Aerlinthe--the undead sorceress Aerfalle. After several failed attempts to explore the ancient halls of the Dericost witch, the Isparians succeeded in finding the lair of Aerfalle and confronted her and her cabal of dark magi there. Her apparant defeat revealed a letter which described the secret history of the isle and the hand that Aerfalle had in the rise and fall of its populace.
The revelations of Aerfalle's letter to her lover Rytheran along with the assembled parchments and lumps found on the vanquished forces that had long plagued the Isparians revealed an unexpected ally in the undead armies of the Dericost against the chaos sought by the invading forces of Bael'Zharon as well as the disheartening reality of the unintended collusion of the Isparians in the release of that same dark lord.
The news of a potential ally was offset by the additional discovery of an olthoi grub being experimeted on in a labratory in the keep. The goals of the undead's experimentaion were frighteningly unclear. Additionally, the grub, while harmless in itself, did suggest one clearly frightening possibility though. For olthoi young to exist something had to give birth to it. Many scholars speculated that the grub might signal the existence of a new olthoi queen.
While the dark revelations of Aerlinthe prophesied a future of war for the peoples of Dereth, many found some simple pleasures to enjoy in the closing month of summer. The discovery of chocolate beans brought with it an effort to recreate recipes utilizing the popular flavor that had been popular on Ispar. Credit for these recreations was given to Chen Kenichi of Frostfell for the recipe for a basic Bar of Dark Chocolate and Ho Chun of Frostfell aided by Theran Bakagin for the recipe for a Bar of Milk Chocolate. Morgana of Frostfell with the help of Touryan Kurigsun and Betty Crocker of Leafcull with assistance from Cragstone Farms Catering recreated Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Ice Cream respectively. Finally, four chocolate beverages were also recreated: Chocolate Milk by Khallayne of Thistledown with the help of Raynie, Mocha by Aiyaan Shiefu of Leafcull with the help of the Silver Citadel, Rich Mocha by Atsushi of Morningthaw with the help of Deckape, and Iced Mocha by Yakamura Shinji of Frostfell.
Another discovery of note was the result of the insightful analyses of the Shadowhunter Armor by Aleister the Loquacious. The master smiths finding themselves weakened by the attacks of a shadowy assassin during the previous month and, as a result, no longer able to forge the armor as well as they once had. Aleister's study of the weakened form of the armor revealed a previously undetected resonance between the armor and the Atlan stones. This discovery led to experiments in combining the elemental stones with the armor, resulting in varieties of armor, while weaker in overall protection, more resistant to particular elemental attacks.
These discoveries both culinary and magical cheered the Isparians who had begun to grow complacent. The shadow invasions that had preceded the summer seemed like a long distant memory. Sages and loremasters still watched the changes in the skies and tracked the paths of the steadily and ominously advancing spires across the land. Many found themselves brooding over the revelations of the presence of four more soul stones on Dereth. Soul stones that the shadows wanted and would surely soon be coming for...
Twilight's Gleaming - Thistledown, 11 P.Y. (Sep '00)
The destination of the steadily advancing spires became all too clear when morning dawned in Dereth this month. Tufa and Arwic lay in ruins and charred craters marked the spots where the spires had focused their attacks. Reconstructing the events of the previous night from the shaken citizens of both towns, adventurers discovered that Tufa had been destroyed by three of the spires. While another four spires converged on the Aluvian capital of Cragstone. The intervention of a mysterious magician dressed in white and an archer many claimed was the missing Aluvian hero Elysa Strathler resulted in the destruction of one of the spires and the retreat of the other three. Unfortunately, that retreat ended in a victory of sorts for the Shadows as the three remaining spire turned northeast and ravaged the town of Arwic.
As the refugees gathered to look on the remains of their towns, a new horror emerged from the crater that now marked the location of the former oasis of Tufa. A thick black fog hung eerily within the bowels of the crater, searing the flesh of any foolish enough to venture within it. A creature heretofore unseen on Dereth, a grievver, prowled through the crater's bottom with a host of Shadow spawn. Scholars of Derethian history were most disturbed by the unearthing of a menhir ring that had apparantly been buried beneath this oasis in the A'mun desert. The explosion that had created the crater had not merely unearthed the ring, but had broken it and lines of magical energy leaked outwards onto the blackened soil. It was the potential disruption of the ring that proved most disturbing to these loremasters. While the use of these rings was unknown, scholars were aware that the Falatacot had been charged by their gods thousands of years ago with this command: "Do not ask us of these artifacts, and do not disturb them."
The scholar Garea began to examine other geomantic phenomena of this sort, discovering the appearance of a number of other new "menhir-like" formations in the Linvak range, near Mt. Esper, and on the Obsidian Plain. Others found that many menhir rings produced strong surges of energy renewing stores of mana in mages who merely stepped into the center of some rings.
These unusual discoveries were eclipsed though by the appearance of several new creatures. Floating squid-like creatures appeared near beaches and in the sands of the A'mun, while an unwanted arrival of Isparian born predators, the Uruisin, heralded more dangerous travels for adventurers and in explorers in the mountains and forests of the island.
Hunting among these new creatures, many encountered Shadows, which now held mysterious keys to the Fenmalain, Caulnalain, and Shendolain gates--locations never before heard of on Dereth.
Soon though the locations of these gates became all too clear as Shadows, Undead, and the Isparians converged on portals opened within the formations found earlier in the month. Two armies clashed in the bowels of the vesitibules. The undead protected these chambers, while the Shadows launched furious attacks on them. Isparian adventurers made their way as best they could through these throngs of foes. The new found keys used on the gates provided further access to these underground chambers and there Isparian fellowships found themselves once again facing the enormous destructive powers of the soul stones.
The Fenmalain, Caulnalain, and Shendolain soul crystals were soon destroyed, and waves of energy rippled across the land tearing open new portals into other menhir rings filled with the fragments of the three soul crystals. Adventurers battled through these new dungeons as well as the chambers which had held the soul crystals driven on by a desire for new weapons and orbs fashioned from the remains of the crystals.
While this new weaponry was forged in hopes of driving back the Shadow threat, many shook their heads knowing that the destruction of the crystals had a darker consequence. Now only one of the soulstones imprisoning the Hopeslayer remained intact.
Hollow Victory - Harvestgain, 11 P.Y. (Oct '00)
Despite the destruction in the prior month of three more of the soul stones that held the Hopeslayer in check, a celebratory mood was prevalent in Harvestgain as harvest festivals were held in the Isparian settlements and towns around Dereth. These festivals were celebrated by adventurers masquerading as the monstrous creatures of the island's wilds as well as in masks that represented each of the heritage groups represented in Dereth. Deft citizens carved festive jack-o-lanterns and cooks prepared pumpkin pies and other desserts.
With the harvest came the need for scarecrows, but these seemingly benign creations of simple Isparian farmers soon reminded the Isparians of the alienness of Dereth and its other inhabitants. The Virindi, always interested in new ways of manipulating creation to their own ends, soon found a means of imbuing such creations with some semblance of life. These creatures served as new "war servants" for the Virindi and within new fortresses penetrated by eager adventurers were found the Virindi's deadly, new Hollow Minions. Constructed from the anti-magical ore, chorizite, these creatures proved formidiable new opponents for adventurers that dependended heavily upon enchantments in combat.
As adventurers confronted the Virindi in their new fortresses and throughout the Obsidian Plain, they reported hearing the Virindi discussing a "Singularity" and a "Directive." In an effort to understand these alien creatures better, a scholar and poet from Zaikhal, Diyas al-Yat, began to decipher the Virindi's language. Also, of note, was a new resident in the town of Ayan Baqur. The Virindi archmage Claude was joined by a collegue, Leopold, who also made efforts to "blend in" to the Isparian settlement by crafting Virindi masks and providing stilted and unnatural coversation. As seems to frequently be the case with the Virindi, the mysterious utterances and behaviors observed by adventurers, the explorations of the new fortresses, and a new understanding of the Virindi's language only served to compound the confusion of the Isparians in dealing with these enigmatic creatures.
Other creatures also revealed a greater intensity in organizing as monster training camps appeared throughout the island. Most obvious to Isparian observers was the activities of the banderlings and mosswarts. A society of explorers based in Dryreach solicited aid from many adventurers in a search for some of their missing companions. These adventurers discovered the Journals of Sir Candeth Martine and read of his frightening encounter with competing tribes of banderlings and mosswarts. The discovery of a ceremonial mace of some anthropological interest to the Society, yielded a reward of a well-crafted mace from the Society. Unfortunately, the missing explorers still remain to be found.
Another discovery of a larger magnitude was the ruins of an underground Empyrean city called Laeraa in the A'mun desert. Many Gharu'ndim entrepreneurs took advantage of this opportunity to establish a new community that they called Xarabydun in the midst of the desert. While the city above began to thrive with commerce, young, enthusiatic adventurers began to explore the levels beneath the inhabited upper floor. The discovery of thousamds of old Yalaini texts led to an innovative new process of producing reagents in a compressed form. These lighter componants were dubbed "peas" and could be split with a special tool. Many other adventurers exploring the halls beneath Xarabydun discovered egg-like geodes that both hinted at the origins of the strange creatures called the K'nath, but also could be crafted into powerful mana boosting crystals.
But, not all of the explorers of the tunnels found such exciting new treasures. At the heart of the underground labyrinth, lay a tunnel that seemed to have been carved by darkness itself. An ancient text described the horrifying features of this monstrous cavern: "The walls are the tortured remains of living beings. They are alive, and hungry."
Such works of the Shadow's armies in the ancient past, reminded many of the ongoing atrocities recently committed in Dereth. Citizens of Arwic began rebuilding what they now called "New Arwic" or "New'ic." The dread spires that had destroyed Arwic and the desert town of Tufa only a month before remained present at these sites, but now they no longer hovered above the earth, but began drilling into the earth for some as yet unrevealed reason...
Should the Stars Fall - Leafcull, 11 P.Y. (Nov '00)
With the celebratory festivals of the previous month winding to a close, Derethian adventurers grew restless and exploration of the land they now claimed as a home began in earnest with the discovery of new portals to an archipelago to the south east. On these isles, two settlements of Isparians were found full of people who were not even aware that the olthoi occupation had ended a decade ago. The citizens of Kryst and MacNiall's freehold were as shocked to discover that Dereth was now a free island as the Derethians were to find these refugees of a past they were only beginning to put behind them.
The Vesayen Isles, as the citizens of Kryst had dubbed them, while offering a refuge from the olthoi for its citizens were not without their own dangers though. The fauna that also made its home on the isles was familiar, consisting of sharks, mosswarts, wasps, and armordillos seen on the larger island, but these were dangerously strong new breeds. Less familiar predators also stalked the isles, the swamp dwelling moarsmen, the strange tentacled masses called the slithis, and the living idols worshipped by the religiously-oriented mosswarts that called the isles their home.
The evidence of this religious practice made the previous month's discoveries of the journals of the missing explorer Sir Candeth Martine seem even more important to understanding these creatures hostile to the Isparians. Martine's journals had hinted both at a stronger organizational hierarchy within the mosswarts than had previously been understood as well as a possible religious war building between the mosswarts and their cousins the banderlings. On these new isles, such a possibility grew more complex as it became apparant that this war may have divided the mosswarts against one another. Some adventurers even reported meeting a possible renegade mosswart called Rumuba who sought the aid of the humans in his study of the animate idols worshipped by his brethern. Other adventurers investigating the mosswart hideouts and strongholds throughout the archipelago also found more evidence of the missing Candeth Martine. His latest journal was a nearly incomprehensible narrative of his latest travails and hinted at dealings between the Mosswarts and the Virindi.
These investigations were interrupted by more dire events though. With the discovery of an ancient Empyrean cathedral on the southeasternmost isle of the archipelago (said to have been the home of the "heretical" Adjanite Order), also came the discovery of the center of the undead's defensive operations in their war against Bael'Zharon. Powerful adventurers discovered the general of the undead forces, the Sand King Anadil, and destroyed the creature. The journal they recovered spoke of the location of the remaining soul stone that entrapped the Hope Slayer. It contained information both about gaining access to this Shard of the Herald as well as how the path to the Shard had been corrupted by the Shadows.
The path had been altered to only allow access to the stone by the minions of Bael'Zharon himself. This meant that those who wished to reach the crystal could do so only by bowing at the altar of Bael'Zharon, eschewing the protections from their fellows afforded by Asheron. While such a display of obeisance to the Herald may have been distasteful to those who opposed his release, it did offer the very real possibility of defending the shard from those Isparians who would, out of their own dedication to the Hope Slayer or their own ignorance or greed, might seek to destroy the stone.
Many monarchs hailing from Thistledown organized just such a defense. The initial success of this defense of the soul stone frustrated the Hope Slayer whose influence on the world while dampened had grown stronger with the destruction of the first five pieces of his prison. Compounding that frustration was the subversion that Bael'Zharon himself had attempted in Coldeve within the ranks of the Isparians themselves. He had tested several monarchs at the time, rewarding them with a shadow stone if they successfully ran a gauntlet of his design. Only two monarchs suceeded, Blackthorn and Vidorian, and were declared Dark Masters, swearing an oath to return a favor to their dark benefactor. With the unexpectedly successful defense of the Thistledown Shard of the Herald, Bael'Zharon desperate to be free, called upon these "errant servants" to break the defense.
Attacks led by Nightwolf of Leafcull, Cig of Harvestgain, Crystal Fox of Frostfell, Gusto King of Morningthaw, and Khao of Solclaim finally succeeded and the demonic creature imprisoned for 3,000 years emerged from his prison. The Isparians scrambled to destroy the beast they had released, but the power possessed by this creature was beyond any they had seen before. The Hope Slayer was content to bide his time for the remainder of the month, destroying any adventurer brave or foolhardy enough to venture within his lair. As the bodies of the most powerful Isparians in the land piled up around him, Bael'Zharon feasted on their power and his now unrestrained rage grew.
The Child of Daralet - Frostfell, 11 P.Y. (Dec '00)
The return of the Hopeslayer could be witnessed in the scarred landscape and blood red waters of the island of Dereth. The skies too bled crimson and the sun was blotted out. Even the fearsome creatures of Dereth were effected by these environmental changes as water golems were tainted by the reddened waters surrounding the island.
Within this frightening environment though new arrivals to Dereth were greeted by Mikeal Alayne's Society, which dissemenated information to Isparians first coming to this dangerous new home. In addition, the Society rewarded such new arrivals with useful equipment and weapons in exchange for their help in delivering messages for the Society.
Such weaponry would be useful as cities around Dereth were no longer peaceful. The Hopeslayer emerged from his lair early in the month, stalking the land and challenging adventurers to try to best him. Bael'Zharon slew all that challenged him, raining meteoric rocks and even cows from the sky, but those who reacted favorably to the Herald of the Great Master were rewarded with powerful magics not seen before by the Isparian peoples.
Bael'Zharon's reign of terror was cut short though by the reappearance of Asheron on Dereth. The reclusive mage visited with monarchs that had refused Bael'Zharon's call to become Dark Masters earlier in the year. Fafrhd of Thistledown and Killean of Morningthaw were told to rally their vassals for a coming confronatation with Bael'Zharon. Elsya Strathelar was also seen by many adventurers. Again, the archer spoke of the need for preparation and of three artifacts--the skull, the heart,and the singularity--that might turn the tide of battle against the seemingly invincible Hopeslayer.
Asheron then appeared to stop Bael'Zharon's rampage. The wizard tried to reason with the creature but to no avail and soon the two were locked in a powerful magical duel that raged across Osteth and its outer environs. The duel served to distract the Hopeslayer though and soon a messenger appeared called the Chosen of Asheron with a missive detailing the properties of the artifacts spoken of by Elysa and how they might be combined to sap the strength of Bael'Zharon.
Adventurers plunged into new dungeons beneath the sands of the A'mun desert, in the Northern mountains, and in the heart of the Obsidian Plains. These adventurers found that these dungeons required the combined efforts of seasoned veterans and rawer recruits to successfully penetrate them. There they found the artifacts and passed them on to the veteran warriors, magicians, and archers of Dereth to combine.
The newly created Sepulchur proved to indeed weaken Bael'Zharon who retreated once more to a lair beneath the earth. There adventurers confronted the weakened but nevertheless still powerful creature. After a number of failures in the twisted living chambers of the Hopeslayer, the heroes of Dereth finally quelled Bael'Zharon's fury, banishing him to the Darkness.
The future of Dereth is now uncertain. The Empyrean remain in an unknown hiding place, Isin Dule after aiding Asheron in locating one of the artifacts also removed with his followers to an unknown location, the wizard Asheron returned to his retreat away from Osteth, and now the shadows of the Empyrean legacy that had hung over Dereth for the past year seemed to have been banished. With trepidation, the Isparian refugees bloodied but not defeated waited for the hush that would come as peace seemed to settle across Dereth.