Timeline:
Day 1: The village of Bern, on the Western coast of Atreus, where Svana, Arianne, Aydin, and Faerie live with their families, is attacked one day, by three large slaver ships. The slavers take hostages and try to avoid killing anyone, mostly beating people unconscious. The Player Characters (PCs) defend the town hall, where the sick, elderly, and other noncombatants are hiding. The PCs kill many of the attackers, while down on the beach their parents are overwhelmed and captured. Eventually the PCs themselves are also captured and the villagers are packed into prison cells on the boats.
While on the boats, the villagers escape, taking the boat and freeing the PCs. The opposing boats begin launching barrels of oil at the villager-controlled ship and the surrounding water. The PCs, being quite young, are loaded onto liferafts and told to make for the shore. As they do, a sorcerer on an opposing boat summons a storm, and a bolt of lightning strikes the oil, consuming the ship. The surviving villagers are cut off from the PCs in the flames and wreckage. It is unclear what happens after that, as the storm sweeps the PCs back to the shore.
There, the PCs find the village itself undisturbed, and a conspicuous set of antlers in the center of town, creating the implication that the Reinn Raiders attacked the village. The PCs take supplies and the antlers, and after some discussion, head South along the coast to the city of Harljaden, looking for help finding their families and the slavers.
Day 2: The PCs travel South along the coast, and a short distance outside of town encounter a Haglkorn (see Haglkorn file). This one is known to locals, and normally floats unaffected and unreactive to any efforts, but now is spinning slowing and giving off a faint hum. The PCs touch the rock and experience the sounds of violence, and languages they don’t recognize. Further contact with the rock creates different sounds of different conflicts, and eventually the sounds of the previous day, including their own voices during the battle. The rock goes silent after that and stops spinning. The PCs continue South and camp for the night without incident.
Day 3: Along the coast, the PCs find the ruins of a ship, beached. Closer examination shows that the wreckage is from the boat in which the PCs were held, and must have floated down the coastline. Inside, they find some weapons and clothing, and charts that indicate the slavers have been attacking villages along the coast, and appear to be either headed towards or away from Harljaden. Also, the PCs find wolves in the boat that try to eat them. The PCs eat the wolves.
Continuing South, the PCs find a cave with light coming from within. They throw rocks and yell into the cave for a while, and eventually some irritated scavengers come out to fight the party. The PCs camp in the cave and bury the scavengers in the sand outside.
Day 4: The PCs arrive at Harljaden (see Harljaden file for description) and check into an inn on the edge of town. There they are met by Lasho Simms, pirate, and Faerie’s previously unknown uncle. He has a psychic link with Faerie, and always has, unbeknownst to Faerie. They share a unique genetic version of the Words on the Wind spell, which allows them to speak across great distances. He heard Faerie during the attack and met with them to help. He doesn’t know where the slavers are, but is willing to help look for them at sea, and possibly in Ertvaag or Jukka (see files). He suggests the party stay in the relative safety of the town, and look for any travel records that may show why the slavers stopped in Harljaden. Scouting the city, the PCs find several interesting locations, like the local museum, the Gearworks, and the Grand Cathedral, where they meet many interesting groups of priests and the faithful. They find the local dockmaster’s office, and in an attempt to gain access to travel records normally kept off limits to non-government workers, they cause a fire, and make a grab for the records in the resulting confusion. They are promptly subdued and arrested.
Day 5: After being interrogated by the local guard captain, Martyn Bebb, and the PCs explaining that slaver ships may have passed through the city, the slightly singed Dockmaster hastily drops all charges, and claims the travel documents were burned in the fire. The local guard is occupied with a recent murder of a city councilor and cannot help the PCs. The PCs are sent to the lower city, below the falls, to investigate the records there instead. They are given the travel records without incident, and discover that the slavers collected a shipment of stone from Riddarhold (see file). Communicating magically with Lasho, the party decides that heading North to Riddarhold is their best lead. Outside, a conflict has formed between local guards and a revolutionary force that blames the death of the city councilor on the political elite, as the deceased councilor was a strong supporter of worker rights. The revolutionaries are lead by Marius Redmayne, and the party is somewhat divided on which side to support, if any. However, a cursory investigation of the crime scene shows that neither side has given the crime much thought, and the PCs locate the murderer in short order, who confesses to an accidental killing in a mugging gone wrong. The PCs turn over the murderer to the local guard, and, riding on a charismatic wave from Marius, assist in a grassroots political movement intending to elect Marius as replacement city councilor. They return to the inn for the night.
Day 6: The PCs visit the Gearworks (see Harljaden file) out of curiosity and meet Ekaterina Tofte, a stern business mogul responsible for the complex mechanisms that fuels city industry. She recruits the PCs for a special task: Retrieve an Atreides (see History of the Atreides file) artifact from a nearby ruin. Her previous excavation team has not reported back in several days. To assist and as payment, she provides each of the PCs with a special item: A Harpoon Gun for Aydin, a windup Shriek Grenade for Arianne, a Collapsing Sword for Svana, and a pair of Springheel Boots for Faerie. The PCs proceed to the site and find it overrun with bandits, who have killed the excavation team. After killing most of bandits, the PCs find a strange artifact that keeps a back room at freezing temperatures, until a pair of bandits break the seal and are flash frozen. The artifact, another Haglkorn, is collected by the PCs, along with several strange fruits and seeds. The PCs finish clearing the site of bandits, and discover the enormous clockwork artifact Tofte requested. They mark the site and return to Tofte, who is quite pleased and sends a new team to retrieve the artifact. They return to the inn for the night.
Day 7: The PCs leave Harljaden, heading North for Riddarhold along the main road. There they encounter a minor cart crash, caused by scribbling & driving, being resolved by a Whisperer (see Whisperer file). They later encounter another cart, stopped by a group of angry men, who are harassing a family over religious differences. The group of men insists that all people worship Tynas above all other gods, which is counter to Atreides custom. Conflict ensues and the PCs quickly slaughter a group of racist old men. The family on the cart is horrified. Note: This is the PCs first encounter with the Skyshaker’s Children (see file).
Further up the road, they find signs of a recent attack, and a cart trail leading into the forest. A search of the area reveals a man wounded by arrows resting, who claims that he was aboard a cart which was attacked by bandits, and the horses spooked and carried the cart into the woods. He claims he is fine and intends to rest, but asks the PCs to check on his coworker in the woods. Farther in, the PCs find the crashed cart, and drag marks where a body was carried away. The horses are dead and gutted by claws and teeth, and unusual footprints are all around. The PCs search deeper into the woods, following the drag marks, and find an Owlbear sleeping under a small outcropping. The dragged man is alive but too afraid to move. The PCs ambush the Owlbear and rescue the man, Dagnar Hegdus. Dagnar says his family is powerful in Riddarhold, and will reward them when they get there. Previous evidence and Hegdus’ testimony convinces the PCs that the original man was a bandit, and they kill him when he tries to flee the scene. Dagnar continues on his way South, and the PCs, North, camping near the road for the night.
Day 8: Along the road North, the PCs meet a traveling salesman, Mikel Vagr, who makes improvised explosives and intends to work with Ekaterina Tofte back in Harljaden. The PCs encourage him to do so. The rest of the day passes without incident, and the PCs camp for the night. However, during the night, a greased, naked man sprints through the camp and steals some of the PCs items. They yell at him to stop, but he appears to be deaf. He is killed like a stray dog and the PCs sleep the sleep of sociopaths.
Day 9: Continuing North through farmland, the PCs pursue a strange noise to the scene of a tear in reality, and the remains of a campsite. Investigation of the campsite indicates that the Skyshaker’s Children attempted to contain a Haglkorn inside a Bag of Holding, causing the tear and killing the Skyshakers. The PCs toss a few things into the tear for fun and leave.
Later, at a narrow passage between two cliffs, a traffic jam has occurred. Locals report a large troll blocking the road, demanding bizarre payments that no one could possibly provide. The PCs attempt to negotiate with the troll, who is oddly literate and well spoken, despite asking for payments such as a house made entirely of horses. The PCs tire quickly of the troll and decide to attack it, and the troll vanishes in a puff of smoke. On the cliffs above, a robed man runs giggling into the distance. The PCs attempt to pursue him but he too vanishes. They continue on their journey.
Arriving at a local farm, they meet a man named Vigar Riis, an Agent of the Silver Eye (see D&D file, Silver Classes) who is trying to gather support in hunting a monster in the area. He is tracking a Shadow Mastiff, which he believes is causing local livestock deaths. The PCs assist, and locate the beast's lair, but consider it too dangerous to enter. Faerie wanders to look for straw, intending to burn the beast out, and manages to start a fight with local farmers, and is beaten mostly to death and left in a ditch. The rest of the PCs flush the monster out and kill it successfully. Vigar is generally considered by the PCs to be useless. They continue on their journey and camp for the night.
Day 10: On a hill near the road, the PCs see a man sitting at a fire, which is constantly changing color. Curious, they investigate. The man appears to be in a trance, and something spectral is coming out of the fire towards him. The PCs do not intervene, and the spectral force enters the man. He wakes, stands, and promptly attacks the PCs with fire magic. Also, he is on fire. Once the PCs kill him, his body rises into the air and violently disintegrates. The man’s journal shows that he was attempting to summon a spirit known as Zenobrak. He appears to have succeeded. The PCs continue on.
They arrive at Wixus lake and the town of Rannevaig, which is experiencing a terrible storm. In the town inn, locals huddle for safety in the strong winds. The locals describe a mysterious tower which recently appeared in the center of the lake. All who have entered it have not returned. The PCs investigate. Inside, there are the bodies of the townsfolk and several wolf bodies. In a side room, behind a forcefield, a wizard named Hendrick waves at the party and explains that there is a security system in the tower that summons living defenses. The PCs hear a loud, inhuman voice in a language they don’t understand, and are attacked by wolves which appear from dimensional portals. They kill the wolves, and Hendrick mentions multiple waves before the loud voice interrupts, and the PCs are attacked by several bears, again from dimensional portals. The PCs barely defeat the bears, and Hendrick congratulates them. Unfortunately it is not the final wave, and an enormous earth elemental is summoned. However, he is almost immediately tripped, kicked, and pushed into a hole in the floor that the PCs create, dropping him into the lake. Perhaps he is still there today, punching fish. The wizard, Hendrick, thanks the party and drops the forcefield that he was behind. He was not trapped, just a coward. He rewards the party by teaching Svana the forcefield spell, and giving the PCs a bag of gold. During this, the loudspeaker goes off again, and another dimensional portal opens, and a cow steps through. The cow appears harmless, but is killed anyway, for safety. Regarding the local weather problem, Hendrick mutters about atmospheric interference due to matter transference, and says he’ll take care of it. After leaving the tower, the PCs watch the tower suddenly vanish, and the foul weather subsides. Back in the town, the locals are quite pleased, and throw a party for the PCs. They sleep at the inn for free.
Day 11: On their way out of Rannevaig, Faerie suffers a slight stroke when, under the influence of gold, he makes an unusually astute investment in the local apothecary. The PCs stock up on healing potions and leave town. The town of Ritten, on the outskirts of Riddarhold, is not far North. Before they get there, however, the PCs find an abandoned logging camp, surrounded by a strange fog. As they approach, the fog recedes, and the signs of battle are apparent. Further investigation reveals a mass grave, and Reinn Raider markings. The PCs notice they are being observed by local deer, but cannot catch any. From the woods, they hear screaming, and upon investigation, discover a man chained to a stone, surrounded by and soaked in blood. While they watch he is transformed into a werewolf, breaks free, and attacks the PCs. After his defeat, the PCs see horned figures fading into the fog. The PCs leave the area quickly.
Arriving in Ritten, beneath the Thurr Plateau and outside the gates of Riddarhold, the PCs explore and find Notto Hegdus, local shopkeeper and brother of Dagnar, who the party saved a few days prior. He was informed of his brother’s survival via Whisperer, and welcomes the PCs into his home and shop, where he sells linens. While the party stays with him, violence breaks out among the party as Faerie refuses to conform to the strict Riddar hygiene standards, and has to be forcibly bathed with the help of an Owlbear-form Aydin. Feathers and water are everywhere. Later in the evening, after a lesson on Riddar etiquette from Notto, the PCs are witness to an attack on the city by the Reinn Raiders. Notto insists the PCs not intervene, and they watch as Riddars mounted on armored Hafrass, armed with screw-threaded lances the length of houses, easily clear the streets of Raiders. The PCs also witness the magical fog collect the bodies of the dead Raiders and clean up their black blood before being repelled by the sheer mass of the Hafrass. The PCs rest easy under these defenses.
Day 12: The PCs enter Riddarhold as guests of the Hegdus family. The narrow corridors and dense population is countered by lovely smells and colors, and impressive decorum from the locals. The PCs are under some travel restrictions as guests, and Notto escorts them to his clan’s home, and introduces them to Bjor Hegdus, the family patriarch. After explaining their situation, the PCs are faced with a problem: the Berkoff family, in charge of the stone trade the party needs to investigate, is feuding with the Hegdus over a state-arranged marriage between the families, and will not speak to the Hegdus or their guests. After a bit of wandering around the public areas of the Hold, the PCs stop at a local teahouse, where they meet the proprietor named Skjoller. He is a smug, non-local man who suggests that the PCs could earn Friend of the Riddar status, which would allow them greater access and help establish themselves, if they gave him Hegdus secrets. They refuse and leave. Back at House Hegdus, the PCs agree to follow Bjor on a plan of his, which will create a situation for the PCs to prove themselves. Bjor and a cousin named Halgard lead to the party to an observation deck high on the plateau, which would normally be off limits to them. While enjoying the view, they are confronted by the Berkhoffs, who are angry about the level of access the PCs are being given. During the confrontation, Halgard Hegdus activates a mysterious device, and something large erupts out of the snow out on the plateau. The Berkoffs are upset at what the PCs may see, but before they can leave the area an enormous, worm-like creature smashes through and into the observation deck and attacks those present. In a mix of suicidal bravery and creativity, the PCs manage to set fire to the inside of the worm, gutting it. The Berkoffs are upset that non-Riddars witnessed a “Cython,” but impressed by the PCs. The Hegdus argue that the best way to maintain the PCs silence regarding Riddar secrets is to swear them in as Friends of the Riddar, to which the Berkoffs reluctantly agree. The PCs party hard with the Hegdus that night, and further Riddar secrets are revealed, including that the Cythons are harvested for their use in dye production, in which the Hegdus are specialists. The device they developed will be very useful in hunting the Cythons.
Day 13: At a ceremony attended by the Riddar Council, the PCs are inducted as Friends and given symbols accordingly. They are also introduced to the rather frightening Ivan Berkoff, patriarch of the Berkhoff family. He agrees to meet with them at his house following the meeting. Aydin and Faerie are disinterested in the meeting and spend their time sneaking around the teahouse, gluing various utensils to the tables, ceiling, and in one particularly deft moment, to Skjoller himself. Svana and Arianne meet with Ivan Berkoff, and carefully explain the possibility that members of the Berkoff family may be in league with the slavers, since Riddarhold stone was collected by them back in Harljaden. Ivan spends some time punishing his accountant as Aydin and Faerie sneak into the Berkoff house. Rather than being angry, Ivan is amused by their antics, and the PCs spend the night at his home, partying further. Ivan says that in the morning, they ride for the quarry to confront a possibly traitorous cousin.
Day 14: The PCs enter the Hafrass stables, awed by the hangar-like scale of the place, and the elephant-sized goatlike Hafrass. The Berkoff Hafrass, Hellfoot, Shrieker, and The Insidious Blob, are loaded up with their tent-like harnesses, and the PCs join the Berkoffs on Shrieker and The Blob. The group rolls out onto the Plateau, and through snowy canyons, covering a lot of ground.
In a canyon, around midday, the party is forced to move single file, as during the passage they are attacked by a local tribe that regularly attacks Riddars. With the Berkoffs help and some extraordinary violence from the Hafrass, the tribesmen are squashed into the snow. The PCs, deep in a haze of bloodlust, break from the main road to continue hunting local tribes, which the Berkoffs are happy to do. The group tracks and locates a tribe in a cave system, and along with the Berkoffs, slaughter a significant population of indigenous people. The few that survive barricade themselves in the caves or flee the scene. Those that flee are trampled by Hafrass.
The rest of the day proceeds without incident. The PCs entertain themselves along the road and chat with the Berkoffs. Eventually they stop for the night at a small castle, owned by a family called Volikov, who seem highly untrustworthy and a bit too welcoming. The Volikovs encourage the group to relax and stay the night, but the group is skittish, and decides to leave. The group camps the night in a Hafrass circle on the road, warmed by the wooly beasts.
Day 15: The PCs and Berkoffs arrive at the Harlst Quarry, where the high quality Riddarhold stone is extracted. The quarry is managed by Ymir Berkoff, who Ivan suspects is in league with slavers. They confront Ymir in his office, and he denies everything, and between him and Ivan, discover that the forged documents were in the hands of one of his subordinates, Aziz. At this point the party is ambushed, and lightning grenades come in through the windows and onto the desk. Ymir throws himself on the grenades and is killed. Attackers burst in from the doors and windows, but are quickly dealt with thanks to a recent meal of polar bear by Aydin. The attackers that aren’t mauled by Aydin are crushed by Hafrass trying to escape.
As the PCs and Berkoffs step outside, they see Aziz riding off on a Hafrass out of the quarry, documents in hand. A Hafrass chase ensues and Aziz is caught and killed. His documents are encoded, but Ivan thinks he knows someone back at the Hold who can translate them. First, Ivan insists that Ymir must be buried properly, at the tombs of Jarta. The group leaves for Jarta in the morning.
Day 16: Uneventful. The PCs backtrack along the road, passing the Volikovs without stopping, and camp on the road again, about half a day from Jarta.
Day 17: The PCs and Berkoffs arrive at Jarta with Ymir’s body. Ceremonies are performed, and the PCs are given a glimpse at the treasures in the Berkoff tomb. However, an attack by Ice Giants interrupts them. The Jartans are not surprised, as visitors usually stir them up. The PCs take part in a large scale engagement between a fighting force of Hafrass and Ice Giants. Once over, the PCs celebrate with the Jartans and stay the night.
Day 18: The PCs head back to the Hold with the Berkoffs without incident.
Day 19: Back in the Hold, the Berkoffs introduce a friend of theirs, Silver Eye agent Jonvald Baugursson, who is capable of translating the documents the PCs recovered from Aziz. It is revealed that Aziz had already smuggled out a large quantity of stone, enough to build a substantial fortress, and embezzled significant funds. Jonvald finds references to Traenen (see file) and a smuggler contact named Jostein. It appears that Jostein is the leader of a Skyshaker force in that city, as well. This is also the point that the PCs are made aware of Alar Vitgen, former Kilfanoran Ambassador and head of the Skyshakers Children. Jonvald communicates magically with his Silver Eye superiors, and reveals that the Silver Eye is already investigating Jostein, and the PCs may disrupt their plans by pursuing him. Jonvald has specific instructions, from the Commander of the Silver Eye directly, to demand that the PCs proceed directly to Varanas in the Sallatun Boglands (see file) far to the South. However, he is unable to explain why exactly the highest Silver Eye authority in the land wants them specifically, or why she needs to see them face to face. To encourage them, Jonvald suggests that an alliance with the Silver Eye could be extremely beneficial to the PCs. The PCs agree, and that night, as a parting gift, the Berkoffs award the PCs with baby Hafrass of their own. The Hafrass are roughly the size of large horses, and of unique individual design. The PCs stay the night with the Berkoffs.
Day 20: On their way out of the area back South through Ritten, a representative of the SEC (see ‘Storblest’ file) contacts the PCs and leads them to the bank, where dividends from the earlier apothecary investment have paid off. Further South, the PCs encounter an abandoned campsite, where men have been killed, seemingly by their own weapons. Inside a nearby cave, the PCs discover a mysterious knife floating on a pedestal. As they approach, their own weapons begin to shift and move on their own, and various implements around the room do the same. Arianne discovers that she can link mentally with the knife, and discover it to be semi-sentient, and interested only in killing. The knife is convinced that it will have numerous opportunities to kill if it works with the PCs, and it becomes Arianne’s sidearm. Further South, the PCs stumble upon a fight between Skyshaker forces and Reinn Raiders. Rather than intervene, the PCs watch as the two forces kill each other. While picking through the wreckage, Aydin discovers a pool of Raider blood under a Skyshaker corpse, and consumes it secretly. He convulses and experiences a vision of the Raider gods from the perspective of the Raiders themselves. He does not share this vision with the rest of the party. The PCs continue and stay the night back in Rannevaig, where the locals are very happy to see them. During a dinner party, a group of tough, beardly men crash the party and create a ruckus. Following a drinking game, one of the men challenges all comers to a boxing match. Svana accepts, and handily beats the man. He is so impressed he spends the rest of the evening demurely attempting to gain her affections.
Day 21: After collecting the flowers Svana’s admirer left behind, the PCs continue towards the Southern boglands. Along the way a local farmer comments on their Hafrass, and insults both them and the PCs. The conflict escalates, and the farmer erupts into blue flame and attacks. Following the battle, the farmer dies in the same manner as the possessed man from earlier. This the PCs second encounter with Zenobrak, and is noticeably easier. Next, the PCs reach the farming area where they fought the Shadow Mastiff, and find locals packing to leave. The locals have given up, since so many strange demon dogs keep showing up. A local cemetery has been plagued by Hellhounds. In the fight, the PCs find a crack in the earth and strange magical object that appears to control the arriving quantity of Hellhounds. The PCs destroy the object and finish off the remaining Hellhounds.
Proceeding South, the location where the fake troll had been has suffered a rockslide. An old man explains that most people just go the slightly longer way around to the town of Blackbough. Following this path, the PCs approach a gross little town, wrapped in a palisade. As they approach the gates, a large number of zombies appear in the surrounding grassland, and the PCs are ushering into the town by the locals. The town has been under siege for several weeks, and attempts to leave only add to the zombie numbers. It all started when a strange light came from the nearby crypts, and anyone who went looking never came back, at least not alive. The PCs fight their way out after causing a distraction at the gates, and discover a necromancer at the crypts, who, after being defeated, claims to only be trying to protect himself from all the terrible things going on in the country. As he is unrepentant for his crimes, he is killed by the PCs. The PCs do not stay in the town, preferring to camp the night in a less zombified area, further South. While traveling away from Blackbough, they come upon a frightened man at a camp of his own, who claims that he is being hunted by a werewolf, and that it is currently off in the tall grass. The PCs hunt and find the werewolf, but it attempts to avoid rather than fight them. The PCs discover that the werewolf is not hostile, and are able to communicate rudimentarily with it. The frightened man is in fact a talented healer, and the PCs believe the werewolf wants to be healed. After assisting in a difficult ritual, the werewolf is restored to human form, and explains that he was forcibly transformed by Reinn Raiders after his village was attacked, and broke free from their mind control. He was then able to locate a healer that had frequented his village. The PCs camp the night with the two men.
Day 22: After parting ways with the healer and the werewolf victim, the PCs arrive back in Harljaden. Unlike before, the city now appears to be under strict martial law. Soldiers later identified as Iron City-State forces now patrol the city and control checkpoints, keeping the poor and refugees out. The PCs, dressed in Riddarhold finery, are not disturbed by this new police force. After talking to a few former contacts, they discover that the Gearworks suffered a massive explosion a few days after they left town, and most industry and shipping in the town is crippled. Thefts and violence burst out, and the town guard were overwhelmed with work. The city council, now with Marius as a member, voted to request Iron help, as Iron is known for keeping strict law and order in their home region. A police force was brought in suspiciously quickly, and an Iron command center now occupies a portion of the city. The PCs are then contacted by a Silver Eye agent, who demands to know how they made contact with the Commander of the Silver Eye, who apparently has been in seclusion for months, and speaks to no one. Baffled that the PCs do not even know the Commander's name, let alone why she wants to meet them, he leaves abruptly. Aydin follows in secret, as a Shadow Mastiff, and overhears the Agent talking with a team of ruffians, demanding the PCs not reach Varanas. Further exploration of the city finds them at the local museum, where they agree to investigate some stolen property when they have the chance. They visit some friends they made on the previous visit, but overall, pass the day quietly and with their heads low, waiting for an ambush, before returning to a friends house for the night.
Day 23: The PCs proceed to the Gearworks, where Ekaterina is busy repairing the damages. In private, she reveals that the device the PCs secured for her was the cause of the damage, after a failed experiment. She is concerned that Iron may end up blaming her for the problems in the city, as well as a squatter issue in one of her secret warehouses. She pays the PCs up front to resolve the squatter problem. They go to the address specified and discover that the squatters are armed looters, and a battle ensues. After slipping quietly out of the blood-soaked warehouse, the PCs are stopped by a Iron police force, who attempt and fail to politely insist that the PCs report to the Governor-General in command of Iron. At the Iron base, Governer-General Proclus is far too aware of the PCs movements and history for their comfort, and suspects that the PCs and Tofte are deliberately sabotaging the city. The PCs somehow convince him otherwise (multiple nat 20 diplomacy checks). They then visit the rest of the city, and follow up on leads for the stolen property from the museum. After a brief conflict in the market and some intervention by police, the stolen items are returned and the PCs find themselves outside a toy shop run by Mikel Vagr, who took their suggestion weeks ago and contacted Tofte, who suggested his skills would be best served by making a toy shop, and giving her his more advanced blueprints, due to his lack of business savvy. He seems quite happy with the arrangement. Down the street, the PCs are intrigued by a strange business called the Bloody Manatee, which they discover to be a gambling and pit fighting establishment. They spend the rest of the day gambling somewhat successfully, and fighting quite successfully in the arena.
Day 24: Concluding their business in Harljaden, and wary of observation by Iron, the PCs head South, still bound for Varanas. However, once out of town, they are ambushed by hidden attackers in the trees, and paralysed by poison. An unexpected and bloody intervention by a third party saves them, and they awake in the evening light to find they have been rescued by Iron Specialists, the half-metal super soldiers of Iron. An interrogation of a surviving attacker reveals that a coup has taken place among the Silver Eye, and that the PCs recent interaction with the secluded head of the Silver Eye has the coup members scared. Still woozy, the PCs stay at camp with the Iron Specialists.
Day 25: After leaving the Iron camp, the PCs continue South for the rest of the day without incident, at stay the night at a very lovely looking bed & breakfast, run by a kindly old couple. During the night, the whole party suffers nightmares, and awake in freezing, ruined rooms to find ghostly creatures feeding on their dreams. In the chaos that follows, the old couple comes up and reveals themselves as energy vampires who drain the body heat of their victims. The fight is brutal and close quarters, and in the end, a polar bear on fire crushes a pair of elderly-looking vampires with a table. The PCs resolve to never trust the elderly again.
Day 26: The PCs arrive in the boglands, and the town of Nurmis, where the locals suffer from a long term wasting disease related to the bog. The PCs are unwelcome, as the locals assume their weapons and finery to indicate a Silver Eye connection. The only friendly face is a researcher named Odjeck, who offers to help them get to Varanas through the treacherous bog if they help with an archaeological dig of his. He is having trouble getting artifacts out of the bog, since his workers keep getting murdered by zombies. Did he forget to mention the zombies? Along with a cart of defensive supplies and a few mercenaries, the PCs attempt to fortify the site while holding off the zombie horde. During the fight a giant zombie stuffed full of yet more zombies attacks, and
By killing it the PCs noticeably discourage further zombie activity, and are rewarded with artifacts from the bog. Back in town, one of the mercenaries reveals themselves to be Gerda Nialdottir, Commander of the Silver Eye, and the person who wanted them to come here. She has been secretly working outside of her castle in Varanas, trying to uncover the traitors against her. Combined with the evidence the PCs gathered after their attack and the stirring up of the PCs caused by coming South, it becomes clear that Gerda’s second in command is directly responsible for the organization problems and general inefficiency the Silver Eye has been experiencing. The PCs and Gerda stay the night in Nurmis, and Gerda and Aydin privately discuss the Raider blood he took. It appears that he is not the first shapeshifter to be lured by this blood, and that the infection, both physical and mental, cannot be stopped. In either months or years, he will be turned and become a Raider himself, depending on how much he gives in to the Raider gods suggestions.
Day 27: The PCs spend the day travelling through the bog with Gerda, avoiding water monsters with Gerda’s help. They camp in a dry bit of land, and Aydin makes his affliction public.
Day 28: The PCs sneak up around behind the mountain fortress of Varanas, and follow Gerda’s secret entrance up into her private bunker, where everyone thinks she lives permanently, slowly going mad with paranoia. She shows the PCs that in fact, this is her command center, and she has magical ‘cameras’ all across the castle and the country as well. She suggests the PCs barricade the entrance and prepare an ambush, as alarms go off, indicating the presence of an Aluminum sorcerer, Adrianne. Outside the bunker, now known members of the coup, including Gerda’s second in command, Jannike Stenslad, gather to breach the doors. Gerda assumes that the coup will use this opportunity to kill her and claim some Aluminum sorcerer did it. This is all according to Gerda’s plan, as the coup will not expect their numbers or their ambush. In the subsequent battle, Gerda forms a magic barrier and fights Stenslad alone. The rest of Stenslad’s team is smushed against the magic barrier by a polar bear and burned alive. Gerda attempts to interrogate Stenlad, but Stenslad kills herself with a Tin spell, suggesting a connection to the Skyshakers. Now back in power, Gerda exacts revenge on surviving coup members and deputises the party as Silver Eye agents, working directly for her. She shows them a variety of maps that indicate a power play forming in the East, possibly around the Dahlbrant. She asks the PCs to go to Kilfanora and help rebuild the Silver Eye agency there, which was destroyed by Skyshakers in the early days of the coup. To assist, she supplies them with a magical folding boat, and two crab-like submarines. The PCs set sail immediately and spend the night at sea.
Day 29: Out on the ocean, the PCs make rapid progress towards the capital. Along the way, they hunt a whale and rescue a ship from a harpy attack. The rescued ship is a treasure hunter named James Cameroon, who lost his dive team while looking for a specific sunken crown. The PCs use one of their crab-submarines to dive for the crown. Deep in the ocean, the PCs find a tribe of fishmen, led by a larger fishman wearing a golden crown. The fishmen attack, but are unable to breach or even dent the sub. Fearing a massacre, the DM closed his eyes. However, the PCs chose to ignore the attacks, and gently dethroned the king of the fishmen, placing the crown on their submarine. The fishmen bowed in worship of this new god, and the PCs ascended in glory. Captain Cameroon said they earned the crown fair and square, but would buy it off them if they visited his shop in Kilfanora.
Day 30: The PCs arrive in Kilfanora, and begin exploring. They end up selling the crown to a different shop that offers them a better price. They then go to the abandoned ruin of the Silver Eye base. While exploring it they meet a friendly ghost named Oliver, who is a member of the Silver Eye but cannot leave the structure. He helps them with leads on former agents who may have survived the attack, with the help of a magical computer of his. The PCs spend the rest of the day hunting down and recruiting the remaining Silver Eye agents, with a surprisingly small amount of violence.
Day 31: The PCs start their investigation of Vitgen, head of the Skyshakers and former councilor. They break into his former estate and wander around for a while, finding a safe, before realizing that they are being observed by someone outside. The observer offers help with the safe, which he knew about. He escorts them to a nearby office, which is labelled as the Barovian Embassy. The man who observed them is a Barovian spy. The PCs are let in a back entrance and introduced to the Barovian Ambassador, Endel Kalda. He claims to have been watching the PCs closely since they started working on restoring the Silver Eye base. He offers his help via a key to the safe, and suggests that the PCs should be distrustful of the Iron Ambassador across the street, and claims that spies are everywhere. He insinuates that Iron may benefit from the disruption of Skyshakers, and may be working with Vitgen. The PCs leave shortly, and sure enough, an Iron spy openly contacts them, saying that the Iron Ambassador wants to speak with them. Half the PCs go to the Vitgen estate to search the safe, half go to the Iron Embassy. At the Embassy, ambassador Titus Cressius accurately guesses the Barovian accusations, and denies them all. He offers a trade of information: A secret of his for a secret of theirs. The PCs agree, and the ambassador admits to having Specialists operating in the city illegally. The PCs trade for this secret by telling him about the key. Cressius suggests that instead of him, the Barovian Ambassador is working with Vitgen, and is probably trapping the PCs. As he explains this, the two other PCs are at the Vitgen estate, and after finding the safe empty, discover that the house is surrounded by local guards. The PCs do not resist, planning on talking their way out, and are arrested for breaking and entering, as well as robbing the Barovian Ambassador, who reported the ‘crime’ as soon as the PCs had left. The PCs who were at the Iron Embassy run up to try and talk their way out of the situation, and are also arrested. The PCs pass the night in jail, stripped of their items.
Day 32: During the night, the PCs hear a strange scraping sound, and a heavy floor slab is lifted up by a friendly but impossibly strong man. His limbs are metallic, and the PCs have seen enough Iron Specialists to recognize one easily enough. With the Specialist, who introduces himself as Marcus, is a group of local homeless who strongly resemble the PCs. They are placed in the cell as decoys and the PCs leave through the tunnel Marcus dug, back to an alleyway, and then to the Iron Embassy. Marcus was also able to procure their possessions. Ambassador Cressius is nice enough to not say ‘I told you so,’ and says the PCs may have to lay low for a while, lest the guards recognize them and blow the ruse. They will promptly forget about this. Cressius tells them about a potential Skyshaker operation in the undercity that his agents have been hunting, and suggests that if they can locate the base and prove a Barovian connection, the charges against them might get lifted. After stopping off at the Silver Eye base and consulting with Oliver, the PCs go to the undercity and make contact with Nils Akerman, a rat catcher and corrupted Anima Eater. His Raider transformations are grotesque and severe, and he is barely mentally stable. The PCs manage to contain the situation somewhat, and convince Nils to escort them into the sewers where Iron believes the Skyshakers are operating from. After a brief search, Nils shows them a cistern where the Skyshakers are based and abruptly leaves. Looking down into the cistern, the PCs see a significant force, with prisoners, tents, a small collection of crates, and even crops. In the center is a cloaked, gaunt figure, working some kind of machine which, as the PCs watch, produces lodestones charged with instantly fatal, single target spells. The Skyshakers are testing these stones on prisoners and boxing more up. While observing all this, the PCs notice that they are not the only observer, and see two more faces looking down into the cistern, one they recognize as Marcus, and one they don’t. The various parties regroup, and Marcus unhappily introduces The Mist, a local ‘hero’ who can teleport, but only in a cloud of moisture. Between them, they all plan their attack. Marcus explains that the hooded figure is a Death Speaker, one of the most dangerous magic users in the world. The Death Speaker is fully capable of instantly killing any of them. Marcus is specifically trained against it, but doesn’t sound hopeful. The Mist will provide general support and disabling tactics. The PCs burst in and engage. During the fight, Marcus successfully kills the Death Eater, and, while fighting a boss-summoned mud monster, Faerie is pulled into the mud monster. The mud monster is then pushed into a burning tent and a whale is dropped onto it. A slurry of mud, tent, Faerie and flaming odds and ends are pushed through the fine mesh over the cistern. Afterwards, during the cleanup, Marcus and The Mist suggest that Wizenthal may be able to translate some of the scraps of paper they find, and lead them further.
The PCs go to Wizenthals address and meet Adam Wolfe, an escaped Skyshaker slave who wants answers from Wizenthal. After some discussion and convincing, Wizenthal explains that he and Adam were both prisoners of Vitgen, in the Eastern canyon called the Dahlbrant. There, Vitgen is busy building a fortress and a large magic device using Haglkorn and slave labor. Vitgen is apparently serving some kind of ‘master’ that no one else has ever seen. Wizenthal was forced to create a blood spell that would reveal individual Haglkorn capabilities, but at the cost of a life. He has been too scared to talk to anyone previously. The PCs give him safe shelter with the Silver Eye, and brief Gerda. Gerda insists that the PCs get firsthand evidence of this castle, and she begins aggressively recruiting allies across the country. The PCs do some shopping and long term travel prep for the evening.
Day 33: In the morning, the PCs find that a representative of the city council has come to see them. The Iron Ambassador is presenting a case against the Barovians and named the PCs as witnesses. Along with Adam, the PCs go to the council chambers. They present their evidence, but avoid mentioning Wizenthal or the Iron Specialists. The council mentions that their doubles were discovered dead this morning, but due to the circumstances of recent events they drop any remaining charges against the PCs. The Council awards special dispensation to Iron to operate in the city, the Barovian ambassador is condemned, and the PCs leave to finish their business in town and prepare for the road.
Day 34: The PCs prepare for long-term travel through the Dahlbrant, and consult with Gerda, Wizenthal, and Adam. They decide to leave the Hafrass behind, since it would be dangerous for such large creatures, and feeding them would increase their burdens considerably. Aydin decides he needs personal revenge on the Barovian ambassador, and convinces Svana to help hunt him down. They track him to a warehouse in the docks, where a small mercenary team protects him until he can flee the city. Aydin and Svana regroup the PCs and stage a daring raid, killing the mercs and capturing the ambassador. After some deliberation, they leave him tied and gagged on the steps of the Council building at nightfall.
Day 35: With their business in Kilfanora concluded, the PCs pack up their gear and set out for the Dahlbrant. Wizenthal told them about a general store/tavern at the edge of the Straumn River where they can purchase long-term provisions. While on the road, they are ambushed by a team of Anima Eaters, who attempt to kill Aydin specifically. The PCs survive and Aydin gains access to Tiger shapeshifts. The PCs arrive at The Best Fork, proprietor Nuray Memis, who cuts them a fair deal for gear, lodging and provisions. Money is tight, and a few of the PCs exchange 'services' for goods, but the mood is light.
Day 36: Nuray shepherds the PCs across the river in his ferry, and the PCs begin the hike through the difficult terrain of the Dahlbrant. About midday, they discover a fortification at the entrance to the canyon, clearly marked as a Skyshaker base. They cautiously observe until dark, tracking Skyshaker patrols that come and go. They scale the cliffs that overhang the base, and discover a magical alarm system, which they trip multiple times from their hiding place. This calls the patrols back from far and wide, and the confusion allows the PCs to create a 'cry wolf' situation. The Skyshakers are frustrated and scattered, and the patrols head back out, leaving a token handful defending the base. Aydin and Adam sneak down into the base, and slaughter the patrolling guards, one by one. Once the base is cleared, the PCs discover resources and documents, and then torch the place, tearing down the magical alarm system on their way out. They camp a good distance away from the burning outpost, and translate the correspondence they found. The Skyshakers are aware of them now, but think they are Silver Eye agents, not teenagers from Bern. The Skyshakers are worried about the PCs, and are taking steps to hunt them. They also fear the PCs reaching something called the "Kolbold Caves."
Day 37: The PCs make their way deeper into the Dahlbrant, and after avoiding a Skyshaker patrol, come upon a tar bog. They carefully maneuver through it, only to be attacked by a StriÞa, a giant wingless lizard. They struggle for footing while fighting the lizard, which can spit acid, but manage to kill it without getting too messy, with the exception of Adam, who falls face-first into the tar while avoiding the acid. Once the beast is dead, Adyin eats it as per usual, but has a vision as he shapeshifts into the StriÞa for the first time. In his vision, he sees a bloody Raider god and is wordlessly offered some amount of power in exchange for some amount of cooperation with the Raiders. As no words are exchanged, it is unclear what kind of deal was struck, but Adyin accepts, and receives the ability to grow bloody wings. The rest of the PCs are very angry with him over making a deal like this, but they have the advantage of a now-flying StriÞa. They camp a few hours further into the canyon and clean themselves up.
Day 38: While continuing on they journey, the PCs hear roars echo through the canyon. They stealthily crest the next ridge and see a Skyshaker camp full of tamed, saddled dragons. While they watch, a squad of Skyshakers hastily arrives, and delivers some kind of bad news, as the camp scrambles into action. The dragons and their riders take off in all directions, leaving only the tired patrol behind to guard the site and a cave beyond it. The PCs use their new air capabilities to drop into battle and ambush the enemy. Adyin, now in essentially dragon form, makes short work of several guards, but find himself unable to attack targets he chooses. His actions are temporarily controlled and he attacks one specific Skyshaker instead of his chosen target. The PCs are unclear why this happened, but are concerned that Aydin may be losing control. Inside the cave, the PCs find a complicated magical device, full of carefully weighted rods. An emergency manual is found and translated, and they discover that the device is mind-controlling the dragons they saw earlier. Any attempt to release the dragons must be done very carefully, or the device will break entirely and kill all the dragons at once. The PCs delicately disassemble the device, sparing and freeing all the dragons. Based on the sounds heard outside the cave, the dragons are very upset with their former masters. The PCs leave the cave, confident in their victory, only to encounter a towering magical illusion of Alar Vitgen himself, leader of the Skyshakers, who confronts them. In the brief conversation Vitgen realizes that the PCs are far too young to be veteran Silver Eye agents, and the PCs reveal that Vitgen has their families hostage. Vitgen summons a storm that forces the PCs to flee the area, and they camp under a cold, wet overhang for the night.
Day 39: The PCs collect themselves after an unpleasant night and continue their journey. The weather continues to be hostile, and the find the caves that the Skyshaker map indicated earlier as "Kolbold Caves." The caves appear to be occupied by some kind of creature that does not like the Skyshakers, as evident by the debris and skeletons around the cave. The PCs enter, and split up to search the tunnels they find. Both teams suffer from painful traps, and both encounter small, lizard-like creatures that attack them in swarms, harassing and retreating. The creatures appear to be tribal, and somewhat intelligent. After a hard fight through the complex, both teams regroup in a large central room where the creatures have gathered, and see that the creatures worship a dragon skeleton. Seeing an opportunity, Aydin shapeshifts into his dragon form. The kolbolds immediately prostrate themselves at his feet and beg his forgiveness. Aydin is able to communicate with them and a feast is thrown in the PCs honor, as Aydin's servants. The PCs play along, as dead rat doesn't constitute much of a feast, and it's hard to not be nervous surrounded by violent lizard people. In conversing with the Kolbold shaman, Aydin discovers that his coming was foretold in some sort of vague prophecy, and plays along, claiming to be their lizard-messiah. The Kolbolds gleefully lead the PCs to a 'sacred' room, and lock them in. Inside, the PCs discover a grid of rooms and a magical orb that alters time as it crosses thresholds. They quickly map out the puzzle and a secondary door unlocks. They pass through a magical doorway into a white mist.
Day ???: The PCs find themselves in a gargantuan structure, with walls and ceiling so far distant they seem like mountains and sky. The structure is highly advanced, and they see miles upon miles of weapon and armor racks, as well as smelting and forging machines taller than cities. The wide, smooth road they stand on seems milled from a single piece of stone, and glass walls miles long and high separate them from the machinery on both sides. At the far end of the road, a plain-looking old man is making his way towards them, a distant speck in that place. It takes what feels like hours from the two to meet, and the old man do not introduce himself, seemingly expecting the PCs to know where they are and what they are there for. Subsequent confusion and discussion reveals that the location is called the Godforge, and the old man is the smith, Weyland, who makes tools for the Gods and those the Gods send to him. In this dimension, time and human needs have no meaning, and he has always been there. Although it cannot be determined who sent the PCs to him or why, Weyland assumes they are there to be equipped. After interviewing the PCs and collecting certain items from them, he sets to work. The PCs watch as he works the forges, and grows endlessly in size until he becomes an almost unfathomable celestial creature. After an unknowable amount of time, he returns and gives each PC a special weapon: For Aydin, a living spear that shapeshifts with him into different advantages based on his chosen shape. For Svana, a sword of harnessed Iridium fire that can cut through anything. For Arianna, a bow frame cast from her sentient knife that allows her soul bow to always hit her target, no matter the direction. For Adam, a living chain that can coil and strike like a snake. With these tools in hand, the PCs set out and step back through the portal, unsure where it will take them.
Day 53: The PCs emerge on a hill overlooking the Skyshaker fortress of Langfall, where two armies are facing off. They find the Silver Eye poised to strike at an army of Skyshakers, Traenen mercenaries, pirates, and Cythons ridden by the Hegdus family, who have turned traitor. Fighting with the Silver Eye are various friends and allies of the PCs, including a detachment of Iron Specialists, a group of Iridium Berserkers led by Svanas love interest, Saegar, members of the Whisperers Guild and their leader Astra, and most notably, the Berkoff family with their Hafrass, and a force of Riddar fighters. Gerda Nialdottir is personally leading the army, and informs the PCs that they have been absent for almost two weeks, in which time she has formed the army around them. The Skyshakers have been constantly reinforcing and hunkering into their fortress, teleporting troops in regularly. With the PCs assisting, the two armies clash. Although the numbers are hard against the protagonists and the Skyshaker force is well entrenched, the PCs and Berkoffs cut through their enemies with few losses, and the Skyshakers are forced into a rolling retreat, bringing the fighting into the castle.
Inside the castle the fighting is room to room, and the castle is fighting too. Gravity and reality are twisted inside the castle, and archers perched sideways fire arrows at right angles to strike at foes walking on pathways across the ceiling. The PCs battle through this distortion, exploring strange mechanisms and deadly physics traps. They travel though time loops, get shrunk, fight traps of magnetism and entropy, and push through room after room of chaos. They find a dungeon with slaves, but unfortunately not their parents. They take a rest in an empty, futuristic hospital wing containing advanced healing technology, and a view of a now deserted battlefield.
Pressing on, they encounter Alar Vitgen in his inner sanctum. He views their arrival and their Godforge gear as his final test before ascension. The battle with him is brutal and close fought, despite their numbers and gear. He is heavily armored with spells, and is fast enough to fight them all at once. His sanctum rebuilds any armor he loses, and it takes the PCs careful teamwork to occupy him long enough to bring down his defenses and finally kill him. Tired and wounded, they turn to see a massive pair of doors that hadn't been there during the battle. The door is beyond imposing, even terrifying to look at, despite its simplistic design. They pass through it cautiously.
Inside is the largest, most comfortable looking library they have ever imagined. Towering shelves and warm light, cozy furniture and gentle colors fill the long corridor that leads to a dark wooden desk. A man sits quietly at that desk, writing in a large journal. Despite the setting, the PCs are filled with fear, especially Svana, whose danger senses ring louder than ever. Once they approach, the man looks up and welcomes them quietly, and invites them to sit on the couch that abruptly appears. He introduces himself as Leto, the orchestrator of the Skyshaker endeavor. It was by his design that Vitgen built the fortress, his machine underneath the fortress causing all the distortions the PCs experienced. He ordered Vitgen to collect slaves and Haglkorn, so as to power his machine and fuel his research into dimensional travel. He had discovered the secret of Atreus: The apocalypse was the result of unplanned dimensional travel on a continental scale. Atreus had traveled to vacuum before it returned, and Leto had used the broken remains of that travel as a foundation for a new utopia of his own design, where he alone would build a world from bedrock up. All his actions and machinations on Atreus were simply to get him to that point. He had been the one to send the PCs to the Godforge, to delay their arrival long enough to finish his work. He deliberately allowed them to encounter Vitgen to give them at chance for revenge. He offers them a choice: let him leave to his new world, never to return, or try to take their revenge on him, if they blame him for events. He also offers them his castle, his library, and their families, who he has removed from danger personally. While explaining these options, he rises from the desk and the odd proportions of the library make sense: Leto is easily fourteen feet tall, a highly intelligent giant. Under his clothes are countless magical runic tattoos, and layers of muscle. The PCs deliberate, and decline to try for revenge. Leto departs via a portal, and the PCs are reunited with their families.
Their allies are victorious over the remaining Skyshakers, the slaves are all freed, and the PCs and their allies now own the greatest fortress on Atreus.
Day 1: The village of Bern, on the Western coast of Atreus, where Svana, Arianne, Aydin, and Faerie live with their families, is attacked one day, by three large slaver ships. The slavers take hostages and try to avoid killing anyone, mostly beating people unconscious. The Player Characters (PCs) defend the town hall, where the sick, elderly, and other noncombatants are hiding. The PCs kill many of the attackers, while down on the beach their parents are overwhelmed and captured. Eventually the PCs themselves are also captured and the villagers are packed into prison cells on the boats.
While on the boats, the villagers escape, taking the boat and freeing the PCs. The opposing boats begin launching barrels of oil at the villager-controlled ship and the surrounding water. The PCs, being quite young, are loaded onto liferafts and told to make for the shore. As they do, a sorcerer on an opposing boat summons a storm, and a bolt of lightning strikes the oil, consuming the ship. The surviving villagers are cut off from the PCs in the flames and wreckage. It is unclear what happens after that, as the storm sweeps the PCs back to the shore.
There, the PCs find the village itself undisturbed, and a conspicuous set of antlers in the center of town, creating the implication that the Reinn Raiders attacked the village. The PCs take supplies and the antlers, and after some discussion, head South along the coast to the city of Harljaden, looking for help finding their families and the slavers.
Day 2: The PCs travel South along the coast, and a short distance outside of town encounter a Haglkorn (see Haglkorn file). This one is known to locals, and normally floats unaffected and unreactive to any efforts, but now is spinning slowing and giving off a faint hum. The PCs touch the rock and experience the sounds of violence, and languages they don’t recognize. Further contact with the rock creates different sounds of different conflicts, and eventually the sounds of the previous day, including their own voices during the battle. The rock goes silent after that and stops spinning. The PCs continue South and camp for the night without incident.
Day 3: Along the coast, the PCs find the ruins of a ship, beached. Closer examination shows that the wreckage is from the boat in which the PCs were held, and must have floated down the coastline. Inside, they find some weapons and clothing, and charts that indicate the slavers have been attacking villages along the coast, and appear to be either headed towards or away from Harljaden. Also, the PCs find wolves in the boat that try to eat them. The PCs eat the wolves.
Continuing South, the PCs find a cave with light coming from within. They throw rocks and yell into the cave for a while, and eventually some irritated scavengers come out to fight the party. The PCs camp in the cave and bury the scavengers in the sand outside.
Day 4: The PCs arrive at Harljaden (see Harljaden file for description) and check into an inn on the edge of town. There they are met by Lasho Simms, pirate, and Faerie’s previously unknown uncle. He has a psychic link with Faerie, and always has, unbeknownst to Faerie. They share a unique genetic version of the Words on the Wind spell, which allows them to speak across great distances. He heard Faerie during the attack and met with them to help. He doesn’t know where the slavers are, but is willing to help look for them at sea, and possibly in Ertvaag or Jukka (see files). He suggests the party stay in the relative safety of the town, and look for any travel records that may show why the slavers stopped in Harljaden. Scouting the city, the PCs find several interesting locations, like the local museum, the Gearworks, and the Grand Cathedral, where they meet many interesting groups of priests and the faithful. They find the local dockmaster’s office, and in an attempt to gain access to travel records normally kept off limits to non-government workers, they cause a fire, and make a grab for the records in the resulting confusion. They are promptly subdued and arrested.
Day 5: After being interrogated by the local guard captain, Martyn Bebb, and the PCs explaining that slaver ships may have passed through the city, the slightly singed Dockmaster hastily drops all charges, and claims the travel documents were burned in the fire. The local guard is occupied with a recent murder of a city councilor and cannot help the PCs. The PCs are sent to the lower city, below the falls, to investigate the records there instead. They are given the travel records without incident, and discover that the slavers collected a shipment of stone from Riddarhold (see file). Communicating magically with Lasho, the party decides that heading North to Riddarhold is their best lead. Outside, a conflict has formed between local guards and a revolutionary force that blames the death of the city councilor on the political elite, as the deceased councilor was a strong supporter of worker rights. The revolutionaries are lead by Marius Redmayne, and the party is somewhat divided on which side to support, if any. However, a cursory investigation of the crime scene shows that neither side has given the crime much thought, and the PCs locate the murderer in short order, who confesses to an accidental killing in a mugging gone wrong. The PCs turn over the murderer to the local guard, and, riding on a charismatic wave from Marius, assist in a grassroots political movement intending to elect Marius as replacement city councilor. They return to the inn for the night.
Day 6: The PCs visit the Gearworks (see Harljaden file) out of curiosity and meet Ekaterina Tofte, a stern business mogul responsible for the complex mechanisms that fuels city industry. She recruits the PCs for a special task: Retrieve an Atreides (see History of the Atreides file) artifact from a nearby ruin. Her previous excavation team has not reported back in several days. To assist and as payment, she provides each of the PCs with a special item: A Harpoon Gun for Aydin, a windup Shriek Grenade for Arianne, a Collapsing Sword for Svana, and a pair of Springheel Boots for Faerie. The PCs proceed to the site and find it overrun with bandits, who have killed the excavation team. After killing most of bandits, the PCs find a strange artifact that keeps a back room at freezing temperatures, until a pair of bandits break the seal and are flash frozen. The artifact, another Haglkorn, is collected by the PCs, along with several strange fruits and seeds. The PCs finish clearing the site of bandits, and discover the enormous clockwork artifact Tofte requested. They mark the site and return to Tofte, who is quite pleased and sends a new team to retrieve the artifact. They return to the inn for the night.
Day 7: The PCs leave Harljaden, heading North for Riddarhold along the main road. There they encounter a minor cart crash, caused by scribbling & driving, being resolved by a Whisperer (see Whisperer file). They later encounter another cart, stopped by a group of angry men, who are harassing a family over religious differences. The group of men insists that all people worship Tynas above all other gods, which is counter to Atreides custom. Conflict ensues and the PCs quickly slaughter a group of racist old men. The family on the cart is horrified. Note: This is the PCs first encounter with the Skyshaker’s Children (see file).
Further up the road, they find signs of a recent attack, and a cart trail leading into the forest. A search of the area reveals a man wounded by arrows resting, who claims that he was aboard a cart which was attacked by bandits, and the horses spooked and carried the cart into the woods. He claims he is fine and intends to rest, but asks the PCs to check on his coworker in the woods. Farther in, the PCs find the crashed cart, and drag marks where a body was carried away. The horses are dead and gutted by claws and teeth, and unusual footprints are all around. The PCs search deeper into the woods, following the drag marks, and find an Owlbear sleeping under a small outcropping. The dragged man is alive but too afraid to move. The PCs ambush the Owlbear and rescue the man, Dagnar Hegdus. Dagnar says his family is powerful in Riddarhold, and will reward them when they get there. Previous evidence and Hegdus’ testimony convinces the PCs that the original man was a bandit, and they kill him when he tries to flee the scene. Dagnar continues on his way South, and the PCs, North, camping near the road for the night.
Day 8: Along the road North, the PCs meet a traveling salesman, Mikel Vagr, who makes improvised explosives and intends to work with Ekaterina Tofte back in Harljaden. The PCs encourage him to do so. The rest of the day passes without incident, and the PCs camp for the night. However, during the night, a greased, naked man sprints through the camp and steals some of the PCs items. They yell at him to stop, but he appears to be deaf. He is killed like a stray dog and the PCs sleep the sleep of sociopaths.
Day 9: Continuing North through farmland, the PCs pursue a strange noise to the scene of a tear in reality, and the remains of a campsite. Investigation of the campsite indicates that the Skyshaker’s Children attempted to contain a Haglkorn inside a Bag of Holding, causing the tear and killing the Skyshakers. The PCs toss a few things into the tear for fun and leave.
Later, at a narrow passage between two cliffs, a traffic jam has occurred. Locals report a large troll blocking the road, demanding bizarre payments that no one could possibly provide. The PCs attempt to negotiate with the troll, who is oddly literate and well spoken, despite asking for payments such as a house made entirely of horses. The PCs tire quickly of the troll and decide to attack it, and the troll vanishes in a puff of smoke. On the cliffs above, a robed man runs giggling into the distance. The PCs attempt to pursue him but he too vanishes. They continue on their journey.
Arriving at a local farm, they meet a man named Vigar Riis, an Agent of the Silver Eye (see D&D file, Silver Classes) who is trying to gather support in hunting a monster in the area. He is tracking a Shadow Mastiff, which he believes is causing local livestock deaths. The PCs assist, and locate the beast's lair, but consider it too dangerous to enter. Faerie wanders to look for straw, intending to burn the beast out, and manages to start a fight with local farmers, and is beaten mostly to death and left in a ditch. The rest of the PCs flush the monster out and kill it successfully. Vigar is generally considered by the PCs to be useless. They continue on their journey and camp for the night.
Day 10: On a hill near the road, the PCs see a man sitting at a fire, which is constantly changing color. Curious, they investigate. The man appears to be in a trance, and something spectral is coming out of the fire towards him. The PCs do not intervene, and the spectral force enters the man. He wakes, stands, and promptly attacks the PCs with fire magic. Also, he is on fire. Once the PCs kill him, his body rises into the air and violently disintegrates. The man’s journal shows that he was attempting to summon a spirit known as Zenobrak. He appears to have succeeded. The PCs continue on.
They arrive at Wixus lake and the town of Rannevaig, which is experiencing a terrible storm. In the town inn, locals huddle for safety in the strong winds. The locals describe a mysterious tower which recently appeared in the center of the lake. All who have entered it have not returned. The PCs investigate. Inside, there are the bodies of the townsfolk and several wolf bodies. In a side room, behind a forcefield, a wizard named Hendrick waves at the party and explains that there is a security system in the tower that summons living defenses. The PCs hear a loud, inhuman voice in a language they don’t understand, and are attacked by wolves which appear from dimensional portals. They kill the wolves, and Hendrick mentions multiple waves before the loud voice interrupts, and the PCs are attacked by several bears, again from dimensional portals. The PCs barely defeat the bears, and Hendrick congratulates them. Unfortunately it is not the final wave, and an enormous earth elemental is summoned. However, he is almost immediately tripped, kicked, and pushed into a hole in the floor that the PCs create, dropping him into the lake. Perhaps he is still there today, punching fish. The wizard, Hendrick, thanks the party and drops the forcefield that he was behind. He was not trapped, just a coward. He rewards the party by teaching Svana the forcefield spell, and giving the PCs a bag of gold. During this, the loudspeaker goes off again, and another dimensional portal opens, and a cow steps through. The cow appears harmless, but is killed anyway, for safety. Regarding the local weather problem, Hendrick mutters about atmospheric interference due to matter transference, and says he’ll take care of it. After leaving the tower, the PCs watch the tower suddenly vanish, and the foul weather subsides. Back in the town, the locals are quite pleased, and throw a party for the PCs. They sleep at the inn for free.
Day 11: On their way out of Rannevaig, Faerie suffers a slight stroke when, under the influence of gold, he makes an unusually astute investment in the local apothecary. The PCs stock up on healing potions and leave town. The town of Ritten, on the outskirts of Riddarhold, is not far North. Before they get there, however, the PCs find an abandoned logging camp, surrounded by a strange fog. As they approach, the fog recedes, and the signs of battle are apparent. Further investigation reveals a mass grave, and Reinn Raider markings. The PCs notice they are being observed by local deer, but cannot catch any. From the woods, they hear screaming, and upon investigation, discover a man chained to a stone, surrounded by and soaked in blood. While they watch he is transformed into a werewolf, breaks free, and attacks the PCs. After his defeat, the PCs see horned figures fading into the fog. The PCs leave the area quickly.
Arriving in Ritten, beneath the Thurr Plateau and outside the gates of Riddarhold, the PCs explore and find Notto Hegdus, local shopkeeper and brother of Dagnar, who the party saved a few days prior. He was informed of his brother’s survival via Whisperer, and welcomes the PCs into his home and shop, where he sells linens. While the party stays with him, violence breaks out among the party as Faerie refuses to conform to the strict Riddar hygiene standards, and has to be forcibly bathed with the help of an Owlbear-form Aydin. Feathers and water are everywhere. Later in the evening, after a lesson on Riddar etiquette from Notto, the PCs are witness to an attack on the city by the Reinn Raiders. Notto insists the PCs not intervene, and they watch as Riddars mounted on armored Hafrass, armed with screw-threaded lances the length of houses, easily clear the streets of Raiders. The PCs also witness the magical fog collect the bodies of the dead Raiders and clean up their black blood before being repelled by the sheer mass of the Hafrass. The PCs rest easy under these defenses.
Day 12: The PCs enter Riddarhold as guests of the Hegdus family. The narrow corridors and dense population is countered by lovely smells and colors, and impressive decorum from the locals. The PCs are under some travel restrictions as guests, and Notto escorts them to his clan’s home, and introduces them to Bjor Hegdus, the family patriarch. After explaining their situation, the PCs are faced with a problem: the Berkoff family, in charge of the stone trade the party needs to investigate, is feuding with the Hegdus over a state-arranged marriage between the families, and will not speak to the Hegdus or their guests. After a bit of wandering around the public areas of the Hold, the PCs stop at a local teahouse, where they meet the proprietor named Skjoller. He is a smug, non-local man who suggests that the PCs could earn Friend of the Riddar status, which would allow them greater access and help establish themselves, if they gave him Hegdus secrets. They refuse and leave. Back at House Hegdus, the PCs agree to follow Bjor on a plan of his, which will create a situation for the PCs to prove themselves. Bjor and a cousin named Halgard lead to the party to an observation deck high on the plateau, which would normally be off limits to them. While enjoying the view, they are confronted by the Berkhoffs, who are angry about the level of access the PCs are being given. During the confrontation, Halgard Hegdus activates a mysterious device, and something large erupts out of the snow out on the plateau. The Berkoffs are upset at what the PCs may see, but before they can leave the area an enormous, worm-like creature smashes through and into the observation deck and attacks those present. In a mix of suicidal bravery and creativity, the PCs manage to set fire to the inside of the worm, gutting it. The Berkoffs are upset that non-Riddars witnessed a “Cython,” but impressed by the PCs. The Hegdus argue that the best way to maintain the PCs silence regarding Riddar secrets is to swear them in as Friends of the Riddar, to which the Berkoffs reluctantly agree. The PCs party hard with the Hegdus that night, and further Riddar secrets are revealed, including that the Cythons are harvested for their use in dye production, in which the Hegdus are specialists. The device they developed will be very useful in hunting the Cythons.
Day 13: At a ceremony attended by the Riddar Council, the PCs are inducted as Friends and given symbols accordingly. They are also introduced to the rather frightening Ivan Berkoff, patriarch of the Berkhoff family. He agrees to meet with them at his house following the meeting. Aydin and Faerie are disinterested in the meeting and spend their time sneaking around the teahouse, gluing various utensils to the tables, ceiling, and in one particularly deft moment, to Skjoller himself. Svana and Arianne meet with Ivan Berkoff, and carefully explain the possibility that members of the Berkoff family may be in league with the slavers, since Riddarhold stone was collected by them back in Harljaden. Ivan spends some time punishing his accountant as Aydin and Faerie sneak into the Berkoff house. Rather than being angry, Ivan is amused by their antics, and the PCs spend the night at his home, partying further. Ivan says that in the morning, they ride for the quarry to confront a possibly traitorous cousin.
Day 14: The PCs enter the Hafrass stables, awed by the hangar-like scale of the place, and the elephant-sized goatlike Hafrass. The Berkoff Hafrass, Hellfoot, Shrieker, and The Insidious Blob, are loaded up with their tent-like harnesses, and the PCs join the Berkoffs on Shrieker and The Blob. The group rolls out onto the Plateau, and through snowy canyons, covering a lot of ground.
In a canyon, around midday, the party is forced to move single file, as during the passage they are attacked by a local tribe that regularly attacks Riddars. With the Berkoffs help and some extraordinary violence from the Hafrass, the tribesmen are squashed into the snow. The PCs, deep in a haze of bloodlust, break from the main road to continue hunting local tribes, which the Berkoffs are happy to do. The group tracks and locates a tribe in a cave system, and along with the Berkoffs, slaughter a significant population of indigenous people. The few that survive barricade themselves in the caves or flee the scene. Those that flee are trampled by Hafrass.
The rest of the day proceeds without incident. The PCs entertain themselves along the road and chat with the Berkoffs. Eventually they stop for the night at a small castle, owned by a family called Volikov, who seem highly untrustworthy and a bit too welcoming. The Volikovs encourage the group to relax and stay the night, but the group is skittish, and decides to leave. The group camps the night in a Hafrass circle on the road, warmed by the wooly beasts.
Day 15: The PCs and Berkoffs arrive at the Harlst Quarry, where the high quality Riddarhold stone is extracted. The quarry is managed by Ymir Berkoff, who Ivan suspects is in league with slavers. They confront Ymir in his office, and he denies everything, and between him and Ivan, discover that the forged documents were in the hands of one of his subordinates, Aziz. At this point the party is ambushed, and lightning grenades come in through the windows and onto the desk. Ymir throws himself on the grenades and is killed. Attackers burst in from the doors and windows, but are quickly dealt with thanks to a recent meal of polar bear by Aydin. The attackers that aren’t mauled by Aydin are crushed by Hafrass trying to escape.
As the PCs and Berkoffs step outside, they see Aziz riding off on a Hafrass out of the quarry, documents in hand. A Hafrass chase ensues and Aziz is caught and killed. His documents are encoded, but Ivan thinks he knows someone back at the Hold who can translate them. First, Ivan insists that Ymir must be buried properly, at the tombs of Jarta. The group leaves for Jarta in the morning.
Day 16: Uneventful. The PCs backtrack along the road, passing the Volikovs without stopping, and camp on the road again, about half a day from Jarta.
Day 17: The PCs and Berkoffs arrive at Jarta with Ymir’s body. Ceremonies are performed, and the PCs are given a glimpse at the treasures in the Berkoff tomb. However, an attack by Ice Giants interrupts them. The Jartans are not surprised, as visitors usually stir them up. The PCs take part in a large scale engagement between a fighting force of Hafrass and Ice Giants. Once over, the PCs celebrate with the Jartans and stay the night.
Day 18: The PCs head back to the Hold with the Berkoffs without incident.
Day 19: Back in the Hold, the Berkoffs introduce a friend of theirs, Silver Eye agent Jonvald Baugursson, who is capable of translating the documents the PCs recovered from Aziz. It is revealed that Aziz had already smuggled out a large quantity of stone, enough to build a substantial fortress, and embezzled significant funds. Jonvald finds references to Traenen (see file) and a smuggler contact named Jostein. It appears that Jostein is the leader of a Skyshaker force in that city, as well. This is also the point that the PCs are made aware of Alar Vitgen, former Kilfanoran Ambassador and head of the Skyshakers Children. Jonvald communicates magically with his Silver Eye superiors, and reveals that the Silver Eye is already investigating Jostein, and the PCs may disrupt their plans by pursuing him. Jonvald has specific instructions, from the Commander of the Silver Eye directly, to demand that the PCs proceed directly to Varanas in the Sallatun Boglands (see file) far to the South. However, he is unable to explain why exactly the highest Silver Eye authority in the land wants them specifically, or why she needs to see them face to face. To encourage them, Jonvald suggests that an alliance with the Silver Eye could be extremely beneficial to the PCs. The PCs agree, and that night, as a parting gift, the Berkoffs award the PCs with baby Hafrass of their own. The Hafrass are roughly the size of large horses, and of unique individual design. The PCs stay the night with the Berkoffs.
Day 20: On their way out of the area back South through Ritten, a representative of the SEC (see ‘Storblest’ file) contacts the PCs and leads them to the bank, where dividends from the earlier apothecary investment have paid off. Further South, the PCs encounter an abandoned campsite, where men have been killed, seemingly by their own weapons. Inside a nearby cave, the PCs discover a mysterious knife floating on a pedestal. As they approach, their own weapons begin to shift and move on their own, and various implements around the room do the same. Arianne discovers that she can link mentally with the knife, and discover it to be semi-sentient, and interested only in killing. The knife is convinced that it will have numerous opportunities to kill if it works with the PCs, and it becomes Arianne’s sidearm. Further South, the PCs stumble upon a fight between Skyshaker forces and Reinn Raiders. Rather than intervene, the PCs watch as the two forces kill each other. While picking through the wreckage, Aydin discovers a pool of Raider blood under a Skyshaker corpse, and consumes it secretly. He convulses and experiences a vision of the Raider gods from the perspective of the Raiders themselves. He does not share this vision with the rest of the party. The PCs continue and stay the night back in Rannevaig, where the locals are very happy to see them. During a dinner party, a group of tough, beardly men crash the party and create a ruckus. Following a drinking game, one of the men challenges all comers to a boxing match. Svana accepts, and handily beats the man. He is so impressed he spends the rest of the evening demurely attempting to gain her affections.
Day 21: After collecting the flowers Svana’s admirer left behind, the PCs continue towards the Southern boglands. Along the way a local farmer comments on their Hafrass, and insults both them and the PCs. The conflict escalates, and the farmer erupts into blue flame and attacks. Following the battle, the farmer dies in the same manner as the possessed man from earlier. This the PCs second encounter with Zenobrak, and is noticeably easier. Next, the PCs reach the farming area where they fought the Shadow Mastiff, and find locals packing to leave. The locals have given up, since so many strange demon dogs keep showing up. A local cemetery has been plagued by Hellhounds. In the fight, the PCs find a crack in the earth and strange magical object that appears to control the arriving quantity of Hellhounds. The PCs destroy the object and finish off the remaining Hellhounds.
Proceeding South, the location where the fake troll had been has suffered a rockslide. An old man explains that most people just go the slightly longer way around to the town of Blackbough. Following this path, the PCs approach a gross little town, wrapped in a palisade. As they approach the gates, a large number of zombies appear in the surrounding grassland, and the PCs are ushering into the town by the locals. The town has been under siege for several weeks, and attempts to leave only add to the zombie numbers. It all started when a strange light came from the nearby crypts, and anyone who went looking never came back, at least not alive. The PCs fight their way out after causing a distraction at the gates, and discover a necromancer at the crypts, who, after being defeated, claims to only be trying to protect himself from all the terrible things going on in the country. As he is unrepentant for his crimes, he is killed by the PCs. The PCs do not stay in the town, preferring to camp the night in a less zombified area, further South. While traveling away from Blackbough, they come upon a frightened man at a camp of his own, who claims that he is being hunted by a werewolf, and that it is currently off in the tall grass. The PCs hunt and find the werewolf, but it attempts to avoid rather than fight them. The PCs discover that the werewolf is not hostile, and are able to communicate rudimentarily with it. The frightened man is in fact a talented healer, and the PCs believe the werewolf wants to be healed. After assisting in a difficult ritual, the werewolf is restored to human form, and explains that he was forcibly transformed by Reinn Raiders after his village was attacked, and broke free from their mind control. He was then able to locate a healer that had frequented his village. The PCs camp the night with the two men.
Day 22: After parting ways with the healer and the werewolf victim, the PCs arrive back in Harljaden. Unlike before, the city now appears to be under strict martial law. Soldiers later identified as Iron City-State forces now patrol the city and control checkpoints, keeping the poor and refugees out. The PCs, dressed in Riddarhold finery, are not disturbed by this new police force. After talking to a few former contacts, they discover that the Gearworks suffered a massive explosion a few days after they left town, and most industry and shipping in the town is crippled. Thefts and violence burst out, and the town guard were overwhelmed with work. The city council, now with Marius as a member, voted to request Iron help, as Iron is known for keeping strict law and order in their home region. A police force was brought in suspiciously quickly, and an Iron command center now occupies a portion of the city. The PCs are then contacted by a Silver Eye agent, who demands to know how they made contact with the Commander of the Silver Eye, who apparently has been in seclusion for months, and speaks to no one. Baffled that the PCs do not even know the Commander's name, let alone why she wants to meet them, he leaves abruptly. Aydin follows in secret, as a Shadow Mastiff, and overhears the Agent talking with a team of ruffians, demanding the PCs not reach Varanas. Further exploration of the city finds them at the local museum, where they agree to investigate some stolen property when they have the chance. They visit some friends they made on the previous visit, but overall, pass the day quietly and with their heads low, waiting for an ambush, before returning to a friends house for the night.
Day 23: The PCs proceed to the Gearworks, where Ekaterina is busy repairing the damages. In private, she reveals that the device the PCs secured for her was the cause of the damage, after a failed experiment. She is concerned that Iron may end up blaming her for the problems in the city, as well as a squatter issue in one of her secret warehouses. She pays the PCs up front to resolve the squatter problem. They go to the address specified and discover that the squatters are armed looters, and a battle ensues. After slipping quietly out of the blood-soaked warehouse, the PCs are stopped by a Iron police force, who attempt and fail to politely insist that the PCs report to the Governor-General in command of Iron. At the Iron base, Governer-General Proclus is far too aware of the PCs movements and history for their comfort, and suspects that the PCs and Tofte are deliberately sabotaging the city. The PCs somehow convince him otherwise (multiple nat 20 diplomacy checks). They then visit the rest of the city, and follow up on leads for the stolen property from the museum. After a brief conflict in the market and some intervention by police, the stolen items are returned and the PCs find themselves outside a toy shop run by Mikel Vagr, who took their suggestion weeks ago and contacted Tofte, who suggested his skills would be best served by making a toy shop, and giving her his more advanced blueprints, due to his lack of business savvy. He seems quite happy with the arrangement. Down the street, the PCs are intrigued by a strange business called the Bloody Manatee, which they discover to be a gambling and pit fighting establishment. They spend the rest of the day gambling somewhat successfully, and fighting quite successfully in the arena.
Day 24: Concluding their business in Harljaden, and wary of observation by Iron, the PCs head South, still bound for Varanas. However, once out of town, they are ambushed by hidden attackers in the trees, and paralysed by poison. An unexpected and bloody intervention by a third party saves them, and they awake in the evening light to find they have been rescued by Iron Specialists, the half-metal super soldiers of Iron. An interrogation of a surviving attacker reveals that a coup has taken place among the Silver Eye, and that the PCs recent interaction with the secluded head of the Silver Eye has the coup members scared. Still woozy, the PCs stay at camp with the Iron Specialists.
Day 25: After leaving the Iron camp, the PCs continue South for the rest of the day without incident, at stay the night at a very lovely looking bed & breakfast, run by a kindly old couple. During the night, the whole party suffers nightmares, and awake in freezing, ruined rooms to find ghostly creatures feeding on their dreams. In the chaos that follows, the old couple comes up and reveals themselves as energy vampires who drain the body heat of their victims. The fight is brutal and close quarters, and in the end, a polar bear on fire crushes a pair of elderly-looking vampires with a table. The PCs resolve to never trust the elderly again.
Day 26: The PCs arrive in the boglands, and the town of Nurmis, where the locals suffer from a long term wasting disease related to the bog. The PCs are unwelcome, as the locals assume their weapons and finery to indicate a Silver Eye connection. The only friendly face is a researcher named Odjeck, who offers to help them get to Varanas through the treacherous bog if they help with an archaeological dig of his. He is having trouble getting artifacts out of the bog, since his workers keep getting murdered by zombies. Did he forget to mention the zombies? Along with a cart of defensive supplies and a few mercenaries, the PCs attempt to fortify the site while holding off the zombie horde. During the fight a giant zombie stuffed full of yet more zombies attacks, and
By killing it the PCs noticeably discourage further zombie activity, and are rewarded with artifacts from the bog. Back in town, one of the mercenaries reveals themselves to be Gerda Nialdottir, Commander of the Silver Eye, and the person who wanted them to come here. She has been secretly working outside of her castle in Varanas, trying to uncover the traitors against her. Combined with the evidence the PCs gathered after their attack and the stirring up of the PCs caused by coming South, it becomes clear that Gerda’s second in command is directly responsible for the organization problems and general inefficiency the Silver Eye has been experiencing. The PCs and Gerda stay the night in Nurmis, and Gerda and Aydin privately discuss the Raider blood he took. It appears that he is not the first shapeshifter to be lured by this blood, and that the infection, both physical and mental, cannot be stopped. In either months or years, he will be turned and become a Raider himself, depending on how much he gives in to the Raider gods suggestions.
Day 27: The PCs spend the day travelling through the bog with Gerda, avoiding water monsters with Gerda’s help. They camp in a dry bit of land, and Aydin makes his affliction public.
Day 28: The PCs sneak up around behind the mountain fortress of Varanas, and follow Gerda’s secret entrance up into her private bunker, where everyone thinks she lives permanently, slowly going mad with paranoia. She shows the PCs that in fact, this is her command center, and she has magical ‘cameras’ all across the castle and the country as well. She suggests the PCs barricade the entrance and prepare an ambush, as alarms go off, indicating the presence of an Aluminum sorcerer, Adrianne. Outside the bunker, now known members of the coup, including Gerda’s second in command, Jannike Stenslad, gather to breach the doors. Gerda assumes that the coup will use this opportunity to kill her and claim some Aluminum sorcerer did it. This is all according to Gerda’s plan, as the coup will not expect their numbers or their ambush. In the subsequent battle, Gerda forms a magic barrier and fights Stenslad alone. The rest of Stenslad’s team is smushed against the magic barrier by a polar bear and burned alive. Gerda attempts to interrogate Stenlad, but Stenslad kills herself with a Tin spell, suggesting a connection to the Skyshakers. Now back in power, Gerda exacts revenge on surviving coup members and deputises the party as Silver Eye agents, working directly for her. She shows them a variety of maps that indicate a power play forming in the East, possibly around the Dahlbrant. She asks the PCs to go to Kilfanora and help rebuild the Silver Eye agency there, which was destroyed by Skyshakers in the early days of the coup. To assist, she supplies them with a magical folding boat, and two crab-like submarines. The PCs set sail immediately and spend the night at sea.
Day 29: Out on the ocean, the PCs make rapid progress towards the capital. Along the way, they hunt a whale and rescue a ship from a harpy attack. The rescued ship is a treasure hunter named James Cameroon, who lost his dive team while looking for a specific sunken crown. The PCs use one of their crab-submarines to dive for the crown. Deep in the ocean, the PCs find a tribe of fishmen, led by a larger fishman wearing a golden crown. The fishmen attack, but are unable to breach or even dent the sub. Fearing a massacre, the DM closed his eyes. However, the PCs chose to ignore the attacks, and gently dethroned the king of the fishmen, placing the crown on their submarine. The fishmen bowed in worship of this new god, and the PCs ascended in glory. Captain Cameroon said they earned the crown fair and square, but would buy it off them if they visited his shop in Kilfanora.
Day 30: The PCs arrive in Kilfanora, and begin exploring. They end up selling the crown to a different shop that offers them a better price. They then go to the abandoned ruin of the Silver Eye base. While exploring it they meet a friendly ghost named Oliver, who is a member of the Silver Eye but cannot leave the structure. He helps them with leads on former agents who may have survived the attack, with the help of a magical computer of his. The PCs spend the rest of the day hunting down and recruiting the remaining Silver Eye agents, with a surprisingly small amount of violence.
Day 31: The PCs start their investigation of Vitgen, head of the Skyshakers and former councilor. They break into his former estate and wander around for a while, finding a safe, before realizing that they are being observed by someone outside. The observer offers help with the safe, which he knew about. He escorts them to a nearby office, which is labelled as the Barovian Embassy. The man who observed them is a Barovian spy. The PCs are let in a back entrance and introduced to the Barovian Ambassador, Endel Kalda. He claims to have been watching the PCs closely since they started working on restoring the Silver Eye base. He offers his help via a key to the safe, and suggests that the PCs should be distrustful of the Iron Ambassador across the street, and claims that spies are everywhere. He insinuates that Iron may benefit from the disruption of Skyshakers, and may be working with Vitgen. The PCs leave shortly, and sure enough, an Iron spy openly contacts them, saying that the Iron Ambassador wants to speak with them. Half the PCs go to the Vitgen estate to search the safe, half go to the Iron Embassy. At the Embassy, ambassador Titus Cressius accurately guesses the Barovian accusations, and denies them all. He offers a trade of information: A secret of his for a secret of theirs. The PCs agree, and the ambassador admits to having Specialists operating in the city illegally. The PCs trade for this secret by telling him about the key. Cressius suggests that instead of him, the Barovian Ambassador is working with Vitgen, and is probably trapping the PCs. As he explains this, the two other PCs are at the Vitgen estate, and after finding the safe empty, discover that the house is surrounded by local guards. The PCs do not resist, planning on talking their way out, and are arrested for breaking and entering, as well as robbing the Barovian Ambassador, who reported the ‘crime’ as soon as the PCs had left. The PCs who were at the Iron Embassy run up to try and talk their way out of the situation, and are also arrested. The PCs pass the night in jail, stripped of their items.
Day 32: During the night, the PCs hear a strange scraping sound, and a heavy floor slab is lifted up by a friendly but impossibly strong man. His limbs are metallic, and the PCs have seen enough Iron Specialists to recognize one easily enough. With the Specialist, who introduces himself as Marcus, is a group of local homeless who strongly resemble the PCs. They are placed in the cell as decoys and the PCs leave through the tunnel Marcus dug, back to an alleyway, and then to the Iron Embassy. Marcus was also able to procure their possessions. Ambassador Cressius is nice enough to not say ‘I told you so,’ and says the PCs may have to lay low for a while, lest the guards recognize them and blow the ruse. They will promptly forget about this. Cressius tells them about a potential Skyshaker operation in the undercity that his agents have been hunting, and suggests that if they can locate the base and prove a Barovian connection, the charges against them might get lifted. After stopping off at the Silver Eye base and consulting with Oliver, the PCs go to the undercity and make contact with Nils Akerman, a rat catcher and corrupted Anima Eater. His Raider transformations are grotesque and severe, and he is barely mentally stable. The PCs manage to contain the situation somewhat, and convince Nils to escort them into the sewers where Iron believes the Skyshakers are operating from. After a brief search, Nils shows them a cistern where the Skyshakers are based and abruptly leaves. Looking down into the cistern, the PCs see a significant force, with prisoners, tents, a small collection of crates, and even crops. In the center is a cloaked, gaunt figure, working some kind of machine which, as the PCs watch, produces lodestones charged with instantly fatal, single target spells. The Skyshakers are testing these stones on prisoners and boxing more up. While observing all this, the PCs notice that they are not the only observer, and see two more faces looking down into the cistern, one they recognize as Marcus, and one they don’t. The various parties regroup, and Marcus unhappily introduces The Mist, a local ‘hero’ who can teleport, but only in a cloud of moisture. Between them, they all plan their attack. Marcus explains that the hooded figure is a Death Speaker, one of the most dangerous magic users in the world. The Death Speaker is fully capable of instantly killing any of them. Marcus is specifically trained against it, but doesn’t sound hopeful. The Mist will provide general support and disabling tactics. The PCs burst in and engage. During the fight, Marcus successfully kills the Death Eater, and, while fighting a boss-summoned mud monster, Faerie is pulled into the mud monster. The mud monster is then pushed into a burning tent and a whale is dropped onto it. A slurry of mud, tent, Faerie and flaming odds and ends are pushed through the fine mesh over the cistern. Afterwards, during the cleanup, Marcus and The Mist suggest that Wizenthal may be able to translate some of the scraps of paper they find, and lead them further.
The PCs go to Wizenthals address and meet Adam Wolfe, an escaped Skyshaker slave who wants answers from Wizenthal. After some discussion and convincing, Wizenthal explains that he and Adam were both prisoners of Vitgen, in the Eastern canyon called the Dahlbrant. There, Vitgen is busy building a fortress and a large magic device using Haglkorn and slave labor. Vitgen is apparently serving some kind of ‘master’ that no one else has ever seen. Wizenthal was forced to create a blood spell that would reveal individual Haglkorn capabilities, but at the cost of a life. He has been too scared to talk to anyone previously. The PCs give him safe shelter with the Silver Eye, and brief Gerda. Gerda insists that the PCs get firsthand evidence of this castle, and she begins aggressively recruiting allies across the country. The PCs do some shopping and long term travel prep for the evening.
Day 33: In the morning, the PCs find that a representative of the city council has come to see them. The Iron Ambassador is presenting a case against the Barovians and named the PCs as witnesses. Along with Adam, the PCs go to the council chambers. They present their evidence, but avoid mentioning Wizenthal or the Iron Specialists. The council mentions that their doubles were discovered dead this morning, but due to the circumstances of recent events they drop any remaining charges against the PCs. The Council awards special dispensation to Iron to operate in the city, the Barovian ambassador is condemned, and the PCs leave to finish their business in town and prepare for the road.
Day 34: The PCs prepare for long-term travel through the Dahlbrant, and consult with Gerda, Wizenthal, and Adam. They decide to leave the Hafrass behind, since it would be dangerous for such large creatures, and feeding them would increase their burdens considerably. Aydin decides he needs personal revenge on the Barovian ambassador, and convinces Svana to help hunt him down. They track him to a warehouse in the docks, where a small mercenary team protects him until he can flee the city. Aydin and Svana regroup the PCs and stage a daring raid, killing the mercs and capturing the ambassador. After some deliberation, they leave him tied and gagged on the steps of the Council building at nightfall.
Day 35: With their business in Kilfanora concluded, the PCs pack up their gear and set out for the Dahlbrant. Wizenthal told them about a general store/tavern at the edge of the Straumn River where they can purchase long-term provisions. While on the road, they are ambushed by a team of Anima Eaters, who attempt to kill Aydin specifically. The PCs survive and Aydin gains access to Tiger shapeshifts. The PCs arrive at The Best Fork, proprietor Nuray Memis, who cuts them a fair deal for gear, lodging and provisions. Money is tight, and a few of the PCs exchange 'services' for goods, but the mood is light.
Day 36: Nuray shepherds the PCs across the river in his ferry, and the PCs begin the hike through the difficult terrain of the Dahlbrant. About midday, they discover a fortification at the entrance to the canyon, clearly marked as a Skyshaker base. They cautiously observe until dark, tracking Skyshaker patrols that come and go. They scale the cliffs that overhang the base, and discover a magical alarm system, which they trip multiple times from their hiding place. This calls the patrols back from far and wide, and the confusion allows the PCs to create a 'cry wolf' situation. The Skyshakers are frustrated and scattered, and the patrols head back out, leaving a token handful defending the base. Aydin and Adam sneak down into the base, and slaughter the patrolling guards, one by one. Once the base is cleared, the PCs discover resources and documents, and then torch the place, tearing down the magical alarm system on their way out. They camp a good distance away from the burning outpost, and translate the correspondence they found. The Skyshakers are aware of them now, but think they are Silver Eye agents, not teenagers from Bern. The Skyshakers are worried about the PCs, and are taking steps to hunt them. They also fear the PCs reaching something called the "Kolbold Caves."
Day 37: The PCs make their way deeper into the Dahlbrant, and after avoiding a Skyshaker patrol, come upon a tar bog. They carefully maneuver through it, only to be attacked by a StriÞa, a giant wingless lizard. They struggle for footing while fighting the lizard, which can spit acid, but manage to kill it without getting too messy, with the exception of Adam, who falls face-first into the tar while avoiding the acid. Once the beast is dead, Adyin eats it as per usual, but has a vision as he shapeshifts into the StriÞa for the first time. In his vision, he sees a bloody Raider god and is wordlessly offered some amount of power in exchange for some amount of cooperation with the Raiders. As no words are exchanged, it is unclear what kind of deal was struck, but Adyin accepts, and receives the ability to grow bloody wings. The rest of the PCs are very angry with him over making a deal like this, but they have the advantage of a now-flying StriÞa. They camp a few hours further into the canyon and clean themselves up.
Day 38: While continuing on they journey, the PCs hear roars echo through the canyon. They stealthily crest the next ridge and see a Skyshaker camp full of tamed, saddled dragons. While they watch, a squad of Skyshakers hastily arrives, and delivers some kind of bad news, as the camp scrambles into action. The dragons and their riders take off in all directions, leaving only the tired patrol behind to guard the site and a cave beyond it. The PCs use their new air capabilities to drop into battle and ambush the enemy. Adyin, now in essentially dragon form, makes short work of several guards, but find himself unable to attack targets he chooses. His actions are temporarily controlled and he attacks one specific Skyshaker instead of his chosen target. The PCs are unclear why this happened, but are concerned that Aydin may be losing control. Inside the cave, the PCs find a complicated magical device, full of carefully weighted rods. An emergency manual is found and translated, and they discover that the device is mind-controlling the dragons they saw earlier. Any attempt to release the dragons must be done very carefully, or the device will break entirely and kill all the dragons at once. The PCs delicately disassemble the device, sparing and freeing all the dragons. Based on the sounds heard outside the cave, the dragons are very upset with their former masters. The PCs leave the cave, confident in their victory, only to encounter a towering magical illusion of Alar Vitgen himself, leader of the Skyshakers, who confronts them. In the brief conversation Vitgen realizes that the PCs are far too young to be veteran Silver Eye agents, and the PCs reveal that Vitgen has their families hostage. Vitgen summons a storm that forces the PCs to flee the area, and they camp under a cold, wet overhang for the night.
Day 39: The PCs collect themselves after an unpleasant night and continue their journey. The weather continues to be hostile, and the find the caves that the Skyshaker map indicated earlier as "Kolbold Caves." The caves appear to be occupied by some kind of creature that does not like the Skyshakers, as evident by the debris and skeletons around the cave. The PCs enter, and split up to search the tunnels they find. Both teams suffer from painful traps, and both encounter small, lizard-like creatures that attack them in swarms, harassing and retreating. The creatures appear to be tribal, and somewhat intelligent. After a hard fight through the complex, both teams regroup in a large central room where the creatures have gathered, and see that the creatures worship a dragon skeleton. Seeing an opportunity, Aydin shapeshifts into his dragon form. The kolbolds immediately prostrate themselves at his feet and beg his forgiveness. Aydin is able to communicate with them and a feast is thrown in the PCs honor, as Aydin's servants. The PCs play along, as dead rat doesn't constitute much of a feast, and it's hard to not be nervous surrounded by violent lizard people. In conversing with the Kolbold shaman, Aydin discovers that his coming was foretold in some sort of vague prophecy, and plays along, claiming to be their lizard-messiah. The Kolbolds gleefully lead the PCs to a 'sacred' room, and lock them in. Inside, the PCs discover a grid of rooms and a magical orb that alters time as it crosses thresholds. They quickly map out the puzzle and a secondary door unlocks. They pass through a magical doorway into a white mist.
Day ???: The PCs find themselves in a gargantuan structure, with walls and ceiling so far distant they seem like mountains and sky. The structure is highly advanced, and they see miles upon miles of weapon and armor racks, as well as smelting and forging machines taller than cities. The wide, smooth road they stand on seems milled from a single piece of stone, and glass walls miles long and high separate them from the machinery on both sides. At the far end of the road, a plain-looking old man is making his way towards them, a distant speck in that place. It takes what feels like hours from the two to meet, and the old man do not introduce himself, seemingly expecting the PCs to know where they are and what they are there for. Subsequent confusion and discussion reveals that the location is called the Godforge, and the old man is the smith, Weyland, who makes tools for the Gods and those the Gods send to him. In this dimension, time and human needs have no meaning, and he has always been there. Although it cannot be determined who sent the PCs to him or why, Weyland assumes they are there to be equipped. After interviewing the PCs and collecting certain items from them, he sets to work. The PCs watch as he works the forges, and grows endlessly in size until he becomes an almost unfathomable celestial creature. After an unknowable amount of time, he returns and gives each PC a special weapon: For Aydin, a living spear that shapeshifts with him into different advantages based on his chosen shape. For Svana, a sword of harnessed Iridium fire that can cut through anything. For Arianna, a bow frame cast from her sentient knife that allows her soul bow to always hit her target, no matter the direction. For Adam, a living chain that can coil and strike like a snake. With these tools in hand, the PCs set out and step back through the portal, unsure where it will take them.
Day 53: The PCs emerge on a hill overlooking the Skyshaker fortress of Langfall, where two armies are facing off. They find the Silver Eye poised to strike at an army of Skyshakers, Traenen mercenaries, pirates, and Cythons ridden by the Hegdus family, who have turned traitor. Fighting with the Silver Eye are various friends and allies of the PCs, including a detachment of Iron Specialists, a group of Iridium Berserkers led by Svanas love interest, Saegar, members of the Whisperers Guild and their leader Astra, and most notably, the Berkoff family with their Hafrass, and a force of Riddar fighters. Gerda Nialdottir is personally leading the army, and informs the PCs that they have been absent for almost two weeks, in which time she has formed the army around them. The Skyshakers have been constantly reinforcing and hunkering into their fortress, teleporting troops in regularly. With the PCs assisting, the two armies clash. Although the numbers are hard against the protagonists and the Skyshaker force is well entrenched, the PCs and Berkoffs cut through their enemies with few losses, and the Skyshakers are forced into a rolling retreat, bringing the fighting into the castle.
Inside the castle the fighting is room to room, and the castle is fighting too. Gravity and reality are twisted inside the castle, and archers perched sideways fire arrows at right angles to strike at foes walking on pathways across the ceiling. The PCs battle through this distortion, exploring strange mechanisms and deadly physics traps. They travel though time loops, get shrunk, fight traps of magnetism and entropy, and push through room after room of chaos. They find a dungeon with slaves, but unfortunately not their parents. They take a rest in an empty, futuristic hospital wing containing advanced healing technology, and a view of a now deserted battlefield.
Pressing on, they encounter Alar Vitgen in his inner sanctum. He views their arrival and their Godforge gear as his final test before ascension. The battle with him is brutal and close fought, despite their numbers and gear. He is heavily armored with spells, and is fast enough to fight them all at once. His sanctum rebuilds any armor he loses, and it takes the PCs careful teamwork to occupy him long enough to bring down his defenses and finally kill him. Tired and wounded, they turn to see a massive pair of doors that hadn't been there during the battle. The door is beyond imposing, even terrifying to look at, despite its simplistic design. They pass through it cautiously.
Inside is the largest, most comfortable looking library they have ever imagined. Towering shelves and warm light, cozy furniture and gentle colors fill the long corridor that leads to a dark wooden desk. A man sits quietly at that desk, writing in a large journal. Despite the setting, the PCs are filled with fear, especially Svana, whose danger senses ring louder than ever. Once they approach, the man looks up and welcomes them quietly, and invites them to sit on the couch that abruptly appears. He introduces himself as Leto, the orchestrator of the Skyshaker endeavor. It was by his design that Vitgen built the fortress, his machine underneath the fortress causing all the distortions the PCs experienced. He ordered Vitgen to collect slaves and Haglkorn, so as to power his machine and fuel his research into dimensional travel. He had discovered the secret of Atreus: The apocalypse was the result of unplanned dimensional travel on a continental scale. Atreus had traveled to vacuum before it returned, and Leto had used the broken remains of that travel as a foundation for a new utopia of his own design, where he alone would build a world from bedrock up. All his actions and machinations on Atreus were simply to get him to that point. He had been the one to send the PCs to the Godforge, to delay their arrival long enough to finish his work. He deliberately allowed them to encounter Vitgen to give them at chance for revenge. He offers them a choice: let him leave to his new world, never to return, or try to take their revenge on him, if they blame him for events. He also offers them his castle, his library, and their families, who he has removed from danger personally. While explaining these options, he rises from the desk and the odd proportions of the library make sense: Leto is easily fourteen feet tall, a highly intelligent giant. Under his clothes are countless magical runic tattoos, and layers of muscle. The PCs deliberate, and decline to try for revenge. Leto departs via a portal, and the PCs are reunited with their families.
Their allies are victorious over the remaining Skyshakers, the slaves are all freed, and the PCs and their allies now own the greatest fortress on Atreus.