Decius and Korlash began their adventures hunting bandits outside of the small river town of Redundancy. After inadvertently burning down a forest and a halfling commune, the two adventurers were arrested. In exchange for a pardon, they agreed to investigate the disappearance of the town mage.
They soon discovered that the town mage was dead of apparent suicide, and he was also a member of the enigmatic Council of One, an order of mages involved in bizarre arcane experiments. They discovered a Council plot to poison the Redundancy ruling class and turn them into undead. Korlash and Decius rushed back to town and killed a Tiefling Councillor responsible for the attack, but not before the mayor of Redundancy and much of the nobility were turned into ravenous zombies.
Bishop Seth, the town's religious leader, now ruled the town and he dispatched them to his friend Kallin, an archmage at a mage academy in the great city of Ashaad. Seth promised that Kallin could bring the Tiefling mage back from the dead, giving the duo the answers they needed.
They traveled by boat to Ashaad, only to be ambushed by Sahuagin raiders. The raiders made off with the Tiefling's body, and Decius and Korlash tracked the thieves down, where they met the Sahuagin riverlord who challenged them to a battle of wits, which Korlash completed successfuly. Tiefling body back in hand, the party returned to the river and resumed their journey to Ashaad.
At last they arrived in Ashaad, only to be met with a rude welcoming by Kallin. Kallin's rival, a fellow university archmage named Talos, messaged Korlash and offered his aid. On their way to meet with the mysterious benefactor, they were ambushed by the Bladed Prayer, a secretive assassin cult. Talos revealed that he in fact suspected that Kallin was a member of the Council of One, and suggested that they track down the Bladed Prayer to secure the evidence needed to shut down Kallin and the Council's operations in Ashaad.
The party set a trap for the Bladed Prayer, which was sprung by an exiled member of the order. After a heated chase through the markets, the ex-assassin was cornered and he revealed the location of the Bladed Prayer's hideout: deep in the slums of Underport.
Masquerading as priests, the Bladed Prayer had set themselves up in a chapel within the slums. After massacring a crowd of poverty-stricken worshipers who died to defend the fake priests, Decius and Korlash stormed the hide out and slew the assassins and learned that they had been paid by House Thane, one of the city's great merchant houses.
The two tracked down House Thane and infiltrated their headquarters and learned of their connection to Kallin. They also learned that Talos had double crossed them and ratted them out to House Thane. After escaping the merchant house, they decided to assault the mage academy to wreak vengeance on Talos and Kallin for deceiving and betraying them. They turned to House Grimm, Thane's business rival, who agreed to supply a sky coach for the assault.
They assaulted Talos' tower, killing many of Talos' loyal apprentices and eventually captured him. He then revealed his true identity as a doppelganger who had murdered and replaced both Talos and his rival Kallin in an attempt to become the Academy's Dean, a position of great power and respect. He was not in fact a member of the Council, but was masquerading as one. In exchange for his life and for not revealing his secret, Talos agreed to reward the party with both money and prestige within the city. Talos also agreed to resurrect the Tiefling whom the two had brought to the city. The dead Tiefling revealed his partner within the Council: Bishop Seth.
Decius and Korlash then decided to return to Redundancy and bring the traitorous Bishop Seth to justice. On the way, they encountered a mysterious carnival lead by Magyar the Magnificent, a powerful and devious illusionist. After witnessing the aftermath of one of his performances, the two realized that Magyar was using his magic to lull entire towns to sleep so they could make off with the townsfolk's belongings as well as magically gifted children. One such town begged for aid in returning their family and valuables, and the two agreed.
They soon tracked Magyar down and killed him, but not soon enough to save the kidnapped children. They did, however, learn that Magyar was indeed a Councillor, conducting foul experiments to advance the Council's unknown agenda.
At last they returned to Redundancy, only to learn that Seth had ventured deep into the Badlands, apparently to evangelize to the various barbarian and monstrous tribes near Soroth. They head after him, encountering various monstrous bands and learn of an army gathering at the ancient warforged forge at Soroth.
They arrive there to witness the growing army of warforged, monstrous tribes, bandits and ruthless mercenaries. They meet and are accompanied by a derelict warforged reject named One Eye, who leads them into Soroth. There, they learn of troubles with the arcane forge, and Decius poses as an expert on the matter in order to infiltrate the fortress. There, Korlash uses his dragonfire to set off a chain reaction that ultimately destroys the fortress. Most of the army, several Councillors and (apparently) One Eye are all killed in the destruction. It is then that Decius and Korlash confront Seth and an elven Councillor named Ebron and learned the true purpose of the Council.
The Council has been gathering an army and conducting foul experiments in order to prepare for a coming war: specifically an invasion of Arkosia by a massive Underdark army. Decius and Korlash agreed to aid the Council in preparing for the invasion, and headed with all haste to Ashaad.
There they meet with Talos and the Steward, ruler of Ashaad, and are assigned with investigating mysterious murders in the Underport, the underground slums believed linked to the Underdark. In Underport, Decius and Korlash are ambushed by Duergar snipers and a drow swordsman who are serving as spies and scouts for the Underdark force. They find a secret passage that leads into a massive Underdark cavern where a huge force is amassing for an assault on Ashaad. Decius and Korlash rush back to the surface, where they find that the assault has already begun via other passages.
At the Steward's keep, the party, along with the city guard, hold off the attackers long enough for the Steward's skycoach to be readied for flight. As the skycoach begins to depart, a cave dragon loosed from the Underdark attacks, killing the Steward's son and most of the city guards. After killing the dragon, Decius and Korlash escape in the skycoach and watch as the city burns beneath them.
They regroup at Fort Kazeroth, a royal fortress near Ashaad commanded by the legendary but aging General Rothrad. Rothrad realizes that their only hope of stopping the invasion is destroying the enemy's leadership: Ebron confirms this, saying that the Underdark force is made up of rival factions held together only by some powerful magic. Decius and Korlash volunteer for the assassination mission and are joined by Zedath, a half-dwarf war priest and former war buddy of Korlash's, and Arik, a shifter ranger who is Rothrad's chief scout. They head for Ashaad, ambushing and killing a band of Duergar deserters who reveal much of the invasion.
They return to Ashaad and bear witness to the horror of the Underdark invasion. The party sneaks in via the Necropolis, fights their way up a cliff and infiltrates the mage academy where the invasion leaders are camped. They sneak and fight their way to the top of the tower and interrupt a demon-summoning ritual being conducted by the duergar hellpriest, who leads the invasion. They stop the ritual and slay the Underdark leadership after a bitter battle. With the head of the army removed, the Underdark force falls apart. Some are hunted down by the king's forces as they flee, others desert into the Underdark and others flee to the Badlands in the south.
The party is hailed as heroes of the realm and are greatly awarded. The victory is followed up by months of mopping up and rebuilding.
Ebron offers a way to speed up the rejuvenation of the lands pillaged and wrecked by the invasion: the Council of One had been researching the fabled Tree of Life, and believed that they had found the location of a seed of that tree, deep in the Purged Lands. Decius, Zedath and Korlash, along with Ebron and a large expedition of sellswords, mount up and head south.
When they enter the Badlands, they are ambushed by a force of warforged soldiers claiming allegiance to King One Eye. Most of the expedition is killed or deserts, except for a sellsword hexblade named Sev, a former priest of Orcus turned mercenary. Zedath, Decius, Korlash and Sev make it to the Purged Lands, but Ebron is heavily wounded by a strange oasis monster.
They find an ancient temple containing the Seed, and after a brutal fight with its undead guardians, they recover the seed and begin the return journey through the Badlands, only to be attacked once more by forces of One Eye.
At the conclusion of the initial adventure arc, Sev, Zedath, Decius and Korlash are fighting for their lives against One Eye's hobgoblin forces, who seek to claim the Seed for themselves.
Subject: The Adventure So Far 
Sun Aug 07, 2011 8:17 pm
