After the Rod of Seven Parts
If we take a look at the current social and political environment of Rjurik and other nearby provinces and if we consider some of the last strange events, it seems to be that vanquishing Mishka “The Wolf Spider” was a simple task, an important goal that changed nothing, a celebration with a bitter taste. I feel evil is still in the air. A black veil hangs upon Rjurik and over the Heroes of Law and troublesome brotherhoods lay ahead in our path, waiting, stalking and plotting.
A long year have passed since the last time I’ve seen my friends and I’m eager to meet them, even if we have to face the darkest creatures of the Abyss once again. Fortunately, my father is secure in Vazud, working as a librarian and helping us with some research about Rjurik’s throne successor, the party of Abraxas and the Scarlet Brotherhood from the Suel Continent. It seems we are dealing with many obscure and ancient topics surrounded by unfulfilled prophecies of dark gods and selfish organizations. This is a heavy weight upon our shoulders, a weight that we must lighten….fast.
Home at last
I arrived to our keep this morning. I decided to travel all night because I couldn’t wait any longer to see my friends again. As a result of this I ended up completely tired and with a dry mouth. Fortunately for me Alfie and Lehr were happy to see me and prepared some refreshments with the water from our well.
I’m happy to see Danilo has done a great job with our crops and our cattle. It would be great if I could just spend the next months taking care of the farm without worrying about ancient angry gods with an irresistible desire for vendettas.
Early in the morning, while flying approaching to our keep, I saw Ibizar McKillar down there walking toward our home too. He can fly perfectly just like a Vaati but he prefers to walk. In a world that is changing so fast, it’s glad to see some things never change, and Ibizar is like an adamantium rock in this regard.
Young Blood Malek opened the front door and smiled at us. He looked tired. It seemed he had been part of a recent battle. Later he told us about an attack suffered by Magathmna. The orthodox mages were behind the attack. They even managed to take the fight inside the city. I think they are simply insane. Unfortunately, they are also dangerous crazy sorcerers.
The realm calls for our help
Night arrived at our lands, and it seemed to be my premonitions were true. We had a lot of bad news. The horde is gathering to the south, exactly near the zone where the Scarlet Brotherhood is approaching our continent and if that were not enough, the evil cambion is still at Rjurik’s throne.
As we are the renowned Heroes of Law, it seems everyone seems to need our help nowadays. In our absence we’ve received a letter from the priests of the Church of Good who were asking for our help. Also, the High Priest of the Demigod of Magic claims he has something of utmost importance to tell us. He found no better way to visit us than teleporting himself in the middle of the night and right at the middle of our crops emitting a strong light from the top of his staff. Thanks for calling the attention of Grazzt, subtle mage.
According to the wizard, it seems something is threatening our realm (again? great!). It is an event similar to the one that happened 5000 years ago, when the Age of Apocalypse started. I definitely don’t like the word “Apocalypse”.
The Council of Druids also wrote us apologizing for trying to finish the world as we know it (sigh…) and they are inviting us to discuss the future of our realm. Fantastic, but I don’t think I’d like to plan anything with the morons who pissed off the Wild Hunt and the Goddess of Nature at the same time.
Oh, great, Gerald the Herald is with a lot of work tonight, I’m trying to write my journal but he announced a man in gray robes accompanied with a bunch of gray robed freaks. I better go and ask what’s going on.
Strange visitors in our humble home
I found a group of monks led by a man who introduced himself as Brother Alesco, nothing less than a welcome committee from the Suel. Excellent, as if I liked politic babble. Fortunately, they are gone and I can keep writing. I want to sleep. Oh, not you again Gerald. It seems there’s another weirdo at our door.
Humm…. finally good news, some help from our friend Lady Narae, a rogue called Canrith. But we are all tired so I simply choose the biggest room for myself and let my friends argue about the other ones. Tomorrow will be a big day.
First night, first encounter
I’d like to write the first night in our keep was restful and quiet. But the harsh truth is that I’m almost dead, Ibizar has a binding spell of the eight circle of power placed on him and Seven, the moon dog of Malek, can die at any minute. I’m really pissed off. Our enemies don’t seem to respect us in our own dominions. I can’t sleep so I’ll try to write some more lines. I find a rare peace when I do it.
Well, let’s see if I can remember what happened last night. I was sleeping and dreaming with the ocean when a strange noise waked me up. I just opened the door of my chambers when a man in gray robes attacked me with some strange but very effective martial arts techniques. Hell unleashed. I managed to escape the attack and conjured a dimension door to Malek’s room in order to plan the counter attack, but the monks seemed to be very well prepared. Before we could coordinate something Canrith was paralyzed, Ibizar ended up locked in a room bathed in blood, Seven, the moon dog, was victim of a technique called “Freezing the Lifeblood” and our new friend, the Cleric of the Sun, who I guess arrived to our keep late at night, was also paralyzed. GREAT!!! Everyone ended up paralyzed or nearly dead. The monks also easily stole some of our items in the middle of the mess. I don’t know how we survived.
The peasants are frightened, they don’t feel secure anymore with The Heroes of Law, and they are right, it is not secure to stay around us. However we’ll do everything in our hands to protect them.
The next day
A new day has arrived and Brother Alesco appeared with our stuff and told us a hard-to-believe story. But we had proof of nothing. He healed Seven but Ibizar is still in grave danger. Alesco told us about the Splintered Mind, another organization from the Suel, with similar characteristics to the Scarlet Brotherhood but with an opposite agenda. It seems they tried to kill the Father of Obedience, the maximum leader of the brotherhood. Their motives are unknown to us. We need to dig in further if we want to solve this mystery.
It’s time to go for now. We’re going to make some visits today, but right now, I really don’t know who is telling the truth and who is trying to play games with us. I feel a bit like a puppet. By the way, Bahmut Castel is lost. I hope he’s all right.
