DM Doug - 2014  (Originally circa. 1990)

Connections - The Vanguard of Argus, The Swords of Power, The Shadow Prophesies

 

Millennia ago the lands of Faerun were much different.  Many great countries were still in their infancy while once inspiring nations were declining into ruin.  Cormyr was not more than a collection of towns only recently being founded by the Obarskyr family.  Waterdeep was a glittering of the jewel that it would become.  The ancient cities, last remnants of the great Empire of Netheril, still held sway in their fragmented nations, soon to be forgotten amongst the Great Desert's rapid advancement.  The Heartlands were young and full of promise.  The Elves of Cormanthyr were living peacefully alongside the human settlements in the Dale Lands with their new found treaty.

 

 

At this time the largest regions of human habitation in the north were the broken nations of ancient Netheril.  They held many powerful, lost magics, and it was there that The Dark One was most worshipped.  The great empire of Netheril was lost for more than a thousand years before this time and the nations left in it's wake were but a pittance of what it once was.  The four remaining nations were Anauria, Asram, Eltarr and Hlondath. 

 

The Dark One began his reign of shadows by creating strife amongst all of the nations of the Realms - creating an atmosphere of distrust and paranoia.  His followers were secretly building armies and conjuring dark beings from the netherworld, through his teachings.  His dark laughter could be felt throughout Faerun as a plague began to spread throughout the civilized lands.  This dark sickness and famine brought many nations to the brink of destruction, and caused once peaceful nations to rise up against their neighbours.  This was all as the Dark One had planned.

 

 

It was now time for the Dark Lord to send forth his Dark Knights and legions to kill and wreak havoc throughout the Forgotten Realms.  The Commanders of his great armies were some of the most powerful entities of this world and the nether-realms.  Nine were their number.  Nine - a mystical number of power and evil.  They were known as "The Blood".  They were: B'aalzemon, Shayol Nor, T'Bokken, Shazooth, Kiitai, Drentar Kobboth, Grim Tabor, Talon, and Gor Radool, and they ravaged the land with bloody abandon.

 

 

The seat The Dark One's power rested in the Black Tower of T'Goth Norad in the city of Kpekk, in northern Hlondath.  It is there that his most loyal and powerful High Priest Zhatekk, controlled the machinations of his bloody empire.  Fledgling kingdoms were toppled and forgotten as they battled amongst each other leaving their bare necks revealed to the advancing evil.  By the time they realized the danger, it was almost too late.  They soon were united against a common foe whose numbers were immense and who used black magic and foul hellspawn against them.

 

The War of Shadows continued for over twenty years.  The Dark One's armies blackened the world in their wake.  From Waterdeep to the Vast, to Mulhorond and the southern empires, The Dark Lord's black fist crushed against almost every living mortal on Faerun.  It was at this time, in the twentieth year of the Shadow War, that three of the most powerful priests of that age conspired to put an end to The Dark Lord's reign of dominion and terror.  The omniscient Bar Teth, Wizard/Priest of Mystra called upon the might of three gods to form an alliannce against The Dark Lord and his minions.  He gathered the most wise and intelligent priests of the three chosen gods - Tyr (God of Justice), Torm (God of Duty) and Helm (God of Protection).

 

 

They worked tirelessly in religious fervor against time running short.  Through the religious might of the three lawful gods and the awesome magic of Mystra, they forged three mighty Blades of Power.  Artifacts of such force had never been seen in all of Toril since the fall of Netheril.  Now that they had created the tools for The Dark One's demise, they needed true warriors to wield them.  They did not have to search for long.  From three distant lands across the continent came three mighty paladins.  They had each received sendings from their gods to seek out Bar Teth.  These great heroes were Dag'Lar, Gildeam and Chrysomer. 

 

 

These three lawful gods were not greater powers unto themselves, but the union of the three dieties promised an awesome offensive against the forces of Darkness.  All three paladins were accomplished Generals of their own armies and had been fighting against the forces of the Dark One these many years, and were ready to put an end to his tyranny.  After receiving the holy blades of power, they set out with a great host for Hlondath and The Dark Lord's seat of power at T'Goth Norad.

 

 

Many months of battle finally brought them to the very foot of the Black Tower, fighting their way through many of the Blood along the way.  The last great battle was fought within sight of the Obsidian Tower - a battle against the Dark Ones greatest General, B'aalzemon the Soul Skinner.  B'aalzemon, a Hell-spawned anti-paladin, led his vast horde  against the hero's thinning army while the three paladins clove their way to the tower.  Zhatekk was waiting for them.  He had learned of the creation of the three swords of power and had created his own artifacts of such pure evil and blackness that the world trembled upon their forging.

 

 

In the end, the Three Paladins slew Zhatekk and his nine war-priests but upon Zhatekk's dying breath he cursed the heroes and their hated gods.  Chrysomer, Gildeam and Dag'Lar were destroyed by a weaving curse so powerful that it eradicated the Black Tower, sending shards of obsidian stone hurtling throughout Faerun.  The city of Kpekk trembled and it's walls collapsed in on themselves in fury.

 

The Heroes bond to their gods were so strong and true that upon their deaths their souls and very essences were drawn into the very weapons they wielded for Law and Goodness - for these blades could not be destroyed but by the gods themselves.  And so the Blades of Light scattered to remote corners of Faerun to await the time that they would be needed again.

 

 

The rest of the Blood continued to fight a losing battle in the name of their dark god, but with the loss of Zhatekk and the Black Tower, much of their power was diminished.  Being immortal, the Dark One's Generals could not be defeated in a mortal, mundane manner.  The great Bar Teth devised to create nine obsidian seals (created from the stones of T'Goth Norad) to lock the Blood in earthen tombs, consecrated in the name of the gods of law and given eternal power through the might of Mystra.  It took another year before the last of the Blood, B'aalzemon, was sealed into his eternal tomb, hidden away from the eyes of men forever. 

 

 

The aftermath of the twenty years of chaos brought about an era of rebuilding and peace as the nations of the Realms tried to piece together what was left of their lands.  The last remnants of Netheril were decimated by the War of Shadows and would never recover.  Within two hundred years these last nations would continue to war amongst themselves until there was almost nothing left as the Great Desert Anauroch overwhelmed the empty streets of their once great cities.