THE ADVENTURE
WAR
The High Knights of Argus were quick to get to Sarshel, in Impultur, to meet with Lord Haelimbrar, Lord Rilaunyr, High Priest (Tempus) Delbraum Highaxe and Taldor to discuss the situation and it was grim indeed. The two fronts of the war were being pushed back as the goblinoid army advanced - using hit and run tactics as best they could. Reinforcement have already been sent but whether it is enough or in time is in doubt.
A quick strategy session was had after the High Knights of Argus pledged their support to the King and country of Impiltur. It was determined that the Order's troops would be best used on the eastern front, in the Farwater theatre, under the command of Lord War Marshall Silmgar. The High Kights quickly diverted their armies to the port at Ilmwatch under Galagus' command and decided to use their magic to head to the Front and assess the situation for themselves.
Drake and Killian decided that they should call in their friends for this important mission, so Trilidir, Var, and Shalandar were brought to Impiltur through Var's magic. Of course Taldor and Torin committed themselves to this mission as well, the former diverting his troops to Ilmwatch as well to hook up with the Order of Argus throops.
Arriving on the front line showed a massive battle with the Warswords of Impiltur heavily outnumbered by thousands of goblins and hobgoblins, supported by massive giants, Dire Wolves and terrible magic. The lines were near to collapsing when the heroes got there. The Impilturan calvary were desperately trying to stop a flanking manoeuvre by the enemy wolf riders and the main lines were buckling under the pressure of the sheer size of the opposing forces, as massive giants (Hill Giants and Mountain Giants enlarged through magic) crushed those unlucky under their feet and hurled their boulders with terrible effect.
The heroes met with Marshal Silmgar atop the Command Hill and decided that their efforts could immediately help by battling the giants who were wreaking massive damage on the Impilturan troops. They jumped into the fray against the giants closest to the right flank and began a desperate battle to make a difference in this lop-sided battle. The team managed to cut down a few of the giants before the lines began to break. Silmgar was about to call a retreat when the heroes identified a commander and his banners amongst the masses, flew over and battled to his defeat.
The Hobgoblin army acted very peculiar at the felling of their commander. Horns sounded and they withdrew back to their side of the battlefield. Silmgar took this at face value and issues a hurried reforming of lines and set his troops into retreat back to Guidodale.
The Player Characters suggested to Silmgar that they could set a trap for the army and harry them so that Silmgar's forces could retreat back and have time to fortify the next town down the line - Maracrath. Silmgar committed some of his more powerful men and wizards to aid the PC's in their ploy and too the rest of his troops back to Maracrath.
The Heroes ploy worked fairly well as they were able to fortify the site through magic and lay in wait for the opposing army. They waited a day and a half before the enemy troops approached the town to destroy it. Their defenses proved effective as Shalandar’s arrows and the mage's fireballs, combined with carefully placed pit traps took their toll on the enemy’s initial onslaught. The enemy eventually figured out that the town was only held by a handful of powerful individuals, they decided to circumvent the town and continue. The Heroes used their magic to catch back up to the retreating Impilturan army.
It was decided that since the ploy worked so well the first time, they would do the same thing to Maracrath and lay in wait. Silmgar needed to hook up with the substantial mounted forces of the Order of Argus, and this would hopefully gain him the time he needed. When the enemy army approached the second time, they seemed to quickly ascertain that it was the same type of trap and immediately bypassed the town giving it a wide birth.
Silmgar's forces and those from the Order of Argus under Galagus met in Cairpur. His armies bolstered, a decision needed to be made. Silmgar did not wish to keep retreating until they were forced all the way to Ilmwatch, but Maracrath was not nearly defensible enough to be used. The answer lay in a deep sloping valley just south of Cairnpur, which the main highway went directly through. If they could get the enemy to commit to that course, they could use the terrain to ambush them in the narrow part of the valley.
Using magic on the terrain, trenches and illusory terrain features were used to hide the allied forces as they lay in wait. The Argus mounted forces were arrayed to the left and right of the valley, ready to spring into action to push any bypassing forces into the valley, and to prevent any flanking by the enemy. The enemy brazenly entered the subtle decline of the valley. Once it became apparent that it was narrowing, the enemy sent it's right and left flanks to leave the valley and flank either side. They never really got the chance.
Allied Heavy Calvary moved into place to cut them off and also moved their mounted archers ahead to pepper the enemy with arrows across a wide ditch. Arrows and fireballs rained down upon both the enemy and allies on both flanks. The enemy had had enough and pulled their troops back away from the flanks and regrouped.
Meanwhile the trap in the valley was fully under way, as arrows and magic rained down from the top of the valley upon the enemy troops. By the time they reversed and backed out of the valley to regroup with their flanks the main host had been devastated. Soon the enemy was regrouped back at the wide mouth of the valley facing the combined allied forces (Heavy Calvary from the left and right; Mounted Archers at bow range and the large, advancing force of the Heavy War Swords of Silmgar's army dead ahead).
In the end, the trap worked very well and the entire enemy force was utterly destroyed. As the victors re-assembled their troops atop the valley and began to take stock of their situation a couple of things happened over the next two days. An envoy from the Hobgoblin King arrived at the camp and indicated that King Grim Spear wanted to meet with the representatives of the Impilturan forces. Also, distressing news from the capitoll indicated that the Queen Regent had been kidnapped came to the eastern front.
Silmgar and the Heroes went forth to meet the Hobgoblin King who had set up his remaining troops (Larger even than the first army) in the town of Cairnpur. The King revealed in this meeting that he had been manipulated by a human priest and his pet demon into attacking the Kingdom of Impiltur. The description fit that of Delbraum Highaxe perfectly. King Grim Spear still feels that he has a rightful claim on the lands of Impiltur, but the conquest proved to be more difficult than promised and he seemed to care about the potential loss of Hobgoblin life in the conquest. It was important for him to save face or he would have to continue the campaign. So he accepted an offer of gold to go away and not trouble them again. He agreed and immediately, there was a prisoner exchange and he pulled back all of his troops from both the East and West Theatres.
Silmgar needed the heroes once again, to search out and bring Delbraum in for questioning. Silmgar had not heard back from troops he had sent to apprehend him and he assumes they are dead. Rumor has it that he is at the church of Tempus in Outentown. The heroes teleported there with the aid of the High War Wand of Impiltur, royal decree in hand.
Delbraum was found easily enough in the main temple room of the church and when approached began to monologue about his ultimate service to his god Tempus. The chaos and valor of battle had been brought to Impiltur as the ultimate sacrifice and homage to the god of war and battle. His belief was that the annals of history would remember him for all time as the one true worshipper of Tempus and the one who brought glory to the Kingdom.
As Delbraum was being charged with his crimes, his fiend Ssarooth presented himself and, opening a portal to the Netherworld, produced the hovering, incapacitated form of the Queen-Regent from the wall nearby. The Heroes rushed to stop the Fiend from taking the Queen-Regent through the portal but were too late. Deciding against all caution the heroes leapt into the closing portal behind Ssarooth and stepped into a nightmarish dungeon, not of this world.
DUNGEON CHASE
Passing through the portal brought the heroes into what could only be one of the deepest planes of Hell. The air was freezing as it came out of their mouths as they started thier quest through the frozen corridors of the dungeon in earnest. Using various magics they were able to stave off the effects of the frigid cold. Trilidir used her powers of divination to track the Queen-Regent and they began hurriedly traversing the murky corridors trying to keep going south.
The heroes encountered several chambers occupied by various Lesser and Greater Devils intent on their destruction. Strangely, upon their deaths, they would drop a sack of treasure. And some treasure was found hidden in certain areas in rooms as well. The rooms, doors, and even hallways of this place were laden with destructive mechanical and magical traps of all sorts of designs. Shortly after starting out, they lost their tracking on the Queen and decided to keep trying to move south through the maze of long corridors.
They stumbled upon a door that magically teleported Taldor down to level 2. Not knowing exactly what happened to Taldor, Torin communed with his god and determined that following Taldor would bring them closer to their objective, so they all teleported to level 2, skipping a large portion of level 1.
Level 2 was the opposite of Level 1, temperature wise. Open flame burned on the walls and those unprotected from the heat were taking damage immediately. Magic came to the rescue once again as they cast protective spells to ward off the heat. They found this level to otherwise be similar in the monsters encountered and the myriad of traps to endure, and they bravely battled their way through them all towards their goal. They found stairs up to level 1 and spend 2 hours healing and regrouping before preferring the cold to the heat, and then resumed their quest.
Eventually they came to stairs leading down to Level 3. They found this level similar to Level one as far as climate is concerned, and Trilidir immediately began to pick up the Queen-Regent with her tracking spell. Fighting through one room full of devils they began to sense, based on the direction and distance information given from Trilidir, that the Queen was very near and to the North.
A brilliant plan was suggested by Taldor - If she is so close, why not pick the spot where she is due north and use Passwall spells to cut their way through to her. It was a daring and somewhat uncertain plan, but it worked wonderfully and they manage to skip almost all of this level. They broke through the wall into the large chamber with the levitating Queen-Regent encased in a multi-colored barrier and before her stood a giant devil....A Pit Fiend, one of Hell's most powerful creatures, who invited them in to do battle.
The Fiend was very confident as he waited for them to close to melee. Courage was not lacking on the heroes side as Drake, Killian, Torin, Shalandar and Taldor all closed in for the attack trying to surround the creature. What they found was a long battle for their very lives as this Hellish Fiend attacked from every angle with his 6 melee attacks and used his powers to bath the room in wave after wave of searing fire.
The creature's aura of fear surrounding him caused horrible visions of terror and defeat to come into the heroes’ minds and darkness to fill their hearts. Drake and Taldor both felt a few moments terror overwhelm them before they could tame the effects through their force of will. Killian, Shalandar and Drake took the brunt of the damage from the Pit Fiend and Torin did his best to heal them and keep them in the fight.
The mages, Var and Trilidir, cast their spells from the passwall corridor until the Devil collapsed their tunnel (An effective illusion). This slowed them down, but they managed to overcome this obstacle and get some evocations off against the vile creature and some augmenting spells cast upon their comrades.
The might of the Heroes prevailed against the Pit Fiend and he was eventually destroyed by a concerted effort of all involved, dropping chests of treasure as he dissipated. The heroes were just registering this fact when a mysterious human stranger revealed himself from behind a disappearing wall, where he had watched the fight and was congratulating them on their success.
This man revealed very little of himself and expressed his interest in the group, but most especially Killian and Drake. He inferred that he wanted to see what they could do, so he created this whole strange mission to save the Queen-Regent for that express purpose. He was not disappointed and seemed immensely entertained by their fight for their lives through his dungeon.
As unassuming as his outward appearance, he seemed capable of incredible, otherworldly feats of power - manipulating the very structure of the area around him as he saw fit. In fact, creating this entire dungeon, and the denizens and treasure within, through his power. He spoke of watching the heroes very carefully in the future and possibly placing his wagers in their favor in the coming days.
He undid his dungeon and as the walls around them vanished, they found themselves upon a grassy meadow a couple hundred yards from the Church of Tempus. Somehow, Shalandar came to be seated upon this man's stone throne, and when he was ready to leave, he sat down, smiled and asked her if she was intent on coming with him. She said yes, and with a twinkle in his eye he and Shalandar vanished into the dark night. It was as Killian and the rest were deciding what to do with the Queen that Shalandar re-appeared, saying very little of what transpired when she was gone.