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September 17, 1885

When we arrived at the Ring of Brogdar, Nasrudin was already there waiting. He pointedly asked each of us if we were certain of what we were about to do, and each of us nodded in assent. “Then it is time. May your gods accompany you to the other side.” And then he began the ritual of banishment.

A massive vortex formed in the centre of the Ring, obscuring our vision and causing the world to rippled around us.

And then we awoke in a dark, lifeless place. With a near-perfect replica of the Ring of Brogdar – surrounded by odd pylons and grey wastes. We took a moment to catch our bearings and recover our equilibrium before beginning to explore.

We had not gone far when we found ourselves beset with ravenous lizards. Now we knew definitively from where Liam’s monstrosities had come.

After traversing some distance of the wasteland, we came to a strange platform connected to power conduit. I eventually deduced that it was a teleporter of some form, but its was like nothing I had ever before seen. It seemed to both magickal and technological at once.

Stepping on to the platform instantly transported us to the ruins of an odd city. Clear a highly technological civilisation had at one time dwelled here.

It was not long before we were attacked by another familiar denizen of the Void – the odd jellyfish we had also met near Liam’s portal!

In the midst of the ruins we found a large staircase leading down beneath the city.

It took us to an odd corridor guarded by spectral knights. They told us our arrival had been expected, and allowed us to pass.

Inside we found an elven mage floating in a field of green magick. Arronax. It could be none other. I could see the resemblance to Nasrudin’s features… although he looked little like he had in the vision he had sent to deter us months ago.

I informed him that his attempted invasion would end here and now. That we would not permit him to threaten our world any longer. At which he looked up… and laughed. Not in defiance, anger, or even amusement. But instead a forced ironic chuckle. Something was not as it seemed…. And then everything once again turned upside down.

“Madam. Even if I still desired such a thing after 2,000 years, I cannot so much as leave this *room* – much less escape the Void and lead an Army I no longer have to conquer a world I no longer know“.

As it turned out Arronax was the *second* being the Elven Council had banished to the Void. The first had been a human wizard named Kerghan. The only human ever to serve on the Council… and the inventor of Black Necromancy. Arronax had been a chief proponent of the usage of the Void for banishing the most dangerous opponents, and had been instrumental in convincing the Council to banish Kerghan for his blasphemies. Which meant that when he himself was banished, Kerghan was waiting. Kerghan had ambushed him, trapped him, and spent the last 2,000 years taunting him. When the Dark Elves – who had modeled their philosophy on Arronax’s beliefs – had attempted to contact him in the Void it had been *Kerghan* that had answered. And ever since Kerghan had been impersonating him in order to use the Dark Elves as agents to effect his return.

I asked Arronax about the circumstances of his own banishment, and his answer was surprising. He called his former self “A young, immature, inexperienced fool in a position of immense power.” He blamed his father for raising him on visions of elven superiority, and then putting him in the position to act upon them. But he blamed himself for being unable to see past his own ego. “I have had two thousand years of my grievous errors in judgement replaying themselves in my mind. One tends to grow a bit of a conscience in all that time.”

Then he gave us a warning that chilled me to the bone. “Whether you believe me or not, I would see Kerghan brought down. His intent is not to conquer Arcanum, but to destroy it. To end all Life. Everywhere. Forever“. He offered to help if he could be freed, but he did not know how that could be accomplished.

I discussed the matter with my companions. They did not have great reason to trust Arronax, but what he said had the air of truth. He was indeed being kept in conditions more resembling imprisonment than rulership. The very fact that he required our assistance to free himself spoke to his not being position to effect the machinations we had been combating. He indeed looked and sounded little like the “Arronax” which had appeared to us before. And I had seen enough references in my research to “Kerghan the Terrible” to know both that he had been one of the few ever to be banished to the Void, and that he was NOT somebody we wished to see return.

So we began strategising. As our resident magickal expert, Raven told us that Kerghan would require a local vessel to keep Arronax contained – something close at hand. He would be unlikely to be able to maintain such a strong ward on such a powerful target from afar while engaged in his other mischief. And it occurred to me that I had seen something down the hall when we had approached the guards, something resembling a robed serpent…

So we left Arronax’ chamber, and Sogg decommissioned the Guardians.

While I introduced the Naga to a device I had developed for the express purpose of neutralising spectral and ethereal opponents.

With that done, we returned to find Arronax free of his restraints. At which point we interrogated him *quite* thoroughly to learn all he knew of Kerghan and the Void.

It seemed that the Void had once contained a civilisation of its own, long predating its discovery by the Council. Arronax knew little of it, having spent his time in captivity. But he had learned from Kerghan that some cataclysm had rent the very continent on which we stood in Aeons past. Teleporters like we had discovered earlier were the only way to travel between the remaining pockets of the plane.

He also suggested that to maximise our chances of defeating Kerghan, we should attempt to recruit the other beings which the Council had banished here. The demonic Gorgoth, the delusional Kraka-Tur, and the barbaric Bane of Kree. None of them were in any sense of the word just or honorable. There was good reason each of them had been banished here. But if any could be convinced that Kerghan was a threat to them personally then they could perhaps be persuaded to assist out of naked self-interest.

The first we were able to locate was the Gorgoth, a demonic entity from the Time of Legend with an insatiable appetite. Unfortunately there was no reasoning with him at all – he had long since succumbed to his nature and become little more than a rabid beast. He was powerful. He was strong. And he was utterly mindless. He desired only to consume everything in his path.

Sogg held his aggression.

Until I could deliver a coup de grace.

The next we found was Kraka-Tur, a sly, conniving scoundrel whose thirst for power had led him to seek out and employ hideous, despicable blood rituals in order to partially transform himself into a dragon. Unfortunately while he was only too happy to regale us with tales of his mighty conquests and battles with the mighty Nasrudin… he turned into a snivelling coward on the subject of Kerghan. He wanted no part of that battle – regardless of incentives.

Finally, we located the Bane of Kree – the Warlord responsible for the sacking and slaughter of the once tranquil city of Kree. He had no fear of Kerghan, and we might have been able to convince him to support our cause… save for one error.

He told us that he wished he still had his favoured weapon in his hands. That with its power even Kerghan would not be able to prevail. He waxed poetic about the heights of bloodlust he had felt under its “magnificent” influence. And then named it, The Bangellian Scourge. And Virgil, dear sweet guile-less Virgil, let slip that we had seen the Blade. The Bane was immediately suspicious. He demanded to know everything Virgil knew about it. And whatever else Virgil may be, he is a truly *terrible* liar.

Which led the Bane to immediately attack in revenge, and we were forced to put down our last potential ally.

Having accomplished naught in our search but putting an end to some of the most vicious beings ever known, we made our way to Kerghan’s Sanctum. It was guarded on the outside by more Spectral Knights – similar to those we had seen guarding Arronax. These proved little challenge.

Inside the Sanctum, however, were far more of them.

On the lower level we located what we took to be the remains of the Black Mountain Dwarves. they appeared to have been tortured to death. Virgil gave them last rites. And Magnus mourned their passing in the more traditional dwarven method.

Further exploration led us to discover a large odd device which served no obvious purpose. It seemed to almost be a caricature of technology – as if intentionally over-complicated simply for love of complication. Without any obvious purpose. I suspected this was the means being used to weaken the magickal wards barring Kerghan from returning. But it seemed unfinished… It was inactive, and by all signs Kerghan had not yet left. Which would imply that at least some of the dwarves still lived…

A more thorough search revealed their prison. They told us that Kerghan had been livid when Stennar had escaped, and had slaughtered much of the clan in attempting to force them to reveal his plans.

This reminded me of a detail that had been nagging at my conscious for some time, so I turned and asked Arronax. How is it that Stennar was able to return but Kerghan was still trapped? Arronax replied that the dwarven device had torn a rift in the wards. But the rift was not yet very large. And because the wards were magickal, the effective size of a being wishing to slip through them was determined by their innate magickal power and aptitude. For Stennar – a dwarf by race and a technologist by profession – his magickal cross-section would be almost negligible. For the most powerful Necromancer to have ever lived, however…. a bit more was required.

Once we had attended to the dwarves as best we could, we continued on to locate Kerghan and confront him once and for all. The last barrier proved to be his personal guard. A variety of spectral warriors amassed to block our passage.

Massive Bludgeoners – enormous spectral warriors with gauntleted fists that could smash steel. Sogg was thoroughly delighted at their presence.

As well as axe wielding spectral berserkers.

In the final chamber we finally met Kerghan. He no longer bore more than a passing resemblance to human. He barely even acknowledged Arronax’s presence, instead monologuing about his grand ambition. It seems he had ranged far and wide exploring the Void since being banished, and had seen much in the now dead world. He claimed to have found a passage to the ‘tranquil seas’ where departed souls lay down to eternal rest. He had lain with them for a time, and experienced the ‘pain and fear’ as they were “torn away to be subjected to the agony of life”. And the peace that they felt when finally allowed to return. He considered Life itself to be an abomination. A hideous perversion of the quiet peace of everlasting Death. In other words, while 2,000 years in the Void had given Arronax the time to develop a conscience, it had allowed Kerghan to descend into stark raving lunacy.

And I told him exactly that.

He laughed – a haunting, brittle sound that grew darker and more ominous as it continued. And his body began to contort and stretch – as his very bones seemed to grow and shuffle off the last remnants of his mortal flesh.

Whatever Kerghan was now, there was nothing left of him that was human.

Physically he was near unassailable, and such attacks from Magnus and Sogg did him little lasting damage.

Magicakally he was even more formidable, and Raven and Arronax did well to merely counter Kerghan’s dark power. Their own efforts had little effect upon him.

Our most effective strategem was combining forces – subjecting him to magickal and technological energies simultaneously.

Until he finally grew vulnerable enough for me to deliver a full discharge directly into his phylactery – forcing him to return to a regenerative state.

Which in turn made him vulnerable to the Vendigrothian Device – forever eradicating him from existence.

With help from Arronax and the Black Mountain Dwarves, Magnus and I were able to complete the portal device.

Allowing us to return to our own world. I was almost disappointed to leave. An entire alternate world, which had once held a civilisation of its own. I would have dearly loved more time to stay and learn of it. But none of us could say how long the portal would remain operational. We needed to take the opportunity to return while the rift remained open.

In the end we were able to rescue almost a third of the Black Mountain Clan. They had sustained heavy losses, but they would not fade away. Magnus chose to return with them to help rebuild the Clan.

Raven returned to Qintarra with a new appreciation for the other peoples of Arcanum. She vowed to lead the Elves away from their isolation and increase contact with the rest of the world.

Jayna eventually became Professor Emiritus of Theraputics at the University of Tarant, bringing wonderous new medicines to the world.

Sogg decided that perhaps there was more to life than the bottle, and took up the life of the itinerant adventurer. It seemed the excitement and feeling of accomplishment had simply been too much for him to give up.

And Virgil and I? Well… I had all the contacts and references I needed to open my own agency in Tarant. Missing princesses, lost relics, political machinations… there’s never a shortage of demand with the experience and reputation I have now amassed. And Virgil never could give up “keeping me out of trouble”.

And that is my story – my record of the strange case that began with the fiery destruction of the Zephyr and ended in a battle on another world.

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Author’s Notes:

And there we have it. The last time I completed Arcanum entirely it was a with a half-elf fighter/mage type who felt lost in a world where technology was supplanting magick. Cass felt very, very different the whole way through – gender, race, and technological bent all made a large difference in how the game played out right up through the end.

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