Darius went to visit the Guardian of the Bloom – alone as requested. But he was no fool. Way too many signs pointed to her not being what she seemed. So he came having made… preparations.
When he arrived, he found an old castle gone to ruin, with a large oak tree growing in the ruins. He suspected this meant something – both as a historical event and as a warning/threat.
Sure enough, when the Guardian appeared she was no longer thankful and supporting. She laughed mockingly, saying “Did you not know that the brightest flowers are also the most poisonous?” “Was everything a lie? Or just the majority?” asked Darius. “No masks, no lies. Just… a memory what once was”. Then she glared angrily and pointed. “Your doom arrives. You are nothing. Just another step on the ladder.” And then she vanished.
Turning around, Darius saw a huge Hydra – and other stranger beasts – emerging from portal in the sky…
And so he triggered his preparations… and vanished. Combining invisibility with non-detection to ensure his escape. He wasn’t sure what she had meant by “another step on the ladder”, but it was clear she was no longer a putative “ally”. And there was clearly more going on than he could currently see.
He resolved to return with reinforcements to investigate the location more fully. Maybe there would be further clues as to the Guardian’s purpose to be found there.
Next he travelled to the Sorrowflow to meet Kalikke. If they could find a Disc which alleviated her condition it would certainly make it easier for her to help. And she was convinced it was located in an ancient tower in the ruins there.
She introduced him to the “Sweet Teeth” – long-time tiefling friends of hers that she viewed as something like younger siblings. They had located the Sorrowflow for her. They weren’t much for fighting, but they were good explorers. And she liked to give them “favors” to do for her because they often got into trouble when left to their own devices.
Exploring the area, they found many remnants of the lost settlement that was once here – and signs of the tragedy which had destroyed it. Unfortunately when they found the tower… it was utterly collapsed. There was little chance of finding anything of worth there, and Kalikke was despondent. She suddenly noticed something at the bottom of the cliff below them… and then shifted to Kanerah.
Kanerah was unhappy that Kalikke had shared their secret, but resolved to finish the expedition. She noted a strange gargoyle-like guardian in the ruins below – which was a decidedly unnatural entity for the area. This seemed as good a clue as any. They descended and fought it, and between Darius’ sword and Kanerah’s flames were able to defeat it.
They found the disk she sought in the wreckage near the gargoyle. But when Kanerah reached out to take it she began rapidly switching back and forth between her aspects. She rose into the air in a brilliant light, and appeared to absorb the disc within herself. When she came back down she was once again Kalikke. She claimed that they could now switch at will – but didn’t really understand what had just happened. Kanerah was trying to learn more about how exactly the disc worked and why it had reacted as it had.
Upon returning to his capital, Darius received unwelcome news from Kesten. Settlements across the Narlmarches – the area just to the west of the Barony’s currently claimed area – were being beset by hordes of trolls. Trolls which seemed to be organized and tactical. Trolls which were taking prisoners. Trolls cooperating with kobolds. And rumours of Trolls – notoriously afraid of fire – carrying torches and burning houses!
This called for immediate attention. Darius gave Kesten one of a matched pair of magic amulets. This would enable long distance communication when he needed to be contacted. Then he and his companions left to investigate the Trolls.
Shortly after leaving the capital, Darius and his companions came upon an unwelcome scene. A merchant wagon being slowly swept away in the river ford – while kobold raiders attacked a small group of gnome guards! And standing on a bluff on the opposite side of the river, directing the assault, was a very familiar-looking figure. It appeared for all the world like the theoretically deceased Tartuccio once again in his kobold guise! Darius called out to him, but rather than responding with bluster and braggadocio the “kobold shaman” seemed confused and uncertain. He called out something cryptic about “kobolds getting the respect they deserve” and then vanished.
Without magical support, the remaining kobolds quickly discovered that fighting a water witch in a river is not a winning plan…
After fighting off the kobold bandits, they calmed the ponies and helped the gnomes recover their travel wagon.
The wagon turned out to belong to a gnome named Jubilost Narthropple – a travelling scholar of some reknown who had come to investigate and write about the new barony in the Stolen Lands. He was not impressed with Darius’ road security, and was skeptical about his long term plans. But he agreed continue to the capital and fairly evaluate the situation.
Continuing on to the Narlmarches, they soon saw the problem for themselves. They came upon a troll attacking a merchant on the road. Guards were firing at the troll with flaming arrows, but it was utterly ignoring the flames. Darius and his companions beat it down, and finished it off with acid instead. The merchant thanked them, and told them he knew of a wizard – Bartholomew Delgado – who lived not far away who had been studying trolls. He suggested they check to see if he could tell them any more.
They found Bartholomew’s house off the beaten path… and surrounded by a bewildering array of death traps. Bartholomew appeared quite cavalier and unconcerned about the hazards to passerby from his traps, but he was keenly interested when they mentioned fire-resistant trolls. He immediately wanted to investigate the situation personally.
He was even more interested when they found such a troll – and it utterly ignored his fire magic. They noted odd tattoos on its shoulders. After they killed it he asked them to bring the body back to his laboratory for analysis, and then teleported back to prepare.
When they reached his house, they followed a passage below his barn as requested, and found what looked like a cross between an arcane lab and a torture chamber. Bartholomew had apparently stepped out for the moment. There was an emaciated, scarred troll caged in the back who did nothing but moan.
When Bartholomew returned Darius demanded an explanation. The wizard proudly explained that he had been experimenting on trolls for years, trying to learn exactly how their regeneration worked. Darius considered his methods tantamount to torture – but he needed the wizard’s help. And he had no authority here, as this area was not currently within his domain. He voiced his objections, and the wizard suggested that they needed to put aside their “philosophical differences” in order to resolve a larger problem.
Bartholomew studied the body of the new troll, paying particular attention to the tattoos on its shoulder. He said that he believed the tattoos not only protected the troll from fire, but had been conferred by an artifact. Someone or something was *mass-producing* fire-immune trolls. And the symbol in the tattoo was decidedly dwarven in origin. He mentioned an old dwarven tower not too far down the road, and suggested they start there.
They did not find much of note beyond bandits and an old shrine to Torag at the tower. But while there they were approached by a large gray wolf. The wolf led them to an injured ranger holed up in a crevice. The ranger gave his name as Ekundayo, and claimed to be hunting trolls. He was on a mission of vengeance, as a large troll named Kargaad had killed his wife and daughter. He was still recovering from his most recent encounter, but he had much to tell them about local troll movements – and was only too willing to sign on to any mission involving them. He claimed no ownership or connection with the wolf – who he simply called “Dog”. He said “Dog” just showed up and started following him one day, and he saw no reason not to let it simply do its own thing.
Before they got too much further, however, Kesten signaled Darius through the amulet. The barony was being beset with large spiders spreading a ghastly disease! And the epicenter was the Bald Hilltop Jhod and Tristian had warned him about!
Darius ordered Jhod and Tristian to organize a response to the infestation, while he and his companions immediately headed for the Bald Hilltop itself. Upon arriving they could see a weird otherworldly rift forming in the center of the old ruins at its summit.
Large spiders began pouring out of the gate and assaulting them, but Angelique took care of the first wave. Large spiders do not do well in freezing winds.
Unfortunately those were followed by a much, much larger spider – which was completely unfazed by frost. It was, however, still susceptible to Kwan’s brand of mayhem.
What stepped out of the rift behind it, however, was quite another matter. A dark fey dryad of some sort, who began dominating the minds of all of Daruis’ companions – leaving them frozen and unresisting.
Darius himself, however, was not quite so easy to pin down. He countered the fey’s magic with his own. And sword to branch he brought it down and ended the threat.
Once the fey died, the rift closed as well, ending the incursion. For now.
It did not take long for Tristian and Jhod to get the spider infestation under control with the source closed. And they were able to create and distribute effective treatments for the disease they had spread. Meanwhile Darius returned to the capital to confer with his advisors. They still needed to address the troll problem, but they also needed to better understand the other threat. The details were unclear, but Darius was quite certain at least some of these incursions were connected.
Author’s Notes:
It gets difficult here to pin down exactly what to include. There is so much good scene setting and lots of side quests going on, but I’d never finish the game if I covered everything. I’ve chosen to focus on significant events with the supporting cast and the main plot. But even that’s not a hard and fast line as everything ties together reasonably well.
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