Alorm Peak: The highest and westernmost peak of Sarn, Alorm Peak is a slender spired edifice of stone. Its uppermost reaches gleam with snow and ice throughout the year, (though taller peaks to the east are bare by Midsummer), and the lower slopes are a treacherous maze of bare-shouldered ridges and densely forested vales. Many people believe Alorm (from Elven, ashail al lorim, or “Point to the Sky”) a sacred site, and ancient tombs, cairns, and crypts abound around the mountain. The natives (human, humanoid, and otherwise), avoid the mountain out of respect for (and fear of) the dead.
The many tombs lure a few treasure seekers, but most look for pickings closer to Shalaen or Larenyss proper. Nonetheless, a number of bands are drawn by the promise of untouched magics. Known and rumored complexes include the great funerary maze of the archmage Isadollin, famous for her staff of power won from a great red wyrm; the Haunting Halls of the Herald-Lords, masters of musical magery; a series of crypts used by the Autumn Kings, who ruled a small but rich kingdom for several centuries; and the final foul resting place of a high priest of Nevias, who terrorized the populace as a vampire after his first death, and whose malignant spirit was finally imprisoned by Biedon Houl, Clerist Arcanist of Ados, at the cost of his own life.
Showing posts with label Autumn Kings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autumn Kings. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Armor of the Autumn Kings [3e]
(Due to time constraints and a two-year old sitting on the sofa with me, this entry will be slightly revised and enhanced to S&W style...later.)
Armor of the Autumn Kings
+4 chain mail armor of strength.
Properties: +4 enhancement bonus to Armor Class; +4 enhancement bonus to Strength (one point of enhancement bonus to Strength becomes an inherent bonus to Strength each time the wielder is reduced to –1 hit points or lower as a result of melee combat and subsequently regains full hit points. Conferred inherent bonuses are retained if the armor is lost or destroyed.)
Description: The Armor of the Autumn Kings is a full suit of chain armor, including leggings and coif. The armor has the properties of fine steel, but the metal is colored a dark, rusty red-brown. Repairs made to the armor take on the distinctive coloration within a week. An amulet fashioned into the symbol of the Autumn Kings, a longsword point downwards superimposed over an oak leaf, likewise pointed downwards, is fastened to the right shoulder and cannot be removed.
History: The Autumn Kings first ruled a small kingdom in the Shalanwode, near present-day Shalaen, in the years between the retreat of Illendia and the beginning of Amerite rule. Amatheir invested the line of the Autumn Kings with governorship of the existing domain during its rule, and when the Empire withdrew from the borderlands, the Autumn Kings took up their former title with nary a blink. Sadly, the Autumn Kingdom lasted only another century before falling to an orcish horde from the Sarn highlands.
The Armor of the Autumn Kings was forged late in the kingdom’s life, by the half-elven crown prince Mierillinar Forestforge. Mierillinar dedicated his life to uniting the nature-oriented, independent druidic traditions and practices common to the Autumn Kingdom with the metallurgic skills and feudal structure of the growing Woodmarch kingdoms. His quest was cut short by an early death, and his armor was passed onto his son, Anturaen the Red, the last of the Autumn Kings, who fell in battle against the orcs.
The armor has circulated throughout the Shadowend region since that time, appearing periodically over the centuries. The armor is rumored to be drawn to descendants of the royal line; certainly it has shown an uncanny knack for remaining in the region, despite being acquired, at various time, by a Vanar raider, a prince of the Hundred Kingdoms, and a Behrunian merchant-adventurer. Whether this is more than coincidence, however, is still a mystery.
Armor of the Autumn Kings
+4 chain mail armor of strength.
Properties: +4 enhancement bonus to Armor Class; +4 enhancement bonus to Strength (one point of enhancement bonus to Strength becomes an inherent bonus to Strength each time the wielder is reduced to –1 hit points or lower as a result of melee combat and subsequently regains full hit points. Conferred inherent bonuses are retained if the armor is lost or destroyed.)
Description: The Armor of the Autumn Kings is a full suit of chain armor, including leggings and coif. The armor has the properties of fine steel, but the metal is colored a dark, rusty red-brown. Repairs made to the armor take on the distinctive coloration within a week. An amulet fashioned into the symbol of the Autumn Kings, a longsword point downwards superimposed over an oak leaf, likewise pointed downwards, is fastened to the right shoulder and cannot be removed.
History: The Autumn Kings first ruled a small kingdom in the Shalanwode, near present-day Shalaen, in the years between the retreat of Illendia and the beginning of Amerite rule. Amatheir invested the line of the Autumn Kings with governorship of the existing domain during its rule, and when the Empire withdrew from the borderlands, the Autumn Kings took up their former title with nary a blink. Sadly, the Autumn Kingdom lasted only another century before falling to an orcish horde from the Sarn highlands.
The Armor of the Autumn Kings was forged late in the kingdom’s life, by the half-elven crown prince Mierillinar Forestforge. Mierillinar dedicated his life to uniting the nature-oriented, independent druidic traditions and practices common to the Autumn Kingdom with the metallurgic skills and feudal structure of the growing Woodmarch kingdoms. His quest was cut short by an early death, and his armor was passed onto his son, Anturaen the Red, the last of the Autumn Kings, who fell in battle against the orcs.
The armor has circulated throughout the Shadowend region since that time, appearing periodically over the centuries. The armor is rumored to be drawn to descendants of the royal line; certainly it has shown an uncanny knack for remaining in the region, despite being acquired, at various time, by a Vanar raider, a prince of the Hundred Kingdoms, and a Behrunian merchant-adventurer. Whether this is more than coincidence, however, is still a mystery.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Black Legion
The Black Legion
aka, the Fourth Amerite Legion
Motto: Nos es Nex (We are Death)
Patron: Orod, Lord of Souls
Animal: Raven
Summation: The Fourth Legion had a long and accomplished history before entering the Woodmarches, where they easily defeated the local forces (homegrown since the fall of Illendia a few hundred years before) and establishing a local government accountable to the Amerite Empire. The Autumn Kings were invested as the governors of the region, and the Fourth Legion continued into the forest through their territory, and disappear from history.
What's Known to the DM:
- The Black Legion disbanded after the Woodmarch campaign; most recruits and conscript were filtered back to society via the Autumn Kings. The core of the Black Legion was wooed and won by Pyritheus, a powerful Typhos known as the Herald of Umoth. Pyrtheus promised the Legion veterans unending life, an offer they found attractive after years of dealing death.
- The Legion had established a camp near the gnomish village of Wyl Arden; they excavated a number of large vaults with the aid of summoned pech, and entombed much of their equipment therein. The equipment included a large quantity of iron ingots, weaponry, 50 clockwork steeds, and a number (10?) of iron-clad minotaurs.
- Despite, or because of, the Legion's divine patron, the Legion had no dealings with undead or necromantic magic beyond the mundane. Instead, dealings with the semi-divine Smith's Wife gave the Legion arcanists considerable knowledge of constructs, including clockwork steeds, iron-clad creatures, animated suits of armor ("armors", aka helmed horrors), and possibly/probably early "proto-type" Fallen (aka relentless).
Factions:
- The Black Sorcerers of Tuonela. They have begun creating Fallen, but flawed and weaker than the true Fallen. They have part of the Fourth Legion's notes/instructions, and are looking for more. The Black Sorcerers have goblin minions in the Shadowend, implying an alliance (manipulation) of the goblins of Sarn, and possible alliance with the Three Sisters of Brindish.
- The Three Sisters of Brindish are looking for anything to bolster their forces. Weapons, ore, and iron-clad creatures are all welcome. Their army includes many crossbred humanoid creatures.
- The iron dwarves/duergar are allied with (?) the azer. The azer are followers of Pyritheus, who has become more active following his release and Umoth's arising.
- The city of Shalanholt is looking for anything it can find to help against the Brindish army.
- The "priestess" of the Smith's Wife wants any Black Legion information on creating constructs destroyed.
- The Fallen archmage Whisper wants something, and opposes the Sorcerers of Tuonela.
Assorted Thoughts and Ideas:
- The Nightwatch in Shalanholt are "armors" left or gifted by the Black Legion to the Autumn Kings. A "Daywatch" is rumored to exist, but has not been found.
- Pyritheus was imprisoned shortly after his bargain with the Black Legion; he was released twenty-years ago, at the Second Speaking of Te, as was Umoth.
- Pyritheus did hold up his end of the bargain; the Black Legion veterans are immortal, not undead (though they may not be properly living either). Their trail leads to the Underdark and ends at a gate of iron and silver.
- An aspect of Pyritheus (or Umoth?) is somewhere near the gate; this may be a goal of the azer.
- The duergar have, or are looking for, Black Legion material on constructs, for obvious reasons. The Black Sorcerers may have acquired their partial notes on creating Fallen from the duergar, who could have gained their information from pech.
- The Sorcerers of Tuonela are linked to the original Black Legion? A splinter group? Links to the Hielarn?
aka, the Fourth Amerite Legion
Motto: Nos es Nex (We are Death)
Patron: Orod, Lord of Souls
Animal: Raven
Summation: The Fourth Legion had a long and accomplished history before entering the Woodmarches, where they easily defeated the local forces (homegrown since the fall of Illendia a few hundred years before) and establishing a local government accountable to the Amerite Empire. The Autumn Kings were invested as the governors of the region, and the Fourth Legion continued into the forest through their territory, and disappear from history.
What's Known to the DM:
- The Black Legion disbanded after the Woodmarch campaign; most recruits and conscript were filtered back to society via the Autumn Kings. The core of the Black Legion was wooed and won by Pyritheus, a powerful Typhos known as the Herald of Umoth. Pyrtheus promised the Legion veterans unending life, an offer they found attractive after years of dealing death.
- The Legion had established a camp near the gnomish village of Wyl Arden; they excavated a number of large vaults with the aid of summoned pech, and entombed much of their equipment therein. The equipment included a large quantity of iron ingots, weaponry, 50 clockwork steeds, and a number (10?) of iron-clad minotaurs.
- Despite, or because of, the Legion's divine patron, the Legion had no dealings with undead or necromantic magic beyond the mundane. Instead, dealings with the semi-divine Smith's Wife gave the Legion arcanists considerable knowledge of constructs, including clockwork steeds, iron-clad creatures, animated suits of armor ("armors", aka helmed horrors), and possibly/probably early "proto-type" Fallen (aka relentless).
Factions:
- The Black Sorcerers of Tuonela. They have begun creating Fallen, but flawed and weaker than the true Fallen. They have part of the Fourth Legion's notes/instructions, and are looking for more. The Black Sorcerers have goblin minions in the Shadowend, implying an alliance (manipulation) of the goblins of Sarn, and possible alliance with the Three Sisters of Brindish.
- The Three Sisters of Brindish are looking for anything to bolster their forces. Weapons, ore, and iron-clad creatures are all welcome. Their army includes many crossbred humanoid creatures.
- The iron dwarves/duergar are allied with (?) the azer. The azer are followers of Pyritheus, who has become more active following his release and Umoth's arising.
- The city of Shalanholt is looking for anything it can find to help against the Brindish army.
- The "priestess" of the Smith's Wife wants any Black Legion information on creating constructs destroyed.
- The Fallen archmage Whisper wants something, and opposes the Sorcerers of Tuonela.
Assorted Thoughts and Ideas:
- The Nightwatch in Shalanholt are "armors" left or gifted by the Black Legion to the Autumn Kings. A "Daywatch" is rumored to exist, but has not been found.
- Pyritheus was imprisoned shortly after his bargain with the Black Legion; he was released twenty-years ago, at the Second Speaking of Te, as was Umoth.
- Pyritheus did hold up his end of the bargain; the Black Legion veterans are immortal, not undead (though they may not be properly living either). Their trail leads to the Underdark and ends at a gate of iron and silver.
- An aspect of Pyritheus (or Umoth?) is somewhere near the gate; this may be a goal of the azer.
- The duergar have, or are looking for, Black Legion material on constructs, for obvious reasons. The Black Sorcerers may have acquired their partial notes on creating Fallen from the duergar, who could have gained their information from pech.
- The Sorcerers of Tuonela are linked to the original Black Legion? A splinter group? Links to the Hielarn?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)