Type
Lore
Sub-Type
Campaign

wardens-campaign

Clean up formatting

Initial Read Through

Just get the facts and timeline straight. Spell out any context heavy bits. Create articles and character notes as needed.

Develop and Implement Character Arcs

Thir Drevson The axe is being returned by Hrafn, a decendent of Thir’s that he does not know. The person handing him the axe is always Hrafn. Telling him in increasingly annoyed tones to be more careful with the axe. Thir is passionate to the point of recklessness and Hrafn keeps advising him to focus.

Hrafn He is tied to the axe. From Hrafn’s perspective, Thir was handed it from his father and it has passed through the generations. Eventually, the White Raven blesses the axe and Hrafn gets it. From then on, Hrafn is tied to Thir, able to watch and talk to Thir, but he cannot interact except the axe. At first, he just returns it to Thir when he throws it.

Hrafn and Thir’s tension boils over at some point and they argue over the axe. As they struggle to control the axe, Hrafn, not tangible in the world, can toss Thir around and slam him to the ground. Hrafn is shouting at Thir that his recklessness threatens to destroy everything. Thir is not worthy to hold the axe. Hrafn is his bloodline, the axe is no more Thir’s then Hrafn’s own. Thir cannot counter attack the intangible Hrafn, so has to let go of the axe before Hrafn beats it out of his hands. Once Thir let’s go, Hrafn pauses, holding the axe over Thir who is on his hands in knees, panting and in shame of having given in. Hrafn lifts the axe with determination, then flips it on it’s side and turns the handle to Thir. In that moment, Thir had finally recognized a value in the moment more powerful than some naive goal of winning the immediate fight. Hrafn’s lessons have begun to sink into Thir’s thick skull. “Now you are ready- to begin learning how to- hold the axe.”

After Thir’s Death Hrafn regrets this, thinking if Thir had the axe, he could have lived. The axe, to Hrafn, is a reminder of his mistake with Thir- even if it was the most rational, advantageous tactic to have an additional fighter in the battles.

In a moment alone, Hrafn throws the axe into a pillar, then looks around hopefully for Thir to return it to him. Thir is gone and Hrafn has to walk over and wrench the axe out of the pillar himself. “I’m no Thir.” Hrafn wonders if he had done that, hoping to see Thir again, or if it was out of spite, that maybe Thir would have to do for him what he did for Thir. Despite a twinge of suspected shame, Hrafn mostly just feels sad that Thir is not with him. This measured self-doubt, being aware of your own faults, is a mark of a true leader.

Shakule Tigersoul Was blinded as a child in an incident that killed his parents He is dedicated to justice and has a soft spot for children

Drood At first can only shapeshift into simple beasts. Later, he gets larger animals. Eventually, large lizards that haven’t walked the earth in millennia. Then, he has a vision of the earliest shapeshifters and gains their ability to shift into elementals.

Add Dialogue

Choose a Narrator

The Voice

The story is told from the perspective of The Voice, at least in the beginning. Scenes from across the original timeline flash by, then the perspective is pulled back to see The Ring. The Ring is a steadily flowing, solitary thread, endlessly undulating in a single pattern. All the scenes- all life and time- exist within The Ring, giving off a soft glow out into utter darkness. When The Voice speaks, her visage lights up the darkness. When she remains quiet, the darkness creeps back over. It’s like a fading strobe, timed to her voice.

This can show the lore rather then having to explain it for:

Prologue Farfield Before The Fall Interlude: The Fall Farfield After the Fall Interlude: Thir Split Ancient Children Coliseum Interlude: The Silence & Darkest of Shadows Avatar Saving Lodwell War of Brothers Lorzen Eckdar Interlude: Accident White Raven Eckdar Interlude: Megh Mell Interlude: Dormaer Avatar & The Loop Farfield/Untethering

Possible Tighter Rework

This layout leaves out Split, the coliseum, saving Lodwell, and War of the Brothers. However, those didn’t tightly connect to the main plot of the Warden’s campaign. The entire core of the story can be told without them.

In this hypothetical outline for a video of the campaign, which requires a tighter story, those other events could still have happened they just aren’t directly shown.

Episode 1: Intro to The Voice and Time Cycles

Prologue Farfield Before The Fall Interlude: The Fall Farfield After the Fall

Episode 2: Fixing Early into next cycle

Interlude: Thir Ancient Children

Episode 3: Intro to The Silence and Saving Lorzen to trap her avatar

Interlude: The Silence & Darkest of Shadows Avatar Lorzen

Episode 4: 2nd Avatar’s beginnings

Eckdar Interlude: Accident

Episode 5: Natural Chronomancy

White Raven

Episode 6: Arcane Chronomancy

Eckdar Interlude: Megh Mell

Episode 7: Severing the Spiral

Interlude: Dormaer Avatar & The Loop Farfield/Untethering

![[Wardens Story Structure.xlsx]]

Links

Player Characters

Time Locked Obel Enoch Avalos

Chronomancy Thir Drevson Hrafn

The First Drood

The Chosen Shakule Tigersoul Rurik

Non-Player Characters

The Voice

The Silence Darkest of Shadows Dormaer

Locations

Farfield Split Zatar Andes Capital Underdark Megh Mell

Articles

War of Brother Kings

Prologue: Ring of Time

The ring

The Prologue is her seeing the ring. Thinking to make it better, she pulls Drood into Farfield, in place of Obel. This ring reverberates, growing into the spiral. Bright blue particles shower out. Most dissipate but some remain, floating around the threads of The Spiral.

Farfield - 4/29/3702 First Empires

The story then moves into the perspective of Drood, Rurik the Elderly, Obel, and Enoch entering Farfield on the eve of The Fall.

A small group (Obel, Enoch, Rurik, and Shakule Tigersoul) has been dispatched from a temple in Andes to travel to Zatar to sweep up after the army marched south to avenge the destruction of the seaside city of Caspin. Indeed, they have a full-fledged priest along to install where the best good could be done. Gallyway has since shown they assisted a team of powerful allies in destroying Ka'Charo, absolving them of culpability. Having already made it down to Farfield, the team decides to take a bit of a break and teach the locals more about Tyr. Their temple has always been focused on Pelor. Perhaps they can be made to see the light? Perhaps the priest is well suited here, for now, if the locals can be made to take him.

It is the eve of the harvest festival in Farfield. The Andes army has bought out much of the town’s supplies then suddenly returned north, leaving a town flush with fresh gold and ready to celebrate both the harvest and the avoidance of a war. While Titans have been rising, none are in the Midlands.

Entering Farfiled, Broghen Mayweather speaks with them, asking about their business in town. He tells them them about the festival and where the Tired Mule is. They ask about the temple and Broghen tells them about Francis Holt The party speaks with Francis Holt, the local priest, asking if their priest can stay and assist with temple duties, as a way to sway the village to Tyr. They meet Hal Sleepwell and stay at the Tired Mule after a night of drinking and chatting with the locals.

4/30/3702 7 A.M. First Empires

The next morning, they see Francis struggling to throw a ribbon over a high archway. Spotting Shakul, “Oh, hello again! Come back to help, eh? How about one of you fella’s? My faith is stronger than my throw.” They help him despite his odd phrasing. They hadn’t seen him since yesterday afternoon.

Garland and Jenny Thatcher, an elderly couple, pass by on their way home from picking flowers. Shakul cannot see the strange look Garland gives for a moment but the old man says nothing and continues helping his wife walk by.

The group mingles about town during the festival. Rurick is helping a man with fishing. Obel is imbibing on the festival. Shakule is observing Obel, waiting for him to drink a bit too much enjoyment and become a danger to themselves or others. Enoch is emptying out an old shed that he thinks the priest they brought will sleep in.

4/30/3702 12 P.M. First Dark

At midday, The Fall occurs.

In the next moment, the group feels a sudden, deep loss in their hearts. All connection to their deity is severed like a lantern smothered. The priest bursts into a demon and several townsfolks turn into gelatinous demon oozes. Garland and Jean become younger (Garland about 8 years old, Jean about 40). Broghen’s hammer gets a rush of blue magic. Screams are heard from the outskirts.

As chaos erupts, their internal belief system crumbles from the void of their now absent deity. A calming, ethereal voice shines through the cracks, drawing their attention inward, downing out their surroundings.

As they experience the beginning of The Fall, the perspective raises back to The Voice, her-moments after The Ring became The Spiral. She had only just moved Drood into Obel’s place when it expanded. She notices Obel is lost from reality. The Voice determines she must only move people within their own lifeline. She moves Rurik the Middle-Aged into Rurik the Elderly‘s place.

“You are lost. Your deities gone. But I am here for you. You have great purpose. Do not give in. These people need you now.” As the voice fades and they reenter reality, they find themselves changed.

Drood takes the place of Obel. This was one of The Voice‘s earliest attempts, where she put one mortal where another would be. To her horror, Obel was lost from the timeline and she vowed never to do that again. Rurik goes from elderly to middle-aged. This is The Voice only moving people within their own lifetimes. Shakul can see again, his eyes healed. The Voice did nothing to Shakul. He was simply there and ready for the journey as he was. The Fall still changed him, but it only made him further embody his principles, his deity. Enoch disappears, knocked off the Voices course by Thir’s wild chronomancy. Thir will be swept up by the Voice and brought into the group the next time she tunnels them. She did not choose for Thir to be there, but his magic made it so. Chronomancy disrupts The Voice’s and The Silence‘s efforts. However, if she doesn’t pull him into the journey, he too will be lost from the strand of time like Obel and Enoch.

Outside of time, unnoticed by the Voice whose attention is focused on the timeline, Enoch and Obel drift alone, no connection to their god and not dead nor undead in the typical senses; more like time locked.

Drood, Rurik, and Shakul fight the oozes as they make their way to the priest, now turned demon. Broghen helps in the fight toward the end, and calls for everyone to shelter in the Tired Mule. Shakul and Rurik talk with Drood, asking who he is. He is unsure where he is. In their brief conversation, it’s unclear if he’s even from Edous. From there, Broghen asks three to check on the outskirts of town, see if this was localized or save anyone they can if not.

Out in the farmlands, all become oozes or other lower demonic creatures. One farmhouse is swarming with them. The Wardens clear the house, finding a young Daisy hiding in a room. She is the sole survivor from her family, and likely the outskirts of Farfield.

They bring her back to the Tired Mule. Broghen thanks them as Prima Sleepwell and Hal Sleepwell comfort the small child. The group take rest in a room to themselves.

4/30/3702 5 P.M.

With some semblance of order restored to Farfield, they feel a welling sense of hope. From the heart of that hope, once again comes that calming, ethereal voice.

“You have done good to these people. But there are so many more in need. So many wrongs to correct. Wrongs to prevent. Do not give in. You have great purpose.”

With that, they descend back into reality, only to watch their bodies vaporize. Their ashes are shot through a tunnel of iridescent light, at the end of which they see vague outlines of a town. Just before landing, another swirl of ashes enter the tunnel. The original wardens and this new addition, Thir Drevson, fall face down into wet mud.

4/30/3702 5 P.M.

Interlude: Thir & Hrafn

As The Voice lifts them out to move them again, the perspective switches to The Voice. The blue energy attracted to The Spiral runs into the thread she is putting back. This is Thir and Hrafn using chronomancy. They pull into the thread, Thir as an embodied person, Hrafn as a visage to him. Thir’s embodyment knocks Enoch out of time. The Voice has to pull Thir and Hrafn into The Wardens to save them from Obel and Enoch’s fate.

Split 4/30/3702 5 PM First Dark

Standing up from wet mud, The Wardens see clouded skies above, townsfolk are scattering around, unaware of their entry. A panicked horse leading a wagon charges into a shop stall, destroying it. A shattered board pierces the horses neck, ending it’s thrashings forever. A plump gnome that was thrown from the wagon, looks up at The Wardens from the mud.

“What is happening?!” He stands, muck slothing off his fine clothing. Before he can speak more, he clutches his face in pain. His wide eyes turn to embers and as they ignite into flames he shouts “HELP US! YOU MUST HELP US!”

The Wardens are immediately thrown into combat with fire elementals trying to burn the houses down. Shakul, Rurik, and Drood notice an oddly dressed man fighting along side them. He introduces himself as Thir. He comes from a line of chrono-sorcerers, a power gifted to them by the White Raven.

They battle their way through town against various elementals.

During their exploration, they come across a flail snail with a trail of dark spot on the left side of it’s shell. They slay it.

They come across a church where many of the townfolks have fled too and boarded themselves inside. A mother is looking for her son, Gomer. He was out playing when this all started. He may have went over the bridge. Shakul is committed to finding the kid.

The Wardens go to the bridge and Gomer is seen on the opposite side. However, water elementals begin attacking them, trying to pull them into the water. After the fight, they go to Gomer. He says he was looking for his cat, Inky.

“She’s called Inky because she’s got a trail of black spot on her left side like an ink dribble and she’s really smart and 4 years old but that’s not why I call her inky. I call her Inky because of the dots on her side. I’m 7 years old not 4. I don’t remember when I brought Inky home and Ma’ said I could keep her. I was 3 years old then.”

Drood explains Inky turned into a flail snail. Rurik lies and says Inky saved them from elementals. Thir Thumps his chest, saying Inky died a warrior’s death; in battle. Shakul Stays particularly quiet, not wanting to damage the kid further.

After bringing Gomer to the church, they are told a large dust cloud has been lingering just outside and it creeps closer. Dark figures have been seen inside the cloud. The Wardens investigate, finding dust elementals blinding the area. Shakule is able to fight well in the blinding dust, having lived most of his life blind.

After clearing the dust elementals, they hear loud crashing rocks just outside of town. From the edge of a row of houses, they see a large earth elemental demolishing a farm building. The elemental begins walking toward the town.

The Wardens fight the earth elemental, but it is indominable. It reaches the edge of town, destroying a house. Just as it is about to smash down on an injured, cowering man from the house, Thir’s battle axe slices through the elemental’s arm. Thir, proud of the throw of his ancestral axe, is astonished as Hrafn hands it back to him immediately. “Be careful with this. It is our family’s ancestral axe.”

Hrafn is unknown to Thir, actually being a descendent of his. Thir assumes it a ghost from a different time.

He smiles, then throws the axe again, crumpling the earth elemental. He grabs it again almost immediately from Hrafn who tells him to be careful again.

Standing in the now quiet field, once again, The Wardens bodies looses all feeling of weight. The movements of the villagers running out of the houses toward the temple in town slow as the light takes The Wardens up. Tumbling through a formless stream loosing their own form, The Voice speaks from no single point.

“In time, you will come to understand your purpose. Even the smallest good can cascade through the eons.”

First Primordial

[!DM] DM With a sucking noise, your weight returns pulling you down into darkness. You roll to rocky earth, your head smacking the ground. A couple inches of water do little to soften the blow. As you pick yourself up, your vision fails to return to you. You are in darkness. The air is still. Chilly and damp. When the clanging of the other’s quite down, you listen. A drip echoes around the cave chamber. Silence.

Ancient Children - First Primordial

[!DM] DM With a sucking noise, your weight returns pulling you down into darkness. You roll to rocky earth, your head smacking the ground. A couple inches of water do little to soften the blow. As you pick yourself up, your vision fails to return to you. You are in darkness. The air is still. Chilly and damp. When the clanging of the other’s quite down, you listen. A drip echoes around the cave chamber. Silence.

Then, faintly, the soft whimpers of a scared child. A shuffle, followed by whispered words “…don’t…hear you…”. The whimpers simmer. Sharp, rapid clicking emanate from something, somewhere. Then a chorus of angry clicking bearing down on your clattering clan.

A group of Druvinae (ancients) are sacrificing children to a gibbering mouther of another race They want to grow it to unleash on their enemies It was a gift from their Titan, Smo

Children are Ipus (ancients) Older sister (Maldwyn) and younger brother (Cayo) Their tribe is a bit west They were kidnapped while playing in the forest and thrown down the cave Told they would survive to eat their parents

The Wardens battle cave creatures and the Gibbering Mouther, slaying the horrible monster and saving the children. If not stopped, the Gibbering Mouther would have been fed to gigantic size before breaking out of captivity. Once loose, it’d have grown to colossal swallowing even Smo, who tried to stop it. At this point, it would grow so fast, consuming every mortal and titan that approached it, the mouther would go on to eat avatars, then take over the the entire celestial space with it’s mindless consumption.

[!DM] DM As he runs off, Cayo looks back one last time and gives you a thanking smile and wave. With the children brought to safety, you feel a swell of pride only to realize it’s the tunneling again and you are lifted out of the ancient world. “You are learning fast. Becoming stronger. Are you strong enough for what is to come?”

Searing light blinds you. For a moment, you think you are still tunneling, only to realize you were brought to a small dark chamber whose massive doors have flung open. As you and a rag tag group stumble into the blazing sun. Hundreds of people jeer, surrounding you on high bleachers. A horn bellows, followed by another set of doors opening on the opposite end of the field. The crowd cheers.

Coliseum 4/13/3642 First Empires

[!DM] DM As he runs off, Cayo looks back one last time and gives you a thanking smile and wave. With the children brought to safety, you feel a swell of pride only to realize it’s the tunneling again and you are lifted out of the ancient world. “You are learning fast. Becoming stronger. Are you strong enough for what is to come?”

Searing light blinds you. For a moment, you think you are still tunneling, only to realize you were brought to a small dark chamber whose massive doors have flung open. As you and a rag tag group stumble into the blazing sun. Hundreds of people jeer, surrounding you on high bleachers. A horn bellows, followed by another set of doors opening on the opposite end of the field. The crowd cheers.

4/13/3642

[!DM] DM Ill-fitted cloth garbs chafe against your otherwise nude body. In your hand is a shortsword, dings peppering the length of the blade leading into a blood encrusted hilt that jiggles. At your wrists, thick iron shackles. A single loop is cast into each for connecting to a chain that was removed for the battle. The sides of the shackles have channels, glowing a light blue color.

The shackles dampen their magic. Casting all but the most basic of spells fail- most of the time. The shackles, while powerful, are not consistent and occasionally fail. A dozen or so other slaves are scattered around The Wardens in the same poultry equipment.

A chariot, led by a single horse with 2 bowmen and a driver, trots out of the opposite gate, jaunt around the outside of the pilers. Two well equipped fighters waving to the crowd, banging their shields make their way on foot behind the chariot.

While the entrance of the opponents is theatrical, it is terrifying all the same to the slaves or prisoners The Wardens find themselves amongst. Some hold armature fighting postures either inching forward hesitantly or frozen in place Others inch back toward the door subconsciously. One breaks into a run and claws at the now-closed gate, pleading for re-entry.

The Wardens glance at one another. Each with brave resolve, a calmness within the fear and hopelessness of their sudden platoon. Thir shouts with experienced authority to the untrained rabble around him, “Gather together for safety. The door is death.”

The crowd erupts as a pair of cavalry emerge from the opposite gate, rushing past the chariot and closing in on the slaves. Drood and Rurik begin finding strategic places further from the main group. Shakule approaches the opponents, slowly, in a direct path down the center of the colosseum.

The chariot swings around them, killing the man clawing at the door as it rides by. Thir commands the group of slaves during the fight. Rurik and Drood provide artillery support when they gather bows from the chariot, with some small spells as well. Shakule runs about the arena tactfully choosing targets to aid his team.

When the fighting is over and the slaves have won, the crowd roars with excitement while the announcer is left stunned.

[!DM] DM The roar of the crowds follow you into your otherwise barren cells. A pile of hay to sleep, a pot to piss and shit, the thunderous applause above muffled by the shouting and anger of your captures. Unshackling you through bars, you do not spot any opportune times to act out against the guards.

As they corral the last of you, a half-orc guard takes a moment to slam the head of a particular slave against the bars, “Scum. I hope your family get’s what’s coming to them.” The slave is tossed into his cell. His arms reach out to soften the fall, but his right arm terminates in a bundle of blood soaked bandages. He crumples to the ground in pain as the bars slam shut behind him.

Three men shout rambunctiously, “We slaughtered your warriors! You’re next!” A grungy middle-aged human paces his cell, muttering to himself “It’s going to end well. The rats told me so.” The handless man rises to his knees as the guards finally leave, rubbing the arm of his missing hand. The half-orc complains to the other guard as they leave the cells, “Colt‘s delivered us garbage.”

The Wardens assess their situation by learning more about the others in the cells.

Rowdy men - Picked up from fighting pits. Sentenced to this for their crimes. They accept they’ll die here but want to go out with a bang.

Waste, Gnome; Sold by his master who was desperate for money. Still believes in the hierarchy.

Foul, Human; A smelly vagrant that has clearly lost his mind and got snatched. He never responds to questioning and just randomly spouts nonsense.

Stain, Halfling; Son of a noble that has recently been murdered. Stain’s father had been gaining a reputation for bucking Zatar’s corrupt leadership and there were fears of rebellion. After the murder of his father, Stain was “framed” for embezzling city funds, supporting his father’s insurrection, and his hand was removed. His mother and sister were taken as well.

Eventually, a guard patrol. Slinkiss, a half-elf guard with a kinder disposition, quietly tossed one of the Wardens extra rations and whispered, “Incredible work out there. I hear they’ll only exile the lot of you…” Rurik finishes the sentence, “If we survive.” Slinkiss responds solemnly, “They won’t make it easy, I’m afraid.” Their conversation was cut short as Ton Di barged in, demanding to know what was taking so long. The group managed to sleep a bit in the dim and cramped cells, their bodies aching from the battle.

4/14/3642

The next morning, the Wardens were given a chance to prepare for the next fight. The guards wheeled in a cart of equipment, but the cart broke, and the guards dumped the items into the center of the room, telling the Wardens to sort it out themselves. The malfunctioning shackles continued to limit their magic. The glowing channels now shone deep green, allowing the casting of slightly greater spells but still restricting their full abilities.

Entering the elevator, Vermin attempts to attack a guard who simply holds up his hand. On his wrist is a bracer with similar channels as the manacles, lights up and freezes the Vermin’s hands. A brief moment of advancement as the lights flicker but the manacles hold.

The elevator on the way up gets stuck and the guards need a few minutes to get it unjammed.

The arena had been transformed into a crude jungle, with walls painted to resemble trees. The announcer’s voice once again boomed across the stands:

[!DM] DM “The scoundrels of society flee to the jungles of The Deep to escape justice. But danger lurks in every corner!”

The Wardens faced a series of traps and obstacles. Dart traps that were obvious to the keen eye’s of The Wardens distracted them from better hidden, more powerful dart throwers. Mastiffs, painted in strange colors, were released to attack them. The announcer narrated, “The howling of Deep beasts strike fear into the hearts of these cowards.”

Across a long hallway, pillars blast lightning in regular intervals. “The Deep has intense storms frequently, where electricity rips through the dark skies.” With good timing and moving quickly, the discharges could be avoided. However, they painfully realized that pressure plates which eject thundering explosives into the air are placed at the best footholds. “Booming thunder shakes the trees of this dangerous forest.” Shakule deliberately activates a pressure plate, then kicks the ejected ball into the pillar, destroying it.

Further down the path, they turn a corner into a chamber with funnels of fire spewing onto the dry floor. A pipe drips with a single drop of a dark substance, but nothing further. The announcer faulters for an explanation “Uh… there’s not always… some traps may have- oh, ruins are unreliable in functionality. Can we give them…” The voice fades as it speaks to an unknown person. “One serving of bread and dried meat to the first 8- no 4- persons to the concessions as our villains slink toward certain doom.”

Around the next corner, the walls of painted leaves opened up to the second half of the colosseum floor. A crude temple was constructed on the left with random panels of painted trees obscuring the right.

“Hurry back to your seats now, folks. They have come upon a liar hidden in the heart of The Deep.”

Walking into open aired temple, eight orbs line the walls, each adorned with a crude painting of a black panther. Each panther is unique; one half-skeletal, another bursting with muscle, a magical panther, one with fins, and so on. This is a reference to Melanesim. He is an uncommonly known myth about The Deep that some superstitious villages would tell. Along the back wall, a cage. Stain’s mother and sister rise, pleading for rescue.

The announcer’s call prevents any reunion. “They find a group of scoundrels that have subverted the will of the people of Zatar. If their innocence is proven through survival of the onslaught of the savages of The Deep, they can retreat back to civilization as free members!” Goblins pour in from the far wall outside the temple, behind one of the panels that block sight of the door. More come from the left and right of the temple as sections of the temple’s walls slide down.

During the attack, The Wardens find that the orbs raise and lower panels outside the temple. They use this to their tactical advantage. Thir works with the other slaves to guard the small openings on the temple’s flanks while Shakule runs out, toward the goblins advancing from the far wall. Rurik and Drood take turns activating the orbs for Shakule while also picking out strays getting through the sides.

After the goblin attack had been defeated, Stain approaches his mother in the cage, about to speak. As his lips part, his voice is drowned out by piercing screeches echoing throughout the colosseum. “Though the wrongfully maligned group have proven their innocence through righteous combat, horrors roam the Deep Forests and returning to the comforts of Zatar will not be easy.”

From the maze’s exit emerges a great knot of scabrous rats scrabbling together as a mass, with skulls, bones, and flesh entangled in the whole. Teeth, eyes, and fur all flow as a single disturbing rat swarm walking on two legs. A large metal collar shudders over the shifting mound’s neck.

Foul laughs, “He’s here! He’s here!”

The light of the shackles and the rat king’s collar flicker then bursts with light. The pulse energizes The Wardens and slaves. As the lumens fade, the devices loose all power and control.

Dario can be seen at the rails of a lavish box seating area, desperately holding out a blinking device toward the pit, about to press a button. An angry noble violently grabs his shoulder to berate him, causing Dario to fumble the blinking device and it falls to the coliseum floor. The Rat King stomps on the device on its way to the gladiators, sucking it into it’s writhing body, the trail of a blinking light leading to the core of tangled rats.

Unshackled and empowered, the Rat King flails it’s body about, flinging rats all about the battle field, but also the up into the bleachers where they begin to multiply and grow. Spectators run, screaming, falling over themselves to get away only to be overtaken by hungry vermin. The rat swarms begin consuming and re-multiplying. Each derivative, while more grotesque than the previous, blink at their cores in cadence with the Rat King.

“He’s here! He’s Here!” Foul shrieks with delight as he runs toward the Rat King.

The announcer scrambles to his horn, shouting “They’ll over take the city! All guards to the floor! End this!” Ton Di and Slinkiss enter the combat on the colosseum floor along with several other guards. Ton Di is more interested in killing Stain or his family.

Shakule, Drood, and Rurik battle the Rat King, his twisted spawn, and swarms of rats. Thir protects Stain and his family at the cage as he stands off against Ton Di.

As the battle ends, Stain runs to his mother and sister. He embraces them fully, his missing hand making no difference to the strength of the hug. After a long moment of huddled words, Stain looks over his shoulder at The Wardens with wet eyes.

“Thank you! Thank you. You’ve saved them- us! My family and the people above. All of us. I am… I’m not this name ‘stain.’ I am Cogbir. You know me now and I know you. Whoever you are, you are our saviors. Our protectors. You are our Warde-”

The Wardens are tunneled away, leaving Cogbir mid-sentence. He turns to his family and some of the guards, who also have seen the strang saviors depart.

Saving Lo’ed 3/24/897 Second Ancient

The Wardens are tunneled into the final chamber of an entity’s lair. A gong sounds from somewhere else in the lair. The fight is immediate and dire, but they kill it.

From there, they encounter several “cultists”; locals turned into workers for the entity. The entity has hallowed out unlucky people out and uses them as pawns. Now, with no master, they wander aimlessly, attacking anything than moves.

Hiding in a side chamber, a young man, Lodwell is hiding. He says a cult has been growing here, just outside of Vivski. He was kidnapped and dragged here by the “cultists”. They were about to throw him in with the entity, probably to become one of them.

As The Wardens find their way out of the dungeon, bringing Lodwell out with them, they come across more cultists near a book with rituals to summon the entity. Reading it, it becomes apparent how they could have more easily defeated the entity.

Finding the final passage up, they come across an egotistical wizard and a cleric of Tyr who are just making their way into the dungeon. They are fighting cultists and loosing. The Wardens rescue them from their fates. The adventurers’ intent was to find a young man, Lodwell, that has taken to the cult. In actuality, no one but the original summoner was devoted to the entity- they were kidnapped and turned into pawns.

The two were foolishly spotted on their way into the dungeon and one of the cultists slipped away to sound the alarm gong. This made their entrance much more challenging. However, the way back to Vivski is secure and there are no more cultists or entity.

The Wardens tell Lodwell to go with these two back to Vivski, then they are tunneled out.

[!DM] DM You descend onto a chaotic scene. A dozen men in identical armor scramble to aid other wounded soldiers, a few anxiously guard a path, and one walks up to you, a sash flowing from his shoulder to his hip indicating some sort of rank. “You there! You must be the squad I ordered from the southern flank. Where the hell have you been?! Nevermind. Take the western trail, cross the bridge, and secure the tower.”

Sudden War 5/2/919 Second Ancient

[!DM] DM You descend onto a chaotic scene. A dozen men in identical armor scramble to aid other wounded soldiers, a few anxiously guard a path, and one walks up to you. “You there! You must be the men from Holt? Where the hell have you been?! Nevermind. Take the western trail, cross the bridge, and secure the church.”

A battle has just taken place outside an estate. The Wardens offer what aid they can to the wounded before being led to Andes in the manor.

Andes sees them and knows there is something more to these men.

Andes: You’re not from Holt. Drood: Uh… no. We are… Rurik: From somewhere else. Thir: North!

Andes, a shape-shifted dragon with magically enhanced perception, can tell these men are well intentioned but not what they seem, and certainly not from the small village to the north, Willow.

Andes: Right. You must be from Willow. Thank you for your assistance.

He tells them the events that have occurred between him, his brother, and the village.

Manor

Two brothers, who have been leading the village, are in conflict. Andes is a fair and good leader to the people, helping build a better community in Vivski. He’s established order and handed out justice when needed. Andes has also begun building relationships with nearby villages, like Holt, as well. His brother, Etlan and a gang of men guard the village from the orcs and goblins. They’ve been taking almost as much from the locals as the orcs would. When Andes confronted his brother, telling him to temper his men’s behavior or be banished, the tension increased.

The village has been split in half in their allegiances. Many understandably chose to follow Etlan, who was the brother that protected them from the constant threat of invading orcs or goblins. Other’s stood on principles, siding with Andes who had proven himself to be an outstanding man of character. He could build Vivski into something more than just a small, lonely village- constantly battling to survive.

Andes had sent word to Holt after his initial confrontation with Etlan. He had asked that they send some of their men to help Andes secure Vivski.

Within a week, fights were breaking out between neighbors. Etlan expertly manipulated his men into attacking families that supported Andes.

Now, the village is in all-out war with each other. Etlan has taken over much of the village through manipulation, threats, and force. The men standing for Andes have had to retreat to the manor, their last refuge.

It is assumed The Wardens are men sent from Willow. Anyone from Willow would be strangers to most of the people of Vivski.

Andes asks The Wardens to cross the bridge to the north, then push forward to get to the temple. This will secure the town while Andes goes to confront his brother.

Andes didn’t have the numbers to face Etlan’s men when the open conflict started without heavy casualties. With the Willow reinforcements, they may be able to overwhelm the men Etlan has manipulated.

As for Etlan himself, Andes knows where his brother is. They have a place where they meet as brothers. Etlan and he will settle their differences there. If Etlan kills him and the town is secured, no one will welcome him back after the damage he has done. If Etlan kills him but the town is not secured, the families of Vivski will be forever broken and be under the wrath of Etlan as traitors to his leadership.

House

The Wardens head for the bridge, but along the way encounter a house. Inside, they fight several of Etlan’s men, knocking them out instead of killing them. They take the weapons and armor, distributing them to any of Andes’s men who are under armed.

Bridge

At the bridge, they find it is secured by goblins. Etlan has made a deal with goblins in his takeover of Vivski. This shows that he doesn’t care for the town and likely has larger, more ominous ambitions. Other villages could be in danger.

While leading the villagers in a fight against the goblins, another band of men show up. It is Lodwell of Vivski, who they rescued from the entity as a young boy. He is now an adult. Lodwell brought with him a dozen more men from Holt, an amazing show of diplomacy. He leads these men into battle against the goblins from behind as The Wardens attack from the front.

When the last goblin is killed, Lodwell immediately kneels before The Wardens. He recognizes them as the ones who saved him years ago. Lodwell thanks them for saving him and assisting with this battle. He remarks they look exactly as he has remembered them as, despite the years that have gone by.

The Wardens ask what has happened since they last met. Lodwell explains that Andes had been mentoring him and trusted him greatly. Andes sent him to ask Holt for assistance in as Andes stayed in town to try and prevent bloodshed.

Lodwell joins the group, being a familiar face for the rest to rally behind. The men from Holt join as well, giving them a sizable platoon.

Docks

Dock with some warehouse space. Some fish stores left to rot, others completely emptied. Orc’s hold this area, being paid by whatever they find. One fishermen, Waldin, and his family are held hostage, and he continues to fish, his haul being consumed by the orcs.

The Wardens move in, trying to be discreet as much as possible. They want to be in good position to separate the orcs from the family as Waldin is out on the lake.

In combat, one of the orcs manages to grab Waldwin’s son to use as a human shield. Waldwin docks and runs to an orc holding his son, in a desperate attempt to save him. Totally unprepared and overwhelmed, Waldin and his son are nearly killed. Shakule runs in, striking the orc and drawing his attention as Waldin pulls his son to safety.

The rest of The Wardens fight with the other orcs. In the end, Waldin and his family are saved and the orcs are killed.

Hunter’s Hut

Making their way further around the lake, The Wardens spot trail leading off into the woods. Lodwell explains a lone druid lives in a cabin down the way. She is not involved with the fighting and will neither hurt nor help The Wardens and Andes’s men.

Drood goes to speak with her. She is obviously half-crazed but having spoken to her about druidic magic from a time different of his own, he learns how to shift into types of creatures he hadn’t thought possible. She also mentions seeing a dragon flying off in the distance. Unknown to anyone, it was real and either Andes or Etlan.

After, The Wardens listen to Lodwell who suggests cutting through some farm fields. It’ll offer concealment as they move closer to the temple as well as shorten the travel.

Farm

While in the thicket of tall crops, the men begin being attacked by skeletons. After a horrifying battle with limited visibility, the decide to check the farm house to ensure the farmer is safe. Inside, another group of skeletons had just killed the farmer. The Wardens defeat the skeletons and ponder with Lodwell what the undead in the village could mean. The approach the temple next, unsure if they would face goblins, orcs, skeletons, or some other creatures Etlan has wiping out the town.

Temple

Scouting the temple, it is surrounded with woods on top of the hill. Graves encompass the building. From inside, they hear origan music.

They enter to see Krandex at the origan keys. As he plays, magic surges around.

Undead enter the temple from side doors while others come up from the rear, attacking them at the entrance. After a grueling battle where Lodwell continued to show remarkable bravery and loyalty to his men as they kept the undead at bay in the enterance. The Wardens fought with Krandex and the undead entering from the sides. Krandex’s origan notes served to activate spells, guarding him, attacking The Wardens, summoning more undead. The dramatic battle ends when a killing blow lands on Krandex. The music stops and the undead collapse.

The Wardens compliment Lodwell, then The Voice tunnels them out. However, her interest stays in this moment for a while. She watches as another scene plays out.

Manor

Back at the manor, Lodwell and the remaining men debrief.

Andes returns alive, unwilling to speak of what happened between him and his brother, Etlan. Really, Andes being a gold dragon, refuses to lie and say Etlan was banished instead of being killed. Lodwell and the others accept that Etlan has been killed, or at least dealt with.

The men praise Andes for his leadership. Andes steps back. He can never be the leader of their people, not with what his own brother had done, or what he did to him. Andes says Lodwell is as fine a man as there can be. He has shown diplomacy, courage, and honor. All the characteristics a great leader must have.

Lodwell accepts the duty to begin rebuilding the town. Andes stays, acting as an advisor. As Lodwell comes to know Holt and Willow, they refer to Vivski as Andes, because that is where their friend Andes lives. The name sticks and the kingdom that eventually rises takes this name.

Interlude: The Silence

As The Voice goes to place The Wardens, she sees a darkness moving, interfering with the timeline for a moment. A dark seed has been planted in time, the Darkest of Shadows. The Silence appearing and choosing an Avatar begins to taint the timeline, spreading pain and extinction wherever it reaches.

The Voice tells The Wardens about The Silence and her avatar, Darkest of Shadows. They can right some of the wrongs wrought by her.

Lorzen 11/17/817 Second Ancient

Meeting Lorzen

[!DM] DM As you enter the tunnel, the Voice speaks “You are untangling the sorrows ensnared in the weave of time. Every good unfolds new possibilities for further good. Some sorrows are tangled deep in the fabric.  These must be uprooted to bring to light the best of us.”

While you ponder the words, the edges of the tunnel slam into the base of a massive tree and burrow into the earth. Aquifers spew as your pathway drills through. The only light in your vison coming from the glow of your divine passageway as you are enveloped by earth and stone. Your bodies press closer and closer together. Just as the pressure becomes unbearable, the space opens up and you are spilled into a dark chamber that reeks of bodily waste and sadness.

A dim light flickers, revealing a gaunt, pale skinned elf in ragged clothes half laying behind a set of bars, his finger aflame.

“What time is it?”

Lorzen, imprisoned by the drow, speaks freely about Shaa Thalas and the attack. When the invasion began, it became clear to him that the invaders had help from the dark elves. In a desperate move, he used The Vigor to prevent them from wielding it—for at least 750 years. He has since been tortured relentlessly. Yet he survived.

After an earthquake tore the city apart shortly after the betrayal, Lorzen believes the drow have abandoned the area. Strangely, he never truly attempted escape. Perhaps he feels his imprisonment is deserved, a punishment for using The Vigor. He remains torn about that choice. To use The Vigor, one must make a cut and drink its blood, a living heart that takes 750 years to heal. He only wanted to keep it from being used for evil, to let it rest. But did he hurt it? Did it feel pain?

Now, Lorzen questions himself. Could he have done something different? Was his action premature? Who might have used The Vigor for good? What wonders could have been achieved, now lost to time because of his decision?

As the keeper of ancient artifacts, Lorzen knows more than most about the world’s history. To him, the deities are no more than powerful mortals who, through their understanding of patterns in the universe, had become entwined with its power.

He picks up a pebble, lost in thought. Lorzen: “To praise a deity for its divinity is to praise a rock for falling from your hand.” He lets the pebble slip from his grasp. Lorzen: “A beetle may not. But a beetle pretending to be a rock would.” Lorzen watches the pebble fall and stoops to examine it. Lorzen: “The more the beetle behaves like a rock, the more it becomes one.” He picks up the pebble again, lifting it slowly as he stands. Lorzen: “The momentum that lifted the deities will begin to fade.” He pauses, holding the pebble aloft. Lorzen: “One day, they will fall.” With a quiet incantation, Lorzen drops the rock, but it falls slowly at first. Lorzen: “All of creation. All of nature.” The rock picks up speed, slipping beyond the weak glow of his small flame. Lorzen: “Plummeting into darkness. Back to where it came from.” The rock slips into the darkness. Lorzen: “Crashing to the ground. It’s course complete.” He begins lowering his flame. Lorzen: “That is…” In the dim light, he reveals he had moved his foot to catch the rock. Lorzen: “Unless someone is there to stop it.”

With a soft kick, he flings the rock up like a children’s game. He catches it with a smirk, then tosses it to The Wardens playfully- levity breaking his previously dire tone. Lorzen: “Not me, though.”

Since his capture, Lorzen has spent most of his time alone, falling into a deep meditative state. Unlike most elves, who interact with the world around them, Lorzen’s total isolation and immortality have led him to stay in this trance for far longer than usual. Without need for food, he has spent a century in this state, gaining profound intuitions of the fabric of reality.

The Vigor, taken from him when he was captured, is certainly long gone, but the surface is open from the upper chambers where the dungeon resides.

Escaping the Dungeon

The Wardens help Lorzen out of his chains and begin finding their way out of the dungeon. However, the floor of the prison had cracked open during the earthquake. Monsters had crawled through and made lairs.

In one cell block, the walls are covered in dried blood. Large hooked creatures drop from the ceiling attacking The Wardens. Later, they find gelatinous cubes inching around, blocking their path forward.

Getting out of the dungeon they are on the edge of an abandoned city. Buildings have collapsed from the earthquake, but what remains of the city is inhabited with monsters.

The Wardens and Lorzen make their way to the surface through the deserted city. There were many drow who secretly worshipped Eilistraee after the betrayal. They fled the Lolth drow, entering newly revealed cave systems after the earthquake, trying to find a new home, away from the Lolth drow. But aftershocks re-sealed the passages and this group was separated. The Lolth drow abandoned the monster infested upper chambers, founding new settlements.

With Lorzen’s memory of how they had captured him on the surface, then dragged him down to the dungeon, they are able to locate the passage to the surface within the city.

Lorzen finally steps towards the daylight, he looks back on The Wardens as they tunnel out. Alone, he walks through the doors in the base of the tree; into Shaa Thalas.

Lorzen finds the elven homeland has been destroyed by the betrayal, and abandoned. The tree is dead and blight has taken over the surrounding forests. Elves have scattered across the lands, divided. He vows to use his long life to find a new home for elves. Free of worship but open to appreciation of the beautiful patterns of reality.

Interlude: Eckdar’s Accident 11/24/2310 Second Ancient

While distracted watching Lorzen’s life after his imprisonment, The Wardens are ripped from The Voice‘s grasp and pulled into the timeline by an unknown force.

The Wardens are dropped into Eckdar’s room. They are unsure of what is happening and The Voice cannot be heard.

[!DM] DM Your senses are interrupted in the bright lights of the tunneling. The Voice is silent, providing no guidance or narrative. The eerie silence is broken as the tunnel is uncharacteristically short. Within seconds, you plummet into a small, stone walled bed chamber. Rurik lands sprawled on a hard, single bed. Drood is draped over a night stand. In the opposite corner of the cramped room, a young half-elf is stooped over a tiny desk stacked with books and scraps of parchment. Through a tiny window, you see that it is night, but this researcher has lit a candle to light his night-time study. Startled by the commotion, the half-elf whips around, wide eyed. His flailing arms loose grip of a plate drizzled in strange syrup with a single strand of glowing fiber. The plate smashes to the ground. After a moment, he sputters “Uh, who the hells are you?!”

The Wardens talk with the man, trying to figure out who he is and what happened. The man is a wizard of Suxoth, a place of magic study in the city of Megh Mell. He has been working hard, experimenting with a new school of magic: Chronomancy. His thesis is about causal chains and how to detect them. If examined properly, he theorizes that these threads weave to form the ribbon of time that reality itself is experiencing. With this magic, he hopes to find ways to bring people forward through time, from the moment before their deaths to the present. Or perhaps, go back to rescue them.

The other wizards doubt him, think he’s crazy. He’s under a lot of pressure, he has spent a lot of Suxoth resources on tests that have failed to produce any chronomantically active ribbons.

What’s worse, his thesis has gone missing. He suspects his friend, Dormaer, has stolen it. He is desperately attempting to create a working ribbon the night before his dissertation, trying to recreate the intricate process from memory. What he’s gotten wrong, seems to have been just right and his ribbon summoned The Wardens.

They tunnel out shortly after, leaving Eckdar alone facing expulsion with no proof of the ribbon having worked.

White Raven 12/31/-1 Second Primordial

Arrival

The Wardens are pulled away from Eckdar in a tunnel.

The Voice: “There you are. There is a magic that is interfering with the flow of time. The Silence will use it to break the spiral entirely. Thir, your blood contains a spark of this magic. You must wield it to put an end to this, but first you must get it.”

The tunnel spat them out onto a vast white plane, dotted with hard peaks of grey. The descent was soft yet abrupt, leaving them sprawled on a colorless canvas of snow. A profound, peaceful stillness hung in the air, soon shattered by the shearing cold that bit through armor and clothing. As they struggled to their feet, the chill wind offered no reprieve. Rurik scanned the desolate landscape, his teeth chattering, until he saw Thir standing amidst the snowdrifts, proud and unshaken, laughing. Across the buried mountain peaks, the strange warrior shouted in his native tongue, “Home!”

Thir recognized the landscape, but it was an echo of a bygone age. His feet, however, found familiar paths buried beneath the snow, leading them on their journey. As they travelled, a white raven soared overhead, a beacon against the grey sky, winging its way toward Kvitravn, the mountain of its nest – the legendary White Raven. Thir tells The Wardens of his childhood teachings.

Thir grew up hearing tales of the mythical White Raven. Those that it gave a single white feather from it’s plumage, would have great power bestowed to their entire bloodline. In the fading light of a night’s last candle, Thir’s elders told of their primordial ancestors. After a great war between the titans and gods (Mortal War), his people trekked over many lands in search for a new home. As they lay freezing in the mountainous tundra, they were visited by this White Raven which gifted them a single feather. From then on, the tribe survived the cold. Thrived in it. They built their new home. The mountain they had been sparred by the White Raven has been known as Kvitravn Mountain and it is sacred to his people generations past. Many other tales had been told of his tribe’s people being given white feathers for extradentary powers, from the heroic to the silly. The Sehlman’s claim their great uncle wandered into the woods after a long night which is why they awake each morning as if their mugs were mere water. Thimig offspring attribute their crafting abilities to the white raven after their fore-father shot a hawk chasing it. And so on.

As they journey to Nokthin, they get into a fight with a snow creature. During the fight, Drood begins the shift into a polar bear not by trying to grow giant claws, but by bringing his mind into the headspace of the grand beast. His paws are suited for scraping open fresh, wet fish. He is a bear and his body then reflects that.

Druids know well the nature of a creature’s ego is strongly tied to the form of their body. They need simply to shift their ego and the form follows. Existing outside of one’s body is common to them.

Nokthrin

The journey was arduous, but Thir navigated the snow-covered paths with an instinct that surprised even him. He knew this place, somehow, though it was a whisper from a time before his own. As they neared a cluster of sturdy wooden halls nestled at the foot of a towering mountain, Thir announced, “This is Nokthrin, my home. Or will be? It’s bigger now.”

He led them into the village, a sense of anticipation building within him. He sought out someone, anyone, who bore the name Drevson. It was to a woman with kind eyes and a strength that resonated with his own, that he finally introduced himself. “I am Thir Drevson,” he announced, and the village, abuzz with the arrival of strangers, seemed to hold its breath. This was no ordinary homecoming. Willa Drevson, Thir’s great-grand-niece, a woman of sharp wit and quiet strength, welcomed them with open arms.

Hrafn urges Thir to not speak openly about The Wardens’ true nature except to Willa, their bloodline.

They must speak with the village elder in charge, Niels Grothmann. The aging patriarch, a man of cunning and ambition. His eyes held a calculating gleam. Thir introduces himself as a long-lost relative of the Drevson blood line. He shows his family tattoo. Niels notices the other markings on Thir’s body. Old writings. Niels becomes suspicious of Thir, but decides to wait until he has more information. Niels declares a feast is in order. The White Raven has been spotted on the same day as their new arrivals. An omen that calls for celebration. Niels’ eldest son, Gunnar, will go fetch hunt them a fitting meal. Drood, Rurik, and Shakule join the hunt.

As the hunting party ventured into the snowy wilderness, Thir found himself alone with Willa, a fire crackling in the hearth, casting dancing shadows upon the walls. He shared with her tales of his journey, of The Voice, the battles fought, and the horrors averted. He spoke of the ever-present threat of the Silence, and how The Voice said their bloodline has the power to end the battle. It must be a blessing from the White Raven. Willa, in turn, shared the history of their people, and a sense of unease settled upon Thir as he heard of the Grothmann family – a clan hungry for power.

Niels has two sons. Gunnar was the eldest son, a towering figure of muscle and arrogance. Jorn, the younger son, more cunning than strong, his gaze darts about restlessly. He seems to exist in the shadow of his brother, yet a sharp intelligence flickers behind his eyes.

Neither Thir nor Willa noticed that Jorn had been spying on them, hearing all about the true power of the White Raven. He tells his father who will send Gunnar out to Kvitravn Mountain to gain the favor of the White Raven. But Gunnar will have to slip out during the feast so that Thir and his companions are distracted.

The feast was a raucous affair, filled with stories, laughter, and strong drink. Thir, regaled the villagers with tales of their exploits, keeping the details vague to not reveal their true natures. He took particular care to avoid Niels and his sons to what extent he could.

Drood drinks quite a lot and staggers out late. After the night’s chaos, Drood stumbles into a shack. Swirls of mead have accompanied him into the valley beyond the peak of battle. Another way of experince that he has only felt hints of since the wizard’s bedchambers, opens wide. His body tumbles to the cold floor as he is launched through the gateways of time.

Back before the elves. Before the giant lizards. Past a multitude of planes bubbling into existance. When the earliest shapeshifters embodied forms other than animals wandering in modern natures. They transformed into creatures of more fundamental constitutions.

Hot magma bodies in undying flame, discontinuous apparitions floating through endless seas, gusts of wind traveling with intention across blue skies. These visons snapped away, Drood came back to the shack whose door had swung open in a cold flurry. Drood kicked it shut with a thick, crystalline leg of pure frozen water.

“Huh?! Ugh. I’ll deal with this in the morning.” The ice elemental turns to it’s side and finally, actually, falls asleep.

Drood has had a vision of elementals, and is gaining the ability to change into them as he experiences intense extremes of those elements.

1/1/0 Second Ancient

In the morning, The Wardens awake to hear Gunnar has left; off to seek the favor of the White Raven. Thir cannot stand for this and they battle the Grothmann family. They convince the Thimig and Sehlman bloodlines to aid them in the fight.

The Wardens head up to the mountain, trying to catch Gunnar. As they trudges through the snow, the crisp air hangs still. Tree branches droop motionless under the weight of white powder. Nothing other than your own feet crunching through the all encompassing blanket of snow seems to be active.

Rurik spots a rabbit near some bush up ahead. Walking closer, the rabbit spots Rurik. After a long moment of hesitation, the hare turns and begins bounding away into the brush. Rurik sees each moment as a slow series still images. The rabbit may think the crooked path it  weaves is confusing, but Rurik sees it play out with such clarity he knows before the rabbit does exactly where it will land before it does. Rurik is gaining the ability to see a larger scope of time, helping him land shots and avoid injury.

12/17/2311 Second Ancient

Plodding through the endless snow, The Wardens‘s minds drift and they realize they are falling through a subtle, weak tunnel unlike that which The Voice sends them through. They float in a void.

Faintly at first, then louder and clearer, they hear the startled wizard, Eckdar, they met in the bedchamber speak calmly, if not hopefully. “Test 4. Are you there?” A vision flashes of the man standing in a dank tomb outfitted with cobbled together apparatuses.

“Negative,” he notes. As he tips a plate of liquid into a bowl, The Wardens are shunted away back to the white landscape leading toward Mount Kvitravn.

1/1/0 Second Ancient

The Wardens reach the summit and find Gunnar and some men. Gunnar has the White Raven strapped to a boulder and is performing a ritual.

Thir suggests that Hrafn hold the axe and join them in fighting for greater numbers. This is the final bridge in Thir’s character arc.

During the fight, Drood changes into an ice elemental, having experienced intense cold.

While Hrafn is fighting Gunnar’s men with the axe, Thir and Gunnar battle. Gunnar gets the upper hand and slays both Thir and the White Raven. Thir’s body dissipates into gold dust that trickles beneath the snow. A death out of time. With the White Raven’s dying will, it makes Hrafn step in fully to the timestream. He is holding Thir’s axe.

Thir, as a young man, receives a residual amount of chronomantic magic from the White Raven’s dying will. This is what pulled him into The Voices’s path to begin with.

Hrafn and the rest of The Wardens return to Nokthrin. Hrafn gives Thir’s axe to Willa. The Wardens tunnel out. Willa lives on to hand the axe down through the Drevson bloodline until eventually it is given to Hrafn, before he is entangled in the war over the spiral.

The White Raven’s chronomancy blessing on Thir’s bloodline flows from Thir, down the timeline, reaching Hrafn, who now also has the axe.

Interlude: Megh Mell 12/17/2517 Second Ancient

The Voice tells The Wardens that the situation is getting dire. Before she can explain much, a bright light at the end of the tunnel interrupts them.

“Test 835.” A pause. “Come to me! I need to show them they have mistaken me. I’m not useless!”

Eckdar has become dejected. His body has ballooned into something not human. One eye bulges strangely from a fleshy mound that must be his head migrated down to his torso, the other eye wasting away at the side, dangling from a long thread.

The tomb walls have been expanded crudely. Strange writings litter the remaining stone. Any attempt to call out to him is futile against the tunnel membrane. Something isn’t working. In the absence of a response, he slams an appendage of his body on the table, destroying it.

The Wardens are launched without warning onto a well-laid stone street of a tiered district with intricate and calming buildings. Afternoon sun pierces thin banners draped about corners of the city’s architecture, casting the shade in brilliant blue hues. People mill about their early day peacefully.

Hrafn is now a fully embodied member of The Wardens. He has the axe and a wealth of chronomantic magic.

2/17/2317 Second Empires

Megh Mell is a proudly advanced city, been around longer than Tir na Nog. They have infrastructure, defense, bounties of crops, a magic school, even sewers.

Shops are open and The Wardens buy gear as they chat with the locals to learn more.

2/17/2323 Second Empires

Their vision blurs. Once again they are half tunneled to Eckdar, a bloated mess of flesh, confusion, but yet conviction. “Test one thousand… four hundred and… They need to see. Life outside of time, outside of death is possible. You can help me show them. Please. Please!”

Back on the streets of Megh Mell, the sun is setting. Children run home as shops begin closing for the day.

A person wearing an exquisite robe happens by. They speak of Suxorth, a place of magic study. Eckdar was a fool kicked out years back for not producing anything of substance and draining exorbitant resources from other research for a fools errand of manipulating time.

2/17/2517 Second Empires

The next The Wardens hear is Eckdar sobbing faintly in flickering candlelight, “Where you.. ever real?” Beyond the faint flame, a chamber is intersected by several long tunnels. The silhouette of a fleshy bubble hovers off the ground. Tendrils surrounding the bulbous figure twitch with each heaving sob.

“Never mind then. I will bring them back their loved ones. I will make them immune to the forces of time I cannot control. No one ever has to feel loss again.” The sad vision fades and The Wardens are back on the streets at night time. In the flickering torch light, the buildings are more robust. The few people walking the streets are dressed differently.

Green gas fumes from latrines and fountains bubble, releasing clouds of the sickly vapors. Across the cityscape, amidst the distant screams, people try to escape their homes only to swallowed by fumes emanating between the stones of the streets. They collapse as their life withers away. Moments later, their corpses rise again, clutching at the survivors. The moonlit streets glisten in neon emerald as the air itself becomes consumed with this toxic vapor.

With a plume of green gas, the doors of Suxorth burst open. Scared, confused, the mages pile outside. Though many resist, some succumb to undeath. A robed figure watches in horror as brothers slay risen brothers throughout the cobbled ranks. This figure looks around in desperation for a lifeline, then spots The Wardens.

“Help us! Our home is consumed! Ward off the evils as I lead my brothers in robes through the gates, out of this forsaken city.”

The Wardens help the mages battle their way to the gates and out.

The gates slam shut muffling but not deafening the countless screams echoing throughout the grand city. A society evaporating away in the night in the green vapors rising into the cool night air.

Turning to survey the new location, the robed man who pleaded to guide him and the survivors out of the city speaks. “Megh Mell’s grave yard. While we mourn and honor the dead, we prefer to keep it out of the city and focus on the future. We can get south, away from the shore, through here. Once we get past the-”

His face blurs along with the rest of The Wardens vision. Eckdar’s voice drowns out all else. “You come to me now? Help me show them they can live forever! I have infused the sewers with a special serum to give them life outside of time. Megh Mell is the beginning of a new era. Where no one sees the loss of their loved ones.”

As Eckdar rambles on, The Wardens‘s vision returns. Sounds of movement within the graveyard rattle them into alertness. The robed figure looks at them blankly as they motion for him to stop talking. What has Eckdar done? What has he become? Why can The Wardens not hear The Voice?

The Wardens fight through a massive slew of undead. A cloud of bones and magic swirls, drawing skeletons out from the ground. They fight it off and lead the mages to some more distant farm houses.

As they get further from the city, they come upon an entrance to the sewers. They leave the mages to travel on to safety as they head in to find Eckdar. The Wardens find themselves in Eckdar’s maze of sewers and carved out tunnels. As they search for his laboratory, Eckdar continues talking to them, his words painting a picture of his life after they last met him.

With no thesis, after having produced nothing of value to the Magh Mell, Eckdar was seen as a failure. Chronomancy doesn’t work. He was ridiculed out of Suxorth and the city. He left for the outskirts.

These outskirts are where the dead are laid to rest. Being ostracized to the outskirts because his best friend stole his thesis, Eckdar becomes paranoid. He even begins to doubt whether he’s seen the Wardens at all.

In isolation, his genius mixes with his paranoia and self-doubt and he becomes a monster with an interest in necromancy. It’s a strange mix of necro and chronomancy he’s trying to achieve to bring back dead loved ones.

He has carved out a vast network of tunnels throughout the land to release a magic gas that will immunize the people from death. It’s horribly flawed, because Eckdar really cannot do anything right. He is as useless as he feared. Eventually, they find his laboratory and Eckdar appears.

The Wardens tell him how he has made a colossal error and killed the town. He erupts in fury. They are still alive, in a way. And they can all stay alive, forever, as they are. The Wardens have to stop him.

When they finally slay him, Eckdar lays bleeding out on the stone floor.

A moment of clarity flashes across the monster’s single eye. He speaks to you earnestly for a precious moment. “Something is wrong. I have messed up again. I am so sorry. This isn’t what I wanted.” He sobs a moment with his eye closed. When it opens, it is clouded. “I see him now. Dormaer, the thieving bastard. What has he done?! I never should have written…” his words and mind drift in the final delirium. “I’m right here. Wake up, Sakaala! Keep breathing! I can save you-” and then his rambling gurgles into death. The giant eye in his body stops moving.

The Wardens are immediately pulled into a tunnel when Eckar dies.

Farfield 4/30/3702 6:50 A.M. First Empires

[!DM] DM The familiar tunnel. The familiar Voice but urgent and scared. She is vulnerable and speaks to you earnestly. “Know that what I ask of you is to save every life that lives, has lived, and will ever live. You come from a form of time that is shaped like a ring. Everything we have done was to craft this ring into a better state of being for all those who live in it. My actions have disturbed the ring and created another, The Silence. She too has chosen mortals.

The Silence has used her second avatar, Dormaer, to craft a model of the ring that she will use to rip time apart strand by strand. Whatever the consequence, we must stop this or there is nothing.

One mile directly south west of the tower, 40 feet deep, you can enter Dormaer’s lair. Destroy him. Cut the ring of time. This is our one chance at saving everything. Do not interact with anyone or anything. Go directly there. I am sorry.”

Outside the tunnel, you return to Farfield. A few citizens mill about the town’s square to set up for a festival. You descend into rooms rented within the Tired Mule on the eve of the Fall. Thankfully, you land softly within a sleeping chamber. As you cautiously scan your surroundings, on the bed a sleeping figure turns over in half-sleep.

You see Obel and Enoch, before they fell and were lost to the darkness. Shakule, you see yourself, clean and unburdened by the weight of the decisions you’ve made. Rurick, you see an elderly version of yourself. He has half the wisdom you have gained since then. And half the bone density.

Drood reflects back. As he has seen how Eckdar’s neurotic thoughts twisted his body, it dawns on Drood that perhaps his own underlying pathology may be limiting his form. By coming to peace with his life as a Warden, fully releasing all longing to return to his former life, he finds that he can shape into all sorts of things that previously would have been shocking. Now, his form is simply a matter of his will and knowledge, not his preconceptions of what is normal.

Rurik gazes upon his elderly self. He is taken aback by his predicament. Anyone who has aged and experinced their body creak and moan under the strain of everyday tasks, thinks back to when they were in their prime. A young buck, leaping over logs, sliding unto youthful knees, bow pulled and ready to loose an arrow. As Rurik aged, he found surer methods where success was granted by advanced planning rather than raw physical prowess. He sees things more holistically and can act on it as such. But now, having had aged back to his former glory while maintaining the insight of his age, what he is capable of is wholly unrecognizable. A steady aim with an old eye.

Shakul looks at his slightly younger self. Many nights Shakul has lain in bed wondering why someone would do something so cruel; to slay a child’s parents and ensure that is the last vision they will see. He has spent an equal number of nights contemplating why he, the blinded child, would be any more justified in hatred of those people than anyone not having been there that evening. Ultimately, it is a weakness to particularly spite those bandits simply because he was there. But still, why were they there? Why did they do what they did? Were they simply “evil”? What is “evil” anyways? Throughout Rurik’s experiences as a Warden, the law of cause and effect being beaten into his marrow, enlightens him to seeing not only from Shakul’s perspective, but others’. Shakul becomes effectively deeply empathic as he can see the causal chain of events that led up to the person he’s looking at. This gives him great insight into situations where he is fighting them.

Carefully leaving the rooms to not wake their sleeping, former selves, they slink down to the first floor to leave The Tired Mule. Hal Sleepwell is at the bar, preparing for the day and spots them.

Hal: “Think you’d sneak in and wouldn’t have to pay for the night? We’re honest folks here in the Midlands and we’d appreciate it if you’d be the same. That’ll be 1 GP for each of ya and another for the tomfoolery.”

Not wanting to interact or cause a scene, Drood tosses 10 gold to Hal. Hal says that will do nicely. As he picks up the small sack of coins, it shudders oddly. These coins are from another time and they subtly disrupt time around them. Hrafn, sensing the wrinkle they have created, uses a small bit of chronomancy to smooth it out. As they leave, Hrafn tells the others to not interact at all with the world, except their mission.

Outside, they see Francis struggling to throw a ribbon over a high archway. Spotting Shakul, “Oh, hello! Come to help, eh? How about one of you fella’s? My faith is stronger than my throw.” Awkwardly, they turn and walk away without speaking.

As they are entering the outskirts of town, they spot an elderly couple, walking out from the woods back to town slowly. Each hold a bouquet of fresh picked flowers in one hand, and the other’s hand in the other. The man holds the woman steady as she steps down onto the trail. Their somber, smiling glance at each other turns to The Wardens as they realize they’ve just stepped in the way.

The gentleman speaks, “Oh, sorry young men. Out picking flowers with my lovely here.” The woman, oversharing as elderly do, “They’re for our dear son Gerrald. He was the priest. Such a good boy.” “Right,” the gentleman nods. “If you could just step aside for shaky ol’ Garland and Jean here, we’ll let you get on.” The Wardens step aside without talking to Garland or Jenny Thatcher.

As they near a tower on the outskirts, a few pebbles turn to watch them. In the distance, they see the tower and two men outside. The Wardens avoid the tower.

Later, Darrio will sit with these men and tell them of his deal in Zatar for magic suppressing manacles. One says he knows the story. Darrio released some gladiators to slay a monster that had risen from the sewers. The other guy asks if this is why Darrio has never made magic suppressing items again; because sometimes magic is needed to deal with threats to everyone.

Darrio rolls his eyes at the naivete. “No. It doesn’t work. Not reliably, anyways. If you are handling a threat that uses magic, you need to end the threat; not try to contain it. This was early in my studies. I knew enough to make powerful items, but I didn’t have the grasp on the power that I do now. When the collars continued to be unreliable, one of the creatures prepared for the spectacle was freed. Those men that just came through, they were in the pit. They too were freed of the collars limiting force and defeated the creature that threatened to terrorize all of Zatar. The Wardens, Cogbir called them after they saved him from the creature. Right before they disappeared in a tunnel of light.

Legends come from many places, many times, of heroes miraculously appearing to turn the tides of a war, lead wizards out of certain death, free an elf. A tribe north of Andes tell tales that this group are on a journey through time, led by a voice beyond the stars. It’s hard to know what is true about them. Whatever they are, it is best to leave them be.”

The Wardens enter the thicker woods and travel approximately 1 mile directly south west of the tower. There, they find a cave guarded by hobgoblins. These hobgoblins are different than any the party has seen or heard of. When slain, the hobgoblins’ bodies turn to gold ash and sink through the ground. They must be coming from other threads in the spiral. This is the moment The Voice has been preparing them for since this began. The Wardens march deeper into the cave.

Untethering 4/30/3702 12 P.M. First Dark

Our perception of time plays tricks on us. How long have Shakule and Drood known each other? Before they became Wardens, but since? A couple months? Hrafn is a recent addition, but you knew his… “forefather”. There’s complicated feelings there. And how old is Rurik exactly? Does that question even apply to him? Dormaer has crafted a representation of the timeline that he and The Silence will use to destroy all of life. Through all their hardships since The Fall, The Voice has helped The Wardens grow; prepared them for this. Now is their greatest trial. As The Wardens walk through the caverns, lit by the shimmering blue of liquid time energy, they contemplate these.

The Wardens fight through Dormar’s cave system where his chronomancy pools glow, lighting the way. People and creatures from other cycles of the spiral emerge. They fight a pair of sisters, who also crumble into gold dust. Alternative members of The Forgotten. A chimera of cat and snail heads on a massive iridescent snail. Inky from Split. A Dario that is half rat after being infected by the rat monster in his timeline.

A narrow passage gives way to a large open chamber. With viscous lapping, blue water sloshes on the uneven floor. Platforms rise along the walls of the dome, what resides on them hidden from view. In the center, a massive column connecting the ceiling to the floor. On a risen ledge, a massively complex bundle of radiating threads has been woven around the column like a knitted loop.

Dormaer has woven himself into the loop. Killing him will sever it, destroying all of time.

Dormaer speaks to them. “Wardens. You traverse through time yet have arrived too late. I have completed the loop and the eve of The Fall is upon us. I am infecting every thread, and soon I will tear time apart from the inside.”

As they speak to the avatar of The Silence, behind them, a version of Anu Bayawak Adobong Agwo has risen from the glowing waters. A fight breaks out.

Dormaer casts an elemental shell around himself. Hrafn works to reach the shell and start breaking through each layer. Blasts of elemental energy lash out at him, burning his flesh, blasting him away, and crippling him.

Drood, Shakule, and Rurik are guarding themselves from Anu’s attacks. As Anu flies around the circular chamber to recharge his breath, they reposition with a plan to bring him down. With Shakule separated, he is taken off guard when a twisted Mumohr and Rou leap from the glowing water. Rou is clad in full golden armor, his eyes glowing white. He enchants Mumohr, charging the cyclop’s strength further.

Shakule pinned in a fight with the ratfolk and cyclops, Drood and Rurik are left to face Anu themselves.

Hrafn pushes through the last barrier. He is near death, but Dormaer weaved into the loop is before him.

“You think you are setting things right, but your meddling will only bring endless pain and suffering. Reality needs to be released, to let fall into the eternal darkness from which it came. Go ahead, strike me. It will only sever every thread of time.”

“I will bring them back together.” Chronomantic sorcery begins to radiate from the axe as Hrafn steps towards Dormaer.

With the last blow, Dormaer’s body falls still, then dries out into a black effigy. The thread snaps apart, Dormaer’s body bursting into charcoal fragments. Strands whip across the cavern as the luminous cords slips off the column like loose clothing. Individual strings reach out from the unfurling mass like lone snakes in a viper pit, but they disintegrate into dust as they stray too far. Hrafn stands at the center of the chaos, strands shifting back toward the axe. They seek a single point at the tip of the blade. As the strand ends meet, their loops coalesce into a single form.

The one loop begins to glow brightly through the midst of pluming ash quickly obscuring The Wardens’ sight of it. Cupping their mouths and noses as the particles fill the chamber, they notice smelling nothing. Dust particles, previously rushing forward in rapid plume, slow to gentle snow in still winter air. Ethereal geometric shapes flicker across The Wardens’ vision as they hear a familiar voice.

“The Fall. This moment has marked the beginning of a dark age for all grand cycles of time. Death and rebirth of the entire universe. The distance life strays from our cosmic instantiation has always been paid for in full by the chaos this dark time brings as the world withdraws closer to its origins.”

The Wardens presence in the dusty cave evaporates and they are left aloft in a motionless tunnel.

Behind them lays a confusing spiral terminating in a solid ring. Visions of the good they have done playout before them. Hal and Prima comfort the crying orphan Daisy. Survivors of Split cautiously open the doors of their cathedral and walk out unto the streets of their ravaged town. Maldwyn and Cayo run to the open arms of their parents. Cogbir, his mother and sister, finish loading up a cart and leave Zatar. Lodwell stands before the villagers, telling them they are safe. Andes stands behind him, putting a hand on the young man’s shoulder. Lorzen watches as elves and giants work, constructing a building in Tir na Nog.

“But time is no longer cyclical. You have severed the thread from its bonds that we and the Silence have been struggling within. While the Silence and our battle continues, the underlying pattern no longer holds and chronomancy can no longer change what was. Now, life is blessed and burdened to determine it’s own fate as time moves forward into an unknown future. We will stand guard of time so that they can live out what they make of it.”