Hail all!
I began this adventure a long time ago...and I need to finish it...but I thought I'd add my story anyway.
Enjoy...
Stillfoxx
"Live or die, you decide..."
Chapter 1 – Introductions
• Straphen Lohgett (NPC) - Mage, alchemist and historian who seeks immortality.
• Varohnna del Rohedian (NPC) - Mother of the Shin’ja’Nai, Mistress of Clan Mar’id; murdered in her sleep by the Assassin, Shev Moridin.
• Dettrava del Varohnna (PC) -Young Drowan Mage Priestess who is the last-born of the Shin’ja’Nai although, she is unaware of her ancestry.
• Kargonne (NPC) – Orcan Warchief responsible for finding the 13th Shin’ja’Nai while Lohgett sleeps.
• The Monk (PC) - Young traveler who finds himself caught up in the plans of a lunatic.
• The Amazon (PC) - Wrenched from her homeland, this warrior maiden joins the monk in his quest to root out the evil in the Blue Rime Wood.
• Shev Moridin (NPC) - Master Assassin to the Mistress of Clan Mar’id
Chapter 2 – The Bargain and the Hunt
Straphen Lohgett wanted to become a Lich. One hundred and twenty-three years ago, he made a bargain with a Devil: Immortality for the Souls of the Shin’ja’Nai.
If Lohgett could slay the Shin’ja’Nai, the Devil would place his soul amongst those of his Chosen; thus, transforming him into a Lich.
Lohgett began the hunt for each of the Shin’ja’Nai. His search took him over the globe. <<His memoirs and maps are locked in a chest and kept in his quarters near his bed.>>
The first nine of the Sisters were easy prey. With the help of Shev Moridin, Lohgett found then, took them in their sleep and stored their Souls in black clay ankhs.
Sisters Frey, Fallehn and Shentrava were more of a task. All three were found together in a temple on the Red Coast. They had foreseen Lohgett’s quest and had prepared. The moment he stepped over the threshold of the temple, they let loose a flock of carrier pigeons carrying one message to the 13th Sister.
After finishing the 12th Sister, Lohgett fled to the Blue Rime Wood where he needed to hibernate in order to recuperate from his wounds…fighting three Sisters at once had caused him many grave injuries and so he needed to heal. He and his entourage traveled to North Drift and set up camp in a small network of caves at the foot of the Northern Rim.
Before he began his regenerative sleep, Lohgett buried all twelve of the ankhs far beneath his makeshift laboratory and ordered his men to search the Rim for the 13th Sister.
They have been searching for two years.
Chapter 3 – The Lieutenant
Kargonne, Lohgett’s right hand, has been combing the Northern Rim for the 13th Sister. He has been faced with building and supporting a large camp for his retinue. His men have searched roughly one third of the Rim and they have found everything from hunters to herders but not a single sign of the intended prey. His men are getting restless and he is getting impatient.
Chapter 4 – The Amazon and the Monk
Enter a young monk. He was sent to travel the land, record his adventures and to learn the ways of the world. He is captured, beaten and hung in manacles from the face of Kerrin’s Perch.
He manages to free himself, fights a lone guardsman and begins his search for his captors. Circling the Rim, careful to avoid the regular patrols, he makes his way down into the valley of the Blue Rime. He stumbles upon a group of Orcan Warriors who are torturing a young human woman. The monk manages to surprise and overcome the Orcs and rescue the prisoner.
When they are safely away from the Warriors, they are able to share their stories and in doing so, become allies in the search for the leader of their slavers.
Chapter 5 – Shin’ja’Nai
Varohnna del Rohedian was born to the Clan Mar’id. Her mother and mother’s mother were Mage-Priestesses; both powerful and influential in the shadow world of the Drow.
Shortly after she took the mantle of leadership for the Clan, war broke out among the Drowan Clans. Varohnna amassed a large following and managed to survive as well as quell the uprising. She was instrumental in the peace that ensued.
On the eve of her 1000th Birth Night (Drow are always born at night with a full moon) she performed “Quel sar Tru’sec Abath”…the Rite of the Millennium. The ceremony calls for the candidate to be stripped bare of Oerthly belongings, bound by leather and stretched out under the full moon in supplication to the God Shirinon – “God of the Dome.”
As the moon moved over her prostrate form, a God appeared in the clearing. He spoke her name and pronounced her “Fa el Brugh Shin’ja’Nai”, the Mother of Shin’ja’Nai ~ The Daughters of the Night. He proclaimed that these 13, would be the nemesis of Karcil, Temlidane ~ The Lord of the Blue Room…his Brother. That any one could, if presented the chance, destroy Temlidane in one stroke.
Chapter 6 – The Ankhs
Straphen Lohgett is a Mage, alchemist and historian. When researching the effects of spider moss on an iron oak, he happened upon the note-work of Andalacia Whitebranch, the legendary Grand Druid.
Her notes indicated the containment properties of a substance known as black clay. If the material was mixed with Holy Water, fired in the blue flame of a Druid’s Hearth and then set to “rest” in a grove of steel birch, the container would be capable of housing a single soul.
Now all he needed was a way to extract the soul…
Chapter 7 – The 13th Sister
Dettrava finally meets the Amazon and the monk. She was drawn to the Blue Rime by a repeating dream of a woman calling her to the Wood. She happened upon the two as they were spying on an Orc contingent that was making ready for an ambush. A small caravan was making its way South for trade and was easy prey for the frustrated Orcs.
She surprises the two but quickly indicates her intent not to harm them and they relax. As the three share their stories, Dettrava realizes these two may be able to assist her.
Dettrava is a Mage…she wears all of the tattoos associated with casting and carries a long, curved athame at her waist. The Amazon is wary of her but feels as though she is cursed and so needs help. The monk, being the lighthearted and trusting one, feels nothing but compassion for the Drow…wishing to help her seek her dream.
The three thwart the ambush and manage to steal away into the gloam.
That night, Dettrava has her first “awareness” of who she is. She dreams and suddenly wakes in the throes of tremendous pain…she is in fact, reliving each of her Sister’s murders…
The pain was immense, the visions were blurred, but one face is clear…that of a horrid demon.
Her new friends help her through her “awareness” which takes a full day and night. After which, the trio is visited by the shade of Varohnna. The shade speaks slowly and is very difficult to understand but explains the tale and warns the 13th Sister against seeking the vile creature Straphen Lohgett.
DM Note: We never finished the campaign. My best friend (the monk) decided to leave the world of his own accord and so we decided to leave it undone.
However, as a tribute to him, I've decided to seek out a group and start it up again in order to see it through to conclusion.
Stillfoxx
"Live or die, you decide..."
I like liches just fine. My favorite NPC is one. But why go through all the trouble of finding a new group to pick up where the old one left off, if they don't know what's going on? Why not just start a new campaign, but in the same campaign world? Just set it twenty years after all of the old stuff happened.
Just a lich's ramblings.
Vlad.