Chain of Worlds

Broad characterizations of what you know. Dates (especially past dates) are generalizations, not exact.

Time 0 = the time (year) that we started my campaign

Time -1000+
- the civilized races come to Haven, fleeing from elsewhere. Why is shrouded in myth - the only consensus is that they were fleeing some great and mighty foe.
- they start fighting with the goblins, who were in Haven first.

Time - 1000 to - 500
- the goblins are beaten, in part because of the near complete genocide of the hobgoblin race. Goblins remain a constant menace at the edges of civilization. The goblin gods (if they ever existed) largely disappear.
- the split between the elves/eladrin, and the halflings/gnomes occurs. Gnomes and elves are nature/primal oriented, halflings and eladrin civilization/arcane oriented.
- the first eladrin flying cities called Aeries are created.
- the eladrin and the dwarves fight a war over the magical minerals needed to build Aeries. There is no clear winner, and eventually a truce is made.

Time -500
- the portal between Furlough (where Yulia is from) and Haven (where the rest of you are from) is discovered by a Halfling named Pushkin. The portal on Haven is ontop of a mountain, that in Furlough is in a valley.
- there were the God War between the gods/worlds of Furlough and Haven
- Kobolds and Dragonborn all first appeared at that time, almost exclusively in Furlough. A very few orks appear in Haven.
- the town of Reunion and the Hold of Treffenholm are destroyed and the trench/scar was created. This was done by a massive discharge of divine energy either near or through the portal
- this occurred at the same time (and very close proximity) to a ritual being performed on the Grotius cube. The purpose of the ritual was to project the contents of the cube into the god plane of Haven.
- while the ritual was being performed, Treffenholm was being attacked by soldiers from Furlough. The occupants of Treffenholm were protecting the ritual. The Furlough soldiers spoke of a Petrovich who they were trying to rescue.
- the ritual was being performed in a cathedral. The cathedral doors had the son on one door, and the other 3 on the other. Voss's memory was that the cathedral in Ascension has similar doors, but all 4 gods on both, the son in the front of the other gods on one door, and behind the other gods on the other.

Time -500 to -1
- Steirholm is created next to the ruins of Treffenholm and Second Chance is built near the ruins of Second Chance. Relations between the two worlds become friendly again.
- the Order of Saint Tach'ol is created (an order of paladins, Olen belongs to it). It becomes a source of law and order, serving as guards, police, and justice system for many city states. It originates from Furlough. The paladins are free to worship which gods they wish.
- Prince Burundis of Ascension founds a new colony. Things go bad and contact disappears. The Undead kingdom springs up where the colony was.

Time -1
- The Undead Kingdom, led by the Lich-Queen Felosial, invades the territories allied to Ascension. Barrera (the other major city alliance) refuses to help, citing that it was Ascension's own fault. The party is sent to Furlough to get help.
- The party does get a pledge of help from the Furlough portion of the Order of Saint Tach'ol and several major Furlough kingdoms

Time 0
- on the way to the portal, magic suddenly stops, with a vacuum sensation coming from the portal to Haven. Magical works (namely a dam - and Voss's floating travel case) fail. The characters feel drained of their powers (they were 3.5 level 12 before) and their magic abilities and items no longer work, nor can they access their gods.
- closer to the portal, the party finds some orks. After some investigation, it turns out they are transformed humans. They hadn't realized that they had changed. They no longer speak common, but seem to understand it.
- at the portal complex itself, the floor is covered with a red goo, smelling of blood. No attendants are found. The portal is flickering, barely active. The PCs go through.

Time 0+?
- each of the PCs has a rather intense, personal and mysterious experience during their trip through the portal.

Time +97
- the players arrive in Haven. Some time has passed (97 years, to be exact). The rules of magic have changed, and the PCs slowly learn to adapt to them. Its late summer/early fall.
- the PCS return to Second Chance, to find it besieged by goblins, who have conquered the dwarven hold of Steirholm. Food and iron are in particular short supply. The PCs are greeted as heroes, having rescued a mule train carrying iron ore from a goblin ambush.

- the players later learn that Haven too was badly hit by this event, with all magic disappearing. It is known as a dark time with much suffering. Since that time, no Aeries (the floating Eladrin cities) have been seen at Second Chance. Most there believe the gods are dead - except perhaps Fenor, the Son, whose cleric (Varsuk) is insane (and is the oldest human in the town, though appearing young other than his white, Einstein-esque hair) but is the only person in Second Chance (other than the PCs) still able to do divine magic. Magic, however, has recently been reappearing. Both Kayla, the dwarven smith (who seems to fancy Baern) and Amasta, the halfling alchemist (a trickster, and daughter of the local barkeep) appear able to make items which are, for all intents and purposes, magical. Mr. Templerun (Amasta's father) also brews a surprisingly fine ale for such a small and remote town. The halfling drill sargeant (Griddle) also seems surprisingly competent for a rural militiaman. Marcus, a rotund and balding human, seems able to use arcane magic, but only through lengthy and complicated rituals. He teaches Savin some of these.

- at the mayor's (a dwarf named Grunskin) request the PCs find and rescue a group of kobolds, who were worshipping a blue dragon (Vermafex). The blue dragon was having the kobolds ambush supply trains to Second Chance. On confronting the dragon, the PCs learn that it was doing so because the goblins had captured its eggs, and were holding them ransom. The PCs agree to rescue them in return for a cessation of attacks - provided the PCs do so within the goblins deadline (a bit less than a month). They also find the remains of a dwarven explorer, who was searching for something called the Grotius cube. On the remains was a partial map to the ruins of Treffenholm, a dwarven hold destroyed in the God War. The Eladrin characters learn they can teleport, which is something new to them.

- the PCs rescue (from a bunch of rats of various sizes) a girl who has fallen into a hole. The hole turns out to be a silo, from which the PCs discover a stockpile of rice (much needed by a Second Chance facing a long winter with no resupply) and a way into the Steirholm.

- using the map, the PCs enter the ruins of Treffenholm. They right some drowned undead corpses, then come to a cathedral, full of skeletons from the God War. The doors to the cathedral have the Son on one side, and the other gods on the other, as if greeting him. Voss remembers the cathedral doors in Ascension being very similar, but with all 4 gods on each side. The PCs find a chamber, in it a large orb sitting on a square box in the middle of a magic circle (the players assume the box contains the Grotius cube). The PCs determine that the circle serves to concentrate energy into the orb (which is a containment device), which would then release its energy/contents into the divine plane (aka where the gods live). The orb is intensely magical. Upon entering the cathedral, some skeletons reanimate, once again fighting, the dwarven/halfling skeletons protecting the chamber where the PCs found the orb, the dragonborn/kobold skeletons fighting towards it, seeking to free a "Petrovich". Olen's plate armour becomes magical again.

- the PCs find their way to the Scar, a large gash through the mountain, which was caused by a magical blast from the Furloughans during the God War, and which destroyed Treffenholm. On the way, they find a magical campsite, left behind 97 years ago by the above dwarven explorer. It still functions, though is a bit worse for the wear (but is gradually self repairing). Anyway, at the scar, they fight their way across a rope bridge and into the captured dwarven hold of Steirholm, freeing some slaves in the process (though Savin had killed some goblin slaves during the battle). The goblins are using the slaves to dig rocks out of the Scar, which radiates with residual magic.

- once inside, they link up with an escaped slave, who leads the party to the leader of a rebellion against the goblin conquerors. The PCs are surprised to learn that the leader is a goblin himself (as are many of the rebels), hiding from the hobgoblins due to him refusing to give up worshipping the goblin mother goddess. Apparently, a man-wolf prophet had appeared before the goblins 3 years ago, preaching that the goblins would regain their place in the world and requiring them to worship the goblin war god. It was this prophet, known as "Lord Teeth" who was behind the goblins conquering Steirholm.

- soon after the talk, the rebels are attacked by hobgoblin soldiers, and are forced to flee. The PCs end up hiding a store room, which holds a long disused portal. The heroes barely hold out long enough to get the portal working again. The PCs escape through the portal, but unfortunately Yulia is left behind.

- a week later, they receive a signal from the rebels that the portal is again safe. The PCs use it to teleport back into Steirholm. They soon reunite with the rebels and Yulia.

- they work out a deal with the rebels - if they free the prince of Steirholm (a slave of the goblins), the rebels will guide them to where they think the dragon eggs are held. The PCs free the prince (and a number of other slaves) in a rock crushing factory - the goblins are crushing the rocks excavated from the scar into powder, from which they are able to seperate the more magical portions.

- from the rock press, the PCs flee the goblin reinforcements, during which they become separated from Savin, who sees the freed slaves to the rebel camp. The others flee down a series of huge gears, barely making it in time to the flow valve for the sluice gates, which they pull to cut off the pursuit. They then make their way up to the aerie (formerly holding tamed griffons and falcons), where the eggs are held by a mad goblin who likes to perform strange arcane experiments on those Lord Teeth feels fit to punish.

- the PCs fight and defeat the mad goblin and the abominations he had created with his experiments - he had used strange powers focused through a series of lenses to warp a halfling, a hobgolbin and two of the dragons into horrible mutations. During the battle, he also used his contraption on the players - those hit felt that both their form and their sanity was going to shift into something else. Soon after the battle, where the device was focused for several turns, a hole breaks in the walls of reality, spilling forth several tentacled horrors whose attacks were against the PCs grip on reality. With some effort, they too are vanquished. The players recover the mad goblin's diary, which they soon have translated (I will e-mail you highlights of it soon). They also recover one egg, but learn from the diary that Lord Teeth has the other.

- with the help of the rebels, the PCs develop a plan to get them to his chambers. They rebels trick one of the generals into an ambush by the PCs, who kill him (and his body guards - and some demon wolves) to steal his pass. The Eladrins then disguise as hobgoblins, and lead their dwarf and dragon born "prisoners" to the Lord's chambers. There they meet and defeat his goblin bodyguards, capturing his seneschal, who, in exchange for sparing his life, agrees to deactivate the wards set by the Lord Teeth on his private sanctum. The seneschal is true to his word, but is slain by Lord Teeth. The PCs manage to kill the Lord Teeth and some more demon wolves, finding the last dragon egg and another magical portal, this one having been created by the Lord Teeth. Voss takes a bone scribed with runes from the pile of ashes and bones that are all that are left of Lord Teeth, finding that it serves as a magical wand.

- with the Lord Teeth dead, the rebels convince the goblins to revolt against the hobgoblins and bugbears, and they free Steirholm. They find, however, that the goblins had looted much of the hold's armoury and treasury, likely having sent it through Lord Teeth's portal along with many sacks of the magical powder made from the rocks of the Scar. The players are greeted as heroes, and are given many rewards - some by the dragon Vermafex, who is relieved to have some of her children returned but saddened to hear of the deaths of the others.

- the PCs (save Yulia, who stays behind), head through the portal, to hopefully discover where Lord Teeth was sending things, and perhaps to make their way back to Ascension.



And the events since await a further update....

Posted by Anonymous at 11:31 PM 0 comments  

Let us start out with a rough listing of the knowledge and facts currently at my disposal.

We have come into possession of the Grotius Cube a spherical artefact that uses the Cubic law of Planar Stacking. Originally this device was used during the God Wars as a form of prison for highly powerful Collective Spontaneous Thaumological Fields (or deities as the layman insists on calling them). Created by the renowned artificer Nisendor Insenthel roughly 500 years ago, the Grotius Cube would appear to be a highly powerful artefact.

I have not encountered this law before. Indeed I have studied in depth the squared law of Planar stacking. It is this law that prevented the interpenetration of extra-dimensional spaces (leading to the question as to the state of this effect in the new Thaumalogical order). The cubic law of Planar Stacking was apparently forwarded by one Ansanthum Grotius, a theoretician that I am unfamiliar with (despite the fact that he predates me by several centuries).

I have seen a copy of the Malecarthium (a great magical work by written by Alosius Mark). All copies were assumed to be lost. I wish I could have gotten a chance to read it. Curiously it was much thinner than I expected.

I also, now have in my possession a memory core from the lost library of Anabaris (I had assumed the library a myth perpetrated by the uncreative theoreticians lamenting lost knowledge. The core would seem to tell the lie to my beliefs). Unfortunately, the core seems to be from the meta-biology wing and focuses entirely on various species of beast. Useful to be sure, but if I could get my hand on a Metaphysical core... Anabaris is supposedly located to the East, from where the civilized races came from before they settled where they are now in Haven, and it was lost in or before the Flight. So much was lost during the Flight... The Core I now possess, as well as the Malecarthium, were both obtained by Ancillin Eladrius. This would seem to indicate that either this Ancillin has found Anabris, or has stumbled across a collection of artefacts recovered from there. Unfortunately this is a name I am totally unfamiliar with so it does little good in helping to track down more information.

The Astral plane seems to have either been removed or amalgamated with wherever it is that the gods live. This has therefore likely resulted in a large reduction of the total number of planes. Since things powered or using the Squared Law of Planar stacking were highly dependent upon this number, a reduction in the total number of planes would have greatly reduced their power.

Unfortunately, I am forced to enter into speculation for a time here. I have been told (by a Spontaneous Thaumological Field known in the standard Pantheon as the Son) that the Metaphysical redistribution that we have experienced was confined mostly to Haven. Furlough experienced some temporary effects as a result of its linkage to Haven but has since reverted to its former state. I cannot confirm this but will, for the moment assume it to be true.

If this is true then Trian's multi-planar divergent theory appears to be at least partially correct. I was, however, told that there significant issue with the theory. Of course there are! Anyone even glancing at his meta-stasic calculations could see that!
Consider the following timeline (based upon our current apparent temporal location):
· Roughly 1100 years ago the Squared law of Planar stacking was postulated leading to the creation of extra-dimensional spaces and serving as the power source for the creation of the Aeries.
· Roughly 700 years ago (400 years later) Mount Pushkin was discovered and the link to Furlough was established. This increased the linked Realm count from one to two.
· Roughly 500 years ago, during the God Wars, the Grotius Cube was created. This was the first (and as far as I know only) example of an application of the Cubic law of Planar stacking.
· 97 years ago (roughly 400 years later) a magical realignment occurred. The result of this may have been (there is scant but mounting evidence...) the connection of a third Realm to Haven.

The above timeline is accurate, to the best of my knowledge, but it raises the possibility that the creation of the Cube may have started the process that resulted in the magical shift four hundred years later. Further, the power of the exponent in the Planar Stacking law(s) may be directly tied to the total number of Realms tied to Haven. Indeed the creation of an artefact relying upon a higher exponent may result in the universe attaching a new Realm in order to restore its balance.

Posted by Savin at 2:24 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin, Theory

As we finally approached the Lord of Teeth's lair (I've been listening to Olen too long to resort to such a colorful turn of phrase) we encounterred his Steward.

The Steward seemed to command quite powerful fire magic. The truly, remarkable thing, however, was the apparent source of these powers. Unlike conventional power sources (see my Treatise of magical channeling sources) it would appear that this creature was getting his abilities directly from a flesh a blood being (The Lord of Teeth)! He also possessed an egg likew device that allowed the summoning of a demonic form.

We were able to subdue the Steward and ask some questions (he was woefully unversed on Planar and Thaumalogical theory). He then led us to a warded door that he said only he could open.

Seeing no other choice, we allowed him to do so. Unsuprisingly, we used this as on opportunity to escape and flee to his master, the Lord of Teeth.

The Lord of Teeth was a creature that I am unfamiliar with. Bipedal but with fur and a canine-esque gface and head. Like the dogs we met earlier, he was partially altered by an extra-planar force but was clearly not extra-planar himself.

The Lord of Teeth seemed to not hold his own minions in much regard and dispatched his Steward for us. We were able to defeat the Lord in combat (he was able to generate Demons internally it seemed)

The Lord of Teeth was apparently planning to send the last dragon egg through a portal back to "where he came from" and indeed we found a partially functional portal in the next room. This leads me to consider that the Lord of Teeth may be from a Third world. Could another world be joining the connection between Furlogh and Haven? This would explain the apparently mundane origins of a creature that I had not encountered before. The flaw in this theory is that the portal linked to another part of Haven. But, as I mentioned, the portal was not complete (and clearly hadn't been used since we recoverred the last egg)

We returned the remaining eggsto their mother (she seems to have decided to leave the area) and after some additional exploration decided to travel through the portal as it would bring us closer to a larger city. Hopefully, I can find an actual scholar unlike Marcus and Voss!

Posted by Savin at 12:52 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin, Summary

It would appear. from their wild tales, that my companions encountered rather more excitement then myself when we were seperated.

I would have given Bolgen's left eye tooth to nsee one of the "corrupted" dragonlings in animate reality. I remain frunstratingly thwarted in my attempts to understand the workings of this new magical paradigm we find ourswelves in.

In any event, after we were reunited, our group was able to make our way towards where we were told the Lord of Teeth resided. We needed a pass card in order to accomplish this, however.

Fortunately, we were able to issolate one of the Lord's generals by some tampering with the Hold's elevators.

Accompanying this general were several wardogs. Normally this would be unremarkable except that these dogs appeared to be partially altered by a demonic (or at least extra planar) force. As usual, my companions were unwilling to provide proper time for in depth study. Indeed, I have not even been able to aquire proper samples. Thwarted again.

Interesting this planar influence is similar to that that we later encountered with the Lord of Teeth.

Posted by Savin at 12:44 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Savin, Summary

After regrouping from the Tower of Gears, Holy Kurn, our group managed to find Savin and once more come together. Our guides gave us more information on the heretical Lord of Teeth and the blasphemous Lord of Chains he is said to worship. It turns out that he controlled his packs with fear, not loyalty. We should be able to use this to our advantage in some kind of glorious ploy...

But I get ahead of myself. Firstly, we had to rescue the eggs of the Blue Dragon. With our goblin allies (so strange to use those words!) leading us, we ventured deep into the old dwarven hold, finding the door to a mage's demesne. Girding ourselves for battle, we burst in.

Inside were many slaves, but some overseers as well. Atop a platform in the far distance was a mage, who commanded a strange, vile machine of tainted magic. Nevertheless, Father Kurn, we rushed into battle!

The sick mage had beaten us in one way though: he had already corrupted two of the dragon eggs. As we battled the hobgoblin overseers, he released twisted creatures upon us. One of each a perverted goblin and hobgoblin, but the two dragon children as well, warped into horrific killing fiends. I myself was struck repeated by the insane wizard's terrible magics, and could understand why the dragons became the twisted freaks they were. Only the blessing of you, Holy Kurn, kept me in my beautiful eladrin form.

Eventually, and with great sorrow, we slew the tainted dragon children and the other foes before us. It was then I saw one dragon egg still remained! Hurrying, I covered it with my shield to protect it from further harm, while my brave companions all proceeded up to the perverted mage and quickly dashed him from this world.

We had saved one of the dragon's children, and I gave thanks for your help in allowing me this small, but significant victory. However, other terrors would soon be unleashed upon us...

Posted by Darren at 7:55 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Olen, Summary

After a week of relaxation with the best amenities we have seen to date (as poor as they are), we returned to the hobgoblin occupied dwarven hold. With the magical transport available to us using the gate, we snuck back in and were contacted by the resistance movement and reunited with our guide, Yulia. It seems that she retains her usefulness and has acquired the probable location of the remaining dragon eggs. We began to journey to locate them in the company of a skilled dwarf and several slaves. In short order, our intrepid band had run afoul of a large unit of hobgoblins. In a rush to get away, our groups was split up and poor puny Savin was swept away with the throng of escaping slaves while the skilled dwarf lead the rest of our group to a “shortcut”; a chamber filled with gears the size of Savin’s old tower. The door that we wanted was at the bottom of this half-furlong high clockwork nightmare and we were at the top. Well, it could have been worse, we could have been on the bottom and trying to climb up. To my surprise, Baern led the way on to the gears and down. While his enthusiasm has there, his skill was not as he fell down several levels at a time, barely under control, landing with all the grace of a …well… a drunken dwarf. Yulia also descended quickly as well, without much grace but with much less noise. I, of course, navigated the course with poise and grace while Olly fought a valiant rearguard action to ensure our safety. At the bottom, there was an ambush that Baern succeeded in drawing out, focused as they were on the noise that he generated. We attempted to fight off the ambush but reinforcements that kept dropping from the gears above forced the implementation of an immediate rapid strategic retreat.

Posted by Voss at 6:48 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Summary, Voss

Posted by Anonymous at 8:31 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Baern, Summary