Chapter 6.12: The Phileasson Saga - Part 12: Old Friends, Old Enemies
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The Phileason Saga - Part One (of Twelve): A Struggle gets Hairy!
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How we all ended up on a Fucking Boat?
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The Hunt for a Face Dongler!
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#The Story so far! (The TLDNR Edition)
Once upon a time in Thorwal, there were two ship captains.
One of them was ruthless and feared among all the merchant sailors in the west of Aventuria. His people called him Beorn the Blinder and he was considered the best privateer of Thorwal.
The other one was bold and brave, a true adventurer that has lead many Thorwallian expeditions to foreign lands. The people of Thorwal called him Phileasson the Foggwolf.
Both captains used to be friends until Phileasson accidentally let Beorn's sister drown during a ship race. The struggle between Beorn and Phileasson peaked at the winter solstice celebration 1007 after Bosporan's Fall. The high Hetwoman Garhelt Rolifsdottir-Jandasdottir got so annoyed by this ongoing pissing contest that she wanted it finally resolved. For that reason she reactivated the old title King of the Seas. A title with absolutly no lands, rights and/or power connected.
Only the prestige to carry it would be granted to the captain that would solve more of the 12 quests all around the Aventuria. The captains were allowed to use their own ships but had to recruit a completely new crew.
The quests were forwarded to the captains through a Travia cleric.
Beorn's cleric was called Lenya and used to have a bellow the belt relationship with Glen's younger brother Fred.
Phileassons' cleric was called Shaya Lifgundsdottir, a short woman with a heart of gold.
Obviously the heroes of our story joined the Foggwulf's new crew to appease Glen's father who was mad at him: Glen lost a brawl against his former fiance Jasma that determined if Glen's clan would still lead the fleet of their village's dragonboats. The leadership of the Fiddich's was questioned when Glen's older brother was caught by the Al'Anfanian Armada and his father got bedridden due to a mast collapsing on his good leg.
Other people in Phileassons' crew are:
Raluf the Bold is a gentle giant with red hair and unusual strength.
Ynu the Moha was a slave to the Al Anfanian Empire until he was freed by Thorwallian privateers. Originally he came from the southern islands of Aventuria and therefore he has heavily tattooed bronze skin and black hair and he really, really, REALLY prefers warmer weather and is SUPER superstitious.
Uncle Folker
A bard that is the source of great entertainment for the crew. He always knows the right song or tale of folklore at the campfire and he has a great collection of dirty jokes.
Crottet
Crottet was a Nivese hunter and trapper that originally joined the crew in Thorwal but later left the crew to rejoin his tribe after the Wolf of Misfortune
Part 1: A struggle gets hairy or the hunt for a face dongler
The first quest lead the adventurers north to the Yeti Island where they had to find and catch a living face dongler (a mammoth). The journey lead them to a forgotten valley with volcanic springs where thunder lizards (read dinosaurs) and face donglers dwell. After a short but hard hunt Phileassons crew secured a face dongler child and sent it back to Thorwal while a part of the crew went on an expedition for the second quest.
Part 2: The legendary Skytower
The second quest tasked the captains to find the legendary Skytower. If Columbia is Rapture in the sky, the Skytower is the elvish version of it made out Ice. The ancient Elfs called this place Ometheon, a tower that was carved into an Iceberg consisting of over 20 levels. Most of the levels were dedicated to guilds and artisans. Like every near utopian society the Skytower had a dark secret:
Originally founded by two brothers the Skytower was a place of art, science and magic. One of the brothers was Ometheon, a great engineer and scientist. Pardona, an agent of the Nameless god infiltrated the society of the Skytower and seduced him. She put the idea in his head that he himself could become a divine being through science and magic. With his skill and mind Ometheon challenged the ancient gods up in the sky(heaven) and with Pardona as his high priestess he amassed a huge following among the Elves.
Emetiel, Ometheon's brother, and the council of the high Elves feared the wrath of the old gods of the Elves and so they ordered that Ometheon had to be put on trial for his heresy. After Pardona failed to seduce Emetiel, she stole a dagger from him so that she could murder Ometheon before he was locked up by the council.
She then proclaimed to her followers that Ometheon was murdered by Emetiel and the council so that their faith would be silenced. Therefore the followers armed themselves and started a rebellion. The council was slaughtered and Emetiel lead only a few survivors out of the Skytower. Pardona and her forces tried to confront the fleeing Elves but they were saved by the Elven Dragon God Pyrdacor.
The Elven tribes that were saved by the Dragon and survived the onslaught in the following years are now known as Firn Elves.
The fall of the Skytower signified the end of the high Elven era and was the fall of the first Elven city, therefore this event has become known among the Elves as the Skystorm.
When our heroes arrived at the Skytower, they found it abandoned and only piece by piece they were able to reestablish what has happened here. Deeper and deeper they ventured into the tower. Eventually in Pardona's dark temple they found out what eventually happened to the followers of Pardona. Through experiments and the dark ritual's of the nameless god she transformed them into a new race of dark elves, the Shakagra. The Shakagra then built a city of their own below the Skytower on the floor of the ocean.
The heroes realized that the dark Elves were huge in numbers and well prepared for war due to the massive amount of human and Dwarven slaves in their mines and foundries. The heroes freed some of the Dwarven slaves but it took not long until their missing was noticed. The Dark Elves chased them out of the tower but lost their track in a snow storm.
Among the slaves the heroes freed, one stood out, Abdul El Mazar, a Tulamid wizard had been held captive by Pardona. The poor soul lost his mind during his captivity. He spends most of his time mumbling and singing children songs to himself. Only in few clear moments he shows a glimpse of his former well educated mind and some of his near prophetic abilities.
In this storm the heroes found Jasma who lost Beorn's group after her snow sailor crashed. Phileasson did not dare to go back to the cursed tower to warn Beorn so he offered Jasma a spot on his ship the Sea Hawk.
As the heroes nearly reached their ship they were ambushed by Dark Elves riding on strange ice dragons. Obviously the heroes bested them and then drove their ship to the city of Riva.
Part 3: The Wolf of Misfortune
The next prophecy sent the heroes to fight a fight without arms in the mountains of the Nivese homeland so that they could pick up the trail of the wolf again.
Little did they know that this quest was connected to their former adventure. The Dark Elves had recovered a dagger with blood from Crottet the Nievese. In a powerful ritual of blood magic they cursed Crottet's entire blood line to be haunted by a strange plague.
It became clear to Phileassons' group that fighting this plague was the third quest and so they traveled to the Nivese mountains together with a doctor and a Peraine cleric from Riva.
Although the heroes did their best to save Crottet's tribe still more than half of it died before a cure was found. Since a lot of tools and pelts were tainted from the plague the heroes and the doctor had to burn them. This meant that the Nivese clan was now low in numbers and poor even by their standards. This is why Crottet's sister Nirka decides to sell a chunk of the clan's Karen herd (read: reindeer) so that they can trade new tools and pelts at the Bornish markets.
Nirka is a wolfchild which means she is a shapeshifter that spends her life as a human and as a wolf. Her mate is a wolf called blue eyes that travels with the group.
During the trip the heroes find themselves in a magic forest. Here they meet Niamh Biangala, one of the last Light Elves that still dwells in Aventuria. She used to be an advisor to the last king of the high Elves. She tells the heroes the tale of the fall of Tie'Shianna, the capital of the Elven kingdom that existed before the first humans settled on Aventuria
After the fall of the Skytower Pardona and her army of Dark Elves started a campaign against the Elves of Aventuria. She won the Ogres, the Trolls and the Orcs for her crusade and one by one the cities of the Elves fell until only Tie'Shianna was left. The high King Fenvarien and his siblings were the last to hold the line so that at least some of the Elves could escape Tie'Shianna's destruction. Most of the Elves left for the Islands beyond the Fog while a few of them stayed to found the Elven tribes now known to the men of Aventuria as Meadow and Forest Elves.
Pardona's victory came with a heavy price since she had to make a deal with an arch demon to overcome the final Elven city. Not even the Nameless god could save her from servitude in hell. This is why Niamh is startled when the heroes tell her that Ometheon's power has returned and that the Dark Elves are prepared for war. She assumes that this can only mean that Pardona has returned and that the heroes should be cautious since Pardona is a mistress of deceive and a foe with plans that normally exceed the lifespan of a human being.
Part 4: On the Wolf Track
Finally the Karen track reaches the capital of the Bornland, Festum. Here Crottet decides to leave the group together with his sister Nirka and the heroes also receive the next Quest: They are supposed to search for the legendary sword that once belonged to a hero of the realm who was known as Erm Sen the Steppen-Wolf (yeah like the band).
First the heroes traveled to Vallusa to pick up the trail of Erm Sen. There the clues pointed them to Ysilia, the first city that was destroyed by Galotta's ogre scheme. Here the heroes accidentally helped to resurrect the Beni Geraut Schie Lailath.
Lailath
She was chosen to bring back the magic sword Selflanatil (Silverflame) to her people after it was taken from them by Erm Sen who defeated its original keeper in a melee during the realms campaign against the Novadi. The Beni Geraut Schie are the Elves that settled in the ruins of Tie'Shianna. Once the expedition forces of the realm came to close to the sacred city the Desert Elves joined the fight on the side of the Novadi in order to repel the foreign invaders who did not respect the borders of the Elven tribes like the Novadi did. The Novadi and the Elves were successful but Erm Sen did not fall during the war but returned to the realm where his unit was disbanded.
So Lailath hunted him down to Ysilia where she challenged Erm Sen to a duel that she eventually lost but with her mission incomplete her soul was not allowed to leave this world and so she stole essence of travelers that passed her grave until she was able to return to a living form.
Her search for the blade lead her to the Dragonstone Mountains where she joined Phileassons group. Erm Sen's final resting place was in the caverns below a destroyed castle. In those very caverns Phileasson and his party ran into Beorn and Lenya the other Travia cleric. Both were the sole survivors of Beorn's original group but they had picked up other adventurers on the way.
Beorn calls Phileasson a traitor and a coward since he did not help his group to survive at the Skytower and instead left them behind like he left behind Beorn's sister to ensure his victory.
A brawl between both groups breaks out but it is Phileasson's group that secures the sword.
Part 5: H'Ranga's Children
The next prophecy tasks the adventurers to hunt down a tooth of a sea serpent. They enlist on a ship in Mendena that hunts shark in the waters around the Island of Maraskan. Their first attempt to hunt down a sea serpent fails miserably and nearly sinks the ship. Since the ship is leaking they are forced to find refuge in the besieged harbor of Boran, the last city that is held by the Maraskan resistance against the Middle Realms expedition fleet.
At the sea blockade surrounding Boran Kurth is tasked by his order to find the Pirat Captain, Smuggler and Freedom Fighter Kodnas Han who is actually the only captain bold enough to still sneak through the sea blockade. After an episode with a demented wizard (The Dark Banana's version of Gandalf) and a Vampire Elf sent by Pardona the group loses Jasma in the jungle of Maraskan but learn about a Sea Serpent graveyard in a cavern where the teeth of Sea Serpents should be easy to find.
So back in Boran they promise captain Kodnas Han gold and artifacts from the Skytower if he takes them to that graveyard. Kodnas Han agrees to the deal since he is in need for coin to keep his rebellion going.
At the graveyard the heroes find out that Beorn and his group had already trashed the place, making the local sea serpent worshiping lizard people tribe upset. To make things worse a sea serpent decides to end his life by slaughtering both fighting parties in the cavern. Phileassons crew kills the sea serpent and chases the lizard people away.
The group returns to Kodnas Han's ship with a tooth of a sea serpent. As an Imperial ship is spotted by Kodnas Han's crew the heroes betray the captain by convincing the crew to turn on him and his ideals instead of trying to keep the war against the Empire going. Kodnas Han is then imprisoned and turned over to the Imperial troops. The imprissonement of Maraskans greatest freedom fighters leads to the eventual fall of Boran and to one of the biggest bloodsheds ever commited by the Bannray Order.
Part 6: The search for the Largala'Hen
The sixth prophecy takes the heroes and their new ship the crimson tide to the Sargossa Sea, an artificial island made out of alga that has grown around a ship wrecked Elven galleon that was carrying yet another lost artifact from Tie'Shianna. The Largala'Hen was a grail that allowed a demon abomination called the Mactans to stay in our world without being banished overtime. His poisonus algae grew around the ship and created the Sargossa Sea, a giant trap for ships where the Mactans' demon spider offspring could breed.
The Mactans himself was originally summoned by two mages who wanted to recover the grail from the enchanted ship but once the demon had tapped into the infinite power source of the artifact it turned on the mages leaving them trapped on the artificial island.
Beorn had also arrived at this cursed place and like Phileassons crew one of the mages tried to win him over to defeat the Mactans. Both crews had crafted weaponsout of sea serpent teeth and were therefore capable of banishing the demon. Since none of the captains trusted the mages they formed a fragile alliance against the Mactans. They coordinated their assault on the Spider Demon's lair without telling the mages.
Beorn however did not stick to the original plan to defeat the Mactans first and then to have a race for the grail just like they had with the sword before. He instead ordered a few of his men to steal the grail during the chaos of the fight.
As the Mactans realized that his power source had been stolen and that his defeat by the sea serpent weapons was imminent, he grabbed his two former master with one of his many tentacles and ran away.
Phileasson and his party had to accept the defeat through Beorn's betrayal and set sails for Khunchom where they would meet up with the Sea Hawk, Phileassons own ship that had finally made it to the east coast of Aventuria.
Part 6.5: The Lion and the Raven
In Khunchom the heroes ran into Nahema, one of the shrouded masters that they had encountered before. Once again Nahema had decided to interfere in the wars of mortal men. The Al'Anfanian Empire had expanded north and conquered most of the desert Khom and the Tulamid cities at the coast. During the war against the Novadi and Tulamid tribes the Al'Anfanian Emperor Tar Honak had revealed his true face. Unlike his followers believe he is not the avatar of Boron the Raven god in our world, instead he used his position as the leader of the Boron church to twist the gospel and rites of his people so that they would worship the nameless god without their knowing.
This charade reached its pinnacle a few years ago when he cursed an entire Novadi army to lose its ability to speak. The Novadis were unable to utter orders and assured the Al'Anfanian victory and the death of the khalif of the Novadi tribes. The Battle of Silence was considered a wonder of Boron and amplified the Al'Anfanian expansion.
Nahema could not stand there and watch while a champion of the Nameless God enslaved the south of Aventuria in the name of one of the Twelve and so she put a plan in motion.
A new khalif had to be found that could unite the defeated Novadi tribes again. Winning the support of the middle realm was impossible since the Keeper of the Realm Prince Brin's mother is also related to Tar Honak, so Nahema convinced the merchants of the Bornland that the fine silks and carpets from the Tulamid cities were cheaper to buy from the Tulamids than from the greedy imperialistic Al'Anfanians.
Then a marriage between Tar Honak and a Tulamid princess had to be arranged.
After that she had to find a group of Assassins that would be ready when the final piece was in place.
The final piece was a domino stone that would need to fall to set her plan in motion. That stone is called Selem a harbor city that supplies Tar Honak's army with a fresh supply of slave soldiers that he would need to battle the newly reunited tribes.
Nahemas' assassins knew that the Black Armada was on it's way to resupply Selem. If the Armada was stopped before it reached Selem, its slaves convinced to fight along side Bornish Expedition Forces to retake Selem, then Tar Honak and his army had to pause his campaign and relocate to the fortress of his new father in law that was easier to defend against the horse tribes of the Novadis. There Nahema's trap would snap.
Nahema convinced the heroes that their and Phileassons' ship had to support the infamous Novadi Pirat Captain El Harkir in his attempt to capture the galleons of the Black Armada. She also points out that the desert Khom holds a secret that can not fall into the hands of the Nameless God's servants while she blinks at Lailath.
The battle between the small fleet from Khunchom and the black Armada ended with a victory for our heroes, the reunion of the Fiddich brothers Ben and Glen and with the young Darion Paligan, the Black Admiral of the Al'Anfanian Armada becoming El Harkir's hostage.
