To Restore a Kingdom

This campaign begins with a trio of adventurers finding a treasure map pointing them to the Crown of Kings. This powerful artifact can be used to unite the kingdom of Alamayne under an authentic ruler instead of the puppet regent (the so-called “Black King”) installed by the Church of Deem to legitimize their theocracy.

The Party

Akram (Elf Rogue) – Mark C.
Nihl (Dragonborn Monk) – Kasey
Rosetta Stone (Human Cleric) – Sarah
Wyll Wadyne (Human Wizard) – Martin

Round 19

Dragon’s Den

September 29, 2024

As the party tried to settle in for a rest in the oven-like heat of the tunnel, The Dude vanished from view. Shortly after, a portal of swirling flame opened in one wall, presenting a lush merchant’s tent and a wealthy man beckoning them through, saying he had been searching for them. Once everyone was through, however, the portal closed and the illusion evaporated to reveal the black and sunless landscape of the Inverted World and the merchant’s true form as the Pasha Efreet.

The Pasha Efreet, the Succubus and her Slaad

Realizing they had no way of fighting the Fire Genie, the adventurers handed over the Decahedron of the Realms they had stolen from him weeks before. Satisfied, he left them and they turned to his Succubus companion who offered to put in a word with the Efreet to return them all to the dragon’s lair where he found them, but the price would be their souls.

Instead, they made their way to the Fortress of Fire to petition the Efreet themselves for a portal back to where they came from. In exchange, they offered him all the wealth in the land of Alamayne, effectively making it his once the adventurers have the Crown of Kings and can command it. The greedy Pasha agreed and returned them to the cave he had found them in.

From there, the adventurers made their way to the lava-filled lair of the dragon Zovatora. They decided the best approach was to be open and obsequious, presenting gifts of treasure in order to be granted an audience with the great and powerful wyrm. Through skillful flattery and shrew negotiation, Wyll spoke for the party and secured the Crown of Kings, promising to pledge the wealth of the land to Zovatora once they claimed the throne with it.

Flying out of the volcano on their magic carpet, the heroes made camp and decided on their next move: to go directly to the capital city Mogretza and take the palace, with Nihl crowning himself king. Resolving the conflicting promises they had made to the dragon and the genie could wait until after that.

Campaign History

Campaign Log

Alamayne

The isle of Alamayne is a land ruled by the oppressive theocracy of the Church of Deem. They came to power a century ago in a crusade that swept away King Olaf the Old and replaced him with Virigoth, the Black King, a seemingly immortal figure who still rules to this day. Only the independent city-state of Ludinium on the south coast remains as the lone hold-out, an oasis of enlightenment amidst a land in a Dark Age.

For millennia, Alamayne was the domain of barbarians and bandits with endlessly shifting lines of succession and many periods without kings at all. Many believed unified rule of the island was folly, fractured as it was by feudalism and an inablity of its nobles to get over historical slights, but then, a hundred years ago, the Church of Deem emerged in the north as a power to be reckoned with.

With a zealous and brutal pursuit of justice, the Church was able to unite people against the institutional corruption and abuse of the ruling classes. At first, the devoted were dismissed as a fringe cult, but in the span of a few years they swept to power, ousting King Olaf the Old and installing Black King Virigoth in his place. His apparent immortality is their proof that he was divinely selected to be king of Alamayne, but nobody knows exactly why he is ageless.

Before the Dark Age of theocratic rule, Alamayne celebrated a pantheon of gods who were multivarious in form and function. Chief among them was Vatael who identified closely with the spontaneous energy of Chaos. The Church of Deem, obsessed with order and control, swept away the old gods, assimilating those they could, erasing those they couldn’t, and setting up Vatael as the ultimate villain.

Alamayne is a cold, dismal place of rugged terrain, lakes and forests, about 800 miles north-south and 600 miles east-west. The overall style and flavour of the setting is Northern European, Celtic/Norse/Mongolian of the 12th-14th century. Think Frazetta’s Conan the Barbarian paintings or the first 20 minutes of the 1982 film. Only the southern tip of the island is in the temperate zone, the rest is sub-arctic, so lots of wind, rain and snow.

Ludinium

The campaign begins in the independent city-state of Ludinium. Home to about 25,000 people, it covers an island just off the southernmost tip of Alamayne connected by a bridge with a large fortress gatehouse. The surrounding countryside is soft marshland which discourages any attack by land forces.

Ludinium has been around for centuries but became an independent city-state shortly after Virigoth was coronated, when the most wanted man in the kingdom, Temvorian the Sorcerer, formed an alliance with other magic-users and took the palace of Ludinium in a swift coup that ended the reign of Duke Miderran. Temvorian had a special relationship with Ozeiaza the Bronze Dragon who helped repel the avenging armies of the Black King long enough for the magic-users to turn the surrounding land to intractable swamp which claimed many an enemy soldier.

Whereas Alamayne resembles a Dark Ages European backwater, Ludinium is an oasis of culture and enlightenment more akin to Renaissance Florence. It is governed by a council of eight guildmasters who are selected from the dozens of trade guilds in the city, serving for two years before being replaced. Presiding over the council with veto power is Lady Marade, the latest in the line of Temvorian’s descendants to take the leading role. As long as Ludinium has a ruling Sorcerer of the line of Temvorian, Ozeiaza will be its patron and protector.

Alamayne’s navy has never fared well in the waters around Ludinium where Ozeiaza loves to swim and capsize hostile vessels. The city-state, lacking any arable farmland, trades heavily with the Kingdom of Falay across the channel for everything they need, so the merchant marine class is vital to Ludinium’s survival and the Dragon is known to favour trade ships over war ships.

Ludinium has a sizeable University Arcanum where magical tomes from across Alamayne have been sequestered rather than be burned by the church. There is a population of Wizards, Warlocks and Sorcerers in Ludinium which puts it on the map for travellers from the Skyrealms. The University Tower even has a dock for skyships which come to visit on a semi-regular basis.

All races and classes are available in Ludinium, but outside the city things get a lot more restricted.

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