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
- Gilbert Fezziwig (Gnome Artificer) – Mark M.
- Maran Maraka (Half-Elf Bard) – Mark C.
- Nihl (Dragonborn Monk) – Kasey
- Rosetta Stone (Human Cleric) – NPC
- Villitch Van Velckha (Aasimar Paladin) – Ross
- Zabrina (Tiefling Warlock) – Natasha
Round 5
The Fortress – Part I
February 25, 2023
The party emerged from Elfland into a gathering dusk that appeared to be only a day after they left, according to the moons overhead. They were in the rough, lightly wooded foothills of the Handera Mountains with what looked like a watchtower or keep nearby.
Heading for the structure, the adventurers came into conflict with a group of Orcs who seemed to be working for the wizard Garisul, their quarry. As they approached the tower, the heroes saw a large army camped between them and it. This army appeared ready to march at any moment, and a Hill Giant was spotted among the three hundred or so orcs.
As night fell, the party spent hours circumnavigating the army to approach the keep from the far side, where it looked out over a ravine. A cave in the rockface allowed access to the dungeons of the keep, once a caged Gibbering Mouther placed in their way was barbecued to death.
The dungeons showed signs of a much larger-scale version of the black magic process for turning men into orcs that the party had seen under Neyata’s control. All signs showed that the place had been in heavy use until very recently, building the army outside.
Moving past a Flesh Golem sentry blocking access to the keep aboveground, the heroes found a small group of orcs and their Orog leader assembled and waiting for something. As combat broke out, the Orog ran upstairs, presumably to warn Garisul in the tower above.
Campaign History
- Round 1: Rescue Mission
- Round 2: The Wolf of Wexam
- Round 3: The Bard and the Monk
- Round 4: Adventures in Elfland
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.
