Jadida Alam page2
Chapter Ten
The Northern Alliance took temporary power of Khawr Madi. The commanding generals agreed with the heroes in setting Princess Dahab in the thrown, yet they were not willing to release total control of the city. The generals did agree to let the heroes make choices in the rebuilding of Khawr Madi. A plan was set out to regain control of the captured city. Kala set out to create anti Terous propaganda, while others set out to elevate the image of Queen Dahab. Kyron, the Paladin of Bene Ris set about rebuilding the temples in the city and formed a plan to build one massive temple of many faiths. Captured soldiers from Ruba were commissioned as laborers for the rebuilding process.
Ameen Said set out to train willing recruits to form the new royal guard, loyal only to the queen. He chose among his chief recruits many of the halflings he had trusted most from his time in Al Janna. The city was also at a loss for any law enforcement since the Temple of Bahamut was destroyed. Tiaclyes was not to be found anywhere within the city and his loyal magistrates had dispersed throughout the city. Crime within the walls of Khawr Madi had run rampant. While the heroes sought to train and enlist those they believed loyal to the Queen as new law enforcement magistrates they themselves took to the streets and sought to put fear into the hearts of the emboldened crime element.
To Sameera the rebuilding was coming along, yet the greater threat of Orcus's army was still left un-addressed. She gathered the generals of the Northern Alliance, Queen Dahab and Kala and Muzaffar (the later at the Queen's request) into a council to decide what direction was to be taken.
The facts and history were laid out as follows:
The history of Jadida Alam, as it was known dictates that as the War of Worlds end drew to a close the first Lord Terous made a pact with the gods to end the siege of demons from Rin Bild and the massive hordes of Formorians and giants. This pact created the Qudssi Mass and at the last moment the armies that set out to consume Alam were themselves consumed by the power of the gods. The war was over and the First Lord Terous created Khawr Madi at the base of the Valley of Riddles.
However this history was not in fact the way things actually happened. The books found by the heroes in the ancient tomb of the Raven Queen (see chapter six) had revealed a prophecy made long before the War at World's End. The First Lord Terous had not made a pact with the gods, instead his pact was made with the Demon Lord Orcus. Orcus had promised to banish the forces set out to destroy Alam in exchange for the promise of his return in the time of the grand child of the first Lord Terous. The prophecy claimed his forces would return in an effort to wage their war on the Raven Queen when the powerful Qudssi Mass itself had returned to Khawr Madi. Because of this the first Lord Terous left the stone in the temple at Muk Jaras.
It seemed evident that the current Lord Terous (Terous bin Sadyr) was aware of this prophecy which explained his campaign to rid Alam of all books of history and scrolls of prophecy. He sought to hide the fact that the doom of the world would come at the time of his rule. It also explained his seeming refusal to help mend the stone and his eventual animosity toward the travelers who had inadvertently brought the stone into the city, setting about the chain of events that would mean the fall of Jadida Alam.
The sightings of the Raj Ghurab were the first hint of the truth in the prophecy and throughout the lands more clues that the undead servants of Orcus were indeed mobilizing into an army set out to achieve the demon lord's goals.
Sameera put the question before the council: should the populace be made aware of what was to come or would the brave few heroes seek a solution to the problem and try to stop the war in secret. It was decided that the city of Khawr Madi would not be able to handle the truth of the situation and the heroes would find a way to stop the plans of Orcus. Together they agreed more information was needed so they sought to interrogate Lord Terous bin Sadyr.
During this interrogation they discovered the man they had in captivity was not Lord Terous, but another doppleganger and that the real Lord Terous had escaped before the war to Ruba. Before the party could make further plans a traveler from Muk Jaras stumbled into the palace claiming the small southern town had been stormed by undead, zombies, skeletons and Raj Ghurab. The party made out immediately to save their home town.
Chapter Eleven
The two day journey home had the traveler witness the world as they knew it was changing. The skies had grown gray and crackled with gloom energy. The rest-stop, Hagos' (see chapter four) was abandoned, the owners and their sons found dead. laying in wait for unwary travelers was a massive brown dragon. After a drawn out fight, the dragon was defeated and the party made their way south again to save Muk Jaras.
The scene at their home town was dreadful. Zombies had been made of many of their long time friends. Even children had been made into servants of Orcus. They bravely fought their way through the town and rescued many refugees along their way to the island temple of Bahamut. On the shores of the island they found the source of the undead invaders, a death priest of Orcus had been enacting a ritual of awakening throughout the city. They defeated the death priest and the undead fell like discarded puppets. Within the temple heroes found the remaining survivors of Muk Jaras. Again they were greeted as heroes. However it was not all celebration and praise. The day after the flood Muk Jaras had seen new visitors, a party of four dwarves had come to the town. While the party left Muk Jaras, the dwarves set about to help repair the flood damage. These dwarves came forward now, their heads hung low. They confessed to the party they had been hired some months ago, to destroy the dam at Yamm Kasr, thus causing the flood itself. They claimed they were mercenaries and had not known the harm their actions would have truly caused. They threw themselves at the mercy of the lord of Muk Jaras, and the mercy of the heroes. They admitted they would probably not have admitted their guilt in the destruction of the damn had it not been for the arrival of the man who hired them to destroy the dam in the first place. This man had come to Muk Jaras just days before the undead attacked. He made for the temple and the lore stored there, like a man possessed. He was looking for something and at last it seemed he found it. For he rode out on his camel, speaking little to anyone within the town. Even as the dead sprung from the earth he sought not to protect the town at all. As if driven by madness he fled toward the Valley of Riddles. The priest of the temple saw the man had with him the Qudssi Mass.
The Dwarves knew this man as Tiaclyes of Khawr Madi.
Chapter 12
The next day the party left on the trail of Tiaclyes, not before Kala had received a summons from Sameera (by raven of course). It seemed the armies of Orcus had already begun their war on Khawr Madi and Sameera asked that any available heroes come immediately in defense of the valley city. Kyron, Aleek and Kala all left at once through the portal (created by a scroll carried by the raven) while the others headed toward the Valley of Riddles. Joining the heroes was a feisty and ferocious dwarf named Angus. He had come from Yamm Kasr not long after the dam had been burst. He claimed no fight he lead had ever been lost and he was anxious to get his axes bloodied by any enemy of Alam.
Crossing treacherous rope bridges the party was ambushed by harpies. Delving deeper into the valley the heroes fought not only elusive dark ones but a mighty Ettin as well. They bravely defeated all opposition they encountered and long into their first day of travel were surprised to find a woman merchant, stranded in a nearly dry riverbed within the valley. She told the party she had seen Tiaclyes the day before and that he had been working to save her. He was in fact at this very moment collecting supplies to mend her wagon and help her out of the valley. She began to lead the party to where Tiaclyes was when the elf, Galen noticed something monstrous lying in wait. A shambling mound burst forth from a wall of thorns and the apparently stranded woman revealed herself to be a Lamia. The party fought her and her enslaved shambling mound. After defeating the fey beasts they discovered Tiaclyes was indeed where the lamia had indicated, but he was not aiding her. He was nailed to a cross and his body was being consumed by the scarabs of the lamia. Tiaclyes was not dead yet however. And though the lamia had taken from him his armor and weapons she had not taken the Qudssi Moss, now slung around his neck on a leather cord. With his dying words Tiaclyes gave the heroes the key to the armor of the first Lord Terous, a fine suit of scale male once seen in his temple (see chapter five). The armor was summoned by activating the key. More importantly, Tiaclyes said he knew of someone in the valley who could perhaps put an end to this war. He begged the party forgive him for his actions. He sought blew up the dam to cause a flood that would stop the excavation of the Raven Queen's ruins (see chapter six). He feared Sameera was after weapons of destruction and war. His actions however led to the prophetic downfall of Jadida Alam. he begged for forgiveness and more importantly he begged they would go on where he couldn't. The heroes must find the eladrin guardian known as Duvallier. Duvallier would have the answer and direction to win this war against Orcus. With that he died
Chapter Thirteen So with the direction given from Tiaclyes, the party set out to find Duvallier. It was said Duvallier was the guardian of a bridge that spanned the widest part of the Valley of riddles. Placed there as a sentry a century ago, Duvallier had an arcane enhanced knowledge of all that occurred within the treacherous valley.
The way to the bridge was not easy. The heroes were ambushed by gnolls along the way and were forced to navigate the confusing and shadow filled valley to find a bridge some did not even believe existed. Muzaffar discovered their journey was aided however by the Qudssi Mass. It seemed the once inert stone now brimmed with radiant energies. Muzaffar could use the stone as an implement to focus his spells and magic through. Perhaps with the guidance of the empowered stone the travelers found the bridge at long last.
Chapter Fourteen
The travelers were greeted quite amicably. They were surprised to find Duvallier was not alone on the bridge as they had been told he would be. It seemed it was time for Duvallier to retire his hundred year long station. His replacement, a young eladrin woman named Mollabryn was to be the new sentry of the bridge. Duvallier invited the party to stay in the sanctity of the garden on the massive bridge. The next day they could finish their journey. They could attempt to end the war with Orcus. Duvallier told the party Orcus' servants had created a tower in the valley, and within that tower was an enchanted well of fire. This well of fire was the fuel that created the necrotic energies needed to create the massive armies of undead meant to serve Orcus. To destroy the well the heroes must cast the sacred stone, the Qudssi Mass into the well. This would destroy Orcus' chance of building armies in Alam.
So the travelers made their camp on the mystical bridge. They learned from Mollabryn that she had been watching them through her scrying pool. She had watched their travels from the moment they were chosen in the Istillah bin Mass (see chapter one). She had longed to aid in their quest, to support their cause of saving Alam from Orcus and his evil schemes, but Duvallier preached the purpose of the guardian is to be impartial, to be eyes not the sword of the world. She was doomed to spend a century on the bridge, as Duvallier had before her.
The next day the group made their way across the bridge. They travled through a series of caves and encountered a nest of giant spiders. They freed a pacifist Dark One from the clutches of the great spider. This Dark One went by the name of Moggle. He claimed he did not follow the sadistic ways of his kin and had been banished from his people because of his views. In his exploration of the valley he had found a tribe of Troglidytes and said if the party would allow him to travel with them he would show them this tribe. The Troglidytes sat on a pile of treasure and the heroes would like to get their hands on such valuables. Beyond that he knew a way into the Tower the heroes sought. So though the travelers did not trust Moggle they let him tag along seeking to use his knowledge to aid their quest.
Moggle was truthful about the Troglidytes. They did sit on a pile of treasure and the heroes quickly defeated them. When the party finally made their way out of the caves they came across their destination, the Tower.
Chapter Fifteen
Before the Tower was a massive army of undead, lurking, mindless, waiting for orders from their unseen general. Moggle told the party there was a sewage tunnel behind the tower. If they could skirt around the canyon's edge they could access this tunnel and get inside the tower without having to wade through the army of undead. The heroes found the sewage tunnel and made their way through minor opposition in the form of a pack of wererats. They made their way into the tower and defeated zombies and the raj ghurab. They fought servants of Orcus, treacherous human converts to the demon lord of undeath's cause. They even fought an ancient vampire and her coven during their ascent. As they searched room by room through the tower they decided they surely would not survive if they did not find a quicker path to the well of fire. So they began to scale the outside of the tower (now some forty feet from the ground below) and head directly to the top. The climb was difficult and Galen the elf as well as Lerissa fell halfway from the top of the over hundred foot tall tower. Wounded from the fall but not defeated they grabbed their ropes and continued up the obsidian like structure until they came to a balcony near the very top of the tower.
Upon entering the balcony they say more Raj Ghurab and and a flaming immolith named Tsaroh. Tsaroh was the demon controlling the armies for Orcus. The party heroically charged down the stairs into the demon's chamber, bashing the Raj Ghurab and fighting for their lives against the demon. Muzaffar used the radiantly charged Qudssi Mass to sling potent spells against Tsaroh, magic that would prove fatal to the demon. After a hard battle the heroes again were victorious. The well of fire was before them. Muzaffar was reluctant to cast the Qudssi Mass into the well. Never before had he held such a potent weapon. However it's greatest use would be in thwarting Orcus and so the wizard disposed of the sacred stone. At the same instant the tower began to crumble around the party. They fled towards the stair from whence they came and were about to try and climb down the tower when a flash of black energy interrupted them. Standing before them was Mollabryn, the eladrin woman from the bridge. She told them they must hurry through the portal she created. Though they defeated Tsaroh and destroyed the well of fire, there was still one more quest they must complete before Orcus would be thwarted in Alam. The heroes jumped through the portal and found themselves in the Shadowfell.
Chapter Sixteen
In the dark night of the Shadowfell Mollabryn explained to the travelers that Tsaroh was but a lieutenant of Orcus, and his general in charge of the war was to be found in the Shadowfell city of Thalaskiazo. This general was actually one of the Raven Queen's own Raven Knights. The Raven Knights were normally loyal to the Raven Queen, but this one was a traitor. He served Orcus. If he was not defeated the war would continue. Though the well of fire was destroyed, this traitor Raven Knight would find another way to serve Orcus and wage war on Alam. The party must find and destroy this Raven Knight. There was however another way. Raven Knights are appointed by the Raven Queen herself. And once appointed they cannot be unseated from power except by their deaths. Or if one would give their soul, would willingly sacrifice their self to the Raven Queen, then the Traitor Raven Knight could be dethroned from his seat of power. So Mollabryn put the choice before the party: You could travel to Thalaskiazo, seek out and assassinate the Raven Knight and thus ensure the survival of Alam, or one of you could give your life right now to the Raven Queen and all of this would be over. In an instant. In a moment. One life given and a world saved. Nazilli laughed at the eladrin. "We have come all this far, fought demons and dragons and worse. Nothing has stopped us yet, and no Raven Knight will! I say we find this bastard traitor and slay him." And so, the party agreed and made their way to the Shadowfell city of Thalaskiazo.
Upon arriving at the city they found it was much like Khawr Madi, only a darker and more twisted version than its mortal realm counterpart. Nonetheless it was a city full of life in a land of the dead. Though the city was part of the Shadowfell, there was life here. Thalaskiazo was living breathing city. Most of the population was Shadar-kai but there were humans, elves, even dwarves moving about the town, just like in any mortal realm. So they set out to find the best way to reach the Raven Knight. After a day of investigation, of searching the churches, the city guard, and the lowest streets of Thalaskiazo the travelers learned of a perfect time and place to set an ambush for the Raven Knight. As their plan unfolded they began their assault on the Raven Knight. Upon first glance they recognized their target was none other than Lord Terous himself. "that guy owes me money!" exclaimed Lerissa. With well practiced fighting experience the heroes unleashed on the Raven Knight. He stood and fought for a while, but quickly learned he would not survive if he stood his ground. So he fled, calling all nature of beasts to slow his pursuers. To the temple of the Raven Queen he hurried, the heroes following close behind. Even his battle weight guards could not stop the party's singular pursuit and on the steps of the temple the Raven Knight breathed his last. As he fell to the floor the heroes realized he was not the Lord Terous they had known, but rather the grandfather of Terous bin Sadyr. The Raven Knight was the one responsible for every bit of the journey of the heroes, and now he lay defeated. Just a few short moments after his defeat the new Raven Knight was appointed. Tiaclyes stepped forth from the shadows. The Raven Queen had deemed he would be a valuable guardian in her kingdom's defenses. Tiaclyes thanked the party for their efforts. They were truly heroes and saviors of Alam. He was aware of the irony of his new stature and position. He had spent his life opposing the Raven Queen, now he would spend his undeath devoted to her. Such is the way of the world.
Epilogue
The party returned to Khawr Madi. They learned at the same moment they defeated the Raven Knight was defeated the undead armies that were laying siege to Khawr Madi dropped like the lifeless husks they truly were. There was a great celebration in the city and throughout Alam. Afterwards Nazilli returned to Muk-Jaras, the town of his birth. There he took up his father's duties as captain of the guard of the small town. Lerissa too returned to Muk-Jaras. Her foster father was a blacksmith there and she sought to work out aggressions on the iron. Galen returned to the woods just outside of Muk-Jaras. Over the following year he would make frequent visits to the small town and check on the status of his half-brother, Nazilli. Muzaffar stayed beside the Queen Dahab bin Sadyr. He focused his time on studies of arcane lore and power. Within the royal palace he built himself a tower and laboratory. He enjoyed the royal life and the luxuries included. Surprisingly Mahrid the great decided life of a traveling adventurer was perhaps not his destiny. He hung up his sword, gave the ancient armor of Lord Terous to Kyron the paladin and built himself a small cottage on the outskirts of Khawr Madi. And so it went for the better part of a year. The great heroes were still sung about in taverns and inns, but they themselves returned to lives of relative obscurity. Mundane life had come to them all. Would they spend the rest of their days in the quiet studies and pursuits they chose for themselves? Or would fate return again and request the might of the heroes once more? Only time would tell.
