Chimerical Realm

Knowing they were going to be questioned, The Men took some time to get their story straight while in the cell of the brig. They did so quietly, unsure of how many eyes and ears were on them beyond the guards nearby. It didn't take long before the Men were taken one by one up to the deck of the frigate. Deirik was questioned first about his recent whereabouts, his associates, how he knew the Pirate Princes, what they were doing on the island, where they were going... the list goes on and on. As soon as Deirik was brought down, Ygvard was taken up. Deirik took that opportunity to relay what he was asked to the others and what his answers were. Unfortunately, Ygvard wasn't given the chance to hear that information, so when he was asked the same questions - they didn't perfectly align with Deirik's answers, and even those slight discrepancies were enough to let doubt remain. Boldulf's and Eirik's answers all aligned to Deirik's, to the surprise of no one.

Boldulf, along with his large wolf - Sergei, tracked his family to edge of a cliff where it appears they shuffled around for a few moments and then jumped off? He couldn't imagine them doing so on purpose, so it must've been some magical force or entity that would've caused this tragedy. In either case, it's now his duty to retrieve their bodies and give them a proper burial. Having explored this area around his home towns enough, Boldulf recalls there being a goat path a few days West that would allow him to get to the shores below. Thus, he heads that way. Meanwhile, Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Kiro finally reach the top of the goat path and rapidly survey the scene... they moved fast enough, Torvald's forces have not yet made it here. They quickly move away from the path and out further into the patchy forest to the North so they can finally rest and recuperate. Now that they're here, they'll need to work on linking back up with Boldulf and figure out ...

While giving time for the others to heal up, Eirik, who heals at a supernatural rate (players note: Ironborn Hero Path!), finds some cart tracks that left Kardan in the direction of Svenor and assumes those tracks belonged to the person who lived in the manor house, likely their cousin Kari. Eirik relays this information to the group, and they decide to split up. Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Kiro will head for Svenor. Boldulf and Sergei will stealthily remain near Kardan to observe how Torvald and his troops respond to this incursion and the burnt manor house. Once Boldulf learns all he can, the plan is for him to use his keen tracking abilities to follow the others and meet them near Svenor. Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Kiro take off to the South, cleverly avoiding a few Shadow patrols along the way. It doesn't take long before Svenor is in sight. This is practically Deirik and Eirik's home town, as this town is located directly above the Cave of Mjarn, their true home. Memories...

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Lord Krogan's voice resounds through the Shadow Temple as he reacts to the news Deirik relays that he has murdered his cousin Lianna, sister of Torvald the Betrayer. Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf all stand back from the discussion; they're there to support and watch over Deirik, but are not involving themselves otherwise since it's his news to break. Lord Krogan continues, "I'm sorry, should I have explicitly said not to attack Torvald's family in addition to telling you not to attack Torvald himself? Is that a clarification I should've made?" Deirik begins to respond, "I just..." Lord Krogan explodes once again "THAT WAS RHETORICAL!" He then brandishes his symbol of Izrador, "I CALL UPON THE MIGHT OF IZRADOR TO COW THIS BEING INTO SUBMISSION!"

With the snow finally having melted enough to allow travel, Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf once again set their minds to making progress in achieving their goals. However, there is a setback. Deirik, with his skin being more pale, his canine teeth slightly extended, is concerned that there's something genuinely wrong with him. Ygvard runs some magical tests on him and it doesn't take him long to determine that Deirik is, at least partially, Fell. The Men know they can't hide something like this from Lord Krogan, so they take the matter to him.

Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf, alongside their friends Kiro the hobgoblin and Sergei the (horse-sized) wolf, return to Alucard and report to Lord Krogan what has occurred in Rulla. They also show him the dagger they removed from the well. Ygvard mentions, "The dagger's hilt is empty, but it must've contained some type of poison or chemical that would not only kill the townspeople, but turn them all into Fell. I don't recognize the substance though." Deirik quickly interjects, his hatred plain on his face, "I'm sure it's NO COINCIDENCE that this happened in the town just beyond the border you share with Torvald." Krogan thinks it over for a moment, "I'll need more proof than a shared border to act against Torvald. In the meantime, we need to go clear that town before they spread further and kill more of my people." With that, the Men of Mjarn accompany Lord Krogan and a large contingent of his orcs and hobgoblins to Rull...

Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf, alongside their friends Kiro and Sergei, steel themselves for the fight to come. With sunrise not too far off, the Fell are going to make their move. With reckless abandon, arms and legs flailing, the Fell race towards the long-hall in which the Men have decided to make their stand! The men wait in the dark, as they have for the past few hours, hearing the rain growing louder as time has gone on. The Fell build up in a huge mass surrounding the long-hall, clamoring against the walls trying to climb up and once again creating ramps of themselves. While they may only have three flasks of oil left, the opportunity won't get much better to affect as many Fell as possible as this one. With that shared thought, Kiro removes a flask from his pack and Deirik goes to light a torch. In the faint light provided by the sparks of flint, Ygvard focuses his eyes and notices something. The amount of dust in the air from all the activity on the roof, but more t...

Having finally seen the true danger of Rulla, Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf, with their friends Kiro and Sergei, immediately race around the longhall. Eirik uses his woodworking skill to brace the larger barn doors on either end. The other men throw debris and wood planks against the other doors and barricade the windows. They grab dried goods and any kindling they can find an pile it up near one of the walls, planning to burn the longhall as a last resort. It's not long before they can hear the screeching, croaking, and growling of the Fell as they make their way through the town and come just outside the longhall. The Men make their way to the upper level and look out the large window at the scene: it's one out of a nightmare. The entire town is crawling with undead. They hear a gentle rattle of one of the doors downstairs, as if the Fell were expecting to be able to open it. It's immediately followed by a more insistent rattle. Then, other doors begin to shake, as...

For Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf, the Summer passes relatively uneventfully. They work as individuals or as a group on their skills and on generating a distribution network for the Fugue, as that seems to be the best road towards amassing greater wealth for them. In Autumn, come harvest time, Lord Krogan calls the Men into his temple. Usually this means he has a mission for them, and this time is no different. Krogan informs them that there's a town named Rulla within his territory, but fairly close to the border he shares with Torvald the Betrayer, that is due for its harvest tithe to him. Not only has he not received that tithe or any messengers from that town, but the messengers he has sent there himself have not returned. At this point, he's concerned that there's something wrong with Rulla, or at the very least on the road between Rulla and Alucard, and wishes the Men of Mjarn to investigate.

Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf finally return to Alucard after raiding the East coast of the Sea of Pelluria with loot and casks of Fugue in hand. They bring the loot to Lord Krogan who picks and chooses the items that he wants as his share, and leaves a good amount for the Men of Mjarn and their crew. Krogan also gives his blessing to trading the Fugue in his territory as long as he gets a cut of that as well. Eirik realizes that to really get the gears turning on the Fugue trade, it's a lot of legwork. He also realizes that there are 12 other crewmen expecting their cut of the loot and 12 casks of Fugue to be distributed. Putting the two together, Eirik and Deirik convince the crew that they can take a cut of the items that they brought back *or* they can each take their own cask of Fugue and earn much more as they establish a customer base and a distribution network of their own. Each of the crew, not afraid of a little extra work, takes a cask and heads off to seek their ...

With their boat beached after escaping The Maw of the Pelluria, Eirik takes some time and evaluates the repairs necessary to ensure the rest of their journey doesn't still end at the bottom of the sea. With the damage done, he estimates it will take him around 3 days to repair it. Eirik sets himself to the task while Deirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf help establish a temporary camp with the rest of the crew.

As the harsh Northern Winter abates, Eirik finds that Kiro, the hobgoblin sergeant he's spoken to the most and accompanied him on his recent outing to take down the bandits, has expressed desire to accompany him on his adventures and be his right hand man. Deirik has learned some new skills as a brand new Nephilim (reminder: 3.5 Assassin & Avenging Knife hybrid). Ygvard is a brand new Legate, though his path is not one of true faith and piety in the Shadow but that of a path to power. Boldulf feels more in touch with the wolf inside of him, but feels like he may have lost some humanity in the process.

For this Winter, the Men of Mjarn spend it in Alucard. The men have discussed the need for additional funds, mostly in the form of trade goods (according to the setting). As such, each one takes on a job to generate some income to fuel their adventuring. Eirik, with his brand new (to him) smithy, spends the winter repairing vardatches, daggers, and any other metal items that are brought to him and his business. As a highly skilled blacksmith, it's not long before word is spread of his capabilities which brings the customers from throughout the town. Though, it's not just his skill, but the fact that he's a memeber of Krogan's elite squad that brings other customers who seek to gain favor with him, offering gifts, bargains, and family members to get on his good side. Aside from his income and the distractions his customers provide, Eirik can't seem to get his mind off of the boats that he "reclaimed" from the brigands shortly before Winter and the thought...

Upon Eirik's return to Alucard, he maintained his focus on the future. He requested Lord Krogan obtain some ore from Steel Hill from which he intended to make better weapons for himself and his brother, Deirik. Unfortunately, this would take time. Lord Krogan could initiate the trade negotiations, but the ore would not arrive until after the coming Winter. A few days later, while seeing his family come in and out of the warehouse in which they were living, Eirik was visited by Lord Krogan. When he arrived, Krogan told Eirik to come with him to the Workman's District. As they progressed, Krogan and Eirik discussed the coming Winter and how Eirik may best utilize his time. It wasn't long before the two of them came to a small smithy already well stocked not only with the items Eirik would need to ply his trade, but also a number of vardatches and daggers to be repaired. As Eirik explored, he found that there was also a small one-man apartment attached to the back of it.

Ygvard spends his first few days back in Alucard continuing to read the Tome of The Shadow. He still doesn't know if it's fact, fiction, or a combination of the two, but it makes some intriguing arguments that lead him to believe that Izrador could *possibly* be a god worthy of worship. Could it be that Izrador is truly fighting for the survival of this world and knows that the suffering he causes now is for the greater good of breaking the veil that separates Aryth from the heavens? Is he truly doing all he can to prevent the situation from getting even worse while genuinely sorrowful that it's gotten this bad? The Tome makes a convincing argument that the answer to both of these questions is, indeed, yes.

Deirik returned to Alucard and continued to be consumed with finding the opportunity to kill Torvald the Betrayer. It was all he could ever think about, his sole focus, his reason for being. Lord Krogan knew this and, not long after their return, called Deirik in to the temple to have a discussion. When Deirik arrived, Krogan met him in the sanctuary. Moments later, a beautiful Dornish woman, a bit shorter than most and with dark, black hair stepped out of the shadows to greet him. Deirik barely noticed some platinum blonde roots in her hair, which made him believe she was mostly Dornish, though her height suggested some Sarcosan blood in her heritage at some point. Krogan introduced her as Lyra, and informed Deirik that Lyra has been hired to train him in the ways of the Nephilim (**a hybrid class between the D&D 3.5 Assassin and the Midnight 2E Avenging Knife**).

Before Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf leave Halderton, Deirik and Eirik both hire Merrick, the town's master leatherworker, to create a suit of masterwork studded leather and to refine his dire wolverine fur into a proper cloak respectively. Then, the men return to Alucard with a few weeks of time available to them before they must hole up for the heavy Northern Winter. Each of them decides to spend it in their own way... GM Note: At this point, each player was given a solo session to lead into a Prestige Class they'd expressed interest in, or give some story behind any skills they planned to increase once they leveled, etc. Beyond that, I also wanted to give the players the chance to purely play their character without the others around to dive into them a bit deeper and come to a better understanding of who they are, what their limits are, and how they operate. It's easier if I tell the stories individually. One thing I will do though is italicize clues on how the...

Once Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf are comfortably out of Bergen with the unconscious Lord Voldash, they stop to discuss their next steps. Ygvard points out that Voldash knows one of them is a magic-user and may use that information against them to Lord Krogan when they turn him in. He's also fairly certain that Voldash can surmise who it is, seeing as he was the only one who did not dive headlong into melee combat. So the conversation then steers towards that presumption: "Do we kill Voldash, against Krogan's wishes, and say we had no choice to protect our secret? Do we hand Voldash over and plan our immediate escape? Do we wait to see if Voldash reveals us and, if so, fight our way out? or do we preempt Voldash by telling Krogan ourselves?" They all progress to the North, away from Bergen and back toward Halderton, while they continue to debate these questions. Ygvard is especially concerned since he's the source of magic, and feels fairly confident that ...

Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf encounter no trouble on their way to Bergen, the town in which Lord Voldash's temple is located. Knowing that they're trying to take Lord Voldash alive, Eirik takes the time during this trip to craft saps for himself and Deirik. They finally reach the outskirts of Bergen after several days of travel, and see the large number of farms that surround the town itself. They note there is only one visible gate through the large palisade that surrounds it, and it appears to be well-manned by both Dornish mercenaries as well as orcs. Eirik and Boldulf decide to scout the rest of the surrounding area, and determine if there are any more subtle entrances to the town, leaving Deirik and Ygvard to bide their time. Deirik and Ygvard decide to approach one of the nearby farms and see if they might talk their way into an escort into town. The find a man out in his fields and make their way to him. As they do so, the farmer looks their way and gives them a ...

After winning the battle, Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf take stock of themselves, their army, and their winnings. Ygvard realizes that he used magic in the presence of a Legate, Voldash, but hopes in the chaos of the battle that Voldash was not able to pinpoint the source. Eirik eyes the well-made chain shirt left behind by Voldash and decides its best use is for him to wear it. The men decide to return to Halderton to give them the news before returning back to Alucard with the hobgoblins. When the men arrive back in Halderton, they get a mixed reception. Tianna and her friends consider them heroes, but the elders believe they've doomed the town to an even worse fate than they were about to experience. Deirik honestly doesn't care at this point whether it's a stay of execution or if the town was saved, as his outlook on life since dealing with his family's (especially his grandmother's) death has been bleak, dismissive toward others, and solely focused on re...