History of Af'ael

And so the refugees did run through the night being chased by the Sythstaal wildborn after they desecrated the lake with a water wheel. Many were slain as they travelled through the wilds until they came to the hold of Stormgard.

The Light was fading fast and the residents of Stormgard saw them approaching from afar. At first they suspected that the refugees might be a bandit raiding party but it soon became clear that they were running from hostile forces.

The residents and the refugees fought on through the night against the attacking wildborn until they were driven off. They were then taken in and made welcome by the town leaders, Durthan Fox, James Steel and Duncan Just.

Later that evening it is to be noted that the spirit realm did impinge on the material world. Spirits did tread the same land as the mortal. This had the unusual effect of making all the fires colder and the night darker. One of the spirits was deeply distressed by these events and possessed fanny the bar wench. She began lashing out wildly causing great harm to all around her, until she was mercifully slain by James Steel. Unfortunately Durthan Fox suffered a mortal wound and bled to death on the floor of the tavern. James Steel did investigate the body and found that Durthan's throat had been cut. It seemed to him that they had taken in an assassin amongst the refugees.

The following morning, members from The Church attempted to seize Stormgard by force but were repelled by the new residents of Stormgard. The Church swore they would return in larger numbers. They then discovered that the town smith, a Dverg, had been kidnapped by the Arach clan in the early hours of the morning. The villagers set out to attempt to recover the smith but met stiff resistance. Several of their number were slain including Vincent and Matthias and were buried beneath an ancient oak.

The Dverg were driven back, away from their homes. Many of the villagers wanted to pursue the Dverg to the end, but some, notably the Jotun, refused to participate in the slaughter. James Steel also discovered the Assassin was a wildborn named Rarc. He did arrive with the refugees though his true motives remain a mystery.

On returning to Stormgard they were attacked once again, during which James Steel received a wound which was poisoned with ancient venom. The venom was beyond the skill of anyone to cure within the village and things looked grim.

Fortunately a passing Felidae named Raul Goldenmayne arrived and with his exotic goods he produced an antivenom which saved Mr Steel. While James was receiving treatment The Church Launched their next attack against the village: A warrior infused with the power of an Angel! He Attacked with much fury and vengeance, his mighty cleaving blows cleaving shield and armour in twain. Yet the Defenders were able to stave of this attack by striking repeated at the warrior, like bees at a bear, until the warrior was felled.

Later that evening Vincent and Matthias returned. The power of the Wilds had transformed them into briar folk and though they were not the same as before, they were welcomed back into the community.

Duncan Just, the Town mayor, revealed himself as an Augmentor agent and claimed that they would take the town for themselves. Now it seemed Stormgard had enemies on two fronts!

The Felidae, Raul also informed the villagers that he was able to restore Durthan Fox to life (and that it was quite common in his homeland). They readily agreed and using a ritual, Raul took them to the realm of Death. A bargain was struck and they returned home with Durthan Fox. Due to the nature of the bargain, hordes of undead arose and attacked the village.

Wave after wave after wave of Death's minions attempted to claim the village of Stormgard and the lives of those living there. The Villages fought a mighty battle in the lashing rain. Sword met sword, shield met axe, blood was spilt and bones were hewn. On and on the villagers fought, until the last of their will was spent. It was at this point that the Spirits of Stormgard took possession of the barkeep Ivor and performed a rite to protect the village. The mortal man, Ivor, demanded that the spirits heed his call and defend those who would preserve the community. The Undead were repelled but the spirits demanded their price. Ivor, still empowered by the spirits was compelled to forever remain in the state between worlds. Further more, the spirits laid a powerful geas upon Durthan Fox binding him as the defender of stormgard. As Durthan agreed to accept the Geas there was a blinding flash of light which shot into the sky.

It was at this point that Durthan explained to the villagers present that he had been a church spy! Durthan asked for the forgiveness of the villagers realising now that Stormgard was his true home. Although the people were angry they accepted him back into their hearts as they had done previously with Vincent and Matthias.

The following morning, It was discovered that the town had been marked for ritual destruction. In a last ditch effort to save their home, the people used the transport circle to attempt intercept the church ritual. The Church were well organised and the fight was long and hard, but they were pressed hard by the townsfolk. Just as they villagers forced their way into the clearing where the ritual was taking place the church ritualists channeled the last of the power into their circle and launched their strike.

The Church forces were slain to a man, yet the folk who fought against them were disheartened as they returned home. They were expecting to appear in a set of smoking ruins but the town had not been the target of the strike. In a turn of luck the church strike had eliminated an nearby massed augmentor army who were planning to destroy the town.

The town was soon under attack by the remaining augmentor forces. Strange lurching corpses and teleporting marked figures struck at the town. The residents rallied under Durthan's leadership and fought off these hideous foes.

No sooner than the augmentor forces had been repelled but a church force turned up from the nearby imperial town of Dunston. They demanded that Durthan turned himself over to them for trial but were denied. They attempted to take him by force but were driven off by the heroes of the town. It was decided that a strike needed to be made to cripple Dunston to ensure the safety of Stormgard.

Under cover of darkness the party of heroes transported themselves close to Dunston. Once there, they snuck through some catacombs, being led by a mournful ghost. I spoke at length to the ghost shortly after. It turns out he was a former mayor of Dunston who had been put to death by the church for having mercy on some wildkin children whom he had aided.

The party established themselves in the Farting Ferret, A tavern in the poor quarter where they were told they would meet the resistance, a force working against the church within the bounds of the town. They soon met with Lasy Jane Rose, a hollowtooth who was working as a contact for the resistance.

Seemingly the party found it hard to keep a low profile, they tried to make themselves some money on a “rat hunt” for the tavern owner. The “Rat” turned out to be a couple of wererats which were attacking anyone entering the tunnels beneath the city. The party also managed to end up in a fight with some Dok Jotun as well as slaying the master alchemist Dante Cadwell much to the displeasure of the Traders Guild

They were especially vocal in their plans to destroy the church's ritual silos, openly discussing the ninety percent death toll that would occur. Clearly they were still having trouble working out how they would penetrate the defences of the three well guarded silos. However this was the not the only thing they had to worry about, as the barkeep was disturbed by this and decided to report this to the watch. This was the final straw which made the watch investigate. They marched down the tavern with a church inquisitor. The party took flight through the tunnels, leaving some of their number to be executed.

The party were able to regroup at a tavern in the foreign quarter where the regulars managed to cheer there hearts with their raucousness. For when the port is open, you have got to drink it.

The following day they were taken by the resistance to meet a red faced man who suggested a plan to destroy the ritual silos by getting each silo to strike another one nearby. The resistance would organise themselves to create distractions all over the city weakening the forces defending the silos. The party agreed and returned to their base of operations to wait for the signal that the resistance was ready.

I assume it was part of their cover but they agreed to partake in some of the local town games in order to win money. Although most of the residents of stormgard put on a fine show, there were a few who were purely in it to win. Notably once named Lectre showed no kind of showmanship attempting to win striking repeatedly very quickly. In truth these kinds of blows are only shown off by children and would not even break the skin of a true warrior.

During the course of the games Durthan discovered that his uncle had ordered the capture, trial and execution by burning of his blood family. Durthan took the news very badly and vowed revenge on his uncle and the church.

The following day, the party received word that they should start their operations. And so they attacked each silo in turn and performed rituals which would destroy them. Although they fought long and hard and much blood was shed, when the last ritual was completed there was a hideous tearing noise and a hole was rent between planes. Indeed they had been duped by the red faced man, and three wounds in the planes had been forged causing foul demons to spill forth.

The Party was forced to flee back to Stormgard to consider all that had occurred.