Map of New Gladomain

Adventure's End - Two Year Anniversary Session

Sadrack shows the party that Lolth and Grazzt are fighting each other on the surface of the moon. Meanwhile an asteroid covered in mazes with the bronze tower lyktion on it from shubgottia hurtles through space on a collision course with blackshore. Saint Garret of Ioun, Toth the Swordmage, Iggilzo the Magnificent, and Whosis Kid Dragonsbane join Duke Blackshore on a quest to destroy the object.

As they approach the asteroid-planet in the ziggurat they see a multicolored corona around it indicating it is enveloped in a world serpent. They try landing on the tower lyktion but the world serpents aura drains the magic from the ziggurat and it crashes on the tower.

Inside the tower they find schematics for the tower. Travelling down toward the core where there is a fire burning that provides power to the Doomsphere as it is called, they first find a gate to Limbo guarded by two Githzerai monks. The monks repel their attempts to learn and explore more so the party continues down the stairs.

Further down in the mausoleum they find a sarcophagus floating over a great pit. They explore further and find that the sarcophagus is for pale night and they decide not to disturb it, fearing she may be inside. At the bottom of the stairway in the center they find the furnace. As they get to the center gravity decreases. They find that there is no gravity in the central room, but there is a magical urn burning in the center of the room that appears to have gravity and a pit with gravity below the room where slaves of various species turn a wheel around endlessly to stoke the fire.

As they enter the room, an Immolith born from Baphomet's remnant power comes alive and they fight him in zero G, eventually dispelling the creature. They then free the slaves to stop the wheel from turning so the fire goes out. With the fire out, the world serpent begins consuming the doomsphere and the ziggurat. They rush back upstairs to the ziggurat and get inside. They find that inside the ziggurat magic in the extradimensional space is still intact. They use the Astralgate inside to return to Blackshore along with the freed slaves.

Back in blackshore they wait until they see the world serpents corona dissapate in the night sky, then they travel back through the astralgate with the rod of acererak. They find the ziggurat is inside the world serpents belly, still inactive and the beast has returned to its home plain of limbo.

When they return to blackshore they find the raven queen in the throne room sitting on the duke's throne. She dismisses the duke and summons Brock Mez'gar. She tells the party they will help Brock retrieve the Spellbook of Aseroth so she can cast a powerful ritual to banish Orcus and all of the lands in his mists to the shadowfell, freeing the world from his influence. She gives them each a raven feature amulet that prevent Brock from harming them while they are under her protection. If he strikes them he will be turned to dust.

They travel to the sybarite isle on summoned steeds, bypassing an advancing corps of 100 frost giants. They find the garden of proferio profundus has been frozen over and the labyrinth in the garden leads to Aseroth's monastery on soulfreeze.

They enter the monastery and find two Frost Chimeras and a couple elementals guarding Kord, the god of Might. They also see several murals inlaid into the floors.

The first image depicts Bahamut as a silver and white dragon with pale blue eyes and his queen Tiamat. Their twin sons Kord and Dol Dorn stand at their sides, depicted as a silver dragon and a white dragon.

The second image shows Tiamat fighting demons in the abyss outside the Soulfreeze Monastery.

The third image shows Tiamat succumbing to the abyss and turning evil.

The fourth image shows Kord and Dol Dorn fighting demons with their father Bahamut, this time they are in human form. Dol Dorn is dressed as a knight in silver armor, and Kord wears armor made from the hides of many different colors of dragons. Bahamut wears golden armor and leads a host of seven large gold dragons.

The fifth image shows Kord burying his axe in Orcus’ skull at Marshgate, petrifying his body.

The sixth image shows Kord cutting off Vecna’s hand with the Sword of Kas, while his brother Dol Dorn, gouges out his eye. They are leading the armies of Gladomain in Shuggotia, the endless maze.

The seventh image shows the forces of hell and the armies of Gladomain victorious over the abyss, with the demon armies retreating back through the astralgates into their own world.

The eighth image shows Kord and Dol Dorn turning away from their father in anger as he lets Asmodeus’ generals take Tiamat in chains with them back to Baator.

The ninth image shows Kord and Dol Dorn fighting as Gurmorel Glimmergaunt watches from Glimmergaunt tower.

The tenth image shows Dol Dorn as a silver dragon guarding Glimmergaunt tower with Gurmorel Glimmergaunt standing at the top of the tower weeping. Kord is in human form walking away from them.

The eleventh image show Kord standing alone on the icy plains outside Soulfreeze Monastery. He strides toward the structure solemnly.

The twelfth image shows Kord wearing a white cloak, calling down the ice and snow around him, while abyssal creatures bowing to him.

The thirteenth image shows Glimmergaunt Tower and Dol Dorn the silver dragon covered in snow. Lady Glimmergaunt stands in the window of the tower with her visage changed into that of the wicked ice medusa.


Narrative of Aseroth-Kord, founder of the Dark Six, when he addresses the party:

1. After the bloodwar, I lamented the imprisonment of my mother Tiamat. I mourned those lost in the mighty army of Gladomain. The brave who perished in the assault Shubgottia. I grew cold when the beloved lady Glimmergaunt refused me for my twin Dol Dorn.
2. I vowed to find a way to free my mother of her madness and avenge her injustice or die trying. I would resurrect those who died in vain in the endless maze. I resolved to win the heart of Gurmorel, by any means.
3. My journey to free my mother’s soul lead me here to the Soulfreeze Monastery, where she had lost her mind and heart in the abyss. I studied in the arcane library and learned the secret magics of the old lord she vanquished here, the first Winter Warlock. In time I became initiated into his lost art and with his spirit as my guide I became the Second Winter Warlock, Aseroth, which means the conquering blizzard.
4. Using my newfound powers I raised my old army in Shubgottia, but when I brought them back they spat upon me, praying for the oblivion of death. I cursed them to roam the maze for eternity as undead, and cast their magic standard into the Shadowfell.
5. I redeemed myself to Glimmergaunt and won her affections by saving her from the wrath of the Raven Queen. I spirited her and her kingdom away to my own plane in the abyss where she would be safe.
6. I drew up a pact with Lolth and Baphomet, that they would create a great army of Tanar’ri hybrids to assault Gladomain, that the world would again know the glory of battle and the sound of sword ringing on shield. I made a pact with Graz’zt that we would raze Baator, and that he should stand victorious over his father Asmodeus one day in palace on Nessus, the ninth hell. I struck a pact with the cultist of Orcus and Tiamat that I would free their beloved god and goddess, and bring destruction in their name. Thus, the pact of the dark six was born.
7. First I knew that my father Bahamut would oppose me where I to arrive in the world with the armies of the abyss. We conspired with the doomguard lady Xyrlynn, a sacred order dedicated to the dissolution of all things. Xyrlynn disguised herself as a princess from the southern tribes and summoned the famed Heroes of Blackshore on a quest to save her tribe from an ancient evil. Skillfully she lead them to the tomb of Nortumal on the Isle of Death, where they unwittingly released him from his prison and began his reign of terror that would tie up my fathers forces in the southern lands.
8. Nortumal dispatched Xyrlynn to search for the Crown of Commanding, the Hand of Storath, and the Dagger and Idol of Tanar’ri. Four powerful evil artifacts known to him that were hidden in Gladomain Keep. With these implements, we would wage our war against the Northern Kingdoms, as he continued his campaigns in the south. Of course you know the outcome of this, as it was you who interfered with this plan by capturing the artifacts and disappearing for a year in the garden of propherio profundis on the sybarite isle. We spent that time searching the Northern lands for you, but no one could scry your location during that time.
9. Once we had banished you to Shubgottia, with three of the four artifacts of power in our grasp, we turned out sights back toward the fall of the Northern Kingdoms. Xyrlynn’s plan to cause a war in Mistmeadow between the elves and men was thwarted by the Heroes of Blackshore who sought revenge against her for her betrayal on the Isle of Death. Still she escaped to Shadowmarsh Cliff, where she successfully assumed the form of Lord Shadowmarsh and took over his kingdom, rallying his armies for war with Ironview’s forces in Marshgate. We waylaid many of the heroes of Blackshore, and banished two to outer planes, where they are still lost to this day.
10. I froze the city of Blackshore, and my daughter Princess Frostbite, took command of the city, disguised as Xyrlynn. I arranged for the support of the Goblin Lord and Baphomet sent his champion the Norselord with his fleet of pirates to capture the city. My servants were woefully unprepared for your attack upon the city. My daughter was slain, and the goblins retreated when you destroyed my Icewarp Sphere and released Glimmergaunt Vale from its dimensional hold in Soulfreeze. For his crime against me, your friend Kodrus the Minotaur’s soul will be eternally punished, raised and destroyed each day into a thousand pieces, like the mirror portal he shattered.
11. Still even with the loss of Blackshore, the battle to take Marshgate was a success, and I tricked two of the heroes of Blackshore, and my devout followers of Kord Gracekain Songsteel and Ravakain Kittenstouch into releasing Orcus’ avatar from his petrified sleep. During a desparate battle, I inspired them to remove my axe from Orcus’ head in my Temple of Valorous Deeds. With Orcus freed, the invasion of the north began with renewed vigor. Nortumal pursued more ancient magics in the Underdark, while Lolth and Graz’zt challenged each other to find the world tree first. Baphomet continued to toil in the laboratories of his dark tower Lyktion, designing great war machines to renew the siege at Blackshore.
12. Our ally among the cult of Tiamat, Baron Redspawn, took advantage of the chaos caused when we assassinated Emperor Goldspawn, and he assumed command of SummerSpring. First he consolidated his power there, then he marched on Lighthedge. The desertion of Vicmorn Shieldheart’s Myrmidons was a disappointing turn of events that lead to an unforeseen loss, but the Norselord’s forces quickly recovered Lighthedge, driving the imperial defectors into the wilderness, where they continued a guerilla campaign.
13. We had thought that with your self indulgent escapades into the Tomb of Acererak and later into Baator itself, that we were finally rid of the Heroes of Mistmeadow’s interference. Thantiskorlweir abandoned the astralgate in Shadowmarsh Cliff, but it was a small loss compare to the improvement in our fortunes with you all out of the picture.
14. Now I regret to see you have returned, and are once again a thorn in our sides, brining your ancient ziggurat to attack our armies, ruining our siege at Blackshore. You may have defeated Baphomet and those other allies of mine you have encountered before, but you will fall before the might of Aseroth-Kord, the conquering blizzard, lord of battle, god emperor of the abyss.

The party fights Kord and his minions. The two elementals fall quickly but the chimeras persist for some time. Brock sneaks up next to Kord and plunges Hellsong the Godslayer into his chest, causing him to revert to his true form as a massive white dragon. Whosis Kid vaults onto the dragon clinging to the blade impaled in the beast's check. The dragon savagely crushes whosis in his jaws and his body goes limp, his belt caught on hellsong's hilt. The god-beast is dying slowly as the godslayer steals its life essense, it thrashes around in pain.

Mez'gar finds the spellbook in an alcove and claims it. When he does this, he along with Toth, Garrett, and Iggy are teleported to Ravenspeak Tower, where the Raven Queen dwells on a rift between Gladomain and the Shadowfell. Whosis kid is left to die along with Aseroth and the godslayer in the abyss (he cursed the raven queen earlier and so she left him there to die out of spite).

The Raven Queen takes the Spellbook of Aseroth and casts the ritual to remove the lands of Barovia and the surrounding misted area from Gladomain, taking them into the shadowfell. As she concludes the ritual she is exhausted and Brock Mez'gar approaches and stabs her with the Scythe of Nerull, an artifact that once belonged to the old lord of the Abyss who the Raven Queen banished long ago. Her power drains into Mez'gar and he becomes even more fearsome, turning invisible and stalking the party.

Iggy uses his dust of appearance to show Mez'gar and prevent him from hiding. The undead gnoll assassin flits around the tower trying to find a strategic point to attack or flee but is unable to escape the party, and they run him down after a long pursuit. As the gnoll collapse, they hear a voice from the pit in the center of the tower and Vecna rises, released from his prison below (the Raven Queen's power kept him bound there and with her dismissed he was free to escape).

Garret dealt the killing blow to Brock, stealing the Raven Queen's essence from him in the process. The party battles Vecna and Veszafein, who now has become a mind flayer with the eye of vecna and a sword he took from Orcus earlier in the campaign. After a long battle Garrett slays vecna and Veszafein flees the tower, leaping over the side into some mists.

When Garrett slays Vecna completing the prophecy, Ioun's spirit escapes from his body. However, since her soul power was the only thing allowing him to control the hand of vecna and his lycanthropy he begins to convulse and writh on the floor. Ioun takes the rod of acererak and the Spellbook of Aseroth and asks Toth and Iggy to accompany her out of the tower.

She uses the ritual in Aseroths spellbook to banish Ravenspeak to the shadowfell, trapping Garrett, the new mad god of the death and lycanthropy, on that plane, where he lives out his days alternating between the forms of a goodly priest of resurrection, a lunatic serving the hand of vecna, a berzerker werewolf, and a necromantic mad scientist, depending on the cycle of the moon.

Ioun offers Iggy and Toth the chance to join her in the Black Library at the heart of the Jeweled Ziggurat in the belly of the world serpent. Toth accepts and becomes her companion. They take the rod of acererak and the tome of Aseroth with them. Iggy chooses to return to blackshore where he is hailed as a great hero and accepts a position as head of the magic college, replacing Marfalcon Moonshadow who becomes the court's magician. The magic college pursue research into finding a way to retrieve Garrick the Mad's body and soul from the other dimension he is trapped in.

Triel the swordmage becomes the head of that order and establishes Shadowmarsh Cliffs as their new training academy. It is learned that Ilmak was slain in the seige of Hammerfast by Brock Mez'gar a few weeks ago and his body was lain to rest there. Sadrack continues to dwell in Falconsreach as custodian and governor of that new community.

The Duchy of Blackshore experiences prosperity and expands to encompass it's original members, the small islands around blackshore, Lighthedge Point, and Mistmeadow. In addition to the original members, they are joined by SummerSpring, Lapis Wood, Falconsreach, Shadowmarsh Cliffs, Laxryxith, and Kodrus Vale. The lands to the south that were removed by the raven queen's ritual to the shadowfell became a great crate lake in the marshlands of the foreverglades, ruined and desolate, stalked by only the most reclusive monsters and people.