Summoned by the Emperor - Servants of Mez'Gar Storyline

A party of villains is summoned and bound to Brock Mez’Gar by a Geas. The party consists of a Hobgoblin Paladin of Bane, and Orc Barbarian, a Warforged Fighter, a Teifling Warlock, and a Teifling Warlord.

They assemble in a sewer and Emperor Brock Mez’Gar tells them they must all find a magic artifact shaped like a pyramid for him. They travel down deeper into the sewer where they encounter a large lizard, some human rogues, and several dwarves. They fight and defeat them.

A ghostly apparition appears and points to the pyramid. They touch it and are instantly transported into a dungeon where they are knee deep in corpses. A thri-kreen is battling an ettin, two carrion crawlers, and several zombies. They help the thri-kreen defeat the dungeons monsters and he joins the party.

They move into one of the adjacent chambers and find a pair of harpies and four sahaugin guarding the room. They demand that they hand over a speaking orb they recovered in the first chamber. The speaking orb has informed the party that they are trapped in the dungeon and can only escape by defeating a powerful mage that dwells somewhere in the dungeon. The monsters leader says they want the orb so they can escape. The party refuses and attacks them. The party defeats the monsters and finds they have a map of the dungeon.

They head towards a stairway they believe will take them towards the next level and hopefull the mage they must defeat in this magical prison. The stairwell is a magical trap that bucks and tries to tilt them into a pit. The paladin falls in and is rescued by the rest of the party. When they finally navigate their way to the top of the stairwell, they are attacked by a Bloodfire Harpy and two gargoyles. The party defeats the monsters but sustains some damage. The last surviving gargoyle carries off the cowardly Teifling Warlord that never fought and eats him. The rest of the party doesn't try to save him.

Liberation of Mistmeadow

Whosis Kid pursues a small invisible creature he says is somewhere in the black library. The party parks the ziggurat above Blackshore near the tallest tower of the castle and they put defenses around it.

Duke Blackshore joins the party and travels with them by magic gate to Shadowmarsh Cliffs where they find Triel with about 50 swordmagi and 100 civilians. She also has the banner of Gladomain and a Shadow Army of around 200 shadow knights under her command.

They summon steads and ride to Mistmeadow the next day. First they try the marshlands to the south, but the will-o-wisps have overrun that area. They head north and find evidence of lolth's spider ship walking around the city.

They see commotion at the north gates from a distance. They approach the fire on the gate and offer help pretending to be mercenaries. The mercenary captain accepts their medical assistance. While they are helping, the War Pigs attack them with bombs, mistaking them for the enemy. They clarify the situation and the War Pigs lead them to the town square and proclaim that the heroes of mistmeadow have returned. The mercenaries drop their arms and flee when this is announced.

The 150 townsfolk take up refuge in Mezgar's fighting academy while the War Pigs and 50 able bodies townsfolk hide in some buildings and towers with bows to defend the city. Garrick sets up a trap in the tunnel leading from the fighting academy to Gladomain Keep.

When the sun sets the tanar'ri approach across the open field from Gladomain Keep. Down below, Garrick sees a column of 60 drow advancing through the tunnel so he sets off his trap setting them all on fire. He then seals the tunnel with ice to prevent the smoke from choking the townsfolk in the building above.

Lolth's spider ship is invisible but lumbers across the landscape. Iggy sneaks under it and uses dust of appearance so they can see the ship as it moves to attack the walls. He climbs atop the spider to the bridge and deploys a whirlwind and spike attacks to damage the controls and kill much of the crew operating the ship. The spider ship crashes into the city wall and crushes several buildings but the party slips aside.

Triel leads the shadow army against the Tanar'ri while the party focuses on the ship. They climb up to the bridge and Duke Blackshore smashes open a porthole so they can enter the ship. The Lady of Spiders inside delays them with several powerful attacks that trap them in poisoned webs. She also summons a large spider to attack them.

Garrick the Mad slips around to the back of the spider ship. An acid web tries to deploy from the ships weapons to destroy him, but he turns himself into a fireball and burns them away. Several drow minions rush out to fight him and are quickly dispatched by the demi-god of fire's raw power. He advances into the back chamber of the spidership and engages four elite drow shadowblades. He divides himself into four mirror images to trick his foes. The fight rages for several minutes but his fire eventually consumes them.

The Lady of Spiders manages to take the controls and points the ship at the moon. As the ship flies quickly towards space, the party finally takes her down with a flurry of magical attacks centered on her as she operates the controls.

Garrick the Mad finishes off the last drow shadowblade warrior and approaches the stairs to the lower level where he encounters General Thrax the Draegloth Abomination. Thrax casts darkness around him blinding him and ravages him with his claws. Garrick is near death when Duke Blackshore comes to his aid.

The battle goes poorly for the two as they fight blindly in the darkness. Finally Iggy and Garrett arrive to support them and the foul general is defeated by Garrett's radiant aura.

Iggy scouts ahead and finds that in the front of the ship there is a temple area with an Avatar of Lolth and several driders. He teleports out quickly and they evacuate the ship.

Garrett's boots that let him jump down land him in a large lake near the mouth of the dragon river by an imperial port city. Garrick sees Garrett fall and hauls him out of the lake to it's shore. Iggy carries the duke on his magical glider down to the surface, where they meet up with wizard and priest.

The Duke is soon informed by Marfalcon Moonshadows magical communication that a dragon army is attacking Blackshore and the ziggurat. They are lead by Thantiskorlweir, Baron Redspawn, and Lord Exhalus the doomguard commander that Xyrlynn worked for.

War Pigs! insurgents of Mistmeadow Storyline

Encounter 1 - Toth, a goliath swordmage constructed in Ironview joins the party. The party disguises themselves as a drow, mercenary, and three prisoners to slip past the gates to the east where they believe the prisoners from town have been taken.

They meet a band of goblins digging up some strange earth along the road. They also meet some elves a ways down and they help the elves kill the band of prospecting goblins. The elves grant them sanctuary for the night.

Encounter 2 - The next day they head out to the eastern ruins. They find two Ogres chained to the gates and two drow guarding the entrance to the mines. They are searched and the drow find weapons. A Battle ensues. The drow guards are killed and they free the chained ogres who leave without further trouble. They sneak into the mines through the back way, seeing a large flatworm inside the cave which they evade.

Inside the mines they free three prisoners from town and Took the psion disguises himself as the duergar guard. They return the prisoners along with the weapons they took from the goblins secretly to the main bunks where the prisoners arm themselves. They negotiate with the local guards into leading them to their commander, a powerful drow.

Encounter 3 - The party infiltrates the headquarters where they are mining a magical material and smelting it into weapons. They attack the drow warden and her duergar guards. After a fierce battle they defeat them and they destroy the smelter and flee with the escaped prisoners back to the countryside where they meet up again with the elves.

Rebellion! - Insurgents of Mistmeadow Storyline

Three outsiders trapped in Mistmeadow have befriended each other while enduring the occupation by Lolth's forces. They are Took, the dwarf psion, Kage the teifling bard, and Hilda the Half-Orc. Also, they know Himena, a local human, and Thorin an old dwarf who have lived in town some time.

While drinking in the tavern they get into an altercation with the captain of the guard who is drunk. They take out the captain and his two half-orc guards. Thorin is killed during the melee with the guards, but the rest of the group escapes out the back of the Singing Maid tavern and onto the street.

In the street they see mercenaries on their way out of town to train with their drow employers. A card loaded with weapons and equipment is nearby so they take some arms and Himena leads them to the desecrated temple of Ioun.

At the temple of Ioun they meet with Greg, the temple's keeper and oday, a gnome artificer. Knowing that they are now wanted and have little hope of fleeing to a safe place beyond Mistmeadow, they decide to join the temples ongoing insurgency against the occupation forces.

They initially target the most cruel mercenary working for the drow, a humanoid executioner named Judge Dread. The party plots with Oday and several other loyal resistance members to create a distraction to clear the barracks where Judge Dread lives. They capture a catapult from it's drow and spider guards on the south end of town and use it to propel several firebombs onto the roof of the heavily guarded Armory to the north. Then they use a bomb to destroy the catapult.

Mercenaries flood out of the barracks and work to put out the blaze at the armory, while the party slips out past the ruined ramparts, along the perimeter of the city, and around the back of the barracks. When they enter the barracks, which is on fire from splash damage from the catapult attack, Judge Dread is waiting for them.

The fire spreads while the party battles Judge Dread and his torturer henchman. Two spiders keep Kage tied up while the Psion faces off against the torturer. Hilda takes the main villain head to head. In the end they are victorious, and the adventurers limp out of the barracks.

The resistance members watching the armory burn release their bombs at the appointed time, devastating the local mercenary squads. In the chaos, the party sticks Judge Dreads head on display atop a pike in town square and they escape to their sanctuary at the temple of ioun. The townsfolk flood out of their homes and shops and begin to riot against the occupiers in the streets.

Map of the Ruined Lands

The opposite side of the earth was once separated from the realm of Gladomain by the Chaos Sea which was too dangerous to cross while Nidhogg the World Serpent enveloped the world of Gladomain. Now that Nidhogg has been released and the Chaos Sea is calmer, trade and exploration has resumed between the two hemi-spheres across the ocean.

The opposite side of Gladomain, also called the Ruined Lands, are plagued by barbarism, magical curses, and savage practices. During the first blood war and later during the conquest of Emperor Bael Turath, the Ruined Lands were wracked by powerful spellplagues used in the many wars.

There are few humans, elves, dwarves or other races common to Gladomain in the Ruined Lands. Explorers traveling there must be wary as rare species are valued as slaves and commodities to be captured and sold for profit.

Map of Gladomain

Map of Gladomain. The circle centered on Barovia is the misted land conquered by Orcus' armies.

Last Stand at Stonestown - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

The priest is summoned back to the village because of the announcement of a child being born. The rest of the party explores the dungeons below the ruined city and confront a larger band of goblins inhabiting a far corner of the complex. They capture Snotskin, the goblin king and his queen begs them to spare him. They agree to spare the king on the condition that they tell them what they are seeking in the forest and vow not to attack the refugees in the forest.

Snotskin agrees to their terms. He tells them he was working for a gnoll that commanded him by force to search the forest. Also they tell the party that they were looking for a chest filled with a magical artifact that was supposed to have been taken somewhere in the forest by a band of Kobolds lead by one named Krackilack.

The party sets out to notify the order of Yggdrasil to the north. After several days journey they find the stone circle of the druids and a battle is raging. All but one elven druid has been struck down by the invaders and the remaining elf stands against a large gnoll while several other gnoll raiders look on.

The party jumps into action, evening the odds. The mayor and the chaos mage in the party fall under the gnoll attack, but the ranger and wizard turn the tide back and slay the gnolls and save the last druid. She graciously offers the party shelter.

When the party mentions the kobolds and the chest to her she mentions the only kobold she knows of is a hermit living on the north side of the fallen world tree. The party leaves and travels for several days, finding the hermit's hut alongside the tree.

The hermit is krackilack the kobold and they find out that he did the chest beneath the floorboards of his old home, though he believes that his village was destroyed. The party gets him to come along with them by suggesting that they may be able to restore some of his fellow villagers from their petrified state. The next night while they are camped out he disappears without a trace.

They find a gorge with a river flowing through it. An old bridge has collapsed into the river, but in a slower moving part there are large lily pads they can jump across the river on. The mayor leaps to the other side and affixes a rope for the wizard to use to pull himself across the rapids. While he's in the water he finds that some undead in the water are grabbing at his legs. They are all bound in the foliage growing at the bottom of the murky stream.

The rest of the party attacks the skeletons and helps free the wizard and the ranger hops across the lily pads while the chaos mage tightrope walks across the rope they tied between the two old bridge supports.

When they return to the village they find the chest and dig it up but its been petrified and cannot be opened. No sooner have they arrived than the village is under attack. Kobolds with a seige weapon charge the city gates. Soon several gnolls arrive and join the fight.

The party mans the walls with half of their garrison and sends the rest of the townsfolk through an escape tunnel they constructed under the tree. During the melee, the chaos mage is cornered by gnolls on the wall, dives off into the forest and is taken down by one of the great beasts. The wizard is cornered gnolls on the wall as well, while the ranger and mayor pluck off kobold attackers.

Yllallae Serpenthelm arrives and destroys the seige engine and its crew dramatically. As she runs to their rescue, a shadowy gnoll appears behind her and cuts off her head, claiming it as a trophy. The surviving party members recognize him as Emperor Mez'Gar, the evil undead gnoll assassin.

The Emperor thanks them for leading him to the artifact of power, motioning to the head of Krackilack hanging from his belt as well. He kills the wizard by kicking him off the battlements than dispatches the ranger.

The party and the garrison manage to hold off the invaders while all the townsfolk escape, but during the battle the gate is smashed and a rampaging bugbear tears down one of the gate supports, collapsing a wall and pinning the mayor under some debris. Mez'Gar approaches the mayor after retrieving the stone chest. He tells the mayor that he thanks them for locating this useful artifact and then smashes the chest open. Before the mayor can see what he retrieved from it, Mez'Gar turns and beheads him.

The priest was recalled to town by a woman who claimed to be pregnant with your child. He arrived in town just before the rest of the adventurers and the army that came on their heels. The party decided to hold off the army as long as possible while the priest did the honorable thing and stayed with the pregnant woman. He and the rest of the villagers fled to the other side of the world tree through an underground tunnel and collapsed it behind them.

The Priest, Acting Mayor MacDuff and the pompous windbag Prospiro rallied the distraught villagers. Robbed of their home for the second time in a year, they hardened and strengthened. Determined to put distance between themselves and the army but afraid of being lost in the forest, they traveled for weeks down the length of the World Tree, until they arrived at its base. There they found the remains of a demonic worksite. A large chunk was missing from the Tree, but more importantly, powerful work tools were left strewn about. Additionally, chunks of the forest had been turned from Stone to Flesh (or Wood) by the demons, who needed that wood to power their tools.

Thusly equipped with power tools, wood and stone in construction materials, and a sky-high canvas upon which to paint their dreams, the 70 refugees set to work. Over the years they built a vertical city into the former Tree of Life, dramatically incorporating entire stone trees, branches and trunks into the city as decoration and columns. They named this the Town of Lapis Wood. Word spread, and the Town grew.

At the base of the Town, they built a fountain in the shape of the World Tree, and around that fountain they placed five statues: one for each of the Heroes of Lapis Wood. In time their names were forgotten, but their images remained - The Priest, The Ranger, The Sorceress, The Wizard, and The Mayor.