Count down to the apocalypse-stormcrows January 12, 2008 17:19 Helm 14 1877 4th age

The council of elves with the stormcrows decided that the leadership of the orcs would have to be destroyed in the final fight. With the head of the enemy gone it was hoped that the orcs would splinter. This had already been seen after the death of Melg, one of Gedreg commanders. The orcs were scattering back into the hills at the east end of the Corsae forest or south. The Stormcrows, Torment warriors three, Rumrad, and Aaelas would be the force to do this. They are to use the gates found in Caer Lu Beleg and gate to Arinis and make all haste to the fight that is to come.

It had been noted that Gedreg and his command usually started in the rear only to go where needed. As for the dragon Sathir(see notes below), the rest of the power base of the elves would commit to either killing it or driving it off. Querli, ruler of Kerbar, a wizard and the main priests of the the city, along with others would be waiting for the dragon.

The final line was to be just south of the city. All the remaining elves of the region were equipped and prayers to Correllion, Solonor and Hanali were being offered up save what was left of the southern Corsae woods.

Dragons were thought to be extinct at the end of the 3rd age, until a couple of years ago, according to the clerics of Oghma, sages and others. The eggs of all the dragons were taken off the prime material plane and were saved for a particular purpose to the east. The eggs were hatched and the dragons were aged in another plane with a time difference. They were then released back in the prime plane to serve two brothers, one good and one evil to fight a greater evil that threatened the east and possibly the world as a whole. The dragons fought and died against a demon horde along with a group of heroes. The horde was defeated, the brothers died and the remaining dragons were allowed to go their own ways.

The dragons when brought back were in the young adult to adult stage of their lives. Who set up this plan is unknown and unclear to all who researched this. Helm 16 1877 4th age

snapshots-Stormcrows   January 18, 2008 02:24

The stale air soured the mouths of the two Elves as they wandered down stairs that hadn’t been touched in over a age. Querili, the leader of the Elves of Kerbar, spoke to the other elf. “The orb is said to be in the chamber, Haman.” The other elf nodded. “How did you know of it?” “It came to me when we were told of the dragon.” Querili looked again at Haman, “And how did the dragon story start?” “Scouts reported the creature, Querili.”

The elves moved into the chamber brushing away cobwebs. At one end of the chamber they came upon a box. The wooden box was inscribed in elvish and the metal trims still gleamed through the dust. Querili took the key that he had, having been passed down through the generations to him, and opened the box. A pale pink glow emerged from the box and both the elves looked in and noted the smooth, round crystal.

Querili reached in and lifted the crystal out of the box. Haman saw pain in Querili’s eyes and a shadow cast about him. “We must find the dragon quickly for this thing consumes me. Cast a healing spell on me to keep myself going” Haman cast the spell and both the elves went back up the stairs,leaving a empty box.

---

Gedreg looked at his forces deployed on the field and had a surge of pride in his accomplishments. He was going to destroy the elves. All the frustration the delay of rebuilding the bridge that the longears had destroyed had made him out of sorts. Malhauts’ suggestion that Sathir be deployed out on the far wing had seemed excellent at the time but he wanted the big red for himself. He, Gedreg wanted to tame the dragon to ride for himself.

He looked about and had his final discussions of his commanders and sent them out. The dragon at the far end, the giants at what seemed to be a hinge in their lines. He looked at his prisoners, all barely alive, laid out on the ground. The Gruumish priest walking about them, lazily touching his spear to each of them and smiling. Gedreg would have liked to have the powers that Gruumsh gave his priests, slaying a creature cured some of the wounds that the priest received. The priest was to cast a shield other on Gedreg if they were attacked and the Drow wizard was hiding in one of a greater darkness spell that he had cast. It was going to be a good day.

---

Malhaut appeared before the Stormcrows, leshur, Rumrad and Aaelas. He smiled and spoke, “Greetings, Lothar to you and your friends, excellent day for a fight in my opinion.” He smiled, showing his razorlike teeth, and pointed to the stormcrows. “Its on your heads the additional deaths the elves will have today. All you had to do was to convince Lothar that he should sign over his soul and the carnage could be stopped.” Lothar looked at his compatriots, he had been wondering why they had been asking him strange questions recently. He looked back and began to insult the devil, who continued to smile.

Malhaut spoke again. “You, Lothar have been a useful tool for me, your mentor, Shingo, and possibly Gedreg. If you kill the orc, I get his soul, if you die, I will lose an annoying if not useful tool. I feel that I will win either way.” Malhaut then disappeared.

Torment asked who was that guy?

---

The elf, looked out on the hordes of the orcs, and was afraid. Although there were dead orcs to the front of him from the archers stationed near him, there were more to replace him. He looked to his right where he saw a comrade, with two arrows sticking out of his head. One arrow had pierced the left eye, but there was no comrade to step beside him. He steeled himself for the hand to hand butchery to follow——The orc looked at longears line and uttered up a prayer to Gruumsh. He was almost immediately flushed for combat, looked to his compatriots, began to scream the name of Gruumsh and pushed his legs forward into battle.

---

The Stormcrows and their allies had located Gedreg with the use of a commune with nature spell. The group snuck up by using the dense woods. Lothar and Flook Dingle Jag stayed back. Flook Dingle Jag flew up and spotted Gedreg on a hill, his priest of gruumsh, bodyguards, and two balls of darkness. Flook Dingle Jag struck the first blow with an firebal1 spell which caught the priest and some of the body guards in some form as well as a couple of prisoners. Nuna unleashed a call lightning as well on the priest as well as an entangle spell which caught almost all the orcs.

From Gedreg side a response came and caught Flook Dingle Jag in a feeblemind which took him out of the fight. The Stormcrows and the allies were not sure of where the spell came from. Rumrad and Aaelas shot arrows into Gedreg who was tearing his way through the entangle.

Hyorn Rutherford had precast protection fire spell on himself and cast spell resistance on the druid. this would prove to be invaluable as leshur dropped a necklace of fireballs on them. The druid came through unscathed, and Hyorn Rutherford took minimal damage.

The Stormcrows and allies continued their assault on the struggling orcs. The Torment warriors three got into the fights with some of the bodyguards that finally freed themselve of the entangle. Still the elf couple poured arrow fire into Gedreg. Lothar and Torment both then attacked Gedreg.

Lothar’s axe spelleater, bounced a enervation spell cast at him and a bad die roll saved him from the vampiric touch spell also cast at him. Gedreg took several savage blows at Lothar who went etherial just before contact. Torment wasnt as lucky, he was hit by several of the bodyguards, but not before landing blows on Gedreg but was eventually cut down. Lothar killed Gedreg in one spectular series of attack.

Nuna and her cat enlarged before the battle went into the orc bodyguards and systematically destroyed them while continuing to reign down death from above.

leshur caused damage but was unable to finish anyone else off and eventually fled the fight.

In the end, Gedreg, his body guards and the priest of Gruumsh were dead and the stormcrows and allies gathered together to finish the fight with the main body. Their losses, Torment dead, Flook Dingle Jag feebleminded and others wounded January 25, 2008 01:47 helm 16-26 1877 4th age

Battle of the bloody woods stormcrows   The orcish army routs but at what cost?

The stormcrows and their allies began to reorganize themselves to continue the attack on the orcs and their allies when they heard the chimes of a bell. The smell of brimstone met their noses as a familiar face to many of the stormcrows appeared.

It was Malhaut smiling at them and ringing a small bell. The heroes could see bluish outlines of Gedreg and his bodyguard rising from the slain bodies and walking towards the devil. “Its been a good day for me, and it’s still your fault that many elves have had to die this day.” looking to the other members of the stormcrows. Nuna enraged tried to attack Malhaut and found he could not. Malhaut frowned a little and then resumed his smile. Lothar uttered a string of verbal abuses on the devil. Malhaut just smile and spoke,”Lothar you are a very useful tool to me, just look what you gave me.” Lothar replied “I fight for Tempus, do you consider him a tool also?” Malhaut said yes and Lothar smiled.

“You can still attempt to save some of the elves, there is a group of giants killing elves about quarter mile to the east.” Malhaut then disappeared. At this point Lothar took Gedreg body and climbed aboard Nuna and sprinted towards the enemy line with the others following and screaming to draw the orcish attackers attention. The group found the fight and the orcs began to notice. Lothar in the front of the orcs, removed Gedreg’s head and the orcs morale failed miserably and they began to rout in droves. The stormcrows moved along the orcish line until they found the giants who were mopping up elves in single blows. They attacked the giants and took them out. In the distance they could see Sathir the red dragon who seemed to be taking the brunt of blows from the ground, and soon Sathir retreated from the fight. The rest of the day was mop up. Rumrad and Aaelas had seperated from the group and was working with the rest of the elves.

Toward evening the survivors met to get a count of friends left. The stormcrows,Rumrad, Aaelas,Gorim warriors three and knut warriors three were still alive. Torment warriors three was dead. The group also met Querili, who had aged considerably since the previous day. Querili needed assistance to sit down. Aaelas began a song and was joined in by the other elves standing about.

The next day the process of finding the dead and dieing began and began to count the final cost. This process lasted a couple of days. Querili had promised to mentor Flook Dingle Jag and Setsuka in the ways of spells of the 6th order. Querili had explained that the item that he used to drive off the dragon had a cost in his life span but it was worth it. Torment warriors three was brought back from the dead and the entire party was invited to Caer lu Beleg for a ceremony honoring the recently passed.

At the ceremony the group was accorded the title of Rauther (elf friend) and given gifts. Nuna was offered the position of stewart and Setsuka was offered the choice of being the Besfali(oathshadow) leader in the woods or to the human leader in the south.

Lothar had a dream from his deity, nodding approval. January 31, 2008 20:23 Helm 16-Aria 14 1877 4th age

Weary of war the stormcrows take the slow way home

Many things are decided in the elvish councils of Helm 17-20. The major item is that Arinis will be abandoned as a city and will be made into a monument. The city of Caer Lu Beleg will be partially reopened to use the gates of the city to move the elves to other sites. It was also decided that the southern Corsae elves could not send troops to their northern brethren. The leaders in charge felt that news of Gedreg’s demise and the hoped for relief by the dwarves would send the orcs back to their hills.

Nuna and Setsuka made their decisions to leave the Corsae woods. Nuna wanted vengence against Malhaut while Setsuka decided to be the outside contact. Just before the group departed to the south, Querili passed away of old age, the item that he had weilded against the red dragon, sapped out his life. The Warriors three decided to head north.

The stormcrows decided to take the more leisurely way home. The group moved through the woods,still smelling of smoke and death. The destruction that had been left was disheartening but Nuna tossed out seeds that she had gathered and sprinkled them about.

The group made their way to the ferry. Mary, wife of Longtom, a dead friend of the Stormcrows, was there along with the brood of eight children. The family had always been protected by the elves and the halflings of the Mounds to the south, but that protection was now in jeopardy and Mary was debating about taking the family south into Greater Baradan. The group had a restful night except for Nuna’s cat Talaria who had children all about her.

The group left and headed south into the halfling community of the Mounds where they met with the new head of the community Kal and told him of the situation to the north. The halflings had depended on trade with the Corsae elves so were concerned about the future.

The group next marched into Pavis, where they renewed acquaintences with old friends, Gwenhundra and Feth. Pavis had fared poorly in the last year with the war and the emergence of the Vampiress Lucia. Less than 50% of the populace remained within the city.

Lothar at this time, decided that he would dominant a sword that he had kept in storage there. It was a bastard sword named Black Razor, which was cursed. The more opponents killed by the sword the higher the opportunity for the sword to dominate him and to push him into a killing spree. There was said to be an amulet which would control these rages but it had not been found. Lothar had vowed to control the sword and took it into the wilderness about Pavis. Lothar spent the better part of the week chanting to his god and attempting to bend the will of the sword to him. It was exhausting, but eventually the sword succumbed to the will of Lothar.

The group took leave of Pavis, made a short stop with Alain to determine why he had not helped against the red dragon Sathir and his quote was I have done enough. The group didn’t question this and continued south where they finally made it to the northern most of the provinces of Greater Baradan. They stopped at a non-descript tavern where they noticed a sign stating that benders and bloodersPsionics and sorcerers were not allowed in the tavern. Puzzled by the statement the group inquired and found that soon after the group left the kingdoms, troubles began to break out. Benders and Blooders were being attacked in the streets of the various communities and there were reprisals, sometimes escalating into more violence. The Stormcrows were puzzled by this and resolved to find out more once they had reached locast.

The group reached Locast and renewed friendships, in particular Helevous a Elvish wizard whom they had adventured with in the past. He was now the head of the wizards guild and began to answer questions a put some forth himself.

As for the bender-blooder problem, a curfew was enacted to cut down the violence at night. A counsel was set up to meet and discuss the problems in a effort to bring the situation in a peaceful way. Helevous also informed the Stormcrows of the new law which required somebody to purchas e a license to be able to buy magic items. All the stores that sold such items were no longer in business.

Helevaous asked Lothar if he were single with a smile. With the asset of land to the north of the city, he-lothar would have people willing to do arranged marriages with nice dowries to potientally hold more land. Lothar gulped at that.

The group then split up to achieve certain goals Hyorn Rutherford went north to learn some new metamagic feats from the Supreme Magister. The trip would take about three weeks. Nuna sought the wisdom of the priests or sages to learn of Malhaut in order to find the creature that brought the elvish race down. Flook Dingle Jag decided to legend lore about the Book of Varanos, said to be full of new transmutation spells. This would take about five weeks and Flook Dingle Jag was ambitious to learn a new feat and spells. Lothar went north to survey his new land. February 02, 2008 23:41 Nuna had a mission in mind. She wanted to gather information about Malhaut. In her mind she wanted revenge for the deaths of her people. The stormcrows were in the city of locast and she was told that several of the priesthoods and the sages guild could be of help to her. As Nuna and her cat had never been inside a human city before, the situation was very strange and stressful. People gaped and watched her and her cat carefully. The crowds made Teleria, the cat nervous. Her sense of direction failed her as she moved about the narrow streets but eventually she found the street of Temples and came to the Temple of Oghama, under the sign of a scroll.

Nuna-Stormcrows   Nuna searches for information

Nuna went to the door and attempted to open it but found that it was locked. Again something different from which she was brought up. There were no barred paths in the Elvish Kingdoms. She had seen others knocking on the door and attempted to do so. A response came and a youngish man came to the door. He was the priest there named Lucas. He had what appeared to be a floating piece of parchment with him(see oghma). He inquired as to the elves need and she told him. He said that he could research and gather the information and it would probably take a week or two and that it would cost money. Nuna hadnt had much dealing with money in her life but had been given some by the other members of the party. Some of the others had gone off to perform other tasks set before them. She returned to Lothar

At the end of the two weeks she returned and Lucas gave her the following information.

Malhaut was a harvester devil. His specialty is warrior souls. Good aligned weapons deal the most damage. The creature is immune to fire and poision and is able to summon aid. The devil can create doubles of itself and has a protective ward which must be overcome before it can be attacked unless it attacks first. The wound from its dagger weakens the victim unless he attacks a friend.

It is native to the Nine hells of Baator. There is rumored a book in the libary at Valanar, old Sey Fo that might have more pertinent information. February 03, 2008 00:23 Hyorn Rutherford looked to the land from the sea and could see the Temple of Tyr where the head of the priesthood, Jurgen made rule. The temple was in the shape of a scale with a center piece and two wings shaped like inverted cones. He would be landing soon.

Hyorn Rutherford-Stormcrows   Travelling to see the Supreme Magistar

A little over a year before he had been a fledgling priest and now he would met with the elder statesman of the church to complete some training and to discuss the offer made by Justin in locast for taking over one of the open temples in the southland. He had some pangs of lonleyness as this also the first time in over a year that he had been away from his comrades. His total time away from his comrades would be three to four weeks. February 06, 2008 03:39 Flook had been told of the book of Veranos. The book of Veranos was reputed to hold the secrets of transmutation spells that were not generally known.

Flook-Stormcrows   Flook legend lores

Flook cast the spell and was given the following information. the Book of Veranos is made of iron and is 6’ in length and 3’ in width. Its weight is approximately 1000lbs. The lock on the book consists of four different types of locks all built by mastercrafters. One lock is a combination, the second lock is based on astrological, the third lock is a key and the fourth and final lock is unknown.

The book is said to be in a city in the desert to the east.

The road to the city is a treacherous one. You must first pass through what the dwarves call Durvil(dark exile), what the elves have named Firali(darkshadow) It is a forest of immense width, with the trees being a sickly green in color, and of odd shapes. The elves don’t wish to live there but evil creatures, many not seen, live in it. Although the rainfall is somewhat scarce, there is is to be a foul swamp in the middle. After passing this comes the desolate wastes which very little lives and then the city arises out of the desert afterward.

Veranos decided to conduct his work in a remote desert. He found a community of lizardmen and promised them protection if they would build a structure to house him. He brought forth water so the tribe could become larger and stronger than their neighbors. In addition, he made a deal with a creature to protect the lizardmen if he were gone for a period of time.

Veranos came back to the Baradan area, proclaiming that he had found all the possible combinations of transmutations to the guild, but he appeared changed to those who were there that day. He wore a heavy suit which covered his body entirely and he moved slowly, and his voice had a strange tone to it. He presented his speech to the assemledge and said he must go and has never came back.

Flook is awaiting more information about its creator Veranos. A wizard of the early 4th February 06, 2008 03:46 Setsuka decided that after the war that she needed to create alliances with the humans and decided to take the position of the Besfali ambassador with the human society. Her goal would be that of using the humans to aid her people back from the brink of the destruction that the orcs wrought.

Setsuka-Stormcrows   Setsuka decides to take position

Setsuka was given abode in the Glow (that part of the city where many of the arcane and divine live) a stipend, and a human servant. Her neighbors are Havelous and Talon. February 07, 2008 20:23 After returning the ghostly priest of Dumathoin to the dwarvish community of Ithag-a-dor, Lothar and the rest of the stormcrows returned to locast. There the stormcrows went off to tasks that they had decided to do. Lothar met with Andrew at the Temple in the city. Andrew was given great responsibility by Lothar to run things in his stead.

Lothar-Stormcrows   Lothar begins to learn some of the trappings of power

There was a meeting with Elric of Chernak. Lothar and Andrew would travel to the lands granted to the Stormcrows and meet with two nearby nobles whom had offers to make. Andrew suggested that Lothar buy new attire to benefit his new status. Lothar bristled about it.

The meeting with Elric of Chernak went somewhat well. Lothar asked about the psionics and sorcerers and the edicts that had been placed about the provinces and why this was occuring. Elric of Chernak replied that the group needed protection and there was discussion of putting all of them in one place to achieve this protection. The second item was that of the restrictions on the buying and selling of magic items, Elric of Chernak waved his hand and changed the subject.

Lothar,Nuna and Andrew rode out the lands. Andrew had already had the area surveyed and noted to Lothar where a good spot for the keep, the temples of Tempus and Tyr should be laid out and was discussing the fertility of the land when they were interrupted by a human male and his child. He introduced himself as Baris and his daughter Maria. He was lord of Tuscancy and wanted to thank the Stormcrows for saving his castle. He then invited them to dinner and discussed an arranged marriage for Lothar and his eight year old daughter maria. This appalled Lothar and made Nuna courious. Lothar and Nuna went to a town nearby and bought clothing to make himself presentable as for the dinner. The dinner was awkard for Lothar and he was glad to leave in the morning.

The trio was again discussing the land when again they were interupted by a man and a woman. He was one of the leaders rescued in Tuscancy and he also offered Lothar his daughter Althea who was 18 and beautiful. Lothar noted the scowl on Althea’s face and spoke to her privately. She was not excited by the possibility of the arranged marriage but was her fathers daughter.

Lothar was then called to a meeting at safehome(archives stormcrows) where he suffered from a lack of understanding of the economics involved as well as being dandified up to meet with the rulers.