Scales of War

The candle flame of civilization flickers in the sea of darkness, and threatens to go out.

The empires and kingdoms of the world are gone: the soaring cities of Arkhosia, the decadent domes of Bael Turath, and even the shining spires of Cendriane. The last to fall was the Great Empire of Nerath in the north, its republican ideals lost forever as few of the bastions of knowledge that remain in this accursed world even recall its name.

Just outside the walls of the tiny fortresses adrift in the dark, forsaken cults seek to renew forbidden covenants, vile monsters terrorize the countryside, and in the forgotten lands far from edge of any map, an ancient power hungers for strife.

The scales of war are beginning to shift.

As deadly as the world is, something terrible has begun to stir on the fringes of the civilized Elsir Vale. Formerly the site of an attack by an army known as the Red Hand, the Vale has known nearly a century of peace since brave heroes from the Churches of Bahamut, Erathis, Kord, and Moradin inspired the free peoples of the Vale and stormed into the teeth of the approaching Hand, never to return.

Natives of Elsir Vale

Tales told around the fire by your elders talk of the Red Hand as an army of dragons, giants, hobgoblins, and worse, led by a fearsome half-dragon cleric of Tiamat, the five part-Goddess of tyranny and destruction.

At first, a combination of fear, prejudice, pride and cowardice led to the cataclysmic Massacre at Drellin’s Ferry, the first victory of the Red Hand over the peoples of the Vale. The men of Drellin’s Ferry hired sellswords to defend their town: prideful adventurers and craven mercenaries. The adventurers were outmatched, and died to a man trying desperately to slow the advance of the Hand, while the mercenaries ran like the cowards they were, at the mere sight of the Red Hand’s hill giants, hobgolbins and wyverns.

The folk of Drellin evacuated to the much larger city of Brindol, believing that since it boasted a high wall and a standing army, they would be safe from any threat.

The Battle of Brindol

Despite the city walls, the city was out-numbered by the Red Hand nearly 5 to 1, and despite this fact the Lionguard Army of Brindol still tried to defeat the Hand. Led by the pride of the noble houses they were defeated after only two days of intense fighting. As a result of this hubris, much of the city proper was destroyed and its population decimated. The defeat led to Brindol’s much reduced circumstances in years since the war.

“Remember Brindol!” soon became the rallying cry heard across the Elsir Vale, from Dennovar to Overlook, and with the help of the Churches of Bahamut, Erathis, Kord, and Moradin, an alliance was struck and an army was raised that could finally stand against the Hand.

The Saga tells that against these horrors stood the disciplined legionaries of the Ninth: remnants of the Nerathi army that had garrisoned the vale; the stout warriors of Bordin’s Watch who have defended the vale for centuries as part of an ancient accord; the elven tribes of the Tir Kitor, the druid Keepers of Eth from the Witchwood, a rag tag army of farmers and villagers from around the vale and even the dreaded Ghostlord and his dire lions.

All of these diverse allies were coaxed together by the five champions for the singular purpose of defending the Vale from the Hand.

Four of the Champions are recalled most often, these four are legends… idolized by adolescents and imitated by children: Argosin the dragonborn paladin of Bahamut, Thorden Ironfell the dwarven invoker of Moradin, Turlog Khorldrun the dwarven avenger of Kord, and Quintus the Nerathi cleric of Erathis. Rarely does the other hero appear in the tales, for she was said to be one of the small meek Riverfolk, and not a holy warrior like the others.

The Saga recounts that the five fought the leader of the Hand, the Half-Dragon, High Wyrmlord Azar Kul and his demonic lieutenants in the Fane of Tiamat, to stop him from completing a ritual of blackest magic, but that they were never heard from again.

Although the Riverfolk hold that one of the heroes survived by her wits to tell the tale, dwarves and men scoff at the idea of someone so small and weak could survive when those stronger and bigger did not…

Go to character creation or to Links

This is a wiki for my D&D 4th edition home campaign. Dungeons and Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast. All references to it are fair use and should not be considered a challenge.