Bradaen

[Gorgondantess]

You wake up from your wintry rest to find things horribly, horribly wrong. As you stir, icicles fall off your previously prone body, shattering on the floor. A cold wind blows through you- most weather unable to cause you discomfort, but at this point there's numbness in your extremities, and you shiver for the first time in your life, walking out into the night air. Coming out of your abode, you are greeted by the familiar sight of corpses hanging from the trees, but this time ghostly pale with blood not dried but frozen, in cruel red spears almost reaching the ground. You are greeted by Bonegrind- the corpses no doubt his work- who is wrapped up in fur robes rather than his usual silk, shivering from the wind, his thick hair and mass unable to keep him warm, as it normally does. A wound opens up on his nose as a sharp peice of ice flies by, slashing him. The woods, strangely enough, has no snow- it is a dry cold, with the woods so frozen as to remove all liquid, and Bonegrind's lips are cracked and bleeding. The wolves do not seem to mind, however- you can hear them howling in the distance. The minotaur gets your attention, and says bluntly, "There are newcomers to the village."

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

The Fey prince awoke, feeling the chill deep in his bones. His eyes snapped open, and he looked around, taking in the scene calmly. He nodded slowly, resolving not to lose his temper until he had found the cause of this most unpleasant change. I see. And are they responsible for this abominable weather? Or is there something else behind it?

[Gorgondantess]

The minotaur glares insolently. "They cant've had anything to do with it, they're bloody peasants, just like all the others in the village." He pauses, and a pensive look crosses his face, insomuch as he can have a pensive look. "But... things are odd. The villagers are listless, aimless. The men hanging there forgot where they were halfway through being tortured. The people who came to the village are no different."

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Braeden coldly examined the corpses of the dead men, nodding slowly I see. And what does Achron have to say? He should be responsible for keeping watch on the villagers. What has changed?
Even as he spoke, he laid one hand on the bole of the tree, sending a probing thought into it... asking the semi-sentient plant-spirit what had changed while he was asleep... where this abominable weather came from... and what was weakening its hold over the villagers.

[Gorgondantess]

As you probe the tree, a horrible headache comes upon you. The pain sears your mind, and you black out. The next thing you know you're in the tower, with your ears ringing and your vision slowly coming back. You stumble, and see Achron in front of you. "... and I wish I could say more, but other than that, I know nothing else."

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Spitting a series of oaths, Braeden shook his horn-crowned head, turning back to Achron, his eyes gleaming. He longed to lash out and take out his pain on someone, but repressed the urge - time for that later, when he had ascertained the cause of the problem. Repeat the first part again... There is something troubling My domain, and I will know what it is. I will not tolerate this.. intrusion.

[Gorgondantess]

The satyr barely suppresses a giggle as you swear, wearing a nasty grin. As you look at him, his face becomes more stoic and severe, obviously afraid of your wrath. "All I said was that the minotaur was simply reiterating what I told him. There are peasants in the village from some of the nearby towns with fuddled memories, living as though they've been there all the time... The villagers, including them, are also completely befuddled- they seem to be having even worse side effects in their abilities than usual, and they sporadically forget what is happening. I tried to look into the matter, but only got a headache and mixed messages for my efforts."

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Braeden nodded thoughtfully, stroking his chin with one manicured hand. Indeed... there seems to be some outside force affecting our wood... Let us start with the basics. when did this pestilential cold begin? And has anything occurred that might be the cause of this? Any new creatures of note that have arrived nearby?

[Gorgondantess]

"I'm at a loss. Nothing new other than what I said. The cold began about 2 days ago, and I noticed the other newcomers about, ohhh, a day and a half ago. At 1st I thought it was just a freak and not worth your attention, and I was about to tell you when you came here."

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Braeden slowly nodded, pondering the import of this. He saw only one option - he would have to investigate the village itself, as it seemed the only lead he had into solving this problem. I see... then if you've no idea where this cold may have come from, I shall have to investigate myself. In the mean time, send out the Huntsmen. I want them to gather any relevant information and report back here as soon as may be.

With that, he stepped up to a large oak and stepped -through- it, moving through the hidden paths within the trees, towards the Village

(Using my at-will dimension door that allows me to move through trees.)

[Gorgondantess]

As Bradaen 'steps' through the trees, he feels another bout of searing pain- worse than before- and attempts to stop the process. He finds he cannot, and blacks out... waking up in the house of the priest of the village, on his bed, staring into the eyes of its owner, who was looking down on you. He shrieks, and gets on his knees, mumbling incoherent prayer and beating himself with a leather scourge, wincing at each blow, though his words never falter.

Spoiler

Show

You may be thinking right now "gee, this guy has stolen all my cool abilities causing me to black out whenever I do something!" However, I assure you, A) it won't be permanent, as long as you decide to try to do something about it, and B) it won't jeapordize your battles with the heroes (though I might throw some peasant-militia at you)

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Braeden stood up, his face proud and haughty as he looked down his nose at the pathetic, shivvering creature. Acting as if nothing had happened, he pointed to the priest as he groveled You. Stop that shivvering and attend to your Lord. I have been told that strange events have been occuring in My domain, and a fel winter seems to have gripped My land. Tell me all you know that might relate to these matters. Anything that has happened out of the ordinary recently might be important.

Spoiler

Show

It's difficult to do something when every source of information you try makes you go unconcious.

[Gorgondantess]

The priest looks up at you, refusing to quit groveling, so afraid of your wrath. He apparently has incredible multi-tasking abilities, as he somehow answers your questions while praying and beating himself. "N-nothing is wrong, sir, lord, master, except for the cold... many people of the village have died of it, sir, and our feeble crops are dying, and if this humble, lowly being may entreat on your goodness in this hour of need, you who are so powerful, please master, end our torments, we truly need you now, surely you wouldn't let your worshippers, lowly as we are before you, die off..." he whimpers and snivels during his tirade, wincing even though he stopped the beating halfway through, and saying each word as if he is going to soon deeply regret it.

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Braeden snarled and only barely resisted the urge to backhand the sniveling wretch and snap his feeble neck, ending his whining once and for all. But if what he was saying is true - and he doubted the little maggot had the courage to lie to Him - he could not affort to waste even a single follower, least not on something so petty. After the crisis, perhaps, he might feel otherwise... but that was tomorrow's entertainment. For now, he needed to find the root of this problem. Striding out, he began to look around the village, searching for anything that might be out of place.

[Gorgondantess]

Bradaen walks out into the village, and sees just about nothing; the people all bow and whimper as you walk by, fewer than usual, and there are a few corpses in the streets, but other than that nothing out of place.

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

The Fae-lord snarled with frustration. Everywhere he went, it seemed, he found only more frustration, more dead ends. With a brief snarl, he ordered that the corpses be gathered up - even in death, he would make sure that there was a use for them. With a frustrated growl, he began to walk, lifting his head to check which way the wind was blowing. If nothing else, perhaps he could see where this cold was coming from.

Spoiler

Show

Seriously, mystery is one thing, but it's pretty hard to do anything with no clues whatsoever.

[Gorgondantess]

Focusing on the winds, Bradaen feels an ominousness. A chill goes through him, above and beyond that of the cold itself; something that eats at the soul. It is coming from the southwest; the mountains of Arrigo.

Spoiler

Show

Ok, ok, there's a perfect hint right there as to where it is coming from. You just aren't looking in the right places; why check the village, I ask you? Is there magic in the village? The effects you're feeling are felt all over the world, and are much more far-reaching than just your forest. I'll drop another hint; if you want to focus on yourself and bringing your forest back to normal, stay in the forest. If you want to find out what's going on, do some footwork. If you want, you can control one of your cohorts, or both, without having Bradaen leave the forest.

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

Staring at the peaks, as if willing them to divulge information, Braeden began to walk towards them, drifting through the forest like an evil shadow. Though he was not a kindly creature, the pain of his domain ate at his heart - he and the land were linked, after all. Even mortal kings became attached to their lands in strange and mystic ways, and He was far more than mortal. Squaring his shoulders, he continued to walk, resolving that he would have to investigate this the hard way. Starting, of course, at the part of his forest nearest the source of this chill infection.

Spoiler

Show

Thanks kindly for the hint. Not trying to be abrasive - I know how it is from both angles. Often as a DM it seems painfully obvious, because you have everything laid out in your head, while the players seem like dimwitted oafs for not understanding the clearly laid breadcrumb trail. My issue was just that there was no indication of -where- to look. Thanks again. Frankly, I think Braeden would want to get His domain in order before worrying about anything else. It's not like he gives a rat's arse if anyone else is suffering, after all. Once his domain's in order, though, he'd be perfectly willing to seek out revenge for the interference...

[Gorgondantess]

Spoiler

Show

1: Yep, I generally need to be pretty obvious with my players; I've always been a very algorythmic thinker, with steady, logical steps, and I just have trouble connecting things once in a while. Anyhow, I think you need a background update. During the recruitment, I updated the background many, many times. Arrigo is a different continent, thousands of miles away. You definitely wouldn't be able to get there so easily. Here, let me give you the stuff:

Spoiler

Show

The world is called Amara. There are 2 continents on the world, both very large- one, to the west, Arrigo, is mostly rocky desert, but it is filled with minerals and rare spices, so it is a very export-rich area. The other, Sorell, has the prime farmland and forests. The setting is about 1600s technology and culture- there was an explosion of technology and culture about 50 years back, and it is still going on. The cultures are very efficient and hard nosed. There are cultures of humans, dwarves, orcs, goblins, and kobolds in the cities that trade with each other. There are also backwater cultures of gnomes, elves, and halflings, that are way behind in terms of technology. The orcs, goblins and kobolds are not considered "evil", as most don't care if they are- it would be too much of a hassle to get rid of them, and they make good trading partners- the world is, in general, ultra capitalist, and as long as something is efficient it doesn't really matter who is running it and how, to a point of course- needless cruelty and things like slavery are frowned upon.
Geography:
Arrigo:
To the north resides a thin strip of frozen tundra, barely 25 square miles; beyond this, a perpetually frozen sea. As one travels south, it quickly becomes hotter, and one can find a sparse jungle, in which exotic fruits and anmals are exported for the enjoyment of the rich. Beyond this, endless desert, with sparse patches of valuable minerals and spices, leading to very unhappy camps of hot, sweating miners and harvesters. Traveling further south, one finds rocky mountains, in which there is a much larger amount of minerals; enough to make the world wealthy. Sadly, some cunning entrepenuers have already staked the area out, after the exodus to the continent 50 years ago when the 1st explorers found immense amounts of gems; hundreds either became rich, after stumbling on some hidden cache, or became completely broken, drained by their fruitless search. One of the main success stories was a group of humans, orcs, and goblins, who created the city of Hardril over an immense, vast tunnel filled with almost nothing but coal and iron. There, they bred like rabbits, and by the 3rd generation (it is currently at the 4th, about 10 years in), they had become completely homogenized. Some other towns are:
Cragest, in the desert; prime spice town. Poppulated by gnolls (as the workforce), humans and kobolds.
Port White, just about the only port on the island of a decent size: this one is immense. Many half-elves and a few elves reside there, as they are the best seamen. By the jungles.
Glast: another mining town, relatively near Hardril; mines gems and some precious metals. Gnomes, dwarves and halflings mine there, the halflings sparse but in high demand due to the granite rock: they're capable of squeezing through the small spaces where the softer rock was mined.
Furtown: a town between the only forest on the continent, the only plains, and a chunk of jungle. Every plant and animal is within reach, except for some of the desert spices. Mix of many races, especially elves and gnolls. Near Port White.
New race:
Miners of Hardril
+2 str, +2 int, -2 dex, -2 cha. Miners are savvy businessman, and have gained strong muscles due to their orcish heritage and their profession of choice: mining. However, all the intermixed bloodlines have left them relatively stunted, and are awkward and ugly.
Automatic proficiency in all picks
Stonecunning, as dwarf ability
Darkvision
profession: miner is always an in-class skill, and miners get 4 extra skill points to spend on it at 1st level. Knowledge: Geography is always an in-class skill.
+3 to all appraise checks on gems, metals, minerals, etc., Automatic success on iron or coal, determines exact price and quality. (not iron items, however.)
Favored class: Artificer. Lanuages:Common, orc, goblin.
Miners are short, gangly folk, with thick, stocky legs and long, wiry arms, corded with muscle. Their skin is a mottled grey and beige, rough. They are almost always very srong and calloused. They stand between 5'2-6', generally.
Sorell:
Sorell is mainly forest and grassy plains, all very green. There are a few mountains with some decent iron and silver, a bit of gold, but not much else. About twice the size of Arrigo, a round shape, while arrigo is a crescent, the concave side facing Sorell. Sorell is mostly round, but with a branch of land, reaching out towards Arrigo. If one travels the shortest distance between Sorell and Arrigo, one would find themselves south of Port White, with the largest buildings in view.
Sorell is scattered with farms and villages, with the slight folks in the forests and enterprisings in the grassy fileds, raising livestock or plants, often both. Rather than listing all of the villages, I'll just put in the 4main cities.
Castle White: the only bastion of elves outside the forests, White was built by the sea, on the branch of land at its far extremity, about 120 years ago. The large proliferation of humans coming, and trading, has caused the population to become largely half- elf. Obviously, founded Port White, has the largest fleet of trading ships by far.
Mount Orvest: a mining city founded by a group of orcs and dwarves, this is the place iron was 1st discovered and worked. It's the only city left on Sorell that still mines. Renowned for its well equipped, highly trained military and skilled metalworkers.
Cordell: A largely human city, about 75%, with a mix of other races. In the center of Sorell, before the Arrigo boom it was the most powerful city in the world and housed the monarchy, which ruled over all; now the king is a tired, incompetent old man of 70, with no heirs, who barely holds any influence, even in Cordell. Still has quite the military, though, an rumor has it the king is planning a world conquest with Orvest, so they'll both be the most powerful cities in the world again.
Ledveran: A city of gnomes, goblins and kobolds, site of most of the technlogical and philisophical advancements of the time; they were the ones who sold Castle White plans for the current trading ship used and knowledge of the sextant, and essentially started the Arrigo boom.


Pantheon:

Lerran: goddess of death and dust. TN. Domains: Death, Destruction, Air, Earth. Favored weapon: choose either greataxe (styled as headsman's axe) or scythe.
Lerran is not an evil god of death, forcing its followers to harvest souls for her purpose; rather, she is more like osiris: a keeper of souls. Her priests preach acceptance of death, and help people on their way, though they frown upon suicide. Lerran hates the undead, considering them abominations, and a slight upon her domain. As such, if death is a chosen domain, the spell list is changed: at lvl 3, speak with dead instead of animate dead. Lvl 6: disintegrate and lvl 8: ethereal jaunt.

Yn'Solath: God of secrets, portals and insanity. Also known as "The Key" and "The Gate". NE, flock is generally CE or CN. Domains: Travel, magic, knowledge, chaos, and Evil. Favored Weapon: kukri. Yn'Solath is an ancient, enigmatic god, an enigma even to his most devoted followers; he is not worshipped out of love, but out of lust for power. Most of his followers are insane, from the bits of sanity-blasting insight he gives to them, that noone but one of his worshippers would understand.

Seren: god of wealth, business and cheating. LE, worshppers can be of any alignment but NG, LG, or LN. Domains: Luck, Trickery, Knowledge. Favored weapon: rapier. Seren is a favorite of any savvy businessman, and has become a much-worshipped god the past 50 years. He endorses charisma and wit, and cheating and lying to gain wealth, power and respect.
For bonus spells, max spell lvl, etc. use charisma. For DC, use intelligence.

Yallasai: God of labor and justice. LN. Domains: Law, strength, protection. Weapon: Flail OR sickle OR heavy pick. Yallasai is often worshipped by farmers and laborers everywhere, and is a favorite of law enforcement. His worshippers frown on laziness and waste, working all day, and always doing what is efficient.

Dorar: god of military. LN. Domains: War, law, protection, healing. Weapon: longsword. Dorar is not often worshipped in the land, as it has been peaceful forquite some time, and is now out of favor; however, 100 years ago, it was the favorite. Dorar values military might and tactics, and glory to the fallen on the battlefield.

Cults:
Xanalathasatac(also known as xan): God of anarchy and destruction. CN. Domains:destruction, chaos, fire. Weapon: Heavy flail. Clerics and favored souls, when casting shatter, do so at +2 character level, +5 to DC, and at a maximum of 20 dice, rather than 10. One can find Xan servants in every city, trying to create chaos and anarchy, trying to rally the citizens to rebel. The only thing they ever really succeed in is saying a lot of things they never accomplish, and acts of vandalism. Xan is the mos hated of the fringe cults, and most worshippers are excecuted on the spot, or, in kinder cities, givven a chance to recant for some jail time and confiscation of property. If they don't recant, they are tortured until they do.
Khaine: god of freedom and caprice. CG. Domains: luck, trickery, travel, air. Weapon: Falchion. Gain the feat improved critical (falchion), (kukri) or (rapier) at lvl 9 for free. Khaine's worshippers have similar goals to Xan's, and face the same punishments; however, they go about it in different ways, and desire a different end; while Xan wants to destroy all civilization, Khaine simply wants to take down the current civilization, then rebuild. They are more organized than Xan, and go about things more efficiently. About half of Khaine's followers work with Xan's, and the other half are at war with them.
Sain: God of peace and hapiness: LG. Domains: healing, protection, good, law. Weapon: Warhammer. Sain's worshippers are the most peaceful and widely accepted of the fringe cults. In some more benevolent and accepting areas, they are liked even more than the main religions. Most of them, however, live on monasteries in the middle of nowhere. They are all but nonexistent in Arrigo.
Kholber: God of balance. TN. domains: Choose 1. (earth and air) (fire and water) (chaos and law) (good and evil) (destruction and protection) or (death and healing). Weapon: 2 bladed sword. Kholber's worshippers are recluses, who desire to be left alone. Whenever they do leave their himes, however, they are very preachy and forceful, beleiving that the common people are ruining the balance.

[WhiteKnight777]

Spoiler

Show

Okay, good to know. How do I know where it's coming from if the source is so far away? Is it some sort of supernatural sense?

[Gorgondantess]

Spoiler

Show

You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? A mixture of that and the sheer immensity of what is happening there.

[WhiteKnight777]

Spoiler

Show

Thanks for the reminder... I went off to think about my course of action and forgot I hadn't posted. Since it's so far away, is there any way I can determine a more local source for the problem? If not, Braeden is simply going to head in the direction of the source, seeing if he can find any clues along the way.

[Gorgondantess]

Spoiler

Show

Ok. Excellent. Here's a peice of advice: you won't be able to change anything back at home by tackling the source; however, it might just be worth your while to check things out. What I advise, mainly to keep things easy for me; send out your henchmen to check it out, and stay at home to solve the problem. It'll probably take you days to get there, and I don't want you to get ahead of the heroes. As for getting there, Castle White's harbor should be able to provide you a ship. So, what do you want to do?

[WhiteKnight777]

Spoiler

Show

Braeden would likely follow your advice anyway - he's more concerned with restoring his kingdom than anything else. He's going to stay at home and search for a way to solve the problem, meanwhile he'll dispatch the Huntsmen and a few of his human servants to investigate the remote problem, with the promise of rich reward should they succeed.

[Gorgondantess]

Spoiler

Show

Ok, good. sned'em out, and maybe you'll hear back from them after a while. If you want to send out your better guys, the minotaur and satyr whose names escape me, I'll let you play as them. Anyhow, just say the word. So what now?

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

After some deliberation, Braeden retreated to his tree. Pondering the problem for a time, he at last arrived at a decision. Summoning his lieutenants, he issued the orders - the Huntsmen, as well as five of his other men, were to be sent towards where he had detected the source of the problem to lie. Thinking that his less human servants would be ill-suited to investigations outside the wood, he resolved to keep them at home.

Spoiler

Show

Okay, here's where I'm still at a loss - because I still have no leads as to where to go or what to do to actually fix the problem, as all my attempts to gather information have failed. If there arent' any other options, Braeden will simply start to search the wood for a way to solve the "freezing cold" issue. Unfortunately the lack of weather control spells means that magical means are right out.

[Gorgondantess]

The huntsmen and others head out on horses to White Castle, in order to catch a boat to Arrigo, and then to the mountains. It will be a long and arduous trip. You could normally contact them using the trees, but now that they are acting strangely... as you think of this, you sense something, something that makes your stomach wrench and turn, as if everything is out of order, out of place. It is coming from the center of the forest.

[WhiteKnight777]

Braeden

As the wrenching feeling came from his gut, Braeden felt it - like a black blight in his body, a cancer in the heart of what was HIS... and he would see it excised. With all haste, he began to move to the center of the forest, wrath building in his heart as he anticipated a target to vent it on.

Spoiler

Show

Thanks for the hint

[Gorgondantess]

Spoiler

Show

Sorry for taking so long to reply; I could've sworn I posted before this.

As Bradaen nears the center of the forest, the Shadeheart, the unsettling feeling increases. He can feel the magics woven about it warped, torn and stretched; a bolt of energy flies out from the sky, striking the ground next to him and spattering him with debris; no matter how he looks, he cannot find the source. Continuing onward, he hears a pulsing, writhing, as of a thousand maggots feasting on a giant. As he goes, he finds the corpses of the guardian animals, their hair falling out, cancerous sores all over each one, with warped, twistes limbs and scabrous skin. He finally gets to the shadeheart, and sees something that defies sanity; a blasphemous being is wrapped around it, tentacled, a brown-pink color, with irregular spines and skin, contantly warping, twisting, creating limbs and absorbing them, the tree is all but invisible. You stand there, frozen, for almost a minute. And then it looks at you; you cannot tell how, as it does not have eyes. It grows an immense beak, easily 10 feet across, and four.... then 5.... then 8 immense, ever expanding limbs, amorphous and chaotic, writhing, with disgusting green talons at the end, dripping black stuff that incinerates the ground when it hits it, exploding in black smoke silently. The beak reaches out towards you, and you simply cannot move; its presence has left you nigh catatonic. It nears your face, an inch away, and then screams, screeching deafeningly, leaving your ears ringing. No matter how you try, your limbs are frozen. Then it rears back, and snaps out at you violently; you nimbly dodge out of its way, snapping out of your icy stoneness; it is lightning quick, but imprecise.

[Gorgondantess]

Spoiler

Show

so, are you paralyzed by fear, standing there, doing nothing? Oh, and by the way, I'm instituting a homebrew sanity system. Expect to encounter more blasphemous, horrific beings like this.