From musseauh@esiee.fr Mon Sep 30 12:31:00 1996 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 10:52:02 +0100 From: Herve MUSSEAU Reply-To: mystara-l@io.com To: mystara-l@io.com Subject: [Mystara] 1014WIN NUWMONT 4, AC 1014 Event: Aengmor warns Rafielton (the nation of Aengmor) not to ally themselves with the former elves of Alfheim as they will only try to get their homeland back and cause dissention among the shadow elves. Princess Tanadaleyo, who has been talking with envoys from the exiled Alfheimers since Sviftmont 23 of last year (JA), believes that the talks are going well enough and ignores the request of Aengmor. Meaning: A growing cult of Atzanteotl is gaining more power in the city of Aengmor, and it wishes to spread it's influence to the other shadow elves. They fear that if they learn of the inherent goodness of the surface elves, it will be harder to convince them to worship Atzanteotl. The cult of Atzanteotl was introduced by the various artifacts/religious icons left behind by the humanoids. Also, the old items seem to indicate that the shadow elves once worshipped Atzanteotl, and the members of the cult spread propaganda claiming that Atzanteotl was the golden age of the Shadow Elves, with Aengmor. Many of the shadow elves are believing the story since they are losing faith in Rafiel, and are slowing converting to the new way of life. The Wanderers, who have been living in Aengmor with the humanoids know of the evil ways of Atzanteotl, but they dare not speak out against it for fear of revealing their presence in the city. The Wanderers enjoy Aengmor, and do not want to be forced to leave as the Way of Rafiel demands. So far, only Kanafasti knows of their presence, and he will become a Wanderer himself this year, so he is trying to remove that law regarding the Wanderers. NUWMONT 14, AC 1014 Event: Scouts in the region of Oceanscend for King Ericall of Norwold discover ancients ruins while hiding from a Heldannic patrol. Meaning: This ruins were a far off colony of Nithia several hundred years ago (circa 1000 BC). The Nithians never managed to gain a foothold as the barbaric goblinoids and humans (Antalians, ancestors of the Northern reaches) who lived in the area ransacked and plundered the city several times. This would be the most northern Nithian ruin ever discovered to date. The exact contents of the ruins are left to the DM. NUWMONT 22, AC 1014 Event: A huge snowstorm covers southern Norwold and the northern Heldannic Territories and Wendar. VATERMONT 3, AC 1014 Event: Despite warnings from Aengmor, after several small meetings between elves representing King Doriath and Princess Tanadaleyo, the shadow elves and elves of Alfheim agree to work together to save the Canolbarth forest, and perhaps learn to live together in one elven nation. Several surface elven mages and Tree Keepers are invited to move back to the forest, joining the Norwold (Foresthome) elves and shadow elves in working out magic to save the trees. Meaning: Princess Tanadaleyo truly desires to save the forests of her nation, as she wants a beautiful surface nation for her and her people. She finds it unlikely that the shadow elves and surface elves will ever manage to live together, so does not see her offer of letting the elves move back in as something too dangerous for her people. The elves of Alfheim do not see much hope in peaceful coexistence either, but they also truly care about their forest. They would rather see their forest still alive and in shadow elf hands than dead and belonging to them. VATERMONT 9, AC 1014 Event: A horde of zombies and skeletons attack the village of Nula on Elegy Island in Ierendi. Meaning: Tomb robbers disturbed a magically protected tomb of an ancient Makaian Elegy Island (see GAZ 4: Kingdom of Ierendi). The curse animated the corpse into a powerful zombie of 10 HD who causes 3d6 damage with a punch and does not loose initiative like a normal zombie. It also has the power to animate dead three times a day, and has since raised an army to attack the people who have moved onto the burial island of the ancient Makai. VATERMONT 11, AC 1014 Event: The Rishiya of Sind (clerical caste) complain to Rajadhiraja Chandra ul Nervi about the upstart clerical order of Gareth in the Khurish Massif. They claim that to allow a new religion to exist in their nation goes against their sacred laws to their Immortals. Chandra does not take any decision concerning the matter. Meaning: At first, the Rishiya were not afraid of the Followers of the Prophet, as Sitara Rohini and her band have been come to be known (see JA). Preachers of various foreign religions have always travelled to Sind, stayed a bit, then disappeared. But the miracle performed on the Day of Dread in AC 1012 (see PWA3) has grabbed the attention of many of the Sindhis. The fact that the new Immortal preaches against Immortal interference seems to have also slowly won over the hearts of many of the lower castes. Now, after a full year of services in her monastery in the Khurish, the Rishiya can see a danger of losing their power over the people of Sind to this new Prophet of Gareth. VATERMONT 16, AC 1014 Event: Several farmers outside of Threshold are found mutilated by wild animals in the morning. Many believe a pack of werewolves must have been in the area as it was a full moon the previous night. VATERMONT 17, AC 1014 Event: After enough pressure by the Rishiyas, Chandra el Nervi finally accedes to the clerics. He decides to let the agents of Hule take care of the problem, and informs the Master's agents about the unrest being caused. The Huleans send a squadron of orcs led by human officers to the Khurish Massif to deal with the Followers of the Prophet of Gareth. Meaning: Chandra himself does not see Sitara and the followers of Gareth as an important threat, viewing instead the Huleans as s bigger problem at the moment. But he must accede to the Rishiyas or lose his throne. Chandra therefore condones the act of the worshippers of Gareth and sends the Huleans to deal with the problem, concerning himself more with his Freedom Warriors and his plans to overthrow the Master's agents controlling Sind. VATERMONT 23, AC 1014 Event: The squadron of Hulean orcs arrive at the monastery used by Followers of the Prophet. They demand that they stop worshipping Gareth immediately and return with them to Sayr Ulan to face charges of blasphemy. The priests refuse, and a fight breaks out. The orcs are defeated, as they are unable to withstand the clerical magic of Sitara or the fighting abilities of Anand Brishnapur and their disciples. Meaning: Although the first victory is theirs, Sitara and Anand realize that this is just the beginning. They have know for a while that the Rishiya were bound to interfere, so it really doesn't come as such a surprise to them. VATERMONT 25, AC 1014 Event: Sitara Rohini sends out her original disciples of Gareth to spread out and establish new monasteries and temples. She and Anand will stay in Sind to uphold the words of Gareth here no matter the cost, but the others are needed to keep Gareth alive and bring him to other people of the Known World. Once gone, Anand begins preparing the monastery to defend against the next wave of Hulean soldiers. Since the monastery is near the top of the mountains, it is rather easy for him and the others that remain behind to block the passes and create many avalanche style traps. Meaning: There are just over a dozen of the original Followers of the Prophet. Among them are two foreigners, Arturo Olivera from Akorros (Darokinian) and Sula Ivanov of Mirros (Karameikan). There is even an orc, by the name of Turgg. The rest are all Sindhis of both ethnical backgrounds (urdu-varnas and pure Sindhis). By now, each of them has become full-fledged clerics or fighting monks of levels 1 and 2. Only Anand of the original followers remains behind with Sitara the Prophet. VATERMONT 28, AC 1014 Event: Jorodrin Feadiel, the Tree Keeper of Clan Feadiel (GAZ 5: The Elves of Alfheim), arrives in Rafielton and joins the shadow elves to help them save the Canolbarth forest. The shadow elves are slightly awed that the Alfheim elves' most powerful Tree Keeper has arrived to help them. THAUMONT 5, AC 1014 Event: Arturo Olivera, one of the original Followers of the Prophet Sitara (who had saved him from orcs back in AC 1012 (see PWA3), arrives in the city of Akesoli in Darokin. From there, he books passage on a boat to Akorros, his home town. Meaning: Arturo is simply doing as Sitara has commanded. He has decided that his home town of Akorros is as good as any place to build a temple to Gareth. THAUMONT 7, AC 1014 Event: Arturo Olivera arrives in Akorros. After a brief reunion with his family, he begins his task of preaching the words of Gareth to the Darokinians. THAUMONT 9, AC 1014 Event: The elves of Alfheim are mystified as their magic spells fail to bring back water to the Canolbarth Forest. Some of the spells even misfire and cause minor injuries. Tension begins to mount between the shadow elves and surface elves, as each suspects the other of sabotage. Meaning: A few of the surface elves in the party are members of the Alfheim Avengers, but they are not responsible for any of the incidents. These elves truly suspect the shadow elves of the sabotage, and are trying to cause dissention among the two elven subraces by throwing out accusations on the slightest error made by the shadow elves. The Alfheim Avengers would rather see the shadow elves thrown out of Canolbarth rather than live with them in peace. Jorodrin, now in charge of the Alfheim elves, believes the shadow elves, and does his best to calm the younger, hot-blooded elves in his group. THAUMONT 12, AC 1014 Event: Eelsha Spider's Kiss becomes the High Priestess of the Tiger Clan of Atruaghin after the former high priest dies in his sleep (see GAZ 14: Atruaghin Clans). Meaning: Eelsha has wanted to be High Priestess all her life and has finally succeeded in poisoning the former High Priest. Now that she is in charge, she begins to become more ambitious and starts looking at the neighboring clans and their territories. THAUMONT 16, AC 1014 Event: The next unit of Huleans arrives at the monastery of Gareth and attempts to capture the heretic priests. But the orcs and soldiers are unable to get to the top of the mountain where the monastery is, so Sitara and Anand remain safe in their religious stronghold. THAUMONT 17, AC 1014 Event: A patrol of Heldannic Knights bringing gold (taxes and treasures from captured lands) back to Freiburg is ambushed by a large group of armed peasants. The peasants manage to grab the wagon with the gold and get away. The rebels, knowing the surrounding forests better than the Knights, manage to split up and lose their pursuers. The use of magic prevents the knights from using their own clerical magic to track down the traitors. The Heldannic Knights believe that Geoffrey of Grunturm is behind the daring raid. The loss of money causes a serious blow to the war funds of the nation. Meaning: The Heldannic Knights were never truly loved by the commoners of the Heldann Freeholds, but were tolerated because life manage to go on more-or-less as usual. However, last year, Wulf von Klagendorf declared an Inquisition against the non- believers in Vanya (JA, Nuwmont 1, AC 1013). Too many sons and daughters have been executed in that Inquisition, and many of them only to gain land/property for the Lord leading the Inquisition more than for any religious heresy. Many Heldanners have had enough, and are ready to start a rebellion against their oppressors. This raid is just the first of many skirmishes and was as much intended to show inspiration to the commoners as to deal a severe blow to the Knights's coffers. Geoffrey of Grunturm is behind this particular group of rebels. His own lands in southern Norwold having been overrun and conquered (and his people enslaved by the priesthood of Vanya) by the Heldannic Knights, Geoffrey has decided that he has had enough with the clerics of Vanya. He has returned to his homeland, having vowed not to give up until the Knights have been defeated so that they can no longer harm and persecute anyone else. He has managed to inspire several peasants who have also decided that enough is enough. THAUMONT 27, AC 1014 Event: After a couple of weeks of research, the elves discover that some strange magic is starting to overwhelm the forest and is preventing the elves' magic from working. The exact nature of this magic remains a complete mystery. Both Jorodrin and Tanadaleyo are intrigued by this and decide to study it further. Meaning: Although each sub-race of elves blames the other, in fact neither are directly responsible for preventing the magic from working. The former nation of Alfheim has always been a strong magical place. Most of the magical energies of the nation focused into areas that became known as Magic Points (see GAZ 5; The Elves of Alfheim) When the shadow elves unleashed their great magic (some say enhanced by Atzanteolt, but that might be a rumor spread by the Alfheim Avengers) against the forests of Alfheim, that magic eventually dissipated and merged into the existing magic points, corrupting them as it once corrupted the now dying forest. At this point, the magic points are causing more nightmares, madness and insanity then ever before, and they are releasing never before seen monsters onto the world of Mystara. As a side effect, they are beginning to influence and cause the strongest/largest magical effects (such as nation-wide weather magic) to go wild or not work at all. THAUMONT 28, 1014 AC Event: A heavily armed, trained, and magical group of mercenaries break into Chateau Morlay and attack Prince Malachie. The castle defenders are unable to stop the intruders, and several guards are killed. When Malachie himself is cornered by the assailants, another mage arrives and joins to the defense of the Prince. This unknown mage uses several powerful spells and manages to chase off the attackers. Once the danger is gone, the man disappears as mysteriously as he arrived. None of the attackers are captured. Rumors spread from the incident claim that Etienne d'Ambreville returned to help Prince Malachie just as he did two summers ago to help his successor against Henri d'Ambreville. Some begin to claim that his ghost is watching over his former allies during his life. Meaning: Synn discovered that Malachie gave Jaggar one of her scales and has decided that she has had enough with the interfering Prince. She used her vast treasure horde to get the best mercenaries she could find. Through a chain of contacts, so no trail could be lead back to her, she hires them to eliminate her opponent without further delay. Unfortunately they failed. The mysterious mage that saved Malachie was indeed Etienne d'Ambreville. Rumors of his return have been going around since the summer of AC 1012, but the former Prince has decided he would rather stay in hiding until he can recuperate and regain all the power he once had (either attain Immortality again or avoid being detected by the other Immortals until he is ready for them if he is Immortal once more, depending on the outcome of Mark of Amber). When he does return, Etienne will need all the allies he can get to help him reestablish his political power, and therefore could not afford for Prince Malachie to be defeated. He was forced to come out of hiding to help his ally. The other Princes of Glantri, upon hearing the rumor, will begin to once more search and try and discover Etienne d'Ambreville as they did when rumors left Chateau Sylaire about his return. As during their previous search, all means mundane and magical will reveal nothing of his presence. -- Herve Musseau Primary Email: musseauh@esiee.fr Secondary Email: herve@hotmail.com Homepage: http://www.esiee.fr/~musseauh I'm a QSQWBEEEGGNFR Mystaran