(no subject)
Prologue
Session 001 - Bertram and Rahlathus, a dwarven cleric of Moradin and a young eladrin wizard, come to the city of Fallcrest, where they establish a hostel for the city’s destitute and meet one Damian Graystoke-a human vagrant with a vendetta and dark powers from an unknown source. During his nightly prayers to the Raven Queen in the local graveyard, Damian discovers a group of red-robed cultists performing dark rituals. He alerts his companions, who agree to investigate the foul happenings the next evening.
Session 002 - Led to the site of the ritual by Damian, the companions interrupt another gathering of the red-robed cultists. They are joined in battle by a mysterious man in scorched plate armor. All but one of the cultists is slain-the last is subdued and taken to the Lord Warden’s keep to be questioned and imprisoned. The paladin in fire-blackened plate introduces himself as Omen. The group also claims a black crystal, called a materia stone, which the cultists were charging with necrotic power during their ritual.
Session 003 - Bertram’s hostel, The Hearth, is attacked by arsonists and the companions barely escape. Their exit into the back alleys is blocked by another group of red-clad assailants-who have now been identified as cultists of the Blood Lord Orcus-who nearly dispatch the heroes. The group realizes that the cultists may be a great threat to Fallcrest. They split up to learn all they can about the Cult of Orcus and Bertram secures an audience with the city’s Lord Warden.
Session 004 - The group determines that the cult’s activities can be traced to an old Nerathi crypt in the Tombwood, a small forest at the foot of Moonstone Hill. During the audience with Lord Warden Markelhay they acquire the key to this tomb. During the companions’ preparations to delve into the crypts, however, alarm bells warn them of danger at Moonstone Keep. They rush back to the Lord Warden’s manor in time to help quell a riot as dozens of prisoners escape from the keep’s dungeon. Lord Warden Markelhay explains that the riots are led by Ertrag the Butcher, the cultist of Orcus that was imprisoned by the companions.
Session 005 -The group battles their way through the Southern Cell Block to the Butcher himself, barely managing to defeat the brute. Searching the cultist, the group discovers that he has one of two existing keys to the dungeon cells-one is safe in the hands of the Head Jailor and Lord Markelhay keeps the other, but it is missing. Quick questioning reveals that the keys were borrowed earlier by the keep’s majordomo: Dunraven. The majordomo’s quarters turn out to be magically booby-trapped and a secret passage is hidden within. The hidden chamber below reveals that Dunraven is really the leader of the Blood Cultists, Kalarel, who plans to use the necrotically-charged materia stones to open a sealed rift to the Shadowfell in an old fortress called Caer Diogel, which overlooks a tiny village called Winterhaven at the foot of the Cairngorn Peaks to the west of Fallcrest.
Next: Chapter 1 - Keep on the Shadowfell.
Session 001 - Bertram and Rahlathus, a dwarven cleric of Moradin and a young eladrin wizard, come to the city of Fallcrest, where they establish a hostel for the city’s destitute and meet one Damian Graystoke-a human vagrant with a vendetta and dark powers from an unknown source. During his nightly prayers to the Raven Queen in the local graveyard, Damian discovers a group of red-robed cultists performing dark rituals. He alerts his companions, who agree to investigate the foul happenings the next evening.
Session 002 - Led to the site of the ritual by Damian, the companions interrupt another gathering of the red-robed cultists. They are joined in battle by a mysterious man in scorched plate armor. All but one of the cultists is slain-the last is subdued and taken to the Lord Warden’s keep to be questioned and imprisoned. The paladin in fire-blackened plate introduces himself as Omen. The group also claims a black crystal, called a materia stone, which the cultists were charging with necrotic power during their ritual.
Session 003 - Bertram’s hostel, The Hearth, is attacked by arsonists and the companions barely escape. Their exit into the back alleys is blocked by another group of red-clad assailants-who have now been identified as cultists of the Blood Lord Orcus-who nearly dispatch the heroes. The group realizes that the cultists may be a great threat to Fallcrest. They split up to learn all they can about the Cult of Orcus and Bertram secures an audience with the city’s Lord Warden.
Session 004 - The group determines that the cult’s activities can be traced to an old Nerathi crypt in the Tombwood, a small forest at the foot of Moonstone Hill. During the audience with Lord Warden Markelhay they acquire the key to this tomb. During the companions’ preparations to delve into the crypts, however, alarm bells warn them of danger at Moonstone Keep. They rush back to the Lord Warden’s manor in time to help quell a riot as dozens of prisoners escape from the keep’s dungeon. Lord Warden Markelhay explains that the riots are led by Ertrag the Butcher, the cultist of Orcus that was imprisoned by the companions.
Session 005 -The group battles their way through the Southern Cell Block to the Butcher himself, barely managing to defeat the brute. Searching the cultist, the group discovers that he has one of two existing keys to the dungeon cells-one is safe in the hands of the Head Jailor and Lord Markelhay keeps the other, but it is missing. Quick questioning reveals that the keys were borrowed earlier by the keep’s majordomo: Dunraven. The majordomo’s quarters turn out to be magically booby-trapped and a secret passage is hidden within. The hidden chamber below reveals that Dunraven is really the leader of the Blood Cultists, Kalarel, who plans to use the necrotically-charged materia stones to open a sealed rift to the Shadowfell in an old fortress called Caer Diogel, which overlooks a tiny village called Winterhaven at the foot of the Cairngorn Peaks to the west of Fallcrest.
Next: Chapter 1 - Keep on the Shadowfell.