Recap: Previously our heroes had entered the shifting woods looking for Loremaster Ascadian. The Arch Druid was keeper of a world famous library known to hold many lost secrets. On entering the Shifting Woods the party found the druids in civil war due to Ascadian’s disappearance into the Feywilds. Our heroes entered the Feywilds, located Ascadian, who was being held by Inquisitor Lord Thrall, rescued the Arch Druid and stopped the blight of the Gulfuras tree. During a bloody climactic battle Greg captured many souls for the devil Lemoram, Thrall escaped and Spymaster Brana was run through by Corasov Greytear in an effort to curry favour with the Beggar King.
On returning from the Feywilds the Arch Druid Ascadian pledged the support of his druids when the time comes to march on Veritas, the Holy City and its Lord, High Inquisitor Benedict. Potato unlocked one of three books of lost time learning of the Creation of world, how the Elemental lords fought, the Old ones from the void, infecting the planet and how Tychondrias is one of these old ones. Finally the Arch Druid offered each party member a leaf from the Gulfuras tree; from the Branch of Knowledge or the Branch of Power. Greg used his branch from the tree of knowledge to find out that Altador Osallus; a name on a receipt he found on his person and potentially unlocking details from his pre-amnesia self). Altador resides in Oakenhost a town to the north. After the goings on in The Shifting Woods, our heroes regrouped at the Overlook; having been away 18 months it had been restored to its former glory. After discussing their new Druidic recruits with Princess Kaitlin, the adventurers decided to follow up on the letter Potato had received from his father, Chieftain of the Frostwolf Ogres: “Son, I know we have not spoken for some time but I need your aid. The Frostwolf Clan need your aid. Come quick. The Marlock begins soon" Krusk, the Half-Orc Barbarian and Tybalt Finsbury's bodyguard would be joining them due to his knowledge of the Barbarian lands and customs. Ebshan Maldir then created a portal to send the party North to Oakenhost as Greg had a lead on Altador Osallus’s. Would the Wizard be any closer to understanding his mysterious past? Materialising in Oakenhost the party found themselves in the middle of a Hobgoblin raid. Villages were being murdered; homes sacked. Thanks to Jacob's impressive sling shotting the party easily made light work of the Hobgoblins and saved the small village. One of the elders explained that The barbarians had grown bolder recently with Orc and Hobgoblin invasions across Human settlements over the last few weeks. He then pointed the party to the home of Altador Osallus’s. The door to Altador Osallus’s home had been smashed open, his head barely still on his shoulders after what was clearly an extremely forceful axe swing. On first glance despite the broken furniture and corpse, it seemed like a normal peasant’s home; on further inspection the party found something more disturbing. Down some steep steps behind a secret door was a dark cellar with two tables in the centre of the room. There was a body on one table, bound at the wrists and feet; with no face. Various bottles and surgical tools littered the dingy room. According to a ledger going back roughly 20 years, It seemed Altador ran a business providing Medical procedures enhanced by magic to give his customers permanent disguises.There were various payments for human, elf and dwarf skin from somewhere referred to as “The flesh factory” - each entry with a unique reference number. In the Diary Greg cross referenced the reference number from the receipt he found in his robes after his amnesia began. The entry read: “Had an odd fellow come to me this morn. Muttering about how he needed to disappear, how no one could find him and find out what he had done. Still he had the coin so I performed the procedure. It was some of my finest work, he looks indistinguishable from his former self. What was even more bizarre is that he requested his companion’s brain be relocated into a beast’s body. Sourcing the horse and the general brain swapping procedure was not difficult, it was the eyes. After the procedure the horses eyes still looked far too human. When healed he asked if I could perform a similar procedure on his memories, to make them disappear. I explained this was beyond my skill I have only heard of dark rituals performed by the neuromancers, Dark Elf sorcerers in Aln to accomplish this. After his recovery I assume that’s where he is heading.” After this revelation, Krusk suggested the party should make their way to Thunder Totem; a day’s travel away. On entering Thunder Totem the adventurers made their way to Yokeg, Potato’s father who explained what he needed from them: “I will give it to you straight. I feel we have been sabotaged. I know not by who so i kept you coming a secret. Be it malicious or bad luck, Ill fortune has met the Frostwolf clan. Our team for the Marlock has been decimated, poisoned by gut crawlers. My surgeons have attempted to remove them but they breed quickly. Two of my best have died, myself and Fendar may not pull through. This is why I sent for you. The Marlock rules dictate only blood of the chieftain can represent the clan. Will you represent us my son?” The party agreed to help and learned that The Marlock would begin the following day after a great feast. As was traditional a great fire will be lit to summon the most revered of the barbarian lords and last of his kind: The God King Skovald. The Marlock will only begin when or if Skovald, comes from his glacial mountain fortress and throws his javelin into red sand arena where the Marlock has taken place for generations. Yokeg explained further: “Although this will not be easy, you will be competing against the strongest barbarians from all the tribes. 4 Teams of 4 combatants, one from each of the high clans compete in various trials over 3 days to decide who leads the united barbarian clans over the next decade or until a high chieftain dies. The 3 trials are Trial of the Bear; a test of strength. Trial of the Lynx; a test of skill. Trial of the Wolf; a test of speed and team coordination. Rest the night; you will need all of your strength and guile and keep your eyes open" During the great feast the party learned more of who they would be facing in the Marlock. Alpha Emmol is the chieftain of the Howling Ravager Clan, the current dominant pack of half a dozen Gnoll tribes. Seer Jaskos is current chieftain of Clan Greyrock, the single stone giant clan in known existence. Warlord Grazzok is the head of the Splintered Bone Clan, one of two Orc clans both boasting 500+ members including Orcs, Hobgoblins, Goblins and Bugbears. The other clan being The Severed Limb tribe. They also learned what could motivate the clans and tribes to join the fight against Benedict’s forces. The Orcs, the most brutal of the tribes seek honor through conquest. Their key belief being no mercy. The Gnolls, as fierce as the orcs have more interest in family and despise magic of any kind favouring raw physical agility and strength. The stone giants revere independence above all. They see themselves are direct descendents of the elemental lords of stone and have outlived countless races, the Dragons (or so they think), and they brag they will outlive humans. They wish to see the great planes recognised as a separate nation to the Kingdom of Ederon. As for the Ogres, Yokeg wants more for his people than scratching a living off rocks. Agriculture; we must become self sufficient. They seek the trade that was taken from them by Benedict. Their furs for seeds; meats for farming tools. Potato also proved his prowess at arm wrestling defeating Ogres, Gnolls and even a Stone Giant to the delight of the Ogre clan the party would be representing. All in all the great feast was a great success. As the first day of the Marlock began, the arena was crammed with members of clans from across the barbarian planes. After a few hours the crowd beginning to get impatient there was a loud thud and the ground shook. Then another. The quakes grew closer until two huge tusks came into view; a massive Mammoth made its way towards the arena carrying the God King himself, Skovold. The crowd went mental throwing ale and fists in the air whilst chanting his name. The Frost Giant looked around the arena before pulling a giant Javelin from his mounts saddle and launching it into the Red Sand Arena. A Shrill Goblin screamed “Let the games begin!”, the crowd went wild and the first event, the trial of the bear, a test of strength and accuracy began. Two bugbears ran onto the arena placing targets. Moments later they returned placing 4 boulders the smallest the size of a human head, the largest the size of a cow. As the party were ushered from the stands to the chambers below the arena, a goblin pulled on Corasrov’s arm with a proposal: “Dark Elf, I have a wager on the Orcs, I offer you and your team 1000 gold each to throw this event” The party refused the offered and went on to handily defeat the Orcs of the Splinted Bone Clan. After a fairly uneventful night the party returned to the arena to partake in the trial of the Lynx against the Gnolls of the Howling Ravager Clan. Despite the goblin who asked the party to throw yesterdays event increasing his offer, the party again refused. To set up the event Bugbears ran into the arena with large metal plates that they threw over various grates. Another headed towards a huge wheel it began to turn. Deep clunking sounds echoed around the arena, then it began to flood. Moments later another deep clunk or two that felt like it came from underneath the arena. One, quickly two large shadows appear around the pillars, then huge grey fins. The shrill Goblin screamed the rules: “Get the brain to the opponent's zone to score 3 points. Drop the brain, lose 1 point, lose a team member lose 2 points” Nimby jumping from pillar to pillar both teams through a large creatures brain in an attempt to score points. In the process several Gnolls were mauled by sharks. Despite at one stage willing 9 - 0, the Frostwolf Ogres managed to lose to the Howling Ravager Clan Gnolls 9- 10. After the defeat the party decided to look into who had poisoned the Forstwolf Clan’s original Marlock team members. That night the party decided to investigate further into who had betrayed the Frostwolves. They decided to head to the Goblin kitchens where the competitors food was prepared. After readily crushing the Goblins in a drinking contest (including world renowned Goblin chef Chuffy Lickwound) they discovered it was all down to Yokeg’s adviser, the Ogre Brultar. The next day the final event (or so our party thought) was the trial of the wolf, a chariot race against Clan Greyrock’s Stone Giants. Again ignoring the Goblins request to throw the event, it all came down to this. At first it hung in the balance, a win would mean the Forstwolf Clan win the MArlock, a defeat would hand victory to the Orcs. Fate interjected or more accurately Chuff lickwound and his team had sabotaged the Ogres Chariot which exploded when Ulrich threw his lightning infused javelin into it. Outraged by their loss the Orcs and specifically Warlord Grazzok A.K.A the Flamebreaker addressed the God King Scovald “Impossible! Unacceptable! The Splintered Bone Clan cannot be defeated this time, not by these outsiders! Scovald, I invoke the trial of Life!” The orcs words echoed around the arena to hundreds of gasps. Silence descended and all eyes looked to the God King. After what seemed like an eternity the frost giant stands pingting a giant thumb to the sky. The trial of life was an ancient tradition; a fight to the death that settles any Marlock controversies. As the fight began, the Orc Shaman summoned a fire elemental but the party had allies of their own to summon; the Gargantuan elder dragon Icingdeath, via the dragonstone that Braxinol had given them for rescuing him from the Necromancer's lair. This swung the battled. Defeated, the Orc Chieftain spluttered “I yield, you have bested me”. The remaining Orcs chanted: “No mercy, No mercy” and none was shown as the party ended Warlord Grazzok; in a show of respect the entire arena bowed in silence before our heroes. The party and the Frostwolf Clan had won the Marlock. The following morning, the party joined Yokeg and the leaders of the other clans. Having shown no mercy they had won over the Orcs. Having aided each other and taken no bribes the Gnolls were also onside. The party agreed to making the Great Plains an independent state, ensuring Stone Giants support. The resistance’s army was growing stronger and our heroes looked Northwest to Loch Modan and the Dwarven city of Ironforge for further potential allies...
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