The Storyteller

My story begins in the old empire of the Beregorn, and with the first, and only, international games.
Champions from all over Ishar gathered to test themselves in events such as the sprint, magic joust
and grand melee. Kaneric, residing over this joyous occasion, had no idea that it was being used by
an unscrupulous evil force to find and eliminate the world’s greatest heroes. His family abducted
before his very eyes, the emperor dispatched the best of the best to their untimely deaths over the
straits of Fheem at the hands of forces unknown.

However, unbeknownst to the coming Darkness and its many agents of chaos, the eternal champions
had been saved from the slaughter, their names would soon go down in history, etched into the minds
of the millions who they saved.

Vaelin Al’Sorna from the Doromor lands, a noble swashbuckler who failed to qualify for the grand
melee owing to medical reasons.
Zoya the Amazon, a rough and tough shadowdancer and runt of her clan, someone who was brought
along to carry the equipment and make the tea.
Inka the Faerie, mysterious dreamweaver from the fey lands, an observer sent by her queen,
unknowingly fulfilling an ancient prophecy.
Arcus the Klanger, proud mystic and part-time tea making machine who happened to be in service
at the time.
Sir Franklin, stoic knight and brother of Vaelin, swashbuckler and latecomer who missed the
opening ceremony after stopping to rescue a cat from a tree.
The perfectly named, sir not appearing in this story, who wandered off after peaking too soon with
a mighty magic slap.

Together they set forth from the capital of Beregor in a rusty old airship, chased by shadows and
mercenaries, on a quest to rescue the empress. Along the way they discovered a Darkness agent in
Gho’s mansion, stole from the imperial treasury, named themselves after a mechanical cat, hunted
down a strider bug, saved a town from a deadly flood while beating down warriors in black laquered
armour, and they even had time to have a stopover in Feleg the complainer’s worst bed and breakfast.
Finding the empress, they also met with Kaneric’s twin brother, the Zehnebog, who confessed
orchestrating the kidnapping to force his brother into action against the invading evil. Hearing his
side of the story, and by piecing together other evidence from their trip, they came to the conclusion
that an alien entity, a God eater from another dimension, looked upon Ishar with hungry eyes, and
it befell to them to prepare a defence by resurrecting the ancient departed Gods and rallying the
disparate people. The path to some of this became clearer when the emperor’s daughter was found to
be the home to the sleeping avatar of Abad’Diss, the goddess of rebirth.
Losing his daughter as she became one with Abad’Diss, Kaneric pleaded with the party to help him
recover the Gods, and to unite the world under his banner, while the Zehnebog instead offered his
solution of uniting all under him and his more... Nefarious ways. Choosing the path of light, the
champions began the long and treacherous road to the final, inevitable confrontation with the
Darkness.

This journey led them initially to castle Randwulf, and a family plagued by demonic influence. Here,
with the help of the Bog, they freed the Randwulfs of their burden, and stopped the demon of death
from entering the world. Parting ways with the emperor’s brother, they continued on to the Doromor
lands in search of sleeping Gods.

Two Gods were discovered in the snowy lands of the clanspeople. Shiva, goddess of winter, was
hidden in the body of a young adopted chieftan’s daughter named Gull. Gull was found to display
control over ice, and helped the party rescue her clan from the Doromor Dawn, a sect of terrorists
and slavers obsessed with the superiority of their race. Her transformation into Shiva was a difficult
goodbye for some, and surely less welcome than the God of the hunt, Wendigo, who pursued the
party sowing death where he went. The Doromor lands held more than just Gods for the champions,
however, as it was here that they learnt about the tool used to riven the Gods themselves, the Rod of
Souls. This supremely powerful artifact was created by the divine assembly in a desperate time long
before the eternals. Possessing it, they thought, might give them a weapon with which they could
fight the coming Darkness, so they began to seek out the pieces which had been scattered across the
world. By travelling seekers they were told that these parts, when the time was right, would seek
each other out, a prophecy that seems to be coming true, two parts already they held, with a sneaking
suspicion that they perhaps already had even more...
Joy was also to be found here, in amidst the freezing weather and tearful goodbyes. A grand dance
was held at the Jol, the Doromor ‘longest night’ festival. The champions went down a storm, winning
many of the ‘best in show’ awards for their performances. The Jol also brought with it a thirteen hour
challenge to rescue a lost God, and save the soul of one who had long ago been taken by the Darkness.
Achieving both these goals, if only just barely, the champions continued to go from strength to
strength, their legend growing by each success.

The darkness, blinded by the loss of its sheriff, who was the shepard for the coming evil, began to
rend the material plane and cause rifts to appear all over Ishar, and through these many conquered
worlds spewed forth their unholy dark spawn into the land. The war now beginning in earnest, and
still with a long road ahead of them before they were ready, the eternals sought out to close these
portals of destruction and to rally all the world to fight as one!
They began by working a miracle, resurrecting the mortal avatar of Shiva, Gull, who through political
manoeuvring, they placed on the Doromor throne. Secure in the safety of the northlands, they began
a sweep south, back through Beregor, closing their first gateway to darkness at Steve, an unassuming
yet vibrant town entirely populated by people named Steve in honour of their former hero. At a week
long celebration, where the eternals were honoured guests, newborns were brought forth to take the
names of the new heroes of Steve, thereby starting a new tradition that exists to this day!

From the hands of the Beregorn technomancers, at the behest of the emperor himself, a mighty
flagship was given over to our heroes. From it they could commune with their generals on the ground,
and using it the eternals took their first steps towards the truly worldwide warfare they would need to
master to hold back the tides of coming darkness. Their eastern flank was exposed to the wildlands,
a huge untamed and largely unexplored savage land where monsters and criminals roamed free
without fear. To their south lay the neutral territory of Selash, a mage-ran province which was found
to be using slavery of the skorn race to bolster an attacking force into the jungles of Bromsch, the
amazon homelands. Foul allegiances were discovered here, as they were attacked by an alien sect
of mages known as the New Order who seemed to be in league with the darkness. Also, far to their
north, Vaelin was on trial for stealing a powerful artefact and killing a guest under house protection of
another Doromor lord, a crime punishable by death. Little did the eternals know that as they sought
aid in Selash with some renegade knights, miles away in the frigid northlands one of their own faced
execution on their behalf!

Tracking the old bloodline of kings with the help of the knights of Selash, it was discovered that the
overthrown queen was now the vessel of not one God, but two. She, along with a powerful alien
blood mage, had entered the wildlands on a quest to push back the Darkness. The eternals, needing
either or both to stabilize Selash, followed a trail to the old abandoned capitol of Ishar, where they
managed to reassemble the essence of the Kingpriest, and with his help, they journeyed below the
surface and regained the two errant Gods. Ever more confident, they pursued the alien bloodmage,
Merril, and when they caught up to her joined forces to recruit an ancient red dragon and its brood of
half-dragons, then said their goodbyes as these allies promised to rally Selash to their banner against
the coming tides of chaos.

Held within the dank and frigid dungeons of the Doromor, in the cells reserved for those who stood
accused of crimes worthy of death, Vailin al Sorna, formerly high lord al Sorna, awaited his judgement
by his queen, his only hope for vindication laid in the hands of three unusual lawyers. Entrusted in
this duty by Gul; who needed a neutral party to distance herself from her paramour; the three advo-
cates uncovered an undercover darkness agent in the court bent on their failure; and after much clever
speaking by the surprisingly effective councillors; bested the Doromor dawn defendants allowing Vai-
lin to say his goodbyes to his queen and suitor as he valiantly continued his quest to keep his country
safe, leaving as a lord once more.
Meanwhile, in the wildlands, after discovering the Gods in ancient Ishar City, the party are guided
to a silent forest where they find a trail of aberrant claw marks leading to a dark lake surrounded by
a miasma of sickening vapours. A set of monolithic stones stood there, etched with eldritch glyphs.
The sigils can be read by those of Seraphim blood, and represent a great doom falling from the sky to
destroy the world. After they pass by the lake, the land rises and becomes mountainous, strewn with
cavernous cliffs. A vast cave leads to some land beyond. The cavern floor is strewn with gnawed bones
and cracked-open skulls. The walls are covered with deformed bones arranged in alien shapes. A small
treasure chest is found here, containing some rill and a small toolkit of strange items (screwdrivers
and pliers) and a small square of strange resin bearing odd markings (pass key). The party slip
through a narrow gorge and out into a tranquil glade.
A strange Portal is here, vast and shimmering in the misty air. The party could estimate that
something a little smaller than their great air warship could squeeze through here. They pass boldly
through the gate and travel instantly to another dimension, leading to a darkness occupied world.
a barren, desolate and dusty urban location. The road is hard and paved in sticky black rocks. The
buildings are all straight edges and plainly built. There are obvious places such as a church which is a
little more decorative. There’s a library, offices, a hospital and shops but all seem old and abandoned.
The party enter the bleak hospital. The floor is covered with aberrant claw marks. Four large dorms
each contain eight rusted bed frames, with rotten tatters of bedding clinging to the springs and
remains of humans meshed into the metal. As they explore, a jeep carrying four guards in slck oily
black uniforms rolls up and spots the party, who manage to overcome and escape them, Caleb cleverly
starting up the Jeep and driving it to a garage to hide it.
The party rest in a luxurious hotel suite. A corpse is tied to a chair, its flesh engraved with eldritch
glyphs. The corpse appears to be a Skorn and from between the joints of its limbs, black ichorous
tendrils creep and lick at the air. In an upstairs room, a gaggle of feral kids is found, and Jareth is here,
watching over them. He and Inka meet and she is told many secrets about her fate, and the prophecy
she carries. After resting, plans are drawn to take down the missile base where a terrible weapon is
aid to be waiting to launch back through the portal to Ishar, bringing Darkness and destruction.
The party scale up a watch tower, commandeer a large gun and kill the many guards in the base. The
secure doors are broken open easily and the humanoid guards in slick black overalls can be fought off.
The General Mavakas, a giant Balor is in his bunker and attacks the party with fire breath and sword
but they manage to hold him off with their stolen 50cal weapon.
The missile is placed on a ramp on the roof. Gantries hold it up, and these will fall away gently when
the missile launches.
Catching up to his fellows on the edge of the darkness portal, Vailin emerged again after a hard
fight alone astride the most deadly chemical weapon of mass destruction, on its way to his beloved
Doromor, and perhaps more importantly, his love. Knowing should the payload explode within his
lands they would be lost to darkness, he brought it upon himself to trigger the weapon mid-flight,
saving tens of thousands of innocents, warriors and one queen. As his dark and fiery chariot bled its
viscous ooze behind him branding the sky with a huge V, he thrust his weapon into a part of the rod
of souls, detonating it with full forethought, destroying his body just as his soul was whisked away
to be tortured in a conquered and desolate world far away. With him went the Wendigo, one of the
ancient lost gods of Ishar, a deity focussed on revenge and hunting. Unable to revivify her lost love,
Gul wept, as she realized she must remain in her seat of power, foregoing her real wish to find her
Vailin in his torment. The eternal champion that was Vailin had left a hero, worthy of the name.
The party return to the Wildlands of Ishar, knowing they have saved the world again, but the little
faerie brings a heavy burden with her as the party head to the Amazon Jungles for the next leg of their
search.