To 8/11/1021 Frosto is killed

6/11/1021 Fly north to Highreach.
7/11/1021 Cross the mountains and reach Grand Duke Stefan's camp outside Selenica.
8/11/1021 Night attack on Desert Nomad fort in the pass east of Selenica, Frosto is killed in the battle - two red dragons (small, large) and three desert nomad champions (2 Fighter & 1 Wizard) killed. Plan to send to Specualarum for Oliver Jowett to scribe a scroll of Raise Dead Fully.

21/10 to 4/11 1021 AC Skirkatkla's end

21/10: Battle with Tomb Giant & its Necromantic creations in Skirkatla's tomb. Skirkatla's phylactery - rusty iron chain link - located and destroyed, finally destroying her.

23/10: Alexandra recovered from her wounds, Baron Vadarin thanks the party.

25/10: Reach Specularum, confirm Duke's Army is at Duke's Road Castle, about to cross the mountains to Selenica.

4/11: Finish rest, studying, commissioning item alterations etc in Specularum. Alexandra is now a full Paladin of the Unstained Spirit, able to employ Clerical spells. Preparations are made for the formal burial of Sir Thincol Vorloi.

To 21/10/21 (night)

Party battles tomb guardians then returns to Keep, meets with Baron Vadarin. News has arrived that the Army of Karameikos is marching north to Duke's Road Keep, preparatory to crossing the mountains before winter snows close the pass, and may already have reached the Keep. Also Bargle's apprentice was murdered on the way south by persons unknown. Messages are dispatched. Cael drinks with Vadarin long into the night & gives him romantic advice...

Next day is sunny and clear. Cael Roseanna William Bravery Valerios & Elbereth head north after dark on Frosto, enter the tomb (Bravery hit by lightning from a sudden storm) and defeat Skirkatla (again) - but fear she is not yet fully laid to rest... Roseanna believes a Phylactery of some kind must exist in the tomb.

To 20/10/21 Frost Giants Defeated

Dwarves under Cael attack the rear of frost giants assaulting Castellan Keep, capturing traitorous wizard. Count William killed by Slay Living, but giants defeated, only 44 escape. 10 days later William raised & healed by a recovered Roseanna. Rumours that Skirkatla, whose body vanished, has been seen again. Party goes to investigate her Tomb.

Night before the frost giant assault

Cael rubbed his finger tips onto the red mark that his sword stealth had bourne into the skin below his collarbone.
The march had been long and hard going. There had been no time for rest along the trail into the mountains. Although Dwarves were hardy folk, at least one meal a day was preferable, especially when marching on harsh terrain, in the bitter cold.
Cael was still nursing the minor wound the frost troll scout had delt him that morning.
It was so strange to him, in hindsight, that he should have stood at the head of an army, rallied his troops with a war cry, atop a fresh kill.
Cael had never considered himself to be a proper Dwarf, let alone worthy of his title. Or at least that was the impression his father had given him...
A bitter irony that Gardik`s death had forced Cael to become the Dwarf his father had wanted him to be. Yet he'd never lived to see it.
His younger brother's blood was still on the flagstones outside the grand entrance to their father's stronghold.
Cael was in a pensive mood that evening. Far from his cheerful self. At least he had a lot to be pensive about.
Tomorrow he might very well breathe his last. In defence of human lands. For a woman who didn't give him a second glance...
Cael reflected, not for the first time, he needed a strong ale.
`Sulking brother?` Tela grunted.
Cael raised his eyebrows.
`You'd make a fine rogue Sister`, he quipped back morosely.
`Simple, sneaking up on someone as deaf as you` Tela countered.
She sat down heavily onto the other end of Cael`s bed role.
`Still pining for the prissy bitch` she said, in a matter a fact tone.
Cael actually blushed.
`Sister!` he retorted, `The white Dame...`
Tela snorted, `Brother, go find yourself a bar maid, that woman is never going to look twice at you, and besides a bar wench would be a better roll in the hay no doubt`
Cael was about to snap something back, but thought better of it.
Plus Tela took that moment to produce a bottle of fine brandy from under her cloak.Which certainly helped to smooth over her harsh pronouncements.
_____
They were half way through the brandy before Tela revealed the reason for her visit.
`Brother, I found this among our father's things` Tela slurred, patting Cael on the back with flushed cheeks.
She handed him a letter. It looked rumpled, like someone had tried to ball it up and throw it away.
Cael carefully pealed the pages open. Curious at the importance of it. Tela never much cared for writing if it was not for strategic use.
The letter read...
Dear Garik Thordean (they spelt fathers name wrong to start with!)
It has taken my family much time to acquire your whereabouts. We have also dispatched this letter via a specialist courtier, as no usual rider will venture that far into the mountains. Therefore given the amount of trouble this has been, you can understand why we have instructed the courtier to expect payment from you.
I am writing to you, as the head of the Stone family. It is concerning your son, a one Cael, I believe.
It is of deep disappointment to both our families, that our niece, Layla, bourne your son's bastard. However as we have cared for the child for a full year now, we feel it is high time you offered some form of support!
We are a small family and poor. We cannot support extra mouths.
Layla was my niece, despite shaming herself so acutely. I took her into my home at the pleading of her father. However since she has passed on, with your son's name on her feverish lips no less! We cannot extend the same care to a halfbreed child, when we can barely support ourselves.
Therefore I feel a payment of 5 gold a week is suitable. To support the child.
Or else we shall be forced to leave the child at a charitable institution.
Yours sincerely
Marcus Stone
I eagerly await your reply
Cael stared at his rosy faced sister in horror.
Tela laughed, `congratulations brother, you're a proud father`, slapping him on the back.

PC Roster

Baroness Alexandra Vorloi Fighter 10 (Paladin) XP 367,000 HP 65
Bastur Doran Fighter 10 XP 360,000 HP 67
Saherah Elf 9 XP 407,000 HP 35+1d6
Natarina (retd) Magic User 9 XP 412,000 HP 24
Baron Bravery Fighter 11 XP 505,000 HP 67
Cael Thoradan Dwarf 9 XP 353,000 HP 58
Count William Magic User 13 (14)  XP 906,000 HP 41
Dame Roseanna Cleric 12 XP 547,037 HP 47

To 6/10/21 Assault on Castellan Keep

Bravery & Frosto hunt and kill an ice troll patrol at the south edge of the Freestead Valley.
The Keep's trebuchets are incinerated in a dragon surprise attack.
Cael reaches his clan and persuades them to aid Baron Vadarin. Moving east they surprise and wipe out an ice troll patrol.
The enemy red dragon is lured into an ambush by Frosto and killed. That night the frost giants launch a massive assault on the Keep. Skirkatla breaches the south wall but is killed by Bravery.
The dwarves attack the frost giants in the rear.

To 2/10/1021 Siege of Castellan Keep

Giant assault on Castellan Keep begins. Defenders take heavy losses to giant boulders. William summons a Magma Elemental that drills a hole from the lava lake beneath the keep, lava covers the entry path preventing the giants from reaching the castle. Over the next five days the siege continues; Roseanna is killed by Skirkatla's dragon but recovered later by Alexandra & co.

To ca 25/9/1021 AC War with the Giants

From Castellan Keep the PCs raid the giant plateau fortress several times. inflicting casualties including a pristess of Urgathoa. As the first snows of winter begin to fall unnaturally early the giant armies are assembling. The PCs attack and destroy a squadron of 20 frost giants west of the Freestead valley.

Roseanna Origins

House Halathius and Count Wolfram
*
Wolfram Halathius was born as the sole heir of House Halathius and its county in 860. This country had been gifted to the Halathius family hundreds of years ago by the Imperial Royal family due to their military service. While the Halathius family at first felt cheated due to their landing being nothing more than mountains, this changed when they discovered by to their surprise that these mountains where rich in minerals and ores. To this day the County of Halathius still supplies the Empire of Thyatis with the majority of minerals and ores used in everyday life. However, what the County of Halathius was truly know for was its gold mines. Over the centuries a seemly endless amount of gold had been mined from the mountains of Halathius. Within the capital city of Goldleaf, many of the finest jewellers and goldsmiths in all of Thyatis can be found crafting exquisite jewellery which is sought after by many wealthy family all over the Empire. Due to the vast trade in mineral, ores, and especially gold, House Halathius quickly became the wealthiest family in all of the Empire, matched only by the Imperial Royal family. As such many other nobles thought the Empires history has tried to marry into House Halathius in order to get a stab at the families’ famed wealth. However, the Halathius family proved to be fairly reclusive in their dealings with other noble Thyatcian families, becoming reticent to marry off members of their family to other noble houses due fear of their greed. As such, by the time of Wolfram’s birth House Halathius had stagnated, and leaving his branch of the family the sole heirs to the County of Halathius and the family’s vast wealth. Despite pressure from his father to marry into another noble family, Wolfram instead made it his occupation in life to spend his days traveling the world and learning about its different cultures. From a young age Wolfram had gained this interested from both his families own insular habits, but also out of a dislike for Thyatcian culture in general. The County of Halathius had no coliseums of their own and even when the young Wolfram had been brought to the great coliseums in Thyatis, he found the sport repugnant and barbarous. Instead of trained in the classical manner of a fighter, Wolfram
instead sought to understand the mysteries of magic and master this arcane art. Wolfram spent the better part of his first forty years of life traveling the world as an adventurer and going out on many famed expeditions and quests. Through his time abroad Wolfram became very worldly and culturally refined, fancying himself a scholar and a gentlemen. The famed wealth of his family could buy Wolfram virtually anything he could desire in Thyatis, yet he fancied more exotic wonders from around the world as he felt own such things made himself seem more sophisticated and refined then his noble contemporaries. However, more than anything else, Wolfram sought to one day own an estate on the famed Protectorate of Sciaras, for it was on this island that Wolfram believed the truly enlightened and cultured folks of Thyatis lived. Wolfram’s dream and travels where put on a halt when in 902 his father died, leaving him the count of Halathius and thus responsible for running the county. It took Wolfram several years to get used to this position and by this point in his life he was middle aged and unmarried with no heirs. Even still his dream of becoming a estate owning member of Sciaras continued to burn in his heart, and Wolfram still went adventuring at any available opportunity he could. Wolfram even restored to using potions of longevity to maintain keep his physical age at around 35, which he believed made him still look young and handsome, but old enough to be cultured and wise. It was not until 948 that Wolfram finally achieved his dream and got an estate on Sciaras that he began to seriously think about getting married. Despite being 88 at this time, many noble families still wished to marry their daughter to Wolfram due to his money and youthful appearance produced thanks to his powerful magic. Finally in 950, after several decade of putting it off, Count Wolfram Halathius was engaged and married at the age of 90, much to the chagrin of many of noble houses in Thyatis based upon whom he had decided to marry.
*
A Strange Paring
*
Amongst his many travels, the one land that Wolfram had found most interesting of all was the elfish kingdom of Alfheim. To Wolfram, the culture of the elves was truly fascinating, especially do to their interest in a simple life in tune with Mother Nature. To most of the Alfheim elves Wolfram was nothing more than a wealthy and ostentatious lord from a powerfully human empire, and they tried as best they could to pay little attention to him. Out of all the ruling clans in Alfheim, only one greeted Wolfram with open arms, that being the Clan Chossum. The members of Clan Chossum had always been fond of dealing with wealthy foreigners, for they thought it would be a great opportunity for them to get elfish products into the world. As the merchants of Alfheim, Clan Chossum sought greater economic expansion beyond simply Alfheim and to line their own pockets with the world’s gold. As such, the Chossum elves welcomed Wolfram into their fold and became very friendly with him over the years. Wolfram even became close friends with the enigmatic clanmaster of Chossum, Lynnwyl, due to Wolfram’s interest in elvish products and his families’ mercantile connections all over Thyatis.
However, what really ensnared the young Wolfram’s heart was Lona Chossum, the beautiful niece of Lynnwyl. Unlike most of the Chossum elves who had dark hair, Lona had snow white locks that she had gotten from her mother who was a Callarii elf from the land that would eventually became known as the Grandy Duchy of Karamekios. Even amongst the Chossum Lona’s longing for material wealth was highly strange, for she did not like how little in terms of wealthy her clan could provide her. While she was only 250 years old by the time Wolfram was formerly met her in 894, Lona had become infamous amongst for her expensive tastes and high opinion of herself, making her gain the name of the Lady Dwarf by many of the other elves. Lona had even spent many years adventuring solely so she could fund her extravagant lifestyle and to intermingle with lords and ladies who had the lifestyle she sought. Despite her natural beauty even amongst elfish standards, her
personality made even Chossum elves raise their eyebrows and shake their heads. And when Lona met the heir to the wealthiest family in all of the Empire of Thyatis, she jumped on the opportunity to go adventuring with him. While at first motivated by her own self-interests, Wolfram and Lona became very close over the many decades they went adventuring together. Both where often noted for flirting with each other on adventures and taking the piss out of each other. This comradery eventually blossomed into love, for it was Lona whom Wolfram announced that he wanted to marry in 949, which confused many noble families in Thyatis. Wolfram believed that only Lona was good enough to be his wife, for he know her better than anyone else thanks to their decades of experience, and he could also affair her expensive tastes thanks to his families’ wealth. Lynnwyl blessed the marriage, seeing that it was a very lucrative business deal for his clan, and in 950 Wolfram finally got married.








 *
The Children of Wolfram and Lona Halathius and the Expansion of House
Halathius
*
Over the course of the first decade of their marriage Lona gave birth to four children, Arathana (952), Yenrry (954), Ricamros (956), and Alistana (958). The children of House Halathius where known throughout the Empire due to their strange elvish beauty and snow white hair thanks to their mother. Wolfram knew that it was difficult marrying off his children in Thyatis due to their strange appearances due to the fear of his house stagnating again, but he got the opportunity thanks in part to the Alphatian Spike of 960. Wolfram saw this event as a great name for his family to gain recognition in the Empire, and he and Lona used their experience from decade of adventuring to help the champion of the people, Thincol the Brave. Their fighting prowess, especially Wolfram mastery of magic, proved invaluable to the young Thyatcian gladiator in driving out the Alphtian invaders. When Thincol was crowned emperor of Thyatis Wolfram continued to support him as an advisor and fighter during the two years it took to reclaim the territory that the Empire had lost during the assault. With the repute of a great hero, the respect of the new emperor, the wealth of House Halathius and the massive shift of the political landscape thanks to the Alphatian Spike, Wolfram made his move to gain political power in the empire for his family. Wolfram set up his oldest son Yennry to inherit the county from him and made an arrangement with another powerful merchant family for Yennry to marry one of their daughters. For his second oldest son Ricamros, Wolfram sent him to train in the military in order to be a great general and also arranged a marriage with the neighbouring House Kantrium to marry the eldest daughter who was to be the next duchess so that he would be the Duke of Katrium. Wolfram had his youngster daughter Alistana marry a member of the ruling Retebius family to get into the good graces of another neighbouring duchy to the County of Halathius and also due to the Duchy of Retebius progression in using winged beasts to increase the military might of Thyatis. However, his biggest political move came about with the
marriage of his eldest daughter Arathana.
















 *
The First Granddaughter and the Tragedy at Sea
*
Wolfram had set his sights on marrying Arathana off to the Alexander Kerendas, the new Duke of Kerendas. Alexander’s father had died during the Spike, and due to him being the eldest son it was his duty to one day inherit the Duchy of Kerendas. Wolfram saw this situation as a great motivator in marrying of his eldest daughter off to Alexander, due to the Duchy of Kerendas’ position in the Empire as one of the largest and most profitable duchess in all the land. As such in 970, Alarthana got married to Duke Alexander Kerendas, becoming the Duchess in the process. Two years later, their first and only daughter, Julia Kerendas was born. Much like her mother, aunts, and uncles, Julia was noted for her white hair, although her elvish features where not as strong as her mothers. Wolfram and Lona where delighted with the birth of their first grandchild and made any excuses they could to come to Castle Kerendas to visit. With everything going to plan, Wolfram convinced the young Duke Alexander to meet with Grand Duke Stefan in the newly founded Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Wolfram reasoned that it would be a good idea to set up a trade agreement with the new country, for Stefan would need a strong cavalierly if he wanted to tame the wild land and it would be a lucrative deal for decades to come. So in 973 Duke Alexander boarded a boat bound to Specularum with his wife and daughter, much to his own chagrin. Alexander had wanted to go alone, but Arathana had insisted that she wanted to go, wishing to see the world and experience its wonders much like the stories her mother and father told her when she was growing up. Julia would also come for every time she was without her mother she would continually cry and cause the maids of Castle Kerendas much grief. Alexander had raised his concerns with Wolfram, but the count had stated it would wise to take his beloved eldest daughter and their child, not only to make Arathana happy, but to also make Stefan believe that Alexander was good family man and was serious enough about the talks that he would be willing to take his family with him to Specularum as the negotiations would take some time. Thus the boat carrying the Kerendas family left for
Specularum in 973. The boat was at first gone for a few weeks as schedule, and then those weeks stretched into months with word from Specularum that the Duke and Duchess of Kerendas never arrived. Even after a great search and the use of Wolfram’s impressive magical abilities, the mystery of the missing vessel still persisted. After an exhausted 6 month search, the ship was labelled lost, and its crew and passengers presumed dead. This tragedy hit brought great sadness to House Halathius, even more so to Wolfram who had insisted on Alexander taking both Arathana and Julia for the ride. Even with this tragedy, the rest of Wolfram marriages went off without a hitch, and by the end of the century his family had gained even more political power and wealth then even he could have predicted. So much so, that Ricamros, who had become close to Imperial Prince Eusebius during his military days, had his son marry Eusebius’ eldest daughter. With this and Yenrry taking over the County in his stead, Lona and Wolfram retired to their estate on the Protectorate of Sclaras, where they still live to this day. Even with all these great accomplishments added to the many accolades famed Wolfram had gained during his long life, the loss of his eldest daughter and first granddaughter is said to still burn in his heart.





 *

The White Haired Maiden and the Baron in Black
*
In 973, fisherman from what would become known as the Black Eagle Barony found a strange site while at sea. It was a foggy day at first, but it was not the fog that was strange, instead the sound of a child crying in the middle of the ocean. As they got closure to the sound they found a young child wrapped in the blanket onto of a panel of wood adrift at sea. Confused the fisherman picked up the child only to notice her white hair. Not knowing what to make of this and with no responses from any other vessels in the as they called into the fog, they took the strange girl back to them to a remote village. There the Traldarian priest listened to the fisherman’s story, and due to the superstitious nature of these people, that it was a miracle that this child had survived at sea for the Immortals know how long, and was thus seen as a good omen. The young girl was eventually adopted by a local tavern keeper and his family, who saw an increase in the client base with this adoption. People from nearby villages came to see the whited haired child, and it did not take long for her to become famous in the local area as a result. The white haired girl was given the name Anya, and as she when she grew up she became a barmaid at her family’s tavern. Her fame was such that many wealthy local men sought her hand in marriage, although the shy Anya always would say no, preferring to stay with her family. However, this all changed in 990 when Grand Duke Stefan announced that his cousin, Ludwig von Hendriks, would become the baron in charge of the land in which Anya lived. All of a sudden people became less cheerful as the Barons soldiers came in demanding money or the citizens would face death. The people of the Barony became scared as random people would go missing and that the Ludwig didn’t do anything about. One night while walking home from an errand Anya herself was ambushed and capture by members of the Iron Ring. Anya’s captors had heard about the famed White Maiden and saw first-hand that her beauty would make them good money. However, with such a unique prize, they feared that Anya would somehow be damaged on the difficult path back to Thyatis, and instead sought to make their money
quickly.
   As such, the first customer that they had in mind was the Baron himself, Ludwig. When they presented the Baron with their prize, Ludwig beckon instantly smitten with this exotic beauty, taking in her rich Thyatician features. Ludwig paid a large amount of gold to have her, and set Anya to work as his personal maid. As the months went on the staff employed to work in Ludwig’s estate came to see a strange change in their lord when he was around Anya. Instead of the horrible creature he usually was like around them, when he went to see Anya he would actually make a concerted effort to make himself look and would try to talk to her at every chance he could get. Anya, while at first terrified of her new master, started to spend less time working around the estate and more time talking Ludwig. The black baron didn’t even seem to care as not cleaning the estate would be a death sentence to anybody, yet Anya somehow got away with it. The staff while curious said nothing about it for fear of incurring Ludwig’s infamous ire, instead simply doing the Anya’s duties in conjunction with their own.







 *
Ludwig’s First Marriage and His First Child
*
Something had change in Ludwig since the first time he laid eyes on Anya and he knew it. Despite his better judgement he would find himself talking to strange girl more often than he really should. Although the girl at first was strange and confused to be around him, she had seemly gotten used to and an after a few months even seemed too started to enjoy his company. Ludwig had even confided in her his darkest secrets, that his cousin Stefan was actually his father, and always been seen as a nuisance by his mother and father. And instead of the ridicule and other negative comments that Ludwig had become all too familiar with, Anya had replied by with sympathy and care. Ludwig tried to rationalize these confusing feelings that he had for this common girl that stating she must be someone special, for who in their right mind would leave a good Thyatician girl like her amongst all the horrible Traldarian filth? Ludwig continued to struggle with these feelings until he learned that Anya was pregnant with his child. At that point Ludwig determined that he could not live without this special Thyatician girl and married her in secret. After the marriage he had Anya moved at to a house far away from the prying eyes of others. Ludwig didn’t want his subjects to think that he was going soft on them with his marriage, and still wanted to maintain that he was the one in charge. He even went too far as to have his court mage Bargle construct a barrier around the house so that Anya couldn’t leave house. And if anyone asked any questions Ludwig could just have such people killed, for he was the law of this land.
It was at this private estate in 992 that Ludwig and Anya’s first child was born, Gunther Edman Hendricks. Ludwig became overjoyed at having his first male heir and would spent as much time as he could at the estate with his son and Anya. He often told others that during this time he was hunting, even when it was the middle of winter. People were confused as to why their Baron
would spend so much time by himself hunting in the woods, but then again Ludwig was a strange man and those who asked questions were quickly killed. And so Ludwig’s life continued like this for several blissful years until Anya said that she was pregnant with their second child in 999. At this point Ludwig had become concerned that eventually, despite his best efforts somebody would figure out that he was married. He fear that the persona he put forth as a tyrant would be destroyed, and that even his soldiers would think less of him as a result. Ludwig couldn’t stand that thought, and sought to doing research about who Anya truly was. She was Thyatician, so that was a good start, and she had to be someone important if she meant so much to him. Anya just had to be.












 *
Ludwig’s Second Child and Bargle’s Scheme
*
By the time of his daughter’s birth in early 1000, Ludwig had put all the pieces together. He had known of Count Wolfram and his strange children, never thought that Anya could have been one of his own kin. But after consulting the Karamekian records about the missing Duke Alexander, Duchess Arathana and their missing daughter Julia it all made sense. Anya be around the same age as Julia, and both had strong Thyatician features, but most damning of all the evidence was Anya’s white hair! She had to be the missing granddaughter of Wolfram, and after beating the answers out of people from Anya’s village about how they found her, Ludwig was convinced by this fact. What luck he had, marrying the daughter from such a powerful and wealthy Thyatician family! It was with such joy that he proclaimed shortly after his daughter’s birth that he was going to make their marriage public and that Anya could move back to his estate! Ludwig even told Anya and his son Gunther that her real name was Julia although he was careful not to go into many specifics. Ludwig was so happy that he even let Julia name their second child, Roseanna, for she was going to usher in a new life for them. With hiss marriage to Julia Ludwig knew that he would gain support from House Halathius, support enough to even be able to strong arm Stefan, his father into making him the heir of the Duchy. It was perfect, Ludwig was going to make this happen. Bargle, on the other hand, was not so sure about this.
In fact, Bargle greatly fear that this new alliance would make it harder for him to control Ludwig. He had let the Baron have his decade of happiness because it made him happy and thus easier to control, but this was going too far! He could compete with the famed Count Wolfram of Thyatis, even if Bargle was loath to admit, and feared that he would fall out of favour with Ludwig as a result. As such something had to happen and fast! Bargle was one of the only people who know
about Anya and Ludwigs family, thus let it slip to several members of the Iron Ring where she was located. Giving these men what they needed to dispel the barrier, he said if they kidnapped Julia and her children that they could ransom them to House Halathius and live like kings for the rest of their lives. And so it was that during early 1000 that these captors did just that and kidnapped Julia and her children. The captors made for the border of the Black Eagle Barony quickly so that they could get their prizes to a secure when they were attacked by orcs that Bargle had enchanted. The slaughter was brutal and quick, and when Bargle came to the site in the early hours of the morning he found the not only the captors dead, but also several of the orcs. Among their corpses he found Julia’s dead body, which he would later present to Ludwig as evidence of the treason of the captors. He would say that these men had broken into his lab and stolen what they needed to capture Julia and her children after overhearing Ludwig for years. Bargle would then say that the captors stumbled upon a party of orcs, which proceeded to kill them all. What would be troublesome was that Gunther and Roseanna’s bodies where nowhere to be found in this massacre. Oh well. Even if they did survive the cold would kill the boy and the girl. Gunther was only 8, so he could gone far with his baby sister. Whether by more orcs or the freezing cold, Ludwig’s children would die either way.





 *

Edman and Roseanna’s Life
*
One night in early 1000 a merchant caravan stumbled upon a strange sight on the road. The caravan had been on its way to Luin and as such had many guards to ward off any attacks from the Black Eagle Barony, when one of the guards noticed movement in a ditch. It was a small boy holding a sleeping baby in his hands, covered in dirt with his clothes torn, and a look of fear in his eyes. The children were picked up and taken to Luin in the belief that they like some many others were part of a family trying to escape the Black Baron’s lands. Fearing that these children had lost their parents in a raid, the leader of the caravan took the frightened boy and his baby sister to the local Traladarian priest in Luin, who when he saw that the children had white hair, was convinced that they were a bad omen due to their strange appearances. When the priest asked the boy what his name, he responded by saying his name was Edman, and that his sister was named Roseanna.    
Over the next several years both Edman and Roseanna where moved all over the Grand Duchy, from one orphanage or foster home to the next. At first people would be welcoming towards these two sad orphans who had escaped the Black Eagle Barony, but it would never last long. The fact that the children looked different with their strange white hair (in conjunction with looking more Thyacian then Traladarian) always led people to eventually drift away from both Edman and Roseanna. It also didn’t help that the stigma of the two of them being labelled a bad omen by the priest in Luin continued to haunt Edman and Roseanna, for the Traladarain people are a superstitious lot. Even when Edman had entered young teenage hood he never thought about going back to the Black Eagle Barony to see his father Ludwig. The captors on the night that they were taken from their old house had harassed both Julia and Edman by stating that the Baron no longer wanted them. Edman couldn’t understand why his father would just abandon his family like this, but because of the trauma he had gained while being captured, and the fact that his father never came looking for them
led Edman to truly believe the captor’s lies. Edman never told Roseanna who their father was or that her full name was Roseanna Hilda Hendricks, only that her name was simply Roseanna, and that their mother had been named Julia.
By 1006, when Edman was 14 and Roseanna was 6, both of them moved to Specularum with the hope that Edman could get decent work from a Thyacian employer. Although Edman did eventually find work, the only place in Specularum he could afford to live with his sister was the Nest, the poorest part of the city. Over the next 4 years Edman worked as hard as he could to save up money to get Roseanna and himself out of the Nest and into a nicer part of the city. Meanwhile, Roseanna would play by herself in the streets, fancying herself a noble princess stolen from a faraway land spurred on by the bedtime stories Edman would tell her at night. The two siblings never ran into much trouble from the residences of the Nest due to their strange appearances and people’s fear of them being bad omens. As such Edman was Roseanna’s only real friend in the world, due to the other kids not wanting to play with her. In 1010, to celebrate the marriage between Prince Justin Karameikos and Lady Joanna Vorloi, Edman at his job was tasked with moving and setting up several of the fireworks that the magic’s guild had prepared for the accompany the celebrations. However, when trying to set up one of the displays, a freak accident occurred and the magical fireworks went haywire, killing Edman in the process.
What little money Edman had saved up over the last several years had to go into paying for the damages his little accident had caused, leaving Roseanna destitute in the process. As a result, Roseanna couldn’t even afford to give Edman a proper burial. Roseanna and a priest from the Church of Karameikos where the only people at Edman’s funeral, where Roseanna spent most of the time crying. The grave diggers had dug a huge hole, because Roseanna couldn’t afford even a coffin, Edman’s badly burnt corpse was wrapped up in old sheets instead. When the diggers threw Edman’s body into the hole, it landed in such a way that the old rages came undone, and Roseanna
show first hand her dead bother’s charred corpse. The 10 year old Roseanna became hysterical upon seeing this horrible site, as the grave diggers discretely started to fill in the hole. Afterwards after the hole had been filled and the grave diggers left, Roseanna sat crying in front of the unmarked grave as the priest said his final words. Feeling great sympathy for these poor lost girl, and because of the clear Thyacian ancestry in her face, the priest took Roseanna to the Great Church of Karameikos. The priest was able to convince Patriarch Olliver Jowet to let Roseanna join the seminary held at the Great Church, due to Jowet’s sympathy for this poor girl’s plight and the horrible experiences Roseanna had been through. And so with nowhere else to go Roseanna became a member of Church of Karameikos.










 *

Interlude to 15/9/1021 AC

Party and other heroes of Karameikos gather at Castellan Keep. Scouting mission vs the giants. A grand ball, and meeting with two knights of the Black Eagle. Dragons dance on the battlements. Frosto & Areelia are found sleeping entwined the next morn...

I vow to thee, my country - Thyatis calls her sons home.

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

I hear my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helm upon her head,
And around her feet are lying the dying and the dead;
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her drums;
I haste to thee, my mother, a son among thy sons.

Interlude - Cael's Return to his Clan

By Rebekah Baker.

Cael Thoradan's return to his clan pt 1:
It was late afternoon in a small tavern in one of the winding back streets of Specularum. Cael was happily reminiscing over how the lovely shade of blue of Alya’s eyes had been offset by the sapphires he had gifted her. He was a content dwarf. A beautiful lass was his intended, he had a hearty ale in his hand and a full belly. It was a fine day indeed.
Outside the little tavern, that had become his regular haunt, the streets were filled with the clatter of folk returning home from market day. A prosperous Monday for the farmers and traders, the carts that rattled past the window were a great deal emptier than when they had thundered past that morning. Cael had been awoken from his dozing by the ruckus in the early hours, one thing he missed about his father’s halls was the silence of the stone.
Cael and his sister Tela had been given adjacent rooms in his father’s quarters. Cael’s had been luxurious, by Dwarven standards. He remembered with a faint stab of nostalgia his own personal bathing room, with the marble paved floor. Although he was less nostalgic about his personal guardsman Bonfur, who’d replaced good old Odin. Bonfur had the habit of waking Cael up by dragging him out of his bed by one leg and then screaming at him for good measure.
Odin, although a strict tutor, had at least given Cael the luxury of a peaceful sleep-in on a Sunday. Poor Odin, he’d been with Cael almost his whole life. Cael blamed himself for the dismissal and the shame that had brought upon Odin and his kin. It had been his fault for sneaking off…his fault for Lilly…
No, he wasn’t going to think about the past, especially not *that* part of his patchy history.
No back to Alina and the prettiest shade of blue he’d ever seen…
‘Master Cael’, the bar-keep, a shaggy breaded fellow bellowed.
Cael was broken sharply out his reverie.
‘Aye Markus’, he replied cheerily.
Markus had been a good fellow to him over the past few days, apparently he was more than a little chuffed to have a member of the ‘White Dame’s company’ in his humble inn. He’d even knocked off a few silvers from the room price.
‘There’s a letter come for you, was brought in by a crow of all things’, Markus huffed. Cael knew from his conversations with the man over an ale or two, that Markus held no love for birds. Having grown up on a farm, he’d chased away too many of the pesky beasts.
A crow…that would mean it was from his people. Cael had sent a hurried reply to his sister’s letter a few weeks ago, scribbling the name of the inn at the bottom.
Cael grabbed the letter from the bar-keep with a wink and went back to sit by the window. Doubtless Tela would be scolding him for the terrible grammar in his last letter, or the shortness of it.
He cracked the seal and began to read….

Dear Brother, 
My apologies for the tone of the last letter. I was rash to speak of trouble in the halls of our father. In fact all is now well with our kin. Rorur, our brother is preparing to take his place as head of our clan. In fact I am writing to you to extend an invitation to the ceremony. 
Also my dear brother, I am to be wed!
Our courtship began some months ago. He a pure blooded Dwarf of noble kin. The second son of the Chief Arken of Brunstone clan to the west. I also extend an invitation to the happy occasion of my wedding. It would give me great happiness to have you there.

Cael stopped reading, the rest was just fluff about dresses and jewellery.
His blood was running cold and his hands shook. Something was deeply and seriously amiss.
The letter was written by his sister, the handwriting was hers but the words would never have come from Tela’s mouth or pen.
Tela was a proud warrior, she walked her father’s halls, clad in armour. She slept with her hand-axe!
To have her prattle on about jewellery and dresses!
Cael knew his twin, despite their differences, she was the closest person to him in this world. He knew in his heart that Tela had written the note under duress.
Tela was not the sort of dwarf whose hand would be forced with ease. Cael had a horrible image of his sister in a dank mountain dungeon, beaten and chained…
No his father’s clan would never allow that. Lady Tela was popular with the common folk…so she must be being held by other means…more subtle, manipulative means.
Where was his father in all of this!
He had to return his father’s halls. He knew it and despite his mind rebelling against the notion of ever setting foot in the same room as his father again, he had to return.
He had to protect his sister, as she had protected him, time and again.

pt 2

It took three days hard ride on his shire pony to reach the outskirts of the mountains.
As he rode further north Cael began to notice things were amiss. This was a familiar path, craved out of the forest and hills by his clan for trade with nearby human keeps. Only it seemed to have fallen into disuse. Cael was even accosted on the way by a small pack of bandits who as soon as they saw the quality of his armour and crossbow, ran into the darkness of the forest. But it was unnerving that such brigands had returned these woodlands, usually the watch would have kept them at bade. Cael was also unnerved at how they had been so keen to attack him, in his experience the bandits feared the Dwarves of these parts as hardy warriors.
He also noted, with the keen eyes of a tracker, that far more trees had been cut down than was usual. His people usually used coal at worse for the harsh winter months, but more often the great forge in the centre of his father’s halls, warmed the entire mountain keep. There was no need for paltry wood fuelled fires, like the humans had to use.
As he reached the mountain path, the source of the felling of the trees became evident…
Cael, although he had forsaken his father’s clan, had to let a small cry of distress pass his lips.
The great entrance to the mountain keep was in shambles, it was half caved in. The proud carving of dwarves in battle were scarred and torn apart. Outside the keeps entrance, a sea of tents and shanty huts were build. He saw figures, huddled around small fires.
His people…
His heart sank.
This is what Tela meant about the crisis…there must have been an attack…
Thankfully was still early autumn. Only a small dusting of snow covered the tents. But soon winter would come to the mountains in its full wrath and then those who dwelt in such scant quarters would freeze to death.
Where was his father?
How could have allowed this!
Cael dismounted and led his pony further up the path. He was met half-way up a young male dwarf, carrying a bundle of bracken and twigs.
‘Well met Lad’, Cael said, in the language of his kin.
The young dwarf turned and upon seeing Cael promptly dropped his sticks.
‘Lord Cael!’ he almost shouted, running up to Cael and slapping him heartily upon the back, ‘you’ve returned!’
Cael immediately recognized him, it was Garon, Odin’s son. Cael had grown up with the lad. Cael had lead several raiding parties with Garon as one of his most trusted men. They’d shared many an ale and a song around a camp fire.
Cael clapped him back heartily upon the shoulder, trying to let his shock over Garon’s appearance show. The lad was gaunt, although he’d always been a wily dwarf who’d favoured a dagger over an axe, his physique betrayed that he had suffered many a hungry night as of late.
Cael felt a mix of anger and shame fire up inside of him. Garon’s current state was likely influenced by his father’s dismissal from Gardik’s household.
‘Garon, what happened here?’, Cael said, trying to keep the pain out his voice.
Garon’s smile dropped from his face.
‘You don’t know…’ he replied quietly, ‘No one told you?’
‘Told me what?’ Cael said, praying to the God’s that his sister was still alive.
‘There was an attack in the night a month ago, the frost giants…they’ve forced alliances with other giant clans…their combined force over powered our defences…they came up through the old mining tunnels’ Garon paused, he looked at the stony ground.
Cael felt his blood turn to ice. The old mining tunnels lead into the living quarters of the common folk. Odin’s family home had been near there…
‘We woke up, Da and Me were light sleepers after so many years in the watch. By the time we got our armour on the quarter was ablaze. They gotten right into the market square. Me & Da, we joined the others, anyone who could fight and we tried to hold them, Cael, we tried…’

Garon paused again, this time it was for a whole minute before he could continue.
‘There was a massive bastard with a great club, Da was trying to protect a group of common folk, hiding under a wagon, trying to get them to run…it smashed his brains out on the cobblestone when he was trying to free a lass from under the wagon…’ Garon stopped. His head bowed.
Cael placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
‘Garon, you can stop’ he murmered.
‘No, you have to know!’ Garon snapped back, when his head raised back up, his eyes shone with tears.
‘After Da fell, well it was chaos. Most folk hadn’t time to grab proper weapons, they were trying to protect lasses and wee ones as well. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I left the battle and ran back for my ma and my wee brothers. To try to get them out. I managed to find one of brothers, pulled him out the wreck of the house, it was aflame, my ma and the babe…I don’t know what happened to them. I ran as fast I could to get out of the quarter, to raise the alarm. We got out as the guard finally charged in to fight back against the giants. Your father, he was at the head of the charge’
‘My father…is he’, Cael asked, not wanting an answer
‘He lived, but he’s sorely wounded. A giant crushed his leg with a hammer, apparently he slit the buggers throat through!’ Garon replied, a faint smile playing around his lips.
‘My sister…Tela, how is she?’ Cael asked.
‘Aye, your sister is alive and well. Gardik had to chain to her up in her quarters to stop her going into battle!’ Garon replied, with an actual genuine laugh escaping his lips.

Cael smiled bitterly, that sounded like the Tela he knew!

Character Deaths subsequently Raised

Maximum number of Raises = CON score.

Count William 1 - Finger of Death'd by Simon Amber in Castle Amber dungeons.
Claudia Morrigan 1 - zapped by giant electric eels in undersea city.
Roseanna the White Dame 1 - boiled in mud pit in White Plume Mountain.

27/7-15/8/1021 AC - Return from White Plume Mountain

27/7/1021 AC
Defeat the Inverted Ziggurat, slaying 3 manticores.
Defeat Ogre Mage & claim Blackrazor.
Investigate floating stream, defeat Sir Bluto & his 8 men, capturing 2. Camp in his lair.

28/7/1021 AC
Exit White Plume Mountain, defeating Keraptis' final test - 4 Efreeti and 2 Gargoyles (prisoners flee). Return to High Reach.

1-14/8/1021 AC
Return to Specularum, Flameflicker the Thief King reports that the Black Baron is training legions of orcs and bugbears north of Fort Doom. Bravery tells the Grand Duke, who says such rumours are common. Baron Bravery consults with a hazel-eyed fortuneteller, Alya, on the Street of Dreams, who tells him his second child will also be a son, and that a great force of evil is coming from the north on green leathery wings.
Cael dates Alya/Flameflicker, gifting her a beautiful sapphire necklace taken from White Plume Mountain. She consents to be courted in the dwarven style, though seeming a little taken aback.
Roseanna & Alexandra buy Vorloi Villa in Specularum from Grygori Vorloi - the price to Roseanna includes a vomitous kiss.
Alya has a present for Cael on their next date - a multicoloured Traldaran scarf of silk from the Pearl Islands, it shimmers like a rainbow in the sunlight.

15/8/1021 AC
Alexandra Vorloi gets a call to attend upon the High Patriarch at the Grand Temple of the Church of Karameikos...

Hope returns from Alphatia to see her family for the summer holidays (vacation 15/M7 to 28/M9, teaching restarts 1/10/21).

12-27/7/1021 - Second & Third Expeditions to White Plume Mountain

12/7/21 PCs stake a vampire & acquire Whelm the Dwarven Hammer, Roseanna killed during exit, raised by Alexander. Party leave Whelm & exit.

Two weeks rest. Sir Quintus finds Cael massaging Roseanna's feet. Bravery's wife Aleena Karameikos-Halaran may be pregnant again...

27/7/21 PCs return to White Plume Mountain for third attempt, collecting Whelm; Cael ravished by Gynosphinx.

Family Trees

The scandalous rumour: Ludwig Von Hendriks was born 970 AC, the same year the young Duke Stefan Karameikos of Machetos traded Duchy Machetos to the Emperor in return for free title to Traladara (Karameikos). It's widely rumoured that Ludwig's mother Bretonia Korrigan (Stefan's aunt) was already pregnant when she married Lord Andreas Von Hendriks.

12/7/1021 - Second Expedition to White Plume Mountain - Cael's Account

The Heroes transverse deeper into the catacombs of White Plume Mountain

Previous sessions: http://smonskarameikos.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/session-notes.html

Keep of the White Dame: Around Sunrise

Cael stood on the battlements, feeling the cool breeze across his face. Seeing the sun rise every morning was still a queer, but stunning moment for him. Having lived the majority of his life under the earth, the feeling of wind, rain, snow and natural wonders of light and darkness, were still foreign to him in some ways.

He ran a gloved hand across his chin, feeling his stubble. The hasty return from White Plume had left the party little time to rest and refresh. Rosanna had been gravely injured and had to be rushed to the healers immediately on arrival. Although she had stubbornly refused to be carried to the healing rooms and had walked herself, proud with a white bloodless face, clearly wracked with pain. Deirdre had followed close behind, her fearful eyes betraying how serious the white Dame’s condition truly was.
Cael had seen Rosanna later that night sat at the high table for supper in the great hall. Dressed in a fine silver dress, with her hair artfully arranged, from a spectator’s perspective the White Dame was as fearless and untouched as always. However to her close friends, Rosanna’s slight winces and tired eyes, showed to extent of her wounds. Even Cael, who’d been sat among the common folk, sharing a hearty ale with some of the stable lads, noticed her discomfort plain as day. However he had not tried to lend his aid, knowing Rosanna’s hard pride.
He admired her still, despite being spurned so publically. The party had showed him much kindness over the event. Lady Alexandra had been gentle, making sure Cael got an extra hard biscuit now and then, slipping him a silver for an ale in Specularum. Bravery had teased him a little, but his father had put a stop to it soon enough.
Cael was a hardy fellow and although he was not a good dwarf, the blood of stone ran in his veins. It would take more than a pretty girl’s rejection to cast him into dejection. Especially now he had another prospective courtship on hand…
Looking below him from the battlements he could see wagons and carts beginning to filter in from the nearby village. The stable boys were awakening from their hangovers and dragging themselves up to saddle the horses.
His pony would be in the stable, resting up. He’d drop by and feed her a carrot later, before breakfast in the main hall.
The white smoke from the plume of the mountain could be seen faintly in the far horizon. Cael sighed gently, his life had never been simple, so why should it be now?
Anyway there was hearty breakfast to be had….

They rode to the mountain range just after Breakfast (A hearty slab of back bacon, rye bread, sausages, black pudding and a small ale). Joined this time by Percival, a tight lipped fellow in Cael’s opinion. He hadn’t been up for much conversation with Cael on the ride to the mountain and wasn’t impressed by his knowledge of bar shanties. One good thing about him was his obviously well-crafted armour and the loving kiss he’d given his wife Deidre on departure. For the latter factor alone, Cael hoped Percival would last through whatever awaited them within the mountain…

The entrance to the mountain was the same as before they met the Sphinx at the junction point. She seemed bored as ever. This time smoking a strange long pipe, the likes of which Cael had never seen.
‘So you’re back for more?’ She drawled, taking a puff of her pipe.
Rosanna simply huffed in reply and made to move towards the right-hand passage.
Cael hung back to chat with the strange creature, in his opinion it never hurt to be a little friendly with folk, no matter how strange their appearance.
Count William also hung behind and began to chatter to the creature rapidly, in his disjointed fashion. Sometimes in his eagerness, the Count seemed almost like a young boy to Cael.
A young boy with terrifying cosmic power….Cael made sure not to dwell on that too long mentally.
After a short friendly chat with the Sphinx, Cael managed to persuade her to let him trim and clean her claws. Growing up with a twin sister, he had some expertise in the area.
The sphinx had seemed rather pleased with his efforts and shared some key information about the fates that befell the previous adventurers. Including a party of the king’s champions, Rockhome Dwarves. Cael made a mental note to ask his father, or more likely Tela about the history of such an expedition in the future…if they ever made it out alive.
Rosanna was tapping her foot impatiently by the end of the conversation. Her beautiful face twisted into a scowl.
‘Shall we press on?’ She said, for perhaps the tenth time.
Count William reluctantly pulled himself away from the Sphinx and they carried on, deeper into the heart of the mountain.

Soon they encountered their first challenge, the corridor was filled with an iridescent green slime. Cael searched his brain for some vague Knowledge of the gloop, wishing for perhaps for the 100th time Tela was with them, she was the bookworm, not him.
However his schooling had prevailed, this time, and he recognised the slime as highly corrosive to the touch.
Luckily Count William quickly froze the slime and allowed the party a safe method of crossing over.
They travelled onwards until they reached a strange door, curiously rotted around the edges. Cael checked for traps and found a spring-like mechanism between the stone and the door. Such a strange place this was…
Alexandra strode forward and bravely opened the door, thankfully her prior knowledge of the trap prevented her triggering it.
The room inside was revealed to be filled with glowing orbs mounted onto the ceiling. Cael before anyone could act, decided to shoot a bolt at one of the far orbs. He aimed poorly and the bolt bounced off the central orb, but luckily it shattered. A tumble of gems clattered to the floor.
‘Master Dwarf continue’ ordered Alexandra
Cael was glad to oblige, shattering all of the orbs in turn. The only adversaries that emerged were a pack of dark shadows and a grey slime. The party finished off the shadows, not before Bravery was drained a little, much to his chagrin. Cael shot down the grey slime in one blow.
The combined loot was split amongst the party after the fighting was concluded.
Cael picked up the strange ring in the furthest corner of the room. Having heard its voice in their minds, they all knew what it claimed to grant the bearer. Cael looked over at Rosanna for a second, her hair flowing across her back, tousled from battle. She cut a striking figure. For a second, a hard mean part of his mind, whispered for him to use the ring for persuasive purposes. An image came to him of Rosanna in the robes of his people, a crown of gemstones upon her brow, she his wife and him the lord of his clan. Then it passed as quickly as it had come. Cael felt sullied, he dropped the ring to the floor and went to examine the other loot…
Alexandra had watched Cael drop the ring and quickly went over and picked it from the stone flags. Her parents…her brother…one wish was all it could take. She slipped the ring onto her finger. Only time would tell if it would keep its promise.
Cael gathered up a wand of paralysis for his spoils and the party split the gold between them.
However all was not over…
A party of bug-bears stormed the room as soon as the door was opened. Soon the group was engaged in fearsome battle. Alexandra cutting down two of the beasts with her great sword. With the might of the heroes soon the battle was concluded.
One lone bug-bear remained, cowering before them. Count William soothed him in the language of his people and coaxed him to their side. Soon the bug-bear was singing like a canary, of the ruler this place and his indoctrination. He promised to aid the party find the other weapons.
They pressed on further into the catacombs, led by the bug-bear. They came upon another room, filled with a rank stench. The smell of death.
They entered cautiously to find five zombies standing in a row. Cael drew his crossbow for battle, however one of them stepped forward…
‘Find who is the odd one out and we shall let you pass’ it hissed through rotten teeth.
Cael was mystified. Then Alexandra cried out ‘9’!
The zombie line shuddered and then stepped out of the party’s way, leaving the exit clear.
However in front of them at the far end of the room was a strange spinning contraption…

Military Forces of Thyatis

In ancient times the early Thyatians relied on masses of levy infantry, the Legions, who proved very effective against marauding orc and barbarian hordes, but all too vulnerable to Alphatian magics of air and storm. This was already changing by 959 AC, with increased use of heavy cavalry knights alongside light cavalry and archers.

The annihilation of Emperor Gabrionus V's army and navy and the fall of Thyatis City in the brutal 959-960 AC Alphatian Spike Assault - along with the murder of Gabrionus and almost the entire Imperial Family -  put the final nail in the coffin of the old Thyatian military system, with its masses of unwieldy Cohorts. The adoption of the Fireball spell by the master-mages of the Alphatian military had been long in coming, for Flame was the device of their ancient homeworld rivals, but its widespread use had proved devastating - hundreds of Thyatian ships, and tens of thousands of infantrymen, had perished without ever coming to grips with their enemy.

Following the liberation of Thyatis from the Alphatian invaders led by the gladiator Thincol of Oceansend, the new Emperor Thincol I Torion set about rebuilding Thyatis' shattered forces along modern lines. Nowadays the mounted Knights of the Legion Cavalry and the Feudal Domains are the core of Thyatis' fighting forces, supplemented by light cavalry scouts, foot archers, and a small force of infantry, such as the feared Pike regiments of Hattias.

Today a typical Knight of the Legion Cavalry, such as the all-female Wings of Vanya regiment, is a Fighter of 3rd level equipped with platemail, shield, sword, lance, silver dagger, and shortbow. Legion Knights are typically issued with 5 silver arrows, one or more enchanted +1 arrows for use against mages employing Protection from Missiles magics, and three bags of flour for use against Invisible foes.
Knights of the Noble Levies tend to be similar, usually 2nd-3rd level, with some areas omitting use of the 'unmanly' bow.

Dominions & Rulers of Karameikos

Karameikos Population 1020 AC: ca 650,000

Dominions M6 1021 AC

Noble Dominions
Royal Demesne - Grand Duke Stefan Karameikos Ftr 15, Duchess Olivia (nee Promethean) Ari 9
County of Eastron - Count William Karameikos MU 12, Princess Adriana Ftr 6
Barony of High Reach - Baron Bravery Karameikos Ftr 10, Lady Aleena (nee Halaran) Clr 6
Barony of Castellan - Baron Vadarin the Strong Ftr 12 (spouse Lady Kylene Thf 10, left M5 1021)
Barony of Dmitrov - Baron Lev Dromilov Ftr 6
Barony of Rifflian - Baroness Prestelle Elf 3
Barony of Highforge - Gnome King Dorfus Hilltopper  hd 4
Barony of Vorloi - Baroness Alexandra Vorloi Ftr 9
Barony of Verge - Baron Retamaron Antonic Ftr 9, Lady Halia (nee Vorloi) MU 7
Black Eagle Barony - Baron Ludwig 'Black Eagle' Von Hendriks Ftr 12
Barony of Penhaligon - Baroness Arteris Penhaligon Ftr 9, Sir Reymond Antonic Ftr 8
Barony of Threshold - Baron Sherlane Halaran Clr 14
Barony of Kelvin - Baron Desmond Kelvin II Clr 10
Barony of Sulescu - Baron Zemiros Sulescu Ftr 9

Notable Manorial Estates
Luln (Royal Demesne) - Lady Sascia Ftr 12
Marilenev (Royal Demesne) - Lady Magda Marilenev Ari 3
Rugalov (Eastron) - Lord Vlad Lutescu Clr 6
Thoradan (Castellan) - Lord Gardik Thoradan Dwarf 7
Temple of the White Dame (High Reach) - Dame Roseanna Clr 11

Royal Fortresses & their Captains
Duke's Stronghold, Specularum  -  Seneschal the Lord Alexius Korrigan (Duke's cousin) Ftr 6, Sir Gadarin Cordelius Captain of the Ducal Guard Ftr 12, Elvenguard Captain Davinos Brightflame EW 10.
Duke's Road Keep - Castellan Ftr 8
Riverfork Keep - Castellan Ftr 8
Radlebb Keep - Castellan Ftr 8

Highest Level Known Spellcasters (Level 9+)

Clerics
Oliver Jowett, Patriarch of Specularum Clr 18
Baron Sherlane Halaran, Patriarch of Threshold Clr 14
Alfric Oderbry, Head of the Order of the Griffon Clr 14
Alekseyev Nikelnevich, Patriarch of the Church of Traladara Clr 11
Baron Desmond Kelvin II, Patriarch of Kelvin Clr 10
Dame Roseanna, the White Dame of High Reach Clr 10
Segyev, Patriarch of the Cult of Halav Clr 9

Mages
Teldon, Head of the Magicians' Guild, Advisor to the Duke MU 15
Bargle the Infamous, Court Wizard to the Black Eagle Baron MU 15
Count William Karameikos of Eastron MU 11 (12)

The Court of the Grand Duke Stefan Karameikos

The Royal Family
Duke Stefan Karameikos III Ftr 15 (948-) - 3 children
Duchess Olivia (nee Promethian), Stefan's wife, Ari 9 (959-) - 3 children
Princess Adriana Karameikos, Ftr 6 (980-)
Count William of Eastron, Adriana's husband, MU 11 (980-) - 4 children, 1 grandchild
Prince Justin 'The Turtle' Karameikos, Minister of Trade fr. 1016, Ftr 6 (982-)
Lady Joanna (nee Vorloi), Justin's wife, Ari 3 (986-) - 3 children
Prince Valen Karameikos, Thf 8 (986-)
Lady Esmerelda (nee Penhaligon), Valen's wife, Ari 2 (994-) - 5 children

Court Gossip
Lady Joanna Vorloi's wedding to The Turtle was a political marriage... Prince Justin is not exactly the Prince Charming a young girl might hope for. Joanna mostly concerns herself with her children and court gossip, she is friends with Prince Valen's wife Lady Esmerelda.
Prince Valen's marriage to the Lady Esmerelda Penhaligon is said to be a love match, and has certainly been fruitful, with five healthy children.

Ministers 
Lord Zogrev Yarol, the Minister of State, Ftr 9 (950-)
Admiral Lucius Hyraksos, the Minister of War, Ftr 12 (940-)
Lord Bartran Cordelius, Lord Chamberlain, was Minister of Trade to 1016, Ari 6 (935-)
Lord Valdo Tisza, the Minister of Finance, NM 6 (961-)

Percival Hyraksos

 Age 20:
Backstory:
Percival was born in 1000 and is the oldest grandson of the current Minister of War, Admiral Lucius Hyraksos. From the time he was a child, the Hyraksos family sought great things from their first born child. Percival was put through rigorous training and studies in order to groom him to one day replace his grandfather as the Mister of War, so that Lucius could ultimately retire. During his early years this pressure did not seem to show any kind of negative effect on Percival, for he showed great talent and intelligence when it came to learning the art of war. He would spend whole days in the libraries of Specularum studying old Thyatian battles and tactics in order to further his understanding of this grisly art. The Hyraksos family also spared no expensive getting Percival the best tutors to help train him to be a great soldier and gentlemen in preparation for his future. Lucius himself would even helped tutor Percival when he could spared the time, helping to give him the ins and outs of how the Karameikos military worked. Under this rigorous education the Hyraksos family believed that Percival would blossom into a great leader like his grandfather, and would lead the fledgling nation to further glory. The family where so sure of this that they even approached the Vorloi family with the proposition of arranging a marriage between the young Alexandra and Percival to strengthen the ties between the two families. However, things didn’t exactly go as planned for the Hyraksos family and their golden boy.
As Percival became a teenager, the years of his rigorous studying started to weigh heavily on his mental health. The once bright eyed boy who would find great excitement in studying with his tutors and grandfather turned into a moody slugabed who couldn’t properly deal with the pressure of what his family desired from him. Percival started to ditch his lessons, instead seeking to sneak out with his friends to wander the streets of Specularum engaging in trickery and mischief befitting a boy his age. This caused the Hyraksos family great strife due to the bad reputation that their eldest started to gain within the city. Time and time again they would have to bail Percival out of trouble with the city guard due to some prank he and his friends would play at the Duke’s Place, Bricktop or The Hill. This great strife eventually started to create a rift between Percival and his family, due to the resentment he had towards them. Percival hated the fact that his family had basically planned out his entire life for him. He didn’t want to become the next Minister of War anymore or even to get married to Alexandra Vorloi simply to further his family’s place in society. What Percival desired more than anything was the freedom to create his own path in life, without having his family constantly breathing down his neck and making outlandish demands of him. Percival’s behavior reflected poorly on the Hyraksos reputation in the social circles of Specularum, with many nobles shaking their heads and stating that he was nothing more than a failure not worthy of his family’s name. Percival’s father became furious as the years went on, ultimately leading to an accident when he was sparring with Percival in which his son lost his left eye. The accident only served to worsen Percival’s mood and resentment towards his family, causing him to take up drinking to deal with the mess that was his life.
One night while drinking Percival’s friends dared him to sneak into the great cathedral belonging to the Church of Karameikos in order to disrupt one of the sermons currently in process. The drunk Percival blindly accepted this challenge and handed towards the great church at once. He only managed to make it to the stairs of the great building before he vomited and passed out. A group of novices found him and put the task of looking after the drunk boy in the hands of the youngest and shyest of their group Deirdre. Thought frightened at first, Deirdre took the up this charge and looked after the poor boy until he wake up the next day with a horrible headache. Upon waking up with a bad handover Percival mistook Deidre for an angle to which she smiled and simply replied that she wasn’t. Over the next few months Percival began to spend more and more time with Deirdre, learning more about her faith and life story. She was from a lesser Thyatian noble family who had traveled to Karameikos to make gain mark. Although Deirdre’s family never gained as much wealth as the Vorlois or Kelvins, they had done modestly well for themselves. Deidre was the youngest and had been sent off to become a Priestess of the Church of Karameikos as a result. In time Percival began to develop feelings for Deidre. She was the first person who had made Percival feel truly alive in years. One day, several months after meeting Deirdre, Percival proposed to her out of the blue. While Deirdre was shocked and didn’t know what to say, her family quickly jumped on the offer seeing the Percival was from a wealthy, titled family. Why the Hyraksos family ultimately allowed Percival to marry Deidre to up to speculation. Some say it was because the family show that Percival’s mood seemed to get better when he was around Deidre and nobody else. Others say it was out of a sense of remorse due to the accident that had left Percival with only one eye. Either way Percival and Deirdre where soon married and Percival’s years of stumbling in the dark seemed to finally have ended. However, even with this union Percival still bore so animosity towards his family because their desire for him to become Minister of War had still not changed. Due to this, when he heard that one of Count William’s Entourage, Roseanna, was going to start building a church-fortress in Highreach, he took this opportunity to leave Specularum with his new wife in order to start a new life. Maybe this opportunity could finally give him a chance to figure things out and allow him to start forging his own path in life.

Cael Thoradan of Freestead

Cael Thoradan (Dwarven Archer)
Class: Dwarf

Cael has both the burden and privilege of being the first born son of Gardik Thoradan, Chief of the second largest Dwarven Clan in Karameikos. The Mountain Dwarves are a proud people and believe themselves to be of purer blood and truer bearers of traditional culture than their lesser cousins the Hill Dwarves, who currently comprise the largest clan.

Gardik has four children from his two wives and one concubine. His eldest son is Cael, who also has a twin sister Tela, they are the children of his deceased first wife. Cael's brother Rorur is two years younger and the son of Gardik's second wife. The fourth child Niru (also a boy) is still a babe, borne to Gardik's newest concubine.

Gardik rules his people with a will of iron, fearsome and bloodied from many battles, he commands respect from his people. However he deals mainly in Justice and barely ever in mercy. He has entered an alliance with the humans only out of necessity and believes in keeping the Dwarven race pure and unsullied with mixed blood.

Cael has always struggled to fulfil his father's expectations , although intelligent , he always preferred scouting and hunting to lessons. His sister on the other hand was always an attentive student, while Cael snuck out of lessons. Tela was a natural warrior, skilled with an axe and sword, a tactician. Cael preferred the bow as his weapon of choice, much to his father's chagrin.

Cael and his sister were always close and althrough Tela was frequently exasperated with her feckless brother, she loved him dearly. They lost their mother while still babes, a childbed fever carrying her off. It is said that was the only time anyone had ever seen Gardik express emotional weakness, when he buried his beloved. However he did not dwell on grief and soon married again, Rorur was born a year after. Cael and Rorur never saw eye to eye on anything. Rorur was serious, Cael was light-hearted. Cael had the salt to even poke fun at his stoic father (although never within ear shot!) and Rorur worshiped his father. They resented each other. Rorur was always striving for Cael's place as first born and Cael was envious of Rorur's lesser, more easy position in the clan.

As time when on, it became more and more apparent that Cael was never going to be the fierce clan leading warrior that Gardik desired. When he reached his late teens, Cael began sneaking off to the surface to go drinking at human taverns. He would turn up to his classes and his father's clan meeting, tired and his beard unkempt. Gardik began to pressure Cael, taking away privileges and using harsher and harsher words. Then finally the conflict came to a head, Cael came before his father with a human woman!

To Gardik's horror Cael had shaved his beard and proclaimed that he renounced his claim to leading the clan. He had fallen in love with the daughter of a tavern owner from a local village, they had been married secretly some months ago and she was already with child.

Gardik acted quickly and ruthlessly. He imprisoned his first-born in a dank cell for a month. By the time Cael was set free, his father coldly informed him that his 'wife' had been bribed with sufficient gold for her to proclaim that they were never truly married, she had also agreed to drink moon tea to get rid of the babe she was carrying. Cael was offered banishment with nothing but the clothes on his back or to come back to his father's court as a second son with Rorur as the new first born. Cael deeply shaken, agreed to remain on as the second son. His sister Tela had not even been considered to replace him, as she was female and therefore considered not a suitable leader in Dwarven society.

Cael took to wenching, drinking and gambling. Seemingly the happy, joking trickster that he had been previously, however those closer to him, knew that he had changed.

Gardik focused in all his attention on Rorur, grooming him to be the new leader of the clan. Until the issue with the giants arose...

DWARVES & HALF DWARVES

It is said that the Immortal Kagyar Soul-Forger crafted two dwarf males for every female, because females are twice as complicated...

Be that as it may, the shortage of dwarf females results in many liaisons between wandering male dwarfs and human or (sturdy) halfling women, even gnomes on occasion. The progency are called 'half dwarves', and may favour either parent.

Wandering Dwarf males not infrequently come together to found a new Clan under a powerful Dwarf Lord (level 9+), but in almost all cases few if any dwarf females are available. This raises a critical threat to the new settlement, as all offspring of the first generation will be half-dwarven. A few dwarf-wives might be purchased for enormous bride-sums, and occasionally this results in wife-stealing against an established clan, but such is far from easy and can easily result in destruction of the new clan. The typical solution is that half-dwarf males are not permitted to marry (and in some cases suffer infanticide), while the first generation of half-dwarf females will marry pure-blood dwarf males, either from the founding stock or later arrivals. Their offspring are typically to all appearances typical dwarves, other than the occasional sport, and thus both sexes can marry freely. At this point, after a century or so, the new clan is well on the way to being fully established.

Dwarven Society:

Cael is a very peculiar dwarf, by many standards. Light-hearted, a lover of fun and quick to make friendships, he lacks the suspicious nature that is more common of his race. However he shares one of the commonest traits of his kin, a love of beautiful things. In his case, Cael is particularly interested in attractive women. He also has a love for gold and jewellery, he actually would have made a fine craftsman, if he'd ever put his mind to concentrating on his lessons.

From what I've read about dwarves and what Simon has told me...I'd imagine females are closely guarded. One of the marks of a male dwarves success is marriage to a pure-blooded Dwarven woman. Half-Dwarven women are considered a commodity as well, but not highly sought after. For example, Gardik has one wife and one concubine, both pure-blooded. His officers, would have perhaps one pure-blooded wife, in the very high ranks. His second in command has a pure-blooded Dwarven wife and half-blood concubine. Successful merchants and craftsman would likely marry a half-Dwarven female. The poorer classes, would likely never marry, unless a love match was formed.

To marry is a complex and lengthy process. It is also very expensive. The more pure-blooded the female (the longer they can trace back their heritage) the more expensive the bridal price. Dwarven men traditionally give three gifts, one crafted by their own hand (a demonstration of skill), one gained through battle (a demonstration of strength) and one of great value (a demonstration of wealth).

If a female accepts the first gift, she has entered into a pact of courtship and the bond cannot be broken, unless the male Dwarf is outmatched by a rival. It is common for a Dwarven female to be courted by multiple males at once. The penultimate act of courtship, is when the two opposing parties, either two males courting the female (or in the case of only one male, a champion selected by the females family). The two males engage in battle to win the ladies hand. The female can choose to endorse either male by giving her favor but the male who wins the battle is the one who she must marry by law. Historically they have been many acts of foul play in the suitor battle, most commonly bribing the other champion to take the fall.

After marriage the female dwarf is given greater freedoms within the community, as it is a grievous crime to harm or steal another Dwarven males property, wives are left alone, in most cases. In Dwarven society, rape is punishable by death and the perpetrators family is forced to pay the females family a heavy price of gold, as the female will be 'spoiled' and therefore no longer as valuable a financial asset.

Older Dwarven females or 'Dwarrow-dames' are seen as wise and learned within Dwarven society, they have a social rank and oldest of the clan have their own small council, which the clan leader goes to for advice. Dwarrow-dames oversee the females of clan and ensure that there is adequate protection for them. They also officiate marriages and bless newborns. They hold a role similar to that of human priests.

Females are generally strictly controlled by the clan authorities and are usually not allowed to leave the safety of the stronghold. When they do travel outside of the safety of the clan, they travel with a close guard.

Cael's sister Tela's fondest dream is to escape her father's clan and go out to adventure in the wider world, however she is bound by her feelings of duty to her father. Tela has been given a very through and extensive education, this is not uncommon for high ranking females as Dwarven society is never wasteful, wives are used not only as a source of children but to help their husbands manage their households. Tela has been trained more extensively in combat than normal for Dwarven females, but then again Gardik hopes to marry Tela to the head of another suitable Dwarven clan and therefore Tela may need one day to defend her family in battle.

Ages for the Thoradan clan.
Cael: 90 Tela: 90. Gardik: 230. Rorur: 75

Roseanna, the White Dame - Forces at Temple

Soldiers
150 Ftr 1

Leaders
Percival Ftr 3
Deidre Clr 4
1 Clr 3
2 Clr 2
2 Clr 1

Roseanna Order of the Griffon Church Militant Soldiers' gear

75 x Plate Mails= 4,500 G
75 x Chain Mail= 3,000 G
150 x Shields= 1,500 G
50 x Normal Swords= 750 G
50 x Bastard Swords= 500 G
100 x Long Bows= 4000 G
50 x Short Bows= 1250 G
25 x Battle Axes= 175 G
500 x Javelins= 500 G
50 x Spears = 150 G
25 x Lances = 250 G
105 War Horses (Saddle + Tack + Saddle Bags Included) plus those of leaders
100 x Silver Arrows = 500 G
3700 x Arrows = 925 G

Session notes to end of April 2016

After Session 11 - Fortress of the Iron Knight
18/1/1020 AC, winter.
Alexandra Vorloi survived her wound. Baron Vadarin knighted Alexandra, and married Lady Kylene after all.
The group returned to Rugalov, where Jakov studied magic under Baron William. Later, Claudia visited Baron Philip Vorloi and revealed her parentage. Philip insisted he was right to disown his daughter, Claudia's mother Elissa Vorloi, but Philip's brother Gabrionus told Claudia she was a Vorloi and promised her support.
.....
31/7-2/8/1020 AC:

Roseanne Courting, Lighthouse with mad ghost, ruined mansion, gnolls, baby dire weasels: 2750 XP each.

At the back of the dire weasel lair a trap door opens onto a stairway leading down.

I took a look at what magic items you guys have:

Bramble Hairyheals, Halfling-6: +1 platemail, +1 short bow, +1 short sword, 6 +1 arrows, 3 healing potions.

Claudia Morrigan, Thief-6: +1 leather, +2 dagger, +1 dagger, 3 healing potions, +2 ring of protection, continual light sapphire.

Alexandra Vorloi, Fighter-6: +1 sword, +2 ring of protection, +1 trident, 1 healing potion, 1 levitation potion.

Roseanne, Cleric-6: +1 platemail, +2 two-handed 'rune maul' warhammer (d8+2), 10 +1 sling bullets, 5 healing potions, scrolls: 2 cure light wounds, 1 bless, 1 raise dead.

3/8/1020 AC
Grog the Ogre charmed, many smugglers killed, two fishmen encountered but escape, Veiled Society involvement confirmed, smuggler leaders Mortimer & Jared captured.

3-10/8/1020 AC

Smuggler leaders Mortimer & Jared taken back to Specularum while Roseanne, Bravery & William defend Fair Haven against Fishman hordes - Frosto blows back the mysterious night-fog then blasts them with frost breath and slays them in droves, William turns into a Griffon and slays the Fiendish Naga with his beak, killing the enemy fish-priestess too as she tries to flee. The defenders are soon victorious with only two militia men slain. However Grog the Ogre is frozen solid in collateral damage, he is buried with honour beside the fallen militia.

Vast loot is taken from the fishmen leaders, including a fiendish water naga; William gains an Ioun Stone +1 caster level, Bravery takes the fish-chief's girdle of giant strength that doubles his damage. Bravery & Roseanne level up. Back in Specularum the trio are acclaimed, William is named Earl (Count) of Eastron with a greatly expanded landholding, while Roseanne gets in well with both the Grand Duke Stefan and with Baron Sherlane Halaran, Baron-Bishop of Threshold and rival of Bishop Alfric Oderby (disliked by Stefan) to succeed Patriarch Oliver Jowett as head of the Church of Karameikos. She also dances with Squire Quintus Vorloi at the Grand Ball celebrating William's elevation as the first Count of Karameikos, and arranges to go on a wild boar hunt with him.

The Grand Duke Stefan declares that his daughter the Princess Adriana Karameikos (William's wife) shall succeed him as ruler of Karameikos, and one of her children after her - Prince Bravery declares he doesn't want the job, so thoughts turn to Princess Hope.

There are also rumours that with this move the Grand Duke may be close to finally declaring Karameikos a Kingdom in its own right. 

The Grand Duke of Karameikos is sending 400 Elvenguard east to Rugalov to clear the Chaotic Caves.

The Smuggler leaders were due to meet with the Veiled Society in two days (12/8/1020).

XP award is 15000 to Roseanne, William & Sir Bravery.

Roseanne C7 xp 60676/100000

William M9(10) 341726/450000

Bravery F7 68767/120000

Not present

Claudia T7 xp 56051/80000

Alexandra F6 XP 35750/64000

Bramble H6 xp 43521/64000

Meanwhile Roseanne is courting young Squire Quintus Vorloi and letting him show off on Boar Hunts. 

The Duke sends 400 Elvenguard east to Rugalov, where they clear out the Chaotic Caves fairly easily; with the death of the Hobgoblin King the enemy are disorganised and fragmented. 

One day Prince Bravery (who flew to Rugalov on his father's white dragon Frosto) returns to Specularum by ship, with several dozen Goblin warriors disgorging down the gangplank after him! After initial panic in the streets, it turns out that apparently Prince Bravery has succeeded in recruiting the Black Fang goblin tribe, after liberating them from cruel hobgoblin overseers, and they have pledged him allegiance. 

A delighted Grand Duke Stefan makes Bravery the first Baron of Highreach, a large dominion covering the highlands north of his father Earl William's domain of Eastron. Baron Bravery pledges to unite the human hill tribes and goblin tribes of the land under his just rule - and exterminate the hobgoblins.

To 15/9/1020 AC

Claudia has the Guard arrest Anton Radu, Duke Stefan lets him off rather than start a civil war. Following a passionate tryst while boar-hunting, Roseanne gets engaged to Quintus Vorloi. Frosto meets his Chimera son. Baron Gabrionus Vorloi blesses the Roseanne/Quintus union and promises to make the wedding arrangements; his wife Lady Aara Vorloi is cooler and keeps 'praising' Roseanne's 'difficult upbringing'. Back in Specularum Grand Duke Stefan indicates that Roseanne is in line to be appointed to the Order of the Griffon, and asks her to handle a delicate matter...

Stefan asks William to investigate the disappearance of his Herald, Sir Jonathan 'Ironbones' Tendoros; Roseanne volunteers to join him, Frosto and Prince Bravery on the mission.

15/9/1020 AC

Soon after awakening in the foyer of the strange mansion they've been seeking, the party are joined by Claudia Morrigan, dispatched on the same mission while Lord Bramble is deep in paperwork in the Royal Library...

New XP

Count William, Earl of Eastron MU9 XP 358,726/450,000

Roseanne Clr 7 XP 75,676/100,000

Claudia Morrigan Thf 7 XP 68,051/80,000

Prince Bravery, Baron of Highreach Ftr 7 XP 86,767/125,000

Polymorphed Sir Jonathan Tendoros & his shapechanged Gold Dragon friend Areelia

Roseanna & Quintus - Artist's Impression

PCs entered Averoigne through the Silver Gate and lodged at the Inn of Bonne Jouissance, only to be sent back through time by coffee laced with potion of time travel by the sinister 'Lord' Jehan Mauvaissoir, to a time before the Inn existed - and it's raining...

Roseanne Clr 8 XP 114,173/200,000

William MU 10(11) XP 488,497/600,000

Bravery Ftr 8 XP 125,264/240,000

Claudia Thf 8 106,548/160,000

To 15/9/1020 AC

Claudia has the Guard arrest Anton Radu, Duke Stefan lets him off rather than start a civil war. Following a passionate tryst while boar-hunting, Roseanne gets engaged to Quintus Vorloi. Frosto meets his Chimera son. Baron Gabrionus Vorloi blesses the Roseanne/Quintus union and promises to make the wedding arrangements; his wife Lady Aara Vorloi is cooler and keeps 'praising' Roseanne's 'difficult upbringing'. Back in Specularum Grand Duke Stefan indicates that Roseanne is in line to be appointed to the Order of the Griffon, and asks her to handle a delicate matter...

Stefan asks William to investigate the disappearance of his Herald, Sir Jonathan 'Ironbones' Tendoros; Roseanne volunteers to join him, Frosto and Prince Bravery on the mission.

15/9/1020 AC

Soon after awakening in the foyer of the strange mansion they've been seeking, the party are joined by Claudia Morrigan, dispatched on the same mission while Lord Bramble is deep in paperwork in the Royal Library...

15-30/10/1020 AC

The adventurers have been missing for a month when a sad Lord Bramble returns from the Five Shires, having attended the funeral of his dearly departed wife. Having little to live for, Bramble determines to investigate the disappearances linked to the Ghostly Mansion of Sulescu.

After days of searching on the road, one chill autumnal evening he lays his head down by the roadside and wakens to late spring sunshine in a forested glade, to be met by his companions and a strange lady...

Session XP

Moriamis, Inn, horses: 1000

Colossus of Vyones, gain mirror: 60,000(!)

8 Werewolves killed or driven off: 8000

The Beast of Perigon, gain the Eibon Ring: 30,000

Travel & exploration: 1000

Total: 100,000/11 = 9090 to Ironbones, 18,181 per PC.

Lord Bramble levels up to Halfling-7, getting +2 to attacks, +1 damage, and +3 to saves (the final Halfling save array - saves vs Death Ray/Poison on a 2+!). Due to roll d6+1 for additional hp.

XP

Lord Bramble H7 XP 67,568/128,000

Count William MU10(11) XP 506,678/600,000

Roseanne C8 XP XP 132,354/200,000

Claudia T8 XP 124,729/160,000

Baron Bravery F8 XP 143,445/240,000 

The group are joined in Vyons by Moriamis and a young wizard, Ilya, a Traldaran from their homeworld. Lord Bramble has sunk into a fugue state, possibly part of him trapped between worlds. Moriamis hands over the promised Potion of Time Travel. The group travel south by boat to the enchanted land of Sylare, where they defeat the renegade werewolf-mage Malachi and his minions; the Chatelaine of Sylare grants them the Sword, with which they perform the ritual that summons Stephen Amber's tomb from beyond space and time...

Many final tests await in the Tomb, and Roseanne nearly meets her end smothered by a mud golem (emerging EXTREMELY muddy), but at last they reach the crypt and free Prince Stephen Amber from his spell of death. They are returned to their own world; Frosto and his gold dragon girlfriend emerge from the collapsing ruins of Castle Amber as Stephen handsomely rewards the heroes who freed him, before departing.

The group return to Specularum to find much time has passed, it's 7/12/1020 and Bravery has missed his birthday but is just in time to witness the birth of his firstborn son, Zach Karameikos!

XP

Lord Bramble H7 XP 67,568/128,000

Count William MU10(11) XP 506,678+35000=541,678/600,000

Roseanne C8 XP XP 132,354+35000=167354/200,000

Claudia T8>T9 XP 124,729+35000+X=160,000/160,000

Baron Bravery F8 XP 143,445+35000=178445/240,000 

Ilya MU5>MU6 XP 20,000+35000=55000/80,000 

10/12/1020 AC - Drolem arrives from Fire Island
21/12/1020 AC - Princess Corina of Ierendi missing, the Grand Duke asks his heroes to help find her.
28/12/1020 AC - Princess Corina located in a Triton undersea city.

XP

Count William MU10(11) XP 20000+541,678=561,678/600,000
Roseanne C8 XP XP 20000+167354=187354/200,000
Claudia T9 XP 20000+160,000=180,000/280,000
Baron Bravery F8 XP 20000+178445=198,445/240,000

Alexandra F6 5000+35750=40750
Ilya MU6 XP 55000/80,000
Lord Bramble H7 XP 67,568/128,000

28/12/1020 AC The Drolem arrives with Alexandra & Bramble; Battle in the Triton city; Bravery orders it to wipe out the Triton adults which it proceeds to do. Struck by remorse the others help the survivors evacuate. Group return with Koom the storm giant & rescued Princess Corina to his castle (29/12).
6/1/1021 AC After resting a week at the storm giant's castle the group travel to the ruined undersea city of Colhador to find and destroy Hadric, apparent source of the evil plaguing these lands.

7/1/1021 AC
The PCs fight their way through the depths of Colhador (+20,000 XP)

Alexandra Ftr 7 XP 84,000/120,000
William MU 11(12) XP 603,678/750,000
Bravery Ftr 9 XP 240,445/360,000
Roseanna Clr 9 229,354/300,000 XP
Claudia Thf 9

Cohorts
Alexander C7 XP 50,000/100,000
Areelia Gold Dragon HD 8

The group abandon the attack on Colhador and return Princess Corina to Specularum with Koom the storm giant. The Grand Duke congratulates them and gives them all medals. Claudia is pronounced a free woman, Bravery William & Roseanna will have their fortresses funded by the State.

Roseanna's wedding to Quintus Vorloi is set for midsummer's day (21/6/1021), a traditionally propitious time.
Claudia establishes her Thieves' Den under Specularum. She is taking advantage of one of her followers. Extensive advantage...

Construction of the fortresses begins. 150 Church fanatics come to serve Roseanna while 60 crossbowmen and two knights come to serve Sir Bravery.
The mages of the Guild enchant leather armour for Claudia, while the Smith-Priests of the Order of the Griffon at Alfric Oderbry's instruction enchant shining enchanted plate armour for Roseanne; the winged motif on the shoulder guards giving her an angelic appearance.
Rumours from the east are that Thyatis is at war with Master-ruled Ylaruam. Ylaruam has invaded Thyatis' east coast (with its large ethnic-Alasiyan population) with huge wheeled battle-golems and other powerful magic, killing thousands. The Retebius Air Fleet and Knights of the Air are seeking the Master's hidden sanctuary.

15/4/1021 AC, morning
Bravery, William, Claudia & Roseanna are consulting with Teldon & the Grand Duke about the magic weapons believed hidden beneath White Plume Mountain, a volcanic peak on the edge of the Nameless Moor. They are said to have been stolen 70 years ago by a sinister force - Wave, the Trident of Ierendi. Whelm, the Warhammer of the Rockhome Dwarves. Blackrazor, the soul-sucking black sword of Thyatis. Teldon believes they could help protect Karameikos, but none who have ventured to White Plume Mountain have ever returned...

Suddenly a messenger arrives from the north, the young knight Sir Giff in service to Sir Bravery. Scouts report that an army of giants and ogres is marching on Highreach! The heroes leave immediately, flying 105 miles north on Frosto, Drolem and Areelia. That evening they reach Highreach and see the flames of Raladeb, a destroyed Traldaran hill village, and the giant force moving south along the west bank of the still semi-frozen Highreach (Volaga) river. The dragons & riders attack; 11 ogres & 6 hill giants are swiftly slain, one giant, Gulug, is captured, and agrees to serve Claudia. He tells them of an alliance of Hill, Frost and Fire Giants serving the Master... Yellow Snake goblins arrive mounted on wolves; Bravery commands them to go to Castle Highreach and aid the defences there.
The party rest overnight at Vlad's Stead to the south of the battlefield; revelation of Claudia's identity causes some tension with the local Traldarans and she sleeps outside with Areelia.

Meanwhile in Specularum, old Anton Radu is preparing for bed when he is attacked by an invisible monster, ripped apart before his guards can save him.

16/4/1021 AC
Next morning they fly north-east (the Drolem carrying Gulug) some 30 miles to the steading of the hill giant chief, nestled in thick woods at the foot of the mountains. With no sign of having been spotted, most of the group hide in a clearing nearby while Claudia scouts into the steading, killing three drunken, sleeping sentries, and returns with news of a large gathering of giants feasting in the steading's central hall.

16/4/1021

Party are joined by the knights. The Drolem is sent into the giant lair. It does not return. Attacking the giant lair the PCs see the Drolem captured, surrounded by dead giants. The party panic their own side with the Drums of Panic and flee in confusion, Alexander saving a panicked Alexandra.

The party reunite and retreat to Bravery's part-built castle & rest.

17/4/1021
The party return to the giant steading on dragonback. Areelia flames the bonds holding the Drolem, it rises into the air. No sign of giants.

17/4/1021 Party attack and defeat the hill giants despite sabotaged drolem, then explore the steading dungeons before returning to Roseanna's Temple Fortress, where Claudia conducts a panty raid on Roseanna's chamber.

18/4/1021 After breakfast Claudia heads south on her broom towards Vorloi.

19/4/1021 Camping in the woods, Claudia is woken by the green dragon Chloridia, who speaks of revenge, and the power of the Master. Claudia reaches Vorloi castle that night, sneaks in and kills Baron Gabrionus Vorloi and his wife Aara, escaping as the alert is raised.

20/4/1021 Claudia returns to Specularum, her Thieves' Den, and the arms of her loyal henchman. 

18/4/1021 While Roseanna heads on to Specularum, William Bravery Valerios & Alexandra return to the giant steading, they find enemy campaign plans, some orc ex-servants - who William persuades should join his side in return for keeping their lair in the Steading dungeon - and the giants' secret treasure room being looted by some swiftly dispatched ogres and giants. Among the vast piles of treasure they find a map of frost giant holdings in the Altan Tepes, and a chilly black chain with instructions to teleport up to six creatures to one of the giant holds.

22/4/1021 Resting up at Castle Bravery, the Herald Sir Jonathan Tendoros arrives with terrible news - Baron Gabrionus Vorloi and his wife Baroness Aaara have been murdered! A Speak With Dead from the Bishop of Vorloi Town indicates the killer is Claudia Morrigan.

23/4/1021 Group fly south to Specularum, arriving after nightfall. Alexandra consults with Grand Duke Stefan, Trenton the Wizard, and consoles a tearful Quintus, who swears vengeance on the slayer of his parents.

24-26/4/1021 Alexandra begins her enquiries...

26/4/1021 Near midnight - Alexandra meets with Flameflicker, the King of Thieves (actually a woman), who agrees to help her against Claudia.

27/4/1021 Pre-Dawn - Alexandra & co attack Claudia's lair. Quintus Vorloi kills Samson, one of Claudia's men. One of the Thief Princes is ripped apart by a Vrock, the other energy drained by Claudia's succubus friend, before Alexander's Dispel turns the tide.
Most of Claudia's band are killed or captured (including her lieutenant Ezekiel), but Claudia escapes into catacombs beneath Specularum and escapes the city, joining with the green dragon Chloridia and flying north to Ylaruam and the court of the Master, on whom she has romantic designs.

Current PCs
Count William Karameikos MU 11 (12)
Baron Bravery Karameikos Ftr 9
Roseanna Clr 9
Alexandra Vorloi Ftr 8
Valerios Ftr 8

Fled: Claudia Morrigan Thf 10

3/6/1021: A badly gassed Cael Thoradan is brought to the Temple of the White Dame in Highreach. Meets Roseanna & Alexandra. Tells of a lost tomb and a green dragon that wiped out his party.
4/6/1021: Roseanna, Cael, Alexandra & Alexander enter the woods of Trollwood Hill, encounter the green dragon Moldenarthan before the tomb of the ancient Traldar hero-king Karsma Megalos, and kill her in a hard-fought battle. Return home to heal. (Bravery & Frosto attack Hobs' Watch fort - kill 14 hobs & 3 bugbears).
5/6/1021: Group returns to the Tomb and enters, when Alexandra enters a chamber minotaur statues animate and attack. Group kills them in another fierce fight. (Bravery leads raid on the Black Wolf hobgoblins lair - kills 27 hobgoblins, loses 1 Billman. Night raid by hobgoblins on Highreach town is defeated by bravery, with the loss of 5 men; hobgoblins routed).
6/6/1021: Frosto tracks down dragon lair; party kill two young male green dragons and loot a large stash of platinum.
21/6/1021: Quintus Vorloi marries Roseanna at the Vorloi Town cathedral. Bravery's wife Lady Aleena is stunning in 15,000gp of jewelry, rather overshadowing the bride - causing much gossip. Old Ironbones brings word to the Grand Duke, the Thyatian emissary is here in Specularum seeking an audience.
25/6/1021: At the Duke's Palace in Specularum, Thyatian Emissary Sir Cornel Osteric addresses the Grand Duke & the assembled lords of Karameikos; the Thyatian emperor wants Karameikos to launch an attack on western Ylaruam in support of a planned Thyatian offensive in the east on the Tel Akbir front. The Grand Duke consults and agrees, however first Roseanna & co will seek the mystic weapons of White Plume Mountain, & do battle with the frost giants that menace Castellan Keep. Duke Stefan recognises Cael as emissary of the Thoradan dwarves. William speaks with Baron Ludwig Von Hendriks, who promises a thousand elite troops against the Master.
26/6-1/7/1021: The party equip for the expedition to White Plume Mountain.
Seeking a spy, Alexandra the Baroness Vorloi seeks to make contact with the Kingdom of Thieves.
2/7/1021 Flameflicker agrees to help Alexandra by spying on Black Eagle Barony.
2/7-9/7: Cael meets and befriends Flameflicker the Thief 'king' - who turns out to be a Traldar fortuneteller called Alya.
10/7: Group travels to Highreach.
11/7/1021 - first expedition into White Plume Mountain. Wave recovered.
12/7/1021: second expedition to White Plume Mountain.