--- PAGE 1 --- Time Jump 2016 Part 2 –Plot Update for 2016 - Year 16,049 Table of Contents: Elder Goddess Diaspora Sorikonian Interventionists PLOT UPDATE 2016 - 5/26/2016 Einion Developments Shadowgaurd Issues Return of the Dark Heroes Odilwatch Rebellion Blackspire Eruptions A Tribe Scattered Elder Goddess Diaspora: After the Seer’s Possession Catastrophe, Anne Iornbranch, leader of the Priestess of the Elder Goddess Religion was almost destroyed. She had been in a coma for months leading up to the possession, and it is believed this was a defense mechanism attempting to keep her safe from the effects. After the collapse of the tower, she emerged fragile but alive, and has bounced back surprisingly well, returning to her usual gritty self within a few years. But Kaya Gothang, leader of the Sorceress Branch of the Elder Goddess religion did not fare so well. While she did not suffer from the Seer’s Possession, this seeming to be mostly localized to the Priestess Branch and not effecting the Warriors or the Sorceress directly, Kaya deteriorated very fast in the years after the fall of the tower. She had been holding together the order during the intense turmoil of the Seer’s Possession effect and, it was revealed later, had been using time magic, and bilocation to do so, all the while countering Astengrad’s attempts to dispel her spells while doing so. She had been given charge of a dangerous orb, a Seer’s Eye, which granted all party members Oracle. The Priestesses insisted it was important to keep, but Kaya suspected that they were being controlled to say this and thus had several time and space based Elder Sorcery keeping the orb from being interacted, which she had to regularly update and change the security access of so as not to be countered by Astengrad, Pinnacle, or the Priestess themselves. Needless to say, this was draining on her, and shortly after the death of the Seers she began to wither --- PAGE 2 --- rapidly. She aged to what would appear to be almost middle aged in human terms, though she is an elf, and then collapsed into a deep sleep. Attempts were made to keep her spirit from fading but she fought these attempts with all of her will and skill even asleep, as individuals tried to reach her unconscious mind but found themselves suddenly displaced far above the city or into dangerous battles nearby. All in all, Kaya appeared to not want to be saved, and continued to fade for ten years, being kept alive mostly by magical means and the care of the Goldenhoof Herbalist Guild. During this period of time, Anne Iornbranch recruited many new individuals, with new ideas and new philosophies on implementation and goals for the religion and announced that the High Temple in Randwin posed too much of a threat as a centralized focus for the religion. Due to the hundreds of years of assaults on the now famous temple, Anne made a move to return to the old ways of the religion, where shrines were hidden, secret, and tended by only those who knew of them locally. While this would mean a substantial decrease in power and organizational control, Anne felt that this was necessary due to the level of destruction that almost befell Roekron due to this power structure. “Our ancestors were once invisible,” she said, “And now we too must become as the grass of tended grain, scattered and of no account to any but those who know our art.” Thus, the religion split up, sending factions to every nation, and beyond, some traveling into Teriock, others into the frozen north, and still others to the south attempting to cross the great ocean. In the years that followed this diaspora various heroes and adventurers returned to attempt to rebuild what was broken by the Seer Possessions, not just the temple itself, but the people and the culture. As new shrines were created secretly all across Roekron and beyond, those who remained in Randwin worked to recover the ailing Kaya Gothang. Eventually, it took several adventurers working in teams to reach Kaya deep in her mind where she had fled to. She was coaxed out of her coma slowly, and eventually returned to waking, though she has never been the same. She speaks in bizarre ravings and often appears to be talking to no-one at all. She seems to have multiple personalities, one of which is a rather angry little girl. Needless to say, Kaya has been relieved of her duties as the leader of the Sorceress Division and instead operates as an honored guest. It is not believed that she will even fully recover, as she appears to have been trying to access the source of the Seer Possession problem and have discovered something that drove her mad. Kaya, being an elf, and a prodigy at that, has a long time to work on her sanity, and thus many appear to be content to work her mind back together in her own time. Sorikonian Interventionists: During the twenty years leading up to now, the Sorikonians experience a civil war of their own. This one was marked by a decided lack of violence and instead a heavy use of philosophy. The debate revolved around the Isolationists and the Interventionists, two factions that have arisen in the Sorikonian island nation of pacifists. The Isolationists wanted to keep to Sorikonias plan for the last fifty years which has been to attempt to heal and leave off any involvement in any other nations. The Interventionist took the opposite stance and argued that the nations needed guidance now more than ever, and that Sorikonia should lead in this time of confusion. The debates were fierce, though bloodless, and in the end, the Interventionists won, and Sorikonia sent ambassadors --- PAGE 3 --- across the land, from nation to nation, again taking up their age old role as impartial mediators, judges, and guides, for all nations and all sides, taking no stand but what they are asked for or what power they are afforded. This has helped many nations mired in political infighting and suspicion. With impartial judges from the neutral nation, many disputes have been well handled and fairly settled. A few surprising events, however, have been the creation of rebel Sorikonia factions joining bands of outlaws in attempts to bring not just political balance, but economic balance to the lands. These rebel monks appear to believe that robbing the rich to give to the poor is a valid form of intervention, and seek to topple bands of hero’s hording magic items of immense value so that the common laborers can afford more equitable lives. These masters have drawn many to their cause and now can be encountered across Roekron being called the Mercy Men, Giving Gangs, and Highwaymen of Hope. Another odd development has been the teaching of Andionion. This elven nation, having given up the ways of war after the Seer Possessions nearly whipped out their entire culture, has adopted the ways of the monks of Sorikonia and so many of these Interventionists are now residing in Andionion, teaching their pacifist ways to the high elves in the hopes of creating a better, more peaceful world. Regardless of the different approaches, these attempts at interacting with the world have brought new philosophies into distant parts of the world and have sparked new styles of discourse as well as new styles of martial arts. PLOT UPDATE 2016 - 5/26/2016 Einion Developments: A great deal is happening in the world of Roekron and as the months pass events are beginning to congeal into a time of extreme measures and new discoveries. In the province of Einion the capital city of Spireguard has seen a new rise in adventurers who have learned the culture and practices of this elven nation. There three main innkeepers, the musical and often jovial Gwythlir Logleen, the severe and often dangerous Nehtar Akaris, and the dreamy and somewhat unpredictable Elien Valisi, helped to orient the group to the ways of the nation, the general threats, and their role in defending this land they now call home. At first grappling with the strict adherence to the protection of animals, shrines, and the destruction of evil, these adventurers have learned to adapt to their environment and have discovered hordes of new creatures in the Wildwood, never encountered beyond it. These strange beings, from Toadlings to Imps and dangerous whisps were all being armed by some sinister force in the woods which was abducting elves. This force appears to be associated with the god Morgoth, the fallen Valar, and an enemy of the elven people. The abducted elves were revealed to have been changed into beings called Spiderknights, hybrid beings controlled by the followers of Morgoth. Many more elves vanished months that followed and adventurers discovered a shrine to Morgoth which they destroyed. This was not the end of their problems however. Gwythlir had revealed earlier that followers of the fae were dying, fading out, as it were, and that they had been attempting to --- PAGE 4 --- collect pieces of some kind of writing before they all began to die. These scraps of paper had been divided it seems among the different followers to keep them safe. The adventures began to gather these scraps and to attempt to make sense of what they revealed, but have not yet found all the pieces, nor figured out the meaning behind them. As they attempted to puzzle out what was happening in the Wildwood, the Mienenlore, the small, elusive, hobbit size elves that live in this wood only, also began to disappear, being hunted, Elien said, and that something was seeking to wipe them out. They vanished into hiding, as is their way, though many appear to have been captured as well. But the Wildwood was not the only concern for this nation. Temnor, with a host of Undead that never seems to run out, continuously batters the eastern border. This has largely been ignored by the adventurers who have decided to focus on their own plans and mission. To the north, a host of ogres has masses in a dungeon known as Ghouls Feast and which has been rumored to have a shrine to a demon in it. These armies of ogres have been disrupted but continue to mass just the same. Many other dungeons have been discovered around the region, including old hideouts, dwarven structures, and magical works, like the Singing Doors Dungeon. Haunts have also been a major theme, as players have learned to sing these beings back to rest, deescalating them from their violent modes for a time. Missions of mercy have been conducted, attempting to rebuild the storm ravage town of Sweetspring and assist in keeping an ancient heritage alive. Recently, adventurers attempted to help Pinnacle with a survey mission and had a bizarre experience which many recount as terrifying, trapped in some other dimension with a Cobben wielding two Morganti weapons surrounded by wraiths! Needless to say, things have been exciting. But the central focus seems to return to the party’s interest in the fae. These tiny immortal creatures have been fading for the past twenty years, and seem to have a strong connection to the Wildwood. How to help these beings, which now appear to be little more than tiny lights attempting to maintain themselves appears to be the parties main focus. Shadowgaurd Issues: In the river city of Shadowguard, adventurers have explored and attempted to decipher prophecies they have found on various shrines to the Elder Goddess. With the diaspora of the Elder Goddess religion, they have had a harder time putting together the meaning of the writings, but have had meetings with the local priestess and warrior of the elder goddess who appeared to be dealing with haunts at shrines when they first encountered them. Savio Redwild, now having an avid interest in --- PAGE 5 --- sailing, has attempted many times to take the adventurers on missions to plunder the pirates of Geb but has failed too many times and had to be ransomed back to the city and thus has been banned from sailing. As adventurers continued to fight Temnorian Zombies from the south, and Blackspire refugees from the east, a new development had many more concerned. Adventurers discovered fae in the Alon forest that were being hunted by undead. These beings, when rescued, would lead the party to a lake in the woods, through odd openings in the trees and there, the party discovered cocoons, some filled with treasures, others filled with long lost friends from years past, many of them now changed and appearing more fae like in their manner or looks. Some of these fae changed people sent the party to a spider den to rescue more cocoons, and the adventurers discovered a huge dragon like creature, which appeared to be molting, and which was in league with the spiders. Many adventurers were captured, and eventually rescued from this place, but the menace still exists. More haunts began to appear around Shadowguard and as players solved these haunts they discovered pieces of a paper which has yet to be decoded. What it reveals about the world or why these haunts had it is still unknown, but each set of haunts was found at a shrine attempting some kind of prayer, and each was solved by discovering how during that prayer or service, they all died. Return of the Dark Heroes: In Shadowguard, and beyond, the Undead Dark Heroes have returned from Temnor. More broken up and individualized than before, these bands of evil groups appear to operate almost exactly like groups of adventurers, setting out on quests and looting magic items for their own personal use, exactly as adventurers do. They have caused great havoc in Shadowguard recently, and are just now being seen more and more across Roekron, picking of groups of adventurers and attacking villages to raid them for supplies and more undead minions. Whether they are controlled by Rysic or Medallion, none can say, but in either case, they are not to be dealt with lightly. --- PAGE 6 --- Odilwatch Rebellion: Through the year, Odilwatch has quietly been attempting to overthrow its taskmasters, the Dagdeoth government. A rebellion operating out of a secret location known as The Shadow Den has been very successful at making Dagdeoths attempts to control the region an impossibility. They have been able to mount no organized assault on any regions from Odilwatch, and have barely managed to keep their own systems operating. Assaulted on all sides by allied forces, Dagdeoth has been hard pressed to keep the ground the hold, and has made no progress on any other front. This is largely due to the rebels and their work at thwarting Dagdeoths aims, first by posing as Dagdeoth Dark Heroes and sabotaging their missions, and later directly battling Dagdeoths secret police, the Talon, and showing the people that they will not be intimidated into submission but will fight for what is right at all cost. A large uprising has unsettled the region and perhaps would have destabilized the government completely, were in not for other developments in the Blackspire Mountains. The rebels discovered a mining operation by Dagdeoth, harvesting some rare obsidian from an ancient forge deep under the mountains. What this was to be used for can only be guessed at, but rebel forces leaked the information about the mine to Pinnacle who in turn assisted the rebels in finding out more and attempting to stop whatever it was that Dagdeoth was up to. Griffins from the region, being protected by Oriri elves also attempted to attack Dagdeoth as did the few remaining Blackspire fighters and clans, but very quickly most of Blacksprie began to evacuate, something they are not know to do. Many clans and tribes began to move into the low lands, taking territory for themselves and causing border wars all around. This destabilized the neighboring regions and has made it very difficult still for these nations to function with the huge influx of refugees, some of whom are very violent. In the end, it was discovered that the Blackspire Shamans had summoned a huge number of fire elementals, and that these beings would weaken the mountains until they triggered a volcanic eruption. This would force an end to Dagdeoths mining and also render the area uninhabitable for Dagdeoth. Blackspire Eruptions: Two days ago, a series of massive eruptions rocked the Blackspire region and all its neighbors. First, Mt Shadowfall erupted violently, causing deadly shockwaves and pyroclastic flows into the Odilwatch region. Thousands were killed instantly. Battle continued in the region, as the rebels fought to free their captured friend amidst all the chaos. But the eruptions didn’t end there. Next, the border mountain of the Solicron pass exploded, and more pyroclastic flows engulfed the region and much of Oriri. Shortly after this, three more eruptions laid waste to the region, as Mt Blackspire, Mt Cora Lowd, and Mt Sozilath all exploded in similarly deadly --- PAGE 7 --- eruptions. Tens of thousands died in these initial eruptions and thousands more are predicted to die from the fallout, lava flows, and various complications. It is believed that the Shamans sacrificed themselves permanently to the fire elementals to accomplish their aim, and that Astengrad was unable to counter this because it is not a spell but rather, the natural action of this type of fire elemental. Whether this is true or whether Astengrad simply chose not to act, remains to be seen, though the eruption had little noticeable effect on the school itself. The fact that Pinnacle was not able to counter this effect, does, however, give some credence to the claims that this method erupting the volcanos was not within anyone’s power to stop via magical means. A Tribe Scatters: This year has seen a rise in the nomadic centaur tribes. Many adventurers have tried out a new way of life as they have joined with these more rare groups of hunters and gatherers as they migrate across Roekron in search of food and game and in following the teachings of their varied religions. One such tribe, the Spirit Walker tribe, has recently vanished. They begin their journey in far eastern Dsesnor and have crossed the entire region, traveling through Estorock Keep, Amir, into Stonehammer, and Illionass, and then appear to have met a gruesome end. Long the group had sensed that something was following them, attempting to hunt them down and destroy them. Always on the move, they were hard to catch. Having recently stumbled upon an ancient mystery in the forests of Randwin, the party began to attempt to meet with the royalty of neighboring regions and to help solve an ancient puzzle. But then, camped between the Soliden Forest and the Blackspire ranges, they were h it by not one, but four of the volcanic eruptions. In the aftermath of these explosions, their leader, Hinarass Stillwalker, a great Shaman himself, appeared to be passing on to the afterlife. In a weakened state he warned the party about the threat of beings hunting down those hurt by the volcano. First, they went into the woods that were burning due to the fiery rain, and tried to rescue animals and plants. Given that one of them was a Stone Giant and the also brought their riding Drake, this was not too hard. But then they encountered a fae ring on fire, with many fae lights trapped inside. Unable to escape through the flames they were being mercilessly killed by a ghoul. The party fought a battle bones that kept them busy long enough for the ghoul to finish off all but one of the tiny creatures. The forest was saved, but the fae grove destroyed. Upon returning to their camp, the party decided to split up and send one group to scout and gain information on the beings hunting them from the north. The rest stayed to make fortifications of their tents. In the end, this was their doom. While the scouts were busy dealing with Zombies, a small group of Specters led by a Wraith, easily bypassed all the fortifications and massacred the entire tribe. When the scouts returned, they too were killed. Now the tribe is broken, and no one is sure where any of them have gone, but a few adventurers escaped and now seek a new path. --- PAGE 8 --- Fire burns in the heart of the lands as forces move in all directions. Where do all the threads lead? Do we follow them like clues to the source, or is the source merely the spider reeling us in. What threats are pressing and which are mere distractions. Can we find our way and choose the best course, or is there no way to win, no path but to destruction. All of these, and more, are the questions the adventurers must now answer. What do we do, and what can it accomplish. For worse than choosing wrong is choosing to do nothing at all, for then, surely, the dark will win. When we are the only pieces remaining to hold back the night, there is no wrong act, but the refusal to hear the call to action.