Riva: Not Responsible

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Mandara doesn't stay with the team long, because the first thing she does is open a secret passage which leads them right into "the Guild", that nefarious crew that resides down here. In a most perplexing chain of events, the party is taken hostage briefly and then is immediately set free by a swarm of rats.

Someone's playing Dishonored down here.

Lost in the maze of tunnels (auto moving), Allison leads the party to a dead end where the Guild finally catches up to them, only to then have Mandara fully vampire out and begin feeding on the pursuers. With that entire mess going on the team flees to the surface, and by chance come up beside one of the giant town gates. Deciding it's probably best to let things settle down they exit to the nearby and generally pleasant country side of green rolling hills.

By chance they come across a group of eight Thorwallians who ask them for ale. Since the party isn't carrying any, they apologize and state the truth. The drunkards don't believe it though and choose to attack anyway. The last choice any of them will ever make.

Drink responsibly... OR DIE.

Star Trail: Summoned by Elsurion

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With our heroes celebrating their victory by drinking themselves into daily drunken stupors, the one eyed thief Harika took advantage of their trust and left - taking at least two thirds of their combined wealth with her! There was no time to pursue her though as a messenger arrived for them, requesting their immediate presence at the distant city of Kvirasim in the Northern inland. The orc horde that was turned from Thorwal was now marching in that direction.

After days of travel they finally reached the city where they met the elf Elsurion Starlight at a local tavern. Elsurion's plan was to unite the forces of dwarves, men and elves against the orc invaders and  to do this, he would need the Salamander Stone - an ancient artifact that once symbolized the union of the races but has since been lost in the Dwarven Pit. The team was tasked with recovering the stone and delivering it to a dwarf leader named Ingramosh. To assist in this, Elsurion assigned his trusted henchman Pike the Hare to guide the heroes before he himself left to do other duties.

Yes, by us! Or are you talking about that other uprising in the Northlands?

As soon as Elsurion was out the door a random bystander immediately made a counter offer of 1000 Ducats for the stone to be delivered to a lady at Lowangen instead. The team, now composed of Paeroka Bookah, Zubon Ratkiller, Vayshen Panda, Wolfy Eyes, Shintar Winter and Pike the Hare, mulled over their choices the only way they knew how: By getting absolutely drunk.

Not shady at all.

Arkania: Two Years Later

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Out of nowhere the giant orc army appears before the party, and Shintar gets to use the speech she had been practicing for two years to challenge the orc champion out to a duel. Orcs are stupid you see - if the champion dies the rest of them scatter to the wind. Her speech works and Lord Garzlokh takes to the field to fight her.

The showdown begins!

Not willing to just be spectators Vayshen and Wolfy make use of the distraction to charge the spectating orcs and get some early hits in, turning the "duel" into an all out battle. Seeing the opportunity to use her new spell "Terror Broom", Voo casts her spell at the orc champion but rolls a critical failure, igniting herself in immolating flames and screaming until nothing is left of her but ash.

At the "duel" itself, Shintar wielding the magic sword Grimring is actually losing! It requires a quick change of strategy so that the champion is getting pounced on not just by her, but by Zubon, Wolfy, and Paeroka who eventually does him in with her axe. Harika and Vayshen desperately hold off the rest of the swarm where Harika's dodging skills are super effective. Things aren't going so well for Vayshen though as not only does his sword break but so does his hand.

Can still do one point of damage with it!

Orc Champion: P0wn3d!

The two are saved quickly after the orc champion falls though, through the same use of focused attacks. Victory is theirs! The orcs flee back to their lands, and the team is welcomed as heroes back at Thorwal where they hand over the magic sword to the Hetman who pays them a measly 50 ducats for their trouble. They then listen to the jazz musical stylings of Elise Einarsdotter at the local tavern while drinking more ale and wondering how best to spend their new found wealth and fame.

Arkania: Not the Sharpest

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

It was long trek back to Thorwal to get the orc document decoded by new team member Lisa Voo, witch extraordinaire. The scroll was a battle plan complete with location and the date of the invasion... in the year 17. The current year is 15! That certainly gives plenty of time to prepare! Alas, the Hetman wasn't even interested in this information insisting it was the adventurer's quest to get it done. He had better things to do like drink beer.

The new members also proved slightly lacking, while Lisa Voo wins the best herb picker of all time award, every single combat spell she has is a dud and her broom weapon (which classifies as an edged blade for some reason) is pretty underwhelming. The thief Harika also makes a fool of herself trying to perform acrobatics at a local tavern and soon after getting robbed by another thief!

Because "Eh oh, oh eh!" is a natural reaction for some?

Only the Temple of Travia seems to take their mission seriously, and miraculously giving them some divine food from the heavens before they set off for the location on the orc document. The increasing orc patrols are of no issue to the team, so they reach the plains and setup camp. Here, inspired by Dragonball Z I imagine they simply train for the battle to come.

*cue music* Dun dun dunnn!

Arkania: The Missing Piece

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With no other leads to go on, Curian convinced the team to head back up to Hermit's lake to find his unicorn but all they find are an increasing number of orcs, goblins and ogres. I seriously question why orcs are considered a threat if it is so easy to defeat them. Anyway, after days of uneventful travel the team encounters a bard who sings a song about Hyggelik. He happens to be traveling with a merchant who is in possession of a map piece and is willing to sell it for a mere 60 ducats!

Not with your text box in the way, Curian.

Inspired by this turn of events the team revisits Jurge at Skjal, hoping that he would give the last piece over upon seeing the rest of the map. He doesn't. Zubon wishes Iron Dagger was around to break in and simply steal it from him but that's not an option. With winter setting in the mountain passes are also now impassable meaning they can't go after the -relatively- nearby Daspota treasure. Disheartened they decide to take a ship back to Thorwal to plan their next move.

Baby kraken?

However a random encounter shifts the course of their ship! The krakennewt almost takes Wolfy down with it into the sea but it is fought off but the vessel is forced to dock on the isle of Runinshaven for repairs.

Arkania: Truth in Rumors

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

It was a few days later that the party arrived at Skjal by ship, now in the 1.5k Ducat range in wealth. Alas, no amount of money could part Jurge Torfinsson from his part of the map. He demanded to see a letter of introduction from the Hetman of Thorwal. The party did have one earlier, but Zubon kinda lost it in the marsh at Hermit's Lake. No problem though, for such an important quest surely the Hetman would make another right?

The party returned to Thorwal only to find the Hetman was uninterested in seeing them, and would basically no longer assist them in anyway. Dismayed by this turn of events, Shintar suggested they try clean out the remainder of the local keep. An idea everyone else agreed with, possibly because they were all drunk at that point. The amount of alcohol consumed in this game is amazing. Even the custodian, Master Dramosch was a bit tipsy when he let his old friends back in.

That sounds safe! Let's go!

After Curian managed to unseal the ominous door the team found themselves fighting undead again, proving that the rumors were in fact true. Stairs down led to vertical shafts leading down, and to flooded passages which required swimming.

One of those expletive moments.

At the very last floor waited another Heshthot demon. Paeroka was thrilled at the chance to "avenge" Nerk's passing but she didn't get the chance. Curian and Emmo did a combined kamehameha and it was simply no more. Eventually they find a narrow passage that leads out to a local smithy, which is odd since that kind of implicates the smith with all the demonic and undead presence down there. This point is left unexplored in the game. :P

Arkania: Distractions

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

On the road to Phexcaer, a flock of powerful Griffons appear and threaten to whisk Paeroka away as a snack unless the party can solve their riddle. Seriously, there was no option to fight as demonstrated when one effortlessly threw Zubon down a hill. Good thing they gave at least three attempts because I only got it on try number three. :P

I suppose winged lions would be bored enough to play riddles.

After killing a few more orcs they finally reached Phexcaer - the city of thieves, and boy is that appropriately named. With cut purses and charlatan healers and merchants it's amazing the party managed to retain their bag of 750 ducats. They are unable to find any of the leads in the maze like city and instead come into conflict with the forces of con-man cleric Ektor Gremob who unfortunately gets away, despite the party pursuing him to his local villa.

Tired of this terrible place, the team heads back to Thorwal - taking their frustrations out on some hapless orcs and an ogre who happened to be in their way. Upon their return they could finally lay Nerk to rest and recruit the dainty Silvan elf, Emmo Gamerchick to their cause. After listening to their tale she said she might have an idea where the ruins in the mountains were. Zubon wasn't paying attention as his thoughts wandered elsewhere...

Because not everything in Phexcaer was bad.

Arkania: Keep moving Forward

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

After crossing the mountains and bypassing some wolves, the party next met with Umbrik Sevenstones at Orvil who agreed to help with the treasure map if they first helped him with a problem of his own. The dark druid Gorah, who was twisting nature all nearby was the target and was easily found in his clearing with a huge pack of dire wolves.

Nice doggies...

But they were just the start - soon harpies and forest lions joined the melee and ultimately, a Heshthot demon. The gigantic, robed, whip-wielding wraith was a very annoying opponent not because he was powerful but because he was VERY hard to hit. It is eventually slain, but only after mangling poor Nerk against a tree. The carnage was just too much for Wolfy Eyes.

It also turns out Umbrik doesn't have a map piece himself, but knows of someone who does in Brendhil, a town on the distant island to the Northwest. He also provides a letter of introduction for this person. With the loss of Nerk, the team considers returning to Thorwal first to replenish their ranks but Paeroka, now driven by the loss of her husband tells them that Nerk would have wanted them to keep moving forward, and to see the quest through to the end.

Arkania: Unfinished Business

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With half their number dead, the team returned to Thorwal to bolster their ranks with the barbarianess Wolfy Eyes and the dwarven couple Nerk and Paeroka Bookah. They also decided to spend two thirds of their accumulated wealth on the best gear their money could buy. Turns out this is a LOT of gear, as the herbs Sister C had been collecting fetch a small fortune in the town market combined with Paeroka's haggling ability.

While in town, Master Dramosch summons them once more claiming the thefts in the lower levels of the keep have not stopped so the party descends once more - this time finding the illusionary wall the remaining brigands were hiding behind. While they now attacked in greater numbers they simply were out geared and could barely hurt the team as they were cleared out fully this time all the way to the second level where an alternate entrance - a cavern exiting to the sea - was discovered. No doubt the brigands entry point as well as where the ones that fled ran to.

I'm sure nothing important is behind that...

Though a large, and ominous looking door which Nerk couldn't lockpick blocked the path further into the keep, Master Dramosch was quite pleased with the result - awarding the team the 50 ducats he had promised them from before. With this bit of unfinished business concluded, it was time to find the rest of the treasure map.

Arkania: Easy Going

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Satisfied with their performance in the keep, the team decided it was time to find that magic sword - traveling North for a few days outside the city where Augratin's hunting skills kept the party well supplied with food and water. Sister C also took any spare camp time to collect rare flora. Eventually they reached Felsteyn where they met Isleif Olgardson.

Takes around a week on foot.

Isleif was a descendant of the great chief, Hyggelik - the last person known to wield Grimring. He was more than happy to talk about it, and handed over a piece of a treasure map which supposedly led to Hyggelik's final resting place. Apparently more descendants were scattered across the land, and most of them also had map pieces... one of whom was in a town they had passed on the way here!

Back tracking, they found that fellow too - and with a few choice words, managed to collect his map piece as well before returning to Thorwal to rest up and then book passage on a small fishing ship to Varnhome where they hoped to find the third map piece. All up this was pretty easy going!

Arkania: A New Quest

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

On the last episode: The team was deciding if they should attack or flee from the King of Denmark.

Sister C's argument won out in the end, as she - Vayshen Panda, Zubon Ratkiller and Augratin Nerdly (site no longer active) managed to find passage onto a ship to take them to the distant land of Arkania and hopefully finally out of reach of the King of Denmark. Eventually they found themselves at the port city of Thorwal where, while relaxing at a local tavern, they met the local warrioress Shintar Winter and Iron Dagger the scraggly rogue.

Tales of a ghost ship and a haunted keep in town rekindled their adventuring spirit, but what truly called to all of them into action was a crier sent by the local Hetman (the lord of these lands) on a most dangerous quest.

Ah, ye olde tavern quest hook.

Scouts report that the orcs from the wild lands were amassing their largest force in history and all signs pointed to invasion. It was up to the adventurers to find a lost magical sword, Grimring, which would somehow eliminate this threat. With only a breadcrumb worth of information in their possession, the party decided to come up with a plan - back the same tavern where their minds could be refreshed with ale.