Religion and Philosophy in Zeitgeist

Religions and Philosophies:

Not Particularly Religious/Pragati: You know that gods, fey titans, and nature spirits exist, but you don't give them a lot of thought. You might even be anti-religious Pragati, thinking that deities and spirits aren't deserving of reverence, and hoping that advances in technology and learning will lessen our dependency on them. Official stance of House Jierre in Danor.


The Old Faith: The traditional religious practice of Risur - interpreting the heavens is serious business, honoring the spirits of the land is vital, and keeping the fey happy is a political priority. No one in Risur will dislike you for following the Old Faith, although you might be considered quaint. It's kind of like practicing Shinto in Japan.


Millerism: A philosophy based on the writings of the monk, William Miller, who wrote his treatises shortly after the Great Malice. William Miller didn't like the Clergy, questioned their authority, and tried to worship the Clergy's gods without the use of the Clergy. In response the Clergy burned him alive on a pyre of his own works.
Millerism can be summed up in four main points:

• Mortals must not only have freedom of thought and speech, but also freedom from influence.
  

• A perfect society can exist, but mortals must learn to put aside their differences to learn what it is.
  

• Only faith in the gods as a whole, not the Clergy and not just in Triegenes, can grant a mortal absolution.
  

• One not need be certain of their own beliefs, as long as they do not act against their own personal values.
  

The Clergy: A relatively new faith that incorporates an older pantheistic religion of numerous deities, created 1000 years ago when a fisherman ascended to godhood. The church is rooted in Crisillyer and is known for fighting demons and encouraging its members to strive for personal perfection. It's a minority religion in Risur, and has similarities with Catholicism and Tibetan Buddhism in its combination of strict hierarchies, celestial bureaucracies, and personal practice. Very human-centric and monolatristic in that the god Triegenes is often worshipped above all other gods in the pantheon.

Heid Eschatol: One of the main philosophies in this world, following this path doesn't preclude you also honoring any of the other religious figures. It does mean, however, that you're pretty sure that the world is on its way to ending, and therefore you make a studied practice of learning how to end things well. Popular in Drakr and among most dwarves.

Guerro: A henotheistic faith from Ber - every tribe/nation/people has a deity, and the world's conflicts mirror the conflicts in the heavens. Oddly, Guerro mixes pretty well with the Clergy, and a syncretic combination of the two is also popular in Drakr.


Panoply: A panapolist believes in the right of everyone, regardless of class, race, or culture, to have access to the wealth, education, and opportunities afforded to the upper levels of society.  Mostly popular in Ber and becoming more popular among the Dockers in Risur.  It's an inclusive philosophy that attempts to destroy the class system, make everyone equal, give a voice to all.


Seedism: The native religion of Elfaivar. “Our actions are seeds, and will shape the face of the world, though it may take ages. The Eladrin peoples have long memories. Before the rise of Man, the gods spoke to us, and we still remember their names and teachings. Srasama, the three-faced mother-warriorqueen, was slain by human treachery, but it is our duty to endure and outgrow this injury. The archfey of the Dreaming were once vassals of the gods, and so we revere and respect them.” Seedism and the Old Faith actually share a belief in the archfey, and both religions pay tribute to the powerful Unseen Court.

Vekeshi: If Seedism is the religion, Vekeshi is the philosophy. The cornerstone of eladrin ideology is that living well is the best revenge. After the goddess Srasama died and nearly all eladrin women perished with her, there was a great drive in Elfaivar to fight until the last man in a short-sighted bid for vengeance. As the rest of the nation whipped itself into a frenzy, however, a composer named Vekesh wrote a song of mourning that contained a simple sentiment: defeat is only tragedy if the defeated allow the story to end there. While many eladrin could not be stopped from their self-destruction, Vekesh convinced some of his people that a tale that goes from defeat to revenge to death is a shameful tragedy. Revenge distracts one from one’s grief, but is ultimately valueless. Instead, he said, a tale of defeat, resilience, and renewal is the best way to thwart their enemies’ goals.
The proper form of retribution, then, is to endure, rebuild from weakness, and prosper into strength. His guidance ensured that in at least a few isolated enclaves, the eladrin race pulled back from the brink of annihilation. In the following decades a loosely codified collection of vekeshi teachings spread throughout Lanjyr. The mantras of Vekesh have helped many cope with loss and find a new path for themselves.

The Way of the Wicked Summary (Act 4)

 --ACT FOUR--

-The party set up a base and bedrooms in the horn, with Nalethar taking up residence in the sanctum as she was able to perform the ritual. Meanwhile Dave was doing wonders with traps. A lot of traps. So many in fact that very few adventuring parties actually made it into the horn. Also when Grumblejack sat with Nalethar during the ritual he was compelled to drink the unholy water from the statue which revealed his daemonic heritage and he grew long horns and bat-like wings.

-Viktor then had the bright idea of capturing a dire tiger who's existence they'd heard about from the rumour mill in Farholde. The rumours spoke of a tiger named One-Eye who's growl sounded like the word revenge and who had established a lair by the lake to the east. Undeterred by it's reputation and confident in his druidic affinity with animals, Viktor set out with the rest of the party and found it's lair. However the tiger was nowhere to be found so Viktor set up camp in the lair, determined to wait for its return. Unfortunately after night had fallen, the tiger that had been lurking hidden in it's lair the whole time leapt on the free meal that had walked in and sat down in front of it. In the darkness they stood no chance and Viktor was eviscerated by the teeth and claws of the apex predator in the area. Aided by Dave's attempts to calm the beast with some fish he'd caught the rest of the party managed to flee.

-Surprisingly undeterred by the loss of one of the original party members the group carried on as usual until a couple of weeks later where Dave was struck with an idea. He went to the abbey in town to collect the bounty for a missing nun that had perished in an attack on the horn. Unfortunately he forgot to hide his alignment so was surrounded and clubbed almost unconscious by one round of the nun's attacks. At this point he heard a roaring as a giant beast leapt into the fray and took down the nuns in his way before escaping to safety with Dave. The beast then morphed into a slender bespectacled half-elf who introduced himself as Dr. Spectre and the monster as Boot. Dave nicknamed the newcomer Specs much to Specs' dismay and agreed to bring him into the fold to compensate for the loss of Viktor.

-Dr. Spectre made himself at home in the horn and set up a lab for experiments that the rest of the party were quite happy not knowing the details of. He also created a great many potions for the party to use in their endeavors. In particular his and Dave's expertise in alchemy and blacksmithing allowed them to repair the alchemical golem. This golem turned out to be a unnerving killing machine named Artephius who they quickly set to guard the third floor alone after a few too many boggards went missing.

-After a few quiet weeks the party realised that the messages from the Seventh Knot weren't coming through and went to investigate with Trik. They found out a Hangman Tree was responsible and had been eating several adventurers and messengers who were on their way to the Horn. Midas challenged the Hangman Tree to leave them alone but got too close and was grappled by the numerous vines and branches. Inches away from becoming the Tree's next meal Nalethar channeled a cold spell into the ground and paralyzed the Tree's roots just in time. This proved an effective threat and combined with the promised delivery of more adventurers to consume, the Tree agreed to act somewhat as a guardian of the Horn for the party.

-After a few quieter weeks, only troubled by the rumours of a High Inquisitor and possibly a dragon in the area, the party heard something unsettling thanks to their boggard spies. The Abbey was sending a messenger to the capital asking for aid regarding the Horn after having found out Asmodeans were involved. Obviously this wouldn't do and the party came up with a solid plan to pickpocket the messenger at the docks just before she got on the boat. Unfortunately several natural 1's later from Dave and one from Midas resulted in Nalethar left alone on the dock to despair at her parties incompetence whilst Dave and Midas stowed away on the boat, determined to rectify the situation when darkness fell.

-So much later when darkness fell Midas and Dave snuck out of their hiding spot to find the messenger's cabin. After acquiring a disguise from the kitchen thanks to Midas' surprisingly good bluff check and despite another natural 1 from Dave the two made it unhampered into the messenger's cabin and quickly assassinated her before she could call for help. Pleased with having finally stopped the message the two suddenly realised that they were 6 hours out to sea as stowaways on a boat. They both decided that the only course of action was to stage a mutiny.

-Step 1 of the mutiny was to spread rumours of the Captain not having the money to pay the crew and sow dissent. Most crew members didn't want to talk to Midas on account of him shouting "Hello, fellow Mitrans!" at anyone who looked at him. Fortunately Dave's run of bad luck was over as he did a fantastic job of manipulating the crew. After getting the word out that the Captain didn't have the money they had to make it true so Dave broke into the Captain's quarters and hid the gold away where he could retrieve it later. Then they did a good job of orchestrating a mob against the Captain with Dave demanding to see the money and Midas punching random people to add an element of chaos. The crew were outraged to find the claims to be true and chained up the now unconscious Captain and First Mate. Midas was then democratically nominated to be the new Captain due to all other candidates suddenly finding themselves unconscious in unrelated circumstances. The new Captain Midas then went and got drunk whilst Dave capably navigated the ship back to Farholde. After sending the crew off to the inn they sailed their new ship to the lake near the Horn for future use.

-While this was going on, Dr. Spectre came up with a plan of his own to salvage the situation and had headed to the Abbey. Alas he too forgot to hide his alignment and got jumped by the nuns, resulting in him being dragged off to the dungeons. Nalethar, finding herself alone, sought out the Baron and Trik for help in rescuing Specs before he gave away the plan. They were discussing possibilites before they were interrupted by two pyres containing half of the Seventh Knot and a proclamation from the High Inquisitor that all Asmodeans involved would also share the same fate. Spurred on by this the Baron and Nalethar combined their spellcasting prowess to teleport into the dungeon where they were face to face with a bruised and battered Dr. Spectre chained to the wall. Unfortunately the high inquisitor and the Abbess were also there and a very close fight ensued. The highlight was Grumblejack shouting "This is Sparta!" and kicking the High Inquisitor down a spiked pit that Nalethar created. Trik, incensed by the loss of his brother, launched several near suicidal attacks before being knocked unconscious. Eventually they teleported out, triumphant but on their last legs.

-The party reunited at last at the horn having somewhat rescued the situation, although down the assistance of the Seventh Knot with two members being dead, Elise having fled and Trik not knowing what to after the loss of his brother and just tagging along with Nalethar.

-Needing to recruit additional help, Dave had been slowly working on trying to convert One-Eye into an ally. His research had led him to find that One-Eye used to be a companion of an Iraen druid before they were attacked by a group of mercenaries from Farholde, leaving the druid dead and the Tiger half blind. Seeing this as the revenge that One-Eye sought he tracked down the mercenaries and led them to One-Eye who exacted his revenge and came to trust Dave. Later the party combined efforts and managed to remove the dagger still buried in One-Eye's scar, turning him into a true companion and ally.

-A few weeks later, after making a little money on the side from carrying out assassinations set by Lady Shalyn Marsten, the party heard some terrible news. The Baron's manor had been attacked by a silver dragon and he was missing, presumed dead. Shocked at this loss the party decided to check the manor themselves to find signs of the Baron's fate. They found claw marks and ice aplenty showing a chase through the manor that led to the bedroom. Inside they found an empty lockbox and signs of several devastating blows from a dragon in a confined space. Nalethar also detected a strong magic aura coming from one of the corners giving them just enough notice to dodge the frost breath of the dragon lying in wait, invisible. The party then fled through the manor, desperate to escape, throwing everything at it to slow it down. Midas gave the dragon the speech from Gurren Lagann to intimidate it, Nalethar showed off her aerial expertise, Dave cleverly bluffed and tricked it into going the wrong way and Specs threw everything alchemical that he could find in his pockets at it. Thanks to their combined efforts the party just managed to escape by diving out of the window and running to safety.

-The parties woes were not over yet though as soon they were attacked by a group of knights on horseback and a paladin who flew straight through the front door, cunningly bypassing all the traps. Midas, confident in his abilities, stood his ground and readied his nodachi against the oncoming force. However for the first time in his life Midas came off on the worse end of a scrap as being on the end of a cavaliers charge can be devastating. Surrounded on all sides by knights and despite Grumblejack doing what he could, Midas finally caved under all the blows and died. As things were looking hopeless, Dave and Specs, accompanied by their boggard minions and One-Eye led the charge from a secret passage and gave a damn good account of themselves. Nalethar, accompanied by Hexor and Vexor led a flank attack with spells and claws alike. Despite all, the party were still without Midas and Specs also perished on the end of a charge from the cavalier before she was finally brought down. Dave held his own for as long as he could against the paladin but Grumblejack was inconsolable at the loss of Midas and couldn't offer the support Dave needed so Dave was rendered unconscious by the battering blows from the paladin and knights. This had brought just enough time however for One-Eye and Hexor and Vexor's claws to take their toll on the knights bringing the fight to an end just in time. They also managed to capture the paladin alive which was crucial given that they needed him for the finale of the ritual.

-As the ritual drew to a close things looked bleak for the party, being down two members. They got quite the pleasant surprise however when Dr. Spectre rose from the dead. Acting on the Baron's orders and foresight, Majid had talked his way into the horn at night and, utilising a scroll and a couple of potions, had brought Dr. Spectre back. The party then decided to go and recruit another member from Farholde. Their was only one place in Farholde where they might find someone willing to join in a ritual summoning a daemon which was a very shady bar/brothel in the middle of the surrounding marshland. As they were ordering drinks at the bar and Dave put forth a challenge to recruit a new member, they heard a crash from above as a burly sailor came through the ceiling and landed on the bar. Looking up they saw a woman dressed as a courtesan staring down at the man with a look of absolute fury. She nimbly jumped down and, thinking quickly, Dave offered her a job judging by what had just happened that she wasn't overly happy with her current one. She introduced herself as Shinobu and revealed that she was working for Tiadora to gather information to assist with Thorn's plans. An anonymous note passed to her revealed Tiadora was happy with her initiative and encouraged her to join the party, which she did.

-Right at the end of the ritual, the party all holed up in the Sanctum, determined to finish the ritual no matter what. The final obstacle was the silver dragon, Argossarian. On the dawn of the final day he attacked, accompanied by the son of Balentyne's Lord Commander, Sir Richard Havelyn. The fight was incredibly well fought by the party. Shinobu enveloped the paladin in black tentacles and rendered him unable to escape, Dave hit two devastating blows with his homemade balista, Nalethar exploited the dragon's weakness to fire by sending multiple fireballs which did incredible damage and Dr. Spectre transformed into Boot and fought desperately in close quarters against the dragon, managing to hold him in place just long enough for the others to do what they had to do. The fight was not without a hitch however, as before the paladin was overcome by tendrils, he and the dragon took out One-Eye who had leapt into close quarters to protect Dave. Worryingly, after the dragon and the paladin had been defeated, as the party went to investigate the body of the paladin the body was teleported out of the Horn. Such an action could only have been carried out by someone who was scrying the whole thing and had great magical power at their disposal.

-With the dragon defeated, the party completed the ritual and at long last called forth Vetra Kali. As the ritual stated, they gave it all three of it's eyes restoring it to full strength however Vetra Kali was bound to grant them a request for each eye they gave it. Their first request was to do them no harm, preventing Vetra Kali from devouring them. Their second request was for the Tears of Achlys which it handed over with a carrion cackle, thus completing their mission. Their third request came from the parties decision that they didn't want a daemon lord of pestilence free, it was too much of a loose cannon. In a manner worthy of Asmodeus, Shinobu managed to use the third request to banish Vetra Kali and turn it against Mitra. Vetra Kali obviously wasn't too pleased with this double cross and brought the horn down on top of them. Thanks to Hexor and Vexor they managed to escape just in time and found themselves standing outside a giant pile of rubble, victorious.

-They notified Thorn and Tiadora appeared, rewarding them with gems and handing them a letter from Thorn which detailed their next assignment, to go to Ghastenhall and then the holiest place in Talingarde, the Vale of Valtaerna. They were to lead the bugbear horde against the greatest Cathedral of Mitra and leave the Vale behind in ashes.

The Way of the Wicked Summary (Act 3)

--ACT THREE--

-The party were congratulated and rewarded by Tiadora on behalf of Thorn for bringing about Balentyne's destruction and making a crack in the wall between the civilised south of Talingarde and the savage north. Their next mission was even more ambitious. They had to travel east to the port town of Farholde and from there venture south into the Caer Bryr, the last great wilderness in Talingarde. In there they had to find a giant spire called the Horn of Abaddon.

-The Horn of Abaddon was the hidden lair for a cult known as the Sons of the Pale Horseman. They were a particularly evil cult that worshiped Vetra Kali, a daemon prince of pestilence and sought to inflict his disease and poison on the world. This cult dwelt in secrecy for centuries plotting against Talingarde and the world which culminated in the daemon's 'gift', the most potent disease the world had ever seen called the Tears of Achlys. However just before they could unleash it, the greatest paladin of the age, King Markadian the Victorious led a small personal guard in a secret attack against the horn. Complacent in their secrecy the cult had little defence against such an attack and the King slaughtered every single cultist and their daemon companions. Then he entered the throne room he slew Vetra Kali's mortal form himself and banished him back to the daemonic realms.

-This was not enough for the King and he prayed over a great silver seal for seven days in the sanctum, praying to Mitra that his victory would not be undone and that Vetra Kali could never return. Mitra answered his prayers and for the next two hundred years the seal remained, making it almost impossible to call forth darkness from the Horn of Abaddon. Almost. This was the parties greatest challenge yet, to break the seal and retrieve the Tears of Achlys for Thorn's own plans.

-So the party sailed west with Tiadora and were observant enough to spot her night time exploits. In which she would disguise herself as a Mitran paladin (which are called the Knights of Alerion) and wreak havoc on nearby settlements under the guise of a purge of Asmodeans. The party astutely figured that this was to cause malcontent from the general population and start causing them to question whether their treatment of Asmodeus was as honorable as they thought.

-After 12 days the party arrived at the town of Farholde to find it much less grand and well-guarded than Balentyne. Tiadora informed the party that they were not the first Thorn had sent on this mission, he'd sent the fourth knot, led by a ranger named Aiden Kael but never heard back from them. Tiadora also set up an introduction between them and Baron Vandermir who was Thorn's contact in the city and sympathetic towards their plight. The party met with the Baron and impressed him greatly in no small part due to their previous achievements. They found out that the Baron was of House Barca which is the house that was deposed by the currently ruling House of Darius so he had no love for the current Mitran regime. This resulted in him offering any help they needed and he became a trusted ally and advisor.

-The party also discovered they were not alone on this mission, Thorn had also sent the seventh knot to assist them by keeping adventurers away from the horn whilst they were investigating. The seventh knot, in particular Elise, were not at all happy with being assistants in the mission and this was not helped by a few barbed comments from the party. Nalethar did her best to patch up relations but the only one really willing to listen to her was Trik.

-The party cleverly found the inn that Aiden Kael had been staying at and talked their way into seeing his room. In it they found a bunch of books and maps strewn throughout the room. Viktor used his knowledge of geography and survival skills to decipher that Aiden had found the way to the horn and pieced together a map for the party to use. They followed the map and arrived at the horn to find it was guarded by a treant named Jurak the Eldest. Whilst he was an incredibly brave and strong fighter, he was also not particularly good at recognising evil and some quick thinking and clever bluffs from Dave convinced him to guard the horn for them and not against them.

-As the party set off into the sodden caverns below the horn they found a tribe of boggards that had taken up residence. Most notably was an insane oracle of the tribe called Zikomo who proclaimed the party the chosen ones for the tribe to follow and condemned the previous chieftain to the void. Between telling anyone who would listen what the voices in his head were saying and showing them his creepy altar to Dagon the party decided to bring him along in the hope that his prophecies may turn out to be useful. They also used their new found power to utilise the boggards as a group of minions that they could send off to capture peasants for sacrifices and other menial tasks.

-In the caverns they made another unlikely ally in Xerakik, an earth pixie that didn't like Viktor because he shouted at her but felt safe in Dave's hair after him and Nalethar used their mastery of the elemental languages to talk her into joining them. Xerakik proved invaluable very soon after when Dave sent her through a crack in the wall and she found a cultist's skeleton clutching a crucial tome. This tome contained the history of the Sons of the Pale Horseman and among the insane scribbles at the end of the book was the ritual to break the seal and bring back Vetra Kali along with one of his three eyes, a priceless emerald.

-The party explored the entire horn, finding room after room filled with destruction from the King's raid. Notable encounters include two oozes that destroyed a lot of the parties equipment and almost engulfed the party before Nalethar's well placed fireballs and Dave accidentally turning himself into magma managed to destroy the oozes. There was also the remnants of an alchemical golem which they would later repair and use as a fairly murderous guard. The party also found the statue of a cultist who had been turned to stone. A rousing performance of 'I'll make a man out of you' and a natural 20 later and Dave had managed to turn him back and rescued him. They quickly made use of him by taking the second of the eyes of Vetra Kali and using him as the first sacrifice of the ritual.

-However this sacrifice wasn't as smooth as it could have been with Viktor getting sucker punched by the captive who then nimbly avoided all capture attempts as he made it to the sanctum. He leapt out of the sanctum with a ring of feather falling as a grand escape plan, although Midas made sure one of his legs stayed behind. Luckily Nalethar could fly alongside him and finally managed to subdue him with spells.

-The main threat in the horn was a wraith known as Ezra Thrice-Damned who was accompanied by the wraith spawn he had created from the Fourth Knot. It was a very close fight with Nalethar in particular almost having her life drained away but in the end Viktor's greataxe and Midas' nodachi brought it down. This resulted in them being able to raid the treasure room which alone made the trip worthwhile.

-They also made two unlikely allies in two guardian daemons of the horn that had reformed after they were slain in the King's raid. These allies were Hexor and Vexor, the most polite and well-read ceustodaemons you could ever hope to meet. Just before they attacked Nalethar convinced them of the parties good intentions and so they became very useful allies for the party.

The Way of the Wicked Summary (Act 2)

--ACT TWO--

-Continuing their adventures, the party sailed to the fort town of Balentyne. They made it through the gate by disguising themselves as members of a traveling theatre troupe led by the famed thespian William Marcus Marlowe, the beloved Bard of Balentyne himself, who writes his own descriptions. Anyone who described himself as such was very easy to bluff and flatter resulting in the party actually landing roles in the play. They also discovered that, to no-one's surprise, he was sleeping with the female lead.

-Once they were in Balentyne they all set to infiltration. Nalethar found her place in the aristocracy and impressed her way into the wizards school. Dave joined in with dwarven engineers repairing the wall along with helping out Mama Giuseppe with her cooking. Midas enlisted with the city guard and found a friend in the old and grizzled captain of the guard Samuel Barhold. Viktor set to co-running the local inn and introduced both tapas and karaoke to the local populace to mixed results along with making friend in the local Dwarven smithy and securing weapons and armour for the party.

-The party found Balentyne to be the most goody-goody law abiding town they'd ever encountered with any attempts at finding an underworld being unsuccessful and the only shops of note being; An apothecary named Jazzin who was definitely not a vampire and sold them a bunch of rat poison for later use and Majid's Magnificent Emporium, the greatest outfitters this side of Qadira. Majid kitted them out in noble attire and won them over with his charm and love of gossip.

-Nalethar's main connection in the aristocracy was with the most beautiful woman in all of Balentyne, Kaitlyn Mott who was trapped in an arranged marriage to the boorish captain of the guard Franz Mott. This resulted in her being left to host dinner parties whilst Franz spent all his time up at the watchtower. Nalethar told her about the joys of traveling and adventuring and so became close friends. Close enough in fact that Nalethar discovered Kaitlyn's other past-time was the young, dashing Captain Zack Eddarly. The rest of the party also managed to blag an invite to one of Nalethar's parties where Viktor's alter ego Professor Ziggibaecious, an eccentric zoologist with an eagle in his trousers made his first appearance. Dave also made friends with Prince Gaius Vestromo who talks, looks and acts like a vampire whom the party decided was a vampire. After a heavily disguised conversation Dave was invited to visit him in the city of Ghastenhall if he wanted to pursue vampirism further.

-The party then used their knowledge of the affair to goad Franz Mott via a tip-off into finding the two lovers in bed together. This resulted in Eddarly jumping out of the window and being challenged to a duel to the death at the next dawn. Both came to the duel instantly removing any chance of them returning to duty, as dueling to the death is a grave offence in Talingarde. It was a close duel with Mott having raw strength and fury on his side but Eddarly managed to turn this to his advantage and used his agility to eventually out-manoeuvre Mott and place his sword straight through Mott's chest. As the guards arrived to arrest Eddarly and break up the huge crowd that had gathered to watch the duel Kaitlyn broke free from the crowd and ran to him. As she jumped into his arms they both vanished with a loud crack which Nalethar recognised as a teleportation spell.

-Meanwhile Dave had gotten in with the dwarven engineers thanks to Midas matching their leader Barnabus in a drinking contest which resulted in them both passing out. Turns out drinking competitions are a sure way to win dwarves over and as such Dave was invited to come along with them on the job. He later used this as a way to sabotage the repairs and the siege weaponry on top of the watchtower, massively weakening it against the bugbear invasion.

-The party were staying at an inn called the Lord's Dalliance which was so named because a previous Lord Commander of the fort used to sneak off to this inn that at the time was more of a brothel. To aid him in this a secret tunnel was built from the castle to the cellar of the inn. Viktor, having gotten involved with the running of the inn and using his innate dwarven knack for spotting hidden tunnels, managed to find the entrance and used it to sneak the party into the fort.

-The party infiltrated the fort in a rather unprecedented fashion with most of the party not being particularly proficient at stealth so Dave improvised and scouted the castle playing his lute expertly. Using the cover that he was merely there to raise morale by playing his lute with the others and Midas simply wearing his guard uniform to play the part of an escort. Due to some spectacular bluff and perform checks the party navigated through most of the castle unhindered and performed various acts of subterfuge. Apart from where Viktor accidentally snuck into a Mitran church service and gave himself away causing the guard to be called for, luckily that guard was Midas so no real harm came of it. 

-Meanwhile the fourth and final captain of the guard Varning was out on patrol in the local forest. Co-incidentally this was also where Grumblejack had been sent to hide out because human settlements aren't particularly friendly to ogres. He couldn't believe his luck when lunch walked right into his hunting grounds and set up camp for the night. Long story short another guard captain was taken care of.

-Having dealt with 3 out of 4 of the guards the party decided it was time to deal with the rest in one big sweep. Their cover was the grand play that they'd landed parts in earlier. Dave turned on the charm with Mama Giuseppe the morning before the play and helped her make the stew for the guards adding his own special ingredient, rat poison, debilitating or killing over half the guards in one fell swoop. The party then swiftly dealt with Mad Martin, an old druid who dealt with the messenger ravens and considered them his only friends. The Lord Commander and the final captain of the guard were at the play so they were too exposed to be a target so the party went after the elusive Magister Tacitus, a man who loved hair gel and fireballs equally. Dave and Nalethar went in under disguise of being doctors coming to check up on him having heard a rumour he'd been affected by the food poisoning. Unfortunately the Magister saw through the ruse and bluffed them that he had been badly sickened by the food whilst concealing his wand of fireballs under the duvet. As the two entered his bedchambers he let loose with two deadly fireballs, killing them both within seconds. Fortunately Midas was waiting outside and upon hearing the commotion kicked down the door and cleaved down the Magister where he stood before he could raise the alarm. Midas hid the bodies and with a grim determination, set off with Viktor to finish what they'd started. They ran to the gatehouse and talked their way past the few remaining guards using Midas' guard uniform and Viktor's disguise just in time to open the gate as the bugbear hoard appeared on the horizon. The first thing the public knew about this was the triumphant roar of Sakkarot as the hoard charged through the open gate and set about doing what a hoard of monsters does best. The remnants of the party fled to safety as the Lord Commander tried desperately to hold the fort, even taking out one of Sakkarot's eyes before he too fell before the Fire-axe.

-Meanwhile in hell... Nalethar and Dave awoke in a baroque hall filled with infernal iconography. However there didn't seem to be endless screaming souls or rivers of fire, and there was only one devil. A rather well dressed and slightly built devil at that. He introduced himself as Dessiter of the Phistophilus, a representative of the ruler of the hell that they found themselves in. He offered them a deal, a very reasonable one in fact. Their souls would get another chance before being consigned to hell, however they would have to sacrifice an angel named Ara Mathra to his master, Naburus. They gladly took this deal and rejoined the party.

The Way of the Wicked Summary (Act 1)

--ACT ONE--

-Original Characters: Viktor Axe-helm (Simon),  Killian Thorne (Alex), Nalethar (Jon) and Dave (Stephen).

-The story begins in Brandescar about a year ago which is supposedly the highest security prison on the whole island of Talingarde. All of the party had been caught breaking the law to a degree that merits the death penalty and so had been sent there to await their punishment. While they waited they were branded with an F (stands for forsaken) on their forearm and it can never be removed or disguised, only hidden.

-Their stay at Brandescar was less than pleasant for Viktor, Killian and Dave as Nalethar discovered the chains binding them were made of iron conducted the electricity from her shocking grasp and took to shocking the party whenever she was annoyed, which was very common as she didn't take kindly to being chained up and dressed in rags.

-Fortunately they soon received a visitor in the form of a cold and beautiful woman named Tiadora. She appeared to have enthralled the guards and convinced them to give her a private audience with one of the party. She gave this unlikely group two things, a veil that contained a few useful objects to use in their escape and a promise of vengeance if they sought out her master's manor when they escaped.

-Using Tiadora's gift along with Dave and Killian's combined lock-picking talents the party managed to free themselves and then were brought to the brink of death by the two guards outside their cell. This forced them to seek a stealthier approach and due to some fantastic (and tragic) bluff checks they managed to blag their way outside. They also found the prison to be somewhat lacking in security with drinking and gambling being the guards highest priority allowing them to make it onto the walls. Thanks to Nalethar's feather fall spell they managed to swan dive off and land safely, if exhausted, outside the prison along with the ogre from the cell next to them, named Grumblejack.

-Aki (Mimi) had a somewhat easier time of it having been arrested a year before the others and wrapping the male guard population around her little finger due to her feminine wiles. This and her innate spell-casting ability allowed her to turn invisible and walk out the front door whilst the guards were distracted by a different escape attempt. Unbeknownst to her Tiadora was watching the escape having been the one who orchestrated the other attempt and saw the potential in Aki and offered her the chance to join her and Thorn.

-The original party navigated their way across the moors and eventually reached a great manor where they were greeted by Tiadora and a number of enthralled servants that showed them how luxurious being the villain could be, a far cry from the bleak, cold prison they'd escaped from. There they met Cardinal Adrastus Thorn; a tall, handsome man in black and burgundy robes who offered them power, adoration, vengeance and above all a way to rule the world rather than be shunned by it. The party, with nothing and no-one else, took Thorn at his word and signed a contract dedicating themselves in service to him and Asmodeus.

-Thorn and Tiadora then trained the original party the best they could, culminating in a test of nine rooms where they had to recover an amulet. This was at the very boundaries of their capabilities as Killian and Grumblejack were killed by Draugr in the dungeon. Fortunately the surviving members managed to trick the amulet off the paladin who carried it and Nalethar used her lightning as a defibrillator to bring Grumblejack back but was unable to save Killian. The party limped out of the dungeon battered but successful and were rewarded by being made the Ninth Knot, an official part of Thorn's organisation.

-The loss of Killian resulted in a rather mercenary samurai named Midas (Alex) being brought in to replace him by Thorn, having seen that the party was somewhat lacking in raw muscle.

-The party recovered for a short while in Thorn's manor and whilst they were doing so got to know the other adventuring group that had been training with them. Notable members include a murderous but friendly cleric named Trik that got on well with Nalethar and their leader Elise Zadaria, a winter witch. This adventuring party formed the Seventh Knot

-The party then received their first mission, to take a shipment of weapons by boat to Sakkarot Fire-Axe, leader of the bugbear hoard and then to open the gates of Balentyne for them. So they traveled north and met with Sakkarot who turned out to be incredibly intelligent and well spoken by anyone's standards, let alone a bugbear. The party gave a good account of themselves and made a friend of Sakkarot who let them in on a few secrets; that he and the hoard comprised the First Knot, that he was as much an outcast as them, and that Cardinal Thorn used to be of the Mitran faith and not Asmodeus.