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.

Curse of the Crimson Throne Summary: Part 1

Book 1:

 

       The campaign begins as the PCs are drawn together by a common thread—a cruel old criminal named Gaedren Lamm. Given the chance to avenge themselves against him by a mysterious Varisian woman named Zellara, the PCs confront Gaedren in the old fishery that serves as his hideout. Therein, they find two surprises; a brooch stolen from Queen Ileosa and Zellara’s severed head. Zellara’s been dead for weeks, and now her Harrow deck serves as a receptacle for her ghost, creating a strange but helpful ally that will follow the PCs through the rest of the adventure path.

        When the PCs emerge from the fishery, they learn that King Eodred II has died, and the city of Korvosa has plunged into chaos. After meeting with the grieving queen to return the stolen brooch, they are recruited by Field Marshall Cressida Kroft to help bring the city back under control. After dealing with guards gone rogue, handling a delicate political situation involving a local crime lord, and coping with all manner of chaos in the streets, the PCs are called upon to apprehend a woman named Trinia Sabor, who might just be the one who assassinated King Eodred II. After capturing her and turning her over to the Guard, the PCs must recover the missing body of a Shoanti warrior before his kin declare war on the city. The adventure ends as the PCs attend the supposed execution of Trinia Sabor, only to become caught up in the chaos of her unexpected rescue by one of Korvosa’s most legendary heroes—a masked man named Blackjack.

Book 2:

        What begins as a simple favor for an old friend Grau

draws the PCs into a battle against a rampant plague that 

threatens to consume all of Korvosa. Once more working with Cressida and Vencarlo, the party 

must do all it can to halt the progression of the plague 

and save as many infected citizens as possible. They save numerous citizens by stopping a merchant selling a false cure, prevent a war between the ratfolk living below the city and brave the sunken wreck to find a lead. Through 

the course of their work, the PCs gradually discover the 

sinister groups responsible for the plague’s outbreak and 

the deaths of thousands: the Red Mantis assassins, the 

disease-worshiping church of Urgathoa, and Korvosa’s 

own genocidal queen. Through much struggle and the loss of one of their own Caled, they eventually manage to slay the high priestess of urgathoa and escape with the cure. Along with them, a nosferatu named Ramoska Arkminos escaped in order to seek a cure for vampirism elsewhere.

  

Book 3:

        The next step begins with the leader of the Sable Company attempting an assassination of Queen Ileosa - an attempt that backfires horribly as the queen reveals her newfound power. In the aftermath of this event, the PCs receive word that, on quarantined Old Korvosa, their old friend Vencarlo might have discovered something of great import regarding the queen. The PCs brave the anarchic streets of Old Korvosa only to find Vencarlo missing and his home transformed into a Red Mantis ambush. Following a trail of clues, the PCs learn that a strange artist named Salvator Scream likely knows where Vencarlo went, as well as what information sent the teacher into such a state in the first place. They also meet the cheerfully sadistic priestess of Zon-Kuthon who agrees to aid them in return for an audience with Salvator. Unfortunately, Salvator is now securely in the hands of a petty warlord who calls himself the Emperor of Old Korvosa.

 

        After killing the Emporer and Swift taking his place. and interrogating Salvator, the PCs learn the secret—the seneschal of Korvosa still lives! He, and likely Vencarlo now, is in the clutches of the notorious Arkona family, the self-styled rulers of Old Korvosa.  The PCs visit Palace Arkona only to learn that its patriarch has secrets of his own. In order to rescue Vencarlo and the seneschal and learn the awful truth behind the queen’s mysterious power and rising cruelty, the PCs must brave the infamous Vivified Labyrinth below Palace Arkona and then escape from Old Korvosa alive. However things don't go entirely to plan with Bahor's advice leading them into a lethal dead-end in the labyrinth. After braving several tests and trials of both body and mind, the party rescue first Vencarlo and later the seneschal by smiting down an exhibitionist devil. Trapped in the heart of the labyrinth with no easy way out, the party decide to roll the dice and leap through a mirror that could take them anywhere. 

        The mirror takes them to the underworld where the boatman, an echo of Charon, takes them to the Drowned Court in Abaddon. There they make a deal with a daemon merchant named Vulgrim and discover that Tegresin still has his hooks in Laura. After conducting business with the undead they are given safe passage back to a small town just outside Korvosa, named Harse. Inside a farmhouse they are reunited with Vencarlo, the Seneschal and Trinia. Here the Seneschal reveals the Queen's source of power, a crown adorned with fangs that she found in the city vaults. With regards to the origin of this item, the party is pointed in the direction of a certain Shoanti tribe, whos ancestors were originally tasked with guarding the pyramid on which Korvosa was founded.

The Last Stand of the Sable Company.

 Queen Ileosa announces another public address about a week after the defeat of the plague. In attendance at this address at the queen’s side are her bodyguard Sabina Merrin (clad in her breathtaking and intimidating suit of Gray Maiden armor), her new advisor and ally Togomor (whom she announces has taken up the duties of castle seneschal), the commander of the Korvosan Guard Cressida Kroft, and the commandant of the Sable Company Marcus Endrin.

 The Queen reports that the Order of the Nail has showed its true colors and fled like cowards into Citadel Vraid. Worse, both the Korvosan Guard and the Sable Company have suffered terrible losses over the past weeks. Neither group is fully capable of continuing as Korvosa’s protectors, and thus, to shore up this fault, Queen Ileosa names her newly created order of Gray Maidens as the new protectors of Korvosa, appointing Sabina Merrin as the new General of Korvosa. As a ripple of concerned whispers spreads, Queen Ileosa continues her speech, saying that she has decided to dissolve the Sable Company and that the remaining marines will be folded into the Korvosan Guard. At this point, she asks Commandant Endrin to step forth to surrender his badge of office.

 As Endrin does so, he trembles. He reaches for his badge, but instead of handing it over, he throws it at the queen, striking her in the cheek with it. Everyone (queen included) is shocked into paralysis for a few moments, long enough for Endrin to bellow out, "You have said nothing of the true heroes who cured the plague and who fought their way through your temple of death and decay. Caled, one of the finest members of my Company was murdered in your name! Your shameful reign ends now! Korvosa will be free again!” An instant later, his crossbow is in his hands, aimed at the still-shocked queen. Endrin pulls the trigger. His aim is true. The crossbow strikes Queen Ileosa in the temple.

 Yet she does not fall. With incredible speed, she regains her composure and yanks the bolt from her skull. Before the blood from the wound has time to run all the way down to her shoulder, she’s standing before Endrin. Her free hand whips out and seizes him by the throat, lifting him off the ground as she holds him up for all to see. An instant later, she buries Endrin’s own bolt between his eyes with a single powerful blow. As Endrin’s lifeless body crumples to the ground and Ileosa imperiously shakes his blood from her hand, she cries out in a strong, clear voice—“This shall be the fate of all enemies of Korvosa! Mark well his death! It is only the first!”

 A moment later, Togomor steps forward, taking Ileosa’s hand and teleporting her back into the Castle. The resulting riot is quelled quickly and brutally by the Gray Maidens. Shocked by the turn of events, Field Marshal Cressida Kroft flees to Citadel Volshyenek, stunned and horrified by what she witnessed, desperate to tell the only people she trusts anymore.

Laura's Research

Final Chapter of  'The Bringers of Light'

About 700 years ago, a brutal warlord of Zon-Kuthon named Kazavon conquered much of the Hold of Belkzen. His violent expansion and assaults against the neighboring countries of Ustalav and Lastwall quickly became far more deadly and horrific than petty skirmishes against orcs. From his castle, Scarwall, Kazavon threatened to engulf all who dared rise against him. His tactical brilliance, combined with his savage armies of orcs and barbarians, continuously broke every army Lastwall and Ustalav could throw against him. With none able to withstand his power, it seemed as if his reign of murder and blood would last forever.

Kazavon’s defeat was not on the field of battle, but in his own throne room. It was there that a secret cabal of heroes and mercenaries managed to do what armies could not. Using power and stealth and led by an unamed hero of Lastwall, they infiltrated Scarwall. The atrocities they found there tested them to their limits, and when they reached Kazavon’s throne room, a terrific battle took place. It was during this battle that they stripped away Kazavon’s human disguise, revealing the champion of Zon-Kuthon to be a blue dragon. In the end, the unnamed hero managed to lay Kazavon low with his legendary weapon, a magic bastard sword named Serithtial. Yet even in death, Kazavon’s body shuddered and grasped. Fire and acid destroyed much of the dragon’s corpse, yet seven fragments proved impossible to destroy. These grisly relics were so suffused with evil and malignancy they refused to burn or melt—even as the heroes watched, the bones twitched and writhed as they tried to return to life. The unnamed hero ordered his surviving brothers and sisters to each take one of these seven relics out into the world and go into hiding. None would know where the other members went, least of all their leader, who would remain in Scarwall with Serithtial to guard against it ever being used by Kazavon or his minions again.

Varisian Scarves

VARISIAN DRESS AND FAMILY SCARVES

Varisians favor scarves of all sizes and colors, but some
hold special significance. Most notable is the family
scarf, or kapenia. Children receive their kapenia upon
maturity; to own one is to be an adult. These long, heavy
scarves display elegant and complicated embroidery that
is incomprehensible to most outsiders. To Varisians,
though, the scarves show family trees. By tracing the
loops and whorls of a scarf, one can trace a person’s
history, back through her mother and father, her siblings,
grandparents and great-grandparents, as far back as the
family has knowledge.

Varisians wear their kapenia only on special occasions,
such as weddings or funerals. Most choose to be buried with
their kapenia, though some bequeath them to loved ones. It
is extraordinarily rare for a Varisian to bequeath her kapenia
to a non-Varisian, or even a Varisian not of her clan.
Varisians wear sensible but colorful clothes during the
workday. When performing, they dress in fancy gowns
and heavily embroidered vests and trousers and wear
excessive amounts of jewelry.

Varisians believe that certain colors carry specific
powers and choose their outfits to attract the right type
of energy. Pink is the color of love, kindness, and courage.
Red represents lust, long life, and inner strength. Orange
is the color of happiness and resourcefulness, and
adventuring Varisians often wear a touch of orange on
their travels. Green enhances wisdom and self-control.
Turquoise represents physical strength and nonverbal
communication, and most dancing costumes feature
it. Blue is the color of health, youth, and beauty. Violet
enhances intuition and divine inspiration, so most
fortunetellers and seers wear violet scarves.

Varisians love jewelry and favor gems over coins. Most
pragmatically believe that worn wealth is harder to steal than
wealth hidden out of sight in a tent or locked up in a box.