The opening reveals that the book is a personal journal of Wevlend Nightklan. High Preist of Pazuzu
A quick scan shows details of horrid rituals performed at the temple by the secritivie demonic cult with a goal of corrupting the land and people outside of the Thickwood.
The last few pages speak of experiments to create powerful undead that will serve the cult. There were several failed attempts and the final entry reads.
I believe I have found the problem with my necromancy. I believe that great Pazuzu’s ancient rival Orcus has been blocking my traditional attempts at creating those with unlife.
Great Pazuzu has pledged to send a servant with the Shaytan Stones, one of the stones will be given to us and will allow a special ceremony that I uncovered which I believe will circumvent Orcus's ability to block our attempts as well as create even more powerful undead than we was originally attempting.
The other stone will be taken by Sha'zul under the hill to bleed corruption there. Now it is coming to our time, once the corruption is complete and we have our army we will recombine the stones and our lord shall rule the land.
Notes
Re: Notes
pinned to the table is a large map of the continent.
you see a circle drawn around two locations.
The forgotten wood and hommingdale
pinned to the map is a note
Master Cillian the location of the Shaytan stones are marked. Join lord Sha'zul and return them to the birthplace to open the way for mighty Pazuzu.
you see a circle drawn around two locations.
The forgotten wood and hommingdale
pinned to the map is a note
Master Cillian the location of the Shaytan stones are marked. Join lord Sha'zul and return them to the birthplace to open the way for mighty Pazuzu.
Re: Notes
On the table rolled out is a map,
There are check marks next the the Thickwood and the Homming Hills.
There is a circle around the city of Markainus
There is a star around the city of Starlorn
pinned on the map is note
Lord Sha'zul, Master Cillian knows the ritual to combine the stones
There are check marks next the the Thickwood and the Homming Hills.
There is a circle around the city of Markainus
There is a star around the city of Starlorn
pinned on the map is note
Lord Sha'zul, Master Cillian knows the ritual to combine the stones
Re: Notes
The following is based on Hild's memories, the tale so far.
In chronological order (hopefully).
The Council of Priests in Oslodin send Hildr to Markainus to investigate happenings at the Temple of Odin there. She asks her brother Sarin to accompany her.
Hildr and Sarin arrive and secretly meet with High Priest Anderson Nordson, he relates some things that have him concerned.
Missing parishioners, all poor and homeless, the city guard is unwilling to look for them.
A 1st year acolyte has found burnt offerings which included what appeared to be a human child's tooth.
Unexplained blood in the bathes.
Hildr and Sarin go under cover as new acolytes.
They locate a second year suspect (Cillian Night).
They follow him to a secret temple in the sewers and learn of a secret portal ion the Temple of Odin itself.
They alert the High Priest and then go to explore the sewer temple.
During there raid on the temple they combat shadow beasts and cultists and free Felix who the cultists are preparing to sacrifice.
They return with information about an altar and sacrifice, the high priest decides to raid the temple and destroy it.
The Raid on the temple occurs, the High Priest, several other clerics and several Paladins in addition to Hildr, Sarin and Felix are able to defeat the cultists and shadow beasts.
The High Priest is able to reconsecrate the temple to Odin. The head of the ranking cultist priest is brought back to the Temple of Odin and the High Priest animates it to question.
From the questioning it is learned that Cillian Night, Josiah Clement, Russel Lore, Philius Standard and Jameson Curt all acolytes are involved.
The Temples of Ares and Ishtar as well as the Blacksmiths Guild have also been infiltrated.
It is discovered that Josiah Clement, Russell Lore and Philius are dead.
Cillian Night and Jameson Curt are missing.
All the acolytes are questioned and it is confirmed that Cillian has been using the secret portal to travel to a secret base outside the city.
The second Raid.
The High Priest locates a wizard to work on the portal and alerts the temples, guilds and the city watch of the cult. Discreet purges begin in Markainus.
The High Priest send Hildr, Sarin, Felix and the Paladin Chandler through the portal. The discover a ruin a days walk from the city.
After a search of the ruins they find a hidden entrance and descend.
Inside they battle undead, cultists, 2 humanoid beasts that spoke Orchish but were not Orcs, shadow beasts and a Priest and Warrior.
The map Sarin presented is discovered as well as a library. A woman is freed they were preparing for sacrifice.
Another magic arch is discovered and evidence Cillian had fled through it.
They return to Makainus.
The Teleport
After going over the new information the High Priest send them via teleport here.
We seek out the shrine of Odin and inform the Priest that we are here and why.
We then ask around and learn of a box containing a demon taken to the temple of Rongo.
We had to the temple of Rongo and well there the demon raid occurs.
In chronological order (hopefully).
The Council of Priests in Oslodin send Hildr to Markainus to investigate happenings at the Temple of Odin there. She asks her brother Sarin to accompany her.
Hildr and Sarin arrive and secretly meet with High Priest Anderson Nordson, he relates some things that have him concerned.
Missing parishioners, all poor and homeless, the city guard is unwilling to look for them.
A 1st year acolyte has found burnt offerings which included what appeared to be a human child's tooth.
Unexplained blood in the bathes.
Hildr and Sarin go under cover as new acolytes.
They locate a second year suspect (Cillian Night).
They follow him to a secret temple in the sewers and learn of a secret portal ion the Temple of Odin itself.
They alert the High Priest and then go to explore the sewer temple.
During there raid on the temple they combat shadow beasts and cultists and free Felix who the cultists are preparing to sacrifice.
They return with information about an altar and sacrifice, the high priest decides to raid the temple and destroy it.
The Raid on the temple occurs, the High Priest, several other clerics and several Paladins in addition to Hildr, Sarin and Felix are able to defeat the cultists and shadow beasts.
The High Priest is able to reconsecrate the temple to Odin. The head of the ranking cultist priest is brought back to the Temple of Odin and the High Priest animates it to question.
From the questioning it is learned that Cillian Night, Josiah Clement, Russel Lore, Philius Standard and Jameson Curt all acolytes are involved.
The Temples of Ares and Ishtar as well as the Blacksmiths Guild have also been infiltrated.
It is discovered that Josiah Clement, Russell Lore and Philius are dead.
Cillian Night and Jameson Curt are missing.
All the acolytes are questioned and it is confirmed that Cillian has been using the secret portal to travel to a secret base outside the city.
The second Raid.
The High Priest locates a wizard to work on the portal and alerts the temples, guilds and the city watch of the cult. Discreet purges begin in Markainus.
The High Priest send Hildr, Sarin, Felix and the Paladin Chandler through the portal. The discover a ruin a days walk from the city.
After a search of the ruins they find a hidden entrance and descend.
Inside they battle undead, cultists, 2 humanoid beasts that spoke Orchish but were not Orcs, shadow beasts and a Priest and Warrior.
The map Sarin presented is discovered as well as a library. A woman is freed they were preparing for sacrifice.
Another magic arch is discovered and evidence Cillian had fled through it.
They return to Makainus.
The Teleport
After going over the new information the High Priest send them via teleport here.
We seek out the shrine of Odin and inform the Priest that we are here and why.
We then ask around and learn of a box containing a demon taken to the temple of Rongo.
We had to the temple of Rongo and well there the demon raid occurs.
Re: Notes
You see a time before time, before the creation of the barren rock that Poseidon would one day fill with life. There is nothingness, just chaos.
Within the chaos are things. Horrid, wretched things. Gigantic even to the titans, creatures of power, and hate, and evil, The Great Old Ones.
Then from the chaos, comes order. The gods as you know them are born, they shape the planes of existence and you see they shape worlds. Worlds upon worlds, yours is not the only one, worlds filled with elves, dwarfs, halflings, humans, orcs, and all manner of beasts including your world.
Until now there was no idea there was any prime plane beyond your own
The Great Old Ones took notice of these new beings and worlds and hated them as they hated all things. They set about destroying the worlds, devouring them and all they encompassed. Among the Great Old Ones was one who reveled more than any in the destruction, the Unspoken, the king in yellow, him that mustl not be named. Hastur the Unspeakable, and he destroys all life on your world
The gods gathered together. Good, evil, it did not matter the threat from the Great Old Ones was greater than any of their squabbles.
With a great price they locked the Great Old Ones Away from beyond space and time.
On your world of Aroth, on the barren rock that was ravaged by the wars with Great Old Ones, Poseidon wept and life was reborn. He placed a shield around the world to protect it form the view of the other gods and let the beings of the world make their own way, and they did.
Humans learned to wield powerful magic, they learned to draw power from the magical shield around the world to enhance the magic even more, they were the wizard kings.
The 10 most powerful among them gather, led by Dereious, they searched for even more power. A lust that could not be quenched and they found something, something outside existence, outside space and time. The Great Old Ones, locked away for eons unable to escape. Hastur with some connection to the world he once ravaged whispered to them, in their minds eye, with promises of power beyond even their imagination.
You see the 10 gather, they stand before a massive statue of Poseidon that is 100’s of feet tall. They wait until the sun places the statues shadow behind it and walk up to the left heel. There they find the tiniest imperfection and dereious leans forward and whispers the king in yellow. A secret panel slides open, just enough to turn sideways and slide through. Inside the catacombs they gather and with the darkest of arts they locate the key.
When the gods locked away the Great Old Ones they had to make a key and lock to do so. They broke the key in half and hid it across many planes.
The 10 wizard kings with the whispers of Hastur locate the halves and draw them into the world. Dereious takes the broken key to his ivory tower, he will open the lock and allow hastur to return, he is now completely mad, corrupted by the power and words of the unspeakable one.
The power from the broken key draws the attention of the gods, they find the shield placed around the world by Poseidon and Odin is able to pierce it with his mighty spear Gungnir. They see Dereious prepared to merge the key and they rain down destruction. The world is plunged into chaos and all those who had discovered the existence of the Great Old One are annihilated. The halves of the key are blown across the planes and lost track of.
Odin in his all knowing wisdom sees that one day the threat will return, and as the gods have promised to never again rain destruction on the world as they did before he sets events into motion to prepare for the eventual return of the key.
Eventually the key halves are recovered by Pazuzu, and even a demon prince is not immune to the whispers of the Unspoken one.
Pazuzu uses his influence to begin a cult on Aroth that eventually gains the ability to allow him to pass the halves of the key into your world once again. Events driven by the secret whispers of Hastur allow the demon and his followers to discover the secrets of combining the key.
However unknown to them it is not to open a gate to the Abyss, it is to open the Doorway to the Great Old Ones, who will be freed and return and destroy all of existence.
The key halves now lay in the shadow of the statue.
Within the chaos are things. Horrid, wretched things. Gigantic even to the titans, creatures of power, and hate, and evil, The Great Old Ones.
Then from the chaos, comes order. The gods as you know them are born, they shape the planes of existence and you see they shape worlds. Worlds upon worlds, yours is not the only one, worlds filled with elves, dwarfs, halflings, humans, orcs, and all manner of beasts including your world.
Until now there was no idea there was any prime plane beyond your own
The Great Old Ones took notice of these new beings and worlds and hated them as they hated all things. They set about destroying the worlds, devouring them and all they encompassed. Among the Great Old Ones was one who reveled more than any in the destruction, the Unspoken, the king in yellow, him that mustl not be named. Hastur the Unspeakable, and he destroys all life on your world
The gods gathered together. Good, evil, it did not matter the threat from the Great Old Ones was greater than any of their squabbles.
With a great price they locked the Great Old Ones Away from beyond space and time.
On your world of Aroth, on the barren rock that was ravaged by the wars with Great Old Ones, Poseidon wept and life was reborn. He placed a shield around the world to protect it form the view of the other gods and let the beings of the world make their own way, and they did.
Humans learned to wield powerful magic, they learned to draw power from the magical shield around the world to enhance the magic even more, they were the wizard kings.
The 10 most powerful among them gather, led by Dereious, they searched for even more power. A lust that could not be quenched and they found something, something outside existence, outside space and time. The Great Old Ones, locked away for eons unable to escape. Hastur with some connection to the world he once ravaged whispered to them, in their minds eye, with promises of power beyond even their imagination.
You see the 10 gather, they stand before a massive statue of Poseidon that is 100’s of feet tall. They wait until the sun places the statues shadow behind it and walk up to the left heel. There they find the tiniest imperfection and dereious leans forward and whispers the king in yellow. A secret panel slides open, just enough to turn sideways and slide through. Inside the catacombs they gather and with the darkest of arts they locate the key.
When the gods locked away the Great Old Ones they had to make a key and lock to do so. They broke the key in half and hid it across many planes.
The 10 wizard kings with the whispers of Hastur locate the halves and draw them into the world. Dereious takes the broken key to his ivory tower, he will open the lock and allow hastur to return, he is now completely mad, corrupted by the power and words of the unspeakable one.
The power from the broken key draws the attention of the gods, they find the shield placed around the world by Poseidon and Odin is able to pierce it with his mighty spear Gungnir. They see Dereious prepared to merge the key and they rain down destruction. The world is plunged into chaos and all those who had discovered the existence of the Great Old One are annihilated. The halves of the key are blown across the planes and lost track of.
Odin in his all knowing wisdom sees that one day the threat will return, and as the gods have promised to never again rain destruction on the world as they did before he sets events into motion to prepare for the eventual return of the key.
Eventually the key halves are recovered by Pazuzu, and even a demon prince is not immune to the whispers of the Unspoken one.
Pazuzu uses his influence to begin a cult on Aroth that eventually gains the ability to allow him to pass the halves of the key into your world once again. Events driven by the secret whispers of Hastur allow the demon and his followers to discover the secrets of combining the key.
However unknown to them it is not to open a gate to the Abyss, it is to open the Doorway to the Great Old Ones, who will be freed and return and destroy all of existence.
The key halves now lay in the shadow of the statue.
Re: Notes
A dusty skinned man dressed in extravagant clothes joins with 9 others they all don black robes and pull up the hoods. They enter a set of tunnels through a secret door on a wall and go to a library. there they spend hours searching through ancient tomes until finally they discover something.
they then travel to a secret chamber against the backwall in the floor is a small empty pool, and chained to the wall 10 children.
One by one each of the ten take one of the children to the pool slitting their throats letting their blood drain and fill the recession. Standing in the pool one of the 10 performs a ritual, as the blood in the pool begins swirling in a tornado to the ceiling it suddenly all disappears leaving behind to large gem stones.
The man in the pool takes the stones and disappears as the other 9 separate.The Dusty skinned man returns to a room shelves of books and goods lining the wall. he removes his robes and leather armor and the silver torc around his neck and places it in an ornate trunk. as he lays down in a bed the ground begins to shake and the man sits bolt upright, there is a flash of light and the man begins to scream. His face distorts and twists as his body begins to convulse, he screams in agony as his body transforms into a shadow of its former self.
they then travel to a secret chamber against the backwall in the floor is a small empty pool, and chained to the wall 10 children.
One by one each of the ten take one of the children to the pool slitting their throats letting their blood drain and fill the recession. Standing in the pool one of the 10 performs a ritual, as the blood in the pool begins swirling in a tornado to the ceiling it suddenly all disappears leaving behind to large gem stones.
The man in the pool takes the stones and disappears as the other 9 separate.The Dusty skinned man returns to a room shelves of books and goods lining the wall. he removes his robes and leather armor and the silver torc around his neck and places it in an ornate trunk. as he lays down in a bed the ground begins to shake and the man sits bolt upright, there is a flash of light and the man begins to scream. His face distorts and twists as his body begins to convulse, he screams in agony as his body transforms into a shadow of its former self.