Irongate: The Cursed Reign

((This is a history of Irongate under this 2018 Winter Reign. It will be an amalgamation of lore built up from games I've run in the past, as well as the current reign. This is hopefully to keep everyone on the same page roleplay-wise as the weeks go by and new events happen. Also if you were in a battlegame listed in here, please go ahead and add yourself to the text! ))

Duchy of Irongate

Irongate during the curse

Spring 1318 AY

Illnor, the Eternal Death

The path of Tanis's party

The Runestone of Recall, a magical stone I enchanted to aid Tanis's return.

A lich had taken residence up in the Blackmire Bog, a bog to the northeast of Irongate. This lich was particularly powerful and had a great mastery of not only the undead, but of all other manners of sorcery. He had mastered an ability known as Contingency, a magic that allowed him to cast a spell at the moment when conditions were met. Through his contingency and mastery of sorcery, he ended up tying his contingency to a spell that not I, Rylorn, nor any other wizards can fathom how to cast. A spell - known as Time Stop.

Illnor moved about the lands and bewitched several tribes of goblinoid creatures to do his bidding during this time. At his disposal he had bugbears, orcs, and goblins that had overrun Yellowfield and the Edgewood Forest. The Orcs of Tuskengore were a tribe that was particularly painful to deal with. So much so that the party I sent opted to teleport away from harm instead of risking defeat before them.

The party was led by Tanis to deal with the lich and was defeated, sometime in Spring in (April) 1318 AY. I knew it was a desperate bid to send Tanis with a small party at the time, but knowing his skills with a sword, seeing Safire the druid and Rainai Turnith's spellcasting ability, I thought the party had a decent chance of success. Alas they failed. They were shattered in Blackmire Bog at the tower and failed to get past the horde of undead Illnor was summoning.

Illnor was a being driven mad by power, as most of their kind are. After his mastery of Contingency: Timestop he believed himself to be a mortal god walking amongst the living -- his Contingency preventing any harm coming to him. He was in the most respects immune to all manner of attack. Anytime a blow or a spell would come his way - he would be 7 steps ahead of you due to the nature of the spell. It was his combination of maniacal pride and power that put Irongate squarely in danger.

Battle Game: Journey to the Dark Tower

The Radiant Stone and Illnor's Fall

The path the party of Ryuujin took

The Radiant Stone secured from the cavern of Kal'Cha

The Dwarves of Dor'Ungol seemed rather stern and serious folk, but always produced quality goods living in their underground hell to the northwest of us. It was through them that I had heard word of a missing stone known to their people as the Radiant Stone. It was a strong source of light and heat in the darkest of places. It's properties I knew would be quite valuable to us given the armies marching on Irongate. A spell of Turn Undead channeled through the divine power of that stone could possibly turn the tide of Irongate's war on Illnor, or so I believed. I foolishly had decided to take this stone for our own selfish use.

The stone had gone missing from the Dwarves, but fortunately I had divined an area where I believed it to be. There - within a cavern north of Merryglade. There was much activity in that area. Lizards that moved and looked like men inhabited a cave there unnaturally. A giant lizard inhabited the cavern as well. Through my visions the name Kal'Cha was heard, with visions of these lizardmen praying to this monstrosity.

It was within that cavern that another party was sent to retrieve it - with quite a bit of success I might add. The knights Ryuujin and Hern were sent, along with Tanis and Nameless One. I want to say there was another traveling with them, but it eludes me at the moment. They traveled across the Trade Way and fought a goblin ambush within Narrowthicket, then took the stone directly from Kal'Cha.

Through a strong defense against Illnor's forces and the power of the Radiant stone Illnor's forces were banished from Irongate's walls. Our main forces rushed the retreating Illnor, weakened by the stone and decapitated him in Yellowfield, in (May) 1318 AY.

Unfortunately, the stone was taken at this time from my own damn hands by Dwarf Lord Hammerclaw when word had reached Dor'Ungol that we had their ancestral stone. In some sort of sick revenge fantasy, they also captured our small garrison after our main force had vacated for Illnor. They marched our garrison down into Dor'Ungol Deep for their own viewing pleasure into the fighting pits.

That was the last I've seen of them, and they remain missing to this day. A party was sent to rescue them, several times I might add, but no one ever came back from that dark hell.

Battle Game: Battle For the Crown of Irongate

Battle Game: Captured!

Battle Game: Escape From The Mountain

Summer 1318 AY

It was around this time that Eastholme, land of the halflings had gone quiet. The last shipment from Eastholme was overdue by 2 weeks, no messengers and travelers had crossed Eastholme. Normally I would have put it up to the half-men's careless attitude, gods help you if you hire a halfling to do ANY labor for you. But no - this time, there was a charged magic in the air I could feel, a powerful being was growing, in a plane parallel to our own.

Ho'hroth the Elder Fire Spirit

If it weren't for the events that crossed Rivermoor some years ago I would not have known this sensation. The violent fire spirit Ho'hroth had taken hold of men and women quite some time ago. There in Rivermoor fires had burned with an intensity that Ho'hroth delighted in. It took many battles and the work of several abjurers to usher him back into his rightful home in the Plane of Fire.

Ho'hroth had an uncanny ability in fighting, one that unless dealt with would ensure a total defeat in almost all encounters. He would suck the air right out of your lungs if you were close enough and explode in a violent eruption when he was fought in melee combat. A sage I know very well and respect from Rivermoor had devised an adapted version of Circle of Protection to counter this. The flames sting, but they won't kill you. The only thing left to ascertain in this desperate situation was who was causing this? Who could possibly be attempting to bring back that creature of flame?

The Embercult, Pimkin, and The Journey to Eastholme

The path taken by Ryuujin's party to stop the ritual to sacrifice the halfling Pimkin in Eastholme.

The Embercult were a deranged group of fire worshipping, cantrip casting ninnies that couldn't abjure a force barrier to save their lives. But there is strength in number. And what these foozies lacked in technical prowess, they made up for in maniacal fanaticism. We had been unable to determine the root cause of Ho'hroth's return to power at this time. I had put the word out that Irongate might be in danger however, and many groups of our skilled adventurers heeded the call. It was here that I made mention of Eastholme's inactivity and asked for the parties that answered to make their way and provide aid. Sir Ryuujin's group made significant headway in this regard.

His group he deemed "The Winners" as a chide to the other contending parties was led through several trials. The goblins of the Edgewood Forest, under new leadership now that Murktoe had died, set up a ramshackle tower along the road to Yellowfield and posted archers. Through a skirmish their group had managed to slay most of them but ended up fleeing after realizing their numbers. Those goblins have long been a damn nuisance and I'm not sure that's going to change at this point.

After reaching Yellowfield their party had encountered a group of dark elves - Blackdagger, clearly out of their element. The wicked little things had not much to say. We would come to find out later that they were mercenaries put out to stymie the road to Eastholme. That definitely was not their day however, as they were bested by the group's magical abilities and leadership.

Inside Eastholme we would discover most of the town had burned to the ground. Now this is where the details get a little hazy for me.. It is my understanding that there was some sort of ritual happening with a group of these fire-wielding neanderthals. They WERE TRYING to sacrifice our now halfling friend who goes by Pimkin. These incompetent magelings who had no concept of which way to point the casting wand were trying to birth Ho'hroth through burning things. Thankfully "The Winners" managed to bring back Pimkin unharmed for the most part. Her husband however didn't fare so well.

Battle Game: Embercult Pt. 1: Diminutive Sacrifices

Her Sister Ruby and Into The Plane of Fire

The path taken by the party led by Ryuujin who destroyed Ho'hroth within the plane of fire itself.

With the arrival of Ruby behind our stone walls, we were able to debrief and get most of an understanding about what had happened in Eastholme. The cultists had taken and burned half the town. The inhabitants, were dragged off as well to be used as some sort of sacrificial currency to power their meat-headed rituals. Now, thankfully, Ruby happened to have her sister's bone hair-comb. She didn't want to part with it, seeing as she was rather emotional at the time, but with some charm I managed to pry the thing off her.

I ended up using it a reagent to divine her sister Ruby's location, and luck would have it - she was damn close! I ended up calling together another group to go pick up the little lady. Sir Ryuujin, Safire, Murderpants, and others once again took up the cause.

Unfortunately I don't have direct knowledge of what transpired out there in the Edgewood Forest, but I understand from the information relayed to me afterwards that Ruby had been slain and left this note, which I've attached on the right here. The cultists had some sort of hideout in Yellowfield, by the Bewitching Basin. There was an assassination attempt by the Blackdagger mercenary group supposedly on the party as well.

When I next saw the party, they had told how they had entered the Plane of Fire inside the cultists lair and through the modified Circle of Protection had defeated Ho'hroth within his own domain. I would love to take credit for this, but I simply sent the party out to fetch Ruby. I had no clue what in the hells was taking them so long, but after I had heard Ho'hroth was banished from the inner cosmology of the planes I was elated. That is - for a time. Until the curse struck.

Battle Game: Embercult Pt. 2: Fall to Become Ember

Fall 1318 AY

The Curse

I had decided to apply to formally guard the gate. It is a burning passion that I hold, to see this land which has given me so much defended. I have grown as a person, and as a wizard in serving as a defender in the past. I have gained many friends, many allies, knowledge, and love for the people who inhabit Irongate. So, I think taking that all into account the people of Irongate had forgiven my past failures.. namely losing the garrison, and almost losing the party of Tanis to Illnor. I was elected.

Unfortunately, there was a large period of time I had been away from Irongate. Not all of this is known to me, but I will make do with what I do know here in this text. Now - a witch with some knowledge of infernal magic had become known to Irongate in some regard. I do not know much about this witch. It could have been some sort of powerful night hag. I'm not terribly sure. This thing - whatever it was - had a companion, some foul undead knight champion we would later learn to be named Vyrix. The knight had a slew of magical abilities and powers. One power in particular kept the witch safeguarded, I think? It was tied to an amulet. The powers that be sent a party after this creature to capture the amulet and to take this night hag into custody and possible questioning.

Week 1/12: Coronation and the Loss of the Outer Gate

This is when things got a little weird. The plan went off without a hitch, but the hag was never properly gagged. During her execution she spit on the members of the court, and uttered, "Hieme Frigidium", which I certainly have no understanding of. I can't find this text in any of my books, or any spellbooks of Irongate - not that the damn gate would have any! But like clockwork, bad things happened, one after another. There was a sound like the aether itself was crying, the air grew very cold, then a loud and sudden cracking! Over and over again, the cracking got louder, and an icy chill froze the town in an instant. A soulless wind from the abyss itself blew into the town, sucking all the heat from your very being. Not long after, the alarm bells of Irongate rang. I had only been inducted moments before.

This is, sort of the story of how I lost the outer gates within the first 10 minutes of being inducted. I uh, made a call for the members of the Irongate to assemble. But we had no casters.. Waves of these winged creatures began to swarm the Irongate during this time, thankfully they were mostly harmless. Spirits were strong. Everyone was doing well. We had that cheery monk Imus guarding the gate, that newly elected Meliodas was trying to figure out how to nock an arrow, it was all going great. Then - it was as if a mountain of ice itself fell on Irongate. There was this sound of lightning, CRACK! These giant creatures, the same visage as glass marched on the gates and simply took it from us. They kicked us out! Not a damn thing could injure these things. Arrows, swords, everything simply just failed against them. We would later learn their weaknesses through time.

Battle Game: The Beheading At Irongate

Scripted Music / Sound: Witch Cutscene

Week 2/12: Kia and Elwin Imprisoned! Within Our Own Barracks!

A crushing defeat followed on this, the 4th of Harvest's End for Irongate. Loss after loss followed, a lack of coordination in battle planning and a lack of spellcasters led ultimately to multiple defeats during our campaign on the frozen army.

The Inner Gates were taken by the creatures, led this time visibly by an undead general named Vyrix ("Murderpants"). He had the ability to visibly rot limbs in a matter of seconds and used this to keep the defenders of Irongate at bay. Only able to bring a relatively new healer Axie, Irongate was doomed.

After General Vyrix had broken through the inner gate, he summoned his forces and overtook the Barracks. It was here that Kia and Elwin were caught off guard, and became prisoners within their own guarded walls. A force led by Sir Hern rushed the Barracks, but the golems were hardy. The mephits had mastery of the air, and the ability to summon a wind to deflect projectiles. Archers, even one of Sir Hern's skill were hampered by the monsters' powers. The rescue attempt failed.

A wagon carrying cargo within the Inner grounds appeared to be in distress, and was guarded by the monsters who had descended on Irongate. It never made it to its destination. An overall demoralizing loss for Irongate.

(General Vyrix: 3/5 lives left)

Week 3/12: Courage Returns to Irongate

After several crushing losses, including the loss of the Barracks, Irongate steeled itself for another invasion. We had a very strong force of casters to defend on the 11th of Harvest's End. If we were to lose the armory - it would be a monumental blow since our very heavy armaments lie inside it. Not to mention the morale of our troops was low, we NEEDED this victory. If this wasn't a victory, there would be no hope in actually winning anything back.

On this day Uther Ironfist had shown to lend his sword to the defense. Even the damn queen had shown, although for reasons unrelated, but all the help was needed. The armory was surrounded by the creatures, veritably they were as strong, if not stronger than ever. The winds of magic were blowing hard as spells flew through the air in record number, both from the spellcasting Ice Mephits and from our own casters. In order to lead a successful defense of the place I had appointed a second in command to lead our army into battle. Now Lieutenant Badger was appointed on the spot, right before the alarm bells tolled. The creatures had managed to wedge themselves into an opening on the far end of the Armory but with the healing power of Queen Foxy and proper direction of the forces by Lieutenant Badger they were driven out! They had tried so damn hard to push in and maintain a strong presence, but the ability to keep everyone from major harm and to raise the dead kept the Armory strictly in our occupation. After suffering many mortal wounds the morale of their army fell and General Vyrix himself was routed.

He hasn't been seen since.

(General Vyrix: 1/5 lives left.)

Courage Returns to Irongate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1z6AZVkr5s (Link is fixed)

((For the sake of completeness, cringier first version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19-R4Iri4Q))

Week 4/12: Kia and Elwin Reunited With The Gate

A series of bad decisions led to losing a lot of ground this week. There appeared to be some manner of undead guardians lurking around the Barracks keeping Kia and Elwin locked inside. I had made the decision, since Lieutenant Badger and all of our damn guards save Vast, Breezy, (Gloria), "Another", and a few others to go ahead with the rescue. Now, you might be thinking - why in the HELL RYLORN would you send out your defenders to go prod at eternally undead guardians when you don't even have enough people to play a game of catch. It was a desperate bid on my part to save Elwin and Kia, for you see, with the absence of General Vyrix I was under the impression he could order his guardians to take his prisoners to him at any moment. I did not want to lose them the same way we lost our garrison, so many months ago.

Our first attempt, failed utterly. It turns out that inside that now frozen prison lied a new face. The strangest thing about it was he appeared to be human, which leads to all sorts of new questions. Who the hell is this? Why is he working with these forces from the abyss? Is he FROM the abyss itself? Is he some kind of warlock damned from selling his soul? Either way, we tried to put arrows in him until he chased us out of there with a swarm of undead. I recognized one of his incantations as Greater Undead Minion. He also seemed to know a few arcane spells. Ultimately, his minions prevented us from any rescue..

At some point of attacking the barracks the enemy got brave and ventured out to chase us away, taking over the marketplace in the process. I recall specifically Power Word: Shove-ing this one lifeless corpse into a vendor stall, but ultimately my efforts were useless.

When the necromancer and his minions had left the Barracks completely unprotected in the process of taking the marketplace, Vast and "Another" rushed the barracks to secure Kia and Elwin. A wild chase broke out but they were dragged to safety. A major victory for Irongate!

That victory was punished however, as the enemy waded through more of our territory - taking the Stables in the process. Whenever our Lieutenant makes it back, hopefully we can do something about this. From the Town Hall I can literally see those shambling horrors walking around.

(Sorry if I missed your name! I don't have the sign in sheet to check who defended / fought)

Week 5/12: Visions

25th of Harvest's End, 1318 AY

I have.. had a vision, involving the curse. Scars in the earth, torn, black and twisted amongst the stone set in our own mines. A foul festering stench that gives way to a dark tunnel that descends down to the deepest of places where no man or woman dares go. Where the very air itself is stale, the gases flammable and at times lethal. Exotic creatures never revealed to light harbor in the shadows..

- Rylorn the Wizard

28th of Harvest's End, 1318 AY

Irongate... these... visions are becoming more and more vibrant, and troubling..

I can see it.. so clearly in my head.. horrors from beyond the realm lie in shadow.. down in the deepest of places.

A gash ripped into the screaming earth leads down into it... A labyrinth of tunnels leading downward, until light doesn't exist and time stops, leading into a blank... nothingness - a void.. an abyss...

- Rylorn the Wizard

30th of Harvest's End, 1318 AY

Our townsfolk have been trying to help me. But they don't get it.

They don't know what it is. They couldn't POSSIBLY KNOW. HOW COULD THEY UNDERSTAND? I keep getting ASKED what does it all mean, and I can't give them answers.

The one truth I know they would never accept, it would burden and terrify them.

I've since stopped speaking to them about what I see when I close my eyes. I know what the future holds and what it involves, but it goes the same way as it did in Spring. There's no use in holding back from destiny. Those who serve the gate will have their purpose fulfilled. If they don't the curse will continue, and there will be nothing left to save.

I don't worry about what lies within Irongate anymore. I now know the face of true evil and where it lies.

- Rylorn

Week 6/12: Weaponmaster

2nd of Winterfeast, 1318 AY

Irongate refused my call to arms.

They instead upheld the tradition of Weaponmaster, and held a tournament.

Fools - all of them.

- Rylorn

4th Winterfeast, 1318 AY

The bones are rattling again.

Everytime the wind howls it clinks.

My hand is red and it hurts to write.

I can't sleep.

- Rylorn

6 Winterfeast 1318

They're always watching. There's one in Irongate. If I don't act I die.

I'll bring down his whole guild.

Ry