Bitter Coast Quest Campaign
Contents
The Background
The Bitter Coast Quest Guild has sought to create an on-going campaign of linked quests. Together these quests have told a continuing story which has been told over several reigns. This page allows those in Bitter Coast, or anyone with extra time, to reminisce about quests gone by, or to introduce them to the story so far if they have recently joined the group.
Major Villains
Once known as Garatrix the Wise, the leader of the ascetic order of Wizards known as the Seekers. His origins are shrouded in mystery, and has been a Lich for as long as anyone in his order can recall. The Seekers prospers for a long time, until a powerful entity attacked the order, and serially possessed them. Garatrix used the only artifact of enough power to contain the entity. . . his own phylactery. Garatrix knew that the corruption of his phylactery would eventually corrupt him, so his order constructed a prison-tomb, and sealed their leader inside, presumable for eternity.
An age passed, and without warning Garatrix escaped, killing all the members of his former order that he encountered. He was now known as Garatrix the Insidious, and he left his ancient home seeking to conquer the world for his new master, the possessing entity known as the Warlich of Control.
When Garatrix arrived at the borders of the Barony of the Bitter Coast, he noticed that they were led by a powerful warrior, who was skilled in all facets of battle (level 6 in all classes), this was Sir Darva Oakstake, the Baron of Bitter Coast. Garatrix knew he was an immediate threat to his master's plans, and sought refuge in the nearby Bitter Coast Necropolis, where he raised a formidable undead army, led by a vicious Void Stalker, which Garatrix summoned from the world of darkness.
Manipulating a local gang of thugs called the "Marauders", which were composed of bandits, and criminals, who preyed on the good citizens of Bitter Coast, and sold their services to anyone who had money, Garatrix had their leader curse Darva using the power of his phylactery. The taint of the Warlich's essence made the phylactery deadly to the touch, so Garatrix let the bandit leader use the "Ring of Power", which Garatrix possessed.
After Darva fell gravely ill, it was learned that the Marauders were somehow behind it. After their defeat in battle, their leader was questioned, who told them the answers would be found in the Necropolis.
In the Necropolis, the Bitter Coast militia fought several undead creatures, and gained the "Ring of Power" by defeating a powerful skeletal warrior, who was mystically bound to the ring, but as the militia raced to the phylactery to obtain it, so that it could be brought to Lady Tiliri, and a cure might be discovered, they encountered Garatrix.
In the ensuing battle, Garatrix was touched by his own tainted phylactery, and without the power of the "Ring of Power" (which the militia possessed), the dark power destroyed his body.
It was Morgue, who had the ring, but because Garatrix's phylactery was not destroyed, but instead kept in the Bitter Coast Treasury, Garatrix was reborn, and attacked the Bitter Coast Assassin Guild HQ with his undead minions. Catching Morgue and Kagaroshi off-guard, they took both Assassins in the night, turning them in nightmarish undead Assassins.
The heroes once again found Garatrix in the Necropolis, but could not destroy the phylactery without wielding the "Ring of Power", or the deadly curse would slay them, even through their weapons. It was only after Morgue was defeated, the "The Ring of Power" taken, and the phylactery destroyed that Garatrix was consumed by his own magic, but in his dying breath he cried "My Master! You are free!"
Summoned by Garatrix the Insidious to act as General of his undead armies, he was freed from his service when Garatrix was slain, and his phylactery destroyed by the heroes from Bitter Coast.
The Voidstalker did not return to the plane of death when Garatrix was destroyed however, and he continued to gather undead soldiers, and launch attacks against those he perceived as his enemies.
Unlike Garatrix, the Voidstalker had no grand plans of conquest, but simply followed his last orders from his former master, to gather and lead a great army of undead. The Voidstalker interpreted this to mean that his mission was to add to his undead army by raising the corpses of the dead, or the freshly slain.
He, and his army were defeated many times by the heroes of Bitter Coast. He had a temporary alliance with a Dragon Cultist, who gave him a magical sphere to guard in exchange for the bodies of fresh dead.
The Voidstalker, and his undead minions became a constant source of conflict in Bitter Coast, until Sir Darva Oakstake (under the influence of the Warlich of Control) decided that due to the Elven Civil War, that Bitter Coast could not tolerate a presence such as the Voidstalker and it's minions within it's borders.
Focusing all of the Barony's resources, Darva and the members of Bitter Coast annihilated the Voidstalker's minions, and sent the Voidstalker himself back to the plane of death where he was spawned.
Once he had a name, and a life, but all that changed ages ago. The power of a dark, forgotten entity changed him into a being of tremendous power and malevolence, which was known as the Warlich of Control.
He had the power to dominate the will of friend and foe alike, and led his armies to many victories. He also found that he could abandon his body as an incorporeal spirit and directly possess anyone. Unfortunately while his spirit was possessing an enemy King, in order to plant discord within his Kingdom; Assassins found his unconscious body and destroyed it.
Without his body, the Warlich was weakened, and couldn't posses those immune to control magic. The Warlich traveled from body to body, gathering information, and seeking a powerful being would make a suitable permanent host, during his travels the Warlich found the tower of the order of Wizards called "The Seekers".
In the battle with the Seekers, the Warlich encountered little resistance, but something happened which he did not expect, the leader of the Seekers, an ancient Lich named Garatrix the Wise, using his skill in magic, trapped the Warlich's essence within his own phylactery, from which he could not escape. Garatrix ordered his disciples to seal him in a prison-tomb for enternity as he did battle from within with the entity trapped in his phylactery (which bound them both spiritually).
Ages passed, and the Warlich slowly corrupted the mind of Garatrix until he became his willing servant, and by combining their powers, escaped from the Seeker's tower and began to formulate how to amass a new army, and take over the world.
Garatrix (now known as Garatrix the Insidious) traveled to Bitter Coast, and seeing Sir Darva's skill and experience (6th level everything) determined that he was too big of a threat to his master to ignore, and using his tainted phylactery, cursed Darva with a powerful magic that even he wasn't immune to.
Although the heroes of Bitter Coast defeated Garatrix, his phylactery wasn't destroyed, and he was reborn. Once again he was defeated, and his phylactery was destroyed releasing the Warlich of Control from his stone prison. In his mad glee, the Warlich possessed members of Bitter Coast one after another, watching them kill each other, only to be possessed themselves. The Monks and Barbarians in the group could not be possessed however, and the Warlich (when everyone else was dead) was forced to flee.
The Warlich however, had at last found his perfect vessel, the Paladin Darva. The Warlich could not directly possess him however because of his magical immunities, but by taking residence within his being, was able to corrupt his mind and soul with his dark whispers and promises.
Far away, a war between the Elves and Drow (Dark Elves), had released a powerful armored monster, which took command of the Drow armies, and began subjugating every land it came across. Darva (influenced by the Warlich of Control) decided that to maintain the security of his Barony, many threats needed to eliminated. The bandit Marauders were mercilessly slaughtered, even when unarmed and begging for mercy. The Voidstalker and his undead minions were destroyed and banished, and even a peaceful Dwarven village of craftsmen were slaughtered for maintaining neutrality.
When Mistress Alaina spoke up against these actions, she was arrested and put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death, many in Bitter Coast rebelled against Darva and the Ravens (who all shared their leaders dark taint through their bond), and a period of civil war erupted, and although the rebels claimed few victories, their numbers grew.
An Elven scout appeared in Bitter Coast to ask assistance of Sir Darva (who being part Elven, was a known ally of the Elven race). The rebels warned him that Darva had been changed, but suddenly a Drow tracking party appeared, led by a Drow, with several Ork followers (the Drow had conquered the Ork Horde by this time). In the Battle which followed Darva and Ravens played one side against the other, and killed the survivors to erase the existence the entire affair.
The rebels also traveled to the tower of the Seekers, where (after destroying three Golems, and slaying the three head Wizards) found the journal of Garatrix, but couldn't read it since it was written in High Arcane, which only Master Wizards could read. (Darva and Alaina being the only Master Wizards in Bitter Coast)
The journal contained an account of Garatrix's struggle with the Warlich, and due to their connection, was able to record the monster's weakness, the spell "yield".
Later, when an advanced platoon of the Drow armies arrived in Bitter Coast (consisting of Drow, Orks, and Humans), which demanded the surrender of Bitter Coast, and even appealed to the rebels to aid them in conquering Darva's forces, in exchange for loyalty to the Drow Empire, and it's laws. The rebels did not join the Drow, and defended their homeland instead.
In the battle that followed the Drow forces were beaten back, and Darva turned on the Rebels. The rebels had prepared for this however, and when he was temporarily incapacitated, they cast the "yield" spell on him, freeing Darva from it's influence, and banishing the Warlich of Control forever.
Minor Villains
The Dragon Cultist, is the name of the mysterious wizard who traveled to the Bitter Coast seeking to establish a cult, in worship of his Black Dragon patron. The Black Dragon, which the cultist worshiped rested in a cave, sealed by a magical sphere, which the cultist gave to the Voidstalker, whom he made a pact with.
After buying the services of the Marauders, the cultist attacked a small village in Bitter Coast, killing it's defenders, and carrying the rest of the citizens off as sacrifices to the dragon. The Voidstalker used his dark magic to raise the slain villages as zombies to add to his army, and called them to his Necropolis headquarters.
The heroes of Bitter Coast successfully defeated the Dragon Cultist, and his Marauder hirelings, but before they could slay him, he summoned his Black Dragon patron, who was driven away by the heroes.
The heroes than confronted the Voidstalker, and his undead minions in the Necropolis, forcing a retreat, and obtaining the magical sphere which the dragon's cave was sealed with.
Finally, attacking the dragon in it's lair, the heroes slew the beast, and freed most of the kidnapped villagers; thus ending the threat of the Dragon Cultist, and his beastly patron.
NPC Organizations
- The Marauders: A group of bandits and criminals who would rather live on the outskirts of Bitter Coast, robbing travelers, and selling their mercenary services to anyone with enough money, than perform an honest days work among Bitter Coast's peaceful citizenry.
- Village Dwarves: A small village lies within Bitter Coast's borders, inhabited by a small number of craftsmen, and weaponsmiths from a nearby Dwarven Kingdom. They maintain neutrality in the affairs of Bitter Coast, and only wish to peacefully sell their wares. Fibli the Dwarven weaponsmith once lived in this village.
- The Seekers: An order of Wizards, who's pursuit of knowledge and learning consumed all they did. They were organized by the Lich, Garatrix the Wise. Most of their order were killed when some type of monster broke into their headquarters, and desecrated the tomb of their beloved former leader. Those who were away at the time of the event, collecting artifacts and tomes recorded the tragedy in their records. Garatrix's journal was found amide the debris, but was written in "High Arcane" (only Master Wizards can read it), and none of the survivors had attained that sacred rank.
More information
- Bitter Coast Quest Guild The Group responsible for Quests and Roleplaying events.
- A Map of the Bitter Coast, made using Campaign Cartography software [1]
- The Bitter Coast Website website, complete with photo gallery, forum, and video section.
For information on other chapters in amtgard look here
![[1]](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z64/morguenaeryn/Bitter_Coast_Map.jpg){kind=link}