Zes Zure Personen

The **Zeta Zoo of Power** is a mysterious adventuring party that originated in Arkiun after Fredegar and his associates were sent there to work as slaves as punishment for various crimes, most notably the murder of innocent civilians by Fredegar. The cold blooded murderer and his allies would take center stage in various important events that form part of the recent history of Tumiun. They were also confusingly known as the **Six Sour Persons**, a name they picked to spite their antagonist group of evil Quantar calling themselves the Sour Six. The name of the party contributed little to their overal reputation, as their presence was largely characterized by most of its members likeness to beasts and a their general aura of chaos. Only the elf between them seemed in any way normal, and thus they also became known to some as the traveling circus called **Fredegar and the Franimals.**

### Historical inaccuracies

Most information about his old teams was gained from Fredegar by the Silver Bond after his liberation from the wooden mask and seems to have been tainted by Fredegars imagination, possibly mixed with local folklore as humanoid beasts were mentioned that resemble warriors seen in some of the wildman clans of the Twelve. Most of his tales include his close companion Gekebeer for example, that likely belonged to the bear clan of Uru and is remembered the way he is in honor of his character. Seeing as his oldest memories include the workings of Maniaka, the master of madness, strange correlations such as those can be taken as an argument for generally taking his grand stories with a grain of salt.

These corruptions are not surprising, however, for it is assumed Fredegar had been stuck in a state of torture during the estimated 5 years he sported the white mask. It's remarkable even, most meticulous details necessary for his stories to check out, that do hold up after long examination. Even the interaction with an older but better documented adventuring group called The Order of the Ibex was verified, from which a crucial artefact was obtained. Their meet took place in the old headquarters situated in the River Realm of Sestiun years after the Ibex would have fallen apart. The house still remains with clues that it was in fact inhabited by someone all those years.

## Killer Kick-ass Characters (KKC)

Fredegar had spent a lot of time working in the army of Sestiun but it did not satisfy his need for power. His goal of becoming boss of the army would remain far out of sight even if he did gain a rank or two. Fate would bring him back to his old friends as he took a small break from his duties and traveled to the Bright Forest where he reunited with Burroh and Gekebeer. They formed the core of a legendary adventuring party called KKC. Their deeds would not always be moral, but after a seven years of separation, they would continue like never before.

These long forgotten times are mingled with older adventures, where the group overcame an infestation of gnawing shadows and solved a mystery of a haunted town, among others. More importantly, a magical book was obtained with links to a demonic figure, who would later become known as Maniaka. In an effort to use his power, Gekebeer betrayed a child living in a local town who had to started to trust him despite his scary bearlike exterior, after he showed the little one kindness for an extended period and even shared his favourite honey cookies. After stabbing his friend and smearing his blood over the pages of the cursed book, an old party member that was thought to be gone appeared before them again. It was Hornbori and he would come along on their further journey but only partly. His soul was not intact as he could barely eat, walk and speak, always mumbling and dreaming about mysteries. Nothing coherent could be communicated with their old ally, except that his obsession with an old love remained: Emilou, her name was. His love was ugly even when it began because they had known each other for less than an hour, and it was the deeds of his party that led to her death in a fire that burned her entire hometown.

### Silm Hirm conflict

The encounter that set in motion Fredegars resistance against the Silaman, and incidentally everything that led to the end of the Silent War, took place in a cave where a small creature appeared to the adventurers. His name was Tippie. Although no one could understand him so this name was given to him. He was first identified as a rare earthborn creature, explaining his appearance in the cave. However, the group later concluded he was of Hirumai descent and likely hid from the people orchestrating their brutal extinction. Little was known of these people, and for the time Tippie could hide in Gekebeers bag next to the honey cookies, while the group found out more about the violent truth between these two nations.

Around this time the adventurers came across a small village in which Karroto Ka, a small boy with immense power, took the interest of the group. Their time together would be cut short however, because Fredegar would continue to challenge the boy to the point where he began to cry and the group was kindly asked to leave. A little less kindly was Fredegar, who apart from his bad behaviour towards children, also left some without parents, as he saw it fit to chop the heads off of innocent bystanders. Something that he would later come to pay for in the Fey Killer of the River Realm Trial, and later the revival of Karubrimba that would cause great pain felt over the entire world.

### The resistance

When the group finally learned the dark details of all the events surrounding the Silm, and the war between them and the Hirm which peaked with Kataklysmus, the went to the Summer Palace. Fredegar reunited with some of his army companions and learned they were planning a coup. Apparently, the Silm had much influence over the army and the soldiers would not agree with the current leadership anymore. The group was happy to hear their suspicions were shared and agreed to help infiltrate the palace. As Fredegar was the highest ranking officer among the resistance, he led the coup. The adventurers along with two soldiers would enter the high tower and speak with one in power there. Tippie was handed to another soldier as everyone deemed it to dangerous and impractical to bring him on this mission. It would not take long in the end. After being found out pretty soon, the adventurers were teleported upstairs to the palaces peak. There they met a man with blond hair and eyes shining in all colours of the rainbow eating at the head of a long diner table. This was the man in charge, called Labinnah. He told his guests how the revolt was planned by him and how far his power stretched. Using magic he showed each member of group a terrible future together with a vision and a promise of a bright one, if they'd agree to do as he pleased. After hearing the questions about the Silms violent actions regarding the Hirm, Labinnah responded he had no intentions of furthering this old conflict and would support the group against the evil power that enforced this horrendous form of discrimination. For now the group could better leave silently and remain out of sight because the forces mentioned were no joke. Soon after, the party took their leave in an extravagant way by flying down from the tower to the forests using gliders. He advised them to travel eastward and look for allies in Irthilen.

### Eternal fire

From high, the team could see a fire burning down a house. Stepping in to save the day they found a man called Victor who apparently did not want to be saved. Although the fire did hurt him, he was unable to die. Not by any means. After showing this in some horrific tests, the group tried to help the man. A solution was found with the use of the demonic book but it might have caused more evil than good in the end. Victor would become stuck in the pages just like their old friend Hornbori did, who now remained with them in his physical form. They could summon Victor but he would be set ablaze for his entire time on this earth.

The fight against the powers at play caught flame too. On posters the heroes could see their own faces pictured as wanted criminals. Unaware to the extend of their own foul deeds and those of their companions, they mistakenly did not let this occasion frighten them. The only exception was Gekebeer, who changed his name to Gekeman and wore robes around his hairy body to disguise himself. Next to them were some other heads with larger bounties written underneath on the wanted board. They would soon meet one of these crooks outside Irthilen where they even got caught in a fight. He was a mad slinging slasher and fought fiercely against all of the group members. Eventually he did meet his demise but the group was so beaten down that the following moment when city police forces arrived at the scene they had nowhere to go. Only Burroh could escape after they surrounded the area as his allies were taken into custody while he fled to the trees.

### Intercontinental underground movements

During the short time in Irthilen before they got imprisoned, the gang got involved with Alexander Mormik Nornail, who led the existing rebellion against the Silm. Not only was it a surprise that Labinnahs advice held true, the leader originating from Vindikfill had done way more than expected in exposing the manipulations that happened behind the scenes. With all the illusions Labinnah showed the team it was unclear if he could be trusted but this seemed good at least. They had seen him once again after their escape from the summer palace, when the Silm army was supposedly coming after them and he told them he'd hold them off a while longer while the adventurers went ahead. Labinnah would never tell them much, not even then when he was already bruised and bloodied, but at least the briefcase full of evidence proofed everything necessary to uproot the evil causing all this.

Burroh went back to the resistance and broke into the prison to discus strategies with his mates. At this time, our heroes could not understand the charges they were facing. Thinking they would only face arbitrary accusations and with the documents at hand, and struggling to sneak the big Gekebeer out of prison, they decided to face them head on in court. Should things go south, they could always resort to a plan involving their braindead companion. This would be the moment to show the world the evil Silm pulling strings. They did also let their newly met friend Pom out of prison and he escaped out of Irthilen together with Alexander and the rest of the rebellion.

### The Fey Killer of the River Realm Trial

It did not quite go according to plan. During the trial numerous eye witnesses came forth, including a girl named Agatha, who had seen her own parents get decapitated before her eyes by the longsword of Fredegar. In fact, the trial was completely aimed at bringing down this monster that killed honest people all around the River Realm. Lots of people were gathered for the court hearing, and even the family of Fredegar was outraged to hear what had happened. Burroh sneaked in in between witnesses and started to shift the attention in the courtroom to the more pressing dangers of the Silm but he was not heard one bit. Burroh panicked, he was a man of the forest, not capable of getting to the hearts of the crowd. He noticed armed men with long blonde hair at the doors and guards coming at him. There still was one plan.

As he shouted "Everything is in there! Proof of the evil plot of the Silm. Right here!", he threw the briefcase through the room for all to see. Following this, knowing time ran short, he pointed his finger towards Hornbori. "He made us do it!" After which shouted "EMILOU!". This all resulted in the room transforming to a sea of chaos. Gekebeer caught on to the plan and acted as if he had come under control of the wizard and started shouting the name of his lost lover as well while throwing large objects through the room. One of the objects, among others, a big wooden bench, hit the family of Fredegar. As his siblings were turned to a bloody pulp, Fredegars little brother, known as "Mad Ed" could only laugh hysterically.

The judge ruled against the KKC and sentenced them to Arkiun to live out the rest of their days as slaves. As they were brought along to the ships by the guards with blonde hair they noticed even more traces of the Silm in the city, with the harbor full of their recognizable sails. The group of adventurers had lost completely. Some of their members would take the harsh treatment and the denial of all their freedom worse than others. Burroh would never be the same. However, the adventure was not nearly done for the members of the KKC. Those who would not give up the adventuring life would later form the foundation of a group that shaped the future to their wishes.

## Zeta Zoo of Power (ZZP)

After the court case against the KKC and the countless murders there were found guilty of, the band was deported to Arkiun to work the rest of their lives in one of the slave camps mining for precious materials. Burroh could not handle the punishment, as he had been blind to the evil deeds of his old friend. On board and in prison he grew more and more estranged of the rest, isolating himself in sorrow. He broke, just as another member of the group who was allowed to return to his homeland only to hear that during his time away his kingdom in the distant land had fallen.

Fredegar and Gekebeer held themselves together though, swearing they would return one day to Sestiun and repay the Silm for the (partial) injustice the Silm had administered. Their anger would only grow during their imprisonment and when the moment arose where they could escape, they grabbed it with both hands.

### Arkiun

After some time in the mining encampment, where Gnersk joined they group, chaos broke out one cold night. A flood of strange gnomes stormed over the camp, incapacitating most. They seemed to mostly hunt out and eat sweet tasting boogers and other green pulp that was growing from their victims.

That same night, Staal Paligne, stumbled into the camp as it was the first sign of civilization he found on his personal quest for which he abandoned his home nation underseas. As the gnomes fought everyone in the camp only a couple of survivors remained. Staal tried to convince some to join his party in pursuit of the gnomes. They had taken with them all provisions, so staying meant all would surely die. Two others joined the group as they went after the laughing pesters, deeper into the night, towards their home.

#### House of the nightman

After tailing the small little bastards towards their headquarters, the group arrived at the mansion of Joelaboela. They had no idea about the strength of this person, but they did know he was the legendary nightman and that he was behind the attack of the previous evening. The group decided to infiltrate in his house and ambush the unpleasant figure. Directly after the start of carrying out this plan came the realization that was a giant mistake. Staal Paligne, who stood on the frontline of the offense against the Master of Punishment, wanted to keep him from coming closer to him and his allies using his long trident to impede him as the enemy stood in the door opening. However, as Staal went in for the first two strikes, he could not even touch the figure through webbed armor of his long white beard. Staal knew when to quit and ordered everyone to retreat instantly.

Luckily his allies were capable of many magical tricks and help stop the nightman from carrying out his revenge on the new people at the top of his list. They crippled him with spiders webs and flames, setting ablaze the entire house while the party ran through the halls. In one of the rooms Lasso picked up a golden scroll container. Everyone could escape safely and after a good period of running away they realized they weren't being followed anymore. Stopping to catch their breath, the party looked to the scroll inside the golden container as chills ran down their spines.

In it was letter addressed to Joelaboela from the Sistersuns: A group they had not heard of anywhere before but that definitely had something to do with the Silm and the evil masters, as the letter commanded the sour six to gather troops and sail to war. The purpose of this battle was to finally end the Hirm.

#### Unbelievable Encounters

The escape had gone relatively speedy. However, the party was now located in a very dangerous area rich with monsters, the first of which were some rockwalkers impeding a narrow passage. The new members of the party hadn't yet been humbled by the perils of a long journey and decided to engage with them unnecessarily. After fighting off a troll too and barely making it out alive, in the days soon after, danger showed itself once again. From a cliff they could see that a man had seemingly got himself involved with two giants. This lead to another near death experience, however, after the necessary wailing of magical potions and slinging of spells, a flying, axe-wielding Gekebear charged them with all his might. Thunder roared as he slayed the giants.

The man they rescued was known as Doegadan, a hirumai soldier that traveled far in search of mysterious artefacts. Unbeknownst to the ZZP, doegadan had been looking for precisely them six in order to fulfill his destiny. He aided the party in this dangerous area and told them of the conflicts between the silm and his people. He would later lead them to sestiun to look for the key that was also foretold in the prohpecy, and his magical device pointed towards the other central continent.

Before that though, more monsters crossed paths with the party. A pack of huge Hornwolves threatened to attack but were calmed by Gnersk using his keen use of nature magic in order to kindly comunicate with his fellow living being. With their help, the party could quickly get to the ship of their Hirm companionand set sail towards the other side of the ocean. Staal went back to his homelands while they traveled the seas, leaving with the party a bundle of ocean coins. In his time apart from the group, he would be captured and bear witness the complete extend of the giant army gathered by the Sour Six, only to escape just as quickly. With his resolve strengthened he called upon the ocean to aid the ZZP. Giant sea turtles came to heed his call. They quickly caught up to ocean coins on the ship and the rest of the boatride was over in no time.

### Sestiun

The ZZP came ashore near the city of Irthilen. Strange stories circled around in the city of the summer palace that had apparently fallen to the Hirm, even though a couple years prior Fredegar and Gekebeer had singlehandedly felt the overpowering presence of the Silm there. They came to the conclusion that the Silm were spreading false information, encouraging sympathies for a war on the Hirm people. Meanwhile, Doegadan had to use a magical cloaking device that made him look like an innocent child. Even with this, he feared for his life and preferred to stay in the cart which the party had bought for their journey over land. In the city, while they were gathering supplies, Fredegar and Gekebeer, who again used the cover of his alter ego Gekeman, saw the propaganda work before their very eyes as a general of the Silm army marched through engulfed with cheers of the people. The Golden dragon of Amberonau he was called. Fredegar felt extremely jealous of him and his flapping cape.

On the road further inland the band got in conflict with the authorities. This time, it was not a regular patrol group of the Laws Watch because there was a Silm general with them. Tension rose as he inspected the cart where Doegadan was hiding. Staal tried to talk with the enemies but failed in clearing any of the suspicions. In order to distract the general, the bird looking wizard among them transformed the Hirm into a horse. The caravan shocked and everything turned to chaos once again as a battle ensued. In the end the Silm general got decapitated at the hands of Fredegar. He would not be the last one of his kind to find his end this way.

#### Vile revenge

The bloody killings that by now had become his trademark would not aid in the destruction of just his enemies. In a tavern, the group was approached by a familiar figure: Agatha, the girl whose parents Fredegar had slain right in front of the orphans eyes. She was here to make him pay for everything he had done to her, harnessing evil powers granted to her from making a demonic pact. As her flesh turned to a dark bloodied blade she started the attack.

In the fire at the center of the tavern grew a great being made of flames that aided Agatha by burning the party members she could not get to. The tavern transformed into a blazing hell as the girl shouted of the evil surrounding her and how it would never stop anymore. Staal focused on the fire demon by collapsing the roof on its head and throwing poison flasks he looted from the giants in Arkiun into the source, but it did little apart from turning its fire green. Only as Agatha herself went down did the evil go away, for a moment. Her slain body lie next to the smoldering tavern but it had not lost all its life: From inside her belly seemed to grow something. Witnessing this gruesome yet miraculous sight, the adventurers rushed towards it to see if they could save this unborn child she apparently carried. However, the growing of her belly was something even more sinister as it increased quickly. The death of Agatha was causing something else to awake. The pact for power she had made was to do with Karubrimba, the Death king, and the events leading up to her vengeful passing had set everything in place for him to rise again into this world. Her body exploded into a big fireball of dark flames. While the Master of Death returned in victorious laughter, the group scattered in an attempt to save themselves from the explosion. Fredegar was thanked for making it all possible and then as quickly as Karubrimba appeared did he vanish too.

After suffering defeat twice at the hands of individual members of the Sour Six, the heroes could use some victories in their quest. They would eventually work hard on cleaning their own mess but it would have never been possible without some help from outside. Their work for the greater good showed its results too, as they would soon take a crucial step in completing their journey.

#### Old Allies

The artefact that would function as a key towards their goal in Berenost that Doegadan had sent the adventurers to get here in Sestiun was very nearby. Their long journey would be almost done if they could just find the person supposedly holding this wooden statue and obtain the key. He was Stupling, a member of the old adventuring party called the Order of the Ibex. He had grown old from his adventuring days and seemed to be the last one left. His only response to questions about this were cries of sorrow which told the ZZP enough. They came to an agreement that if they could help the old Stupling fulfill one last quest by defeating a dragon that tormented the region he would give them the artefact that the searched. The battle with the dragon would sadly cost him his own life too as he finished the mighty creature. In his final moments, Stupling handed the ZZP the Talisman of the Allfather that he had carried with him for decades.

Now the time came close where the war against the Hirm would arrive at its bloody end. The group had to go towards Berenost on a ship and stop the army of the Amberonian Silm that was supported by the Sour Six as well. However, the ZZP did not feel they have the necessary manpower at their disposal to stop an entire war. Coincidentally, their cart became the target of a band of thieves whose leader was a familiar face: Pom!

After letting them go when he recognized his old friends that helped him escape prison, he had a request to help him do it again but this time by setting free other criminals that he knew in a nearby encampment. The Adventurers choose to help him in this regard, thinking a band of thieves was just what they needed to strengthen the forces going against the Silm. Even though it was a dangerous endeavor, the team thought long and hard about devising a plan using invisibility to sneak into the camp and open the gates, leaving the camp with the least people injured. There were more plans actually: Should things go wrong, the ZZP would hand out weapons to the bandits from the encampment and go bear mode on the soldiers. This seemed like an excellent plan to Fredegar in particular, whose thirst for blood hadn't been quenched in quite some time, and Gekebeer, who was not the best when it came to stealth missions.

The breaking out of the fort was successful, Poms allies would join the ZZP in the fight against the silm. However, the ship the party could secure was not large enough for the thieves and they stayed. The battle was extremely bloody. The plan to stay under cover did not last long and it ended with an invisible Fredegar running along the walls of the fort while slicing and pushing soldiers to their deaths, and finally taking his time with the Silm general stationed in the fort. In the final moments when the general gave in to his invisible foe he cursed Fredegar as a coward that dared not face him in a fair fight. His head left his body soon after.

### Berenost

The band raced the seas to their final battleground. However, apart from the fleet of Silm they avoided were six ships that seemed hell-bent on destroying the ZZP. This definitely were the Sour Six. Here on the waters north of Berenost, the final battle would take place between the ZZP and these evil masters, Staal Paligne jumped out in the water and managed to delay the ships in pursuit. Without hesitation, even while coming eye-to-eye yet again with a monster this time named Turpentos, he attacked. Shockingly, his swift strike to the head of the Master of Deceit did not bite. It was at that moment he again realized the power difference between mere mortals like himself and the gods that are the Masters. Once again, he would flee to fight again another day.

The party, under the guidance of Doegadan met more Hirm people of whom an old Druid told them more of their destiny. The Hirm apparently underwent a ritual upon growing up where they would carve a prophecy into their backs that always came to fruition. This is how Doegadan had known to find them and why their party was there. Doegadan had left out one thing though: His prophecy also told would find his own death in service of these six that would save the Hirm. Just as the party was heading deeper into the jungle to find their destiny, the boss of the army Cherlandyr showed himself to be an actual golden dragen, not just by name. He transformed into a giant monster and fought the ZZP. It was Doegadan who held the Silm off by sacrificing himself so the rest could escape in the ocean of trees where the dragon could not get to them anymore.

After going deeper and deeper into this green maze one more miraculous experience lie in wait for the ZZP, that would trump all others. The Talisman seemed to guide them here, which was their only lead as the ground itself and the bush around became of strange shapes where any sense of direction were lost. It was there they met a living skeleton who had with him adventuring gear. The mysterious person was looking for the Allfather for so long, he had died and still he was looking. He was a kind fellow and showed that no one could ever find the treasure at the heart of the continent that was not supposed to do so. Luckily, with the Talisman pointing them ahead through the bushes, the found their way to the miraculous sight of the Tree in the valley of life that was as big as an entire country. The skeleton had finally found the end of his journey, and so too would the ZZP:

#### The End

In the overgrown heart of the Berenost jungle, they were granted an audience of none other than the Allfather himself. Not only could they speak with him directly while the tree god energy coarsed the veins of Gnersk, it also bestowed them a wish that could shape the future any way they could think of. After much thought and discussion they decided their final wish should be for as much of the Allfathers power as they could handle. The Allfather spoke his final words that how it was wished, it shall be, before a bright pillar of light filled the sky in berenost.

After that happened, the tide turned completely on the war front. Water would rise and swoop away Silm soldiers from the sacred grounds of Berenost. Soldiers that survived explain how the saw the heads fly off their comrades around them and thunder shook the ground. Cherlandyr would face the party once again but this time he'd be the one to flee. Overconfident with his newfound power, the bird like wizard of the team went after him alone so they would not let him escape. Before the team would split they found his body near the coast of Berenost. Even though the war was over, their greatest foe had escaped after all.

### Vindikfill

The story of the Silent war found its way into the history books and in recent times it would become very relevant again for the adventuring party of the Silver Bond. They would pick up where the ZZP left off. As they were given hints from the mistress of Fate about the man with a white face, among others, that would lead them to their destiny.

They followed the clues and visions bestowed to them by Fata deep into the Northwood. There, a mysterious force of evil had expelled life and the gods of nature. A wintery mist of death hang there deep in the forest. Many adventurer had gone in attempt to drive away the evil but without succes. Their stories did tell the one called Night Frost that held watch there spoke words sounding like "Friend". Even still, it was extremely dangerous near him because he attacked anyone with his massive sword.

Many had died in that forest, but the Silver bond succeeded and freed the man of his white mask. Under it was none other than Fredegar who apparently was only trying to say his name this whole time but the mask and other wood around him like vines and roots hurt him with every movement he tried to make. He told the Party about his adventures and how in the end, the Allfather deemed him unworthy of his power and put on the mask on his face to imprison him. He cursed the old god and said now all he wanted was to get his revenge on the one that killed his bird like ally.

#### Fredegar, who is he?

After hearing all his stories, the silver bond did not know if they could trust the elf. He told of his old party member and soon enough they would find an artefact confirming their existance: A magical pot called "Staal paligne's waterproof inkt"! Still he seemed like a dangerous person. In the nearest stormhouse Redmight they would leave him. In another vision they saw him behead a woman in beautiful dress. Soon enough it did happen, Fredegar saw something they missed and jumped next to one of their companions and sliced her throat. She had suddenly appeared wearing this new dress and the team was extremely surprised how it all became reality. In the middle of the central hall the red blood the flowed, even more surprisingly, turned to gold. Before their eyes, Cherlandyr emerged.