Undying Ascendants

### Location(s)

Sym’fadè Confederacy, Brennon, Everspring, Sol Oas, Peaceland Commonwealth, Zondros, Talios, Amerale, United Sanctuaries of Orelisle, Others

## Participants

### Binturian Enemies

Undying Ascendants, Dominated Elves/Demons/Spirits/Long-Lived People

## Casualties and Creations

### Casualties and Losses

Roughly 500 people across Orelisle permanently lose their emotions and willpower

## Common Knowledge

Citizens of the Sym’fadè Confederacy might recall a period in early 10,019 A.B. where people would disappear, or reports of whole villages going missing. People of other nations, like Brennon, Everspring, Sol Oas, Peaceland Commonwealth, Zondros, other elven nations, Talios, Amerale, the United Sanctuaries of Orelisle, and the underground at large might recall similar incidents.

Additionally, members of certain Beast-Folk races (Rat-Folk, Mouse-Folk, Carp-Folk, etc.) may have heard of a group going around Orelisle and messing with the lives of longer-lived races. Turtle-Folk in particular would be intimately aware, as this very group ousted them from some of their home islands.

## Contributing Factors

### The Undying Ascendants

A cult of Beast-Folk, dedicated to attaining immortality to spite the world that had given them shorter lifespans than even other sapient species. It spent years gathering members from shorter-lived races (rat-folk, mouse-folk, carp-folk, bass-folk, catfish-folk, biennial and annual plant dryads, and even some orcs), as well as research into exactly how to make their dream a reality. At last, through years of study the cult leader Inga unearthed the same secret that the dark elves had discovered millennia ago: that gods could be made from the will of mortals, and they in turn could bolster their faithful.

Under Inga’s leadership, the Undying Ascendants developed a ritual that could steal the willpower and emotion of a mortal, without stealing their entire soul, and began preparations to harness mass quantities of that willpower in a new ritual to make her a goddess that could grant the Ascendants the immortality they so craved. Training its members in the arts of Phantasmal Magic and Essence, the Ascendants stealthily infiltrated and invaded dozens and dozens of small towns and villages across Orelisle, taking the willpower of its most long-lived citizens and recruiting any freshly-dominated, able-bodied victims for future endeavors. Many bases of operation were set up on the mainland, while a main base was established on the leatherback turtle-folk island Haversdale (most of its original inhabitants were either killed, enthralled, or exiled), and all cultists outside it agreed to have their knowledge of the cult’s true base of operations suppressed.

## Binturian Involvement

The Binturians became involved in the affairs of the Undying Ascendants almost by chance, as they followed a series of mysterious events surrounding the disappearance of a dark elven noblewoman. Their journey led them to Haelwyd, then back to Adria where they lost two of their members to the cultists and two more lost their willpower to their scheme. Now motivated by righteous fury and vengeance in equal parts, the Binturians tracked down the Ascendants to their base of operations in Bekonsworth, Talios, then to Dewhurst, Haelwyd, and finally to their base of operations on Haversdale where they infiltrated their compound, killed many cultists, interrupted Inga’s ritual, killed her, freed the imprisoned wills the Ascendants held, and scattered the remaining cultists to the four corners of the world.

## Order of Events

### Amberbrook

The Binturian Party is approached by a well-dressed elven gentleman, come to ask their assistance in locating the missing child of the wealthy dark elven Amberbrook family. Accepting the request, the party traveled to Amberbrook, met the family, and searched their manor. Not long after, they found signs of abduction, as well as a freshly-carved tunnel leading from the cellar to just beyond the Amberbrooks’ property.

Exploring the town of Amberbrook and talking up the locals eventually led the Binturians to another tunnel, this time not far from a Temple to Vague, and deeper within they found two suspicious masked figures. As one distracted them the other ran deeper in before detonating an explosive charge, caving in the tunnel beyond, and knocking the distrator unconscious. The Binturians found their quarry to have been dominated, missing part of their soul, and wholly without memory of what they had done and who they worked with.

The following day, asked to continue the investigation by Lady Godeleine Amberbrook, the Binturians gave chase down the tunnel that local miners worked all night to clear. Splitting up at a fork in the road, one group traveled through the lair of a lazy lich king, while the other battled through giant spiders, magma monsters, Goblins, Duergar, ROUS, and all manner of other beasts. Both groups met back up at the surface, now finding themselves in Haelwyd. Asking around in town, they finally found Abelone (their missing person) imprisoned for suspicious, masked activities. She, too, was dominated, missing part of her soul, emotionless, and missing memories. The Amberbrooks paid the Binturians for returning their child to her, and paid Abelone’s bail in Haelwyd.

### Binturia

On the advice of Adria’s mayor Jonathan Wells, the Binturians split up to pursue two masked individuals spotted nearby. The first headed towards an Old Binturian ruin, where a few Binturians gave chase. Beyond shambling zombies and miraculously-active defense constructs, the Binturians found a small group of humanoids in cultist attire. The Binturians, however, were beaten and bloodied from previous encounters, were defeated by the Ascendants and two of them lost their will and emotion.

The other group headed deeper into the forest to an area known for its bandit activity. A convoluted struggle ensued, where one of the Binturians warned a revived bandit that the Binturians were coming and that they needed to either gear up or get out. Said Binturian then returned to Adria for a cup of coffee at Will’s Tavern, walked back to the bandit’s encampment and gained entry for himself, and listened to the carnage the bandits inflicted upon the other Binturians. Finally deciding to intervene, the traitor left the encampment and began reviving some of the Binturians, starting with an animus. The animus refused to heal some people, in an attempt to preserve mana, and just as the traitor stood above the body of one of the Binturians getting ready to revive him himself, another Binturian returned from Nirvana to see the traitor Binturian standing above an ally’s corpse. A fight broke out, and the traitor, too, was killed. Neither the traitor Binturian, Jask Sigma, nor his supposed-victim, Fierston Dirrenis, returned from Nirvana and instead remained dead.

### Amberbrook Assault

The Binturian Party is approached by the Amberbrooks’ servant, the same well-dressed elven gent from days earlier, and pleads for their assistance. Some unknown force was attacking their town and overwhelming the guards. They teleported to Amberbrook and beat back a tide of dominated elves, dwarves, and other long-lived peoples. Knowing that the Undying Ascendants were responsible, but not where they were operating from, one group of Binturians remained in Amberbrook to defend it from further attacks, while the other snuck past cultists and their thralls into the Ascendants’ base of operations: a magical vault hidden in the lich king’s keep. There, they found a number of unconscious Amberbrook citizens, naturally under heavy guard, the ritual site where the captives had their will taken, and a number of transparent crystal vials. The vials held the stolen willpower of the newest victims, which they released after dealing with the cultists and their thralls guarding the base.

### Dewhurst

From one of the few surviving cultists near Amberbrook, the Binturians followed a string of bases across Orelisle. First visiting and releasing the Heron-Folk village of Bekonsworth, Talios, then their launching point into mainland Orelisle from the Feras at coastal Dewhurst, Haelwyd where they coerce the dominated guards and townies to give them passage to their final destination: Haversdale.

### Haversdale

Completing the journey to an island in the Feras, once inhabited by Leatherback Turtle-Folk, the Binturians infiltrate the town via an unguarded sewer entrance. In the bowels of the sewer, they find the results of the Ascendant’s experimentation with souls, willpower, and emotions. Permanently undead and dominated Leatherback Turtle-Folk, imbued with combat knowledge beyond even their years, guarded the stinking sewage tunnels, one even able to observe and mimic the skills of its opponents.

Once out of the sewers and in Haversdale Keep the Binturians inched closer to Inga’s ritual, fending off willpower-infused cultists along the way. At last, they found Inga’s final ritual chamber, powered by a huge ritual circle, a massive crystal pipe hanging above it, and magical tethers binding every ounce of stolen willpower into Inga to make her a goddess of longevity and immortality.

The Binturians sprung into action: Ben Dover scaled a wall and tried attacking the focus crystal, some Binturians rushed through the horde of cultists protecting Inga, the rest surrounded the door to the soul vault and began the slow process of opening it. The Party laid Conceals upon Conceals in front of the vault, and eventually opened all the locks keeping the vault sealed. The ritual interrupted, Inga was set upon and killed in brutal fashion repeatedly before severing her spirit. Her cult fled the base to parts unknown (or at least those not wiped out by the Binturian Party), some may still exist trying to replicate her work, but the souls not consumed during the ritual were freed and their owners’ emotions and wills returned.

The Binturians then looted the place, returning most of the money stolen from dominated villages after deducting a sizable cut for themselves.

## Aftermath

Through the intervention of the Binturian Party, the plans of Inga and the Undying Ascendants were thwarted, its membership scattered or killed by the final assault, and its enthralled people across Orelisle freed. Some of the unbound thralls who attacked Amberbrook elected to stay there after their willpower was returned (especially Turtle-Folk and Spirits).

### Undying Remnants

Roughly 600 mystics and psions remain across Orelisle. Many were probably killed by the people that they dominated, but whoever still remains may plot a return. Their symbol is a turtle shell with an eye in the center.

## Further Information

* Amberbrook
* The Binturian Party
* Haelwyd
* Incarnation
* Manifestation
* Soul
* Talios