Trailblazers 3

Arcane revolution is the third Trailblazers campaign. It takes place in Duméri and tells the tales of a small group of adventurers who takes a stand against the national ban of arcane magic. Along the way they face the Anti-Arcane Authority, the dangers lurking on the outskirts of nations and the results of a bloody history of oppresion.

### The deception

4th Olus of Kordal

It all started when 5 people recieved summons to a tavern in Perholdt. Morelét, Renegade, Kyle, Narcis and Lia. Their wary meeting was interrupted when the man who had sent the letters appeared. While he first spoke of the arcane ban, it became clear from the noise that guards had been quietly surrounding the tavern. The man revealed himself to be Captain Permon Dalléi and had prepared this ruse to capture revolutionists. The 5 adventurers had to fight Dalléi, guards and members of the AAA who had been brought in for this operation. But they managed to clear enough space to run and made their way out from Perholdt. After getting half a day away from the city, the group settled down to make more proper introductions and to discuss what to do next. Morelét suggested that he might find contacts in Salize, so they started traveling North-West.

2 days after starting their travel, they found a strange circular metallic plate while setting camp. Just as it was noticed, 2 aged Gazers attacked. They were defeated and the metallic plate was investigated. While they could conclude that it could be used to create dwarven ruins, they found no actual usage and had to leave it behind.

2 days later, they came across a small orc tribe who had prisoners from a raid. The To8 quickly decided to interfere and attacked. They killed the warriors while the tribes shaman, Azbul, managed to get away. Before the leader, Red Witharz was killed he took one of the prisoners hostage. Kyle tried to attack, but was unable to subdue the orc before he could kill the hostage in return. Afterwards there were 2 survivors, Rabba of clan Hidzed and Birk of clan Hidzed, dwarven merchants who had been attacked on the road. They were brought along so that the could get back home to Fort Irkatz. The group avoided to tell them that they were arcane supporters. From the fallen foes Renegade claimed the Engorged blade.

While on the road, Lia recieved a Flashpaper from her brother Adran Teasen'Neldeth which urged her to return home or else he would come for her. She lacked the means to respond however.

### In the court of the Candymen club

5th Olus of Kordal

3 days after the orc attack, the found themselves involved with the bored musings of a band of nobles led by Count Marc Gréyule. He invited the group to his mansion where they were probed for information as to what they were doing out on the roads. While there, Lia stole some of the count's flashpaper and sent a response to her brother begging to not be taken home. Morelét took this oppertunity to look up if there were any arcane history amongst the duméri noble houses and learned of the Folgráh bloodline, which had been wiped out for their purported sorcerous magic. In the middle of the night, the counts gathered everyone to make a statement. They had concluded that the noble lady Lia must be on the run from home to avoid a marriage. While they were entirely wrong, the adventurers pretended that they were right to please them and to make certain that their questioning would end.

The next morning, Count Leon Navellé offered to give them a ride in his coach while he travelled home. The group agreed. While on the road, they were attacked by bounty hunters, led by Kristina Steiner. The adventurers found various ways to fight from the coach against the riders on horseback. Morelét used powerful magic in open to protect themselves. During the battle, one of the combatants, Gregor Siggs, were forced off his horse and Narcis stopped to investigate as the man had been using arcane magic. When the battle was nearly over, Adran arrived on his pegasus and drove off the remaining bounty hunters, including Kristina. The group tried to explain the events to the count, but he was terrified of the arcane magic on display. Frightened, gave a small sum of gold as payment and wanted to get going without the group. Before he could, the adventurers asked him to at least bring along the dwarven merchants which was agreed upon. When Adran came down to meet the group, he was enraged and demanded that Lia would come with him this instant. She refused, and it escalated until weapons were drawn. Lia tried unsuccessfully to calm everyone down. A skirmish began, ending when Lia in a desperate attempt jumped on his pegasus and they flew off. She managed in private to make a deal, where she would sent continual reports to Adran and claimed that she'd rather die than come back. Adran, enraged, gave her a pack of flashpaper and took her back down before taking off. The group kept wandering northwards and arrived in Salize.

In Salize, Morelét tried to find contacts who could help in an arcane revolution. The group was directed to Howell deSamuel, an aged revolutionary who had seen many people try and fail to make arcane magic legal. His own motivation for taking part in such actions was that he was a branded sorcerer. While he would not partake himself, he gave 3 suggestions which could help to get a trial to determine arcane legality. The first was Magistrate Oswal Maillard, who could help with the legal matters. The second was the Dawnwardens of Wee Jas, who could help with determining facts which could aid in a trial. And finally Dumeri's archdruid Agriette Plainsmaster, who could help with reaching the nobility's ear regarding this matter. Since the group would also need followers amongst the people he suggested that they tried to spread their message as often as possible while helping people, such as in the nearby village Ward fields.

### Steelconqueror's tomb

6th Oco of Kordal

The group set out and reached Ward fields quickly. There, they found that the village had problems with a group of ogres which had been stealing livestock and ruining the plantation fields. It was an easy task to follow the footsteps from the fields, which led to a nearby forest and within, a cave. There awaited a ogrillon, an ogre and a hill giant. The ogrillion was quickly defeated by a Lightning bolt spell from Morelét, and the remaining foes were dealt with in due times. Among the loost was the Extending mace, which Renegade claimed. Inside the cave was a thinner hallway which led further down, too small for any of the fallen foes to pass through. As the group trudged on, Narcis started recieving strange visions and experienced Déjà vu. He wandered off on his own while the remaining party headed downwards. There they would find a structure, the lost tomb of Urgord Steelconqueror. This tomb had been left as a challenge to inspire the worthy. Inside, they faced several challenges and in the end found the sarcophogus which held the legendary smith's body. Several items surrounded it, including a Immovable rod, a pair of Winged boots which Lia claimed and the spear Malheur de orques which Kyle claimed. While instructions were left that stated they could take anything which was not in the sarcophogus, Kyle and Morelét did it in secret. Inside were a potion of Fly, a Superior potion of healing and Steelconqueror's hammer. They stashed all of these items in their Bag of holding. Meanwhile, Narcis had seen memories of an expedition in these caverns. A team of adventurers had been down here and one of them had hidden away a bronze-bound book for safekeeping, which Narcis was able to find but kept it for himself.

They returned to the village late at night. When they awoke the next day, the news of the slain ogre were heard and they were treated as heroes. Renegade took this oppertunity to speak to the villagers to gain their trust further, but avoided mentioning the Arcane revolution. The remainder of the day was spent in celebration. The next day as they were packing, Kyle noticed a large trail of dust being raised by a group of riders heading towards the village. When he looked more closely, he saw the red hat of Kristina Steiner. Quickly packing up the adventurers left. While they got a head start, they decided to lay an ambush along the road. This time with the help of the ambush, they were able to defeat Kristina and her bounty hunters. She was tied up and interrogated, but agreed to share information in exchange for her own and her hired bounty hunters freedom, fearing an execution elsewise. The details she gave was how to find the backpack which had been left behind by Lia in Perholdt, which the AAA had been able to use to scry on her. The agreement was upheld and she along with the remaining bounty hunters were let go.

The adventurers set off once again. 2 days of travel away from Ward fields, they encountered a trio of travellers. Gillés, Ysabel and Charles, who claimed that they wanted to join in the Arcane revolutions efforts. Camp was made to sort out the details of the sudden good luck. Gillés explained that he was a former member of the AAA who didn't belive in their goal anymore, and the other two were friends of his which agreed that change was need within the nation. The adventurers questioned Gillés thoroughly, finding out plenty of information regarding the AAA and the state of Duméri. When asked of foes to watch out for, Gillés brought up the Broodsinger tribe, altherian infiltrators and Obarion the immolator. In the end, the adventurers decided to trust their newfound allies and asked them to contact the Magistrate suggested by deHowell and they set off on seperate ways. Some time after this encounter, Renegade would find a strange item in her backpack, alongside a note from Gillés that the artifact would explain some things if held to moonlight.

### The tanarukk maze

6th Wej of Kordal

2 days later, the group arrived at the village Willeds where they learned that travelers, and recently villagers had been dissappearing. They decided to help and patrolled during the night when the kidnappings had taken place. During that patrol, they managed to spot when a villager was kidnapped by a tanabijj. The monster was able to outrun and hide from the group at first, but Lia was able to catch up thanks to the speed from her Winged boots. She was able to defeat the creature, and find the hidden entrance where it was going to take the villager. When she looked in, she drew the attention of more tanabiij which she was able to defeat quickly with a Lightning bolt. After securing the entrance, she waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Well there, they went down a tunnel and found themself in a stone-grown maze. As they started to explore it, they found themselves being attacked continously by tanarukks. During a fight with a group of the monsters, Narcis slipped away to scout ahead. He found the main room of the maze with its owner, Xargu there. Besides him was a fellow orc, shaman Azbul, alongside several more tanarukks. And finally a elven prisoner, Pups, with demonic scriptures carved into his chest. Narcis had to run back, and the new influx of opponents led the group of adventurers to have to run out of the dungeon. Since the orcs stayed in the maze, there was a standoff where neither party was willing to meet in the middle. This gave the group a chance to rest before going in once more. This time they were able to defeat and kill Xargu along with the tanarukks, but Azbul was able to escape once more.

With the dungeon now cleared out, the group went back to the village with the kidnapped people. They were praised for the rescue, and then spent a few days going back and forth from the dungeon to search it thoroughly. When Pups awoke, he told them that he had been captured while on the road and been seemingly experimented upon to create an elven variant of the tanarukk, which had been unsuccessfull. The same day, when the group headed to the maze, Kyle and Morelét recieved flashpapers from Birk. While he wrote that he and Rabba had managed to make it back to Fort Irkatz, he was also regretfull to inform them that dwarven officials accused the two of graverobbing Steelconquerors tomb and were to travel towards Fort Irkatz as soon as possible to stand trial. This led Kyle and Morelét to tell the rest of the group of Steelconqueror's hammer, which they had taken from the sarcophogus. At the end, the letter also mentioned that the dwarven lawyer Dworic of clan Hidzed had offered to help them in the upcoming trial. Once they arrived at the maze, they found that a half-elf man was coming out of it. He asked what had happened in there, and the group explained. With a nod, the man gave a small bag of gold pieces and asked in return that they would not interfere in orc business again. Before the group could answer, the man disolved into ants which carried away his clothes and a wooden mask which had been giving off an illusion of a real face. The next day when the group was down in the maze, a trio of soldiers from the Anti-Arcane Authority showed up. They had been sent to investigate the kidnappings and heard from the villagers of the maze. The group was interrogated of what had happened there, while avoiding to mention any items which they wanted to keep. In the end, the AAA soldiers took several of the demonic texts to have them burnt.

3 days after having cleared out the maze, the group set of once more, this time to Lutecia to take Pups home. While out on the road, Lia sent a flashpaper to Adran to ask him if he knew of the man which had dissolved into ants. Adran answered that she was to report if she saw the man, but at any cost avoid to speak with the man called Antface. When the group arrived at the Lutecia, Lia, Narcis and Pups went in to resupply. On their way in, Pups offered to help them traverse the land for a while as thanks for saving him. He went home to freshen up while the other two went shopping. When they were finished and left Lutecia, both them and the group waiting outside saw a huge dwarven warmachine alongside a troop travelling on the road. When Narcis mentioned that the dwarves were propably looking for them, Pups immediately withdrew his offer and went straight back into the city. The adventurers gathered to approach the dwarven troops. Leading them was Surface captain Ibol of clan Irkatz, who told them that they were to come along so that they would stand trial. On their 5 day towards Fort Irkatz, they were attacked by a large group of orcs which the adventurers and the dwarves managed to fight off. Lia and Morelét hid since they didn't want to reveal their arcane usage. One of the orcs was using a Slide bracer, which Narcis took after the battle. After 3 more days of travel, they arrived at Fort Irkatz.

### Dwarven trial

8th Olus of Kordal

As soon as the arrived, they were heartily greeted by Dworic of clan Hidzed who were thankful to them for saving his daughter Rabba. They were taken to his home where he explained how the trial would work, strategies and how to appeal to some of the judges that would be there. While planning, it was agreed that Narcis would avoid going to the trial since he would have to unmask, which he wanted to avoid. The second day, the entire group were questioned individually by Virzidio of no clan, the lawyer for the opposing side. During the same day they spoke with Birk and Rabba who would be character witnesses for the group. While Birk had no problem with this, Rabba had changed her opinion of the group after she found out that they were arcane users which meant that she would speak for people who had broken dumérian laws. Lia and Narcis were able to convince her to at least stay neutral to them during the trial.

The next day when the trial began, the accuser Ermagrott of clan Gloddar explained that she along with other followers of Moradin had recieved visions of the great dwarf Urgord Steelconqueror fighting against the hordes of pestilence when his hammer suddenly dissapeared. He was harmed, but his potion of superior healing was gone. And when he tried to escape, his potion of Fly was gone aswell and he fell in battle, to be restored in time. When he fell, those that had caused his fall was shown and when their faces was drawn and investigated about they found out from Birk and Rabba who the faces belonged to. Rather than opposing the claim itself, the group tried to argue that Steelconqueror had left vague instructions which, while depraving the dwarf of his weapons, were not Kyle and Morelét's fault.

During this time, Narcis wandered around in the topmost merchants quarters and both learned of issues with the Guild of Moradin and of a secret shop for arcane magical items. He also learned more of the dwarven guides, including guide Brottor of no clan.

The trial lasted for 3 days, which ended in the favour of Kyle and Morelét. But while this made them the rightful owners of the items, the group agreed to hand them back to the fort anyway to restore Steelconqueror's legacy. This was considered a remarkable act of genorosity and would be celebrated with a feast in two days time. While waiting for the feast, the group checked out the secret arcane store managed by Garim of clan Irkatz. While they group bought some items, they left behind the Talisman of Annihilation and a cipher translator which was related to the dwarven metallic place they had found near Perholdt. Renegade looked for a dwarven smith to train her, but Grumar of clan Hidzed turned her away.

At the feast were several dwarven merchants and even Thane Doumbarr of clan Irkatz, leader of the fort. An unexpected guest however was Captain Dalléi, who had tracked them down. While he was unable to arrest them here, he claimed that he would either arrest them as soon as they left through the only entrance or when the AAA hade made a deal with the fort to extradite the revolutionists. Dalléi did all he could to sour the feast for the adventurers, including challenging Narcis to a friendly fencing duel, and offering a statue to Renegade which depicted the worsts aspects of being a tiefling. When the feast was over the group immediatly started to look for another way out. While they considered disguising themselves, Lia asked guide Brottor for help and he claimed that he would be able to help in exchange for a large sum of gold pieces. The group agreed, and Brottor found Greaseman for them. The skeezy dwarf was able to take them to the secret military tunnels, and claimed that he would be able to find a way to get past the guards. Before they left however, they told Dworic that they planned to leave and how. While Dworic was shocked that they had found out about the secret military tunnels, which was an offense to dwarven laws, he promised to report this only after they had left. Greaseman was able to lead them through the guards, and also set up a few goons who took the adventurers horses through the main entrance. And in the night, they was able to leave the fort behind.

### The mimic tower

1st Olus of Pelori

Now on the road northwards to Sunspear to find the Dawnwardens of Wee Jas, only 1 day later they found something strange while setting up camp. A roof, buried in the ground. When they dug around it, they found out that it seemed like a tower. Through a window, they were able to get in and found items that implied that it was at least 600 years old. But during the exploration, it turned that the entire tower was one huge mimic. The group had to fight off smaller mimics inside it, while they walls themselves started to attack them. When they started to deal damage to the giant mimic, it dug itself up and walked into a lake in an attempt to drown everything inside itself. While the group was close to winning the battle, they heard shouting outside. In the end, the adventurers managed to swim out before the tower toppled over, and brought out some chests with treasures too.

The shouting outside turns out to have come from dumérian soldiers, who took the adventurers to their camp. As it turns out, this was a troop roaming the nation to gather soldiers before venturing to the border to face Altheria's forces. And the troop is lead by Elise Lavicard, Duméri's war minister who spoke with the group herself. While she did not recognize the group, the wanted to leave as quickly as possible to avoid being found out. While the rest of the group went to sleep, Narcis and a few soldiers walked back to where the group had started to make camp to retrieve the horses. There, it was noticed that the tower had been standing near a similiar metallic plate as the one near Perholdt. Just before sunrise the next day, the adventurers snuck out of the camp and kept going northwards.

### Dawnwardens of Wee Jas

2nd Mari of Pelori

After 3 days of travel, they arrived at Sunspear at the northern tip of Duméri. Since the DoWJ were in hiding, the group asked around discretly. The search took a day, after which they found out that the next night the rogue arcane organization would gather people who were willing to learn arcane magic and train them. While waiting, Morelét and Narcis looked in an lost-and-found shop and found an old cup belonging to the noble Folgráh family, which stirred up memories for Narcis where he saw an older man teaching him human anatomy. The group came to the meeting, but started the meeting by instead having Renegade explain what the arcane revolution stood for. The meetings leader Kazlin Brownpot ran out to speak with the others of the DoWJ. While this happened one person in the meeting, Tomlan deTomlan, immediately stood up and joined them on the spot. While he would remain in the city for now, he was willing to help them if he could. The others at the meeting were intruiged, but didn't say anything. Shortly thereafter Kazlin came back and explained to the group that they would get to meet with most of the members of DoWJ the next day. When they arrived at the meeting place, a small house, they were told to speak quietly to not wake up the old coot sleeping in the next room. While the organization respected the revolution, they were not willing to directly aid as they had their own goals to work towards. But they were open for exchanging information and services. So the group and them made a deal, that the group would aid the DoWJ in retreiving an old experiment in exchange for them promoting the revolution and directing new members to them for recommendation. As the DoWJ required some time to prepare, this expedition would take place in 3 days.

### The lost Folgráh

2nd Wej of Pelori

While waiting for the expedition, the group instead travelled eastwards to where the old Folgráh mansion once stood. After a day of travel, they arrived at the burnt remains. There, Narcis recieved visions of several lost memories, which led him to find an old escape tunnel beneath where the mansion would have stood. When the group went down, Narcis recieved more realistic visions, to the point where he was convinced that the group were members of the Anti-Arcane Authority who were hunting him down. He tried to fight of the group until Kyle got a chance to cast Greater Restoration on him. When he came to his senses, Narcis felt guilty and revealed all that he knew to the group including that he was a undead skeleton. The group was conflicted, but accepted the situation. In the tunnels, the found a message left Jevíl Folgráh which stated that Jevíl had sold the remaining valuables and wanted Antív to not lose himself.

### The Cane of Halphas

3rd Isu of Pelori

The group returned to Sunspear. There, the DoWJ explained that Griggs of clan Orkhatz would accompany them to an old underground temple, where they had left the necromantic Cane of Halphas to test a theory regarding undead. Since then the place had been filled poisonous gas. The group where to provide him with protection from whatever had caused the gas to begin with. They set out westwards. On route, Narcis borrowed the bronze-bound book to Morelét since it contained some wizard spells. While looking over the book, Narcis noticed that the authors included Griggs. He asked the dwarf if he knew the Folgráh member who was also an author, Jevíl. Griggs told them that Jevíl was still a member of the DoWJ and was the old coot he had mentioned before.

When they arrived at the lost giant temple, Griggs revealed that he had protective masks for each of them. When they made their way through, they had to pass by several traps which would have made noises. Narcis was able to lead them through. Near the vault door, they found themselves in a fight against several devils which had been waiting there. Once defeated, the group explored the surroundings. They found an aged pentagram, painted on the floor in one of the side rooms which was the likely means to once hve summoned the devils. Liberty ereased it. Then, the vault door was finally opened. The cane was standing upright on a table on its own, and it was quickly wrapped up in cloth. Griggs looked over the various sized bodies of animals, and a skeleton which were in cages. After a while, he concluded that despite the clear presence of arcane magic without direct spells, no undead creatures had risen. This together with previous experiments made certain for the dwarf that arcane magic usage is not responsible for undead rising naturally. Meanwhile, the adventurers had found corpses of dead AAA members.

On their way back to Sunspear, Lia wrote to Adran to tell him of the cane but reassured him that the group would dispose of it. Adran quickly answered that their methods couldn't be trusted and demanded that the group would hand over the cane or his deal with Lia would be off. She didn't agree. At the same time, Renegade asked Gillés about the cane and he instead suggested that he could help dispose of it, but she couldn't make any concluding deals as Griggs reminded the group that the cane still belonged to the DoWJ.

Once in Sunspear, they noticed signs of AAA activity. They quickly made their way to the meeting house. There, Narcis finally met up with Jevíl Folgráh who turned out the be a branded sorcerer, with his brand on the right temple. He was adle-minded but Narcis found some measure of peace in finding some connection to his old life. While discussing payments, the group asked for the cane to dispose of it but the DoWJ wanted to keep it in case they needed it for other experiments. As the discussions flared up, they were interrupted by AAA forces knocking on the door. While one of the DoWJ remained behind to distract them, the rest ran out of the window. Since they had to split up and the group wanted to leave town, the agreed in a hurry to trust the cane with the DoWJ. While hiding from the AAA, Renegade sent a flashpaper to Gillés asking if he had any connections that could help. Shortly thereafter, a loud explosion was heard from within the city which helped them move about. To aid them further, Narcis decided to act as bait. When he ran out publicly it turned out that captain Dalléi was in the city. Narcis ran up to the harbour and just as it looked like they would fence once again, the revolutionary instead jumped down into the ocean and walked away.

On their way out, Tomlan noticed the commotion. Morelét quickly asked him if he was ready to join, which Tomlan agreed to and he joined the group as they left Sunspear behind.

### Tower of 8

8th Dai of Pelori

When they came to the former Apárds castle, the adventurers found it being refurnished by a large group of followers. Gillés had them all gathered to make the castle more useful to the organization. When the founders came in, they recieved a heroe's welcome and it was quickly decided that a feast were to be held that night. During this event, Renegade formaly proclaimed that her new name would be Liberty.

The next day, Gillés asked for Liberty so that they could speak privately. He told her that he was actually a devil worshipper who worked for Halphas, and he had specifically filled out the ranks of the organization with frustated tieflings and other devil worshippers. And that he was willing to aid this organization so that he could serve his master, but if he was to be executed now he had already earned his place in the nine hells and he had nothing to fear. While Renegade told him that devil worshippers would not be tolerated, she sought out the others for what to do with this. Dworic of clan Hidzed, who had during this time been exploring the castle, found a hidden dungeon cell with a devil worshipping symbol painted there. Just as the founders had gathered to see this, Gillés came down. He was suprised to see them and had brought a bucket with materials to scrub away the symbol. While he did, the group talked about the situation. They decided that they would root out the devil worshippers completely. Gillés, Charles and Ysabel were executed one by one privatly. Then they gathered everyone in the castle to the courtyard, where Liberty made the declaration that this revolution would not be tainted with impure ideals and all devil worshippers who remained would be punished. While a tiefling, Fingers, defiantly tried to tell her away, he was executed to show the seriousness of the situation. They followed this up by warning everyone that they would be interviewed individually. A few recruits disappeared the following night. As the interviews went on, they got more perspective from another tiefling, Wizard, who told them that while he had heard about the devil worshipping most were there for money and oppertunity.

### The Deck of many things

4th Dai of Raoni

Since the group lacked Morelét's experience in identifying magical items, they returned to Castle 8 to let Tomlan have a look at the deck Antface had given to them. Tomlan was able to identify it as a Deck of many things. He quickly took a chance and drew a card, but drew the Void. As his soul left his body, Lucien was able to use his experience with souls to save it. With it returned, they were able to revive the body and Tomlan was saved. While the group was openly agreed to not use it, Lia was still facinated by the potential. Since she had been warned that one of the effects was losing all magical items, she removed them all before drawing one card. She drew the Donjon, entrapping her. This entrapment was dealt between the planes instantly, with her ending up trapped in a crystal ball upon a staff. Owned by Halphas, kept in his tower. And as she realized her situation, a horned devil which had once been Gillés mocked her for her current state.

When the rest of the organization realized what had happened, they wrote for help to Plainsmaster. She told them that she needed some time, but would help. Her response later exclaimed that she had realized the severity of the situation, and asked the group to join her at the druidic tower in Alinn. Once there, she explained that while she had located Lia at Halpha's tower she would not risk herself in this matter. However, she did reveal that she had found someone that would aid them. Adran, who only then was let in on what had happened. Everyone there agreed that rescuing Lia was priority, and other matters would be settled afterwards. Plainsmaster gave them means to enter hell once, and once to leave.

Well there, the group saw the terror that was the first layer of hell. They quickly had to hide though, as out through a nearby city came a large warmachine being pulled by slaves. The group decided to commender the vehicle and attacked. And while they were able to defeat the devils and free the slaves, all them save one left. The one who stayed was desperate for a way out and noticed that the group was clearly not from here. He joined them and helped to explain how the warmachine worked. Lucien figured that since the machine was fueled by souls, he could use his entrapped souls of fallen foes aswell to fuel it. Turning the machine around, they headed through the city and towards Halpha's tower.

They used the weapons to breach the tower's defences. As they drove it upwards, they had to fight through all the devils that inhabited it and the weapons being made there. During all this, the tower itself started moving out towards the vast stretches outside of the city. But the group was steadfast in heading upwards, until the staircases narrowed to the point that the machine had to be abandoned. A short while later they passed through a torture chamber. Amongst the beings being tortured, one called out after Sedelia. It was a lemure, the once grandfather of Liberty Zeke deJowl. There was little to be done for him however. In the last stretch, they passed through Halpha's own quarters. There Adran noticed a map of Duméri and took it.

On the roof of the tower, Halpha's was waiting for the group. His minions had prepared a feast, and the staff which contained Lia was held by Gillés high above, flanked by the once Charles and Ysabel. Flying towards the tower were more devil reinforcements. The group was stunned by the situation, and the reinforcements arrived and flew above while awaiting orders. Halphas demonstrated his power of Liberty through their connection of blood. Acting first, Adran atempted to bargain for Lia. In the end, an agreement was reached where Lia would be freed, and in return Adran would find and set loose Halpha's cane in Duméri once more. When Adran signed the written agreement, she was freed. The group decided to leave all of this behind.

Once they returned to the druidic tower, a short letter from Plainsmaster explained that she would be in hiding for a while. The group reasoned that openly aiding them while hiding it from the AAA could cause trouble for her. But now that the mission had been completed, Adran was dead set on bringing Lia with him. The two sides argued for who would have her, and to resolve it Dworic challenged Adran to a duel. It took place outside of the tower, and in the end Dworic was succesfull. Adran was dragged into the tower by druids, while he swore that he would return Lia home before the doors closed.

They returned to Castle 8. Once he had some time to rest, the rescued slave introduced himself as Fanezan. He explained that he is originally from another plane and is a researcher of souls. As thanks for his rescue, he offered to join the organization for a time and due to his knowledge even became one of the leading members.

### Dungeon of the splintered soul

The time had finally come to look more into Lucien's origins. They travelled near the village Dragovír, the first village he had found when he awoke. He took them as close as possible, and then with teleportation magic they were able to enter the underground Primordial temple of worship. As they looked around, they noticed that they weren't alone. They found a guardian, the Gold-flecked oblex. While it explained that it was there to guard knowledge, it was unwilling and if they could work together to find ways around its rules it had to follow the oblex was willing to cooperate. It turned out that it had been made by mindflayers, and delivered here by Osbazokt to guard the dangerous ritual written in this place. The ritual were once made to call down an avatar of Kyuss, but had been modified by tlincalli to make it more generalized which let the subject retain its own sentience. As they explored, Lucien saw more and more memories of what had happened here once. Antív Folgráh had come here, killed the other explorers who he had travelled with, and gone through with the ritual to become Antface. As part of the ritual, he had rejects parts of himself. What he had not known was that due to his sorcerous bloodline, the parts he rejected would rise once more as Narcis.

They decided that this knowledge would be buried, which the oblex could agree to since he would remember it. While they explored the rest of the temple, they noticed that there were magical items at the bottom of a mud pit. There they found Borem's heart, stabbed with a moonblade. Then, they used magic to ruin the temple and prevent anyone from seeing it again. The oblex stayed with the group, as it would have to make certain that he would see their death so that the knowledge would not be spread.

### Hunting Obarion

6th Oco of Raoni

To prove their goodwill to the Dumérian people, the Tower of 8's leaders decided to hunt down and stop Obarion the immolator and his band of fire giants who had been raiding cities by teleporting in and away in the nation. They gathered enough information to be able to use the spell Teleport straight to his underground lair. At first the spell misfired and they ended up in an underground Mind flayer city, which Lia was able to quickly teleport them away from. The next day they tried it again and teleported in while Obarion and his men was eating breakfast in their small fortress. During the battle, they learned that his forces included a Fire giant Dreadnought, several Iron golems and a War titan. But before they could kill Obarion, he teleported away with a few of his men. The remaining forces was too much for the leaders to handle, and they too teleported away to escape the battle. The spell had a slight misfire and sent them to the eastern border, where they saw the effects of the Altherian invasion on one of the border villages.

After some time to recover, the group decided to teleport back again. This time, the lair had been abandoned. They searched through the posessions which had been left behind and found a letter of instructions, detailing the giants role in a attack against the capital. They would wait until the Broodsinger tribe had attacked the walls before they would attack the headquarters of the Anti-Arcane Authority. And from the letter, it was clear that it had been sent by Antface. But there was no indication of when this would happen.

### The trial

7th Olus of Ulaani

While the group awaited the trial, a member of the AAA arrived to take over the guard of them. Louí Raphaël had returned to Lutecia from the frontline to reinforce the losses that the organization had taken, and Dalléi trusted him to be impartial to the group. Only a day after Raphaël had met the group, Dworic of clan Hidzed arrived. He told them that he had been contacted by Sir Kruthik and asked to aid them which he had accepted. He helped prepare for the trial by pointing out which points they needed evidence for and which people they needed for testimony.

When the first day of the trial came the remaining founders spoke for the organization. Liberty, Kyle and Lia. Amongst the jurors were the nations leader, Pope-King Oscaran Thalvir Inottsal. When Dalléi was called in as the first witness, his testimony to point to the laws broken by the group was also used by the group to point the faults in the Anti-Arcane Authority due to their inability to catch them. Many more people gave testimony over the day and it seemed that the Tower of 8 were taking the lead in the trial. But in the evening, Dalléi spoke to Raphaël and told him that he was worried about Adran. Since he and other members of the AAA might take drastic actions, Dalléi gave Raphaël the Bag of Holding which had the accused's items.

Shortly after the trial had started on the day after, the doors to the cathedral was slammed open by Adran, Elise Lavicard and several members of the army, local guard and AAA who opposed the trial. They tried to kill the founders to end the trial before it could conclude. While Raphaël tried at first to hold them off, he was unable to hold them back and threw the Bag of Holding to the accused. Lia turned around and asked the pope-king for permission to defend themselves, which was granted. Shortly after, Sho came in through a window to help in the battle. During the battle, Lia tried to hold down Elise with the Immovable rod but she escaped. A powerful spell from Lia managed to knock out Elise shortly afterwards. Sho's spells held off the worst of Adran's enraged attacks and his accompanying guards. The battle ended when the pope-king came down to the battlefield, alongside an summoned angel and demanded that they would stop. In particular, he wanted Adran to drop his weapon. Adran refused, and he was killed. Lia was distressed, but it was drowned out shortly afterwards when the pope-king declared that he had seen enough and publicly declareed that he would judge in their favour when the time come. With that, their victory had been secured and the arcane revolution had successfully ended.

### Closure

Afterwards, Tower of 8 would become the first and foremost arcane organization in Duméri. They would train wizards, bards and sorcerers in arcane techniques. While they attempted to find a way to reverse sorcerous brandings, they were unable to do so.

Lia Teasen'Neldeth stayed with the organization and would work her way back up to the leadership.

Kyle also stayed with the organization and remained as its specialist in divine magic. He found himself becoming the first officially recognized priest of Boccob, although the religion didn't spread far beyond the tower.

Liberty left the organization to fight for the rights of tieflings and other races in Duméri. When she will reach her death, her actions will break the chains of destiny and let her be uplifted to upper planes in defiance of her birthright. A contract will be broken.

Lucien remained in Limbo after death, since his soul was unable to be judged due to the polar actions that the parts had done while split up. He took the place of the previous guide, and remains a calming presence for those facing the terrors of death.

Tomlan deTomlan took Morelét's place as the leading specialist of necromancy for the organization. While he wasn't happy with the grim nature of the subject, he kept it up in honour of his greatest inspiration.

Agriette Plainsmaster dissappeared shortly thereafter, leaving behind a message where she gave the strongest possible recommendation for Hugo deClemence to become the new archdruid of Duméri. It became so.

Elise Lavicard lost her position in both nobility and politics for her treasonous actions.

The Anti-Arcane Authority remained, but lost its rights to take pre-emptive actions. Liasions with the Tower of 8 would also be established.

Duméri lost the war to Altheria, which shrank Duméri's borders substantially.

The Guild of Moradin finished their project at Tiamat's fall. It was a large immovable weapon, the Planecracker. Now that it had a chance to prove itself, it would give Duméri a chance to regain what had been lost in the war.