Rise and Fall of the Obsidian Grotto

Rise and Fall of the Obsidian Grotto (RFOG) is a novel by Christopher D. Schmitz.

The book is set in the First Age and interweaves two different tales. It also includes a short prelude of "Creation's Second Song," which follows up to the creation account told in Tome of Tarvanehl. The second song expands on the pantheon of gods and further expands the universe of the Esfah novels and sets the stage for the gnomes which are featured in RFOG's Grotto Tales.

The interwoven tales begin with the tragic story of the selumari hero Davian Whisperwynd who's presence made a significant impact on stopping the morehl victory when the lava elves first betrayed the other elder races at Daur-Bor-Nin and slaughtered most of the elder sages and burned the libraries of Yentosh. Davian returned home, weary from battle, to find that war followed him. Trogs besieged his city and Davian spent years in the swamps killing them and culling their numbers until he'd single-handedly filled a caravan cart with goblins' severed heads.

Disgusted by the inhumane treatment his countrymen visited upon the frehlasuhl, Davian made a rash vow before the gods and left, refusing to ever pick up a sword again. He would later win the heart of a morehl maiden, Roweena who was an enchantress. She was actually a fate goddess in disguise, one of the three daughters of Turambar, (in Rise of the Champions, the goddess was revealed to be Mitta, the neutral member of the fate goddesses). Davian expected a frehlasuhl child, but they were something else, instead. He had fathered a race of demi-gods: the empyreans, known as the firewalkers. Because he remained faithful to his vow at a cost to Mitta, the goddess abandoned Davian and he wandered lonely and remorseful, but with honor intact, until he found the sages of the Feylands who he lived among until he died many years later, never knowing what became of his children.

The Grotto Tales tell the story of Sshkkryyahr the drider's rise to prominence and position in the morehl kingdom of the Obsidian Grotto. She used her armies to take over most of the Birthlands region of the Duar'Bondeen Steppe including the Crooked Spine mountain range. She formed alliances with the trogs of Bent Morass in the south and also the other three major troglands of the continent. After storming and taking Valis from the dwarves, she set her eyes upon even Gundakhor. The dwarven king, Gundraokh Shatterfist knew he needed to form an offensive and strike at the heart of the of the Obsidian Grotto and he led an alliance of mixed races into the heart of the enemy.

Meanwhile, the drider's student, a talented spellcrafter named Nekarthis, worked with his corps of enslaved gnomes to ply the eldrymettalum taken from the mines at Valis to form special bullets for the morehl flintlocks which could penetrate armor and shield. Once his mission was complete, he led an army of undead east to wipe out Farnoch and Lago Rosa as Sshkkryyahr pressed her advantage into the East Coast. He'd nearly secured it for the drider, threatening to finally defeat Devin (who would later marry Calantha, an elf with political ambitions that would later rule as demarch in Karakto.) As Nekarthis bore down on Devin's forces the empyreans revealed themselves to the world and rescued the denizens of the East Coast, fearing the undead might continue their eastward push, and so they wiped them out. Nekarthis returned in time to take a few resources out of the Obsidian Grotto before the sages arrived to chain Sshkkryyahr in a prison designed by the gods, including his favorite gnomish artisans who manufactured mystic artifacts for him.

The book may be purchased here.