Wasteland Empire

The Red Waste

The party is on a mission from the Golden Order to make friends and solve problems in the Red Waste.

## Story

### Santa Cora

A humble dwarven cleric by the name of Morgrim Tishri was given a mission by the Cathedral to assist the Golden Order with their political woes. To help him with the job, he hired a boisterous elven sorceress, a mysterious human rogue, and a brooding drow ranger.

After settling the terms of the job, the newly formed group set out along the Demon Coast for the Golden Citadel. Along the way, they were attacked by a small group of diseased, half-crazed orcs. During the fight, Morgrim and Zachriel were bitten and contract a nasty sickness, but they ultimately defeated their attackers. Zachriel attempted to question one of the surviving orcs to find out where they came from, but was unsuccessful.

### The Golden Citadel

Finally, they arrived at the Golden Citadel, a grand, previously abandoned temple under heavy restoration, and sharing floor space with the Triumphant Legion. The adventurers were told conflicting accounts of the political struggle between the two groups by their respective leaders, Edlyn Brookes and Renauld Janbert.

They were also told that a representative of the Empire would be there, an imperial knight named Sir Loyset Jaka. However, Loyset was beset with unexpected duties, and Sir Bren Crestfire had been sent in his place, much to Zachriel's surprise in particular. In a panic, she revealed her identity to Alina -- she is Laurelei Basorium, crown princess of the Dragon Empire. Realising what she'd done, Laurie asked Alina to keep her secret, which she agreed to.

That evening, during dinner, Alina challenged Bren to a drinking contest, and despite his formidable warrior's fortitude, Alina drank him under the table. Meanwhile, Renauld "entrusted" the party to the care of one of his followers, a naive, penitent, and very clumsy ogre warrior named Agan, who would accompany them on their mission.

The next morning, before sunrise, Laurie secretly met with a quite hungover Bren, who was surprised to see the missing princess, but glad to see her safe. She asked him to work in secret with her brother Talebot to investigate the failed attempt on her life that led to her fleeing her home. He agreed, but said he must tell the Emperor about their meeting. Before they parted, Bren gifted Laurie with a magic cloak and promised to arrange for a paladin of the Golden Order to accompany her on her mission, as he needed to return to Axis later that day.

A few hours later, the party was joined by the ogre Agan and Harper Swyn, the paladin Bren promised to send along with Laurie. They set out into the desert to begin their quest.

### Elven Ruins

After several exhausting hours of travel through the wasteland, the party found an old stone bunker in the sand, which they entered to explore and seek shelter. After descending a long stairway, they encountered a band of kobold bandits camping inside an ancient elven ruin, as well as an orc warrior. The two groups fought, and the party easily defeated the kobolds. The orc proved more of a challenge, but was also killed.

While exploring the ruins, the party found a clearly magical carving of a doorway on a wall, but were unable to figure out how to activate it. While the rest of the party rested, Alina and Laurie returned to the carving. Alina managed to activate it by pouring some of her sorcerous magic into it, and she and Laurie both stepped through, and found themselves somewhere very strange, where they could sense but not see each other, nor their own bodies.

After searching the otherworldly space beyond the portal, they found what seemed to be a magical communication network, finding themselves first projecting into a room in the imperial palace, where Alina accosted an unfortunate magical technician, and then speaking with Firedaughter (I don't remember what it was about though).

Then, after a bit more exploring, they found themselves overseeing some place in the Queen's Wood, with a great deal of elves going about their business. Alina tried to ask one of them a question, but ended up accidentally announcing her presence to everyone in sight. She'd apparently highjacked some kind of announcement system.

Alina and Laurie fled before they could be discovered, and returned to the ruins and to the rest of the party to get some rest before setting out again.

### Orc Village

The next day, while travelling through a field of giant brambles, the party encountered a group of three orcs, who attacked them out of overactive caution. During the ensuing fight, Agan accidentally struck his companions a few times while recklessly swinging his flail. The orcs surrendered after one of them was killed. After some discussion, the two surviving orcs introduced themselves as Thoka Nef, a formerly druidic shaman, and Juro Gah, a half-drow warrior.

The orcs explained that their village, refugees from the recent war between the Frost Range Clans and the Dragon Empire, had been beset by both a mysterious plague and hostilities from the nearby city of Harasi, who apparently blamed the orcs for their own troubles. Morgrim, a skilled healer, was eager to help however he could, especially with this plague, so the orcs agreed to take the party to their village.

The orc village was a pitiable affair, a shanty town in the shade of a cliff not far from the mouth of the Abyss. Thoka and Juro took Morgrim and the others to the darkest corner of the village, where those who'd fallen ill with the plague were being kept away from everyone else. After examining the afflicted orcs, Morgrim prepared an elaborate ritual, and managed to purge the plague from them, only to take it on himself.

Amazed, Thoka and Juro insisted that Morgrim meet with their leader, a mysterious crone named Waru who hid herself away from the rest of the villagers. The meeting was unproductive, however; Waru expressed her thanks, but quietly insisted that the outsiders should be on their way.

### Harasi

After leaving the village, the party travelled to Harasi, a strange city in the middle of the wasteland that none of them had ever heard of. Outside, they saw lizardfolk tending to large, reptilian beasts of burden. They spoke to a pair of lizardfolk guarding the city gates, who refused to allow them entry because they lacked permits. After more than a little persuasion, they were finally admitted entry on the condition that they go to the palace to fill out the proper paperwork. After they find somewhere to stay the night, the guards warned them. It was getting late, and they shouldn't be outside after dark. They heeded the warning and made a beeline for an inn.

Zachriel and Morgrim were too curious about what the hell was up with such a dire warning, so they went out into the night to investigate. They found themselves faced with a horde of shadowy, ghostly figures that filled the streets like a river. The adventurers climbed to the rooftops, and fought their way through several ghosts that had climbed up ahead of them. After some more running and fighting, they saw a dragon flying over the city, swooping low now and then to strafe the ghosts with its icy breath. With the danger of the night apparent, the adventurers returned to the safety of the inn.

The next morning, the party heard talk of a sacred healing spring inside a ruined elven temple in a neglected corner of the city, and decided to investigate. They were concerned, however, that they might run into trouble with the city guard if they didn't get those permits, so they decided to split up -- while Zachriel and Alina headed for the palace to acquire permits, Morgrim and Vavikor went to scope out the temple. Inside, they met a druid named Demeter who was taking refuge in the temple. She warned them that a dragon had made its lair deeper within the temple. Morgrim tip-toed into the next chamber and saw a white dragon sleeping in a pool -- presumably the healing spring they'd heard about -- so he tip-toed back the way he came, and he, Vavikor, and their new buddy Demeter got the hell out of there.

Meanwhile, at the palace, Alina and Zachriel were having difficulties with the city bureaucracy. They were sent back and forth between a few different desks and offices. After a while, Alina decided to short circuit the bureaucracy and barged into a restricted area, only to be arrested by the palace guards. Zachriel reluctantly left the palace, forced to leave Alina in the palace jail, and met up with the rest of the party back at the inn.

Later that night, a white dragon, Ireph (presumably the one from the temple), appeared at the window of the party's inn, speaking Draconic. Zachriel, who could apparently understand the dragon, said that he wanted to speak with Morgrim, and resisted any conversation with the others. Morgrim, for reasons unknown, could also understand Ireph, despite not speaking the dragon's language. Ireph said that he sensed something special about the dwarf. The two of them came to some manner of understanding, and took off into the night to fight ghosts in the street -- but not before stopping by the temple, where Morgrim used the healing spring to cure himself of the plague.

The next morning, Zachriel returned to the palace, hoping to secure Alina's freedom, and managed to secure an audience with Sudroi, the ruler of Harasi. Sudroi, a lizardfolk sorceress, was unmoved by Zachriel's pleas, and the meeting was ultimately unproductive. Meanwhile, the rest of the party arrived at the palace and discovered that Alina had a similar, but somewhat different idea, and had subsequently been charged for destroying the door of her cell. The palace administration agreed to hold a trial, allowing the party to serve as defence -- but the hole Alina had found herself in proved just a little too deep to dig out of so simply, and she was sentenced to serve seven days in Harasi's gladiatorial arena.

Nevertheless, the party departed Harasi with Alina, beginning their return to the Golden Citadel. Unfortunately, Sudroi, in her true form -- that of a huge, ancient brass dragon -- intercepted the group, and accused the imperial princess of overstepping her jurisdiction by disregarding her city's justice. Ultimately, the party was forced to leave Alina in Harasi to serve out her sentence. Morgrim elected to stay behind with her until she was released.

### The Next Seven Days

Over the next week in Harasi, Alina competed in the gladiatorial games at the Harasi arena, and slept in the arena's dungeon with the other prisoners. Morgrim visited the arena each day to keep Alina's spirits up, and returned to the inn before each nightfall. The competition was not fierce -- over the course of her short career, she came to be known as the Thundergod of Harasi, thanks to the forks of lightning that bested many of her more formidable opponents.

One night, Alina and Morgrim decided to further investigate the mass hauntings in the city streets -- with the help of Ireph, of course. Their sleuthing led them to a great tower, long abandoned, and perhaps the tallest building in the city. With Ireph's help, they entered the top floor to explore inside. In contrast to the ethereal racket in the streets below, it was eerily quiet. As the two investigated, they discovered that the tower was once some kind of administrative hub of an ancient elven city that was destroyed in the 5th Age by the Red Wyrm. The administrator who lived here was a high elf, Tarielye Goldenray, who watched helplessly from the balcony as the city burned around her. Alina picked up an old necklace she found on the floor, and felt a dread whisper as she pocketed it. Shortly after, Alina and Morgrim decided they'd seen enough, and returned to their respective accommodations.

After a week of gladiatorial success, Alina was released from her service and returned with Morgrim to the Golden Citadel, where they reunited with the rest of the party. They received their payments from Edlyn Brookes for forging what diplomatic inroads could be found int Red Wastes, and returned to Santa Cora. Unfortunately, despite their successes, the political momentum of the Triumphant Legion was too great, and they eventually absorbed or displaced the paladins of the Golden Order and claimed the Golden Citadel as their own.

## Characters

### Player Characters

* Morgrim Tishri -- played by Hurage
* Alina Bittergreen -- played by Theliotrope
* Zachriel -- played by Hinchy58
* Vavikor Stormshade -- played by Carsindor
* Demeter -- played by VoidDemeter

### Non-player Characters

* Edlyn Brookes
* Renauld Janbert
* Sir Bren Crestfire
* Harper Swyn
* Agan
* Thoka Nef
* Juro Gah
* Waru
* Ireph
* Sudroi
* Tarielye Goldenray