Episode 92: The Seeds of Sacrifice

In the wake of Brakka's trial, the Heroes of Bingle have doubts about leaving Thorn unprotected and vulnerable. But Uggo's solution could mean giving up more than his friends are comfortable with. Meanwhile, Diph Theed's desire to join the Drow presents a difficult conundrum.

#### GM/DM Intro

*It started as a simple Dungeon Run, but nothing in Aïn stays simple for long. Brakka, the former WarChief of Thorn is dead. Deposed and slain by his brother Uggo, the will of the Orcs carried out by way of a swiftly smashed skull.  Brakka was seduced by a dark power lurking underneath the city. An ancient Aboleth that had slowly poisoned everything in the area with it's insidious rage but, when the Heroes of Bingle destroyed the Aboleth that rage dissipated and the anger that defined a culture faded away. Uggo became the new WarChief and tried to instill a new way forward for Thorn. Brakka had turned the Orcs away from their Ancestors, cutting down the sacred tree under whose branches generations had been buried. And though Orcish tradition decreed the WarChief had unquestioned authority, Uggo left Brakka's fate in the hands of his people. They spoke loudly and clearly, their voices amplified by you, the watchers of the time stream. They called for judgement, they called for blood, they called for Brakka's execution. Uggo and the other Heroes of Bingle had journeyed to Thorn to rescue their friends, Torvalt the timid, a wizard of the Natural Order and Diphthe, a Sky Child who's mystical floating tower had been ripped out of the clouds and left in ruins. Torvalt and Diphthe had been captured by the Orcs of Ook Duun, who traded them to Brakka to use as bait to lure Uggo back home. In exchange Ook Duun and Thorn were unified in war against the Dwarves. Bombarding Dwarvish cities with weapons supplied to them by a Gnomish inventor named Fardinald Ertinfert. The Heroes had already battled Ertinfert and his army of clockwork robits and discovered that he was only one member of a vicious cabal that had been capturing the Wardens, the 100 foot tall being who kept the peace in Aïn for centuries. So far, the team has found 3 of these Wardens, freeing them from members of the cabal; Fardinald Ertinfert - the mad scientist, Yan Mo - a warrior with claims to the throne of the Dragonborn Empire, and Vik - a thief who lost her life when she destroyed a mysterious urn and unleashed hordes of demons across the realms. All of them lead by Kalkata Theed, the Ashen Mage, a spellcaster of incredible capacity whose plan to defeat the Wardens is part of her attempt to reclaim the knowledge from Aïn's lost history. No one in all the realms remembers anything from before the great War of Ideas 300 years ago. Every record, memory or piece of information has been wiped away. But there is a magical relic that holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of that time, The Secret Keeper's Amulet. When brought into contact with a Warden the Amulet reveals a vision of the past, memories of the Wardens creation and clues about the threat they were created to prevent. When the Heroes of Bingle found The Secret Keeper's Amulet, it was Torvalt the timid who helped them identify it. He guided them to another member of the Natural Order, Hermil Fesh the Scholar of Nightstone Abbey in Terlis. James Quillus had studied under Fesh during his time at the Abbey and knew the Scholar well. When the team journeyed to Terlis, they found it locked down, a moratorium on magic forcing all spellcasters out of the city and into the Shantytown outside the gates. The longer the team stayed in Terlis the more they ran afoul with the moratorium.*

*When a prickly Nightstone wizard named Audric Lucern, attempted to confiscate Fahima's pet phoenix, Uggo threatened Lucern's life. Shortly thereafter Lucern was found dead in the exact manner Uggo had described. Wanted for murder, the Heroes of Bingle fled Terlis leaving a lowly merchant named Jorl locked in prison for merely interacting with them. Now that they have reunited with Torvalt the team plans to return to Terlis, but Diphthe remains an ongoing concern.  As a fallen Sky Child she has started changing, her complexion has grayed and her hair whitened. Worse, she seems to be cursed, forced to remain underground. No longer Diphthe she insists she is past tense, Diph Theed and spends all her time digging in the mud in the cavern beneath Thorn. When Fahima tried to confront Diph Theed about this bizarre new behavior, Diph Theed lashed out begging Fahima to send her through a portal to the Ashen Mage's lair. Fahima refused worried what sending their ally to their enemy might do. Meanwhile, James was experiencing his own transformation having defied his Warlock Patron's request to kill Brakka himself. James began developing characteristics of the demons now roaming Aïns countryside, eyes black as pitch, sharpened teeth, purple veins poking through thinning skin. Though the Heroes of Bingle have successfully liberated Thorn from the dark influence that contaminated it, they find themselves with many more problems and no easy answers. As we ended last week, the voices of the assembled Orcs of Thorn rang out in unison, Brakka's blood and brains dripped from Uggo's mighty maul the new WarChief having carried out the gruesome sentence of his people. Their rhythmic chanting of the surname he'd shared with his brother built to a thunderous crescendo "Ragefist" "Rage fist" "Rage  fist"       "Rage".*