Campaign One: Lower Consilia

Campaign One features the adventures of a band of misfits known as the Jashers, most notable for rescuing the leader of the Ember Brigade from the Church of the Chasm, overthrowing the royal seat of the city-state of Lyanlin twice, ridding the island state, Reclo, of its vampire infestation, stopping an attempt at releasing Inanis of his binds, and unleashing the Titan Calamity on the world.

## Founding

The party, comprised of Falis Fukui, Jasher O'brien, Dierro Astorio VII, Riric Tarbor, and D'Squarius, awoke in cells within an underground fighting ring belonging to the Wretched Warrior's Ensemble (WWE). There, they were tormented by their orcish captor, and told that they were to fight for the entertainment of criminals and gamblers in lethal battles of sport. After a short period of time in confinement, Dierro managed to render their captor asleep, and D'Squarius pilfered his keys, freeing himself and exploring the remainder of the facility, under the guise of a custodian.

While investigating, D'Squarius found a chest of goods, including a potion of polymorph, a beret, and a mysterious ring. Upon attempting to return to his cellmates, D'Squarius made contact with the leader of the WWE, an aarakocra by the name of Kel-Nus. After this tense interaction, the rogue made his way back to his cell and distributed the goods to his newfound compatriots, readying them for the upcoming match in the fighting pit.

When the time came to serve their purpose as fighters in this facility, the party was led into the ring, and they were faced with their opponents: a small band of goblins. Utilizing the potion of polymorph, Riric transformed himself into a triceratops, handily defeating the goblins, and turning the threat to their captors. During the ensuing chaos, one hired ruffian attempted to strike Dierro with an axe, but was swiftly pummeled and admonished by his own weapon. Dierro then offered the beret from D'Squarius' earlier outing to this tool, and forged his friendship with Jacques the Axe. On seeing the party's dominance over the situation, Kel-Nus ordered their freedom, and the party was able to abscond.

## An Ember in the Darkness

Upon leaving the WWE, the party made their way to the city of Chapter, where Riric studied at the local magic institute, the Arcane Citadel. Here, they found postings of a job opportunity from the Ember Brigade asking for the safe return of their leader, Lyra Thorn, from the clutches of the Church of the Chasm. After gathering information on the Church, the party surmised that their destination was a stronghold on the southwestern extreme of Consilia.

As they travelled, the party encountered a reptilian humanoid claiming to be from the Oncoming Storm, the Last Great Slaadi Empire near the town of Chanawa. This creature portended the end of civilization as mankind knew it, and promised to usher in a new dawn of chaos and instability. Additionally, as the party travelled through an enchanted forest known as the Gobi Reserve, they met the archdruid warden of the area, a satyr named Jeuss. Jeuss led a small village in the forest, and had previously had ill interactions with the Church of the Chasm. After hearing out the party's plans to take on the Chasm stronghold, Jeuss pledged one of their druids, Kali, to their cause, equipping her with a modified portable hole.

Continuing southward, the party encountered the stronghold, and managed to infiltrate it by way of Dierro's silver tongue. The interim Reverend of the Church, a young human by the name of Dark Lord, informed the party that the Grand Reverend, Kaelmourne, was out on a holy mission alongside several of their higher ranking officials, stating his gratitude that reinforcements had arrived to guard their precious treasure: the petrified form of Lyra Thorn. After being shown the statuesque physicality of General Thorn, the party did battle with Dark Lord in the undercroft of the Church, ending with the decapitation of the young man.

The party then escorted the statue out of the stronghold in Kali's portable hole, moving to resupply in the nearby port city of Primolitore. There, several party members became particularly entranced by an unnaturally alluring pearl in a coastal cave while Falis attempted to stop a pirate from making off with a cart of corpses from the city morgue. This encounter proved near deadly for Falis, and she was healed by a local sect of Chasm worshippers, being healed of her wounds at the cost of her sight. After disposing of the very nice, and very important pearl, the party journeyed back to Jeuss' village where Falis' blindness was cured, thus ending her brief brush with religion.

The team travelled another several days northward to Castle Ember, the seat of the Ember Brigade's power. There, the party was rewarded for their efforts with gold and magical items, and was further commissioned to continue researching and thwarting the Church's efforts. In lieu of a monetary reward, D'Squarius was granted a mount, a Nightmare dubbed D'Ponius. Here, the party's name was established: The Jashers.

## Family Matters

Returning to Chapter with heavy pockets, the Jashers set toward Arcane Citadel to further research the Church of the Chasm only to find the Citadel in disarray. After some investigation, Riric discerned the source of the chaos to be the forbidden undersect of the tower dedicated to forbidden knowledge and texts. With the blessing of the headmaster, the Jashers descended into the dark librarian depths of this long untrodden hall.

Here, the party found a pulsing bundle of pure arcane magic and did battle with it. After a struggle that bloodied and befuddled the adventurers, the magical mass merged with Riric and revealed itself to be the echoes of his parent's consciousnesses manifested by his own wild magic. The merging gave Riric perfect knowledge of every moment in his parents' lives, including that of their deaths at the fangs of a vampire, an event of which he had not been prior aware.

Amidst the wreckage caused by the arcane amalgam, the Jashers found three tomes of particular interest; one detailing the Ritual of Returning, the process by which one can free Inanis from his divine entrapment; one detailing the process to become a lich; and the spellbook of former Lich-King Asgrodarian Astordritinian. The party took these books with them on their journey, and Riric commissioned a lead box to contain the dangerous knowledge they had uncovered. As the capsule was being created, two armored elven individuals approached Falis, requesting that she return home to Lyanlin at the behest of their king, her brother Nym.

The Jashers warily agreed, and accompanied the soldiers northward toward Lyanlin, until the pair were slain in an encounter with hill giants on the plains leading to Crystal Lake. The party continued onward in spite of this, doing battle with stirges, and a cannibalistic hermit with a hankering for halflings. On arrival at Crystal Lake, the party hired a fisherman to ferry them across the water, doing battle with a hydra along the way, and encountering the corpse of Osiron Thorn on a sandbar near the center of the loch, off which Jasher obtained fist wraps known as the Wraps of Dyamak.

Near the opposite shore, the Jashers encountered a Lyanlinite vessel under the command of a dwelf named Roségard. After a conversation with the party, Roségard revealed that King Nym had grown malicious and negligent of his kingdom after making contact with the Church of the Chasm. Roségard proclaimed his belief that Falis was the true worthy inheritor of the throne and demonstrated his loyalty by slaughtering his crew, who he felt lacked his conviction to the queen.

Taken aback, the Jashers proceeded with Roségard to Lyanlin with caution in their hearts. On their way to the palace, a magical surge born of Riric's sorcery plucked the halfling's reflection from the Bay of Mirrors, birthing Miric. The reflection was defeated, for now... In the palace, Nym, in a clouded stupor, declared his intentions to eliminate any potential threats to his throne by way of slaying his sister. In the ensuing conflict, Nym was defeated, but Riric and Kali also fell to the king. After pleading with Jacques to help, Dierro was offered the chance to resurrect one, and Riric was revived.

Kali was given a burial by way of planting a token of instant tree growth within her body, which sprouted into an eternally bleeding oak that the locals dubbed 'The Blood Oak.' Here, Dierro bonded with the local fauna, befriending a displacer cub and naming it Gouda. In the distance, an explosion could be heard.

## Heart of Annihilation

In light of her brother's death, Falis was the new queen of Lyanlin, and thus requested that the Jashers investigate the explosion that occurred during Kali's funeral. As the party departed in this direction, they were joined by a young drow with a peculiar affixation on a sock monkey puppet. Upon arrival at the scene of the explosion, the group discovered the cause to be an unstable sphere of annihilation, an ingredient in the Ritual of Returning whose creation had led to the inward destruction of an entire city block.

Diligently, Zaos prodded the sphere and was subsequently annihilated, save for his sock monkey, which clung to the threshold of the sphere. Jasher then attempted to encapsulate the sphere in Kali's portable hole, triggering a planar shift that took with it the entire party and a 300ft diameter hemisphere of the city into the Astral Sea. Here in the Astral Sea, the group was rescued by Githyanki sailors led by Captain Gith'Decal. The captain explained to the party that the normal exit point to the Material Plane, the City of Doors, was currently blockaded by a terrorist group known as the Homeworlders.

The party agreed to help the Gith rid Sigil of these terrorists in exchange for passage to the city. Along the way, the party met a new ally in a cleric named Ebrias Traer, and did battle with astral sharks. During the journey, D'Squarius made contact with the entity that dwelt within Zaos' sock monkey, who revealed himself as Pazuzu, entrapped within the doll. Upon arrival in Sigil, a harrowing battle ended in the defeat of the the Homeworlders. Unfortunately, an attempt by Ebrias' to retrieve a weapon that had fallen into one of the many portals of Sigil landed him in Carceri, from where escape is all but impossible.

Under the instruction of Pazuzu, a ritual was performed to resurrect Zaos, and the party returned to the Material Plane.

## Blood is Thicker Than Holy Water

Upon arrival back on the Material Plane, the party found themselves in the Silvermine Tundra, the home of the roving bands of orcs from which Dierro hailed. Here, the Jashers discovered the corpses of Dierro's tribe, littered amongst a handful of Church of the Chasm congregation, indicating a conflict between the two. Distressed, Dierro requested that the party make a journey westward to Baphetsburg, the resting place of his father and namesake, Dierro Astorio VI.

Along the way, the Jashers did battle with creatures such as winter wolves and a naga before arriving in the holy city of Baphetsburg. Here, Dierro made his way with the party to the Platinum Sanctum, a temple of Bahamut under which his ancestors were interred as heroes through generations. Within the undercroft, the party proved themselves in combat against stone effigies of Dierro's forefathers and foremothers, eventually being bequeathed the blade Mythcarver, the shield Honor's Last Stand, and a diary belonging to the original Dierro Astorio.

After exiting the Platinum Sanctum, the party encountered a trio of dubious individuals; a tiefling driud by the name of Hugh, and a human barbarian named Kinexus, accompanied by his ward, Drogo. As introductions were being made, a ruckus was brewing sparked by a skirmish near the port of the city.

Closing in on the conflict, the fighting was revealed to be a battle between Chasm congregation and cloaked assassins. The Jashers aided the assassins in attempting to stall the Chasm members from transporting and absconding with cargo seated upon a docked ship. The struggle ended with two of the three assassins dead, and most of the Chasm slaughtered.

In the fallout, the final cloaked individual revealed himself as Kel-Nus, leader of the WWE, bent on stopping the Church of the Chasm's plans to return Inanis to the Material Plane. The cargo the congregation attempted to escape with was a kraken heart, a sea-dwelling titan whose heart would function as an ingredient for the Ritual of Returning. The party negotiated a deal with Kel-Nus for support in an altercation with the Grand Reverend, and for passage to Reclo via boat so that Riric might investigate his parents' deaths.

As this conversation unfolded, Pazuzu, within Zaos' doll, became intrigued with the Ritual of Returning. Seeing it as a potential method to secure freedom, he persuaded Zaos to try stalling the party until the Church had gathered all the necessary ingredients, and then hijack the ritual. Zaos formulated a plan to poison the Jashers to place them out of commission for a time, and shared this stratagem with Dierro, whom he hoped would cooperate.

Dierro did not cooperate, and Zaos was apprehended, then chained in the hold of the ship supplied to the party by Kel-Nus as they set off to Reclo. During the voyage, Zaos attempted to escape, but was put down by Hugh, an action that led to the unleashing of an aspect of his chained patron, who did battle with the party on the ship at sea before fizzling out, leaving behind a ruined and sinking ship.

Thankfully, before the Jashers succumbed to a watery fate, the group was saved by a passing pirate ship captained by a lich named Jomery Gofferton, and crewed by Eye of Vecna wielder, Zac Callboard and Hand of Vecna wielder, PB Quackers. Here, the party was able to rest, and Dierro was able to question Jomery on the specifics of lichdom. Amid this, Jomery revealed that Grand Reverend Kaelmourne of the Church of the Chasm was once an ally turned traitor of theirs that they hadn't seen in some time. The party's rest was short-lived, however, as the ship came under attack by Chasm congregation seeking the divine Eye and Hand, narrowly managing to gouge and slice them off their wielders before absconding.

After securing an alliance of vengeance and arriving in Reclo late at night, the party rested in a nearby tavern. The morning after which, an aasimar by the name of Pari fell from her perch in the sky. Seemingly fleeing from her own past, she opted to join the group. Riric and the Jashers then set off and investigated the Tarbor family estate where they found the master bed covered in flowers in various states of decay, and a figure sculking in the corner. The figure attempted to escape through the bedroom window, but was stopped and questioned by the party.

The figure, a half-elf woman, was named Alanna. She ran an herbalist shop in town, and was researching ways of curing vampirism through alchemy, for she herself was afflicted with the curse of twin fangs. Alanna admitted that she and two others in town had been bitten and turned to spawn by a vampire lord named Kaelmourne, who set off across the sea. As their agency slowly returned, Alanna grew disgusted at what she had done as a spawn, including murdering the Tarbor couple, and began researching ways of reversing her vampirism, while the other two, Nicholai and Johannes, embraced their vampiric nature, haunting the city's darkened nighttime streets.

Riric agreed to help Alanna once the other two vampires were dealt with, and through some investigation, Nicholai was found masquerading as the guard captain of the city, and Johannes was taking refuge in homeless shelters, preying on the poor and unwanted. Both were dispatched, but the battle with Johannes left the party extremely weak, with Riric expending his very blood, and Jasher falling to the vampire.

That night, as the party rested, the body of Jasher stirred in his grave. Whether it was due to some necromantic effects from the vampire bite, or the previous wielder of the Wraps of Dyamak spurning on his survival, Jasher rose again the next dawn as a Revenant bent on slaying Kaelmourne and dismantling the Church of the Chasm. The monk returned to the group, much to the surprise and concern of the party, who were planning their next move.

Alanna had theorized a cure to her vampirism in the meantime, but was missing a key ingredient; the retina of a beholder. Rumors had told of such a creature dwelling beneath Twinheart Peak, a tall, serpentine mountain of petrified titan remains that sat upon the island, so the party minus Dierro set into the caves within this mountain, where they came across a drow settlement living off the nutrients from glowing moss that sprouted from the remains of the petrified titan's hearts. The drow confirmed the rumors of a beholder living deeper in the caves. Citing it as the reason they now live their vegetarian lifestyle as opposed to hunting in the Underdark.

The Jashers further descended and found the eye-laden beast, seemingly having taken up residence in and living amongst a hive of bees. The party did battle with the Bee-holder, and were victorious, but Pari was slain in the conflict, falling victim to the creature's death ray. Through a series of reincarnations, Pari became a twisted monster, eventually seeking aid from Lolth priestesses in the drow city above to soften her appearance, thus falling into the Spider Queen's debt.

On their return to Reclo, the party reunited with Dierro and Alanna, the former of which had begun gathering materials for an ascent to lichdom and befriended a silver dragon hatchling named Silver, and the latter of which began creating the philter of anti-vampirism and imbibing it. As this was happening, Kinexus wandered to the port, where he found a harbored chattel ship of imprisoned dragonborn from a continent far to the south. The barbarian used the funds plundered from the beholder's hoard to purchase the ship and its inhabitants, also hiring a dwarven engineer named Balaga to aid his endeavors.

With the situation in Reclo seemingly quelled, Riric requested that Alanna continue looking after the Tarbor estate until his return, and the party received word from Lyanlin of a festival set to occur in a short time.

## Power Struggles

The party, along with Kinexus' enslaved dragonborn army set toward Lyanlin, arriving to find Falis acting rather strangely. After some prodding and investigation, it was found that who they thought was their friend was, in reality, Roségard, a doppelganger who had deceived them from the earliest meeting. Roségard had intended to use the festival to stage an insurrection of doppelgangers, creating a new safe haven for their kind, at the expense of the naïve Fukui heir.

The party destroyed Roségard, and searched for Falis, eventually finding a dungeon of civilians who had been true polymorphed into the form of Falis, and geased into acting like her. The Jashers found the true Falis sealed behind a wall in this dungeon, chained and starved, hers and Roségard's heir ripped from her womb. The group brought Falis to her quarters to rest, and the next morning of the festival came, wherein Falis had planned to reveal Roségard's treachery and order the removal of all doppelgangers.

When the morning came, however, Falis was brought to the stage in irons, with Kinexus having made a deal with the doppelgangers after Roségard's death. Falis was humiliated and made to abdicate her throne to Kinexus before spinning a 'wheel of punishment' of various wretched damnations for the former queen to undergo. The Jashers, unable to act against Kinexus and his army, rigged the wheel via mage hand to land on 'banishment,' the softest punishment, before admonishing their former compatriot, taking Falis, disintegrating the Lyanlin throne, and leaving.

Falis was told to seek passage to Reclo, for shelter, and the party set off toward the final leg of their journey.

## Kaelmourne

The Jashers sent out contacts to their various allies, the Ember Brigade, Jeuss, Gith Decal, Kel'Nus, and Jomery Gofferton to plan a siege of the Church of the Chasm, and the groups assembled weeks later in the city of Baphetsburg. During the meeting, it was decided that Jomery and Gith Decal would provide passage for the attendees to the shores near the Gobi Reserve, such that the ground troops belonging to Kel-Nus, the Ember Brigade, and the party may lead a charge on the stronghold from the cover of the forest, with Jeuss and his village providing rations and tending for any wounded.

The march began after the lich-pirate ship moored near the shore of the Gobi Reserve. On the first night of the march, Dierro finally completed the necessary components for his lichdom, binding his soul to a platinum piece and poisoning himself, forcing the rest of the party to carry his corpse through the next few days of marching. Along the way, the Jashers came across an area of the forest that had withered significantly, finding an excavation sight in the epicenter. Descending into the site, the party found it to be the chest cavity of a dead titan, the heart having been recently carved out. With this, realization set in that the Church now had all the ingredients for the Ritual of Returning.

In light of this, once Dierro awakened that night, the party opted to conference with Zaos' doll once more, with Pazuzu offering to give one of them a piece of his power in exchange for them utilizing the Ritual of Returning to free him. Putting it to a vote, the party agreed, and Hugh was given Pazuzu's vestige. The following morning, the siege began.

Swords, magic, and hand cannons clashed as the allies of the Jashers, and the Church congregation began their conflict. Under the cover of the war fog, the party infiltrated the stronghold, finding a portal guarded by Darklord, who was promptly ignored as the group dove into the portal to find Kaelmourne beginning the Ritual of Returning.

The Grand Reverend greeted the party with violence, and conflict ensued, culminated in Inanis' chosen being bloodied by a swarm of flying snakes, and done in by the twin streaks of Riric's disintegration spell. After Kaelmourne's defeat, Hugh set to work freeing the demon lord, Pazuzu from his imprisonment, opting to remain in the Abyss helping the Pestilent Wind seek his revenge in those who placed him there.

## Epilogue

Once an elite titan warrior in the Dawn War, Hodejsh was killed during the birth of magic. for the first time in nearly 1600 years, the long dead titan rose from its deathly slumber when the former champion of Bahamut, Dierro Astorio VI animated it as an undead thrall. It wouldn't be long before Dierro would lose control of Hodejsh and be killed by his creation, however.

Fresh off the adrenaline of the Jasher's defeat of The Church of the Chasm, the intrepid group was the first to respond to the Titan Calamity. Riric Tarbor, a powerful sorcerer, set about warning as many towns and cities as he could of the looming threat, evacuating them to the island of Reclo. Those who lived near cities with teleportation circles evacuated by way of magic while others made the pilgrimage to the sea in order to seek passage off the continent.

Kinexus, the Tundra Conqueror began efforts to evacuate as many people as he could, from the Silvermine Tundra to the colonies of the south. He managed to move over 17,000 subjects from the swath of land, excluding Silvermine itself which was found empty. He and the refugees sailed south, to the colonies, where he established the city of Kinexan. After some time, the Tundra Conqueror married a former noblewoman and produced a child who was born deformed and lifeless. The noblewoman hadn't the heart to produce another heir. Kinexus grew old, as did his council around him. A little under 15 years passed before his Master of Arcane Arts gave way to old age. Kinexus' adopted son was named in his place, having studied under his tutelage. Kinexan became one of the more powerful cities in the newly dubbed continent of Titanhaven.

Riric, the Small Savior was responsible for the bulk of initial evacuations from Consilia, clearing many of the major cities. After he had done all he could on the mainland, he took up residence in his parents' former home to track the movements of Hodejsh. Riric worked closely with Alanna, a friend and alchemist who proved trustworthy in times of need, to establish an organization that furthered the goal of tracking and communicating movements of the titan in major districts.

Sir Jasher O'Brien, the Champion of Eternity wandered the main continent for a few years to seek out and evacuate stragglers who were unable to evacuate in the initial waves. After survivors became fewer and farther in between, Jasher joined The Raven's Shadow, D'Squarius in his hunt for Dierro Astorio.

The titan continued to wander the continent of Consilia for twenty years, destroying entire cities in its wake and gathering any magical items it could acquire from the ruins before finally striding into the ocean with unknown intent. Regardless of the reason, the seas were more volatile than ever since his submersion.