In 998 YK, a group of chrononauts sent by the druid artificer Dr. Morris came together in a tavern in the frontier town of Vathirond. They were given a mission to stop a rogue time traveler from altering history. Following one of their leads, the heroes used a druidic arch to enter the fey realm of Thelanis where a former chrononaut was trapped inside a fairy tale.
Player Characters: Calvin, Gzrom, Halkhad, Jackie, Phann, Rado
The Long War (998 YK, Barrakas)
The year is 998 YK in the alternate timeline. Four years have passed since the Day of Mourning that devastated the nations of Cyre and Karrnath. These two nations had annihilated each other with weapons of mass power acquired by a mysterious weapons dealer in Stormreach. However, the undead legions of Karrnath rose from the ashes. Crossing through the Dead Gray Mist, the Karrnathi armies of zombies and skeletons swept across the eastern regions of Khorvaire, setting out to conquer all the lands east of Thronehold before turning their attention to the west.
Meanwhile, in the western half of the continent, the remaining countries – Thrane, Breland, Aundair, Zilargo, and Darguun – watched in terror as the Empire of Karrnath grew. Having little alternative, the western nations banded together under the leadership of Thrane and forged the Silver Flame Alliance. The war that should have ended after a hundred years was set to continue for another century. Now, it was no longer simply a war between nations but a struggle between the living and the undead.
Six time travelers gathered together in a tavern called the Basilisk’s Gaze in the frontier town of Vathriond on the border between Breland and the ruins of Cyre, now called the Mournland. They were Jackie the warforged mystic, Phann the human fighter and warlock of the archfey Titania, Rado King’s Spear the razorclaw shifter assassin, Calvin Eastwood the human bard of lore, Gzrom the halfling cleric sorcerer warlock, and Halkhad the kalashtar mystic. They were gathered together by fate, and each of them in turn had met a strange druid artificer from the future named Dr. Morris. They were the Chrononauts, heroes tasked with restoring the evils done to history by rogue time travelers.
These chrononauts were greeted by a powerful mystic named Ronald who had come out of stasis to send them on their first quest. Their mission was track down a rogue time traveler whose identity was unknown. This villain was an unidentified shapeshifter whose evil actions were part of a conspiracy that would ultimately lead to a dark future ruled by machines and torn apart by war with alien aberrations. The chrononauts had only two leads. One was a changeling spy named June who lived during the Last War. The other was a former chrononaut and planeswalker named Saladin who was being targeted by unknown enemies.
Saladin had entered Thelanis, the realm of fairy tales. Something had driven him to enter that plane, and he was reportedly on a quest to slay a black dragon called Nightscale, as he had done once before on a previous adventure. The chrononauts received help from an elderly human druid named Mossmantle who led them to a druidic arch. With the power of Phann’s connection to his archfey patron Titania, a magical portal was opened within the arch that led the party to the mystical realm of Thelanis.
The Black Lake, Thelanis (998 YK, Barrakas)
The chrononauts found themselves inside a dark underground tunnel. They were in the company of three duergar. At the front of the party, Gzrom led the way with a lantern. The heroes passed over two stone bridges which looked strangely familiar to Jackie. He had been here before, but it was not as he had remembered it.
Beyond the second bridge, the tunnel opened onto a vast underground lake. In a small island upon the center of the lake, a treasure was amassed in great heap. Upon the treasure horde, there was Saladin who was bound and gagged. As Gzrom approached the shore of the lake, the rest of the party was beset by a black dragon which emerged from under the bridge behind them. The Black Dragon called herself Nightscale. However, she seemed confused, as if she was not completely sure of her own identity. Calvin took the opportunity to light his own lantern, but this caused the shadow of the dragon to lengthen and conjured a second shadowy dragon. Now, there were two dragons to contend with!
In a desperate move, Gzrom shattered the lantern that he was holding. With the lantern destroyed, the first dragon, having been separated from her shadowy half, now seemed to realize who she truly was. She named herself Vvaraak, a dragon of Argonessen and the patron of the halfling warlock Gzrom. But the second shadowy dragon still called herself Nightscale. Now, the two dragons struggled against each other in the lake, each calling the other an impostor. The shadowy Nightscale called upon the duergar to slay the dragon Vvaraak, and soon Nightscale had gained the upper hand. The chrononauts, weakened by the initial battle with Vvaraak, doused the second lantern in the lake. The light went out and the cavern was plunged into darkness. Those who could see in that the dark saw that the second shadowy dragon had vanished. Saladin had also freed himself from his bonds and swam to the shore of the lake. Then in the darkness, he plunged his sword into the heart of the remaining black dragon Vvaraak, slaying her where she stood. And with a fell swing of his eldritch blade, he lopped off the head of the dragon and held it aloft for all to see.
“I have slain the black dragon Nightscale!” Saladin exclaimed as the chrononauts, particularly Gzrom, looked on in horror.
To be continued…