Sunday, August 4, 2013

Order of the Silver Wolf

After defeating the corrupted bulletes in the farming region of Codaver. The Heroes of Tara headed back to town in hopes of discovering the location of the Tomb of Bonebreaker and the magic cloak that could lead them to a cyclops city. As they walked back to town, One Ball the druid discovered wolf tracks, right around the time the weather turned bad, with wind blowing and storm clouds overhead. Calderon the wizard confirmed that this was no normal storm, his last words before his death.

From atop a bluff, the bumbling soothsayer from the village shot powerful lightning from his hands. It hit One Ball and arced to everyone else, which is when Calderon was slain. The cleric quickly revived the wizard, but the battle raged on, with lightning bolts falling from the stormy sky. Attacks on the soothsayer revealed he was protected from both fire and electricity. Two wolves, perfect specimens, assisted the soothsayer in attacking the party. Eventually the soothsayer, who turned out to be a powerful werewolf druid of the highly secretive Order of the Silver Wolf, was defeated. Towards the end of the combat, a crowd of townsfolk had gathered to witness the spectacle.

Upon returning town and investigating further, the party discovered elements of The Order of the Silver Wolf amongst the people. When pressed, Verdandi the bard, admitted his membership and agreed to assist the party if they brought the werewolf druid back to life. He was too important to the order to be defeated in such a way. Verdandi explained his motivations to the party, and it was agreed they should work together. Meanwhile, the townsfolk venerated One Ball as their new druid, as it appeared he had defeated the soothsayer in mortal combat, a valid challenge under druidic law. One Ball had found a territory by defeating the old druid, his blade having dealt a decapitating blow to the werewolf.

After reincarnating the werewolf druid, who was now no longer a werewolf, and was, in fact, a goblin, Verdandi spilled some of the secrets of the order. The ancient order was created to prevent  robbers and adventurers from discovering the Tomb of Bonebreaker. Once such a discovery was made, it could eventually lead to the hidden location of the cyclops vault of artifacts. The vault contains the most dangerous magical items from ancient times. After the last great war, the order believed humanity could not be trusted with such power.

Verdandi arranged a meeting with the top members of the order. The party argued at the meeting that the malevolent Tuatha, Crannog, posed a great threat to humanity and was after the key in Bonebreaker's Tomb already. It was only a matter of time before he found a way in. The order knew of Crannog and some of his plans, so they listened intently as the party laid out their thinking.

Asked how they were different than Crannog, the party identified themselves as Heroes of Tara, and Verdandi was able to confirm this fact by quizzing them about details of their adventures. The bard had sung enough songs in praise of the band of heroes to be sure they were legitimate. The party argued they could permanently hide the ancient cyclops artifact on another plane, which seemed like an ideal solution to the order, and well beyond their power to achieve.

The Order of the Silver Wolf agreed to allow the party to enter the Tomb of Bonebreaker. Although they had no experience breaching the tomb, they agreed not to attempt to stop them. The horrors of the tomb would be theirs to overcome.

As for the mystery of the disappearances, or "curse," in Codaver, the order was responsible for that. Those of great strength and good heart were convinced to join the order. They left their old lives to defend the tomb, taking on the gift of lycanthropy with their brothers. Those powerful adventurers who were not of good heart or who only wished to raid the Tomb of Bonebreaker, were strongly encouraged to leave, while those who refused to heed the warnings, died at the hands of the order. The party found such tactics very much in line with their own and suggested they combine their organizations.


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