Team Retard is a name given to a group of adventurers in the land of Serana in Arthenos. They chose that name themselves if you can believe it. Members come to the group and members go, though the dynamic is always the same.
They have performed great feats and have been fighting many battles since they got together and formed their band of misfits. Their greatest adventure is stopping the peion
Sartor entering the world of Arthenos, which is also the main focus of this whole book of world building. Team Retard is central to the world of Arthenos and will go down as some of the greatest heroes to have ever lived.
The Beginning
Team Retard's origin can be traced back to their capture by
Undvik Hallowhand as a sacrifice towards the Peion Sartor on the
Alduran Island. In the dungeon
Wiellie, an
Altvallìn druid,
Lil Whitey Boii, a
Balaur monk and
Bobs N Vagene, an
Erdian rogue, were locked up together with
Kharjo, a
Fel'in Fae. Luckily, they were able to escape the
Goblin infested place. Only they believed that Kharjo had betrayed them. Now they had two vendettas: the unknown warlock who had captured them and the cat who had betrayed them.
It didn't take long for our three heroes to find a town.
Stonetusk was a small settlement governed by
Karim Stonetusk. There, they intimidated the population in order to give them the name of the warlock who had captured them. They didn't have to intimidate the people since the citizens of Stonetusk were also being threatened by the warlock Undvik Hallowhand. They were tasked to find the dagger
Nettlebane. When they went to the cave where Nettlebane was held, the three heroes found an ally in the form of
Shmetterling, a half-orc paladin. After they saved him they were able to push through the dangerous cave and found Nettlebane. But when they were about to make their escape, the warlock Undvik found them and forcefully took Nettlebane from them. It was only because of the sleight of hand of Bobs that they were actually able to give a fake knife to Undvik. They still had Nettlebane and now had the weapon they needed to defeat Undvik.
While traveling to the tower in the south of the Alduran Island, which Undvik used as a base for his horrific practices, Team Retard met the ranger
Farengar. He was looking for Undvik in order to find his brother
Undvir Hallowhand who had killed the
Trevallìn village that had taken him up when he was alone as a kid. Together they entered the tower of Undvik and tried to kill him. Undvik was at that moment trying to open a portal where Sartor, the Peion of Deception would be able to enter the plane of Arthenos. Luckily, Team Retard was able to push Undvik into the portal which created a vortex that sucked the whole tower into the portal. Quickly, Team Retard was able to escape the tower, just in time as the tower collapsed in front of their feet. Though the victory was short lived. They now knew that the brother of Undvik, Undvir was still trying to bring Sartor to this plane of existence.
In order to find answers they had to travel to the land of Serana. Farengar had left as Undvik had given him the location of his brother. He would meet them in the city of
Blackstar. But first, they needed to get off the island. Our heroes traveled to the city of
Seaside, where they searched for a captain and a boat who would bring them to the city. To their surprise, they found a willing captain in the form of Kharjo together with his friend
Kurt N Vagene. Kharjo believed that Team Retard was going to kill him (to be fair they did debate it in his presence) but if they wanted his help, he would give it to them. After all, it was because of Team Retard that he was able to escape with his friend. But Team Retard isn't a group to not hold grudges.
As they were traveling by boat towards Blackstar City, the clouds became dark and eery. A zombified Undvik Hallowhand attacked the boat with an army of demons. Team Retard tried to stop him but the damage to the boat was too severe. The boat crashed and our heroes blacked out. When they regained consciousness, they were laying near the
Dark Woods. Blaming Kharjo and Kurt for the crash of the boat, Team Retard killed them. What goes around, comes around. After that they met with the female vampire (though this was a secret to them at the time) named
Aikinay. The vampire told them that the whole town of
Governia was covered in a foggy mist and no one was able to leave the town. Our heroes were now trapped in this town and had to find a way to leave it.
Harknar Ravenhelm
As they always do when they visit a new settlement, our heroes first went to the inn. There, they met the cleric
Elandrion who has been trapped in this town for a couple of days now after the trading caravan he came with took a wrong turn and ended up in Governia instead of Blackstar. Elandrion told our heroes that recently and ancient force has reawakened. It now resides in the ancient
Ravenhelm Castle. But that didn't stop the civilians of Governia for throwing the yearly feast of
Hallow's End. It was during this feast that our heroes tried to win an ancient ring in a competitive dicing game. Bobs had a set of magical dice which allowed him to choose which number he could roll. Sneakily, he used these dice and won the game; claiming the prized ring for our heroes. But then the inn grew dark and
Harknar Ravenhelm, the ancient vampire lord of Governia, stepped in the inn, demanding the ring. Team Retard as they do, refused to give up the ring. A battle between the heroes and Harknar Ravenhelm ensued. Team Retard received help from
Mordekai, a Tiefling Wizard in their battle but Harknar proved too cunning. Harknar stole the ring and disappeared. They now knew who to defeat in order to be able to leave Governia.
Harknar had stolen the ring in order to be able to walk in the sunlight. Harknar was now even more powerful than before. Team Retard decided to gather some information about Harknar and Governia, which led them to
Kol Tor Fo, the book seller of Governia and very skilled wizard. He told them that Harknar was scheming with the druid
Orthorn Tanglewood. If they could find Orthorn Tanglewood, they might find a way to stop Harknar. Mordekai volunteered to join them on this dangerous quest.
After finding Orthorn Tanglewood in the Dark Woods, a battle ensued. Wiellie was bitten by a werewolf during the fight and got afflicted with lycanthropy. Team Retard was able to defeat the druid and stop an ancient ritual he was performing. Orthorn Tanglewood was defeated and he gave them the information necessary to defeat Harknar. They had to go to the
Sunken Castle in order to destroy a magical artifact called the
Heart of Yonan Fur, which Harknar uses to gain more power. But after Shmetterling had slain Orthorn by decapitating him, Harknar Ravenhelm came to the scene. He stabbed Mordekai in the back, leaving him severely wounded. Harknar then disappeared with Aikinay. Shmetterling then killed Mordekai, leaving the other members of Team Retard surprised.
Team Retard had now lost a member and they would stop at nothing to get her back. It was Kol Tor Fo who told them about the vampire hunter
Henk Ultar, who had come to Governia to kill Harknar Ravenhelm. The heroes went to the inn where he stayed and asked him for help in order to defeat the Vampire Lord. They would all go together to the castle of Ravenhelm and save Aikinay from the clutches of Harknar. In Castle Ravenhelm, Harknar was preparing a ritual in order to bring an army of demons to Governia to take over the town. When our heroes arrived at the castle, Harknar made Team Retard a deal. They would get Aikinay back if they handed over Henk Ultar. As they viewed Aikinay a more important member of their team, Team Retard handed Henk over to Harknar, but not before the vampire lord cut Aikinay's hand off for his ritual.
Now Aikinay was returned, our heroes went to the Sunken Castle infested with
Lithuagin in order to destroy the heart of Yonan Fur. In this submerged fortress, our heroes got into a debate. They split up, angry at one another. Bobs and Shmetterling went further through the fort and came across a closed door while the others were investigating a dragon statue. When Shmetterling used a spell, the Gargoyles in the room came to life. The Gargoyles proved too much to defeat just by Bobs and Shmetterling themselves. The Gargoyles were able to kill Bobs in battle. When the Halfling died the Gargoyles stopped attacking. Team Retard found their friend dead on the floor. They left the Sunken Castle in order to put their friend to rest on a boat near the river.
But they couldn't mourn for long. Harknar Ravenhelm was attacking the town of Governia with an army of Demons. Quickly, they rushed to the town, in their haste forgetting about the Heart of Yonan Fur that was still in the Sunken Castle protected by Lithuagin. When they arrived at the town, it was on fire. All the houses were being burned down by demons. People were being taken from their homes. Our heroes found Kol Tor Fo battling the demons of Harknar. Harknar himself was first nowhere to be seen, but after some time he came out to the town. Yet, he didn't look too good. Harknar was heavily wounded. Even then the Vampire Lord proved to be a formidable opponent, healing himself when he bit one of the heroes. In the end our heroes were able to destroy the body of Harknar Ravenhelm with the help of Kol Tor Fo. The mist around Governia disappeared and the demons retreated to their dimension. The town was safe... for now.
Our heroes thought they had defeated the Vampire Lord and decided that they needed to leave towards Blackstar City. Kol Tor Fo's bookshop was destroyed during the battle and he had decided that Blackstar would be able to provide him with new opportunities. Our heroes decided to go together with him. There was another traveler who was trapped in Governia and needed a ride towards Blackstar. A Tiefling traveler named
Lenk helped many villagers to safety together with Kol Tor Fo during the Vampire attack. He was just looking for a place to go to. He joined Team Retard that day.
Blackstar City
Our heroes now had a new team member and finally went on their way to Blackstar City together with Kol Tor Fo. Now that the mist had lifted, people were free to travel to wherever they wanted to go too. The road was pretty calm. When they arrived at Blackstar, they saw the
Golden Conclave beating down some people. They decided to ignore the guards and went straight to the inn. They thought that Farengar might be there. To their surprise the innkeeper had given them a note, written by Farengar, that he went to the town of
Chete in the northern region of Serana. He had received some information that Under Hallowhand was in the region. He would let them know if he needed any help, in the meantime Team Retard could investigate a bit on their own.
Feeling like they were a little bit light on cash, they went out and looked at the message board in search of someone who would be able to give them a lot of money for as little effort as possible. They came across the notice of
Parteniges of Elea, he needed their help to find a certain
Cube of Retraction in the
Valley of Mists but the journey was too dangerous for an old man as himself to undertake. When they arrived at the house of Parteniges of Elea, he was still busy trying to uncover the secrets of the multiple dimensions. When they received their payment, our heroes went on their way to the dangerous Valley of Mists.
In order to travel to the Valley of Mists, our heroes had to enter Darkmound Cave. There
Mrakvallìn were busy resurrecting a Patron Mother
Ara Mrakdellan in order to attack the surface world. Team Retard was able to stop the resurrection. After that something quite random happened. Schmetterling had found a magical deck of cards, earlier in the adventure and they decided to draw the last cards from the deck. The heroes were transported to another dimension. This was the first time that they had performed interdimensional travel (or anyone else in a long time). In the unknown realm they found the father of Kol Tor Fo,
Ham Mor Fo who helped them escape. Team Retard did take some
Smurfs with them.
They were transported right in the Valley of Mists. There they needed to find the cube of retraction. There they met
Born, the Stone Giant. With the friendly giants help they quickly found the cube of retraction and went on their way to Blackstar. The heroes did however take a pit stop in
Brick Town. In that town children were taken away at night. Team Retard's solution was to kill the four witnesses in the hope that at least one of them was the witch. They were lucky as they actually were able to kill the witch. They accepted the gold and went on their way before anyone knew what had happened.
When they arrived at Blackstar, the people were getting upset about the raging inequality which characterises the city. Team Retard went straight to Parteniges who payed them and then enthusiastically installed the cube in his machine. A portal opened and Parteniges jumped up with joy. Then Lenk, for no reason really, pushed Parteniges inside the portal. The portal started to act strangely and convulse. Then out of nowhere an army of demons came through the portal. One of Sartor's lieutenants named
Anobaith stepped through the portal and started causing carnage. People were killed left and right. Team Retard was able to disconnect the cube from the machine in time, causing the demons to be sucked back into the portal. A whole district of Blackstar was destroyed but at least the damage was minimised. Team Retard was hailed as heroes (yes, even though they were probably the ones responsible for it; the people of Blackstar didn't know this and they definitely didn't tell them) by the people of Blackstar.
Mind Flayer City
It was then that Team Retard was approached by the governor of
Blackstar Hold,
Taka the Wise. She needed the help of capable adventurers and her own Golden Conclave was not able to solve this problem without unleashing a whole revolution. Taka told the heroes about a faction called
The Undergrounders, who were busy for a couple of years riling up the population of Blackstar. Taka needed this organisation gone or at least she needed enough criminalising information so she could lock away the leaders for good. The heroes at first declined, saying that they were just here to wait for their friend and went on their way to the
Golden Gallow inn, in order to grab a drink.
The next couple of days there was a huge feast which would be a yearly event called the
Feast of the Portal. Everyone was out partying and drinking in celebration of the victory of Team Retard. When drinking in the Golden Gallow, our heroes were enjoying themselves. Then suddenly a hooded figure gave Lenk a note where stood that they had to leave the Golden Gallow inn because someone hated the Golden Conclave who frequently went to this inn. Hurriedly, Lenk took Team Retard outside. And just when they left the building someone shouted: For the Undergrounders! Then he exploded and with him the whole building. But Team Retard had forgotten Elandrion inside. He was too drunk and too busy to have heard the warning. Some soldiers from the Golden Conclave brought him outside.
While Elandrion was unconscious he received a vision. He saw a giant tower in a desert protected by a Golden Dragon. The dragon spoke to him, that he needed to come back to the tower. Then Elandrion woke up and saw Wiellie standing before him. She brought him back to consciousness and angrily claimed that they now had to destroy the Undergrounders.
Their first lead was
Mauro Halffeet, who had just escaped prison. He hid himself at the docks of Blackstar City. After using some force, Mauro told them where to find
Cain Morningdawn, the leader of the Undergrounders. Cain was staging a revolution in order to become the new leader of Blackstar City. After many obstacles they found Cain in a workers warehouse where he was riling the workers into staging a coup. Everyone was obliged to take a blue pill, which would greatly enhance their strength and mobility. The whole crowd of people stormed towards the Great Hall of the Adani, demanding retributions for their exploited labor. Our heroes followed them and asked Taka if she could speak to Cain in order to come to an agreement. She accepted the offer.
When Cain came into the great hall in order to talk about a truce, he sliced Taka's throat. Her dead body fell to the floor. Our heroes immediately restrained Cain. Aikinay then tried to read Cains mind in order to find out why he had done so. She received a vision of weird creatures living in the underground of Blackstar, in the ancient Dvergur city of
Burnadash.
Tra'zik, the Elder Brain was controlling every person. The blue pill they had taken was actually a Mind Flayer parasite, taking control over their mind. Our heroes had to go down to the underground Dvergur city to destroy this enemy and save the city.
When they left the Great Hall of the Adani, they used the sewers to get to the underground city. The mob followed them to the Dvergur halls. Thousands of people tried to restrain our heroes of entering the colony. But then Ham Mor Fo, Kol Tor Fo, Kael Mathers and a new person named
Ashen appeared in the underground hall. Using their magic, Kol Tor Fo, Ham Mor Fo and Kael created a barrier in order to push back the mob and allowed Team Retard to enter the Mind Flayer colony. Ashen decided to go with them. They found Tra'zik in the main chamber of the colony. The battle was fierce and hard. Tra'zik used psionic powers to divide our heroes in two areas. Because of this the healers were fighting Mind Flayers on one side, while others were battling the tentacles of Tra'zik. Our heroes barely survived this fight and it wasn't without loss. When Tra'zik used his mind blast ability, Aikinay was captured by a tentacle and hung there unconscious. The mind blast hit her severely, killing her.
Our heroes were able to kill the Elder Brain Tra'zik when Shmetterling used his axe to smash in the brain. The tentacles died and the remaining Mind Flayers teleported away. Aikinay fell to the floor, her already cold body now even colder. Then from the depths of the Dvergur city, the Peion of Knowledge and Greed and the patron of Aikinay,
Trachwant appeared and took the body of Aikinay with her. But not before putting the blame of her death on them. She then disappeared with Aikinay's body to her own realm. Our heroes lost another friend.
Everyone infected by the Mind Flayers returned to their senses. Their increased power also ebbed away. Kol Tor Fo, Ham Mor Fo and Kael were looking after the people, when Team Retard reappeared from the colony. When they had all helped the people get out of Burnadash, Kol Tor Fo shed a tear for the death of his friend. Our heroes were given a plot of land in order to build a house. They contacted an architect named
Eva Gothica to build their house. They created a whole plan which would inhabit at least 7 members and more to join.
On the Road to Chete
After a couple of weeks, they received a letter from Farengar calling them to the town of
Chete where he had found some information about the warlock Undvir Hallowhand, the brother of Undvik Hallowhand. Elandrion wanted to visit the tower of his dreams in the
Golden Desert. Lil Whitey Boii wanted to visit the ancient monastery of the
Heaven's Door as he could find more information about being a monk there and how he might increase his power. Since the Golden Desert and the Heaven's Door was on the way to the town of Chete, our heroes took on the quest to find Farengar. Before they left though, they chose Kol Tor Fo as new governor of Blackstar City.
When they were looking to buy a carriage for them to use to travel to Chete, they met
Ruby. She had been looking for years for the
Lonely Tower which was located in the Golden Desert. The same tower Elandrion had seen in his dreams. She asked if she was allowed to join and Team Retard agreed. After they had bought their carriage, they went on their way.
Many things happened while they were on the road. Their first encounter was with a traveling bard named
Ojrahk, who has been traveling around Serana in search of his brother
Kharjo. He had to travel to Chete as well and thus joined our heroes on their journey. After their mishap in Brick Town, they decided to evade that town for now and go through the planes to the main road.
When they traveled the road, they met with
Bor Tombadillo who was having trouble with his cart. Bor was a jolly fellow and after our heroes helped him, he gave them a special stone called the
Hearthstone, which allowed to teleport them to his house when they are in trouble if they just said his name. With a new friend in their back pocket, our heroes continued their journey. In
Alvel Forest, they met with a whole tribe of
Trevallìn ruled by
Vaina Tredolomë, the ancient queen of the forest. They were taken prisoner after the Elves saw them destroying a piece of forest when battling
Ghouls. However, Wiellie was quick to gain the favour of Vaina and they were released the next day, even getting some potions and food for on the road.
The next couple of days, nothing particularly interesting happened. But one day, a young woman fell out of the sky through what looked like a disk of ice in the sky. She was heavily wounded and after Team Retard patched her up,
Freya Frostwill told about a master illusionist who was residing in
Fort Grenwall who had taken her friends from
The College of Hardrock captive. After our heroes patched her up, she asked if they could help her. Promising some great loot in the castle and teaching Elandrion a teleportation spell, our heroes accepted the quest. The Collector was known as a master illusionist and thus our heroes saw their worst fears in Fort Grenwall. It took all their strength to break through the visions the Collector gave them, but they managed to reach the main chamber where the illusionist resided. With their combined strength, they defeated the Collector. They rescued Freya's friends minus two, as two didn't make it. Freya thanked our heroes and said that if they were in need of her help, she would be in the city of
Redania. She would also be waiting to teach Elandrion the teleportation spell.
Our heroes then continued using the main road to go to Chete, which would bring them near the
First Wood. After a couple of days, they came close to the town of
Fullhelm. While traveling that road, they heard marching in the south of the road. They went on to investigate and saw a large army of Orcs marching across the
Balgor Hills. Our heroes decided to ignore this threat and just made a quick stop in Fullhelm, talked with
Dirk, and drank at the local inn. There they met
Rorik Desertdweller, a young adventurer willing and able to guid Team Retard through the Erimos Desert in order to find the
Lonely Tower.
The journey through the Erimos Desert was long and harsh. The sand made it hard to see where they were and since the desert was seen as magical, our heroes never knew what to expect. They certainly didn't expect a giant Sand elemental appearing from the sand sea and attacking them. They quickly hid in the closest cave they could find. There they decided to wait until the sand elemental subsided. When the heroes were sleeping, Rorik Desertdweller tried to steal as much as they could, after he had become invisible. But Schmetterling, watchful as ever, casted a spell which allowed him to recognise evil creatures in his area. It seemed that Rorik was a Rakshasa, an evil trickster creature. Rorik clawed away at Schmetterling and escaped. He then closed the entrance to the cave, so our heroes couldn't escape.
Our heroes were trapped. Orion the Tiefling tried to create a way out through the top of the cave. But when he pushed away a rock which shouldn't have been pushed away, the top collapsed and sand started to gush in the cave engulfing our heroes. They had no where to go, since the upper hole was too far away to get to. It seemed that our heroes were done for. But then a rope was let down which allowed our heroes to climb out of the cave, just before the sand swallowed them whole. Once again it was a hooded figure that saved them; the same one that warned them about the explosion in the Golden Gallow inn. It was revealed to be Mordekai, who had returned to the land of the living, helping them in the shadows. Schmetterling was immediately suspicious of this, but the rest of the group just kind of went along with it.
Mordekai activated the amulet Elandrion had received in his vision. The amulet pointed into a certain direction, clearly indicating that our heroes should follow it. After a day walking through the sand, the amulet stopped and shined a bright light. An offering table with a knife appeared and in draconic it said: "show me your worth." Elandrion took the knife and cut off his left hand. The table disappeared with the hand and the tower appeared. With the tower, the legendary Golden Dragon
Vaelnehir showed himself to our heroes. The dragon was gargantuan, it was the biggest creature any of our heroes had ever seen. Our heroes entered the tower, and Vaelnehir gave our heroes a tour through the library in his human form. He told Elandrion about the
Book of Visku, a powerful artefact capable of giving information on how to beat Sartor and his plan to invade this realm. But the Book was not in the library, rather it was torn in three pieces. One was situated in
Temple City. The other has been taken by
Undvir Hallowhand. The last, they already have in their possession from when they looted Harknar Ravenhelm in Governia. Our heroes now knew what they needed to do: find the two other pieces of the Book of Visku, assemble it and read about how to defeat Sartor. Vaelnehir thanked them for visiting and showed them the way out. When they left the library, they had forgotten all about the library but the information that they had received was still there. Mordekai then proceeded to guide out of the magical desert.
When they left the Erimos Desert, they passed through the city of
Caerton. They only stayed there for a day, getting some supplies and asking about some monks of the Heaven's Door. There were some who would make the climb with them. The man named
Barthos and his son named
Aiakos were traveling up the mountain to spread the ashes of the mother on the highest peak of this realm. Schmetterling recognised the mark of Rhyfel on Barthos' shoulder. When they were making their way through the mountains, Schmetterling attacked Barthos. The whole team was shocked but nonetheless helped Schmetterling kill Barthos. Aiakos ran away from the scene in a hurry into the woods near the mountains. As a reward for killing the rogue champion of Rhyfel, the Peion of war granted Schmetterling Barthos' axe, a magical axe capable of returning to the wielders hand.
Our heroes made their way to the Heaven's Door monastery. There Lil Whitey Boii was allowed entry into the monastery for training. He absorbed the power of the elements in his being and his strength increased manyfold. The monks claimed that the monastery was always open for him and his friends. The personal quests were now finished and they quickly made their way to Chete, where they would meet with Farengar. He had been waiting long enough now.
In Chete, our heroes asked around in the
Loud Whisper Inn about Farengar and his location. They pointed them towards the
Murmuring Woods as Farengar was hunting there. They found Farengar pierced through the chest hanging from a tree. The wound was recent and they were able to save Farengar, if he got help in time. Mordekai carried Farengar with him to Chete in order to give him much needed medical attention. Before he left though, Farengar was able to say a few words about the location of Undvir Hallowhand. He was working with the
Nathaïr's Followers.
Lenk knew this cult as it had been the same cult that took him away from his family a couple of years ago. It is where he received his shadow powers. He needed to be careful for they would most certainly take him back if they ever got the chance. Our heroes now had to search for the location of Undvir Hallowhand. A druid named
Rillian Treeplanter was fighting off some cultists who were taking prisoners in order to sacrifice them. After they helped her, she told our heroes where the cave was that the Nathaïr's Followers were residing.
They found the entrance to the cave where cultists were standing watch. They fought their way through the cave only to come to an underground fortress that was magically protected by a barrier. They were able to dismantle the barrier and go to the main chamber, where the second part of the Book of Visku should be. Undvir Hallowhand appeared and battled our heroes. He proved too strong for our heroes to defeat. So they took the Book of Visku and tried using the Hearthstone to teleport to the house of Bor Tombadillo. However, Wiellie was about to be killed by Undvir Hallowhand just before they were able to teleport. Orion was killed instead.
The Siege of Blackstar
Our heroes were able to teleport to Bor Tombadillo using the Hearthstone. They tried to resurrect Orion, but they needed a valuable diamond, something Bor didn't have. The nearest city
Redania should have that though, so our heroes went on their way to the city. Our heroes stayed a couple of days in the city, looking for the diamond that they needed. When they found it, they were able to resurrect Orion with it. Though the happiness for the resurrection of their friend didn't last long. There was talk of demonic trouble in the sewers of Redania and Freya who was residing in Redania, asked if they could help out. Our heroes decided to check it out. They were led into a trap by Undvir Hallowhand. They tried again to defeat him, but once again he proved too strong. Our heroes fled but Lenk was taken. Our heroes kept on running until the screams of their Tiefling friend were just sounds of the wind.
Now that the cult had Lenk, it didn't take long for chaos to ensue. A portal was opened underneath the city and giant demons started appearing from it. A Balor started destroying the city of Redania, while other demons commenced to kill many citizens of the city. In Redania, they met
Raon, a Blood Hunter on a quest to destroy the demons of Rhyfel. He joined the team in order to complete his quest. With the combined power of Freya and Elandrion, our heroes were able to escape from the city to Blackstar, so they could warn Kol Tor Fo of what was happening. Blackstar prepared itself for the incoming attack of the demon army. Word had been given that a caravan of refugees were trying to get to safety by journeying to Blackstar. Our heroes decided to help the refugees and warn the Trevallìn of Alvel Forest of the incoming army.
Using the teleportation spell Elandrion had learned from Freya, our heroes teleported with some warriors to Alvel Forest. Demons had already invaded the forest and our heroes offered their help in defeating them. Vaina Tredolomë accepted the offer and with her army she helped rescue the caravan of refugees. Demons were terrorising the caravan but with the combined strength of the men of Blackstar, the Trevallìn of Alvel Forest and our heroes, they were able to safely escort the caravan to Blackstar.
Word had spread across the land in the following days of the demon army marching towards Blackstar. Mages of the
Dewin created magical barriers around the city to protect it from projectiles. Monks from the Heaven's Door came to help Lil Whitey Boii during the onslaught. Kol Tor Fo had also sent word to
Subrion Violas, the father of Wiellie, in order to help them fight for the city. Wiellie wasn't happy with this as Subrion had been searching for her for some time now and wanted to marry her off to someone she didn't love. But there was no time for that now, as the demon army approached.
The battle ensued and many enemies Team Retard had faced came back. The sky turned dark and Harknar Ravenhelm, whom our heroes thought dead, killed many of Blackstars warriors. Our heroes were more seasoned now so they were able to hold off Harknar for some time. Yet, Henk Ultar also appeared and attacked them. He had been tortured for months in the dungeons of Castle Ravenhelm and blamed Team Retard for his predicament. Barthos also made an appearance vowing revenge on Schmetterling for killing him. The army of demons was able to destroy the eastern wall of Blackstar, where Ruby and Elandrion were protecting civilians. Raon, Wiellie, Schmetterling, Ashen and Lil Whitey Boii retreated to the market square to face off Undvir Hallowhand, who was terrorising the area. He was playing with the severed head of Lenk, using the horns as a weapon. Undvir critically wounded Subrion, the father of Wiellie. In her rage, Wiellie attacked the warlock transforming into a dinosaur, using her tail as a weapon. But Undvir Hallowhand was the strongest opponent they had faced yet. They had lost already two times to him. Our heroes were able to hurt him quite a bit, but when Undvir created two meteors in the sky to destroy the market square, they felt like everything was lost. Ham Mor Fo came to the rescue and together with his son Kol Tor Fo created a magical barrier which protected them from the meteors.
Wiellie had returned to her normal form. Lil Whitey Boii was knocked out after he had nearly broken Undvir's neck. Ashen retreated from the fight. Schmetterling was barely standing. And Raon was killed by the meteors since he didn't make it to the barrier of Ham Mor Fo. When all hope seemed lost, Wiellie heard a cry underneath the city. She asked the creature for help and then a giant Neolethid appeared out of the ground. It attacked Undvir and took him underneath the city. The creature was a remnant of the Mind Flayer Colony and without it's masters to kill it when it would become too big, it became a large snake-like creature and made it's home in Burnadash.
It seemed that Undvir was dead and that the demon army was in retreat. Ham Mor Fo then sacrificed his own life to resurrect Raon. Raon had a bigger part to play in the coming future and his part was played out. Ham Mor Fo poured his life energy in Raon and then disappeared. Out of a giant hole in the market square, Undvir Hallowhand reappeared. Heavily wounded he tried to crawl towards Team Retard. Raon was given the honour of cutting his head off. Undvir Hallowhand was slain.
Finding the Books
Kol Tor Fo decided to spread the ashes of his father in his garden and organised a little ceremony for his friends. The rest of the city was also burying their loved ones and started rebuilding the city. Subrion Violas decided that his daughter was capable enough to act in her own will and retracted the bounty on her head. Vaina Tredolomë was given a small area of the city where her Trevallìn were allowed to live in peace. Orion started burying Lenk's head in the garden of Team Retard's house. But Elandrion investigated the head first and came to the conclusion that it was a fake. Yet, he didn't really do anything with that information.
Next steps had to be taken now. The demon army of Rhyfel suffered from a setback, but they would most certainly be back. They now had two parts of the Book of Visku, and still needed the third part. Reading the second part gave Wiellie the vision of a city covered in the jungle. According to Kol Tor Fo, that could only be one city:
Temple City, which was located in the north of the
First Wood. Our heroes had a new quest. But there was even more to do in the First Wood, as Mordekai asked our heroes to help him defeat
Falknir of Draumur.
And thus, after some downtime to recuperate, our heroes teleported to the house of Bor Tombadillo as a starting point to make their way to Temple City. The First Wood was full of dangers and our heroes found themselves attacked by giant spiders. But they were saved by a group of Trevallìn warriors and were escorted to
Ana'Vafael, a Trevallìn city in the First Wood. They were brought to their leader named
Rainir Tredolomë, brother of Vaina Tredolomë and who was now king of
House Tredolomë. Team Retard were treated like guests of honour in Rainir's palace and were asked to state their business for the safety of the woods. Wiellie, using her charms, told Rainir that they were heading for Temple City and were here to kill the druid Falknir. Falknir had made the woods quite unsafe for some time and Rainir was happy to help to slay this druid. He sent three of his men with our heroes and were given each a couple of potions.
Both Farengar en Mordekai joined our heroes in order to defeat Falknir of Draumur. Mordekai because of an old vengeance against the druid and Farengar because he started to have feelings for Mordekai when Mordekai was helping him recover from his wounds in Chete. The battle against Falknir was fierce. The forest near his hideout was burning with raging fire. The entrance of his camp was being protected by a fire elemental. Wiellie was able to use her Tidal Wave to destroy the elemental. In the camp Falknir had captured
Katherine of Vizimar the young lover of Mordekai and the reason why Mordekai wanted to attack the druids camp with our heroes help. After a difficult fight, they were all able to kill Falknir and rescue Katherine. Shmetterling also made a new friend in the form of a hippogriff which he named Frankie.
Waking up
After that our heroes made their way up to Temple City. But during that journey something happened which no hero can really remember. Farengar, Mordekai and Katherine returned to Blackstar in order for Katherine to recuperate. But our heroes pressed on. Yet, when they were near Temple City a dark mist surrounded them and they all fell unconscious.
Our heroes woke up from a long slumber. When they woke up the fell out of a weird contraption which was linking their brain to a hive. Kol Tor Fo was standing before them with a knife in his hand. He had opened the containers where our heroes were floating in. Kol Tor Fo explained that Team Retard had been trapped by the enemy in a simulation where they lived out their lives in a different form. Rhyfel had been rampaging the land for 10 months now. He wanted to use the machine in order to turn Team Retard into his slaves. It took Kol Tor Fo a long time to find them.
They were being held in Redania, their books had been stolen and distributed among two of Rhyfels lieutenants.
Harknar Ravenhelm had one in
Governia and
Rainir Tredolomë had one in his fortress. They teleported to the fortress of Rainir in order to ask what was wrong. Had Rainir betrayed them? It seemed so. They killed Rainir when they arrived and took the Book of Visku back. They then slept in, in order to find the other books the next day.
However, when they awoke, someone was waiting for them in the throne room. A young man calling himself
Jean Rapeur was sitting on the throne of Rainir. Thirty guards lied dead on the floor in front of him. Team Retard started out cocky but when he revealed that he had Elandrion in chains and a knife at his throat, he believed that they would calm down. They didn't. Jean explained that someone had put an enormous bounty on their head and he was the perfect guy to claim it. He demanded that they laid down their arms. They obviously refused. Glad that he could have some "fun", Jean Rapeur slit Elandrions throat and battled the members of Team Retard. They were outmatched by the skillful assassin. In the end, they were all saved by the unicorn
Diego, who was able to teleport them out of the dangerous situation.
They were teleported near their house in Blackstar. Diego disappeared. From the plaza where the statue of Team Retard was erected in honour of their victory over Tra'zik the Elder Brain, a loud crowd came together to protest the statue. A person called Dia Deem organized a protest against Team Retard in front of their house. She told about all the horrible things the members had done. The crowd screamed with anger. They destroyed the statue of Team Retard. Shmetterling apprehended Dia Deem and cast a Dispel Magic spell. This revealed that Dia Deem was in fact Lenk in disguise. But Lenk looked different as if he was worn out and tortured. Lenk cast Power Word: Kill on Shmetterling, causing him to collapse.
Lenk then disappeared. Shmetterling laid dead on the ground. Team Retard was arrested by the guards and put into the jail of Blackstar. Kol Tor Fo was also put in jail for being an accomplice of their actions. In jail, Kol Tor Fo resurrected Shmetterling but also decided that he didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore. Resurrecting Shmetterling was the last thing he would do for them. They had lied to him and he felt betrayed by his closest friends. Ashen, who had not participated in the crowd, sneaked into the jail and released the newly branded villains. They now had to recollect the two remaining books of Visku. One was hidden in the jungle of Temple City, the other was being guarded by Harknar Ravenhelm in Governia. Governia was the closest locations and thus they decided that they would return to the town where they had faced the evil vampire lord Harknar Ravenhelm.
Returning to Governia
It took them two days to reach Governia. The town was covered by a thick mist and once they reached the town it was clear that they wouldn't be able to escape. When they wanted to return, the mist made sure that they were send back to the town. It was night time. The town was crawling with monster and our heroes were attacked by ghouls and other foul beasts. They easily held them off, until Harknar Ravenhelm joined the battle. The heroes were able to make Harknar retreat back to his castle for the night and were saved by
Clio Freefell. She took Team Retard into her safehouse where she and
Roger Healingrod were holed up.
There were multiple ways our heroes could defeat Harknar Ravenhelm, but they decided that the best thing they could do was to weaken his powers and allies. They received information about the
Sunsword which lies in Pol Polsen's tomb. However
Henry Von Lichtenstein, a lackey of Harknar was also in the tomb to find the sword. In the tomb our heroes had to fight a skeletal dragon. They found a new friend in the form of
Jefke, a skeleton who showed them around in the tomb of Pol Polsen. After multiple trials, Team Retard found the main chamber of the tomb and collected the Sunsword.
After taking the Sunsword with them, they needed to find the
Amulet of the Raven which was being protected by the ancient witch
Baba Yaga. When they went to her home, they found the old lady reminiscing about the old days when Harknar used to visit her with his wife. Nowadays, she sits all alone in her house. So, she was very happy to see some adventurers. Even though it was in her safekeeping, she gave them the Amulet of the Raven.
Comments