History of the Dark Orbs

History of the Dark Orbs, or Phase Orbs

The dark orbs were created 5000 years ago by Hades and the hags of the gray wastes. There are three orbs in total. One was given to the Hag Countess, another to the Lich King Otephezol, and one was kept by the Lord of Hades himself. When used individually by a being of evil alignment, they can be used to scry into the different planes and spy on and influence those planes. When brought together, they can be used to create and focus a portal from hades to the plane they are currently on, Hades uses the ill will of men, dwarves, and elves to do his bidding in this way instead of directly using the orbs, that way he can not be judged by the other gods for directly intervening with the lesser mortals .

Hades and his council once tried to used the orbs in this way, they led a campaign into the planes of Elhona, decimating the centaurs, unicorns, and horsemen who resided there. The other gods have a rule, only minor influences on realms in which you do not rule, and so Elhona, Gnarl Glittergold, and Heronious rose up and struck down Hades and his followers, sending them reeling back to their own realm. In the process, the dark orbs, or phase orbs as they are sometimes called were scattered. One of them fell back to hades, and the other two fell to Ereglast.

Over the thousands of years that have passed, several adventures have tried to use the orbs for good intentions. Some mages have been able to use these stones to phase throughout the realms at will, but even the most seasoned and powerful of mages can not predict the place they will travel upon using the stones. Three thousand years ago, a gnomish mage/thief known as Herald Phasehold created magical pillars between the realms in various hidden locations in order to quickly travel from one place to the next stealing and stashing his loot. Though most of those pillars have been destroyed by the lawmen who were hunting Herald, a few are still said to survive.

Hades and his followers are forever trying to influence the morals of Ereglast to join the three orbs together in one place so that they are within the rules set forth by the other gods, when that time comes, they look to expand Hades and take over Ereglast.

A deal has been struck by Hades, The Crimson King, and a few lesser evil mortals of Ereglast to join forces and take over the realms led by good hearted men, dwarves, and elves. They are moving to join the orbs together and attack the west with a large army of combined religious zealots, hags, the black priests of the Crimson King, undead, and the snake people of stithis-tol.