HAP
HAP is a group of adventurers who set out to help the people of Rasfadal.
History
Henk the half-orc paladin, Anlen the dwarven druid and Pippelon the halfling sorcerer came together when each member of the group answered to Father White's call for help. They agreed to take medicine to Murkhil, where cases of Sloth Fever had been reported. They arrived just in time to stop the disease from spreading and managed to save most of the people of the village.
They decided to stay together for a bit longer and travel north to Wyryndam: Henk was on a mission to scout the situation in The Swamps, and Pippelon was on his way to Burnard to "save a princess". Along the way to encountered and stopped a group of cultists from sacrificing an innocent man to Morlorrim, though they were unable to safe the poor traveller.
When the group arrived in Wyryndam Henk noticed guards in a rushing towards the Lord's Manor and the group decided to see if they could help. In the manor they met Count Emmerling and asked if they could help. Emmerling informed them about the increased orc activity and raids on the plains to the east and asked them to join a scouting party. The next day they encountered several groups of orcs who weren't immediately hostile, but certainly didn't accept the authority of Emmerling. At night a group of orcs ambushed the party, but they managed to defeat the orcs.
After taking care of the injured they decided to continue towards the main orc camp, hoping to negotiate a truce with the orc leader. In the camp Henk was challenged by an orc, Barnash. Henk won, but refused to kill Barnash, which brought shame to the orc. They met with the orc leader Inkathu, who seemed open to the idea of peace. However, he had trouble convincing his people to change their way of life, and especially his right-hand Morzog seemed to hold their traditions in high regards. Inkathu believed that if the group could help the orcs it might change their view of outsiders and told them about groups of orcs that had gone missing near the Feylin Forest. They set out immediately and reached the forests the next day. In the forest they found that the orcs were taken prisoner by the elves of the forest who were angered by their presence. HAP tried to negotiate the orcs release, but the elves refused and insisted taking them to their leader. A fight ensued and one of the elves got killed in the confrontation. Hoping to avoid an escalation of the conflict they send the remaining elves back with a letter explaining the situation.
The group heads back to the orc camp and informs Inkathu about their success. Inkathu thanks the group, but Morzog, his right hand, is not pleased that they're dealing with non-orcs. On their way out of the camp Henk is encountered by the orc he beat earlier. This time the orc intends to settle the score and humiliate Henk, but Henk takes his defeat honorably. Together with Lord Emmerling the group heads out to Burnard to look for Pippelon's lost niece. The next day they arrive at Burnard.
The group enters Burnard and starts looking for Seraina. After asking the local guard, innkeeper and Father Darven they find out that see has been here the past two weeks or so. She talked with some of the locals and the priest can tell the group that she has asked him about the Dark Gods, but no one really knows why she is here or what's she's done all this time. Finally the group finds out she had been staying at the Desirable Lady, a local brothel. In her room they find the a great mess, a book about the dark gods and a summoning circle.
The group decided to perform the ritual again to find out what happened and summon a Shadow Demon of Morlorrim. The demon tells them that Seraina has been taken by Morlorrim and will eventually return. Pippelon asks to be taken to Morlorrim, but the demon refuses and leaves. Pippelon grabs his arm, enraging the demon and causing it to attack. When the odds turn against the demon is flees through the circle.
Not sure what to do next, the group decides to take the book to the town priest who tells them that he has never heard of gods taken a mortal to their own plane. He promises to investigate the book and meet with the group the next day.
Finally the adventurers decide to stay at the Bushy Beard for the night. Just as they get ready to bed down for the night, they hear alarm bells ringing. They rush towards the commotion and see a large band of orcs at the horizon. Pippelon recognizes Morzog, Inkathu's right hand.
A band of orcs led by Morzog attacks Burnard in large numbers. The town militia is outnumbered and only half up for the task, but with the help of HAP the orcs are scattered before they get a chance to breach the town wall.
The next day HAP goes to meet the Father Darven, but find he has been murdered in the night. In his office they find a letter written to the Bishop of Feryndon, requesting access to their library, but Darven was killed before he could finish the letter.
After handling some business in Burnard they find a ship to sail to Feryndon. Right before they leave they are joined by a young girl Federika.
It isn't long after leaving Burnard aboard the 'Vreijheijdt' that the crew spots a storm brewing to the north. Some of the crew prefer to avoid the storm and sail through the bandit infested swamps, but others would rather stay clear of the swamps and risk going through the storm. HAP suggest that they have plenty experience fighting bandits, but can't do much against storms, and they change course to sail through The Swamps. The manage to avoid most of the storm, but for a brief moment have to sail through tumultuous weather. Lightning strikes the crow's nest with Anlen in it and a fire breaks out. HAP and the ship's crew react swiftly and manage to avoid serious damage to the ship.
The next day they encounter several barrels of Arnallan wine, the best wine in Rasfadal. Henk buys one of the barrels for the crew. When they are celebrating their catch that evening something climbs aboard the ship. A group of seaweed monsters attacks the crew. HAP and the crew manage to fight off the monsters and later that evening arrive in Feryndon.
Upon arriving the group joins the sailors in the Red Rabbit Inn where they feast and drink before going off to bed. The next day they get up early to head to the Church of Feryndon to speak to Bishop Martus. Along the way they are ambushed by a group of cultists of Morlorrim. A fight ensues and the cultists are defeated. At the Church of Feryndon they are greeted by Sister Valerie, who tells them the bishop has left town 8 days ago to lay siege to Mystdal. The group make haste to catch up and after 2 days arrive at the castle besieged by Bishop Martus and some 1500-2000 troops. Martus informs them that he can't abandon the siege and Henk offers to help with the siege. As they are looking for a hidden way into the town the group stumbles upon an underground river. Anlen uses her wildshape to turn into a fish and follows the river. At the end of the river see find what looks like a well. She climbs up and comes face to face with an alarmed guard who insists she explains her business.
Anlen, face to face with a castle guard, quickly drops back down into the well and flees. Back in the siege camp they speak with Bishop Martus who shares that reinforcements are underway to break the siege and a lot still needs to be done before they can launch an assault. He intents on taking the castle within four days. Over the next two days the group helps out around the camp to prepare for the assault, and manage to cause some distractions, both outside and inside the castle town. In the evening of the second day they decide to sneak into the castle to free the innocent civilians.
The siege of Mystdal ensues and with the help of the group Bishop Martus manages to capture the town.
In the morning the Duke of Varasia arrives with reinforcements. The second assault of Mystdal follows. The Duke is defeated and the Bishop remains in control of the castle.
HAP asks him if he can now help them get access to the library. The Bishop needs a week to get things in order in the castle, but the group convinces him to leave in three. Eventually the group leaves the city of Mystdal and travels to Feryndon.
In the evening the group arrives in Feryndon. The are brought to the Library underneath the church. Martus leads them through endless chambers and halls, until they reach the Religion section. There Martus reveals a secret passage leading into unknown darkness. He states that, as a priest of the Light, he can not enter with the group and suggests caution.
The group descents into the darkness and find a hidden, secret section of the library, dedicated to Morlorrim and the other dark gods.
In the library they learn that long ago Morlorrim took a young woman and used her to birth a child, allowing Morlorrim to enter the mortal realm.
After the collapse of the Library of Morlorrim the group tries to figure out where to go next. The Bishop informs them about a cult of Morlorrim and Federika shares what see has discovered in their absence: a ancient tomb of a Priest of Morlorrim, somewhere in the Gynardan Mountains. The group sets out to find this tomb, and starts a long trek through dangerous mountains. After several days they find themselves at the bottom of a seemingly endless stairs.
The stairs lead them to the Dragonborn city of Arakesh. They meet with their elder, Fammaad. Initially the Dragonborn are reluctant of welcoming or helping a dwarf, but eventually the heroes prove themselves worthy of staying and the leader agrees to guide them to the entrance of the Priest of Morlorrim. The next day the group head out to the tomb. After a long trek the Dragonborn tell them they can go no further.
After a small journey through the mountains the group finds the rumored tomb. They enter and find it mostly abandoned, but magically maintained. After exploring they finally reach the main room where Benerthus, the ancient priest of Morlorrim is buried. They open his grave and are attacked by the undead buried there. Henk manages to turn them, but upon leaving the tomb they find themselves in a different plane, a shadow dimension.
Now in the Shadow Veil the heroes defeat the undead priest Benerthus and start looking for Seraina. Anlen transforms into a giant weasel and Henk summons a mastiff to find and follow her scent. They quickly pick up a trail which leads to a hidden cave. They decide to camp outside before they continue.
The next day they enter the cave. They hear many creatures in the darkness, but they are unable to spot them. After some exploration they see a giant figure walking at the edge of their sight. They decide to follow it and find a dungeon littered with dead bodies. Pippelon fears that Seraina might be in danger and rushes through the rooms. In a long hallway he sees the giant figure, looking at him and then disappearing int he shadows.
Before they can catch up they are attacked by undead creatures which they manage to defeat without much trouble. They hear a loud scream and without hesitation Pippelon follows the sounds. He encountered the mysterious creature again, but this time gets a better look at it. A malformed creatures with an open ribcage, a dead person trapped inside of it. The creatures smiles and Pippelon and turns around the corner. Pippelon follows, but is grabbed and picked up by the creature as soon as he rounds the corner.
As the Lord of Hunger grabbed Pippelon he heared the voice of Pedas who told him to run. For a brief moment the party tried to fight the Lord of Hunger, but after a single devastating blow the party only narrowly escaped with their lives. The party fled from the Lord of Hunger who decided to play around with his food for a while. As they tried to escape the lair they found Seraina in a room, pale and skinny, but in good health. They took her with them and managed to escape the lair after fighting off several Giant Spiders. They ran as far as they could before resting in an abandoned cave. They wanted to interogate Seraina, but she passed out before they could ask her anything.
They decided to rest for the night. During the night they all experienced terrible nightmares. Pippelon saw his home village consumed by a crawling shadow with his dearest friend and family calling out for him, asking why he left them.
Henk dreamed of the last battle of the War of the Vale. The prince was still alive in his dream and he was filled with hope that he could safe the prince this time, but the prince was killed before his eyes and his friend dragged him away leaving the prince behind.
Anlen dreamt she was in the Feylin Forest. She felt as free as she had ever felt until she was captured in a net. As she tried to escape the forest was consumed in flames carried by the orcs of Murr.
The next day they asked Seraina what happened to her. She told them how she always felt the presence of dark being around her, but never felt threatened, rather like they protected her. On the day of the earthquake in Anfel she heard a voice telling her to go to Burnard and not to tell anyone where she was going. She left, but quickly felt guilty towards Pippelon and decided to let him know where she was going and asked him to come with her. In Burnard she was called to the Shadow Veil by demons. She wanted to wait for Pippelon, but the demons told her there was no time. She felt like these demons were like the creatures that were always around her and she followed them. She had been in the Shadow Veil for a long time when she was finally taken to the Plane of Shadows. There she was brought before Morlorrim and his servants performed a long and intense ritual, impregnating Seraina with Morlorrim's child. Through Morlorrim's child the God of Darkness and Death would be able to enter the Mortal Realm again and cover it in eternal darkness. She was then brought to the Shadow Veil again where the Lord of Hunger was told to look after her.
As she told this she showed signs of actual excitement, rather than fear and the party immediately knew something was off. They decided to go back to the Tomb of Benerthus as quickly as possible to take Seraina back to the Mortal Realm and find a priest to help her. They believed that the child does not have to be evil and if they could keep it away from the influence of Morlorrim the evil God might not be able influence the child.
After a short journey they found the tomb and managed to return to the Mortal Realm. There they encountered Federika who asked them where they had been for the last half an hour.
Confused by Federika's reaction the Heroes explained what happened. They put their heads together to figure out the best way to handle this situation. Through Seraina's child Morlorrim would be able to assert his influence directly over the world. They hoped that keeping the child away form Morlorrim's influence would put to stop to the God's plans. Eventually they decided to take Seraina to the Temple of Annaaru in Thring, the very place where their adventure started.
When they made their way out of the mountain dark clouds rolled in from the west, and among the clouds were numerous large winged creatures with shadowy riders. It quickly these creatures were looking for them and most likely Seraina.
Slowly they managed to make their way out of the mountains and into the Gynard Canyon, but they couldn't shake off the creatures. It became clear that they wouldn't get far this way. Looking for a place to take shelter, Anlen spotted an old, half-collapsed mine entrance. The group went in, but not without alerting the Shadow Riders. As they entered the mine they heard they pursuers screeches as they followed them. With great haste they explored the mine, looking for a way out. Henk and Anlen stumbled upon what looked like an entrance to an ancient Dwarven city.
Inside the dwarven city they found a maze of tunnels and halls which they traversed until they were completely lost. Still chased by their pursuers they made started looking for a way out. In the Old Forge, still fueled by rivers of lava, they found a possible way out, but it was a steep climb and their pursuers were getting closer.
As they started climbing the exhaust their pursuers caught up with them and entered the Old Forge, shadowy figures sat on black dragons. As they slowly made their way up the Shadow Riders harassed them, clearly focussing their attack on Anlen, who was carrying Seraina. Through clever use of protective magic they managed to get everyone to the top safely. They they made a stand against the riders. Several times they threatened to take Seraina with they claws, but each time the Heroes managed to bring the beasts down before they could escape. When they dragons were defeated the riders sprouted wings and disappeared in the dark skies above.
With the battle over the heroes looked about and realized that the skies were still as dark as earlier with a strong breeze, unusually cold for the time of the year. They decided not to linger and hurry to Twyrif.
With dawn they arrived at the city, where two guard inquired about there business in the city. Henk told them he was a member of the Order of the White Lion and the guard apologized, letting the heroes in and warning them of dark figured that had been spotted last night.
In the tavern Seraina got foul looks from bystanders, but with a single look Pippelon made it very clear they should mind their own business. They had a good meal and went off to bed a get some much needed rest.
By the afternoon they headed out to town, looking for something to protect them. They went to the church, hoping to find some protective artefact. Pippelon pretended to be buried by Morlorrim, but the priestess didn't think much of it and sent them home to sleep it off.
In the tavern they met a strange figure, an old goblin by the name of Bingus. He introduced himself to the company and the group told them about their next destination, though they left out many details. Bingus asked to join them on their journey, offering to entertain them with music and songs. Though hesitant, they agreed to let him join them at least until they arrived at Thring.
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