Mapvember 2022 - Four Legends of Vendria

Written by Budromeister

Four Legends of the World of Vendria

(taken from the Chronicles of Grand Emeritus Mazug of the Order of Vendrian History)

The End of the Dragon Wars

Prompt - Dragon

The end of the Dragon Wars came when Xarnos Silversword drove his blade into the heart of Argram, the leader of Dragons at the same location that the capital of the greatest Empire of the World of Vendria was built after a few years. The rest of the dragons, seeing the fall of their mighty leader, scattered into the four corners of Vendria, never to be seen again till today.

Xarnos became the first Emperor of Auronia and a magnificent monument was built into the center of the capital as a remembrance of the day that the combined forces of the First Races of the World of Vendria put an end to the tyranny of dragons.

The Legend of Aunovaras

Prompt - Haven

Aunovaras was a hill giant that lived with his tribe at the islands that are known today as the Principalities of Argosh. Along with numerous others of his kind, he lived a peacefull life in their village called the High Haven on the hills. He was primarily a hunter, and a shepherd. As the Dragon Wars ended, High Haven was visited by Kardaxas, a mighty drake that attacked the village, killing many of the hill giants and taking others as prisoners. Aunovaras was away, hunting, and when he returned to his village he found out that everything was destroyed by fire.

Prompt - Crater

Aunovaras hunted the drake to its lair. There, moments before the final fight, Aunovaras discovered in horror that outside the drake's lair, a large crate was created by Kardaxas that it was used as a mass grave for its victims. Aunovaras' rage burned inside him and he challenged the mighty drake. It is said that the fight lasted for three days and three nights. Hrothgar, the god of giants saw the effort of his child and in the final attack, he blessed the giant with immense strength. Aunovaras defeated Kardaxas and his roar, enhanced by the might of his god, was so fierce that the land torn apart and took the shape that the Principalities of Argosh have today.

Prompt - Sea

After defeating Kardaxas, Aunovaras rescued the villagers from the drake's lair and rebuild High Haven. He was a hero among them. He knew that his destiny was to get rid of all vile draconic creatures that survived the Dragon Wars. He decided to build a ship and travel the World in search of drakes and dragons. His journey lasted for a hundred days. When Aunovaras finally discovered land, he was attacked by a large sea monster that sunk his ship. The giant managed to swim to the shore, cursing the God of the Sea for his luck.

Prompt - Anchor

Aunovaras spent three days on that shore, salvaging any supplies from his sunken ship. On the third day, a shadow blocked the sun. Aunovaras looked up and he saw a large drake circling around the island. He was so happy and he immediately asked for forgiveness from Fimur, the God of Seas for his previous cursing. The drake saw the giant and attacked. Aunovaras, having lost his weapons, grabbed the huge anchor of his ship and threw it at the drake with all his strength. The anchor hit the drake at its left wing and carved a path into the forest. Wounded, the beast fled to the mountains and Aunovaras decided to explore the island and set up a home.

Prompt - Island

Aunovaras explored every nook and cranny of the island. It was not a big one. The only residents were a tribe of Aquatic Elves that lived in the lake to the north. The giant found the perfect spot at the eastern shores of the island and begun setting up his home.

Prompt - Dock

Aunovaras built his house near the sea along with a watchtower in order to track the drake. He believed that the injury he inflicted to the drake's wing has given him time to properly prepare for the next time they will meet. The hill giant also built a new ship and a dock since his last one was sunk by the sea monster.

Prompt - Shield

Sixty days had passed since Aunovaras fought the drake for the first time at the shores of the island. It was time to search for his enemy and put an end. As Aunovaras made his way to the mountains, he entered the forest at the middle of the island. There, out of sheer luck, he discovered an ancient centaur burial site. The grave at the center of the stone circle was massive, a proof that a great centaur chieftain was buried there. Above it, Aunovara found a very large shield that was made of the weapons of the rest of the centaur tribe to honor their leader. The hill giant paid his respects to the centaur chieftain and removed the shield from her grave. It was a beautiful and handy addition to his arsenal.

Prompt - Corrupted

Aunovaras didn't have to go to the mountains as the drake found him in the forest. In a large grove, the two opponents fought fiercely and in the end, the wounded drake used its poison breath to kill the hill giant. Aunovaras was saved by his newly acquired shield but he had to leave the grove because the poison was lethal. During his last attack, the giant club he was using was stuck in a large rock at the center of the grove. Aunovaras had to leave his weapon there and he never returned to claim it since the area was corrupted by the drake's poison. The land still tries to heal till today.

Prompt - Pool

Aunovaras was gravely wounded after his last encounter with the drake, mostly due to the poison. However, as we all know, luck favors the bold. As he was wandering in the forest, he found a shimmering pool and a dryad sitting on a rock next to it. The dryad invited the hill giant to enter the pool, telling him that all his wounds would be healed. Having no other choice, the hill giant stepped into the pool and slept. When he woke up, his wounds were healed and the poison had left his body ... along with every precious item he had. Aunovaras laughed so hard and thanked the mischievous creatures of the forest.

Prompt - Maw

Aunovaras' search bore fruits as he managed to track the drake into a series of caverns in the mountains of the island. The only entrance he found though was at the most southern part of the mountains. The enormous cave stood as a shark's maw, inviting the hill giant to either his doom or his salvation. The hill giant entered the Maw without second thoughts.

Prompt - Maze

The series of caverns that were carved inside the mountains formed a confusing maze. Aunovaras found it really hard to navigate in there. When, for the fifth time, he ended up to the entrance, he gathered his wits and his patience and started mapping the place. Through thorough investigation, the hill giant managed to find his way through the mountains.

Prompt - Egg

Aunovaras exited the caverns into a plateau near the highest peak of the mountains. There, he noticed the entrance to a huge cavern but what astonished him was a nest with a giant egg that was rested at the center of the plateau and under the morning sun. The hill giant was ready to destroy the egg but the roar of the drake from inside the cavern made him reconsider his options. He left the egg at its nest and enter the cave to meet his opponent.

Prompt - Cavern

The final battle was fierce and the mountains shook from the strength of both opponents. In the end, the drake pierced Aunovaras' chest with its barbed tail while the hill giant delivered a giant bone right into the heart of the monster. They both died that day, locked into a deadly embrace like lovers who hugged each other in the face of inevitable and impending doom. Legends say that their skeletons are still in that cave, preserved by the unique fungi that grew from their mixed blood.

The Legend of Lichbane

Prompt - Palace

At 1128 I.C. (Imperial Calendar), the citizens of Eldira, the capital of the kingdom of Salthea of the Empire of Auronia, were celebrating the birth of their Prince. The King and Queen of Eldira have decreed that the celebrations would last for seven days and the palace opened its gates to the public. A strange hooded figure walked among the joyful townfolk having only one purpose, to reach the throne room and execute the orders of his master. The wanderer passed the palace guards unnoticed due to the fuss surrounding the celebrations and stepped into the palace room. He stood at the center of it and removed a vial with a strange gold liquid from his pocket. The Queen saw the man and cried for help while the King reached for his sword and the Royal Guard surrounded him immediately. "All this time good King, your throne room stood upon an ancient seal. A seal that was created by my master, the one who your ancestors drove away and seized his rightful lands. Now it is time to turn your joy into madness and despair". The King ordered his Royal Guard to attack and their spears pierced the body of the hooded man. But not before, he smashed the vial into the floor, uttering a short incantation. The ground shook and a crimson circle appeared, glowing below the expensive carpets of the throne room. Red tentacles lashed out from the circle killing everyone in the room. Then, in a crimson flash, a second figure appeared, holding a staff made of bones. "Home at last" he said and the dark energy of his staff covered the bodies of the dead. The figure walked slowly towards the throne and after throwing the body of the King to the ground, he sat upon it. A grin appeared at his skeletal face. "Now, even you good king will serve me. All of you will serve Protheas the Lich". The bodies of the dead twitched in spasms and in seconds they rose as undead. Till the end of that day, all of Eldira's citizens were following a different King.

Prompt - Cemetery

Commander Sivalia the Immortal was a paladin and the leader of the Order of the Immortals, an Order dedicated to the King and Queen of Salthea. Mostly a diplomatic group, the Order of the Immortals was sent to various diplomatic missions, especially to the Southern Kingdoms of the Empire in order to re-establish the relations of Salthea with the other kingdoms of the Empire due to the events that took place nearly 50 years ago, when the previous King, the Archmage Protheas decided to expand the borders of the kingdom at the expense of the nearby lands. This had, as a result, a massive war, where the kingdom of Salthea lost more lands than its previous king was hoping to acquire. Sivalia was away on one of these diplomatic missions, when the events at Eldira had transpired. Sivalia was shocked to find out that Eldira was now an undead city. She managed to quickly form a blockade around the capital in order to keep the undead contained. Then she traveled to the graveyard of Eldira, where she burned every buried body in it. Luckily, Protheas didn't manage to reach the graveyard in time.

Prompt - Garden

For almost a year, the leader of the Order of the Immortals fought the undead at her hometown. Although, the undead remained confined within the capital, Sivalia was frustrated that there was no progress made on purging the town and end the threat of their leader, Protheas. After councelling with her Inner Circle, Sivalia decided to travel to the Kingdom of Ardinia, where the biggest temple, dedicated to the Children of Aurora, was located. There, inside the holy garden, Sivalia prayed for seven days and seven nights, asking from the Gods to help her take back the city and eradicate the undead. Two Gods answered her prayers. Agaroth the Forger and Emithea the Strategist. Emithea gave Sivalia a quest to gather a bunch of extremely rare materials from all over the World of Vendria. Agaroth promised her that when Emithea's quest is complete, he will create a powerful weapon that will help her cause.

Prompt - Abomination

The first rare material for the creation of the legendary weapon was the Heart of the Dying Forest. Deep into the northern kingdom of Sparcia, there is a forest that no matter what the Druid Circles do, it keeps dying. Noone knows the reason. Every healthy tree turns into a sick corrupted one and every patch of green grass becomes yellow from sickness in a matter of days. Unnatural creatures resembling animals and beasts of the woods are born our of this corruption and attack the nearby settlements. Emithea told Sivalia that in the center of the Dying Forest there is a tree that illuminates with a strange green light. This tree houses the Heart of the Dying Forest and it must be removed by the paladin. To the question of what will happen if the Heart is removed from the Dying Forest, Emithea did not have an answer. After a long journey, the Commander of the Order of the Immortals arrived at the Dying Forest, fought her way to the center of it and found the Heart. The abomination of nature that rose to defend the Heart was the tree itself, a mockery of a treant. Sivalia destroyed the abomination and removed the Heart of the Dying Forest, completing the first step of her quest towards the salvation of her city and her people.

Prompt - Sand

The second ingredient on the list for the legendary weapon was a piece of Dragon Fire and Sivalia knew where to look for it. Deep in the Untamed Lands lives the only known dragon in the World of Vendria. She is called Irissia and she resides at the center of an orcish territory atop a grand pyramid. Irissia never took part in the Dragon Wars. She remained in her mountain until rescued by the Bloodteeth tribe, an tribe of Sand Dune Orcs, when the mountain, where she was hidden collapsed on her. Irissia was weak and unable to remove the stones but an Orcish Priestess of Baurmir, named Okalia, sensed her danger. The Orcs managed to save her and she pledged her allegiance to the tribe. Now the Orcs revere her as a Goddess and Irissia resides at their village, watching and learning the fate of the World. Sivalia arrived at the orcish village and she was treated with hostility. She was too weak to fight the Sand Dune Orcs and asked for an audience with the dragon. Irissia accepted her and when she heard of the paladin's request, she laughed. "Little one, if you want to leave this place unharmed and with my fire you will have to tell me a good story or two about the fate of the World. If I am pleased then so be it. But if I am not..." Irissia pointed with her wing the large cauldron in the middle of the village. Sivalia's father used to be a member of the Order of Vendrian History and their home was always filled with books. Sivalia spent two months telling stories to Irissia. In the end, the dragon created a crystal out of her fire breath and gave it to the paladin, thanking her for being such a wonderful company.

Prompt - Abandoned

The third ingredient of her list was the Glacial Whetstone, a magical whetstone that is supposed to always keep your weapon extremely sharp and enhance it with cold magic. This artifact was at the hands of Margantha, the mighty Storm Queen, leader of a race of barbarian people that lived at the frozen peaks of Icefall. From the blazing sun of the desert, Sivalia reached the firgid colds of the highest peak of Icefall, only to find that the village of the Storm Queen was abandoned. She made her way to the fortress of the Storm Queen to search for the Glacial Whetstone.

Prompt - Undead

Sivalia made her way to the Throne room of the Storm Queen and nothing prevented her from reaching the center of the fortress. There, inside a magic circle at the center of the room, the Glacial Whetstone was floating inside a bubble made of thin ice. The throne room was covered with skeletons and everything, apart from the Whetstone, was destroyed. As Sivalia touched the stone, the walls of the fortress shook. The undead rose and attacked the paladin. At the broken throne, through the midst of battle, Sivalia noticed a blue floating aura manifestating in the form of a tall woman bearing a great axe. As the last of the undead fell to the ground, a voice coming from the spirit at the throne, filled the room. "I know that your quest is noble. Nevertheless, I had to test your mettle. Proceed and take the Whetstone. May the favor of Ormos the Watcher be on your side, good paladin.".

Prompt - Ruins

The final and most rare ingredient was a piece of Chronium, the rarest metal in the World of Vendria. Chronium had been in abundance till the moment the Golden Dwarves decided to hoard it in their vaults due to the fact that noone knew how to smelt and use it. The Secret of Chronium is a gift that had been given temporarily to great golden dwarven blacksmiths by Agaroth the Forger, the only God in the Pantheon who knows how to smelt it. Sivalia was confused when she found out that the last ingredient is a piece of raw Chronium. It was then that Agaroth the Forger appeared at Sivalia's dreams and revealed to her the place where the paladin could find a piece of the rarest metal. At the Marnian islands to the southwest of the World of Vendria, there used to be a dwarven settlement and a mine. Inside the mine the dwarves discovered a piece of chronium. However, when the humans of the Marnian Islands found about the discovery, they raided the dwarven village in an effort to steal the metal for themselves. It was then that a Dwarven Shaman performed a ritual, sealing the place and calling a Demon to defend it. The Demon feasted on the souls of the dwarves in order to manifest upon the World of Vendria and it took the form of a fiery dreadful stallion. Sivalia followed the instructions of the God and she finally arrived at the ruins of the dwarven village.

Prompt - Mine

The entrance to the dwarven mine was still open and the paladin entered cautiously. It was a crystal mine and everything in it was destroyed. Sivalia made her way through the tunnels of the mine and she finally emerged in a huge cave.

Prompt - Demon

The cave room was huge and in its center there was a circle bearing profane symbols. As soon as the paladin entered the cave, red spikes begun growing from five different positions around the circle and the form of a fiery mare appeared at the center of it. The voice made the walls of the cave reverberate "I am bound to this cave for the eternity, destined to feast on the blood of the careless ones who seek to claim the treasure of Baramian." The horse neighed and flames sprouted from its mouth. "Come little one. Lets dance". This was the hardest fight that Sivalia had ever given. She drew strength from her Oath and the memory of her city when she managed to wound the demon gravely. As she was ready to finish him, the demon spoke. "Please. Don't end me. Lets make a contract. Let me help you on your quest. Let me feast on the fragments of the souls that still cling from the undead in Eldira. When you rise victorious, I promise to leave this World". Eldira nodded and lowered her sword. "What is your name, demon" she asked. "My name is Wrathial and I am at your service." the demon answered.

Prompt - Crystal

Sivalia entered the room that was guarded by Wrathian. There at the center of the room, guarded by the statues of fallen dwarven kings and queens, laid the piece of Chronium. The paladin didn't even pay attention at the hoards of gold in the room. She picked up the metal and left on the back of Wrathian for Eldira.

Prompt - Gauntlet

Sivalia returned to Eldira. After all these years, the situation remained the same. The blockade of her Order and the army of Salthea prevented the undead from exiting the capital but it was impossible for the forces of the kingdom to enter and purge the city. There, Sivalia met with Thalgrim Goldshaper, a golden dwarf that was a cleric of Agaroth and a blacksmith. Thalgrim revealed to the paladin that he was sent here by Agaroth. He temporarily received the Secret of Chronium and he already set up a blacksmith to work. Sivalia thanked him and gave him the ingredients. The dwarf worked tirelessly for a month. When the weapon was ready he presented it to Sivalia. An axe of exquisite beauty, radiating enormous power. When the paladin held it she felt the power of the legendary weapon coursing through her body and she knew that the end of Protheas' reign is close at hand. After consulting with the Inner Circle of the Order of the Immortals, Sivalia found out that Protheas was at the throne room of the palace. However, all entrances were barricated. The only way for someone to reach the throne room was from a secret vault that was connected to the Mausoleum of the previous kings and queens of Salthea. Litlle did she know that Protheas turned this sacred place into a gauntlet filled with traps, lava and undead. Sivalia ordered her paladins to make one final push into the city while she was going to try and reach the throne room through the vault.

Prompt - Nebula

Sivalia passed through the gauntlet with ease, although she knew that if she didn't wield Lichbane, insanity would have taken her over. When she emerged at the throne room she found an inactive Nebula Portal at the center of it, atop the broken summoning seal that Protheas used to invade Eldira in the first place. Using the power of Lichbane, the paladin activated the portal and she stepped into it.

Prompt - Crypt

Sivalia stepped into the portal and emerged into the crypt of the Lich. Protheas looked surprised that his mortal enemy managed to overcome all the challenges and finally reach his inner sanctum. Surprise turned to terror as he witnessed Lichbane at the hands of the paladin. He quickly unleashed all his dangerous magic on Sivalia but the paladin stood firm, waiting for the right moment and at the same time countering every spell the lich threw at her. Then she saw it. At the center of the crypt there was a green gem hanging from the ceiling. The phylactery. Sivalia smiled as she unleased the power of Lichbane on the most precious item of the Lich. As the green gem shattered to pieces, tha paladin landed the final blow to Protheas. However, before having her moment of victory, the ground shook and Protheas using his final strength hugged Sivalia. The energy of the phylactery was unleashed in a form of a green hole of magic and both of them were sucked into it. Till today noone knows what happened to the brave Paladin and her mortal enemy. Lichbane was lost forever inside that portal, never to be seen again. Sivalia's victory is celebrated at the capital town of the Kingdom of Salthea which is not Eldira anymore. The Order tried to purge the city from the undead but nothing seemed to stop the curse of Protheas. With the dissapearance of their leader, the undead wandered mindlessly at the former capital's grounds. It was decreed by the next Queen of Salthea that the city must be sealed and the blockade must remain forever around it.

The Lucid Spice

Prompt - Harvest

Every fifty years, a great celebration is held at the Argent Peaks, homeland of the Crystal Dwarves. The celebration is dedicated to the harvest of a rare ingredient, the Lucid Shrub. The Lucid Shrub is a plant that grows in the underground upon dirt that is over large quantities of lava. Planting the Lucid Shrub is a craft that is only known by the Crystal Dwarves and requires approximately 50 years in order to harvest it. It requires extremely difficult conditions in order to grow. The result is a cyan-blue crystal.

Prompt - Spice

After harvesting the fruits of the Lucid Shrub, the Crystal Dwarves, using another secret method, turn it into a glimmering blue dust, that is called the Lucid Spice. The Lucid Spice has a lot of uses. It can be used in the creation of potions and elixirs, as a material component in spells, as a rare and expensive ingredient in food, as a catalyst in the forging and smithing of stronger than steal weapons and many many more. That is the reason that not only the Crystal Dwarves celebrate the Harvest of the Lucid Shrub but also the whole World of Vendria. As for the prices... well... this is a matter yet to be discussed. The celebration ends when the carriages loaded with the Lucid Spice leave the Argent Peaks in order to reach their potential buyers.