Campaign Recap

The Story So Far:

Albor Magnusson, former apprentice of the wizard Myrfydd striking out on his own, Aran, a Kyrosian exile and master tracker, Alfieri, a son of a major merchant caravan looking to earn his own way, and Jack, a reclusive farmhand, band together by chance and decide to form a guild. They call this guild “The Iron Heroes” and are granted a crappy little guild office in a back alley of Ammis.

Their guild office is visited by Vincent Kenter, Jr., son of the famous General Vincent Kenter of the Emperor's Men. Vincent Jr. wanted to join a new guild and make a name for himself like his father. He brought some money to spruce up their office as a gift. The guild accepted Vincent Jr. into their ranks only to be visited moments later by several member of the Emperor's Men. Vincent Sr. had forbidden his son from guild life and they came to take him away, but Vincent had already accepted the Iron Heroes position. The Emperor's Men swore revenge.

With the Emperor's Men getting in their way throughout the city, the Iron Heroes could only find one job. A reclusive hermit who collected ducks wanted the Iron Heroes to 'nonviolently' deal with some poachers in the northern forest who were hunting a rare breed of tree-dwelling duck. They found the poachers, and after talking with them they found that the poachers had been hired by the same man that had hired them. They returned to the city with the poachers to find a massive blockade of Emperor's Men outside the city. Fortunately, the blockade was not meant for them. The Emperor's Men were heading into the northern forest to deal with an unspecified 'major threat.'

They returned to the duck collector with the poachers. The duck collector turned out to be a psychologist working with the research guild The White Robes studying human confrontational behavior. He would send two groups on the mission and ask them to be 'nonviolent' and see how they solved the issue (usually with violence). He rewarded both groups in turn. The Iron Heroes made an agreement to never speak of the ducks again.

The next mission was given to them by Commander Egon of the Legionnaire's March. He informed them that a large bandit association was forming out of guild deserters and praying on travelers. Egon needed someone unknown to go undercover as Legionnaires getting kicked out of the guild and see if they got approached by a contact of the bandits. After putting on a convincing performance in the Legionnaire's guild hall, the team was approached by a shady character who offered to buy them lunch at a fancy restaurant. At the lunch, the shady man made an offer to join his organization. After the shady man left, one of the servers introduced himself as a Legion spy named Hugo. He informed them that the man they met was an incredibly dangerous crime lord from the Legion named Ebbe. He advised them to use caution when dealing with him.

They meet Ebbe outside the city. With a support team of Legionnaires trailing them they let Ebbe lead them to the bandit's hideout. They are introduced the Raphel, the leader of the bandits. They signal the support team who take out the bandits and capture Raphel, but Ebbe escapes. Rephel tells them that he was just a front man and that a man named Falk was the real mastermind. The team pursues Ebbe to a second bandit lair and fight their way through. There they confront and defeat Falk, but Ebbe once again escapes. They take Falk's oversized sword as a trophy.

Their office is visited by Almer, an elderly guild advisor. Almer explains he joins fledgling guilds to advise them on their adventures. Falk was a former student of his and he feels he owes the Iron Heroes a debt for dealing with him so he offers to join, which the Heroes gladly accept.

A few days later the Iron Heroes are approached by a member of Ammis's ruling class, Councilman Junius. He explains that he had been part of a commission that disbanded a guild known as the Shadow, officially a stealth-tactics guild but known to do assassinations. All the other members of that commission had recently died under suspicious circumstances but the Peacekeepers did not suspect foul play. Junius was planning on moving far away, but he had business to finish up in the city and needed someone to protect him for the next week.

Over the next few days the party performs various tasks towards protecting Junius, but are eventually caught off guard by sleep darts. When the awake, they find themselves in an underground jail cell. A foul mouthed man in a cell across from them informs them that there is a hidden path out of their cell, used for royal escapes in years past. The party finds the secret path, which leads them further underground and through tunnels infested with monstrous centipedes. After fighting the centipede broodmother, the find their way back to the jail. After subduing some assassins and taking the keys they free their fellow prisoner. He's been drugged so he needs to be dragged along, but he leads them to the cell that Junius is being kept in. They fight their jailer, Horatio, who was hoping to force Junius into letting him reform the Shadow. After defeating Horatio they get the key to Junius's cell and an elixir to help their fellow prisoner.

With the elixir the prisoner is reinvigorated. Taking a sword from the party, he cuts his way through the remaining assassins with ease. Outside, a group of member of the Foul Company are waiting. The prisoner reveals that he is their leader, Rufus, the man responsible for bringing down the Shadow originally. He also begrudgingly admits to owing the Iron Heroes a favor.

The Iron Heroes accept a mission from the Slayers, a group that tasks itself with protecting the world from the undead threat, to assist them with the yearly migration of undead over The Breach. Their contact, Slayer Roland, informs them that the Empire's Mens 'other commitments' kept them from providing the support they usually did so the Slayers were looking to shore up their numbers using minor guilds.

On the boat ride to the Breach they meet another minor guild also on the task, the Golden Stags. The members of the two guilds hit it off right away.

After initiation by Master Slayer Geralt, the party accepts a difficult night shift. Alongside the Slayers and the Golden Stags the fight off multiple waves of undead from an area called “Fairyman's Folly.” They also assist a prospective member of the Bard's College as he visits areas prominent in the Fairyman legends. Unfortunately, the following days proved to be disastrous for the guild. Jack wondered away from the group in the middle of the night, and Alfieri lost his life jumping off a cliff trying to escape a large pack of undead. The guild would go on to assist the Slayers in a major battle with the undead near the end of the migration.

Impressed by the skills of a new guild member, Brutus, Albor and Aran decide to bring him along on a mission with them. They accept a mission from a notorious pirate, known as Farko the Red. He explains that after a recent job some of his associates made off with half of his loot, and then stupidly got themselves stranded in the Freezing Wastes. He needed help recovering his treasure. Before setting off, they are contacted by Hugo, in disguise as one of their guildmates, asking that they find evidence while with Farko so that the Legion can finally arrest him.

They sail north into the Freezing Wastes with Farko and track the path the pirates took the treasure. The tracks lead to ruins whose entrance has frozen over. Above the ruins were magical symbols. They encounter some ice imps who become curious about the party. They agree to use the magic inherit in their blood to activate the ruins if the party lets them eat one of their mules. They agree. The ruins activate an ancient heat source which melts the entrance. Inside the party finds the treasure and one surviving associate of Farko, whom they let take his own chances trying to go south across the barrier. They then return to the ship, smuggling several pieces of treasure to use as evidence. When they return to Ammis they hand the evidence over to the Legionnaire's, who use it to arrest Farko. Farko is sent back to the Legion to face trial and execution.

They learn upon their return to the guild that not everyone supports the Guild system. They are met with protesters who identify themselves as supporters of the “Individualist” philosophy, a return to a world model such as in the Age of Heroes where individual ability is most important, and where talent is not suppressed by a ruling class who possess all the military power (in this case, the guilds). Undeterred, the guild presses forward and builds itself a guild hall north of the city and take the next steps to becoming a major guild player.

Almer get captured and held hostage by their old enemy, Ebbe. Ebbe tells them that when he abandoned his base, he left something important behind in a secret passage. The base is currently guarded by members of the Legion and he can't get close, but the Iron Heroes could. He wants them to retrieve a box in exchange for Almer's life. They agree and head to the base. Outside they are met by Roxio, the most famous bard out of the Bard's College. He asks to accompany the heroes for inspiration. He follows them through the base and into the secret passage. It quickly becomes apparent that Ebbe never made it through this passage himself as it is still guarded by ancient traps and stone golems.

The party is shocked when peering down a ladder they see what appears to be a dragon. After calling down to the dragon, however, they learn it is merely a wizard who had been using an illusion to scare away the various creatures in the passage. They meet Tyre, a wizard of the White Robes who had gotten stuck down here when he came down to study the golems. He follows the party for protection.

The party and companions climb down a steep cliff and finally arrive at the location of the box Ebbe described. Roxio tells them that the box contains the Book of Origins, a religious text of great significance to worshipers of the Lords of the Storm. He also reveals that he used the party to get to the book and would be taking it. The members of the party try to stop him, but Roxio proves to be more than a match for them. Fortunately, he says he grew fond of the Iron Heroes and only uses the blunt end of his sword to fight them. He knocks everyone but Aran unconscious. Aran tries to make a run for it with the box up the cliff but Roxio catches up to him, knocks him down and grabs the box. Aran falls into the underground stream and is rescued by Tyre. By the time the party recovers Roxio is gone.

They return to Ebbe to tell him what happened. Ebbe explains that he needed the book as a bargaining chip for the people Roxio works with, a group of Individualists. The Individualists had tried to recruit him for their cause and threatened to kill him when he refused. Ebbe returns Almer to them and explains he is going into hiding, and to keep an eye out for the Individualists because they are dangerous.

They decide to keep their encounter with Roxio a secret because they know no one would believe that the famous bard is actually a dangerous criminal. Tyre tries to inform the members of his guild but is ostracized for it.

The guild recruits a promising soldier named Locon. While seemingly uncontrollable, the guild leaders decide to take him with them on their missions.

The guild accepts a job dealing with conflicts in the Oasis. The Oasis is a major source of water for both the Free Peoples and the Kyrosians and due to a drought the two groups were at each others throats for the water. The party comes in representing the Kyrosians. They learn that their old friends, the Golden Stags, are representing the Free Peoples. The two groups work together to clear many of the problems surrounding the Oasis, such as dealing with bandits robbing supply caravans and getting the merchant princes to lower prices on imported water. Tyre is also present there, being punished by the White Robes with the seemingly impossible task of figuring out how to use an ancient scroll of Summon Water. With Albor's help the two unlock the potential to use the Wizards-era spell using modern magic.

The guild recruits two more notable members, Francis, a hardened mercenary looking for a steady paycheck, and Lawrence, an old friend of Vincent's.

The heroes learn that the situation in the northern forest that consumed so much of the forces of the Emperor's men is still happening and is now also involving the Foul Company. As the two guilds don't historically get along well it seemed strange, and since the northern forest is so close to their guild hall they became concerned. Under a contract from a wealthy nobleman and gossip they send Vincent's team to scout the forest and learn what the situation is. Vincent learns that the guilds are dealing with an outbreak of werewolves, one made particularly difficult because of the rate of infection among their own men. The Iron Heroes decide to be vigilant.

They accept a light mission to go to Ferus and learn about the tribal culture during one of their celebrations. While there, they face their own fears, learn about Spirit Worship, pick up Ferusi language and culture, and learn Ferusi stick-fighting. Once the festival ends they are rewarded with a large ruby. A young Ferusi decides to take Aran as his mentor for his coming-of-age trial, which involves going out into the world and facing challenges.

The guild meets a representative of the new Shadow, a reformation of the other guild that now does information brokering outside the watch of the Great Hall. The Shadow wants the thank the Heroes for dealing with some 'loose ends' in regards to Horatio and offer their services, explaining how to communicate with them whenever they want to buy some information.

Albor receives a singing death threat instructing him to go to an old wizard tower or face “hell-fire” upon their guild. The heroes are put through an ancient magical maze involving teleporting doors, an old jail, and a minotaur guard. After solving the mirror puzzle they meet the man who sent the threat, a wizard named Laroche. He explains that he was one of three disciples of the same wizard master, along with Albor master Myrfydd. Despite the fact that should put him in his 40's or 50's, he looked to be in his early 20's. He claimed to have learned some advanced magic. He also claimed that he knew how to return old magic to the world: you had to reduce the amount of wizards in the world actively using magic. With a maximum of three wizards active in the world raw magic would get a chance to become stable magic, and eventually old magic would return to the world. To this end, Larouche teamed up with the Individualists as he began eliminating wizards, including Myrfydd. Albor had impressed him with his quick rise in power and Larouche was considering him for one of the three active-wizard spots. He advised Albor to not train any apprentices (though Albor already had one, Capri) and to elimate other wizards he should meet in order to improve his chances. After the meeting, Albor assured his guildmates and apprentice he had no desire to do what Larouche said.

They learn that the Emperor's Men and the Foul Company have completed their mission in the forest and returned but have taken heavy casualties. The city is abuzz with how their losses with affect the power structure in the Great Hall as they lose their hold as two of the most powerful guilds.

The guild's money is stolen by Francis and several other members of the guild. They learn Francis was part of a plot by Ebbe to steal money from many guilds. Most guilds are too prideful to admit a traitor among them would steal from them so there wasn't much of a chance at retaliation. The heroes found other guilds that had been stolen from and convinces them to join in a strike against Ebbe, including their friends in the Golden Stags and their old rivals at the Emperor's Men. Vincent Sr. leads the collaborated group against the mercenary army built by Ebbe. After crushing the mercenaries the heroes confront and defeat Francis and the other traitors. Francis makes a comment about “dying again” and escapes despite mortal wounds (including a fall from a tower). As they reach Ebbe they hear him arguing with someone about refusing to work with the Individualists. By the time the heroes reach him Ebbe is dead and his assassin is nowhere to be found. They find a locket on his person and take it. They then take his head and the heads of the traitors of their guild and put them on stakes in front of their guild hall as a warning to others who might try the same.

They meet Flint, a member of the Eight who is impressed with the guild's history of killing magic creatures. He asks to be invited along next time they plan on doing something “exciting.”

The leaders of the guild learn that they have bounties on their heads by a mercenary who decides he would rather not risk fighting the heroes. For some reason, Brutus has the highest bounty on his head despite not even being a guild leader.

The guild accepts a mission to go to the Isle of Ash and help the locals clear out Fire Elementals that are causing the locals trouble as they mine obsidian. They team up with an adventurer-researcher of the White Robes, known as “Black Banner.” Black Banner proves to be valuable in their research as to why the Elementals are causing trouble. They get access to some of the control bracelets from the Elementals, which give the wearer the ability to ignore extreme heat. Unfortunately, when Albor puts on a bracelet he is possessed by an ancient wizard who calls himself “The Master.” The party is forced to cut off Albor's hand in order to get Albor back in control.

Tyre comes to their guild offering them a job from the White Robes, having become the official guild liaison to the Iron Heroes. The job involves being test subjects for an ancient teleporter ring. The device backfires and the Heroes are sent back in time. They team up with a young Almer to return to the present but destroy the teleporter in the process, much to the dismay of the White Robes.

They return to learn that Vincent has gotten himself into a bit of trouble. After rescuing one of the Tantus Emperor's daughters, he slept with her. The emperor now demanded that the two be married. Unfortunately, guild rules would forbid Vincent to no longer be a part of a guild. In order to get Vincent back, they promote him to guild leader, get the daughter to give up her claim to her family's power, and sneak the two back to Amiss right under Vincent Sr.'s nose. Their plan succeeds, though their relationship with Vincent Sr. and the Emperor's Men becomes even more strained.

The guild gets an invite to join the Great Hall guilds due to their size and reputation. After their welcoming ceremony they learn that a campaign of slander has begone against them which was cutting drastically into the amount of jobs they receive. They meet the man behind the campaign, Martin Piper of the guild The Pipers. Martin was upset that his guild was once again passed over for acceptance into the guild hall and intended to destroy the Iron Heroes financially by keeping them from getting work. His guild was financed by a wealthy family and had more than enough money to keep them going during a lengthy financial battle. If the Iron Heroes declared war on them, the Pipers had powerful guilds in Defensive Alliances with them. The Iron Heroes were forced to run a counter-PR campaign. They hired Guild PR expert Van'gho Von'Marik to help with their guild's reputation. Van'gho made some sweeping changes, including changing Albor's manner of dress (from 'scary wizard' to 'wise man'), and promoting Brutus (who had earned the reputation as the guild's “White Knight”). They are also made volunteer in the Tantus Day Festival, the festival that celebrates the sacrifices of the legendary hero Tantus.

They are invited to meet with one of the leaders of the church, High-Priest Harkon. Surrounded by guards just out of ear-shot, Harkon tells them that he works with the Individualists and was eager to start a war between the Pipers and the Iron Heroes, because due to alliances, mixed with the current tension surrounding the distribution of power in the Great Hall after the losses suffered by the Emperor's Men and the Foul Company, their war would drag in almost all the major guilds and deal a crippling blow the guild system. Harkon tells them that he has a man working in city hunting Vincent's wife, Helen (the Emperor's daughter), and the heroes should move quickly if they want to stop him.

The heroes find Helen's servants all dead and track Helen to a dark building in a back alley. They find an assassin with his dagger at Helen's throat. He gives them two options: go out and stab a member of the Pipers in the street in broad daylight (thus instigating the war) or he will kill Helen. The party comes up with an unique plan. They steal two bodies from the morgue, dress them in Pipers uniforms, and use Illusion magic the make them seem alive, then stab the corpses in the street. To Harkon's agent, it seems they have completed their task and he releases Helen before killing himself, saying “Praise Vidal.” It is only later is their plan revealed. Martin realizes that both sides were being played and puts a stop to his slander campaign against the Heroes. During the discussion on how to divide the power vacated by the weaker Emperor's Men and Foul Company, the Iron Heroes back the Piper's admission the Great Hall.

The guild accepts a mission from a retiring mercenary named Nats. They travel to a jail from the time of the rise of the Tantus Empire used to keep political prisoners, later used to store captured monsters that the Empire did not know what to do with. They travel with Nats through the haunted upper levels of the jail and they learn its dark history. When they reach the lower levels they go through many strange encounters, and finally find its source: a trickster fairy trapped in a bottle. The fairy offers them any wish for its freedom, but Nats warns them that all wishes made with a fairy came with a (usually ironic) price. They learn that this fairy was trapped by the hero Tantus a long time ago, and was largely responsible for the rise of the Tantus Empire. They decide to lock the fairy's room up to make sure no one could ever mess with its power.

Black Banner and Tyre of the White Robes ask for the Iron Heroes' help in investigating rumors of a Dragon. Banner has a theory that the dragons never left the mortal plane, they just moved to an undiscovered land in the far west. The dragon sighting was at the furthest western known island, so it supported Banner's theory. The heroes decided to invite Flint along on the mission. Flint brings Saso, his back-up. They travel to the island and after braving black powder, a collapsing cave, and pools filled with deadly piranha, they make their way to the summit where the do encounter the dragon. The group is terrified by the dragon, but the dragon does not attack them. Instead it takes the form of a woman and questions them about what they were doing. It rejects Banners theory, saying it is the only dragon in this plane. It then warns the guild members that destruction the likes of which the world has not seen in centuries is coming, which the guild takes to be a warning about the goals of the Individualists.

The guild travels north to the Frozen Kingdom to do a mission for its wizard-council. The wizard council wanted them to travel into the old capitol of the Aemirri Empire, which for centuries was inaccessible by a massive barrier of ice. Using magitech heaters the capitol would soon be accessible, and they wanted the Iron Heroes to brave its unknown dangers and retrieve the spellbook the Wizard Emperor used to freeze the kingdom. The guild travels to the capitol but encounters resistance from scavengers and their sleeping gas. After Locon gets captured, the heroes agree to leave in exchange for his safe return. They double cross the scavengers by returning shortly after, saying that they agreed to leave but not to stay away.

They meet with the scavengers leader, Ellie. Ellie agrees to let the heroes through to the capitol if she's allowed to go with them to make sure they don't take any magitech. They agree and after dealing with ice imps and stumbling across their human-cattle, they find the old Aemirri palace. There they encounter a seven-headed cryohydra and Locon loses his life in the struggle. Nonetheless, they do find the spellbook, and Albor takes possession of the crown of the Wizard Emperor.

They return to the scavenger camp while Albor made a copy of the spellbook. There Albor was reunited with an old friend, Ragnar. Ragnar showed Albor the unit of wizard-killing Dragon Knights that he was training should an outright confrontation between the wizard-council and the scavengers erupt, but asks Albor to do anything he can to keep that from happening. Albor comes up with a plan to bring Ellie back with them and tell the wizard-council that they captured the scavenger leader and the scavengers should be scattering, thus buying the scavengers valuable time before the wizards hire another guild to wipe them out. He returns the spellbook to the wizards and the guild, plus Ellie, head back to Amiss.

Back at their guild hall they find some changes were made in the absence. Mostly notably, Vincent hired on a new Captain, Noah, the son of the infamous White Fox. Nats also returned and offered use his expertise as a world-traveled mercenary to train new recruits, which the guild accepts.

The leaders of the guild are invited by Hugo to join in a “special assembly” of members of the guilds dealing with the Individualist problem. The group functions as secret from the rest of their guilds, to keep the information from getting back to the Individualists, who probably have moles in the guilds themselves. It also functions as a last-resort for peace negotiations should the Great Hall fail, to prevent a war like the one that almost occurred between the Pipers and the Iron Heroes from ever happening.

Augustus of the Emperor's Men tell the Iron Heroes of a lead he has on Roxio. The guild's stealthy track Roxio to Ebbe's old hideout, where he meets with several other Individualists. The Individualists, who work individually by the very core of their concept, are all working towards the same goal and meet to make sure their plans don't conflict with one another. Present are a serious looking man who claims to have come up with their plan, a former arena grand champion who calls himself “Thunder,” a blond female assassin, and a small man with thin glasses. They talk about plans involving the Church, and important deliveries being made to a contact is Kyros.

The guild commissions the building of a ship and hires on two captains and assembles a crew out of their guildmates. Their maiden voyage takes them hunting Myrfydd and Larouche's other peer, known as “The Witch of the Winds.” They find her wizard tower in the barrier, occupied by several potential apprentices of the witch, Kalura. Unfortunately, Kalura herself is nowhere to be found. As they attempt to figure out a way to get a message to Kalura, they accidentally draw the ire of Kalura's guard after damaging the ceiling of the room. The guard demands they leave, but Albor refuses. When the guard draws his warhammer against Albor, everyone but Aran steps in to attack the guard. The guard is accidentally killed, at which point Kalura appears, pissed off. After blasting Brutus several times with wind magic the party surrenders. Kalura has them tied up and sends for guards to come arrest them for murder. Albor tries to set himself on fire instead of being captured but Brutus manages to put him out before serious harm is done. The guards come and take everyone but Aran into custody.