- The Cultist
- Arena Games
- Phoenix Sorcery
- The Half-Moon Crucible
- Castle Mistamere
- Bringing Back the Dead
- The Curse of House Lightwalker
- Captured
- Far from Home
- Through the Underdark
- A New Port of Kings
The Tale of the Heroes of Silvermoon
Chapter 5: Castle Mistamere
After the long ordeal at the Half-Moon Crucible, the heroes decided to take a much-deserved break. They made their way back to Silvermoon City and parted ways for six months. Ari joined the thieves' guild and deepened her worship of Raksh, becoming his only blood cleric, Cristoff found new purpose as a guard, Xilmar resumed his work as a forger for the thieves' guild, and with the blessing of Guilden, Julian started a restaurant to raise funds for his waning political house. Nysae was the only one who didn't dedicate her time in the city, preferring to spend her time in the wilds communing with nature.
Just when the group was beginning to miss their life of adventure together, Cristoff received a curious letter from a messenger in the city. He recognized the crude attempt at writing as that of Gorthuk, and called a meeting of the remaining heroes to read it together. The letter spoke of Gorthuk's wanderings looking for his friends after he had been released from his debt in the Shadowfell, and his goal to honor his god by defeating a necromancer he had heard of near Waterbrink, a town about four days' travel from Silvermoon. The group (minus Xilmar, who was strangely absent and unaccounted for) set off for the town looking for their orcish friend.
They arrived in Waterbrink in the midst of a skirmish on the town by some golems that seemed to be made from sewn-together corpses. After defeating them and reuniting with Gorthuk, the group approached the paladin leader of the town guard, Leah, who attempted to arrest Gorthuk. She informed them that a band of orcs had infested the nearby castle and were likely the culprits of the flesh golem attack. They vouched for Gorthuk's character, and Leah reluctantly allowed him to be free, but under the watchful eye of the guard.
The group approached the nearby Castle Mistamere, an ancient mansion that had once been owned by a powerful wizard named Alteza. Sure enough, they found the castle infested by orcs who had sworn fealty to a necromancer named Azulius. Gorthuk recognized the clan of orcs as an offshoot of his own Bonechewer Clan, but didn't recognize anyone he knew. After defeating the castle's guards, the heroes entered the mansion, killing orcs and discovering many artifacts and old traps. In the basement, they encountered the chieftain of the orcs, Krakgrag, who had named his group the Black Hand Clan after breaking off from the Bonechewers. He had heard of Gorthuk the Defiler, and mistook his mission as overtaking his position in the clan instead of hunting Azulius. Gorthuk played along, hoping to recruit the orcs and form a new clan based on his own ideals and the ideals of Bwonsamdi.
The two orcs engaged in ritual one-on-one combat, and though Gorthuk survived blows that normally would have killed him three times over, Krakgrag eventually triumphed. The heroes attacked, finishing off Krakgrag and saving Gorthuk, but in doing so, they put into question his honor and worthiness to lead the clan. Gorthuk's own nephew, Krun, challenged Gorthuk, but he refused, saying that he wanted to lead with wisdom over strength. Krun called him a coward and bade the orcs follow him, a true orc based on the traditions of strength. Reluctantly and in confusion, the remaining orcs eventually followed Krun and left the mansion.
The group descended into an even deeper floor, fighting orcs, kobolds, doppelgangers and a succubus pretending to be a damsel in distress, all the while dodging traps and finding evidence of Azulius's atrocities in necromancy. They were stunned to find that, due to some nearby source of Azulius's power, their enemies rose from the dead soon after being felled, unless Gorthuk used his god's power to preserve their corpses. They even encountered the now headless undead Krakgrag, defeating him a second time. At long last, they found Azulius waiting for them in his throne room. They easily dispatched Azulius and freed a dwarf who appeared imprisoned, but the dwarf soon revealed himself to be the real Azulius. They had only killed a decoy in his place. Azulius engaged in battle with them, casting deadly necromancy spells of fear and necrotic energy and consuming the life force of caged kobolds to sustain himself in the fight. Seeing no other way to defeat the necromancer during the fight, Gorthuk used his staff of swarming insects he had gained from the Shadowfell to conjure a swarm of biting locusts in Azulius's room, then held the door shut.
Julian had been left inside with the swarm, and Gorthuk had been hoping to be able to revive him after the ordeal. However, after opening the door, Gorthuk realized in horror that Julian had been raised as a zombie, and Azulius as a vampire through the power of his cloak of the gravemaster. The group fought the vampire Azulius valiantly. Miraculously, and thanks to his studies in necromancy, Julian was able to break free of Azulius's will and fight him alongside his friends, even in undeath. Azulius attempted to transform into a gaseous cloud and flee, but Gorthuk finally landed the killing blow on him with his own divine powers.
As the group rejoiced in their victory, Gorthuk's god, Bwonsamdi, appeared before Gorthuk and demanded a chilling task of him: to destroy Julian, who was now an abomination of undeath and therefore not worthy of existence. Julian begged for mercy, and Gorthuk was reluctant, but not being able to disobey his master, he buried Krakgrag's battleaxe into Julian's chest, silencing him. Hoping to restore him to life again, he attempted to cast a raise dead spell on him, but Bwonsamdi's voice echoed in his mind, telling him that Julian's body was tainted with undeath, and could not be raised.
The group found many magical items and treasures in Azulius's chamber, and they destroyed Azulius's lab where his flesh golems were created. Gorthuk was deeply affected by Julian's death. Not only because he had sealed his fate in undeath by killing him for the final time, but also because he felt responsible for knocking him down in the first place with his swarm of insects. He felt that things could have been different had he acted with more intelligence. What's more, he questioned Bwonsamdi's black-and-white claims about undeath. He knew Julian's goodness and friendship despite his specialization in necromancy, and resolved to seek out some way he could prove his god incorrect that he was gone forever.
As they exited the mansion, exhausted, they were met by the orcs who had followed Krun. The group had seen Krun as a strong leader, but a cruel and selfish one. They realized that through their own combined strength, as they had seen Gorthuk and his friends do, they could overpower and kill him. They swore allegiance to Gorthuk, recognizing his wisdom and respecting it over the traditions of their previous clans. Gorthuk accepted their fealty, and declared them the founding members of a new clan, the Skullwarden Clan. He told them to avoid bloodshed and to subsist based on hard work rather than on plunder. Though these were foreign concepts to the orcs, they vowed to do their best.
The heroes also claimed Castle Mistamere as their own, and instructed the orcs to exterminate any remaining creatures in the castle and to plunder its contents to sell for the clan's use. They agreed. They also hired one of Azulius's doppelgangers named Haskill, who promised to help them cover Julian's death in Silvermoon by posing as him until they figured out what to do next.
Gorthuk sadly carried Julian's body back to Waterbrink, questioning himself and his bondage to such a strict god as Bwonsamdi.
Just when the group was beginning to miss their life of adventure together, Cristoff received a curious letter from a messenger in the city. He recognized the crude attempt at writing as that of Gorthuk, and called a meeting of the remaining heroes to read it together. The letter spoke of Gorthuk's wanderings looking for his friends after he had been released from his debt in the Shadowfell, and his goal to honor his god by defeating a necromancer he had heard of near Waterbrink, a town about four days' travel from Silvermoon. The group (minus Xilmar, who was strangely absent and unaccounted for) set off for the town looking for their orcish friend.
They arrived in Waterbrink in the midst of a skirmish on the town by some golems that seemed to be made from sewn-together corpses. After defeating them and reuniting with Gorthuk, the group approached the paladin leader of the town guard, Leah, who attempted to arrest Gorthuk. She informed them that a band of orcs had infested the nearby castle and were likely the culprits of the flesh golem attack. They vouched for Gorthuk's character, and Leah reluctantly allowed him to be free, but under the watchful eye of the guard.
The group approached the nearby Castle Mistamere, an ancient mansion that had once been owned by a powerful wizard named Alteza. Sure enough, they found the castle infested by orcs who had sworn fealty to a necromancer named Azulius. Gorthuk recognized the clan of orcs as an offshoot of his own Bonechewer Clan, but didn't recognize anyone he knew. After defeating the castle's guards, the heroes entered the mansion, killing orcs and discovering many artifacts and old traps. In the basement, they encountered the chieftain of the orcs, Krakgrag, who had named his group the Black Hand Clan after breaking off from the Bonechewers. He had heard of Gorthuk the Defiler, and mistook his mission as overtaking his position in the clan instead of hunting Azulius. Gorthuk played along, hoping to recruit the orcs and form a new clan based on his own ideals and the ideals of Bwonsamdi.
The two orcs engaged in ritual one-on-one combat, and though Gorthuk survived blows that normally would have killed him three times over, Krakgrag eventually triumphed. The heroes attacked, finishing off Krakgrag and saving Gorthuk, but in doing so, they put into question his honor and worthiness to lead the clan. Gorthuk's own nephew, Krun, challenged Gorthuk, but he refused, saying that he wanted to lead with wisdom over strength. Krun called him a coward and bade the orcs follow him, a true orc based on the traditions of strength. Reluctantly and in confusion, the remaining orcs eventually followed Krun and left the mansion.
The group descended into an even deeper floor, fighting orcs, kobolds, doppelgangers and a succubus pretending to be a damsel in distress, all the while dodging traps and finding evidence of Azulius's atrocities in necromancy. They were stunned to find that, due to some nearby source of Azulius's power, their enemies rose from the dead soon after being felled, unless Gorthuk used his god's power to preserve their corpses. They even encountered the now headless undead Krakgrag, defeating him a second time. At long last, they found Azulius waiting for them in his throne room. They easily dispatched Azulius and freed a dwarf who appeared imprisoned, but the dwarf soon revealed himself to be the real Azulius. They had only killed a decoy in his place. Azulius engaged in battle with them, casting deadly necromancy spells of fear and necrotic energy and consuming the life force of caged kobolds to sustain himself in the fight. Seeing no other way to defeat the necromancer during the fight, Gorthuk used his staff of swarming insects he had gained from the Shadowfell to conjure a swarm of biting locusts in Azulius's room, then held the door shut.
Julian had been left inside with the swarm, and Gorthuk had been hoping to be able to revive him after the ordeal. However, after opening the door, Gorthuk realized in horror that Julian had been raised as a zombie, and Azulius as a vampire through the power of his cloak of the gravemaster. The group fought the vampire Azulius valiantly. Miraculously, and thanks to his studies in necromancy, Julian was able to break free of Azulius's will and fight him alongside his friends, even in undeath. Azulius attempted to transform into a gaseous cloud and flee, but Gorthuk finally landed the killing blow on him with his own divine powers.
As the group rejoiced in their victory, Gorthuk's god, Bwonsamdi, appeared before Gorthuk and demanded a chilling task of him: to destroy Julian, who was now an abomination of undeath and therefore not worthy of existence. Julian begged for mercy, and Gorthuk was reluctant, but not being able to disobey his master, he buried Krakgrag's battleaxe into Julian's chest, silencing him. Hoping to restore him to life again, he attempted to cast a raise dead spell on him, but Bwonsamdi's voice echoed in his mind, telling him that Julian's body was tainted with undeath, and could not be raised.
The group found many magical items and treasures in Azulius's chamber, and they destroyed Azulius's lab where his flesh golems were created. Gorthuk was deeply affected by Julian's death. Not only because he had sealed his fate in undeath by killing him for the final time, but also because he felt responsible for knocking him down in the first place with his swarm of insects. He felt that things could have been different had he acted with more intelligence. What's more, he questioned Bwonsamdi's black-and-white claims about undeath. He knew Julian's goodness and friendship despite his specialization in necromancy, and resolved to seek out some way he could prove his god incorrect that he was gone forever.
As they exited the mansion, exhausted, they were met by the orcs who had followed Krun. The group had seen Krun as a strong leader, but a cruel and selfish one. They realized that through their own combined strength, as they had seen Gorthuk and his friends do, they could overpower and kill him. They swore allegiance to Gorthuk, recognizing his wisdom and respecting it over the traditions of their previous clans. Gorthuk accepted their fealty, and declared them the founding members of a new clan, the Skullwarden Clan. He told them to avoid bloodshed and to subsist based on hard work rather than on plunder. Though these were foreign concepts to the orcs, they vowed to do their best.
The heroes also claimed Castle Mistamere as their own, and instructed the orcs to exterminate any remaining creatures in the castle and to plunder its contents to sell for the clan's use. They agreed. They also hired one of Azulius's doppelgangers named Haskill, who promised to help them cover Julian's death in Silvermoon by posing as him until they figured out what to do next.
Gorthuk sadly carried Julian's body back to Waterbrink, questioning himself and his bondage to such a strict god as Bwonsamdi.
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