Chapter Two - A Prophecy Fulfilled?

World of Greyhawk Campaign

Chapter Two

As the group is preparing to head off to find Nori’s village in the Grandwood, a visitor comes looking for Lirrim. Alain hails from Lirrim’s village and comes bearing bad news, “I’m so glad I found you Lirrim. I didn’t know who else to turn to. I’m not even really sure what has happened.” His hands shake as he speaks and he struggles to continue, “I was out in the woods hunting for that evening’s dinner and finally managed to bag a nice sized rabbit, so I headed back home. I wasn’t really paying much attention to where I was going, thinking about the deer I had lost earlier in the hunt. I suddenly came to and looked around and realized I was in a large clearing I had never seen before. At first I thought I had somehow managed to get lost, so I backtracked my steps back to where I had caught the hare. I then headed back to the village, paying close attention to where I was going. As I broke through what should have been the final stand of brush, my heart jumped into my throat and my stomach fell. The village was gone. I was standing in the clearing I had stumbled into earlier. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The only signs that our village ever existed are the outlines of where the structure had once stood. Otherwise there were no signs that the village had ever existed. That was on your birthday Lirrim.”

Stunned Lirrim asked Alain what had happened, and if everything was gone. The boy tried to answer Lirrim’s questions as best he could, but he was not sure who or what had caused such a thing to happen. The group decides to travel to Lirrim’s village to help him find out what happened to his friends and family. Talking to Nori about the amulet would have to wait. The short trip into the Menowood to the site of Lirrim’s village is uneventful. Once there, the group finds things exactly as Alain had described. It was an eerie sight. Dirt outlines of where structures had once stood can be clearly seen, but there was no other traces of the once vibrant village that had once stood on this site.

Suddenly, the brush at the edge of the clearing rustles, and an elderly elven man stumbles out, “Do not be frightened fellow travelers, I only wish to have a word with you.” Sione and Lirrim recognize the man as Ashila (a.k.a. Ashili), an elven hermit of some renown in the Menowood. Stacia shows no signs of fear at the sight of this stranger, and even trots over to receive a pat on the head from the old man.

“My name is Ashila, and I felt a great disturbance in the ways of things, so I came to investigate and found this. I’ve been waiting here for quite some time for you. I knew you would be coming. Quite strange considering I do not know you, but I often have such intuitions.” As he says this, he pulls a mirror about the size of a Frisbee from his robe. He hands it to Lirrim and tells him to look into it. As Lirrim gazes into the mirror, he sees that the reflections of the party are hazy and out of focus. Suddenly, the background catches his attention and he sees the buildings of his village there, plain as day. Ashila goes on to explain that Lirrim’s village has somehow been transported to the ethereal plane. That’s what they can see in the mirror. What they can’t see are the inhabitants of the village. The buildings are perfectly intact, but not a living soul can be seen through the mirror.

“Do not blame yourself for this Lirrim. While it may be related to the prophecy surrounding your birth, there is nothing you could have done to stop this. Forces of incredible power are at work here. The question at this point becomes why?” He continues on to tell the group that they should continue on their current journey and he will investigate this further. Right now they are not ready to even attempt an excursion to the ethereal plane, so they should just focus on the task at hand. He will contact them with more information as it becomes available.

With that, the group travels back to Malwander to finish preparations for the journey to the Grandwood. With Flain’s help, the trip is shortened by the use of a ship upon the waters of the Greyflood, Thelly, and Mikar rivers. However, once they begin to near the spot of Nori’s village on the banks of the Mikar, they realize that someone or something is following them along the shoreline. They move to shore and come face to face with a group of orcs bearing the Bonesnappers standard. A battle ensues, and the group emerges victorious. A search of the orcs reveals little except for the presence of a holy symbol dedicated to the god of death, Nerull. Not entirely unusual for orcs, but unnerving just the same. Also, the Bonesnappers are not usually found this far north, and typically only consist of goblins. None of this adds up.

Finally reaching Nori’s village, the group asks around until they get pointed toward a huge oak tree with a staircase spiraling up along it’s trunk. Following the staircase up into the upper branches of the tree, they reach the door of the home. Their knocks are answered by the door swinging open to reveal a tall, gaunt elf with waist length, blonde hair. He’s wearing a long, white robe inlaid with silver, outlining various mystical symbols. Lirrim and Isach instantly recognize many of them as being arcane in nature. He takes as it’s offered and reads through it. He then invites the group in and pours them all drinks.

“So it seems we have an interesting situation here, don’t we? Very interesting indeed. You see you’re the second group within the last week to ask me about the amulet. Luckily, I have ways of knowing who I should trust, and I did not trust these men. What worries me is they have powerful magic at their disposal.” Nori continues on to tell the group that three men, all human, came to him asking about the location of the amulet. When he inquired about how they knew of the item, they told him that Erol had uncovered some new information about it and had sent them here to retrieve it. They then produced a letter supposedly written by Erol, and while the handwriting was perfect, the letter did not contain a code they had been using in all of their correspondence to ensure it was from a member of their former adventuring party.

When the group tells Nori about Erol’s demise, he theorizes that the letter the men produced was written by Erol under duress and that he left the code out to prevent Nori from revealing any information about the amulet to them. “I told the men that I had sent the amulet to a sage in Pontylver to be analyzed just before the city fell. However, that is really only a half-truth. Yes, I did send it to a man named Ger in Pontylver to be looked at, but I received it back just days before the city was toppled.” He explains that Pontlyver was ravaged in a war and is now overrun by undead, and supposedly cursed. Apparently all who enter the city slowly go mad, and that even the most powerful of magics cannot cure this madness. Ger was the foremost authority on the People of the Black Caverns, and he and Nori discussed the amulet extensively. They reached the consensus that the amulet was a holy symbol of a lost god, probably the only deity the People of the Black Caverns worshipped.

When the group asks him about the current location of the amulet, Nori simply says that it is in a safe place, and that it is probably best if they do not know where that is. He also goes on to tell the group a little more about the People of the Black Caverns, “They appear to be ancient ancestors to high elves who mysteriously vanished centuries ago. Many of the writings Ger was able to translate dealt primarily with divination, and included many “prophecies”. One in particular foretold of a time when the People of the Black Caverns would return and take their place as the rightful rulers of the Flanaess.” Nori speculates that someone uncovered some piece of information regarding the amulet and that is what has spurned all the sudden interest in the item. He then suggests that the group travel to underground city he and Marlos found in the Glorioles to try and recover some additional information. There was a library there that may contain some tomes of useful information that will help them figure out what is going on. He offers to travel with them so he can translate anything they may find.

Once the group reaches the base of the mountains, Nori splits from them and heads on to Malwander to visit with Marlos while awaiting their return. He does however provide the group with a map showing the location of the cave entrance to the underground city. So they part ways and the group now scales the Glorioles on their way to the mysterious City of the Black Caverns.