The World of Telvar

At the castle Blackstone, from where Eldrin ruled, Eldrin and some of his Top Ten had assembled, to meet with a hero from the nearby Realm who was on a diplomatic mission.

His physician Zing [played by David Thomas Chappell] and another member of the Top Ten (his anti-assassin/bodyguard) were with Eldrin when chaos broke out.

When the hero, Wolfram, from the nearest section of the Realm came into his presence, Eldrin believed that the fortress was being invaded and did not realize that the one-eyed hero was there to negotiate. Thus, he pulled the alarm bells that set everything into motion. Immediately, the exits to the fortress began to close quickly (many guards had to choose to either seal themselves in or to remain outside the action) and a self-destruct mechanism was put into place.

Zing and others believed that Eldrin had gone crazy in that moment and, after a brief fight, tied him up for his own protection. However, the other seven members of the Top Ten, under the mage Wizban, were holding a meeting during this time, and when Zing and the others overheard their planning, the three realized a plot was underway. The seven attacked Zing, the bodyguard, and the Realmish hero, who retreated. While this occurred, the seven captured Eldrin, and cut off his head with his own vorpal sword, bringing the General's life to a sudden end.

The other squads of Eldrin's men in the fortress eventually found the seven and managed to kill all but Wizban, and also disarmed the self-destruct and released a number of Cromwellian prisoners in a slave camp.

The events at Blackstone were described in Gramaliustranstalus' "Telvar Gazette #2" [written by David Thomas Chappell]:

Chaos at Blackstone

The civil war in the Realm prompted Wolfram, a major hero of the Realm, to venture to the New World. He went to Lord Eldrin’s capital at Blackstone, where he hoped to warn the famous general and appeal for help. When Wolfram arrived in Eldrin's office on 27 April 2166, however, all chaos broke loose.

In an interview afterward, Zing, Eldrin's personal physician and member of the Top Ten, certified that Eldrin had gone insane at the beginning of the chaos. After accusing Wolfram of working with the Realm, Eldrin said the invasion was finally coming, and he pulled the cord for the fortress’ emergency bells, which sealed Blackstone from the outside world. One of the survivors later summed up the events: “When the bells rang, none of us knew what to do.”

Most of the Top Ten (Eldrin's top squad), under the leadership of the mage Wizban, killed Eldrin and several other squads. A few squads trapped in the castle survived and tried to investigate the happenings. Wizban and the assassins of the Top Ten tried to kill the other Top Ten members, and all surviving troops investigated the castle in an effort to stop the gas that would eventually explode Blackstone.

Eventually the faithful troops found each other and killed the evil schemers. They found the gas valve and reversed it only minutes before it would have exploded. Others had found a huge underground slave camp of Cromwellians. The slaves were set free, and they ravaged the Dunadorian countryside over the next few weeks as they ran home. Wizban teleported away from Blackstone just before it was saved, and he left while proclaiming his loyalty to a group of magocracy-oriented wizards [Ed: presumably the Order of Calistro]. All the troops who saved the castle were proclaimed heroes, and Berkeley, Wolfram, and Gor deserved special praise.

On 7 October 2166, Lord Eldrin was declared dead, and Drake declared its independence from Dunador.

On of Eldrin's guards [played by Ashley Merritt] had this to say about the events at Blackstone:

I can't shed a whole lot of light on the whole Chaos at Blackstone deal as I spent almost the whole [time] running down the tower to the basement to avoid being killed. I didn't get to do anything substantive until the very end. Anyway, I was one of Lord Eldrin's castle guards and started on the roof of the tower. The defense mechanism suddenly activated and we had barely enough time to jump down through the hatch into the castle.

After that my group ran and ran and ran to beat the clock and avoid being killed. I can't remember if it was an imminent explosion or poison gas we were fleeing, but flee we did. I discovered later that an assassin had gained entry to the place and assassinated Lord Eldrin of Drake (our boss). We finally made it to the bottom with a bunch of folks who didn't really know what was going on either, except a few of them actually did know the circumstances around the death (which I don't recall).

We did run into Eldrin's counter-assassins and a bunch of people whose presense there was unexplained. We haggled with the hobgoblins in the caverns under the tower to let us out which they weren't inclined to do as it was not in their contract with Eldrin. Somehow we got to the mechanism that could stop the explosion or whatever and this monk turned some kind of wheel or lever to stop it (he was killed in the process). So the day was saved. I think Chaos was an appropriate moniker as I am not sure anyone really knew what was really going on.

Known Cast (there are many unknown):

Zing, the personal physician of Eldrin, played by David Thomas Chappell

Castle guard, played by Ashley Merritt

Castle guard, played by Chris Allen

This summary was edited from the submissions of David T. Chappell and Ashley Merritt.

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