The Telvar Gazette Number 2 War Edition March 2168
A New Hope
It is a period of major regional
war. New World heroes, striking
against a hidden base, have won...
their first victory against the evil World Empire.
After another battle, New World heroes
discovered secret plans and the World
Empire's ultimate weapon, the PLAGUE, a
deadly disease with enough power to destroy the entire planet.
Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents,
Duke Konrad races away from a starship, custodian of
the stolen plans that can save his people and restore freedom to the New World.....
The War till Now
Forces of the World Empire have begun their invasion of the New World. Though most of their assassination attempts on world leaders failed, the death of Queen Valencia drove Dunador to the brink of civil war. The nation of Sark has allied with the World Empire and become the main base for Hrothgmn’s armies of humans, orcs, giant spiders, and even dragons. The Leg-Breaker tribe of hobgoblins burned the fields of eastern Dunador in the World Empire's employ, and they delivered food supplies to the invading armies. It is a dark time, but a new hope has recently arisen.
Loss of the Keystone Kingdom
For several months, communication has been broken between the Keystone Kingdom and the mainland. No ships travel across the Sea of Pastures, and even bardic mail has stopped. An unconfirmed rumour from sailors says that the entire kingdom appears to have disintegrated sometime before late April. A more likely interpretation of the information, however, is that the governments have all completely collapsed, and Lendore is now controlled by the World Empire forces.
Death of Bob
Soon after the hurricane that destroyed The Arc, King Plin and the other heroes at Koralgesh made plans to challenge Bob, the high priest of the Anarchists’ Cult. In late 2166, they successfully drew him to their city and killed him in a brief yet intense battle. After Bob died, three hags immediately appeared and took his body away. Despite the outcome of the battle, experts suggest that Bob has probably transferred his life essence to another body somewhere in Telvar.
The Codex of Constructs
During Evard and Augman’s major battle with Seven in August 2165 (see The Telvar Gazetteer), other adventurers planned on entering Seven’s home. Knowing that the battle was planned, they cast a tracing spell on Seven’s teleportation to the battle site. They then entered his complex and stole the Codex of Constructs.
Though details are still sketchy, their mission was a success. Rumours say that as a result of their actions, Seven got in trouble with his sponsor, the devil Asmodeus. The heroes who recovered the Codex are allied with the forces of good in the New World. Recovery of the Codex not only allows it to be used to help in defense, but it also caused all of Seven's golem-puppets to become inanimate.
Civil War in the Realm
Shortly after the battle with Seven, the Emperor of the nearby Realmish State of Wunka became ill, and he stayed secluded away from the public–or so the people were told. In reality, the Emperor had been replaced by one of Seven’s magical constructs some time earlier. When the Codex of Constructs was taken from Seven, the false emperor was revealed, and government officials tried to hide the shocking truth from the public.
When the news of the Emperor’s “death” became public knowledge, the Realmish military tried to control the possible chaos and run the country. In fear of a military dictatorship, the people revolted in April 2166. Currently a civil war rages through the near section of the Realm. There is an additional small chance of the chaos spreading to other sections of the Realm, similar to the great revolution that sparked the Age of Democracy.
The civil war in the Realm directly affects Cromwell due to their shared border. King Ranore offered to permanently remove the trade tax on the dwarves of Cromwell if they would help the rebels. Now three dwarf clans are fighting with the people against the military. The other sections of the Realm seem disinterested and do not care who gains control of the state.
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. 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.
Space Creatures & Secret Plans
Duke Konrad and his people reached the Temple of the Eye in the Southern Waste after many days of travel. At the temple, the Duke's people made camp and began to claim the site as their new home. Also, noted explorer Dr. Montana Platt retired to the Temple of the Eye to conduct further archaeological research.
Konrad then led a number of other heroes and some troops south to try to find the next city with an Oracle Sphere. After much travel, they passed through a forest inhabited by psionic creatures and began to see signs that they were near their destination. Two scouts sent ahead reported that World Empire troops inhabited the city and that they seemed to be using the light from the Oracle Sphere with other lights in an attempt to summon something. They had two mile-long lines of continual light tokens spaced about 100 feet apart.
The New World heroes camped nearby while the city inhabitants grew more and more nervous about the results of their strange behavior. The scouts found a storage building that held a curious, elephant-sized, snail-like device made from alien wood and a lead box marked “Dangerous.” Soon after the heroes' arrival on 20 July 2166, a strange vehicle, quite similar to the one in storage, flew down out of the sky towards the city. It proceeded to fire strange energy blasts that destroyed much of the city.
Fred the monk opened the lead box to reveal an alien being. A report from the monk indicates that the space creature resembled the legendary mind flayers and had similar telepathic powers. The creature walked out of the building and repaired its partially broken flying machine. The two space vehicles then roared away from the scene at an incredibly high speed.
Most of the inhabitants of the city fled when the space ship attacked. The head wizard and the lead fighter teleported away. Most of those left were Sarkian mercenaries who had been hired by the World Empire.
After sorting through the debris, the heroes learned that someone had already destroyed all the Oracle Spheres (some rumours say that Rilm’s party, the Kilroy party, or Seven’s puppets had done so). At this particular city, the pieces of the broken sphere had been melded together to reform a sphere which was used to amplify light. The sphere and the lights along the river were used to try to signal the space creature. How and why the World Empire hoped to communicate with or control the space creature remains unknown.
While exploring, the heroes found a secret box hidden in the domicile of the Empire's commander. Multiple traps protected the contents; first was a jar of green slime. In the innermost level of trap was a plague which, according to Nevron through clerical divination, would have killed all but a few hundred people on Telvar. When opened away from any possible victims, the plague died.
The well-guarded box actually contained secret code books. The code was magical and very complicated, and could only be read in any reasonable period of time via a special powerful magic spell. The code books were sent back to the School of Wizardry, where researchers were able to develop a less-powerful spell to enable reading the code. In September 2166, they deciphered the text The books contained information detailing the World Empire's attack plans. Discovery of this information is a major boon to the New World defenders.
Battle of Bear Paw
On the morning of 7 May 2166, Dunstill & Illic led an attack on Bear Paw Island, a secret naval base of the World Empire. Dunstill & Illic sailed in on The Arc with a teleport beacon. They went near Hrothgmn's base on Bear Paw Island and started flooding the tower. The mages inside started teleporting out. All teleports in the region were drawn to the beacon; they landed dazed on the ship, where the heroes took turns chopping them to pieces. Hrothgmn was the last to teleport, and the heroes eliminated him through magical means.
Complete destruction of the docks, the compound, and the other ships followed on May 8. The heroes also surveyed the area and arranged the sailing crews to sail back the ships that they had captured.
Armies on the Battlefield
Though it appeared that the New World War would peter out as both sides ran out of resources, the King of Cromwell initiated some daring plans that resulted in a victory for the defenders of the New World. King Ranore personally planned the troop movement for the New World War.
The Council of Lords in Dunador considered appointing Lord Ranore Gintree to be temporary king of Dunador in an effort to ensure peace in the region. According to the plan, the paladin would have agreed to surrender the throne after a specified time, and he would have proceeded to march the armies of Cromwell through Dunador to meet the enemy at Sark. There, his armies would have efficiently eliminated much of the World Empire's forces. Due to the success of other war plans, however, Ranore was never crowned king of Dunador.
One important strategic action is that Cromwell hired the Leg-Breaker tribe of hobgoblins to help fight the World Empire. The hobgoblins first assaulted and then defended Dunthrane City.
The Leg Breakers’ contract expired on 9 June 2166. In a surprise move, the hobgoblins paid Dunador 50,000 gp in reparations for overextending the services for which they were hired: they had destroyed too much. Dunador later used that money to repay Cromwell for fighting for them.
Cromwell hired the Leg Breakers on 15 June 2166. Initially, Cromwell hired the Leg Breakers to defend the food stores at Dunthrane. Morale was bad between them and the Dunadorian troops, however, so King Ranore traded the positions of the hobgoblins and his cavalry. Thus, the cavalry defended the food, and the hobgoblins defended Fontenmere Abbey and the wilderness around it, which suited them much better.
On another front, the World Empire assault on Teft and Posidonis was protected by Cromwell. On 9 August 2166, Cromwellian forces arrived in Posidonis to fight, and that has been called the “turn of the battle.” When Cromwell arrived and the battle started going well, the rangers and druids and elves of Petethal finally felt that the war could be won, so they joined the fight. The combined forces drove back the World Empire's attack.
Additionally, Sark stopped attacking Dunador on 5 September 2166 and withdrew. The armies starved since their supply lines at Bear Paw Island had been cut off.
The Miracle of 2166
The winter of 2166-67 threatened to be a harsh one for the people of Dunador. The hobgoblins had burned the fields and surplus grain silos, so little food was left. Without some sort of miracle, the winter would have killed thousands of people.
Starting in September, however, the people of Dunador got the miracle they needed. From September 2166 through that winter, holy knights magically appeared around the countryside distributing food to the citizens of Dunador. At each place, a knight would suddenly appear, drop a bundle of food, and disappear. In total, the food left by the mysterious warriors fed about 100,000 people.
The feat was basically performed by Nevron following the sacrifice of a powerful magic item and lots of cash. King Ranore just left money (lots of cash) and a magic item in the fountain at Fontenmere Abbey, and the next day it was gone. Evidence implies that Nevron enhanced the magic item with his divine powers to save the people of Dunador.
The magic item was an Ivory Horn of Valhalla. It normally summons fighters to aid whomever blows it. The fighters disappear when they are killed or no longer needed. Each summoned fighter comes equipped with two weeks of iron rations. Thus, it is assumed that Nevron just caused each one of the charges remaining in the horn to appear in a different place, dump out the food, and vanish.
A further sign of divine intervention is that when King Ranore previously used the horn, the summoned fighters were dressed in purely black armour. When they appeared to give food, however, the seal of Nevron appeared on their shields and armour.
In addition to the prime motive of saving the lives of the Dunadorians, providing the food was partially a strategic move. If the people had died, the land would have been left open to repopulation by whomever chose to stake a claim. The strategy of the event should not, however, overshadow the significance of saving so many lives.
More on the Realm
Shortly after the Chaos at Blackstone, King Ranore of Cromwell hired the famed Provincial Troops of Drake to march into the Realm and help the rebels in the neighboring Realmish province. The Drake Army mobilized after the winter and started moving toward the Realm on 10 February 2167.
Though far outnumbered by the Realmish armies, the elite soldiers from Drake made it all the way to the capital city of Wunka. The Drake Army reached the capital and sacked it on 12 December 2167, but their forces were crushed in the battle. Despite their defeat at Wunka, the Troops of Drake did accomplish their mission. There are now only 200 to 300 of the original 2,000 soldiers left in Drake.
The dispute in the Realmish State of Wunka is expected to end soon with the civilian forces being victorious. The Realmish province was officially taken by the rebels on 12 December 2167 following the capture of Wunka.
Other Heroes
A party of adventurers (whose earlier travels are recounted in the book The Adventures of Gramaliustranstalus) led by Dor found a magical gate to the elemental plane of fire at the Universitas Arcanum. The party then traveled to the city of Yokol. The inhabitants had all been golems created by Seven, so they had collapsed, and the city had been taken over by fomorian giants.
Another group of heroes secretly entered a lair of evil mountain dwarves in Petethal. Lorm, the high priest of Aurora, led the party, which consisted of Mens, Mo, and Rasputian’s party. The heroes entered the tunnels invisibly, found the main temple of the Dark (an evil cult), and killed the high priestess.
Heroes at Koralgesh led by Randall Brightoak have explored the ruins of the Geshian city of Axull. Adventurers are now investigating the cities of Leinstadter and Roam.
A group of adventurers in the Academy’s employ has had good success lately in recovering magic items for Cromwell. The party is well-organized under the leadership of Tanique (a.k.a. Tiny), and they recently retrieved a strong magic item for the Academy. The group also includes Vidal Sassoon the Suave and his henchman Wick. Other heroic Academy parties are led by Pelbo and Donair.
King Ranore of Cromwell and Duke Konrad of Estwurl (the two most powerful paladins in the New World) are planning on questing for their warhorses soon.
Current Status
The Dunadorian Church is hoping to reestablish the Dunadorian monarchy. In Loco Parentis has been in serious deliberation considering whom she shall suggest to the Council of Lords to be the next monarch.. June 3, the traditional coronation day, has come and gone with no announcement of the successor, and the future of the nation of Dunador is uncertain.
Lord Eldrin left no heirs to rule after his death. Berkeley and Syber are the two most likely successors to rule the province of Drake. The Dunadorian Council of Lords would have made the final decision, but Drake has declared independence from Dunador.
The World Empire is now without a leader, and its supply lines have been stopped. Thus, it seems that the war is over for the most part.
The Skull-Breaker tribe of hobgoblins has legal ownership over Falcon’s Pass, which guards the passage from Trent to the Southern Waste.
Cromwell and Koralgesh maintain their loose alliance as they try to save the New World.
--Gramaliustranstalus
For more information on many of the countries, places, and individuals mentioned herein, consult The Telvar Gazetteer, a reference work available through the Kingdom of Koralgesh.
Copyright © 1994 David Thomas Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
Used here by permission of David Thomas Chappell.