Month: October 2003

(Note: During the Ninth Telvar Open, discussion as to the results of the Eighth Open shed some light on what became of some of the principal figures in that adventure, in its immediate aftermath. –Joel)
After the Monument collapsed, a brainwiped Lien (Hood’s erstwhile companion), Krasse (leader of the Party of Secrets), and Szyn (a phase spider), found themselves together in the space at the bottom of the dark staircase, Hood having been annihilated in the judgement. That is, Hood was utterly destroyed after he blew the horn, the Wailer for Lost Delnan, and freed Delnan, dark servant of Tram, from his captivity.
None of the others knew who they were or why they were there, but they had only one exit: up the stairs.
Szyn the phase spider did not need the stairs, however. He simply vanished, presumably to be restored to himself one way or another in that far-off place or plane that the phase spiders inhabit.
The others, however, were forced to walk up the staircase and meet their fate at its top.
Unfortunately for Lien, Krasse’s final order to the Party of Secrets had been to kill anyone besides him who emerged from the Monument. As Lien crested the stairs, he was shot to death. Krasse was pulled in by his surprised party, who found him incoherent and confused.
Shortly thereafter, the Realmish Shocktroopers, Fire Giants, and Minotaurs arrived in a large group. The Shocktroopers took charge, and it was quickly determined that Lien and the fallen Myzon (who had undertaken the Rite of the Dark Pact) had been responsible for the collapse of the Monument and the slaughter at the Giant slave mine. The Party of Secrets was given a reward for help in completing the investigation and sent on its way. Krasse was healed via an Elixir of Health and returned to form, satisfied that although he did not possess the power to save the world, the Force capable of doing so had already been unleashed.
–Joel (with minor editing by Kyle)

4 October 2003 / 10 June 2192 B.Y.
The Edge of Memory
“It’s a hint,” the Sphinx said. “It just won’t make any sense until you already know the answer.”
Prelude:
On April 1st, 2188, on the island of Race Rock [during the Sixth Telvar open], events were set in motion that once again drew the attention of the Kraken back to Telvar. The Kraken, aircraft carrier-sized squid creatures, the great evil of ages past, had once enslaved most of the world with their mind-affecting powers.
With their baleful eye upon Telvar, only terror and evil could possibly result…
But there remained many forces arrayed against the return of the Kraken. Some known, some unknown.
“History became legend and legend became myth, and things which should not have been forgotten
…were lost.” –The Fellowship of the Ring (the film version)

(more…)