Carcerus D&D Campaign

The game began with the characters waking up in a musty dungeon cell.  Three of the walls, the ceiling and the floor were all made of stone, but a fourth wall was made of iron bars!  The PCs quickly discovered that they were in jail.  Not remembering much of who they were, they slowly regained their memory as they figured a way passed their Hobgoblin jailer Jurge. Along with their (not so likable jail companion) Axel, the group was able to plan and execute their escape from the prison.  Together, Ivellios, Thokk, Loque and the rest escaped... well, except for Axel who died in the kitchen fighting Zombies (served the greedy fat guy right, he was always trying to take the group's money).

After escaping the dungeon (which they learned was beneath the castle of the wizard Zanzer Tem), the group fled south. The adventurers learned that Zanzer enslaved people to work in his slat mines!  Chased by Zanzer's Goblin and Hobgoblin minions, they headed through the woods only to end up in a place known as the Rolling Meadows.  In the Rolling Meadows, the land shifts and changes as if by magic; hills, depressions in the land and caves leading into subterranean areas randomly appear in these meadows. The adventurers decided it was a good way to escape Zanzer Tem and entered into one of the caves that appeared in front of them.

After entering the cave, they traveled through various tunnels underneath the ground.  The tunnels and dirt shifted and moved the same way that the hills did, shaping new passages and closing off old passages all around the group.  The entire group eventually landed in a cavern where a small lake was.  The lake contained strange water spirits that formed whirlpools in the water, attempting to drown the adventurers. After traveling through the cave, fighting monsters... and sometimes each other...they finally made it out, and with a lot of cool treasure too!

Ivellios, Loque, Thokk and the rest, all made their way to the nearest town: Port Dale.  There at Port Dale, Loque the Avenger gathered some followers (Pirates!) to help him find a Keep in Mt. Darokin.  Though Ivellios wanted to go and burn Zanzer Tem to a crisp, he eventually went with Loque.  The Keep that Loque gained was a prize he achieved through (very luckily) picking from a Deck of Many Things found in the tunnels (Actually, all of the adventurers ended up with quite a bit of cool treasure from that cave... I guess the gods were smiling every time the group was happy about getting treasure... WHATEVER).

With their new found friend Jack (a small time pirate captain) and the rest of the pirates from Port Dale, the group traveled to Mt. Darokin.  They headed North across the planes for a few days.  The mountain rises 15,000 feet up and is surrounded by flat planes, a very noticeable mountain, it's peek was higher than the Spring clouds of those days.  The mountain was once home to dwarves (who love mountains).  The dwarves who had previously lived there were chased out or killed by a powerful red dragon named Kyronite (red dragons love to kill dwarves who love mountains).  Kyronite had since disappeared and the mountain was taken over by a clan of fire giants who commanded an army of Ettin (13 foot tall, two headed creatures that can fight with a weapon in each hand... GOOD TIMES).  Little annoying Goblins, who made traps in the mountains, were also living with the Fire Giants and Ettin.

One night on their way to the mountain, Loque was keeping watch as the others in the group slept underneath the stars and the 20 moons that circle Carcerus. Loque, who is a follower to the powerful Immortal Beldor, sensed something going on towards the base of the mountains that night.  Loque traveled over to the area, leaving his companions behind.  In the lower parts of the mountain, he discovered a Nightmare Horse that had been captured by some Medusa.  In an attempt to rescue the beast from the Medusa, Loque heroically... was turned to stone by one of the Medusa.

Thokk, who Loque had asked to keep watch when he left began to wonder where Loque was after he had not returned quickly.  Thokk, the brave, Half-Giant Barbarian went to investigate the situation.  When he discovered Loque had been turned to stone, he quickly jumped into save the day and was turned to stone by a Medusa also. By this time, Aramil the Paladin (also Loque's brother) and Ivellios the Druid had already come to investigate.  A scuffle broke out between Aramil, Ivellios and a Medusa that was lurking around.  Aramil and Ivellios eventually defeated the Medusas and saved their friends.  When all was well, Loque released the Nightmare and it became his companion and steed.

After combat encounters with hobgoblins toting prisoners and a group of trolls in fire resistant armor, and after a brief encounter involving a cloud fortress and Thokk's finding of a red dragon hatchling (who soon became his good friend Zoron), the group had finally made it to the roadways leading into Mt. Darokin.  

Upon traveling into the mountains they discovered several pathways.  Chimeras residing near the lower roads, plagued the adventurers with their attacks and killed some of their pirate followers. The adventurers became lost and came upon a temple they did not expect to find.  

The temple was built into the side of the mountain and four pillars at the front of the temple, that were sculpted to look like giant dwarves, turned out to be powerful Golem guardians.  The adventurers persisted in entering the temple, even with all of the risk that the powerful Golem guardians presented (the Golems shot green magical rays out of their eyes at the adventurers as they would try to pass them to get to the doorways).  With some distractions from their pirate followers, the adventurers were able to make it inside the strange temple.

On an upper level inside the temple, the group discovered a danger that would lead their nation into war... though they did not know it at that time.  The adventurers discovered three treasure chests, all of them trapped with deadly magical fire.  The adventurers found ways to open them and still survive.  The treasures turned out to be ancient artifacts. The treasure chests also released Immortals that had been trapped there.  The Immortals, as well as the artifacts, were part of the Sphere of Entropy.  Several Spheres of power govern the multi-verse, the Sphere of Entropy governs decay and death (so you can imagine how happy all of the other Immortals looking down at the Prime Plane felt that day).  

Grabbing the treasure they found, they group fled the temple, having to avoid more attacks from the giant Dwarf Golems outside.  Some of the members were struck dead by the Golems on their way out, one of them being Thokk the Half-Giant Barbarian.

Each sphere in the universe (Time, Thought, Matter, Energy and Entropy) has a part in balancing the essential elements that exist in the world and worlds beyond.  The Prime Plane (the plane where the planet Carceres and its surrounding universe reside) is the only plane where all of the spheres can exist together; the Prime Plane is a place of power for the Immortals that exist in their own planes (and it is why the Immortals seek out followers on the Prime Plane - more power).

The Immortals that the group released were three different Immortals (one in each chest) that had been trapped and bound to the treasure chests that they opened. Other powerful adventurers from long ago, with the help of the Immortals that they followed, were able to catch the Immortals of Entropy and hide them in the treasure chests that the adventurers found.  When the treasure chests were opened by the adventurers that day, powers of great chaos and evil began to dominate the lands.  

Strange things had already been happening in Tarsus (the country just North of Kaza Tir) before this.  The King of Tarsus (Venificus), a Lawful Good Paladin, had become consumed with Evil for an unknown reason and had made pacts with demons in the Fire God's realm (the Fire God being another Immortal of Chaos and Evil, but not associated with Entropy); Tarsus had become a place governed by tyranny almost over night.  

The Paladins who had previously followed Venificus either joined him or fled Tarsus to join Kaza Tir.  When the Immortals of Entropy were released that day, the adventurers saw a black sky -in mid day- and felt uneasy; it was only a matter of time before their release caused the followers of this sphere to gain power.  When Entropy gained power, the followers of its sphere on the Prime Plane came to support Venificus.  Great power was gained quickly in Tarsus with the forces of Entropy and demons of the Fire God uniting under Venificus... but why Venificus... a Paladin who turned Avenger (an evil Paladin).  Furthermore, what turned Venificus towards evil?

Chapter 5

>>>More of the story will be told later, check back again for later chapters.  Once all of the past stories have been written here, this blog will be used to report all of the current game's stories.<<<