Introduction

Welcome to my latest world and story.  To begin, I'd like to introduce you to the world I've created, and the people who inhabit it.  The map I'm using was found on-line, created by John Timmerman in 2007, and was posted for free use.  I like the shape of the world presented, and the names, so I'm using it instead of making my own this time.  Thank you Mr. Timmerman for a great map.

The focus of the initial game will be on the interactions between Thralreth and Cawanor, with a little bit of Legon thrown in for fun.  Thralreth is the Dwarven Homelands right now.  They were driven there from thier homes in the mountains of Cawanor and Raeldar a few thousand years ago by uprisings of orcs.  There are now huge cave systems under Tralreth where the dwarven people live, those who do not live in the mountains on the southern tip of Alenius.  They are a warlike race, militant and seeking more and more territory from which to glean natural resources.  Cawanor is a country of mostly human population, Teimations who a few hundred years ago crossed the Ice Sea and drove the orcish horde up and into the mountains with a lot of magic.  When the orcish threat had been pushed back so easily (it only took most of fifty years) by the humans, the dwarves felt their honor besmirched, and so they marched on Cawanor to take back the land and push for the mountain homes that were thiers.  They did this with the intent of driving out a weakened human population first, because without the land they would have little to no food supply once they retook the hills.  The humans did not leave, nor were they terribly weak.

The human wizards were powerful, and they had magic to last.  Dwarves do not have much magic, but they had fine weapons and armor.  Weapons and armor don't save you from cloudkill, from lightening storms, from the earth swallowing you up.  Elementals of all forms showed up on the borderlands, and the earth itself turned against it's 'favored sons'.  It was not all one sided, any more than the orc wars had been one sided.  But for every human that died, three dwarves perished.  Humans multiply much faster, and had reinforcements from the elves and gnomes.  Even a halfling or three made themselves heroes in the Thralreth Uprising.  The gnomes turned the tide completely in the war.  With promises from the humans of aid in the event of a reprisal, the gnomes built great magical war machines for the humans - carts that threw a thousand magic arrows, balista that shot lightening, catapults that threw farther and with more accuracy than any on the field.  But it was the dragons from Legon who sealed the fate of the dwarves.  Dragons by nature are greedy, and not interested in the affairs of most mortals.  Glenspiren, a Brass Dragon who makes his home with his brood near the mountains that border Legon and Cawanor grew tired of the constant fighting near his home.  Dwarves killed two of his children to make thier armor plates, and he chose to help the humans in thier war.  The dwarves, after a few years of this assault on thier forces, offered terms of a truce.  The border would be the Assam River.  The dwarves would never attack the humans without provocation again, and the humans would allow a colony to move into the mountain halls if ever the orcs were pushed out.  The agreement was signed in blood and sealed with magic, so that every monarch of the world is automatically privy to the terms of this surrender.  When you become King, Queen, Regent, etc, you are granted this knowledge magically.

For five hundred years small forays have been made into the mountian halls by adventurers, villans, dragons, and others.  Many seek to erradicate the orcs, some seek treasure and secrets, and a few are looking to make themselves at home.  Many of the orcs have perished, and the dwarves believe that with a small force they could retake some of the halls.  They have petitioned the King of Cawanor to allow them to make the journey across his lands to the Eastern Gate.  The King is a cautious man, who knows his history.  He has invited emissarys from Thralreth to come and make thier inquiries, so that discussion might be had on the terms of such a journey. 

This game begins in a small border town of Cawanor, all abuzz with rumors about the incoming emmisary and his retinue.  He is to arrive in the next week, and preparations have been stalled by strange killings and disappearances of young women and girls in the village and fields.  Lady Denthmyer is looking for a stout band of adventurers who can solve this mystery, kill the beast who is doing this, and perhaps save any of the women who still live.  She is offering 5,000 gold pieces, a fine horse for all involved, and letters of patronage to any group who succeeds. 

Enter the party.