Chapter 2 - The Golden Messenger

As you can imagine, the PC's coalesced into a group, as their stories are told, and their purposes joined. They spoke for some time about what to do about the mage assassins, and realize that they should begin looking about, in an attempt to track them down. But before they can head off on this search, Stamp, the king, tells them that they have a more pressing assignment. A emissary from the distant and ageless country of Mulhorand has come to Cormyr. Never before have they had contact with Mulhorand, and they are very old, and very powerful, so he doesn’t want anything to go wrong. He has no idea why they have come. So, he sends Xej down to Suzail (from Arabel) to baby sit an emissary back to Arabel. A majority of the party follows him, though same stay behind to do a little bit of work about the assassins.

So, the emissary arrived on a golden ship, in golden robes, and with 50 golden warriors. As well, he had two high priests (eye on forehead), and a high mage (finger on forehead). He himself is one of the pharaoh’s hand’s. An extension of the pharaoh if you will. The mage has the touch of the pharaoh, and the priests are the servants and eyes of the pharaoh. The emissary spoke to no one, it was one of the high priests, known as Kai, who came to talk to Xej and the others, about Cormyr. He divulged no information about WHY the Mulhorandi were here, but he did ask some suspicious questions about the military strength of Cormyr, and the surrounding countries.

Chapter 3 - Tortured Souls

While the group was gone, the assassins arrived in Arabel, and attempted to kill a crafty, paranoid mage who had his house all trapped to heck, with mundane traps as well as magical. Two assassins were killed and one was caught and put in lock up. A magical ball that nullifies any magic around it was found on his persons. Magical items within are temporarily disabled, and spells can not enter the area or be cast from within. Being questioned, they find out that he was hired by some bald man with a tattoo around his eye, from the town of Immersea.

When the group returns, the Mulhorandies, with a large hit to their pride, tell Stamp that they have come to ask for military assistance, as a huge horde is approaching Mulhorand that threatens all the land.

Stamp has said that he is going to convene with his advisors and with the emissary over the next few days. That should give Xej and them time to go to Immersea and check out this mage slayers thing.

So, the PC’s go to the Inn of the Green Leaf. They enter and find a smoky little Inn with a few people in it. The bald man is not there. Using the captured assassin as bait, they get him to set up a meeting with his employer in one of the rooms, while using magic mirror, Morgoth keeps an eye on what is going on. They surround and prepare for the evil bald headed man to appear. He does.

The PC’s actually captured him, quite easily, using the magic ball to nullify any magic the bald headed man tried to use, while Janayus used his man-catcher, and others subdued him. They let the assassin go, for his help. After capturing him, Xej realized that he knew the man, his name was Derva, and he was an apprentice of one of Xej's mage friends, Calishan. At that point they took him to the local keep at Immersea. There, once they tried to question him, he began screaming, and after a little bit of unsuccessful interrogation, Derva asked Xej to kill him please, and as the burning imprint of a hand began to scorch his face, Xej killed him.

So, learning very little of why Derva was trying to kill all the mages, the PC’s returned to Arabel. On their way home, they passed through Dhedlur, where they came into the town to find the town guards about, and find a building burning. They found out that the priests of Fate found out that this building was a secret church of Bane. Evidence was only too clear that it was indeed. They are also told that the men that turned out to be priests managed to escape. The Priests of Fate tell the PC's that they are a peaceful people, they do not kill, but evil must be purified by flame. Apparently finding the church of Bane, convinced the city to allow them to open a church in their town.

Just past Dhedlur is the tower of Calishan, Derva’s master. They went off the road and followed the narrow path through the forests, to the clearing and the tower of Calishan. The tower is nothing more than a burned out husk. Inside they found only ruins and rotting debris. It was burned quite a while ago. They also found some kids playing near there. The kids told them the story of the old sage that once lived here. He had an apprentice. He sent the apprentice out to town one day, like he always did. The apprentice was stopped by a gypsy caravan that was passing through town and had camped outside the city walls. They invited him into one of their wagons, and when he came out, he was not the same person. It is said that the gypsies enchanted him with some dark ritual, and he went from them and straight away went to slay his master, and then himself in an all consuming fire. The church of Fate, which were just new to the town and petitioning to open a temple here, revealed that the gypsies had enchanted him, and that they were in fact priests of Bane. They drove them off, but warned the city that the priests seemed reluctant to leave, and most likely had a secret temple in the area. Duke Caprice told the priests that if the priesthood could find this secret temple, and destroy it, that they would be able to open a church in Dhedlur with his blessings. Last the kids heard, they were getting very close to finding it. With that, some what explained, the PC's returned to Arabel.

Chapter 4 - Martial Debates

On their way through the streets of Arabel on the way to the castle, Xej was slipped a note that read :

They returned to the castle to discover that there was quite a nasty debate going on whether or not Stamp should be sending troops to help Mulhorand. Apparently various advisors that know Xej has a close ear to Stamp, approached him and attempted to sway him that their opinions of the silly crusade were right, but Xej hardly listened. Various persons were involved, and they all had different reasons, and points. In the end however, all of Stamp's advisors were split, and so they needed Xej's tie breaking vote. So it went to Xej, and when he told Stamp that he would have to make the decision, Stamp decided that the right thing to do would be to send half of the Cormyrian army off to war. The church council in Suzail had already given him the ok that they would support this action, and name it a holy crusade.

Some time was spend gathering the armies and supplies, and preparing. Xej and the PC's were dispatched to several locations to attempt to get nobility to give up large parts of their forces.

At one castle a lord was refusing to give troops but then mysteriously was killed. The second in command, regrettably decided to give the PC's what they wanted. (The PC's had no part in the murder, and were frankly confused, but counted themselves lucky that they got the troops)

So, some time later, after the army was prepared (I'm skipping a lot of playing time here) the PC's left for Mulhorand.

Chapter 5 - The Holy Crusade

The trip to Mulhorand, with the fleet and army was uneventful, though long.

Here is an image of the temple of Horus-Re in the capital city at which the army arrived :

The PC’s, with their Cormyrian army have arrived in Mulhorand. The war rages here in the south, where Gilgeam, the god king of Unther, is forcing the brunt of the attack into the Mulhorands. The Mulhorands magical scouts are not returning, and they fear that the horde has some sort of powerful magical backing

As well, the PC’s sent Commander Bir Modalin back (via word of recall, and then use a scroll of Gate to get back) to check back home and make sure everything is ok.

He does not return on the following day, as planned. The party moves the army through Mulhorand on the way to a fall back point that they are to prepare and guard, for the Mulhorand forces that continue to lose ground to the horde. When the PC's arrive, they find that the Mulhorands have set it up across a huge chasm that stretches far to either side. There are bridges for the army to cross over, but after that all but one will be knocked down, and hopefully they will be able to funnel the horde and bring them to a halt, while the Mulhorand war wizards wreak havoc.

As the PC's wait, Bir Modalin finally returns, and he tells them his story :

He left his sanctuary in Suzail and went out on the street. He saw that the city seemed to be under martial law or something. Many soldiers and mercenaries were wandering the streets. He managed to find some of his devout followers in secret, and they took him to "the underground", which is basically the thieves guild. They explained that Richard Bythay denounced the holy crusades, and declared that Steven Obarskyr has grown old, and feeble, and no longer knows what is best for Cormyr. He then declared his allegiance to Lyorn Zambedia. That was 2 days after the fleet left. Then, with half of the remaining soldiers and many mercenaries, a large force left, where it was told that they were joining up with Lyorn’s armies to attack Arabel. The attack on Arabel was apparently a slaughter. There was little the king could do. He did box himself in however, in the keep, and Lyorn couldn’t break the defenses with even the few hundred soldiers protecting the keep. Lyorn brought in siege engines. It is said that very little of the keep survived. It is presumed that the king, his advisors and most of the soldiers were killed. Some say that Richard Bythay was angry at Lyorn for destroying the keep, since his father was in there, him being one of Stamp’s advisors.

2 days ago Lyorn came to Suzail, and declared that he is now king of Cormyr. Aside from a few minor towns still holding out, he now controls Cormyr. He again denounced the holy crusade, and said that Cormyrian soldiers should not be sent off to die for some other country. He has quite a few supporters there, and then there’s the class of people that just go with the flow. He said he has sent for the recall of the troops, hopefully, before it’s too late. Apparently the head of the council of the church’s refused to honor Lyorn’s claim on the throne, and the church at Suzail was sacked by Lyorn’s own soldiers. He then put a priest in charge that is loyal to him, and he has declared that Lyorn’s claim to the throne is good and just, and honored by the gods. The rest of the holy council has been replaced with Lyorn’s supporters as well.

It is said that Immersea, under Duke Lyle Gvest, holds strong, though under siege by Lyorn’s forces, as does Tyrluk under Fane Darkwolf.

Most of the troops that went on the crusade are loyal to the church and/or loyal to the king. It seems there was a lot of manipulating done by Lyorn during conscription, leaving many of his own loyal troops at home, while ones loyal to stamp and/or the church were sent off.

Back in Mulhorand :

Also near the fall back point that the armies were fortifying, were some ruins. The Mulhorands say that those are ruins that are off limits to all Mulhorands, by order of Horus Ra. It is something that has always been, and Mulhorands don't pay much attention except to steer clear.

So, the PC’s decide that this army management stuff is boring, and even though they may be offending their guests by intruding on their old ruins, well, they're bored. So they went and looked around the ruins and found a magically sealed hallway. A symbol lay on the other side. Using the magic ball of null magic, they easily bypassed these defenses, wondering somewhat if they were really annoying the Mulhorandi's god king at this point. They logicked themselves into believing it would be all right.

Then further down, they found an empty looking room, with three invisible Mulhorandi priests inside hiding. (One of the PC's cast detect magic while they were walking, and then when there was magic in the room, cast detect invis.) One of the Mulhorandis stepped forward and demanded to know why the PC's were here. Impertenantly they responded in like, "Why are YOU here?" They were told that was none of their business, but all the invisible sneaking made the group suspicious, and they carefully questioned. Then suddenly, things went bad. In the back of the party, where Luther was standing, with the ball of anti-magic (he was told to stand at the back of the party with the null magic ball, as to not ruin any stone skin spells, etc) a creature shimmered and appeared, it was a Mulhorandi, but as the group watched, it's face melted off and they were left facing a furry cat man type looking creature. A battle broke out and the PC's seemed grossly outmatched except in the null field, they could bring their weapons to bear, with no fear of spells, (or the strange mind powers that the Mulhorands were using). Then the Mulhorands fled, away, down a hall to a dead end room, where they said a single word, "Abizoloth", and disappeared.

As Luther ran through the room with the null magic ball, it suddenly turned from empty and cobweb filled, to a strategic planning room, where maps of troop movements, including the ENEMY troop movements were being plotted.

Anyway, they revealed the plans to the army, but Luther got captured by the Mulhorands in the ruins (so they lost the null magic ball), while he was waiting and guarding.

So, the PC's decided to go back, and go to the portal, where they would say the word "Abizoloth" and be transported somewhere. This they found out from one of the Mulhorands who swore them to secrecy about the portals, before telling them what they really were. So, they went to the room, and as a group, said the magic word…

akadi