Dathkandra Storylines

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I currently have one open storyline and one open adventure.  I'll modify these as the storyline and adventure progress, as of right now i dont want to give any further information away to those that play on Dathkandra that are here on the forums.


The Torgat Hunt

Early spring, before the snow had even melted from the ground, huge lizard footprints were found all around farm country.  One cattle farm in particular had many such footprints around it, but no cattle...sometime in the night, something huge had eaten every last cow on that farm.  Folks were sent to investigate quickly and some experienced Rangers and Druids came to the conclusion that it was a Torgat...but this far north this time of year?

As word spread, so did the rumors.  Then sightings started to happen all around the area, Farmers left their farms and headed inside the city walls for protection, demanding the city do something before their livestock and livelihoods were eaten by that beast.  Then it disappeared for a few days.

People started relaxing, thinking the Torgat had moved on.  Then the cities alarm bells starting ringing and the guards on the walls were panicing.  A brave group of adventurers ran to the wall to see what was happening, just in time to witness the Torgat bend over the 20ft walls and have a peek at what was going on in the strange "stone hill".  Some of the adventurers had previously been on a torgat hunt where they'd killed a smaller one, but nobody anywhere had ever seen a Torgat so big!  It was easily 60ft tall. 

A local druid then noticed some things about the torgat.  Puss ran continuously from several gaping holes in it's teeth, one eye was a milky white and the torgats belly was terribly distended.  Casting a spell she began to speak with the Torgat hoping to convince it to leave.  Sick, and not able to contend with some of the torgats from where it was orginally from, this Torgat found the hunting here easy and refused to leave.  Then it smelled lunch and turned, running after a small herd of Elk.

The torgat hasnt been seen since, but people still want to hunt it down and kill it, it was far too close to Dathkandra to be safe.


Ogres at the Walls

Yesterday a caravan of ogres stopped outside the walls of Dathkandra.  They were all undernourished, partially dehydrated, and every last one of them exhausted.  The Guards briefly thought of attacking, but this rag tag group of Ogres was no threat to the city.

A very old Ogre, leaning heavily on an ironwood quarterstaff asked to be allowed entry so that he might speak on behalf of his people, the small group.  He was taken inside and nobody can agree for certain where he was taken to, some whisper that he was taken to see the Dutchess, others say he was taken to see somebody with power behind the scenes. 

Meanwhile the Ogres opened up their caravans and began bartering with the citizens of Dathkandra...but the ogres didnt want any money, they were bartering for food and water.  Some donations were made, and the first of the food stuffs were given to a group of children that were hidden inside one of the non-merchantile wagons.

Rumors run rampant, as they are oft to do.  Why are the Ogres here?  Why are they starving?  Why are these people, notorious for their combative ways, here begging for Sanctuary?  Very few people in Dathkandra speak Ogrish, but those that do whisper that something very bad happened..something that has even the Fearless Ogres running and afraid.  But as to what...nobody is for certain.

Update: Adventurers have begun buying items from the Ogres with food.  Little bit by little bit they've uncovered what happened to the Ogres.  In southern Normidia a band of orcs have apparently sold their souls to demons and/or devils and are attempting to amass an army.  These orcs have gained strange powers, extreme strength, speed and a higher understand of magic.  With a will bent on destruction and chaos, these "chaos" orcs have destroyed the Ogre tribe, only a small smattering of the tribe is left and they are on the move.

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I'll list a few other storylines going around as well.  These ones generally arent mine, i'll notate if they are though.

Birth of a new God

The middle of last winter, on one of the coldest nights, fourty five children were seen wandering the streets of Dathkandra.  They danced, they laughed and played.  They gave thanks for a few parsels of food that could not feed all of them.  Where were their parents?  Dead, half of Dathkandras farming community were slaughtered in a raid by Orcs the previous Fall.  Yet these children werent saddened, they didnt despair.  They gave thanks for what little food there was, for the rags on their backs, and played. 

Yes, several adventurers took notice, a Paladin, the town bully, An elven wizard and a Princess...who was the Princess?  Well, it's widely known this lady was a Princess from Duthelm, but known only to two, the Paladin and the Princess themselves...the Princess would never inherit the throne, she was the Black Sheep of her family.

The adventurers began argueing over what to do, all but one that is.  The town bully hopped on his horse and rode to the market place.  Abit later he returned, to see the others yet argueing.  The town bully, at least on a normal night, gave food to the children, all of the children.  Then begain the debate.  Whispers were heard of this Anphibion, but the adults thought it was just a game, a survival tactic.  By the end of the night, the town bully took all frouty five children to his home, where he and his wife, a preistess of Imarus could care for them, they were the only ones with enough space, space being a barn, to house that many children...children turned out by the orphanage because there was no room for them.

Whispers of Anphibion quited down for the rest of winter.  Then, come spring they started back up.  But it wasnt just these kids that were left in the cold that were playing now.  Every child in Normidia was "playing".  One child, Abigail her name is, would walk out to the frog pond behind the homestead every day and pray. 

One day, a foot print was found, a webbed toed footprint as big as an Ogres right next to the pond.  It was then that He chose to reveal himself.  Amphibian as was his proper name revealed himself to adults then.  Not all would believe, others refused to believe.  A hoax, a trick, some Mage just trying to get attention.  But if it was a trick..why was Abigail, a six year old girl, suddenly capable of channeling divine power equal to a Cleric who'd spent YEARS in service to his god?

It wasnt easy on her, the power.  It drained her, when it went into full effect, she ate and slept, if she tried to play she'd grow sick, she was quickly becoming malnourished.  Healers couldnt help her, they didnt know what was wrong, except for Abigails adoptive Mother and Father.  They knew the power was draining her physically...and they needed to find something to help her. 

Eventually a ring was discovered, and Abigail got better...but why does she have this power?  An answer came.  Something terrible this way comes...something that will effect children, not just the children of Normidia...but children all across Khoras. 

Most still do not believe, Amphibian (also known as The Frog, and Anphibion) exist, but how is it all of a sudden every child across Normidia can exude green paint from their hands when they wish to?  How is it a six year old girl can wield divine power that makes every experienced preist in the city sit up and take notice?  What lies in store for the children?

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Not so natural Nature Magic

A ranger, near exhaustion from days of stalking his prey finally moved in close.  A Normidian White Elk, a fine trophy, but more importantly, the food.  His family needed it.  But he couldnt get close enough to the Elk to get a shot off.  Desperate to bring home the meat to his family he called upon the power of nature, channeling his limited abilities to cause the grass to grow around the Elk and hold it in place.  The grass grew and held the Elk, he yelled for joy.  Then the ground shook and roots from the tree's grabbed the Elk as well pulling it beneath the ground, never to be seen again.

Miles elsehwere, a Druid moved into the water and tried to cast a waterbreathing spell on herself so she could lend aid to some ailing sea creatures.  She grew gills and for several hours was unable to breathe air.

The flow of natural magic was disrupted, nobody relying on the natural flow of magic in Normidia could safely cast a spell.  There was almost always some mishap, some disasterous side effect.  But it wasnt Drellis, Karrym was high in the sky.

A dwarf made his way into town, near exhaustion and begging for help.  The warrior led a group of adventurers back into the woods where they found another dwarf, a druid laying on the ground in pain.  His belly was greatly distended and bursts of flatulence erupted from the poor dwarf every minute or so, with such force and stench it cause great pain and forced the small campfire next to him to rocket flames several feet in the air.

During this time many, many animals were mutated.  Bear were seen with herbivorous teeth, antlers and hooves, Deer were seen with carnivorous teeth and claws...nobody knew what they would find when they went to the woods.

The two dwarves were brought back to the city, and the druid was taken care of, half insane from pain (or was it just pain?) the druid muttered something about the second circle, and a dying tree.  Nobody could make any sense of the ramblings.

Weeks later, the dwarven druid led adventurers under Dathkandra and out beneath the swamps.  There, in a gigantic cavern in what could only be the great garden of an ancient Irenni city, was a tree so old, so big it had a presence all of it's own.  As the adventurers stared up at the behemoth, they felt saddened, this tree was old when the races were one, it was dying...it's guardians taken from their lair.  One such guardian lay beneath the tree, dead and scorched from what could only be the blast of a fireball.  It was a huge ape, red colored, though it's fur was turning gray as the magic that sustained it was slowly dying off.

Adventurers had heard of a freak show in Tykron, somebody gaining a tidy profit from the mutations of late and exotic beasts from other lands.  And so they went, to see if this freak show would yeild any clues.

Inside the great tent in Tykron, they found their answer.  Stuck in Adamantium cages with antimagic fields on them were several apes, huge apes...but they were all turning grey, the oldest of them nearly white.  The adventurers quickly attacked those responsible for this freak show...a dozen orcs and a grumman wizard.  As battle ensued, an invisible elf and an invisible sorceress began unlocking cages, they started with the ape that was white.

Bursting from his cage, the white ape beat his chest and grew to immense proportions.  The huge male grabbed ahold of the door to another cage and ripped it from it's hinges in one pull, as that ape emerged it too grew to immese proportions.  The apes began freeing themselves and attacking the freak show employee's as well.  It didnt take long and the apes were free.

The apes fled the tent and ran to a large oak in the city park.  The old male reached into the tree and ripped it open...sort of.  What it did was create a portal to the tree that those apes called home.  As soon as all went through the old male closed it and laid down to rest.  It was too late for him, but his son could now lead.  With his dying breathe he thanked the adventurers for setting his people free, and promised that his people would heal the tree, and restore the balance of nature.  Then he expired, leaving many of the adventurers in tears.  They wanted to save him, but the magic that kept him from aging had expired, there was nothing they could do.

Handsomely rewarded, but not comforted in the least bit, they began their journey home.

This plotline was run by me =)