quote:
The realms of elves, dwarves and Dornishmen stood united against the first rising of the Shadow in the North, woven together by honour, need, and the Witch Queen's secret treaties. Ever-treacherous, the One Dark God sought so sew disharmony amongst the alliance, and worked black sorceries to craft three great, but tainted, artifacts. Each held immense power and immeasurable worth, and was designed to provoke jealousy and dissent amongst the free peoples of Eredane.
To the elves, the Shadow in the North sent by covert means the Sildorion, the Elfstone, a jewel of breathtaking beauty that bestowed long life and arcane might. To the dwarves, emissaries delivered the Erengold, a hoard of treasure that could drive one mad with avarice, and held the secrets of Aryth itself amongst its glittering vaults. And to the men, the Crown of Eredane[i] was given as dark tribute. The brow upon which it rested would feel the burden and the glory of unchallenged dominion.
The kings and lords of each race revelled in their prizes, but began to suspect and envy the others. Elves sought the power of the Crown and the earth-lore of the Erengold to preserve the land from despoliation; dwarves craved the secrets of magic and the power to defeat the orcs that plagued their holdfasts once and for all; and the greed of men and their fear of death knew no bounds. The Shadow in the North laughed with dire mirth as the allies fell to squabbling and even open battle over the possession of the treasures.
But the Shadow had not factored in the lesser races: the fey of the river and plains. Overlooked and marginalised by history, the Great Enemy had not imagined the tiny, meek beings could oppose His plans. And that was His undoing. Summoned by the Witch Queen as her generals and allies struggled for the poisoned power of the artifacts, a band of brave gnomes and halflings were dispatched to steal the Shadow's treasures from their holders, and cast them out of sight and memory. Through hardship and peril, with cunning and guile the small heroes did just that, taking the Sildorion, the Erengold, and the Crown of Eredane and concealing them far from the jealous eyes and reach of men, elves and dwarves. Freed from the tainted influence of the treasures, the alliance was renewed, and gathered together just in time to stand fast at the Battle of Three Kingdoms, and defeat the first rise of darkness.
The treasures were lost to myth and story, hidden in the dark places and forgotten eaves of the land... until now.
A meeting has been called on the Ghost Raft, the moveable marketplace of the gnomes upon the lake of the Ardune. Elven heroes, dwarven warriors, human rebels, halfling elders and gnomish merchant-princes will be in attendance, to discuss the ways and means of finding the treasures and casting them out of the Shadow's reach forever more. Lest the lure of the tainted artifacts prove too strong, it must once again fall on the lesser races, derided as slaves and traitors, to safeguard the quest and its success. It is upon the small shoulders of the halflings, gnomes, elflings and dwarrow that this task falls, and in their stout hearts the battle will be won or lost.
After some fits and starts this game is finally up and running! The game is only a couple of rounds of posts in, so it's basically ground-floor for new characters.
To be clear, this game is set in FFG's Midnight campaign setting, which uses D&D 3.5 but has its own take on races and many classes (wildlanders instead of rangers, defenders instead of monks, channellers instead of arcane casters, etc). The OGC for the setting's rules is linked to in the game. The setting has a flavour all its own, and while I certainly don't want to say that familiarity with it is required, you're bound to get less out of the game if you're not at least loosely acquainted with it.
This message was last edited by the user at 22:44, Tue 16 Feb 2016.
