Order & Chaos

Credit
Dungeon Master: Maximillian Stoner

Players: Stephen Winder, Ben, Austyn Burgess, Nathan Shaffner

Introduction
Four humans awaken in a cave, almost completely naked with no memory of their past lives. Their clothes lie on a table in the center of the room, alongside a fire that has been recently stoked.

Player Characters
"Dreads" Ji-chamba Janestar, "Scalemail" Lhikan Ancrana, "Jobber" Danny Jameson, "Oak" Geralt Nosford

Story
Trying to decipher who they once were, the characters began sifting and distributing the items they found on the table in the center. It became apparent that the items were once theirs, and they divided them evenly. Suddenly, a large man appeared in the doorway of the cave. He explained to the heroes that his name was Tristane, Mage of The Stars. He told them that he was one of the Defenders of The Erolitus, ancient heroes tasked with protecting the shards of the Erolitus; pieces of an ancient key that, when assembled, could be used to free Thanatus and Erol from their prison of Crystallized ambrosia. He claimed that he had found them on the edge of the river Styx, stripped of their memories. He knew they were his servants because of their pendants, which matched the symbol of the Defenders.

He further explained that the Dark Ones had been summoned into being, four horsemen who carried the path of the Apocalypse on their shoulders. They sought the Shards in order to free the Eldair and return the universe to its "proper state". Tristane desperately asked for the adventurer's help, and they complied. He told them that they needed to find the Temple of Water, the first of the temples which held each of the Shards. The Shard had already been stolen but the Dark Ones had missed the Sollar, a powerful artifact that granted the user teleportation abilities to anywhere they could imagine on their plane. Tristane then created a portal and dissipated.

The Temple of Water
The band created nicknames for themselves: "Dreads", "Scale-mail", "Jobber", and "Oak". The newly named party left the cave, finding themselves in what was formerly Gi-chamba Conquered Territory. Tristane had given them a Guiding Crystal, which led them to the edge of a huge lake. After diving into the lake, the party was sucked down into a chamber which was drained of water so they could breathe. They explored this new location and discovered a very large spiral staircase with no railings. They traversed down the stairs, which led down to a large area in front of the Temple of Water. On their way down, the party heard the cries of the "Screamers" who were hushed by a mimicked scream from "Oak". It was also at this time that "Oak" discovered that his blood was not human. After reaching the bottom of the stairs, the party had to flee from a horde of screamers, grappling over the temple's moat to escape. Once inside the temple the party was confronted by Voleketh, a dwarf sea-serpent whose eyes had been stabbed out and had a spell covering his sense of smell. He was slain by "Oak", who unwittingly killed one of his greatest friends.

Opening the hatch beneath Voleketh's corpse, the party found a spherical room made of gold. A design on the wall depicted the Tree of Balance. The party followed where the crystal pointed, and all placed their hands on one of the carvings of the tree's fruit. Doing so revealed a secret drawer containing a map of the SCU with the locations of the other four temples, and the Sollar. The party then traveled to the surface and "Jobber" used the Sollar to teleport the party to the temple located in the Beastlands.

The Temple of The Animal
Not being skilled at using the Sollar, "Jobber" accidentally teleported everyone way too high up and the party smashed into the ground, but not before catching a glimpse of the Temple of The Animal in the distance. They were awakened by (insert here) a general of the New Lyconian Army. He took the heroes into custody, but was shocked when "Oak" cut his hand open and showed him his blood. (insert here) told "Oak" that he was a Demigod, and that he and his friends could not be trusted unless they could bring back the head of a beast. He explained that the beasts had been hunted nearly to extinction, and that they could not find their last safe haven.

The party returned to where they had arrived and noticed that the Lyconian guards appeared to be unable to see the trees right in front of them, as if some magic was blocking their vision. The heroes entered the treeline only to be caught in an ambush by beast warriors. "Scalemail" jumped up to where the archers were hiding, and told them that they were allies. The beast guards knocked "Scalemail" out, and used sleep darts on the remaining party. The party then awakened in the beast's prison, in the custody of Commander Wraithpaw. She recognized the heroes from the Prophesy of The Eldair, but asked their intentions before freeing them from their bonds. She then led them through the city, finally taking them into the center, the Temple of The Animal, made entirely of diamond. She took the adventurers to the center of the temple and offered the shard to them, but warned them that when they removed it the magical barrier confusing the New Lyconians would be removed and that her people would be destroyed.

The party forged a plan to buy Wraithpaw time to get her people to safety, and brought back the head of one of Wraithpaw's dead warriors to (insert name) as proof of their "allegiance". (insert), completely convinced of their intentions, followed their instructions and led 2/3 of his army North-West to find the "camp" that the heroes had found. "Dreads", who was made general of the New Lyconians in (insert)'s absence, sent the remaining troops South in the name of Lordran.

Returning to the Temple, "Dreads" instructed Wraithpaw to guide her people North-East towards the ocean, and to head for St. Karia, the closest safe refuge for beast-type. She thanked the heroes and granted them a companion named Tungsten, who agreed to follow them on their journey. The heroes decided to teleport to Nosfordland next.

The Temple of Order
Landing in the snows of Nosfordland, Tungsten was able to recognize that the party had landed on the slopes of Iceangel, the ancient home of Heaven's Gate. The party followed an old stone road up the mountain to Heaven's Gate, which had long since been abandoned and forgotten. Seeking shelter from the storm in a nearby bathhouse, the party were shocked to discover bodies lying beneath blankets on numerous cots throughout the building. Inspection of the bodies revealed that all of them had ingested smile berries, seemingly in a mass suicide. Seeking further answers, the party located the library of Heaven's Gate. They were greeted by the corpse of the former librarian who had died trapped inside the library. Upon reading his journal, they found out that the entirety of Heaven's Gate had been led to commit suicide by a certain Heaven'sGate Traevor, which drove the dragon god Nox to madness.

"Scalemail" noticed some Celestial words on the ceiling of the library and translated them into: 

"The home of Nox and the shard lies, beneath the flame, between the eyes"

Travelling to the top of IceAngel revealed no clues, until "Dreads" noticed that there was a carving buried beneath the snow. Brushing the snow off revealed a carving of the six Defenders of The Erolitus giving a bowl of fire to Nox that held what seemed to be the third shard. Touching the space between Nox's eyes opened the top of the mountain, which the party fell into. Instead of falling to their deaths, however, they were saved by an updraft from the floor. The party entered the Temple of Order, which held a mile-long spiral staircase that led to the shard's home. After climbing for about 30 minutes, the party was attacked by Nox. He burst through the staircase, snapping it in half and splitting the party. "Jobber" jumped from the side of the steps and caught Nox's tail, but was knocked unconscious after Nox flung him off. "Oak" caught "Jobber" before he could fall to his death, and healed his wounds using his magic. Nox, seeing this kindness fled from the heroes and retreated to the top of the spire. "Oak" followed after Nox while the rest of the party tended to their wounds.

Arriving at the bowl of fire, "Oak" was confronted by the sight of a conflicted Nox, who thanked him for "the first kindness he had seen in 300 years" and reawakened "Oak's" memories of his past life as Geralt Nosford. Nox then flew away, but not before creating an opening in the clouds for the heroes to use the Sollar.

The Temple of Chaos
"Jobber" then brought the party to Zai-Batsu, but accidentally dropped them right into the middle of (insert here) Where Pestilence and a group of Zai-Batsu Guards attacked them. Tristane arrived to help the adventurers, and he attacked the Dark One and his mount, which had shape-shifted into a Black Dragon. Two more Dark Ones appeared, forcing the party to retreat. Once the party was out of the city, Tristane then used a portal to pull the Dark Ones to a different location, so they couldn't destroy the city.

The party learned from a local boy that the Temple of Chaos was guarded by a monster referred to as the Obsidian Obelisk, a shape-shifting golem made from obsidian. The temple was submerged completely by lava from the volcano, and could only be accessed for an hour from 8:00am to 9:00am when the lava flows ebbed. The heroes waited for the lava to ebb and entered a giant maze that preceded the gates of the temple. They were plagued by the Obelisk, which shifted into faux walls and attacked them from all sides. The party managed to avoid the beast long enough to enter the temple. Climbing another set of stairs, the party entered the room holding the shard, but when Geralt reached for the shard, the podium revealed itself as the Obelisk. The Obelisk barred the doorway, trapping Geralt inside the room. "Scalemail" yelled at the Obelisk in Celestial, which the creature understood. It recognized both Geralt and "Scalemail's" necklaces, and melded itself into "Scalemail's" ears, reawakening his memories as Lhikan Ancrana first monk of The Monks of The Mountain. It then protected the party from the rising lava as they used the Sollar to escape.

The Temple of Blight
They arrived in Exonerus later that day as the sun set. Their travel had been heavily delayed by the cloud cover that happened to be around the city of Zirconia. The party was dumped into an alley behind a gigantic casino called Threedom Way, which they quickly realized used to be the Temple of Blight. At first they were concerned that Tungsten would not be welcome, but the bouncers were very impressed with the party's gall, and allowed them in. Upon entering the casino, the party quickly dove into the games hoping to get to a high enough dice level to challenge the pit boss (see Game of Threes) for the temple's shard, which sat on its pedestal behind a barred cage. Meanwhile, the leader of the Dark Ones, Death, entered the casino and attempted to bargain with the pit boss. Acting quickly, the party worked together to obtain level 5 dice in order to challenge the pit boss to a final game of Threes and obtain the shard.

It was around this time that the party discovered that the Pit Boss's dice were a set of ancient dice that always landed on three, an ancient artifact stolen from Ferus or his family a long time ago. Deciding that it would be best to steal the Pit Boss's dice instead of going against them, "Jobber" took some of the bones from "Dreads" hair and crafted replicas of the enchanted dice, while hiding in the men's restroom. Upon leaving the restroom, the party saw Death kill a young woman with just a touch and steal her level 4 dice. Time was running out.

While "Dreads" and Lhikan commandeered the casino band's instruments, "Jobber" and Geralt met with the Pit Boss and successfully stole his dice and switched them for the fake set. "Jobber" then passed the true set to "Dreads", who challenged the Pit Boss to a match. The Pit Boss, realizing that his dice were not the enchanted set, panicked and tried to stop the match; but in doing so dropped his dice and made a losing roll. The shard was theirs, but as "Jobber grabbed the shard Death's hand closed over his. "Jobber", on the very edge of life remembered his past failures. He saw his nephew, Brendan, and remembered his true identity of Danny Jameson. His burst of power and emotions nearly killed Death, sending the Dark One flying backward across the casino. In the distance, Death's mount screamed in pain. Fleeing from the casino, the party was confronted by Death's mount, which had transformed itself into a giant Black Dragon. In a desperate attempt to save her friends, "Dreads" attacked the beast, but was swallowed whole. Inside of the dragon's gullet, the spirit of the Stepbrothers of Gi-chamba flowed through her mind and restored her memories as Ji-chamba Janestar, the Chosen One. She burst forth from the beast's chest, destroying Death's form and killing the dragon.

As New Lyconian Guards began to show up, the party donned their Lyconian disguises (with Tungsten in chains disguised as a "slave") and demanded to be brought to the nearest guard post in an attempt to get a higher vantage point above the clouds. The Lyconians agreed, but while en route to the post the party received a telepathic message from Tristane, who had heard of Death's arrival in Exonerus and came to help the party. The party explained their dilemna, and Tristane offered to use the Sollar himself (as he was able to use it, even without direct sunlight or moonlight). After meeting with Tristane outside of the post, Danny hesitantly gave the Sollar to Tristane, who teleported the whole party away.

The teleportation was instantaneous this time, but the party found themselves, not in St. Karia as they would have hoped, but trapped in a prison of pure crystallized ambrosia, with Tristane on the outside of the prison. Tristane then revealed his true identity: He was actually The Necromancer, Severen. All four of the heroes were members of the six Defenders of The Erolitus, before he betrayed all of them and dumped them into the River Styx, but not before slaughtering their sixth member in cold blood, in order to summon the Dark Ones and bring about the beginning of Armageddon. Severen left the heroes in their prison, leaving with the Sollar to use the shards to unleash Order and Chaos upon the earth.

End Game
Many hours passed, and the heroes lives as the Defenders slowly returned to their memory. From their prison they could tell they were in an ancient alchemy lab, one that Severen used in his past life. Just as the heroes had given up hope of rescue, They heard a great wind as of giant wings, and a dark shadow passed over the door to the cave. Nox attempted to speak to them, but even his telekinesis could not breach the ambrosia. Fortunately, Danny spoke Draconic, and asked Nox for help. Nox asked what the heroes hoped to accomplish by stopping Armageddon, and if perhaps it was time for the world to end. The heroes looked to Tungsten, and told Nox that he needed to see his daughter again. Seeing honor in their kindness toward their friend, Nox agreed to help them. He called to Victor, an ancient vampire, who was waiting outside the cave. He entered carrying the blade, Silverlight, and informed Danny that part of his soul was still trapped in the blade. If both Silverlight and Danny struck the ambrosia, the divide between the spirits may be enough to shatter the prison, Victor reasoned.

The crystal ambrosia broke, but chiseling it away enough to get everyone out took a very long time. It was the dawn of the final day, the day that the Essentials would destroy all things. The party, including Victor and Tungsten, all mounted Nox who flew them south to St. Karia, which had become ground zero for a great battle between the gods and Eldritch Monsters from the sea who had risen to assist Severen to overthrow the gods. Severen had created a magical barrier around St. Karia, which kept Torath asleep and blocked any non-human from entering. Nox explained that this was the Defenders' purpose, and why they were chosen humans. He then dropped them through the barrier, keeping Tungsten and Victor on his back. Severen had organized an army of Screamers, and they stood guarding their master. The Defenders defeated the army, with Geralt even turning into a Tyrannosaurus Rex at one point.

Arriving at the Tree of Balance, which had sprung forth out of the ground at the dawn, they could see that it was located on an "island" that Sevren had cut off from the rest of St. Karia. Severen had severed the bridge to reach him, and they could see that he had already opened the crystallized ambrosia prison that held Thanatus and Erol, although they seemed unable to break out of his spell. Severen stood in front of them, chanting a spell under his breath.

Janestar shot a number of arrows at Severen, with most of them missing. However, one of the arrows accidentally hit the beacon creating the barrier, and both gods and monsters stormed St. Karia. Janestar's final arrow landed just beneath Sevren's feet and exploded, breaking his concentration and setting the Essentials free once more. They immediately began procreating once more, creating a singularity that consumed everything around it. Lordran brought his mighty hammer down upon the Essentials, but Thanatus was prepared for this, and severed Lordran's head from his body. Seeing their leader defeated sent the other gods into a panicked retreat, but most of them were quickly rallied back by Nox, who told the gods they needed to give their Divine Intervention to the Defenders. Using their Divine Intervention, the gods entered into the Defender's bodies, granting them the power of the gods to defeat Thanatus and Erol.

The Defenders attacked as one. Janestar used her power as the Chosen One to open a portal to the realm where Gi-chamba himself was trapped, and he arrived to aid the Defenders, although he brought his new lover Nostrix with him, although she quickly betrayed him. Gi-chamba, in a rage over this loss, split the moon in half and hit St. Karia with it, defeating Nostrix and plunging Geralt into the sea beneath it. Lhikan was granted the recipe for crystal ambrosia from the gods, and informed the other Defenders what needed to be done to trap the Essentails once more. Meanwhile, Janestar lost control against the Essentials, and tumbled into the singularity.

Inside of the black hole, Janestar heard the unfinished spell that Severen had tried to place on Thanatus and Erol. In a last desperate attempt, when it came time to say Severen's name in the spell, she said her own instead, and became one with the Essentials. Bursting forth and consuming the singularity, Janestar controlled the power of balance itself. She told the Defenders to ready the prison, after rescuing Geralt from the bottom of the ocean and bringing Lordran back to life. She gave each Defender a final glance, thanked them for serving with her, and plunged herself into the big pot that Danny had mixed the recipe in. The spherical prison came to rest in the Tree of Balance, just as it had before, and the earth once again swallowed it.

The gods left the Defenders' bodies, erasing the recipe for crystal ambrosia as they went. Lordran invited the Defenders to join them for a celebration in (insert here), which all of the Defenders accepted except for Lhikan, who decided to travel with Tungsten, his daughter Mildred, and Wraithpaw to try and find Tungsten's ancestor's (Wolfrum) ship. Geralt and Danny then followed the gods to (insert here) where they were granted a favor from Lordran, as long as it was within his power. Geralt asked to become a god, so that he could guide others on their quests for all eternity. Lordran made him god of Expedition, and Geralt joined the rest of the gods in the wings. Danny thought about what he wanted, and then asked if he could see Brendan one more time. Lordran pulled Saga from the crowd, and told him of Danny's wish. Saga, harnessing his control over time, took Danny's hand and vanished from (insert here), on their way to see Brendan once more.

Aftermath
Geralt would go by a new name in his god form, "Nos, God of Expeditions". He guided many explorers past deadly traps and treacherous dangers in their journeys of discovery. He kept a watchful eye on Lhikan through his many adventures, and they spoke quite often.

Lhikan would journey with Tungsten and his family for many years, supposedly even discovering the great treasure-hold of Wolfrum. He never forgot Janestar, and kept the enchanted Threes dice for the rest of his life in memory of her.

Janestar's fate is unknown, and perhaps will never be known.

Danny's fate is unknown, although when Brendan's family went to his deathbed to celebrate his 85th birthday, Brendan was nowhere to be found. Neither Danny nor Brendan were ever seen again.

Severen was taken into custody by the gods, who locked him in a crystallized ambrosia prison in (insert here).

Gi-chamba, once more in the mortal realm, travelled to his old territories to try and recover the pieces of his once great lineage.

Lordran, ashamed at the work the New Lyconian Empire was doing in his name, destroyed their capital city in flames, scattering the empire.

Regions Visited
Nosfordland

Gi-chamba Conquered Territory

The Zai-Batsu

Exonerus

St. Karia

Beastlands

Trivia
Conceived as a tribute to the SCU, this story was intended to bring an end to many unfinished stories that haunted the universe, while also paying homage to its incredible depth and history.

The deceased sixth member of the Defenders referenced the loss of Stephen Leskowat, who took a temporary break from school and missed the campaign.