Kingmaker
In the world after the Apocalypse, Rekië purged Sahr’Barabor of the remnants of the Old Empire dragonborn and the vicious rule of the Seven Sands, but he failed to purge the closest evil. The one within his own house. And so it was that a collection of seven selfish renegades - tossed together by fate - were forced to witness the horrific undoing of the greatest and shortest empire the desert continent had ever seen. But they also became part of its great redemption.
SEASON I
After a rowdy night of clashing over a little golden orb in a seedy Stormhenge tavern, six stowaways stumbled out into the light of the late-morning sun shimmering through the massive golden arcs of the Westling Archipelago. Their ship - upon which they had become accidental passengers after sampling the liquors in the cargo bay - carved through saphire waters in which gold- and emerald-tailed mermaids guided the vessel to its port. A necromancer wanted for murder and theft, a bounty hunter skilled in looting and poisons, a besmirched once-ranger, a mermaid exiled from her pod because of her heritage, a plutocrat gnome brat, and his faithful orc bodyguard - these six ruffians stepped onto the sacred shores of the Temple Isle quite by accident but certainly by fate.
Instantly, they were caught up in the entourage of Lord Rekië who was making an international diplomatic voyage from nation to nation with his brooding son - Na’kevu. Without a way to get back to Stormhenge, the party joined with the gregarious Dragonborn King who promised to return them to Sembre after he had finished his homeward voyage to Oche’Ebere. While each member joined up for their own selfish or passive reasons, the party endured several adventures on the way back to Oche’Ebere. From the mysterious isle of Fiizha to the rain-swept fields and steppes of Shettesh, the Six grew to love one another and help each other overcome demons from their past that appeared in surprising and horrible ways on the road back to the desert city. And Lord Rekië was no exception.
With the Redeemed City in sight on the final day of the journey back to the dragonborn capital, Rekië made a journey onto the Exiled Isles where his son Na’kevu, learned horrible secrets about this father against whom he held such bitter resentment. Father and son faced each other in anguish and fought. Scrawny Na’kevu was no match for his strong father, and when he goaded the king too far, Rekiē lashed out and wounded his son, nearly killing him.
Thus it was with secrecy and shame - under the cover of night - that their ship sneaked back into Oche’Ebere. Not into the Sapphire Harbor with sunlight and fanfare and welcoming citizens, but through the Transgressor’s Gate - the same portal through which Rekië had marched his old enemies the syndicate of thieves known as the Seven Sands - to their exile years before at the dawn of his regime.
SEASON II
In the Royal Palace of Oche’Ebere, the Six were invited to remain as guests of theLord Rekië until his Ambassador’s Ball - the event for which the drabonborn king had spent his time traveling the globe, befriending the governments and nobles of all the nations to bring them to his palace and see how he had transformed the City of Thieves into the new jewel of Sahr’Babarabor. Some of the party - like Tillie and Ganderabas - were suspicious, knowing that they were more prisoners than guests of the dragonborn, regardless of the friendship he claimed to have with them. And his Queen Miluvu’s condescending and watchful eye did not ease their suspiciouns. Others, however, (Amatheia and Tiasora, to be precise) lavished in the luxury and liberty afforded to them in the great palace of the most bountiful city-state in all Amaura! Endless eases and security were theirs so long as they stayed out of the way of the rude and brutal Shauku - the eldest son of Rekië who had ruled the palace while his father was away with Na’kevu.
Meanwhile, Na’kevu slept through his injuries, staying locked in his room to rest for weeks. Tillie and Amatheia started to worry that perhaps the prince had died and this was just another of Rekië’s secrets playing out before them. Meanwhile, the men of the party explored the city and the ruins of the Seven Sands syndicate buried beneath the city. During one of these dungeon dives, they accidentally released a genasi from his lantern prison. The fire daemon - Iroh - had been trapped for untold years and while he had no memories of his life before the lantern, he eagerly travelled with Boo, Tork, and Tiasora. The women, intent on uncovering the well-being of their dragon-prince friend, reenlisted the help of their male compatriots and they sneaked throughout the palace trying to find Na’kevu. What they found instead shook them to the core.
The royal family was as twisted and terrible as Na’kevu had sullenly told it to be months ago. Na’kevu had an adopted sister - Sifani - who was brought into the family as a gift form the Old Empire dragonborn - the contingent of dragonborn who had been unhappy with Rekië’s failure to restore the ancient culture of the dragonborn. She was beautiful and graceful and attracted the ravenous eye of Shauku. Though Na’kevu had mentioned his elder brother’s predatory behaviors to his father, Rekië brushed them aside. It was with great reluctance that Na’kevu had gone on the jourey with his father - loathe to leave his sister and mother alone under Shauku’s tyranny - and it was even greater regret and rage that he discovered what Shauku had done in his abscence.
While lording over his father’s palace, Shauku the Strong had taken advantage of his adopted sister. The trauma of it had sent her into a coma - an escapist sleep from which none could wake her. Queen Miluvu - all-knowing and ever-watchful - felt powerless to punish her son without the strength of her husband to back her, so she too had slipped into silence. And when Rekië returned, he did nothing. Fear of what might happen if he were to punish his son - the damage it would do to his family’s reputation if justice were to be served - paralyzed him and he too fell to silence. Only Na’kevu refused to let the crime go unpunished. He lied in his sickbed, brooding and scheming, and keeping counsel with all kinds of sinister voices who offered him the perfect opportunity for vengeance against his wicked brother and useless father.
On the night of the Ambassador’s Ball, dignitaries from every corner of Sembre poured into the great feasting hall to marvel at Rekië’s new kingdom. But their wonder turned to terror when Na’kevu interrupted the festivities to challenge his brother to Kel’Avarga - a “death contest” for power hailing from the traditions of the ancient dragonborn culture. The sympathizers of the Old Empire were fascinated by this challenge, Rekië and his collection of Sembren nobles were scandalized by the interjection of such an old and barbaric ritual. And Shauku was instantly intrigued.
There on the ballroom floor, brother fought brother with sword and dagger, then tooth and claw. Meanwhile, Tilie and Amatheia tracked an assassin into the rafters - a peasant archer named Hajha who had come to put an end to the royal family - who revealed that much more was in motion than either of the women could have possibly imagined. She waited for her signal with bowstring taut - waiting to see if Na’kevu would accomplish his mission.
The red-scaled prince did not disappoint. In a flurry of primal fury, the scrawnier brother scrambled over his bulky, brutal sibling; clawed through Shauku’s defences; and tore out his brother’s throat. Blood dripped from Na’kevu’s mouth as he rose from the sputtering corpse and the hall erupted in panic. Scores of waiting warriors threw off their robes and began to slaughter the guests, shouting for the resurrection of the Old Empire. Hajha let her arrow fly, but the always watchful Miluvu saw its path and caught the arrow in her chest, saving her husband. Rekië watched in feeble horror as his kingdom crumbled around him, his son bled out on the floor, his wife went limp in his arms, and his own child glowering over it all.
Tillie, Amatheia and Ganderabas rushed Rekië to safety, while the men of the party were swept along in the throng of rebel murderers who surged out of the palace, out of the city, into the black mountains beyond.
SEASON III
Months after the Massacre Ball, it was now Lord Rekië who floated catatonic through his palace. The city was under heavy siege from the Old Empire led by Na’kevu; his advisor - the ancient and insidious Ranokh the Black; and Ranokh’s legion of Six Sentinels. The siege broke, however, when Na’kevu’s forces infiltrated the palace in the dark of night, holding everyone hostage in the throne room over looking the sea. Na’kevu - driven mad by his pursuit of power and the monstrosities he had committed - planned to kill Rekië and his court immediately - including Tillie and Amatheia who were traitors in his eyes. But the men of the party refused to let Na’kevu kill their friends. They were counted among the traitors and were forced to fight their once-friend. Tork even lost his right arm in the battle! But they escaped with their foes by diving into the sea.
Washed ashore on the edge of the farmlands, Rekië looked back upon his kingdom and the palace smoldering from Na’kevu’s rampage, and mourned everything he had lost. Meanwhile, Ganderabas - of all people - encountered a curious artifact hidden in the tides. He picked up the weird tube and isntantly was overcome with a power beyond the reckoning of any soil dweller. This was Seafolk magic - an anointing artifact used to bestow wisdom, power, and authority upon a new king. And now it was in the hands of Gandy the wealthy brat to select and bless a new king.
Rekië insisted Gandy bless him with the sea’s power immediately, but before Gandy could even begin to explain how little he understood of how to do that, the party was overtaken by one Ranokh’’s Six Sentinels - Maudraeph the Demon-Breather. They fled from the spectral foe but not before Tiasora became tied to another of Ranokh’s sentinels - an impish dark elf named Shadow. The heroes fled into the canyons north of the city that led to the rim of the mountains dividing Sahr’Barabor from teh friendly human kingdom of Sembre. If only they could reach the other country, they would be safe! But they were captured by yet another of the Sentinels the witch Wonë.
Down, down beneath the layers of soil and rock. Down to where the sun does not shine and all vision is at the mercy of magic. The party was brought before Wonë - Mother of Slaves - who (rather than deliver them over to Ranokh) sought to make a forutne off selling the party off as slaves of the highest price. In those dark tunnels carved by subterranean monsters, Tork met his father who had abandoned him in childhood and reconciled with the bewitched creature. Amatheia met another mermaid named Niri who was working in secret to free slaves from Wonë’s pipeline when they reached their market in Sembre. Though they hated each other at first, the two mermaids eventually developed a scheme to escape Wonë’s tunnels. After collecting the Tillie and the boys, the party was forced to face Wonë’s deceptive magic and the awesome might of her vicious pet - a gargantuan Purple Worm. They party defeated both mother and monster and broke free from the slave tunnels, bursting through rock into the quiet Sembren valley of Cinder Lake.
The heroes got no rest in entering the quiet town. Wonë’s demise signalled their location to the remaining Sentinels, and the other five came out in full force to avenge their fallen. The heroes were pursued out of their sleep at the inn across the lake to the wicked and haunted Valice House. The heroes barricaded themselves within, ready to defend themselves against the Sentinels but found the house itself was a cursed fortress. Unable to be opened. The security of this refuge quickly melted into dread as they wondered - who in this haunted mansion had opened the door to let them in?
The heroes were forced to endure the murderous history of Valice House and the surrounding Cinder Lake Valley, discovering how the machinations of one greedy aristocrat drove him to pursue necromancy and murder and entire household of men, women, and children in pursuit of power and dominion. That necromancer was none other than Tiasora’s mentor, Rahele the Wise who had convinced him to steal the little golden orb that had brought the party together at first! And it was this Necromancer who haunted the grounds outside, eager to be let in and claim the orb that Tiasora had so long kept from him. With Shadow’s help - who was revealed to be the heir to Valice House - they heroes escaped into the attic where the glowing, red window offered them an escape.
The curse of Valice House was one of erasure. Rahele had spelled the place so that any who stepped through the Red Window would instantly fade from the world’s memory and begin a new, anonymous life. Each of the heroes considered this step. They could flee Rahele and the Sentinels outside and be forever free from Na’kevu and Ranokh and the whole desert kingdom’s chaos. But they would also doom the continent and all those they left behind. As each wondered what to do, Rahele appeared in the hall. They were out of time. The heroes valiantly fought back against the dark wizard - all except Tiasora who - in his great despair, slipped through the red window into obscurity. Tillie dove after him and then each of the heroes subsequently tried to escape through the portal - unable to hold off the wizard without their combined strength. All escaped except Gandy and Rekië into the black oblivion of Cinder Lake. The Kingmaker - that mysterious artifact that had blessed Gandy with the same title, suddenly shuttered and burst, destroying the portal in a burst of radiant magic. The heroes were blasted through the lake, each dragged themselves dripping and alone from the water and wandered off into the dark of the night, born afresh from the black water and forever shamed by their cowardice.
SEASON IV
Gandy awoke in the clutches of Rahele, the wicked necromancer choking him in the wreckage of the Valice House attic. The shards of the Kingmaker lay under his thrashing feet as the wizard held him aloft. Then a burst of light! Rekië and Rahele fought with all the force of light and dark until finally both were destroyed in a dazzling display of magic. Gandy was captured by the Sentinels and taken back to Oche’Ebere where Na’kevu demanded Gandy bless him with the anointing power of the Kingmaker. Gandy refused at first, and was subjected to months of torture and starvation and darkness in the bowels of the dungeons. He would have lost all hope, given in and given the power to Gadny except for the training and support he received from Brom - a noble knight who had served Lord Rekië before the city fell to Ranokh and Na’kevu’s Black Army. When Na’kevu realized it was Brom’s mentorship and guidance in the Way of the Sea, that kept Gandy from breaking, he brought both young men to his throne room - his father’s throne room - and ordered Gandy to give up the Kingmaker’s powers or see Brom executed. Brom and Gandy escaped