by Tyler (Thoril) Chase
This was my first Tournaments of Chaos, and my memory is not the best, so bear with me as I go over the details for you.
August 6th, 1021- We arrived at the Creathorne Embassy greeted by
Celtrex and a few others from Creathorne. Beyond the tournaments, we were there
to deal with some loose ends from a conflict that began far before my time in
the Realms. Dracula's castle had been seen phasing in and out of existence in
the skies of the Dark Isle, and the Golden Trees of Life there were reported to
be withering and dying. On top of all of this, there was mention of a surge in
vampire activity.
Later in the evening, we encountered a forest spirit who was being hunted by vampires. The forest spirit informed us that the vampires were behind the draining of the forest's prime tree, and we needed to stop them or else the forest would die fully. Almost on cue, vampires approached us wanting the spirit, and we promptly killed them.
We headed out into the forest fighting waves of vampires, with some of our own turning into thralls we would need to heal. Along the way, we collected resources that we came across such as these colored spheres with sigils on them, puck-shaped anchors in colors that matched the spheres, and metal poles. (These will come into play later.) More immediately, we were collecting vials of tree sap, holy water, and vampire blood, which combined into antidotes that cured our fellow adventurers of being thralls.
In order to make things go smoothly, we had each resource go to a specific person when they were found. Anchors went to James Swift, Pipes were given to Haylin, Vials went to Tempest Athame, and the spheres I collected myself. During our final push of the evening, we went through some scrolls we found which contained letters from "The Three Sisters" to "Death." We have yet to determine the identities of these sisters, or if this "Death" is the literal personification of the aspect, The Gray Man, Dionin, or some other force or individual. (Things to look into later.) With the papers read, the vampires seemingly pushed back for the evening, and no more resources to be found, we turned back to the Embassy for a night of drink and merriment.
August 7th, 1021- In the early afternoon, we gathered once more and partook in the day's tournaments. Everyone was giving their best efforts, and there were even some surprising and unexpected victories. The random and compelled "fights," which occurred throughout our time in the land, were particularly entertaining as they literally happened at random, and we had to drop what we were doing and fight until only one of us stood victorious.
Later that evening, James Swift took me aside with a small group of fellow adventurers to a portal on the Dark Isle. The portal led to the land of Highever, which apparently was also before my time. James, and other adventurers, had in the past fought back a villain who had taken over the lands with his dark mages and replaced the villain with a young lad who was meant to be the new King of the land. But that was years ago. We were returning to an unknown situation and, as James put it, did not want to look like an invading force as we checked out the geopolitical situation of the lands. This was our plan A.
When we arrived, we met a gentleman who seemed destitute, and rather upset, who happened to know James. This turned out to be the young King to be all grown up. And, as it turned out, he was not the current King. If I recall right, his brother turned villain took over. Some of the evil King's men showed up soon after, and after the usual talk and banter, combat ensued with us trying to defend the "King to be".
The goons were dispatched after a hard-fought battle, and the
"King to be" was resuscitated by James, who gave him a silver sword,
and with divine aid made a pact that he would return with more adventurers to
aid him in retaking the land and finishing what the adventurers failed to do
all those years ago. We then left the portal the way we came and met back at
the Embassy. Please see James Swift for correct and full details.
Not long after, the forest spirit returned with vampires fast on her heels. She had apparently stolen the last of the prime tree's life force so the enemy could not have it. We killed the vampires, and set back out into the forest, cutting down wave after wave of vampires while collecting more of the aforementioned resources. This continued until we made it to a location where it seemed we could use the ingredients we had gathered (anchors, spheres, and pipes) to anchor both the castle into our plane, and create a new sapling, which would become the new Prime Tree. The reason these two were so intertwined is unknown to me, and it would be best to ask either Tempest or James for details as I gave them the spheres we had gathered and went onto the front lines.
Now, I know I am mentioning James and Tempest a lot, but that is not to discredit the valuable contributions of others aiding in the ritual or the absolute juggernaut that was Lord Elwin of Stonewood who had dominated in most combat due to a combination of skill and an overwhelming arsenal of magical relics. These are just the names that are most fully lodged into my brain, and I would like to take this moment to thank everyone involved. Were it not for the cooperative efforts of everyone there, we would likely not of had everything we needed to assemble the ritual on the first shot like is so often the case on most quests we adventurers take part in. It was rather refreshing.
Once the ritual was complete, protected by the adventurers fighting off waves of vampires, and the sapling stabilized with the castle firmly floating in the air above the land, I believe Tempest was imbued with some sort of magic. She walked into the field, yelling with a voice of authority, and rebuked the Vampires from the land, forcing them to retreat. With that our job was done and we returned to the Embassy for more drink and merriment, and to hear the results of the bardics as well as a "Beirut" tournament. I was drained from the noon tournaments and questing, so I turned in rather early compared to the customary Blue o'clock which is the customary adventurer bedtime.
August 8th, 1021- On this last day, we finished up the final tournaments and eventually received the awards for those who placed. There were a lot of awards, and I am terrible with names to begin with, so I may have missed many of them. My apologies. Out of the ones I remember, there was Lord Elwin for Most Badass, Jericho for Most Lawful, Alias for Most Helpful, Haylin for Most Shady, and James Swift for Most Honorable. After that, we went our separate ways and will likely have to return to the Dark Isle to deal with the situation in Highever as James promised, and the castle so that Elwin may take ownership of it and deal with its threat. Gods have mercy on anyone who tries to stop him.
Until next time. -Thoril