The Temple of the Cleansing Blade

The morning after the battle with the quth-marens, Horde Commander Koll presented Grim, Zumm, Verschoyle and Hurgadar with military decorations in the form of carved humanoid jawbones inscribed with the word 'courage' in several languages. These grant a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy if you wear them openly while dealing with current or former members of the Droaam army and anyone else friendly to the Droaam army who knows enough about history to recognize them. Horde Commander Koll also gave you a special mission: to infiltrate the Temple of the Cleansing Blade and assassinate the high priest before he could unleash more undead on the besieging army.

You entered the temple via the sewers, where you were attacked by a hideous water-based undead that had escaped from the pages of Dragon magazine. It nearly drowned Hurgadar but you got it in the end. Paik charmed one of the guards sent to intercept you, and he directed you to the temple proper where the priest was. On the way you were attacked by a evil incorporeal spirit who permanently drained Paik's Constitution down to 4. Hee hee hee.

Thanks to your charmed ally, you managed to take the enemy cleric unawares and Verschoyle affected him with a confusion spell. He was coherent enough to unleash dark energy on you, almost killing Zurga. After much confused running around and switching targets, the guards lay dead and Zumm ripped off the evil priest's face.

You're in the army now

As promised by the letter you received when you took over the kingdom, you have been recruited into the Droaam army. It will be a short stint of only a few months, really a token service in order to prove your loyalty, although the exact amount of time depends on how the war goes.

Marching off to war are Grim, Verschoyle, Zumm, Hurgadar, Zurga, Primrose the flesh golem, and fifty goblin troopers. This left Castle Granis only lightly defended, but Verschoyle's regular scrying of the castle shows soldiers from across your territory arriving at the castle for the training Grim promised. So far roughly twenty goblins and twenty orcs have arrived, as near as Verschoyle can estimate. Skardash is doing his best to train them but his lack of experience means that they are not showing any improvements; but the castle is at least defended, and is as peaceful as a castle full of orcs from different villages could be expected to be (i.e. not very).

Meanwhile, a changeling bard named Paik has been assigned to your unit to keep an eye on you and report on your loyalty, and also to help inspire your troops with his bardic music.

After a short stay in Graywall (during which Verschoyle spent lots of money in an attempt to impress everyone and in particular his wizard friend Tharrad Katarn), the army marched south for several weeks towards the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. The political situation, as explained by Warchief Tygor, is:

One of the warlords is attempting to break away from the rule of the hags and carve out his own nation. You will join one of a number of hordes that the Daughters are sending to crush the rebellion.

The rebel warlord is Thurizan the Strong, a mighty orc warrior. His territory is in the south-eastern corner of Droaam, adjoining the coastline and the Graywall Mountains that form the border with Breland. His capital is the inaccessible fortress of Shaarat Kol. The majority of the population in his territory is made up of orcs, with some humans, hill giants, goblins and other races.

Thurizan is very popular with the people in and surrounding his territory, and part of the reason for this is to do with religion. The Daughters of Sora Kell have a secular government, not invoking the gods in their rule and not making any laws concerning religion. In contrast, Thurizan claims to rule with the endorsement of the Dark Six. This is helped by the fact that his army has gained control of the Temple of the Cleansing blade, the largest temple to the Mockery in Droaam. The high priest of the temple has publically supported Thurizan as ruler.

You will be part of an army that is being assembled to re-take the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. The temple is of some strategic importance, but its main value will be as a propaganda victory: if Thurizan loses control of the temple, then his subjects may think again about his claim to be chosen by the gods.

Your immediate commander is Warchief Tygor, a hardened gnoll career soldier whose fur bears many bare patches where scars have healed. Your ultimate commander is Horde Commander Koll, a bulky, heavily armoured orc warlord whose territoy is on the other side of Graywall from yours.

The first combat you saw was on the approach to the temple when you had to remove catapults from hills to let the army pass. You dispatched the defender quickly, with Grim bravely rushing past the two hill giants in order to attack a battle sorceror before he had a chance to cast his spells, and then returning to slice off the hill giant's arm with a mighty blow.

Your next mission was to neutralize an enemy spy who was hiding in a nearby hamlet. Warchief Tygor ordered you to do this by massacring everyone in the village, but Zumm (in a surprising non-evil outburst; I was expecting Verschoyle to say this) argued that they should try to find the spy and spare the rest of the village if possible. Zumm and Piak got to show off their infiltration skills and saw through the spy's disguise, and after a brief fight chased him into the open. He was invisible, but Verschoyle zapped him with magic missiles and your goblin archers all fired on the spot where the magic missiles hit, kind of like at the end of Star Trek VI.


You re-joined the army at nightfall as it was setting up camp around the temple and its small town (called simply Blade-town). In the middle of the night the army was attacked by skeletons, which were driven off easily but succeeded in demoralizing the troops. The only serious attack was on the command tent itself, which was attacked by three hideous undead creatures, the animated corpses of people who had had all the skin flayed from their bodies. Zumm, Grim and Hurgadar found Horde Commander Koll defending himself against the three creatures, while his entourage cowered or fled. With the help of Verschoyle's flesh golem you managed to defeat them. Paik slept through the whole thing.

Battle report: the death of E.K.

Turns out I made a couple of mistakes about spell rules that gave the party an advantage. I reckon you'd have won anyway though.

Grim and Zumm toured the region, telling the people of the new ruler and his new policies: taxes would be reduced but must be delivered rather than collected, and anyone who wanted to could go to Castle Granis to be trained in the region's new army. Grim also recruited a cohort, Hurgadar. Hurgadar is a mongrelfolk (the product of generations of inter-breeding between many different humanoid races), and is an adventurous wanderer who agreed to travel with Grim in order to seek adventure. Grim and Zumm collected Verschoyle (plus Zurga and their new flesh golem) from Stoneskull, and the party returned to Castle Granis.

Some goblins attempted to assassinate Grim using warforged bane arrows, but Grim survived the attempt and the castle guard took care of the assassins. The party traced the plot back to the cleric Merred Nastor and his new disciples, who turned out to be hosts to parasitic tentacle creatures. Verschoyle took care of these with a spell, but the most powerful one (inhabiting Merred Nastor) escaped.
Using scrying, the party traced the tsochar to the tomb of Dragith Nurn, where they saw that he was in league with their arch-enemy E.K. The party travelled overland to the tomb, fought their way in through the dolgrim and dolgaunt guards, and finally killed E.K. and the tsochar in a magical fire-fight across the chasm.

EK had set up a lift, powered by an ogre slave, to the bottom of the chasm. The party descended to find that the guards at the bottom had fled. They found some treasure in boxes that EK's minions had helpfully retrieved from the caves.

Zumm went in to the cave of the bearded devils, touched a large crystal embedded in the wall, and was handed a secret note from the DM.

The party set off back to Castle Granis to wait there for the next plot hook to arrive.

Timeline update

Sypheros 14	Grim and Verschoyle arrive at Graywall with Ug's body, and take it to a gnoll druid that the mercenaries had recommended. However, Ug's soul refused to return. Verschoyle befriends Graywall's most powerful wizard (or at least its most powerful commonly-known wizard), Tharrad Katarn. Grim and Verschoyle also managed to locate the cleric Merred Nastor who had gone missing on his shopping trip to Graywall. A goblin bowmaker had noticed his poorly-concealed Silver Flame symbol and tipped off the arena guards. He was due to be executed in the arena the next day. Verschoyle enters the arena in order to fight on his behalf and spends the night hin the cells. Meanwhile, Grim kidnaps the goblin bowmaker.
Sypheros 15	In the arena, Verschoyle defeats the manticore that was due to kill Merred Nastor. A bugbear scout from Darguun introduces himself to Grim and Verschoyle. Verschoyle and Tharrad Katarn continue to swap spells.
Sypheros 16	Grim leaves for where his army is camped. Verschoyle begins crafting a headband of intellect. Burr, the bugbear scout, introduces himself to Verschoyle again.
Sypheros 19	Tharrad Katarn teleports Verschoyle and Burr to the army camp, where Grim is just arriving.
Sypheros 20	The Battle of Stoneskull. Grim's army defeats Jalahand and Grim becomes warlord of the region. Burr is killed by a trap.
Sypheros 21	The party receives a letter saying that the Daughters of Sora Kell endorse Grim's rulership of the region. Grim and Zumm embark on a tour of the region. Verschoyle and Zurga begin creating a flesh golem.
Aryth [November] 20	Grim finishes his tour and arrives back at Stoneskull to pick up Verschoyle, who has finished his flesh golem.
Aryth 21	Grim, Zumm, Verschoyle and Zurga arrive back at Castle Granis...

Your fiefdom

Total population: 3,000 (approx. 70% goblins, 15% orcs, 10% ogres, 5% mongrelfolk)

Notable towns

Castle Granis
Ruler (when Grim is away): Skardash, goblin ranger
100 goblins (inc. 20 trained warriors and 20 ordinary warriors)
4 ogres
Merred Nastor (Cleric of the Silver Flame)

Garduk
Ruler: Valdash, orc fighter
800 goblins (inc. 300 warriors, 20 elite guards, a blacksmith and a healer)
10 orcs (inc. 4 warriors)

Stoneskull
Ruler: Kardash, orc fighter
500 goblins (inc. 200 warriors and a healer)

Settlements range in size from a dozen goblins to a few hundred, with none being larger than Garduk. Goblin villages are ruled by either orcs or ogres, or sometimes both (in which case the ogres lord it over the orcs and the goblins are slaves to both). Most settlements have a healer. Chieftains are generally experienced fighters and some have trained elite guards, but none are more powerful than Valdash or Kardash.

Leadership among the orcish rulers is hereditary, and the majority of chieftains are part of Valdash's extended family. There is no single head of the family. Leadership among ogre-dominated villages goes to the strongest by combat and rarely passes down in a family. There are no villages with a goblin chieftain, although sometimes an orc warlord may have an experienced goblin as a trusted advisor.

As you tour the region, reactions to the change of rulership range from indifference to happiness. The only mild voices of dissent are from ogres who are unhappy that the ogre mage warlord has been replaced by a non-ogre. Most of the civilians have never seen a warforged before and think that Grim is an orc who never takes his armour off, although some experienced fighters who have done mercenary duty recognize him as a warforged. The announcement that the taxes are being lowered is universally greeted with happiness. In general, your rule is off to a good start.

The region is 100 miles across at its widest point. It is bordered on the west and south by other warlords' territories, on the east by Breland, and on the north by the Eldeen Reaches and the Byeshk Mountains. (Blue lines on the map indicate regional boundaries and red lines national ones.) The region is barren and rocky, and the area around Garduk is the only place where crops can reliably be grown. Well-worn dirt tracks link all the settlements; the only one that could reasonably be called a road runs from Stoneskull to Graywall, passing close to Castle Granis.

The Droaam Warlord prestige class

Home-brewed content! This is my first attempt at creating a prestige class. I created it with Greg's character in mind but I might use it for some NPCs.

Warlords are the rulers of communities of barbaric humanoids. They may rise from these communities themselves, or be heroes who take control of a barbaric tribe. Warlords are typically barbarians, fighters or other martial classes who sacrifice some of their physical training in order to become more effective leaders.

Requirements
Base attack bonus: +5
Feats: Leadership
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks

Class skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), Ride, Sense Motive

Hit die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Fearsome reputation, bonus language
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Inspire rage 1/day, battle intimidation
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	Hold the line, bonus language
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Inspire rage 2/day
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Greater battle intimidation, bonus language

Fearsome reputation (Ex)
A warlord adds his class level to Intimidate checks.

Battle intimidation (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a warlord can use Intimidate to demoralize an opponent in battle as a move action (rather than a standard action).

Bonus language (Ex)
Although most monstrous creatures speak Common, a good warlord knows that he can rule more effectively if he speaks the first language of his subjects. At 1st, 3rd and 5th level the warlord gains a bonus language from among those spoken by his subjects or the creatures of the surrounding area (excluding secret languages such as Druidic). A typical list would be Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Orc.

Inspire rage (Sp)
Beginning at 2nd level, you can incite your allies to fly into a rage while attacking. This functions as the rage spell, except that it is a language-dependant effect and can be negated by magical silence. You must continue speaking or shouting while you concentrate to maintain the effect, and the effect lasts for as long as you concentrate plus one round per level. At 4th-level, you can use this ability twice per day.

Hold the line (Ex)
When you reach 3rd level, your followers and allies are more frightened of you than they are of their enemies. Whenever an ally or follower who can see you is subject to a fear effect that allows a Will save, you can make an Intimidate check as an immediate action, and the ally uses this check result in place of their Will save if it is higher. You cannot use this ability if you yourself shaken or otherwise suffering from a fear effect.

Greater battle intimidation (Ex)
At 5th level, a warlord can demoralize an opponent in battle as a swift action.

The letter

To Lord Grim,

Welcome to the family. Let me tell you how this works.

You are now a Droaam warlord. You rule the area formerly controlled by Jalahand, and in this realm you have absolute authority. The Daughters of Sora Kell have no wish to interfere in the internal affairs of your fiefdom. As long as you do not threaten to destabilize the region you will be left alone.

Naturally, just as you receive tribute from the villages in your fiefdom, you are required to pay tribute to the Daughters of Sora Kell via their representative in the region, Governor Xor'chylic of Graywall. The Daughters require tribute not in the form of livestock or goods but in the form of mercenary services. Once you have had time to consolidate your rulership of the region, a representative of Xor'chylic will arrive to collect the first squads of mercenaries. In order to be sure of your loyalty, Xor'chylic may require that you and your companions serve personally in the Droaam army for a short term.

Agents of the Daughters of Sora Kell are marked by the sign of the Spiral Eye. You are to give such agents any assistance that they require. Failure to do so will be seen as disloyalty to the Daughters themselves.

The Daughters of Sora Kell have been impressed with the reports of your progress and believe that you will be an asset to the nation of Droaam. If, however, you displease them, do not doubt that they have many ways to remove you from power.

Your faithful servant,

Hagrith One-Eye
Secretary for Eastern Droaam Affairs
Office of Sora Maenya
Palace of Skulls
Great Crag