The pragmatic mercenary

When the City of Baldur's Gate was on the verge of disaster as Grand Duke Valarken and his lycanthrope allies of the Band of the Red Moon tried to overthrow the leaders of the city, Grand Duke Portyr, struggling for his life, come accross this strange man offering the services of himself and a handful of his men, known then as the Blood Raven.
Untrusting, but desperate, Grand Duke Portyr grudgingly accepted his offer, for an outrageous amount of gold and titles. If at first, Portyr had doubts, they evaporated at the gruesome efficiency with which the Blood Raven could find and mow through the werewolves renegades within the Flaming Fist. Ever since Valarken retreated with his followers, Galarnok Partak has been serving the Flaming Fist with great efficiency, defending the city proper and the regions around, keeping his closest man as his eyes and hears along the sword coast. Even if Grand Duke Portyr is worried that such capable individuals might want to try grab the leadership of the Flaming Fist for themselves, nothing they have done leads to believing they would.

Now Force Lieutenant of the Flaming Fist, Galarnok Partak, the Blood Raven, has started a new chapter in his own dark agenda. His recent meeting with adventurers from Waterdeep brought him news of undeath crawling along the Sword Coast and turning whole ship crews into the living dead. And for reasons unknown to Grand Duke Portyr or others, Galarnok Partak seems to take these signs of undeath metamorphosis very seriously.

On the trail of the Heroes...

Convincing Mathiad to take the Heroes to baldur's Gate was not hard. Bad weather had the Captain a straighter course right through the Sea of Sword, which brought them close to Baldur's Gate. A sea attack by Lizardfolks, close to the coasts, had the players quite puzzled, but also forced the Captain to wait at sea, in the bay of Baldur's Gate, until he could find crew replacements.

The heroes, untalented in the ways of the streets, had a hard time picking up the trail of their quarry, the elusive Eladrin, supposedly of the Quel'Danas family. The help of a high ranking officer of the mercenary company the Flaming Fist came at the right time. Galarnok Partak has a hear for whatever adventurers have to say, and he was not disappointed in those rag tag travelers.

Their search of the City was not fruitless still. Legends of an ancient elven kingdom somewhere along the swordcoast, lost since the Sundering, with tales of a feud opposing twins. Still no trace of necromancy, or old death along the coasts.

More puzzled than ever, the heroes sailed northward after Galarnok sent them home with a task for the Flaming Fist: Find more about this undeath plague that strikes at ships sailing to Waterdeep. Will the note Galarnok Partak gave them be enough to convince their guild to cut them some slack?

On the bank of Greyflow River...

Lies the merchant city of Daggerford.

A fairly populous and quite industrious city, Daggerford is the last river city along the Greyflow river before reaching the Sea of Sword, and see a lot of traffic from Waterdeep and the Western Heartlands. 

Ruled by families of merchant, Daggerford is a neutral and welcoming city for whoever has a gold to spare.

Strongly walled and protected by well trained soldiers, Daggerford has resisted to many threat in the past, may it be goblinoid raiders, tribes of ogres or trolls. 

But how long will this properous city see its life style unchanged?

Get the fully 3D City of Daggerford on Google SketchUp 7 ~ 25meg.

The Hand of Torm

Paladin of Torm and Knight of Forgiveness, Stuh Ryback travels the realms, and some say the planes, as his deity dictates.

Encountered recently in the City of Splendor, Stuh Ryback has joigned for a time with his brother Joseph and other capable adventurers as a Gray Hand, an elite group of individuals upon which the Lords of Waterdeep can count whenever arises a situation normal guards or trained wizards can't handle.

Accross the lands, Little is known of this relic from the past, but tales of his ancestor of the same name resurface in Cormyr and the Heartland. If half the rumors are true, Stuh Ryback would be the descendant of a powerful Purple Dragon Knight, which became their commander after the passing of Azoun IV, and would have protected Azoun V, then only a child, through many attempt on the young heir life.

A mysterious companion...

She desires them and they desire her; it is unclear which one is stronger. Free of will and libertine, Acane accompanies the heroes for a reason that is yet unclear.

Originaly teamed with Aishar and Auburn by their guild to keep them out of trouble, she shows the same desire as them: break free from their guild's authority.

Behind her outrageous outfits and unbridled sexual impulses, what is on her mind remains a mystery.

Warforged in the Forgotten Realms

In times long since forgotten even by gods lived the wise and powerful creator races. Dominating the single gigantic continent of Toril, Merrouroboros, creator race, or iqua Tel’Quessir, one after another brought wonders and cataclysms to these lands.

The Eladrin of old, choosing to dominate the feywild over the lands of Toril, were powerful and creative, bringing life to many magical beasts and feys.

One of the creator race, its name long since forgotten, grew jealous of the fey creations and decided to rival them in their own fashion.

Thus was born a race of creatures, from iron and stone and wood. Born to serve and bred to wage War, this sentient race of slaves was from its very first day known as the Warforged.

In the years -32'000, so say the sages, this empire was lost and another iqua Tel’Quessir reigned over Merrouroboros. The surviving warforged were either destroyed or buried with the remnants of their makers. And they were lost, their consciousness gone with the memory of their maker. Then the Sundering split Merrouroboros asunder, and it is said the last ruins and tombs filled with Warforged were sunk deep in the trackless sea.

Until the Spellplague.

As magic ran wild through time, space and the whole multiverse, the face of Toril was reshaped, and many such tombs resurfaced. So strong was the Spellplague that many of these lifeless construct rose once more, no longer slave, but truly sentient and living Warforged.

Little memory remains of these lost ages, and what remains matters no longer. Born to a new world, the Warforged are now their own masters, and another Forgotten race now walks the face of the Forgotten Realms.

Sailing on the Sea of Swords

Dangerous are the water of the Sea of Sword. No sane captain would try and brave the fury of the sea without a stout vessel.

Here is a picture of the ship used by our Heroes as they sail to and from the Moonshae Isles.

This three-mated galleon is heavily armed and prepared to face the perils of the sea. 

The ship belongs to a freelance captain in the employment of Waterdeep's many guilds.

On the trails of the heroes...

Fylikiel went to Waterdeep, hoping to meet with an elf from the Moonshae Isles with books and knowledges concerning ancient elven families.

But the ship was destroy by the Waterdeep Watch as it was a ghost ship, manned by vile zombies and rotting death. Very little was left of the ship after the fire, but they were able to scour some clues from the remnants: The memoire of the dead Captain.

Shortly, they were on a great ship sailing accross the Sea of Swords to Gwynneth, a mysterious fey kingdom. 

But death was on that trail first, and there they only could lay to rest the poor souls of a small village, decimated by Undeath. This trip was not for naught though, for they found effidences of contagion, and tales of a strange and elusive eladrin, with long white hair and unnerving presence.

With more questions than answers, the heroes are about to sail back to the coast, on a rapidly cooling trail. Their destination: The miracle city of Baldur's Gate.

The year is 1478...

..., but is known to most as the Year of the Dark Circle, as the people of the Forgotten Realms care little for numbering the passing of time.

The flow of years has brought many changes, the Spellplague has come and never really left. The tide of darkness that poured over the realms now ebbs, leaving behind a scarred world.

Home to traders, thieves, monsters and heroes, the Sword Coast has seen many disaster and challenges. From the splendor of Waterdeep to the dark alleys of Calimport, danger lurks at every corner, and an ancient evil plots to regain his lost powers and spread once again his influence over the mortals of the Realms.

Amongs the many heroes to face the coming tide of dangers...

Fylikiel, an eladrin noble from Cormanthor with a dark secret and darker knowledges.

Aishar, a water genasi swordmage, a deadman walking, unwitting ennemy of Netheril.

Auburn, son of a Pirate and pirate warlord himself, unsure of his fate and his place in the world.

Acane, a mysterious ranger, with outrageous manners but many secrets buried deep.

They are not prepared for what they are about to unearth.