Viressur

At the time, they probably didn't know that they were doing deeds that would become legends, but the Golden Elite helped turn back the Black Tide.

They also secured Viressur.  Deep under this place, two powerful artifacts are locked away for a good reason.

Šukhan Legion

So, your the last one out of the inferno?   What happened back there? asked Commander Zôrun.
The Šukhan are all gone, said Scout Marizgûr
The entire legion gone?  said Zôrun with shock.
Don't worry about pursuit, they destroyed half of the giant army, said Marizgûr
What happen to your arm?  asked Zôrun
A lighting bolt nearly tore it off.  I have never seen so many lighting bolts and storms of ice in all of my life.  Imrik was aglow with magic.  They all perished back there, the Šukhan Legion saved all of us, replied Marizgûr with noticeable pride.

Black Wood

Black Wood was once a hero.  He helped recover two powerful artifacts called Blizzard and Firestorm.   Black Wood proclaimed "These items are best secured in a vault and kept out of the hands of both mortals and gods."  His feelings now are probably different.

Nobody is sure when or why Black Wood went down the path of darkness, but his record since the Battle of the Relics has been a stain on druidic pride.

Where is that relief party?

Through the course of adventuring in Torazam Sanctum, you have had a few wounded and sick.  Some had smashed limbs or other issues that needed more intensive care than a field dressing or cure spell.  Those sent out are replaced by a relief party.  Those going out take sacks of coin and other loot that is not needed in the adventure.  The relief party coming in bring in news from the outside, fresh pints of ale and other victuals.  They also bring in notes and secret missives:

This one was passed off to the deep gnome.  He was kind enough to pass it on to you, figuring that it is a show of friendship, trust, and his prominence.

When the relief party came in from outside of Okrungknot, you were given an odd scrollcase composed entirely of leaves and reeking of pine sap. It was sealed and unbroken, the carrier was warned that anyone but a druid that opens this will probably die. The scroll reads:

You have been selected to be a Nature Protectorate for Faeglor. The Chaos War is getting out of control, and now The Balance is worried. We were already worried, but now that they are we can take a more active role in the conflict.

In Torazam Sanctum, you will come across a gold apparatus. This thing is a gold clockwork. If it is still in there, then the Eldritch Conclave have not figured out its importance. You must keep it alive. It will save tens of thousands of lives.


As for the flesh army, be careful the path you take. You don't want to be on the field in this war. Heroes are short-lived as ground stompers.

Your friend,
Thanwaen - Nature Protectorate of Cinazan


Friend?
Yes, Thanwaen is the one who led the survey to Maegorion.  You (the deep gnome) and others formulated the information that led to an understanding of Dark Timber Migration.

Remember Thular-Tûr

It was a rallying cry for the Burterinii fighting in the Conclave War - "Remember Thular-Tûr".

In the Conclave War, Thular-Tûr was the first fortress assaulted by the First Khazarkar Empire.  The fortress ended up being wrecked when web weavers unleashed ancient Lith-Crillion magic on the place.  This caused a tear in the Web of Magic which would be one of many that caused the Gulimbor Cataclysm.

One item of that period is a powerful shield that has been used in countless battles over the past three epochs.  This item is the Shield of Thular-Tûr.

Crits and Fumbles Can Lead to Rezzing

Some game rules on resurrection, system shock and the crit and fumble tables.

For the current campaign, we are using the 1st Edition rules for resurrection and system shocks.

• resurrection
• system shock
• crit and fumble

Bored with that, then read up on your minotaur history - because if the Horde of Chaos wins the Cinazan Front then your either dead, enslaved, or now an aberration of the Horde.

Some choice pieces on the minotaurs

• Great Minotaur Revolt
• Ivory Asylum Imperialism in Azrik

There are times in history, when one individual or group of adventurers can change the course of history, so reading on the Bull Nation is not fully appreciated until you read up on Raxcvillibus Dumu-loc.

(not to be confused with the gimp Rax in WOW)
 

Alreirsoar

Alreirsoar is a fire giant city.  Pretty damn hot and dangerous place if your not a fiery brute like a salamander, fire archon, hell hound, fire giant, fire troll (oh how I miss that monster from 2nd edition - believe it was in a dragon mag), or red dragon.   The city is sited between two volcanoes.  The volcanoes are linked by a Great Wall, one called Yorthrun Tor.  The marvels of  engineering don't end with this wall.  Two lava river, one from each volcano, join in the city.  Lava is diverted through canals and enormous statues, which turn into great lava falls.  The lava cuts through the center of the city and into an enormous fiery lake.  It doesn't end there, how could it, the lava would either keep flowing into the lands, probably exhausting the volcanoes, or harden as it lost temperature - oh no, the lava goes into drains.  It is then diverted through underground canals back to the volcanoes where one day, probably years later, that same lava will again flow through the wondrous city of Alreirsoa.

Crom Laughs At Your 5th Edition

This guy takes a dump on 5th Edition.

For me, 3.5 is the end of the line, not messing with any more editions.

Plethora of Paladins

Plethora of Paladins

There are some references on Bal-Kriav for characters who played some of these classes:

Keith M. had a paramandyr named Lazarus.  He seemed to be fond of non-fantasy historical names- another was a deep gnome named Torquemada.  This toon was part of the League of Ten.

Alex H. had a githyanki illrigger / psionicist named Ryglaglanis.  This toon was once part of Black Banner.

Found An Old Psionics Handbook

This was an interesting book back in First and Second Edition.  Some of the powers like split and temporal acceleration were quite powerful.  I don't see Emperor's Light Bolts in this guide - perhaps we pulled that from another source.

Complete Net Psionics Handbook

Duergar Background

For this campaign, and for the duergars:

Do you want to be a citizen of the glorious empire of the Khazarkars or a citizen of some Underdark empire? The Khazarkar's only major holding of the Underdark is an ancient kuo-toan city they excavated. This place is called Gholompotl. It has a 14K population and holds drow, duegar, deep gnomes, a few khazarkars. The mixed bag population is a result of the conflicts that have occurred in this part of Faeglor.

Some areas of interests for the Underdark races beneath Cinazan:

• Mulun-Dûna 
• Zandûl-Khâl 
• Nîndûnturgac 
• Onyx Enmity War

Instance: Torazan Sanctum

Dungeon:  Torazan Sanctum, Okrungknot
Objective:

• wipe out the garrison at Okrungknot keep and inside at Torazam Sanctum, 
• kill the High Seeker of Relics
• capture the High Seeker of Relics for those that have been quested by Set 

Torazan Sanctum was built by the Mad Wizard Flay.  He died over 500 years ago.

Notable figures in this dungeon:

Molten-Arm:  mage garrison commander, "the runner at the keep", now dead

High Seeker of Relics, the one that sent you on a suicide mission to the toad ruins (Froglem), the occupants of Torazam call him the "Milkdriker" (probably not to his face)

Githil's Disciples - former band of adventurers that retired and are now holed up in Torazam, two of them are now dead, the wererat rogue and the ranger you killed in the large cavern with multiple towers

Body Count:
Nermanean rogue - poison trap (dust of sneezing and choking)
Xeph bard - poison trap (dust of sneezing and choking)
khazarkar priest - turned to stone (beholder)
deep gnome ("the father") - killed by a "released" maralith
"Doorman" - count-down trap, killed by 18d6 fireball (natural 1)

Beating the System - the DM

So, you want to make a crack character that will make the DM up the monster strength or perhaps just to kick his game plan into the gutter.  Encounters is usually not a problem in my campaigns, but you can make your character a threat if you want.  Yes, we have threat in dice and pencil games, if your a geared out adventuring pimp, then intelligent monsters are gonna see this - so be prepared to make a lot of saves for deadly spells. 

Some ways of buffing out your toon:

• grafts
• DM giving you crappy loot tables - build your own gold teeth of epic charisma, or other item at a forge 
• maniac conduit and other fantasy concoctions can give an added edge, if  you have sufficient coin, and addictions are a minor nuisance

In the end, remember your in a party, whether it be composed of good or evil characters, your only as strong as the weakest link.  You may dump all your coin into the best gear, but the others may be slow and getting around to it, so instead of filling up bags of holding with jeweled and epic loot, your stuffing it with butchered party members.

Did you say easter eggs or dragon eggs?

For current campaigners, there are"easter eggs" on the Bal-Kriav website.  This could be items your slated to find and often nuggets of information about things, heroes, and areas that you are currently exploring.  The information of areas you explore will often become part of realm lore - so if your up-to-date on the content, you may learn something you have yet to discover - just play along with it.

Now regarding those dragon eggs you thought I murmured.  There are dragon eggs in abundance in the Aerie of Dragons, but perhaps you meant dragon orbs.  These items are extremely powerful and game changers.  They have brought down empires and laid waste to vast tracts of land.   Khalas-Tûr came about as a result of the machinations of the Charm of Razalannas.  The villain Katrana tore apart the Sylvan Kingdoms from using the Elder Orb of the Ember Wyrms.

Dwarves of the Dark Path

Bal-Kriav has a sizable dwarf population.  The largest population is spread across the Clans.  Some of the interesting themes for some groups of dwarves is there downfall from working with dark powers.  This could be because they were taken to their edge of morality by incessant wars - such as with the Rethmorg and the Mîmêk.  There are the frost dwarves which escaped the Abyss, only to be cursed with their leaders becoming haunting ghosts on their death.   They build enormous crypts in the depths, not as a place of reverence for kings, but as a tomb prison.  There are many of these prisons for the ghosts, all linked, a dire place called Arakkhalgam.

All is not bad for the dwarves of Bal-Kriav.  There are many sizable empires and notable achievements and marvels attributed to them.

Lith-Crillion, a race long thought to be near invincibile

The Lith-Crillion did good for the races that followed, leaving marvels like the Pyramids of Power and ancient ruins for adventurers to plunder.  We can't say the same for the sand giants that served them.    Many of them fell to the Stone Curse.

For long, they were thought to be masters of a young world with few advanced races.  The Saer Erkjorg seem to have found a chink in the armor of the all-mighty Lith-Crillion.

Purging of the Hags and Beginnings of Psionics

The nasty hags of Messu-Nora and the auhtai can be thanked for spreading psionics north into Gulimbor.


Too bad the overall evil they perpetrated on travelers and villagers would lead to there near extermination in the Purging of the Hags