Location: Old World Sword Coast, New World Caribbean
Factions: Neverwinter Gov., Phandalin Local Gov., Summervale College, Termite Gov., Castillo Pirates, Isla Nero Local Gov., Unquisto Codex, The Humble Ten, ?, ?.
Adventurers: Jakai Gage (Shaemin Leafhater), Ben Dorsett ("The Exile"), Ian Blake (Dale Silversmith), Isaac Smith, Troy Smith.
Status: Completed July 27th, 2024.
Events:
The Actions of the Humble Ten started out in the small town of Phandalin on the Sword Coast, in the Old World.
Three adventurers: Shaemin Leafhater, Dale Silversmith, and 'The Exile' met up in the local tavern. Not long after the initial meeting, the adventurers heard news of a great dragon terrorizing the coastline. The adventurers departed on a quest to warn a group of local archaeologists of the great danger.
Upon the adventurers' return to Phandalin, they found that a troop of elves had made their way into the small town. The group of six elves were from the College of Summervale, on the Elven Isle, far to the North. Shaemin Leafhater, enraged by the murder of his wife by an elven mafia, swore to kill any elves he met, and quickly devised to murder the six. The other two adventurers, Dale Silversmith and the Exile, was a dwarf and a psychopath respectively, so neither of them needed much convincing to the plan.
The adventurers selected to target a specific elf first, one who reportedly had a significantly low constitution. The three adventurers planned to poison the elf. After learning of the elf's wide selection of on-hand antidotes, the adventurers were forced to seek more exotic means of sourcing their brew. After a trip to a thieves' guild in Neverwinter, the adventurers had a recipe for the perfect poison. However, the specific effects were unknown to any of the adventurers.
The special ingredient was the Lion's Breath Flower, which grows exclusively in the deep swamp of the Mere of Dead Men. The flower is used in rituals by the goblins down there to raise doppelgangers to embody members of a slaughtered camp of Dwarves. After Fighting through the outer layers of the swamp, the adventurers killed the members of the goblin cult and stole a small amount of the flowers. The adventurers had been chased out by the doppelgangers, but had retreived more than what they needed.
On the way back, the adventurers found a group of bandits camping in the woods. Without a second thought, Dale Silversmith attacked, and after a successful surprise encounter, all but one of the Five bandits lay dead. The last Fled into the woods. The adventurers did not pursue him. It was only now that the adventuers realized the impact of their decision. These members appeared to be a member of some sort of cult or group, as they had robes and sacrificial paraphernalia.
The adventurers made their way back to Phandalin, and, in their effort to complete the potion, had to travel back and forth from Neverwinter to Phandalin over the course of a week. Throughout these travels, they were stalked from the woods surrounding the trail, presumedly by the mysterious cult. When the adventurers were on their way back to Phandalin after completing the potion, they were confronted.
The cab driver, wielding a revered handgun, drove them off back into the woods and sped all the way back to Phandalin. Back at Phandalin, Shaemin's criminal contact in Phandalin had hung himself, and was hanging from the rafters of his shop. Disturbed and confused, the adventurers moved on to complete their long-anticipated plan while they still had the time, forcing the memory of Barthen's cold body from their minds. In the tavern, Shaemin slipped the entire poison into Mo's (the elf) beer. After he had taken another sip, the elf staggered up to his room for the night.
The adventurers then too bought themselves a room for the night, and all went up to rest and recuperate for the next day. They were awaken. In the middle of the night, the cab driver, Hano, came into their room and awoke the sleeping troop. All he said was for the adventurers to follow him. They did so, and when they exited the tavern, all they learned of the fate of Mo was exessive blood, dripping from the floorboards of his room above.
Hano rushed the adventurers out, and took them in his cab to the coast, where the adventurers boarded a ship and set off for the New World. The small ship was captained by an old man who told them all about the situation they were in. The adventurers had offended a very large and very powerful group. In doing so, they sealed their own fates. It was only a matter of time before they were found and killed by the group.
As a solution to all this, the old man offered them a potion to help them change their identity; it would erase the distinguishing marks that were upon them. The adventurers drank, and then were dropped off in the New World, on the Island of Termite, in the island's port town. The adventurers joined a privateer, which led a doomed voyage which ended the adventurers up in the hands of pirates. The adventurers escaped in secret, and took command of a small gunboat. With this, they sailed back to Termite and took jobs. The adventurers worked there in apprenticeships for six full months, before setting out again.
Over the next few weeks, the adventurers performed some quests and earned both gold and respect. The adventurers also hired two slaves, who joined them at the port of Castillo, a black barren fortress built upon a rocky island of the same description.
Shaemin and Dale, drunk in the tavern, had spent nearly all of the adventurers money. Shaemin was so drunk that he had to be put on a whiskey drip. Dale recovered, and joined the Exile and the two slaves on the streets of Castillo. Together, the adventurers ambushed the dockmaster at night, killing him and stealing his valuable goods. After pawning these off, the adventueres set sail (with Jakai still unconscious and on his whiskey drip) for the island of Termite.
Back on the Island of Termite, the adventurers took up a shipment quest for Bodega Shipping Co., and set out for the agricultural Halfling Island, 'Isla Nero.' On the island, the adventurers meet a coffee plantation owner, who asked for their help. The adventurers offered their assistance to the man, as his crops were mysteriously dying. The crops were being eaten by Hop-Roaches, local tabacco pollenators. The coffee plantation owner, Geofferey's competitor, Dr. Jackson's coffee, was killed by these hop roaches. The adventurers discovered that Dr. Jackson had been stealing tabacco, and stockpiling it.
The adventurers decided not to kill the hop-roach population, as they did not want to disrupt the tabacco economy of the island, instead advising Geofferey to change his pesticide to a non-tabacco based mixture. The adventurers then completed a couple more shipment quests for Bodega Shipping Co., and took on a prestigious fetch quest.
For the fetch quest, the adventurers were tasked with retrieving a box of maps from a sunken ship off the coast of Termite. The adventurers bought water breathing speels and potions from the local mage's guild, the Unquisto Codex, and sailed to the ship site. Upon diving underwater, the adventurers were faced with a pack of merfolk guards, who had taken residence in the sunken ship. The adventurers made little work of the guards, and retrieved the chest of maps.
After their quests had been turned in, the adventurers beheld a ship docking at the port of Termite. A group of young men disembarked, and introduced themselves as a thieves' guild here to scout out the area. They would mark any special locations that had great amounts of treasure. The adventurers sailed back to Castillo and to Jericho Pawn shop, a place that had been marked by the thieves' guild. While they could not steal anything from the gun toting shop owner, they were offered a quest.
Long ago, when the island fortress was young, the elves that founded the island worshipped the gods of the old world. The gods of the new world grew in anger, and soon smithed a talisman. This talisman would allegedly give ownership of the island of Castillo to whoever held it. The owner of a local museum had tasked Jericho's owner to find someone to get the talisman. The reward for the quest's completion was 1000 gold pieces. In a flash, the adventurers took the owner up on the quest. The owner told them that the talisman was rumored to be hidden deep underneath the old Castillo Cathedral. The adventurers soon broke into the cathedral, and faced a couple unholy apparitions before coming into the main chamber. After some exploration and splashing of holy water, the statues revealed a pathway down underneath the cathedral.
Along with this, a symbol appeared in blood on the floor. The symbol was the same one used by the cult that had drove the adventurers out of the Old World. The adventurers descended the stairs into the dark and forgotten basement of the cathedral. Down below, they found five doors, one ornate, and the others bare. Starting from the left, the adventurers searched each door thoroughly. Each door held a demonic lemure, but nothing else. However, when the group got the ornate door at the end of the hall, a bearded devil lay inside sleeping.
After heavy fighting, the adventurers retrieved the shard remains of the cast and case of the Callisto talisman, the actual talisman was no where to be found. In misery due to the loss of a 1000 gold talisman, the adventurers made their way back to Jericho Pawn Shop, and informed the owner of their results. They sold him the case for 50 gold and set back out. The adventurers considered mugging the dockhand again, but decided against it when reinforcements came from the local barracks.
Back on the Island of Termite, the adventurers were stunned to meet none other than Mo Glassgut himself. Mo explained how the poison given to him created a doppelganger of himself, which then tried to kill him while he was incapacitated, also a result of the poison. In the midst of all of this, one of the other elves came knocking on Mo's door, yelling about how they had been found out and "they" were coming. This interrupted the attacking doppelganger from killing Mo. The doppelganger hid Mo in the bed, and when the elves had all come into his room, they were rounded up and killed by a group of powerful sorcerers. The doppelganger died in Mo's place.
A while after the adventurers reunited with Mo, they ran into one of the members of the thieves' guild that was on the island. The man let them know of secret treasure inside of the volcano, and all that they needed to get in was the Callisto talisman, and a key, hidden inside of Fabio Curio's (of the local mage's guild) spear. The talisman was also inside of the mage's guild. Once the adventurers had achieved these items, looting the mage's guild and killing Fabio in the process, they left for the volcano.
When the adventurers came back outside, the town of Termite was in flames. Mo was no where to be found, and neither was the town's clerk, Motel Cortes. The adventurers made their way, with The Exile carrying Fabio's spear. No door was found to the volcano, but upon the adventurers' return, they realized that while the whole town was burning, Termite's cathedral was fine. Upon nearing the Cathedral, the spear surged, and soon exploded in a fiery inferno. The Exile was engulfed in flame and died. Stunned but now driven by madness, the remaining adventurers picked up the dropped key and talisman and continued on.
The interior of the cathedral was covered in symbols created with the blood of Brother Gunslinger, who laid on the altar, butchered. The remaining adventurers followed a blood trail deep into the cathedral, which took them deep into the island, and eventually to a volcano. In the volcano, the adventurers came to a great brass set of doors. They inserted the keys into the locks, made a symbol in blood on the door, and entered the chamber on the other side.
What awaited them on the other side was a group of five men sitting at a table. The men introduced themselves as the remaining members of an ancient group of sorcerers, the "Humble Ten." Included in the group was Motel Cortes himself, as well as the pirate leader of Castillo, Fabio Curio's older brother, and a couple unknown others. The Humble Ten offered the adventurers an opportunity to work for their group, justifying their actions throughout the New and Old World as a defense of their own safety. The group revealved that the adventurers had aided in the murder of two of their group, but had shown great ability to fight for themselves. The Humble Ten also told the adventurers about the purpose of the group. THey existed to halt the development of technology in order to preserve the art of magic. They were responsible for the lack of gunpowder in the market, and their fathers had prevented the invention of many other technologies, including plastics, and the discovery of electricity.
The Ten told the adventurers that, if gunpowder were allowed to be spread and commodotized, it would result in many deaths, from the invention of automatic rifles to great bombs. At the end of their discussion, the Ten gave each adventurer a choice. In secret, they each had the opportunity to join or rebuke them. When they came back to reveal their decisions, the Ten cast spells on one of the two slaves, and on Shaemin. They had each chosen to join the Ten, and they were protected while the Ten killed the other two adventurers.
Two days later, the slave and the adventurer joined the Ten as they dumped the bodies of the dead adventurers into the river of lava below the volcano. With this horrifying scene, the slave and the adventurer did their best to forget as they joined the ranks of The Humble Ten.
