Novels
A farmer tells the story of an Evil Sorcerer named Detarr Ur'Mayan, who kidnapped Princess Marja of Ruskan and was trying to marry her to his son, when she was rescued by Johan the Mighty, who beheaded Detarr.
A professional hero has just completed exterminating a nest of Goblins at a farm and is demanding that the farmer pay the contractually-obligated fee. A single Goblin survives and flees. The farmer demands that the adventurer finish the job or he won't pay. After a long chase, the hero catches up to the Goblin and is about to strike the creature down, when they happen upon a Dwarf, sleeping off a bad hangover in a ditch. The Dwarf, named Gorm Ingerson, suggests that the hero part with his belongings, prompting the adventurer to charge him. Gorm easily defeats the hero, prompting the latter to agree to his demands. The Goblin is grateful not to be killed, and while Gorm initially wants nothing to do with him, the Goblin's persistence wins him over, and he decides to take the Shadowkin to Andarun, the capital of the Freedlands, to get him his noncombatant papers, which would make the Goblin an NPC (noncombatant paper carrier). However, since Gorm doesn't speak Shadowtongue, and the Goblin doesn't speak Imperial or Dwarvish, they have a hard time communicating, so Gorm ends up assuming the Goblin's name is Gleebek based on how the creature introduced itself. In Andarun, Gorm locates a Doppelganger named the Mask, who helps Gleebek get his NPC papers. But then Gorm is corned by a pair of mercenaries, a Tinderkin Gnome named Flinn and an Ogre named Brunt, who explain that he is being offered a job by the Temple of Al'Matra, and he doesn't have much choice in accepting, given that he once shamefully ran from a quest, an offense punishable by death. Gleebek would be likewise executed for associating with Gorm.
Gorm goes to the temple and meets High Scribe Niln il'Devin, who explains that, according to a prophecy, Niln is the Seventh Hero, who is destined to gather the other six and complete a great quest. Gorm is skeptical, especially when he meets most of the other recruits: a thief-turned-bard named Heraldin Strummons, a non-speaking Imperial weaponsmaster named Gaist, whom Gorm recognizes as his former quest companion Iheen the Red, and two feuding mages: a noctomancer named Jynn Ur'Gored and a solamancer named Laruna Trullon. He then helps the mercenaries "recruit" the final member of the party, a formerly legendary Elven ranger named Kaitha. The party is invited to the palace, where they are officially recognized by King Handor. After the ceremony, Handor and Johan give the party their quest: to find the Elven Marbles (a set of Orcish figurines, recently recovered and then lost) and to return them to one of the two claimants: the Elven House Tyrieth (Kaitha's house) or the Orcish Guz'Varda Tribe. The King's main goal seems to be to avoid a war between the two, which would destabilize the kingdom. Johan convinces Gorm that if they complete the relatively simple quest, Gorm will be reinstated in the Heroes' Guild and will have his former life back.
Gorm decides to train the party to work as a team. They also visit the Elven Embassy to get a clue as to the Marbles' whereabouts. At the entrance, Gorm ends up beating up an Elven guard for insulting Gleebek. The ambassador, Kaitha's sister, gives them some possible locations for the Marbles, likely in the Mirewood, a place full of many nasty creatures. Afterwards, Gorm is quietly summoned by the ambassador's purse Kobold Burt, who tells him that he recognized the symbol on the Marbles as referring to the Leviathan Project and directs him to speak with a disfigured Orc in a drug den. The Orc tells him to speak with another Orc at the Orcish town of Bloodroot.
The party gears up and departs for Mirewood. In a town at the edge of Mirewood, the innkeeper suggests they buy a few purple trinkets for "the King in the Wood", a mythical protector. While no one believes in the King's existence, they end up buying the "purple". In the woods, they find the remains of thugs that, unbeknownst to them, were lying in ambush for them. The thugs were taken out by undead. Kaitha wanders off in order to get a fix of a healing salve (she's a salve-head). She happens upon a beautiful garden and feels someone watching, whom she assumes to be "the King in the Wood". The party locates a tower, which is home to a group of Lizardmen. They attack the Lizardmen, only to discover that there is also a stone drake living in the tower. They manage to get rid of the Lizardmen and the drake but find no trace of the Marbles. They return to the town, where Gorm is surprised to find Flinn and Brunt there. The Ogre hurls Gorm through the barn wall, where he comes face-to-face with a surprised Troll. The Troll takes Gorm into the woods, and they talk (after Gorm realizes that trying to kill a creature with a ridiculous Healing Factor is pointless). He realizes that the Troll, named Thane, is "the King in the Wood". Apparently, Thane has fallen for Kaitha but doesn't want to disappoint her with his ape-like appearance. He asks Gorm to secretly join the party and protect them from afar, but for Gorm to keep his existence a secret. Gorm is reluctant at first but then accepts.
They decide to head to Bloodroot to speak to the Orcs. On the way, they encounter a band of Orcs, who threaten them and take them prisoner. They are taken to Bloodroot and paraded on the streets, before being taken to see Chief Zurthraka. Thanks to Gleebek, who is able to communicate to the Chief, they learn that the Orcs weren't being hostile, they were trying to sell them their wares (namely, weapons), but their poor knowledge of Imperial and intimidating manner made them look less-than-friendly. Gorm also learns that "Gleebek"'s real name is Tib'rin of the River Turtle Clan, and "gleebek" is Shadowtongue for "hello". Under Zurthraka's leadership, the Guz'Varda Tribe has become a Proud Merchant Race. They toil in the Vorpal Corp factories, manufacturing high-end gear for the heroes, while also forging their own weapons, which appear to be of significantly higher quality, hoping to secure a financial future for their children. Gorm locates the Orc he was sent to find, who reveals more about the Leviathan Project, a collaborative effort by some of the most powerful noctomancers to rediscover the lost knowledge of the extinct Sten and learn the secrets of immortality. The Orc suggests they look at the Ashen Tower, the former home of Detarr Ur'Mayan, who also worked on the project.
At the tower, Laruna shows increasing skills with spellweaving, and Jynn grants her a Rank Up to a full mage (she was an apprentice before). They search through the tower and find a painting, depicting Detarr and his son, who seems eerily familiar. Just then, Detarr himself appears, having become an undead liche after Johan beheaded him. Detarr immediately recognizes his son - Jynn. The heroes battle the liche, who seeks to kill them and raise them up to serve him. He summons a bone drake, but Thane intervenes and kills the creature without the party seeing him. They manage to get the liche to retreat and find the Marbles. With the party angry at Jynn for hiding the truth, they head back to Bloodroot, as they have decided to give the Marbles to the Orcs after all. Gorm decides that Tib'rin is better off staying among the Orcs and has a heartfelt goodbye with the Goblin. They depart and head for the closest town with a Guild office. They file the quest completion and status reinstatement forms and celebrate. Unfortunately, the clerk turns out to be Gorm old acquaintance the Mask, who destroys all the paperwork. Niln decides to head back to Andarun with the mercenaries and gives Gorm his scripture as a present. When talking to Jynn, he reveals that Princess Marja hadn't been kidnapped by his father. The King of Ruskan sent her to Detarr as a gift, before turning around and claiming kidnapping, so that Johan could be sent to kill Detarr. Gorm realizes they've been played from the beginning and are now little more than loose ends. At that moment, Niln is murdered by Flinn.
The party rides to Bloodroot, already knowing it's too late. Indeed, they learn that the settlement has been sacked by professional heroes after a quest was declared on the Orcs for "stealing" the Marbles. They find the bodies of many Orcs: men, women, and children, as well as Tib'rin's body. At Gorm's insistence, they build pyres for all the slain Orcs and the Goblin. They learn that the settlement is surrounded by two companies of mercenaries, led by Flinn and Brunt. Most of them hide in a guard tower, while Gorm is preparing to die. Then he realizes that some of the Guz'Varda have managed to escape and fights Flinn, cutting off one of his hands. Brunt knocks Gorm into a burning building, causing Gorm to go berserk for the first time in decades, becoming the legendary Pyrebeard once more. Gorm curb-stomps the massive Ogre and then proceeds to slaughter his way through the mercenaries, chasing the fleeing Flinn, with the rest of the party joining among the chaos. A third company is lying in ambush, only to be surprised and slaughtered by Thane. Flinn manages to flee. Gorm and the others decide that it's their responsibility to find and protect the surviving Orcs. Thane gives the dying Brunt a healing potion and convinces him to change his ways.
Meanwhile, after the sacking of Bloodroot, NPCs are fleeing the cities en masse, no longer certain that their papers will protect them. The businessmen are hailing it as the "Golden Age of professional heroics", since these Shadowkin and monsters can now be hunted and their property taken as loot. Kaitha's sister is returning home, only for her carriage to be stopped by Gorm and his party. Her companion is revealed to be the Mask. When the Mask refuses to name its employer, Gorm has Gaist kill the Doppelganger. The Kobold Burt decides to leave with Gorm and the party.
A year has passed. Gorm and the others have been looking for the Guz'Varda Tribe survivors, while tracking the progress of the Red Horde, an ever-growing group of Shadowkin, who have banded together in the wake of increased professional hero attacks. Zurthraka's eldest son Char has recently been killed in a raid. His wise sister Asherzu seeks to keep the tribe on their father's mercantile path, but others want to return to the old warlike ways. Her younger brother Darak is convinced to become the new chief of the tribe and of the Red Horde, despite his inexperience and reluctance to lead, and he becomes the puppet to the manipulative Grignot Gabuk'mug.
Meanwhile, there is another growing threat in Ruskan, with the liche Detarr Ur'Mayan gathering an undead army, and the Orcs' raids only help Detarr gain new recruits from the slain defenders. Learning about the undead marching on a Ruskan town, the party rushes to the town and tries to convince the town's bannermen of the threat. Knight-Commander Tyren Ur'Thos is initially reluctant to believe them but then gets confirmation in the form of the mages using an ancient omnimancer skrying artifact to locate the undead army. While Tyren rushes to inform his superiors and prepare the defenses, an elderly female noctomancer takes the party to her office and reveals that she is Aya of Blades, who previously worked on the Leviathan Project with Detarr Ur'Mayan. Aya tells them that Detarr is likely using the Crown of Iron Thorns to boost his necromantic powers and to exert control over the undead. The only way to stop him is to steal a powerful artifact from the Heroes' Guild. The group heads to Andarun. The town is attacked by the undead, who kill everyone. In a fit of cowardice, Tyren attempts to flee but still ends up dead and then undead. Thanks to his natural managerial skills, he becomes one of Detarr's closest advisors.
In Andarun, Gorm visits Creative Destruction, Inc., a company responsible for many of the latest inventions. His acquaintances there equip the group with a chronobomb, which hyper-accelerates time inside a bubble, making everything outside the bubble seemingly still. The group successfully steals the Wyrmwood Staff of Geffyn, a powerful omnimancer artifact. They travel to the fortress of Highwatch, where bannermen and the heroes are planning to make their stand against the undead. Their secret weapons are a series of orbs that appear to be able to destroy any undead in their vicinity, supplied by Yutani Arms Traders. Gorm's party climbs up the nearby mountain thanks to a secret path Burt knows. With Jynn's help, Laruna is able to use the staff to deal some damage to the undead army, but then Detarr appears to fight them, along with his infernal creatures. After destroying a hellhound, Jynn is shocked to see his childhood pet, a dog named Patches, appear, even though Patches died as a puppy. Apparently, Detarr used Patches's dead body in his experiments. Detarr then convinces the Wyrmwood Staff (a sentient weapon) to switch sides, so the staff flies to him. The Yutani orbs turn out to be a trap, laid by Detarr. They release a gas that turns anyone breathing it into an undead. Highwatch falls with few survivors. When flying away on a giant eagle, Johan stabs King Handor and then tosses him down. The undead are unable to reanimate the King's body, as anyone killed by a paladin is immune to undeath. Johan returns to Andarun and declares that the undead killed King Handor. He then courts Queen Marja, and they get married in short order, with Johan being crowned king.
After escaping from the undead, Gorm's party is ambushed by Flynn and his assassins, hired by Johan. With Thane's help, they are able to dispatch the assassins, although Flynn manages to escape. Thane's appearance causes Kaitha to panic and put an arrow in his eye. Shocked at this, Thane leaves. Once Kaitha realizes who Thane is, she resolves to find him and apologize. One of Flynn's poisoned crossbow bolts nicks Laruna. With no potions, Jynn is forced to reveal his greatest secret to save her - he is an omnimancer, hiding his true nature since he was little at Detarr's urging. While grateful for being healed, Laruna is angry at him for keeping such a secret. Also, during the fight, Gaist is revealed to have been a Doppelganger all along. Apparently, the real Iheen the Red did die many years ago, so Gaist has been pretending to be him ever since. Shocked at all these secrets, the party breaks up, and everyone goes their own way.
After visiting the Temple of Al'Matra in Andarun and asking the new High Scribe to copy Niln's books, Gorm resolves to bring the party back. He finds Kaitha in a rehab facility, Burt trying to get work as a purse Kobold, Jynn in an omnimancer colony, Laruna in a gladiator ring, and Heraldin in a tavern. They learn that Gaist has given himself up to Benny Hookhand's people under the guise of Heraldin. The party raids Benny's compound and learns that Benny is an actual hook, a sentient weapon that takes over the body of its host. Heraldin offers himself as host but then uses an anti-magic rune to disable Benny, before tossing the hook into the river. Gorm then explains his plan to defeat the undead while also screwing over Johan to the party. After they're gone, Flynn finds the hook and ends up becoming Benny's new host.
The party finds the Red Horde and is taken prisoner. Gorm convinces Asherzu that they were also played by Johan. Just as Darak is about to execute the prisoners, Asherzu challenger him for leadership without asking for a champion. Thus, she leaves Darak a choice: kill his sister, who isn't even defending herself, or give up his position of chief to her. He eventually relents and opts for the latter. Asherzu herself is then challenged by Grignot, but then Darak himself asks to be Asherzu's champion and easily kills Grignot. Gorm then tells her his plan.
Gorm travels to the Old Dwarven Kingdoms and meets with King Forder Hvarthson. He convinces the King and his advisors that the Old Dwarven Kingdoms can cover their economic losses by helping to defeat the undead. When it's pointed out that the Dwarves don't have nearly enough soldiers and heroes to take on the undead, Gorm suggests that they can give citizenship to those members of the Red Horde, who are willing to fight, thus swelling their ranks. Forder eventually agrees, and many members of the Red Horde receive Dwarven citizenship and hero licenses.
Detarr's undead army besieges Andarun. The outnumbered defenders settle for a long siege, but then Dettarr uses the Wyrmwood Staff to raise an ancient Sten pillar from beneath the ground and hurls it at the city gate like a giant projectile. The undead then flood through the opening. The overconfident Johan charges through the battlefield and meets Detarr in a duel, excepting the victory to be as easy as before. But Detarr is much more powerful now and is also better prepared.
The new Dwarven army is using a portal gate to travel from their lands to Andarun. But then the mineral powering the portal cracks, leaving a significantly smaller force to face the undead. The portal won't reopen for another hour. The party separates to assist the defenders. Gaist is injured, forcing Heraldin to take him back to be healed. Gorm's determination to bring Jynn to Detarr causes him to go berserk. Jynn's arrival gives the beaten Johan an opportunity to escape. Detarr angrily berates his son for interfering in his plans and prepares to kill him. Jynn has had enough of his father's constant put-downs. He embraces his omnimancy and realizes that the ancient Sten pillar holds incredible magic within it. He absorbs it and becomes the first omnimancer archmage in millennia. He fights Detarr and convinces the staff to betray Detarr and join him. Detarr tries to flee, only to be attacked by Gorm, who shatters Detarr's skeletal body. Jynn extracts his father's phylactery from his skull and takes the Crown of Iron Thorns.
Without the Crown, the undead stop attacking. With Tyren revealed to be a death knight, he becomes the new leader of the undead army and orders the army to leave Andarun and head for his ancestral castle in a remote part of Ruskan. After the battle, Johan is furious to learn that Gorm has figured out a way to keep the Freedlands from claiming any of the loot from the undead. He is eventually forced to accept Asherzu's terms that require all citizens to obtain noncombatant papers, not just Shadowkin and monsters. Privately, Johan and Gorm reach an understanding that neither will be satisfied while the other draws breath.
Jynn returns to the omnimancer colony and resolves to rebuild the Order of the Twilight. Most of the others want to become professional heroes again. Kaitha leaves to look for Thane.
In The Stinger, a dragon appears to burn a Ruskan fishing town to the ground.
Many months have passed. Gorm continues going on quests with Kaitha and Gaist while looking for ways to expose Johan. Jynn teaches young omnimancers, while Laruna tries to become a pyromancer. Heraldin seeks to become famous by getting the song rights to their adventures, but the others refuse to consent because they don't want the details to spread (and because they've heard Heraldin sing). Meanwhile, what appear to be dragon attacks have increased in frequency all over the Freedlands, burning down entire villages with no survivors. Gorm decides to follow up on a lead involving fire olives that are being smuggled into the Freedlands from the Southern Empire. Eventually, they locate a secret compound run by priests of Tandos who are using an artifact called the Eye of the Dragon to control drakes and use fire olive oil to simulate dragon attacks. They're able to steal the Eye of the Dragon and documents proving Johan's involvement in the attacks while also destroying much of the compound. Johan realizes it was Gorm but can't move against him.
The Shadowkin have formed their own corporation called Warg, Inc., and are frustrated at the Lightlings treating them differently on the Wall. When Mrs. Hrurk shows herself to be competent at cutting through Lightling bullshit, Asherzu, who witnesses it, offers her a job at Warg, Inc. Duine is traveling with Thane, being forced to constantly move around because no one wants a Troll around. He urges Mrs. Hrurk to take the job, and she does, eventually figuring out how to use the Domovoy to produce what are essentially spreadsheets. She uses them to analyze the market and figures out that the dragon's hoard can't possibly be worth as much as the Lightlings think. She manages to convince Asherzu to divest Warg, Inc., of all dragon's hoard shares, and Duine chooses to trust Mrs. Hrurk's judgment, also selling all his shares of the hoard.
Queen Marja is tired of Johan often being away on matters of state and decides to join him in meetings. This doesn't fit into Johan's plans at all, and he announces that he will take a party known as the Golden Dawn (some of whom Heraldin recognizes as Benny Hookhand's assassins) to slay the Dragon of Wynspar in retaliation for the recent attacks. Several days later, Heroes' Guild Grandmaster Weaver Ortson receives a message sprite from Johan that suggests that the party was attacked by a monster of some kind that killed everyone. After two weeks, Ortson announces that King Johan has been declared "statistically dead." Queen Marja, who's been obsessed with novels about Star-Crossed Lovers, decides to eat poisoned teacakes to join her beloved Johan in death. At the funeral for Johan and Marja, a battered Johan returns and announces that the Dragon of Wynspar will need to be slain by the Heroes of Destiny (Gorm's party). The entire party is summoned to undertake this mandatory quest. Gorm initially plans to publicly confront Johan with the proof that he was repsonsible for the attacks and with the fact that there is no Dragon of Wynspar (because dragons are extremely territorial, and no dragon would tolerate Drakes in the vicinity), but he's made to realize that this is exactly what Johan wants. If Gorm confronts him, Johan will deny everything and instead accuse Gorm of manufacturing evidence, and everyone will believe their king and champion (while also keeping the economy of the Freedlands from collapsing). Still, many investors are starting to realize that the dragon's hoard is indeed overvalued and begin to divest themselves of the shares. Deciding not to fall into Johan's trap, Gorm simply accepts the quest in public, much to Johan's chagrin. Meanwhile, Thane learns that Kaitha is going to fight the Dragon of Wynspar and rushes back to try to keep her safe.
Johan's sanity starts to show cracks. He fires much of the palace staff, and much of the palace starts to be quickly covered in cobwebs without regular cleaning. Weaver Ortson accidentally lets it slip that he suspects that Marja's suicide was planned by Johan, and Johan admits it before killing him.
The party enters the dungeons under Andarun and makes their way past monsters. Eventually, they happen upon the bodies of the Golden Dawn and see that they were likely cut down by a sword. They find a vault secured with Stennish low magic but are attacked by the reanimated corpses of some of the Golden Dawn. Then the Dragon of Wynspar finally appears, destroys the undead, and attacks the party. Just as the dragon is about to spit fire at Kaitha, Thane jumps down onto its head and takes the brunt of the flame. His powerful blows hurt the dragon, and it goes back to its roost, while Thane dies in Kaitha's arms, as even Troll healing can't deal with such damage, and his body quickly turns to dust. When the dragon attacks again, Gorm and Kaitha try to jump over a chasm. Gorm makes it, but Kaitha seemingly falls to her death. The survivors try to figure out what to do next. The dragon is no longer interested in attacking them and is clearly hurt from Thane's blows. Laruna decides to use the Eye of the Dragon to communicate with the dragon and learns that the dragon only attacked them to protect something. The dragon reveals what she's been keeping safe: a bunch of Stennish statues. They decide to leave the dragon alone and return to Andarun by using a secret staircase that leads to the back of the palace.
Unbeknownst to the others, Kaitha survives her fall and witnesses some magical water streams that reveal to her the true history of Arth. It seems the Shadowkin used to live in peace with the Lightlings until the Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes turned on them and the Sten, not the other way around.
Gorm comes up with a plan to keep the dragon safe and to make Johan pay for everything, while also keep the Freedlands from total economic collapse due to the dragon's hoard being worthless. He gathers Warg, Inc., Duine (who's devastated to learn of his friend's death), a representative of the Dwarven branch of the Heroes' Guild, and several lawyer-monks. He then shows up at the palace gates and reveals to Johan that the dragon has been issued NPC papers and that Johan himself has been declared an F.O.E. and his palace a dungeon with hundreds of heroes preparing to raid it. During the raid, Gorm and the others notice the presence of giant spiders, and Gorm realizes that Johan must have taken something from the lair of Az'Anon the Spider-King during their last quest together many years ago. Jynn and Laruna go to the royal archives to do some research, while Gorm, Heraldin, and Gaist follow Johan into the dungeons, although Johan is unable to get far since Gorm blew up the secret staircase to keep Johan from slaying the dragon. Gorm tries to keep Johan talking to give Jynn time to do research. Jynn eventually learns the truth and hurries to stop Gorm from killing Johan. However, Gorm has already gone berserker and refuses to listen, dealing great damage to Johan. Then Johan suddenly explodes, reveailng the inky-black mass of tentacles that turns out to be Mannon. It seems Johan made a pact with him in Az'Anon's dungeon and has been doing the evil god's work all this time. Mannon explains that Arth is already almost perfect from his perspective, but he still needs to destroy those Stennish statues the dragon to secure his victory. Meanwhile, Al'Matra's madness recedes, and all her scribes reveal the truth about the War of Betrayal: Tandos was the traitor who started it, not Al'Thadan. Mannon offers one of them a chance to join him, while the rest would be killed as loose ends, but no one takes him up on it. Heraldin pretends to but uses the distraction to throw a powerful bomb at Mannon. He and Gaist then choose to stay back to hold the god while the others flee. They don't last long. Jynn and Laruna are the next to try to hold Mannon back but are also overcome.
More to come...
