The Carth Saga

Arrival
When the party initially met Carth, Carth attempted to teleport the party to some hell dimension or nonexistent plane of reality, thus killing them. However, thanks to Ptolemy this was foiled. After activating one of Carth's teleportation links to the Astral Plane in the underground ruins of Thrymen, Carth's link will become aware of the party's presence and transport them to the Plane of the Spire, Carth's default punishment for trespassers. Essentially, these links do this to anyone who isn't Carth and attempts to use the links.

When the party arrives in the Plane of the Spire, they will arrive at the Plane Gate, on the coast of the Sprawl. There they will meet the Gatekeeper and Gaeis, who lies unconscious next to the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper will be sitting with a fishing rod, calmly staring out onto the ocean. He will not be surprised that the party is here, since he, as an extension of the Creator's consciousness, knows all things within this realm. As a manifestation of the Creator's manipulative and enigmatic properties, he will constantly be dropping hints about the nature of their visit.

If pressed for information about Gaeits, he will respond with the following.


 * "He simply wasn't ready. He wasn't ready for the filth of what he was getting himself into. For the real reason you're all here, though it matters not. He's here, as are you, and that is both comforting and damning."

If pressed for information about the reason they are here, he will respond with the following.


 * "I don't see why you're so troubled. It's what comes from bothering him. It could have been much worse for you. You should be grateful. At least he didn't kill you as he originally intended to when you. . . That damned meddlesome bastard. . . But don't worry. You have nothing to fear here. . . Except yourself. . . and everything around you. . . Everything inside your heart and everything your eyes perceive."

If pressed for information about the Plane of the Spire, he will respond with the following.


 * "Oh, it's just. . . Here. . . (points) And there. It's a peaceful place. . . for those whose minds enjoy fragmentation. Oh that? (in reference to the Spire) It's why you're here. . . It's why everyone comes here, or so I recall. He made it to be walked in, to be studied, to be lost in, to die in, to live in. It's the best and worst thing about this place."

After much inquiry, he will grow tired of the party's questions (since he knows their reason for being here and can really learn nothing from them) and rise slowly from his spot.


 * "I believe that's enough. There's no use dawdling on like this. You know too little to know too much at this point, and I know too much to let on too little. Though, I feel this ocean before us knows the most of us all and yet masterfully lets on nothing whatsoever. (addressing the ocean) I envy you, old friend. (turns to face the party) Come. It's been a hundred infinite years since I did this last, and I'd rather not put it off any longer. (fully transforms) I'm starving."

Gaeits and Washwick
A sudden increase in linked petty crimes caused by a servant of Carth sparked the interest of Gaeits to investigate the issue. As an overarching part of Carth's plan to ascend to his full form and swallow the world in darkness, Carth has begun to invade the minds of those weakest near him. Since he was present in the Southern Mountains, he targeted the nearby city of Washwick, specifically targetting a river hermit by the name of Kahl Bunyar. Kahl Bunyar has slowly been adding a magical substance to wells throughout the city that alters people's behavior. He has grown more audacious the more the magical effect has affected the population, unfortunately attracting the attention of Gaeits. Gaeits pursued Kahl to his next target well, and cornered him. Kahl, in his fear, called out to Carth for help, and Carth responded by banishing Gaeits to the Spire, where Gaeits met the rest of the party pursuing Carth.

The Sprawl
The party will wander through the sprawl, encountering chaotic manifestations of the early universal natural elements.

The Moat

 * The Ferryman guards the boat with creatures nearby
 * He ponders the deep quicksilver of the moat oblivious to everything around him
 * If the party is cautious, they can ambush him and restrain him


 * If not, he will summon his creatures to fight the party
 * The party cannot kill him, he will vanish in black wraith-like mist

The Gate

 * Pedestal holds the floating three ring puzzle/key.
 * On activation, it will glow with soft white arcane light.
 * A black angel will appear to warn them of their fate should they enter the Spire.
 * Speaks of the Master and the Creator as one being. This place is perfection for those who seek solace from the insufferable order of reality. Here, true chaos reigns on the fields of the Sprawl and the deep black of the ocean. The halls within contain the manifestation of the perfection of inner torment, the inner torment of the Creator. That is what awaits the party inside.
 * If the party is aggressive towards him, he will fight with them, only responding with warm and sadistic welcome to his and his brothers' realm as he vanishes in a tornado of black feathers.

Enter The Spire

 * The dark angelic brothers await the party in a large open hall of the Spire.
 * As the party enters, they will chuckle and appear before the four spiked pillars in the center of the hall.
 * Party must fight them to go further. Since they are believers in chaos, they do not believe others should enter the Spire unless they can slay any of its inhabitants, at which point they will happily stand aside and allow them to enter and plum the depths of the Spire. • After one angel is killed, they will offer the party safe passage through the main hall of the Spire, leading to a large staircase on the first floor.

The Archivist

 * Obsessive slave of knowledge attempting to preserve an organized catalogue of the surrounding world. Obvious mental issues in trying to categorize the random.
 * He will speak with the party at first, revealing a deep reverence for the Creator and Master. However, the longer the party is around him, the more fascinated he will become by the many facets and facts of their individual properties, history, and the like. Eventually, he will insist on "cataloguing them" revealing his precious collection of those who have visited the place before (dissected corpses held in a display case behind his desk.)
 * The books and catalogues will serve to conceal him and also to attack the party.
 * The party will only win by scoring successful hits against him until he yields, dropping a hint at how to get to the Master and the Creator if they really intend to leave this place, though he will insist it does not comply with the Master's and Creator's makeup or design for this world.

The Choir

 * While music plays, endurance checks to act
 * Medium DC within first two rounds, and Hard DC after first two rounds
 * Must deactivate two of the music boxes.
 * Strength check to open the case
 * Arcana check to reach past the enchanted barrier
 * Endurance check to hold onto the music stone


 * After all checks complete, standard action to remove the stone
 * The stone is the key to the door that leads to the outer stairs leading to the pinnacle of the Spire

The Outer Stairs

 * The telepathic tendrils of the mind that guards the shroud at the top of the Spire will attempt to invade the player's consciousness.
 * Each player must remove himself from the shroud or attempt to fight the aggressive entity prying in their mind.
 * If the player remains in the shroud for one turn, at the end of his second turn in the shroud, he must perform an endurance check or step into one of the small indentations in the Spire's outer wall (each spaced 25 ft. apart.)
 * Endurance checks will increase in difficulty for each additional time the player attempts to battle the Shroud's consciousness.
 * If the player fails once, he will suffer a brief bout of amnesia (a few seconds) and an incredible amount of pain in his head akin to a knife being plunged into his skull accompanied by the paranoid sensation that he is being observed from within.
 * If the player fails twice, his mind will be assaulted again more ferociously, leading to a comatose state that, if not healed by the next encounter with heal and benevolent arcana checks, will lead to the player's death from mental turmoil within, causing the body to cease its overall functions.

Atop the Spire
"You wish so badly to go to the Dark? Very well. May our Master and Creator have mercy on your souls in his domain. Welcome to the Dark, you fools."
 * The Ferryman will appear and battle the party if they attempt to activate the portal to the Dark.
 * There are a large number of portions of the blue pillar that are lifted out and twisted around so as not to fit in the grooves they were removed from. The players must put ten of these back into place to activate the portal.
 * OR after severely thrashing the Ferryman, he will teleport to the stares and utter the following.

The Dark's Gate

 * It serves as a link to the top of the Spire but only displays the Spire if it has been activated by a passcode. Otherwise, it displays a location on the Sprawl.
 * The party will notice a young man completely naked who appears to have claw marks all over himself and a large scar in his abdomen that appears to just barely have healed over.
 * "The pain" (caused from clawing at himself)
 * "The voices" (leftover effects from the Shroud)
 * "Get it out" and "It's in my skin" (leftover effects from the Shroud)
 * Last hint he will drop is "It's watching me. It's watching all of us. The damned thing is always watching." (referencing the Sentinel)

The Sentinel

 * A glowing orb will occupy the end of a hallway. It is sentient and speaks emotionlessly of protocol and forbidding imperfect beings to pass. Perfect beings are allowed to pass only because they are the only ones capable of passing through the chaos of this existence unscathed.
 * The orb can be shattered, but essentially will last until his round of chaotic traps are complete.
 * The orb will activate traps and enemies.
 * The traps will be a series of pure beams of white light that seem to emanate from the completely white surface of the room. These beams will not distinguish between friend and foe, so monsters that are summoned can be maneuvered in the way of the beams.
 * The monsters will be ranked in tiers. First, will be the beasts of the Sprawl, then a poison elemental, then an ice elemental, then finally the Ferryman. All combat will take place while the light traps go off frequently and randomly.
 * Each elemental will be a former victim of the Spire, bound and altered by the Sentinel to represent the perfect beauty of chaos. If the players die and are acquired by the Sentinel, they will be transformed into a mindless elemental entity.
 * After defeating the summoned creatures, the Sentinel will display indifference, considering the party "adequately suited to the essence of chaos." He will allow them to pass into the chamber of the Master and Creator.

The Creator
"If I were to tell you that, it would remove all elements of chaos from the equation. Carth, unlike myself, does not possess perfect faith, and thus by extension, does not possess perfect knowledge. Perfect ability. In fact, he will never attain perfection, though his darkness may achieve perfection, thus ruining your world. His greatest blemish is his greatest strength. However, that is neither here nor there. Your input in this series of events is what causes the ultimate outcome. Your chaotic, unpredictable nature will determine a fixed outcome. I know the outcome because I perceive all in perfection. But that does not mean the process should be any less jumbled, any less chaotic in nature. In fact, the more chaos I can introduce to the situation and to the string of events, the better it is for my pleasure and the intrigue in this course of events. Regardless of the outcome, it is the process I desire, the writhing, unpredictable snake of fate that courses its way towards the future.
 * The first consciousness to achieve perfect faith. His faith created a world where he was both god and devil. His chaos was not riddled by the limitations of evil but instead nurtured by the perfection of the unbridled forces of the world. No morality means no wrong. However, immediately following his perfect achievement, he achieved perfect mental acuity, leaving no surprise in the world. So, he killed himself to send himself to his own world to rule it.
 * He does not bear hostility to the characters, and is incredibly lonely due to the fact that he expects and knows everything.
 * He is no longer concerned with reality, but seems interested in furthering those whose existence revolves around it, because in this particular situation it presents the most amount of potential chaos in affecting the outcome of events in the real world. And chaos is his gem, his perfect love. Beings that survive his own world deserve the opportunity to return to reality to wreak their own chaos on the world.
 * He will know of Carth. He was with Carth's father when the abomination was conceived in the abyss. Before he damned himself to this world, he saw the essence of Carth's soul, the same essence of his father. He saw the potential fate of the world and ignored it. Because he already knows the outcome.
 * He will alert the party to the fact that Carth's plans are beginning to move, though they will take a few months to fully culminate.
 * Within those few months, Carth will have attempted to subdue the magic schools of the world to harness their power to bring forth his evil.
 * After this, the Creator will become disinterested in the party, knowing all they expect to do and the outcome of the entire conflict, and dismiss them back to the place they came from, the bowels of Thrymen.
 * If the party presses him for information on the outcome of Carth's actions and the potential actions of the party, he will respond with the following.

Thus, I release you, a gift to my own amusement, that you may cause a most delightful ruckus in the world, regardless of what I know is coming. It is my joy, my pleasure, the only insatiable relief to my quenched desire for intrigue in the ever evolving line of time. Enjoy it. And when you finally meet Carth, tell him his bitter old uncle says hello."

The Refugees of Thrymen and the Orc Assault
Here, the party will run across the oppressed population of Thrymen that went into hiding after Burlo's initial cleansing of the island years ago. If questioned, members of the underground community will not remember how long ago this cleansing took place since the endless days of hiding and scavenging have run together for all of them. However, they're all incredibly bitter and want to take back their right to live freely as the continent of Aeolos does (if the characters have not determined where they are yet, this will reveal that Thrymen is a part of Tyramel.)
 * If the discussion between the party and the refugees goes well, the refugees will want to recruit the aid of the party in sacking the village of Hoffhavan.


 * If not, the refugees will incapacitate the party by rendering them unconscious somehow.

The party will awaken in the middle of the night in the woods of Thrymen with no obvious trail detectable to lead the party back to the refugees. The party awoke due to a large amount of noise caused by a search party from Hoffhavan. Depending on the circumstances, the sequence of events that occurs might have a different outcome. A runner from Fairmeadow will arrive with horrible news. Whiteshore's port was attacked by a small orc fleet three days ago. The occupation force at Whiteshore fought to keep the port intact, but the orc onslaught was too overwhelming. The orcs have set up a garrison at Whiteshore and have slowly been encroaching on the rest of Thrymen. The runner's guess is that they want to use Thrymen as a base of operations for a potential assault on the rest of the Phrygian islands, starting with Andehil. No word has been sent to any of the other Phrygian islands since Whiteshore is Thrymen's only port and only source of transportation across the sea. The runner would also know that the orcs had been moving towards the town of Ela last he heard before he began his journey to Thrymen.
 * If the party reacts quickly, they have a chance to hide from the search party.
 * If not, the party will be found and immediately attacked by the vengeful militia of Hoffhavan.
 * If the party is currently in a fight with the Hoffhavan guards, the messenger will run into their midst screaming the news. The Hoffhavan people will stop fighting the party eventually.
 * If the party is hiding from the guards, they will overhear the discussion between the runner and the militia.
 * This presents two issues. The party can either offer their services or somehow apprehend or harm the militia. The problem this presents is that in either case, the rest of the people of Thrymen will be hostile towards the party. It's only the gradation that matters.
 * In the potential contract situation, the people of Thrymen know they are not strong enough to fight the orcs by themselves and will thus have to ask the party for help, though the party will be able to use this against them and manipulate the people of Thrymen if circumstances allow.
 * In the potential two enemy situation, the people of Thrymen will act desperately since they are pinned in from the coast and from within by two hostile forces. At this point, no people on Thrymen will look favorably on the party, since news of them and a description of each member of the party except for the new eladrin will have circulated quickly throughout every town, accelerated by the onset of fear in the wake of the orc onslaught.

The Orc Assault of Thrymen
The orcs fanned out from Whiteshore within a day of landing. They fortified the town, killing any and all who were found left in the port. They also sent two small contingents by sea to patrol the coast and secure any potential news leaking out by raft or makeshift boat. After this, they set out across the countryside, obliterating anything in their way. The last news that would have reached the ears of anyone on Thrymen was that they had been slowly advancing towards Ela, attempting to encircle the area. By the time the party and the town muster a counterattack, the village will have already been occupied and sacked. After this, the assault on the orcs will really depend on the party's actions and will take several sessions to culminate in the assault on Whiteshore, which will be detailed later in this section.
 * No matter what the actions of the party result in, Ela will begin any sort of assault on the orcs. The forests to the east and west of Ela will also be well guarded, so there will be no real difference in resistence if the party attempts to circumvent the area since the orcs are making a "wall" across the island and sweeping it forward.

The Orcs' Background and Carth
It has always been a well-known fact that the tiny islands that dot the Crystal Ocean to the west of Aeolos are inhabited by tribes of orcs. However, there has never been any sort of unity between the tribes, which makes this an incredibly rare occurrence. Essentially, Carth's rise to power has begun to manifest itself as he reaches his tendrils out towards the lesser creatures of the world. After subduing [INSERT NAME HERE], Carth took over the school of magic centered above an arcane well to channel his influence over the lesser creatures of the world, controlling them and bending them to his will. Unfortunately, at this point in Carth's development, he is incapable of maintaining this control unless he meditates directly over the arcane well. His subjects have secured the area where he resides, brainwashing the former school members, but he can only maintain the control for the time being if he focuses solely on that task. Thus, he cannot make moves himself. He can only manipulate those he can influence with this arcane-amplified power. Also, this entire operation on Carth's part has gone unnoticed because [INSERT NAME HERE] is in a secluded location in Harfall that never receives any visitors other than potential students. Because of the limited traffic, the ability of Carth's subjects to maintain the ruse that the magic school is still independent lasts long enough to draw new potentials into the school, at which point they are subdued and brainwashed.
 * The only sign linking Carth and the Orcs invading Thrymen will be an orc in Whiteshore that pauses while looking at Dorrance. He will alter his physical presence from the hulking, stooping, and lumbering presence of an orc to something more refined, with a straight back and proper posture.  He will smirk sadistically at Dorrance, cross his arms, and bellow "It's good to see you again." Immediately after saying this, the orc's savage nature will take over, revealing a pretty obvious change in character. What happens after that really doesn't matter.