The Time of Madness is at Hand

The Time of Madness is at Hand is a campaign set in Gernon. It takes place in 15 asr.

Player Characters

 * Trigwocket the Engineerateer, a gnome alchemist and gunslinger, and future founder of the nation of Trigwocket.
 * Kasidrek, a Fiend Spawn bard/rogue
 * Brynhildyr Torgrym, Dwarven Gun Tank (armored shotgun wielder)
 * Harkalios, a half-elf druid/ranger dedicated to fighting against the Scientarians
 * Fel Honeyrose, an elven bard/magus from the Whispering Woods that eventually became a magic performer and instructor in Nuhaven.

Important NPCs

 * Yotokono Kusetare: a human Drunken Monk, and future King of Kurosekai.

The Rest is Over
The party, after returning from their horrific ordeal with the Children of Kalderus, began to rest off the mental scars that they obtained. Shortly after arriving however, Kusetare leaves without the party knowing why. In truth, Kusetare had learned much about his ancestry following his encounters with the Spawn of Kalderus, and sought out to learn more about his past. After many months of recuperation, Luang Fu (former master of Kusetare and master of the monastery) gives the party a mission of utmost importance to reach the city of Caliyan. He believes that unless they go, the world may end. Word was sent to Brynhildyr to join the party in Caliyan, as her help would be critical to the final battle. Along the way, the party meets two woman, Fel Honeyrose and a fortuneteller by the name of Isabella. Fel was a Northern Elf who had been fleeing persecution in the Whispering Woods as the Scientarians finished their conquests of the region. After talking for a short time about their mutual distaste of the Scientarians, a notorious bounty hunter seeking Isabella and Fel attacked. He explains that he was to bring them in because the Scientarians had a bounty out for the two of them, he decided that she was not worth the effort with all these new crazy powerful types working with her. Instead, he offered his services to do something "special" if they paid his fee. They agreed, and the bounty hunter Flint killed all the remaining bounty hunters that were chasing Isabella and Fel. When the party was about to go separate ways Isabella divined the future: "A Spring, a gun, a tank, a squid. All and more there is when the time of madness is at hand. Dwarf and Elf shall take up hands, human and gnome shall reuinite. The destroyer arrives when the crystal emerges, and only the King will succeed". Isabella plead with Fel to go with the rest of the party and that they would need her help in the battles to come. But that she must go to Kurosekai on another mission.

A Long Journey North
A major port city and capital of a conquered kingdom now in the Scientarian Empire, the city of Caliyan was a hub of ships coming and going all of the time. In Caliyan, the group noticed some strange goings on regarding movement of materials that they recognized from their time with the Children of Kalderus group up in Quata. These were magical reagents similar to those that opened the magical portal in the room where the rabbit spawn was stationed. Sneaking aboard a steamship loaded with the reagents, they learned that the boat was filled with Children of Kalderus cultists. Deciding it would be better to stay onboard and see where the ship was headed rather than taking out the boat, they stayed stowed away. It took weeks, but eventually the ship sailed all the way through to Belleza, up the Dorian River, and all the way to Southpoint, almost at the far end of the continent from where they began.

It turned out that the town of Southpoint was quickly becoming a base of the cultists, and the town was joyously preparing for some large ritual. The group acted quickly, working to fight major leaders around the town to take them out without incurring the wrath of the town at large. They arrived just in time to stop the final summoning ritual to release Kalderus, but they were told that it was too late to stop him forever. His cage had been cracked, and with the continued rush of arcane energies that weren't stamped out on this plane, he would arrive any day now. The Time of Madness was now at hand.

The Time of Madness
The group desperately tried to consider what could be done now that things seemed to inexorably be heading towards disaster. Brynhildyr mentioned a holy site dedicated her deity Sire to the north called the Spring of Eternity, which may be the spring in Isabella's Prophecy. Upon arrival, a strange site they did not expect was there. A large crystal tower had recently emerged from the pool at the base of the spring, and the people in town had seen a strange monk go inside the day before. After fighting a massive tentacled monstrosity within the tower, Kusetare shows up and saves the day, revealing where he had been for the past few years. He had gone on a great journey of self discovery, learning of the circumstances of his birth and his blood ties to the throne of Kurosekai. This tower was created by his ancestors who had travelled from this region to Kurosekai a thousand years ago. It was a place that had been made to contain that awful tentacled thing, another Spawn of Kalderus. The entire group would have been killed save for Brynhildyr holding it back with her shield, and Fel's magic blasting away with incredible fluidity and grace. He gathered the group together, and activated a powerful magical artifact connected to his bloodline at the tower that allowed him to give them all the power of flight, and supersonic flight at that. Rushing as quickly as they could, they could see that they were too late. Kalderus was already breaking through.

Alek Tellumnar and his army joined the party to fight the godlike monstrosity, and he was killed defending the city despite using his newest invention, the Tellumnar Tank, to defeat the beast. Upon the conclusion of the fight, the city was in disarray and leaderless with the loss of Emperor Alek, and thus the drunken monk Kusetare became king. It would be many long years of war before the ascension was made permanent, but with his friends by his side they could face any challenge that came their way.