What Lies Beneath
Earthquakes have ripped through Tyria, Cantha, and Elona, leaving huge fissures in the land.
Exploring those fissures revealed a maze of underground complexes, which we call the Depths.
In these Depths I found Ogden Stonehealer and his dwarven party, evacuating their supply depot in the face of a deadly threat.
We were set upon by powerful, inhuman creatures called Destroyers, and escaped only through the knowledge of an Asura named Vekk.
Vekk found a magical gate to the Far Shiverpeaks, far from all our homes.
There we encountered one of the natives, a huge Norn named Jora.
Jora has little time for us, but directed us to a great structure known as the Eye of the North. There we found a few other humans, namely the remains of the Ebon Vanguard and a young Ascalonian woman, Gwen.
Ogden, Vekk, and Gwen all have their own idea of what must be done next, but we will travel together, as there is strength in numbers..
The Missing Vanguard
Gwen is a refugee from Ascalon and a former prisoner of the Charr.
Fleeing north after her escape, she joined up with an Ascalonian unit, the Ebon Vanguard, under the command of Captain Langmar.
The bulk of that unit has been on patrol in the east, in the Charr Homelands, raiding the Charr rear echelon and tying up forces that would otherwise be in Ascalon. The the Vangaurd is now overdue, and Gwen fears the worst.
Impatient and angry at the Charr, Gwen wants us to find the Ebon Vanguard.
If we do not, I fear she will go after them by herself.
Against the Charr
We found the site of a battle in the Grothmar Wardowns, between the Ebon Vanguard and a larger, presumably Charr force. There were heavy casualties but we believe that the bulk of the unit was captured, not killed. Following the trail, we found a large Charr encampment, but after defeating the Charr, did not find any humans. We did a Charr captive, Pyre Fierceshot, who claims to be no friend of the ruling shamans of the Charr, and is willing to help us if we in turn will help him rescue his warband. Gwen would rather kill this Charr than look at him, but if he holds the key to rescuing the Vanguard, we should take up his offer.
Warband of Brothers
The Charr have been ruled by their Shamans, who claimed their power through the Titans, the Charr's supposed gods. With the Death of those "gods", the Shamans were scrambling for new deities and selected the Destroyers. Pyre's warband disagreed with the Shaman and were captured and slated for sacrifice for their protest. We have freed Pyre's allies and, after a brutal interrogation of one of the surviving priests, learned that the Ebon Vanguard are to the south, in the Sacnoth Valley, and that they are to sacrificed to these "new gods". Gwen has grown angrier by the day, and lashes out at Pyre at the slightest provocation. Prye, for his part, seems to enjoy iritating her, though I sense that he sees something in Gwen's behavior that he understands all too well.
Assault on the Stronghold
The Hierophant's Stronghold has fallen, Hierophant Burntsoul is dead, and the surviving Ebon Vanguard has been rescued. Pyre's warband and knowledge of Charr tactics proved to be invaluable in defeating the shamans, though Burntsoul chose to unleash the Destroyers on us all rather than surrender to us. For her part, Gwen seems to be better as well. She still hates the Charr, but no longer lets that hate control her. Perhaps this is what Pyre Fierceshot saw in her - the Charr see fear and anger as natural emotions, but they are only dangerous when they are out of control. Gwen seems in control of her fear, and her anger. I doubt she will thank Fierceshot for the lesson.
The Far Shiverpeaks
Ogden feels that the best course is to rally allies to fight against the Destroyers, and after being chased from the Depths, I can see his point.
There are precious few dwarves and men in this land, and those that exist are here for other reasons The main natives of these mountains are the Norn, Jora's people; a huge, proud, independent race of shapechanging warriors. The first Norn we met, Jora, is friendlier than most, but has lost her ability to "become the bear" and therefore has little status among her people. But she may be the key to convincing the Norn that the Destroyers are a threat to us all. Ogden, at least, hopes so.
Curse of the Nornbear
Jora's curse resulted from encountering a taboo area, which denied her her shapechanging ability while turning her brother into the monstrous Nornbear. With our aid, Jora confrtoned and defeated her brother, and in thanks she has joined our group. Ogden wishes to find more powerful Norn, such as Olaf Olafson, to aid in our quest, while Jora must seek out an older Norn, Egil Fireteller, for how she must regain her honor. We can do both, I think, though Ogden grows more frustrated by the day."
A Gate Too Far
Olaf Olafson controls is a typical Norn, as willing to brawl as to discuss things rationally. He is willing to meet with us, but our "discussion" was interupted by a large group of Destroyers bubbling up from Raven's Point. Olaf accompanied us as we sought out the source of this corruption, and discovered, as Vekk surmised, a functioning Gate in the depths of the Shrine. Olaf is now committed to the idea of fighting the Destroyers, though this seems to be more the result of them being "worthwhile prey" than the fact that they desecrated a holy shrine. Still, he has proved a valuable ally, since he has contacted King Jalis Ironhammer of the dwarves. Soon Ogden's people will arrive, and the battle against the Destroyers will continue.
My Side of the Mountain
Under Egil's guidance, Jora sought to redeem her honor and her name by retaking her homestead. Destroyed and abandoned, her family home has been overrun by marauding Charr from the south. We have dealt with the Charr through the blessing of the bear spirit, holy to Jora's people. Ogden is disappointed, hoping that helping Jora would cause the other Norn to help in great numbers, but such is not the Norn way. She will speak to her fellow warriors, and let them make their own decisions.
The Knowledgeable Asura
Vekk is extremely concerned about the Destroyers. His people were driven from their underground homes by these creatures, and now the Destroyers have taken over the Central Transfer Chamber which is the "hub" of many of the magical Asura Gates. He feels his people, with what he calls "their superior intellect", will come up with a viable plan to defeat the Destroyers. Finding them is the challenge - their main settlement is along the Tarnished Coast, west and south of here, and either we have to find a functioning, Destroyer-free gate or face a long walk.
Oola's Laboratory
The Asura organize themselves strangely, forming into Krewes that attempt particular tasks. In this case, the task is to build a superior magical device, called a G.O.L.E.M., to battle the Destroyers. For this we needed an Asura named Oola, who had squirreled herself away in the depths of her lab. Getting past her magical watchdogs, I had to use a little reverse psychology to get Oola on board. Vekk is impressed, and seems to be a little less superior as a result.
Finding the Bloodstone
Not all Asura are good-natured. In order to help with the Asuran project, we had to seek out a particularly acerbic Asura named Gadd, an expert on the Bloodstones. Vekk refers to him as egotistic, nasty, unpleasant, and insulting, and if anything compliments Gadd too much. We also are aided by a member of the Shining Blade, Livia, who was working with Gadd and put up with his insults in order to learn things to help Kryta in its Civil War. The two had a falling out, and Livia now travels with us. Gadd does not seem to care, but that seems to be Gadd's nature.
Genius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestation
The Asura G.O.L.E.M. project moved quickly once all the individual egos were sorted out. One of the original krewe could not make it, and Vekk stepped in, despite his misgivings on working with Gadd. We had to defend the foundary from Destroyer forces, and got the golems on-line only in the nick of time.
The victory came at a price: Gadd pushed the safety margin in his work and paid the price with his life. It was at this point that I learned the reason for Vekk and Gadd's continual squabbling: they were father and son.
Vekk is desolute now, but the Destroyers have been driven back and are less of a threat now to the Tarnished Coast.
Eye of the North
A threat has erupted from the Depths of Tyria. The Destroyers, a merciless, mindless, destructive race have boiled up from the heart of the earth, driving underground races such as the Asura to the surface and testing the defenses of the Dwarves. The Destroyers have overrun the Asura's Central Transfer Chamber, the hub of a series of magical gates, and now threaten the entire surface world. Some of the Dwarves feel that an ultimate battle is coming, spoken of in their Book of Rubicon, but for the moment we need to find allies, resources, and most of all knowledge to defeat this threat that ultimately imperils all the human lands.
Source of Destruction
The Eye of the North has revealed a final vision, and with that revelation we move towards a final battle. Vekk recognized the location as being beneath the Central Transfer Chamber, the hub of the Asura's magical network, and Ogden says that the ultimate danger is a creature from Dwarven legend: The Great Destroyer. We have rallied what allies we could among the humans, Norn, and Asura, and King Jalis himself has worked a great rite to invoke the power of the Great Dwarf and transform many of his people into stoneformed warriors dedicated to eradicating the Destroyers. We have fought deep into the Destroyer's territory, to the Central Transfer Chamber itself, and now go to face the Destroyer's master. The Great Destroyer awaits us.
A Time for Heroes
We have defeated the Great Destroyer, and in its wake its minions fall as well. Much like the Central Transfer Chamber was a hub of magical gates, the Great Destroyer was a central mind for the destroyers themselves. Eliminating that central mind crippled the Destroyers. Those that remain are unthinking engines of destruction, but now cannot swarm into great destructive hives. The victory does not come without price, for the bulk of the Dwarves have paid with their natural form and their minds, and now pursue the Destroyers deep into the earth. Yet peace, of a sort, reigns and the surface world has been saved the depredations of a deadly race of creatures. Peace is not eternal, I know, and there will be challenges in the years to come. We have found new peoples and new lands, and the place of mankind seems to be an ever-smaller piece of the creation of the gods. I can only hope that when the next great danger arises on Tyria, or in its Depths, that there are champions and heroes who are up to the challenge.