Mists of Cormyr

The six-session campaign directly preceding The Chronicles of Amn, chronicling the adventures of Cirque de Suzail and the rise of Mordeth.

It fell apart after Stu moved to Tejas. Most of the details and relevant plot elements from this campaign where folded into the next campaign.

Back Story

 * Princess Alustair Obarskyr, the Steel Regent, falls somnolent and cannot be roused. Simultaneously, forces in the Parliament look to gain the throne.
 * The city of Westgate is leveled in a mighty explosion which no one can really explain; this seems to have crippled the Night Masks.
 * Nassim, Lord of the Light, issues the call to form the League of Extraordinary Paladins.
 * Finally, five adventurers and a man with amnesia arrive at a small Inn in the town of Immersea, looking for work ...

Part 1: Cormyr

 * Immersea: the group, as of yet unnamed, meets at the Five Fine Fish tavern to sit down for a meal; a nobleman of the Thundersword family hires them for a quick job.
 * The group is asked to transport some goods to Waymoot, a small fortress deep in the forest. On the way back, though, the goods are stolen by thieves.
 * The group is promptly arrested and put on trial. The Thunderswords pull some strings and have them all executed.
 * Fortunately, the Wyvernspur family also pulled some strings and had the gallows rigged to drop them into a dungeon, whereupon they went to work in some local politics.
 * First and foremost, though, they investigate the poisoning of the local forest; it turns out that some of the Fire Knives were behind it.
 * Cormyr: the group begins to unravel the plots at hand. The Thunderswords appear to be at the heart of an insurrection against the crown, while the Steel Regent is ensorcelled and Caladnei is in hiding.
 * The group attends a party at the Thundersword mansion; this is where Loralei becomes pregnant with the child of Armen Cormaeril. This was also the first mention of Mordeth, as a servant of Armen's.
 * The group tracks down Sylvia Molrin, sister of Nassim Molrin; she works with Caladnei and offers some insights into Devin Lithengar, the main nobleman behind the insurrection.
 * The group becomes Cirque de Suzail when they turn into a traveling circus and entertain the Lithengar estate.
 * The group learns that Talis has amnesia. This doesn't prove to be a problem until later.
 * Suzail: capital of Cormyr.
 * With proof of Lithengar's treachery, the group storms the Cormyrian palace and works their way through some very odd puzzles to reach the treasury.
 * Devin Lithengar is slain, and the Steel Regent is saved!
 * However, Armen sneaks away with the first of three Prisms.

Part 2: Sembia

 * Hilldale: the group is sent, ambassadorial style, to Hilldale, where Miklos 'The Silver Raven' Selkirk is attempting to annex it.
 * There is a complex dinner-party where the group is grilled on political theory and table manners; they fail abysmally.
 * However, they thwart the assassination attempt against Miklos, so they're allowed to leave the castle alive.
 * All except Ulfgar, of course, who perished when the assassin -- a clone of Talis (a Shard) detonated.
 * The group makes its way through the Dalelands and heads toward Cormanthor.
 * A slight detour lands them in Ashabenford, but they are only there for an evening; the arrival of more Fire Knives and a second Shard drive them on a mad dash through the forest at night.
 * As the dawn rises, they find themselves in a clearing, surrounded by drow ... who are surrounded by Yet More drow. A single sneeze could have set off a massacre.
 * Instead, the servants of Vhaeraun bow out and leave the group to the servants of Eilistraee.

Part 3: Cormanthor

 * The group meets some new allies. They were brought here by a message from Xanaphia; here they meet Oryn and Saldar. All of them will assist the heroes in their quest.
 * Into the caves below Cormanthor, to root out Anchir Baenrae.
 * Oryn is behaving a little oddly, though his magic holds true.
 * Oryn goes berserk, killing Xanaphia with a disintegrate spell; Saldar makes a DC 30 will-save to avoid killing him outright.
 * The top tower: a fireball nearly kills them all instantaneously when they fall for an illusion.
 * Still, the battle is joined and won.
 * The group heads north, toward Hillsfar, with a second Prism for Dove Falconhand; Saldar and Oryn head east, toward Myth Drannor.

Part 4: Hillsfar

 * The second group (Harithan, Bahzell, Beckham, Alarik) head out on a different mission altogether.
 * Harriet is encountered. This was not her real name; Alarik simply renamed her and became her dad.
 * Through some travel, they found themselves in the valley of the Saurials, where they were given the third Prism.
 * Both groups arrive in Hillsfar shortly before the League of Extraordinary Paladins takes the place by force.
 * The Prisms are given to Dove Falconhand ... actually, Armen in disguise.
 * Brenalli becomes a gladiator.

Part 5: The Citadel of the Raven

 * The group watches the League head out, and then makes its way to the Bell of the Deep, which serves as the means by which to reach ...
 * The Flying Citadel, a fortress / device powered by the three Prisms.
 * When the battle is joined below, the group begins the fight against Armen. Miranda is there to help.
 * Mordeth kills Armen, steals the crystals, absorbs ALL the energy and ascends to partial godhood. The Citadel drops out of the sky.

Cirque de Suzail

 * Talis Cormaeril, a man with amnesia
 * Harithan, a druid, with Kaskus
 * Bantil, a rogue pretending to be a cleric
 * Loralei, a former Wandering Guardian
 * Ulfgar Ironwill, a dwarven monk
 * Brenalli, a blind elven wizard

Side-Group

 * Harithan and Kaskus
 * Bahzell, a half-orc monk
 * Beckham, a half-elven bard
 * Alarik the Pirate

NPCs of Note

 * Armen Cormaeril - last scion of the Fire Knives.
 * Miranda DuLaras - a mysterious woman who knows Talis ...
 * Devin Lithengaar - an ambitious Cormyrian nobleman.
 * Nassim Molrin - Lord of the Light and Wandering Guardian.
 * Sylvia Molrin - Nassim's sister and assistant to Caladnei.
 * Colin Grint - a former Purple Dragon turned mercenary guard.
 * Wyvernspur Family - a collective of nobles living in Immersea; they arranged to prevent the execution of Cirque de Suzail and put them on the path to stop the Lithengaar Insurrection.
 * Thundersword Family - a closely knit family of nobles also living in Immersea; they had ties both to Lithengaar and to Armen Cormaeril. What few survived the campaign were ultimately executed by order of the Steel Regent.
 * The Shards - automatons created by dark parties for assassinations.
 * Miklos 'The Silver Raven' Selkirk - Emperor of the Sembian Empire.
 * Alustair Obarskyr - the Steel Regent of Cormyr
 * Caladnei - the Battle-Sorceress and Advisor to Alustair Obarskyr.
 * Mordeth

Themes
User:bwh writes:

In taking the reins from Stu, I was confronted with an obvious problem: the stories of these characters have received no closure. It occurred to me that I could set the story up to explore a simple question: "Where Are They Now?"

Of course, then I had another bright idea. A long time ago, I was running a Vampire campaign which faltered somewhere around Geneva because I made the campaign a bit too one-character-dependent. The themes from that campaign -- specifically, the question of identity -- were still very pertinent, so I talked to Jorge.


 * Talis would become a man without an identity, searching for himself and following the clues to discover the truth of who he is.
 * Mordeth defined himself by everything that he was not, and sought to unmake the universe so that his emptiness would be reflected.
 * Miranda remained convinced that she was the true Miranda -- but even that Miranda had so many different sides that no one could really discern which was which.

The others weren't quite so well-integrated (the campaign didn't play out long enough), but the threads were there (Bantil's search of the tome; Brenalli's dead Master, killed by Mordeth; Ulfgar's definition of self based upon his ties to others; Harithan's quest to find his parents; Loralei's search for a purpose).

Before the end of his life, Talis would come to define himself on his own terms ... and Mordeth's insanity would cause the complete extinction of his self. Miranda ... well, she could have gone either way.

Criticisms

 * Use Some Wizards, Would You?: Brian's first attempt at DM'ing left the players with a bit of commonality in foes ... specifically, there was a dearth of casters of any variant.
 * He Did What??: an unfamiliarity with the rules led to Ulfgar's untimely demise, when a clone of Talis blew up, taking the dwarven monk with him. Note that Spell-Like Effects are not the same thing as Spells.
 * Umm ... what happened?: This campaign fell apart during the rising action, causing a bit of confusion as to what had happened with the plot. This was eventually resolved, in its entirety, in The Chronicles of Amn.

Unanswered Questions
As many of the open ends were handled in The Chronicles of Amn, there shouldn't be a whole lot left to say concerning this time period in Faerunian history. If there is, the DM encourages the players to post accordingly in the Talk section.

Answer: Calimport, courtesy of the hands of the Black Diamond.
 * What ever happened with those Torvanki things, from the side-quest and from Talis's recurring dreams? Was there ever any closure with that? Their sigul didn't appear on the bracers Asmodian was wearing ...
 * Where'd that third prism come from, anyway?

Console RPG Clichés
As part of a running gag, the DM inserted as many different elements from certain games into the campaign as he could. This practice was extended into The Chronicles of Amn and is not apt to be repeated. (Intentionally.)