Fantasy Campaign

This is a summary of the AD&D second edition campaign I ran.

Special note: the players remained unaware of the world's history prior to the cataclysm as did most of the races except for the High Elves. The full story not being revealed to them until the final chapters of the first campaign.

Talisman - The Enemy Within

20,000 BC 

- The Elves first meeting with the Dwarfs leads to war

17,000 BC 

- Human colonists arrive from an unknown and long forgotten planet

- They immediately befriend the Dwarfs, which leads to the Elves seeing them as a new enemy 

- The Elves ambush the main human camp and slaughter 40% of the colonists and destroy their ships, only the intervention of the Dwarfs prevents a total massacre

-The surviving Humans move into Dwarfen cities where they find a race eager to learn their technological secrets 

16,065 BC 

- Together the humans and Dwarfs are able to create a series of portals using salvaged remains from the colony ships

14,000 BC 

- The Elves experiment with dark powers leading to the Chaos gods gaining a foothold in this world and the creation of the Skaven race

- This leads to the first civil war within the Elven race, with the lower castes splitting off to become the Wood Elves and Wild Elves, and leaving

- The High Elves abandon the dark powers leading to another split with those who wish to continue, and eventually become known as the Dark Elves

13,670 BC 

- The High Elves enslave the Kender as their servants while the Dark Elves continue experimenting, leading to the creation of such races as Orcs and Trolls

13,600 BC 

- The Wood Elves teach humans the secret of magic and the names of the gods of Order 

13,500 BC 

- Avalon is built by various engineers from the Human, Wood Elves, Dwarf and Gnome races

12,042 BC 

- The High Elves assault Avalon, but unable to take it instead phase the entire city into a dark limbo

- In retaliation a combined Human and Wood Elves force liberates the Kender from the High Elves

11,000 BC 

- Humanity spreads over most of the planet. Almost as if in counterbalance the Skaven do likewise

1151 BC 

- Aeneas the only surviving Trojan general flees the fall of Troy with his troops

1139 BC 

-  After 12 years of fighting supernatural enemies with the aid and opposition of various gods the last Trojans finally arrive on the shores of what would eventually become Italia

- They defeat the barbarian tribes there with the aid of the goddess Diana and claim the land for themselves

754 BC 

- Romulus the direct descendant of Aeneas unites his people and creates the city of Rome

- In Sarmatia meanwhile the Skaven complete their own city of Skavenblight in honour of their god the great horned rat

717 BC 

- Numa Pompilius becomes the new leader after the death of Aeneas during an assault by a Skaven army

- He introduces law and order and expands the temple system for the Roman gods

672 BC 

- Tullus Hostilius takes over after Numa is killed while going to the aid of a Dwarf village against the Skaven

- The alliance between Dwarfs and Humans is renewed after centuries of neglect, Tullus also introduces the military code of honour

640 BC 

- Ancus Martius is next to take over after Tullus is slain fighting against the Carthaginians

- He is the first to form an alliance with the Wood Elves

- The Kender also begin integrating with Humans

616 BC 

- Tarquinius Priscus seizes control after assassinating Ancus

- He introduces the system of all Roman allies receiving the same benefits as full citizens

578 BC 

- Servius Tullius takes over after the sons of Ancus assassinate Tarquinius. He introduces the census and divides the army into centuries

550 BC 

- Tarquinius Superbus the son of Priscus assassinates Servius and takes over as a tyrannical and unjust ruler. He does however introduce sanitation and the sewerage system

509 BC 

- Lucius  Brutus leads a rebellion which overthrows Superbus' family and creates the Roman Republic Senate. A constitution, colleges, magistrates and consulates are introduced

- He is the last of the legendary wise leaders until the rise of Caesar

390 BC 

- Rome loses Veii to a combined Celtic/Gaul invasion

343 BC 

- Rome finally conquers the neighbouring Latin countries

271 BC 

- Pyrrhus conquers the remaining neighbours creating the Italian continent as it is known today

256 BC 

-This period sees the necessary creation of the Roman navy

229 BC 

- Tired of piracy of its merchant boats and assassination of its ambassador Rome invades and crushes the kingdom of Illyria

211 BC 

- Rome is pushed back from Espana by Hannibal's invasion with the aid of the Dark gods

208 BC 

- Hannibal invades southern Italy but his reinforcements are slaughtered a year later at the battle of Metaurus with the aid of the Dwarfs

205 BC 

- Scipio with the aid of Numidia invades Carthage forcing the recall of Hannibal to defend it

202 BC 

- Hannibal and his army are finally crushed by the combined Roman, Numidian and Dwarfen armies

- Carthage surrenders and is plundered of its treasures but allowed to survive

192 BC 

- Achaea becomes a protectorate of Rome

168 BC

- Macedonia falls to Rome

146 BC 

- Renewed piracy leads to Rome invading Carthage and burning it to the ground 

100 BC 

- Egypt, Gaetulia, Marmarica and Cyrenaica become Roman protectorates

52 BC 

- Gaius Julius Caesar defeats all of Gaul and becomes feared by Pompey the current leader of the Roman empire

- The dark gods recognising him as a champion of order begin manipulating events to prevent him bringing in a golden age

48 BC 

- Caesar rebels against Pompey capturing all the protectorates outside Rome for himself and installing Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne overthrowing the previous Pharaoh who was a chaos worshipper

45 BC 

- Caesar takes control of the Roman empire and kills Pompey

44 BC 

- Caesar attempts to create sweeping and just reforms but is killed by Brutus and other members of the senate who were until now secretly chaos worshippers

- Marc Antony and other loyalists flee to the east

43 BC 

- Octavius takes control and a year later  kills Brutus and his followers

- Octavius remains unaware that his advisers serve the chaos gods and turns a blind eye to the corruption now entrenched in the senate

36 BC 

- Marc Antony marries Cleopatra

30 BC 

- Egypt crushed by Rome, Marc and Cleopatra commit suicide                    

0 

- Year of Christ's birth

- A massive Skaven army invades the Roman empire crushing all before them

- The corruption within the senate prevents it from taking action, any who attempt to simply disappear

- Other humanoid races come under similar attack, but not being splintered like Rome are able to unite against the Skaven

- A powerful spell cast through the deaths of many Dark Elves causes all worshippers of the gods of order to forget the names of their gods

- This is followed by the Skaven simultaneously destroying every temple they can find while Human dark Occultists do the same within cities

- This has the immediate result of all Clerical magic being lost

2 AD 

- Sighurd a Germanian unites the Celtic, Roman, Dwarfen, Wood Elves, Kender and Gnome armies to halt the Skaven on the outskirts of Rome

- The Dark Elves meanwhile launch a vicious invasion on the High Elves

15 AD 

- The High Elves prove far more adept than anyone realised at fighting wars and rout the Dark Elf army. This causes the Skaven to be left without reinforcements and  are then pushed back outside the Roman empire by the various allied armies

16 AD 

- In the aftermath of the war Duncan becomes the new Dwarf king while Kithkin takes over as king priest of the High Elves and forms a treaty with the other races

- Knights are introduced

100 AD 

- Maximus Glavius elected the new Caesar as once again the Skaven and their dark allies are on the march

THE GAME BEGINS:

101 AD - 1/ The Karthag Mines

- Kremos a human, Hawksteel an Elf, and Ken a Kender are each enslaved by skaven at the age of twelve. They are taken from their tribes  and sent to the slave mines at Karthag in Sarmatia. They are beaten and whipped daily by the skaven for the next 3 years while working in the mines.

- Laura a half elf paladin leads a small commando group into the mines to discover what the skaven are searching for. Her group discovers the slaves and free them. Kremos and Hawksteel take their revenge on their captors while Ken sets fire to the Skaven barracks after locking them in.

- Fighting their way through to the top of the mines Hawksteel, Kremos and Ken are separated from the others in the sewers and pass through an arcane gateway.

2/ Avalon

- The three wind up in the legendary and long lost Avalon

- The city is trapped in between dimensions surrounded by a darkness which causes them to feel fear anytime they try to peer out into it

- They decide to explore the city but are soon ambushed by an army of skeletons and zombies

- Using guerilla tactics they are eventually able to defeat their slow witted enemies

- Immediately after while drinking from a blessed fountain Kremos receives a vision from Mercury urging them to prevent the coming darkness

- Eventually they locate Nightshade the guardian of the city and free her from her lich captor by decapitating him

- In return she gives them one talisman for each of the lost gods instructing them that once each amulet is given to its true owner the name of the god will be revealed and its influence restored

- Kremos chooses the path of a ranger, Hawksteel a knight while Ken....well he becomes a thief and is quick to practice his skills until Kremos threatens to shove his head up his arse if anything else ever disappears

- Nightshade then shows them a portal which they can use to return to earth, she must remain to guard the city

- They appear in the Emperor's court in Rome during the slaves' citizenship indoctrination ceremony, time having passed much more slowly in the other dimension

- As a reward for their efforts the Emperor offers Kremos and Hawksteel their own fortress near Naples, the only catch being they first have to clear out the Hobgoblin army squatters

- They decide to rise to the challenge and promptly put its occupants to the sword

3/ Alicorn

- A week later the trio decide to begin distributing the talismans to their true owners

- The first talisman teleports them to Ravenna in the upper north of Italy. Once there they approach the local priest and give him the talisman. However it burns his hand and he has the three expelled from the temple

- They decide to stay the night and later that evening are witness to a goblin bandit attack on the town

- Hawksteel and Kremos quickly puts 7 of the 8 goblins to the sword with only one managing to escape. They follow him back to the main camp and proceed to massacre all its inhabitants bar one

- The last one is found cowering in the bushes by Hawksteel who noticing the sudden glow of the nature talisman decides to hand it to him instead of killing him

- The glow transforms the goblin called Clumsy making him larger and more confident. He then reveals that the rest of his tribe is in the process of hunting down a unicorn for its valuable horn

- The four then rush to the unicorn's aid and succeed in dispatching the goblins and their leader to whatever hell goblins go to

- Clumsy uses his new found abilities to heal the wounded unicorn and then informs the trio of his intention to return to his people and change their ways. Before leaving Clumsy informs that the true bandit leader was the local priest they first met

- Leaving Clumsy the three head back to the town and remove the priest from his duties and his head

- The link with the goddess Demeter is restored

4/ Delphi

- The talisman of knowledge teleports them to Delphi in Achaea, a matriarchal society where men are the slaves of women

- They are immediately arrested by the amazon royal guard an brought before Queen Meselina for judgement. She declares them spies from Rome and sentences them to execution at Delphi prison

- However Ken manages to escape and makes contact with the local rebellion. Together they succeed in organising a jailbreak for Ken's friends and the other prisoners slaying most of the warders and the prison captain

- Hawksteel, Kremos, Ken and the rebels make their way back to Delphi only to find a civil war raging between the monarchist and republic forces with many women turning to the rebel's cause

- Battling their way into the palace they send the queen and her head priestess to meet their makers

- Hawksteel then discovers that one of the male slaves is the next talisman recipient and hands him the knowledge one. He and the other victors thank the trio for their help and then rush outside to finish the war

- The link with the goddess Minerva is restored

5/ The School of Nekros

- The three use the talisman of Dawn to teleport to Corduba in Espana, a city under siege from necromancers

- The local governor approaches them to ask their assistance in ridding the town of its undead invaders. They agree and travel to the city's cemetery

- Once there they quickly dispatch a small group of undead and the necromancer controlling them. After exploring the graveyard they locate a secret entrance leading deep below the cemetery

- Within they discover a school of necromancers and quickly put it out of business. Hawksteel then passes the talisman to a caged undead dragon they found during one of their battles

- It immediately transforms it back into a fully live queen gold dragon. She rewards them before flying off to seek an area to begin breeding a new race of dragons

- The link with the god Apollo is restored

6/ The final voyage of the Rose

- The next set of talismans bring them to Noviomagus in Brittania

- They arrive to discover the city in the middle of a panic with a Skaven galleon just leaving

- Kremos and Hawksteel grab the nearest rowboat, quickly catch up to the galleon named the Rose and help the Skaven contribute to the local food chain

- The captured slaves are then rescued from the hold and returned to their people with 3 of them receiving talismans

- The link with the gods Bacchus, Vulcan and Neptune are restored

7/ Bride of Betrayal

- They next appear in a palace in a city called Kyoto in a far distant country previously thought to be the stuff of fables

-  They are quickly approached by Tetsu who hires them to journey with him to aid his Shogun against a Pumpkinhead who has kidnapped his lord's daughter. While preparing the horses Hawksteel is enraged by the sight of Tetsu beating one of the slaves and threatens to kill him if he does it again

- They ride out and soon catch up to find the Shogun Tehwa and his men in a fierce battle with the Pumpkinhead and several hill giants

- During the course of the battle it comes out that Tehwa had promised his daughter to the Pumpkinhead in exchange for favour from the chaos gods and then reneged once he received his gift

- Hawksteel kills the Pumpkinhead but the group is then ambushed by Tetsu and some ninjas

- They are quickly dispatched but Tehwa's daughter is killed by a stray arrow

- Not wishing anyone to learn of his dishonour Tehwa and his surviving men then attack Hawksteel and Kremos only to be themselves slaughtered

- They return to the palace and pass the nest talisman to the slave who was beaten by Tetsu

- The link with the goddess Venus is restored

8/ Granite Mountain Prison

- The next talisman brings them to Augustodurum in Lugdunensis, a city still in the grip of the Skaven

- As fate would have it they arrive right in the middle of a Skaven temple and quickly put most of its inhabitants to the sword

- The 3 flee outside and within minutes are contacted by the local rebellion and guided to their headquarters. There they are met by one of Hawksteel's lost sisters Darlin who explains that his brother Skylor was the leader of the resistance but was recently captured and taken to the Granite Mountain Prison

- After making plans she leads them to the prison where they proceed to remove the guards from their jobs and genitals. All the prisoners are freed and the inside of the prison set alight

- The talisman is passed to Skylor who heads back to the city with the rebels to liberate it. 2 of the prisoners however join Hawksteel's group; Banok a Gladiator and Goodfornothinglayabout a Wizard

- The link with the goddess Juno is restored

9/ Spirits of the Earth

- They are next teleported to Mediolanum at the edge of the empire

- Upon arrival they are approached by the guard unit of the local fortress who demand they hand over all their valuables and weapons. The group complies by putting their weapons into the units' stomachs

- They then notice a forest heading straight for the fortress. Realising that this is very untreelike behaviour they decide to investigate

- Within they discover Wild Elves being massacred by troops from the fortress. Hawksteel and the others are quick to enter the fray and add to their respective body counts by siding with the Elves

- The Treeant queen then approaches and thanks them all for saving her subjects. Goodfornothing however is forever banned from any forests due to trying to burn her woods down

- Hawksteel passes the next talisman to one of the Elves and returns to the fortress to rid it of its centurion and promotes a well respected decurion in his place

- The link to the god Pluto is restored

10/ Siege

- The group arrives at Narona, a Dwarfen city under seige from an Orc army

- As the battle turns against the Dwarfs Hawksteel is finally able to find the last recipient, passing her the talisman of Jupiter

- Using the talisman in a way not previously realised by other recipients she is able to summon a legion of fire and earth elementals to decimate the Orcs

11/ The Darkness Within

- The group returns to their castle only to find the peasants working for them have been kidnapped by a female green dragon

- She demands that in exchange for freeing the hostages they must rescue her eggs which have fallen down a crevice

- They agree but what Banok doesnt break Goodfornothing fries with fireballs during a battle with goblins

- Upon their return the dragon is enraged to discover that all her eggs have been destroyed and she cremates all the hostages

- The group in turn decides to have dragon for dinner

- Just as the battle ends  Apollo appears and teleports the group to Tarsis the Elven city, then disappears

- There he is reunited with his brother Brimdel and sister Loreal who now both rule there

- While Brimdel welcomes everyone, Loreal is disgusted that Hawksteel is associating with non Elves

- Later she tries to recruit them  to stop an evil monster on an island off the coast which is trying to bring back the city of Avalon. She reveals that during the last war the Elves used their magic to transport the evil Avalon to another dimension

-  Having been to Avalon Hawksteel is suspicious of Loreal's motives but agrees to journey to the island

- Upon reaching the island Loreal immediately attacks the monster along with all the group except for Hawksteel who notices his own talisman is suddenly glowing brightly

- Hawksteel intervenes in the battle, passing his talisman to the monster

- The monster is then transformed into Kreoll, Barthold's other brother who then reveals the true history of the Elves and the Human colonizers

- He also tells of how Avalon was first translocated due to the guardian of the city preventing the Elves from their final victory against the humans

- In an attempt to make up for the past and remove the Skaven threat Kreoll was trying to bring Avalon back but was polymorphed into monster form by Loreal

- While Kreoll performs the bridging ritual Hawksteel protects him by engaging in a sword duel and ultimately being forced to run Loreal through

- Kreoll is able to restore Avalon causing the balance to finally be restored

- Soon after reports begin to arrive of a massive Skaven and Orc army approaching Avalon with the aid of the High Elves 

- The group is able to rally the Dwarfs, Wild Elves and Wood Elves, Halflings and Kender to defend Avalon

- The battle is fierce and despite the groups efforts the servants of Order take a heavy beating. The sudden appearance of a Goblin army causes the servants of Chaos to cheer initially but this soon changes once the Goblin's new leader is revealed to be Clumsy who has come to fight on the side of Order

- The battle soon comes down to a single combat between the Skaven mage king (the chosen of Chaos) and Hawksteel (the chosen of Order). The fight is even with both combatants being heavily wounded. A treacherous Goodfornothing attempts to fireball Hawksteel but is himself incinerated when Ken rams his hoopla up Goodfornothing's arse disrupting his spell and making it backfire on him. Hawksteel is then able to decapitate the Skaven leader

- The sight of this breaks the morale of the Skaven army causing them to flee and leaving the Orcs and High Elves to be finished off by the forces of Order

- After this Hawksteel and Ken decide to return to Rome while Kremos and the rest continue the pursuit and extermination of the Skaven