The Search Begins

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0f800500dvldtc.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#6633FF" FACE="ForgottenUncial" ><B>Dark Kingdoms</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dark Kingdoms"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>The Search Begins</B>   |   <A HREF="id198.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Journey of Kerrick"><U>The Journey of Kerrick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id199.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hard to Hide"><U>Hard to Hide</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id200.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Swan"><U>The Swan</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id201.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions Answered, Questions Raised"><U>Questions Answered, Questions Raised</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>ADVENTURES</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id197.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Search Begins"><U><B>The Search Begins</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id198.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Journey of Kerrick"><U><B>The Journey of Kerrick</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id199.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hard to Hide"><U><B>Hard to Hide</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id200.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Swan"><U><B>The Swan</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id201.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions Answered, Questions Raised"><U><B>Questions Answered, Questions Raised</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>The search begins</B></div> <bR> <div> Krag Trollcrusher, nephew of the dwarven king Trollcrusher, travels from his home in the Heart Mountains to try to find allies to help destroy Darkskies, a dragon of terrible power. He travels to the town of Trader's Haven to the south. There he meets Markus O'Riley, a priest of the god Highfather. After speaking with Father Nawan, the high priest of Highfather in the city, Markus decides to investigate Riverwood for signs of a new monster spotted there, a strange creature with the head of a wolf and the body of a spider. While in the city the two also meet a scribe by the name of Jesper.</div> <div>   Jesper holds a map that seems to lead to an ancient tower in the Sea Mountains that once belonged to a wizard called Asmorph, one of the most powerful wizards in history, if he even existed at all. Krag decided that the tower might hold the answer to defeating Darkskies.</div> <div>   First the trio went to Riverwood, and there did encounter the strange monster, but did not do battle with the creature. After finding what they thought was the sorcerer's tower, they discovered that the entire building was an illusion and they were ambushed by the forces of the Dark Queen, and finaly had to face and fight the wolf-spider creature, called a spyder-fiend. To make matters worse, they were soon discovered by Muthog, one of the dark Queen's wizard-generals, and his troop of orcs. Fleeing from these forces, they stumbled upon the real tower they had been searching for, overgrown by the woods. Inside, they found nothing but a hidden room which contained a strange, magical rod...</div> <div>   Leaving the tower, the small band began travel back through the mountains. During the night, Markus was approached by a being who called himself Wergadeem, and claimed to be one of the last seven of a race called the Wind Dukes. He claimed that the adventurers had founf a peice to the Rod of Seven Parts, an ancient artifact not of this world. If all seven parts could be found and placed together, he claimed, the result would be a weapon that could destroy the Dark Queen. However, he was not able, or not willing, to provide more information. He claimed that the Dark Queen had placed some sort of spell upon the Wind Dukes that would not allow them to interfere directly in the search for the Rod. With that, the Wind Duke disappeared.</div> <div> Still on the run from Muthog and his orcs, the band seemed to be captured, but were suddenly aided by Torris Kaade, and escaped the clutches of Muthog once again. The band then located and traveled through an ancient dungeon, once a fortress in the ancient golden age. There they encountered more spyder-fiends and undead, but also found a magical blade called the Defender. Once they had traveled through to the other side of the mountain, they followed the urging of the rod to the south, to Gorgon Hill.</div> <div>   Once in Gorgon Hill, they company did not have long until they were once again dogged by Muthog. Escaping the city, they made their way to The ruins of Silver Fortress. There they battled dark elves. The defeated drak elf leader took them deep into the bowels of the fortress, now carved out into tunnels. The evil spyder-fiends had captured humans and forced them into slavery, mining for the forces of the Dark Queen. There seemed to be little hope of four adventurers to set the humans free from the drow and the spyder-fiends...</div> </td> </tr></table></body>