Sample file The Complete Campaign A Complete Fantasy Saga for 1st- to 20th-Level Characters

Campaign Director Original Adventure Cover Art Ryan Nock Storn Cook Tim Divar Executive Producer Cris Griffin Russell Morrissey Jeffrey Koch Rick Hershey Original Adventure Content Brandon Leach Jeremy Anderson Linda Luksic Wolfgang Baur John McSweeney Darrin Drader Ian Mullen Lydia Dene Claudio Pozas Jacob Driscoll Shannon White Andrew Kenrick Ken Marable Interior Art Ari Marmell Darren Calvert Russell Morrissey Luis Nuñez de Castro Ryan Nock Daniel Chavez Shane O’Connor Tim Divar Wil Upchurch effervescence.co.uk David Hendee Bonus Adventure Content Rick Hershey Tan Shao Han J. L. Jones Thurston Hillman Leo Lingas Chris Longhurst Michael LoPresti Ronnie Snyder Hunter McFalls Jeff Vincent Tony Monorchio Juan Navarro Narrative Prologue Ryan Nock Original Adventure Playtesters Jeremy Forbing Claudio Pozas Jeremy Anderson Matthew Kertz Todd Schumacher Jason Boss Laura Kertz Cover Art Joe Slucher Ted Brzinski Zachary Lancaster Claudio Pozas Joseph M. W. Turner Austin “Trae” Cooper III Rob Parks and artists of history* Neil D’Cruze Hamid Raoof Cartography Michael Gallogly Judson Stowe Sean Macdonald * Uncredited artwork in the public domain Orinthol Jixao John the Turner Frank Michienzi appears courtesy of “Public Domain Tom Jones Gabriela Viu Images from Karen’s Whimsy,” Layout and Typesetting http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images. Everything in this book, other than the covers, the title and table of contents pages, the illustrations Eric Life-Putnam and maps, character and place names, story elements, “EN Publishing,” the EN Publishing logo, EN Publishing product titles, the Prologue, the Foreword, the Afterword, the Colophon, and the “Pages of the Burning Sky” sidebar, is designated Open Game Content. Note on Rules Content Note on Stat Blocks All the rules content you need to use Our goal in presenting certain PC EN PUBLISHING the material in this book is presented and monster stat blocks is balance 7 Rutland Court, Balaclava Road herein,Sample but if you are interested in and playability, rather than strict Southampton, Hampshirefile learning more, search for the System adherence to standardized formulae. England SO18 6RX EN Publishing is an Reference Document online, available We apologize to all standardized imprint of EN World. through various sources. formulae enthusiasts out there. Please visit http://www.enworld.org

Special Thanks To everyone, from all of us. The War of the Burning Sky – Art by Claudio Pozas Table of Contents

Qu i c k In d e x Prologue...... vii Adventure Two: The Indomitable Foreword by Ryan Nock...... xii Fire Forest of Innenotdar...... 41 Prologue...... vii Background...... 42 Foreword...... xii Introduction: Campaign Guide...... 1 Introduction...... 42 Introduction The War Begins...... 2 The Fire Forest...... 42 Campaign Guide...... 1 Campaign Outline...... 2 Adventure Overview...... 43 Adventure One Campaign Overview...... 2 Replacing Characters...... 44 The Scouring of Gate Pass...... 17 The Adventures...... 3 Interparty Dynamics...... 44 Adventure Two Timeline of the War...... 4 Act One: The Elfroad...... 45 The Indomitable Fire Forest Campaign Variants...... 5 Out of the Frying Pan...... 45 of Innenotdar...... 41 Abridged Campaigns...... 5 Indomitability’s Offer...... 50 Adventure Three Tweaking the Setting...... 5 Act Two: Rivers Flow to the Deep...... 51 Shelter from the Storm...... 67 Expanded Campaigns...... 6 Defeated In No Battles...... 51 Adventure Four Power Groups...... 9 Exploring the Village...... 52 The Mad King’s Banquet...... 101 Players’ Introduction...... 10 Staying at the Village...... 54 Adventure Five For the Players...... 10 Exploring the White River...... 54 Mission to the Monastery Gate Pass...... 10 Act Three: Out of the Fire...... 58 of Two Winds...... 139 Ragesia and Environs...... 14 Seela Village...... 58 Adventure Six Two Paths...... 59 Tears of the Burning Sky...... 163 Adventure One: The Scouring of Gathering Information...... 59 Adventure Seven Gate Pass...... 17 Conclusion...... 66 Trial of Echoed Souls...... 191 Introduction...... 18 Adventure Eight Background...... 18 Adventure Three: Shelter from O, Wintry Song of Agony...... 225 Gate Pass...... 18 the Storm...... 67 Adventure Nine Adventure Overview...... 19 Background...... 68 The Festival of Dreams...... 253 Character Motivations...... 20 Introduction...... 68 Adventure Ten Act One: The Secret Meeting...... 20 The Weather in Seaquen...... 68 Sleep, Ye Cursed Child...... 281 The Mission...... 20 Railroading?...... 68 Adventure Eleven The Ambush el( 4)...... 22 Adventure Overview...... 68 Under the Eye of the Tempest...... 301 Navigating Gate Pass...... 25 Character Motivations...... 69 Adventure Twelve Act Two: Retrieving the Case...... 26 Act One: The Swamp...... 69 The Beating of the Aquiline Heart... 323 Spy versus Spy (el 4)...... 26 Last Stop...... 69 Bonus Adventures Reaching the Safe House...... 28 Other Encounters in the Swamp...... 73 Introduction...... 361 The Safe House...... 28 Act Two: Seaquen...... 75 Bonus Adventure One Ghetto Hideout (el 4)...... 31 Entering Seaquen...... 76 More Spies in the Gatemakers Shop (el 2)...... 31 Getting a Feel for the Town...... 76 Steam Tunnels...... 363 Amidst the Badgers (el 1 or 3)...... 32 General Encounters...... 77 Bonus Adventure Two Spy Quarters (el 3)...... 32 North Coast Encounters...... 79 Moral Dilemmas...... 375 Act Three: Escaping the City...... 33 Harbor District Encounters...... 79 Bonus Adventure Three The Dawn of War...... 33 Wayfarer Auditions...... 80 A Harvest of Hope Forlorn...... 385 Exit Gates (el 7)...... 33 Sunken Ruins Encounters...... 80 Bonus Adventure Four Use Your Charm (el 1)...... 33 Rebel Camp Encounters...... 81 The Old-Fashioned Way...... 405 The Councilman el( ½)...... 34 South Harbor Encounters...... 83 Special Section: Street Ambush (el 4)...... 34 Act Three: Lyceum...... 84 Ragos, Capital of Ragesia...... 409 Roguish Rescue (el n/a)...... 35 Lyceum Academy...... 84 Bonus Adventure Five Captain Herreman’s Barracks (el n/a).36 The War Council...... 85 Dreamcatcher...... 419 Act Four: The Gauntlet...... 36 Shahalesti Envoy...... 88 Appendix A The Plan...... 36 Audience with Simeon...... 88 New Rules Material...... 431 The Gauntlet el( 7)...... 36 Act Four: The Storm...... 89 Appendix B Act Five: The Inquisitor...... 38 The Plan...... 89 Game Statistics...... 457 The Situation...... 38 The Show...... 89 AppendixSample C Farmhouse...... 38 The Spectacularfile Trial of Toteth Topec.89 Maps...... 627 Conclusion...... 40 Assassins (el 10)...... 91 Afterword...... 695 Reactions in Seaquen...... 93 Open Game License 1.0a...... 696 Seeking the Eye of the Storm...... 93 ii War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Table of Contents

Act Five: The Fire Tomb...... 95 Adventure Five: Mission to the The Canyon...... 169 The Sunken Prison...... 95 Monastery of Two Winds...... 139 Burning Warriors (el 11)...... 169 The Pyromancer’s Tomb...... 97 Background...... 140 Friendly Rivals...... 170 Back into the Storm...... 98 Introduction...... 140 Getting Into the Castle...... 171 Messenger of Gentle Winds...... 100 The Monastery of Two Winds...... 140 Act Two: The Castle...... 172 Conclusion...... 100 Pilus’s Plan...... 140 Getting Upstairs...... 172 Adventure Overview...... 141 Castle Traits...... 172 Adventure Four: The Mad King’s Character Motivations...... 141 Defenders...... 172 Banquet...... 101 Act One: Journey through Ostalin...... 142 Progress of Clan Millorn...... 173 Background...... 102 An Urgent Mission...... 142 Keyed Castle Encounter Areas...... 173 Introduction...... 102 Arriving in Ostalin...... 143 Second Floor...... 177 The Kingdom of Dassen...... 102 Into the Mountains...... 145 In Case of Firestorm…...... 180 The Council of Nine...... 102 Act Two: The Calm over Eresh...... 147 Act Three: The Dark Pyre...... 182 Railroading?...... 103 Eresh...... 147 The Planar Rift...... 182 Adventure Overview...... 103 The Peak’s Shadow...... 148 Defenders of the Dark Pyre...... 182 Character Motivation...... 104 About Town...... 149 The Fall of the Emperor...... 185 Act One: Message for the King...... 104 The Balance of Power...... 149 Solving the Mystery...... 186 Meeting at Lyceum...... 104 Spooky Meeting...... 149 Getting Out...... 186 A Letter Home...... 105 Missing People...... 151 Conclusion...... 190 The Trip To Bresk...... 106 Ascent to the Monastery...... 151 Bresk, Capital of Dassen...... 108 Act Three: The Ragesian Army...... 154 Adventure Seven: Trial of The First Rule of Assassination...... 111 Return of the General...... 154 Echoed Souls...... 191 Under Arrest...... 112 Victory...... 155 Background...... 192 Castle Steppengard Prison...... 112 Act Four: The Valley of Storms...... 156 Introduction...... 192 The Road to Gallo’s Fend...... 115 The Valley...... 156 Recent Events...... 192 Act Two: Gallo’s Fend...... 115 The Laboratory...... 156 Adventure Overview...... 193 The Shield of Dassen...... 115 Laboratory Entrance...... 157 Where Are We?...... 193 Duke Gallo...... 116 Escaping the Laboratory...... 159 Seaquen and Lyceum...... 194 Around Gallo’s Fend...... 116 Act Five: Audience with Two Winds...... 161 Starting Elsewhere...... 195 The Duke Needs a Favor...... 116 Two Masters...... 161 Act One: Ycengled Phuurst...... 195 Alydi Gap Outpost...... 118 Showdown with Pilus (el n/a)...... 162 Exploring the Wood...... 195 Approaching the Fort...... 118 Conclusion...... 162 The Forest Looms...... 195 Two Missions...... 120 Encounters in the Wood...... 196 Scaling the Glaskeel Cliffs...... 122 Pages of the Burning Sky by The Henge...... 201 War Plans...... 123 Eric Life-Putnam...... 162 Shahalesti Base Camp...... 203 Gallo’s Forces...... 123 The Darkness Your Guide...... 203 Battle for Gallo’s Fend...... 124 Adventure Six: Tears of the Navigating the Dark Labyrinth...... 203 Wrapping up Act Two...... 128 Burning Sky...... 163 Act Two: Phorros Irrendra...... 205 Act Three: Served Cold...... 129 Background...... 164 The Lost City...... 205 The Poisoning Plot...... 129 Introduction...... 164 Entering Phorros Irrendra...... 205 Proclamation of Peace...... 129 Assassinating an Immortal Man...... 164 Finding the Assassins...... 206 Parade of the Victors...... 129 The Tears of the Burning Sky...... 164 City Locations...... 210 Tournament of Unity...... 130 Castle Korstull...... 165 Concluding Act Two...... 215 Tournament’s End...... 134 Adventure Overview...... 166 Act Three: The Trial...... 216 The Dinner...... 136 Act One: The Firestorm...... 167 Most Wanted...... 216 Conclusion...... 138 Aid of the Two Winds...... 167 The Temple of Echoed Souls...... 216 Passing the Crown...... 138 The Road...... 167 Running the Trial...... 216 Aftermath...... 138 Approaching the Firestorm...... 167 Beginning the Trial...... 218 Gathin Garrison (el 14)...... 167 Facing the Past...... 221 SampleCrossing the Battlefield...... 169 Conclusion file...... 224

EN Publishing iii Table of Contents

Adventure Eight: O, Wintry Act Three: The Time of Dreams...... 274 Act Two: He that Dies Pays All Debts...... 309 Song of Agony...... 225 Traditional Festival...... 274 The Battle of Battles...... 309 Background...... 226 The Surrender...... 274 On Board, Chaos!...... 309 Introduction...... 226 Trillith Masquerade...... 274 In the Belly of the Beast...... 310 The Scourge...... 226 Conclusion...... 280 Conclusion...... 316 Developments...... 226 Te m p e s t ...... 317 Adventure Overview...... 228 Adventure Ten: Sleep, Ye Cursed The Flying Ship...... 317 Act One: A Hanging Sword...... 229 Child...... 281 External Description...... 317 The Second War Council...... 229 Background...... 282 Internal Description...... 317 A Friendly Game...... 231 Introduction...... 282 Pilus and Tempest...... 317 Act Two: The Needle’s Eye...... 232 Adventure Overview...... 282 Attacking Tempest...... 318 The Great Mission...... 232 Act One: The Maw...... 283 Defeating Tempest...... 321 The Scourge Valley...... 233 Sea and Stone...... 283 Frost Needle’s Eye...... 233 Into the Dreamworld...... 285 Adventure Twelve: The Beating The Frozen Wasteland...... 237 Act Two: The Dreamworld...... 286 of the Aquiline Heart...... 323 The Scourge Entrance...... 238 Dreamworld Rules...... 286 Background...... 324 Act Three:The Halls of Pain...... 238 Exploring the Dreamworld...... 286 Introduction...... 324 The Scourge Fortress...... 238 The Path of Sorrows...... 289 Adventure Overview...... 324 The Halls of Pain...... 242 O Dread Trumpets...... 289 The Clash of Armies...... 325 Mad Greetings...... 243 Eight Strange Things I Saw on the Act One: The March to War...... 328 Take Us to Your Leader...... 243 Plane of Dreams...... 290 The Heart of the Matter...... 328 Guthwulf (el 16)...... 243 Abyssal Pillars...... 291 Objectives...... 328 Battle at the Obelisk...... 246 Act Three: Architects of Annihilation...... 292 The Opaline Wastes...... 328 Conclusion...... 248 The Prison Palace...... 292 Two Dragons Canyon and the The Grand Finale?...... 249 Freedom...... 295 Heart of History...... 329 Loose Ends...... 249 The Mother of Dreams...... 296 Elder Elemental Spirits...... 329 Supreme Inquisitor Leska (cr 21)...... 249 Conclusion...... 300 Storming the Palace...... 329 Lord Shaaladel of the Shahalesti Repairing or Destroying the Torch..... 300 Palace Halls...... 330 (cr 20)...... 249 The Final Dream...... 300 Encounters in the Palace...... 332 Final Preparations...... 335 Adventure Nine: The Festival of Adventure Eleven: Under the Act Two: The Battle of Opaline Wastes..... 339 Dreams...... 253 Eye of the Tempest...... 301 Lighting the Torch ...... 339 Background...... 254 Background...... 302 The Ragesian Armies...... 339 Introduction...... 254 Introduction...... 302 Stages of Battle...... 339 Return to Gate Pass...... 254 Adventure Overview...... 303 Encounters...... 340 Doom and Peril...... 255 Act One: My Brother’s Keeper...... 303 The Edge of History ...... 350 Adventure Overview...... 256 Looking to the Sky...... 303 Into the Heart of History...... 352 Act One: Call to Arms...... 256 You and What Army?...... 304 Act Three: The Heart of History...... 353 Battle Plans...... 256 Get On Your Horse and Ride! This Thing All Things Devours...... 353 The Mission...... 257 (Optional Encounter)...... 305 The Trials of the Heart of History..... 353 Time to Slay the Dragon...... 257 Seaquen: Home Away From Home... 305 The Aquiline Heart...... 355 Rebel Headquarters...... 259 Aftermath and Denouement...... 359 Arrival...... 260 A Small Gift...... 260 The Situation...... 260 The Plan...... 260 Act Two: The Battle of Gate Pass...... 261 Timeline of the Battle...... 261 The Gate March...... 261 Shaaladel’s Proposal...... 266 School of War...... 268 TheSample Ragesian General...... 271 file

iv War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Agony (Detail) — Art by Claudio Pozas Table of Contents

Side Quests: Bonus Adventures..... 361 Bonus Adventure Three: A Bonus Adventure Five: About the Bonus Adventures...... 362 Harvest of Hope Forlorn...... 385 Dreamcatcher...... 419 How to Use the Bonus Adventures...... 362 Background...... 386 Background...... 420 Introduction...... 387 Introduction...... 420 Bonus Adventure One: More Adventure Overview...... 387 Adventure Overview...... 421 Spies in the Steam Tunnels...... 363 Liederhafen:The Songs’ Haven...... 388 Act One: Investigation...... 421 Background...... 364 Adventure Preparation...... 390 Returning Heroes...... 421 Introduction...... 364 Prologue...... 390 A Simple Request...... 421 Adventure Overview...... 364 Whispers of a Gathering Storm Lyceum Infirmary el( 14)...... 422 Toma’s Story...... 364 (el 7)...... 390 Act Two:A Wizard Did It...... 423 Part One: A Cold Snap Hits Seaquen...... 365 Enemy Air Strike, Detected! (el 7).... 391 The Archmage...... 423 Part Two: The Steam Tunnels The Unseen Blade of the Wind The Archmage’s Tower...... 424 Investigation...... 366 (el 7)...... 392 Act Three: The Show Must Go On...... 428 Part Three: Vule’s New Master...... 369 Main Act...... 393 Enthralled...... 428 Conclusion...... 373 Meeting with Advisor Gereon...... 393 The Wayfarer Theater...... 428 Preparations Before Setting Forth...... 395 Final Act (el 16)...... 428 Bonus Adventure Two: Moral The Journey to the Mountain Range.. 396 Standing Ovation...... 429 Dilemmas...... 375 Traversing the Griffon Leaping Peaks3. 9 6 Concluding the Adventure...... 430 Background...... 376 Returning to Liedenhafen...... 404 Introduction...... 376 Epilogue...... 404 Appendix A: New Rules Material... 431 Adventure Overview...... 376 Character Race: Seela...... 432 The Adventure...... 377 Bonus Adventure Four: The Old- Core Class: Commander...... 432 The Caverns...... 377 Fashioned Way...... 405 Prestige Class: Wayfarer Cirqueliste...... 434 Event 1: A Dark, Stormy Night...... 379 Background...... 406 Racial Paragon Class: Seela Paragon...... 436 Event 2: Dinner Is Served...... 379 Introduction...... 406 Alternate Class Features...... 436 Event 3: Looking for Trouble...... 380 The Mission...... 406 East Wind Training...... 436 Event 4: Dream Girl...... 380 In the Land of the Enemy...... 407 Rebuke Magic...... 436 Event 5: Interview With the Devil...... 380 Entering Ragesia...... 407 Spellduelist...... 437 Event 6: Snowed In...... 380 Travelling to Ragos...... 407 Mageknight...... 437 Event 7: The Slave Pens...... 381 Road Trip...... 409 Two Winds Weapon Training...... 437 Event 8: Confronting Seryanna...... 381 Ragos, Capital of Ragesia...... 409 West Wind Training...... 437 Event 9: Captured!...... 381 Finding Rowern...... 415 New Feats...... 437 Event 10: Everything Goes to Pot...... 381 The Brewery...... 415 Gate Pass Feats...... 437 Conclusion...... 382 Meeting...... 416 Leader Feats...... 437 Dramatis Personae...... 382 Concluding the Adventure...... 416 Feats Alphabetically...... 437 The Burning Sky...... 442 Weapons...... 443 Alchemical Items...... 443 Magical Items...... 444 Artifacts...... 445 Warfare for Beginners...... 447 The Song of Forms...... 450 Spells...... 451 Epic Spells...... 455

Appendix B: Game Statistics...... 457 Alphabetical Listing...... 458 Challenge Rating Listing...... 460

Appendix C: Maps...... 627

SampleAfterword file by Russell Morrissey.. 695 Colophon...... 695 Open Game License 1.0a...... 696

Origin of the Heart (Detail) — Art by Claudio Pozas EN Publishing v Table of Contents

Sample file

vi War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Original Cover Treatments Pr o l o g u e

November Dassen — but knew that they would fall just as in their horrific masks and blood-splattered Desolation. Gray earth trod beneath boots quickly. He wondered what he’d done to anger lieutenants with word from General Magdus on the march; snapped trees waiting for the the gods before his birth, that they should curse fell in step behind him as he walked. Within a flames. And soon, the victorious emperor knew, him by giving him only a single world to conquer. few moments, they had ascended to the throne there would be that fire. There always was. Often Perhaps, he mused, he should avenge himself on room, where he took his dinner and dispatched enough, he brought it, but even when he didn’t, it the heavens. He peered up through the gathering orders. The throne room and the royal bedroom arose. After every battle, something burned — as cloud-rack and contemplated this, until his view adjoining it were appropriately princely, festooned if the universe followed some unwritten protocol was obscured by a high-vaulted arch passing with tapestries, murals, and other palatial regalia. that conflagration should be the epilogue to overhead. He trained his gaze forward now, as When the castle was built, these rooms had been carnage. It was even more reliable than the crows. the warhorse he sat upon ambled through the prayed over by priests for three days. It was said Castle Korstull was taken. The mighty emperor yawning entryways of the castle. no one could enter these rooms against the will figured he’d lost, at worst, one man in twenty. He’d Built to resemble the maw of some great beast, of the one who sat upon the throne. The great known it would be so. Tonight, he would sleep on the front gates of Castle Korstull had impressed emperor was unimpressed. He placed the Torch the sheets of a fallen prince, and the only cost had the magnificent emperor when he’d first seen of the Burning Sky in a ruby-studded sconce, been a week’s planning and the blood of men he did them, but he had raised palaces of his own in scraped his boot against the corner of the throne not know. If the victory had meant anything to him, the decades since. Now they looked to him like to remove a clump of gray mud, then sat down he would’ve called it a bargain. nothing more than the hastily assembled sets of and called for the leaders of the force that had When had conquest lost its luster? Was it just some Wayfarers’ comedy. He remembered what resisted him. the ease, or was it something else? The glorious Leska had told him before he’d left, that some Hoping their deaths would provide some emperor stared into the flames of the torch he young bard in Ragos had penned a play about his distraction, he ordered their executions on the bore in his left hand, the famed artifact he had life, probably in an attempt to earn his patronage. spot. He watched attentively, eating stew from a christened the Torch of the Burning Sky. Since He’d laughed at the folly of that, yet he found brass tureen, as his bodyguards went about their the day he had acquired this strange token, born a himself wondering about it now, about how such work. Inquisitors all, trained in the art of torture century before in miracle and catastrophe, he had a play might begin, about what soliloquies this by Leska herself, the men of his personal guard never lost a battle. It was as if he’d forgotten how. crowing upstart had written into his mouth. sensed the dread emperor’s apathy, and stretched He feared his own restlessness, and was all Would there be a scene of his childhood, a their imaginations to make each prisoner’s end the more frustrated to realize that it might be the half-orc raised among backwoods highlanders, more entertaining than the previous one. But the only thing he feared. What would the ache for tribesmen who wandered the mountains of the spectacle soon descended into farce and common challenge drive him to? The inscrutable emperor North, having no land to hold as their own? How vulgarity; he grew listless again. He called for wine had begun to calculate the betrayal of his oldest many acts would it take him to carve out a nation from the castle cellars and sat in silence, drinking ally; whether it was out of strategy, ambition, or for his kin, how many trumpets and alarums as he 50-year-old vintages straight from their bottles. boredom, he could not tell. turned it into an empire? Which of his enemies Before long, he grew lethargic and announced that That ally, of course, planned to turn on him would be judged worthy of their own death he would retire. first. There had been no intelligence of such an act, scenes, which allies would rhyme couplets after All but a handful of his guards bowed deeply but it went without saying. His ally went by the his dramatic exits? and left. The remaining three would stand outside unlikely name of Shaaladel, and if the invincible He was certain Shaaladel would be the his chamber as he slept. The immortal emperor emperor had forgotten how to lose, Shaaladel had handsome scene-stealer, declaiming regally on the extinguished the torch as he pulled it from its forgotten how not to betray. nature of their fragile peace as they debated the sconce and walked towards the bedroom, yet he The all-knowing emperor’s foresight fatigued rebellion in Gate Pass, with no hint of the craven stopped before the door, turned to one of his him. He’d spent the final hours of many brave men’s schemer beneath the regal façade. And surely guards, and began to speak. He said, “I am more lives hoping for some surprise — a sudden ambush, Leska would be cheated of her rightful prominence, weary than I ever knew a mortal or immortal unexpected reinforcements, even a mere change in as misunderstood by a grasping playmaker as she man could be. This world of half-men and vain tactics — that might lend the least excitement to was by all the rest of his subjects. They all looked posturing, this age of sheep who masquerade as this clash of nations. But like the planets in their at her and saw a frightful mask, unaware that the lords, diminishes in my eyes by the day. I thought courses, his enemies plodded, unwavering, along creature behind that grisly visage was far more the gods would not long tolerate ambitions such as the path he had laid out to their defeat. human — and more terrifying — that they could mine, but like a pack of beaten whores, they offer Fate’s arsenal had been emptied, it seemed, have imagined. Leska should’ve been the subject not defense but more accommodation. Everything and no ordeals remained to try the blessed of a play, he thought. She had all the makings of that I once coveted turns stale. I grasp the fruits of emperor. He had conquered Sindaire tonight, a tragedy, while he had none. His play would be conquest and each morsel tastes of ashes in my a nationSample that had already been his in all but boring, the legendary emperor decided. After all, mouth. In sevenfile months, my pennants could cast name, for no better reason than that they had he always won. shadows over all the nations of the known lands, given him an excuse. Soon, he would test As soon as he dismounted his horse, he was and yet this spent and whelping bitch they call himself against his other neighbors — Ostalin, frightfully attended. Inquisitor bodyguards the world cannot, for all my ravaging, yet birth a

EN Publishing vii Prologue

cur whose sharpest fangs don’t break against my with a deep unease. There weren’t enough soldiers moved past him, towards the Emperor’s bedroom. skin. When I bid you to kill those men tonight, I between here and the sea to give his army a He spun, looking for his mace, but the world kept found myself searching their eyes for signs that, in moment’s worry, but who could say what trouble spinning when he stopped, and he crumpled to the their fatal throes, their dying souls might glimpse the raging heavens might bring him? ground. This was no dream. He’d been poisoned. another realm, a realm that better suited me. But I As he put his head down to seek sleep, the When he recovered his breath, he finally saw none. Did you see anything at all?” general was reminded of a strange saying he’d once called out. There was a clatter as the Inquisitors The inquisitor, Darius, stared for a long time heard from an old sergeant. “You can conquer a from the waiting chamber rushed in, but of the into those wild eyes, dumbstruck by this strange land’s people; you cannot conquer its gods.” He attackers he could hear nothing, until the din of and sudden candor. In the end, shamed by his lack didn’t know if he believed that, or even what it clashing blades arose. His vision was too blurry of a proper answer — or any answer at all — the was supposed to really mean, but he did believe now to see who fought or who fell. bodyguard merely shook his head. Somehow this: if the heavens were angry, tonight someone The poison moved through Darius like a shiver. disappointed, and knowing himself a fool for would be paying the price. Helpless, the world dimming around him, he it, the doomed emperor walked away without a thought of the Emperor’s question, hours before. word and locked his bedroom door behind him. * * * * * Would he see a better world now, he wondered, in His name was Drakus Coaltongue, and his curse what had to be his last moments? was to be the most powerful man in the world. Darius saw the other two bodyguards die But there were only shadows moving in the before he even knew they were under attack. blur. Now, as before, Darius could see nothing. * * * * * The murder in the peripheral vision to his left he barely saw. It was just a smudge of motion * * * * * The General of the Emperor’s First Army that made a wet sound before it was over. But camped far from the castle that night. He did not turned to his right as he was, he caught his other It was instinct that awoke him. There was eschew the comforts of the stronghold he had comrade’s end. He saw the last half-second of a someone in his room. seized out of some sentimental desire to sleep in man stepping from the shadows in the corner, as if The Emperor’s reflex was to spring from his the same conditions as his soldiers. Even in the walking out of a door, slashing the guard’s throat bed and find a weapon, but as soon as he had field, he had a larger tent, better food, assistants with a curving black blade and receding as swiftly opened his eyes, his torso exploded in pain. He to see to his needs, and finery on which to rest. and stealthily as he’d come. went to move and found himself pinned to the He simply felt as though here, with his troops, he Hefting his mace, Darius drew in air to shout, bed. He looked down at his chest. could get things done, and in the castle he would but there was a sound like a thunderstrike and a Someone had driven a stake through his be up sending messages all night. General Magdus sharp pain as something lashed across his adam’s heart. was a practical man, and from the camp he could apple. He saw a woman in the doorway — had it Another man would have panicked. But run his army better. opened just now or had she been there all along? Coaltongue had faced death many times before, Yet for all his practicality, he was superstitious. She yanked the handle of a whip, and he found and while he was alarmed, he could not help being Soldiers were like sailors that way, spending so himself pitching forward, his throat burning and curious. He looked around the room, but saw no much of their lives subject to the whims of fate constricted. Her weapon had him by the neck, sign of his attacker. None of his generals would’ve that they sought signs of good and bad luck, and he struggled to keep his feet as she pulled him pulled this off, not with dog-loyal Magdus, the not out of imagination, but out of fear. And the towards her. best of them all, camped so close. Shaaladel general did not like the clouds racing above his Helpless against the tight constriction of would’ve planned something more intricate, more head tonight. his windpipe, he struck out wildly with his unnecessarily complex, something he would’ve A storm brewing would be trial enough. mace, bludgeoning the air. The woman was seen coming. Leska? Trudging through rain and muck was enough rushing towards him — or he was hurtling His hands had found the stake — everything to demoralize even disciplined men. But these towards her — and for a split second he had the was harder now, it seemed, with his heart not low black clouds moved faster than the wind, it incongruous realization that she was beautiful. pumping blood — and tried to summon up the seemed, as if intent on their destination. And Yet the colors of her hair and skin were wrong. strength to pull it out at once. they all seemed to be congregating in one place. Had she dyed them? Something knocked the Then, from the shadows, an aged face, dyed The black thunderheads billowed highest directly mace from his hand. Her face came at his. What with ashes. A black scimitar, edged with smoky above Castle Korstull. And they were not traveling, was happening? Was she head-butting him, was diamonds, arcing at his throat. but remained stationary, whirling in place like she going to bite him? Had the Emperor been Him? Coaltongue thought. Of all the enemies I water down a drain. attacked by lunatics? have in this world? Him? It was clearly an ill omen, he decided. Magdus Still choking, he felt her lips on his. A kiss. The blade fell. Staked to the bed, the emperor was practical enough to grant fortune its place Her mouth was warm. Was he awake? She tasted could not roll out of the way, and his arms were in his calculations. He gave orders to increase like blood. too weak to pull it out or block the blow. the frequencySample and size of his patrols, and told When she released him, there was something The pain fileof the beheading was not much, he his adjutant to wake him half an hour earlier in in his mouth. A grainy liquid, it tasted the way found. Far less than that of being stabbed in the the morning. All the confidence his victory had violets smelled. He felt the whip slip from around heart. He was less conscious of the blow itself afforded him was melting away, and he was left his neck, and realized the woman had already than of the cold air on the insides of his neck. viii War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Prologue

Completely severed from his body, Coaltongue’s At the top of the rise, Magdus met the and — he was grateful — heavier garments. head rolled over to the left side of his pillow. watchmen he had posted here and gave them The general hurried to dress and mount his His head was still alive, still conscious and permission to stand down and start a fire. The horse. The armor could wait. All of his captains, bewildered. From the angle at which his head had wind had teeth at this high above the camp, and he just jolted out of bed, began to ask questions at fallen, he could see a second assailant, her hands wished he’d brought furs instead of just a cloak. once. He quieted them quickly and began to lifting the Torch of the Burning Sky from the The sky looked just as angry as before. The dispense orders. wall-mount where he’d left it. They were thieves clouds were no longer in motion, but perched A yellow-orange light suddenly shone across as well as assassins. threateningly above the towers of Korstull, the the assembled faces. Magdus turned to see that The Emperor heard sounds of swordplay obscured moon barely silvering their edges. the roof of the castle had erupted into a rising from the room outside. There were at least three There was neither lightning nor rain, but the column of flame. of them, then. It was all starting to make sense. thunderheads seemed to pulse like black hearts The officers stood in silence, mouths agape. He even knew how they would make their escape. beating in the firmament. The general clenched his jaw, enraged, calculating. Suddenly, he became very tired. It seemed to Perhaps he had overreacted to this suspected “Prepare for a siege,” he called out, not taking happen all at once. He tried to rub his eyes, but omen. The night, it seemed, was passing quietly. his eyes from the fiery pillar atop Castle Korstull. obviously could not, and this simple fact provoked There were few lights from the castle windows. “We have taken this castle once today. We may in him a very acute distress. In his life, he had heard many tales of signs have to do so again. Tell your cavalrymen...” He was falling asleep. There was no preventing before catastrophe, most unheeded until after the Magdus never finished his order. The ominous it. The Emperor of Ragesia had gone down event. Here in Sindaire, just before the first time heavens, already roiled with rage, opened up and without a fight, without even a sword in his hand. Ragesian armies had crossed its borders, prize gave the general a sign no man could disbelieve. In other circumstances, he might have laughed. royal horses had fought each other like baited dogs, Above Castle Korstull, the sky began to rain As oblivion claimed him, he thought, I have to with the winners eating those they killed. They fire. hand to it to the Fates. This, I did not see coming. said a lioness had whelped in the streets of Kistan Then there was a sudden pang of regret; the night the first Khagan of Ostalin had passed December disappointment that he would not be there to see away. Fifty years before, the day before the First Snowflakes fell fast that New Year’s Eve, too the cataclysmic change his death would wreak, the Dasseni Civil War had begun, there had been an fast, racing at the earth like falling stars. Watching conflict. This, he thought, would’ve been a world eclipse of the sun. Certainly, a strange formation it come down like that, it was easy to believe what worthy of me. of clouds was not so dramatic as these. they were saying in the east, that such a punishing Then, blackness. Then, Magdus realized what each one of those winter had to be the retribution of an angry god. strange portents had in common, and all at once Washing a glass, Viv Finner looked out the * * * * * his blood ran cold. Each one had heralded the window of her closed-down, boarded-up pub and death of a king. saw the snow still piling in the streets. It would Magdus couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t just the As if in answer to his realization, lanterns began be a long walk to her brother’s house tonight, she turmoil in the heavens, he knew. He was a life- to flare in the distant windows of Castle Korstull. decided, so she had better hurry. long soldier, hardened by decades of warring, yet From this far he could not hear cries of alarm, but The Poison Apple Pub was a dive, but a he often found himself sleepless the night after the general knew at once that his instincts were popular one. A shabby, low-class establishment in a battle. The images of slaughter in his memory far more than paranoid superstition. one of the poorer districts a mile from the West needed time to fade, and until then they haunted He shouted to the nearby watchmen, “Sound Gate, it had a coterie of devoted regulars and his mind’s eye like fever-dreams. He had not an alarm! Run down to the camp, now, and tell reputation for not watering down the drinks. attempted to purge himself of this frailty. He your Captain to take a detachment to the castle Everyone knew the man who owned the place, thought, perhaps, it made him better at his job. at once!” Trehan Finner, was a magus. They knew it as much He threw on a tunic and his boots, and The men blew their horns, then rushed down from the twinkle in his eye and his perpetual smirk grabbed his cloak on the way out of his tent. His into the canyon. Magdus remained, watching the as they did from the fact that he could put a rowdy walk through the camp was punctuated with crisp castle. In close succession, three flaming arrows customer to sleep with a handful of dust. But no salutes and the occasional “Sir.” Troubled as his were fired from the battlements, a signal. His one seemed to mind. Most Gate Passers didn’t mind was, he tried to return them all. fears had been confirmed. There were attackers trust magi as a group, but just about everybody The general jogged up a pebble-strewn path in Korstull. who knew Trehan Finner liked him. up the side of the canyon to a look-out point. The lights in the stronghold’s windows were When the City Council announced they No bodyguards accompanied him, though the being answered by torches being lit in the camp hoped to appease the approaching army by men stationed outside his tent had reported his below. If it were an assassination attempt, there handing all of the town’s users of magic over to sudden departure to their officers, who noted it was little he could do from here, but he would the Ragesian inquisitors — the ruthless magus but bade them only to sit out the remainder of mobilize his forces and be prepared to hunt the hunters known locally as the Scourge — in order their watches.Sample Their general was a private man, would-be murderers to the ends of creation. to spare the townfile conquest by the Ragesian army, and they’d grown accustomed to his frequent Hoofbeats on gravel echoed across the canyon, few people complained. But when the city guard need for solitude. They did not worry for his and Magdus saw a clutch of his officers riding up came for Finner, the pub’s regulars were in an safety. After all, Sindaire had been conquered. to meet. Adjutants brought his horse and armor, uproar. All over the district, everyone who knew

EN Publishing ix Prologue

the man could be heard loudly decrying the come because the wood was polished, they came to out there, with the army. With his father. For a unfairness of it all. drink with people they liked and trusted and share second, impossible as it was, Kathor let himself Everyone, that is, except Trehan’s wife. with them the joys and woes of being alive. search for the blur of a high banner in the wind, Viv Finner did not cry when she found out It was, she decided — as she locked the door or the circle of larger fires that would surround her husband had been taken, nor did she panic. and vanished into the snow — a perfect meeting- the general’s tent, before he turned away, shaking Instead, she quietly bundled up her children and place for heroes. his head. Even if he knew where the old man was, took them to her sister-in-law. She told her eldest what would be the point? to be brave, and to take care of his brother, and * * * * * As much as Kathor wanted to be out there with told both her sons she might not see them for a the army, he knew the conquest of Gate Pass would little while. That done, the suddenly husbandless Gate Pass’s skyline seemed to sag beneath the not be for the glory of the Empire. It would be for mother of two headed down the Emelk Way to mantle of snow. The city huddled between the the glory of one woman. Since the assassination of the Chapel of the Aquiline Cross. She walked mountains, looking wary as a beggar in an alley, Drakus Coaltongue, the Emperor of Ragesia, less right up to the curate, announced she knew the tucking in under a white blanket and wondering than two months before, the world had descended Chapel was a Resistance safe-house, and asked where to turn for a friendly face. Its streets were into madness. Coaltongue’s chief allies and how she could go about joining. thick with slush, barely foot-printed. Rumors of lieutenants had immediately begun positioning After hours of Viv’s refusals to leave or take no war, Kathor thought, must have been keeping themselves as the next in line. Over time, two for an answer, the curate, a Knight of the Aquiline even the drunks at home. candidates had risen as the likely successors: Lord Cross named Buron Watcher, finally said that if The usual all-night parties and intoxicated Shaaladel, ruler of the Shahalesti elves, and Leska, she really wanted to help the Resistance, they did revelry weren’t spilling out of doors this year, and Coaltongue’s Supreme Inquisitor. need a private place to meet a contact. Viv already the folks who were celebrating seemed to have all It was Leska who had seized command of the knew Torrent, who was an occasional patron of picked their tavern early in the evening and stayed scattered Ragesian armies. Instead of summoning the Poison Apple, and she volunteered her pub there. Some cities capered and caroused on the them together, she had set those forces to work for the meeting. But if the priest had hoped that eve of war, a final riot in the face of destruction, on pursuing new conquests of Ragesia’s neighbors. contributing her family’s place of business for but tonight, in the Free City-State of Gate Pass, This tactic provided multiple benefits: it kept the the night would be enough to satisfy Viv, he was the celebrations seemed muted, solemn, almost generals too busy to plot against her, and kept rival disappointed. On the way out of the temple, she funereal. The city was dark, the waning moon nations too busy to interfere. But the conquest of stopped and said, “After the meeting, I’ll be back only a thin silver splinter, and there weren’t lights Gate Pass was different. for another mission.” in most of the windows. Even a few inns had The Free City-State of Gate Pass had been Though her pub was closed, she had taken closed their doors at sundown. free since the insurrection forty years before the meeting so seriously that she’d gone back and No one was doing business outdoors tonight, because of its location. Gate Pass was named cleaned it up until it was as nice as it had been the it appeared, except for the Resistance. And for the narrow passage between the mountains day she and her husband bought it. Every glass because the Resistance was on the move, so were that separated Ragesia and Shaaladel’s kingdom was polished, every corner swept, even the rags their enemies. of Shahalesti. In Coaltongue’s time, keeping that were washed and bleached. Viv imagined brave The bounty hunters called themselves the central city neutral had held together the peace fighters of the Resistance coming here, making Black Horses. Their leader was a man named and sometime alliance between the Emperor plans to fight back against the monsters who had Renard, but those inside the city walls tonight and Shaaladel. But now that Lord Shaaladel taken her husband away. Such champions, she were under the command of Renard’s second, a had emerged as her chief rival, Leska was surely had determined, would get the best of everything former soldier who hailed from Ragesia, the vast seizing the city to gain further advantage against if she could help it. empire just west of Gate Pass. That was Kathor, the elven king. Finishing the glasses, Viv stole a glance at and he didn’t want to be there. Dragging his gaze from the far-away the melting candle she had lit when she’d started Standing high above the streets now, atop encampments, Kathor looked down on the pair and realized how late it was. Time for her to get one of many vantage points in this city of of humble two-story buildings he’d come up to going. She planned to be long gone before Torrent towers and buttresses, Kathor could see out for reconnoiter. They were connected by a bridge, arrived. She bundled herself up against the cold, miles, over the ice-topped walls and into the leading from the top floor of the taller one to lit a lantern, blew out her candle, and let herself west. Across the valley and the bottom of the the roof of the shorter. The taller was a home, out the back door. nearby pass, distant fires dotted the horizon. while its squat companion was a pub, named the On the way out, she paused and looked around Scattered in groups, they twinkled through the Poison Apple in an example of the locals’ flair for the lantern-lit interior of the pub. Had she done falling snow like earthbound constellations. The the perverse. everything? Was it all be suitable? glorious Second Army of the Ragesian Empire Gate Pass was a city packed with bridges and Then she remembered what kind of place it was. was camped on the city’s doorstep, far sooner heights, a web of widening arches crisscrossing It was local watering hole; not much to look at, but than expected, and the locals expected an attack over every street, all now rimmed with ice and tended withSample love by its owners and loved equally within the week. But Kathor knew how fast that snow, yet in file many places still welcoming, even by its regulars. People came here to laugh, to cry, to force could move, and to his mind, a week was majestic. A marvelous place, Kathor had thought, recollect, to tell ludicrous stories to old friends and very wishful thinking. years before, when he’d admired the tall buildings. hear their approbations or derision. They didn’t He couldn’t help thinking that he belonged Back then, he’d seen them as a testament to x War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Prologue

clever citizens who made the most of the narrow would escort Torrent to her mysterious meeting. An insurgency against an occupation that mountain pass confining their city. But he was unlikely to accompany her to the hasn’t even happened yet, Kathor reflected, with Nowadays, Kathor didn’t feel much wonder meeting itself; surely the Resistance would not grudging admiration. Say what you would about walking these streets. Perhaps, he mused bitterly, trust any Ragesian, even a turncoat, to be privy to the folk of Gate Pass, there was no doubt they the novelty of those clever citizens’ achievement its secretive dealings. had courage. The Resistance, the movement had worn off when he’d started kidnapping them. Kathor figured the bodyguard was too tall that had helped drive out Gate Pass’s Ragesian Tonight’s targets were meeting at the Poison not to have orc blood in his veins. Half-orcs conquerors forty years before, had never broken Apple. The pub was closed, since the owner, a never went down easy, and though this one would up, presciently choosing to remain vigilant against magus, had been carried off by the city guard the probably be long gone before Torrent reached the future incursions. Torrent was one of their more night before — Kathor didn’t have to read the Poison Apple, Kathor decided bringing ten men prominent agents, which might have been why note on the door to know that, having led the city had been right after all. Ragesia had marked her for special attention. guard there himself. As for Torrent herself, she looked just like Not that the why mattered, Kathor reminded The guardsmen had already been locking the description he’d received: tall for a woman, himself. Being second-in-command of this gang up the city’s magi when Kathor had arrived in shock of short white hair, carrying herself like a of thugs was how he paid the bills, even if he had town, as an attempt to appease the Ragesians and soldier, and sporting an expensive breastplate he grown to dislike the men — or more accurately, forestall further hostilities. But sometimes, when could see gleaming in the dim moonlight even loathe them — in the past few weeks. Their orders came from Ragesia, he was told to make from a distance. Tonight she was wearing a dark leader, Renard, had been the first to take Kathor sure certain ones were picked up immediately, winter coat, open in the front, probably because in when he left the army, and that debt had to be before they could sneak out of town. Yesterday, the heavy fur concealed a weapon and she wanted respected. Sure, there was no honor in hauling such an order had come for the magus who owned ready access to it. She didn’t look like a witch. these alleged “enemies” of Ragesia away from the Poison Apple. Tonight, one had come for a Then again, Kathor thought, neither do I. And their homes and loved ones, but there was honor member of the Resistance, a witch called Torrent. if I weren’t, I’d be outside these walls where I belong. in fulfilling an obligation. Besides, as much as he Information said Torrent would be using the He leaned over the railing to try and catch one hated the work, he’d left behind the only other empty tavern to meet a contact. How and when of his men’s attention. It took longer than it should world he’d ever known, and he honestly had no his Ragesian employers got their intelligence, he have. Kathor was six stories up, watching from the idea what else to do. didn’t know, but all their messages so far had been balcony of a boarded-up temple to the Red Archer, “This is my life now,” Kathor said, out loud, eerily precise. The plan was to attack right after a god of summer, of sunrise, and hope, a god who shaking himself out of his reverie. He took one midnight, when the noise of an ambush could be seemed to be out of worshippers nowadays. last look at his father’s army in the distance, and mistaken for nearby New Year celebrations. When he finally got one of the Black Horses then rushed down the stairs. Whether they were Glancing down at an alley around the corner to look his way, Kathor’s signal had them back on fighting for their freedom or not, whether they from the Poison Apple, Kathor saw his men trying task in a hurry, but it took him a long minute to were witches or not, and whether they deserved it to look nonchalant as they waited for his signal decide Torrent and her friend hadn’t seen him or not, it was time to take these two in. to attack. Some kicked at the brownish snow trying to get the bounty hunters to notice his If he’d planned right, they’d go down quickly. shoveled into a pile at the curb, others fiddled gestures. Fortunately for him, they were stopping There wouldn’t be any surprises inside the Poison with a tarp that hid the weapons on their wagon, often, taking quick turns, clearly more concerned Apple; Kathor already had a spy inside to make but most just couldn’t stop creeping to the corner with making sure they weren’t followed than sure of that. Except for the owner’s wife, no one to peek out at the pub. Clearly, the Black Horses watching for signs of ambush at their destination. else had entered the pub all night. weren’t used to being subtle. He spared a glance to check on his Beyond better intelligence and better control of Kathor found it hard not to hate them. men — they had one of the wheels off the wagon the battlefield, Kathor had numbers. He had eleven He wished he hadn’t brought so many. Kathor now, as planned, and were doing a passable job Black Horses, including himself, although he didn’t had only joined these bounty hunters a month before, of pretending to try and repair it — then made a expect to fight — Kathor still thought of himself and he was already fed up with their company. But quick estimate of how long it would take Torrent as an officer, after all, and there was no honor in Torrent was a witch, and their source said she had to reach the tavern. ambushing outmatched foes. The targets would be a bodyguard of some kind, so overwhelming force She was closer now, and he could just make only Torrent and whoever she was meeting, and his had seemed like the safest strategy. out the handle of a weapon slung across her information said that group would be fewer than Now, watching all ten men fumbling attempts back, not hidden, but carried openly in defiance half the number of soldiers he’d brought. And if to stay inconspicuous on the street, he was of city law. Her companion had no obvious arms, Torrent or the others had witchcraft, well, he had rethinking his tactics. If Torrent were tipped off… but a man didn’t wear that much armor without an answer for that too, didn’t he? Mid-thought, he caught his first glimpse of expecting to fight, so he probably had something. Everything was set, Kathor thought, as he her, strolling down the alleyway along the city’s Either way, despite all the battlefield trappings, emerged from the temple and joined the company southern wall, a few blocks away. As expected, the two strolled casually beneath a picturesque of the men he despised. When the time came, she wasSample walking with a massive man, two heads array of icicle-draped archways and bridges, and and the midnightfile bells chimed the New Year, he taller than she, wearing a bearskin as a cape over their constant looking back to avoid being tailed would be ready. a small fortune in armor. He looked Ragesian. made them look more like tourists than members No doubt he was some kind of bodyguard, who of an armed insurgency. by Jeremy Forbing

EN Publishing xi

Fo r e w o r d

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, goes the old I really need to thank Jacob Driscoll, author of saying. Right now you’re reading the culmination the second adventure, for providing a wonderful of over two years of work by dozens of fantasy moral dilemma, which should make clear to fans, whose efforts came together to create the players and their characters that they can’t this campaign saga. We came in a little behind just mow down everything that stands in their schedule at times, what with that whole “new way and expect a happy ending. Likewise, Lydia edition of the game” thing being announced, and Dene, who wrote the original script for the fourth we apparently missed the memo about not biting adventure, gave us a great political conflict where off more than you can chew, on the assumption just killing the bad guy can end in tragedy. that if Paizo can do this every six months, it Still, this is roleplaying, not Risk, so simply must be easy (right?), but now we have a titanic winning is not the point of the campaign saga. book that I’m damned proud of. The triumph of good over evil didn’t interest me, Despite a few rough patches where I’m sure because to really matter, such battles must be won we could have done better if we knew then what internally, not on the field of battle. Instead, I sought we do now, we accomplished everything I hoped the triumph of peace over war. The Torch, and all we would when I came up with the idea of the the power it grants to those seeking conquest, is adventure series, the foremost of which being that the real enemy, though, as with other enemies, we gave gaming groups the tools to become part of you have to ally with this one if you want to win. a great, epic story. Victory lies in healing and freedom, in restoring a I can’t speak for what the other writers and fey forest, in releasing a king from his madness, in staff had in mind when they contributed to the drawing a spy back from the brink of betrayal, in saga, but I know that my main drive for designing rescuing tormented prisoners trapped in a frozen it was to put a modern, inclusionist spin on the wasteland or from a twisted living nightmare. You classic concept of a fantasy war. end the war by killing a villain, but you only win the War of the Burning Sky drew its initial genesis war by healing the wounds it caused. from a home campaign I ran in college, but it Of course, you can do with the campaign saga wasn’t until a few years later, at Gen Con 2006 whatever you want. Play up the politics to show in Indianapolis, when I found myself reading the corruption on all sides of the war. Go satirical, Dungeon magazine’s plans for its latest adventure and run the Ragesians like American settlers, the path, that I realized I had not seen a solid “war Resistance as native tribes, and the Torch as the for the fate of the world” adventure series in manifest destiny of the railroad. Try pure comedy: D&D during my time as a gamer. Most every toss a Hitler mustache on Leska and have her act gamer reads Lord of the Rings at some point, like Charlie Chaplin. Be totally awesome, and use and it sets the benchmark for what many expect a soundtrack with lots of heavy metal. from fantasy, but the closest I had ever seen to an The importance of understanding your epic fantasy war in D&D was Dragonlance, now enemies, and of healing wounds to create peace, are twenty years old. just the messages I wanted to weave into the plot. From the beginning, though, I decided War They’re just part of the whole picture, standing of the Burning Sky would eschew cosmic conflicts alongside the thrills and surprises from my fellow and classic good-evil dichotomies in favor of a authors, the sense of place evoked by our more postmodern perspective, where enemies all cartographers, the aesthetic wonders of our have reasons for their actions. Sure, you can play illustrators and brilliant layout artist, and the the adventures such that the Ragesians are evil perseverance and steady hand of Russ, the man and can be killed without remorse because some in charge. Together, they crafted compelling of them consort with devils, but I tried to make villains, dramatic battles, engaging mysteries, and sure we gave the heroes plenty of opportunities dangers fit to challenge the greatest hero. I want to turn the tide by allying with potential enemies, to thank them one last time for all the talent they and more than a few opportunities to damn poured into this saga, and I encourage you to themselves by taking the easy way out of a difficult dive into the world we made together, to create a situation.Samplestory that matters to you. file Ryan Nock Campaign Director War of the Burning Sky xii War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign The Festival of Dreams (Detail) — Art by Brandon Leach Introduction : Ca m p i a g n Gu i d e Sample file Introduction

Th e Wa r Be g i n s Ca m p a i g n Ou t l i n e

As the new year dawns, weather across the lands While every adventure should be fun and this is not wholly a battle between good and evil. of Ragesia takes a sudden chill turn. The sky exciting, when we designed the War of the Seeking peace is the harder option, but without darkens with the shades of oncoming winter, and Burning Sky campaign saga, we wanted to do peace, even the final enemy’s fall cannot bring worry rises as regular channels of communication something novel, and give the players a chance true victory. between nations suddenly cease. Slowly, throughout to influence political events in the world, to lead the lands claimed by the Ragesian Empire, rumors armies into battle, and to possibly rule the world Ca m p a i g n Ov e r v i e w spread between isolated villages, traveling by or let it be destroyed as they see fit. The PCs War of the Burning Sky consists of twelve foot and horse and word of mouth, rumors that will get to play with some big guns, and as the adventures, which should take characters Drakus Coaltongue, the immortal emperor whose campaign nears its climax you will witness the from 1st level to 20th level and possibly a few armies conquered every land he set his gaze upon, horrifying potential of magic on the field of war. levels beyond. We’ve included four options for has fallen in a distant land to the west. How Before the campaign is over, the players will: running an abridged version of the campaign as the tyrant was defeated is unknown, but if it is • Fight the living incarnation of an eternal well, detailed later in this section. true, everyone knows that a war is coming. The forest fire. generals of Emperor Coaltongue will strike for • Battle a cell of magical spies while a hurricane The Plot in a Fiery Nutshell control, oppressed peoples will rise up in rebellion, rages around them. The campaign begins after the assassination of and dangers once held in check only by fear of the • Carry out military operations ranging from Drakus Coaltongue, the emperor of the Ragesian immortal emperor will bring doom to the world. infantry maneuvers and spying, to cavalry Empire (see page 4 for timeline). Various leaders Those in power are preparing for the coming charges and tactical strike missions. look to claim power in the resulting vacuum, and conflict, readying fervent armies and powerful • Adventure through the memories of an while this will eventually lead to open war, the weapons and subtle, deceptive plots, but two enemy ruler in order to learn her secrets. most immediate threat comes in the form of questions burn in their minds: who killed the • Defend against a battalion of soldiers the Scourge, a decree that all disloyal users of immortal Emperor Coaltongue; and what has mounted on war mammoths and their frost magic in Ragesia and surrounding lands are to become of the artifact that would let a man rule the giant allies in an arctic waste in order to be captured or killed. world? Who has the Torch of the Burning Sky? protect a vital teleportation circle. The decree is from Supreme Inquisitor Leska, Driven out of their homelands by the dogs of • Engage in street-to-street fighting in an who commanded Ragesia’s anti-magic inquisitors war, the heroes head for a distant safe haven, a occupied metropolis, led by a traitor toward and who now wants to rule. Meanwhile mages’ school named Lyceum, which has sent a trap that will destroy the entire city. Shaaladel, ruler of the Shahalesti nation which up a rallying cry for those who wish to resist the • Get their hands on an artifact and actually has an unstable peace with Ragesia, attempts warmongers. Sent on missions by the leaders of use it to turn the tide of the war. to retrieve the Torch of the Burning Sky, source Lyceum, the heroes form alliances to build an army, There are 20 levels of abilities and more in the d20 of the Ragesian Empire’s power. In the remote and they discover strange secrets that underlie the system, and one of the goals of War of the Burning Monastery of Two Winds, a wizard named Pilus conflict. As the war reaches a climax, powerful Sky is to let the players use almost everything creates a doomsday weapon in the form of a living magic superweapons threaten to scorch the world the system has to offer. If you’d prefer to avoid airship powered by elemental forces, which he or sunder reality and leave nothing but nightmares. the admittedly complicated events of high-level plans to use to seize power after he betrays his adventures, we’ve included ways to end the Ragesian allies. Finally, a race of dream monsters War of the Burning Sky is a high fantasy campaign satisfactorily after the fourth or eighth called the trillith ascend from deep underground; campaign saga that thrusts the player characters adventure (see page 5, Abridged Campaigns). they sense a weakness in the Material Plane that into a war of mythic proportions. Ever- If you’d like to start the campaign with player will let them sunder the world into dreams. intensifying conflicts, powered by mighty magic characters that are already reasonably powerful, Now, as the Ragesian armies scramble to quell and fervent faith, threaten the heroes’ freedom we’ve included ways to instead start the campaign the rebellions that followed in the wake of the and lives, and even the world itself. with either of those two adventures. But of emperor’s fall, those magic-users at the edges of Throughout the course of the saga, a party course we hope you’ll take it from its portentous the Ragesian Empire see a brief window to escape. of heroes will become involved in an escalating beginning to its epic finale. All that stops them is the question, where can war between mighty magical nations, and Finally, while not everyone looks for morality they hide? For no land is beyond the cruel, searing after many adventures, military battles, and tales in their gaming, we hope that players may reach of the Ragesian Empire. mysterious intrigue, it will be up to them to find more in this war than simple heroism and Hope comes from the south, in a meager decide who will rule in the aftermath. epic conflicts. The most memorable stories in war coastal town called Seaquen, where a small Starting any campaign and seeing it are not about the battles, but about the people, magical academy known as the Lyceum has through to the end can be challenging, so we and how they are affected. The campaign saga called those who oppose the Empire to rally presentSample this chapter as an overview of the is designed, ultimately, to encourage peace, and under its banner.file All across the Ragesian Empire, campaign saga, the characters and locations winning with the aid of allies, even those who thousands of stalwart or desperate heroes have involved, and ways in which game masters can might normally be perceived as enemies. While set out, hoping to find safety at this insignificant, customize the saga. the heroes will face true villains and scoundrels, overlooked academy.

2 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide

Th e Ad v e n t u r e s one The Scouring of Gate Pass five Mission to the Monastery of Two Winds nine The Festival of Dreams Levels 1–2 Levels 9–10 Levels 16–17 As the Ragesian army marches upon the The heroes are sent on another mission by With the aid of whatever allies they have neutral city of Gate Pass, the PCs must retrieve Seaquen, to a monastery in Ostalin where monks secured, the heroes return to the city of Gate vital war intelligence from a spy and deliver it who worship the wind are being threatened by Pass where the campaign began, with the goals of to the distant wizards’ school of Lyceum, but the remnants of the army the Ragesian emperor liberating the city and swaying the allegiance of first they have to find a way out of a besieged was commanding before he was assassinated. Leska’s armies. They learn that Leska is trying to city before Gate Pass falls and the inquisitors, The heads of the monastery, a pair of brothers use the dream monsters as fuel for a device that Ragesia’s infamous skull-masked, mage-hunting named Longinus and Pilus, offer to aid the PCs will let her control magic over a long distance, clerics, find them. in retrieving the lost Torch of the Burning Sky if while the trillith have another desire — to release they help them fight the army, but clues suggest the bonds of the world and turn it into nothing two The Indomitable Fire Forest of Innenotdar that the monastery may have been responsible for but dreams. When a defiant religious festival is Levels 3–4 the hurricane in Seaquen. interrupted by the appearance of a nightmare The journey between Gate Pass and Lyceum swarm, the heroes must locate a disloyal trillith is dangerous, and along the way the heroes must six Tears of the Burning Sky who can help them stop the incursion. survive passage through a forest that has burned Levels 11–12 for decades, where a dream monster known as a The heroes race ahead of an enemy army, ten Sleep, Ye Cursed Child trillith holds sway. The trillith, which calls itself fighting its way inside the abandoned fortress in the Levels 17–20 Indomitability, is trapped by the last survivors of nation of Sindaire — Castle Korstull — where With news arriving that Leska is preparing the forest, a clan of pernicious fey whose magical Emperor Coaltongue was slain. The castle is now her superweapon and that Pilus’s airship is aimed song holds the key to defeating these strange overrun by undead, animated by a strange fiery for Seaquen, the heroes need to reactivate the nightmare beings. tear in the fabric of the planes. The castle holds Torch, so they can respond to both threats. Their the clue of what has happened to the Torch, but mission takes them into the Underdark, to the lair three Shelter From the Storm the heroes will have to fight to learn it. of the Mother of Dreams, source of the trillith, Levels 5–6 whose power created the Torch of the Burning, Once the heroes reach Lyceum, located in a seven The Trial of Echoed Souls and who they hope can fix it. While war rages on small seaside village named Seaquen, they have Levels 13–14 the surface, the heroes must find unlikely allies to navigate various political dangers (like spies In the haunted forest of Ycengled, the heroes amid the evil races of the deep, and must battle from Ragesia, power hungry refugees, and a fleet locate the assassins who have the Torch, but learn the nightmares of a sleeping dragon in order to of hostile Shahalesti elves), prove themselves that they have damaged it, removing a key piece free her from her curse. loyal to the fight against Ragesia, and rescue the of its magic in a nearby psionic temple, which the town when a magical hurricane strikes, conjured party must brave if they wish to use the powerful eleven Under the Eye of the Tempest by agents of an unknown villain. They learn that artifact. In the temple, the heroes face dangers Levels 17–20 teleportation magic has gone awry, and the heads of the past, and learn secrets that drive the next Certain of his own invincibility, the stormy of Lyceum think it has something to do with the several adventures. The Torch is only partially archmage Pilus sets his sights on destroying his old missing Torch of the Burning Sky. repaired, giving the heroes mobility, but not rivals, the mages of Lyceum Academy. Once again At the end of the adventure, word comes that enough power to teleport armies. a storm rolls over the town of Seaquen, but this Ragesia has taken note of Lyceum, and that an tempest bears an army amid its thunder. The heroes army has been dispatched to destroy the school. eight O Wintry Song of Agony board Pilus’s mile-long living airship and fight their Levels 15–16 way to its brain, but to kill the leviathan’s master, four The Mad King’s Banquet A clue from the temple leads the heroes to a they must slay the beast as well, for the lich Pilus Levels 7–8 secret facility operated by minions of Leska in the has chosen an unusual form for his phylactery. Lyceum sends the heroes on a mission to frozen reaches of northern Ragesia. Under the find allies in the nearby nation of Dassen before facility is a strange prison where waves of agony twelve The Beating of the Aquiline Heart Ragesia’s army arrives. There they discover a overwhelm the inmates — all of them captured Levels 17–20 trillith named Madness, another dream monster spellcasters seized by the Scourge. The agony The immortal blood of Avilona, elemental like the one in the fire forest, is manipulating the comes from a trillith, who is being used to power spirit of air, runs in the veins of Supreme king. The heroes help a sympathetic noble named experiments with some strange superweapon Inquisitor Leska, and she has had enough time to Duke Gallo battle the forces of the mad king. Leska is working on. The heroes rescue Etinifi, a gather a great deal of power. Her armies defend Seaquen’sSample survival depends on their success. prisoner who knows Leska’s weaknesses. the great rift filecalled the Heart of History where lies the still beating Aquiline Heart, and the During most of the campaign, teleportation is heroes must lead one final assault into the fiery The Burning Sky extremely hazardous. See page 442 for details. breast of the Ragesian Empire.

EN Publishing 3 Introduction

Ti m e l i n e o f t h e Wa r

Assuming you use the full version of the • February — The trillith begin locating lost • May — Shalosha of Shahalesti contacts campaign and that the PCs are successful in brethren, gathering their power while secretly General Magdus and convinces him the elves their adventures, the war will likely progress working with Leska to develop her Scourge will support a bid by him to rule Ragesia. as follows. This is a very rough timeline, so feel (The Indomitable Fire Forest of Innenotdar). Looking for allies, an ambitious archmage free to expand or compress periods of time to The Third Ragesian Army, under the named Pilus, from the Monastery of Two account for the PCs taking side quests, traveling command of General Revulus, joins Danava’s Winds, hosts the ruler of Ostalin, Khagan at different speeds, or spending time training or army, and by the end of the month the two Onamdammin. Pilus reveals his experimental crafting magic items. Obviously, access to swift armies assault Gate Pass again. The fight lasts airship, Te m p e s t , which is large enough to travel, particularly teleportation, may speed up more than a month. carry an army. The airship is close to these events, but in general the war moves at the A fleet bearing the Shahalesti diplomatic completion, but while Pilus plans to use it to speed of normal troops, because no small group envoy arrives in Dassen. Paranoid king Steppen­ seize power for himself, Pilus’s brother of teleporting adventures is able to destroy an gard believes they are enemies, so the envoy Longinus clears away the firestorm over Castle entire army by itself. tries to contact other people in power, including Korstull to help agents of Seaquen (Mission At least not until they are a bit higher in level. the headmaster of Lyceum, the highly regarded to the Monastery of Two Winds). school of magic in Seaquen. • June — Magdus and Shalosha pursue the • November — Emperor Coaltongue is killed • March — Despite the fact that winter seems agents of Seaquen to Castle Korstull, but are in Castle Korstull (Prologue) and abducted by not to be turning to spring, a supernatural unable to retrieve clues to the location of the the drow assassins. Teleportation becomes hurricane strikes Seaquen, destroying the Torch of the Burning Sky (Tears of the deadly. The First Ragesian Army is left Shahalesti fleet at an inopportune moment, Burning Sky). Lord Shaaladel, knowing that stranded in Sindaire under the command of ruining the chance for diplomacy (Shelter from the Torch would help him stop the Ragesian General Magdus. He orders a retreat from the the Storm). Seaquen looks for defenses against drive into Shahalesti, devotes a massive flaming storm over Castle Korstull. Ragesia and others, and sends envoys of its amount of resources to tracking down those • December — Supreme Inquisitor Leska, who own to various Dasseni nobles. They also send who pursue the Torch. seeks to seize control of Ragesia with a strong a group to the Monastery of Two Winds, to • July — Agents of Seaquen recover the Torch show of force, orders General Magdus to investigate clues that suggest the hurricane was and use it to aid their allies (The Trial of move his forces to settle in for the winter and directed by someone there. Echoed Souls). Who those allies are will then join up with the Ragesian Imperial Navy In northern Shahalesti, the Fourth depend on the heroes’ actions and opinions. when it begins a blockade of Turinn, the Ragesian Army conquers important elven • August — The resistance launches the first capital city of Sindaire, in March. Ragesia cities on its way to Nacaan, capital of the strike in their counteroffensive: an attack announces its intention to retaliate against the northern Shahalesti state. against Leska’s frozen research fortress where nations of Sindaire and Shahalesti for their In Sindaire, the blockade of Turinn begins, she was developing her Scourge superweapon involvement in the assassination of Emperor but before the first army under Magdus can (O Wintry Song of Agony). Coaltongue. move to their aid, the army of Ostalin invades • September — Shahalesti, having succeeded In response to the announcement, Sindaire from the south, looking to expand its in stopping the Ragesian advance, invades the Shahalesti sends out diplomatic envoys to holdings. Magdus stays put, and protests with city of Gate Pass, trying to gain its own nearby nations, seeking allies. Leska, whom he does not recognize as the foothold in Ragesia. However, both armies are • January — The Second Ragesian Army, legitimate ruler of Ragesia. driven away by the arrival of a massive horde under command of General Danava, assaults • April — Gate Pass falls to Ragesia, a costly of trillith from under the earth (The Festival Gate Pass (The Scouring of Gate Pass), while first step into Shahalesti. Danava’s Second of Dreams). the Fourth Army marches through the Army marches on to Shahalesti, while Revulus • October — The conflict comes to a head in mountains in the northlands, both attempting takes his Third Army south, into Dassen. one of several possible ways. The trillith to press into Shahalesti. Gate Pass resists, and They make their first assault toward the end discover where the Aquiline Heart is located, so Danava lays siege, demanding that the city of the month, and find little resistance, since and they create the dream of Annihilation to open its gates to a contingent of Ragesian Steppengard, the paranoid king, has pulled all destroy the Heart and with it the material inqusitors, who will check whether the city is his armies inward to defend himself, leaving world (Sleep, Ye Cursed Child). Meanwhile, harboring enemies. Gate Pass yields, allowing the borders unsecured. However, Dasseni Pilus and his airship, loaded with the army of the inquisitors inside, but this is a ruse to lure loyalists, with the aid of Seaquen, hold off Ostalin, allies with whomever the party likes them away from the bulk of the army, leaving their entrance to the country (The Mad King’s least and sets out to destroy Seaquen (Under the Ragesians vulnerable to evocation magic Banquet). the Eye of the Tempest). Finally, Supreme cast bySample the archmage Gabal and his students. The Fourth Army captures Nacaan. Inquisitor Leskafile must be defeated before she The inquisitors slay Gabal, but not before he Things look bleak for Shahalesti as the Fourth brings the Scourge to full fruition, powering it destroys the Ragesian siege engines. Danava and Second Armies link up and make plans to with the blood of the Aquiline Heart (The retreats to regroup. march on Calanis, the capital. Beating of the Aquiline Heart).

4 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide

Ca m p a i g n Va r i a n t s Ke y Na m e s a n d Pl a c e s Ab r i d g e d Ca m p a i g n s to emerge and take bodies. The party must stop • Emperor Coaltongue: Drakus Coaltongue In the full version of the campaign, there Pilus and his airship of nightmare creatures from has ruled Ragesia for decades, slowly are two major nations at war — Ragesia and laying wastes to cities, then thwart the trilliths’ expanding its borders through cunning and Shahalesti — plus Pilus, a third party who wants plans to seize the Aquiline Heart. Finally, the conquest. He was rumored to be immortal, to seize power, and the trillith, who see the war as party must delve deep underground to finish off but now he is rumored to be dead, which an opportunity to reshape reality to their whims. the dreaming mother of the trillith. has Ragesia up in arms. The conflict engulfs the region, and the party must deal with multiple foes and allies at once, but they Tw e a k i n g t h e Se t t i n g • The Torch of the Burning Sky: Emperor ultimately have the chance to decide who will rule War of the Burning Sky is intended to fit into Coal­tongue’s success depended heavily on in the war’s aftermath. any setting, but we use a baseline setting as the the Torch, an artifact he acquired years ago. core of the campaign saga. If you want to place this All the common person knows is that when Freeing Gate Pass campaign saga in an existing setting, you might the Emperor lights the torch, he calls a This shortened version uses adventures 1 simply say that Ragesia and the lands around it pillar of fire down from the sky that carries through 4 and stops when the PCs are around lie far from the realms the PCs have previously him and his armies to wherever he desires. 8th level. The conflict begins the same, between experienced or in a distant part of the world. Or Ragesia and Shahalesti, and the party’s goal is to you might prefer to find an area that closely parallels • Gate Pass: The Free Citystate of Gate Pass gain allies to come to the aid of the neutral city the terrain and nations of the campaign saga. lies in the Otdar Mountains, which is the Gate Pass, which is a proxy battleground between You can easily change a great many details eastern border of Ragesia. The pass a major the two nations. The campaign ends once the about the adventures in the campaign saga to conduit between Ragesia and their elvish party succeeds in bringing in Dassen as a third fit your own setting, without ruining the plot allies to the east, the Shahalesti. Control power to force an armistice. of the adventures. There are only three major of it is vital. requirements for choosing a location for the Defeating the Ragesian Empire campaign. First, two nations must be willing • The Shining Land of Shahalesti: The elves This version uses adventures 1 through 8, to go to war, and several nearby lands must be of Shahalesti cast their lot in with the stopping when the PCs are around 15th level. affected or threatened by this war. Second, the Ragesians years ago, which allowed the As above, the party seeks allies to rescue Gate two main nations must have some sort of difficult rather insular nation to rise to power, but Pass, but Ragesia does not relent, and the party passage separating them, which they must claim now their alliance is strained. Everyone must recover the Torch, ally with Dassen and before they can press into each other’s land — a knows that the elvish ruler, Lord Shaaladel, Shahalesti, and kill Leska while she is overseeing mountain pass, a narrow isthmus, a magical portal, has his sights set on inheriting after the final stages of her superweapon’s construction. or a safe road through trackless wastes. Third, you Coaltongue’s death. Shaaladel’s daughter (Sort of like Return of the Jedi.) Pilus and the have to be willing to create a few minor locations, Shalosha is not power-hungry like her trillith play only a minor role. such as towns, monasteries, temples, and forests. father, and she provides an avenue for To help reduce the amount of work necessary alliance with the heroes. Restoring the Rightful Ruler to make the campaign fit your setting, the following In this unusual version, which uses adventures section provides suggestions on what to look for • Supreme Inquisitor Leska: Once one of 4 through 8, Dassen becomes part of Ragesia, loyal when choosing the people and places that will Coaltongue’s closest advisors, the aged to the fallen emperor. Leska had the emperor killed stand in for those written into the campaign saga. witch named Leska has trained a mighty and kidnapped (hiding him so he could not be force of clerics specialized in countermagic. raised), and she intends to secure her rule through Nations and Cities Concealed by bear skull masks, these a reign of terror. The party must first defend When looking for nations in an existing “inquisitors,” as they are known, do Leska’s Dassen from Leska’s armies, then locate and rescue setting, Ragesia’s stand-in should be able to field every bidding. Coaltongue, climaxing with an assault on Leska’s a large enough army to potentially conquer all its base of operations in the northern tundra. neighboring lands. Shahalesti’s stand-in should be • Dassen, Sindaire, Ostalin: Three nations slightly weaker than Ragesia, militant but not evil. on the borders of Ragesia and Shahalesti, The Trillith Incursion The two nations should be neighbors or fairly close. who might be allies or enemies. This final alternative uses adventures 8, 9, 11, The events of the adventures one and nine hinge on 12, and finally 10. The trillith have corrupted there being a neutral city between the two nations, • Pilus, Master of the East Wind: The the empress Leska, and with their ally Pilus they which stands in the way of their conflict, though monk-sorcerer Pilus, a master of air seek to destroy the world. This story arc begins any restrictive terrain could work as well as the magic and the creature-sculpting art of with theSample party learning about a strange research mountain range assumed by the adventure. biomancy,file sees the war as an opportunity facility in the tundra, and upon investigating they The rest of the surrounding nations can to claim power. He may feign allegiance learn of the trillith’s plan. The trillith make Leska be whatever you want, though you will want a with the heroes, but, in reality, he is merely attack Gate Pass with her armies, allowing them similar geographical relation between Ragesia a cunning liar.

EN Publishing 5 Introduction

and Dassen, so that the Fire Forest of Innenotdar Major NPCs Trillith: The trillith are a totally new group, can provide an actual shortcut. It’s a small enough The two biggest events that spark off the war and since their existence is relatively unknown area that it should not be hard to add. are the vacuum left after the fall of a powerful it should be easy to fit them in. You might need There could be many smaller nations involved warlord and the desire to retrieve the artifact to alter the timeline of the Mother of Dreams in this conflict, but whatever you do, make sure that brought him to power in the first place. The somewhat, to make sure she keeps her ties with that the conflict doesn’t stretch far enough that specifics of the warlord can vary easily. Emperor the creation of the Torch. nations far more powerful than Ragesia and Coaltongue’s stand-in just needs to be feared and Adventure Locations: Any setting has Shahalesti get involved. The PCs should feel like cunning, and to have commanded armies, but his enough uncharted terrain that it shouldn’t be they’re the underdogs, and that they have a big age, race, and even class could certainly change. hard to work in a fire forest, a monastery, a fight ahead of them. Other nations should not be He might have only recently begun his march to psychic temple, and an underground prison. interested enough to simply sweep in and save the power, and he might only have had the Torch of Don’t worry about having to use famous day; that’s for the party to do. Burning Sky for a short time. locations from a setting. Just because the PCs Leska and her anti-magic inquisitors are a don’t personally fight the battles in a well-known Wh a t if t h e PCs Do No t h i n g ? fairly large component of the campaign setting, city doesn’t mean that the battle isn’t happening. Without the PCs present, events follow the but any would-be dictator and worshipful group The conflict should appear massive, much bigger timeline on page 4 up until adventure four, The of ominous minions works in their place. The than the PCs. Of course, players like to feel a Mad King’s Banquet. Without the heroes’ aid, inquisitors could be a recent development, rather little bit legendary, so at least in the climax Dassen falls before the army of Revulus. Then, than a deep institution of Ragesia. Leska’s stand- adventures, try to use notable locations. instead of the PCs getting help from Longinus in just needs to be the “hands-off manipulative Some of the adventures, particularly at the Monastery of Two Winds, Shalosha genius” style of villain. adventures four (The Mad King’s Banquet), five convinces Magdus to remove his garrison, A group of non-good elves who aren’t drow (Mission to the Monastery of Two Winds), and and so Shalosha and Magdus head to Castle might not fit a lot of settings, so any group, racial eight (O Wintry Song of Agony), are intended Korstull to find out where the Torch is. or otherwise, that mixes warcraft and spellcraft can to give you as game master a lot of leeway as to Then, while Shahalesti elite forces rush to be substituted for the Shahalesti. The character specific location. You just need to decide where a retrieve the Torch, Magdus takes his army to used as Shaaladel’s stand-in should be motivated strategically important battle would occur, then Turinn, capital of Sindaire, which is under naval by a sense of moral superiority, not generic “evil send the PCs on the particular missions of the blockade and under attack by Ostalin. Magdus’s intentions.” Shaaladel’s stand-in needs to be adventure, which are intended to be pivotal to army, aided by the native Sindairese, breaks highly charismatic — enough to have convinced the conflict. Ostalin’s forces, then uses treachery to destroy people to do things they might normally think the Ragesian fleet. Pilus, sensing success, wrong, which means they might come to their Ex p a n d e d Ca m p a i g n s sides with Magdus and the Shahalesti, with senses and choose otherwise if given the option. As designed, the campaign saga should take a full intention of betraying them later. Ostalin Pilus, the trillith, and the leaders of Seaquen party from 1st to 20th level, and possibly beyond. turns its attention to Dassen, and either they or had no political power before the start of the war, However, you might award experience more Revulus’s third army destroy Seaquen. and so are easy to fit in anywhere. slowly, or simply want to have more encounters The Shahalesti retrieve the Torch, and use to showcase the scope of the war. You might try it to their advantage, but because they do not Immortality and the Aquiline Heart some of these adventure hooks: have access the military intelligence that the The Aquiline Heart is an artifact that is party delivered out of Gate Pass way back in hinted at throughout the campaign saga, which Gate Pass the first adventure, they don’t know about provides immortality to those who taste of its The Spells of the Master. At some point in Leska’s superweapon. Even with the aid of the blood. Destroying the artifact will end the grant the middle of the campaign saga, the party might Torch and Pilus’s airship, they cannot do much of immortality, but it might have other disastrous return to try to recover the spellbooks of Gabal, when Leska starts turning off magic. After a consequences. Leska is immortal by virtue of the full of spells designed to thwart inquisitor tactics. few spectacular aerial assaults, Pilus’s airship Aquiline Heart, which means that she does not Perhaps they are guarded by the ghosts of his falls unceremoniously from the sky. age and that she regenerates from any wound students, by a rampant golem, or by the spells Eventually, Shahalesti forces destroy the not caused by a true dragon. The Heart gives the themselves, brought to life by latent energy of device powering the Scourge, and it looks like players a memorable way to strike a seemingly the trillith. the war will devolve into a traditional, gritty invincible foe in her weak spot. The myth of Unity Wedding. The roguish hero Rantle ground war, with armies slowly grinding for the Aquiline Heart can be a famous old legend has fallen in love with Shalosha, the princess of territory. Shahalesti starts rounding up captured that people only half believe, like the tales of the Shahalesti, and despite the chaos of war, they orcs and half-orcs and discreetly having them Holy Grail, or it could be a little-known legend, plan to be wed in a properly regal (and time- killed even though they are officially prisoners of isolated to Ragesia. If you substitute an existing consuming) ceremony. Rantle, who holds quite war. Then,Sample while no one is paying attention, the legend of the setting, you might lose some of the a bit of swayfile in Gate Pass, enlists the party trillith destroy the Heart, and everyone dies. phoenix imagery in the later adventures, so try to and some of his guild friends to make sure the The actions of a small group of 1st-level find something that involves fire so it ties in well ceremony doesn’t get interrupted by unwanted PCs will, in short, be pivotal. with the “burning sky” part of the campaign. guests (such as the father of the bride).

6 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide pg. 628 p a M s ’

a s t eSample r file M a m e G

EN Publishing 7 Introduction

Fire Forest Ostalin by a small Ragesian cavalry detachment, and War Crimes. After the war is over, the Fight or Flight. A group of Ostalin expatriates, now they are trying to cross the mountains into party might need to race against an effort by trained under Longinus and Pilus, are trying to Dassen. They cross paths with the party, and the Shahalesti to hide their crimes, such as the rally their people to resist Khagan Onamdammin ask them to help with a tricky plan to stop the slaughter and burning of the Innenotdar Fire while his army is distracted. The flying monks Ragesians from following them. Forest. The party needs to find a way to protect plan a strike against the breeding aeries for the the evidence. Of course, the dead might still be nation’s hippogriff cavalry, stealing mounts of Ragesia, Upper able to offer testimony. their own, and killing those they can’t. The Old Fashioned Way. The PCs are called Feast or Famine. A rich merchant with a fleet upon to assassinate Rowern, head of intelligence Seaquen of ships is supplying food to the Ragesians, who operations for the Ragesian army, and then More Spies in the Steam Tunnels. Under are having trouble feeding their armies with the impersonate him in order to sow misinformation Seaquen lies a complex hive of caverns, carved by extended winter. The party might try to destroy for as long as possible. In preparation for this sea and magma. In addition to providing steam the shipments, or stow away on board in order to mission, the heroes are told that Rowern likes that keeps the city warm during the winter, these sneak into Ragesia, or through the blockade in to spend his evenings drinking with old army tunnels can also be the lairs of spies. The spies try Turinn. However, one of Pilus’s agents has slipped buddies at an upscale brewery in Ragos, the to sabotage the party, steal vital magic items, or a biomanced creature on board: a fast-breeding Ragesian capital. Of course, in a city so full of trigger a volcano by accessing a hidden seal to the horde of hybrid rat-cockroaches that devour inquisitors, magical disguises are all but useless, Elemental Plane of Fire. See page 363. everything they find. so the party will have to use more traditional Dreamcatcher. A trillith who calls itself techniques to pull off the caper. See page 405. Wanderer passes through Seaquen, appearing as a Sindaire Failed Experiments. A traveler who was lost tall man, wrapped head to toe in sandy robes and Small Wars. After the assassination of in the wastes of northern Ragesia reports that veils, with a staff that curves at the top, ending in Coaltongue, his army splintered. Without a he came upon a ghost town in a crater shaped a knot that looks like an eye. He is collecting the clear chain of command, many smaller units like a giant feather, where the only activity he dreams of the city’s inhabitants — many of whom took it upon themselves to crush the rebellion saw was a distant, hulking shape loping across are refugees who have seen great horrors and that originally brought Coaltongue to Sindaire. the frozen lake in the crater’s center. The demise tragedies — to be distilled and refined in order The party would gain the favor of many if they of this town is a direct result of a failed test of to torment Trilla and create new, unique trillith. could protect the commoners in the region, but Leska’s Scourge superweapon. To make things He lurks on the Wayfarer’s Theater, enjoying it is their misfortune that the most notorious of more interesting, a small group of inquisitors the psychic emanations of people watching their these rogue Ragesian warbands is actually on a are roaming the city, trying to determine what performances. See page 419. noble mission, trying to track down a demon- went wrong and extracting all the information Amphibious Assault. A fleet from Ostalin, summoner who is using the townsfolk as a they can. accompanied by hippogriff cavalry, attempt to human shield. seize the Seaquen docks. Fey Tracks. The party hears a local legend of Psionics a faerie who lived in a nearby grove for a time, his The powers of the trillith are closely modeled Dassen feet wilting grass with every step, his touch rotting on psionic powers, so if you allow psionics in Civil War. Some minor memeber of the trees, but he was still favored by the forest’s druid. your campaign, your players will likely notice the Dassen nobility is up to the same old selfish They hear a barkeep whistling a tune identical connection, and those who play psionic classes tricks, except this time a vague, unsupportable to the song of the fey of the fire forest while he will have an advantage against these creatures claim to the throne threatens to override the wipes down his tables. If the party braves the who are little more than disembodied minds. immediate needs of stopping the world from natural guardians of the druid’s grove, they can We hope that presenting psionics as a type ending. The pretender might be endorsed by one earn the old woman’s favor, who tells them a story of magic rooted in dreams will provide a way of the other powers in the war, or he might just be of meeting the fey Etinifi, and teaches them the to integrate them into your campaign without megalomaniacal. See page 385. spell enforced flesh. losing a traditional fantasy feel. However, you The Shrieking Wyrm. People report hearing do not need to use the psionics rules with this a vicious keening in the bayou north of Seaquen. Ragesia, Lower campaign if you do not want to. Everything you In truth, it is a large brood of infant green dragons, Nature’s Aid. The party hears of a horse­ need is presented with the adventures, and to wailing for their mother, who was injured by a lost master druid who lives with a herd that would players unfamiliar with psionics, the powers of military convoy. If the party can nurse her back make fine mounts for whichever army can court the trillith will look like just an interesting set to health and protect her children, she might be his favor best. The druid sets up a competition of new supernatural abilities. willing to lend her aid to the war. Unfortunately, between the party and a contingent of Ragesian If you are interested in using psionics, the the father is territorial, and he wants custody of rangers: a race through dangerous wilderness complete psionic rules are available as Open the children.Sampleterrain, over twenty miles long. Gaming Contentfile through various websites. We Refugee Train. In a line of thousands Catch Me If You Can. A gnome caravan, recommend www.d20srd.org, which was used of desperate refugees, many are neglected or trying to protect a pair of injured sorcerers extensively as a reference when creating the exploited, and some are not what they seem. fleeing the Scourge, have been chased for weeks campaign saga.

8 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide

Shahalesti Kn i g h t s o f t h e Aq u i l i n e Cr o s s • Knowledge (History or Religion) Moral Dilemmas. A camp of tortured DC 10: The Knights of the Aquiline Cross wilds of Shahalesti, and she vowed to continue the orcish prisoners and a captured erinyes spy, are clerics and paladins who see healing as the order’s quest. their celestial overseers, and the hateful elvish best way to fight evil. They cannot refuse using DC 30: The order’s true goal in seeking the summoner in charge of the camp are the their healing powers to those who ask (though Heart is not to use its healing power, but to heal ingredients for an unorthodox rescue mission. they’re not required to heal enemies who the Heart itself. It is said that if one gives up The erinyes has stolen the soul of an elvish have not surrendered). Followers of the order his life to the Heart, it will be reunited with the general and hidden it. She is a valuable agent who maintain their vow of healing are said to Eagle, and the life of the land will be renewed. in the war, and the party could benefit greatly miraculously survive injury, as if they simply do DC 40: One sage found the Heart, and claimed from her knowledge, but she just happens to be not bleed from even seemingly-fatal wounds. he’d been granted immortality by drinking blood blisteringly evil. See page 375. DC 15: Knights of the order quest to locate that still pumped from it. His wounds healed at Pride Before the Falls. In the capital city the Aquiline Heart, a healing relic said to have an incredible rate, and he could even return from of Calanis, the party is close to convincing been torn from the chest of a mighty eagle by a the dead. He told only his most trusted friends, the Shahalesti to ally with them, but one of fierce dragon. afraid others would find the Heart and abuse its Shaaladel’s generals, an egotistical wizard who DC 20: The original Order of the Aquiline power, or, worse, destroy it. Destroying the Heart, believes he is the greatest spellduelist of all time, Cross was exterminated entirely by the wrath of a the only relic of a mighty creature of elemental manages by persuasion, wheedling, and general demon, but was reborn recently by an act of divine air, would upset the balance of the elements, with diplomacy to keep the ruler from siding with the inspiration. A young human paladin named Entras catastrophic effects. Eventually the sage ended PCs. If the party can prey on the general’s pride found an abandoned chapel of the order in the his life by letting a dragon devour him whole. or insult his honor, he might decide to settle his dispute with a spell duel at noon on the cliffs Wa y f a r e r s • Knowledge (Arcana or Local) overlooking the city’s majestic waterfalls. DC 10: The Wayfarers are a famous troupe DC 20: Rumors say that the Wayfarers of performers who travel from port to port in a regularly extort those in power — from merchants Po w e r Gr o u p s huge sailing ship that contains its own theater. to entire nations — by threatening to withhold The following three groups play a role in Strangely, no one ever sees them enter or leave their services. They aggressively hunt down the campaign saga. More details are provided port; they simply appear and vanish in the blink anyone who competes with their monopoly on whenever they show up in the adventures. of an eye, some claim. In addition to being teleporting goods and information. Some think See the sidebar at right for information the welcome performers for the rich, Wayfarers that the Wayfarers have a curse that can stop a PCs might uncover with appropriate skill checks. serve as elite couriers, delivering news between person from ever using planar magic. major cities. They are very well paid for their DC 30: The first Wayfarer performed for Knights of the Aquiline Cross services. Emperor Coaltongue, in an attempt to save Small chapels that teach the doctrine of DC 15: Said to be larger on the inside than himself from execution. Coaltongue so enjoyed the Order of the Aquiline Cross have grown out, the Wayfarer Theater is just one example of the man’s performance that he took him as an up throughout the lands of Ragesia and its the troupe’s mastery of travel magic. However, advisor and shared with him some of the power neighbors, preaching mercy, sacrifice, and a the group’s performances are done entirely of the Torch of the Burning Sky. Many Wayfarers fierce defense of life. Knights of this order dress without magical aid, as the Wayfarers stress still recall Coaltongue fondly, but consistently in white and red tabards marked with a cross physical mobility as well as magical. refuse service to inquisitors. surrounded by a halo of feathers. In q u i s i t o r s • Knowledge (Arcana or Religion) The Wayfarers DC 10: Inquisitors hunt for dangerous magic, to dispel magic. Positive energy can inhibit their Every port in the region has at one time or which pretty much means any magic used by other counterspelling abilities. another been host to the Wayfarer Theater, a people. They have special skills for stopping other DC 30: Leska is rumored to be gathering beautifully-decorated ship that is both home mages’ spells. Most inquisitors are humans, orcs, information on how to steal divine power — not and base of operations for the wayfarers. The or half-orcs, and they carry metal claws on their to become a god herself, but to make herself wayfarers are both master acrobats and skilled hands. Many inquisitors are skilled interrogators, strong enough to never be beholden to a deity. Her mages, prone to dress in elaborate and eclectic and they use their claws to slit the wrists of followers are all heretics, and cannot be raised costumes cobbled together from dozens of lands. prisoners, forcing the prisoner to answer quickly. from the dead except as undead abominations. DC 15: Inquisitors are almost exclusively DC 40: Those in the imperial palace whisper The Inquisitors clerics, with access to divine fire, magic, and that when Leska was a young servant of the Dressed in bear skins, their faces concealed by protection domains. They wear masks to shield Ragesian Empire, she offered the Emperor bearskull masks, inquisitors are the feared blade their souls, and thus are more resistant to mind- immortality if he agreed to make her one of his of Ragesia,Sample expert in cutting out those who resist affecting magic. No one has seen Supreme advisors. Coaltonguefile was intrigued, but one of its rule. They fervently serve Ragesia’s supreme Inquisitor Leska’s face for nearly forty years. his guards struck down Leska with a spear for her inquisitor, an aged witch named Leska. DC 20: Inquisitors cannot turn or control impudence. She pulled the spear from her throat, undead; instead they channel negative energy and a moment later the wound had healed.

EN Publishing 9 Introduction

Pl a y e r s ’ Introduction Fo r t h e Pl a y e r s While once news reached the Free Citystate Ga t e Pa s s interrupted only by the district walls every half of Gate Pass by weekly teleporting courier, that The Free Citystate of Gate Pass lies in a rocky mile or so. The city’s natural landscape rises in channel has gone silent, and now news travels mountain pass that runs east to west between the center to a broad hill called Summer’s Bluff. by the old routes of rumor — travelers from the Ragesia and Shahalesti. Sheer cliffs mark its In addition to being home to dozens of gated outside world. You might be one of those travelers, northern and southern borders, and fortifications estates for the city’s politicians and rich merchants, or a concerned native of the city, but you have built up over centuries have made the city highly Summer’s Bluff is the site of the city’s grand square, heard the rumors. defensible, allowing it to avoid being annexed by where various annual holidays are celebrated. The Emperor Drakus Coaltongue, ruler of the either of the nations that surround it. These same grand square can easily hold several thousand mighty Ragesian Empire which lies to the west of fortifications, unfortunately, make it difficult for people, and it is dotted with dozens of small Gate Pass, has been slain in a distant nation, or anyone to sneak out of the city without going groves, statues, and ornamental gate arches, with so the rumors say. Of course, the rumors once said through any of the numerous gates that give the staircases people can climb to get a better view. In that Coaltongue was immortal. However, no one city its name. the center of the grand square is a high stone dais, doubts the tales of armies mustering in Ragesia, its surface carved in a massive relief that depicts with orders to secure the borders of the empire at Gate Pass several local legends. this time of weakness and uncertainty. And from NG Conventional Large City The rest of the city consists of various districts Shahalesti, the elvish nation east of Gate Pass, the Government Council of district representatives of skilled workers, common housing, warehouses rumors say its ruler seeks to claim the vulnerable Purchase Limit 40,000 gp; Assets 34,000,000 gp and businesses, and slums. Each district has Ragesia for his people. Population 17,000 representation in the city government. By city Gate Pass sits alone in its mountain pass, Demographics mixed (57% human, 13% orc, ordinance, every fourth district must contain one of the few safe routes between these two 10% elf, 6% half-orc, 5% half-elf, 5% gnome, a park at least a quarter mile to a side, though nations — Ragesia and Shahalesti. For weeks 3% dwarf, 1% other) entrance to these typically requires payment of people have been saying war would come to Gate a few coppers. Pass, and now the rumors are true. Though the city’s borders to north and south The city grew outward from its central In War of the Burning Sky, you will have the are tightly limited — less than a mile wide at the districts, with a new district and new outer wall chance to fight in a war of mythic proportions, and widest point — the mountain pass is nearly twenty springing up every decade or so. Because of determine the fate of many nations in its aftermath. miles long, giving the city a lot of room to grow this, it is possible to see the changing styles of Ever-escalating conflicts, powered by mighty magic eastward and westward. The older districts of construction and defense over the centuries of the and fervent faith, threaten your freedom and lives, the city lie in the center of the pass, with different city’s existence, like reading the rings of a tree. In and even the world itself. eras of development sprawling out gradually in older districts, built before the development of Driven by the dogs of war, you will head for a both directions. Additionally, various small farms the city’s underground sewer system, countless distant safe haven, a mages’ school named Lyceum, and ranches dot the mountains around the city reservoirs and aqueducts rise above the rooftops, which has sent up a rallying cry for those who wish proper, though these people are generally hostile designed to catch rainwater and direct sewage to to resist the warmongers. You will have a chance to to foreigners and relatively well-armed. Gate Pass dumps outside the city. The current sewers flow form alliances, to build an army, and to uncover has only been conquered once, and its citizens into an underground river before being swept into the strange secrets that underlie the conflict. As the managed to drive out the invaders and regain their endless, uncharted caves. war reaches a climax, powerful magic will threaten freedom, so many of the farmers and ranchers view In the past few decades, clerics have blessed to scorch nations, or sunder them into nothing but themselves as the first line of defense for their city. the gates of new districts in expensive rituals, and nightmares. It will be up to you to bring the war to a tradition has developed for respected citizens to an end before only embers and ruins remain. Traditions and Culture be buried in the sanctified ground near the gate The city’s architecture tends to multistory of their district. Most graveyards, however, lie buildings with bridges between roofs, creating outside the city, either fenced in atop hills, or in Pl a y e r Ha n d o u t s thousands of “gateways” along roads and alleys. gated crypts. Visit the EN Publishing Web site (www. Even in poorer districts, buildings are usually enworld.org) for a downloadable Player’s Guide at least two stories tall. Many merchants, Districts, Walls, and Gates that contains all the story information from made wealthy from the traffic that passes The city is segmented into dozens of districts, this section and a selection of rules information through the city, own vast ranges of adjacent each about a half-mile in length, separated by from Appendix A, all intended to be suitable buildings, all of them connected with high 30-foot-high walls (Climb DC 20) that stretch for review and use by the players before the bridges. An expression of the city — “a coin for from north to south, 6 feet thick at the top. The campaign starts. every gate” — both refers to the wealth of the city, tops of the walls sport metal grates sticking YouSample can also find downloadable copies of and serves as a warning to visitors to avoid poorer out sideways file5 feet in each direction, making it the adventure’s encounter maps, one-inch- areas where buildings lie unconnected. difficult (Climb DC 25) to make it over them. scale battle maps, and NPC stat blocks (in Rich A broad, twenty foot wide thoroughfare City ordinance forbids any rooftop within 10 Text Format). called the Emelk Way runs the length of the city, feet of a wall, though the city has a few stories

10 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide pg. 629 p a

’ M Sample file l a y e r s P

EN Publishing 11 Introduction

about industrious thieves using massive ladders sunset. A small steel access door can be opened those guards have orders to randomly inspect to traverse the city for twilight heists carried out to allow individuals to pass through at night, but someone every few minutes (especially those who in the wealthier districts. vehicles and beasts of burden are almost never look like outsiders). In a few districts are found smaller walled allowed through between sunset and dawn. A The northern and southern borders of the city areas populated predominantly by a single race. small guardhouse, large enough to comfortably typically have walls built from the natural cliffs, Most common of these ghettos are those of the hold eight soldiers, overlooks the gate with arrow averaging 40 feet tall. Each district on the edge elves, who tend to shun outsiders. Elvish ghettos slits and murder holes. More guards typically of the city usually has a gate either to the north are renowned for having no visible entrances watch the ground level by day. or south, and a wide swath of clear land on the through their walls — all the doors are secret, Passing between districts is relatively easy if outer side of the wall makes the approach easy to which elves can intuitively notice. one takes the main thoroughfare during the day, see. These walls are only a token defense, since Each district wall has a gate, a pair of though guards are known to perform random a devoted military press could easily overwhelm reinforced wooden doors (hardness 8; hp 45; inspections. The High District, in the center of them, but normally the city relies on the fact that Break DC 35) each 20 feet high and 8 feet wide, the city, is much more heavily guarded: typically approaching the city through the mountains is which remain open during the day but close at twice the usual number of guards is on hand, and slow and treacherous. Only a handful of districts have gates that Th e Fe s t i v a l o f Dr e a m s lead to actual roads, and most of these are used Gate Pass has its share of holidays; the most pledges to fulfill that dream if possible during the for deliveries by farmers and miners. Each day prominent is the Festival of Dreams, a holy day next year. Selfish requests are frowned upon, and groups of Gate Pass soldiers patrol the northern observed by all of the city’s major temples on New often the city takes great glee in perverting the and southern borders, looking for signs of illegal Year’s Day. Parades march from either end of the words of selfish prayers, fulfilling the adage “be passage and occasionally apprehending criminals city, stopping at the grand square on Summer’s careful what you wish for.” who try to hide in the craggy hills. Bluff just before sunset for a ceremony in which The rest of the urns are left in the center of Most traffic passes through the easternmost the high priests of each of eight different temples the square, and citizens are encouraged to pick and westernmost districts, which have major gates “offer up the dreams of the people.” one up and try to fulfill someone else’s wish. The that lead out of the city to Shahalesti and Ragesia Each citizen is encouraged to write a prayer morning after the festival, those left unopened respectively. These gates are much more heavily or hope on a slip of paper and place it in a small are carted en masse to the countless small caves guarded: the exits have two sets of doors with a clay urn, which the city produces by the thousands that dot the cliffs around the city, where they are wide kill zone between them, and city taxes pay for every year. People deliver their urns to Summer’s buried. Many folk tales involve stories of these a variety of magical defenses on the gates. Bluff in the days leading up to the festival. During buried dreams coming to life and bringing good the festival, each high priest chooses one urn, fortune, though most adults of the city view City History and Myths breaks it open, reads the prayer held within, and these as merely superstition. Gate Pass has the distinction of being the only city to successfully drive out occupation by Fa m o u s My t h s the Ragesian Empire. Forty years ago, Emperor “The Wavering Maiden” tells of the Tidereaver “The Aquiline Heart” is a morality tale about the Coaltongue defeated the city’s army, set up a Kraken’s seeking to explore the land by making a dangers of both pride and power. Never able to military government, and erected a 90-foot-tall human body for itself out of seawater. In the form catch the Stormseeker Eagle after many years of statue of himself in the grand square on Summer’s of a beautiful young woman with rolling black hair, chase, the Flamebringer Dragon preyed instead Bluff before moving on to his next conquest. For the Kraken explored the world. However, because on the Eagle’s pride, saying the Eagle was too two years, citizens waged an insurgency against the the tide is inconstant, at times this form would weak and cowardly ever to chase the Dragon. The occupying army, until finally Coaltongue decided ebb, and the Kraken would spend an evening in a angered Eagle pursued the Dragon, not realizing the city wasn’t worth the loss of men. lake or river in its true form. The myth is a series of until too late that it had been tricked into flying Shahalesti and Ragesia, once allies, were comic events based around numerous suitors who down a tunnel into the depths of the world, where approaching open war, and Coaltongue declared fall in love with the Kraken in its woman form, and it did not have enough room to maneuver. that he would withdraw from Gate Pass if the Lord who often seek to destroy it in its Kraken form. The Dragon bit the Eagle’s throat and began to of Shahalesti agreed to leave the city as a neutral “The Trilling Stone” tells of how the Worldshaper drink its blood for its power, when the Worldshaper buffer between their two nations. The elves agreed, Worm sought to prove its superiority to the Storm­ Worm came upon the scene. The Worm was blind, the city celebrated its victory, and trade between chaser Eagle by creating a song more powerful but the Dragon knew that it could feel the beating the two nations began to flow. than the Eagle’s thunder. The myth explains the hearts of both the Dragon and the Eagle. To avoid The city still sports numerous indications various monsters who live in the depths of the its treachery being discovered, the Dragon tore of the occupation, and many citizens purchase world, saying that they were lured by the Worm’s out the Eagle’s still-beating heart and hid it some busts or paintings of the aged emperor, as if eerie, whistling song, only to be trapped when place where it would never be tempted to try to both to mock the Ragesians for their failure and the arrogantSample Worm decided to sing even louder, get it again. This explains how dragons became to respect Coaltongue’sfile wisdom in deciding to causing an earthquake. This, it is said, is why the the strongest creatures in the world, and teaches leave their city alone. Even the emperor’s statue bodies of the dead are filled with worms when that those with too much power risk being turned remains; it is decorated and painted gaudily on they are found in the ground. upon by those around them. various holidays.

12 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide

Because of his name, Drakus Coaltongue is The Military in matters of defense and construction, and a often associated with a myth that is native to While the Gate Pass military answers to the handful of wizards serve in the city military. Gate Pass and Ragesia, that of the Dragon and city council, their opinion carries great weight Gabal is said to scorn magic-users who do the Eagle. A series of myths tell of an ancient given how much attention the city pays to its not study spellbooks for their powers, and has a time when the lands that are now Ragesia defense. Unlike most militaries, they are not particular dislike for sorcerers, commonly saying and its neighbors were the domain of four trained for large open field combat, but rather he doesn’t trust people who have that much elemental spirits — the Tidereaver Kraken, the for the defense of the city, taking advantage of charisma. Charm is a personality flaw Gabal Worldshaper Worm, the Flamebringer Dragon, enclosed terrain. Commander Harmand Fletcher, proudly lacks. and the Stormchaser Eagle, and these four beings a veteran of the rebellion against Ragesia, recently are common motifs in the art and architecture of retired from leader of the armed forces, replaced Thieves’ Guild Gate Pass (as well as in Ragesia). by Brant Sawman, who if anything is almost more Everyone knows that thieves operate in the gruff and brooding than his predecessor. city, often with the aid of bribed councilmen Gate Pass Power Groups A small unit of twenty griffon riders serve to who turn blind eyes. The thieves tend to prey on patrol the far reaches of Gate Pass’s domain, but wealthy merchants, especially foreigners, and so City Council otherwise the city has little in the way of a cavalry many commoners view them favorably. The government of Gate Pass is a council of tradition. One particularly well-known rogue is a representatives from each of the districts, with dashing scoundrel named Rantle. He came to a city governor chosen every ten years. Many Gabal’s School fame because of an elaborate confidence game to different groups hold sway with the government, Gabal, a famed evoker who helped drive steal from a female merchant. One night when his ranging from citizen groups to wealthy merchants the Ragesians out forty years ago, maintains a scam was near fruition, he was with the merchant to religious and military groups. school of war. This large cluster of squat towers when she was attacked by a trio of common thugs One of the more colorful characters in the connected by covered bridges and surrounded by who intended to have their way with the woman. council is Erdan Menash, a former merchant and a moat and fence is jokingly known as The Castle. Rantle fought them off, then stayed around to tailor who used to sell well-crafted but horribly Gabal’s students — easily identifiable by their protect her while the city guard arrived, even unfashionable gear to adventurers, with the goal red robes — are generally viewed as arrogant though he knew he would be recognized and of making sure everyone knew he was the one and hot-tempered, but their mentor forces them arrested. Public support for his heroism got him sponsoring their heroism. His personal manor is to sell their services for low prices, particularly pardoned, and many people have begun calling for painted vivid green, yellow, and purple. him to join the city council. The current governor is Merrick Hurt, a Of course, the merchants of the city still don’t half-orc who has kept relationships with Ragesia like being victimized. It is said the clientele of warm in the past, though many worry he will be One-to-Go, a tavern in one of Gate Pass’s slums, is too agreeable to demands by the new ruler of composed entirely of former Ragesia. Rumors say that he bitterly loathes elves thieves who have lost a hand and has a vast lexicon of insults for them, a vice as punishment for stealing. that relatively few in the city worry about. The Resistance The Temples Devoted to keeping the city of Gate The religious community of Gate Pass is Pass free from the rule of both Ragesia diverse, owing to the interaction of cultures and Shahalesti, the resistance includes a flowing through the city. Eight major temples huge variety of people from the many represent the religious core of the community, nations that have a vested interest and though each religion has its own interests, in keeping the current balance of they share common ground through the annual power. Mostly they work to bolster Festival of Dreams, during which the temples pride among the citizens of Gate all briefly work to provide for the greater good. Pass, though occasionally a spy Numerous temples of smaller religions dot the is turned over to the authorities city, and though they lack the same sway as the by unknown persons, and the major eight, they still put a lot of effort into New resistance is credited with the Year’s festivities. capture. Shakur Biggs, head priest of a temple Many farmers and ranchers devoted to the god of revelry, is currently the who live in the mountains master ofSample ceremonies for this year’s festival. filesurrounding the city claim to have He was apparently planning to head a large spoken to members of the resistance, musical performance, but his plans have been who encouraged them to be prepared dampened by the threat of a hostile Ragesia. to fight to defend their lands.

What Dramatic Twists Await the Heroes of Gate Pass? — Art by J. L. Jones EN Publishing 13 Introduction

Ra g e s i a a n d En v i r o n s and populations, the result of having once been using cavalry and mobility to wage a protracted Ragesia is the largest nation in the region, and many separate nations before being conquered war, allowing their home to be the last conquered four other nations commonly interact with it. The by sword and torch. by Ragesia. The central heartlands once belonged politics and history of the region are relatively Every region has a large component of orcs to the powerful fortified nation of Morrus, and simple, though the recent power vacuum in Ragesia in the population, along with heavy military numerous old castles, forts, and walls dot the threatens to make things much more complicated. presence to ensure loyalty and peace. Though landscape, defenses which were easily bypassed the people of Ragesia have been conquered, with Emperor Coaltongue’s Torch. Overview most are content that they live today in relative The capital city of Ragos stretches along a vast The Ragesian Empire lies in the northwest safety. Given the power of the empire, rebellion lake, and the imperial palace lies safely offshore on of the region, spanning several hundred miles just doesn’t seem worth it. The majority of the a fantastically-defended island. At night its walls north to south and east to west. To the east is population is still human however, or half- burn with thousands of torches, making the lake the Shining Land of Shahalesti, a tenuous ally orc, and different ethnic groups remain mostly look like it is on fire. with whom relations have frayed of late. To the concentrated in their old homelands, which are south lie the Exarchate of Sindaire, the Kingdom often separated by low, long mountain ranges. Ragos of Dassen, and the Khaganhold of Ostalin, three The northern reaches are home to people LE Conven­tional Metropolis nations which so far have managed to avoid being known as the Kelaquois, who live in frigid lands Government Totalitarian conquered by Ragesia. that are frozen for most of the year, where they Demographics mixed (53% human, 18% orc, coexist with frost giants, mastadons, and vast herds 17% half-orc, 3% dwarf, 3% elf, 2% gnome, Ragesia of bison. The western plains were once the nation 2% half-elf, 2% other) The Ragesian Empire is based in the capital of Latia, its renowned ship-building now benefiting city of Ragos, located on central lowlands Ragesia and its navy. The southern lands are craggy, An ocean borders Ragesia to the west, with dominated by many lakes. While the core of the with cold rocky deserts dominating what was rocky mountains marking Ragesia’s borders with empire is populated heavily by orcs and half-orcs, once Chathus, a land of nomads and traders who the nations to the south — Sindaire and Dassen. the outer regions have wildly diverse cultures nevertheless defended their lands with great vigor, The northern border is a high, frigid mountain range, separating Ragesia from most of the rest Em p e r o r Dr a k u s Co a l t o n g u e a n d t h e To r c h o f t h e Bu r n i n g Sk y of the world. The same mountains curve down The Old Dragon, some called him, since himself and his orcish followers, Ragesia. to form the eastern border, rising high enough he seemed immortal, and he only grew more For a time Coaltongue and his allies coexisted that Ragesia never saw much value in trying to cunning and powerful with age. in relative peace. Coaltongue was content conquer beyond them. Decades ago, a warlord arose among the orc with his new homeland, and did not want to tribes of what is now Ragesia. Drakus Coaltongue, jeopardize it by reaching too far and falling The Inquisitors half-orc son of a human noblewoman, brought before the might of many nations, as Morrus had Dressed in bear skins, their faces concealed by a level of patience and political cunning rarely fallen before him. bear-skull masks, inquisitors are the feared blade seen among the savage orcs. He united many But slowly, Ragesia expanded its borders. It of Ragesia, expert in cutting out those who resist tribes, slew a gold dragon and took its child as a took years for events to play out, and always in its rule. They fervently serve Ragesia’s supreme prize, and prepared his people for glory. a way that Ragesia’s imperialism was justified, inquisitor, an aged witch named Leska, who until And then, to everyone’s surprise, he did either in response to enemy attacks, or to aid recently was a loyal servant of the emperor. Now not sweep into human lands for a bloody another nation that was being threatened. With Leska desires to rule, and her inquisitors are her but ultimately short-lived rampage. Instead, the benefit of hindsight, many suspect that greatest weapon. Coaltongue allied with various poor human somehow Coaltongue provoked these conflicts. Mages tell stories of inquisitors — sent to nations, helping them drive back the predations Finally, when Coaltongue was far older than any hunt down disloyal mages — completely ignoring of the strongest country in the region, Morrus. half-orc had right to be, all the lands that had powerful spells, or even turning spells against Coaltongue even gained the aid of the insular once belonged to his allies were his. their casters. The few who have been captured elves of Shahalesti, until finally he was ready Recently, after nearly a decade of inactivity, by inquisitors and have lived to tell the tale to lead a coalition army against Morrus. For Coaltongue offered to help the Exarchate of recount being tortured, their wrists slashed by an this great assault, Coaltongue revealed a Sindaire put down a rebellion within its borders, inquisitor’s clawed gauntlets, then being left to a devastatingly powerful artifact that would lead and the nation nervously accepted, fearful of slow, cold death unless they betrayed their allies. him to victory, the Torch of the Burning Sky. being swallowed up by another trick. What Some rumor that inquisitors can even devour The power of the Torch was to call down fire Coaltongue was planning may never be known, the souls of magic-users, taking their powers for from the sky, and to carry Coaltongue’s army because a few weeks into his military campaign, themselves before raising the slain mage as an hundreds of miles in an instant, plucking them something went wrong. Ragesia has not heard undead follower. up withSample one pillar of flame, and depositing them from its emperor in over two months, or if they Inquisitors file possess alternate class abilities. If with another. Coaltongue and his allies easily have, they have hidden the news. you are interested in playing an inquisitor or a defeated Morrus, and from the nation’s burning Some dread it, and some cautiously hope for character who has managed to learn their secret remains, Coaltongue created a new kingdom for it, but it seems the Old Dragon has been slain. techniques, talk to your game master.

14 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign Campaign Guide

Sample file

Emperor Drakus Coaltongue and the Torch of the Burning Sky — Art by J. L. Jones EN Publishing 15 Introduction

Shahalesti Dassen Recently a vocal group of city mayors in the On the far side of the mountains that mark The Kingdom of Dassen lies to the south center of the nation began to protest paying Ragesia’s eastern border spreads the Shining of Ragesia, and the southwest of Shahalesti, its taxes to Ragesia, and refused to pay. Unlike the Land of Shahalesti, ruled by Lord Shaaladel, a borders defined by craggy mountains defended by coastal cities, they benefited little from trade middle-aged elf who rose from being a military hundreds of small dwarven strongholds. Dassen’s with Ragesian ships, and they called for the commander to the nation’s ruler during the people, a swarthy assortment of humans and removal of the Exarch, a half-orc woman named ascension of the Ragesian Empire. Shahalesti was dwarves, cherish their land, to the point that Horstea. Despite protests from the government in danger of being conquered like Ragesia’s other superstitious cavalrymen even put dirt in their ministers, the Exarch sent a plea to Ragesia, and neighbors, and Shaaladel’s aggressive displays of boots so never have to stop touching the soil of Coaltongue’s army responded, traveling by Torch force — including the conquest and destruction their homeland. to the central prairies to put down the rebellion. of two nearby elvish lands that were hostile to King Steppengard rules a patchwork of Sindaire has a long-established druidic him — are credited as major reasons why Ragesia eight feudal holdings, many of them controlled tradition, coming from a time when a group of has so far not looked east for conquest. by distant relatives with claims to the throne of refugees fleeing a catastrophe in what is now During Ragesia’s annexation of its neighbors, numbing complexity. To assure that he never has to Shahalesti settled in Sindaire’s warm forests, Lord Shaaladel lent military aid, and he and his worry about untangling these claims, Steppengard converting many of the locals through their trusted aides participated personally in several has had a huge family with eighteen children, all of generosity and their disciplined devotion to battles at Coaltongue’s side. A canny, wise, and them legitimate on the word of his oath. nobler ideals. Because lions are revered in these charismatic commander, Shaaladel is respected There are no mighty cities in Dassen, only foreigner’s culture, lions now fill the role of even by the Ragesian army, and many expected thousands of farms and towns growing out from pets to the aristocracy, and guard dogs for the him to succeed as Emperor after Coaltongue’s the nine castles of the king and his dukes. The common folk. death. Rumors say that the elvish lord was quite largest city, Bresk, lies on a major river beside The capital city of Turinn lies on two sides displeased that the old half-orc was refusing to Steppengard’s castle, and is a hilly community of a long rock spur. The western side has ports die of old age. built both above and below ground. on the sea, while the bulk of the city lies safe on Shahalesti is not an entirely elvish nation. The the east. majority of its population is human, but they Bresk live as commoners with little real power. The LN Conventional Small City Turinn aristocracy is almost exclusively elvish, as well as Government Monarchy LN Conventional Large City the higher ranks among the military. Despite a Demographics mixed (65% human, 28% dwarf, Government Occupational grudging alliance with Ragesia, however, orcs and 5% orc, 1% half-orc, 1% other). Demographics isolated (95% human, 3% halfling, half-orcs are despised and persecuted, unable to 1% orc, 1% other). hold any public positions, often horribly exploited Lyceum Academy as nearly slave labor. A few outposts of wealthy At the end of a swampy isthmus on Dassen’s Knights of the Aquiline Cross orcs with ties to Ragesia have tried to start their southern tip, the town of Seaquen is home to a The Order of the Aquiline Cross originally own communities; this is a steady source of strife. school called Lyceum, devoted to teaching magic emerged in Sindaire a decade ago. Since then, The capital of Shahalesti, Calanis, is built over of all kinds. Students of Lyceum are encouraged small chapels that teach the order’s doctrine of a crescent rift carved by a waterfall. The city is to learn a variety of magical styles, and are mercy, sacrifice, and a fierce defense of life have forbidden to non-elves except by invitation from trained in spelldueling techniques similar to sprung up throughout the lands of Ragesia one of the royal family which, as of now, consists Gabal’s school in Gate Pass. They were relatively and its neighbors. Knights of this order dress only of Shaaladel and his daughter Shalosha. unknown in the region until recently, when in white and red tabards marked with a cross Simeon, headmaster of the school, sent out a call surrounded by a halo of feathers. Calanis to all the people in and around Ragesia, asking N Conventional Large City for them to stand up against the threat posed by The Monastery of Two Winds Government Aristocracy the Ragesians and their new leader Leska. The Monastery of Two Winds lies in the Demographics mixed (45% elf, 35% human, 10% mountains that form the main border between half-elf, 5% halfling, 2% orc, 2% half-orc, 1% Sindaire Ostalin and Dassen, near to the large town of other) The national government of the Exarchate of Eresh. The monastery teaches two different Sindaire is officially run by a representative from approaches to harnessing the power of air magic, The Solei Palancis Ragesia, but in practice the Exarch has limited the gentle West Wind style, and the fierce East The Shahalesti military, including its navy, power. The people of Sindaire — mostly humans Wind style. Some monks of the two winds feel focuses on quality rather than quantity. Most with some caravans of nomadic gnomes — pay compelled to travel the world, letting the wind soldiers are equipped with at least minor magic some taxes to Ragesia, but maintain their own guide their journeys. items, andSample arcane magic in general is key to most armies and laws. They take mild comfort in file of the nation’s tactics. Their most famed soldiers knowing that, should Ostalin, their neighbors are the Solei Palancis, the shining legion, whose to the south, ever attempt to claim more land, swords shed light as bright as the sun. Ragesia will come to their defense.

16 War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign