Folks, As you know, this campaign has had a good, long run and I hope everyone’s had lots of fun. As you also know, I’m a big believer in emphasizing the joint storytelling of RPGs and respecting the natural story arc. And, while there are still some story threads left—there always are in any good story—I feel that we’ve reached or are rapidly reaching a natural conclusion to the story arc of The Natural Ones. And so I’d invite you all to consider with me whether and how we bring this story to its closure. To recap: The group came together at the request of Sgt. Vilroy of the Sharn Watch to investigate claims of murder and wrongdoing by Coal, a warforged in the city’s lower levels. After saving Coal from a gang of Daask thugs, the group investigated and found a kidnapped scion of the dragonmarked House of Orien and several hidden schema. Serving House Kundarak, the group investigated protests by warforged regarding working conditions at a subterranean factory. After convincing a Daask enforcer that his future was in dance, the group found the factory now staffed by undead. The group made contact with halflings of the Boromar Clan before confronting the Emerald Claw agent, later identified as Edvald Le'Atur, who served as the undead creature's master. Awakened suddenly by an urgent request, the group boarded a Kundarak airship to chase a hijacked airship carrying explosive poisons from the liberated factory through the skies of Breland. The group forced the hijacked ship to crash in the King's Forest, but not before their own ship crashed as well, leading to a march through the tropical forest to a mountain fortress armed with an arcane cannon. Fighting their way to the summit of the fortress, the group sent the disabled cannon to the forest floor while learning that the Emerald Claw agent Edvald had plans for a site in the Mror Holds. At House Kundarak's direction, the group took an airship across Khorvaire to the Mror Holds. At Krona Peak, the capital city of the Holds, the group confronted Thornduk's estranged father, King Thragrick of Clan Soldarak, and his allies. Proceeding on their mission without official sanction, the group traveled to the Stone Tooth, site of the long-lost forge of Noldrunhold. Orogs beset the group and captured them, bringing them back to the forge where they encountered a familiar rival in Edvald Le'Atur. Edvald arranged to have the group released on the promise that they would delve to the depths of the forge and defeat the inhabitant(s) on its lower level. The group fought their way through monsters and Soldarak forces alike before reaching the Black Lake, home to the dragon Nightscale. On the brink of defeat at the acid breath of the dragon, Vellios somehow activated a force that whisked the group through the planes. The group awoke in a realm of vibrant colors, mysterious flora, and in the company of a young dwarf named Sonny. Running through the countryside pursued by three giant Formians, the group arrived at a city with walls built of hedges. They discovered that they were in Thelanis, the Eberron manifestation of the Feywild, and in the city of Hedgegrove, whose ruler, Princess Dandelion, lived in the center of a hedge maze in the Rose Palace. Fey trickery and oddities notwithstanding, the group gained an audience with Dandelion, who set them on a quest with the Wild Hunt as a condition of helping them. The group defeated a group of night hags, but not before Vellios learned that he was apparently something called a Son of Mab. Returning to the Rose Palace, the group met Queen Titania, Tari's fey warlock patron, who directed the group to enter the dream realm Dal Quor to aid Sonny from the Dreaming Dark. The group fought nightmare creatures in the dream realm, only to learn that Sonny was in fact the younger version of Malicent d'Kundarak, a Kundarak official from the gnome state of Zilargo whom Gnipity had conned at a later age. The group returned to Khorvaire, where apparently six months had passed, in the city of Zolanberg in Gnipity's vault, in which Gnipity located and took a single Khyber dragonshard of great and mysterious power. Responding to a request from Edvald, the group traveled to the eastern edge of the Mourning. Edvald explained that he needed the group's help to destroy the Doomvault, a vast hidden facility of the Emerald Claw in which the liches of the Emerald Claw were weakening dimensional barriers like the one they had encountered in Nightscale's lair. Over the course of adventures that took the group through the Doomvault and across Khorvaire, the group sought and collected the dragonshard keys that would unlock the Phylactery Vault at the heart of the Doomvault. Along the way, the group met a fateful encounter in the Demon Wastes with an ancient night hag Rikha'trrj, who forced Sedriss into an awful choice between saving his sister or sacrificing Kodiak's brother. As Kodiak abandoned the group in mourning, a new companion, Tabitha, arrived with knowledge of the locations of the remaining shard keys. Tabitha's powers took the group confrontations with the warforged Lord of Blades, a fiery confrontation with King Thragrick and a Soldarak noble that led to both of their deaths, and ultimately to a vengeful rematch with Nightscale. Now armed with all of the keys, the group returned to the Doomvault, unlocked the Phylactery Vault, and defeated the powerful liches within it to destroy them and their power--including the power that animated the vampire Edvald. Back in Sharn, the group was beset by rakshasa who nearly burned the Ghallanda Hall where the group had been staying between adventures. The Boromar Clan "arranged" for the group to purchase Skyspire Manor, a luxurious estate in the upper levels of Sharn. Their enjoyment of their new estate was short-lived, however, as the commander of the Sharn Watch's Black Book arcane investigations division requested the group's help investigating disturbances in the vicinity of the dimensional gate the group had found in the lower reaches of the city. The group found the gate reactivated with a new and bizarre power and the group passed through the portal to find themselves in a realm of madness. Delving further, the group encountered a mysterious voice beckoning them to their doom. Activating the Amulet of the Planes, Gnipity took the group first to a realm of light, knowledge, and flying angelic creatures--but the group's respite was short-lived as his next attempt sent the group right back into the realm from which they had attempted to escape and a confrontation with the Daelkyr lord Dyrrn the Corruptor. A group of lost Soldarak soldiers led by Ghared, an adversary from Noldrunhold, joined the battle, and additional help came from a group of animated ash-stuffed soldiers led by a black knight, who revealed herself as a transformed version of Sedriss's sister Thana. Thana brought the group to Rikha'trrj, her new patron, who admonished the group to seek out and stop Dyrnn's incursions into Khorvaire, which were apparently being aided by elements within Clan Soldarak. Teleported back to the Mror Holds, the group entered into a power struggle for control of Clan Soldarak with Thrandumir, Thornduk's brother. The group agreed to a quest to prove Thornduk's right to rule by defeating an ancient white dragon, Zirit the Breath-Taker. Notwithstanding Thrandumir's treacherous alliance with the forces of Dyrrn, the group emerged victorious and Thornduk was crowned King. To aid Thornduk in attempting the long unwinding of daelkyr artifacts and their influence within Clan Soldarak, the group set out on a quest to find rare dragonshards. A new companion, Adon, arrived with a prophecy concerning Sedriss and the rest of the group, leading the group to the dragonborn region of Q'Barra. Sedriss received a vision quest from a spirit naga to redeem his honor, leading the group into the jungle to a lost city Haka'torvhak. Once within the city, however, the group was captured by combined forces from Lady Illmarrow of the Emerald Claw, Dyrrn, and the Dreaming Dark. Lady Illmarrow herself revealed that she had tortured Adon and planted the prophecy to lure the group to the city. She set the group on a quest to go back in time and prevent her from a mistake that apparently had caused the Mourning. With the assistance of Queen Mab, the group was to travel back to stop Illmarrow from that error. Although the group initially agreed, once away from Illmarrow and the other chieftains of evil, the group decided instead to use the Amulet of the Planes to start a revenge tour of their own in the past to defeat Illmarrow, Dyrrn, the Dreaming Dark, and perhaps others. For once, the Amulet worked as planned, and the group found itself at Gnipity's university in the gnomish capital Trollanport in Zilargo six years in the past. Once again defeating the rakshasa Mordakhesh--in the past, for his first time, but for the group one in a series--the group escaped Trollanport by obtaining passage on a caravan. They soon learned that the caravan was also transporting an earlier version of Edvald, who was still alive (or at least undead) at that time. After hearing that the Mourning had occurred, the group persuaded Edvald to use the Amulet and his own dragonshard to transport the group to a top secret facility where Lady Illmarrow was apparently located and kept high-value prisoners. Tari talked the group's way past two sets of menacing guards before finding their way to Lady Illmarrow, a manifestation of the ancient dragon Khyber itself, and several guards. A ferocious battle left the group nearly depleted before several escaped prisoners, led by a hag serving Queen Mab, entered the battle. Several hags sacrificed themselves before Vellios saved the lead hag herself, apparently fulfilling his destiny as a Son of Mab. The hag transformed into Rikha'trrj, who provided just enough support to allow the group to turn the tide of battle. Lady Illmarrow and Khyber retreated in defeat, while Mab rewarded the group and--with the assistance of Queen Titania--returned the group to its present time. Things I've left out that folks want to remember as key parts of our story? I'd invite folks to offer thoughts here as well on the future--what are the next steps for the members of the Natural Ones, individually or collectively? Are there major elements of the story left untold? What are the epilogues for each of our characters? Koop
