Many years ago - just before the second Crusade -, a Valley group travelled to the Ikarthian Triangle to deal with a number of important matters.  Reports of this mission from the time seem to have been irretrievably lost, thus I scribe this summary now so that our actions and the knowledge we gained are not forgotten.  The group who travelled there was formed of mainly the KFW, plus a number of others such as myself, Melieth Blackbone, Hannah and Quick.

The Time of Reckoning had passed, and the Tower known as the Shadow Keep had just fallen, leaving one of its factions – the Shadow lords - towerless.  The Shadow lords were originally a Cabiti Kalid Legion who had moved to form the Shadow Keep at the Time of Reckoning two years earlier.  They had three parts:

• Dark elves (numbering around 200)
• Humans, mainly evil
• Mercenaries, mainly muscley half-orc, goblinoid and tribal creatures

Of the dark elves there were eight families:

• Aladar (the royal family, headed by Uzar Dayblight)
• Viorjin (who spent most of their lives on the Plane of Shadows)
• Dokkalvar (warriors)
• Ammuldhea (necromancers)
• Sikkarhti (shade summoners)
• Kaharses (shadow summoners)
• Soudani (assassins)
• Elserri (shadow shifters)

The head of each family formed what was known as the Tenebrious Council, and rather than return to the Kalid as many had expected, they moved en masse into the Ikarthian Triangle – hiring out Hadon’s Hall (the Eastern Waystation) and moving their base of operations there.  Uzar Dayblight had been  eliminating potential rivals by killing off family members.  However, his younger twin brother – Alabrion Dayblight, a member of the KFW – was still alive and with us as we travelled to the region.  The Ikarthian Triangle was full of members of the Crimson Feast, for reasons which later became apparent.

It transpired that Uzar Dayblight, who rather outrageously was calling himself “the Shadow Wolf”, was performing a blood ritual using the five Valdemar shrines which would lead him to ascend as the aspect of the Wolf, which was ‘vacant’ since the fall of the Ravanon Cult.  This aspect is morally transparent: it had once been used for honourable purposes by the Valdemar, and evil by the Ravanon.

The Crimson Feast had come to kill the Shadowlords, to prevent the Ravanon ritual to command them.

To prevent Uzar Dayblight from ascension, we travelled to the nearest Valdemar shrine and defeated the Shadowlords there (Kaharses I believe, they would try to “steal” your shadow).  Having gained control of the shrine of time, five ‘wolves’ (including Sir Kal – who had been bitten by a lycanthrope a couple of days earlier -, Hannah and Quick) undertook the blood ritual and substituted Uzar’s blood brother Alabrion in his place.

Alabrion began embodying the aspect of the Wolf rather rapidly over the next few hours, becoming hairier, able to vocal-length cast arcane spells, his voice turning gruffer.  He found it harder to remember his connection to the group, leaving us that evening but saying he wished to return to fight one last Valley enemy, Sorcerer Path of the Kalid Dothloadass, who had killed a large number of the KFW several years ago.

Furious that we had disrupted their plans, we spent the evening assaulted by Shadowlords of ever-growing power.  The first they sent against us were truly pathetic, mere mages.  As things escalated, the dark elves would shadowshift in, or shadowshift a few members of the group out into the wooded enclosure.  The head of the Viorjin arrived and spoke with us, before we were lastly attacked by Uzar Dayblight himself.

For those who never fought the leader of the Shadowlords: he was an exceptionally formidable warrior, his powerful blows easily cutting through armour (both real or magical) as if it was not there.  His retinue included shades who sought to blind members of the group.  Discreetly, the head of the Viorjin removed the blindness from a couple of people, and eventually whispered the secret of Dayblight’s vulnerability.  Puke, the Reaper High Priest, unleashed his powers of death upon Dayblight and then they both fell to the ground – Puke dying also, with no final spirit strength with which he could be drawn back.

Suliman, the Hospitaller Priest, then implored the group gather around Puke and tell tales of his deeds and recall why he should be brought back to life.  He began the casting of a mighty ritual, and sacrificed some of his own spirit strength so as to resurrect the Reaper once more.

The Viorjin leader announced he was going to take the rest of the Shadowlords onto the Plane of the Shadows, leaving Orin Rakatha.  We later discovered that the Ammuldhea family had joined the Dymwan, and that the Soudani family had joined the Kalid Dothloadass.  I estimate we killed about thirty to forty dark elves in that one evening.

Our time in the area was not yet done.  For Path, a yellow Sorcerer of the Dothloadass, sought elevation from their First Circle to the Circle Prime (the ruling council of that Cabiti Kalid Legion).  Path had once tried to seize control of the World Window (although this had failed), now he sought to seize control of the Void.  We knew from a High Enchanter of the Labyrinthe of Xenos that he was trying to get a Hepath of Travel to work with him.  The Enhanter, Demoragees, requested that we slay Path, or kill the Hepath.

On the next morning, we intercepted Path – and Alabrion returned one last time to fight with the KFW -, and although the Sorcerer was a reasonably proficient opponent able to channel much electricity through his highly-magical staff, we defeated him.  The Kalid do not tolerate repeated failure, thus we were assured that he would not be resurrected.

The Valdemar

The High Enchanter also provided us with some background on the Valdemar, that I record for posterity.

The Valdemar had five Houses, and were bound by the oath of the wolf.  Their Houses were:

• House Valdemar
• House Korsel (the Sword Sworn)
• House Gawfus (the Bastion)
• House Deveral (the Heralds)
• House Loschal (the Song of Storms)

Three hundred years ago, three Towers: the Valdemar, Ikarthians and Labyrinthe of Xenos, created the Ikarthian Triangle.  When the Keep of Ikarus fell in a ritual (caused by the betrayal of the Ravanon), so strongly bound to them were House Valdemar that their House was strongly affected/destroyed.  House Gawfus stayed in the waystations of the Ikarthian Triangle (these were the ones contractually bound each year to perform the Ritual of Ashes to keep Ikarus’s Shadow at bay).

The other three Houses joined the Kalid Legions, however when the Taranor took over the ex-Valdemar Tower, House Loschal rejoined their old Tower, attempting to reignite the old mercenary spirit, and ally with the Dai-fah-Dyne.

Some say that the Dai-fah-Dyne betrayed the Valdemar: the High Enchanter did not know if this was the case, but the Kalid wished to destroy them and tasked their Herald and Swordsworn Legions (the ex-Valdemar) with doing so.  Thus, House Loschal was obliterated.

The Ravanon Cult started as a direct result of Ravanon’s actions at the time that the Keep of Ikarus fell, and they were successful in usurping the brotherhood of the Wolf in the Ikarthian Triangle, gaining control of the five shrines of the Valdemar (each corresponding to one of the Valdemar Houses) which were bound by blood.  The royal shrine was taken by the diplomats of the Ravanon, the shrine of the sword taken by the warriors, and so forth.

The Valdemar are defined by their oaths; for example, House Gawfus had sworn an oath to protect the waystations, which is why they stayed there.

Kalid/River People Connections

The Kalid have been on Orin Rakatha for over seventy years.  The River People were those who were cursed by the mystics to ferry people forever to the Central Isle; the Kalid were actively seeking to lure and kill all River People.  The mystics say that blood must not be spilt on the Central Isle.  The Kalid are not noted for their use of the Sativa.

Kevralyn Soulfire

5th Sorcerer of House Drannath, 13th in Line to the Throne of Annach Morannonil

Wolfhold Ambassador

A Heroquest - Larp Report

Campaign larping missions written by live action role players in the Orin Rakatha world of Lrp.