The Dungeon Run

Storyline

It started as a simple dungeon run... The Heroes of Bingle carry a burden. A gift. Deep inside an abandoned dragon's lair, they found a powerful relic from a forgotten time. The Secret Keeper's Amulet. It has helped them, challenged them, and connected them with you, the Watchers of the Time Stream. And it seems to be the key to uncovering the mysteries of the War that changed everything. The War of Ideas. Three hundred years ago, Ain's greatest champions were transformed into towering beings of immense elemental power. The Wardens. These 100 foot tall guardians ended the war and fostered a peace that lasted for generations. But every bit of information, every memory, all accumulated knowledge that preceded the war was wiped away. No one remembers the Aureate Age that came before, or the threat that sparked the War of Ideas in the first place. The only clues to that time are locked in the subconscious of the Wardens themselves, hidden to everyone except the Amulet bearers. Holding the Secret Keeper's Amulet - and bringing it into contact with the Wardens - has allowed the Heroes of Bingle to get a glimpse into the past, to piece together the lost history of Ain, and uncover the looming threat that promises to return. But locating the Wardens has not been easy. Another group, looking to reclaim the knowledge of the Aureate Age for their own purposes, captured the Wardens and siphoned their elemental energies, extracting the Motes of Power that created them. This cabal, led by the mysterious Ashen Mage, seems to have allied with the dragons, imprisoning the Wardens in the most dangerous locations in all of Ain. Finding and freeing the Wardens has forced the Heroes of Bingle to fight the cabal in a tower floating in the sky, at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean, and eventually, atop an active volcano. To get there, they had to walk through an ancient dwarven forge, untouched for centuries. But before they crossed the threshold of that stronghold, a most peculiar thing happened. In an instant, they were transported back in time 22 years, into bodies that were not their own. They met the rightful heir of the dragonborn throne, found a treasure that had been hidden by the Shaxen Gao for years, and made a decision that allowed them to revisit that abandoned dragon's lair on the very day their adventure began. But this time, the dungeon was not empty. This time, Nonezzeron waited for them. The almighty Chronodragon explained that choices have consequences and that time was bounded by a series of inflection points. And then it did what dragons do. It asserted its power and dominance by putting them through an excruciating test of their mettle. When they returned to the present they learned the extent to which the secret of the fifth Warden had been kept. Even the Ashen Mage had only known of four Wardens, and had only managed to capture three. Atop the volcano known as Skyscorcher Peak she confronted the Heroes of Bingle. Siv learned that his first love, a tiefling rogue named Vik, had been part of the cabal that had captured the Wardens, and had stolen information that revealed the connection between the Wardens and the Champions of the Aureate Age. The Ashen Mage sought to expand her allies to match those Champions. She pressed Fahima to join her ranks, angering Vik in the process. The Tiefling struck back, shattering an urn and releasing a devastating blast that radiated across the land. Her last words, before the explosion took her life, were to seek out the grave of Nonezzeron. In the wake of the blast, bizarre new creatures of all shapes and sizes began appearing throughout Ain, causing havoc in towns and countrysides alike. Even as far north as Thorn, demons were appearing as if out of nowhere. Uggo's brother, Brakka, was Warchief in Thorn, but his judgment was twisted and corrupted by an evil Aboleth that lived in the waters below the city. Fueled by the Aboleth's rage, Brakka entered into a disturbing symbiosis with the demons and a dangerous alliance with the Orcs of Ook Duun. The Heroes of Bingle destroyed the Aboleth and Uggo defeated Brakka in single combat, wresting control of the city away from the warlock. As the new Warchief, Uggo sought to forge a different way forward for his people. He sacrificed his spiritual guardians and renounced his barbarian abilities to become a Paladin of the Candle Queen. When the Heroes of Bingle returned to James' hometown of Terlis, the city's defenses were being overrun by the terrifying onslaught of demons. Twenty two years ago, the Heroes had seen the treasure cache of the Shaxen Gao deposited in a bank vault in Terlis. Accessing it, they retrieved the hilt of a blade that resembled the Secret Keeper's Amulet. Armed with the ancient weapon, they stood against the overwhelming demon horde that poured over the city walls. A horde led by the Lord of Crows. As the ruthless demon lord descended on Terlis, Siv appealed to you. He asked the Watchers of the Time stream to lend him aid. To charge the hilt and infuse the Godslayer Blade with power immemorial. But the Lord of Crows was ready. Waiting. His murder of crows wrenched it from Siv's hands, just as the three freed Wardens arrived in Terlis to quell the demon threat. The Lord of Crows turned, flew toward the rampaging Inferno Warden, and struck, felling the enormous sentinel with a single blow. In the aftermath of the battle, the Heroes of Bingle journeyed north, seeing the last efforts of the dying Wardens along the way. Demons neutralized by elemental surges, the countryside safe to travel through once again. They arrived in Fahima's hometown of Axbright. A hamlet strangely untouched by the demon threat. Continuing to search for her father, Fahima found clues pointing to a little-known area far to the west, called Orms. Conroy Tadgh had been searching for the Quake Warden, convinced that the sentinel was there. We now follow the team as they aim to make good on their goal to investigate the grave of Nonezzeron. Despite warnings that Shaxen Gao territory was hostile to Latlanites, they continued north, the falling temperatures signaling higher elevations and winter's arrival. Glimpsing the stalwart city of Zhong hugging the northernmost tip of the Pash mountain range, they veered east until they saw dragon wings in the distance. As they tracked the flight path of the dragons they began to notice strange permutations in the environment around them. Though Ain was firmly entering its Winter season, the climate around the grave site oscillated wildly, as if displaced in time.