"Hellknights do not want Hell's torment, but Hell's discipline. However, if sufficient discipline is impossible without suffering, then so be it."
Paralictor Regill Derenge
In the eastern portion of the Unclaimed Lands sat a small village known as Ard Glæs, a community that sprang up in the shadow of the nearby abandoned castle known as Caer Glæs. For nearly 20 years the town stood relatively peacefully, struggling with the difficulties posed by the wild and untamed region, but sustaining despite these obstacles.
On an overcast morning, the local tavern keeper (who also served as captain of the village militia), Everett Fletcher, invited three individuals to his establishment: Ephemeral, the local priestess of Jamboor; Maki Maki, a wandering kobold bard who had settled in to work as the tavern's barmaid; and Saelas, a member of the local militia and an elf from the nearby Forest Kingdoms.
Everett greeted the three and explained a situation that concerned him. Several of the recent caravans sent east from Ard Glæs had failed to reach their destination, and a recent one to survive the return journey via an alternate route reported that the neighboring village to the east had been torched.
Seeking the three gathered before him due to their capabilities in magic, Everett asked the trio to perform a small scouting mission, taking the main road east and searching for any threats along the road. He wished to keep the militia on hand in case something else was coming.
The trio departed, getting to know each other as they traveled. Eventually they chanced upon a crook in the road, upon which a toppled wagon laid before a gruesome sight; a tree from which several corpses were hung by nooses. Eight skeletal bodies wore black armor indicative of
Hellknights, a group of law-enforcing knightly orders known for their rigidity and brutal methods. The other four bodies, more recently dead than the Hellknights, seemed to be villagers clothed in much simpler garb.
Maki noted that the nooses holding the bodies actually seemed to be vine-growths sprouting from the tree itself rather than ropes. They believed the tree to be a sentient predator, though they knew no natural lore of any such creature.
Once certain the tree was sentient and had evil intentions, the party grasped the initiative and attacked. The trio split and slowly whittled the tree down through a protracted battle, taking turns leading the creature from each other and rescuing their companions from being choked by the vine nooses. Eventually the tree fell after much punishment, with Saelas striking a vulnerable spot on the trunk with guidance from Ephemeral's divine magic to fell the creature.
With the ordeal passed, the party got a closer look at the bodies left behind. They confirmed that the villagers were of Ard Glæs, while they learned that the Hellknights were of the Order of the Godclaw - devotees to a quintet of gods they believed to embody the virtues of the Hellknights.
The trio took a few hours to bury the bodies alongside the road, unable to transport them reliably after the Gallows Tree destroyed the overturned cart during the battle. Afterwards, they began their walk back west, watching the sunset bathe the horizon in orange hues. However, as night set, they saw that an orange glow still emanated from Ard Glæs, indicating trouble.
The three villagers raced back as quickly as they could, finding Ard Glæs aflame. They found and reunited with Captain Everett, who was directing the militia in combating the fires that were quickly overtaking the village; including the temple to Jamboor that Ephemeral oversaw. Everett welcomed them and informed them that volleys of flaming arrows had struck the village not long ago, indicating the approach of an armed force. This was confirmed when a squad of black-armored men appeared on the village's perimeter.
The leader of these Hellknights ordered his men to raze the village and kill all who stood in their way, in the name of the Order of the Scepter. As battle loomed over the blazing village, Captain Everett urged Ephemeral, Maki, and Saelas to break through to the western road to find help while he and the militia held the Hellknights off. Though this pained them, the trio agreed to do so.
The Hellknights advanced, and though the militia fought bravely, they were overrun by the Hellknights' superior tactics and equipment. Captain Everett dueled the Hellknights' Master of Blades, fighting with all the fury of a veteran warrior, but even he fell to the knight's vicious enchanted mace. However, barely enough time was bought for the trio of Ephemeral, Maki, and Saelas to cut down two Hellknights, clear the village's perimeter, and escape.
After gaining enough distance from the ruined Ard Glæs, the party stopped to recuperate and vent their frustrations, with Ephemeral reduced to sobs. After regaining some of his composure, Saelas pulled the team together and laid out a plan to move forward. He knew that there was little they could do, and recommended that they move west to the village of Greenbarrow.
There they could warn the villagers of Greenbarrow of the Hellknights, rest from their ordeal, and figure out what to do next.
After camping for the night, the party awoke and proceeded to Greenbarrow, where they were greeted by the village elder, Stockwell. He welcomed them and heard their plight, vowing to keep an eye out for the Order of the Scepter. He was surprised by the news, however, as his village was currently host to a trio of Hellknights at that very moment; according to Stockwell, the trio were brusque, but well-mannered and peaceful, unlike the knights that the party had encountered. The party agreed to speak to these Hellknights to learn more about the situation.
At the tavern of Greenbarrow, the trio was greeted by Paralictor Regill Derenge, a gnome Hellknight of the Order of the Godclaw. Although quite short in stature, Regill exuded an aura of command and intimidation, and welcomed the party's arrival with a blunt and steeled demeanor. After hearing that they encountered the Order of the Scepter, he asked that they give him a detailed report.
Regill determined that the dead Hellknights hung by the Gallows Tree were a scouting unit that he assigned to sweep the area, and was disappointed to hear of their failure. He then explained that he had been sent as an envoy of the Order of the Godclaw's headquarters in the land of Mendev to investigate the Order of the Scepter. The Scepter, according to Regill, was a heretical order of Hellknights espousing human supremacist rhetoric and threatening the frontier settlements of the Unclaimed Lands, acting against the Hellknights' tenets of order and damaging their reputation in the region.
The paralictor also spoke of the man he believed to be the Scepter's leader; Lictor Othniel, a man who used to be in the Order of the Godclaw himself before being exiled. He asked that the party inform him of any news or rumors regarding this figure.
With a clear goal but the body of his expeditionary force wiped out, Regill was forced to consider other options. He commanded his two subordinate Hellknights to venture to Bard's Gate to seek reinforcements from the Order of the Chain, while he suggested that the party accompany him to seek a local adventuring guild known as the Fairhaven Frontier for assistance and immediate mobilization against the threat of the Order of the Scepter. The party, though wary of Regill's affiliations, agreed to this course of action.
Within the day, the group arrived at the Fairhaven Frontier, finding its founding members and their guest Vesper finishing their midday meal. They were greeted by the guild leader Ozwik, who seemed quite wary of Regill; however, after establishing terms and assuring a peaceful exchange, the paralictor was allowed in the camp, as were the refugees from Ard Glæs.
After hearing Regill's proposal of a joint effort to combat the Order of the Scepter and to protect the villages of the Unclaimed Lands, Ozwik conferred with his teammates. Eventually they settled on a plan of action to scout the region, locate what towns they could, and then track the Order of the Scepter's potential movements from the captured Caer Glæs.
Meanwhile, the trio of Ephemeral, Maki, and Saelas were asked about their next move. The trio asked to join the Fairhaven Frontier, seeking to help the people of the Unclaimed Lands and hoping to make surte the village's sacrifice was not wasted. Satisfied with this, Ozwik welcomed the trio as the newest recruits of the guild, at last displacing the (currently absent) Wayfinders as the fresh faces around the campfire.
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