Lightbringers

The Lightbringers are a group of adventurers active in the Fifth Age. Originally, these individuals met as caravan guards for the Santeem Republic aid caravan of 5A 352. However, after events taking place in Porgorag in the Queendom of Keeleon, they came together as a fledgling adventuring party.

History

Founding

The Hands of Ore secured the contract for the 5A 352 Santeem Republic aid caravan, and the guild began working with the Hero Hunters to arrange caravan guards. A number of adventurers in different regions of Azimuth received one of the job board postings sent out by the Hero Hunters, and they began to converge on the city of Porgorag. On 1 Adroth 5A 352, these different groups arrived at the Darksteel Foundry and met each other, as well as the leader of the caravan, Captain Levka Ruslan.

Campaign Two: Lightbringers

Arc 1: The Thread's Start

As the arranged carriages for the aid caravan were missing, Captain Levka Ruslan and Borscha Brickwell sent eight members of the guards into the city of Porgorag to investigate. With the goal of recovering the carriages or arrananging replacements, they went into the city and visited several establishments. From conversations with residents and city officials, they started to suspect Coinguard Gim Gorod had some involvment with the missing carriages. To arrange new transport wagons, they made an agreement with Haugon, son of Goll, of the Hero Hunters. They helped clear out some creatures making strange noises from the basement of their facility, and they learned of a larger problem in the city's sewers. At Cardinal Desires, they regrouped to discuss what each had learned. While here, they received a set of prophecies from Naran, a hobgoblin woman. Seemingly, some energy connected them, though they couldn't tell what the words might yet mean. As they investigated, the discovered a strange green ring smuggled in with the caravan. It was a dangerous item of some kind, and combined with the other strangeness in the city, the group was concerned. There were connections to the Tarterian Traders and a group of genasi, but they couldn't tell how far reaching this may be. Deciding that the threat in the sewers was priority, they defeated several demons and destroyed a spell circle in the Spring of the Natant Yew. Bringing this news to the city officials, they were rewarded and invited back to the city for the upcoming Champion's Conquest festival. They also discussed their concerns with the Coinguard to Oknar Jod and Godsguard Ankhan, daughter of Audeh. However, they had no hard evidence to convict Gim Gorod directly. Deciding to go to the source, they tricked Gim Gorod into a meeting at the Glistening Hog Tavern. He revealed his corruption, and they turned him over to the city's Watchguard. The group then found a hidden journal in his manor, which revealed more about the genasi and their involvement across Tarteria. Over a span of just a few days, as they worked together, battled, and talked, the eight of them started becoming allies. Though there was initial distrust and confrontation, there was also budding trust and cooperation. When prompted to give a name for themselves, they chose to call their fledgling group the Lightbringers. In the late morning of 4 Adroth 5A 352, the group escorted the aid caravan out of Porgorag, following the Orc Highway southwards in the Northern Orcish Plains.

Arc 2: A Ring of Residuum

The Lightbringers traveled south on the Orc Highway, meeting and making connections with the other members of the aid caravan. Along with Captain Ruslan, they made their way through the Northern Orcish Plains towards New Keeleon. Along the way, they start coming to terms with working as a group and aligning their goals. Tensions between Arwin and Romsca grew to a tipping point, spilling into repeated arguments. Meanwhile, Mortimr and Demitri discussed the entity he was connected to. At an old battlefield from the Tarterian War, they defended the caravan from bandits in the fields, but ghosts of lost soldiers were attracted to the commotion. They were repelled, but lingering aging effects clung on them until the met a military cleric in Axe-Breaker Thicket. As they got closer to the city, they wanted to examine the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring. Their concern was with Mortimr’s entity, and another argument broke out. The loud yelling attracted corrupted ankhegs that attacked the caravan. They killed the monsters before a group of the Warden Rangers led by Ranger General Labb arrived. They took over cleaning up the corruptive effects of the monsters, and Labb offered them jobs to hunt more of the creatures. That night, Chaka had another nightmare. When he informed the rest of the party of the dreams and the strange landscape of them, Demitri identified it as the Infinite Battlefield in Dynamia, the Plane of Strength. The party didn’t know what connection that could have with the symbol on Chaka’s neck. The caravan reached the outskirts of New Keeleon. A defector from the rebellion was preaching at the Cereus Compass. With Arwin’s actions, the man was arrested, and they entered the city. They found a missing persons poster for Mortimr before they reached the Breakwater Keep. They met Nalt Oknar Rulla and Lord Lortuk, a representative from the capital. They handed over the aid caravan wagons and were paid for the task. Arwin spied and overheard Sir Talmid from the Commandment of Sky Guildhall provide documents claiming the caravan’s distribution for his guild. In rented rooms at the Far Bar Inn, they regrouped and discussed events thus far. Romsca felt unsure of her place, and Mortimr initiated a gem binding ritual with all the Lightbringers, seemingly uniting them in their goals. They went to bring Leena to the Equus Orphanage. The old orc attendant, Zofi, recognized Demitri and claimed to be his mother, but her memories seemed off. They removed an old enchantment on her, and she told them of her interactions with Demitri’s mentor, Sokolov, and the genasi Maalik. Knowing things in the city were not what they seemed, they created a new box for the residuum ring and investigated around Breakwater Keep and the Commandment of Sky Guildhall. They were interrupted when Captain Ruslan was suddenly arrested, and they brought their concerns to Nalt Oknar Rulla to release him. They needed answers about the green ring and the Tarterian Traders. They spoke with Lord Lortuk, who was familiar with Romulus, and learned about his investigations into a group of genasi called the Prophets of Regression. After, they sought out Argilla but were attacked by mud mutts from the river. Ruslan was killed and Mortimr’s entity helped resurrect him. They fled with Argilla to his home. They spoke with Argilla and Al'phonas Muchaelas, a prominent member of KAST, about the green ring, the genasi, and The Unsigned Paintings of the Great Beasts. Together, they came up with a plan to paint a decoy masterpiece to draw out the Traders. Chaka set to work and with the aid of the party produced a masterwork painting of the Great Phoenix. The piece was displayed at the Watermill Gallery, and at the opening it was stolen by cultists. They pursued the fleeing acolyte leader to the Commandment of Sky Guildhall. There, they found the hidden Chamber of Titles, a shrine dedicated to the Primordial Elementals. They battled elementals and the acolyte, and they overpowered and captured Talmid. Mortimr and the others interrogated Talmid. Mortimr’s entity manifested and with a flare of pink and roses, Talmid was killed. The investigated the large amount of research and notes in the rooms and learned more about the goals and actions of the Prophets of Regression. They recovered the missing Great Leviathan painting and the Great Leviathan Bearing Stone, which the genasi had used to track down the Great Beast. After days of investigation, they met with Lord Lortuk and discussed their next steps. They felt Red Lake was the most urgent, but would return to aid the Warden Rangers in the east. They met with Nalt Oknar Rulla and shared all their findings. Rulla thanked the Lightbringers for aiding both New Keeleon and Porgorag. She cautioned them about the dangers the genasi posed and hoped that their group could continue helping Tarteria. As reward for their actions, she gifted the Rill Priory to the party and invited them to be guests of honor at the next day’s Champion's Conquest festivities.

Records

Members

The current members of the Lightbringers were all involved with the Santeem Republic aid caravan in 5A 352. Most took the work as guards from the job postings sent forward by the Hands of Ore. Additionally, Romsca, Smelter of Ingots, was assigned to the task by the guild and Romulus was hired as an additional escort.

Player	Character	Race	Class
G.F.	Arwin	Human	Fighter (Battlemaster)
L.M.	Gertrude Oathenhammer	Dwarf	Cleric (Light)
K.B.	Demitri	Half-Orc	Fighter (Eldritch Knight)
J.P.	Mortimr Gwathagoldrin	Gnome	Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
C.C.	Chaka	Hobgoblin	Bard (College of Valor)
P.M.	Ilmendwyth	Wood Elf	Rogue (Scout)
S.H.	Romulus	Minotaur	Druid (Wildfire)
I.W.	Romsca, Smelter of Ingots	Gnoll	Cleric (Forge)

Companions

Cinis: A fiery cape vulture that accompanies Romulus.
Leena: A half-orc orphan that Romsca knew from Porgorag.

Allies and Friends

Aid Caravan

Captain Levka Ruslan: A captain from the Santeem Republic, he is the leader of the aid caravan.

Porgorag

Borscha Brickwell: Leader of the Darksteel Foundry, her guild arranged the job postings for caravan guards that brought the group together.
Godsguard Ankhan, daughter of Audeh: The Godsguard of Porgorag, she helped the group uncover the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring and restore the Spring of the Natant Yew.
Watchguard Inzun: The Watchguard of Porgorag, she assisted the group with gathering evidence and arresting Coinguard Gim Gorod.

New Keeleon

Nalt Oknar Rulla: The Nalt Oknar of New Keeleon, she assisted the group with unconvering the corruption within the Commandment of Sky Guildhall.
Lord Lortuk, son of Mog: A member of the Keel's Council, he is an acquaintance of Romulus and helped share information about the Prophets of Regression.
Al'phonas Muchaelas: An important figure in the Keeleon Artistry Society of Tarteria, he supplied the group with the means to infiltrate the Commandment of Sky Guildhall and became the patron of Chaka.

Antagonists

Alive

Coinguard Gim Gorod: Ousted as a Tarterian Traders mole by the group, he was arrested after it was revealed he had abused his position in an attempt to get the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring.
Prophets of Regression: The four genasi are working to bring about an end of the Dragon pantheon and are after the Lightbringers who are in possession of the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring.