The Heroes Rise

Military action

A group of heroes rises to challenge the Demon Lord

It was in this time that five heroes were born who would one day rise up and lead the free peoples of Theopetros from their oppressive lord.   The world was divided into twelve kingdoms each with a main city that was loyal to the Demon Lord. Within the areas these cities controlled, it was deemed illegal for any non outsider to learn a trade apart from some of the weaker or more redundant tasks in life. The only way that a non-outsider was allowed to learn a different craft was to be accepted into one of the tribes of outsiders that controlled the major cities. There was one tribe for each city, corresponding to some type of animal, and then many other tribes for differing outsiders. Once accepted into one of these tribes, people were allowed to learn any craft that they could find a teacher for. They could progress as high in rank as their own talents would allow them, as long as they stayed loyal to the Demon lord.   Calvin Mikdrivin, Lyle Lightfingers, Allistar Marcsh, and the Twins Kara and Sara were five such individuals that managed to earn their way into the ranks of the Serpent tribe in the city that they called home. These individuals succeeded in convincing the tribe that they were loyal to the Demon Lord, thus gaining the training that they needed while secretly working with the Celestial council to undermine the Lord's power.   They worked slow at first winning minor victories for their cause while they continued to advance in skill, until at a banquet for Dardeus, the Demon Lord's son, Kara and Sara caught the eye of Lord Rain Drakaal, an Incubus and lord of his own tribe. The five heroes went to work for Lord Drakaal, and finally succeeded in turning him to their cause after finding out about his unusual ancestry, he was the great grandson of one of the few surviving celestials.   With the Army of Lord Drakaal's tribe backing them, the heroes, now known as the Redeeming Five, went to the hidden nations of the Elves, Dwarves and Avans on missions to bring these formidable forces into the fold of their ever expanding army. Once the three free nations were allied with them, the redeeming five went about drawing every individual they could from the twelve nations and training them for the final assault on the Demon Lord's Tower.   It is a credit to Lord Rain Drakaal that he was able to turn all of his followers to the side of good and still manage to keep their treachery secret for nearly a year while the army trained. This deed he may not have done if Kara and Sara, having been turned into celestials themselves after an encounter with wild magic, hadn't accepted his request that they be his brides and the mothers of his house.   In the year that they had to prepare, Kara and Sara the warrior twins of bow, headed up the training of the army, Calvin the Paladin trained others in the divine might of their own spirits with the help of the Celestial Council, Lyle the trickster turned his skills at assassination toward the cause of good drawing disciples to learn his arts of the shadows, while Allistar the mage had the hardest task of all.   Allistar was the one responsible for breaking the Demon Lord's hold over the planes. Having died once himself, Allistar had come the closest of any spirit to escaping into the true afterlife before finally being brought back as an outsider by the celestial council. This experience left him with a unique understanding of the way that the Demon Lord was keeping the planes closed. He, along with his most gifted followers, spent many months researching the very essence of the planes in an effort to break the spell that was keeping the material plane closed off from every other. There was only one problem, for the new spell to work it had to be cast directly on the seal, which was located on the uppermost level of the Demon Lord's tower.