Herein lies the chronicle of the Demon War and the end pertaining unto it, as witnessed by Lord Tyrael of the Shining Tower, Planar Guardian of Evermere, Holy Knight of Pelor, during his participation in it:
It was late July when the knight first appeared, riding up to the Shining Tower of Pelor on his pegasus and accompanied by an elf with dark gray skin wearing a cloak that would transform into giant bat wings. I had just returned from patrol with Yrius the Gold Wyrm, my trusted mount and companion, and was holding a conversation with Tull the Blacksmith in front of the Shining Tower, where he was repairing a wagon wheel.
"Hail, sir knight! From whence do you come?" I said as he dismounted.
"I hail you also, for we are both Knights of Pelor. I am Lord Silvaire of Terrin on the distant continent of Medomere, and my companion here is Ra'ith the Dark Elf of the White Mountain Catacombs. And my winged companion, here," he said, placing a gauntleted hand atop the pegasus' head, "is Halbu, my stoic steed." Halbu bowed his head, and I returned his gesture. The dark elf also bowed in a particularly refined fashion, albeit a different one than that employed by such Knights of Pelor as myself.
"I am Sir Tyrael of the Shining Tower, the shining structure you see before you. This is Tull, the head smith, and Yrius the Gold Wyrm..." I said, gesturing to each of my companions as I spoke. Yrius shape-shifted into a half-elf with wild golden hair and glowing golden eyes, his preferred form when dealing with humanoids.
"It is a pleasure." said Yrius in perfect Common. "It has been long since I visited the home continent of the dragon-king Thradin and viewed the majestic beauty of the desert." he continued, much to Ra'ith's amazement.
"You have visited our shores?" asked the dark elf.
"Certainly, though it was long before you were born in the deep southern caverns. Tell me, does Chryseria the Crystal Wyrm still reside on the southernmost slopes near the sea?"
"Yes, and she is well revered amongst my people. A year ago she bore a son." replied Ra'ith.
"I must speak with the Lord of the Tower at once; it is a matter of vast importance to both our lands." broke in Silvaire.
"Well, you're too late--he was slain earlier this week in a cowardly attack by the demons that have been plaguing our land. Sir Tyrael is the ranking Knight, and has just returned from patrolling the mountains." said Tull, looking up from his half-repaired wagon.
"This is indeed troubling. I was not aware that he had already raised an army powerful enough to assault your lands."
"Of whom do you speak?" asked Yrius.
"The demon Gar-Thul, son of Dul-Bhar, who I killed beneath the White Mountains of Medomere roughly a year ago. Following his father's death, he fled to Evermere to raise an army and attack our realm. He intends to use the ancient planar portals scattered across the land to both summon and house an army on different planes until he has enough for a major offensive. Although, judging by your reports of demon attacks, he's already unleashed some of his number." explained Silvaire.
"That doesn't sound very good at all." said Tull, stopping between hammer strokes to look up at the group once again.
"I think that an understatement, Tull." I said, calling over a squire to take care of Silvaire's pegasus and beckoning for Silvaire, Ra'ith, and Yrius to follow me inside. "Perhaps we can speak of this indoors, where we might gain both some privacy and refresh you from your long journey."
"I thank you, Tyrael." replied Silvaire as we entered.
Once inside, Silvaire laid out the situation. He had killed Dul-Bhar, a demonic smith, deep beneath the White Mountains of Medomere with a cursed morningstar that the demon had forged. Then, just as the battle seemed over, the demon's son, Gar-Thul, who was more powerful a warrrior but less skilled a craftsman than his father, fled the scene. Silvaire had then tracked him to Evermere with the help of Ra'ith and Halbu, where he had come to our door. Now fully understanding the sudden rash of demonic attacks in the Kornath Mountains, where the Shining Tower is located, I joined Silvaire in setting out after Gar-Thul along with Tull and, of course, Yrius and Halbu. Ra'ith remained behind in the tower to help in Tull's absence, as he was also a smith of great skill. Thus, we five rode off into the mountains to search for some sign of the demon prince.
We headed out the next morning for Sandwich, the halfling settlement at the foot of the Kornath mountains on the northern shore of the Mirror Sea. Many of the reports we'd had of demonic attacks had come from settlements in the mountains, and we reasoned that those halflings from Sandwich, long known to be skilled hunters of beasts, magical and otherwise, would know more of the mountains surrounding their home than we could possibly hope to find out by wandering about in unfamiliar territory ourselves.
Once we reached Sandwich, I conversed with the Earl, their leader, whose name was Porrus. "Thank you for seeing us, sir." I said, shaking his hand in the somewhat unformal manner that the halflings preferred to the pomp and circumstance favored by heads of state amongst humanity.
"Of course. How may I assist the ranking Knight of the Shining Tower and his companions?" he asked in reply.
"We have come to investigate the reports of demon attacks in the mountains." explained Silvaire, shaking Porrus' hand.
"Yeah. We figured you'd know about what's going on in the mountains more than most. So here we are." said Tull, shaking the halfling's hand with enough force to lift him off the ground. "Uh, sorry."
"It's all right. Anyway, we have heard reports of demon attacks; if you'd care to step into my office, we can review the records and statements of passers-through, and I'll send for some of our best hunters to report in on what they've seen."
"Thank you, sir." said Silvaire, following the Earl through the five-foot door into the town hall of Sandwich.
Once inside, Earl Porrus went through his records and told us both of what they contained and what he'd personally heard. Apparently, there were reports from both passing traders and their own renowned hunters of attacks in the mountains north of the settlement, in an area suspiciously containing several rather deep caves where giant, bloodthirsty bears were reputed to roam. Tull made a comment of some sort about evil always cropping up in the hardest-to-reach, most-filled-with-evil location available, which brought snickers from both Silvaire and the Earl. We resolved to head out the next morning to investigate the caves.
Finding lodging capable of accomodating us proved difficult, but not impossible. One of the inns in town catered often to Dwarves, and was thus built slightly larger than the surrounding buildings. I still had to stoop to enter the building, but could stand up in the main room. Tull was unfortunately not so lucky; his huge frame had to stand sideways and walk like a crab just to get inside the building or up the stairs. Lord Silvaire moved surprisingly well through the smallish rooms, apparently accustomed to dealing and lodging with halflings.
In the inn, we happened upon two trackers well known in the Kornath Mountains, Soveliss and Beornhelm. Twin brothers, they were renowned for prowling the mountains alongside the halfling hunters and bringing down the ravenous beasts that range along the higher slopes. Tull greeted them warmly.
"Soveliss! Beornhelm! You old rascals! How've you been?" he asked the twins, ambling over to their table in the corner of the bar in the hunched manner he'd adopted upon entering the establishment.
"Tull!" responded Soveliss, the younger-looking of the two. Though they were twins, they weren't identical; Soveliss was taller and more lithe, conducting himself with a nearly Elven grace, where Beornhelm, though still tall, was heavier-set with the grizzled features of a bear.
"It's good to see you. What brings you to Sandwich? Surely it's not practice to maintain good posture." snickered Beornhelm, rubbing his unshaven chin.
"You always were the joker." Tull said, before adding "And so were you, Soveliss." in a fit of remembrance.
"Guilty as charged." he replied.
They conversed as old friends for a few minutes, until Silvaire and I arrived at the table, small flagons of stout halfling grog in hand and the keys to three rooms upstairs. Then, we related our story.
"We happened upon a few minor demons up in the mountains a few days ago," began Soveliss.
"but we dispatched them." finished Beornhelm in the middle of his brother's sentence. Apparently, they often finished each others' sentences as a matter of course; Silvaire and I had already remarked upon the practice soon after Tull introduced us. "That was up north of here,"
"where there's not much to be had, save a few deep caves"
"where dire bears have been spotted in the past. They got cleaned out"
"by the halfling hunters last fall, though, when they started raiding the city." the brothers continued, our gazes bouncing back and forth between them as they continued the story as one.
"We could lead you up there"
"if you want to go. It is uncommon to find small, weak demons"
"wandering in our world alone, unless they're directed to do so"
"by a greater demon. Either way,"
"further investigation would be appropriate." cut in Silvaire, which brought a laugh from the twins.
"It's not often we find someone" began Soveliss.
"we can carry on a conversation with" continued Beornhelm."
"in the manner to which you are accustomed?" finished Silvaire, much to the delight of Soveliss and Beornhelm. Tull simply sipped at his beer, the mug seeming but a teacup in his oversize hand, but I could tell by his expression that he was both highly amused and impressed with Silvaire's ability to interact and deal with others on their own terms without even seeming to try. I had first noticed this when he first conversed with Yrius and I at the Tower, and he had constantly impressed me in the same manner ever since.
Soveliss and Beornhelm offered to guide us up to the caves in the mountains north of the settlement, and we accepted, interested in both their skill at tracking and their high spirits. Following our conversation, we talked some of the goings-on around the area and eventually retired for the night.
The next day, we set off into the mountains. Soveliss and Beornhelm almost immediately picked up the trail of several small demons led by a larger one that, according to the twins, ambled around like a troll. We followed them to a cave about two days north of Sandwich, and made our way inside.
Several small demons were standing guard just inside the cave entrance, but they were easily dispatched. The larger demon, it turned out, had been the leader of a scout force that was sent out to test the strength of our forces. This we determined from a letter we found deep within the cave, written in Abyssal to the larger demon. There was no sign of him, however.
We were just about to search the surrounding caves when suddenly, the back wall of the cavern split down the middle and crumbled, revealing a planar gateway similar to the one Silvaire had described as being deep beneath the mountains of Medomere where this had all started. Out of the portal strode the tall demon, who was, to say the least, very surprised to see us. Combat rapidly ensued, but Soveliss and Beornhelm crippled him quickly and I finished him off.
We resolved to head through the gateway, with Silvaire in the lead and Tull bringing up the rear. No sooner had we stepped through the portal than we found ourselves in a strange limbo, only dimly aware of one another. No sight, sound, or smell reached our senses in this chaotic maelstrom of light and darkness, and an eternity seemed to pass before we emerged on the other side. We emerged on a geometric island formed of red stone surrounded by molten rock and fire, with other, smaller islands connected to it by a series of bridges. The portal behind us was simply a magical circle suspended in the acrid, smoke-choked air, orange in color and wreathed in flame. Gouts of white-hot flame and acrid smoke issued forth from cisterns on each platform, raising the temperature higher than that of most deserts.
We were not alone here; demons of varied shapes and sizes and creatures of a fell nature worthy of such a hellish realm all suddenly turned their gazes upon we who had invaded their stronghold.
"I think we just walked in on the wrong party, guys." said Tull, and none of us disagreed. The forces arrayed before us (and now moving toward us) were greater than we'd thought possible; poised on the edge of invading our world was an army greater than we alone could defeat; indeed, all the knights of the Shining Tower would be unable to stand against such a large force.
"Time to go... back through the portal, now!" shouted Silvaire, raising his morningstar in defiance of the host of demons moving in on us. We passed back through the gateway, emerging in our own world after another eternity of vague shapes, light, and darkness.
I began to say that we should send for help as soon as I emerged, but Silvaire, who had gone through first, much as he had the first time, was locked in combat with two men. One was a powerfully built old half-elf with white hair and eyes, wielding magic of great and terrible power that had already held Beornhelm ensorcelled as soon as he emerged, and the other was an adult half-elf with the same white hair and eyes of the other, but fighting against Silvaire's morningstar with a two-bladed sword as black as the night.
I began to advance to Silvaire's aid, but was cut short when the sword-wielding half-elf swung mightily as Silvaire ducked. I felt a blade pass through my left arm, and watched in surprise as my limb was severed at the elbow. Grasping it firmly to staunch the flow of blood, I ducked out of the way as Tull came sweeping up from behind me. He struck the black blade soundly with his hammer, sending the half-elf flying. Neither he nor his blade were broken, however, and he started to get back up.
"Get out of here! Gather your forces!" Silvaire called.
"None of you shall leave!" bellowed the younger of our opponents as the other launched a cone of cold at Tull and I. Tull took the brunt of it and fell at my side, where I healed him as I could by channeling holy power through my hand.
Silvaire took this opportunity to move up to the spellcaster, whom he smote with all the fury of the gods themselves. His morningstar shone like the sun and caved in the side of the spellcaster's head, but a great arc of energy leapt between the morningstar and Silvaire and opened up a cavernous wound across his chest. He fell next to the dead spellcaster, his bloody morningstar rolling to a stop at the feet of the other half-elf.
"I suppose I should thank you... this means that I have dominion over my father's lands." he said, picking up Silvaire's morningstar. "Of course, you're not going to care in about thirty seconds. Have fun with the demons." he said as he transformed into an adult white dragon and flew off, away from the cavern.
Tull had regained consciousness at this point, and he fought the first scouts of the demon horde now emerging from the portal as Soveliss and Beornhelm carried Silvaire out of the cave. Then Tull and I withdrew, with Tull bringing up the rear and breaking out a wall of the cave to cause a cave-in. The cavern tumbled down, hopefully blocking the gateway for at least a while so we'd be able to assemble our forces and return.
Meanwhile, we had to bear Silvaire's body back to civilization.
©2005-2006 Joshua Thompson, Chris Morgan, and Keith Keydel. Monsieur Du Pont Du La Pont Du La Pont DeLeon is the intellectual property of Neal Schlein, which he's perfectly welcome to keep. All other characters are the intellectual property of whoever played them, should they still remember doing so. Have a nice day.