Quelmar PHANTOMS was three sessions in length, exploring the heroes of the Delvin's journey across the Phantom Front.
Session 1[edit | edit source]
Five heroes from all sides of the first Realm War are all drawn together for one purpose in the city of the Delvin.
The demon Koschei is a soldier fighting on the side of Troverth. But after their unit gets ambushed, they are left for dead until they are captured by a small team of Delvin forces led by Captain Melindra Ivanov.
Don Tomas de la Casa de Ladrones is a wealthy nobleman searching for the truth about his family. While in the city of the Delvin, he learns from his lover, the cunning noblewoman Lady Oriella that his brother, Don Diego, has gotten in hot water and is now being hunted by many separate interested parties. Don Tomas now makes it his mission to find is brother and learn the truth, or failing that, kill his brother for his families crimes.
Arnviðr Guðþormr is a mentally unstable lost knight from the kingdom of Glendoveer. Once a dedicated and decorated soldier, they began to lose their grip on reality after getting lost in a field of illusory phantasms. Attempting ti piece back together the pieces of their mind, Arnviðr is approached by Lady Oriella, who requests Arnviðr to accompany Don Tomas as his knight. When Arnviðr questions why he should comply, Lady Oriella threatens to reveal Arnviðr's location to Arnviðr's former mentor, the mage Lady Þorveig, who is hunting for her lost soldier.
Lee is a wandering amnesiac mercenary who had recently come into serving the city of the Delvin. After waking up in the Delvin barracks, they are called to the office of their employer, Lieutenant Commander Alexi Valdez. Alexi informs Lee that he has a mission for him and that he will reward Lee greatly in return for the mission's success.
An escaped LaCroix experiment and weapon, Wolf arrives in the city of the Delvin, only to be arrested for his unsettling appearance. When brought before a judge, he gives conflicting responses about who he is, and is given an offer to join a secret mission in return for getting his freedom.
All of these travelers are brought together at the Cathedral of St. Voyaa, long having since been converted ton the center for the Delvin's defense operations since the start of the war. Here they are greeted by Captain Melindra Ivanov who informs them of the mission. Recently, her spies learned that the merchant and weapons dealer, Don Diego, was traveling across the Phantom Front to the city of Quixing, the capital of the Troverth empire. Rumor had it that Don Diego was working with Troverth to supposedly build a weapon that could "end the war." Melindra asks the heroes to travel across the Phantom Front, find Don Diego, figure out what he knew about the weapon, then travel to Quixing pretending to be Don Deigo, and destroy the weapon. She reveals she captured the demon Koschei to serve as a guide in Troverth territory and requested the presence of Don Tomas so he could pretend to be his brother. After the conclusion of the meeting and before the party departed, Lieutenant Commander Alexi Valdez pulled Lee aside and ordered him to recover whatever plans and components of the weapon he could and return them directly to him.
The party departs the Delvin and begins the long trek across the Phantom Front through Steelhand territory. Along the way they encounter a mass of phantasms, in which are hidden a trio of metallic gorgons. The party managed to locate the gorgons and destroy them, allowing them to continue their journey.
Eventually the party arrives at the ruined town of Brene, one of this war's many casualties. They take cover in trenches occupied by Delvin forces and meet with the young and inexperienced Sergeant Nikoli. Nikoli informs them that Don Diego had entered the city, only to be captured by Steelhand dwarves, and was now being held prisoner on a Steelhand Stone Juggernaut, a massive stone tank. The party travels into Brene to liberate Don Diego and find the Juggernaut, only for the sky to darken and for LaCroix forces to attack!
Session 2[edit | edit source]
The LaCroix Nightbringer Cordelia LaCroix had been sent to capture Don Diego, same as the heroes of the Delvin. The heroes engage Cordelia LaCroix atop the Stone Juggernaut, fighting back against Steelhand soldiers, and Cordelia's mind controlled soldiers. The fight ratches up in intensity when Steelhand terromancers summon stone golems to ai in the battle, and when Troverthian Vivisectors arrive to recover Don Diego. During the battle the Vivisectors call upon the aid of a demonic Goristro to distract the party. Don Tomas during the battle uses psychic magic to kill his brother, to both prevent other parties from recovering him, and as revenge for his brothers underhanded dealings. The party is then forced to flee when Glendoveer mages destroy the region by casting Meteor Swarm.
Searching the wreckage of the Stone Juggernaut, the party manages to locate Don Diego's bag of holding. Inside they find multiple vials of ether as well as a chunk of unstable unrefined ether. Inside as well are multiple correspondences between Don Diego and the Troverth Empire. Don Diego had been working with the Troverth royal Prince Feng Yuhan to help with multiple of the Princes projects, including Project Overlord, and Project Dominion.
For Project Dominion, Don Diego had been selling rare artifacts and large amounts of ether to the Troverth Empire at the request of Mae Tadako, the lead arcanist of Project Dominion. But to cut costs and to line his how pockets, Don Diego had begun to supply highly reactive and unstable unrefined ether instead. Even worse, he had acquired this unrefined ether by double crossing the kingdom of Glendoveer, leading to Glendoveer hunting him down, Don Diego being forced to flee across the Phantom Front, and information about Project Dominion getting out. In the correspondences the party learns that Don Diego was set to meet with Prince Feng Yuhan's right hand, the Bugbear Chief Gnarlvrock, outside the Quixing city walls. With this information in hand, the party prepares for their final trek across the Phantom Front.
Session 3[edit | edit source]
After eight grueling days of travel, the heroes of the Delvin arrive at the outer walls of Quixing. By pretending to be Don Diego and his security team and using a secret code phrase that was given to Don Diego, the party get a meeting with Chief Gnarlvrock and are escorted into the city where they are brought into the palace. In the palace they are presented before Emperor Troverth and meet Prince Feng Yuhan who greets them warmly.
While Prince feng yuan treats Don Tomas and Arnviðr to a cup of tea, the rest of the party is escorted below the palace to see Project Dominion. Beneath Quixing is a massive underground temple that used to be the home of demon worshipers of the Demon Lord Yeenoghu. But long ago Troverth extinguished the cult and used its knowladge to perfect the magic of demon binding, while also unknowingly allow the influence of Yeenoghu to infect their magic. in this underground cavern they behold the massive arcane engine that makes up project Dominion and meet Mae Tadako, a bright eyed idealist with dreams of helping the world. She reveals that Project Dominion is able to remove a creature's capacity for violence. While Prince Feng Yuhan hopes this can be used to nullify opposing armies, Mae Tadako secretly plans to release it upon the entire world, and hopefully end all war forever. While investigating Mae's labs, lee discovers the remnants of demonic experimentation, and learns that he was once a test subject of this lab with demon parts having been grafted onto his body.
Don Tomas and Arnviðr are forced to cut tea with Feng Yuhan short when they discover that one o the Vivisectors from Brene had arrived in the city. This was trouble because this Vivisector was one of the few people alive who knew that the real Don Diego was dead. Don Tomas quickly teleported away while Arnviðr engaged Feng Yuhan and Chief Gnarlvrock in battle outside of the pully elevator that led below the palace. Arnviðr manages to toss both the bugbear chief and the prince into the elevator shaft and is forced to retreat below the palace when the guards arrive.
Below the palace the other heroes began to sabotage Project Dominion, by destroying the stabilizers that kept the unrefined ether in check and by moving all of the unrefined ether to right below the arcane engine. Prince Peng Yuhan who had survived their fall, used their last breath to summon Yeenoghu using Project Overlord, who they foolishly believed they could control. Yeenoghu laughed in the face of the Prince and revealed his deception. He revealed that he used i]his influence to modify Project Dominion to not affect Demons, meaning that when it would be activated, mortals would be helpless to save themselves from demonic slaughter. Yeenoghu easily broke from his bindings and freed the other demons under Troverth's control. At the same time, Feng Yuhan was slain when Wolf cast Finger of Death on him and turned the prince into a zombie.
But before Yeenoghu could activate Project Dominion, the heroes of the Delvin sacrificed themself to destroy the machine by setting of the unrefined ether and causing the machine and the entire city of Quixing to be destroyed in a massive explosion. The only survivor of the heroes would be Don Tomas who managed to escape at the last moment, returning to the Delvin to share their stories and honor the memories of those who sacrificed themselves to end the Realm War.