Kazak's Follies

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Kazak's Follies was a group of adventurers who briefly banded together around the time of the Shattering of Orodeth. Their leader and namesake was the dwarven gladiator Kazak Axehaft.

Membership

History

The Arms of a King

In the spring of 2965, a dwarf from Korthaz named Gargosh discovered the secret location of the tomb of King Torvald Flameforge some ways east of Red Oak Village in Orodeth. He had long sought to recover the axe Orcsplitter from the tomb and bring it back to Korthaz, but could not do so alone. And so he hired five adventurers to help him: the dwarven gladiator, Kazak Axehaft; the water genasi cleric, Jib; The human sorceress, Keiraleina; the halfling assassin, Countess Honeysuckle Bree; and the halfling paladin Flynn Cupsigh, brother to Qwynn Cupsigh of Drake's Company. Flynn had recently heard of their demise from his sister, and hoped that once the tomb was found, they could pick up investigating the elemental cults where his sister had left off.

As the group traveled north from Drakkengarde, storms and earthquakes rumbled across the land on an almost daily basis, and they had repeated run-ins with both elementals and elemental cultists. As they crossed the great stone bridge over the Belsimar Strait, they were attacked by a band of mercenaries who, when questioned after their defeat, said they were working for Gargosh's wicked cousin, Drannin. Finally, they arrived at the ruins marking the underground tomb. After bypassing the traps that barred the way, and solving the riddles that locked the path, they finally found the sarcophagus of King Torvald Flameforge.

It was then that Drannin appeared, and revealed that "Gargosh" was actually a doppleganger in his employ; he had kidnapped the real Gargosh back in Drakkengarde the night before the group set off and given his journal to the doppelganger, hoping the adventurers would clear the path for him. Drannin underestimated them, though, and Drannin and his men were killed while the doppelganger fled into the night. Within the sarcophagus, they found the bones of the king lying atop a bed of stamped gold ingots, and clutching the greataxe Orcsplitter. Concerned by the spate of recent earthquakes, Kazak removed the king's bones and the ingots, intending to bring them to Korthaz along with the axe to be re-interred there.

The Shattering

As they emerged from the tomb, the ground suddenly lurched in a massive earthquake, far more powerful than any they'd felt on their trip. The roaring sounds of crashing rock echoed all around them, and they ran out into the open field away from another that could fall and watched massive fissures crack open in the ground. When it finally ended, though, they were soon presented with a new problem: a massive flood of water racing in from the distance. Taking shelter in the still-intact ruins, they rode out the flood as the land was inundated with sea water.

The next morning, they discovered that the land around the tomb was now an island in the middle of a vast sea that was once the middle of Orodeth. It was only when they teleported to Northeron that they learned the full scale of the disaster; the entire central portion of Orodeth had crumbled away in the earthquake, with the ocean flooding in from both sides. Northeron had survived only by being build high up in the cliffs; Drakkengarde was completely destroyed. Flynn surmised that this was the work of the elemental cults his sister had dealt with, and sent a message to the Brightstone Heroes, for whom he had done some previous adventuring work. The lich Leardon Sunflare responded by arriving in Northeron and formally hiring them to find out what happened and deal with the cultists.

Using the wind walk spell, they flew south and surveyed the destruction for themselves; from the former Belsimar Strait on westwards, as far as they could sea, virtually everything was now underwater, save for a few small islands of land that still remained. Following rough directions provided by Leardon's divination magic, they eventually arrived at a newly-formed tunnel leading underground, still dry despite going below the waterline. Following the tunnel, they eventually found themselves in the ruins of the dwarven city of Belsimar. According to Flynn's sister, it was here that the elemental cults had made their stronghold, and in the caverns below where they would find the answers they sought.

The Secrets Below the Earth

Entering the ruined city, they were quickly met with a large number of earth cultists and a handful of tamed bulettes. Battling their way past their foes, they came across a room filled with lifelike statues of figures recoiling in fear and guarded by a shadow demon. The bedroom beyond was uninhabited, though, and they found only a wardrobe filled with fine clothes and a collection of hideous masks. Continuing through the Temple of the Black Earth, they found a bound svirfneblin about to be fed to a giant black ooze. After they rescued her, she explained her name was Rukh and that she was an explorer from the Underdark; she was captured while trying to sneak through the caverns below. She told them that the cultists had created some sort of powerful earth node down there, and led them to the stairs descending into the caves.

Rukh led them past the tomb of an ancient dwarven hero, where Kazak took the time to say a few reverent words. Rukh pointed out a narrow passageway hidden in a cluster of purple gemstones, then asked for an escort to the passage back to the Underdark. Their path took them past both earth and fire cultists, and then to a massive stone ziggurat topped with an evil-looking black altar. A dozen earth cultists stood on and around the ziggurat, and when Kazak stepped into the cavern one of the cultists conjured a wall of stone across the tunnel to separate him from his companions. They soon discovered that they had not trapped the dwarf with them, but rather trapped themselves with the dwarf; by the time his companions managed to break through the wall, Kazak had slain a third of the cultists single-handedly. Once the rest were dead, Kazak used Orcsplitter to shatter the altar. In the next cave, they found a sarcophagus with the evil symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye carved upon its lid. After destroying the sigil, they opened the sarcophagus and scattered the bone dust of whatever had been buried within.

As they reached the abandoned mineshaft marking the entrance to the Underdark, the spirit of the entombed dwarven hero appeared and directed Kazak to a pile of rubble in the corner. Digging through it, he found a magical dwarven hammer. After bidding Rukh farewell, the group took some time to rest before continuing deeper into the earth cultists' lair. When Kazak jokingly lamented the mess he had gotten himself into by signing on to search for the dwarven king, his companions just as jokingly called themselves Kazak's Follies. As they talked it became less of a joke, and they began calling themselves that from then on.

Descending below, they found themselves in a network of caves lined with veins of luminous purple crystals, and guarded by yet more earth cultists who identified the caves as the Black Geode. Fighting their way past even more cultists and earth elementals, they eventually found a skeleton clutching a steel helmet with a golden crown. When they picked it up, a duergar ghost appeared. The ghost told them that he and his companions had been searching for the tomb of King Torvald Flameforge. Following a lead of his own, he had located the king's crown in the possession of the Cult of the Black Earth but was killed before he could escape. His soul was now bound to it, unable to rest until the crown could be laid to rest with its owner. When Kazak revealed that Torvald's tomb had been destroyed, and he intended to lay his bones to rest in a new tomb in Korthaz, the ghost resigned himself to follow them until their task was completed.

After fighting their way through a canyon full of hook horrors, the band attempted to rest within a large fissure in the wall but where interrupted by an umber hulk. After slaying it, they moved to another fissure but encountered two more umber hulks and an earthquake that buried Honeysuckle in a small rockslide. After digging her out, they eventually managed to find safety long enough to patch their wounds and restore their magic. Battling past still more cultists and elementals, they discovered a large cavern that had been turned into a makeshift foundry, where cultists watched over a dwarven slave who forged weapons and armor for them out of enchanted stone. The group quickly killed them and freed the smith, who had been part of a caravan from Korthaz several months ago that was attacked by cultists. The smith confirmed sorrowfully that Marlos Urnrayle, Prophet of the Black Earth, had indeed succeeded in summoning Ogrémoch several days ago, and he had personally seen the towering primordial stride past the foundry. Following the massive earthquake, however, Ogrémoch had returned looking badly wounded; the smith had not seen the elder elemental since, but heard the other cultists saying that the Black Earth was gathering his strength after driving back the water cult, which had summoned their own primordial, Olhydra. Honeysuckle scouted ahead, and found a massive cavern containing a portal into the Elemental Plane of Earth. The group quickly determined that they had no hope of winning in a battle against a being that was nearly a god. Flynn, however, knew who might: the Brightstone Heroes. Keiraleina teleported them all to Silverstone to request their aid.

The End of Elemental Evil

Flynn contacted Leardon and explained the situation, and the he immediately agreed to help. The lich gathered up his old companions for one final quest, bringing together Tol Sigurn, Gurrard Snevilin, Priam Adenis, and Myra Brigg. The five Brightstone Heroes, along with Kazak's Follies, gathered together in Gurrard's floating manor and came up with a plan. Gurrard's copper dragon companion, Teriax, carried those who could not fly down to the tunnel leading to Belsimar. The ten heroes headed straight down into the caverns to confront Marlos Urnrayle and close the earth portal, hoping they could do so before Ogrémoch returned.

Easily defeating the remaining cultists who barred their way, they arrived at the portal and were confronted with Marlos Urnrayle, a hideous medusa wearing a finely-tailored suit. Though the primordial himself was absent, Marlos called forth Ogrémoch's avatar, a towering humanoid mass of rock and gemstones nearly fifty feet tall. A fearsome battle erupted, with Marlos attempting to petrify the heroes with his gaze and the avatar simply tearing chunks of its body off to animate as elementals. In the end, Kazak decapitated the prophet with Orcsplitter while the avatar finally succumbed to their combined assault and collapsed into inert stone. Leardon picked up Urnrayle's war pick, Ironfang, and reflecting on the information he had received from Qwynn, swung it into the portal; the weapon slammed into it as though it were a solid wall, then rusted away into flakes of oxidized iron in a matter of seconds as the portal imploded with a shockwave that violently shook the vast cavern; the heroes fled back into the elemental foundry as the cave collapsed behind them.

With the first primordial threat ended, the group left the Black Geode and entered the flooded caverns known as the Plunging Torrents, which Qwynn had warned them were ruled by an aboleth known as Yngukulub the Devourer, which had slain her companions in Drake's Company. The entrance was guarded by a powerful water elemental, but when they defeated it they were surprised to see it transform into a half-orc druid. They realized this was Sumac Briarden of Drake's Company; though Qwynn thought he had died, the aboleth had merely enslaved his mind. Leardon used his magic to break the aboleth's hold, and the defeated Sumac joined them.

Though slime dripped from every surface, and the water was fouled with the aboleth's taint, they nevertheless made their way through it to an evil shrine carved with tentacles and fanged maws. Among the minions of the Devourer they found Drake Roxley himself, similarly enthralled. He, too, was soon freed from the aboleth's control and joined them in their fight. At long last they came to the chamber with the portal to the Plane of Water, now so flooded that the portal was below the surface, where they found Yngukulub the Devourer wielding the trident Drown and the mind-controlled wizard of Drake's Company, Ru Bae Ya. As they launched into their attack, the water itself rose up in a colossal wave and engulfed them; with dread, they realized that this was no mere elemental avatar, but the primordial Olhydra herself.

Though they had defeated Marlos and Ogrémoch handily, they found themselves facing much stronger opposition from Ya's powerful spells, the aboleth's psychic assaults, and Olhydra simply forming herself into a wave, sweeping them up, and battering them against the cavern walls. As Myra was engulfed within her, she decided to take desperate action and broke her magical staff; the resulting magical detonation exploded out of Olhydra, but the primordial simply reformed herself. Of Myra, not trace remained. Her companions, devastated by the death of their old friend, renewed their assault with an increased vigor. While Kazak's Follies kept Olhydra occupied, Gurrard finally slew Yngukulub by firing his crossbow directly into the aboleth's eye.

With its death, Ya regained her senses and turned her arcane forces against Olhydra. It soon became clear, however, that fighting her was futile. Sumac, having been told of how they closed the first portal, dove under the water and retrieved Drown from the aboleth's corpse, then plunged it into the portal. Like Ironfang, it struck fast before rusting away and disintegrating into the water. The portal collapsed in on itself, causing a swirling vortex of water. Though the heroes were able to easily fight against the current, Olhydra was drawn into it and through the collapsing portal; Leardon, who had himself been consumed by the primordial, was helplessly pulled along as the portal closed behind them both.

Though the elemental evil threat had been neutralized, and they had rescued the survivors of Drake's Company from a terrible fate, the victory had come at a heavy cost. Though Leardon had been taken to the Plane of Water, he could find his way back; or, if slain, he would return to his phylactery. Myra, however, was gone, having been utterly consumed by the release of power from her broken staff.

Quest's End

The remaining heroes returned to Brightstone where, upon Leardon's return, a funeral was held for Myra. The Brightstone Heroes handsomely rewarded their companions, along with a special commendation for Flynn; no longer a mere agent, they agreed that he was now the newest Brightstone Hero himself. After reuniting his sister with her lost friends, he and his companions embarked on one last journey, escorting Kazak to Korthaz to lay the bones of King Torvald Flameforge to rest once more, along with his axe and crown. For his deeds, the dwarves gave him the name "Kazak Kingbearer." Their quest finally complete, the five went their separate ways.

Flynn spent some time with his sister, who was overjoyed by the return of those she thought gone, and told her the tale of their victory over Ogrémoch and Olhydra for her books. He then set off in search of more evils to vanquish. Jib purchased a new ship, to patrol the newly-named Shattered Sea against pirates, elementals, and any remaining cultists that might appear. Kazak returned to the ruins of Drakkengarde, hoping to help reclaim what remained of the city. Keiraleina set off in search of new adventures, unsure of where she would find herself but confident in her abilities. Honeysuckle Bree mysteriously vanished without a trace; she resurfaced just as suddenly, several years later, as regent to the Duchy of Nord.

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