The Bleeding Eye, Part 2

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About the Saga

The Dark City heroes venture to the Wardare Tower, where they find that it's knight protector has been driven insane by an orcish artifact and the elven spirit hidden within it.

Timeframe

Cast of Characters

Notable Quotes

None.

What Has Come Before

The Dark City heroes, with some new allies in tow, have left Obsidian Bay to hunt down a band of rampaging orcs. They have learned, through talking with survivors at the town of Twoham, that a human knight named Sir Erogin Wardare, protector of Wardare Tower and a Knight of the Fist, passed through several days earlier.

The knight had a terrible wound to one eye, one that the town's healers could do nothing to cure. The heroes spent the night in the town, which was just as well, as a band of orcs assaulted the town. They were able to repel the attackers, and agreed to redouble their efforts to reach the town of Wardare Tower the next day. Little do they realize that the knight actually carries the Bleeding Eye of Thaggurth within his wounded socket, an old and powerful orcish artifact made from the eye of a long dead elven warrior. And that the ghost of this warrior has now possessed Wardare to take revenge upon the orcs who slew him centuries before.

The Saga

Patchwall 8, 592

The Tower Falters

Days before, Sir Erogin Wardare returned to his ancestral lands of Wardare Tower after brutally destroying a Bleeding Eye Clan warband in the foothills of the Drachensgrab Mountains within the Orcish Empire. His return from the mountains was driven by the twin horrors of his dishonor on the battlefield and the madness spreading from the bloody elven eye pulsing where his own human one once was. Once safely secluded in his towers, he waged a psychic war against the elven ghost Aerasowyn dwelling within bleeding orcish artifact known as the Bleeding Eye of Thaggurth.

It was a battle he could not win, and after two nights he emerged from his bed chambers a changed, and thoroughly corrupted man. He is now driven by the same mad vision as Aerasowyn: the eradication of the Bleeding Eye Clan, and then every orc on the Pomarj. To his new way of thinking and means is acceptable … and any who would oppose him are traitors who must be put down.

He confronted his men and explained his plan to lead them on a genocidal and ultimately suicidal war against the Orcish Empire. A few balked, pointing out that while raids were acceptable, a long-term campaign -- without the support of the Domain -- would leave their own homes and families unprotected. Erogin drew upon the magical resources of the Eye, and tried to compel the dissenters to obey. When two still refused, he slew them in cold blood, blood that still stains the floor of the Tower's audience chamber.

The town around the Tower has grown dark and sullen, with the people unsure how to deal with their changed lord. Most simply obey him, and have been gathering together the provisions and equipment the knight demanded for his upcoming quest. His men at arms, now numbering ten were there were once 24, man the gates and oversea the preparations. Two guards remain with him at all times, assisting in his war plans.

Patchwall 12, CY 592

New Arrivals

Meanwhile at Twoham, Stony George of the Orcslayers, and Brand of the Whispering Vale, ranger/sorcerer follower of Trithereon arrive the morning after orcs raid the town. The two adventurers have made thir own discoveries on their way to the village, learning Sir Erogin Wardare had killed a band of orcs belonging to the Bleeding Eye Clan in a particularly brutal bloody and merciless death, uncharacteristic for a paladin.

Thom Silverbow is greatly disturbed by the arrival of Stony George, a friend of Thom's father, who is also an Orcslayer. He fears that his father is checking up on him, or worse, as sent Stony George to bring him back to Obsidian Bay (his elven father never having been particularly impressed with his son's decidedly non-combat oriented skill set).

After exchanging information about the threat facing the northern Pomarj, the adventurers head east for Wardare Tower.

Greyhawk Date: Patchwall 13, CY 592

The Ghost Ascendant

They arrive at the next day at the sullen town of Wardare to find a half as many men-at-arms as they expected. They demand to see Sir Wardare, and the leader of the guard agrees.

They meet him in the tower's great hall, where the knight is screaming orders at his men and pouring over maps of the surrounding area. He informs the party that he intends to slaughter the orcs who've dared to enter the Domain, and then will end the threat once and for all by hunting down the Bleeding Eye Clan's lair and killing every last male, female and whelp he can find ... and then do the same for every other orc living in the foothills of the Drachensgrabs.

As he talks with the adventurers, his insanity becomes increasingly evident, and when they question the wisdom of launching a personal war against the orcs, the crazed elven spirit Aerasowyn possessing him attempts to dominate them to do its bidding.

Stymied, Wardare declares the heroes to be traitorous agents of the orcs, and demands his men slay them. A pitched battle follows in which the ghost -- who reveals himself to be the spirit of an elf named Aerasowyn attempts to possess another of the heroes. They subdue Wardare's defenders and the knight himself. They then realize that the Eye is the source of the ghost's power and rage, snatch it from the knight's socket, and destroy it.

While the ghost has been laid to rest, Sir Wardare restored to his right mind, the Tower and surrounding lands are not yet safe. The Bleeding Eye orcs are still out there, and they do not know that the artifact they seek has been destroyed.

And they will not be happy when they find out.

Experience & Loot

  • None available for this adventure.
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