Category:North by Northwest

North by Northwest, created by GM Kenstrom on Midjourney.

Summary

North by Northwest started in November 2022 and is an ongoing storyline running in the area around Wehnimer's Landing. It focuses heavily on the new Barony of Darkstone being established in the region just outside of the Landing, as well as the many conflicts around the Barony's creation. Chapter 1: Settlers of Darkstone, ran from November 2022 to February 2023. Chapter 2: Of Rooks and Reivers began in March 2023.

Map

Here are the proposed borders of the new Barony of Darkstone, land now claimed by the Turamzzyrian Empire:

Barony of Darkstone, created by GM Kenstrom.

Chapter 1 Summary: Settlers of Darkstone

• Earl Jovery, the Northern Sentinel, has declared an expansion of the Turamzzyrian Empire. The new territory, aptly named the Barony of Darkstone, will take up land north and northwest of the current imperial border, inching closer to Wehnimer's Landing and some of its wilds. An imperial settlement has temporarily been established in the southern edges of the Lower Dragonsclaw forest, where several refugees from Talador, along with countless settlers from other imperial regions, have come to make a new life.

• Elidal Dhenin, the son of a wealthy river trade family out of Riverwood, was appointed to become the new Baron of Darkstone. Joining him as trusted advisors are his twin brother Enisius, who is a Magister of the Hall of Mages and known for illusions and not liking people or crowds. Sablo Marsh is the Commander of the fledgling Darkstonian army, and spent most of his young life hunting barbarians and monsters in the cold north of Hendor's wilds, where some argue he's lost some of his own humanity and struggles to readjust to civilization. Lady Aronia has also arrived, a member of the Green Sisters who has close, old ties to Elidal and has come to help ensure that nature is not wasted or thrown out of balance as the expansion of the empire stretches north and northwest. The final advisor is Iliyaas, a mysterious sylvan seer who Elidal personally asked to travel with him, but she remains within the woods and will not approach the town or camp.

• A stone giant named Gnul, who appointed himself King of the Mountain Alliance, formed an army of monsters from the Thanatoph, Glatoph, Wehntoph and Sentoph. He waged a months-long war against Wehnimer's Landing and the imperial settlement. He eventually had a trove of plinite shards stolen from beneath the Hendoran outpost, and after failing to use them properly on his minions, he applied other plinite shards to his own body and turned into a 300 foot tall creature that the combined heroes eventually defeated. His decapitated head, the size of a boulder, is visible on the path to the Abandoned Inn in the Upper Trollfang.

• Magister Enisius opened up applications for magic users in the local area to apply to join his Magical Research Team, who would focus on studying the abnormalities of both Melgorehn's Reach and Darkstone Castle. One of their main goals was to ultimately try to break the curse of Darkstone Castle. He is expected to announce the accepted candidates in Charlatos. (March)

• Commander Sablo disobeyed Elidal's public orders during a raid against Gnul's forces, and as such was dispatched to travel back to Riverwood where he would escorts several new caravans to the new settlement, including Elidal and Enisius's parents.

• Iliyaas has warned that while the recent winter storm was brutal, that another storm of worlds was fast approaching and danger was growing on the horizon, and indicated that Melgorehn's Reach may be involved in such things to come.

• Mayor Thadston has tasked the local heroes to devise a safe method to pry the kroderine shards from his arms once and for all. They were originally implanted there during the final battle with Raznel, when he helped close a portal that connected Wehnimer's Landing to the Bleaklands.

• A member of the Blue Water Brigade, imperial Captain Bodohal, had brought his ship the Shiver to the bay outside of Wehnimer's Landing, where both he and his crew have gotten into trouble, even once firing upon the town when they were threatened. He seeks a member of his crew, Tolmis, who escaped his ship and is rumored to know some information about the captain and the possibility of Bodohal having imprisoned Remuliad, a Magister of the Hall of Mages, said to be a captive on the Shiver.

• Mother, the leader of the Brotherhood of Rooks, threatened the imperial settlers and warned that they had until the beginning of Charlatos to tear down their tents and return home or there would be potential violence and starvation thrown at them.

• In the final days of winter, two young settlers in love went missing from the imperial campsite. It was eventually discovered that they were murdered out by the mountain range of Luinne Bheinn, presumably by Reivers who had warned against further imperial incursions and had been growing agitated by the growing conflict.

Chapter 2 Summary: Of Rooks and Reivers

Cast of Characters

For more information, see the North by Northwest NPC Primer or the individual NPC pages.

Official Vignettes

• Prologue - 11-02-2022
• Wehnimer's Merchants Admonish Black Thorns - 01-23-2023
• Chapter 2 Prologue - 02-17-2023
• Chapter 2 Vignette - 8-29-2023

Character Vignettes

Logs

In-Depth Summaries

• NPC Primer - This has been established to provide a quick reference for some notable NPCs that will play some role in the storyline North by Northwest. This information was originally shared and updated by GM Kenstrom. It's also worth noting that over half of the NPCs listed are brand new or new-ish, so a player does not need to have knowledge of years of previous storylines in order to engage the NPC's and become involved. For complete information on each NPC, please see their individual character pages.

• Player Contest - Darkstone Crest - A contest ran from 12/19/22 to 1/15/23 for players to design a crest for the new Barony of Darkstone.