This note records the major arcs of the campaign centered on the Drakefire Phalanx. It is intentionally campaign-facing and includes discoveries that would not necessarily be common knowledge within Kor Sirok.
Formation in Arkrist
The founding members met in Arkrist during a street fight and were soon directed to the Leviathan Chapter of the Casque & Gauntlet. Their first contract involved the Goldreach Estate, where they uncovered Farvyn Goldreach’s dangerous alchemical experiments and evidence surrounding his death and disputed estate.
A later series of disappearances drew the group into Skimmer’s Row, Arkrist’s sewers, and the city’s criminal networks. They rescued Heldyssa Shadowfall, discovered ritual killings connected to Kalabold, and exposed The Voiceless. Beneath the Grand Cathedral of Anadesia and College-controlled property they also found much older draconic ruins beneath modern Arkrist.
The Voiceless and Xumanon
The Voiceless sought the Deceiver’s Key and worked toward releasing the imprisoned shadow dragon Xumanon. Both the Justiciars and the Wraith River Union suffered major losses in failed sewer raids. Guzzax, believed dead in those attacks, was eventually revealed as both Dawn of the Union and leader of the Voiceless.
The group confronted Guzzax at Xumanon’s prison. Dizra killed him, Flutter recovered the Deceiver’s Key, and the prison was resealed. The organized cult was badly damaged, though the exact number of surviving cells was never established.
Thermeira, Tarentum, and Squall’s End
A coded message left by Koriana Ipswitch led the adventurers first to Thermeira. While pursuing her associates they also completed a Casque & Gauntlet contract at the Swamp Chapel, killing an aberrant drake-like creature that had been attacking merchants.
The trail continued to Tarentum, where the group investigated Neerzyne Zauduis and the Starshine trade centered partly around Maszyr’s Room. South of the city they also helped the Aegis Regnum contain a meteorite contaminated by energies associated with the Nascent Expanse.
From Tarentum the party sailed to Squall’s End. There they explored the Cliffside Temple, an ancient magical-engineering complex containing planar machinery, biological experiments, and the corpse of Voslostro. Speaking with Voslostro’s remains eventually completed the decryption of Koriana’s message and pointed toward Mesus.
Ipswitch Manor
The search for Koriana led to Ipswitch Manor, where the estate existed in overlapping ruined and preserved states. Research left by Lord Albrecht Ipswitch connected the house to Carcosa and the King in Yellow. The group eventually found Koriana alive in a cavern beneath the estate.
Rather than kill her, Korth and the others negotiated a truce. Koriana revealed that the influence of the King in Yellow had once passed through her and had later been transferred to Korth through manipulation involving his former mentor. She agreed to investigate the Pallid Mask in exchange for her life, and the group concealed the truth of her survival when they returned to Arkrist.
The Drakefire Phalanx
After the Ipswitch arc, Flutter retired from active adventuring and later took leadership of the Wraith River Union. Quill joined the party in her place. The group adopted the name Drakefire Phalanx during this period.
The Phalanx then accepted work from Tressedekt, an antiquities broker who eventually revealed himself to be a Nharvek. His research into recovered tablets pointed toward a drowned civilization in the Gulf of Keravnos and a psionic device known as the Memosphere.
The Gulf of Keravnos
The Phalanx sailed into the gulf and descended to the Sunken Ruins of Keravnos. They explored an ancient religious complex associated with Visthuun, survived psychic wards and sacrificial mechanisms, and recovered the Memosphere from a deeper chamber.
The Memosphere contained preserved memories of the civilization and helped reveal the history of the Eye of Visthuun. Those memories pointed toward the ancient red dragon Zar’Malek, whose hoard contained the Eye.
Khaz’Vel’Tor
The search for the Eye took the Phalanx by airship to the Ashfire Cradle and the fortress Khaz’Vel’Tor. There they discovered a kobold society ruled by Scalespeaker Vael Skarrix and organized around reverence for Zar’Malek.
The Phalanx allied with the rebel Cinderclaw Cindercate. They gathered intelligence through the fortress ventilation system, killed Captains Issk and Gravak, sabotaged the food supply, and helped trigger an uprising. By the end of the available campaign notes they had crossed into the Inner Ring, where the fortress’s ancient dwarven machinery and Zar’Malek’s lair awaited them.