The Cathezar Revealed

After their defeat of Laveth, daughter of the Demon-Queen of Spiders Lolth, Duran and his comrades returned home for some well-deserved rest. Over the next few months they relaxed, but their minds were troubled. After fighting their way through the minions of Seth and then the yuan-ti of Iego, they seemed no closer to rescuing the lost hound archon Rexander. Their leads were exhausted, and despite his faith in the Highfather, young Duran Fortnite began to entertain doubts that he would ever see his companion again.

His wait turned out to be shorter than he had anticipated. On the first day of November, Thorgrimm and the dwarves of New Khundrukar invited Bishop Lorcan and some of his clerics to join them for a grand feast. Other attendees included Adarrial Smythe, Eandrynn, Falaster Morian, Thomas Johnson, and Duran Fortnite. The gathering was meant as a gesture of good faith by the dwarves to their above-ground neighbors, the citizens of Helmsport, but it turned out to be a catastrophe.

In the middle of dinner, a group of cultists staged a surprise attack. Wearing the familiar broken-ankh symbol of the Dark God Seth, the cultists struck quickly, dispatching a number of innocent dwarves before the heroes could react. Even more shocking than the intruders was the creature who stood among them: a snarling, dog-headed humanoid who seemed hell-bent on slaying the young cleric Duran. As he faced off against his savage foe, Duran's blood ran cold as he recognized the face of his former cohort, Rexander!

Despite the surprise, the cultists soon fell before the combined might of heroes, Altians, and dwarves. Upon questioning their captives, the heroes learned that these assailants served the Cathezar: a title familiar to the heroes as the leader of the cult of Seth, and the architect of a number of evil plots thwarted (or not thwarted) by the heroes over the last few years. More importantly, they determined that the cultists were based right here in Helmsport, suggesting that the Cathezar might be located here as well!

First, though, Duran sought to learn just what had happened to his friend Rexander. Seemingly calmed from his murderous rage, the hound archon accompanied Adarrial and Duran to Blackmere, where they met with the loremaster Granius. The sage agreed to use his powerful divinations to learn what foul curse or enchantment might bewitch the archon. But in mid-spell, Rexander once more entered a horrible rage, ripping out the loremaster's throat with a single bite! The bard and cleric managed to subdue the archon once more, and decided that--for the time being--imprisonment might be the best option. After dropping Rexander off at the Royal Prison (and resurrecting Granius), the heroes teleported back to Helmsport the following morning.

Things hadn't been so quiet while they were gone, however, as their friends had faced (and defeated) a pair of metallic lion-like creatures with powerful bone-shaking roars. The two monsters had smashed through the front gate of New Khundrukar and made it almost all the way to the forge--leaving several more dead dwarves in their wake--before Thorgrimm, Eandrynn, Falaster, and Thomas had finished them off.

That mystery would just have to wait, however. If the Cathezar were close, the heroes had no time to waste. The next day all six heroes assembled in Helmsport. Relying again on powerful divinations, the heroes followed a magical trail through the city to their destination: the Temple of Seth. Despite interruptions from a group of angry demons apparently dispatched to thwart the search, the heroes managed to finish the trail. To their surprise, they stood outside the doors to the Church of Altius. Concluding that the cultists must be using strong misdirections to confuse them, the heroes went back to the drawing board.

Next, it was back to Blackmere to pick up Rexander. But when the heroes visited his cell, they quickly realized that the prisoner within wasn't Rexander at all, but a doppelganger posing as the archon! Under magical compulsion, the doppelganger admitted that it had entered in the form of Archbishop Carlein, released Rexander, then taken the prisoner's form to hide his disappearance. Unfortunately, the doppelganger knew no other useful information.

The heroes' patience was at an end. Their only lead--the rescued hound archon--had disappeared again, and the cultists seemed to have an answer for Duran's strongest divinations. Or did they? Using a newly learned incantation, the young cleric unleashed a more powerful spell than he had ever cast, aiming to discern the true location of his friend Rexander.

Once again, the spell pointed the heroes to the Church of Altius, but this time they knew that nothing in the cultists' power could misdirect the spell. Perhaps the divinations had been correct all along? If the minions of Seth were hiding in the church, then the servants of Altius were in danger! The heroes rushed to the Church of Altius to warn Bishop Lorcan and the others, and hopefully to root out the evil that hid within.

When they arrived, they found Lorcan alone in the church, standing at the altar. Duran and Adarrial moved to speak with the Bishop, while the other four heroes remained at a respectful distance.

The bishop thanked Duran for his warning, then turned the conversation to a new topic, asking the cleric about his father. Duran, a bit confused by the bishop's personal question, replied that his father had died when he was very young, and that he had been raised by his mother.

Lorcan smiled thoughtfully. "That's a shame, Duran. A young man's father is the most important influence in his life. Take me, for example: Much of the man I am today comes from my father. Unfortunately, like you I also lost my father, some twenty years ago or thereabouts."

Then the bishop's smile turned to a frown, and then a grimace. "But my father wasn't like your father. Your father, Duran, was a peasant. My father was a great man, destroyed by petty fools who couldn't understand his genius. Fools like you, Duran, and your friends back there ignoring us. I can only hope that my father's spirit can forgive me for concealing my heritage for so long."

The young cleric's jaw dropped, and a sudden horrible realization began to form in his mind. Twenty years ago original Scarlet Sails included a blackguard Connall of the original Scarlet Sails...his son was the missing lieutenant of the latest incarnation of those horrible slavers...we never found him, assumed he was long gone...

Bishop Lorcan smiled once more, his lips drawn back in a horrible rictus. "Pleased to meet you, Duran. Won't you guess my name?"

"Connallsson!"

Duran's hand flew to his weapon, but the bishop's reflexes were quicker. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned forth not one Hound of Seth, but two. On his left appeared a now-familiar snarling hound-headed humanoid, and on his right a robed form bearing a remorseful expression on its doglike face.

"That's right, fool! Say hello to two old friends. I believe you know both of my Hounds, so no introductions are needed. Rexander, Druga...kill this worm!"

Soon the church echoed with the sounds of battle. The heroes' determination served them well, however, as first one then the second Hound fell in combat, leaving Connallsson standing alone against them. But their foe chose retreat over a last stand, activating a magic item that teleported him to distant safety, leaving the heroes standing over the scorched altar.

At that very moment, a contingent of royal guards arrived, claiming to have received a summons from the bishop himself. Realizing their tenuous position, the heroes fled the scene.

While resting in a secure location, the heroes pieced together what they could from recent events. Apparently the savage "Rexander" they had faced earlier was not the hound archon, but the disguised werewolf Druga (himself an evil shadow version of their dead former comrade). Thanks to Falaster's disintegration of the beast, they wouldn't have to face him again. Realizing that their friend Granius had sustained a mortal wound from a lycanthrope, the heroes made a quick trip to Blackmere to ensure that proper steps were taken to cure the sage of his yet-unknown affliction.

The larger problem was that the religious lives of thousands of Helmsport citizens had, since Lorcan's ascension to the office of bishop after the Siege of Blackmere, been controlled by a powerful minion of the Dark God Seth! Duran realized that, should this truth become known, it could cripple or even destroy the Church of Altius; not only in the Western Province, but potentially throughout the kingdom.

The heroes had only one choice: Track down their foe and destroy him, once and for all. And with Rexander standing beside him once again, Duran's courage didn't waver for a moment.

Relying once again on his most powerful magics, Duran determined that Lorcan Connallsson had fled to Iego, the site of the once-defeated Temple of Seth. Now numbering seven, the heroes wasted no time in returning to the City in Shadow. As expected, the cultists had re-occupied the subterranean level of their temple, and battle ensued.

Lorcan stood before them now not in the raiment of Altius, but in garb befitting his place at the head of the cult of the Dark God. The bishop was not only a servant of evil, but the Cathezar himself. Fighting with newfound resolution, the heroes waded through waves of cultists. Blasts of lightning, acid, and hellfire flew across the great cavern as mighty champions of evil clashed with righteous defenders of justice and freedom.

In the end, however, the conclusion was perhaps a foregone one. As the smoke cleared, the heroes stood triumphant, their foes reduced to ash and dust. For the second time, the heroes had thrown down the evil forces of the Dark God in this place, and Duran vowed that there would not come a third. Calling upon the divine magic granted him by the Highfather, Duran summoned an earthquake to collapse the cavern and ensure that this place of evil would be lost to the world forever.

Back in Helmsport, Duran and Adarrial met with the duke to explain recent events. They also traveled to Blackmere City to share the dire news with Archbishop Carlein and King Augustus VII. All parties agreed that the truth was too dangerous to share with the public; Lorcan's true nature, as well as his fate, must forever be concealed.

It was about this time when Alarion's band of heroes returned triumphantly from the Iron Fortress. After proudly recounting their tale, they were (to put it lightly) a bit overwhelmed to learn what had happened in their absence.

Perhaps fittingly, the matter ended as it had begun: with a feast. On the holy day of Thanksgiving, the Archbishop of the Church of Altius announced that Bishop Lorcan had stepped down from his office to pursue his faith abroad. In his place, the Church named Duran Fortnite as the acting Bishop of the Western Province, acknowledging the young cleric's years of service to the people. "We know that Bishop Fortnite can help guide us through these troubled times, and with his wisdom we shall know peace again."

The year 1001 ended with a month-long tour of the province by Duran and his entourage, seeking to re-establish the people's trust in the church. The first year of the new millennium was complete. The evil that had corrupted the Church of Altius was scoured away, and the new year dawned with the hope that stability would return to the Kingdom of Blackmere.

Of course, none could predict the horrible truths yet to be revealed...truths that would shake the foundations of not one but two kingdoms.

Previous: Lord of the Iron Fortress

All material copyright Andy Collins 2001-2007.