Blood of Dydd
[Warning: Spoilers for the D&D adventure Bastion of Broken Souls below.]
A few weeks after the events in Brithonen and Great Rock, Beran, Quinborough, Alarion, and the paladin's dragon ally Verdigris were enjoying a quiet afternoon in Helmsport. Though the rains of winter had lingered well into April, the world seemed calm and peaceful. The threat of the Shadow Realm was ended, the Queen of Brithonen was back on her throne, the Lord of the Iron Fortress was no more, and the betrayal of Lorcan Connallsson was but a distant memory.
But in an instant, the peaceful facade was torn asunder, as a six-armed, serpent-tailed demon appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street!
"Blood of Dydd," the demon cried, pointing a scaly finger at the half-elf ranger, "you belong to me!"
Just like that, the battle began. As townsfolk scattered, the off-guard heroes struggled against their assailant, but they quickly realized that they were overmatched. Only the timely intervention of an able-bodied stranger (who later identified himself as Nurn) prevented the heroes from being overcome in short order.
Teleporting to Alarion's stronghold, Silverpoint, the heroes sought to catch their breath (and to take advantage of the powerful devices of healing magic sequestered in the stronghold). But mere moments later, the demon appeared among them again, eager to continue the fight.
Eventually, the heroes (with Nurn's help) managed to drive away the demon, leaving them with the question of what exactly had just happened. As it turned out, Nurn's appearance at the scene of the battle hadn't been coincidental--like the demon, he had been tracking the heroes for some time. In fact, Nurn claimed that he served one who opposed the demon--whom he called Kali, the "Queen of Mariliths"--and her liege Merrshaulk, a powerful demon lord.
He also told the heroes that he could take them to Kali's lair, many hundreds of miles distant. Despite their lack of numbers, the heroes knew that this might be their only chance to take the fight to Kali, rather than just waiting for her to return on her own terms.
Using Nurn's knowledge, the heroes teleported directly to the lair of Kali. There, they encountered deadly traps and a team of demon minions, as well as the Queen of Mariliths herself. This time, though, the heroes had the advantage of surprise, and managed to destroy Kali after dimensionally anchoring her to this realm (thus preventing her from escape). Upon her death, a familiar wave of power emanated from her fallen body, washing over and through both Alarion and Beran and marking her as a blooded scion of the gods themselves. None of the heroes noticed that Nurn, too, seemed to drink deeply of the power that fled from Kali's form.
Deeper investigation into the lair revealed several comatose prisoners--elves and half-elves--kept barely alive. To the heroes' surprise, every one of these prisoners proved to be a distant relative of Beran Findalson. The heroes also located a journal kept by the demon herself, which included a number of clues as to her aims. As Nurn had said, Kali served Merrshaulk, known variously as Lord of Serpents, God of the Yuan-Ti, or simply Father of Demons, but also the father of Kali herself.
Apparently, Merrshaulk had learned of the mysterious Bastion of Unborn Souls, a font of virgin souls not yet assigned to living form. Seeking to tap into this source of power, Merrshaulk had entered an unholy bargain with the mighty dragon Ashardalon. In exchange for a new demon-powered heart for the dragon, Merrshaulk gave the dragon the means of entering the Bastion to drink deep of its power.
Kali, however, had wanted to know more about her father's plans. She knew that Ashardalon had supposedly been slain by a woman named Dydd, and wondered if some ancient power over the dragon might still reside in those who bore her bloodline. She had tracked down many descendants of the druid, but her quest had proven fruitless--until she learned of a very special individual born to a humble couple in Great Rock, who bore signs not only of his elven ancestry, but of a heritage more ancient and powerful than that.
An individual named Beran Findalson.
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