Raiaera Missions Board

Raiaera Mission Board

The missions on this board are for you to play with. Feel free to do something different. Change the premise. Reinvent the ideas. Flip-flop who the good guys and the bad guys are. In other words, take charge.

Good quests, even ones that don't "fit" with established continuities, stand a good chance of replacing those continuities. Never doubt that a good effort can actually change things!

No need to claim any of these; these are food for thought, and are written so that any number of players can play them differently.

Brain Drain

Raiaera had been a land of learning. Ancient manuscripts, modern treatises, and secret books abounded among the thousands of public and private libraries that were scattered throughout Eluriand. And there was also the great Library of Anebrilith, second only to the library of Ettermire, which housed over 10,000 volumes of lore, literature, and assorted arcana. Yet now, as undead sweep the streets of Eluriand and Anebrilith tries desperately to stave off the assault and send boatloads of refugees to safety, the libraries stand unguarded.

You might be a mage, one who has long sought the tome that would increase your power twenty-fold, only to find it locked in a vault beneath Eluriand and guarded by the pride of Raiaera, the Bladesinger’s Guild. Or you could be a procurator, hired by some wealthy businessman to complete their collection of this-or-that 12-volume cycle of ancient Durklan epic mythology. Or perhaps you’re simply a lover of knowledge and want to use what skills you have to defend these books from the unscrupulous individuals mentioned above.

Regardless of your motivations, the doors of Raiaera’s libraries are either ripped open, torn down, or burned off. There is great reward in the pages of history, and in this case, the reward you seek is the one you will get. Money, knowledge, power…the choice is yours.

Blood on the Walls

Anebrilith sits on a high hill near the dwarf peaks, commanding a wide view of the countryside and yet close by the sea. From this walled city, the last remaining seat of government and power in Raiaera, run the Harbor Walls. These walls run west-to-east for six miles along a fairly straight pathway to the port district of the city. It is here that Xem’zûnd has chosen to make his assault, choosing to try to shut down one key avenue the city has to lead refugees to safety. For a necromancer who raises the dead, every living body that escapes his grasp is one less minion to control.

The options at the harbor walls are many. You may fight to protect them from devastation and destruction, and maintain the route out of the city as best you can. You could seek to destroy them and spread the might of Xem’zûnd one step closer to final victory. You could try to lead caravans of refugees to safety, or harry those caravans. You might want to launch an assault on the ships of Anebrilith, to try to get rid of the vessels taking elves and men to safety. You could try to break the siege by killing the commanders of the undead, or break it another way, by infiltrating the defenders and engaging in sabotage from within. However you play it is your choice, but one thing is certain: at the end of the day, the Harbor Walls will be painted with blood.

The Secret of the Sands

Thus far, the defenders of Anebrilith have had one good thing going for them. The bridges north of Eluriand on the Elleduin river were burned, and Xem’zûnd could only manage to cross towards Anebrilith south of the Black Desert. The result is that natural forces are colluding against the necromancer, preventing his march northward and keeping the channels of escape to the north open.

So far, the Durklan Templars of the Black Desert are the big problem. Angry ghosts, shades of terror, they know no allegiance. But rumors are spreading that Xem’zûnd is on the verge of mastering them, that his power is about to conquer even their hate-filled and ghastly minds. If they give him safe passage – and worse, if he can manage to subdue them to leave the Black Desert they seem bound to haunt for ever – they will march from the north and Anebrilith’s last hopes will fade.

Help Xem’zûnd seal the pact and pound Anebrilith between a hammer and an anvil. Or find a way to subdue the resentments and angers of the long-dead Durklans and cause their malice to vanish from the world. Or find a way to seal them to support even their ancient enemies against the great terror that now stalks the land.

Eyes to the North

Even as the southern and central parts of Raiaera burn, the northern forests are quickly solidifying as pinpoints of Elvish resistance. Nalith Celiniel, the High Bard of Dagorlin, has ringed the city of Winyaurient (New Aurient in the common) with a line of sacred groves, each purified to be deadly to the undead and highly resistant to corruption. From these forward groves, which act as both sites of religious devotion and militant resistance, any undead that approach the city are destroyed.

At the same time, calling Winyaurient a “city” is misleading. Under Nalith’s direction, all the cities north of Eluriand have been more or less dismantled, in favor of smaller enclaves throughout the forests of Timbrethinil and Daer Taurë. The decentralization of Elvish power is proving to be a fantastic strategy, as most undead who stray into the forest are wiped out quickly.

But now comes the true test of the strategy. From the north, at the ruined city of Trenycë, an army of undead marches on Winyaurient. Loosely organized and under the command of Xem’zûnd’s lieutenants, the city’s supply of undead has been loosed. The failure of this assault would seriously diminish the necromancer’s intentions of claiming all Raiaera, and its success would wipe out all traces of a robust resistance, leaving Anebrilith ripe for the plucking.

On this backdrop you may quest. The results of your activity will determine the final sway of the war, so make wise choices, and fight for the side you want to see win.

The Jewel of the Elves

Eluriand stands besieged. The city of Eluriand is mostly overrun, with a few enclaves of brave defenders to the northern parts of the city holding out at random taverns and inns, turning the occasional house into a mini-fortress. But the undead rapidly take over such small-holdings, moving ever closer to their goal: the inner city of Eluriand, the Palace of Velicë Arta.

It is a city that might never fall. The walls contain such enchantments and arcane protections as to render them nigh indestructible, and even the greatest corruptions of Xem’zûnd do not seem capable of destroying them. But where destruction fails, greater weapons might appear: starvation, disease, betrayal. Any one of them could take down the city center, where the High Bard, Varalad del Tirin, tries desperately to find a way out of the crisis.

So the story stands, and you can do with it what you will. Try to break the siege and free the captives. Become a traitor to Raiaera and sabotage the High Bard Council. Find a way to corrupt these incorruptible walls. Or do something entirely different. This is the most open-ended of the quest options, so use your ingenuity to try to make things happen that will surprise everyone.