Prologue

El'randor had seen a lot of luck in his day. As an airship captain in Keyr'dana's royal navy he sought great fame in his career. 

Though after the years of the Unification War began to wane, there was no longer great need of his service.

Scorned by the royal family after years of service he fell to the allure of the Hall. There he found others who also were thrown aside after the wars of the land ceased. 

Drawn in by the merriment of the minstrels, and then by the maidens that populated the hall, El'randor found himself a second home. 

However, the crew of his personal ship had other thoughts in mind. Noting he had taken to more of life's pleasures and less of his duty to his men, he found one day that they had chosen mutiny. 

Finding himself with no great war, nor the crew he had thought as his own. He came to Köykkä and the others of the hall in search of something more.

Learning that Köykkä had slain the former King, he felt justice for the great misdeeds done to him in his career in the navy.

Swearing himself to the hall, he knew his life would not be one of solitude. But as the events in recent weeks had transpired, he didn't realize how vital his particular skills would be to The Assassin and the Sorceress of the Hall.

The Kidnapping

Köykkä plotted the means of acquiring the aid of the scorned Captain El'randor, however,  Ogre had other ideas.

Beating and dragging the Captain through the streets, Ogre deposited the Wayfinder to Köykkä for swift reprimand and enlistment in the Hall's most urgent voyage.

Threatened with pain of death should he double cross the hall, a deal was brokered. And the heroes prepared for a night of deeper plotting as they made their call to the other heroes of the Hall to come and embark on a night to be remembered.

A Pattern Of Violence

Köykkä's patience dwindled. The days of delay wearing thin on his mood as he questioned the Wayfinder's pace at producing a crew to spirit them across the northern sea in search of the lost Seamus.

Knowing his activities in the city were drawing much suspicion in light of his unexpected resurrection, Köykkä struck out to the neighboring port city to question El'randor about the reason for his delay.

Upon arriving, however, the seasoned assassin found that El'randor had found a measure of trouble in this city. Together they battered off the assailants to the last man.

Spry, he was, and as El'randor told Köykkä of what was stolen from him, the assassin took to the forest to hunt.                             

A Merchant's Task

After hours of chasing down the culprit whom had burgled young El'randor in the neighboring port city, Köykkä sought leads from the local merchants.

Much to his surprise he found that Ogre, the fellow barbarian from their northern homeland had taken to peddling wares in his preparations for the long journey ahead. 

Fortune favored Köykkä this day as Ogre had indeed seen the assailant and his companions days prior. Lending Köykkä his personal merchant guard, he sent the assassin in the direction of the camp these bandits had last been known to reside.

Journeying with his newest ally from the Hall, Köykkä embarked on what would certainly be a chaotic journey as the two warriors laughed their way out of the village, recounting tales of past conquests. Chaos. Would certainly be the descriptor of their travels.

Returning to the Hall with the newly turned merchant, Ogre; Köykkä noticed they were in fact being followed by an unknown traveler.

Preparing for whatever chaos may ensue, the Assassin and his fellow tavernkeep made ready for the return of the year's students at the local wizardry school.

The arbors of Keyr'dana would not see peace for quite some time to come, and these heroes plotted their impending journey north with their hired Wayfinder.

A Moment Of Prescience. 

His state of mind: calm.

His focus: aligned.

His control: perfected.

Köykkä was poised in his deep meditation, seeking answers within to begin his hunt for the lost Seamus.  

Visions of carnage flooded his awareness. A barbaric hoarde led by a priesthood unknown to the seasoned assassin. His people were in danger. He knew Seamus had sought to aid them.

His field of vision stretched wider and refocused on the missing barbarian. He stood above a field of imperial soldiers at the gate of the northern border leading to their homeland.

Battered. Bloodied. The young barbarian fought onward. Steel rang against the iron chains of the closed gate. Sparks flew as the iron began to splinter under the weight of his rage.

Köykkä opened his eyes. He knew where the boy was headed. The journey must begin soon.

After his clarity focused upon the visions granted in his meditative trance nights before, Köykkä knew the day had come.

This night he would ready his steel, season his armor, and prepare for the journey the next morning.  

Sending forth his agents to spread word to the heroes of the assassin guild he had come to know as his family; the hunter, the assassin, the slain, the resurrected: Köykkä prepared for all that was to come. 

The events of the year behind him leading him forward with a resolve he had never felt prior. He knew he faced the task ahead unafraid, with the aid of warriors he entrusted with his very life.  

The Snag In The Voyage

Leaving the Hall, the heroes found themselves in need of more armaments for their journey.

Stopping at the blacksmith, Köykkä, El'randor, and Tyrlar spent some well earned coin to set out fully equipped. 

However, a sudden unexpected annoyance arose. Many of the crew El'randor had gathered had been stopped by the city guard and imprisoned.

Hatching a plan. Köykkä pickpocketed the guard to ensure capturing. Unknown to the guard, the assassin had great skill at lockpicking. Removing his hidden tools from his inner boot pocket, he went to task.

Freeing the heroes of their dilemma, he found he had unknowingly attracted others from the stockade and, knowing the peril of the journey ahead, he brought them with as El'randor sent word to his two trusted men to prepare the ship.

The Arrival

The ship sailed to port in the northernmost reaches of the kingdom.

Knowing that their journey ahead on foot would be long and treacherous, Köykkä deemed fit to adopt a lighter traveling attire. Gathering their supplies and preparing to depart, the crew roamed the village to stretch their weary sea legs and partake in one last night of merriment.

Köykkä felt the familiar cool northern air and for the first time in decades knew he would see his homeland again, in pursuit of the lost Seamus.

Taking part in a night of revelry fitting of their home tavern, the heroes drank and sang the night away in the face of the troubles ahead.

Köykkä knew his companions needed this. And so he joined them with true companionship.

The morning would be here soon though... and much was on the troubled Assassin's mind.

The Encampment

The allies traveled for a week, pushing ever northward as the hunt for Seamus drew them ever closer. 

Weary from their journey on foot, Köykkä bid them set up camp to get some much needed rest as he decided to scout the surrounding woodland for signs of his people.

The first night was treacherous as his companions faced their first taste of a cold northern autumn creeping in.

Renewing his morning patrol, he took note of remains of a much larger encampment. The nomadic people he hailed from had been here. Awaiting nightfall he took to his pursuit.

Surely they must be near. He would find them and tell their hunters to pursue Seamus on his swath of carnage.

As the winds grew colder in the coming days, he knew he need better prepare his companions for what was to come.

Onward To The Forgotten Homestead

Carving a path through the forest, Köykkä continued in search of the trail left by his nomadic people.

Breaking camp, El'randor and the companions set out to follow the trail left behind. Catching up after a few hours, the troupe found themselves at the base of a grassland stretching far across the horizon.

Noting a plume of smoke in the distance they donned their arms and armor and prepared for whatever lay ahead. However, as they approached, the weary travelers realized this was some form of settlement.

Eager to sleep in a bed after days of travel, they arrived hastily and were welcomed in this small unknown village. Ogre and El'randor broke away from the group to... examine... the maidens of this land, living up to El'randor's womanizing habits.

Meanwhile Köykkä and the rest sought rooms at the inn, and a sampling of the ales of this northern hamlet. After speaking with the locals, they realized they were closer to the northern border than they had realized.

After a well earned rest, they knew their journey would be coming to an end soon. Now to reach the northern gate and seek Seamus.

Contact 

Köykkä felt the familiar pangs of arcane energy seep into his awareness.

From back in the Hall, Miishika, deep in a trance, reached across the lands with her mind alerting him of the dangers she had foreseen.

Seamus had been indeed taken captive by the hoardes of barbarians under the control of this strange new chieftain who commanded a score of necromantic arcanists.

Reacting to the news Köykkä knew things were far worse than imagined in his homeland. Responding with immediate intent, he replied to Miishika and informed her that her presence may be needed far sooner than the plan entailed.

As the biting winds of the north stung their faces, the company arrived at the battered down gates leading to the untamed lands beyond.

The new season was approaching.

The heroes stood at the base of the great Iron gates leading to the untamed wilderness of the northern lands.

Köykkä adorned his allies with weathered furs to better guard them against the cold winter winds.  

El'randor, staring at the precipice of adventure previously unknown to the young airship captain.  

He caught himself looking back on his journey these long months and couldn't believe that the guild tavern he had unknowingly stumbled into one drunken eve would afford him the chance to regain his standing. At least with this unlikely troupe, his skillset was an asset.

But here, now, standing at the gates with the only home he had known for so long, an anticipation welled up within him.

This wasn't a routine contract. He knew that. Something about the lands that lay ahead of him unsettled him. He could feel a certain... wrongness in the air, a faint smell of decay on the edge of his senses.

This was real danger he faced.

He looked back once more toward his home, but with a reassuring clasp on his shoulder from this new family that had taken him in. He knew he could not falter.

Seamus was in danger, and the Hall of Heroes would find him at any cost.