Earth magics that use the

words curse and chaos in their incants.  This item is therefor

necromantic and violates one of the demands of the Life Elemental

Hyperion.  Should any of main Non-player character obtain the staff

the following plot foundations should be established.



Hyperion - He cements his powerbase in the senate and uses the Rod

to expand his influnence on other planes.  He personally drops in

on Duchess Mara from time to time to "keep her in line."  His life

elementals become stormtroopers who in addition to helping the

populous, they pass judgement on them and enforce an irrationally

strict code of morality.



Kassevik - Ascends to Greater Elemental status by destroying his

direct superior in a blindingly fast takeover.  Kassevik then

decides that he enjoyed meddling in Ashbury affairs and will

continue to do so on a regular basis.  (Maybe he'll contract out

the chessmaster for laughs - but he'll do it right!)



Mourna - Begins to set in motion the disposal of Alaric and the

gathering of her bottle.  She tries to locate her bottle from where

Alaric has hidden it so that she can rift in minions to the spot

while staying out of direct contact with him.  If she recovers it

she will then go into hiding and prepare once again to molest and

reek havok in Ashbury.



Ichorax - Returns to another tomb and returns to his slumber.  He

will however awaken from time to time in order to "keep in touch"

in in Ashbury.  If he gains the Rod again then he will use it to

rift in through wards and circles and strike directly at his

enemies sometime in the distant future (when wards and circles

become tedious.)  He will have to learn of the rod in game in roder

to do this, so he might just use it physically on others (shiver!)



Other Important NPC's to be introduced:

Magical or Nasty NPC's who will make roleplaying appearances:



Avar Lychus - Former Guildmaster of the mages guild.  Death Lord

and consort of Mistress Mourna.



Kathraxus, Lord of Rats - a wererat with an axe to grind with the

former mages guildmaster Avar Lychus.  He focuses his efforts on

killing Mages Guild members and diseasing the people of Ashbury in

order to make it a fitting place for decent rats to live.

Little does Rufus know that now there is a knew guildmistress.

Rasmun originally was kicked out of the Guild for stealing three

Ritual Scrolls and some components, but was caught and struck down

by a wererat.  After three years of hiding he slew his master and

ascended to greater status - now he's gunning for revenge (but is

it too late and does it matter who?)



Aroris Bavdera - A cursed woman doomed to wander the earth and

become a banshee unless her spirit can be saved before she reaches

the Graveyard of Shattered Spirits.  Players will adventure into

this little known placed a meet a mysterious being known only as

the Registrar.  He will then tell them how to save Aroris from

eternal punishment (of Ashbury if they don't save her.)



Stinkpot Stenchhose - A pixie with a nasty disposition who has left

The Wold to explore the world outside the Ash Forest.  Stinkpot is

a scout for the Netherffolke council, and is seeing if it would be

interesting to take over the lands surrounding the Ash Forest. 

Stinkpot is roleplayed amazingly like Yosemite Sam, but is dressed

up like a cute and cuddly faerie.  Stinkpot is sent mainly out for

amusment, but he will try to annoy and kill elves if he gets a

chance.  Stinkpot will of course make passes at Baroness Holymsong.



Iggs-Pharsa: Iggs-Pharsa is a mind flayer bent on taking over the

fledgling underworld beginning to develop in Ashbury.  He and a

small group of loyal and charmed followers are out to take over the

Adventurer's guild and eliminate anyt obvious leader's who will not

accept him as master.



Normal NPC's of importance:



Jissle Vance:  A whinning servant of Kassevik the blind prophet,

and usually the target of great misfortune.  Jissle is abused all

weekend long.



     Nicodemus Von Kirkroy (The Blackfox):  A former Ducal knight

of Alaric Dragonhart, Nicodemus does his best to stir up trouble

among the populous in order to win support for Alaric's cause. 

Seldom carrying out any of his deeds himself, Nicodemus considers

himself to be a partisan and a patriot.  He unfortunately has

realized that in order to regain support for his liege (who he

hasn't spoken to in a long time) he has had to work for the trolls. 

He and his assembled troops are gunning for Morgan Blackbourne in

an effort to escalate the conflict in Trellhiem and cover for

Dragonhart's eventual reappearance as savior of the Duchy.



Weekend Plotline: Second Ashbury Event (Minimum 3 day event)

Title: The Three Prophets

Short Synopsis:



     Ashbury is visited by several powerful beings, all vying to

control a dimensional traveling item known as the Rod of Seven

Rifts.  The guise of their visit however is that they are

announcing their intention to formally change Ashbury or manuever

it away from some future (but preconceived) holocaust.

These 'prophets' all seem to have their own distinct intentions,

but in fact are trying to gather supporters who will help them find

and assemble the Rod.  

     The first individual is a Life Elemental named Hyperion.

He has managed to win the support of the elemental council to

interdict the Duchy from all life spells and healing benefits due

to the unfortunate occurance involving former-Duke Alaric.  He

arrives during the course of Opening ceremonies and announces the

punishment the Duchy will endure.  Hyperion is only of a small

clique of overzealous reconstructionists bent on preventing the

necromantic free-for-alls that are Ravenholt and Sutherland.

Although Hyperion is in the minority, he has successfully won a

mandate from the Senate of Life to place an interdict over all of

Ashbury.  With this interdict he will use it to encourage the

Duchess into conceding to his demands (he is using his mandate in

an inapproppriate fashion), if the Duchess rebukes him however he

will put the Duchy on trial all weekend.  If the Duchy succeeds,

then the Senate will return and force Hyperion to withdraw the

interdict.  Remember the interdiction is a guise for Hyperion's

attempt to gain the Rod of Seven Rifts.

     The second individual is the Blind Prophet known only as

Kassevik the White.  This man spends most of the weekend

prophesizing the oncoming destruction of Ashbury.  The prophet

always portends to be able to supply salvation and protection. 

This prophet will proscribe a philosophy in conflict with the Life

Elemental(s).  He is in fact a Lesser Death Elemental (easily

crushable by the Life Elementals if discovered) trying to trick the

populous into turning over pieces of the rod (so as to prevent

Hyperion from getting all the pieces.)  The hook to Kassevik is

that his insite can bring great profit, but will sometimes backfire

and hurt those who follow him all weekend.

     The third "seeker" is the Liche Mourna, who wants the staff in

order to destroy her bottle that causes her to be tied to Alaric.

Mourna has embarked upon a very tricky plan to monitor several key

locations in order to intercept the staff.  If Mourna manages to

gain the Rod then she will set out to free herself from Alaric and

kill him.  Mourna also spends a good deal of time networking all

weekend, in an effort to gain allies in her fight to kill Alaric. 

She will of course offer all sorts of incentives, Undeadhood,

magic, gold, protections, etc.

     The last prophet of the weekend will seem to be the possessor

of the main part of the Rod of Seven Rifts.  He will possess an

item of Great Power and will seem to be someone worth following.

NPC's will be provided to approach the wielder (seemingly for no

apparent reason) begging for his help and his guidance, offering to

serve and help the wielder in exchange for his protection and

support.  These followers will always be a burden to the player. 

The followers of course follow the Rod, when it changes hands they

change masters.

     There are of course a few strange twists to the Rod itself.

First it is hidden in the tomb of the Mummy King Ichorax the

Undying, so taking it from the tomb will cause him to stir and

begin searching for it.  The second twist is that in addition to

causing Ichorax's persecution thru town (primarily a roll playing

event of unusual proportions) the Rod is itself the bearer of a

further curse.  The Rod main function is to open up rifts, but its

mundane power is store magical energy that can later be discharge

thru a physical strike to its opponent.  Unfortunately, while

Ichorax is alive the Rod can only store