Who are the Powers that Be? Well, there seem to be 4 major teams in the great game, and we're not members of any of them.
(1) The Dragons. Their organization seems to be called the Council of Wyrms, which has been around for about 2 thousand years.
(2) The Underdark. Currently mostly led by drow, with tlin-callis (the manscorpions) and derro under them. However, neogi and mindflayers both also hail from the Underdark and have their own little societies. The Underdark has been around at least as long as the dragons. [I'm going to be speculating later that at least certain portions of the Underdark may be dealing with demons, too, so keep that in mind as you read.]
(3) The Flintlock Brotherhood. Led by Argune, 25th level; Hessex, 24th level; and Grievon, 23rd level (those were the levels the last time I looked, anyway, which was a few years ago). The Flintlock Brotherhood coerces any mage of 14th level or higher to join, and controls the creation and dissemination of 7th, 8th and 9th level spells, as well as components and research associated with such spells. [It seems unlikely that the FB would be capable of doing this without the cooperation of the dragons. Certainly dragons and FB mages seem to be associated in most vernacular discussions of power. The FB has been around for over 100 years, implying something about the "human" Flintlock Bros.' lifespans. What's the chance they might actually be dragons? And why does Yamalia hang out in the FB guildhouse all the time, anyway?]
(4) The Aurumvorax Lords. Druids, once controlled by King Zediconicus. He lost control of them toward the end of the Artifact Wars and they've been independent since. The Aurumvorax Lords' power was broken around 3033 by adventurers hired by King Zed, although around 3042 a possible scry sighting of a new AL occurred. The adventurers who brought down the Aurumvorax Lords discovered immobile clones of most of the major citizens of Glenzor in their underground [Underdark?] complex. The AL are probably sitting on the sidelines right now, at least until they regain their strength.
(1) Glenzor's calendar system starts on the year Bahamut (a dragon, also a deity?) was born. There have, therefore, been approximately 3,043 years since Bahamut's birth.
(2) The dragons fought The Turn of the Century Wars against the Underdark (led by neogi) approximately 2,000 years ago (a mere 1,000 years after Bahamut's birth). These wars were the ones for which the Crown of the Balrog was invented by the neogi. Using this crown, neogi were able to work a ritual in which a dragon impregnates a balor-imbued tarrasque (the balor is in the egg before it is fertilized, thus allowing fertilization to occur). The child of this union is a Balrog, which devours its mother and magically turns her bones into a scourge.
The neogi lost, their power was broken and the drow and tlin-callis all moved up in rank. The dragons formed a Council of Wyrms to prevent further problems (?) with such artifacts and monsters, and as part of those preventive measures wiped out all trace of the spells Limited Wish and Wish. By the way, there are several Orbs of Dragonkind that are owned either by demons or by dragons. They were originally created (but by whom?) to control evil dragons, but have since been cursed to control all dragons. The Council also apparently controls access to these - at least, to the ones the demons don't own.
(3) Barunda is the Lord of the Eighth Province (Parthinon?). [This implies that the Council also split up the world into provinces and set watchdragons over each province - to keep uppity younger races down.]
(4) Around year 2325, the elves forged the clay blade Golem King (Bywellan).
(5) Around year 2742, D/gorgon was allied with Prince Gr/zt (two of the primary demon princes, Orc/s being the third), and the dragons broke the alliance [we can only wonder how]. Since D/gorgon had the most to gain from that alliance [which, one can surmise, was probably made to defeat Orc/s], he's been pissed at the dragons since. Note that balor demons, and the three demon princes all hail from the Abyss, and also Tarterus, Pandemonium and Hades.
(6) Around year 2790, the elves lost Bywellan to the orcs. Around year 2792, the elves declared war on the orcs, beginning the Artifact Wars. This was the same year that Glenzor was founded as a military outpost. High Lord Grand Chief/High Lord Emperor Zediconicus, a half-orc mage/cleric of No Cha, rose to power during the war around year 2797, and won the war around year 2803. The rise of this pantheon's worship among orcs dates from King Zed's takeover. Previously, orcs had worshipped the Totem Gruumsh. [I hear that worship is being revived in the boonies, but I don't really know much about its beliefs. This revival may or may not be linked to the divine ascension of Zed and the subsequent political embarassment of No Cha, Glenzor's patron deity.]
(7) King Zed divine ascended in year 3037, at the ripe old age of approximately 260, assuming he was about 20 when he took command orginally.
PainDealer's plots first began to collide with us through one of his allies and servants, a human mage named Talnick. We'd run into Talnick several times over the years, but the first inkling that he was really involved in deep treachery came to light around year 3034, when we discovered a portal to a volcano in the basement of his bar, the Vortex.
3043: The Vortex, owned by Talnick, is found to be linked to a volcano somewhere in Parthinon. As I recall, there is reason to believe that somewhere in this volcano was a link to the Elemental Plane of Fire - there were certainly a number of salamanders and lava children around. This was one of the first indications that all was not well with Glenzor's security. This was also, although we didn't realize it at the time, the first indication that people working with PainDealer have quite a bit of extraplanar/transporation magic at their disposal.
3036: Talnick is involved in a plot that includes the help of an ultradaemon. These fellows come from the lower outer planes, and wander around in Gehenna, Tarterus and Hades. [Note the link between ultradaemons, D/gorgon and balor- all of whom live in the same neighborhood. Note also that this once more indicates the existence of extraplanar magicks.]
3037: "The Talnick Incident." We defeat Talnick right before he opens an extraplanar gate to release a horde of hordelings into Glenzor. Hordelings come from Hades - same neighborhood as the rest of the demons I've mentioned. [Do you sense a pattern? Why would Talnick have wanted to release demons into Glenzor? To conquer the city for a certain demon prince? Could be. Let's keep in mind that Talnick was PainDealer's agent. Was PainDealer working for a certain demon prince? Could be.]
3041: Our first mission for Lord SkinEater involves capturing an old enemy of his, a dao called Mora Kanarr, who was hanging out in the Desert of the Aurumvorax Lords. Dao hail from the Elemental Plane of Earth. This will become relevant in some paranoid rantings later. [Why did the dao take the apprentice? Why did the dao live in the DOA? Why were drider working for the dao? Whatever happened to Lord SkinEater's apprentice, the woman we'd been hired to rescue? Was the dao really behind this strike at SkinEater, or was it being masterminded by someone else? The Underdark? Or an old rival? Read on.]
3042: We join the military. Allow me to digress a moment to remind everyone of the military hierarchy as it affected us when we joined:
At this point, the orcs had on their side the Gimilikad clan of drow and the tlin-callis, whose services were repaid by sending them elvish slaves taken in war. The elves, on the other hand, were allied with the kenku, who were allied with a rakshasa and minotaurs were repaid by sending them orcish slaves taken in war. I don't know what the tlin-callis did with their slaves - ate them, probably - but the minotaurs sacrificed the orcs to their "god" the rakshasa. More on this later. Simon and I warned the government that allying with the Underdark was a bad idea, but nobody listened. I wonder now if PainDealer had been behind that alliance, knowing that he could use it to weaken Glenzor. Certainly he did all he could to advise Chullin to take actions that would weaken the city.
Our first mission ended up with us in the Underdark (well, the surface dark, but it's all the same thing, really) fighting derro and the tlin-callis. The derro were hunting down and torturing orcish agents in the area. Their job was probably made easier by the alliance between the Underdark and Glenzor, which would have allowed someone to feed relevant information to the derro.
Our second mission was really undertaken for the dragons, who somehow co-opted the orcish military into letting them use us. We were hired to rescue a kidnapped dragon egg from Retriever Mountain. The egg was stolen by priests of D/gorgon - remember him from Chapter 1? [What do you suppose his priests wanted with a dragon's egg? We were told that it might have been intended for use in creating an Orb of Dragonkind. I have another suggestion. What if the infant dragon was going to be corrupted and used in creating a Balrog? D/gorgon would have a lot of balor demons lying around. I bet D/gorgon might even be able to find a tarrasque if he looked around hard enough. Might this have been where PainDealer learned about the possibility of creating a Balrog? Or was he "in" on the plot before we were sent? If so, we didn't do him or D/gorgon any favors when we stole the egg back. I would like to look at the records and find out whether PainDealer protested against the city aiding the dragons on this mission.]
[I also don't discount the possibility that the plot in Retriever Mt. had something to do with whoever was creating all the yeth hounds - remember that set of missions Yamalia sent some of us on prior to the war?. Toward the end we were told "it now needs to be dealt with by someone more powerful than you." Maybe the dragons dealt with it, and D/gorgon murdered Barunda's daughter and stole her egg as partial retribution. Prevented from creating yeth hounds, perhaps the demons decided to create a Balrog instead?]
3043: Our third mission for the military involved defeating some renegade Gimilikad drow called the Shadowlanders who were leading elves past orcish lines. The drow were allied with the morkoth and planning to salt the coast of Glenzor with morkoth eggs [is it me, or is there an egg theme here?]. Once again, setting this plot into action was probably facilitated by the alliance between the Underdark and Glenzor. If the plot had been carried out, Glenzor's military strength would have been much weakened, allowing the Underdark to invade. [Or any other army - like an army of demons. By the way, what did the drow need the elves for? Did the morkoth plan to eat them? Use them to incubate their eggs? Or were the elves going to be sacrificed to something?]
During our R&R, we wandered into the skeletal warrior MarrowBrand's plot to replace the conservative core of Glenzor - the Belgabass Chamber of Commerce - with dopplegangers. MarrowBrand was PainDealer's ally, but PainDealer would have needed a cleric to do the skeletal warrior thing. Lord SkinEater fingered the high priest of No Cha, FireLeech, but nothing could be proven. Fortunately, we defeated the plot. Unfortunately, MarrowBrand's records were confiscated by the High Council and the Flintlock Brotherhood [i.e., the dragons] while the investigation into PainDealer's background began.
This is also the point at which I formalize an alliance with SkinEater, thus by default and the crime of association, aligning the Scintillating Company with the VileRune camp. PainDealer, as a DeathMoon, had just that much more reason to dislike us. [I also suspect PainDealer and SkinEater might have had a longstanding rivalry that we stumbled into. Why did SkinEater so abruptly and untraditionally offer me a chance to make an alliance with him, literally right after we'd discovered dirt against PainDealer? Did SkinEater know more about PainDealer's extraplanar/demonic dealings than he let on? Was PainDealer behind the kidnapping of SkinEater's apprentice, earlier?]
[Do you think it is coincidence that PainDealer's Belgabass plot bore such a remarkable similarity Aurumvorax Lords' plot? Did PainDealer just recognize a good plan when he saw one, or was there a much earlier link between the AL and PainDealer? A common master, maybe? Maybe once that group of adventurers squashed the clone plan, it took PainDealer/his master a few years to recover from the loss, cover his tracks, and set a new plan into motion. Still, he might have kept a few links to his allies in the DOA.]
Now firmly placed on PainDealer's shit list, we were sent off to defeat a rakshasa being used by the kenku in aid of the elves. Our rakshasa was actually a gelugon baatezu, denizen of the lower planes, probably Caina. On the same mission, we heard that since the elves and orcs are weakening themselves in war, the Underdark is getting ready to rise. Well, that was already pretty obvious. We were also followed by some extraplanar oddities that minions of Lord SkinEater kindly eliminated for us. What were the creatures? Unknown - though they weren't apparently Astral, Ethereal, Abyssal, Grey Wastal, or Limbal. Who sent them? Also unknown. [Though would you be surprised to learn that they were extraplanar mercenaries serving D/gorgon? I wouldn't. Remember, we'd just put a big crimp in both PainDealer's and D/gorgon's plans. I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that those creatures were able to track us so well because they were given our itinerary by PainDealer. PainDealer had several reasons to want us dead. First, we knew he was involved in grand treachery. Second, we were instrumental in his rival's rise to power. Taking us down would also have taken SkinEater down. Even if I'm wrong, and there wasn't an earlier rivalry between the two, SkinEater was a VileRune on his way to the High Council. If SkinEater won a High Council seat - as he would and did as a result of our success on that mission - the political balance would shift from favoring the DeathMoons to favoring the VileRunes, a turn of events PainDealer didn't want. If I'm right, and there was also an earlier rivalry between the two, that just added oil to the fire. And if PainDealer was working with or for D/gorgon - well. We already know that PainDealer had a penchant for working with extraplanar portals and peoples.]
Irritated by the fact we came back alive - virtually sealing SkinEater's rise to High Council - PainDealer and his friend FireLeech ambushed us by replacing Zorbo with a doppleganger and putting an extraplanar filter over Zorbo's portal in what will be called "The Concordant Affair." Not only would such a plot eliminate us, it would allow those two to cast aspersions on the Scintillating Company and doubt over SkinEater's triumph. Fortunately, their plot didn't work. [Where did those two get that dimensional filter, I wonder? FireLeech helped place the special enchantment on it that booted us to the plane of Concordant Opposition, but nobody ever found out where the filter came from originally. More indications that PainDealer had an extraplanar connection.]
After this, PainDealer was killed and FireLeech was sent to Parthinon. PainDealer's lackey, FluidStreamer, was demoted and sent to the front. [Let's all remember that at least two enemies are still alive out there. How much did they really know?]
The new military hierarchy looks like this:
WhiteSkin and Archibald have the same rank, although - orcish racism being what it is - Danny's still taking orders from him. Basically, we work for the DrippingBlade clan. The DrippingBlades are, more or less, allied with the DeathMoons. BreathStealer, a High Council member whom SkinEater doesn't trust, incidentally, stuck up for PainDealer toward the end. So, we can't call him or his allied clanmembers our friends. Danny may nominally be allied with the DeathMoons, but since we overthrew one of their most prestigious members, it's unlikely that many of the DeathMoons like us, Callous notwithstanding [and do you think that it is coincidence that he's been taken out of the picture?].
3044: We fight some omyrr - denizens of the Elemental Plane of Water - in between missions. Now we've dealt with critters from the Elemental Planes of Fire, Earth and Water. What's missing? [Is it coincidence, or a pattern? I don't believe in coincidences.]
Then we're sent off on our fifth military mission - to fetch the Crown of the Balrog from some neogi grand master who, it turns up, lives on the Elemental Plane of Air [surprise, surprise]. The Glenzoran search for this headpiece artifact was started under PainDealer. [What are the odds that he really intended it to be used for Glenzor against the Underdark - that he was worried about it falling into the drow's hands? I say, slim to none. I think he was working for D/gorgon, looking for the next step in the ritual to create a Balrog. Now, what would he/his master have been planning to do with the Balrog? Who knows, but I would have probably tried to use it to steal a spellbook with "Wish" on it from the dragons! Just a thought.]
[Speaking of that mission, let's remember that the drow were spying on us throughout. I've already suggested that PainDealer might have been working with the Underdark, probably just to divide and weaken Glenzor's forces. That might explain how the drow were so easily able to infiltrate the ship's crew and spy on us on our way to the Desert of the Aurumvorax Lords - remember, our Scryguards didn't go off, so we must have been physically observed over those weeks of ocean travel. Maybe PainDealer helped the Underdark plant a few spies in his military? Was he using them to help him find the Crown of the Balrog, or did they double-cross him, figure out his plan, and decide to go a-hunting on their own?]
[Also, who has been spying on us from other planes? How much do you want to bet that they're D/gorgon's or FireLeech's minions? I suggest FireLeech because he owes us one - not only because we drove him out, but because we also led indirectly to the disgrace of his temple of No Cha in Glenzor. I don't think he's actually teamed up with D/gorgon, but one or both of them may be working toward the same end - our deaths.]
All that aside, with PainDealer gone, why does this wild chase after this missing artifact continue, anyway? I mean, what's the point now? Turn to the next chapter.....]
One could say that we're on the side of the orcs, of Glenzor. I'd be more convincing if the orcs in Glenzor ever gave us any respect, paid us for our efforts, made everyone in the company full citizens of Glenzor, stopped dropping the glass ceiling on our heads, and so forth, but let's set those problems aside for the moment. Are we really working for the orcs right now?
Who is really sending us after the Crown of the Balrog? Whose hands will it fall into if we get it? Whose hands do we want it to fall into? And, given that the Crown's been safely hidden away for 2 or 3 millenia now, why not just let it alone?
One argument is that if we do not get the crown, it will fall into the hands of the Underdark. [Personally, I think that the Underdark doesn't have any single group of adventurers our equal - why else would they be scrying on us and waiting for us to get the crown? They clearly want to ambush us after we have it, rather than send in their own people. That indicates that they have doubts they could get it themselves. Certainly anyone who's observed us knows that we typically succeed, but at great cost. What better chance to attack?]
[Besides, what would really happen if the Underdark got this magic artifact? They'd try to create a Balrog. Now, that involves coercing a dragon (or making a deal with an evil dragon who's enough of a crackpot to flaut the Council of Wyrms et al), and it involves creating an age-old enemy of the dragons. Who gets hurt? The dragons. Who should be concerned? The dragons. Who should be out there looking for the crown? The dragons. Who's really sending us after the Crown of the Balrog? The dragons. This plot may have been started by PainDealer, but with him out of the way, I have no doubt that it's being ended by the dragons. Either way, we're the ones stuck with the dirty work.]
Another argument is that if we get the crown, we could give it to King Chullin and he could use it to win the war. Well, we're winning against the elves already. Most astute observers have already agreed that the elves have lost, and now we're just wrapping up loose ends. So why unleash such a powerful evil artifact now?
One could also argue that if we get the crown, King Chullin could use it against the Underdark, which does appear to be rising. Okay, the Underdark may be a threat, but this argument and the previous one share a single fatal flaw. Where is King Chullin going to get the dragon, the demon, and the tarrasque?
[And ... since when is King Chullin able to carry out arcane rituals? Who will really be in charge of using the Crown of the Balrog? Take a glimpse at the list of council members below. I think we know the answer to that. Do we really want him to own such a powerful evil artifact? I think we know the answer to that, too.]
So - why go after the Crown of the Balrog? The only really good reason is, because we've been ordered to. Are we going to simply follow orders, or are we going to protest? [Or are we going to try to argue that it's been lost on the Elemental Plane of Air for good?]
Could we protest and win? Well, we've already seen that most of our direct military commanders are DeathMoons. Chances are, they'd like to see us vanish to another plane permanently, and aren't going to be very sympathetic toward us. On the other hand, VileRunes have a majority on the High Council, and owe us one for helping them make it so:
I think we're being paid something along the lines of 200 gp a year in the orcish military, and they aren't reimbursing us for the cost of spell components, scrolls, spells blown off our books, wand recharges, etc. We did get some items last time - after some heated discussion - but nowhere near full compensation for past expenses incurred.
(2) Since joining the military, we have been ordered against an army from the Underdark; a retriever and some priests of D/gorgon; an army of elves; a rakshasa demon immune to virtually everything; and a neogi who casts Limited Wishes. That's two armies, two demonic forces and a conjurer with 7th level spells. Three of these missions have had a strong scent of Underdark. Two of these missions have had a strong scent of dragon. Two of these missions have had a strong scent of the Abyss. I say we aren't being paid nearly enough to be making the kind of enemies we're making. When this war is over, are we going to be able to just shake hands with all our foes and make up? I don't think so. We're talking the kind of enemies who kidnap and torture your grandchildren years later in retribution, when you're too old and weak to do anything about it except weep. What's the military doing for us to make this an acceptable risk?
(3) Since joining the military I have died once (Kara-Tur) and lost levels (Marrowbrand); Lairunya has died twice (Underdark, Ethereal); Simon has died once (Dorakka); Sindaraen has died once (Retriever Mt.) and lost levels (Marrowbrand); Callous has died once (Retriever Mt.); Nicholas has died twice (Retriever Mt., Kara-Tur); Cassie has died twice (Kara-Tur, neogi) and lost an arm (PainDealer), and Torg has died once (Rakshasa). One or two of the deaths might not be attributable to our military - Laurie's ethereal death, Simon's Dorakka death - but still, that's 8 deaths on 5 missions that can be placed on the military's doorstep. (I'm not counting Femir's death, also attributable to the military, or Wolfie's, which is not.) Now, are we being paid even close to enough to be taking these risks? To be having our links to life permanently weakened?
(4) How is it that orcs get so powerful in their classes at such a young age?
That's an average of one level per 2.1 years - assuming they adventured from year 1. Let's assume they adventure from age 10, an average starting age for orcs. That's one level per 1.65 years. We're not even considering the point of diminishing level returns that varies by class! We're also not considering that none of them are actively adventuring any more - nothing like what we're doing, that's for certain - so there's some question of when they actually obtained that level before retiring. Lord SkinEater is considered quite old at 37 - so most of these High Council members are physically past their adventuring years, anyway, and have been for a few years.
What's the High Council's secret? Potions of Longevity? They backfire eventually. Pacts with greater evil powers? I wish I could laugh at the notion....
Maybe we should ask to be let in on the secret as part of our next fee. It might make up for the cost in money, life and enmity that we're incurring on the High Council's behalf.
(1) Demand full information for all missions from now on. If we aren't important enough to hear the information, we aren't powerful enough to take the mission. Period.
(2) Demand more money, supplies, and benefits. This includes a promotion review, demands that Danny be placed in the correct place on the orcish military hierarchy, and full citizenship with all benefits for all members of the Scintillating Company - including elves, half-elves, and Parthinon scouts. This also includes full waiver of fees for purchasing spells from the Gorgon Group or the Monastery - we should get the spells and components we need for free. The scrolls we got last time were useful, but they're no replacement for having spells in our books.
(3) Demand training. We should get time to learn new weapons and tactics and full training in the same, before we're sent on a mission. We're being treated like mercenaries but paid like soldiers, and the army shouldn't be allowed to have it both ways. Either pay us mercenary fees and waive all rights to punish or demote us, or give us the support other troops get.
(4) Become more paranoid. Yes, it's hard to believe, but we aren't being paranoid enough - otherwise, we wouldn't have been spied on during our last mission. I think we should press the military for items of anti-scrying if they're that worried about mission security, and I think we need to be more careful about scrutinizing everyone we interact with, especially ship crews, liasions, etc. If they take offense, that just means they've got something to hide. Hopefully we'll be able to resume normality again after the war.