Crusaders of Dusk and Dawn: Season 4

Synopsis
120 years after a group of heroes saved humanity from the rampages of its mad gods, the races have once again come together. As the world experiences a revitalization of its magic, strange new creatures mix with old legends and reappear across the land. An ancient threat holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of two worlds.

Cast of Characters

 * Claire Nialo
 * Anoron
 * Xenrich

Important Characters

 * Nessa
 * Olander
 * Edwin Clark
 * Moyz
 * Bi'an
 * Toppu
 * Nhene

Theme Song
Castle of Glass - Linkin Park

Episode: Zero
Episode zero is a series of episodes released prior to the release of Episode 1 in order to increase awareness and hype for the series. The events of Episode: Zero follow the individual main cast of the series, and take place prior to the group meeting.

Episode 0: Sun and Moon
The opening begins with an Elven girl leaning against a stone wall near the entrance to the City of Helder. She begins to talk softly to herself trying to decide on work within the city walls. After some debate she decides to look for work at a semi-famous coffee shop within the city. She wanders a bit through the city on her way to the shop, stopping to drop a few coins into beggars cups. She flashes them a smile, and a kind word. Trying to restore some hope to those who have lost theirs, she takes note of the guards passing out clothing to the poor, Silvered and blue garments to commemorate the festival that caused the young bard to seek work in the city.

Continuing her walk, small children begin to pull lightly on the back of her cloak, as they have taken notice of the curious lute strapped to her back. The girl lets out a sigh and nods to them, a small well with a stone bench nearby catches her eyes, and she sits and begins to play a well known song of the legend of Sir Olan. As she plays a ring of dark blue ring of fire forms in front of her, and seems to dance and tell the story of Sir Olan in Blue and Orange light. The girl playing doesn't notice that the crowd has gone silent until she is finished, as she looks up from her lute and sees from under her hood that the crowd, that previously was laughing and enjoying themselves is now kneeling. As a single person claps from the back. Another girl, Princess Nara is standing next to guards bearing clothes for the poor. After pleasantries the lady bard introduces herself as 'Claire' and explains to the Princess that she is seeking work for the festival. The Princess offers for Claire to play at the palace and hands her a card bearing the royal seal. The Princess then turns and takes her leave of Claire as a guard brings Claire money for her playing. Claire turns down the coin initially, saying that that poor would make better use of it that she ever could, but in the end she reluctantly accepts half of the coins presented to her.

Dawning her hood Claire once again takes to the streets and stops by a few places to prepare for her possible playing in the Palace. Then finally, she arrives at 'The Faerie Leaf', after ordering some coffee the owner Bartholomew recognizes her and offers her a job. Claire then spends the rest of the day searching for Reams of Cloth for a dress she is measured for, and she performs in the upper level of 'The Faerie Leaf' in the evening.

Claire is awoken from slumber by a Large Dog sized blue spider perched on her wall. Reflexively she throws a dagger that lodges in the creature. It disappears taking her dagger with it. Disgruntled and seeing no point in falling asleep again, continues her search for cloth. After questioning some laborers delivering cloth to stores, she heads to the town docks. Where she finds a large crowd gathered in the streets, blocking her view. Her head darts around and finds a veranda with a ladder leading to one of the warehouse roofs. As she notices this, an armored elf pushes his way through the crowd and into the aforementioned warehouse. Claire follows closely behind, trying to sneak past in the commotion. However once inside, the Elf takes notice of her, asking her why she is following him, to which she replies looking up at him: "I'm a healer, people might be hurt, but I can't help if I can't see!" After a moment the Elf nods and beacons her to follow him.

An Island had appeared off the shoreline, and a group of people were standing at the end of the docks. After returning down to the ground floor of the warehouse, the Elf, who revealed himself to be the Paladin Olander, pushed through the crowd leading Claire along with him. The two conversed with the men at the docks and after some coaxing by Olander, Claire agreed to join him back at the Palace for the discussion regarding what to do about the isle.

After a long and rather boring talk among diplomats, a stalemate was met regarding what to do about the isle. Claire stuck next to Olander, not speaking during the discussion, she was trying to figure out exactly had happened to lead her to this moment, standing among nobles and knights in front of the king.

When the event was over, Olander took Claire to retrieve her things, and handed her a bag of monetary notes and gems. Telling her that the two of them would explore the isle, asking her to meet him at 'The Faerie Leaf' after she had secured any equipment they might need. Reluctantly Claire agreed, unsure how Olander could secure passage to the isle.

Claire returning with far more equipment than was probably necessary, met with Olander and his Friend, A man named Martin, who after some waiting Teleported the two to the isle.

They journeyed from the edge of the isle to a large stone church in the center where they discovered a curious stone, that allowed them to see invisible blue spiders crawling around. After scanning the area, a spider off in the distance sent a shimmer toward Claire's eyes. Her dagger. She chased after the shimmer and discovered a hole that lead deep into the earth. Telling Olander to stay topside she entered the hole, a good distance in an earthquake sent Olander down into it, Claire realising this let go of her handholds and slid into an extremely large cavern with different crops growing in it. After the two explored the room, they were attacked by giant hornets.

After slaying the bugs, they came across the injured blue spider whom still had the dagger protruding from it. Claire talking calmly trying to explain to the spider that it had scared her, and she didn't mean to hurt it. Taking great care, the two removed the dagger and healed the wound caused by it. The spider in kind, showed Claire a glimpse of her past that she couldn't remember, and it scuttled away. Following it, the spider lead the two to a staircase that ended in a door, after entering, the two found themselves in a collapsed impassible hallway.

After much debate, the two returned to the Gardens and headed to a Gazebo they had seen previously. At the Gazebo a swarm of Hornets were attacking a group of Spiders, who clearly were trying to protect their young. After Repelling the Spiders and finding nothing to help them cross the chasm in the hallway the two decided to head back to the staircase in the chance that they had missed something else from their previous aerial view of the room. While heading back to the stairs, a cloud of innumerable hornets began to chase them. Running for their lives the two jumped into the hallway slamming the door behind.

The spiders saved by the two had formed a path over the chasm in the hallway allowing them to pass. They pushed forward, eventually finding themselves trapped in a chapel dedicated to the Blue Dragon. Claire exhausted from the adventure so far, passed out on a Pew in the church. Only to be awoken by Olander. The episode ends when she runs through the door that appeared in a nearby wall.

Episode 0: Dark Magics
After five years on his own, Anoron finds his way once again back to the city of Helder. No other place feels more like home anymore since he cannot return to the village of his childhood, but he has made a small palce for himself thanks to his friend Moyz.

Upon returning to the city just before the festival of Canus and Livena, Anoron finds Moyz home empty as usual. wondering where his friend has run off to this time, Ano makes himself at home and promptly falls asleep.

Ano finds himself once again inside a patron dream, but this time the crows and rats that plague his nightmare are hiding on the fringes. Ano moves through the sickly forest drawn by a strange blue light and comes across a giant blue spider who appears to be injured from a dagger in it's side. After removing the dagger, Ano finds the spider face to face with him, a string of blue light coming from it's forehead and touching Ano's. After an initial rejection, Ano accepts the spiders magic and feels one of his memories come to the surface of his mind, an image of him and his sister playing in the meadows near the farm where they grew up. Ano than follows the spider to a hill with a large building on top, and sees the spider disappear into a doorway on the side of the hill.

Ano awakens from his dream to find Moyz sitting on the window sill. He tells Ano that he has been away visiting his father (who he claims is the king of the mercahnt kingdom Kulta) and has only just returned. He also tells Anoron that they need to leave because he found something on his way in that they need to explore.

Moyz and Ano get into a small boat and take turns rowing across the night darkened harbor of Helder. Just as dawn breaks, they reach an island that has never existed in the harbor before. Moyz and Ano climb the cliff face on the edge of the island and in the middle of the top of a plateau find a large church with unknown markings. Ano then goes around to the side of the small hill the church sits on and finds a door into the island.

Ano and Moyz end up in the catacombs where they are attacked by a pair of skeletons. Just as it seems they are about to be overwhelmed a figure drops from a hole in the ceiling and defeats the skeletons. The figure turns to the two and begins demanding Ano answer where they came from, and than tackles him.

Ano dreams about a voice speaking to him out of the darkness. The voice offers to free him from his patron, but it can only do so by binding him to the voice instead. The voice warns that he is not a true vessel for his patron, but a prison, and when Ano decides that he can not unleash that kind of power back into the world, he feels the prison grow stronger. The voice asks Ano for help, and in return it will help him defeat the darkness.

Ano awakes to see a young girl dressed as a monk sitting next to a small fire. Behind her the ceiling of the room has collapsed. The girl tells him her name is Nessa and that she tried to rescue him and his friend from something that appeared out of the catacombs, but that his friend had now disappeared. Ano is distraught over Moyz missing, only able to find the rapier Moyz carried with him, and reluctantly agrees to find the way out with Nessa.

Nessa and Ano begin to climb up the shaft created by the cave in and find themselves in a cylindrical room with a door. The door leads to a small temple with a statue of Vita and Frigus are the front, and a small half orb with a white crystal. The two leave only to find a new passage outside the door which eventually leads them to another cylindrical room with a large pool in it.

Episode 0: Sword and Scale
Xenrich and Edwin travel through a small forest on the edge of the Waste, having spent the last few weeks searching for information about a group of horned beasts that keep appearing and attacking caravans and the Goliath villages. Their search has met with many dead ends, when they stumble across a group from the Marmar clan which has been attacked only a few hours before. Xenrich and Edwin quickly pursue the path left behidn by the attackers and manage to track them back to a cave. Edwin ties the horses up as Xenrich slowly enters the cave and is immediately greeted by two creatures with horned heads and red skin. Xenrich dispatches the two creatures only to see more of them appear further down the hallway. As they attack Xenrich bests all of them and manages to knock out and not kill the last one. Edwin finally catches up to him and begin to tie up the captive. Xenrich moves to a door inside the cave, and when edwin joins him they enter it.

Inside the door is an older goliath woman with markings of the Marmar tribe along with a group of goliath children, and a smaller group of blue skinned horned children. The grandmother tells them that she found these children when the other brought her here, and that a group of creatures just left with other children. Edwin instructs the woman to take the children, the prisoner, and their horses and make her way make to the temple.

Xenrich and Edwin move further into the cave where they find a large set of doors. As they move to open them, a group of panicked creatures bursts out running for their lives. Xenrich and Edwin fight their way through the mob and enter into a room with an alter. In front of the alter, more creatures are fighting with a man in a cloak and a green mask. He throws the entire group back and casts a spell that opens up a series of swirling portals, which immediately begin to suck the occupants of the room into them. Edwin fights but falls quickly to the gale, while Xenrich manages to reach the masked man and attack him. The man catches Xenrichs blow on his left arm, which rips and exposes a clawed hand and green scaled arm. The man than catches the next blow with his claw and throws Xenrich through the last portal.

Episode 1: Turn of Fate
Xenrich awakens in a cylindrical room with no apparent exit and a pool of water. Olander and Claire exit the chapel of Crocus, and Ano and Nessa crawl through a last passage into the same room. Each group of adventurers enter through doors that do not reappear once passed through. Immediately upon seeing others in the room, Nessa dons her hood, and everyone suspiciously guards themselves. Before anyone can give an explanation to who they are and what they are doing here, a Large swirl begins in the pool and a Water elemental appears with Edwin Inside of it. As the party battles the water elemental, Ano manages to rescue the drowning priest with Olanders help. After saving Edwin the party swiftly defeats the elemental.

Claire then begins to tend to everyone's wounds, Xinrich at first refuses to let her help his ally, believing the ones outside of his group must be assassins, but after Olander proves his knowledge of the paladin code, Xinrich slowly turns to trust in the others. Claire assures everyone that Edwin is okay and that he is just in shock, what he needs is rest. She then attends to Nessa, who she mistakenly calls 'Lady Nara' which gets the attention of Claire's companion Olander. Olander is obvously upset that Nessa is here, is stopped by Anoron, who keenly diplomances his way out of the situation. Stating that it is more important to get out of this situation safely that anything else. He suggests that everyone work together, and to work out grievances another time.

While the party was conversing the pool in the center of the room had begun to drain with the defeat of the Water Elemental, revealing a staircase leading toward an ornate door, along with the symbol for Crocus the Yellow. Upon passing the threshold of the door, the group found themselves in an odd room, later revealed to be a teleportation room, also bearing the symbol of Crocus. Xinrich and Claire share a bonding moment, and Olander is clearly still upset by the presence of Nessa, but instead of speaking to her, helps solve the puzzle of the room. Anoron proves that is is more that adept at solving magical riddles and soon creates portals for the party to enter. During the discussion Anoron takes one of Claire's Orihalcon stone halves, and somehow causes them to fuse together into a single orbm which Olander Identifies as an Orb of Sorrell.

Quickly the group finds themselves on a dias in some sort of library. With the large dog like spiders skittering on the walls. The center of the Library lay a giant sack of spider silk that seemed to glow and pulse with mysterious magics. Before the group could compose themselves to this new environment, blue ethereal tendrils flowed from the cocoon and filled the groups heads with images of their pasts, just brief glimpses, along with someone new. A woman who swore vengeance and called upon the power of a dark god to bring destruction to her enemies, the group felt the raw anger and vengeance that she had in her quest for retribution. Leaving many of them unnerved.

Snapping out of this stupor, the party was shocked at their shared vision. Xenrich snapped Edwin out of his stupor which lasted longer and possibly received more visions than the rest of the party. Edwin spoke up saying that we have to help "Nhene", the woman from the visions, who is trapped in the cocoon. Edwin stated that her heart needed to be returned to her, and that it lay the tower up the stairs behind the cacoon. Edwin claims the heart was taken taken from her to be purified. Dispite Edwins inability to walk Xenrich tried to drag Edwin along with the group, and failed, Olander volunteered to stay behind and watch over him.

The remaining four members, Anoron, Xinrich, Claire, and Nessa climbed the stairs out of the library, and quickly found themselves a head short. Nessa had vanished when they entered a one-way corridor, blocking the remaining members from the other three. Confused, but steadfast in their mission, the remaining three pushed onward into the eerily empty tower. After solving multiple riddles the group was attacked by two clockwork hounds, Xenrich and Anoron quickly dispatched the dogs and the group pushed ever forward, collecting strange artifacts as they continued, most notably books written in an unknown tongue, which strangely could be deciphered by Anoron. Eventually, they found themselves in a large room full of alchemical equipment and a mysterious creature composed out of a spellbook come to life. The group questioned the creature of the location of the heart to which is replied. "That experiment is over." and directed the party to climb higher in The Tower. Immediately after the party found themselves in a room full of small stone statues, an estimation of the number puts them roughly at 20,000 individual statues. A stone menagerie of all kinds of creatures, while the detailing on them was not fine, it was relatively easy to discern what each one represented.

The group continued to explore and collected many other interesting objects, jewelry, a cloak. After discovering the numerous basins in the tower contained a helpful water elemental, following the elementals silent guidance, the group found themselves in the highest part of The Tower a prison containing one very aggressive prisoner. After an intense battle, that left the three completely exhausted the party found divining rods, which after an Imp provided the information on how to properly use them, the rods lead them back to the stone menagerie room. The party picked a small stone angel, designated by the divining rods, that supposedly contained the heart of "Nhene"'. 'Upon receiving it the imp revealed that they were currently inside of The Estate. As well as giving the party a small crystal, with an unknown purpose. When the party left his presence, Anoron lagged behind and the imp gifted him with a strange clockwork bat.

The party followed the directions of the water elemental guide within the estate and found themselves at a larger pool they had seen earlier. The episode ends when the elemental transports them to another location.

Notable Quotes:
"You all must be Assassins, there is no other explanation." -Xenrich

Episode 2: Never Alone
The party drops out of the air into a large room that looks like a boat dock. There is a series of columns, and moorings line the edges of the platform, but there is no sign of water, and about a hundred feet off the edge an weird darkness obscures the view.

On the platform is strange wreckage and two people digging through it. One is a 2 foot tall spindly man with a mop of shaggy hair, dressed in a linen robe with blue swirls along the hem and cuffs. The other is a three foot tall woman dressed in what looks to be armor of wooden slats. When claire approaches them, the girl pulls a strange club from her belt, but Claire manages to clam the girl down enough for Ano and the man to scome to terms through sign language.

It is discovered that Ano can read the mans writing but spoken language is useless. Ano draws a picture of the tower and the man grows excited. Claire attempts to build a semblance of trust with the small girl accompanying the man. After the initial excitement fades, the man pulls a piece of parchment from his bag, then after reading it, the scroll dissolved into a puff of light. He then explained that he was known as Bi'an, a Cleric of Livena, and his traveling companion was named Toppu.

The group then opened the two large doors and proceeded ahead, chatting with Bi'an about how he came to this place. He explained that he was visiting a shrine to Crocus, and was enveloped in a magical light, then he and Toppu appeared where the party found them.

Upon meeting the end of the hall, the group ran into Olander who was searching for them. The group reconvened in the library where Edwin had been pouring over tomes. After introductions, Anoron then performed the ritual to restore the heart to Nhene, who appeared from the cocoon as a giant spider the the torso of a dark skinned elven woman. She explained that she was grateful and if she could aid the group in any way she would gladly. The same blue light that had once enveloped the party was cast from her and poured into Bi'an and Toppu. Whom after being enveloped, was now able to understand and speak with the party.

Nhene explained that she could provide transport for the group back home, but would require a week to recover her ability to do so.

Upon breaking away from the group, Claire had the idea to find a map so that Bi'an and Toppu could explain where they were from. As well as to allow Bi'an to know where he had ended up. Upon locating a map, the party was shocked at the size of the world depicted, which was much larger than they had originally thought. Bi'an explained that his homeland was south of the Great Wastes. And told that the place where Helder stood on the map was known The Lost Lands