Editing The Fiery Moon (campaign scenario) (section)

== Scenario ==
=== Timed events ===
{{TEheader}}
{{TErow| 1 |day 1|I step off the [[Sparkling Bridge]] into the choking heat of a blackened landscape.  The sky above is the color of charcoal; a churning, chaotic storm glowing with an occasional purple spark of lightning.<p>Somewhere out there, the [[Ancestors]] are waiting for me.<p>"I know how you feel!" I say as my horse snorts with distaste for the smoky air.<p>And inside I sense that this is a lonely, sorrowful place.  I shake my head, wondering why anyone would dwell in this blistering land.}}
{{TErow| 2 |day 2|"Ah, I remember it well.  This is where I lived before I died," [[Skizzik]] said this morning after he climbed up on a jagged black rock and stared at the horizon.  The [[Familiar]] wiped a tear from his eye.<p>"This used to be home."<p>"Doesn't look like much!" [[Grumba]], the [[Ogre]], said.<p>Suddenly, [[Skizzik]] jumped down from the rock and stood in front of the [[Ogre]] with his hands on his hips.  [[Grumba]] was easily five times his size.<p>"You take that back, ugly!  What?  You think your home is any better - nothin' but dirt and rocks and cow dung!  Call that a home?"<p>I stepped forward, afraid [[Grumba]] might squash [[Skizzik]], but the [[Ogre]] just seemed startled and amused that the little guy would actually dare stand up to him.<p>"Fair enough," [[Grumba]] said.  "But tell us, guide, where would [[Vorr]] keep the [[Ancestors]]?"<p>[[Skizzik]] took a few deep breaths to calm down, then pounced back up on the rock again.  He stared at the horizon, picked something from his teeth, and scratched himself.<p>"Only one [[Demon]] can hold our [[Ancestors]] - [[Xyron]], the Jailer!"<p>"Or [[Vorr]] himself," I add.}}
{{TErow| 5 |day 5|I usually practice with my sword for an hour each morning before the camp wakes, but this morning my arms grew tired after only half that time.  I barely made it back to my tent where I collapsed for several hours.  [[Grumba]] actually had to wake me.<p>"Are you feeling well?" the [[Ogre]] asked.<p>"Yes, fine," I said, and ordered everyone to mount up.  But I wasn't fine.  My joints ached for the first time in my life.  What was happening to me?}}
{{TErow| 9 |day 9|Today, while collecting some much-needed firewood for the cooking fires, [[Skizzik]] turned up missing.  I mounted a search party that soon heard his distant screams.  We approached to find him stuck down a hole.<p>"It's a tomb!" he shouted fearfully.  "Ugly bucket-kickers down here!"<p>I dropped down into the darkness with a torch in hand.  Indeed, it was an old burial spot filled with half a dozen stone tables supporting the skeletal remains of what appeared to be warriors.<p>"Not like [[Demon]]s to bury their dead like this," I said.<p>"Oh, no they not [[Demon]]s!  Those the ones who lived here before," [[Skizzik]] said.<p>"What?"<p>"Before we [[Demon]]s got here, there were others," [[Skizzik]] said.  He seemed to want to leave, as if he were afraid of ghosts or something.<p>"What happened to the others?" I asked.<p>"They deep under - bucket-kickers like these guys.  We kill them all!  Well, not me.  That before [[Skizzik]]'s time.  Me, all I see is the black and hot land like this - no green trees left for me to see."<p>I looked sadly at these dead warriors who probably died fighting the [[Demon]]s.  What had they been like?  Did they know they were destined to lose and still fought?  I clenched my fists in anger.  Such brave souls shouldn't end up forgotten in a hole in a dead world!<p>These [[Demon]]s believed in nothing but destruction.  Honor meant nothing to them.  Wherever they went, I imagined [[Skizzik]]'s kind turning every world into a copy of this [[Fiery Moon]].<p>And my world was certainly next.  [[Vorr]]'s appetite for destruction was incredible - perhaps greater even than a [[Demon]]'s - and now he has attracted these [[Demon]]s to my world.<p>I raised my sword above these forgotten warriors and swore, "As long as blood pumps through my body, I swear my world will not become like this one!"}}
{{TErow| 11 |day 11|"Guard the [[Stronghold]] well," [[Grumba]] suggests.<p>The [[Ogre]] was nearly killed when the enemy suddenly appeared in a nearby Monolith Exit.  [[Grumba]] managed to escape, but if my troops are ever too far away to protect the [[Stronghold]], the enemy will be able to conquer it easily.}}
{{TErow| 16 |day 16|[[Skizzik]] has been telling stories of his 'former life' so I can get to know my enemy better.  These [[Demon]]s are perfect allies for the [[Mad Ancestor]], [[Vorr]].  Both are thrilled by destruction.  And now as I march across this bleak world, I wonder what it used to look like.  What beauty has been crumbled beneath the hooves of these [[Demon]]s?}}
{{TErow| 20 |day 20|I could barely get out of bed this morning as another sickness came over me.  My strength wanes with each passing day.<p>It was [[Skizzik]], however, who pointed out that I had a far greater problem to worry about.<p>"Nice look for you," [[Skizzik]] said, gesturing toward my hair, "Makes you look like a wise chief."<p>I snatched up the [[Familiar]]'s well-polished axe.<p>"Hey!  That's mine!" [[Skizzik]] said but I ignored him.<p>I stared at my slightly distorted reflection in the blade and frowned deeply.  There were many lines around my eyes and the hair at my temples had gone completely gray.<p>I was aging, and fast!  No wonder my joints ached endlessly and I barely had enough energy to climb out of my tent in the morning.  Time was catching up with me.  But was I still immortal?  How much will I age before I, too, die?}}
{{TErow| 25 |day 25|A scout reports that [[Xyron]], the Jailer, lies beyond a Red [[Border Gate]] somewhere in the [[Fiery Fields]].<p>I've seen these [[Fiery Fields]], a living fire created by the [[Elemental]]s to increase their power.  Although it goes against all reason, the fire doesn't burn your flesh - not even your clothes.  The flames tickle your skin like a hot breeze, but they do not burn.}}
{{TErow| 35 |day 35|I had to be helped onto my horse this morning.  My muscles have gone weak and my hair is entirely shot through with gray.  I look like a man of eighty now.<p>Lately, I've been thinking about putting an end to it all.  Oblivion has to be better than the shame of asking a couple [[Orc]]s to push you up on your own horse!<p>I think my shaman, [[Wern]], saw the suicidal look in my eyes.<p>"You must go on, [[Tarnum]]," [[Wern]] said.  "Without the [[Ancestors]], none of our people can enter [[Paradise]].  All [[Barbarian]]s will forever be cast into oblivion!"<p>Sighing, I knew he was right.  Perhaps I could accept the nothingness of oblivion, but it's not fair to cast my punishment onto others.  I must continue, although I do not know how I will be able to defeat the Jailer, [[Xyron]].}}
|}

=== Objects ===
==== Events ====
{| class="sortable wikitable" cellpadding=5px
! Location
! Message
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 16, 20, 0
| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | The glowing clouds billowing from the [[Sparkling Bridge]] end here.  Beyond, the land is charred and cracked like an alien landscape.  There is no sign of life anywhere.<p>You ride forward, hoping that the [[Sparkling Bridge]] remains here long enough for you to return.  You would hate to have to live in this forsaken land.</p>
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 22, 16, 0
| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | In the distance you can see the scorched ruins of an ancient town.  You don't know who used to live there, but right now it's occupied by some renegade [[Gog]]s and [[Familiar]]s.  If you're going to find a place to train your troops, this looks like your only choice.
|}

==== Towns ====
{{Town header}}
{{Town row|2, 4, 0|red|Inferno}}
{{Town row|31, 5, 0|red|Inferno}}
{{Town row|20, 27, 1|red|Inferno}}
{{Town row|20, 15, 0||Stronghold|nofort=y}}
|}

==== Heroes ====
{{hero header}}
{{hero row|3, 10, 0|red|Olema|Heretic}}
{{hero row|12, 18, 0|tan|mph={{mph|1|The Sparkling Bridge}}}}
{{hero row|13, 19, 0|tan|mph={{mph|1|The Sparkling Bridge}}}}
{{hero row|14, 20, 0|tan|Tarnum|image=Tarnum (Barbarian)|Barbarian}}
{{hero row|27, 35, 0|{{imprisoned}}|Octavia|Demoniac}}
{{hero row|29, 35, 0|red|Xyron|Heretic}}
{{hero row|34, 6, 0|red|Axsis|Heretic}}
|}
''Note: Your two most powerful heroes are carried over despite the map specifying your most powerful hero twice.''

==== Monsters ====
{| class="sortable wikitable" cellpadding=5px
! Location
! Type
! Message
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 21, 21, 0
| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px; white-space: nowrap;" | {{Cram2|Hell Hound}}
| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | Howling alerts you to the attack moments before the [[Hell Hound]]s spring from the charred trees.
|}

==== Seer's Huts ====
{{SorQheader}}
{{SorQrow|seer=1|loc=10, 24, 0|quest=Return with:<br>{{An|Recanter's Cloak}}</br>|rew=5 {{Ps|Knowledge}}|prop=The air here reeks so much your horse refuses to step any closer.  So, you dismount and approach and exotic home built into the trunk of a giant, long-dead tree.  Hanging from its branches are dozens of corpses of [[Demon]]s, [[Gog]]s, and other creatures.<p>You draw your sword and take another step.  Then the door swings open, revealing a black-clad old woman.  Her face is mostly hidden behind her mass of white hair.  All you see is her crooked smile.<p>"I don't get many visitors these days," she says.<p>"Perhaps it's the way you decorate you house," you say, gesturing toward the skeletons swinging slowly in the hot wind.<p>"Perhaps," she says with a wide grin.  "I see you have horses.  I sense you're looking for something, or someone.  Well, I am looking for something too but I am unable to leave my home.  Could you help me?"<p>"That depends."<p>"Yes, you'll be wanting compensation, no doubt.  Well, I have nothing of real value except my knowledge.  If you were to find and return with my [[Recanter's Cloak]], I will teach you all that I know.  Is that a deal?"<p>"Deal," you say.|prog=You approach the [[Seer's Hut]], but there is no answer when you knock.  Perhaps she already knows that you do not have the [[Recanter's Cloak]].  If you want to talk to her, you must find it first.|comp=The Seer meets you at the door, immediately taking the [[Recanter's Cloak]] from you and draping it over her shoulders.<p>"A [[Familiar]] took it from my home while I was killing that pair up there," she says, gesturing toward some [[Demon]]s swinging from one of the highest branches.<p>"You said you could teach me what you know?"<p>"Yes, come in.  We'll have some black tea, and we'll talk," she says.<p>You enter her home, hoping that the knowledge she can give you will be worth staying in this dark place.}}
|}

[[Category:Campaign scenarios]]