Return of the Kembar
General InformationDateLate autumn, 1374 A.B.
ResultRestoration of the Kembar to the Earth
Rennick becomes King of Westerland
Coppersmith enmeshes his spirit within Rennick
Betrayal of Shiv Mathor
Expulsion of the party from the Allhammers
ParticipantsRennick, Grandmother, Kembar, the Party
The Return of the Kembar was an event that occurred 1374 years after the completion of the Binding, being the moment the Kembar were finally permitted to return to Nīmlad.
History
Prelude
At some point after the end of the Last War, the Warlock and the Coppersmith put aside their rivalry and formed an alliance, seeking to reverse the effects of the Binding and restore themselves to the Wide World. In the 14th century A.B., Rennick, then a young Allhammer, was recruited by the Coppersmith as an agent.
The Allhammer maneuvered himself through the ranks of his House, becoming Marshal within a few years. His network of spies and servants expanded to all of Westerland and beyond. And he engaged in communication with the Grandmother, a Wite of ancient power and lore, skilled in the magicks of Zhē Drūmor. Eventually Rennick convinced her to join the pact, falsely declaring his intention to free the Mad One from his prison in addition to the Kembar.
Murder of Grandmaster Hagar
In a play to secure himself leadership of the Allhammers, Rennick had the Hooded Man, his prized assassin, eliminate Hagar, the Grandmaster of the order.
Afterward, in the summer of 1374 A.B., every Allhammer wandering abroad was summoned to the Winehall in Summarch, which was the home of the Allhammer government. There they learned that Grandmaster Hagar, the head of their order, had been murdered by an unknown enemy. Selwin, who quarreled often with the Allhammers, was the obvious suspect.
Two Allhammers—Frösted Flækes and Guantanamo Michael—were sent to speak with him, but they were imprisoned in his hall, the Seat (though they later escaped). Selwin claimed afterward that they assaulted him and his men, but his subjects grew doubtful.
Drakhor
In the wake of the arrests, Rennick was elevated to the rank of Grandmaster. His first action was to send the party of Allhammers nearest to uncovering Hagar’s murderer (for they’d already met the Hooded Man and slain Panry Chenech) into Drakhor, the Far North, to pursue the Grandmother. Secretly, he planned on her defeating them.
In the Far North that band fought many foes, including a Leshy devised by the Grandmother. Their journey ended deep in the Fell Mountains, where they encountered the Wite’s camp at the mouth of a great cave. There they discovered the Grandmother negotiating an alliance on behalf of the pact with Lugal the Dragon, which would be disastrous for their foes. The Allhammers then engaged and defeated the cult, and Babar Ett-Clan persuaded the Great Wyrm to neutrality, but they did not uncover Rennick’s identity as the author of the plot.
Siege of the Seat
They returned to a Summarch set ablaze. For in their time away, Rennick had revolted against Selwin, whom he named Tyrant and Deceiver, and invested the Seat. Then his Allhammers invaded that fortress in the Siege of the Seat, and marching into its throne room he seized Selwin, and hewed his feet out from under him; and slew him.
Shortly after the party found him in the hall. Their skill was put to the test as they engaged with Rennick, perceiving finally his alliance with the Warlock, the Coppersmith, and the Grandmother. Only a few blows were exchanged before the Grandmother also burst into the chamber, betraying Rennick and attacking him.
Return
In this three-way conflict, Rennick grew wearied, nearing the end of his strength. But by the culmination of his plan, he was availed. For far away the covens of the Witen, long had they prepared, conducted their black rituals, sacrificing many. And at last the Kembar, by whose will the world flowered and withered and died, were permitted to return.
Rennick’s spirit merged with the essence of the Coppersmith, such that he could no longer be defeated through force of arms. Seeing that the tides had shifted, the Grandmother fled, but not before stealing Keenest, an heirloom of the House of Regimen.
Rennick then implored the party to join with him, saying that evil could only be abated by controlling it, not fighting it. Swayed by his words, Shiv Mathor, a member of the party, dropped the magic shielding his companions and walked to Rennick’s side, betraying his comrades. Though they knew victory was now impossible, the party prepared to fight; but Shiv persuaded Rennick to let them go, and the party was allowed to flee.
Aftermath
In the wake of the siege, Rennick declared himself the new King of Westerland. Swiftly the tribes of the Westwood and Fost swore fealty to him, seeing in him the strength of Regimen. Through the powers of the Coppersmith, his soldiers are being mobilized and trained with great speed, for his mind is bent now on the great fleets of the Sargāzat and Alensis, which he can only obtain through war. If he achieves his aim, no land will be beyond his reach, the Last War will spark anew, and all the Wide World will be flung into peril.
In despair, the party, expelled from their order, fled from the Seat through Daemar’s Triumph, Summarch’s southern gate. With the aid of Aderyn Sly, a shadowy member of the Ninth House they’d met earlier in their travels, they made for the havens of Patrinor across the sea.