Yesterday’s post went over the 7 magi who are involved with the Ancient Evil (read, story arc number 1).  Since you’ve pretty much dusted off all but three of them, let’s move onto to a short summary of the players in story arc number 2: those parties who are racing towards the artifact hidden deep within the Iron Acropolis.

The Iron Acropolis, as you’ve found out, is a well guarded fortress created by the father of deities, Ao.  Inside lies the “Commands of the Gods”, a powerful scroll which gives the bearer a single moment of deific control.  It was created as a a counter measure for Ao to keep balance between his children, and it is guarded by a member of each alignment, the secret Order of the Boar.  This group was empowered to one end only: guard the Commands of the Gods that it fall into no one’s hands except Ao himself. 

Long after his death, information on Ao’s artifact has resurfaced thousands of years later, the result of research and luck.  It started with the Calad Brae aristocracy finding out, and soon turned into a full-island conquest with multiple parties involved.  Here are the people that are currently (or were) searching for the artifact:

CALAD BRAE HEIRARCHY (Disbanded) – The first group to come across the information of the artifact, the leaders consisted of Amadius, Falstrom, Locklin, Omus and Talgrow.  After Locklin was murdered during a trip to Ogden,  the seach for the gates reached a full tilt.  In a turn of events, Talgrow was betrayed by Omus and Amadius & Falstrom were forced to flee.  To this day, none of the original Calad Brae aristocracy exists formally, but have joined forces with your group. 

OMUS (Active) - After his coup of Calad Brae, the crazed mage has put the city into a military state with one goal: obtain the Commands of the Gods.  It has been discovered that a sour deal in his past (with Mask) left his wife and child dead.  Under a crushing guilt and sadness, he is trying to repair the mistake in two ways: using the Commands of the Gods to finally rid himself of Mask, as well as using a secretive mechanism that he has been constructing to reverse the affects of time. 

GARETH BARGDEN (Active) - Omus’ brother and prime trader on Alaron.  Using private funds he has launched an expedition to find the artifact.  The reason he wants it is not entirely known, but his relationship to Omus and the strange activity at his estate hint at foul intentions.

PALE COMMANDER (Dead) – In an attempt to recall the Blood Star from crashing into Cherrywood, he sent Puppet Master to obtain the artifact.  When it was obvious that the item would not be retrieved in time, he moved his base of operations to Alaron with the sole purpose of domination.  It didn’t work out so well – the group killed him in Burrowshead, and were then left with the problem of the Ancient Evil, now a free-roaming terror.

MASK (Active) – Long ago, the god of deception inserted one of his own into the Order of the Boar, allowing him an inside advantage to the Acropolis.  He has also perfected a ritual over the past thousand years to strike his name from the artifact, thereby rending him free of the item’s powers.  To the group’s knowledge, he is the current leader in the race. 

THE TRIBUNAL (Active) – A collective of the churches of Tempus, Torm, Lathander and Tyr.  Because of Mask’s (and at one time Cyric’s) involvement with the search for the artifact, the Tribunal has deemed it necessary to secure the item and throw it back into hiding.  it is widely believed that the organization has a secondary motive of using the artifact for their own needs (aka, “convincing” Lathander himself that sacrificing himself in lieu of the Blood Star to destroy the Ancient Evil is a bad idea).  Currently, your group is loosley “employed” by the Tribunal, who are still split upon their views of you. 

YOUR GROUP (Active) – Hey, it wouldn’t be a party without the group, right?  In typical D&D fashion, your group got pulled into this after investigating what was supposed to be an entry-level Watch assignment.  Your interest in the artifact is…..well, you decide. Saving your own hide?  Power?  Notoriety?  The ability to say “Yeahhhh, boyeeeeee!  Level 20!!!”