Out-of-Game Note: This article was written and submitted by the Plot Team (GM: Andi) and reflects the canonical resolution of this plotline. Editorial changes were limited to formatting and minor spelling/ grammar corrections.
FREELANDS — In the months following the conclusion of the conflict between Lord Umbrex and Pandora the Lich Queen, this press has received no shortage of questions regarding the precise sequence of events—among them, “Who won?”, “How do you spell Umbrex?”, and “Did Lord Umbrex really die?” This correspondent has spent the winter months compiling a thorough account for the benefit of the Freelands readership.
What follows is a complete record, to the best of our knowledge, of how the undead power vacuum was contested, and where matters currently stand.
This conflict first began when Reggie died—a powerful and ancient Nosferatu, leaving behind a power vacuum. While the Freelands have always had undead roaming its grounds, none were powerful enough to overpower Reggie, but with him gone, the Freelands were ripe for the taking.
Two heavy hitters rose to the challenge.
Lord Umbrex was a powerful and ancient Wraith Lord who, until recently, had been imprisoned inside a prism, captured by an organization known as the Prismatic Knights. A priest of Darkness unleashed him from captivity, and although he was weakened from decades of confinement, Lord Umbrex knew he had to seize this opportunity to control the Freelands.
The other challenger was Pandora, the Lich Queen of the Kingdom of Divine Rot. It is believed she was the child of a charismatic cult leader and was groomed to one day become a lich, destined to turn the Freelands into an undead kingdom under her rule. From the information gathered, it seems her transformation took place after the fall of the Al Cairn.
Each opponent vied for the favor of the adventurers, at least for some time. They urged those in Maplewood to take their side and help them to defeat the other, using promises of power or leadership as enticements.
Pandora grew impatient. In the summer of 1603, she launched an attack on the town from multiple sides, her disciples shouting the mantra “Join us in Life or Join us in Death.” While this correspondent cannot say for certain where individual loyalties lay, that did appear to be a turning point for the adventurers’ attitudes toward the two opponents. People were more willing to cooperate with Umbrex, as he hadn’t sent out an undead army to kill them.
For several months following the attack, adventurers spent their time and resources learning all they could about these two foes and how they could be defeated. Umbrex could be taken care of in two ways: defeated in combat, which would have proven difficult but not impossible, or reimprisoned in the prism once again. In Pandora’s case, a lich is virtually indestructible as long as its phylactery is intact. The key to defeating one is to first destroy it.
In November of 1603, the Kingdom of the Divine Rot made their move. A horde of undead descended onto Maplewood and overwhelmed the town’s defenses. The adventurers retreated to the safety of the inn, and Pandora reveled in her victory—leaving the adventurers to cower and prolong the inevitable. She left them there, secure in the knowledge that she had all the time in the world to defeat them.
Although all hope seemed lost for Maplewood, there was a glimmer of hope: someone had found and destroyed Pandora’s phylactery, leaving her vulnerable. This forced Pandora to go into hiding, attempting to rebuild what was lost.
Her followers did not remain idle. In December of 1603, a disciple of Pandora, a high-ranking lady of the Kingdom of the Divine Rot, arrived in Maplewood on behalf of her queen. This disciple made one final bid for the adventurers’ favor: she revealed that the Kingdom of the Divine Rot had captured a Prismatic Knight. Pandora’s lady offered a truce in exchange for the adventurers’ help in performing the Great Prism ritual. Either the adventurers could assist Pandora and she would leave them be, or they could deny her, and she would face Umbrex herself, leaving the adventurers as her final enemy.
The adventurers chose the latter, hoping Umbrex and Pandora would destroy one another. Later in the evening, a chest was sent to the inn containing Umbrex’s crown.
The crown confirms what Pandora’s representative claimed: Umbrex is dead, and the undead power vacuum he sought to claim died with him. What remains is a Lich Queen who is wounded, hunted, and still alive with at least one captive Prismatic Knight, a destroyed phylactery to replace, and the knowledge that the Freelands chose to stand against her.
The war for the undead throne is over. What Pandora does next is the question we should be asking.