The Chronicles of Exandria Book One: The tales of Vox Machina I

The first book written in the Chronicles of Exandria, by Scanlan Shorthalt and aided by others from the Alabaster Sierra. It was written by and wrapped in a leather and gold binding.

Chapter 1-The Mines of Kraghammer
In their search for a warrior of light, the group of adventurers known as Vox Machina journeyed into the realm of absolute darkness. At the request of their long time friend, Arcanist Allura Vysoren, Vox Machina set out northward from Emon in search of Lady Kima of Vord, a headstrong and fiery paladin of the Platinum Dragon. Kima was last seen in the dwarven stronghold city of Kraghammer. There they learnt that Kima had descended into the mine deep below the city to fight some unknown evil. Vox Machina travelled into the Greyspire Mines and found that Kraghammer sat atop a pitch-black Underdark- a place of unknowable horror filled with monsters that could kill with a thought.

As they explored the lightless landscape, Vox Machina made an unlikely ally- a psychic leech creature a mind-flair named Clarota. The brain-eating aberration had been exiled from his hive and his home of Yug'Voril. From Clarota, the heroes learned that a monster known as K'Varn had asserted psychic dominance over not only the psychic hive, but the Duergar that ruled this realm. These underground dwarves had captured Lady Kima and imprisoned her within the Emberhold, their obsidian fortress.

Breaking into the Emberhold and freeing Lady Kima was simple enough, escaping once the fortress was on high alert was more difficult. The mighty king and queen of the duergar, King Murghol and Queen Ulara, accosted the heroes as they tried to escape, but Murghol was killed in the chaos of the prison break. During the battle, the Emberhold began to collapse, and lava poured through its masonry, threatening to incinerate everyone inside. Ulara teleported away, taking a mentally dominated Grog Strongjaw with her while allowing her husband to be consumed by the flames.

Vox Machina escaped the Emberhold as magma rained down upon them, and hurried to the ruined fortress-city of Yug'Voril. They suspected that Queen Ulara would offer Grog as a sacrifice to the mighty K'Varn, and wasted no time in hunting the duergar queen down. As they approached, Vox Machina received a vision of K'varn. The vision revealed that their enemy was not only a many-eyed abomination, known as a Beholder, but that he was also imbued with the demonic powers of Orcus. K'Varn wore upon his forehead a dread artefact called the Horn of Orcus- and though Vox Machina knew little of the horn's true power, they knew K'varn had to be stopped.

A tempestuous battle raged within Yug'Voril that day. K'Varn telepathically overshadowed Queen Ulara's mind to greet them in his foul demesne, than shattered it, killing her. Vox Machina was horrified by Ulara's demise, but her death freed Grog from her control, and they focused their combined power on K'Varn. They killed K'Varn not once in combat, but twice, for the Horn of Orcus revived its host as an undead monstrosity after he was first slain. Finally, in an act of betrayal Vox Machina would never forget, Clarota turned against his one-time allies immediately after the death of K'Varn, for the Beholder's death released the entire psychic hive from his control.

Despite all this, Vox Machina still triumphed in the end, and returned to their home city of Emon to claim their reward.

Chapter 2-Adventures in Vasselheim
Allura and Kima were reunited in Emon's Cloudtop District thanks to Vox Machina's valiant deeds- but their quest was not yet over. Kima was disturbed by the unholy power of the Horn of Orcus, and insisted that it be interred in the Platinum Sanctuary, the sacred hall of her knightly order. There, the servants of the Platinum Dragon would prevent its evil from spreading any further. The Platinum Sanctuary, however, was in the ancient city-state of Vasselheim on the distant continent of Issylra. Kima warned her friends that they might be in for a bit of culture shock- if nothing else, Vasselheim prohibited the use of arcane magic within its walls, a decree that has stood since the Calamity.

Vox Machina's close ties with the Council of Tal'Dorei allowed them to charter an airship between continents. Once in Vasselheim, they delivered the Horn of Orcus to the grateful wardens of the Platinum Sanctuary. Now temporarily free from responsibility, Vox Machina gleefully decided to explore the city known as the Cradle of Creation.

After some deliberation, they agreed that their first order of business was to get Grog in a fighting ring. The goliath barbarian arrogantly strode into the arena known as the Crucible and challenged a half-orc gladiator named Kern- and was narrowly defeated. Grog, beaten and bloody, limped off to lick his wounds and drown his sorrow in ale.

The heroes had little time for disappointment. Not long after Grog's defeat, Vox Machina were stunned to see a hydra rampaging around the outskirts of Vasselheim. They dispatched the monster handily, but were shocked to learn that killing the beast was illegal! The hydra had been marked by members of a monster-hunting guild known as the Slayer's Take, and they had accidentally poached their kill. Vox Machina hesitantly agreed to join the Slayer's Take to avoid prosecution.

The heroes met new allies within the ranks of the Take, and were forced to split into two groups to hunt down two different marks. The first group was composed of Scanlan, Percy, Vex'ahlia, and Grog- plus a klutzy human wizard, Lyra and a bombastic tiefling warlock, Zahra. Their mark was a white dragon named Rimefang, who had made its home in the nearby Vesper Timberland. The second group was made up of Keyleth, Vax'ildan, Tiberius, and a brash human cleric, Kashaw, as well as an unlucky dwarf fighter named Thorbir. This team was to hunt down a hell-born Rakshasa known by the name Hotis. Both groups successfully completed their tasks- thought, true to his nature as a fiend, Hotis discorporated back to Diabolus instead of truly dying. All eleven warriors passed the Trial of the Take, and were accepted as full members of the Slayer's Take.

With their adventures in the Slayer's Take behind them, Vox Machina had two pieces of business to attend to before returning to Tal'Dorei. First Keyleth journeyed to the Fire Ashari of Pyrah, completing part of her Aramente, her quest to visit all four elemental villages of the Ashari. Second, Grog returned to the Crucible for a rematch. His second brawl with the half-orc Kern was no easier than his first, for while Grog has grown stronger, so had Kern. The match was close, but this time Grog emerged victorious, and all of Vox Machina cheered his victory, which also captured the interest of Earthbreaker Groon.

The journey back to Emon was uneventful-but upon arrival, two sinister figures from Percy's past would return to haunt him, and the fate of Tal'Dorei would soon rest in Vox Machina's hands once again.

Chapter 3-Battling the Briarwoods
Upon returning to Emon, Vox Machina was greeted by Seeker Asum Emring, a Halfling ally of theirs within the Tal'Dorei Council. Asum told Percival that in one week's time, Lord Sylas and Lady Delilah Briarwood were to feast with Sovereign Uriel Tal'Dorei III, and that Vox Machina was invited. The Briarwoods were the rulers of a distant city-state Whitestone, and by Asum's account, they wished to create formal diplomatic ties with the city of Emon.

Percival grimly told his companions the true nature of the Briarwood: they were villains who had slaughtered his entire his family, the true rulers of Whitestone. Even worse, Lord Sylas Briarwood was a vampire and Lady Delilah Briarwood was a foul necromancer, yet at the beginning this was unknown by Vox Machina, they all decided to accept the invitation- and Percy prepared to take his revenge.

But the feast did not go according to plan. The Briarwoods were charming guests by all outward appearances- so charming in fact, that Sovereign Uriel lost control of his senses, hypnotised by Slyas Briarwood's gaze! Vox Machina quickly retaliated against the vampire, and after a short skirmish, the Briarwoods fled. Vox Machina tried to explain their actions to the Council Tal'Dorei, but the still-enthralled Sovereign Uriel refused to acknowledge their accusations. Furious, Percival rallied his allies and they set off to Whitestone under cover of night to reclaim the city-state and to destroy the Briarwoods.

Vox Machina moved quickly and reached Whitestone within the week. Inside, undead stone giants and hordes of human skeletons reanimated by Delilah's necromancy terrorized its citizens. Even the glorious Sun Tree, a gift to the people of Whitestone by the Holy Dawnfather, had been desecrated by the Briarwoods' tyranny. The bodies of dissenters hung grotesquely from its boughs. The undead were too numerous for Vox Machina to take Whitestone by force, at least, not alone.

Percival sought to slake his thirst for vengeance and plant the seed of revolution in the hearts of his former people. Upon the chambers of a pepperbox he called The List, he had engraved the names of the six people who had ruined his life- the Briarwoods, their co-conspirators, and Dr. Anna Ripley, an inventor and gunsmith in the Briarwoods employment. He and Vox Machina snaked through the city, assassinating the Briarwoods' lieutenants and secretly alerting the people of Whitestone to the return of the de Rolos. Before long, the flames of revolution burned through the streets.

With the Briarwoods' undead armies distracted, Vox Machina slipped into Castle Whitestone itself. Inside, Percival uncovered secrets that changed his life. One of his siblings, his dear sister Cassandra, was still alive but brainwashed by the Briarwoods. He discovered Dr. Anna Ripley within the castle dungeons, though he was unable to take his long awaited revenge before she fled. In the end, Vox Machina managed to fight and slay both usurpers- then finding a disturbing structure beneath the castle: a squat ziggurat with a pitch-black orb suspended above it. The Briarwoods were worshipers of an occult entity known as the Whispered One, and this ziggurat was somehow related to their foul practices.

Yet there was no time to worry about the religious proclivities of fallen foes. Whitestone was freed and the two surviving de Rolos were reunited. A great party was thrown on Winter's Crest, and Vox Machina took a well-deserved rest.

Chapter 4-The Rise of the Conclave
Decades before Vox Machina reclaimed Whitestone, a group of heroes led by Allura Vysoren battled an ancient red dragon, Thordak, The Cinder King. This dragon's power was too great to be slain, but Allura and her fellow adventurers were able to hurl his body into the Fire Plane, anchoring his soul to a massive crystal that could not be removed. For fifteen years, Thordak's body smouldered in his fiery prison and then he heard a voice.

Four years before Vox Machina reclaimed Whitestone, a sickly young had joined the Fire Ashari in Pyrah. This girl, Raishan, was secretly an ancient green dragon, cursed by the goddess of nature to slowly wither away. The Diseased Deceiver had learned of Thordak's power, and sought to free him in the hopes that he could break her curse. She manipulated the Fire Ashari into revealing the location of a rift to the Fire Plane, where she communed with Thordak for years. Together, the two dragons secretly gathered allies and planned Thordak's escape.

Just one week after Vox Machina reclaimed Whitestone, the heroes returned to Emon, the capital of Tal'Dorei. There they learned that Sovereign Uriel Tal'Dorei III has been freed from the Briarwoods' thrall, and he had solemnly decided to abdicate his throne and end the line of sovereign forever. In his last act as ruler, he decreed that the nation would henceforth be a republic led by the Council of Tal'Dorei. Yet, at the exact moment he spoke his decree, the Chroma Conclave attacked. Four ancient chromatic dragons- Thordak, the Cinder King; Raishan, the Diseased Deceiver; Vorugal, the Frigid Doom; and Umbrasyl, the Hope Devourer- swept down upon Emon.

Within hours, the entire city was reduced to rubble- and Uriel Tal'Dorei III was dead. Vox Machina desperately searched Emon for survivors. Among others, their dear companions Shaun Gilmore, Allura Vysoren, and Salda Tal'Dorei, wife of the late sovereign, as well as their three children, were recovered. Using her incredible druidic power, Keyleth opened a mystic gateway between a tree in Emon and the Sun Tree in Whitestone, allowing the citizens to flee their ruined city to take refuge in Whitestone. With everyone safe, Keyleth opened up another tree-gate to Vasselheim, and her companions followed her into the Dawn City in search of allies that could aid the in the fight against the Conclave.

While in Vasselheim, Vox Machina learned from a monk named Eaarthbreaker Groon that if they wished to stand against the Conclave, they should seek out artifacts of great power called the Vestiges of Divergence. Groon knew little else, save that the Vestiges were artifacts that had survived a war between entities and beings known as the Divergence, and that they had been scattered across the world. Vox Machina hunted down information on these vestiges in Vasselheim, and learned of two: one known as the Titanstone Knuckles and another called the Deathwalker's Ward.

The knuckles belonged to Kevdak, Grog's tyrannical uncle, and the ward rested in a tomb interred with the remains of a champion of the Matron of Ravens. With this new information, Vox Machina prepared to hunt down the Vestiges of the Divergence, starting with the Deathwalker's Ward. They hoped that, with such artifacts in their possession, they would have the power to bring an end to the Chroma Conclave.