The aftermath of the war in K’ul Goran left the country shaken and scared. The blazing symbol around the country had disappeared, but its aftereffects were gradually felt as crops began to wilt in the fields. The ground of K’ul Goran, famous for draining blood, now left it pooling on the dirt like any common liquid. The people were hardy though, and began to rebuild, looking to their leadership to solve the puzzle of just what had taken place.
It soon became apparent however, that these efforts to understand what was happening were being sabotaged. Agents of a strange cult wearing red masks were repeatedly found to be meddling in the affairs of K’ul Goran from within - the Vanguard. One of the first agents to be revealed was in fact a member of the Errant Guard, a warrior who had fought beside the adventurers before, Torven, who revealed himself when the adventurers were fooled into breaking a strange red seal in the Plane of Air.
There turned out to be three seals scattered across the planes and the race was on - the adventurers versus a shadowy organisation whose members seemed to have infiltrated every part of K’ul Goran and had for years. The reason for K’ul Goran’s slow response to the Giant War seemed to make more sense now.
Ambassador Veluss worked with a trustworthy Senator to uncover these cultists, even resulting in the capture and subsequent rescue of the ambassador at one point. The seals were clearly the activation mechanism for whatever the nationwide blazing symbol had been at the end of the Giant War.
The second seal was found and secured by the adventurers, stored away safely just ahead of the Vanguard, even killing their most powerful warrior in the process. The third seal, however, was not so easily obtained, and was broken by Nimbus - an air genasi conductor of note - just before a climatic battle in Sigil.
This was when the real plan was revealed - a rift opened in the centre of K’ul Goran. Fueled by a colossal blood-stained summoning circle around the country and unlocked by these seals (though only 2 out of 3), the rift was small and flickering, but expanding inexorably. Devils began streaming out of the tear - first imps causing chaos, and then larger and more powerful devils as K’ul Goran moved its armies in to counter this invasion within hours.
This was a day that would never be forgotten. The Giant War, the Vanguard’s betrayal and sabotage of the country, the fight for the seals, even the creation of K’ul Goran itself, had all been the design of Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, the first layer of the Hells. Her devils were invading to conquer Joran for her own, and to tip the balance of the Blood War in the favour of Devils at long last.
K’ul Goran and the Dawnlands stood united in desperation against an endless sea of fiends to stop this madness, and that was when Khazifa Onyxdepth, Archdruid, stepped forward with a plan to counter attack.
This required three separate parts - the first was for all the forces they had to push forward - not just containing the devils at the rift, but even through and counter-invading Avernus itself. The second part was to gather the most powerful adventurers that the Dawnlands could muster and to set them out to challenge Zariel herself directly - not to kill her for that was folly, but to distract her attention. The third and final component was the stealth mission - Khazifa had learned that the rift was receiving power from a generator within Zariel’s colossal tower in Avernus. A small group was sent in to find this generator and sabotage it while the Archduke’s attention was diverted.
It was a terrifying plan, but with the coordination of many parts and the loss of many lives, it was successful. The generator was destroyed, the armies retreated back to the Material Plane, the god Corellon provided aid directly and was greatly weakened, the Order of the Crimson Fist was killed to almost the last as they charged to cover the retreat of their allies, and the Material Plane was saved from annihilation.
Zariel’s plan of centuries was thwarted, and K’ul Goran had been purged of its puppeteering cult, free to move forward in peace now.
Summary:
A cult called the Vanguard was sabotaging K’ul Goran in the post-war period
Adventurers sought to eliminate the Vanguard and to obtain a set of magical seals before they did, which were tied to the symbol that appeared at the end of Season 5
Breaking the seals created a rift to Avernus, as Zariel was behind it all to stage an invasion
K’ul Goran and the Dawnlands counterattacked successfully, but with heavy losses
Next: Season 7: The Aegis Accords
