Most people know the Ironcrowns as the husband and wife, dragon slayers, who arrived years ago during Valindra's invasion. Unknown to most, they are followers of Asmodeus, King of Demons and ruler of the Nine Hells. Aero made a pact with Asmodeus centuries ago, and not even her husband Vhex knows the details of their contract.
As Vhex and Aero entered the Master's chambers, a female devil was just leaving. "Areo and Vhex, how prompt and auspicious you both are for my needs. I have tasked the dragon hunting to another individual for now, I assume you two would like to hear what I have planned? Vhex and Areo both nodded, Asmodeus gestured them to sit, "I am taking part in a little contest with the Lords of the Nine Hells.". Asmodeus waved a hand across a table and three drinks appeared. He pick up one of the goblets. "The contest will take place in Avernus and each of us will choose a champion to post secret wagers upon.
Asmodeus gazed at his drink, "Can you guess who I want to be my champion?". Vhex smiled and started to say, "Oh, great King Asmodeus we shall...", but Asmodeus smirked and interrupted him, "No. You will enter the competition in pretense as mere mortals. But I expect you to be victorious against all the chosen."
At this point Aero had to ask, "You want us to defeat all nine champions including yours?". "But of course.", Asmodeus continued, "There will also be a great amount of side bets made by demons. I have instructed my demons to place large wagers on the long shot. The two of you will be the long shot, posing in your human guise, you will let no one know that you work for me. I will place a modest wager on my own champion, however more has already been placed, through my hidden side bets, on my long shot to win." Vhex looked at Areo and back at Asmodeus, "Master how much..." Asmodeus, "One moment...", holding a finger skyward, "What are the current odds for the Ironcrowns to win?" A small imp appeared in the room through a portal, "Current odds are 40 to 1 and expected to exceed 50 to 1 by post time.", the imp squeezed back through the portal and disappeared. Asmodeus turned to the Ironcrowns, "With 100 thousand souls on the line, you will win, and I will be owed 5 million souls.", Asmodeus raised his goblet in salute, and Ironcrowns raised theirs, "To your victorious success!", and they all drank.
Later the Ironcrowns discussed their strategy to win the competition and best all nine demons. Aero gazed at her husband, "The best way to win is to cheat.".
"But of course,", replied Vhex, "the question is how do we go about it?".
"We debilitate our competition ahead of the contest.", she smiled, "And we get other humans to help us. Demonic rifts still appear in many places across this world. We could use this to our advantage. You open portal at the right moment and the whole party gets sent directly to where we need to go. Then we pretend to be astonished as much as everyone else."
Vhex laughed deeply, "Clever! We get these human heroes to kill the demonic champions.". "No! Not eliminate, we just want them to impair them a little or others will take their place.", Aero explained softly.
"But what will we tell the party of heroes originally? They will not just randomly form a party without rhyme or reason.".
"Oh my dear husband, you might be surprised what humans do out of greed and vanity.", picking up a large key, Aero explained, "I have banked some gold and other items people desire, with those fools, at the Order of the Manshoon. We will tell the heroes it is a reward offered by the Bank of Zorg. If anything goes wrong, we can blame it on the Zorgs... nevertheless nobody in Neverwinter likes Thayans.".
"All we need now is a list of the nine demon champions,", Vhex glamoured into his human guise, "and a boat load of greedy humans."
Reading the Job Board you see a posting; "REWARD: Renown Dragon Slayers, the Ironcrowns, have been conscripted to hunt unknown creatures terrorizing the citizens of Neverwinter." You continue to scan the details as you consider attending...Starting this Saturday, the 25th of January, Aero will invite 4 "lucky" players to her party and take them on a journey for riches and glory. Those chosen might be whisked away to an unknown location (skirmish or dungeon) or taken to another land to perform tasks, to fight evil in all its forms... or so they might conclude.
If you wish to participate and get in on the action. Sign up here or message me, include the time and day you plan to be online. The contest will run until all the prizes are given out. Prizes will be randomly given out to the entire party at the end of each quest.
Comments
Note: There are some strange things going on with the game, chat not working as it should, log in problems, and crashes. I hope these will be repaired before the weekend, if I cannot find my people, the contest might get delayed, and I will post that information here. Feel free to sign up here or message me, and I will add you to my watch list. There is no limitations or restrictions, you don't need to be a particular level, or have a minimum item level. Feel free to PM Aero Ironcrown in chat, or write me game mail.
Today, Thursday I have sorted all the items into prize packages and grand prizes. There are a total of 16 grand prizes valued over 200K AD each and I created 32 prize packages worth 150K AD each. Prices are based on current AH minimum values. Hope to see you on this weekend.
See you tomorrow!
Current Schedule
Saturday morning, 5 AM EST, 2 AM PST, 10 AM UTC - Dread Ring demon hunting - Done!
Saturday morning, 7 AM EST, 4 AM PST, Noon UTC - Icewind Dale demon hunting - Done!
Saturday, 11 AM EST, 8 AM PST, 4 PM UTC - Dread Legion - Done!
Saturday, 1 PM EST, 10 AM PST, 6 PM UTC - Grey Wolf Den - Done!
Saturday, 5 PM EST, 2 PM PST, 10 PM UTC - Prophecy of Madness - Done!
Saturday, 7 PM EST, 4 PM PST, Midnight UTC - Master of the Hunt - Done!
Sunday, 9 AM EST, 6 AM PST, 2 PM UTC - Prophecy of Madness - Done!
Sunday, 11 AM EST, 8 AM PST, 4 PM UTC - Dread Legion - Done!
Sunday, 3 PM EST, Noon PST, 8 PM UTC - Merchant Prince - Done!
Sunday, 5 PM EST, 2 PM PST, 10 PM UTC - Blacklake District - Done!
Sunday, 8 PM EST, 5 PM PST, 1 AM UTC - Illusionist Gambit - Done!
Sunday, 10 PM EST, 7 PM PST, 3 AM UTC - Master of the Hunt - Done!
This is the end of the Event, but not the end of our story....
Thank you again and hope to run with you in the future with or without such events.
Qty. ------------- Item
2 --- Dark Enchantment, Rank 14
1 --- Empowered Runestone, Rank 13
1 --- Glorious Resurgence Epic Companions Pack
1 --- Coalescent Ward
1 --- Mini Apparatus of Gond
1 --- Barkshield Enchantment, Rank 7
1 --- Hellfire Engine
1 --- Barbed Insignia of Skill
1 --- Patrician Fashion Box
1 --- Epic Giant Toad
1 --- Neverember Guard Archer
4 --- Excavated Epic Companions Pack
3 --- Wedding Attire
10 --- Mark of Potency, Rank 7
10 --- Mark of Potency, Rank 6
25 --- Mark of Potency, Rank 5
1 --- Jester's Motley
5 --- Enchanting Stone, Rank 5
1 --- Angel of Protection
1 --- Gelatinous Cube
5 --- Enchanting Stone, Rank 6
1 --- Buckskin Destrier
1 --- Arkaiun Courser
1 --- Sabino Destrier
1 --- Greenscale Bowman
25 --- Greater Companion Experience Treatise
1 --- Wolf
1 --- Halfling Wayward Wizard
1 --- Earth Archon
25 --- Cube of Augmentation
1 --- Shadow Wolf
3 --- Refiner's Cache
1 --- Helmite Paladin Ghost
1 --- Noble Finery
1 --- Minstrel
198 --- Elminster's Lunchbox
1 --- Amnian Horse
A total estimated 14 million AD worth in prizes showered on the community.