Darnard and Khygantha

Darnard was the mortal son of Hades and Persephone. Born on the surface world he was unable to return to Erebos and was raised by the half-elf sorceress, Khygantha. When he came of age he traveled the Aractrashan Jungle with Khygantha to defeat monsters. His capstone accomplishment was slaying a silver dragon and raising its hatchling. Darnard used the dragon’s gold to found a city. He married Khygantha, his companion since birth. They had a son and would be remembered as the founding couple of the Aractrashan Kingdom’s royal line.

Darnard was born when Persephone entered premature labor while walking through the Aractrash Jungle. The son of Hades and Persephone was born on the surface world, out of Hades’s household. Without his father’s roof over his head, the boy was only partially divine. Persephone named the boy Darnard, but she was unable to stay with him or bring him with her. Instead, she gave Darnard to a half-elf sorcerer named Khygantha to nurse and raise.

Darnard grew into a strong man with fists like metal. He learned a bit of magic from Khygantha, with a particular focus on necromancy due to his father’s heritage. Knowing that the Aractrash Jungle swarmed with evil kobolds, gnolls, ogres, and trolls, Darnard begged Khygantha to help him do something about it. The odd pair set out to protect the people of the jungle from the monsters lurking within the trees.

Darnard and Khygantha fought off monster attacks throughout Aractrash. They instructed the people of each of the three Aractrashan cities, Lordodo, Satronwook, and Tetalya, in how to properly defend themselves in the future. After organizing defenses they went on the offensive. Darnard and Khygantha confronted the most vile monster in all of Aractrash, the silver dragon Snisterflixt. The pair defeated the dragon’s ogre attendants and slew the dragon itself. Within the beast’s lair they found an egg. Rather that smash the egg, Darnard chose to keep it and raise the dragon. Also within the dragon’s cave was a massive, untapped gold vein.

Darnard and Khygantha founded a new community south of the dragon’s cave. The dragon egg hatched into a friendly silver dragon. Darnard named the beast, Kinderax and raised it to be a good dragon. The gold mine at the cave provided boundless funding for Darnard and Khygantha’s city plans as immigrants swelled their community. As the city grew Darnard and Khygantha finally realized their love for each other. They were married.

Darnard and Khygantha’s growing city of Yuettencal was blessed by a son for its rulers. Khygantha gave birth to a boy, Gollard. When Gollard grew into a young man he started a relationship with a Dark Elf woman named Medrika. This romance brought about a war between the Dark Elves and Yuettencal. Darnard and Khygantha led the defense of their city and beat back the Dark Elf invasion. Years after the war, Gollard and Medrika had a daughter named Andima. Despite their love, Darnard forbade their marriage due to Medrika’s Dark Elf lineage.

Darnard and Khygantha ruled well and established Yuettencal as a powerful force in the Aractrashan Jungle. Eventually Darnard died and Khygantha followed him soon after. Gollard assumed leadership over Yuettencal. By then he had moved on from his romance with Medrika. He married the nymph, Chatkal. Zeus blessed the marriage by bestowing a golden crown upon Gollard. He became King of Yuettencal. Medrika and Andima left the kingdom, filled with furious jealousy at Gollard’s betrayal.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Hem tells us about their actual play campaign, The Sprouting. Within the world of The Sprouting, Earth's history diverged during the 1800s when an eldritch horror was summoned into our reality. The horror lay in wait for centuries, building up a secret army of plant monsters. In 2020, the plant monsters struck, ruining infrastructure and attacking population centers across the world. One hundred years have passed and our heroes learn that the next stage of the plant apocalypse has begun…We also discussed some of the difficulties and pleasures of actual play podcasts and how the RPG community varies internationally (Hem is in Iceland).If you want to try listening to The Sprouting its available on all major podcast platforms. You can learn more on The Sprouting's website.For other shows produced by Hem check out Blighthouse Studio's website.Hem mentioned The Lucky Die actual play show of theirs several times which used D&D 5e.And the broader network of Fable and Folly has their website too.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  2. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)
  3. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  4. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  5. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)