The Second Great Demon War

Barely 200 years ago, the Second Great Demon war began. After the (First) Great Demon War, which had ended 26 years before, scholars, wizards and religious leaders were sure that the three main leaders of the demons, namely Orcus, Grazz't and Demogorgon were dead, along with most of the other demon princes. As it turns out, that was not completely true. In a subterfuge masterminded by Grazz't, they had faked their own death and instead hidden in the Abyss, siphonating the power of the other demon princes that perished in the war.

They were now back, stronger and meaner than ever before. It also quickly became painfully obvious that the 3 demon lords had made an alliance, setting aside they eon-old paranoia and enmity to wage war on... well everyone else.

No one knows quite where exactly the war started, because it was not one assault on one place, but instead a multitude of demon hordes attacking many different dominions in the Astral Sea. And while the assaults started in the Astral Sea, they quickly spread to the rest of the multiverse, with demonic hordes attacking places like the City of Brass and even both the Feywild and the Shadowfell. The numbers of the demons seemed truly infinite, while those of the defenders definitely weren't.

For almost 10 years, the gods warred against the demons, then came Dark Betrayal. Lolth tricked one of the Primal Spirits into telling her where the Spirit Stone was hidden away. The Spirit Stone is the ancient artifact crafted to keep demons lords out of the material plane on a permanent basis. She then destroyed the Spirit Stone with the help of Gruumsh and then suddenly, the mortal world of Macera was ripe for conquest by her demonic allies.

The Triumvirate won't yield to reason nor threats, an no attempts to destabilize the alliance is even close to succeeding. The relentless assaults are starting to take their toll and many of the defenders. With the power of the Spirit Stone broken, the demon hordes started to invade Macera in great numbers and the primal spirits are forced to lift the ban of the gods, so that they could help out Macera.

The war continued this way for another 10 years or so, with the demons slowly grinding down the gods and their armies.

The Demonic Triumvirate invaded the dominion of Tytherion, looking to add Zehir and Tiamat to their coalition of chaos. Both refused, and Demogorgon and Lolth slew Zehir, while Tiamat fled the dominion. So Zehir became the first god to die.

The next year, Orcus and Gruumsh assaulted Vecna's not so secret lair in Pandemonium and caught him off-guard enough to nail his lich-skull to the floor. Another god was dead, and the war seemed to only go one way.

About three years later to the day, Torog is overrun in the Underdark by a horde of demons, and is ripped to pieces. Another 5 years later, Celestia is attacked by the demon horde with only Moradin home, working hard on creating some new weapons to slay demons. At the time, Kord and Bahamut are chasing Lolth acrosss the battlefields of the Nine Hells, so Avandra and Erathis come to Moradins help but all three gods end up slaughtered by Orcus and Demogorgon.

After the death of Avandra and Erathis, it became obvious, even to the gods, that they were being picked off one by one. They began to take less changes and fortified themselves when not together.

Eight years later, the war was still raging on at least four different planes. Kord, who was guarding Ioun in Hestavar, was then tricked by Grazz't to come to Sehanine's help on Arvandor, but she is already dead and when Kord arrives, he finds himself alone, facing a plane full of demons and all three demon lords. As Kord is slowly butchered by the horde of demons, Grazz't also tricks Ioun out of Hestavar by making her think that she can save Kord and Avandra.

And then the world came to the end of the Second Great Demon War. The Demons had nearly won.The Feywild had been ravaged by demons, the empires of the fey crushed beneath the demonic boots. More than half of the original gods were dead, their dominions sacked and their armies nearly broken. Gruumsh, Lolth, Demogorgon and Orcus corner Tiamat and Bahamut in the Forgotten Fortress, an ancient giant fortress in Saham where they have been sent by Bane. For weeks, the demons assaulted the two gods and their angels, before the Two-Who-Were-Once-One fell together, as they were born together.

Meanwhile, Bane, Asmodeus, The Raven Queen and Pelor were working on an ancient magic that could turn the tide of what seemed like. As the demon horde moves on, Corellon and Melora catches Lolth and Gruumsh without support, and manage to slay Gruumsh before Lolth slays Melora.

Shortly thereafter, Asmodeus, Pelor and the Raven Queen sacrificed a willing Corellon and thus unleashed the Spellcurse, an ancient uncontrollable magical force that ravaged through the ranks of the demons, decimating their numbers. The three Demon Lords fled back to the Abyss, and as Lolth followed, she was intercepted by Bane and killed.

With the demons once again back in the Abyss, the portals to and from the Elemental Chaos were closed and sealed off, and the war was finally over. Asmodeus, Pelor and Bane headed back to the the Astral Sea, the Raven Queen stayed in the Shadowfell, and the Primal Spirits left for the Feywild.

Unfortunately, the war was over, but the Spellcurse had just begun...