Blackest Scale

Game Master Nicos

Prologue:

Kythorn 3, 1372 DR

You have in your hands a letter informing you about the Death of Tandall Ironsoul follower of Helm and former leader of the adventuring band that you were part of.

It feels like yesterday the last adventure you have with that band. It was in Zazesspur capital of Thethyr, where a weird beast was stalking the towns near the city. The group tracked the beast for days and when finally found it; it was something beyond mortal understanding. A creature of nightmares that challenged any logic, with an impossible geometry, it was so unnatural that you never have found the words to describe it. More weird that the weirdest of demons, more evil than that the most evil of devils. It was a fierce battle that lasted for more than half an hour but the beast finally succumbed.

Happy for surviving the party was ready to go back to Zazaesspur but an unexpected visitor stopped you. It was a angel, more specifically a Deva. Miranna is her name, the group knew her from a previous adventure. She was a watcher, commanded to watch and record but never interfere in mortal affairs.

She informed you that there was a cult of madmen in the deep of the Starpire Mountains whose purpose was to bring more of those creatures to Faerun.

Guided by her the party found the cult and after fighting many cultists and foul (but “normal”) beast the group can finally reach the Sancta sanctorum.

But you were late, the portal to another dimension was already opening. Everyone gave a look to what was beyond, a place so unfathomable that it very existence is a perversion of reality itself, a place only known as the far realm.

Only Tandall was able to react confronting the leader of the cultist impaling him with his sword and then throwing him to the portal. Without the magic of the leader the portal soon start to fade until it was gone.

But Tandall was too close, He saw in all its bizarre splendor what lies beyond, he heard what was whispered to him, his mind was almost broken, he almost lost his soul to madness.

He was able to recover later but he never was the same person again. He was not able to adventuring anymore and without the leader it was the end to the adventuring group. That was five years ago.

Imaskari History:

The Raurin desert was once the epicenter of the first human empires in Faerûn, The Imaskar Empire. The godless Imaskari Artificer were expert creating extradimensinal spaces and portals. The empire Magical lore was inmense.
Sometime later a plague decimated Imaskari cities. In answer to the plague, the wizard-rulers of the Raurin brought hundreds of thousands of people from another world to be their slaves. The prisoners in turn brought their faith, and their deities with them. however the Imaskari severed the ties of their slaves with their gods, blockin the god powers.

Effectively, for hundres of year, the Inmakari challenged those gods with impunity.

Unfortunatetly for them, eventuraly the god broke the seal and wage war against them, unleashing their divine fury upon the wizards. The battle was an epic one where the incarnations of the god themsleves participated.

The power of the artificer was huge, some of the gods incarnation died in the fight, but eventually the Inmaskari empire was defeated.

The inmense magical energies released in the fight created the Raurin desert. In the midle of the fight the city of Ahurhanipal was punished by a forgotten god with a big earthquake and the city was swallowed by the earth, killing all his inhabitants.

Imaskari story II:

It is not clear from where Umyatin the great gained knowledge about the words, but there are some vague reference to a cold beyond the stars. The narrative continue with Umyatin travel to "the space between everything, the road that goes Everywhere, where you are when you aren't anywhere else." Sun recognize it as a reference to the astral plane. Somewhere there he found the place where Helm (god of protectors) secured since time immemorial the words that gave form and order to space and time.
There he faced the Guardians. Who where instructed to protect that place. Umyatin did not dare to confront the guardians cause he knew their power was great. Instead Umyatin resorted to deception. It is not described what he did, but he gained some time to read words. Where the guardians discovered the deception Umyatin Already had obtained some understanding that allowed him to escape their wrath.
Almost 3,000 years later a plague decimated Imaskari many cities. The king Senshiasen II planed to do what even the mightiest of his ancestors did not dare. But those were desperate times. To learn the secrets of the whole verse of space and time. He commanded a whole army of high artificers to the astral plane and make war against everything on his path. The toll was high but Senshiasen had access to the power he sought.
At this point the tale do a unexplained jump. Instead of talking about Senshiasen II the story continues with his son..

Npc cast:

Tandall:

Miranna:

Comrad Grayflame