The heavily fortified capital of Nerosyan, seat of Queen Galfrey of Mendev and last defense against the Abyssal hordes of the Worldwound, rises ominously into the grim, overcast sky. You have been tasked with speaking with one of the Venture-Captains of this city, the burly one-eyed dwarf known as Thurl, to receive your briefing.
Assembled, the party goes to the house of the Venture Captain to receive their briefings.
Venture-Captain Thurl, a burly, one-eyed dwarf covered nearly head to toe in jagged red tattoos and silver, spiked piercings, quietly leads the way into his dark research library. Strange demonic idols, flesh-bound tomes, and even a taxidermied vrock loom above the long, candlelit table. Thurl motions to the high-backed leather chairs around the table and then silently passes a scrap of paper.
“A novice doing busywork in one of the archive storerooms in the Grand Lodge came across this two days ago. I’d normally be the first to chastise new recruits for whispering and rumor mongering, but I’m glad the boy had heard of the current situation with the Shadow Lodge. I don’t know exactly what he heard, or how much of it was true, but he had heard enough to make a connection. He showed his instructor, who passed it all the way up to the Ten. They have instructed me to pass it to you, and to give you your next assignment.”
8 Pharast, 4581 ar
Stumbled into the Storast a safe house today, on the run from that angry Kellid shaman. Pretty lousy substitute for a real lodge, but decent enough, I guess. Kept that tribe from gutting me, anyhow. While I was there I had a chance to read a bit of that Prophecy everyone says i s so great. No idea why. All gibberish if you ask me. Listen to this bit :
“the Eye opens, drowned lands deserted a chittering host, Sarkoris perverted the gaze to the future shall come to an end
the world will know wounds that no magic can mend”
and also:
“the mighty tower that reaches the Sky
shall fall to the Shadow and legions will die
the Ten, unmasked, will meet their demise
and in their place a new Lodge shall arise”
If I didn’t know better I’ d think this “prophecy” below had some thing to do with the Decemvirate, but who am I to decode these things? Ah well , tomorrow I head south toward Ustalav to see if I can’t find that rusty old mace.
“What you have in your hands is a portion of a journal written by a Pathfinder in Sarkoris years ago. It seems a crazy old woman had been possessed by some power beyond our understanding, wrote a library full of that sort of gibberish, then keeled over dead. At the time, everyone thought it was nonsense, a false prophecy that defied the most trusted claims of history’s greatest seers. Had they only foreseen then that her predictions may be among the few viable prophecies of the current age, the world might be a very different place right now. What matters now is that we get our hands on as much of the original document as still exists, but that won’t be an easy task.” Thurl points to a massive, weathered map hanging on the wall behind him. “The Sarkorian Prophecy was last held in a Pathfinder safe house ten miles east of Storasta, in a nameless trading post once under the city’s control, in what is now the demon-infested wasteland known as the Worldwound, not many days’ travel from here.
“We can’t teleport you past the wardstones set around the Worldwound’s perimeter to keep the Abyssal hordes contained, so you’ll have to walk across the border. Get to Storasta, get as much of the Sarkorian Prophecy as you can, and get the hell out of there. This is perhaps the most dangerous mission you’ve ever been on. The Decemvirate don’t trust you enough to think you’re going to survive the Worldwound, so you aren’t the only team they’re sending, but go in prepared for the worst. In fact, I’d make sure you’ve got all the food and water you can carry. Unless you’d like to eat what’s growing in there.”
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A tall, dark, swarthy looking Keleshite man sits listening to the Venture Captain, eyes closed, with his first and middle fingers pressed to his temples. Once the VC has finished his briefing, he looks up. "You can't teleport us, but do have anything to aid us in this mission?" Ezrek says. "What have your patrols seen roaming the wilderlands as of late?"
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A well dressed - in black and red - confident man look at the other people already in the room with a contemptuous smile on his pretty face.
His Taldan heritage was obvious but his Asmodeus symbol and the red badge of one of the Hellknight order he bore on his collar clearly designates him as a member of the Cheliax faction. His pale skin bore a tattoo of the Ruby Phoenix’s iconic sigil.
He bow slightly to eveyone and said with a melodious voice.
Well, I see familiar face, so you kwon who I am no need to present myself.
Devko took the note from the hands of Ceric and said in a casual tone to the venture captain.
Don't worry Captain, with me as their leader they can't fail. What do we know exactly about the worldwound and about this ancient Pathfinder's safe house ?
Can we expect difficulties to find it or protection left here ? I don't speak of course of demons.
"Once you cross the Wardstones teleportation magic will work normally. Unless you have a special bond with an animal, it will get spooked and refused to go into that wasteland. The thing about demons is that they are unpredictable so be prepared for anything. Hopefully once you reach the safe house it will still be abandoned or at the least have the most minor demons inside. Resecure it, get the prophecy, and get out."
The terrain within the Worldwound shifts both subtly and drastically from moment to moment, resulting in strange, fleeting sights in one’s peripheral vision. What remains of an overland road passes through a circle of long-standing burial mounds. Most sport collapsed entrances, though the northernmost barrow remains intact, its door looming ominously. Air vents billow forth putrid steam in all directions, and the ground is soggy with filthy water.
As the party stands pondering their next move, you easily notice that one of the mounds to the left actually has an opening. Unfortunately, at that time, one of the other mounds spews a wave of sonic damage!
The party teleports themselves across the quicksand, avoid the abyssal storm and finding shelter from the exploding planar mounds!
This long-emptied barrow seems strangely devoid of the Abyssal taint that was so potent beyond the cave’s entrance. A dim lamp illuminates a small chamber at the end of the narrow tunnel, exposing a meager bedroll, scraps of devoured carrion, and a bucket of fetid water.
Laying in the back of the chamber is a malnourished and injured woman in battered and tarnished gold and blue armor. Some of you recognize it as the armor of an Eagle Knight.
The woman groans a bit. "Oh, please. Are you here to rescue me? My name is Illayna Kradow. I am an Eagle Knight who answered the call to the Mendevian Crusades. I wasn't out here long before I then was lost in the wilds of the Worldwound. Please, can you stay here with me? Or take me to safety? I can't go on on my own."
The woman answers Ezrek, "Toil. But I couldn't let my beloved companions' gear fall to the demons as well."