The Mendevian Crusade draws heavily on the Pathfinder Society’s resources, and unless the Decemvirate can secure the assistance of generous patrons, the society may not have sufficient capital both to fight off the demonic invasion and to prepare its expedition to a lost historical site within the Worldwound. Upon hearing that the daughter of an eminent and wealthy of citizen of Sauerton has gone missing, the Pathfinders rush to her aid in the hope of earning her father’s goodwill and support in upcoming endeavors.
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The Stolen Heir takes place on the northeastern plains of Andoran, in and around Sauerton, a sizeable town known—somewhat infamously—for its wine production. The adventure also features Galtan citizens, known for their revolutionary zeal.
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Morning light streams in through the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Aroden in Almas. A desk, crossed with lines like battle scars sits in the center of the room, several chairs arrayed around it. The summons sent this morning told the pathfinders to meet here for the meeting, and other than being urgent was very vague on the subject matter.
After a few more moments, three men enter the room.
Venture-Captain Brackett quickly sits down behind the large desk, and he scans a handful of papers before speaking to the team, with him is the no-nonsense wizard Wystorn Telfyr and Major Colson Maldris.
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Brackett starts speaking slowly. “I recently received news of a kidnapping in Sauerton, up in the northern wine country. Thalia Andares, heir to the Sauerton Red wine fortune and daughter of Consul Tercio Andares, vanished during the Silverglazer Sunday celebration and has not been seen since.”
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With a meaningful look, Maldris catches Brackett’s attention, and the two nod in understanding as the major contributes.
“Tercio Andares is powerful and widely respected; not only has he been the mayor of the large town for many years, but he is also a strong voice in the Andoren military—even for a consul. The Sauerton Red winery has made him extremely wealthy, and his financial support could be a considerable asset to the Pathfinders’ important work in and around the Worldwound. He seems uninterested in foreign affairs, though, perhaps because it’s politically safer to focus on domestic matters. Even so, he is known to help those who help him.”
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Telfyr looks at Brackett and then at you. Brackett nods and starts to speak.
"Let us talk about the Worldwound. As you might all know lots of groups are helping in these times of trouble. Of course also the Society although it is getting more expensive every day."
He scratches his head. "Nobody wants a demon-haunted wasteland that lies at the northern-most reaches of central Avistan. For all of us the Worldwound is an unnatural blight: it is a rift to the Abyss opened on the Material Plane."
Telfyr hesitates a moment but then add.
"I am probably telling you no news but it is important that you all know what happened. The Worldwound appeared shortly after the death of the god Aroden at the beginning of the Age of Lost Omens, and is probably the greatest threat to life on the face of Golarion. Hearing of the Abyssal incursions in the north, the church of Iomedae dedicated itself to closing the rift and stopping the demons' advance. Still reeling from the death of their goddess' patron, Aroden, the clergy decided that a crusade would unite the still fledgling faith and complete the task Aroden had started against the followers of Deskari so long ago. Since the First Mendevian Crusade was launched in 4622 AR, thousands of devout Iomedaeans have traveled across the Lake of Mists and Veils and up the West Sellen River to the Mendevian capital of Nerosyan to battle the demons of the Worldwound. Though they have beaten back the Abyssal onslaught numerous times, they have never closed the rift between the planes."
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Bracket nods again.
"All-out war has erupted on the long-contested border between the crusader nation of Mendev and the demon-infested Worldwound. With the magical defenses that once held the demons at bay failing, defense of the region now falls to small patrols of mobile soldiers to resupply, reinforce, and communicate between the border's many fortresses and outposts. With so much at stake, the Pathfinder Society has enlisted many of its agents to assist in the war effort, both to protect its own interests and to prevent the onrushing tide of demonic attackers from plunging the entire Inner Sea region into chaos."
Foul demons infest the Worldwound. The geography of the Worldwound is a sickening, flexible thing, with the features of the land shifting in front of the viewer's eyes. This fluidity of form grows worse the closer one gets to the actual rift at the center of this region. The thin veil between Golarion and the Great Beyond tears completely there, and demonic monstrosities pour forth unabated from the depths of the Abyss. At the distal reaches of the Worldwound, where it borders on the surrounding realms, this instability subsides.
Ancient roots
The earliest hints of this demonic disaster can be found in truly ancient texts that detail the times before Aroden's ascension to godhood, when he walked Golarion as a man. There are ancient myths of Aroden vanquishing a demonic cult dedicated to Deskari from the Northmounds, driving his cultists from the land into the Lake of Mists and Veils. For thousands of years this was viewed as just another obscure myth, but with Aroden's death and the following events it took on a new significance.
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Fall of Sarkoris
Before the Age of Lost Omens on the site of the modern Worldwound was a powerful, yet barbaric, Kellid nation called Sarkoris. When Aroden died, it caused a very slight planar shift that knocked the whole of Golarion from its normal metaphysical alignment and slightly toward the fearful abyssal plane. This shift manifested itself in the northern reaches of Sarkoris, where their mystics and witches foresaw a time of chaos and a thinning of the borders between realities.
The Worldwound began its encroachment with strange demonic beasts haunting the barrows and tombs of the Northmounds. These foul creatures soon spread out and attacked nearby isolated clan holdings. While worried, the people of Sarkoris believed that Aroden's imminent return would solve the problem.
Rumours began to spread of a mile-long cosmic blight that was rimmed by jet black flames located southwest of the city of Iz; this site became known as the Worldwound. This corruption soon spread to engulf an area the size of a country, destroying what was once Sarkoris. The Worldwound's unchecked expansion was only halted when the Mendevian Crusades were launched.
A wardstone is a minor artifact in the form of a menhir inscribed with runes, and is designed to ward out demons of the Worldwound. Its power must be maintained by regular prayers and annual rituals. The wardstones are infused with the rare mineral nexovar, found in the hills along the Egelsee River in Mendev, which helps to combat the demonic taint.
Creatures of intrinsically chaotic or evil nature cannot pass between wardstones; thus they serve to ensure the demons of the Worldwound cannot venture into Mendev. However, these obelisks must be continuously maintained by priests and protected from demonic attack.
The wardstones also prevent any form of teleportation magic from functioning across the borders, whether from a demonic source or otherwise, but do not hinder such magic from functioning normally inside the Worldwound. Their effects are powerful enough to weaken demonic excursions to the unwarded western and northern borders.
The creation of the wardstones greatly inhibited the demons' teleportation abilities. Even though they only existed along the southern and eastern border of the Worldwound, the wardstones created a magical echo to the north and west. Not as powerful as the wardstones themselves, since the echo did not prevent the demons from physically leaving the warded area, this echo still prevented them from using teleportation to escape into the rest of Golarion. The Kellid barbarian tribes aggressive defense of their territories to the north and west of the Worldwound, combined with the irresistible presence of the Iomedaean crusaders, focused most of the demons' attention on the borders with Mendev, Ustalav, and Numeria.
Should a wardstones go more than a year without a maintenance ritual, it can be damaged as any other object, though it remains a dense and difficult to break stone. Destroying a wardstone breaks its link in the chain of wardstones, though the gap in its effect can vary between a few dozen feet to several miles in length.
The Mendevian Crusaders are less organized than other knightly orders, united primarily by their desire to eliminate the expansion of demons from the Worldwound. Not all of its members are selfless and honourable, but many epitomize true courage. Sheer desperation for able-bodied warriors causes the order to take shining knightly followers of Iomedae, as well as Hellknights, Pathfinders, and even lowly glory-seekers, ruffians, profiteers, and other undesirables.
All crusaders nominally fight under the white-and-gold banner of Iomedae, or under one of the many flags of the knightly orders who make their home in Mendev. Because the crusaders are such a diverse group, however, hailing from all over the Inner Sea region, many companies have retained the symbols of their homeland. This means that any crusader stronghold is a riot of colors, with streamers and banners from hundreds of clans, counties, kingdoms, families, and orders competing for room. Some even create orders or noble titles out of whole cloth for themselves, hoping to elevate their status within the armies of the crusades, since it is impossible for the heralds of Iomedae to check the authenticity and provenance of every newcomer's claim. Whatever a soldier's banner may be, the ones the crusaders respect and desire the most are the ones earned on the battlefield. These take the form of one of the holy symbols of Iomedae: the sword, the shield, or the sunburst, and can be gained by soldiers of any rank or social standing.