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Prelude: Azraphel
Your travels have brought you to the southern reaches of the Midden Kingdoms. So far, being on the road has been a refreshing change from
the ever present danger and pestilence of the city you left behind, Hana.
You made the difficult climb out of the sweaty and mosquito ridden realm of the Ki’kiri Jungles and into the
Midden Kingdoms. Once out of the humid valleys of the jungles you began coming across smaller villages. To your horror, each village had
been abandoned and lay silent and destitute. While on the roads – as you continued northward and into the kingdoms, you occasionally would
come across gatherings of people, fleeing southward, some fleeing northward, and all uncertain as to where their future lay. It seems that an
evil has slowly begun to spread in these lands. The undead have begun to invade into civilized parts of the countryside and are even rising in
the towns. A trance-like disease has begun to spread as well. You know that you must seek out the source of this despoilment and vanquish
it, the cry for help you see in each travelers eyes is an accusation to your frustrated inaction.
It is clear to you that you can hunt down the ever thriving undead that wander the roads and countryside to
little effect, but to accomplish your quest you will require some companions.
Leaving the most recent ruins of a small town behind you – a town curiously devoid of bodies or signs of
conflict, you head out again to travel northward. As evening drew to you heard the echoing hiss of the dead to the side of the roadway.
Drawing your sword, Truth, you met the approaching dead with the vigor of your god in your breast. The battle started well, your sword
cutting brave swaths through the unliving, when you felt claws grasping your feet. To your horror, the parts which you had hewn away
from the creatures now stirred beneath you and grasped, climbing their way up your armored leggings. Too late, you now realized that
you have been taken too far from the roadway. The ground is too soft here and the battle ha suddenly become desperate. The mists
have darkened and it occurs to you that the sun has now set and tonight will be moonless.
Your sword streaks again, outward with fervor and slices off other creature in twain, only so that now it
grasps at you from the ground. Panic grips you as you feel their power increasing. The dark touch is upon this place and the undead revel
in it, your life seeping away until all was darkness.
Consciousness returns in the form of blinding light and you know that you have earned your rightful place in
your deities realm. But wait – you can still feel your flesh, and a breeze brushes across your eyelashes and so you open them.
A tired and traveled priest of Arden sits near you on a cart and in the distance you hear the sounds of
approaching population. You sit up and dizziness briefly passes through you and you can see a homely town at the side of a beautiful lake
nearby.
Several days have passed since you entered the town. The priest of Arden left you in the care of an innkeeper
at the inn called Khale’s Place. Regrettably, the priest left before you had recovered enough to speak with him or thank him for his help.
Restored by the power of your god you are ready to leave the inn. Since this town is populated you suppose that companions can be
found here, and so you head to a nearby tavern, not far from the waterfront. The hour is late as you enter and a mist has come up from the
waters of the nearby lake and shrouded the bar in its cloak.
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