| |
State of the Kingdom of Arend, 12889AC
Upon returning to the lands of Arend the adventurers discover that the Kingdom Arend is in turmoil. A great undead power has arisen in the
east, where they left open the shadow portal. The armies of Greentree are massing between the foothills of the Shimoire to Couchee
Mountain ranges. Though Emperor Varana has said that their presence
there is not a threat to Arend, he will not speak of why such a large military force has been commited to the area. The populace of Arend
fears an invasion.
King Theros of Arend has been barely seen at all in the last six months, his advisors say that he is
burdened with sickness, though some say that he too has contracted the Walking Rot, which plagues the cities and seems to
spontaneously arise. This disease strikes slowly, the carrier slowly becoming necrotic, yet they live on despite how decrepit their bodies
may become. Possibly surviving for months or (speculated) even years before dying of some other condition. Upon death they rise as
ghouls. Most simply disappear in the night, leaving a household of carnage at their departure. No one is certain where they travel to;
some say east and to the Lands of Saul which are now awakening, some say west to bow before a vampire-god that has risen from its
slumber in the Darkenwood. Rumors abound that more sinister undead have been slowly gathering power and subverting the loyal
rulers of the country, others say that the Zhakrinites have returned to finish the task of destroying the nation, which they began twenty
years ago.
The adventuring party is eager to travel to the Shrine of Passion where they plan to close the shadow rift
which was inadvertently opened when they interrupted the ritual that some Shaul-Tuul servants of Titalus were performing. However, their
arrival there is only just in time to witness thirty robed and hunched figures as they complete a powerful ritual that transfers the shadow rift
to the necropolis of Tyndol, where Aoran awaits.
What transpires here is that Aoran hopes to realign the three Discs of Qo and reawaken his ancient master,
Saulos, hoping that by doing so he will have earned favor with his old master and that this will rid him of his thralldom to Titalus.
Vainegal thal-Zeroth has secretly known for quite sometime that
the return of Saul is rapidly drawing near; that when the three discs have been positioned in their ancient necropoli in the Lands of Saul, the
ancient demigod lich-lord will return from the nether and rule once again. Vainegal opposes this revolution and has been gathering power
about himself to safeguard the disc which he uncovered from its repository in the Darkenwood.
In the Lands of Saul, Kaug has felt the echoing ripples of evil as Vainegal and Aoran have awoken and
risen from their imprisonments. At the direction of Aoran, Kaug has gathered his armies up and been sending them out and into the mountains
near the Greentree castle called Vathras Keep, searching for Kaug’s disc. In response, Varana has massed his armies in the region, based on
predictions by his court seers that an artifact of great power is buried somewhere there which will greatly swing the balance of the region
towards evil should it be uncovered. Varana hopes to covet this device for himself and thus will not fully explain the placement of his armies
there beyond countering the undead threat that is arising in the south.
By maneuvering Kaug into distracting the armies of Greentree, Aoran hopes to distract the regions heroes while
he secrets his way into the Couchee mountains and retrieves a second Disk of Qo. Should good heroes perish before the might of Kaug, all the
better.
|
