Post by venger on May 3, 2015 21:54:05 GMT -5
Contrary to the words of scholars, the foul city of Petalumeir is far form godless. Wide-eyed madmen stalk the streets pronouncing the end of days, mail-clad priests crush the skulls of heathens underfoot, and timorous virgins are offered up in sacrifice within sooty temples. For while the capricious gods of Aerth turn a blind on much of the world, they lavish Petalumeir with their attentions. It is no accident that the most wicked city in the Known World is also the most god-haunted.
Our heroes dare the impossible, to cross between the realms of the living and the dead to liberate a soul from death's hoary grasp.Such ambitions can hardly escape the notice of Petalumeir's jealous gods and our heroes' answer to the challenges sent by the divine will determine whether they are mere pawns in the games of the gods or masters of their own fates.
Amidst the muddy maze of tents and market stalls of the Squalor Court they meet the Witch of Saulim, a blind fortuneteller who is far more than she appears. She gifts them with strange portents and death masks to aid them in their quest. From there our heroes venture into the Temple of the Moon; their goal: to steal the Argent Falx, a legendary weapon said to be capable of cutting the chains of death, which only appears when the goddess Mani manifests on the night of a full moon. Through magic and guile, our heroes make their way to the heart of the temple, wait for the lunar rite to reach its climax and then steal the goddess' blade from beneath the noses of a horde of fanatic cultists.
For the next week the streets are awash with thief takers, hunting for those who would so blaspheme against one of the Great Temples. Gruff, filthy men, the thief takers live on the edge of the law, one step removed from their prey. They pose little threat to our heroes. Of more concern is the High Priestess of Mani and her acolytes, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the sacred relic of her faith.
Armed with the holy blade and the witch's divinations, our heroes press into the heart of Petalumeir's slums, to the notorious charnel pits, where they now seek the very gates of death.
...
Surrounded by rotting tenements and shrouded in perpetual darkness, with raw sewage pooling underfoot, there is nothing to distinguish the alley from any of the hundreds like it that infest the Old City.
But your sources all concur: this alley once led to the charnel house of Ratvik the Mad, whose bloody lusts haunt the poor of Petalulmeir to this day. Somewhere winthin - so the stories aver - stand the gates to the Realms of the Dead, awaiting those foolish enough to throw them wide. With the filth sucking at your boots, you take your first steps into darkness.
Our heroes dare the impossible, to cross between the realms of the living and the dead to liberate a soul from death's hoary grasp.Such ambitions can hardly escape the notice of Petalumeir's jealous gods and our heroes' answer to the challenges sent by the divine will determine whether they are mere pawns in the games of the gods or masters of their own fates.
Amidst the muddy maze of tents and market stalls of the Squalor Court they meet the Witch of Saulim, a blind fortuneteller who is far more than she appears. She gifts them with strange portents and death masks to aid them in their quest. From there our heroes venture into the Temple of the Moon; their goal: to steal the Argent Falx, a legendary weapon said to be capable of cutting the chains of death, which only appears when the goddess Mani manifests on the night of a full moon. Through magic and guile, our heroes make their way to the heart of the temple, wait for the lunar rite to reach its climax and then steal the goddess' blade from beneath the noses of a horde of fanatic cultists.
For the next week the streets are awash with thief takers, hunting for those who would so blaspheme against one of the Great Temples. Gruff, filthy men, the thief takers live on the edge of the law, one step removed from their prey. They pose little threat to our heroes. Of more concern is the High Priestess of Mani and her acolytes, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the sacred relic of her faith.
Armed with the holy blade and the witch's divinations, our heroes press into the heart of Petalumeir's slums, to the notorious charnel pits, where they now seek the very gates of death.
...
Surrounded by rotting tenements and shrouded in perpetual darkness, with raw sewage pooling underfoot, there is nothing to distinguish the alley from any of the hundreds like it that infest the Old City.
But your sources all concur: this alley once led to the charnel house of Ratvik the Mad, whose bloody lusts haunt the poor of Petalulmeir to this day. Somewhere winthin - so the stories aver - stand the gates to the Realms of the Dead, awaiting those foolish enough to throw them wide. With the filth sucking at your boots, you take your first steps into darkness.
