Act I: Veils and Shadows, pt. 2

At first, the new plane seemed much like the Shadowfell, dimly lit and nearly lifeless. But here there was an almost palpable aura of decay: the river water was black and stank of rotting vegetation, and the trees along the bank reeked of corruption. The very land was blighted, diseased. A thin, cold mist flowed over the ground, and the moon that shone down from the sky was as red as blood. The Raven Queen had spoken true: something was horrifically wrong here. Clangden attempted to consult the Manual of the Planes to find out where "here" was, but the book, apparently possessed of its own will, showed him only a strange symbol that caused a taste of rotten meat in the heroes' mouths.

Coming ashore near a signpost on a road that ran along the river, the Legend Breakers learned that they were halfway between a town called Aronville and another named New Bronton. Given that New Bronton, according to the sign, lay some sixteen miles downriver, the heroes opted to get back in the boat and sail downriver rather than walk the distance.

Arriving at New Bronton, the heroes were only mildly surprised that the guard who greeted them was a zombie, recalling the Raven Queen's remark about living beings attracting "undue attention." At first the guard was reluctant to permit the Legend Breakers entry into the town, citing a "quarantine," but when the heroes displayed their ignorance of the local circumstances he became more open, taking them to be "newly risen." The guard allowed them into the town and directed them to Prelate Hadric in the town hall.

The Prelate proved to be a hideously disfigured man, missing his lower jaw entirely. He communicated, in a manner brusque to the point of rudeness, through sign language and an interpreter. He explained that the previous year, a magical experiment gone awry had resulted in a massive wave of necrotic energy covering the entire planet and transforming every living thing into an undead version of itself. Half the recently buried corpses had also risen as undead, and bodies had continued to rise at irregular intervals ever since. Prelate Hadric noted that the only bright spot in all this was that an organization he called the Triat had volunteered its services to help stabilize the country, and advised the group to travel on to the capital city of Shan if they wanted to know more. He did not appear at all sorry to see the back of them.

Shan proved to be a partially rebuilt ruin, nearly a quarter of its area taken up by a massive crater centered on what had been the wizards' tower from which the catastrophe had originated. Residual eddies of magic suspended chunks of masonry in the air above the crater, including what appeared to be the nearly-intact top three floors of the tower. A giant scaffold extended out from the rim of the crater to a window on the lowermost of the three, and the Legend Breakers decided to scale this makeshift bridge. They passed several work parties on their way around the rim of the crater, noticing that the leader of each wore a surcoat bearing the emblem that the Manual of the Planes had shown them on their arrival. None of the workers or their supervisors attempted to stop the heroes, however, or even remarked on their passage.

The inside of the tower proved only moderately illuminating. The bottom floor was strewn with skeletons and signs that they had died violently. Old, dried bloodstains and blast marks were prevalent, and much of the furniture had been smashed. The second floor showed signs that the battle had grown more intense as it moved up the tower: hardly any surface was free of blood or soot, and human remains were scattered more thickly on the floor. One group in particular had fallen facing outward from the staircase leading up to the top floor, as though they had died defending it from an attacker. The uppermost floor consisted of a single huge room with an empty pedestal in the center, whose walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in arcane glyphs and runes. Marris was able to determine that the spells woven into the stone pertained to protection and containment, presumably aimed at whatever had previously occupied the pedestal.

There were also a number of skeletons in the top room, again facing outward from a central point, this time the pedestal. Sprawled across the pedestal was one skeleton of decidedly inhuman aspect. Instead of feet, it had cloven hooves; batlike wings sprouted from between its shoulder blades; and great horns curved back over its skull. It was clearly the skeleton of a demon. A partial picture emerged of the final moments leading up to the disaster: a demonic intruder invaded the tower, slaughtered everyone in its path on its bloody climb despite the resistance of the tower's occupants, stepped over the corpses of the last defenders to reach the pedestal, and... what? Did it activate some kind of artifact, or shut one down? Had it intended to cause global devastation, or was that merely an unforeseen side effect? For the demon itself had certainly gained nothing except a swift death for its efforts.

At a loss to answer these questions, the Legend Breaker decided to seek out someone in the city who might be able to shed more light on the matter. One of the Triat officers overseeing a work crew directed them to city hall and one Executor Nalis. Unfortunately, the Executor proved less than helpful, claiming that while Triat researchers had indeed combed the surviving floors of the tower, they had learned nothing of particular value. When Marris, sensing Nalis was not being entirely truthful, brashly demanded that the Executor provide more information, Nalis' manner turned from diffident to actively hostile, ordering the heroes to leave his office and forget that they had ever set foot in the tower.

Certain that Executor Nalis knew far more about the tower and what happened there than he was letting on, the Legend Breakers determined to capture him for interrogation.

Experience rewards:
Learning of the necrotic wave from Prelate Hadric: 500xp
Examining the interior of the tower: 1,000xp
Determining than Executor Nalis knows more than he's letting on: 500xp
Total: 2,000xp
Per character: 500xp
Current status: 29,350 + 500 = 29,850xp
To next level: 32,000 - 29,850 = 2,150xp

Treasure rewards:
None this session.

Next time, in Sailing the River of Worlds:
The Legend Breakers attempt to capture Executor Nalis. Will they succeed, and if so, what will they learn from him? Who summoned the demon that invaded the Shan wizards' tower? Can the necrotic wave be reversed, and this world returned to normal?