Death is not the End

Death is not the End is the first chapter of Citadel of the Unseen Sun, which took place over three sessions. The story followed the Olvidados de la Luz. which included the following characters:

**Mateo Delgado**: A young philosophy student from the Academy of Nueva Ostrolla, Mateo is a student of Old Ostrolla, and is devoted to uncovering it's ancient past, even at the cost of his own health...

**Hannibal DeCastro:** One of two twins born to the elite DeCastro family, Hannibal has done everything in the shadow of his sister Elissa. Having disappeared, it is Hannibal's desire to ensure her safety, or survival...

**Rowan Blackthorn:** A hunter of spirits, demons and monsters with a shrouded past, Rowan is willing to do anything for a job. But what happens when the sins of his past catch up with him...?

**Azima**: A simple warrior who is dedicated to protecting her younger sister, Azima has led an uncomplicated and relatively untroubled life. Yet, that seems to change, as more and more of her ancestry comes into focus...

**Gilly:** A child born with an innate ability to sense and feel the emotions of others; Gilly was spirited away from her home and trained in the art of the Feywild by her benefactor, Baba Yaga. Though she doesn't know it, Gilly has an important destiny...

**Aster:** The last of his people, Aster's home in the Grove of Rest has been afflicted by a being known as Vetra, sapping their strength and minds slowly but surely. Having set out to find a cure or solution, will Aster be able to reconcile the fate of the many, or the few...?

## Chapter Summary

Having been contacted by a mysterious individual known as the "Nightseer Sage"; Rowan, Azima and Aster venture into an old Ostrollan tomb in order to retrieve an ancient circlet, one that belonged to a denizen of Old Ostrolla. Navigating through the traps and machinations of the tomb, in the central most chamber the trio comes across Mateo; a student who has ventured into the tomb to learn of it's deep connections to the lost history of the Old empire. With the help of Mateo, the party is able to find the circlet, though tripping the alarms in the process. During their attempts to escape the tomb, they are caught by Cazamir Sundrinker, an ancient lich of Old Ostrolla, who captures and kills the party....

The souls of Mateo, Rowan, Azima and Aster float through the void for an indeterminant amount of time before they are reached out to by a strange man in black armor. The man gives each of the party members a ceremonial prayer of Avacyn, and proclaims that death is not the end before the four of them wake up in an underground maze, surrounded by bones. As the bones rise up to attack them, they are assisted by a gnome wielding a crossbow with a strange skeletal style paint across his body. The Gnome introduces himself as Yejin, and explains that the party are trapped in a massive underground network known as the Dretches, where the damned that are cast down are assailed by hordes of monsters and corpses. Accompanying Yejin through the maze, the party decides to find shelter amongst the camp Yejin speaks of.

Further in the Dretches, Hannibal DeCastro awakens amongst a different pile of bones. Lost and confused, he meets a little girl who is alive amongst so much death, and questions how she is able to exist down here. The girl introduces herself as Gilly, and the pair decide to stick together to find shelter. During their exploration of the Dretches, Hannibal and Gilly find the other group, of which Azima and Gilly, who have long since been apart have finally been reunited. Hannibal realizes that he has gaps in his memories, and seeing no other option that would better his chances at survival, elects to continue on with the rest of the group. After helping Yejin return to his camp; the party meets a group of previous survivors known as the Dretchers:

**Abradus**: A kind and gentle Half Elf bard turned blacksmith, and the leader of the Dretchers. Though the untold amount of time has taken it's toll on the man he still has hope for a peaceful and fulfilling life.

**Coragnir:** A Dragonborn sorcerer with a taste for the forbidden arcane arts, Coragnir hopes to study the strange and powerful magics that afflicts the Dretches.

**Secher:** An oft thinking and seldom paying attention Dwarf Apothecary, Secher strives to not lose more people than he needs to amongst the horrors of the Dretches.

**Lemnor:** A quiet but noble hunter Elven Hunter of the woods, Lemnor is searching the depths of the Dretches for her beloved wolf companion; Coral.

**Doyenta:** A Human scholar and historian of the ancient days of Old Ostrolla, Doyenta believes that there is something deep and hidden that should be uncovered deep within the muck of the Dretches.

**Yejin:** A scout and the oldest person who has survived the longest within the confines of Old Ostrolla, Yejin believes in nothing but what is right in front of him, electing to try and survive rather than live.

Seeing enough of the sorry state of the group and their poor spirits; Rowan strives to try and escape the Dretches, to try and get back to the ones that he loves the most upon the surface. Intrigued by his spirit; Coragnir informs Rowan of the creature that is preventing their escape; the wicked beast known as El Ladron. With the two agreeing to try and learn more about the creature before charging into defeat it, Rowan and Coragnir convince Azima, Mateo and Gilly to accompany them deep into the Dretches in order to find El Ladron. Hannibal also agrees but makes arrangements with Abradus to find him more metals in order to make weapons and armor for him.

Traveling through the Dretches, the party manages to dispatch a fearsome troll or giant like creature that is made of the bones and flesh of it's fallen victims and find an old camp of the Dretchers that was overrun by the troll and other zombies. The Dretchers resettle into the camp, and in their exploration, Hannibal finds ores for Abradus, who makes him a beautiful set of enchanted armor from his home of Raevo. Along the way, Azima also finds needed trap parts for Yejin, Mateo finds herbs that help Secher treat some of Gilly's wounds and Aster manages to reunite Lemnor with her wolf Coral. As spirits are lifted amongst the Dretcher camp, Hannibal and Mateo wonder what the origins of the Dretches were amongst the corpses of hundreds of thousands of mutilated vampire bones. Returning on their journey to find El Ladron, Coragnir and Rowan manage to lead the party through a trap laden ruin, organized by a skull known as Gloria before finding the slumbering mass of bones and flesh. After gathering the rest of the Dretchers; Hannibal, Rowan and Coragnir lead a three-pronged attack on the creature with the hopes of finally breaking free.

Though Doyenta was eaten and absorbed into the creature through the process of the battle, the party and the Dretchers managed to slay El Ladron, opening the gate out of the Dretches. Exhausted and elated, the found friends began to climb the stairs towards their freedom, their paradise...

## Behind the Curtains

* The Dretches was once known as the Pits of Halthsin, the hellish mining pit that the Vampiric slaves of Old Ostrolla were subject to during the reign of the Sun Emperor Ferdinand IV, during the height of Old Ostrolla. During the Age of Darkness in Ostrolla, Cazamir took the pits and formed them into his Phylactery, creating the hell that was known as the Dretches. Many of the corpses and gear that was found belonged to the Matadors that once enslaved and fought for the glory of the Empire.
* The prologue of Citadel of the Unseen Sun takes place 120 years before the events of Dark Ascension. When the party awakens, it is the year 1492 in Faerun, and 120 AE (Avacyn's Return) on Innistrad.
	+ When the Olvidados awaken, the Princesses of the Apocalypse had just reached the Circle of the Scarlet Moon on their way to meet Eliza Dryflagon
* This Chapter marks the first appearance of the Lord of Blood in the Timeline of The Saga of Stone and Sinew (His second appearance chronologically) and the first of Vik in the guise of Sorin Markov