12.07.19

Oh snap! It's gonna be worse down here.

The three unmarked, Bird, J.S., and Ana find themselves in a miserable state. They are devoid of all Weapons, Armor, and Items, save two of each category. They do retain all their money, for whatever that's worth here in the onderworld of Tharizdunia. The players can decide their own deals. I better email them now.

The landscape is a dark and stormy day. Purple lightning flashes in the sky, rain pours down. It's cold. The heroes find themselves on a rolling hillside. Patches of scorched ground dot the field of sickly looking grass. On the next hill, several Axe Beaks (page 317) graze. They will attack the players if disturbed, but can likely be captured and tamed for riding if the players go that direction.

Below, a river flows dark and menacing. This is the Chionthar, though players may not immediately recognize it. Ana could potentially realize that this is very near the area where she and Torment climbed the tree so long ago. If JS goes along, he could be the one who writes the message.

Across the river, a large, menacing building of stone and wood belches foul yellow smoke into the air. This is the processing facility, where those who have not been chosen by Tharizdun are rounded up and turned into food bars. Within the giant building (think 4 times the size of a Sam's Club, there are portals to various Doors in Tharizdunias that allow supplies to pass between the worlds. A giant statue of Tharizdun glows atop the center. His visage gives no comfort to the heroes, their minds are warped by his otherworldly presence.

This edge of madness affects the heroes profoundly. On the use of any named character, race, or class ability the character must roll a D10. On a 1, the ability fails. This can be pushed to lower dice (D8, 6, 4) or more numbers to trigger if the character is under duress, either physical or mental. This effect is in force up to half-day travel away in any direction.

On the far side of the processing center, a caravan of people, monsters, and other creatures are herded inside. It takes a great deal of material to feed the chosen, and the captured are brought day and night. The sky never clears, the rain only stops occasionally, and even nightime is lit by the statue. there will be no easy approach under cover of night. A great pen surrounds the far side entrance, and those captured but not yet set to enter for processing are contained within. The result is a great tent city/shanty town/slum. Some have been able to avoid moving to processing for a substantial amount of time, whether by cunning, murder, or collaboration with the guards. Races and creatures are not spearated, so violence is common, though even monsters are cowed by the mental affects wrought by the presences of the Idol of Tharizdun. It is not a constant thunderdome, but not far off.

How does it end? Three possiblities:

1. To move on, the party must enter the processessing center, destroy the mechanisms inside this halts production of the food bars. This can be arranged with help from the ruins of Elturel, by dominating or otherwise raising a rebellion form the processing camp, both, or by some other method. Tharizdun will speak and curse them, voiding their eventual entry into Tharizdunia and casting them back in time to the temple. They will then be the sworn enemies of the elder gods.
2. A triple suicide transports them back to the temple, awaiting the return of the other party. They will remember everything they saw, but will be unable to talk about it with the others. They must commit suicide together. Clues can be arranged.
3. If JS leaves the warning carved into the tree, an additional entrance to the center will be opened. This door will lead directly to a portal to Tharizdunia. This is a safetly hatch cleverly placed by the new gods to help subvert Tharizdun's plans. Tharizdun, in his confidence, is not aware of this back door, but becomes aware when the party accesses it.They are spared the challenge and entrance to the processing center the hard way. If they then approach a portal to Thazidunia, the god will speak to them, explain his vision for the future, and offer them the mark and an opportunity to work toward "utopia." After all, they are killers and racists, what difference does it make if some of these wretched creatures survive to support the freedom and happiness of the others? If they accept, they are reunited with the others.

Two days upriver, the city of Elturel lies in ruin. Ontharr Frume's palace is detroyed, the town smolders. It has been destroyed for nearly a year, but frequent raids by reavers looking for survivors keeps the fires burning. The underworld for each area grows as more and more are needed to fuel the fires of the processing center. Here, and in the surrounding area, the party can find the remnants of society. Men join with Kobolds, with Orcs, with anyone that can possibly help in surviving this horrific place. Hey, at least all that racism is dead, right? Anyone who meets the party demands to see the arms and legs of the newcomers, to be assured that nothing is tentacly.

If they go any other direction, they will encounter people who encourage them to go to Elturel. I'll have to make sure that they understand the importance of the tree and message prior to their being too far out of the area. Though much past Elturel, or two days in any direction, results in a reset.

However the party resolves their side, they cannot speak of what they saw to the others. It's like a static much like the void fish from Adventure Zone.