H:RotG Chapter 1: Crow and Cadavers

*Halo of moonlight, guide my path*

*Through lands once flourished, razed by wrath;*

*Despite the danger, despite the past,*

*I pray, through my travels, my body shall last.*

*With thine divine blessing I shall fight the odds;*

*Grant me, Silver Goddess, the respite of the gods.*

- Anonymous Silver Strider prayer to Ester Pyx, wishing for safe travels through the Battlefield.

**Halintar.**

A land vast and beautiful, with flowing rivers, towering mountains, bountiful valleys, and hidden treasures.

A land where six mighty **Dragon-Gods** live amongst their people, guiding them in life as they see fit.

A land upon which, not so long ago, war raged eternal by these gods’ will, their demesne sundered and sewn by their own mighty hands.

But that era has passed, and now the six deities and their peoples live together in a time of uneasy peace.

We begin our tale with an anomaly. The great volcano **Cataclysm** in the heart of the **Southern Mantle**, home to the Dragon-God **Tephra**, had recently had an odd eruption; rather than spill the molten blood of the earth, it instead rained that of diamond, sparkling and pure, in an event that came to be known as **The Shining**. This sudden blessing shocked the goddess and her people, providing the downtrodden war citadel of the **Ashen Breach** with boundless riches and attracting treasure-hungry travelers from all corners of the Big Stretch.

Amongst these visitors was the paladin **Avagantamous “Gant” Okarthel**. Serving under the watchful wing of the lawful deity **Ester Pyx**, he was sent on his own to investigate the Shining in-person and report back with what he discovered. A bitter rival to the magmatic goddess of the south, Ester was highly suspicious of what the Shining’s cause was, but did not wish to reignite the fires of war by sending troops over.

Gant wandered through the rolling hills of the Great Northwest’s border, admiring the setting sun as he made his way towards a familiar landmark. A mighty watchtower worn down by time, nestled on the edge of the desolate valley known as the Battlefield. Tended by the raven-feathered maiden **Minerva**, it is known even by the gods as the **Tipsy Tengu**. There, not only would he obtain rest, but he would also cross paths with a band of unlikely allies and wonderful friends.

Within the Tengu were several other travelers also hoping to make their way to the site of the Shining:

A fishy professor on sabbatical from the **Wizards of the Coast**, named **Professor Hydran**;

His “loyal" hired guard and visitor from the distant continent of Ohwald, **Rabi Phendara**;

The tavern’s spry young **Tevi** bard, a plantfolk known only as **T**;

A bounty hunter, **Sai Tamma**, and his bounty, the merciless serial killer **Sargon Bloodkel**;

And a rowdy team of caravaners (called Caravan 17) commissioned by the **Sparkling Canyon Trading Company**, led by the sand elf exile **Sarnai** and accompanied by several others, including the mutant tiefling-orc hybrid **Zor** and the enigmatic young warlock **Kris Nifeton**. Amongst the caravan were also the young cleric-kobold **Shashank Dempti**, the dwarven emissary **Neville Poshkin**, and the ever-nagging halfling **Cyrus Groslind**.

After a lovely night of socializing (and through off-screen shenanigans, the first canon instance of Big Sexy. Gross) the guests of the Tengu retired for the evening… only to be risen by a series of murders and disappearances.

In the cover of night, Sai had vanished, leaving his charge Sargon to stampede through the tower and break into the room of Shashank and Kris. Kris woke up, and seeing Shashank motionless (despite Sargon not moving from the doorway) she shot him with an Eldritch Blast, destroying him on impact. Not only that, but aside from Sai missing, Zor and Cyrus had also disappeared!

After the would-be party of adventurers investigated and interrogated, they eventually discovered the plot was initiated by Neville- in fear of taking an overly dangerous route, he slaughtered Cyrus in his sleep and hid his body in a barrel of ale, which he hastily emptied out one of the tower’s windows. Shashank had been risen by the sound, and so the dwarf killed her with a single dagger strike and healed the puncture to make it seem as if she had died in her sleep. Meanwhile, the serial killer had broken out of his restraints in the night and killed Sai, attempting to run up the stairs and satiate his bloodshed before the rampage was promptly cut short. Zor, seeing Sai’s body, did what he thought was right and took it out for a burial, not thinking of what may have caused the death in the first place.

Realizing that Neville had murdered her childhood friend, Kris promptly annihilated him, registering herself as a criminal against the nobility of Kaiken.

And so, down nearly her entire crew, Sarnai petitioned the would-be investigators to join Caravan 17 in their trek to the Ashen Breach. They accepted, and after the squawking barkeep was satisfied with their job cleaning up the bloodied floorboards they ventured south to complete their shared goal.

With Kris Nifeton in manacles, the newly formed party of 6: Sarnai, Zor, T, Gant, Hydran, and Rabi, begin a lengthy journey towards their shared goal of reaching the site of the Shining.

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 TBD