Ardmagh
Among the refugees arriving in Ardmagh is a young lad named Hestlin. He carries with him a hastly written missive that reads as follows:
The date is the 70th year of the third era in our humble kingdom Arryatlee.
Arryatlee used to be a simple kingdom of guilds, trade and faith but in our ambition for growth and knowledge we discovered the means to traverse worlds. It was glorious, what once was a single kingdom grew forming travel, trade and communication like never before witnessed. In our wanderlust we forfeited wisdom for greed and the very tools that would craft our prosperity would bring about our destruction.
It began with a promising young wizard, Azohra. She was the pinnacle of our students but longed for powers unknown. She would find a key to the heavens and corrupt it through a pact with Libila. The dark queen altered the key’s purpose and through its malevolence, Azohra could traverse the dimensions of Hell, recruiting all manners of demons, warlords and wizards, with whom she would amass a force match our own in the brutality of war.
In the way though stands the Arcanum Tower, the origin of world travel. Its halls purposed by the Vynoran priests as a place of learning, foresaw the rising darkness and malice of its citizens and the tower turned jailor. In its strength they decreed that once per year the most vile of its inhabitants would be executed as an example to those who might do wrong.
After the execution of one of Azohra’s most loyal advisors the Arcanum has earned the ire of the dark host but for all her power Azohra could not rival the Arcanum. In our strength we had neglected diligence and the deceitful nature of Libila would be our undoing. The Arcanum is betrayed, assassins have faltered what protection the towers once had and the high priests like the prisoners before them have been executed.
With the fall of the Arcanum the spirits of the dead will break the barriers to darkness and fiends will start to spread across all lands and worlds, you will not be safe. Onto you I send this boy Hestlin and apprentice Cathirix to a land without light for hope they may yet survive our folly.
Ardmagh is an ancient land forgotten to history and hopefully hidden from Libila’s wrath and Azorha’s notice. Once brought to ruin through famine this world must be your refuge, for peace or redemption that choice will be your own. I beg of you not to forsake the living, those you abandon will only become that which will destroy you.
What will the survivors find when they arrive? Will they find refuge? Peace? A place to start again?
What is your story? Did you survive the battle for the Arcanum? Are you from another world? How did you end up in Ardmagh?