It began with a crash.
The engines of the Blackwing – a turbine-powered vessel carrying passengers, trade goods and prisoners on the last leg of its lengthy voyage around Sethia – exploded and sent the ship shattering against the sharp stones of the east shores of Rimefang Loch. Those passengers who survived the crash found themselves beset by the attacks of prisoners who’d escaped from the hold, as well as a diabolic wastelands hunter called a Blightwalker. Luckily for those survivors, five of their own number were would-be adventurers: Malkar, a swordmage escapee from the undead-controlled city of Tanith; Joar, a half-Doj warlord who wholly distrusted magic and technology; Theothia, a human druid with newly found prophetic dream powers; Geralt, a Sulaj rogue on the run from other more powerful criminals; and Sol, a half-Dracaj warden and former mercenary.
After these heroes dealt with the prisoners and the Blightwalker, the survivors gathered what supplies and provisions they could and prepared to make the rest of their journey along the dangerous coastline. There was, however, a problem. While surviving the deadly Dracaj-controlled coast would be made much easier with the influential word of a Black Warden, Argus, the Warden who’d brought the prisoners on board, refused to help anyone until two of the more dangerous prisoners who’d escaped in the wreck were returned to his custody. After some debate, it was decided that the greater body of survivors (well-armed with flintlocks) would wait it out near the ruins of the ship; that Argus would pursue the mechanically altered serial killer Vance Creyzak, who’d headed north along the coast; and the five inexperienced heroes would pursue the Bloodspeaker terrorist Lucan Keth, who’d set his sights inland. Equipped with a bizarre thaumaturgic compass that would lead them to Keth, the newly formed group set off into the hazardous Razortooth Mountains, warned by Captain Graves of the possibility of Rath-funded mercenary groups operating in the area.
It didn’t take the party long to find evidence of these mercenaries: a mountain village that Theothia had visited on occasion in the past had been laid to waste, and the bullet-addled and blade-ruined bodies of the dead had been piled high in the center of the settlement. Worse still, an unknown magical taint in the area had caused several of these unfortunate villagers to animate as hostile undead and attack the party. Once these undead were dealt with, the party laid as many of the dead villagers to rest as they could before they moved on.
The party moved higher into the mountains. In a desolate clearing surrounded by dead trees the party caught up with the desecrators of the village: a small unit of Gorgoloth soldiers and barbarians led by a Meldoarian thaumaturge-captain. As if this force wasn’t significant enough, the captain also controlled a deadly homunculus war machine called a Motorgun Walker, as well as a Bloodwolf. Though there were some misgivings about taking on such a sizable force, the party had revenge on their minds, and soon they’d surrounded the unit and launched their assault. The battle went well at first, as Gorgoloth soldiers fell before the party’s initial attack, but very soon the powerful Gorgoloth barbarians and the captain’s deadly magic tipped the tide in the mercenaries favor. The battle raged for some time, and each side saw its members fall one-by-one. The deciding strike came from Malkar, his last act before as was rendered unconscious by the thaumaturge: he unleashed a deadly cryo-blast that tore through the mage’s defenses and killed him. With the mage’s life went the mercenaries’ Motorgun Walker (which promptly broke down) and their control over the Bloodwolf, who turned on its former masters before returning to the wilderness.
In the end, only Theothia was left standing on the battlefield, and it was up to her to revive her companions so that they could recuperate and carry on with their mission. Lucan Keth was gaining ground on them by the hour, and they desired to catch up with him before he reached the mountain trading city of Tain.
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