1.3 - The Path Ahead

Players: Devon, Frank, Mel, Michael, Stephanie, Stephen

The group met again with Taheri and learned a great deal about the state of the world, as seen first hand by the liche.  It seems nearly everything from the Northern reaches of Kadara to the Southern deserts of the Mihalan Princedoms has been blasted by a shockwave of magical energies, then ravaged by storms of the same that have swept across the lands ever since the Cataclysm.  Most creatures have been warped, twisted, or slain outright by these energies, and the number of humanoids he encountered in his travels was few.  Civilization as the group new it has been wiped out.

Tatheri believes the Cataclysm was caused by a clash between some new weapon of the Kadaran Emperor and the energies of the God-Emperor of the Necropolis.  The epicenter was directly within the Necropolis itself (on the other side of the Storm Wall Mountains from Merem, where Evenmere Castle is located.)  Neither he nor any other undead can penetrate the energies flowing out of the City of the Dead, nor can those fully living.  He believes the special status of the PCs may allow them to slide between the devestating energies.  Unless something can be done to unravel the storm of unleashed energies at the heart of the Necropolis, Tatheri does not believe the storms sweeping the continent will abate.

The group left Taheri and determined to enter Castle Evenmere in search of gear and supplies.  They were forced to battle an immense vampiric rose garden, but eventually made it to the doors to the castle's kitchen.  They entered without setting off what they believed to be a magical trap, slew an infestation of undead rats, and made contact with a living man who appeared to be able to communicate with the many ghosts working in the kitchen.  He did not give his name, and said only that he was the Steward's son.  He led the group through a multitude of terrifyingly haunted hals, galleries, and chambers.  He seemed to know how to avoid most dangers, but displayed stark terror when the group disturbed a group of ghosts that appeared to be ferociously dining upon one another.  The ghosts charged the group in a howling pack, but everyone got out and the "guide" shut the door behind the escapees, which ended the pursuit.

Eventually, the group was led into a small study, where a very old man sat in shabby finery, making marks in an equally ancient ledger and seeming holding audience with  multiple ghostly servants.  The "guide" introduced the man as the Steward of Castle Evenmere, and his father.