The Great Wave and Discovery
During the annual Festival of Falling Stars, a brilliant meteor streaked across the sky from south to north, followed by a thunderous boom that shook the earth. Glittering dust fell from the sky like snow. The children danced beneath the strange shower, delighting in the sizzling taste as the sparkling motes landed on their tongues. A few hours later the sea retreated unnaturally far, exposing the hidden reef, before returning as a towering wave that crashed against the bluffs. Uncle Xen was swept away in the churning waters, lost forever. Young Simon found a strange, glowing stone among the debris—when he touched it to a metal figure buried in the sand, the mechanical man awakened with consciousness and speech. Uncle Ondel had long warned that such falling stars heralded the Umbral Bound Legion’s return, but Solmeg dismissed these fears, insisting the enemy would never come back.
The Years Between
The family rebuilt atop the bluffs, mourning Uncle Xen while welcoming their new member, Rusty Contraption. Solmeg and Voe married, eventually having three more children: twins Iohet and Sif, and daughter Wistia. Years passed as the older children grew and discovered strange changes in their bodies, each developing unique abilities tied to their contact with the mysterious glowing dust.
The Umbral Bound Invasion
Fifteen years later, another great meteor blazed across the sky. Within weeks, black-sailed ships appeared on the horizon. The Umbral Bound Legion had returned. Solmeg fought valiantly against the Obwezic leader on the beach while the family defended from above, but fell into a death-like coma from poisoned wounds. Seeing more ships approaching, the family fled south with their unconscious father.
Journey to Safety
The refugees traveled through war-torn lands until reaching the great northern city of Suofook, where Solmeg was healed and awakened. He chose to remain and fight alongside Ondel, while Voe and the younger children accompanied the older siblings to the great southern city of Iix. There they enrolled in the Academy, and after graduation, volunteered to join the Iixian Coalition’s fight against the Umbral Bound Legion.
A Chance to Fight Back
Upon graduation, the newly commissioned officers reported to Captain Duul Kovier, a weathered veteran whose steel-gray eyes assessed their readiness. Their mission was twofold: openly hunt UBL raiders while secretly investigating spy networks. They were given a magical sending stone for daily reports and orders to eventually reach Kindex to mount an expedition to the lost city of Ansurak.
Before departing, they encountered Sub-Lieutenant Eeveer Xaobi, a fellow graduate who looked down on them for their “lesser” noble status. His condescending attitude and pointed remarks about their “barbarian” squires made clear he considered himself their superior.
Traveling north into the Blasted Lands, the party was ambushed by UBL skirmishers—Obwez warriors and undead husks. After defeating the attackers, they tracked the survivors to a ruined tower atop a desolate hill. The ancient structure housed a larger UBL force occupying underground chambers accessed through an old well.
The Ruined Keep
The assault on the underground chambers proved brutal. Akuma transformed into a massive wolf and charged into the fray, his throat torn out by the enemy before falling back to human form near death. The head-dressed Obwez shaman unleashed a thunderous magical attack that battered the party, but they rallied and fought back with devastating effect. When they defeated the Obwezic and attempted to extract its heart for antidotes, they discovered a parasitic worm wrapped around the organ—these creatures were infecting other dead UBL soldiers as well.
The party encountered two ghosts attempting to comfort a chained prisoner. Rather than flee in terror, they engaged the spirits in conversation, eventually convincing the tortured souls that they were mere haunts doomed to suffer in their ghostly forms. This compassionate approach freed both the ghosts and their prisoner.
Exploring the chambers, they found skeletal remains of two children who attacked them as undead. Among the daughter’s possessions was her diary, and scattered throughout the ruins were small scraps of paper containing fragments of an ancient prophecy:
“In shadows deep where time has lost its name,
Beneath stars anew, burns a lost and forgotten flame,
From peace and war’s entwined, enduring claim,
Shall rise a linage, a dark god’s bane.
Druid’s grace and Warrior’s resolve,
Losk’s night returns at their destiny’s dawn,
When waves crash and darkness falls,
Furious angels hear the call”
The Obwez spellcaster carried a magical skull fetish that immediately caught Simon’s attention. He took this item, despite the other party members expressing serious concerns about potential dark corruption.
Their prisoner was Dekai Cezuet, heir to the ruined lands. He told them the tragic history of his family—how his parents died when the keep fell thirty-five years ago, and how he had returned seeking closure after years recovering from trauma. His greatest desire was to recover his father’s sword, the family heirloom buried beneath tons of rubble. Dekai promised to return with priests to properly lay his family’s souls to rest.
From interrogating captured Obwez, they learned of the mysterious “button man”—a courier who brought messages and collected intelligence. When Patchwork Pete finally arrived with the password “Braised Babies,” the party captured him through an elaborate ruse. Under interrogation, Pete revealed his tragic circumstances: his beloved sister was held hostage by unknown UBL operatives who exploited his opium addiction to force his compliance. He served merely as a courier, using a magical communication box to relay messages between his handlers and the UBL outposts. Pete knew almost nothing about the larger spy network—he was simply a desperate man trying to save his sister’s life.
The party recognized an opportunity to feed false intelligence to the enemy through Pete’s communication system. They departed for Ruoxum Ferry, promising to help rescue his sister while using him as a double agent.
The Hilltop Rescue
Urgent orders arrived—a beleaguered unit was trapped atop a distant hill, half-strength and under relentless assault. The party rode through driving rain across treacherous, muddy terrain to reach the besieged force. Upon arrival, they discovered the battlefield was cursed with dark magic that hindered their advance while allowing UBL forces to move with supernatural speed.
The party launched a heroic flanking assault, following the enemy up the hill and attacking from behind. When the Obwez shaman fell, they witnessed another disturbing sight—a parasitic worm escaped the corpse and burrowed into the muddy ground, suggesting these creatures were more widespread than previously known.
At the hilltop fortress, they found the defenders in dire straits. Their leader was a battered and exhausted Lt. Xaobi, his face bloodied and his eyes hollow from brutal fighting. Initially hostile, he greeted their arrival with bitter sarcasm: “Took you long enough.” However, as the reality of their timely rescue sank in, his antagonism softened into grudging gratitude.
Sergeant Grundle, missing his left arm and heavily bandaged, briefed them on their situation. They had successfully cleared the original UBL outpost but were caught off-guard by returning patrols. Wave after wave of attacks had depleted their ammunition and reserves.
Searching the underground tunnels, they discovered valuable intelligence written in Abyssal, including references to other UBL outposts, information about Losk worship, mentions of “Malcorix, the Umbral Harbinger,” and continued orders to search for something called “the gate stone.” Most significantly, they found the corpse of an Umbral Bound Knight—a coal-black skinned warrior in tarnished plate mail who had been responsible for severing Sergeant Grundle’s arm before three soldiers managed to bring him down.
During their night watch, they captured a small Obwez scout who revealed he was part of a larger contingent nearby. Though the spy later escaped, they tracked him down and eliminated the threat.
The party used their sending stone to report to Captain Kovier, who urged them to hold the position at all costs—reinforcements were en route, but they needed to survive the coming assault.
The Great Siege
At dawn, over 400 Umbral Bound Legion soldiers assembled below the hill in terrifying silence. Among the rear ranks high atop a hill, ornate Umbral Knights on horseback oversaw the massive force with cold detachment. Suddenly, a chilling voice echoed directly into the defenders’ minds—the words of the lead knight:
“You have become known to me. And the knowing of you raises a wrath within me. Know this – your defeat is inevitable, and when you have fallen, I shall shake from you all your joyful memories and twist them into nightmares. Your lives shall be spared but you shall be mine and within your minds, I shall paint landscapes of suffering and madness within which you can live forever.”
Wave after wave of attackers surged up the hill in relentless assaults. The defenders fought desperately, their attacks creating gaps in the advancing hordes and sending bodies tumbling down the muddy slopes. Each retreat left the hillside carpeted with the twisted forms of the fallen.
When the defenders finally grew weary, a force led by an Umbral Knight crested the walls and raised its vorpal blade against Xenti. Lt. Xaobi threw himself between them. The knight’s blow severed his arm, but his sacrifice allowed the defenders to bring down the elite enemy.
Just as defeat seemed inevitable, the clear call of horns announced the arrival of Iixian reinforcements. The relief force crashed into the UBL’s rear, catching them between hammer and anvil. The remaining attackers broke ranks and fled in a panicked rout.
In the aftermath, searching deeper into the ruins revealed additional prophecy fragments—but these verses carried a darker tone than those found before:
“One who’s voice awakening oaths of old, Forgotten promises once more take hold.”
“As vanguards of the night, the light they scorn.
In shadows deep where time has lost its name,
Beneath stars anew, burns a lost and forgotten flame,
From peace and war’s entwined, enduring claim,
Shall rise a linage, of dark god’s flame.
Losk’s night returns at their destiny’s dawn,
When waves crash and darkness falls.
Furious Angel’s hear the call”
The discovery suggested multiple versions of the same prophecy existed, each painting a vastly different vision of the future.