Blood of Another Realm
by Sean MeaneyEsrai Volaan had spent a year travelling beneath the surface of the world in search of a boundary of the Mystaran Universe that not even the Immortals knew existed. He had found a tale of a ship in a cave in the Archives of the Temple of Raifiel in the city of Stars. A tale of ancient Krakatos - of a Gate to unknown planes and horrors, in a Cave so far down that it stood between two worlds - a world where a red Sun that never set, and the other a world of a yellow Sun where Esrai Vollan had lived most of his childhood
Now as he stared at the strange blackened vessel, the insanity of it's great spider-like design, its arms shattered as it had impacted into the solid walls of the cavern, and at the far end a Black pool that shone like crystal, yet rippled like an ocean lay beyond it, waves striking against the glass - a perpetually open portal that had served as a means of entry from some other realm or plane. The wreckage floated in the zero gravity bubble
The Esrai the Magic-user picked up a stone and threw it into the mad mix only to watch it sail across the chasm, and striking a section of the insane flying ship, churn a dust that had lain forgotten and dormant having collected to the hull millennia ago in the microgravity environment.
<FLY> The spell propelled him forward across the cavern which was now illuminated by his Magical Light.
As he contemplated a better view of the wreckage, the possibility of entering within the vessel to seek some ancient booty growing less he noticed something that had separated from the vessel. It looked like a Wizard's tower, but had obviously been a part of the vessel. He moved toward the structure and found a hole by which he might enter. Within he found all the hallmarks of a mage's residence.
<DETECT MAGIC>. The one thing that drew his attention was the Throne. Fixed to the floor of the ancient vessel, it radiated a terrible magic. it would need to be returned to the School of Magic in the now distant Citadel of Krakatos above him that it might be studied fully.
<TELEPORT ANY OBJECT>.The Throne vanished. A desiccated corpse seemed to draw his attention with the throne gone. Its spider-like form, distorted and twisted had been pinned to a wall of the tower with a spear crafted from a shattered timber beam. Was that some infestation that had claimed the crew?
There was nothing else. Esrai thought of investigating the other section of the vessel further. It looked substantial and likely held some secret within its superstructure. He worked his way back out into the Cavern and was instantly confronted by a Crimson Slime that had gathered as beads of liquid at the point where his hand had made contact with the surface of the hull. It moved into him the instant he made contact with it...
He recognized the mistake and knew he would need a powerful healer quickly. <TELEPORT>
DM BRIEFING: An Explorer discovers a spell-jammer in a cavern deep below the Citadel of Krakatos. The great chamber looks on an exposed part of the Mystaran Crystal Sphere. Drifting in the void of the Microgravity environment like a fine dust is the Abyssal Plague (Voidharrow).
Krakatos has always been thought to harbor some gate to other realms, and was occasionally known to be the point of some incursion. The Secret is now out as the fool Wizard brings the Voidharrow into the very heart of Karameikos itself.