Scenario

The scenario begins on the Island of Vassuryn, a volcanic island which grew up over the body of one of the Twelve Great Dragons who was slain and cast into the sea during the Age of Legends. The region of Vassuryn between the encircling Rudhian mountains in the west and the Ashpeak mountains to the east is known as the Autumndim Vale. At the southern edge of the long lake of Autumndim stands the great City of Oraving (028,021), together with its lesser twin, Hriving (027,019). Oraving is the capitol of the Overlord Athelard. Although Athelard nominally acknowledges the rule of the Emperor, no imperial legate has been seen in Vassuryn for generations.

On the 23rd of January, a group of adventurers who had set out from the Abbey of Igolb (030,011) attacked a goblin slave market in the foothills of the Rudhian Mountains (028,010), freeing the slaves, killing the chieftain and his bodyguard, and sending the rest of the goblins (primarily females and young) scurrying down to deeper recesses of the earth. Now, their masters, the “Headsuckers,” are bent on revenge, and also badly in need of more slaves for their customers in the Netherdark. Accordingly, a massive army of beastmen has issued out from the mountains, hellbent on first taking the Abbey, and then the whole Autumndim Vale.

In the meantime, a group of wood elves from the Elven-King’s Realm (032,019) led by an elf-captain named Sontar began a northward journey in hopes of reclaiming the city of Annalysorian. Located in the hills at the north end of the Vale, the city was taken many centuries ago by Immianthe, one of the Daughters of the Ssanu [Medusae]. Sontar hoped to see if the city could be resettled, but Immianthe (who in the meantime has been gathering her own power base in the ruined city) already had agents operating in the Vale, and sabotaged the mission, drugging and stampeding a herd of bull elephants into the camp of elven settlers. Sontar is now making his own plans for vengeance, even as Immianthe deems the moment right to unleash her Lizardfolk hoards upon the Vale, conquering it, and stamping out the menace of the knife-ears in the process.

North of the vale, a fledgling power rises in the region: The men of Shantytown (032,002)—survivors of a shipwrecked prison galleon—have allied with the men of the Trollwood (032,004) and the Valley of Nora-to, a loose confederation of cottars and woodsmen now centered around the newly built Fort Hambley (030,005). The chaos in the region creates an opportunity for these men to build a lasting legacy for themselves.