The Lanew Decay
The screams and panicked shouts that echoed through the streets were cut short one by one as invisible, acrid fumes gagged and choked them. They scattered, trying to escape the nightmare that spread through the city, but escape was futile.
Everything the fire and smoke touched rotted and warped with disease; even the stone went unspared from the putrid decay. Corpses curled and charred where they stood or fell, hands outstretched towards the clean air outside of the city.
But nothing escaped the city. Nothing was spared.
The city's residents that were outside of Lanew, traveling the roads with their goods or in other towns visiting their families, fell dead where they stood. Bodies rotting and burning in an instant. Any goods that came from the city fell with it.
The city fell silent, the screams of people and animals lost in the winds and eventually into nothing.
It happened so quickly that the gods could not save them. The evil so foul that the goddess of death and her minions could not even approach to collect the lost souls. They were left to wander and roam the fallen city for eternity, and their wails of grief and confusion fell on deaf ears. Their suffering was forever, and no amount of pity could spare them from the pain.
Their pain would not be their burden to bear alone, not for long.
The poison that killed everything it touched is spreading, consuming everything in its path. But now, there are no foul smells, no black fire, nothing. It's an invisible death.
Two towns, one village, and a city have already been lost over the last two centuries. It spreads slowly, and no longer kills instantly. One can stand in the cursed lands for a few weeks before succumbing to it, but succumb you will. It is weakening, but not quickly enough to no longer pose any danger.
It's only a matter of time until the Lanew Decay reaches the Balferen River and expands its reach.
Acquisition:
This isn't old news, and the entire party would have heard about it at some point. Scholars from every country are working to find a solution, but no one can get close enough to discover what caused it and put a stop to it. It seems like a solutionless problem; any scholars or adventurers who have tried to reach Lanew have died, some having never returned at all to tell others what they had seen.
The party doesn't have to do this, because it could be a fatal mission, but it is something pressing that needs to be done eventually. Someone has to try, and the longer people wait, the more it spreads, and the harder it is to reach Lanew before dying of the Decay.
The prevailing rumor is that the Lanew were trying to create a portal to access the After in a bid to gain immortality, but it's only a theory at this point. It's well known that they were looking into immortality, so that must be the cause of the Decay.
The Decay:
Everything and everyone is dead. The party will need to take two to three weeks' worth of rations. There will be no monsters on this journey, as not even the gods can survive this place, so they don't necessarily need weapons to reach it. They would be fine as a low-level party, though I would recommend a group with a higher constitution or resistance to poison damage, for example. The can die on this journey with enough unlucky rolls.
When they arrive at Lanew, they'll find the beautiful, stone and glass city in ruin. Trees and vines stand shriveled and black, and charred bones of people reaching toward the entrance to the city lie in crumpled piles. It's desolate and silent. The wind no longer blows through here, and it's...sad, lonely.
By this point in the adventure, your players should be showing signs of illness. They're having respiratory problems—coughing, blood in their spit, wheezing—and there should be a slight blackening of their fingers and toes as they start to rot. There should be a hot, burning sensation on their skin, and what skin isn't turning black should be red from an unseen heat.
They travel through the city to the Crystalline Tower, and on the top floor, they'll find a device that's letting off steam and a scorching heat.
Resolution:
- They can destroy the device, or find a way to shut it off. They will need to make the appropriate rolls to find the right button without making the situation worse. However, touching it will hasten the rot on their flesh. There will not be a cure for this disfigurement.
- It's up to the GM as to whether or not the players walk away from this trip. In my original storyline, there were no survivors, but I know most groups would rather have a happy ending.
Rewards:
- Aside from being dubbed heroes when they return to civilization with proof that they succeeded, they can loot the city's shops and castle for treasures.
Components
Cruel Tricks
The players can definitely die during this mission, either before they reach the city or after. It's up to the GM and the rolls.
Backdrops
Locations
Threats
- Just the poisonous gas that has spread across the land. There are no monsters to be found unless the GM wishes to add them. The original storyline of this was to be a drama and a tragedy, not a heroic adventure.
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