Lament

Discovery, Exploration

Rumors had circulated around after the unexpected return of a scout long thought dead and claimed by Zorolai’s wilds. The rumors spoke of a hidden tower in the wilderness surrounded by a wasteland, and the scout had fallen ill with an unknown illness that seemed incurable. A team was hired by Pulminov R&D to either substantiate these claims, or prove them false. Regardless, a group consisting of Hunyi, Concord, Veracity & Compromise, Andres, and Cain set off to brave the wilds and put an end to these rumors.

On the third day of travel, they found The Tower / The Exclusion Zone  surrounded by the wasteland Cain had seen in a dream. Outside the tower, they discovered mass piles of bodies infested with rot grubs while being stalked by several ghoulish creatures that they quickly dispatched.   Inside the tower, they were haunted by the voice of a woman as they discovered abandoned journal entries and worked to remove a barricade preventing them from accessing the rest of the tower.   During their night of rest, Andres disappeared, having been teleported away to the upper floors. The rest of the party worked to rescue him while battling their own demons that threatened to take them.   There was another entity within the tower, and it was not friendly.   After a bit of time, they were reunited with Andres as they made their way through the upper floors. Finally, within the library, they were confronted by the entity that had been stalking them. It revealed itself as a mass of black ooze that dripped from the ceiling and studied them with hundreds of eyes. After a challenge from Concord, the entity proved itself to be far more powerful than the group realized, though its intentions were not to kill them, but to torment. They realized this entity was “The Watcher ”, a demonic creature spoken about in the journal entries they had picked up. The Watcher left them for the time being, allowing them a single riddle to one of its many titles before it disappeared.   They slowly uncovered the history of the tower from journal entries left behind by several different people, and were aided by the voice of the woman from before.   The tower was once a church several hundred years ago when Zorolai was in the middle of a war. The inhabitants of the church worshiped someone called “Pholeimos ”. This church harbored elven refugees fleeing from someone known as “Lord Streggyk” or “The Winged Emperor ”. Something happened between then and now, and the church became a death sentence to whoever neared it, effectively cursing them to slowly become one of the ghoulish creatures they had met outside.   After they found a key to the chancel, they were confronted by the High Priestess Lara Liatumel, the founder of the church. After a vicious battle with the woman, she was killed with a shot to the head from Cain’s gun. The party destroyed the altar in the chancel, freeing the trapped elven spirit known as Pholeimos. She left back to her own plane of existence and with her, took the aura of pain she carried as a spirit of compassion. With the aura of pain gone, the curse surrounding the tower was lifted, and any ghouls that were spared reverted back to their original forms.   The party returned, victorious but battered, with several new allies. Kalias, the battle-hardened warrior, Thaynn, the knowledgeable elven servant, Tikala, the mute cleric, and Laev’Talas, the half-dragon daughter of Lara and the Winged Emperor.   Though the curse was lifted, the threat of the Watcher still lingered. What is it? Where is it? And most importantly, what does it plan to do next?