Intro to Sojourn on the Dhju’durain Aelfpath of Helca is an optional means of getting the characters introduced to the Sojourn on the Dhju’durain Aelfpath of Helca adventure that uses the locale of The Dhju’durain Aelfpath of Helca.
[Generic for Steel Realms]GM Note: This is a sparse, simple short scene that will provide a means of getting to the starting point of the related adventure.
You are to escort a woman named Masraih across the fiefdom. You will meet another group who will escort them further at an appointed time and place. Full descriptions, passwords, and signs are disseminated – you get the feeling this person is pretty important.
As you fall off to sleep, you feel like you are sleeping on a bed of clouds. Gentle water flows around you, clean and clear, sweeping away every vestige of grime, sweat and uneasy thought. You seem to float on a bed of colors and waves of warmth. Hours pass by, and you are more relaxed than you have ever been in your life. You have no idea how long this goes on, but in the warm wind, you faintly hear sounds like birds that turn into a voice – you cannot make out what it says, but it is definitely a voice. The sound of it makes you smile. You feel watched over, safe and perfectly content. You wake to the shrill sounds of battle. Screams and the meaty thud of metal on flesh and bone fill your ears. Under it all is the crash of waves, you realize you stand on the shore of a sea – the horizon stretches in all directions and the sky is lit by 2 black suns – from the sea comes a horde of blurry nightmares.
The smell of blood, sweat, and voided bowels fills your nostrils as you find weapons trying to find their way into your body. All around you are seemingly a type of bright colored sea creatures, small slithering creatures, and all manner of faeries. For hours you are battered and wield everything in your power to kill the creatures that seem to come endlessly, cast upon the shore from the sea with each wave.
GM Note: You make up the content of the fight; Fighting can be as light or intense as the GM allows, but will not do real damage ultimately.
Mud and dirt rise up – or rather, you drop to meet it as the ground cushions your fall. You don’t even remember the point where you dropped, but you sure feel it. Sore all over with bruises, a dozen shallow cuts and scrapes remind you of your mortality… but you live. Hands are turning you so that you look to the sky. Strange voices are all around you, as you feel like tiny creatures are crawling over you. You sputter and heave a deep breath, shouting and coughing as you expel the last of the foul salt water in your lungs. All the voices fall silent and skitter away from you.
[ i ] > The creatures the PCs catch glimpses of are wispy and indistinct.The battle has left you exhausted, lying in a beach covered in broken shells, blood and ichor, staining the ground around you and interrupting the pleasant colors and relaxation you had almost grown accustomed to. A cacophony of small and strange woodland creatures slowly rises to a crescendo – but the creatures remain out of your site, small and hidden all around you. Finally, a beautiful man steps from behind a tree, naked and shining, and motioning for you to gather around him. By now, the strangeness is normal, and you assume had he evil intentions, he would have made you aware. He motions you away from the sandy beach, to a warm spot in the beach grass that the sun seems to be shining directly on.
Let the party make any preparations. Nothing happens unless they take direct action to harm the figure, otherwise hostile actions will not provoke any response.
Finally, you assemble and listen to what he has to say. “Many thanks from those of this path. While you could not sense it, our senses were assailed by the abyssal stench from those whose blood you spilled. The shores of the sea remain polluted for us, but it will wash away in time – hmm.” He smirks, his eyes narrowing. “We offer you the gratitude of our place and time and hope you will stay and avail yourself of the brief comforts we can offer. Music, feasting, and warmth”. A soft piping begins to play in the distance from all around you, at which strange flowers and vegetables bloom where he waves his hand. From all around small motes of light drift, warming the area and illuminating it with colors and lights you have never seen.
Also called ‘maiden Masraih’; She is promised to the White Sisters. The Ynthian elves are trying to integrate more and understand the humans of Helca more and so they have selected one of their purest to join the order for 100 years to try and understand and appreciate them more, to improve the ___ regrowth. There are plenty who would seek to disrupt such a process.