The campaign begins with the rag-tag collection of adventurers gazing up at the Long Falls—a towering 500-meter waterfall framed by the colossal statues of Arden the Defender and Vul the Confessor.
Before ascending the Long Stair toward Arden Vul, they take a few moments to explore the Tower of Madness, an ancient watchtower built centuries ago. Its namesake earned from tales of the maddening roar of the Falls driving stations guards here insane.
Love Never Dies
Inside, they encounter the spirit of Lord Yrtol, an ancient noble of the Empire, bound to the tower by his murder at the hands of the Followers of Set. His soul remains tethered by his longing for Nyema, his beloved wife, an arcane dabbler hunted by the Setites for recruitment. In exchange for promising to uncover her fate, Yrtol gifts the party his final, undelivered token of love—a set of enchanted jewellery: a ring and matching earrings, adorned with gold and rubies. The speaker into the ring can communicate directly with the wearer of the earrings.
Leaving Yrtol to his (hopefully soon to be ended) unrest, the party begins the treacherous ascent up the broken, slick-wet, mossy cobblestones of the Long Stair constantly assaulted by the never ending mist of the waterfall. The cacophony of the falls is occasionally broken by the hissing of the Herald's, goose-sized wyrmlings that favour the area. Approaching the shoulder of the colossus of Arden the party consider investigating further but press on eager to see the lost city. An empty aching in the stomach of Arantyr, the party Shaman, leads to a brief investigation at a guard post located midway up the Stairs, but seeing one of the passageways choked with spiderwebs quickly dissuades everyone from further investigation and the ascent continues.
Blue Night Falling
Nearing the top the party encounter a small procession, Sir Ronald and Sir Olivier, Knights of the Azure Shield, a knighthood from Avalon and the personal bodyguard of Lady Alexia, the noble ruler of the local township of Gosterwick and it surrounds. The Knights are leading two strange humanoids, men with the heads of lions. Semi-naked in chains, it is evident these noble creatures have been savagely beaten. The short introductions are interrupted by a savage roar from the top of the stairs, a beast so large that its voice is heard even above the Falls themselves.
The commotion causes the horses of the knight to startle, and Sir Ronald stumbles on the very edge of the path. The Lion-Men take advantage and together charge the off-balance knight and send him flying to his inevitable death on the ground some 300m below. Sir Olivier pulls his blade, ready to slay the prisoners where they stand but is interrupted by the Minotaur Gladiator, Tesseros and the Elven Nightblade, Aquila. Passions are high, as the minotaur and elf are not enamoured by the reputation of the noble knights and their mistreatment of non-humans. Harsh words quickly turns to violence as Aquila strikes the knight, who is already heavily injured from a previous confrontation. Arantyr and the Zaharan Darklord, Zubeya stay back as the rest of the party subdues the knight and turns him over to the lion-men who introduce themselves as Tibertius and Caecilius, soldiers of the 13th Legion.
The Children of Denaya
In conversation with the two lion warriors they learn:
- They serve an entity known as "Denaya" who they also referred to as "Queen" and "Mother" at various points in the conversation
- They referred to themselves as the "Children of Denaya" and make their home in the 3rd level of Arden Vul and in known memory have always lived here (at least for more than a century)
- The Children of Denaya are always on the look out for wood, steel weapons, fresh food, mushroom from the Great Cavern and items of power and open to trading partners
- Areas of Note within Arden Vul
- The Great Chasm - a massive fissure that extends through most of the dungeon which provides vertical (albeit difficult and dangerous) navigation throughout the Halls
- The Forum of Set - a great marketplace where many of the denizens of Arden Vul come to trade under the watchful eyes of the Followers of Set
- In terms of other inhabitants of the Halls of Arden Vul they would have referred to a tribe of goblins, large trolls and an order they referred to as Knights of the Dark Sun.
Leaving the unconscious knight with the Children of Denaya, the party completed their ascent of the Long Stair and finally behold the Lost City of Arden Vul in all its glory. A massive city laid to waste, the walls and towers were somewhat intact, as were various buildings but the tales of the destruction of Arden Vul were not just idle tales.
Greeting them at the entrance to the city was the charred skeleton of a massive wyvern - its wings wide open between the two great gatehouse towers. As the Herald's hissed from the battlements they noticed that strangely the wyvern was being held up by rope, clear evidence the display was being maintained, by who, it was impossible to say.
The Tower of Scrutiny
A massive roar in the distance called to mind the savage disturbance they heard before and in the foggy distance, amongst the broken remains of the Lost City they could see the massive form of none other than a huge Tyrannosaurs Rex. Keeping a close eye on the beast in the distance they made their way into the city proper, seeing a large obelisk covered with sun iconography, a series of large trees and a large tower. A quick investigation of the Tower of Scrutiny (so named for the massive eye on its great bronze doors) identified blood, broken nails and claw marks of something being dragged *inside* of the tower.
The Halls of Arden Vul
Taking this as a warning, they ignored the Tower as well as the great Pyramid of Thoth and instead head towards the west of the Pyramid hoping to uncover another entrance that had been rumoured. After a short amount of searching they were overjoyed to see that the rumors indeed were true and took their first steps into the depths of the Halls of Arden Vul.
