Legends of Old Urthe (D&D v3.5)
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Fifth Age - Hell on Urthe: In the Shadows of Orodemlinae

From Tal'Baed'iear the party headed north and west back to Talhamnoduin (Iskbridge as was), resting overnight in a cave at the base of the mountain Orodemlinae, the Mountain Beyond the Lake, black and forbidding, for all it is the source of the Oroduin, the Mountain River, one of the few watercourses that remains unspoiled and the lifeblood of Talhamnoduin.  But as the sun sank slowly in the west (the first sunset this Age had ever seen) and dusk settled upon the broken land, two figures were seen in the distance, struggling across the rock-strewn foothills, closely pursued by a pack of wolves.

The pair, a priest Alcy and her mentor Jerren, managed to gain the cave before the beasts caught them, turning to join the party in the fight against the creatures that Jerren identified as Hounds of Rhiannon, the Pale One.

The party prevailed against the beast men, Brugar's axe dealing with two and Alasha'an's blade with another while Hamin slew the last of them with his bare hands, but it was a hard-earned victory indeed and not without cost as Alcy was badly hurt and Hamin and Yetta were bitten in the fight.

Dyavaen tended to the victims, worried that those bitten might inherit the creature's curse, treating them with the Wolfsbane that Jerren provided, though the priest was not confident about the outcome.

Striking camp, the party picked their way carefully down the rock-strewn foothills of Orodemlinae the level plain below. Staying close to the slopes, within a few hours the stench of the baking mud faded as they neared a lake, the Ithilunen so the old man told them ("the Waters of the Moon" in the Elvish tongue; Bala Lake in times gone by).

From there they took the path around the western tip where they were able to ford the river, picking a path between the squat hills on one side and dead trees on the other towards Banomomen ("Place of Dead Oaks"; Oakwood as was, a settlement on the coast near Iskbridge on the road to the north) where Jerren and Alcy hailed from, though they found no better welcome in that mean village, bordered by blighted woods, than they had last time they passed through.

To the southwest a spire of smoke could be seen rising from the direction of Talhamnoduin, and while the party wondered what that portended, fatigue forced them to spend the night, and when morning came the mists had returned, blanketing the land and concealing the light of the sun once more.

Leaving Jerren to tend to Alcy's wounds in the party set off for the city, a fraught journey as they strove to avoid the half-glimpsed shapes that appeared in the mists, and their worries were not lessened when they reached Talhamnoduin to find the city aflame and in the grip of war.

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