OmensOfTheBloodLord
The following are the strange happenings that have occurred recently...
And as we learn to count our years, we start at the year nought
the year on which the greatest battle of our times was fought.
Moradon, the Lord of Briar took up his mighty spear
And laid to rest the Blood King then, and started our new year.
One thousand years the Blood King sleeps, behind the magic veil
And then he'll rise and come again, and Moradonia will fail...
1. Rumour has it that a monster was unleashed in distant Farholme, far near the Western Barrier. Brave ... brewers (?) fought off the beast, but it could only have been conjured into this plane by some sort of spiritual anchor. Strange things are afoot, but stranger still are rumours that a beastman of some sort appeared on the 'other side' of the barrier and shouted threats of vengeance at the folk of Farholme. Mind you, they eat a lot of fish out there, so best not worry.
2. Many of you will have met the rather nasty piece of work that is Lord Jared Byrne of Godsmount, a bankrupted noble turned to adventuring to feed and clothe himself? If you have fought with him, you will know that the mad fool talks to another person, and when threatened, actually transforms into something called the Briarspear?! Every child knows that the Briar Spear was the weapon of Moradon, the Briar Lord himself - hardly likely to be in the hands of a snivelling whelp like Byrne?
3. The roads between Godsmount and Briarkeep have been harried by a heavily armed and armoured group of men calling themselves the Briar Knights. They have been looking for a cursed heart, but to no avail. Where they have come from and where they lay their heads, no one knows, but they are certainly up to no good...
4. Sadly, this entry is a not a rumour. During the Solstice festival, Godsmount was struck down with a deadly 'blood plague' turning all water in the city to viscous blood and sending anyone who came in contact with it into a killing frenzy. Before some brave adventurers could seal the rift at the Temple of the Keeper of the Gate that was feeding the magic, hundreds of people were killed or injured. The Temple Council of Godsmount has yet to officially ask for aid from Briarkeep, but pious folk of all denominations have been making their way to the city to aid in the rebuilding and the laying to rest of the dead.
5. Goblins of the Jaxx tribe have reported columns of blood cultists heading into the hills, despoiling ancient dryad glades, and congregating at bugbear led encampments where humanoid kindreds and serpent folk are strung up and bled to death as summoning of the Blood Lord.
6. Outbreaks of insane cultism are reported along the coast, the pirate Sharzzon the Black turned to the worship of Kraken gods before his recent retirement by agents of the Guild of the Silver Phoenix.