Campaign Backstory

Three nights ago, the skies above the little village in which you live were thick with falling stars. It was a spectacle like nothing anyone had ever seen before. For hours, the smallfolk of the village gazed out on the heavens with a newfound sense of wonder. For a short time, everyone, those who work; those who pray; and even those who fight, were united in the reverence for Coming of the Comets.

Among the field of stars, one burned brighter and flew faster than all the rest. Unlike all the other stars, this one had a name: Junix, known in the common tongue as Kingmaker. Before he died, Norman the Prophet, the last seer of Nerath, foretold that whoever claimed that star where it fell would rule the world. And so it was not merely a star everyone looked at that night, but destiny.

The starry-eyed wonder came to a crashing halt, however, as fate sent a falling star into the village. The falling star struck and burned Moradin All-Father’s House for Wayward Youth to the ground. The place had long been a haven for the village’s most unsavory youth. While many perished in the fire, a handful escaped with their lives and a few possessions. Among these were a drug addict, a half-orc, a novice scout, a pair of orphans, and an acolyte of Moradin.

The town didn’t exactly care for these outcasts to begin with, and some whispered that the falling star was no less than divine judgment on the sinners who dwelled within, but most helped put out the fire, grieved with the survivors, and planned to rebuild.

That was when they found the Wayward House’s Secret Room.
Amid the ashes of the building’s foundation, the villagers found a dungeon, a bloodstained alter, and tiny skeletons. Their passions enflamed by this discovery, they locked up the survivors in their lord’s dungeon, and asked their lord to pass judgment on them.

For a day and a night the lord contemplated the fate of those who survived the Wayward House. It had long stood as a force for good in the community, taking in those who could find no shelter elsewhere. However, when a lynch mob formed at the castle’s gates and would not disperse the lord had no choice but to bring those accused to trial. But when the lord called his jailer to bring the accused to trial, they were no longer there. It was as though they had vanished into thin air.

When the common folk heard this, they raged, now utterly convinced of the survivors’ guilt. Some even decided to leave the village and look for them, claiming it was a holy quest to bring demon-worshipers to justice and that they would not rest until the bones of the Wayward House were avenged.
Deep in the shadows of the dungeon, a stranger came for you. He offered to get you out of the village and you reluctantly agreed. Though you did not know the man, he took you through the secret passages of the castle until you emerged, unscathed, at the village’s edge.

Your benefactor left you then. Without anything else to do or anywhere to go, you’ve all decided to strike out and claim Junix for yourself.