THE SHORTCUT

 

Hook: 50 years ago, a cult started up in the area you're visiting. The small village's elders remember it without fondness. It came, the priest gathered some of the locals, taking them away from their crafts and farms, and disappeared into the hills the main road circles around to avoid the difficult terrain and river and a deep, bandit-infested forest north of the hills. No one really knew what the cult was about. They were secretive, when they'd come to buy supplies. 5 years after the cult began, the cultists simply stopped showing up... No one saw them, again...

About 10 years ago, a goatherd discovered a cleft in the limestone through the saddle of two hills. He chased his goat through the opening and inadvertently discovered a shortcut that, though not big enough for caravans and horses, was a good shortcut for foot and drover traffic through the area. Without a horse, the main road is long. The cleft bypasses the dangers of the woods, the inconvenient river, and the lengthy path of the road. Good grazing was found on the other side, as well. The newly-discovered path contained a few caves drovers and travellers started using to rest and shelter from inclement weather. Doors were also found nearby that bear the symbols of Strixa. The doors are tightly-sealed, and no one messes with them. In fact, it is forbidden to, by law, upon pain of death.

A year ago, the cleft, which became known as 'The Shortcut' by locals, suddenly became unusable. A sinkhole collapsed the eastern end. No one has used it, since. The loss wasn't great, just inconvenient for those walking the long winding road between settlements. There has even been talk among the local priests dedicated to The Lady of Light of starting another village or fortified monastery or temple complex. Their intention would be to settle the area midway between settlements, calm the bandit presence in the woods, and make it easier for travelers. However, resources are low for such endeavours, and they have been busy, as of late, investigating rumours of strange happenings and dark things walking the land when the night comes. They have discovered that the incidents started taking place when the sinkhole opened. Some priests, the only members they could spare, were sent to The Shortcut, but, none have yet returned. Instead, a group of black-clad warriors bearing the owl skull and bat wing standard and blazon of Strixa have been witnessed walking the land, raiding the local farms, and killing goodly folk. The High Priest of The Lady of Light now seeks a group of mercenaries to investigate and discover where the priests went, though he fears the worst...

Details: The priests were killed by the wraiths of the cultists... The truth of the situation is that the cult was one dedicated to the powerful, undead goddess Strixa. The priest leading the cult retrieved the skull of a Witch Lord, Amatrixa, left in the area of The Shortcut from the Age of Empire and the Age of Apocalypse where she was cut down. The Witch Lord's spirit was almost destroyed, and lingered, in small part, inside the skull, through pure willpower, preserving it, while the rest of her body wasted away in the intervening years. Once discovered, she dominated a passing farmer and turned him into a devotee of Strixa. She had him gather acolytes, made them build a secret complex in the hills, and intended to rule as the mind behind the newly-converted, until she could manage to find a way to return to her former power. However, the man she dominated was wilful, as all old Taryŵnish-blooded men are. Stubborn, earth-loving, stable people, they were good fighters against the shadows of Strixia during the former age. Nothing is different, now, even with the inclusion of Lumenorian blood (the people on the edge of Calibor are mostly of purer Taryŵnish stock). Aeron, the farmer Amatrixa overpowered, realised, at the last, what was happening just as the Witch Lord was drawing enough power to use him to return to life, and wrested enough of himself from Amatrixa to call upon The Lady of Light to intervene, collapsed the rear egress through the shrine, a door and tunnel that led down and out through caves further north. His will was strong enough to put in place a spell to seal the temple complex against any intrusion, with the aid of the goddess of law. He was saved from an eternal life as a wraith, and ended the threat of the Witch Lord, before it could begin in earnest. 

Over the years, the cultists-turned shadowy wraiths have remained trapped inside. However, the sinkhole, which, ironically, was created after the north-running tunnel the cultists dug destabilised the area under The Shortcut, collapsed part of the temple complex, a part of the old shrine to Strixa, releasing the acolytes' shadows upon the land, freeing Amatrixa. The wraiths simply wander, doing the Witch Lord's bidding. Her spirit is trapped in her skull, and she can't defend herself much more than using her will to dominate those around her to defend her from destruction... She now commands the former priests of The Lady of Light, whom she now keeps as zealous servants of Strixa. Their leader is Amatrixa's new High Priest, Eirŵyn, now named Umbracoris.