Blight Wardens
The Road Wardens are an oder of wanderers and dutiful guardians of travelers and wayfarers the world over. Their order is sworn to protect the roads of the vale, skies, and even the deep roads that snake about in the world below. Among the Deep Wardens, there is a loyal sect of members who have taken it upon themselves, not to simply travel around and avoid the terrible monsters that have invaded the Caverns from netherworlds beyond Ellecrid, but take the hunt right to them and clear their roads of these foul aberations.
They call it the Blight, what polutes the Caverns and forced the Deep Folk to flee during the third era. Fighting these creatures is no easy taks and the men and women who answer the call are not to be triffled with. They are the only effective counter to the blight within the Caverns. Despite this, many of their own contemporaries fear and loathe them for what they do to themselves to achieve their ends.
Composition
Equipment
Blight Wardens are often equiped with gear more associated with spalunking and cave traversing. They carry with them ropes, climbing spikes, lanterns, specialized climbing gloves, so forth. They also carry with them specialized masks that can cover their entire faces and filter fresh air when connected to small canisters they carry on their backs or belts.
Weaponry
One will rarely see a Deep Warden carry anything longer than a shorsword, the same goes for the Blight Wardens. The narrow spaces in the Caverns suits the shorter weapons more. Many Blight Wardens will actually carry weapons fashioned from elements of slain creatures or monsters as they have evolved and adapted to dwelling in such a place, therefore the tools fit right in. Blight Wardens are also known to carry crosbows as they can be compact and easily maneuverable.
History
Sometime in the early Fourth Era, an ambitious mage got his hands on the book of Makarov and took it to Tar Men Meur, the Night father's city of birth. There, the mage attempted a ritual to summon forth the Night Father's power and avatar, but was woefully unprepared or under practiced at ritualcraft. Sources differ on what actually happened, but the result was the opening of a great and eldrich portal into a dimension home to horrors beyond comprehension. The Breach as it has been called evicted much of the Caverns, killed the rest.
That was how it stayed for a long time. Deep Wardens were only able to travel to a handful of settlements in the Upper Caverns, the rest were lost. But the monsters that had come through the portal and continued to pour in would not end their rampage simply because their paths had been blocked. To combat this, a small group of Deep Wardens came together and swore unending war against the monsters until each and everyone of them was rid of the Caverns and the world. These were the first Blight Wardens and the order has persisted ever since as the frontline defense and offense against the horrors of the world below.
Historical loyalties
Despite any tensions that may arise in narrow passages or ruins of the anceitn deep, the Blight Wardens are sworn and fiercely loyal to the Road Wardens and the Chamber of Wardens in Val Harem.
Type
Special Forces
Founding
Early Fourth Era
Overall training Level
Elite
Assumed Veterancy
Veteran
Used by
