Kaer Kain
The Fortress of Shadow and the Gateway Below
Kaer Kain stands as a crumbling testament to forgotten horrors—an ancient fortress long whispered about in fearful tales. Perched on a jagged cliff overlooking a mist-shrouded valley, its blackened stone walls are scarred by centuries of dark magic and bloody battles. Locals speak of it only in hushed tones, calling it the “Place of Great Evil”—a cursed site where light rarely dares to linger.
The party arrived with grim determination, aware that malevolent forces had taken root within its depths. Rumors told of a portal hidden deep in Kaer Kain’s basement—an unholy gateway to the infernal realms, spilling corruption and terror into the world above. The fortress itself seemed alive with a suffocating darkness: walls wept with slime, echoes of tortured screams reverberated through empty halls, and shadows danced unnaturally along broken battlements.
After a relentless and perilous descent into the fortress’s bowels, the adventurers confronted the source of this nightmare. In a chamber suffused with oppressive heat and flickering hellfire, they faced unspeakable fiends guarding the portal to Hell itself. Through courage, cunning, and sacrifice, they succeeded in closing the infernal gate—sealing away the evil that had threatened to consume Tierradia.
But as the portal’s fiery light dimmed, the ground beneath them trembled, revealing a hidden passage carved from ancient stone. This narrow tunnel led deeper still, descending far below even Kaer Kain’s fearsome foundations. Whispers spoke of this path as a gateway not only to shadow but to the legendary Underdark—a vast, subterranean realm of endless caverns, alien creatures, and ancient secrets.
The discovery was both a victory and a new beginning, unveiling dangers far stranger and darker than the infernal portal above. Kaer Kain, once only a fortress of dread, had become a threshold to the unknown depths of the world beneath—and the party stood at the edge of a new and perilous journey into the abyss.
The party arrived with grim determination, aware that malevolent forces had taken root within its depths. Rumors told of a portal hidden deep in Kaer Kain’s basement—an unholy gateway to the infernal realms, spilling corruption and terror into the world above. The fortress itself seemed alive with a suffocating darkness: walls wept with slime, echoes of tortured screams reverberated through empty halls, and shadows danced unnaturally along broken battlements.
After a relentless and perilous descent into the fortress’s bowels, the adventurers confronted the source of this nightmare. In a chamber suffused with oppressive heat and flickering hellfire, they faced unspeakable fiends guarding the portal to Hell itself. Through courage, cunning, and sacrifice, they succeeded in closing the infernal gate—sealing away the evil that had threatened to consume Tierradia.
But as the portal’s fiery light dimmed, the ground beneath them trembled, revealing a hidden passage carved from ancient stone. This narrow tunnel led deeper still, descending far below even Kaer Kain’s fearsome foundations. Whispers spoke of this path as a gateway not only to shadow but to the legendary Underdark—a vast, subterranean realm of endless caverns, alien creatures, and ancient secrets.
The discovery was both a victory and a new beginning, unveiling dangers far stranger and darker than the infernal portal above. Kaer Kain, once only a fortress of dread, had become a threshold to the unknown depths of the world beneath—and the party stood at the edge of a new and perilous journey into the abyss.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
2500 years ago
