| "Curiously, no denizen of the Waste seems to be willing to speak of the strange crater deep in Oinos... even the yugoloths are unable or unwilling to speak of it..."Hidden somewhere deep in the Gloom of Oinos there is a massive, ancient crater, many miles across. Despite its size, the crater is hard to find; from below the rim, it is almost impossible to even realize there is a crater there at all.Inside the crater the ground is horribly scarred. Rifts hundreds of feet long and unknowably deep mar the gray earth. The entire site is enveloped in a gray mist which leaks from these chasms, obscuring vision past two hundred feet- not enough to make traversing the broken landscape much harder, but it certainly makes the statues more surprising.Within the crater there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of perfectly sculpted statues of yugoloths of various ranks. All are made of the same extremely hard dull gray stone. None of them are magical, but they radiate a tepid glow of evil when seen with a detect evil spell. Every statue is frozen either fighting or in terrible agony, and all face towards the center of the crater. The effect is distinctly creepy.At the very center stands a grove of trees. Not the sickly trees found elsewhere on Oinos, nor the muted gray trees of Niflheim and Pluton. No, these are true green trees, though there is a dream-like quality to the grove. Positioned around the grove are nine stone Ultroloths, equidistant from each other around the grove, all in positions of being thrown back forcefully. Between the circle of Ultroloths and the trees, the despair of the waste is intensified a thousand-fold (make checks to avoid despair and apathy every two rounds rather than once a week).Within the grove itself, matters are completely different. Inside, the oppressive apathy of the waste is completely nonexistent. The mist is thick; once the outer most trees have been passed, it's as if you're on another plane- you can't see out into the crater at all, and the grove displays none of the traits of the waste. The ground is rich black loam, and the trees could have been taken from anywhere in Arvandor.Somewhere in the grove, the mist thins and there is a small clearing, with a shaft of light at the center. Within the clearing there is a palatable feeling of hope and restfulness for non-evil beings (evil beings feel utter terror). Standing within the beam of light intensifies the feeling, and those of good heart are also visited by visions of a shining Aasimon leading armies of angels and doing battles with fiends of all sorts. Any evil being who enter the light is seared as its soul's darkness is burnt away.HistoryLong ages ago, before the Field of Nettles was first stained with fiendish blood, a mighty Solar named Adonis learned the truth. Somehow, he found the truth of the Maeldur et Kavurik, and embarked on a quest to rescue and redeem his ancient brethren. So he led a small host, an army of martyrs. Celestials of all kinds gathered under Adonis' banner, though none knew the truth of the quest- only that they would die so that a great good might be accomplished. They attacked the Waste itself, and annihilated as many fiends as they could, while Adonis and his elite escort hunted for the Maeldur.To this day it is not known how a huge army of 'loths managed to find the Solar and his forces as they hunted the waste: the 'loths never speak of the events, and their records are silent on the matter. The nine ultroloths leading the army tried to destroy the solar with a powerful ritual, but something went wrong, and Adonis wasn't destroyed. He was bound into a portion of the waste, and the Yugoloths not slain in the battle were entrapped there, bodies turned to stone and essence bound to the statue.Now Adonis waits, able to comunicate only with powerful good beings (any good character level 17 or higher) who enter the shaft of light that is his memorial and his legacy. Given the chance his entire story could be revealed, as well as the truth of the Maeldur, and an opportunity to deal a lasting blow to the fiends.Note: Adonis feels that the forces of good are able to deal with evil in open combat. He has no fear that the celestials can ever really be threatened on their home ground. It doesn't bother him in the least that the redemption of the Maeldur might end the Blood War. |
