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Our story begins with seven friends who traveled from Bard's Gate to Zelkor's Ferry on a four-month boat journey. The group consisted of:
Upon arriving at Zelkor's Ferry, the friends would meet regularly at the local tavern when not occupied with work or study. One day, Librarian joined the group on an outing to practice her newly learned firebolt spell on local slimes, with her adventuring companions providing protection. During their quest, Librarian discovered an ancient tome written in a magical language she had recently learned from Ulman. Excited by her find, Librarian read the pages aloud to her friends. Unbeknownst to the group, her recitation accidentally cast a powerful curse that would trap all their souls within the regions of Rappan Athuk forever—even after death. The moment she finished reading, the book burst into flames and was lost forever. The friends remained unaware of their cursed fate. Two months later, while Librarian studied alone in her room, six spirits materialized through her wall. These ethereal beings telepathically identified themselves as her friends, explaining they had perished fighting eldritch sharks on the beach—consumed whole by the creatures in their final moments.
Desperate to save both her friends and herself, Librarian returned to Ulman Dark for guidance on breaking the curse. Ulman confessed he didn't know how to undo the curse, but offered an alternative: he could provide the group with infinite time to find a solution, allowing them to persist even beyond death.
Ulman revealed the existence of two powerful tomes containing knowledge that would enable the group to obtain new bodies and restore their souls to flesh. However, he warned that while one book detailed the creation of bodies, the second was located somewhere far more dangerous. This second tome would kill and transform whoever read it into a being capable of transferring spirits into prepared vessels.
Heeding Ulman's advice, Librarian first retrieved the book on body creation. Returning to Zelkor's Ferry, she spent the next ten years working with Ulman to master the complex processes required to properly prepare the vessels they would need. In exchange for his assistance, Librarian promised to transfer her curse to Ulman upon completing her quest, granting him eternal time for his research.
Together, Librarian and Ulman devised a plan to acquire the necessary bodies without endangering innocents or themselves—save for their intended targets. Librarian took employment as a waitress at The Boar's Inn, where she could observe new arrivals from Bard's Gate. These travelers came to Zelkor's Ferry for the same purpose as her original group: to cleanse the land of evil.
However, not all arrivals came willingly. Death-sentenced criminals were often sent alongside willing adventurers, with the understanding that they would at least die serving a useful purpose.
Using poison crafted by Ulman, Librarian would secretly dose the food and drinks of selected targets, ensuring they died peacefully in their sleep. As the town's undertaker, Ulman would claim the bodies, ostensibly for proper burial in the local cemetery. Instead, he buried empty coffins while secretly preserving the corpses in his home.
The prepared bodies were then transported to the ruins of Castle Calaelan, where the spacious courtyard was transformed into a hidden Corpse Garden. Each set of remains was carefully positioned and marked for its intended recipient. To protect their work, they formed an alliance with the residents of the castle and thus with the leader named Jaedra who is a smart and cunning leader of a tribe of goblins living at Castle Calaelan.
Unknown to Ulman and Librarian, Jaedra had her own agenda—she viewed the rising corpses as an endless supply of fresh food for her tribe and only had intentions to guard the corpses until they rise from the ground to then be thrown into a soup and devoured.
After ten years of preparation, Librarian was finally ready to retrieve the second tome. She bid farewell to Ulman and hired mercenaries with money earned from various jobs at the inn. The journey proved treacherous—all her hired protectors perished reaching the book's location, though Librarian herself remained unharmed.
In the chamber containing the second tome, Librarian read its contents knowing the cost. In her final mortal moments, she found peace before allowing the transformation to claim her. She emerged as a new form of being—simultaneously ethereal and physical, trapped between two planes of existence while residing fully in neither, incapable of causing or receiving harm, but able to transfer souls into the prepared vessels.
The stage was now set for her friends' resurrection, though the true test of their curse had only just begun.
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$$ \LARGE\textbf{\textit{\textrm{\color{#ffffff}{Corpse Decay System}}}} \\ \color{#f33636}\rule{200px}{2px} \\ $$
$$ \large\textbf{\textit{\textrm{\color{#ffffff}{Daily Necrotic Damage}}}} $$
Each day a corpse remains dead, it takes 1d20 necrotic damage
This damage cannot be healed while the body remains deceased
Track this damage separately on the corpse's character sheet
$$ \large\textbf{\textit{\textrm{\color{#ffffff}{Permanent Destruction Threshold}}}} $$
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$$ \LARGE\textbf{\textit{\textrm{\color{#ffffff}{Corpse Restoration Process }}}} \\ \color{#f33636}\rule{200px}{2px} \\ $$
Restoration Results:
Failure Consequences:
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$$ \LARGE\textbf{\textit{\textrm{\color{#ffffff}{Body Queue System}}}} \\ \color{#f33636}\rule{200px}{2px} \\ $$
Each role will vote in early July for which order they will play the characters for their role upon death.
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$$ \LARGE\textbf{\textit{\textrm{\color{#ffffff}{What Happens When A Character Dies}}}} \\ \color{#f33636}\rule{375px}{2px} \\ $$
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