Myaasia World Information

The city once known as Carse had been under the curse of a plague for as long as the oldest humans of Cerea can remember. No one is quite sure how the plague began, but most sages agree that its origins were probably magical in nature. Over the decades the plague had flared up several times, but it had never died down completely. Many priests had predicted, that the plague would increase in strength with the Period of Destruction, but none of them could foresee what was about to happen there, when the third year of Destruction drew to a close.

When news reached Cerea, that the plague in Carse had worsened to a level never before seen, the churches - notably the churches of Storm, Life and the young goddess Chondra - sent teams of clerics to alleviate the suffering of the people there. They were assisted by several mages to deal with the supposed arcane origins of the plague. The delegations were led by Lady Gaidin, Lady Thenthen staying behind to coordinate the defences of Vesper.

When they arrived in Carse almost a third of the population had already taken ill, though so far few people had died. Lady Gaidin soon found the new streak of plague to be completely different from any so far encountered in Carse. It would leave the beridden physically and spiritually weary to the point of exhaustion, though few people but those already weakened would actually die. Only with those patients who had been under the influence of the plague the longest were there signs of rapid ageing beyond their natural years. The strangest aspect of the plague was that anyone leaving the city would seemingly age at a rapid pace and die within several hours, leaving behind only a dried husk.

After several weeks of working with the ill, some of the clerics and mages also fell ill, though those touched by their respective gods seemed to be immune.
Finally Master Sage Dazzle Smallgrake, himself ill with the plague for several days, postulated the theory that there must be some kind of artefact or spell within the city, that would at once cause and cure or at least slow the plague, and that anyone leaving the city and thus the range of the artefact would feel the full effects of the plague. By using this assumption he devised a way to temporarily halt the plague by completely shielding the subject from any magic effects, though the spell was too complicated to be used for any length of time.

By that time virtually every single person in the city had been infected by the plague.

The mages busily set to the task of finding the supposed artefact, searching for parts of the city were the ageing effects were less noticeable than in others. Using powerful divination magic they were finally able to pinpoint the location in the cellars of a normal looking building, the inhabitants of which had succumbed to the regular plague a few years earlier. When Lady Gaidin entered the cellars she found a sickly green glowing gem pulsating in the centre, surrounded by arcane symbols and a portal to an outer plane. The gem was steadily feeding energy through the portal, on the other side of which she could make out a hooded figure, apparently the recipient of the energy.

When the figure noticed the intruders, she gave a start, but recovered quickly. She said: “I would have liked to draw this out longer, but this will have to suffice. Prepare to die!”

After that the gem began to glow ever more brightly and several demons passed through the portal. Lady Gaidin and her followers engaged the demons in combat, but to her horror Lady Gaidin saw her companions begin to age as they battled. After only a few minutes, all of those who had entered the cellars with her and who were not touched by their deities had withered away, and when the demons had finally been banished, only dust remained of them. The green gem had turned to a dull grey apparently having burned out its power.

When Lady Gaidin and her two surviving companions Borg Wedjuut and Lagnar the dwarf left the building, they found the city deserted. Every citizen of Carse had been affected by the accelerated ageing and died within several minutes. Only upon entering the temple of Storm where the worst afflicted had been quartered, did they encounter other survivors. Master Sage Smallgrake had used his powers to shield himself and a handful of others from the effects of the power surge, though all of them seemed several years older than they had been before.

Of the plague itself there was no trace left to find; it had burned itself out along with that diabolical crystal. Of the 17 priests and wizards from Derimir only 8 returned home; only 11 more citizens of Carse survived to accompany them, for none of them had a wish to remain in the ghost town of Carse.

About the hooded figure, Lady Gaidin had seen on the other side of the portal, we don’t know much. It seems safe to assume though, that Lady Gaidin had been witness to the ascension of Nehaya, the goddess of Poison, Plague and Corruption.