Ishtal is a secluded seaside location, on the tip of the western shore of the peninsula. Here, the rock has split from the cliffs and stands separately, where it has been settled by an isolationist community of sun-worshippers. Here, they believe, they can take in the last rays of sunlight each day, where they bottle them and forge monstrances designed to banish the darkness when the end of the world comes.
The rock surface of the pillar is carefully built up in a series of chapter-halls, kitchens and other functional rooms, and topped by a spacious long hall, aligned precisely with the angle of the setting sun over the sea. The windows there are incredibly expensive lenses, each the height of a tall man, which channel the light along mirrored glass tubes into a specially prepared bottle each night. These bottles somehow actually trap energy of the sun, and if they are broken, they explode with the power of a sunburst spell. The monks here store the bottles in special vaults buried inside the rock spire, in secret rituals. They believe that a time will come when darkness sweeps over the land, and only the saved energies of the sun itself can hold back the forces of evil. If the need is dire enough, they might even spare a flask or two... How you can use Ishtal in your game: - As a remote community, it's an ideal place to be under attack by enemies, and in need of rescue. As there's a regular town not too far away, someone might have run for help while the monks battle the attackers. Aquatic creatures like Sahuagin would be perfect for this attack, allowing your players to vanquish hordes of the scaly monsters. - For adventurers on an epic quest, a flask of sun's light might be needed to battle a particular foe. Activated properly, it might be able to be used like an oil, to anoint a weapon in the pure light of the sun, rather than simply exploding. - Perhaps by taking som of the sun's light each day, the monks are actually diminishing its light. People on the mainland are starting to notice the sun's light dimming every day, and the monks are taking this as a sign that their efforts are even more needed. Persuading them to cease in their rituals, and even to release back their imprisoned sunlight, will be difficult. And that is even without the vampire which has crept into the cloisters and is murdering monks, one after another, until it can reach the magical apparatus in the high halls, and accelerate the process to extinguish the sun itself. Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 30 March 2019. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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