Stepping through the portal, the heroes stand upon a stone platform suspended in a great void.Ahead of them, a bridge seemingly spun from spider webs stretches to another stone platform below. Three other platforms are linked to the lower landing by similar bridges.
Indistinct figures stand on these distant platforms. Tiny spiders swarm through the webbing. On the platform directly across from them, is a strange black orb, its surface traced by flashes of crackling yellow energy.
After dealing with Undead guardians, led by a Cambion Magus, the heroes step through the Black Orb, and are whisked away.
They now stand atop a stone platform next to an exact duplicate of the sphere they stepped through at the web bridge. Around them, a desert of gray sand and ash stretches as far as they can see. A dull sun hangs in the sky above them, its light obscured by a thick layer of clouds, but its heat no less oppressive.
A faint breeze reluctantly stirs the air, bringing with it the stench of decay. In the distance, they hear the faint sound of untold voices crying out in torment.
The short, hunched figure of a human male stands at the base of the platform. He is clad in tattered robes, clutching a staff that ends in a curved fork. Floating between its tines isa severed human hand. A bell dragging behind the figure is attached to an iron chain wrapped around his neck.
The human bows as he speaks. “I am the Keeper. Welcome to Deadhold, travelers.” he says. The heroes quickly gather that the creature resents Orcus supremacy on this Plane of Existance, and is willing to strike a deal with them.
They agree to kill Zirithian, and to pierce Orcus' eye with Nightbringer, his cursed sword. In exchange, the Keeper allows them passage, and grants them a token, a copper coin, that will help them avoid the Dark Curses of Deadhold. The party can then venture into Deadhold itself.
Though the sky above is strewn with cloud, an oppressive, choking heat tears at them as they make their way across the desert. The ashen sand varies from gray to white to a dull yellow.
Here and there, skulls and shattered bones poke through the dunes. In the distance, a small settlement rises from a wide plateau, surrounded by what looks like a river of shadow. Growing louder with every step you make, the cries of suffering rise from the area around the river.
The settlement is cloaked in what appears to be a shimmering haze of desert heat. However, even as they approach, they can make out the true nature of that dark stain—the air above the outpost is thick with an endless swarm of flies.
After a dangerous journey through the undead-infested wasteland, the Heroes reach Hordethrone, Zirithian's sit of power.
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