Second Darkness

Your adventure begins in the city of Riddleport. Riddleport lies along the southern coast of the rugged landscape known as Astéba. Those who head southwest from Magritta along the rocky coastline quickly find themselves in a rough country. Jagged waves crash mightily, eroding away at the harsh cliffs of the coastline. Small woodlands grace the region, their tangled depths redolent of nettles and pinesap, while further inland, river valleys lined by majestic oaks wind between ragged tors and granite escarpments. Yet, for all its wild glory, this place is the gateway to riches in more ways than one, for this land is the main entrance to the great Sea of Silk. This is the Gold Coast. Riddleport, third largest city in all Astéba, is also the most notorious. Once a secret pirate haven, Riddleport has grown over the last the centuries into a port city in its own right. At first it served as a den of piracy, but over time, the city has expanded into a true settlement, the southernmost port along the harsh strip known as the Gold Coast. Yet, while Riddleport has grown into a proper city, it remains true to its roots—you can get rich quick in Riddleport if you’ve got skill and a bit of luck. Yet, for every Riddleport success story, there are a dozen nameless bodies buried in potters’ fields or tossed to the hungry denizens of the sea. Recently, though, a strange atmospheric phenomenon has manifested in the sky above the city. This strange blot has hung in the air for several weeks now, moving slowly in what appears to be a random pattern in the sky. At first assumed to be a dark cloud, it soon became evident that it often moved at odds with the wind. The blot itself resembles nothing so much as a shadow floating in the sky, almost as if some large but unseen object were blocking the sun’s rays. Riddleport already hosts a large number of scholars, but as word of the blot spread, additional investigators from as far as Vistania came to witness the strange phenomenon, their numbers swelling the city’s population. Arguments of the source, nature, and implications of the shadow rage in areas where scholars congregate. But when it became apparent that the shadow was having little direct impact on the city itself, most of Riddleport’s citizens moved on to other concerns, leaving the matter to the bookish sages in order to get on with the business of doing business. Of course, the majority of the city’s residents find the influx of new marks to be quite welcome, and both pickpocketing and the confidence business are booming. A foul omen looms in the sky over the scoundrel city of Riddleport, an ominous shadow that defies the light. Is it a curse laid millennia ago by forgotten mages? Does it forewarn against the return of some terrible foe? Or does it portend a terrible new era, a second Age of Darkness?