Chapter 1

(Stronghold of the east, city of honor and of justice.. Shadowkeep. Built to
keep evil at bay, located in the shadow of the mountains, watching over
Esachen\'s Pass through which tides run back and forth steadily ever on.
Forever struggling, high and low tide nevertheless keep their balance.. Not so
with light and darkness, not anymore... for some shadows seem to need no light,
seeping through cracks that weren\'t there before.)


Drunken chatter in one of the better pubs in town gets interrupted by a loud
yell from one of the corner tables. A flagon of ale in hand, a broadshouldered
templar exclaims \"Here\'s to Hemet!\". As the hand swings over to
point towards the man behind the bar desk the contents only get saved by the
slightly dented lid. \"..and \'m nut talkin \'bout you.. I\'ma mean the
good God of inns \'n taverns. Yup. Thassright, though yous a mighty fine
fellow too of cours fo\' providin this ale\". The customers around the
Flying dragon nod in agreement, some also raising their drinks (and voices) in
honor of the drunken god.

The general drunkenness continues as usual, the servants of Faerwon have had
little to do lately so the topic eventually changes into the dismal weather of
late. \"Loraen be damnd I say.. been raining for aages now..\"

\"Loraen? Don\'t you go blaming Loraen \'cos it\'s Laesa whose
respossible..\"
\"Achh.. rightyouare.. But ain\'t never been.. that I remember and
can\'t say I remembr much now.. but anyways.. yes.. never been rainin like
this before..\"
\"Got tha right.. you know the stonering? righright sure you do, who
doesn\'t? know how it\'s the sacred stone ring, right? i\'ll tell you one
thing.. I\'ll tell you one thing.. I came through the ring on ma way here and
damned if it wasn\'t the wettest place of em all, that\'s sacredness for you..
swear it was raining more than any place else there and \'course I also stepped
in a pool of water lookin just like all of \'em do only this one was way
deeper.. the cobbless all gone like so I’m walkin with a wet sock now
too..\"
\"Oh? well, that\'s some buggerd luck I\'d say, they don’t make streets
like they used to, though I also gotta say it don\'t really feel anything like
a sacred place oughta feel like..\"
\"Yuh, exxacly. It don\'t really feel sacred but it don\'t feel evil
either.. but it don\'t feel NORmal.. got to be somethign there that keeps
those greedy traders away too \'cause I don\'t remember anyone stayin in there
for long, and god knows they could use more space..\"
\"Space you say, now make some for me.. I\'ll go get just one more and
that\'ll be the last for tonight, got to go on patrol tomorrow again.\"

Eventually (for drinking just one more would have been a grave injustice to
the whole profession of brewers, the paladins decreed) the group of friends
braves the stormy weather again to head for the barracks and, were they less
drunk, they might even notice a light on the top floor of a tower, now the
slowly crumbling victim of the everpresent Shadowkepian Creeper. The presence
of this climbing, thorny, poisonous stone-rending growth does not really
reduce the magnificence of the ancient stonework however, only transforms it
from a monument to Beldarus into a tribute to Nurgle and the tower still has
enough stability in it for a group of hooded figures to hold their assembly
in. Bent at the window, rain drumming the windowsill relentlessly, one of them
begins to talk in a low voice, as if to himself.

\"Shadowkeep, shadowkeep.. but which side of the walls are the shadows
being kept?\" Eyes focusing on the old circle of stones outside, he
weaves an intricate pattern in the air with a hand that wouldn\'t look out of
place on the armrest of a rocking chair. The form of a rune glimmers in the
air for a while, the sparkle somehow dimmed by the gloomy firelit atmosphere.
\"The old shadowgate seems to be gaining in power unusually much... this
rain...\" and as thunder rumbles loudly up above, the stooped figure
turns around. \"...is not natural\". Nothing more needs to be said.

*****************
disclaimer: this is not an entry in the bard writing contest (since I\'m not a
bard), but I did get inspired by it. hopefully I\'ll manage to write more in
the future for this really has been fun.