Finding Information on Moil

Garth had suggested the party visit Kesto Brighteyes, a gnome illusionist who owns the Parted Veil bookstore, in the lower ward, for more information on Moil.

As the party was running their other errands, they happened upon the Wizard's Guide Kuppies and Alexander had joined. As luck would have it, they had a small library and the heroes were able to learn the following information about Moil.

The city of Moil embodies the perils of dealing with the demon princes. The Moilians made this disastrous error long ago, and have paid the price in the thousands of years since. In ages past, the Moilians dabbled in the black arts. They toyed with forbidden magic and demon summoning, seeking power to make their city ever stronger and wealthier. A cult devoted to Orcus came to rule the city, purchasing the favor of the Demon Prince of the Undead through mortal sacrifices and hideous ceremonies with the dead.

Eventually, the Moilians grew sickened by their excesses. They found the courage to tear down the temples of the demon prince and shatter the grand statues raised in his honor. They turned to Pelor in the hopes of purifying their souls with the god’s wholesome light. The citizens of Moil learned what so many have come to know before—once beholden, none can escape from Orcus.

Enraged at their faithlessness, Orcus returned to the great city and found temples and icons dedicated to the hateful sun god. The Demon Prince seized the entire city and flung it into the deepest depths of the Shadowfell, cursing the Moilians to never again feel the warmth of the sun upon their faces. It wasn’t long before hopelessness poisoned their souls and the mortals, as one, retreated into their sanctums to embrace blissful annihilation. When they faded away, they left behind the empty city as an elaborate monument to their folly. So Moil, the City That Waits, has stood for eons.

Little remains of Moil’s original splendor. The city slowly sinks into a vast bog of darkness, a vile sea of pure necromantic energy from which come undead horrors conjured from the polluted mind of the Lord of Skulls. As the city sinks, towers, walkways, and more descends into the blackness, chunks break free and tumble into the void of nothingness.

Horrid as these ruins are for the living, the place bears an unholy attraction for the undead. Such is this allure that the mighty lich Acererak, master of the Tomb of Horrors, once laid claim to the City That Waits and used it as a conduit to transcend his mortal form and ascend to greatness. Others sometimes seize sections of the city to serve as hidden refuges while they hatch sinister plans. Undead creatures join these baleful figures, prowling the city’s graceful bridges and staking out territory in its frozen towers.

Many wonders lay undiscovered here, but finding them means confronting the legion of horrors that have claimed these ruins, and surviving the ominous darkness below.