Prophecies & Intrigue 1: It Begins.

A young half-orc approaches his mentor and thanks him for all that he has learned; it is time for him to go into the world and find the parents that left him in the protective care and seclusion of the monks of Othe. The master grabs the young man's shoulders, and wishes him well, "Here, this is yours, take care on your journey. Follow the Gilded Roadway through the Wuyan Gates to the Marrow Valley, I don't know much from there. Good luck Hung, be well." He hands Hung Kam-Bo a medallion with a strange symbol that Hung has never seen before. Hung takes it, admiring the only item that connects him to his parents, and bravely starts along the Gilded Roadway as he was told. Heading south, the salty ocean breeze off the Lucidian Ocean and the comforting sounds of the Menagerie Coast gulls keep him company on his travels.

The city of Nicodranas was a bit overwhelming for the naive and inexperienced Hung so he moved through there as fast as possible. Not far past the city, he sees a lake and a curious figure that seems to be emerging from it. He gets closer, his eyes do not deceive him; there is a whole woman emerging from the depths, she does not look happy but Hung will see if she needs help.

Sai grumbles as she trudges out of the lake, her boots sticking in the muck at the bottom, making it a chore. She looks over at hung and he said, "I am Hung".

"Congratulations." she says as she looks, "Any chance you know where we are?". He tells her and she looks confused and says, "Must have been a portal in that lake." She decides to travel with Hung since there's no way she can get back to where she was; it doesn't even look or feel like the same plane at all. The travelers head northward and find a place to rest on the other side of the Wuyan Gates. They are now on the cusp of spring in the Marrow Valley of the Dwendalian Empire. They take respite at the Careful Carver's Trading post & loft.

Not far away, a gnome starts to stir. He hears something, the smell of damp earth invades his nose and his eyes seem to be covered because he can't see a thing! The buzzing sound gets louder as his mind tries to focus through the searing headache that's making itself known. He tries to move, chains!?! What?!? He struggles against them in frustration, harder and harder; he pulls his legs up underneath him pushing himself off of the wall his arms painfully stretched behind him. He pulls and pulls until a roaring scream escapes his throat, and at that moment … a flash of red light and heat erupts from the pit of his core - he drops in a heap onto the hard ground, free from the wall.

Malkey reaches up and takes the strip of red cloth that had been used as a blindfold off. He sees that the chains have broken, but the manacles still surround his wrists. Looking closer he sees that there are runic carvings on them, but he’ll have to deal with them later. He takes a moment to hold his pounding head before he focuses on the sound that woke him to his current predicament. Looking up from his knees he sees a tiny creature, a beetle struggling on its back … as soon as he claps his eyes on it, a memory comes: he's in a bedroom chamber (not refined, perhaps it's in a cave?), two voices can be heard but they are silhouetted against the firelight in the fireplace and cannot be seen but he thinks he recognizes one of the voices but cannot pinpoint who it is. They are discussing him but Malkey can’t make out exactly what they’re saying. He starts to struggle and the noise startles the two voices, stopping their conversation. Their footsteps come nearer and right as he would have had enough light to see their faces, he is surrounded by a swarm … of beetles like this one.

He approaches it to take a better look … is this mechanical!?! Indeed it is, and it seems to have a broken wing mechanism. He happens to be a handy fellow but he realizes he doesn't have his tools! Looking around, he notices that one wall isn't what it seems and behind it finds his pack and yes, his tools are still in there. He gets to work to fix the beetle to pass the time before he has to figure out how to get out of this place. So it’s just Malkey, some broken chains and a now fixed clockwork bug he named Nutbag, in an oubliette.