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Visions in Kuluth-Mar - Age of Worms Campaign
Vision 1 The ruins of Kuluth-Mar seem to be suffused with a strange taint that hovers just beyond the edges of reality. Like an oily stain spreading over a pool, a vision wavers in the air. Within the tainted energy is a man seated on a great throne made of green stone. He wears ornate plate armor, and a black circlet rests on his brow. Both the circlet and armor are adorned with silver symbols-an overlapping skull and scythe. The vision expands, widening its scope to reveal that the throne is located at the apex of the large ziggurat and in the shadow of the spire. The spire itself gleams with flashes of white light, and at its peak is balanced a fifteen-foot-tall black stone monolith shaped like a trapezoid. Around the ziggurat spreads a thriving city, its streets paved in white stone, its buildings painted and whole. Thousands of figures have gathered in the large open plaza that surrounds the ziggurat, all facing the figure seated at its center. Their cries are a rhythmic chant, surging like waves on the monolith's shore. As these cries rise in volume, threatening to shake the jungle apart, the vision fades and is replaced by the ruined city of today. Secondary Vision The skull warps from the form of a human skull to the skull of a monstrous humanoid and then back again.
Vision 2 The strange dark stain in the air wavers and then grows solid. The peak of the Spire of Long Shadows is restored, and affixed to this peak is a fifteen-foot-tall, three-foot-thick trapezoid-shaped pinnacle of black rock, ten feet wide at the base and five at the peak. The monolith of stone shimmers and vibrates with waves of energy, and something strange and horrible writhes inside its nearly opaque interior. Suddenly, a brilliant red wall of scales fills the view, and there's a terrible sound of crumbling stone. In an instant, an enormous red dragon is winging away to the north. The spire's peak is in ruins, and clutched in the dragon's talons is the monolith. The vision fades, and the dragon and its prize are gone. Secondary Vision For a moment you catch a glimpse of an incorporeal insect-creature astride the red dragon.
Vision 3 The ruins of the room waver and fade, replaced by a well-equipped torture chamber. Wailing victims strapped to horrific devices hang in the background from chains. In the foreground stand two figures. One is a handsome man dressed in flowing robes. Facing him is a strange, six-armed creature that looks as much insect as it does humanoid. The insect creature's eyes are hollow sockets containing a pinpoint of light deep within. Its flesh is rotting and festering, and the green robes it wears are old and moth-eaten. The creature wields a long green crystal rod in one hand, a cruel hooked rod in another. In two other hands it holds a jeweled gold box that it presents to the man, who takes it and sets it upon a table. He opens it and, using a pair of iron tongs, withdraws a writhing green worm. The man's expression changes to one of exaltation as he looks upon the worm... and then the vision fades. Secondary Vision Above and behind the torture room you see a figure in the shape of a two-armed insect-creature. The figure is handing an identical jeweled box to the six-armed version.
Vision 4 The chamber wavers and shimmers, and suddenly a human man appears at one of the desks nearby. A strange gray-skinned humanoid creature with six arms stands at his shoulder. The man studies a collection of worn and pitted bronze disks arrayed on the desk before him. Faint etchings adorn the plates, and it seems as if the alien figures and symbols writhe together at the behest of some sinister will. The gray creature points to one of the plates, and a look of sudden comprehension blooms on the man's face. The man, the creature, and the plates then fade away, and are gone. Secondary Vision Above and behind the desk you see a figure in the shape of a two-armed insect-creature. It is inscribing words onto bronze disks, identical except for their new condition.
Vision 5 The immediate surroundings waver and fade, replaced by a bird's-eye view of the city of Kuluth-Mar at its height. The streets are empty, as the thousands of citizens seem to have gathered in a mass in the central plaza surrounding the Spire of Long Shadows. Suddenly, a foul energy wells from the spire at the center of the city, sweeping outward and felling the living as it passes. For each creature that falls, you feel a silent but potent sense of wrongness, as some indescribable part of the creature, perhaps its soul, is drawn back toward the Spire of Long Shadows to be absorbed by the strange black monolith of stone balanced at its peak. As the energy builds around the peak, a shimmering image of a colossal humanoid figure, its body composed of a million writhing worms, takes form around the Spire of Long Shadows, its arms raised in triumph. Yet in another moment, that triumphant pose seems to change to one of rage, and a soul-wrenching cry of fury tears from the undulant face. The image shrinks, pulled into the stone monolith at the Spire's peak, imploding with a horrific wet burst. In an instant, the city is quiet again, yet as the vision fades, the first signs of unlife spread through the thousands of dead bodies strewn around the ziggurat's base as bodies, now festering with green worms rise from death. Secondary Vision Three human-like figures claw their way out of the ground surrounding Kuluth-Mar, each one dripping with green worms. One figure is clad in full plate mail and bears an iron scepter, one is heavily cloaked and bears a dagger dripping black blood, and one is a lich-like abomination clad in the black robes of a necromancer. One by one, a figure in the shape of an insect reaches down and consumes the three worm-infested figures, following up with the humanoid in the primary vision. After each is consumed, the insect creature sprouts another arm and swells, until in the end it has six and seems larger than all of Toril.
Vision 6 The room melts away into darkness as the air fills with strange and frightening whispers. It sounds as if a hundred different voices speak in a hundred different languages, but an instant later, the voices have joined into one and the language resolves into familiar words. These words speak of the prophecies of the Age of Worms, and as they speak, visions of the prophecies coming true manifest before you, allowing you to observe the events as if you were a god looking down upon a troubled world. The visions are violent and horrific. Legions of worm-eaten dead rise from soggy graves. A city lost in darkness floats out of nothingness on the top of an upturned mountain. A spectacular meteor shower and unexpected eclipse occurs over a large outcropping. Across the continent, dragons go mad and begin raiding and marauding heedless of harm to themselves. A cackling man attaches a clawed and withered hand to the bleeding stump of his arm, and the hand writhes into unholy life. The City of Splendors burns as an army of shark-men emerge and raid from the sea. A city built in the heart of a volcano suffers tragedy during a partial eruption that sees the collapse of its southeastern quadrant. As each of these scenes flash by, they are accompanied by a crushing sense of certainty—these events have already come to pass. Yet finally, the whispering voices speak of two more prophecies, and these are accompanied by blackness. "A tripartite spirit once again becomes one, and at its advice are the mighty undone," the voices whisper. And then, "On the eve of the Age of Worms, a hero of the pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead." After this, there is only silence. It would seem that two prophecies have yet to be realized. Secondary Vision In the silence that follows the prophecies that herald the Age of Worms, a figure in the shape of a two-armed insect-creature pulls a familiar green worm out of its ear and places it in a jeweled box.

Visions in Kuluth-Mar - Age of Worms Campaign

Vision 1

The ruins of Kuluth-Mar seem to be suffused with a strange taint that hovers just beyond the edges of reality. Like an oily stain spreading over a pool, a vision wavers in the air. Within the tainted energy is a man seated on a great throne made of green stone. He wears ornate plate armor, and a black circlet rests on his brow. Both the circlet and armor are adorned with silver symbols-an overlapping skull and scythe. The vision expands, widening its scope to reveal that the throne is located at the apex of the large ziggurat and in the shadow of the spire. The spire itself gleams with flashes of white light, and at its peak is balanced a fifteen-foot-tall black stone monolith shaped like a trapezoid. Around the ziggurat spreads a thriving city, its streets paved in white stone, its buildings painted and whole. Thousands of figures have gathered in the large open plaza that surrounds the ziggurat, all facing the figure seated at its center. Their cries are a rhythmic chant, surging like waves on the monolith's shore. As these cries rise in volume, threatening to shake the jungle apart, the vision fades and is replaced by the ruined city of today.

Secondary Vision The skull warps from the form of a human skull to the skull of a monstrous humanoid and then back again.

Vision 2

The strange dark stain in the air wavers and then grows solid. The peak of the Spire of Long Shadows is restored, and affixed to this peak is a fifteen-foot-tall, three-foot-thick trapezoid-shaped pinnacle of black rock, ten feet wide at the base and five at the peak. The monolith of stone shimmers and vibrates with waves of energy, and something strange and horrible writhes inside its nearly opaque interior. Suddenly, a brilliant red wall of scales fills the view, and there's a terrible sound of crumbling stone. In an instant, an enormous red dragon is winging away to the north. The spire's peak is in ruins, and clutched in the dragon's talons is the monolith. The vision fades, and the dragon and its prize are gone.

Secondary Vision For a moment you catch a glimpse of an incorporeal insect-creature astride the red dragon.

Vision 3

The ruins of the room waver and fade, replaced by a well-equipped torture chamber. Wailing victims strapped to horrific devices hang in the background from chains. In the foreground stand two figures. One is a handsome man dressed in flowing robes. Facing him is a strange, six-armed creature that looks as much insect as it does humanoid. The insect creature's eyes are hollow sockets containing a pinpoint of light deep within. Its flesh is rotting and festering, and the green robes it wears are old and moth-eaten. The creature wields a long green crystal rod in one hand, a cruel hooked rod in another. In two other hands it holds a jeweled gold box that it presents to the man, who takes it and sets it upon a table. He opens it and, using a pair of iron tongs, withdraws a writhing green worm. The man's expression changes to one of exaltation as he looks upon the worm... and then the vision fades.

Secondary Vision Above and behind the torture room you see a figure in the shape of a two-armed insect-creature. The figure is handing an identical jeweled box to the six-armed version.

Vision 4

The chamber wavers and shimmers, and suddenly a human man appears at one of the desks nearby. A strange gray-skinned humanoid creature with six arms stands at his shoulder. The man studies a collection of worn and pitted bronze disks arrayed on the desk before him. Faint etchings adorn the plates, and it seems as if the alien figures and symbols writhe together at the behest of some sinister will. The gray creature points to one of the plates, and a look of sudden comprehension blooms on the man's face. The man, the creature, and the plates then fade away, and are gone.

Secondary Vision Above and behind the desk you see a figure in the shape of a two-armed insect-creature. It is inscribing words onto bronze disks, identical except for their new condition.

Vision 5

The immediate surroundings waver and fade, replaced by a bird's-eye view of the city of Kuluth-Mar at its height. The streets are empty, as the thousands of citizens seem to have gathered in a mass in the central plaza surrounding the Spire of Long Shadows. Suddenly, a foul energy wells from the spire at the center of the city, sweeping outward and felling the living as it passes. For each creature that falls, you feel a silent but potent sense of wrongness, as some indescribable part of the creature, perhaps its soul, is drawn back toward the Spire of Long Shadows to be absorbed by the strange black monolith of stone balanced at its peak. As the energy builds around the peak, a shimmering image of a colossal humanoid figure, its body composed of a million writhing worms, takes form around the Spire of Long Shadows, its arms raised in triumph. Yet in another moment, that triumphant pose seems to change to one of rage, and a soul-wrenching cry of fury tears from the undulant face. The image shrinks, pulled into the stone monolith at the Spire's peak, imploding with a horrific wet burst. In an instant, the city is quiet again, yet as the vision fades, the first signs of unlife spread through the thousands of dead bodies strewn around the ziggurat's base as bodies, now festering with green worms rise from death.

Secondary Vision Three human-like figures claw their way out of the ground surrounding Kuluth-Mar, each one dripping with green worms. One figure is clad in full plate mail and bears an iron scepter, one is heavily cloaked and bears a dagger dripping black blood, and one is a lich-like abomination clad in the black robes of a necromancer. One by one, a figure in the shape of an insect reaches down and consumes the three worm-infested figures, following up with the humanoid in the primary vision. After each is consumed, the insect creature sprouts another arm and swells, until in the end it has six and seems larger than all of Toril.

Vision 6

The room melts away into darkness as the air fills with strange and frightening whispers. It sounds as if a hundred different voices speak in a hundred different languages, but an instant later, the voices have joined into one and the language resolves into familiar words. These words speak of the prophecies of the Age of Worms, and as they speak, visions of the prophecies coming true manifest before you, allowing you to observe the events as if you were a god looking down upon a troubled world. The visions are violent and horrific. Legions of worm-eaten dead rise from soggy graves. A city lost in darkness floats out of nothingness on the top of an upturned mountain. A spectacular meteor shower and unexpected eclipse occurs over a large outcropping. Across the continent, dragons go mad and begin raiding and marauding heedless of harm to themselves. A cackling man attaches a clawed and withered hand to the bleeding stump of his arm, and the hand writhes into unholy life. The City of Splendors burns as an army of shark-men emerge and raid from the sea. A city built in the heart of a volcano suffers tragedy during a partial eruption that sees the collapse of its southeastern quadrant. As each of these scenes flash by, they are accompanied by a crushing sense of certainty—these events have already come to pass. Yet finally, the whispering voices speak of two more prophecies, and these are accompanied by blackness. "A tripartite spirit once again becomes one, and at its advice are the mighty undone," the voices whisper. And then, "On the eve of the Age of Worms, a hero of the pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead." After this, there is only silence. It would seem that two prophecies have yet to be realized.

Secondary Vision In the silence that follows the prophecies that herald the Age of Worms, a figure in the shape of a two-armed insect-creature pulls a familiar green worm out of its ear and places it in a jeweled box.