Ash'thana

Kalista tells you of ruins nearby. They are know to the residents of the cave as well as the Kindred. The residents avoid the gate, believing the area to be 'cursed'.

Several who have approached the gate never returned.

Ath'shana is an ruined city cushed by stones and rubble. The remains of the city are inhabited by undead.

The area around the city is awash with the energies of undeath. creature bodies left there will likely be turned into some sort of undead being.

For an unknown reason the plane of souls overlaps the material plane especially strongly in this region. Like all other locations of undead energy Shifting Gem will work here.

History and The Beast

The city of Ath'shana once sat above ground, a days travel from the port of Yuffdar.

One day a cloud of dust, filth, and putrid odor spread across the plains. With it came a terrible earthquake, like nothing anyone had ever witnessed. To the north the ridge of hills sprung up into he sky, like ice in the winter sea, only to come crashing down. One can only assume that Yuffdar was obliterated.

The quake continued and a massive crack in the earth opened up. The entire city was drawn into the earth. The city slid down into the dark, killing nearly everyone. A handful of us were able to survive. The temple of stone held strong and some of it's clergy were alive.

Those of us that lived, perhaps 50 out of a town of thousands upon thousands, found ourselves trapped here. With little to no food or water things looked grim.

Scouting parties were sent out but reported fierce beasts and deadly terrain. There was a rumor that the temple had some plan to save us, but by then I was too weak to walk.

When I awoke I was in this state, and the beast was here. I've never seen it, at least no directly. When it comes near us it feeds on us, we become weak and it's hard to see. It can be what seems like days before I'm even able lift a finger. Sometimes it whispers to us, telling us what to do. It likes us to play our parts. If we don't, it returns and after draining us, wracks our bodies with pain.