The Rune of Strife
The gnolls have
overrun Crossroads and driven out Wolf's Irregulars. The Nexus of Water has
ruptured and been invaded by abyssians. The Danse Macabre vies with the Winds of
Change. The elemental forces are in conflict as war and strife cover the land.
The Dark Cleric to Rivenhouse uses the energies of the mansion’s manifestations
and the stains of War left behind to craft a new holy ground. He collects all
the essence of War that has been fermenting for years: Wizard Wars fought on the
Haunted Plains, creates by Flame, Cinder and Mechella, the War of the Flame, the
contest for the title of Lord of the Wood, the collision between Order and
Chaos. All this conflict and violence coalesces wells up like an ulcer and, at
the direction of the Dark Cleric, it ruptures. Like when the Circle of War
appeared in Kismet's Game, the Dark Cleric floats above the ground. It reaches
into a large satchel and grabs a handful of desecrated soil gathered from its
foul patron’s holy ground. With spectral limbs it sprinkles the soil about to
form a circle. The Dark Cleric who then shapes the town's spiritual cancer into
that circle manifesting a foul arena, the Pit of Strife.
Like the Circle of War, any who enter into the Pit of Strife will find
themselves trapped in the arena with a foe they must defeat. More often than
not, combatants will face those of roughly equal power, but there is a random
element to the pit that may mean a pugilist will face an opponent of
significantly greater or lesser power. It has been discovered that certain blood
rites or battle ceremonies that are performed before entering the pit can affect
which foe will be face in combat.
Once in the pit, the only means to leave it is as victor or corpse. Magics to
avoid combat, such as Teleport, Calm or Sleep, will not function until the
evoker is a hair's breath away from death. Some brave souls choose to enter the
pit to hone their combat skills. Some go in hopes of finding the loot on their
slain foes. While others are cast into the Pit of Strife by baneful magics such
as those that are held in goblin runesticks, Narzynn Chalices or other woodland
treasures. Some who enter the Pit of Strife find they are possessed and
transformed into some other been, such as goblin shamans, gnoll raiders, human
mages, sprite guardians, ravenous zombies or zealous cultists.
Some mages theorize that there are many Pits of Strife that work as
trans-dimensional portals. That a Fallenstar combatant faces a foe who is
actually a counterpart warrior that entered another pit in a distant place like
Cairn, the Forest of the Damned, or the Sprites Realm. A number of templar
conjecture that the adversaries that are faced in the arena are actually the
spirits of long dead combatants. While, many diviners believe, but cannot
magically confirm, that those that enter the pit face their own shadow self,
some aspect of their psyche is monstrous, violent or self-destructive. The truth
remains to be seen.