Here is the setup of the 4 sub campaigns: I. Deep in the heart of the Celestial Sanctum, far beyond the reach of mortal eyes, sits the Crank of Life, a colossal, humming mechanism of gold and ethereal light. This divine engine was never meant to be a permanent fixture; it was installed by the God of Life as a final act of grace before departing this plane with the rest of the pantheon. For eons, the steady, rhythmic turning of the Crank has ensured that seasons shift and hearts continue to beat. Because the gods are no longer here to drive the machine, the burden of existence has fallen to mortal hands; roughly every 40,000 years, a new generation of heroes must reach the Sanctum to perform the Great Turning, ensuring that the spark of life is wound for another age. But now, for the first time in millennia, the cycle is being challenged by a primordial force that has waited for the creators to fade into myth. Death has come to claim its prize, seeking not to rule the living, but to shatter the Crank entirely and bring an end to the "artificial" extension of life. Without the gods to intervene, the preservation of reality rests solely on the shoulders of those who inherited the world. It is a war of cosmic proportions, where the prize is not a throne or a kingdom, but the very right for any heart to beat another day. You are not alone in this vigil, for the call to defend the Sanctum has resonated across every corner of the world, drawing a vast assembly of creatures and champions to the cause. From ancient spirits to hardened warriors, a desperate coalition has gathered to hold the line against a danger that now looms ominously over the horizon. While the defenders are many, the shadows gathering in the distance are vast and formidable, signaling a conflict of unprecedented scale. You stand ready among this diverse host, watching the sky change and waiting for a confrontation that will determine if the world keeps turning or falls into an eternal, silent winter. II. Deep in the heart of the empire, the Que’Zul Ziggurat rises like a jagged mountain of stone, a monumental feat of engineering fueled by decades of obsession. To the common laborer, it appears to be a grand monument, but the truth is far more clinical: this structure is a cage designed to be impenetrable from the inside. Layer upon layer of reinforced masonry, shifting corridors, and lethal automated traps are being woven into its architecture, all serving to suppress the volatile energy of an ancient artifact buried at its core. The Que’Zul believe they are saving the world by sealing this power away forever, creating a tomb that no living soul could ever hope to navigate. However, the Custodians, a millennia-old secret organization, possess a vision of a future the empire cannot see. Their seers have foretold a coming darkness that can only be defeated by the very artifact the Que’Zul are currently burying. According to the prophecy, a destined party of heroes will one day need to retrieve the relic to save civilization. The Custodians realize that if the Ziggurat is completed to its current lethal specifications, those heroes will surely perish within its walls. To protect the future, the order has sent undercover operatives to infiltrate the build site, tasked with a delicate mission of counter-construction. As members of this clandestine group, you are currently embedded within the massive labor crews, working under the guise of loyal imperial builders. Your objective is to subtly compromise the Ziggurat’s design without alerting the ever-watchful Que’Zul overseers. By weakening specific seals, creating hidden bypasses, and "malfunctioning" the most deadly traps, you are ensuring the fortress remains a challenge, but not an impossibility. You are the silent architects of a rescue mission that won't take place for centuries, placing your faith in a prophecy and the hope that your hidden modifications will be enough to give the future a fighting chance. III. The ancient city of Kalensburg stands as a bastion of civilization, built in the shadow of a monolithic, millennia-old Ziggurat. For generations, the structure has loomed over the city like a silent sentinel, its origins lost to the fog of time and its interior a subject of dark superstition. Local legends warn that the Ziggurat is a gateway to nowhere; of the many scholars, thieves, and explorers who have ventured past its heavy stone thresholds over the centuries, not a single soul has ever returned to tell what lies within its hollowed depths. This enduring mystery has suddenly been overshadowed by a far more immediate terror: a catastrophic breach into the underworld has split the earth nearby. Out of this jagged wound, a relentless army of the dead has begun to spill forth, marching with a cold, singular purpose toward the walls of Kalensburg. The Western Empire, once thought invincible, now trembles as word spreads of the tide of bone and shadow emerging from the rift. The undead legions do not seek plunder or land; they move with a chilling, synchronized resolve, signaling an end to the long peace of the imperial heartland. As a defender of the realm, you watch from the city's heights as the horizon darkens with the first signs of the approaching nightmare. The bells of Kalensburg ring out in a frantic call to arms, signaling a struggle for survival that few truly feels prepared for. While the military scrambles to fortify the ramparts and ready the gates, the silent Ziggurat remains at your back. In the face of the encroaching storm, the ancient stone mountain stands as it always has, its secrets undisturbed even as the world begins to burn. IV. Deep in the heart of the Western Empire, the ancient ruins of Kalensburg stand as a skeletal monument to a fallen age, buried within the desolate stretch of the Empty Lands. For centuries, this region has been avoided by the living, a place where the wind howls through shattered spires and the silence is heavy with the weight of history. Somewhere within this wasteland, hidden deep inside the chambers of a monolithic, millennia-old Ziggurat, lies the Crank of Life, the divine mechanism left behind by the God of Life to sustain the world’s vitality in the absence of the divine. The numbers are clear, and the time of the Great Turning has finally arrived. For the Custodians, a secret organization that tracks the celestial cycles, the waning pulse of the world’s life force is an undeniable signal that the Crank must be wound once more. After forty thousand years of steady rotation, the mechanism is slowing; if it is not turned, the world will descend into a permanent, frozen stillness. Realizing the urgency of the moment, the Custodians have scoured the realms to find a party of heroes capable of braving the forgotten dangers of the waste to reach the heart of the ruins.
