Saint Martens, Fortified City

Past. Founded at the confluence of the Roudine and Brigaire Rivers, at the western foot of the Berghidiene Mountains, Saint Martens holds one of three passes between the western humanoid empire of Lumont and the eastern draconic empire of Aslakis. When war broke out between Lumont and Aslakis several years ago, Saint Martens became a city under siege, its archpriests, imperial mages, and ballistae corps providing crucial defenses as Aslakian raids scorched the surrounding countryside and tested the city's ancient walls.

Present. Three days ago, a minor acolyte of the Church of Phodias—Lumont's patron deity of kings, justice, and the Sun—found something curious in an old cellar of Our Cathedral of Shining Dawns: evidence of recent human habitation. Further investigation revealed that the city's old catacombs, which sprawled beneath the Old City and Upper City, had become infested with undead—and a small army of necromancers. The Church and city guard rallied an assault force, and a subterranean invasion began.

Future. Reports from imperial haruspices and Church diviners have located a growing emanation of powerful necromantic magic coming from the Tomb of Divine Rays, the resting place of Saint Marten's most ancient and celebrated heroes. Though the cause is impossible to deduce from above, old maps have identified a small leyline flowing directly beneath the Tomb—one whose power, if properly channeled, could fuel a powerful necromantic ritual.