Yes, indeed they are grim, master Slicer. But come, join us in the Hall. Brother Tanthus, will brief you on what we know.
Those of you who follow Forgath walk through the large doors, which are closed and bolted behind you, into a long, straight, damp passage of gray stone, shrouded in complete darkness. After a few minutes, the passage opens into a large, roughly circular stone hall, fifty feet high at its peak, and some two hundred in diameter. From the top, a bright ray of sunlight streams in and touches a large, polished opal in the center of a stone altar, red with iron.Several more dwarves, some in robes and others in armor, move about the hall, traveling between the thirteen passages emerging from it or milling about and conversing. Your party steps up to the side of the altar, where a sallow, frail looking dwarf in an unadorned pure black robe, with a long, untidy gray beard, and a slightly emaciated, forlorn look, waits for you, carrying a small black-bound leather tome. The grandmaster bows to the elderly dwarf, the guards following suit, then speaks to the party:
Away party of the Oblivion, this is Brother Tanthus, our Farseer. He has been keeping us informed on the happenings of the isles, and the Nearer Planes surrounding them.
Tanthus gives the party a nod, then begins to relate his tales.
Thank you, Grandmaster. As Farseer, it is my duty to keep track of all happenings pertaining to the order, that we might carry out Sinderion's work as best as we can. But enough of such subjects. You wished to know of the Storm, as we call it? Very well. The Order recently received reports through its emissaries on the Burning Isle, on the edge of Sil-Merrion territory, of a foul creature of Hell roaming the countryside. These things happen occasionally as Outsiders find their way through the Planar Boundaries, so we were not overly worried, and our on-site team quickly put an end to the threat. However, as is our custom, I was tasked with as a matter of course investigating the matter, to be sure there were neither more evil forces about nor the sighting was the result of some profane servant on the isle. It was then that I discovered that, despite not being native to this clime, the Fervent Isle, which lies between the Karrian Sultanate and the Free Port of Rickshaw, the area was infested by Chuul, despite them being observed only in the distant and seldom-explored Tropics. After much research, I am still not quite sure as to why, but creatures and strange energies have simply been appearing in the Isles as of late. The best lead I have found is that these may have some connection to the weather; many of these phenomena have been observed days after the periodic storms that sweep the otherwise relatively calm Isles started up. Anything strange in this land is of concern to us. There is so much we still do not understand about this place, and anything out of the ordinary sets those suspicious elves and men against each other, not to even speak of the lesser represented races. Therefore, we concluded we would need to look into this matter in detail, in a more thorough manner than the devoted of the Shining One can muster. We'd like you to travel about, however you might see fit, and look into any strange happenings you hear about which might be connected to this. Return either to Wavebreak or to our embassies on the rest of the Isles, and we will pay well for any information you can give us.
((THERE. Damned invested players, harassing me into doing my job as GM.))