It’s just your luck.
You were a late arrival. At least, that’s what they called you. One moment, you were at the home. The next, you were traveling through a cosmic wormhole to another world. Which could have been alright, except you landed thirty years later than everyone else, and in one of the worst places known to mankind: Seattle.
The waterlogged city teems with unrest. High up in her ivory tower – a retrofitted Space Needle – the Crime Baroness Karma maintains a vice-like grip over the city.
You are a resident of the Lows – a cluster of tenement style housing separating from the luxurious noble quarter where Karma and her ruling class reside. The Baroness’s corrupt glampires stalk the streets at night acting as a quasi-police force. They extort the residents for glitter or cash, and imprisoning or indenturing those who can’t. And they barely hold the peace between rival orcish casino bosses who seek to expand their turf, and the newly founded church of Whitesteel, whose missionaries have begun to crop up everywhere.
You’ve spent a few months huddled in the dingy remains of a dilapidated apartment, with only instant ramen, a tea kettle, and your roommates to keep you company. Something bad is about to go down – you can feel it – and you’ve decided now is as good a time as any to get out of the city. You’ve heard San Francisco is a mecca of sorts. The only problem is getting there.
South of Seattle is blocked by The Great Thorn Wall, which spans the horizon as far as you can see. The only way through is through the Forested Gate, but you’ll have to get through the thornlings that guard it.
You could also go by boat, but that requires lots of cash. Specifically, five grand. Only the most daring are willing to sail the Pacific Ocean and creatures lurking therein.
Fortunately, you may have found a way. You’ve made a contact, Soggy Joe, who promises his masters can pay you handsomely. You’ll just need to do a little dungeon-diving, in the form of an ancient ruin that has appeared within the city, or exploring the haunted house that overlooks the Lows.
You’ve got one ace up your sleeve: the new imaginative powers you’ve begun developing. Hopefully, they’re enough.
