Rahel at the stairs

Rahel had found the bodies of the Dwarven party and their orc attackers an hour before. Now she stood at the base of an ancient stairway cut into the living rock of the mountain. The sole surviving dwarf and his pursuers left ample tracks as they made their way to the steps leading to the heights above; she did not need the skill of her Masca cat companion to follow the spoor. Sending the large cat ahead she climbed carefully up the interminable ramp. Whoever had carved the steps must have had longer legs than the current inhabitants of the land. She and the cat had to lift their legs higher than usual to make the next step. How the dwarf managed to keep his distance from the orcs on the path was a bit of a mystery.

It took almost another hour for the pair to reach the top. All caution as they came close to the end they peered out on the the landing where an altar of sorts dominated the circular opening. On the far side of the circle away from them the rock wall gave way to a drop off. The orcs stood at the edge staring down and yelling at something below.

Introduction

The Pou Pou empire was born out of the struggle of a small kingdom looking to survive in the face of aggressive neighbors. When the war began the rulers at the time, good men who were simply trying to protect their people, could never have foreseen that there would be no end to the conflict. True, there were periods of less fighting when the garrisons were not nearly as full and ships carried more trade than materials of war. In the end, some ambitious ruler would start up the battles anew. Sometime in the second century of the conquests a nameless wag in some forgotten corner of the land looked upon a recruiting poster and referred to it as the endless war. Someone else overheard the sardonic remark and seeing the truth in the statement repeated it to a friend; thus the name came about, the Endless War.

This story relates a series of events that occurred on the other side of the world from the capital city of Pou and the founding of a friendly land that only distance and humility kept from being yet another foe to the Pou Pou empire. This is the story of the Paladins Mass.