Dead Gods

Magnus Cragg was once known as an outlaw, stealing from road merchants to scratch out a meagre living in a world that he believed owed him a favour. His head was wanted in 12 cities but his motley band was notoriously tough to pursue, being excellent at stealth and survival.

Cragg's life would soon change when he discovered the pit and its writhing inhabitant. A result of a comet smashing into the Blasted Forest, the pit harboured a being from beyond the cosmos – Ikleth. Cragg became obsessed with the thing in the pit, spending nights bathed in sickly moonlight staring down into the abyss. He had never known his father, but being there gave him the strange feeling that something paternal was looking out for him. Ikleth reached out into Cragg's mind and began communication. It spoke of new worlds to be conquered, with Cragg at its side. But to achieve this it must feed.

Cragg was seduced by Ikleth's promises of dominion over all and so convinced many of his band of miscreants to start kidnapping merchants as sacrifice. Those who agreed were marked by Cragg as believers while the apostates were mercilessly thrown into the pit.

The more they fed Ikleth the more Cragg and the marked, who now referred to themselves as The Black Maw, changed physically. Tentacles slivered from their flesh, their skin grew fungi and their complexion greyed. Cragg saw the most change, becoming a walking monstrosity who was whispered about in dark taprooms.

Now Cragg seeks sacred relics to feed his god, knowing that soon Ikleth will be strong enough to rise from the pit and take down the gods themselves, and its most faithful follower will be right by its side.