Shadows of Brimstone - Preamble

There was a town, if you could call it that, named Brimstone; a small railway stop on the edge of the hottest deserts in the south west territory. Barely a speck, it didn’t even show up on most maps… That is, until they found the Dark Stone.

Digging in the hills, an old prospector came across a strange nugget he had never seen before, a black rock, part way between a crystal and a metal ore. But there was something special about that rock, it had a glow you could only see out of the corner of your eye and was warm to the touch. It had properties folks said were magik, and of course, that caused a stir. Within days they found more of it buried in the earth, and stories started to spread. Business men and scholars started offering top dollar for even the smallest shard of the stuff, and that opened the floodgates. 

It was a gold rush, but not for gold; for the black rock… the Dark Stone. People came from all over to try and make their fortune, and Brimstone boomed over night. They dug mines in every scrap of land they could get a hold of. Round the clock they worked, digging deeper and deeper into the earth, bringing up cartloads full of the rock and sending it back to town to be stockpiled and sold to the highest bidder. What they didn’t know, what nobody knew, was that the energy in the Dark Stone resonated with itself. As they collected more and more of the rocks all in one place, it started to cascade, until… it exploded. In a flash, the town was consumed and a shock wave rolled out across the desert, burning the trees and tainting the land.

Reality itself was being ripped apart, and the people along with it. Dark portals to other worlds started tearing open across the countryside, pulling people in and unleashing all manner of demons and creatures into our world. Wherever there was Dark Stone these gateways would appear; some only flickering open for an instant, others opened and stayed that way.

That was 6 months ago. Since then, demonic creatures of all kinds have been pouring out of the mines, and the scorched hell on earth that is…was Brimstone. The government denies its existence, and anyone sane steers clear of the whole area, but plenty of folks find they can’t help but be drawn in, whether it’s to try and help somehow or just to find a fortune of their own, doesn’t matter. Everyone wants to be a hero. Damn fools. No one ever escapes… the Shadows of Brimstone.