The
god of evil rules the heavens,
Zeus-style. He created humanity, so humans revere him.
They generally believe they are doing good (god's work), though long-term outcomes tend toward evil.
A
Duergar wizard is
impersonating the Dwarven king and has built the Soulforge -- a device for binding souls into a magical container. He plans to use this
container trap the god of evil and free the world from its suffering.
He takes the souls unwillingly, but they are not destroyed. Once the object is complete,
the trapped souls understand the purpose and willingly remain to contain the god of evil.
The soulforge has a side-effect: The soulless bodies reanimate as
creatures with all the abilities they had in life.
Soulless deal wisdom damage.
Those reduced to 0 wisdom become soulless as well. Soulless are
nigh-unkillable (
regenration) and become stronger each time they heal from 0 hp. The
Duergar wizard tends to
capture them and contain them.
To complete the object, he will require the
PCs' help to
gather certain artifacts. This hasn't happened yet, as the last time they encountered him (as the Dwarven king),
they refused to act on the plothammer.
Their current plan is to
journey to the other side of the world to
recruit the armies of the
Empire of Krueger (a human nation devoted to their god, templars and such), find the re-constructed
soulforge (
they disabled it once, but the Dwarven king had it moved), and eliminate the forge and the soulless threat once and for all. They're about halfway there.
There are other sub-plots, of course, but these are the rails.
Revelations to be made:
- The god of evil, his influence and followers are all bad for the world
- The King of the dwarves is the Duergar wizard they encountered in the first soulforge (as a simulacrum)
- The souls are not being harmed or destroyed (Already partially did this by allowing a wish scroll to return the cohort's soul and allow him to be raised. He had some vague memories of being in a purgatory-like place and a feeling that he was waiting to do something important.)