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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sephiroth no Miko" data-source="post: 1796593" data-attributes="member: 4796">With key and map in hand, it seems that the group is ready. The portal crackles to life even as the tiny iron rod vanishes in a bright flare of planar energy as Blade leads the way through the arch. The hazy red landscape beyond solidifies into an altogether disagreeable reality as you all tumble through the gate, aware that it won't stay open for long. On the other side, you find yourselves stepping out from an overhang of natural volcanic rock as noxious puddles of mud sucks eagerly at your boots.Welcome to Torch-- the gate-town to Gehenna. As you adjust to your new surroundings, you're buffeted by sights, sounds, and odors, and all of them are foul.The city is built on three volcanic spires that rise up out of a stinking, blood-red marsh. The lower portion of town, which sprawls out in front of you, is unbounded by walls or gates. But the upper sections of Torch, rising high on each blackened peak, are walled in separately, connected by huge bridges stretching far overhead. Higher still is the gate to Gehenna itself, the Fourfold Furnaces, a glowing carnelian portal that hangs hundreds of feet in midair like a baleful, unblinking eye.One of the volcanoes is still active, blanketing the entire town in an unhealthy ruddy light and spewing forth strange gases from various fissures that ignite with the air. They fill the breath an acrid, sulfurous taste and a gritty feel that collects on your tongue and teeth. Looking around, you see that the people of the lower town are poor, malnourished, and diseased. They stare at you with sullenly, with little other than avarice and spite in their gaze. The conditions of the dilapidated buildings around them tell you that these folks are exposed to frequent flooding-- as well as other horrors sure to come from the fetid swamp that surrounds the spires.Despite all the volcanic activity, the wind blows cold in Torch, causing you to shiver involuntarily.<a href="http://s92908152.onlinehome.us/hellbound/image.pl?torch.jpg" target="_blank">Map of Torch</a></blockquote>

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