The Rat Incursion

In the aftermath of Gahi'li's fall and when victory was assured and the world was saved, our heroes each went on to other things, two, Nymil and Adonis ascended to godhood, blessed by the Prime Deities for their work, one, Rocky, became the protector of the world, ever vigilant as an immovable mountain in the center of Mythra, another, Gluk the Kenku who had found his voice, wished for his people back, and for them to have their flight and voices too, restored. And then there were the last, Deha and Paxton, Paxton wished to become a god at first, but he was told that he could not return to the material plane if he did, he refused then and became a lesser powerful demigod, he couldn't leave his best friend Deha alone in the world. Deha herself asked for a bag of infinite supplies and land to build a magnificent city of gears and cogs.

One night on their journey to find this land, Deha and Paxton sat around a campfire with the many people who had lost their homes in the war and wished to start anew. They shared stories about their life before, Deha in passing conversation as Paxton mentioned his hatred for rats said "That's how we met Rocky, actually, apparently he had been fighting ratmen for two hundred years, with the portal they came out of right in front of him, but he could only hold his ground and not move further. We managed to destroy the gateway and so he joined us on our quest" Paxton's expression changed, mouth agape for a moment as he scrambled to his feet, Deha looked confused "Deha, we have to go, we have to warn them, every one! You said you found a gateway, never is there only one! There are thousands! The rats are invading!" Deha still confused and equally horrified by what Paxton asked "How do you know this?" "No time!" Paxton replied and rushed off to the nearest kingdom who had a king, queen, lord, anything, everyone must be warned of this!

Deha and Paxton rode Deha's mechanical t-rex Kranley a wonder of technological marvel, blessed with a powercore capable of supercharging him to become as tall as mountains, they found themselves in the joint- land of Rigganthor, Riggard and Raran'thor had merged their governments as they now shared a border, they went to the high council of the Five Cities, but the former king of Riggard Theoric simply scoffed and proclaimed "Rats? Why should be afraid of some pesky vermin? Let the Vanguard take care of them!" The others on the council agreed the world had just been saved, surely another world-ending apocalypse wouldn't come just yet, so they had grown complacent.

Paxton didn't want to waste time reasoning with them huffed out of the room and decided the dragons would be their next stop. So they went to the highest peak of Mount Karandor to seek out Basinaari, the queen of dragons, left by Lar'when to guard over the world and warn her if anything would happen. The dragon queen understood the mousefolk's plight but simply said "If there were thousands of these gateways, great Paxton, we would have sensed them and we do not. If we do, we will act, you have my word, Savior of Mythra." Paxton almost lost his temper. He already didn't like dragons in the first place, but Deha calmed him and they went, "Well if no one wants to do anything about this, we will." Paxton said, and Deha agreed. It didn't take long for her to make a device that could detect the energy of otherworldly magic.

They now had a way to find out where the gateways were, their first trip took them to the south to Deyn, a vast volcanic nation, ruled by Baharim, Queen of the Four Winds, a Dragonborn with scales of ever-shifting chromatic colors, she has ruled the land for over four hundred years, there, deep within a volcano, the slumbering Xa'tha'ti, also known as the Ever-Burning One, many thousands of years ago Xa'tha'ti erupted and it hasn't seized to this day, the flowing lava nurtures the land and expands it little by little, the residents of this once island nation build around the pools and rivers of molten earth and found ways to harness its power to their own use, strangely enough, the lava did not cause discomfort or immense heat, but it flowed like water none the less.