Soren Labs

Knowledge unlocked through found journals:

Stone Soren long had issues with the rule of Vesta. Despite falling into Vesta's territory, it had always felt closer ties to the martyr Solon. In an attempt to devise methods to fight off Vesta in the event of a siege while they tried to gain independance, the Soren Labs were formed with some of the brightest minds Soren had to offer. It was hidden in the mountainside to protect it from attacks and covered with a darkness illusion.

Originally the point of the lab was to create new, more advanced weapons. They were hoping to counter the numbers of Vesta with powerful weapons that operated with a mix of gunpowder and magic. However, getting the neccessary supplies to experiment with or construct these weapons was impossible without gathering attention, and the scientists, who were skilled in the ways of magic, knew little in the ways of engineering.

As the scientists pondered what they should do the answer emerged in a most unexpected fashion. Several battaloins worth of Vesta's soldiers had been wiped out in an attack by planar creatures. The scientists were not unfamiliar with the workings of planar magic, and got the idea of how effective a weapon it would be if they could wield such powers themselves. They thus set thier lab to this new purpose.

Thier worked progressed in a remarkable fashion. They learned how to open small rifts into the other planes and allow energy to flow into our world. They also learned how to capture they energy, and distill into usable forms. They seemed to be not far away from learning how to control that energy, and perhaps the creatures of the planes themselves.

Around this time a division of the scientists started experiments on a guild member to see if a person could be turned into a form of planetouched. They believed the process could be achieved much like process used to introduce dragon blood into a person used by the Dragon Speakers. The results of the experiments showed such potential that much more of the labs resources were dedicated to it. A plan was formed to turn Stone Soren's population all into powerful planetouched who would be more than a match for any of Vesta's forces. But the experiments, while promising, ultimately proved unstable.

At this point what they always feared occurred and Stone Soren came under siege. Thier experiments were not yet ready for full scale use. They were running fast out of time, Soren could not withstand the siege forever. In desperation, they opened larger planar rifts than they had ever dared to before, hoping to collect more plentiful and pure energy that would be the solution to the problems plaguing thier experiments. It did not end well. They lost control of the energies and the lab began to flood with planar magic. All attempts to contain it were fruitless and an evacuation order was given all to late. In the end, the best the scientists could do was to lock down the lab to prevent the spread of energy from leaking out. In a matter of hours the labs turned became a slaughter house as the scientists met thier fate to thier experiments.

The Party would eventually be dispached to the lab. After fighting thier way through the lab's levels, they met the experimented on guild member, who helped them purge the lab of all its experiments. They then took the last remaining scientists prisoner so they could be brought to justice for what they caused.