Awakening of the Worm

With their continent brought completely under their control, the Kingdom of Ventaris saw a golden era. During these centuries, there was widespread peace with only minor insurrections and skirmishes with neighbors. This time allowed the Ventarins to focus on growing their culture. Huge leaps in technology and magic were seen, with human knowledge equaling and sometimes eclipsing that of the elves.

However, the humans had gained too much knowledge too fast. The advisor to the throne, a powerful archmage named Falitus Kull, had discovered a rather powerful tether to an unknown plane near the capital of Ventarii. Kull wanted to partially open this tether and draw out the powers within. He believed the power they gained would make them the undisputed rulers of all of Nasria.

With his liege's blessing, he began the ritual with hundreds of other mages. They channeled an intense amount of magic into the tether, and the fabric of the Material Plane itself began to unravel. This started a reaction that Kull could not control. Instead of opening the intended tether, Kull ripped open a portal to some unknown plane in the far reaches of the Astral Plane. The portal towered a hundred feet into the sky, and the ambient energy killed almost all of the mages who took part in the ritual. From out of it strode a being only known as the Worm. Upon seeing it, Kull immediately fell to madness, as did all around him.

The creature was itself a deity, and its presence warped the fabric of reality around it. Surprised and incredibly disoriented, the Worm began to rampage around the land. The Worm itself was a creature that stood above the highest spires in Ventarii. It wielded a war axe the size of a castle and seemed to be completely made up of wriggling worms the size of a horse. As these worms wriggled from its frame, they voraciously feasted on all they came across. The Worm moved about on seven tentacles that ended in maws the size of a large house, which could eat dozens of men at a sweep.

The Worm easily ransacked Ventarii and then went about ravaging the nearby land. The Frostholds were almost completely destroyed, as were the lands of the giants to the north.