Ch. 1: New Friends and Old Beginnings

Coreand sits on a small hill next to a winding river. As the primary trade center for both their mining exports and agricultural prowess, Coreand has always been pivotal for the Verian Empire. As Ms. Molly, the owner of the now busy Golden Drop tavern, is serving drinks to all her patrons and comes to a familiar face. Rurik, a hill dwarven barbarian, just finished serving a five-year mining contract with the Empire and Ms. Molly gives him a round to celebrate. As the evening progresses, Rurik sees some unique characters come in. Theo, a human warlock, and Litanu, a dragonborn sorcerer are greeted by Ms. Molly and she gives them some friendly advice and drinks, for a fair price of course. As Ms. Molly heads to the back, we meet a human bard named Dingleberry Jones who made an agreement with Molly to do a small performance for some money. With the short, but successful comedy routine, Dingleberry Jones made a little coin and gains Litanu’s attention. As Arkanarzt, a dark elf wizard, keeps to himself in the corner, the Golden Drop was home to jovial laughter and hijinks from a long days work. While the peaceful night seemed to be coming to an end, an alarm goes off over all of Coreand and Versia, Leader of the Radiant Knights for this sector of the Verian Empire, bursts in and tells everyone of the Mists return.

As our group of individuals is rushed out from Ms. Molly, the unlucky party finds themselves caught by a massive creature, clad in armor. The brilliant platinum and gold detailed armor had a very familiar symbol emblazoned on its chest to some members of our party. With some wagering and commands, Krion, a high magic instructor and Altrean, gives the group a quest for a rescue mission. Some villagers were caught out in the mist and the party was to go and assist one in returning to the upper section of Coreand. As the group now faces the mist head-on and, upon reaching the target house, finds the place is oddly empty and no sign of a struggle. That’s when, Litanu, reliving a memory he has been keeping at bay, passes out from the emotional stress. In a very close to last-ditch effort, and some help from a new acquaintance, the group manages to get back to Coreand without any more damage. With a quick exchange of information, meeting a quirky healer named Cyrus, and temporarily signing up to help solve the mystery at hand, our group splits as Theo and Arkanarzt take Litanu to the church to be healed by Cyrus. Rurik and Dingleberry Jones head to the Golden Drop to use their room gifted from Versia and, by happenstance, end up having a drinking competition. With a goading Molly, and plenty of drinks consumed, the two head off to bed.

As the others arrive at the ruined church, Cyrus tends to Litanu as Arkanarzt and Theo get to have a small conversation with a very exhausted Versia. As she passes out, Krion, the Altrean Radiant Knight, comes in to retrieve the unconscious captain and to help answer any other questions from Theo and Arkanarzt. As the two seem to trust Cyrus’s methods, although his creepy nature is certainly worrying, the two head off to the Golden Drop to turn in. Upon arriving, they meet a man called Angus who lets them know where their room is and wishes them a good night. While everyone got a decent amount of sleep, Theo had a not too friendly meeting with Atheed in a vivid dream. With strong words and warnings exchanged, Atheed leaves Theo to wonder about the true powers of the ancient being.

With the morning sun barely cresting the land of Coreand, a loud and thunderous knock hits their door. While Dinggleberry Jones attempts to open the door, Versia kicks it in and hits Dingleberry Jones. She commands them to wake up and get downstairs immediately. As the group goes down into the tavern, they see the tavern filled with Radiant Knights. Captain Versia, after having a very testy interaction with Rurik, gives him a sharp reminder of her little patience. Dingleberry, worried by the incident, let’s Versia know that he didn’t like her actions and asks her to not hurt him again. She grumbles to herself and turns back to the head of the tavern. With everyone being summoned, Versia pulls out a display crystal and informs everyone of the missing people, the mist not leaving, and the empty houses. Twelve people were currently missing. With swift instruction, she informs everyone of their mission to gather any and all information and to report back to her or Krion, the Altrean mage instructor, immediately.

The group splits again to try and find any leads. Theo heads to the church to check in on Litanu, Arkanarzt decides to investigate the mist while Rurik and Dingleberry Jones do a little shopping to restock themselves. With some haggling and strange people met, Rurik and Dingleberry Jones find some unique items to use on their travels.

As Arkanarzt began his investigation, he noticed things were not adding up and the mist was different compared to the night before. Questioning the situation at hand, Arkanarzt went to the Archive to get more information. Upon arriving at the Archive, Arkanarzt meets a half dwarven woman named Querra. With her desperate need for information of the outside world and noticing that Arkanarzt was a dark elf, showed him a hidden book at the archive. This journal held the secrets of a long-forgotten God and a book hidden in Coreand. With new information at hand, Arkanarzt makes an awkward goodbye and heads to the church to find more answers. With some heavy questioning and convincing of Cyrus, Cyrus reveals some internal Radiant Knight issues and that the church in Coreand had magical healing properties due to its age and symbolism. With a sinking feeling in his chest, Arkanarzt decides to restock some components to try some new spell ideas.

Theo, after meeting with Cyrus and squeezing out that Litanu was actually simply sleeping as he needed rest, Theo heads off to the mist to investigate. Meeting up with Rurik and Dingleberry Jones, the trio begin to investigate the houses that were hit from the night before. Using a little magic, Theo and Dingleberry Jones notice the mist's mana is different from before. When reaching the closest target, Theo and Rurik head into the building. Dingleberry Jones, in a burst of inspiration, decides to climb on top of the house to get a better view. While looking about, Dingleberry Jones notices that shingles were missing on each of the houses where people were missing from. Looking to another house, he finds a house without a missing shingle. Rurik and Theo, after checking the place, find that it is almost identical to the other house that they were at the night before. As Dingleberry fills them in on what he saw, the trio agrees to go to the house that wasn’t hit.

Upon knocking on the door, and some persuasion, the trio meet a man called Malcom. While trying to question him, Malcom begins to act up and, with Dingleberry Jones’s quick thinking, Dingleberry Jones pulls the blinds and shuts the door, effectively blocking the magical influence. With Malcom informing them of some figures of the nights, their knowledge of a book, and their search for the “Daughter of Angus” He begins to act up again as he falls to a magical influence. The trio acts swiftly, sending Theo ahead to the church, as the other two help to bring back Malcom.

As Theo runs to the church, he finds Arkanarzt along the way and alerts him of the problem. As the chaos ensues, the party reconvene at the church and bring in Malcom. With a quick magic message sent to Versia, the group waits for her to arrive. As they get Malcom settled, Versia enters and asks for what information they have. While the whole party explains all of their pieces, Versia quickly throws her notes down and runs from the church. As the party attempts to gather the situation at hand, a woman’s scream and shaking of the ground startles their progress. The party runs outside to find the Archive is on fire and they watch in horror as the building collapses.