“Mama… what’s it feel like to die?”
The little voice could barely be heard over the deafening sound of steel crunching against bone and mortified screams that filled the air around the small village of Sohka Grove. To Natalie, however, the sound of her young daughter sobbing in her arms was the only thing that existed. They sat together, huddled in the corner of their family’s potion shop as Natalie rocked and cradled the child.
“It’s like going to sleep, my darling.” She whispered as she buried her tear-streaked face in her little girl’s soft hair. “It’s just like going to sleep.”
Outside, the red mist creeped across the ground slowly pouring across the streets and walkways. In its wake, various forms of undead creatures lumbered, crawled, and shuffled through the village in search of the wonderful sustaining life force exuding from the terrified villagers. As the people of the village scrambled for safety, they were met at every turn by grasping claws and gnashing teeth. Windows and doors of shops and residences crashed open, proving that there was no hiding from the denizens of that shadow between life and death.
These creatures are not motivated by hate nor joy nor political affiliations. They care not for kings nor paupers, territories nor possessions, treasures nor riches. They are driven by one single, solitary force… hunger… and like many villages before it, Sohka Grove has proven to be quite the buffet.
It has been several years since the fall of Lilith, the Emotion Queen. Several years since her Lieutenants were massacred and her forces driven out of the land. To this day, there are whispers that she is not dead, not gone. Cults who worship her name and claim that she shall return. However, the same was said about the Great Dragons, and they haven’t returned, have they?
This is the age of mortal man! A time of great kingdoms and nations that span the land mass of Tala, ranging nearly 43 million square miles and home to more than 700 million people. The largest of kingdoms in the known world is the Ariadnian Empire, laying claim to almost 4 million square miles with a population of 473 million proud citizens. The largest city, Volaire, is the citadel and port city outside of the palace grounds and is where 326 thousand people call home.
Many years ago, before the fall of Lilith, the massive gates to the Cemetery of Lost Souls mysteriously opened and have remained such ever since. This has allowed a strange red mist to flow from the gates and pour into the surrounding lands. With it, hordes of undeath have become more and more frequent, even being active during the day in any area in which the red mist is present.
Something unexpected has happened with the coming of undeath to Volaire; several Greater Undead have contacted influential people of the Ariadnian Empire with demands that undead be granted rights and citizenship under kingdom law. This has received mixed reactions, namely from a group on either side: a group known as The Scowl, composed of various forms of undead, do not want to live equally among the living and have been attacking several small farms in the eastern part of the kingdom; it is not known as of yet who their leader is.
Similarly, in Mandrake Village, a small farming village several miles outside of Volaire Town Proper, there is a small group of Ariadnian citizens forming who do not want the undead roaming free, so they are trying to close the gates of the graveyard. They have come to call themselves The Keepers of the Night.
And through all of this, a new hero has made their way to Volaire who is sure to make a great impact on the current goings-on. It is not yet clear how this new hero will affect the world, but one thing is certain: we can expect great things from this individual. Will they aid the undead faction leaders in standing side by side with the living, granting rights and citizenship to the living-impaired? Or will they side with the Keepers of the Night and help to drive the undead out of the kingdom?
There can be no glory without struggle… can you handle the challenge?
