The Prologue

In the summer of the year 1292 BA, a chance encounter brought the four factions of Ásaterra together to discover the cause of a disturbance in a forest near the River Dìleann. Members of the inhabitants, the Warriors of the Dark Sun, encountered a patrol from the Legion of the Maor Dlí, a small expedition from the Circle of the Arcane, as well as several members of the Guild of Croesus who claimed to be on a ‘trading visit’ to the south. Their meeting was short lived however, as they were approached by a wild and desperate man, who claimed that his village had been attacked. Heading towards the column of smoke they could see in the distance, the factions decided to work together to get to the bottom of the matter, with the Warriors taking point as this was their territory. Although they had resolved to cooperate, there was still plenty of bickering and arguments as the factions went on their way, which were only halted by their arrival at a burnt and decimated village. They searched for survivors and found a young woman, who seemed panicked and disorientated, as well as a man in the same condition. Alecto, the acting commander of the warriors unit, questioned the woman and found her lack of knowledge about the village and surrounding area suspicious. Upon harsher questioning, the woman broke down emotionally, causing Alecto to relent slightly, and using her opportunity, the woman quickly slit the warrior’s throat. Half of the party went in pursuit of the woman, and they captured, trialled and executed her, whilst the Warrior’s acting commander was healed. Meanwhile, the man proved to be working with the woman, and slit the throat of the Guild’s unit leader, Spyder. When everyone was patched up, the factions decided to head in the direction that the two villains had gone, and gathered their forces. They were surprised on their way by the arrival of Faelen, Amontya of the Circle, who joined them in their quest.

   Heading through the woods, they met two mercenaries, who refused to let them pass. The factions quickly overpowered them and they were questioned by the unit leaders. Alecto, as the highest ranking Warrior present, got to decide their fate. As they were two young local boys, lured with the possibility of financial support for their families, she gave them a second chance, on the condition that they joined the Warriors of the Dark Sun. The two took the opportunity, and headed off towards the nearest Dark Sun base, with Alecto’s promise that she would hunt them down and kill them if they betrayed her trust.
Heading further into the woods, the factions fended off attacks from more mercenaries. Several of the mages, when meditating to regain their energy, experienced strange and disturbing visions. Others suffered from strange electrical shocks and tingles the further they travelled, until the hair of many was standing on end or being tugged by a strange force. Cracks began to grow in the alliance of the factions, as many began to display differing opinions of how to question those captured, with many disliking the harsh methods that the Legion seemed to prefer, whilst others showed distaste for the work of the necromancers of the Warriors.

   The party eventually moved on after making their way through a large number of mercenaries, all of whom seemed to be guarding something. The factions eventually found their way into a heavily wooded area, where they encountered a large number of foes. Wave after wave attacked them and the factions fought them all off, until suddenly there was a cataclysmic sound and a robed man appeared from the air, lightning dancing from his fingertips, announcing himself as ‘Lord Thunder’. It was a hard battle, but with an amazing effort, the faction somehow defeated this warrior, and finally they were victorious. But their minds were not at peace. This man had displayed powers which had not been seen for almost a hundred years. Members of the Circle examined him, while others discussed a way to find out answers. It was decided that Anastasius,  a necromancer of the Warriors, would lead a ritual to contact Lady Death. As a tribute, the Warrior’s scout Jugo offered up one of his eyes as a sacrifice to the deity.

They were successful in summoning the Dark Lady, who appeared before them in the form of a hooded and cloaked woman. However, she was insulted by the fact that the eye was damaged, and they were unable to gain much information from her. Furthermore, when closing the ritual, one of the Circle’s mages made mistake, and several people were injured. The factions discussed the knowledge learnt from Lady Death, as well as the mage’s visions, and each of them headed back to their respective command with the knowledge that they had gained.

### Outcome

The High Council of Ásaterra, seeing the effective way in which the members of the factions worked together decided to created the 'Expeditionary Force'. Part experiment, part government propaganda, the Councillors made this decision in order to promote an image of inter-faction unity across Ásaterra. The Expeditionary Force was tasked with resolving various conflicts across the land, varying from bandit attacks to high profile issues.