Arc 1: The Fall of Kheoli

### The First Days

The 23rd day of Nemir was the first day Calina Luna would step outside of her home village Brauzan. Her eccentric but highly intelligent adopted mother Naphela Luna was called personally by the Moon Elf King to assist him in an investigation. The campaign sees her and her mother pack their bags and travel across the sea to the country Kheoli. They arrive at the castle and greet everyone where Cairie Varo and Calina meet for the first time. She met the children of the royal family; Kellan Gilrei, Lyra Gilrei, Francessca Gilrei, Favian Gilrei and other NPC's around the castle like the second-in-command Meili Jarah, The Book-keeper Bodridge Whistlenose and the castle's mage Katerine Alamaster. They celebrate their arrival to the castle with a tour around the castle and a meal prepared for them. The whole Gilrei family, including the two Bastards of the Realm Alivorn and Terleich. Terleich gave off an uncomfortable and ominous aura at the dinner table while Calina and Naphela got accustomed to everyone. They all went to sleep and the next time they find out that the youngest child of the Gilrei family Favian has been kidnapped.

Calina and Cairie can't help but get into the investigation, following Kellan as they lead search parties around Tudia. They reach The West Woods and go deep inside. They managed to find Favian unconscious and on a make shift altar with weird symbols made out of a pink substance surrounding him. They battled away bandits and saved Favian with the help of Khatar coming in at the last second. They question one of the bandits and he tells them that it was Terleich that paid them to kidnap Favian. Instead of arresting him with force, they decided to play it coy and put the whole castle on lockdown and question the castle, much to Kellan's protests. The next day they do exactly that, meeting the caste's book keeper Bodridge Whistlenose. However, they find Terleich being arrested by Kellan as he attempted to escape the castle.

### More Evil at Play

Terleich was put in prison to be but on trail in a couple of days. However the King asks a special request of Calina and Cairie to question him as he won't open up to anyone else. Bodridge assists them as they go and interrogate him, acting aggressive at first. When they realise its going no where, Calina senses that Terleich is hiding something rather than denying what he did. She begins to sympathise with him and realises he has these 'night terrors' that make him feel like he's possessed and not in his own body. Terleich also explains he can hear a voice that isn't his own in his head which makes him do things, like kidnapping Favian. He was holding back from saying any of this because it sounds ridiculous and the family see him as a outcast anyways. Calina promised to seek justice for him and to also find out what's going on with him, leaving the interrogation with more questions than answers. They confront the King and he dismisses the trial of Terleich Stonetower.

Katerine Alamaster, the King's mage and also currently their medic, tells Calina and Cairie of a ritual they can cast on Terleich to reveal some of his memories to see what was going on with. So they all gather around him and enter his brain, which was dangerous as they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. They uncover memories, revealing that he was subjected to the same ritual as Favian and attacked Kellan viciously which led him to be locked up in a tower for most of his life. They drew the conclusion that this 'Blood Ritual' was where the voice and night terrors had come from for Terleich, making him go feral and attack Kellan when they were young. Having some sort of closure, Terleich thanks them and joins them on their quest.

### Secrets of the Gilrei Family

Lyra and Francessca Gireli take the girls out on a day out to town, buying from shops and somehow finding Khatar at a tavern. They end up in a beautiful park with scenic views. There's a sectioned off garden that they find themselves in, with bush statues of each monarch for the Kingdom. However the second to last monarch strikes something odd in Cairie. Briar Gilrei, who is the younger sister of Rurik Gilrei, was someone she had never heard of. Growing up in the castle, she would've have thought that she'd know her considering she ruled the land at some point. Not even the others knew which was even more interesting. Since the bush statue didn't give her a full understanding of her appearance, Cairie took Calina and Khatar hunting around the castle to try and find any royal portraits of her. They found some collecting dust in a room which seemed to be her room. There was one painting which Cairie found, a painting of Briar with a knight which looked like a younger version of her father Erris Varo and a new born baby with similar eyes to Cairie. The possibility of Cairie being a descendant of the Royal Family started to sit in Cairie's mind, but with no proper explanation.

### Preparing for the Moon Festival

The monthly moon festival is creeping up and everyone starts the preparations for the day. Queen Gwendalyn, the head planner, asks everyone in the castle to come to a meeting. She gives the task of visiting primary schools and getting the kids excited to Cairie and Calina. Khatar, Terleich and Lyra decided to come along. They visited a school on the edge of the West Wood, where they heard about the myth of the Blood Witch and how she takes children who wander too far into the Woods. Whether it was a white lie that their parents told their children or it was true, it sparked curiosity and the gang decided to venture into the woods a second time to find this witch. They couldn't miss this chance. When they're quite far in the woods, they realise one of the children were actually following them. So they take him along with the Sun already setting and far too in. They find a hut with evidence of a recent occupant deep into the woods. Terleich and Lyra decided to take the kid back and head back Once they snooped around the hut, Calina found an old diary with an unfamiliar emblem on it and decided to keep it on her person. They had to leave quickly as they heard someone coming in, so climbed out the window. Khatar, Cairie and Calina trekked all the way back out and took a carriage back to the castle, arriving at the early hours of dawn. They all retire for sleep and carry on their investigating.

However Khatar is held back, receiving a mysterious package which turns out to be the arrival of Calypso Kaimora, which he stresses over the rest of the night. Cairie comes to visit his house and sees the baby, allowing him to deal with that issue while the others carry on investigating. Alivorn comes along instead, leading them all to the library and show them the files of Castle where he often is. Calina once again looks at the diary again. Calina peels back the cover to reveal a slip of paper. The slip of paper is a small painting of a women with dark red hair and dark red eyes, who turns out to be Terleich's mother. There is also the initials K.A on the back. He remembers that she's his mother but nothing more, not even any memories or ever thinking about his mother. The PC's suspect that there is magic at play. However they l decide to do this later. They find a birth certificate belonging to Mayna Gilrei. Cairie also manages to find that the Emblem belongs to The Templar's of Twilight. Before anymore information is revealed, Katerine finds them in the room. She ushers them out but tells them she won't tell on them.

With the lead up to the Moon Festival, everyone busies themselves with the preparations without having time to investigate further.

### The Moon Festival

The 20th day of Elmar marks the day of the festival, which starts of with a fairground set up in the fields. The children of the Royal family take Khatar, Cairie and Calina with them in a carriage to the place. Khatar takes the time to introduce Calypso to them, which the PC's give her the name Calypso to her. They enjoy their time, going on rides, eating hotdogs and candyfloss before making their way back to get ready for the Masquerade Ball.

There is a small tradition for young adults/ teenagers where people will send their loved ones secret notes to meet under the big tree in the courtyard during the ball so they can confess. Cairie and Calina received notes each when they were getting ready in the early morning, so got ready in their evening gowns in anticipation. The party finally started and everyone was dressed to impress, Cairie and Calina went around together and talked to some court officials.

The paper they received their note on will come out of their pockets and get swept away magically towards the tree, signalling when they were going to meet. Calina went first, seeing an anxious Terleich waiting under the tree. He confessed messily and was silenced by a kiss from Calina, one way or another accepting his proposal. When it was Cairie's turn, it was assumed that is was Khatar waiting under the tree. Actually it was Xanthippe Felek, her maid who confessed her feelings and even gave her a jewellery box. Cairie politely declined and they both agreed to stay friends.

As the ball was coming to a close, it was also time for the Royal Procession to start. Where the Royal family will take carriages and go all around Tudia and reach it's final destination The Krish Fountain. This has been a tradition for every Moon Festival where the Moon Monarch will plant the Lunar Staff and connect with the Fountain and the moon, restoring magic that flows from the fountain to all bodies of water within Kheoli and giving magic to all civilians. King Rurik, when they finally arrived at the fountain, made his way up the stone stairs and to the fountain, slotting the staff in.

He cast the spell, when suddenly the water went from a glowing blue to a murky dark red. The sky went from a dark blue to an orangey-grey, everyone looked around and finally at the King. The 'Disguise Self' spell fell away and revealed Katerine Alamaster. She reveals that she was the person behind the Blood Rituals, the memory wiping, the missing children and the deaths of Mayna, Briar Gilrei and now Rurik. She had cast a spell through the Krish Fountain, turn the waters the blood and turning the people into blood-crazed monsters. She is also revealed to be the mother of Terleich, making Terleich a pawn in her plans. She was the voice in his head and occasionally possessed his body as he was subjected to the Blood Rituals.

Kellan, Meili and the guards made sure The Royal Family and others escaped back as the chaos started, however the people were already turning. One last reveal, Katerine turned into her true self Priscilla Redgums, a hag with shredded red and brown clothing. The myth was true, the Blood Witch was standing in front of them.

Cairie and Calina, as well as Meili, Kellan, Terleich, Khatar and Alivorn battled against Katerine but the crowd of oncoming zombies would eventually overflow and make it hard to escape. The death of Kellan caused even more pain and the others had no choice but to flee, leaving the Kingdom of Kheoli overrun with zombies and to fight Katerine another day. Kellan's last words to Cairie, revealing his forgotten memories.

The group leaves hurt, confused and scared, not sure about the safety of their friends and family. However Bodridge made an escape route for them, with horses and Calypso and his familiar Barry with them.