<div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu102/jnrgnymd/r169_457x256_7855_Medieval_village_3d_landscape_medieval_village_picture_image_digital_art_zpsdd1c605e.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic">The quiet town of Nacona, forty miles east of Val Onetti</span></div><br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 200%; line-height: 116%;">MISSION ONE: REFUGE FROM THE STORM</span></span></div></span><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic">"You should not give in to evils, but proceed ever more boldly against them..."</span> From the Empyrean, Book VI, Leaf 14</div><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Along the </span>Via Aurora<span style="font-style: italic">, the major eastern highway that spans all the way from the very heart of the Geian Empire in Val Onetti to its most remote Njordic territories, rests the small village of Nacona.  Unless you are one of the few hundred men and women who call this village home you likely have no business in Nacona beyond passing through, and might not even have stopped for the night were it not for the thunderstorm that began to rage earlier today. You have sought the refuge of the village's inn, a squat two-story building of stone and oak built to withstand the centuries and the elements. Your rooms are upstairs but tonight your beds call to you naught - these are no times for sleep. It has been six months since the death of the Father of Greatness, and the Kingdom of Darkness has spread across Verold to conquer city after city, enslaving all people. To the west of Nacona the great city of Val Onetti was one of the very first to fall to the Dark Horde - perhaps you are one of the lucky few to have fled the capital during its corruption.  <br/><br/>With the fall of Val Onetti the mighty legions of the world's greatest empire were without central direction, and were quickly destroyed by the Dark Horde whether they fought or fled.  The maintained network of highways that ran throughout the land, once considered the lifeblood of the empire, was turned against the people as the Kingdom of Darkness spread like poison through veins, corrupting and conquering every major city.  Those who did not die in the initial battles and failed to escape are held captive, worked to death and fed to the growing minions of darkness.  Those lucky few who managed to escape the slaughter have swarmed to the countryside villages and towns seeking refuge, yet finding only starvation, brigandry and pestilence. <br/><br/>Six months after the fall of the Father of Greatness, there is little hope to be found anywhere, least of all in the hearts of these villagers of Nacona, for lately there have been seen imps and other lesser minions of darkness throughout the village and surrounding countryside.  Luckily Nacona is of too little importance to warrant a full invasion, although the fact that this could change at any time has kept these villagers utterly cowed.  Are you, too, willing to wait for the end of all existence as a welcome relief to the hell of the Kingdom of Darkness, or is there perhaps yet a small spark of life and light within you, ready to be fanned to greatness once more? </span><br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline">Objective: Introduce your characters and survive the night.</span>