Like waking from a deep sleep Alyssa slowly stirred, her thoughts unfocused and as opaque as the mists that circled the campfire she sat before. Staring into the bright flames her memories told her she had just arrived to this place not long ago, but as she cast her gaze to the misty woods of twisted and gnarled trees and crumbling ruins surrounding the campsite she could not recall from where it was she had arrived from. In fact nothing she could remember seemed real to her, as blurred recollections of memories that seemed as though they should have been familiar to her played through her mind, but any meaning to them remained frustratingly elusive for now.<br/><br/>Deciding to leave recollections of the past to a later time, Alyssa changed her focus to what was going on in the present. She seemed to have settled down beside the fire, her weapons and equipment laid beside her on the fallen log she was using as a seat. She wore her leather armor and her traveller's cloak wrapped around her against the cold mist, and out of those mists rose the ruins. She felt a inexplicable feeling inside her as she looked at the crumbling stone structures, like the feeling of standing on the edge of a precipice and being pulled down towards the empty space, something drawing her in. She stood up, staring out at the two ruined stone towers close-by to the campfire, and as she moved she felt the presence of something unfamiliar inside her armor pressing against her side.<br/><br/>Drawing it out, Alyssa found several strange coins, a green patina of corrosion covering the twisted mask of some grotesque face on each side of the ancient metal disks. Staring at them, Alyssa had no memory of ever picking up or being given such currency at all, but even more unsettling was the other object that accompanied the coins. She held it up to the light between her thumb and forefinger to see the object was a large unfinished gemstone, and even raised to the light it remained completely pitch black, its' faceted surface seeming to drink all light. She felt uneasy looking directly upon it, even more so when she let it fall into the palm of her hand where she could feel the unnerving heat emanating from its surface.<br/><br/>Even so, Alyssa felt the impression that the stone was somehow important, though she could say how she knew that information. With a mental shrug, she pulled out the leather satchel she kept on a cord around her neck she used to hold any other coins she acquired on her journeys and put the stones and the ancient coins inside, before tucking them back underneath her armor.<br/><br/>With the distraction gone, the feeling that drew her towards the ruins returned stronger than ever. Picking up her weapons and equipment, she heard someone speak, and was shocked to realize there were others around the campfire with her. Had they been there before?<br/><br/>Regaining her composure, she focuses on the one who spoke. "Hello," she said, shouldering her equipment "My name is Alyssa. Alyssa Veronia. I'm afraid I just got here myself, I can't say I know what's going on. Are your memories as vague as mine?". Alyssa turned to indicate the largest of the two ruined stone towers. "I can't tell what is happening here, but I think that might be a good place to find some answers. If any of you will join me?" she said, as she began to move towards the towers.