<em>Polintus's Report:  </em><br/><br/>“It is written that, a millinia ago, an ebony mist rolled down out of the hills deep forest, twisting and maddening those it did not slay and animate as undead.  The ranger Annette Songwind, with the blessing of our king's father, dared the ruined cities in search of it's source.<br/><br/>“From the ruins she explored, she came to believe that the creatures we know today as trolls are degenerate remainders of a once grand and civilized race of mighty magicians she refereed to as High Trolls.  Their civilization was destroyed by the Ebon Mist.<br/><br/>“Annette lead a band of champions back into the hills, this time accompanied by the priestess Lusitania and the arcmage Kyorl Quainya.     A month after they left, the mists receded.  Two months later, Kyorl Quainya returned alone, dying of a slow sickness none could mend.  He explained that they had found the source of a the mist—an artifact of terrible evil in an underground temple in a ruin in the deep forest.  It was an urn, and the Ebon Mist emerged from it.<br/><br/>“They closed the urn so that the mist could not escape, and then sealed it with a powerful ward so that only the pure of heart could open it.  They lined the temple with a similar ward so that no evil could enter and unleash it again.  Annette and Lusitania sacrificed their lives to seal the wards.  Kyorl succumbed to the poison some weeks after his return, but not before devising a spell that could ward away the mist.  It's a variation on the spell refereed to as Ward Against Maleficence or, in the common parlance, Protection From Evil.  Ward Against Maleficence will protect you from the mist, but will only last a few minutes.  I have the ability to cast the spell they created so that it will protect you all for 17 days.”