Episode 1: The Road to Altamira, Synopsis

You began your adventures in a small carriage heading from Barcino to Altamira along the edge of La Selva de Fendes. Word was bandit activity along this road had increased significantly in recent weeks, and travelers were advised to band together for safety.

On the way, you encountered a carriage being attacked by bandits. In truly heroic fashion, you came to the rescue, defeating the bandits and safeguarding the two children (Yesenia and Nacio Acosta de Soldano) within.

You immediately set out again with both the children and the bandits in tow (there was a significant reward for the latter after all). The rest of the morning was uneventful but as the sun began to set, you encountered another carriage in trouble.

From the screaming within you thought a young lady in distress and ran to find the carriage. Following the sound, you discovered it floating down the river and sinking ever deeper. However, rather than a young girl, you instead found Eduardo Villalobos de Iñez y Lobianco, a professor from the University of Arciniega in Altamira. His carriage had been attacked and he was robbed of his marvelous new invention, a lantern of unsurpassed luminescence.

It quickly became apparent the bandits who’d attacked the children were in cahoots with the ones who’d taken the lantern. Questioning their leader (a scruffy bandit named Jenario) you learned that a notorious murderer named Mauricio Espinoza de Barcino was in charge of the bandits here in the forest, but that he ultimately followed orders from someone called The Shadow King.

Following their trail, you encountered more bandits and a nearly lethal syrneth trap before eventually finding the way to an abandoned city in the forest. Built of a strange white ‘stone’ which felt warm to the touch and occasionally pulsed, all the buildings were perfect cubes.

Near the middle town you finally encountered the bandits, who were in the process of ‘testing’ the lantern within a strange amphitheater in the very center of the city. Following quickly, you were in the darkened room when the test first began.

Once activated, the lantern cast a bright lance of white light toward one side of the room. Unfortunately, when it passed over one of several black pillars surrounding the center of the room, the pillar began to dissolve. Within was some kind of…creature…which began attacking. At the same time, the door into the amphitheater silently closed, locking you in with the monster.

Defeating it was a matter of using the lantern to locate it, then attacking once you found it. Finally, you were able to free yourselves and return to the carriages, Mauricio and the rest of the bandits in tow.