Prologue

(Names, Places and Characters might change as events evolve, this is just a draft of the manuscript before editing)

Month of the Hare, Year 15 of Our Lord Protector, King Azareus IV
Daily notation, Monastery of the Order of the Sacred Groove
Scribed by, Brother Manicrux, Official Chief Scribe of the Order

As our Order approaches the day of the Feast, preparations are underway to prepare for the Sacred of Sacred. Yet a heavy feeling weights hard on the hearts of the members of the Order due to recent events that cast a pall whereas there should be celebration and rejoicing to greet the Sacred Lady in Her time of Glory. Who can blame us, even I, having lived for so many centuries and living through every celebratory note as well as times of gravity, feel the gnawing touch of despair and hopelessness that permeates the air, slowly killing us from the inside out.

Do beg a pardon for the writing of this poor scribe, for I am old and prone to meander off and wallow in my own emotions time and time again. Going back to matters of importance, the Scourge has only passed for several years since and our Order has not fully recovered our strength against the tide that besieged us during those troubled times. Our numbers have fallen, a majority from the long battles that were fought around ‘Gaea Thera’, of which we have sworn to guard against all threat, for it is Her existence that we all owe our own and that allows order and continuity for the various realms that exists and revolves around her very Plane.

The sacrifices carried out by our members during the Battle of Thera to ensure that the Evil that threatened the entire fabric of existence were safely contained was grave indeed, many of the finest of our Order; Tannier the Wise, Fro’we Devil Slayer and Matron Mother Andayes and many others too numerous to put down here in writing, gave their lives to ensure defeat for the forces fighting to overwhelm us. Alas even with the power of Thera Herself, this Evil could not be banished from this reality, so corruptable and defiling was It that with every ounce of blood spilled and every soul given we could only bind It within the womb of our Mother where is lies imprisoned. Thus till today we are still here and I putting down in ink for future readers the tale of this unfortunate events so that we may be forewarned of the danger that It posses as with every prison there is always the chance of escape, no matter how slim that chance is. Thus eternal vigilance is our burden and we take it up rightly and with renewed dedication, because our burden is a hard one to bear and no one if given a choice would choose to exercise that choice.

We have so much to do, the rebuilding of our great Temple is still going painfully slow, the main worship hall has just been repaired and re-consecrated and dedicated to ‘Thera’, crops have once again begun to yield their abundance from the blood tainted soil and water have been made available after much effort in finding ways to purify it from its contaminants and many have begun to pick up their lives anew, wrestling the demons of the departed and moving on. Our emissaries have been sent to renew contact with the Lord Keepers of the other Planes and maybe even a few would take up the offer we extended to come join in the Celebration, though I myself doubt this optimism, many are still reeling from the same Scourge and have problems of their own.

Thus the Festival of Abundance this Spring is the first true reprieve we have in a long spell of hardship and in my heart I do hope that we can for a few moment forget the past and celebrate the present, of life renewed and of Thera’s eternal Grace. I smell Brother Adrian’s cooking wafting in through the hallway, he’s making his special pot roast again for the Feast, I seriously do hope they save me some this time. Maybe there is hope yet and we have seen the end of Evil after all. Maybe, just maybe.

End of entry.

Burnt fragment of parchment with dried blood splatter found among the ruins of Carl Deneux.

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