Okay, thanks to everyone for your backstories.

The four of you will be traveling into the Ashenwood with a small company of knights and men-at-arms who are returning from crusade. The great war is far from won; but these knights have a purpose which draws them back to the lands from whence they set out: a patchwork of baronies to the west of the Ashenwood.

It’s up to each of you whether you’d like your character to have been on crusade with the knights, or if you’ve simply joined the company of crusaders for safety as you brave the depths of the Ashenwood. Falgarra will most likely be in the latter group (though the crusade will touch her in other ways), while Sir Winston’s mentor may have taken him to join the crusade—but ultimately the decision is yours.

As to the specifics of the crusade: to the east of the Ülgurül Hills extends a broad region of plains and downs, ruled by the dwarves of the Crown Arc Hills to the north of the plains. The dwarven lands are bordered, much further east, by a range of true mountains—over which enemies suddenly poured several years ago, seizing the dwarven lands on the western flank of the mountains and threatening to overrun the plains and the northern heart of the dwarven realm.

In their hour of need, the dwarf-lords invoked an ancient treaty with the baronies, who responded by preaching crusade for all willing knights and their men-at-arms. With the desperately needed assistance of their allies, the dwarves have been able to stem the tide of the enemies’ advance; but even so the dwarves have not yet reconquered the captured territory, and while the fighting is bitter throughout the eastern mountains, the strategic situation remains a stalemate, edging ever closer to a grudging retreat on the part of the dwarves.

Yet despite their oath to support the dwarf-lords as allies, an even greater debt of honor has compelled four knights of the baronies to make the journey home—and the dangers of the Ashenwood are but the latest they have faced as they struggle to complete their task….