The Mist

It starts as a thick mist, moving unnaturally fast across the ground or water, enveloping everything it touches. No matter the time of day, the mists are always the color of charcoal, almost like smoke. Where it goes, sunlight fades, warmth dissipates, and nightmares abound. All are warned—at first sight of the Dark Mists, flee. The Dark Mists originate from the Temple of Mists, located to the south of the Kingdom. From ancient times, this temple was a sacred site where powerful elven druids, the Bondmakers, would come to enact secret rituals and commune with the land’s nature spirits. Thus the Bondmakers maintained peace between mortals and spirits. So important was this bond that, without fail, each of the elven kings would send their firstborn daughter to the Temple to join the Bondmakers, ensuring the continuity of the rituals. All this changed with the coming of the dark elves. Stoking the vindictiveness of elves who felt humans had taken their territory, the dark elves evoked evil magic to bring about another war between the two races. To this end, they kidnapped the daughter of King Thibault, Princess Tiphane, and brought her to the Temple of Mists to be used as the focus of an unholy ritual. But their plans were thwarted when her beloved knight, Ser Guilhem, came to her rescue. He managed to disrupt the ritual, but half a ritual is worse than a full one. A dark curse was released, affecting the mists surrounding the temple. Thus the Dark Mists were created, and where it goes, it creates abominations: monsters, unholy knights, and dark elvish sorcerers that plague the settlements of the Thousand Rivers. As for Ser Guilhem, Princess Tiphane, and the sorcerer Diyanthar, their spirits are trapped in the endless mists, waiting for their chance at freedom.