Mistbound

  Maeryn d’Vert set out to rid the world of the mutative, deadly Mist—a threat that had defied a decade of research from both Geova and Zephyria. With her friends, alchemist Dan d’Greenstone and engineer Frankie d’Vert, she stole and repaired an airship, Stonewing, and headed to the Zephyrian sky city of Cloudreach. There, they met the rogue Terrance Nightshade, who offered his help in exchange for passage off the city. After acquiring the mana research through shady means, they departed to Airspire, the center of Zephyrian research.

  There, Terrance departed to seek another team, while Dan uncovered a disturbing link between the Mist and the forbidden magic of necromancy. Ernesto, a researcher’s assistant searching for his missing master, hired Maeryn to fly him to Mount Peace—only to discover his master’s ghost, slain by his own Undead. Ernesto joined the team, determined to master necromancy and learn how to invert it into the never-before-seen “holy” magic to eradicate the Mist.

  Terrance rejoined them with evidence of a hidden Airspire facility leaking Mist, which led to a battle against the Undead necromancer, Keith Laurant. Soon after, they escorted an official named Samuel Parlor to the Zephyrian capital, only for him to die suddenly, and Terrance to be kidnapped by Geovan terrorists. Rescued by Maeryn and Dan, Terrance revealed he was the last heir of the Nightshade family, Zephyrian spymasters, and that his family had been murdered by one of the terrorists.

  Investigating Parlor’s death, they learned the Zephyrian Research Council (ZRC) was collecting necromancers to absorb the Mist as part of a coup against the royal family. With Parlor’s ghost, they forged evidence to warn King Duncan, earning a royal pardon for their use of necromancy.

  The ZRC struck back, sending assassins and necromancers, but the team prevailed. In the battle’s climax, Ernesto successfully inverted necromancy into holy magic, allowing Dan to create the Purify Mist enchantment. Maeryn charged both nations to spread the enchantments, declaring their next goal: hunting the Undead on the surface.

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  Mistwarped

  Months later, Dan discovered that mana depletion continued despite the Purify Mist enchantments. Maeryn gathered the team to explore the surface for answers. At the request of Head Elder Alric, they added Veronica, a skilled Geovan cartographer, whose work directing the team in their efforts proved invaluable.

  Their next stop, Brennan Forest, was overrun with Mistwarped and Undead spiders. Maeryn, Terrance and Ernesto fought their way through, ultimately facing the spider queen—a Drider formed from a drow wraith and her arachnid host. Before her death, she warned of a southern foe: the Mad Prince.

  Recognizing the journey ahead, Alric organized a joint Geovan–Zephyrian outpost south of Brennan Forest, but the settlement, Siltwind, was failing under constant wildlife attacks. Maeryn, now attuned to ice and necromancy, raised the hostile beasts as Undead defenders, creating a training ground for new necromancers seeking to master holy magic. There, she mentored Jacob, a local hunter, and learned wind magic from a cynical scout named Miles.

  Joined again by her crew, Maeryn ventured south to Kalan Ruins, where they met Lee, an Undead necromancer hiding from the Mad Prince’s forces for centuries. Lee revealed the Mad Prince’s history: once an elven ruler, he had conquered all the other races via Undead army. With a map of southern settlements, Maeryn’s team began clearing the Mist ruin by ruin.

  Their progress drew the attention of the Prince’s Ninth Undead Legion, which pursued them back toward Siltwind and Geova. The inevitable battle came, led by the Legion Commander, Heron Hartford, who fought ferociously and reanimated his own fallen. Facing collapse, Maeryn made the haunting choice to raise her dead allies as Undead, turning the tide and defeating Hartford.

  The victory came at a cost: the Geovan Elders, disturbed by Maeryn’s reliance on the Undead, placed her under house arrest. Their condition for release was clear: attune to holy magic, or never leave. And there she waits…