Ties of Fate

"The greatest heroes, the truest, realist heroes, arise only during the world's darkest hours. For the become heroes not for gold, glory, or power; but because they have no other choice but to be great when all others have failed" --Taris Welford, End of the First Age 

Ties of Fate is the prologue and introduction for Threat from Beyond, the first book in the campaign. It follows the 5 main characters of the book and serves as an introduction for each of them and how they arrived in the same caravan at the beginning of the story. Told in 5 parts, each one following a different main character, Ties of Fate introduces each character and some of the conflicts they face.

Words and Deeds
Follows Alia Ashfeld as she attends a tournament in Ser'quea, to celebrate the renaming of the city to its Ashlantean name. Realizing she is low on coin, she decides to enter the tourney in an attempt to make some money. As she has no lord however, she finds it difficult to gain entry into the tournament and is told without a landed title she will need to find a sponsor to gain entry. After asking around, she is approached by a herald of Merlin Silverfire, the duke of Foda, the capital of her former realm. Meeting with Duke Merlin, he makes her an offer that will grant her sponsorship for the tournament on the condition that she make good on a favor for him at a later point. She accepts and joins the tournament. After defeating some lesser opponents she finds that Oscar Heyvald, her rival is her next opponent. He taunts her but she proves the better swordsman and defeats him, moving on to face Aron Bluelake, Prince of Falasan. While most of the tournaments participants yielded without a fight, in order to prevent a diplomatic incident from wounding the Prince of Falasan, Alia agrees to fight him. He bests her easily, but he is grateful the she accepted his challenge. Outside the tournament grounds, a caravan hires her as a guard on their way to York.

A Matter of Price
Follows Rikkert Velnaar as he hunts down a monster bounty posted in the town of Crahandan. After arriving in the town, he hears word that there is a bounty out for zombies near Dead Ditch just outside of town. Sensing an easy paycheck, Rikkert decides to investigate, only to learn that the zombies are headed by a vicious ghoul. He knows he needs to make a simple potion from Allender root to avoid the ghoul's paralyzing touch, but the herbalist in town is charging a large amount of coin for the root. Annoyed, Rikkert goes off to see if he can find the root in the wilderness, but stumbles across a small band of Leon soldiers staking out the town. They have with them a doctor who has the root and they offer it to him in exchange for detailed information about the Ithilian garrison in town. Rikkert declines and forgoes the root, dealing with the ghoul head on. After a close call he removes the ghoul's head and takes it back to the garrison to collect, only to be told that the bounty pot is currently empty and he would have to take it to York for collection. Rikkert tried to join a caravan on the way to York, but was only allowed entry after Alia Ashfeld convinced the leader to allow him to join.

Another Way
Niavara Liadon and Jozan Seldiir are tasked by Ranger captain Slyva Estral to escort Counselor Valoran to York for a diplomatic meeting. After being unable to secure passage across the Silver Lake, Niavara and Jozan go out on horseback. Niavara decides cutting through Silver Forest would be much quicker than going around. However this turns out to be a dangerous decision as strange creatures attack the caravan and dark whispers surrounding them hint that things may not be well in the forest. Eventually the delegation finds its way through the forest and joins a caravan to speed up their travel to the Ithilian capital.

The Cell
Set months before the campaign, Calgibar Hagak is leaving Gibalt as after the destruction of his clan he has nothing else in the kingdom to fight for. On his way he is ambushed by Tilogian raiders and knocked unconscious. Awakening chained to a wall in a dark cell, Cal is greeted by a man who calls himself Zane, and introduces himself as the Chairman of Entertainment and Tourism for the realm of Outer Tilog. He laughs as the dwarf struggles to free himself, and proceeds to torture him over the course of several days, also allowing his fellow Tilogian nobles to have their way with him, introducing Theil, Despirya, and a strange mute man called Chuckles. One day Cal wakes up to strange sounds coming from out of the cell and soon after strange humanoid creatures with decaying, rotten skin, rush in and slay the guards with knives. One tosses a handaxe to Cal, who rushes out of the dungeon and kills the execution in a bloody fight. Grabbing the executioner's axe, Cal escapes to freedom. He eventually winds up as a nationless wanderer and later joins a caravan bound for York on his way to the Viking lands.

The Road Ahead
After Baravio Lanar is tasked by the Archmage to travel to Foda to find a boy rumored to have mystical powers, this story follows brief encounters Baravio experiences on his way to Foda. First, he travels with his fellow wizard Rufus White, as they attempt to cross the Eston river at Dutch's crossing. They board a barge to cross the river but it is attacked by a dangerous, tentacled, river monster called the Ostithyll. Baravio escaped the monster by jumping into the river and swimming the remaining distance to the shore, abandoning Rufus and the other travelers to their fate. A few days later, when attempting to cross the Niven River to the south, Baravio found that the bridge had been blocked by a small garrison of Imperial soldiers who informed him that he would not be able to path without permission from a noble. Fortunately Baravio's silver tongue saved him once again and he was able to convince the guards to allow him passage without. Finally, as he traveled across Talerium, he was captured by a group of desert raiders who imprisoned him and promised him freedom if he would assist them in robbing another group of adventurer's that they had spotted. Baravio reluctantly agrees but when the ambush happens, he betrays the bandits and kills them, saving the other adventuring party who thanks him graciously. Finally after weeks of travel, Baravio arrives in Foda and finds the boy only to discover that the rumors were false and the boy had no magical powers. Frustrated and disillusioned, Baravio heads north to return to Fallharbour through the Northern Passage.

Trivia

 * The chapter takes place in 6 different realms across the entire continent of Altmar.
 * This chapter is the first appearance of the following characters: Alia Ashfeld, Merlin Silverfire, Aron Bluelake, Oscar Heyvald, Rikkert Velnaar, Niavara Liadon, Jozan Seldiir, Calgibar Hagak, Zane Dreadscythe, Desperyia, Chuckles, Rotting Corpse, Baravio Lanar, and Rufus White.
 * The title A Matter of Price is a reference to the Witcher story A Question of Price by Andrezj Sapkowski
 * This chapter is one of two chapters that takes place before the campaign begins. The other is the interlude The Sword of Sagaras.