Arcane Chronicles: A Tale of Conspiracy and Deceit Pt. 1
It was a warm, damp morning in Windmoore as the stone pathway glistened from the bright sunrise over the horizon. A group of miners marched out of the tavern with hearty laughter as they chat and joke around. A young woman near the castle arch couldn't help but notice something peculiar about one of the miners, who chose to exclude himself from the group. Several hours passed as the citizens of windmoore casually carried on with their daily routines.
A wounded miner with an arrow pierced in his chest stumbled through the gates and made his way to the tavern. On the way, he fell to his knees to catch his breath. As he got up and continued to make his way to the tavern, a nearby bystander noticed some kind of jewel fall out of his pocket. Too alarmed to say anything, he carefully walked over to the jewel to observe it. Before he could pick it up, a city guard came up and snatched it off the ground. "This is evidence," he says "resume your normal daily business."
A few moments later, a mysterious traveler walked out of the tavern and made their way to the brackenridge forest. The bystander curiously went into the tavern to see what was going on. Right when he walked in, he noticed the miner on the floor motionless, and a doctor beside him tending to his wound. To the doctor's disbelief, the arrow was practically melded to the miner's body. No substantial bleeding was visible, and the arrow was soaked in a strange fluid. The body of the miner was unmovable, despite the doctor's best efforts to relocate him.
The fluid was investigated in a lab in Kraag. To the scientists' surprise, this odd substance was never before discovered in the realm of Arlor. Amazed by this, the scientists decided to undergo experimentations with this strange liquid. It was definitely not a poison, and it had absolutely no acidity. What was observed was that this strange substance had no visible affect on anyone.
Meanwhile, the doctor in Windmoore continuously observed the miner's condition, waiting for the miner's vitals to cease. Hours went by, and the miner was still squirming and mumbling. The hours turned into days and the doctor grew concerned. Something was keeping the miner alive. Curious, the doctor sent a message to the scientists in Kraag to share his observations and to find out if the substance has had any noticeable attributes. Together, they came up with a discovery..
The mysterious substance, never before seen in the realm of Arlor, has astonishingly potent preservative properties. The substance is able to keep vital organs operating independently and induce a coma-like trance on the affected living thing. The substance also makes the victim's skin secrete a very sticky resin. The scientists and the doctor were both shocked and amazed with this discovery, and were convinced this could potentially lead to immortality, if the negative effects could be controlled and counteracted. Yet, there was only a very limited quantity of it, so research was extremely limited.
The local guard has also been conducting their own investigation on the incident. The goblin invasion of brackenridge was originally to blame for the attack on the Windmoore miner, as it was the only thing the miner would talk about. With the new discovery of this substance, something unfound in Arlor and unused by the goblin civilization, a third party was now involved, yet no one had any ideas on who.
The witness to the mysterious jewel that dropped from the miner's pocket on the day of the attack curiously asks the head guard if they were able to determine anything from the jewel. Surprisingly, the city guard has not reported any jewel dropping into the street, nor being found in the miner's pockets. The witness explained that a city watchman picked up the jewel and ordered him to go back to what he was doing. Several other citizens also report that they saw a jewel fall out of the miner's pocket. No one in the city guard has any recollection of the jewel or the interaction with the witness.
A thorough investigation of the miner's living quarters yielded a very peculiar note giving the miner specific instructions to lead the miners to a clearing just outside the forests of brackenridge. An investigation of the clearing yielded no evidence of any ambush or struggle.
It is speculated that the miner was actually a spy who was employed by the mysterious third party. It is also speculated that someone from the third party dressed up as a guard to cover the traces of the third party.
Day by day, tavern visitors were greeted by the miner, whose only words were "You have to help....". Very little is known about the truth behind the incident, but Arlor may be in a greater danger than anyone can ever anticipate.
