PRELUDE

For ages, the protectorate of The Crimson Circle had defended the powerful nexus of ley lines and contained the magic within through the use of blood-stained ancient rune stones and fierce battle. Before succumbing to the murderous onslought of the many demons and sorcerors suddenly descending on the area to compete for the power of the nexus, the Crimson Circle defenders sent out a call for help to the Frost Lands and other noble forces in the region.

This call was answered by a small team of adventurers from The Frost Lands who ventured north to find the previous defense force was already wiped out, their village in ruins, and the powerful stones that protected the nexus were missing. The bloody months that followed pitted the new Crimson Circle defenders against foes of all kinds as they and many new allies quested to find the missing stones.

The plea for help was heard by many both would-be friends and would-be foes throughout the lands. One of these, an enigmatic sorceror known as Runemaker, issued his own call to arms to stop an agressive and demonic force on the brink of controlling the nexus and unleashing otherworldly forces on this realm and casting a shadow of pain and suffering on the region.

THE RUNE QUEST:

Forces from Crimson Circle, North Haven, and The Frost Lands came to investigate. Knowing nothing of Runemaker, a tentative alliance was formed with him, and he split the force and sent them on two separate quests to demonstrate their nobility, courage, and fortitude.

Trust in Runemaker came into question when one of these groups met a peaceful hedge-wizard named Mythika, who showed them how Runemaker had been manipulating and distracting them with unreasonable tasks and the promise of impossible rewards. Under Mythika's guidance, this group was faced with the painful task of facing the other group, now tainted by the dark magic of Runemaker, in a bloody conflict that would surely deplete the ranks of both forces.

It was during this conflict that Mythika's ruse was discovered as she demonstrated her ruthless cunning and extreme skill in combative and sinister magics. The questers barely survived the showdown between the bloodthirsty Mythika and Runemaker, who had been caught off-guard by the attack. As soon as the outcome of the battle came into doubt, Mythika escaped through a portal. Faith was now restored in Runemaker.

Having no portal magic of their own, the questers set out the following day to head back toward the nexus with the hope of intercepting and stopping Mythika. It was here that Runemaker endowed the questers with a vast wealth of enchantments in the form of an almost-forgotten ancient art of rune magic.

The first part of the journey involved a battle on the water, where Mythika's henchmen and a giant and deadly kraken proved to be dangerous obstacles. Once on land, they faced their own dopplegangers in a fierce battle in the forests near the ley line.

As night began to fall, and they finally caught up with Mythika, they encountered their fiercest battle. Mythika was ready for them, and using the power of the ley line, she had created a series of barriers deadly to all who attempted to cross them. A seemingly unlimited army of her beast-like henchmen threatened to slaughter the allied forces as Runemaker worked feverishly to disable the nearly dozen barriers that stood between them and Mythika, whose power had increased nearly ten-fold through the manipulation of the energy of the ley line.

It should be noted to you, dear reader, that though the questers were victorious in thwarting Mythika's plan, neither blade nor spell touched Mythika as she made her escape. Though there was much rejoicing, it was understood amongst all that their victory was bittersweet and hollow.

THE RUNE QUEST 2: THE SEARCH FOR RUNEMAKER

The second part of our tail brings us to the realm of Asgard, home of the gods. Odin went into a coma when he healed the wounds of another god during a battle with the giants, unaware that Loki had plotted the giants’ battle and was waiting for this opportunity. Loki stole Odin's spear while Odin was comatose. Wanting to cause mischief, Loki leaves the spear on the mortal plane with his offspring, Leviathan, knowing it will bring disaster.

Before going into his healing coma, Odin wrote a letter to Thor, warning Thor to keep an eye on Loki while he was asleep. Thor never got the letter, though, because he was away on the mortal plane searching for Mjolnir.

Meanwhile, back in the mortal realm, some time has passed since the first Rune Quest, and evil once again threatened to overtake the nexus. Communication with Runemaker had stopped, so a team was dispatched from Crimson Circle to ensure his safety and seek his guidance in recovering the remaining rune stones to seal in the power of the ley line nexus.

When they arrived at his lair, Runemaker was nowhere to be found. A quick search found a runic translation guide, a bag of rune stones, and a journal, which indicated that he was off to visit a divination mage known as Zebediah along the way to the place where Mythika had last been seen. The description in the journal was easy enough to follow, as if Runemaker meant to be followed.

Along the way, the group battled off a hungry mob of orcs tormenting a helpless unicorn. During the battle, the unicorn fled, and the orcs were easily defeated.

The questers quickly learned that this diviner is very eccentric, speaking thickly with a harsh accent. Only half of his mannerisms and phrases are pertinent to the present situation, all else being mumblings or wacky unrelated drivel. His lair was simply decorated, complete with a collection of exotic spoons and eyeballs of all kinds. He refused to give any aid until the party would bring him two eyes of a wyvern, which he uses for his divining ritual, and an additional spoon, known as the Dieter's Spoon, for his collection.

The group split into two. One group headed toward a group of wyvern to do battle, and the other headed toward a nearby town to negotiate with a dwarven trader for the spoon. The group attacking the wyvern had their first difficult battle, but were eventually able to get the slime-covered eyes they sought. The group headed toward town was actually implicated in the murder of the dwarven trader, who met his death at the hands of an unknown assassin. Spoon in hand, they fought the town guards to escape back to the diviner's lair.

Zebediah performed a complex ritual of fire, using the eyeballs to divine where Runemaker was. Strangely, Runemaker seemed to only be “half present," wavering between this plane and another. Zebediah worried that he may be dead, and his soul journeying to another plane. He pinpointed Runemaker's location on this plane and directed the questers toward him.

Along the way, they encountered a group of hostile warriors from Asgard, whose business on this plane was unknown. It was only through their superior numbers that the questers ere able to survive against these skilled and powerful adversaries. Also along the way, they saw the unicorn again, who this time left Odin's letter to Thor for the questers before fleeing the area.

The letter indicated that Odin was worried about too many powerful artifacts being used outside of Asgard, and he asked Thor find and return his spear, Gungnir, and a collection of four rune cubes capable of opening portals. The fact that the letter was not in Thor's possession troubled the questers greatly, as surely the affairs of the gods were beyond their reach.

They eventually reached the location Zebediah specified, where, after a quick battle with some orcs, they discovered four portals. The portals closed after a certain number of questers would venture through, forcing the party to be split in two.

The first portal led to Leviathin, a powerful creature and the offspring of Loki which stood guard over Gungnir in a swamp near the mouth of the sea. The second portal led to a dark forest, in which the questers did battle with Fenris Wolf, another offspring of Loki, along with his wolf pups, and they found Mjolnir attached to a rock with an unbreakable chain. The third portal led to the back of a cave, in which the questers found a book of divine artifacts and did battle with an abominable snowman and a herd of baby mammoths. The last portal led to an encampment of fire giants who were in some sort of "war meeting," planning their next battle to take Asgard. In each of these four locations, there was also a magical cube with ancient and encoded script on all sides.

When the questers gathered again, they translated and read a word that stood out on each cube, causing a fifth portal to open, stunning everyone present with a blast of magical energy. Through the portal, they witnessed a battle between Runemaker and Mythika in the space between planes. The opening of the portal distracted Runemaker long enough for Mythika to gain the upper hand, hurling Runemaker through the portal and binding his spirit between realms, a fate far worse than death. Mythika taunted the questers and escaped through the portal, closing it behind her.

After a sorrowful gathering and singing of Amazing Grace, the questers carried the body of Runemaker in a desperate attempt to find the unicorn, whose powerful healing magic may be the only hope for the now-slain Runemaker. Fortunately, they were able to reach the unicorn before Runemaker's soul was lost forever, and she was able to undo Mythika's insidious magic.

With Runemaker's soul returned to his body, and Odin's cubes in-hand, they went back to the portal, where Runemaker translated additional runes from the cubes and re-opened the portal, so that the questers could follow Mythika.

After venturing through the portal, the adventurers had their first encounter with Loki and his Asgardian warrior minions. Loki, more entertained than threatened, toyed with the mortals before walking across the water, where the questers could not follow. It is clear to Runemaker at this point that Mythika is merely a puppet of Loki.

After camping near the water for the night, the questers found boats, which they used to follow Loki. Once again, they did battle with the Kraken, as they traveled from island to island, making their way past warriors of Asgard and the beastly henchmen of Mythika.

The bloody battle at sea behind them, the remaining adventurers gathered their thoughts on the shore. Looking through the book that they had recovered from the lair of the abominable snowman, they found a recollection of a battle between Thor and Loki, in which Thor used Mjolnir to banish Loki back to Valhalla. Accepting this as guidance, Runemaker once again supplied runic enchantments to the adventurers, and they encountered, battled, and ultimately defeated Loki and his henchmen.

It was not until during the celebratory festivities later that night that they realized that they had forgotten a critical piece of information. Two friendly warriors of Asgard found their camp and informed them that Mythika was not only behind all of this, but still at large and gaining control of the nexus at that moment! They hurriedly gathered their gear and went off to do battle with Mythika and her henchmen.

After disabling two of her death barriers, the questers were faced with storm after storm of magical energy from the nexus, along with a seemingly unlimited supply of henchmen and corrupted warriors of Asgard. Their only chance was to replace the rune stones, which they had been accumulating throughout their journey to this point, in their rightful places around the nexus. The battle that followed was truly one of legendary skill, as the steel of mortals clashed with the power of Asgard and the demonic minions of Mythika, all in a race against time as Mythika performed her ghastly magical ritual to use the power of the nexus for her own secret reasons.

The questers narrowly defeated Mythika, in the process discovering that she was all-the-while under the control of a demon from another realm who was attempting to gain a permanent foothold in this realm. They quickly banished this demon from the mortal plane. Mythika, again, was nowhere to be found.

RUNE QUEST 3: A PORTAL THROUGH TIME

Had they finally defeated her this time? Perhaps, but time, it would seem, is a powerful and dangerous enemy in and of itself. This, though, is a story that I have both already told you and have yet to tell you; it is a story that you have already lived and have yet to live. Time, it would seem, is a fluid and ever-changing target, and it is at the very heart of the final and greatest journey. Curses! I grow mad just contemplating such an unfathomable concept! As did you...