When the Wandering Blades left Fallcrest (their village of origin), they knew not where they were going. Truly, the Dungeon Master, in his all-knowing state did not know where they were going.
But they were going to Elroost.
Capital of Elrya, mighty onlooker over the great plains, Elroost towered above the world and the characters with it.
It did not take them long to find work. A merchant (a prominent member of House Vandrennon, although the Blades did not yet know it), had lost contact with his cousin in the lands northwest of the Teeth of the World. And so, after they had barely been in the city for a day, they were off again.
The journey north was no doubt an ordeal, but let us speak not of it here, as it was uneventful in the grand scheme of things.
Upon arriving in the small village—in which this adventure takes place—our heroes could not find the woman they had been sent to find (they did, however, find Malark). They also learned of many strange disappearances. Eventually they sourced the disappearances to a group of magic-users who had infiltrated the village. Tracing them to their underground meeting place, the group quickly dispatched the guards, and continued down into the belly of the world.
In the caves they saw many evil creatures, the least of which were four-armed, two-headed goblin-like creatures (this is when Rothen rolled a 1 and got clubbed in the dick). The party was led by Kratos and his flaming sphere, which he used to conveniently block hallways and incinerate
At the end of the network of caves, the party discovered a terrifying, meaty room, filled with the presence of black magic. In the center was a Khyber shard, and around the walls were the unconscious forms of the villagers, their souls being used to power the crystal.
Needless to say the Blades freed them all and then returned victorious to the surface… but minus one of their members.
Their new friend, Malark Denire.
Malark had been lured off into the caves by Kratos’ use of arcane trickery. Throwing his voice with magic, he lured Malark away as a classic prank, then completely forgot that Malark had been left in the caves.
The rest of the party just assumed that he had gone his own way.