Prologue: The Ruler’s Headache

No matter what dimension you dwell in, there is one group of people with an endless ability to cause headaches for rulers both benevolent and malevolent.

It is not nobles, who can backstab you as soon as look at you.

It is not peasants, who are frequently revolting.

It is not merchants, who will buy and sell your domain from under you.

It is not even philosophers, who constantly put stupid ideas in the heads of all of the above classes.

Adventurers!

No group is as much as a pain as a group of adventurers! The sheer unpredictable nature of them creates endless headaches for a ruler. You never know if they will pass through your despotic rule, or overthrow you due to your prohibition you made on grilled cheese sandwiches, which you made after an enchanter cursed you with a horrifying recurring nightmare.

Adventurers!

If there is anything that embodies chaos, it is those reckless people! One moment obeying the laws, the next disobeying.

One might think that many of the headaches can be solved by clever application of money, but adventurers… if they are bad, they’ll get it into their heads to loot your coffers! If they are good, they’ll get it into their heads to loot your coffers and give it to the poor! (themselves)

In the cold snowy land of Elcon, nested between the tunnels that run through dimensions. One tyrant was having a terrible time with adventurers. Pretty much every adventurer was against him!

The reason?

This tyrant would allow no fire other than himself. The Firelord, the vainest, meanest, vilest and most prideful firefolk Elcon had ever seen.

So vain he wanted only his flame to exist!

So mean he would allow no other!

So vile that he snuffed out all his kin!

So prideful that he wished to rule all of Elcon!

In a cold place like Elcon, there was more than a few creatures that could resist the cold, but there was plenty that would be more than glad to have a fire. Fire was very important to the surface dwellers of Elcon, and to adventurers in particular!

So, adventurers were much of the backbone of resistance against the Firelord, and caused endless trouble for his ambitions. With this backdrop, we come to the tale of one small group of adventurers, A muscled mage carrot, a thieving coneperson, A horse down on his luck, a soft-baked gingerbread man and a sinister breeder of beasts.

They were mouldering away in a nameless little village in the east of Elcon.

It begins, as many adventuring stories do, with them receiving a job…