Last Time on StarFall...
Chapter 2 - The Inquisition
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Back in North Vale, the heroes were swept into a storm of murder, betrayal, and war. Knights of the Celestial Temple hunted two sorcerers accused of killing a church acolyte, while a smuggler named Red Jenny drew the party into a heist that revealed a hidden scroll and six ancient discs — keys to something buried beneath the town. North Vale was then besieged, its magistrate vanished, and the young girl from Chapter One was murdered by a masked sorceress.
The trail led to the North Vale mine, where the adventurers discovered Miarm’s Rest, a crystal temple housing the goddess Miram herself. She revealed the corruption is spreading even into her divine spark. When Red Jenny tried to steal the crystal for herself, the heroes struck her down. The crystal is theirs — but the truth is far darker than they imagined.
Brief Recap
Chapter 2 - The Inquisition
After saving Urskar’s village, our heroes return to North Vale to rest and plan their next move. They carry with them an IOU for their service against the gnolls — a debt owed by the Duke of Solis himself.
But peace does not last. A company of knights from Caldesa arrives, led by Farin Lodash of the Celestial Temple. Their mission: investigate the mysterious fire from chapter 1 and track down the killers of a church acolyte. The suspects are two magic users, Taka and Kaelen, whom the knights brand as members of a terrorist anarchist group called the Untamed. Illonas, however, knows the untamed as protectors of magic-users hunted by the church. To him, this is a setup — a ploy to draw them out.
As North Vale goes on lockdown, the group is approached by a smuggler and information broker known as Red Jenny. She promises answers if they help her break into the church. Inside, they uncover a hidden ancient scroll and six stone discs — relics that appear to be keys to something buried beneath the town. In the chaos, Red Jenny is arrested, the discs seized, but Illonas secretly keeps the scroll.
That same night, Karroq is visited by a vision: a powerful sorceress calling herself a Fate Weaver warns him that he and his companions are not part of the Great Song, and should abandon their path. The warning only deepens the mystery.
Before they can act, disaster strikes. North Vale is assaulted — ogres, troglodytes, and a devastating spell that shatters city walls. During their defense of the city our party sees one of the ogres reanimated by strange magic, empowering it with powerful energy, and a fight that nearly kills the party. Worse still, assassins attempt to steal the discs, the young girl saved in Chapter One is murdered by a masked sorceress, and the magistrate vanishes, leaving the Celestial Knights in full control of the town.
Refusing to stand idle, the heroes track the discs to the North Vale mine, now occupied by insurgents from the northern kingdom of Paydora. Beneath the mine they uncover something extraordinary: an ancient crystal temple known as Miarm’s Rest. Inside, they find technology unlike anything in Aerith — glowing lights, crystal doors, and long-forgotten magic. Here they discover the truth: Miram, goddess of darkness and the moon, has died a contradiction of what the Church claims. The church has always taught that the gods left the mortal realm but still watch over and shape the world. She has been in slumber for over a thousand years, recovering after the battle against Agernoth. Weak and fading, she warns that the spreading corruption threatens not just the land, but her divine spark itself.
As the party prepares to claim the crystal to protect it, betrayal strikes. Red Jenny, cloaked in invisibility, reveals she has been trailing them all along. She attempts to steal the crystal — but this time, the heroes end it. Jenny falls, the crystal is secured, and the fate of gods and mortals alike grows ever more entangled in the spreading plague.
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