[b][center]An So We Begin[/center][/b]

[i] 	The Convent Of The Sisters Of Light is pleading for help from the people of the realm. Our orphanage has been plagued with unique case of Cinder Sickness that all attempts to cure have failed. We have consulted both near and far and believe that we now know how to heal our poor children but we lack the strength to collect the ingredients we so desperately need. We are searching for strong and caring individuals to help save the lives of these innocent souls. Please contact Sister Agnes in the Village of Gorlton’s Apothecary for more information. We promise a great reward in exchange for the materials that we need.[/i]

	Messengers had been instructed to place these following notices both near and far throughout the realm in hopes that at least some would come. The messengers had left several days before and all had returned and informed the Convent that they had completed the task at hand. Sister Agnes, an old and devoted nun that was a member of The Convent Of the Sisters Of The Light paced the Apothecary Shop, slowly running her fingers along the folds of her habit. The children of the orphanage they looked after were sick and there was nothing that seemed to help. Cinder Sickness was usually a disease, though while painful, could be cured by a simple healing from a priest or priestess but this epidemic  was different. They had been able to slow it but not cure it and the children were in pain. 

	The disease started out as nothing more than a high fever but it quickly had progressed to tiny cinders and sparks coming from the childrens eyes and mouths. Some of the children that had had it longer had progressed to having small lesions on their skin that would have flames coming from them. They had even lost one that had been completely engulfed in flames as the disease reached its most dangerous state. Sister Agnes wondered how many more they would lose and it weighed heavily on her heart. 

	The sisters had been able to locate the cause of the disease, a cult that had summoned a demon not far from the orphanage had caused the initial break out and thanks to a local religious order had been taken care of but a cure as of yet had not been found.  Their only hope lay in an old manuscript that the old Apothecary had that spoke of a similar outbreak that had happened the century before but the ingredients for such a remedy were rare, so very rare and they were not something that would be easy to come by. Their only hope was that a group of adventurers would be willing to take on the task. The nuns of the convent were skilled in many things, fighting the wilderness was not one of them. 

	“Think any will come?” Sister Agnes asked as she looked out of the window of the old shop and looked out over the town. The hour was early, the sun breaking over the horizon slowly. The village was quiet; only a few were up and moving about, starting their daily tasks. Beyond the village were fields and tree lines that formed the edge of a vast forest that surrounded the village and famers fields. Mountains could be seen off in the distance and every so often, from miles away, the smell of salt would waft into the village in the early hours of the morning from the Cove. 

	“Give it time Sister,” the apothecary said as he looked up from the manuscript that held the ingredients that would need to be collected. He had spent the night writing the list over and over again on pieces of parchment to hand out to those that came along wanting to try to help. Sighing slightly as he looked at the list, these were not easy things to come by and they would need a full group to go through with this that could work well together. Some adventuring parties took years to trust each other and work well together. To find such groups were as rare as the ingredients themselves. He just hoped who ever came through the door and caused the little brass bell above it to ring as they entered would be up to the task. 

	“Time is something we do not have much of,” she said as she stood there waiting, looking back out the stained glass window of the shop before turning away and wandering aimlessly through the room. 


[b][center]Sana Rawn[/center][/b]

	The sun had just begun to rise and the sky was still a cool blue as the first rays broke through the window of the rented room of the village inn.  An irritated sound escaped Sanas lips as the light came into the room, turning her head she buried it against a rather large and defined chest as she pulled the covers over her head; a habit she had formed over the last couple of months of travel anytime the sun interrupted her sleep. “Make it go away,” she grumbled as she curled up closer to the large figure that was probably already awake lying next to her. 

	The pair had arrived the night before rather late and the village was completely locked down save for the inn thankfully; Sana had tended to the horses as Hugh secured a room for them for the evening. They had caught the notice a town over after months of travel trying to escape a desert and some rather unsavory creations; together they decided they would check out what was going on and offer a hand. It would be nice to try to help some children instead of some megalomaniac in an area that could only be described as hell. Now there were somewhere lush and it was a welcome change to Sana; though she still swears that she will be picking sand out of pack for the rest of her life. 

	By the time they got to the room Sana had barely managed to undress from her traveling gear before passing out at the foot of the bed. She was not sure how she had managed to end up using Hugh as a pillow but she figured he had moved her while she slept. Now the sun was disturbing that sleep and she was far from happy about it. She knew they needed to get up, get some food and head over to the Apothecary but she hadn’t even heard a rooster crow yet, so she figured she still had time.

	“Cock-A-Doodle-Wake-Yo-Butt-Up!” a rooster crowed from outside the window.

	“Son of a….” Sana mumbled as she pulled the covers tighter over her head.