Volume I

'''Cptn. Tolph Grundier - commanding officer of the portal investigation - Full Report'''

12th of Taurn, 501 3E

Reports have been flooding the Capitol about some kind of portal opening up in multiple locations within Cavalian borders. We believe it's safe to assume there are more elsewhere, but so far we've received no word from the outlying colonies nor from the surrounding nations. My squad and I have been tasked with securing these locations ASAP, then we are to discern to where exactly they lead. I've just received my orders, and it looks like we'll be heading to the Mirrenwood border first. Place gives me the chills.

19th of Taurn

We reached the first portal today just before sunset. It's about as wide as two men, around one span in width, and two spans in height. It's not visible from the West, but when we view it's location from the East, it becomes visible. Highly curious. Our top scryers are throwing everything they have at it, trying to determine it's "transcendent properties" or some such nonesense. My men and I will get a proper look at the thing when we've got the light at our backs. For now, we're road-weary, and can't be bothered with it.

20th of Taurn

The scryers woke me up today in some sort of panic. Whatever they did, they agitated the thing, claiming it's become "unstable" and needs to be contained. Trouble is, they've no clue how to do it.

The situation certainly has escalated, despite my initial skepticism. The portal expanded some 3 spans in diameter, and we can almost feel it pulling whenever we get close. However, that's not the most troubling part. What's most disturbing is we can now see through the portal. There are things shifting beyond it's horizon. Things that our world has not yet seen the like of.

21st of Taurn

We lost Janus today. He lost his footing a bit too close to the portal and was just.. gone. Against my better judgement, we've voted unanimously to go after him. We can only imagine the torment he would be forced to suffer should he be left to his own wit on the other side of that portal. We've packed up our camp and should have enough supplies to set up a command tent and a medic tent on the other side. I hope. Here goes nothing.

[Date unknown]

It's been mere weeks since we crossed the portal's horizon. It was then that we discovered that the portal was not a portal, but a rift. When we rescued Janus, we soon found that there's no way back. There's only one place this land could be– It must be the lost legendary land of Nerevale. All the signs add up. The ruins scattered about are etched with the ancient tongues, thought until now to be lost. There are corpses and skeletons that rise and hunt the living at night. Not one native inhabitant can be found, though the signs of civilization are here. We've only one choice now. We must survive. There have been others trickling in over the weeks from all over Umbra. Some went through the rift out of curiosity, others were caught unawares. Together we've begun to rebuild, and start anew.