It is a hour or so before dawn when the twin religious services of Larani and Peoni. They finish at dawn, and set about breaking their fast.BR>

    At the noon bell, all the villagers gather for the Harvest Feast, the one of two times per year that Baron Uthris Pierstel is required to feed the entire village. After the meal, work resumes. It is about mid-afternoon when some of the villagers smell smoke and see fire, and hear screams. They turn out to be a Gargun attack upon the villagers in the east fields.
    Once information comes to them, they discover that about a dozen of the living, dying, and dead have been carried off by the Gargun, who ran off towards the north east. Some of the villagers want to pursue in a rescue attempt, but when they ask permission of the Baron, he turns them flat down, saying instead that the harvest comes before rescue. That is, till he finds out that his own son Sir Broderick is one of those carried off, then he is quite anxious to get volunteers.
    Led by Sir Troat, whom the villagers call "Sir Toad" behind his back, the village volunteers head out on horseback and provisioned by the Baron. The Laranian Cleric Ulric, the strange and yet magnetic Kazamiro, the village Miller's Son Atheos, and the bard Charles Wellinton III accompany a few other serfs who are going to tend the animals and cook the meals, etc. After camping one night, they discover on the second day's ride a gruesome sight of a gargun feast. Late on the second day, after rains erase the trail, they come to the Sorkin Mountains and a cavern which they suspect is the lair of the gargun they seek.
    By investigating the cave without the sleeping Sir Troat, they nearly get caught in a pincher movement by the gargun and killed. It is only after Kazamiro fires his gun a few times that Sir Troat wakes up and comes to their aid, only to be stabbed unconscious shortly after. After killing several gargun and a large fearsome Gargruk named Grok, they finally begin to get the treasure and the ears for their payment. It is during this time that they discover a paved hallway that leads to a debris-filled area.
    When they take some time to remove the debris, the wall is stange and has a pictograph on it. Soon, they discover that this is a pseudostone door left by the Earthmasters, and Charles opens it, gaining some physic talent. The inside crumbles to dust at the touch, having been here for uncountable years, but they do rescue a small box made of Earthmaster stone, and a scroll bearing the first part of the Rede of Genin, the fabled mage of about one hundred fifty years ago.
    In another small area is a bright light, but when they remove a ring attached to the portcullis apparenently holding something in, the light goes out and they can see a man standing with his eyes closed. He is dressed richly, but in arcaic fashion. To their horror, the man starts to breathe, and eventually opens his eyes. The heroes quickly decide to debris up the door and get out, taking the scroll and the box. Here ends episode one.