A Call to Arms
As the route to the island once again opened up rumors started to spread about the powerful volcano Ethna. Eccentric and curious researchers from the Edron Magic Academy were quick to set out to investigate this new power they had heard of. A young and ambitious researcher named Kratos showed up under the guidance of Alexander.
Their task was simple: collect and analyze samples from the soil as close to the active volcano as possible. But shortly after arriving to the volcano Alexander started to note how his apprentice began to change. Kratos notes from their missions were less coherent for each time they would visit and strange drawings began to appear in his notebook. After about a month they were back at the base of Ethna to collect their final samples. Alexander had a strange feeling all through the day, and would later describe it as if someone was watching them. As he began to pack up his samples he saw Kratos slowly walking towards the active volcano. Despite his efforts to prevent the young man from hurting himself, Alexander ended up watching Kratos disappeared into the lava, only leaving a mist of smoke behind.
The volcano had taken its first victim since the last eruption and despite a costly and time consuming effort from the Academy no corpse was ever retrieved.
Time passed and the Academy began to withdraw from the island after the incident. No cause of Kratos erratic behaviour was ever discovered and the Academy decided to seal the passage into Ethna as it was deemed too dangerous to approach without proper training and preparations.
As the researchers left the island, life moved on in Kastah and grass started to grow on the barren lands. The wildlife of the island was once again starting to form and bears and deers could now be seen around the island. Everything seemed to go according to plan with the third iteration of Kastah until just a few months ago. The volcano seemed to have become active once again, but this time something was different. Very, very different. Instead of erupting ash clouds and lava, a muffled, deep, voice rose from the volcano and rolled down the mountain:
CHAMEK ATH UTHUL ARAK.Most of the inhabitants of Kastah immediately began to leave. They knew something was wrong. A message was formed by the elders and urgently sent to the Acadamy, once again requesting help. A new expedition was formed, this time led by Alexander himself. As they arrived to the island once more they all noted something was different from the last time they were there. The city was completely silent as most people had already abandoned their homes, the sky was dark and rough weathers with lightning and thunder seemed to be ever present.
A party of researchers were quickly put together to attempt a climb of Ethna. Some of the most experienced warriors of Kastah agreed to guide the party through the Broken Mountain. As a week had passed there were no signs or messages from the researchers and Alexander began to fear that he had lost them all. In an attempt to find out what had happened he sent two scouts after them, who would later return with scattered belongings on some of the parties' members. By going through the collected notes and diaries it was soon understood that the party had failed. Ethna had been riddled with traps and lures as well as unheared of demonic creatures. They stood no chance against this evil and were all killed. Alexander would conclude that there was now a powerful demonic presence active on Kastah. And if left undisturbed, it would jeopardize the existance of Faloria as they all knew it.
A call to arms was announced all over Faloria: Assist the Kastari to prevent the end of the world!