A young human knight on a quest.

You are Jacen Wolfe, a knight of the human kingdom, loyal and brave. You are a good-looking young man with short mahogany locks, boyishly handsome features and a solid, athletic build to your body built up through hard training. While you are diligent and earnest in your training as a knight, you are still barely nineteen and too young to be experienced or truly powerful as a warrior. You have potential, but have yet to reach it, some say. You wish to reach this potential, not to be strong for the sake of being strong, but to fight and protect those that are important to you. Your friends, the kingdom and, most importantly, your younger sister, Theresa, who you have raised up since the of your parents when you were but eight and she was four.

You fight to protect her and her way of life, but you do also fight to bring honor to yourself and the kingdom and you were given that chance when you were given a quest from the king himself. You were to join a party of seven other adventurers, two of each race, on an expedition to the Forbidden Continent. It was said that, somewhere on the Country of Shadows, there was a powerful artifact, something steeped in magic and power. You were not told what it was, just that you would be joining the expedition to retrieve it. And you, being the loyal and stalwart knight that you are, were only too glad to accept the quest.

You said your goodbyes to your sister, making sure she would have a place to stay with friends of yours while you were away. She was fifteen, already growing into a lovely young woman, but you still saw her as the little girl you all but raised. You shared a tearful goodbye with your sister, your one and only family member, and then you were off to meet with the party of other adventurers so you could set sail for the southern continent.

The party was as it was described, a party of seven (eight, when you counted yourself) made up of two from each of the four major races. There was a broad dwarven warrior, Rolf, with blazing red hair and beard and shining steel armor to complement his shining steel war-axe. He was joined by a smaller female dwarf with mousy brown hair named Asta who acted as his squire and steward, though she seemed too timid and mild-mannered to be much of a warrior herself. Then there was a male gnomish rogue, Tevlo, dressed in black leathers and always smiling cockily and a female gnome mage, Rephina, wearing violet robes around her pleasantly plump frame. The elves were both female, Lorelei, the ranger, and Aenwyn, the healer. The elves were sisters and were nearly identical in appearance, both of them lean and slender with silvery hair and subtle feminine curves and haughty expressions. And, finally, there was the leader of the group, the female human paladin, Acacia, a blonde, buxom beauty with a cold and regal expression and silver armor that shone in the light.

And, among this group of impressive adventurers, was you. You, an average knight with little to no experience outside of training, was chosen to accompany the others on this quest. You did not know why you were chosen exactly, just that it was a recommendation from the prince himself. You'd met the prince a few times, the young royal coming to watch you at practice as your sister did at times. The prince had told his father he had high hopes for you, it seemed, and that had been enough for you to be chosen for this quest.

You were filled with pride at that fact and it was that pride and eagerness to prove yourself that had pushed you throughout your travelling with the party. Whether it was helping the crew of the ship that took you to the Forbidden Continent when the seas got stormy, fighting through orcs, goblins, harpies and other creatures on your way to your destination or traversing the labyrinthine tunnels of the caverns that you and your party had ended up in, you had acquitted yourself to the best of your abilities. The others were far more skilled and strong then you were, but none, it seemed, had nearly as much determination and heart than you. That was what you were told, anyway, mostly by the dwarven squire who often seemed to glance at you out of the corner of her eyes before her master would deter her with hard glares. She was a sweet girl, you thought, but you had no time to think about such things on a quest like this.

The Southern Continent was full of dangers and enemies and you fought through them all with the rest of the party at your back. They were your comrades, allies and perhaps even friends? You depended on them, giving them your trust as only a young knight with thoughts of honor and nobility thick in his mind could. You had faith in your allies and knew that, with them at your side, you would succeed in your quest.

And, sure enough, after days and days of trekking through the dark environs of the Country of Shadows and making your way deep into ancient catacombs, your group finally reaches what can only be your destination. You walk out of a narrow cave and find that it opens up into a truly massive underground chamber. The ceiling and wall and even floor stretch away until you can't even see them. The path you walk on continues into a stone bridge that connects the cave you exited to what appears to be tower standing in the middle of the giant cavern. That tower, one of a strange obsidian stone that seems to glow with dark energy, stands at the end of the bridge and is shut tight as the intricately carved doors of stone look immovable and strong.

"Is this...where the artifact lays?", you ask in a tremulous voice as you move forward onto the bridge, your own desire to prove yourself and innate courage keeping fear from claiming you as you traverse the narrow bridge and come right up to the doors that bar the way to the interior of the tower.

"I believe so.", comes the small voice of the mage as the rest of the party follows after you, letting you take the lead as you had moved forward before any of them could have.

"Then...we have reached the end of our quest! I am glad! Despite the dangers, we have all arrived here together. I am glad indeed.", you say, happy that your party was able to reach its goal without losing a single member.

Your happiness, however, is tempered by the fact that it seems one last barrier stands between you and your goal. The door itself, black stone and etched with demonic visages that seem to leer out at you with hungry eyes and lashing tongues, does not budge when you press a hand to it and push. It is locked fast and, as you take your hand back, you feel somehow...unclean for having touched it. It is a feeling that pervades your senses and you have to shake your head and close your eyes as you try to push away the feeling.

"Oh. But the door is barred. How will we gain entry?", you say as you open your eyes to inspect the door once more.

"No worries, kid. We have a key of sorts for it.", the rogue states, odd amusement in his voice as he states that fact.

"Oh, do we? Good! Then we shall be able to finish our quest without delay!", you declare and turn around to see what exactly this key is.