Hans - The son of a woodcarver, you are extremely strong from cutting wood throughout your life.

You are Hans, strongest of the young men in the village. You are tall, dark-haired, and chiseled with the muscles given to you by a lifetime of hard work. You are skilled with axe and sword, carrying both with you at all times.

Though you saw her in passing you have known the sweet beauty Melena for only the night, holding each other close but too terrified to realize that you were doing it. When dawn comes you remove the iron tub from above you and your senses are bombarded with the reality of a world entirely different from when you hid. The village is in ruins and everywhere is the smell of fire and burned flesh.

It is then that you notice Melena's weakness, her body covered with a glistening layer of sweat. The prophet had given you the shining stone and now she bids you leave without her. You hesitate and she shouts, her voice quivering with exertion. She smiles finally and pats you on the shoulder.

"Good luck, Hans," she sighs and leans against a smoking timber. "I would never make the journey with you."

For three days you cross the rolling hills between Gutendor and the Dragon's Spine Mountains. The devastation the armies of the underworld have caused is immeasurable. Everywhere are dead animals, picked nearly clean by the hungry mouths of the army. Sometimes you happen upon a ransacked homestead, but never a trace of life. Only the crows keep you company, searching for rotting flesh and calling out to one another when it's found.

When you reach the foothills at the end of the third day's travel you spot a light burning in the top window of a crumbling keep to the south. It is not marked on the map, and only an hour's travel further east are the caves the prophet told you to rest in before you make your way up the mountainside.

To the north is a village, only two hours travel by your guess, which may still be intact or at the least have some food for your hungry belly. A light rain coats your clothing and hair, but the air is fairly warm and the evening sky nearly clear but for a few scattered rain clouds. You must make your decision soon.