Exodite by nature

Smekeh is a wandering elf, straying and hunting along the edge of the Gysbönæ woods, a forest that is dying slowly as well. The edge of the forest is gradually crumbling into a deep chasm, down where only death and destruction reigns. Smekeh is a survivor and he knows that his forest does not have long anymore before it will dissapear entirely. He wants to take a leave, preferably as soon as possible.

Once located deep in the forest there was a settlement in the roots of giant oaks, where a colony of gnomes had a safe haven. Recently this settlement is coming closer to the ever receding ridge that is swallowing the forest. Mir the gnome has magical aptitude and a free and arbitrarily mind. With his mind, he has the power to set things of fire. Still, he respects and apreciates his family, so tries not to bother them with his light-hearted pyromantics.

Mir thankfully makes use of the nearby cliff at the edge of the forest, to throw his magical fire towards the grey horizon at heart's content. So there he meets Smekeh, the wandering elf. Due to the free spirit they both have, they become friends and often sit. smoking a pipe with their feet hanging down the cliff, dreaming about better places beyond the gray wasteland.

Draken, a medicineman from a magical forest in the East, has always assisted his community by binding their wounds, cure their diseases and provide them of his wise counsel. As a druid, he knew the powers of nature, and could use the riches of the magical forest in the service of his duties as a medicineman. His past is a little vague; at an early age his elven mother called heed to a fatal vision of Gysbönæ forest, her homeland. She returned to be at aid of her ancestors.

The great cataclysm also affected his community; he has been working hard to treat the massive sickness and injury that came his people when disaster struck. Once almost everyone was dead and the magic of his forest had disappeared, he began the long journey to the homeland of his mother.

The story begins as Draken arrives at its destination, to find that the Gysbönæ forest is standing at the top of a high cliff. At the moment of his valiant attempt at climbing the cliff, Smekeh and Mir are sitting on top and are deciding that this is the moment they are really going on their adventure into the gray wastes.