The city of Austernell, the Jewel of the South, lay on the brink of civil war when Dara Aldora Griffiths Hart arrived in October of 1497 with money for the poor. Now thanks to the bravery of Dara and her friends, the city is saved, but there are still questions that remain unanswered.
Patrice, the priest of the Church of the Dawn in Austernell was one of the first members of the gang known as the Bravos. We discovered that the gang has been around for decades but rose to prominence in the south city in the aftermath of the Bloodletting of 1487. Patrice hinted to Dara at the presence of a larger structure behind the Bravos gang, which eventually led to the discovery of a mastermind named Anton on the Duke’s council. Anton revealed that not only was he funding and aiding the Bravos in Austernell, but that he took orders from a higher authority, whose interests were in the preservation of Austernell’s mineral mining for the good of the nation as a whole. Anton’s solution was the violent removal of the Duke and Captain Gregor, supposedly for the good of the people of Downtown. After the Bravos attack in the Uptown streets was thwarted, Anton disappeared without a trace. Now that Bravos are disbanded, it’s only a matter of time before Dara and her friends discover the next move of this dangerous organization.
With the help of Adalard the Just, we discovered that Gretchen the wretch, a fey creature of incredible malevolence, was the cause of the famine and used her hagsbane poison to fuel the hatred in the town. After Gretchen’s defeat, the hag hinted at a force even greater in power and evil than her that lingered over Austernell. Adalard, who is permanently bound to Gretchen because he spoke her name decades ago, has consigned himself to remain in the city to ensure her evil does not return, and to discover whether she has any other secrets to share. Dara discovered when she confronted Francisco, that a magical stone that fell from the sky drew the evil to the city as the twisted granting of Francisco’s wish that someone would finally kill him. Dara took the stone after Francisco’s death for safekeeping, but found herself drawn to an otherworldly place where she was told that she had unwittingly made a wish of her own, and that the consequences of that wish would threaten the entire nation.
Dara’s origins still remain a mystery. Adalard’s explanation of faery culture, customs, and magical heritage has led her to believe there must be a reason to why she was discovered over a thousand miles away from the faery’s ancestral home. Dara still has never traveled to Helesia, having been warned that she would be devoured by a terrible monster if she entered the realm. But the questions still linger. Who were her parents? Is her mother still alive? What is the monster waiting for her if she returns?
Armor of Sorrow 
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