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Bleak. A suitable term that can describe the world at the moment. Up until twenty years ago, the world of Xanterra had been ravaged by the black hordes of the Blight, a seemingly endless wasteland that produces the majority of the land's evil denizens. The horde had been ruled by a nefarious leader known to his subjects as the Dark Master, but to those who knew of him, he was the Blight Dragon, a beast of such a ghastly visage, his appearance can easily kill those of the faint of heart. Few paintings, drawings, or other visual works of art could capture the raw malevolence that plagued the environment around him to such a degree that the Blight seemed to travel with him as he walked the more peaceful places of the world.

For centuries, the Bligh had been kept at bay by the dauntless guardians of the Shield Wall, a towering monolith of enchanted stone and fire. Seamless and unmarked, the thousand-mile wall that stretched several hundred feet into the air stood as a monument to the struggle of all of Xanterra. Before the Wall had been built so long ago, the evils of the Blight easily escaped to ravage the countryside. Despite this, they were leaderless at the time and gave no indication that they had any ultimate plan beyond scaring the locals, stealing cattle, and the off-chance of raping some poor little farm girl - though this was few and far between. Most of them knew how to tell the difference between a local lad and a misshapen monster from across the Blight. As it was, militias and local military forces were needed to stem the tide, and for a time it was a repetitive lifestyle:

Summer comes, making it hotter and more humid, causing the crops to grow and the trees to spread their nasty little pollen spores into the air. The little roving bands of Blight-infested creatures would wander across the meadows and wave their arms in what would be considered a "terrifying" gesture if it were not for how amusing it quickly became as people stopped noticing them. After a while, it was a joke and sometimes a show for the youngsters as many came to realize it was all just a silly little game. They came, they danced, they left, a seemingly endless cycle that gained little to nothing in the end. This, however, changed.

After a while, the creatures of the Blight began to become more sinister and gained more notice. Once only a few soldiers were needed to take down the roving bands of creatures, but lately almost entire regiments are needed to remove even the smallest of bands. They gained armor, weapons, tactics, and - to speak bluntly - a little bit more intelligence. What was once a comical menagerie of silly creatures making silly faces became true bandits and nightmares. roving about the countryside - not intent upon simply scaring the locals, but instead to slaughter them. This caused the Empire to notice as the death toll rose. As it became clear these beasts had a leader, the Emperor made two decisions: One, send out the Imperial Army to destroy and/or scare off the invaders; and Two, build a giant wall made of what appears to be one giant slab of stone.

An undertaking that took his entire lifetime, the Emperor at the time - Emperor Gavianus II, He Who Built The Wall - let those who built the wall any amount of supplies they needed. After the designs were made and the wall's base completed, the Emperor sent to the budding defensive structure a small army of the greatest sorcerers and wizards of that age. Together, this large group - but small compared to an army - turned the brick-by-brick wall into a seamless structure that - not only made of the densest stone ever found - was reinforced with a maddening list of magical enchantments: Cannot be set ablaze, frozen, electrocuted, teleported away, transformed into something else, dissolved, melted, blown up... The list, as it were, is maddening in its length.

Thus finished, the Shield Wall was - even up to the present day Xanterra - to be the strongest structure ever built. However, the Emperor - now Gavianus III, as his father had passed away due to some strange illness of the bladder - noticed it lacked any good guards. As the enemy could not scale the wall, they could easily fly over it. To combat this airborne threat, he created the first Guardians. Selecting the greatest of his warriors, he stationed them upon the wall and gave them several legions of soldiers to train and enhance. Coupled with the greatest armor, weapons, and learning structures imagined, they were up for the challenge. After years of training, the Guardians were formed, becoming the most powerful fighting force in the world and the most revered. Machines of war were built upon the vast length of the wall, enhanced by the magic of the Wall to become weapons of considerable damage.

Despite this, the hordes of the Blight are seemingly endless. It was just twenty years ago - or slightly before, since the event was ended twenty years ago. Doesn't mean it was started then and there - that the hordes found a way through. The Guardians had been betrayed by one of their own whom, for a while, they thought was simply a traitor. However, his mind had been overpowered by the Blight and forced to betray his comrades. It was at that time that the tales of the Blight Dragon grew, and grew to such a length that the evil mastermind behind the Blight finally emerged from his home in the north.

For decades he had ravaged the people of Xanterra, destroying homes, eating everything, and corrupting that which he couldn't and/or didn't want to. In an act of defiance - THIS was twenty years ago, so pay attention - a small group of adventurers - a knight who will go down through the ages as the greatest swordsman who has ever lived, a sorceress who stole his heart, a elven maiden with deadly aim, and a scoundrel who sought redemption - rose from the ashes of a dying world and sought out the only device capable of destroying their powerful enemy: the Trinity of Vengeance.

An holy trinity of supremely powerful weapons, the Trinity of Vengeance is the pinnacle of anti-evil planning. Each is capable of erupting into evil-smiting fire, glow with evil-turning radiance, and gleam for evil-fearing effect, they brought out a fear into the vast hordes of the enemy that they had no idea they had. The Trinity is thus: A sword that burns when evil is near, a spear capable of destroying any evil, and a bow that can never miss - as long as you aim it at something "evil" in nature.

Seeking lost maps, forgotten caverns, dark dungeons, and terrifying creatures of darkness and ick, they finally found the Trinity after several years of searching. Over this time, the knight and sorceress became incredibly close, with the elf and scoundrel just finding each other as warm bedtime companions but nothing serious. As it was, they faced the great enemy of Xanterra and smote his ruin across the countryside as, around them, the armies of Xanterra battled the hordes of the Blight: Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, and the giant avian creatures that may or may not be linked with Gandalf. As the dragon died, the sorceress was felled by an insidious arrow from afar. Filled with sorrow, the knight could only watch as sweet victory turned into heart-rending sadness as his beloved lay dying in his arms. The horde retreated, taking the unknown slayer of his love and - unbeknownst to the heroes but knownst to us - the soul of their lord and master.

After the numerous awards, medals, and titles lofted upon the shoulders of the heroes, the knight fell into a state of depression filled with alcohol and the loving comfort of his niece in a small village to the south - not the icky comfort, though. The scoundrel ran off to eventually become the King of Thieves, and the elf... well, ran off to do whatever immortal beauties do in their spare time. This tale really isn't about those two, though - they do appear in it, but not as main roles - but about what happens next.

Twenty years had passed. Nothing from the Blight was stirring. The most boring twenty years the ever-vigilant Guardians had ever experienced. However, to those more in tune with the Blight could tell something was gathering. The twisted animals had quieted to near silence, the trees seem to hold their breath, and the air itself seems to be trying to escape whatever it is coming to Xanterra. The leader of the Guardians sent the Emperor his most promising student. A request was made to once again find the fabled Trinity of Vengeance once more. However, there was a problem: The King of Thieves cannot be found, the elf maiden had seemingly faded into Elvish mythology, the sorceress was dead, and the knight had fallen off the grid.

However - again - the military prodigy had some incling as to where this forty-something drunkard could be located. Funded for his trip, the knight errant of the Guardians sought what was once the greatest swordsman who had ever lived - and his personal hero - and the only living person who knew the location of the lost Trinity.

The quest was to begin once more to battle an endless tide of dark enemies, seek out powerful artifacts, and possibly make dry humor about every stereotypical fantasy story out there. However, this will not be the same little group as before: A man riddled with sorrow and alcohol, an untested girl who can shoot nearly anything with deadly accuracy and whom just wants to prove that "anything a man can do, a woman can do too", a young man filled with ideas of honor, valor, glory, and victory, and another immortal woman capable of destroying vast quantities of life... if only she wasn't agoraphobic. However, they are not the only ones in search of the lost artifacts. The enemy has sent their own agent to keep the Trinity from being found. A seductive woman - a corrupted elf from centuries ago who may or may not be tied to the lost elven maiden - who gets pleasure from pain, filled with delusions of the ultimate victory and probably the most sexually active person in the entire story. Along for the ride as guest stars, there is the King of Thieves, the Emperor, various lovely - and ugly - tavern wenches, vague elves, haughty dwarves, quizzical gnomes, and various one-lining baddies who range from the generic bandits and highwaymen to ugly goblins, twisted Blightlings, and the long list of powerful enemies the Blight has to offer.

A tale of intrigue, adventure, romance, and comical humor that one has to be in the mood for and knows various dry humor acts such as "Monty Python" and general old-school British humor.