Five years have passed since the cataclysmic Storm of Chaos shattered the Empire of Man. Though the armies of the Ruinous Powers were repelled at the walls of Middenheim, the scars of that apocalyptic war still fester. The Emperor, Karl Franz, may claim victory, but it is a hollow one. The Empire remains battered and fractured, its people divided and its borders insecure. In the isolated corners of the provinces—among the shadowed forests, crumbling ruins, and forgotten hamlets—the taint of Chaos lingers, seeping into the land like a disease.

One such place lies at the easternmost edge of Ostermark: a mist-choked valley of no great renown, marked only by the ruins of Castle Nebelschloss. Once the proud seat of the Nebelheim family, the castle served as a bulwark against Orcs, Beastmen, and other horrors that stalked the mountain pass it guarded. During the Storm of Chaos, a vast warband of Kurgan marauders laid siege to the castle. Imperial commanders never learned its fate, and no word of the Nebelheims has been heard since.

Now, Castle Nebelschloss stands in eerie silence, shrouded in a perpetually thick mist that locals swear has only grown heavier since the war. At the foot of the valley, the village of Nebeldorf has slowly begun to rebuild, its population bolstered by settlers relocated by Imperial authorities. But whispers of unease persist—strange shapes glimpsed in the fog, livestock vanishing without a trace, and ominous sounds in the dead of night. The castle looms above the valley like a gravestone, its dark silhouette a constant reminder of the horrors that once consumed this land.

It is here, in the Crimson Rottweiler, Nebeldorf’s hardy old tavern, that you find yourselves. The inn still bears the scars of war: shattered spears and splintered arrows embedded in its beams, a grim testament to past struggles. You are mercenaries, adventurers, and scavengers, each drawn to Nebeldorf by the same rumor: a mysterious noble with deep pockets is offering handsome rewards for anyone brave—or foolish—enough to venture into Castle Nebelschloss. His task seems simple on paper: recover whatever valuable artifacts, books, and artworks you can find. Yet the mist-shrouded valley, with its lingering atmosphere of dread, seems to promise that nothing will be as simple as it appears.

What could go wrong?