The Gate to Carpathia
Chapter 1: A Hero's First Steps
"You have completed your last and final test", the Prince told Tariel. "Now, you will be officially known as one of the elite Paladins of Altaria!"
Tariel was skeptical. "Are you saying that's it? I mean, I paid 3,000 gold pieces for this training course, and all I got was the three tutorial quests. I 'm still 1st level, and I still don't have much of a clue where to go next. I mean, there was nothing about where to go to get quests or equipment or anything!"
The Prince gave Tariel a large stack of books. "Everything you will ever need to know about adventuring is right in these," he said. "How to get quests, combat tips, advice on romantic relationships, you name it. Read them carefully."
"What!?" Tariel replied. "You just give me the books and tell me to read them? You're supposed to be training me, Prince Arthanis! If I wanted the books, I would have just bought them for a lot cheaper."
""Read the books and heed them," the Prince intoned. "Who knows, maybe you'll find the Gate to Carpathia,"
"Carpathia? Where's that?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you about the legend of Carpathia? Here goes. The story started over 400 years ago. Somehow, a magical teleportation portal opened up right outside our capital city. Several strange people came through the portal, and spread numerous stories about their land, which they called Carpathia, and all the great things that were in there. Everyone wanted to see what wonders were in this new land. So hundreds of adventurers went thorough, but none of them ever returned. Now, of course, since no one returned, it was assumed that something evil lurked beyond the portal, and the "ambassadors" that came through were really just imposters looking to lure adventurers to an early grave. The imposters, of course, were quickly lynched, drawn, quartered, beheaded, and subject to other forms of torture that are really kind of disgusting, so I won't talk about them. Anyway, with all the adventurers going through there, it was only a matter of time before Altaria became completely depopulated of adventurers. So a dozen of the most powerful wizards in the kingdom got together, and cast a spell that would close off the portal forever.
"So what's the big deal about it now?"
"Apparently, the wizards made a mistake when casting the spell. It seems that the results of the spell were that the portal was not destroyed, simply our end of it was moved to another location, somewhere in Altaria."
"And nobody's found it after 400 years of looking?"
"Well, it hasn't been until about the past decade that adventurers have actually been looking. If you haven't heard, there have been no major wars or conflicts for the past decade, so plenty of adventurers are busy looking for evil to fight. And an ancient place of great evil is just what they're looking for."
"I will find that Gate to Carpathia. And I will solve the mystery. I will find out what truly lies behind that portal."
"Good, you have started the first stage of your quest. I will give you advice on where to begin. Start by traveling to the Temple of Sherma, located just two kilometers south of the city gates. Sherma is the Goddess of Travel, so there might be some ancient scrolls in his temples that ell you where the portal is."
Tariel began to walk out of the palace, starting out on his quest to find the Gate to Carpathia. "Well, I guess maybe all the money I paid for the Prince's training course might have actually been worth it", he muttered to himself.
And thus our hero's quest begins
As a 1st level Paladin…
Will he succeed where others failed?
Or will he lose and have to bail?