Broken Lyre of Aerthos

The rain stings your face, a relentless deluge mirroring the tempest raging within. You are Elara, last of the Songweavers, and your melodies are broken, silenced by the encroaching Gloom. Once, the vibrant lands of Aerthos resonated with your music, a symphony of life conducted by your ancestors. Now, only whispers remain, echoes of a world devoured by shadow and despair. The Gloom isn't an army with swords and shields; it's a creeping corruption, a psychic miasma that feeds on joy and hope. It twists landscapes, blights crops, and most terrifyingly, it warps the minds of men and beasts alike, turning them into hollow shells driven by primal fear and rage. Villages that once offered sanctuary are now haunted ruins, filled with the tormented echoes of those consumed. You awaken in the ruins of your ancestral home, the Great Lyre of Aerthos shattered beside you. The strings, once shimmering with celestial light, are dull and lifeless. Your memories are fragmented, a kaleidoscope of sorrow and loss. You remember the final, desperate song, the attempt to banish the Gloom…and its utter failure. But hope, however faint, flickers still. Legend speaks of ancient Harmonies, forgotten melodies of immense power capable of pushing back the darkness. Scattered across the ravaged land, hidden within forgotten shrines and guarded by creatures both mundane and monstrous, they are your only chance. Your journey begins here, in the rain-soaked ruins. You possess a fragmented understanding of Songweaving, enough to mend the basic chords of the Lyre and imbue it with rudimentary protective enchantments. You are weak, vulnerable, and pursued by horrors born of despair. But within you lies the potential to rekindle the lost Harmony of Aerthos. Will you succumb to the Gloom, becoming another silent victim of its insatiable hunger? Or will you rise, mend the broken Lyre, and weave a song of defiance against the encroaching darkness? The fate of Aerthos rests on your weary shoulders. Now, pick up the broken shards, Elara. The world awaits your music.