Can you verify any of this? This is a portion of a letter found on the body of a messenger outside of Perion. We don't know to whom it was addressed to in Perion and the story it tells is too fantastic to be believed. I have people out now searching for the rest of this document, but what it says here is terrifying if true.

Dances With Balrogs

My friend,

Forgive me that I cannot sign my name. I fear that by the time you read this, the worst will have happened and I will be gone, but even so, my identity might compromise our activities.

I do not ask you to mourn for me. I will have died fighting for the right. I fight for my family, my town, and my world and I do not believe there is a better ending a person can ask for. I ask that you do not come here yourself. The Black Wings are too strong. This town has become their citadel and they would easily take care of a lone threat. Instead I ask you to publicize my story. Let Maple World know what has happened here. Let everyone know the true source of the Big Bang. Let them know what has happened and who caused it. Perhaps if the Explorers and the Cygnus Knights are alerted, the worst may be avoided. That is my only hope.

My home is Edelstein. It's a quiet mining village that depends on a mineral called "Rue" for its economic livelihood. We are a peaceful people, content to work our mines and develop our technology. My people have a knack for with machines and we've developed a number of clever robot companions who help us in our work. Indeed, if there's one word to describe Edelstein, it would be "ingenuity." We take great pride in working together and supporting each other in the community.

Save in one area, Edelstein has never had much impact on the world. We like it that way. We haven't seen an Explorer or a Cygnus Knight here in hundreds of years. We have little access to the great schools of magic, so our wizards have never specialized in attack or healing like the other magicians of Maple World. Instead our "Battle Mages" utilize magical auras to bolster the skills of other members of the community. A group of Battle Mage supported fighters has always been sufficient to drive off the few brigand bands in the area and their healing skills, while not as great as your clerics, are usually sufficient for the injuries common to a mining community.

In the same way, those like me who have a restless nature can take up the arms of the Wild Hunters. These foresters have developed a kinship with the ferocious jaguars that roam the hills around Edelstein. As a matched pair, they supply security to our town. When called on, Wild Hunters can be as brave and as powerful as any of your Warriors.

I've always believed that our low profile has less to do with any inherent peacefulness in our nature, than the shame of our great crime against Maple World.

Edelstein, you see, is where the Black Mage was born.