The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot

In the land of Asaches, there are great men and women who have changed the course of history. Their adventures are honored in song; their names are spoken with a reverence normally reserved for the gods; their heroic deeds have elevated them to the status of living legends. And then there are these guys.... Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot are two hard-luck adventurers for hire looking for their big break - or an excuse to retire before they get killed. Salvation appears in the form of Erika Racewind, a mysterious elven woman with a dark secret and a lucrative job offer.

After barely surviving Habbatarr the lich-lord and the Dead City of Hesre, Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot and their companions are ready for some well-deserved rest. All they want now is good food, cold beer, a warm bed, and maybe a few days without someone trying to kill them. And then they encounter a damsel in distress and, well, so much for that idea. The damsel in question is the Lady Alyssa Spendle, a spoiled noble promised to Lord Paradim as part of a brokered political marriage, and the distress comes in the form of a determined group of kidnappers....

Adventurers wanted! Good pay for simple recovery job, payment to be rendered upon successful completion of contract. Interested parties please report to the Woeste City Council. Be ready to provide credentials upon request. No Hruks need apply. Desperate for a little excitement and a big payday, Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot and their companions respond to a call to adventure from the city-state of Woeste, recently victimized by a band of raiders who stole an ancient iron mask of historical significance but no intrinsic value - or so the city council claims.

When Derek Strongarm, Felix Lightfoot, and their friends are hired to transport a powerful and potentially dangerous magical artifact, they can’t help but foresee disaster ahead. They have a rather bad track record, after all. Why should this job prove easier than any other? It doesn’t. Their pessimism is rewarded in spades when they become trapped for the winter in Além, a fortified city under siege by howlers - savage beasts living in the surrounding forest and hungry for human flesh.