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Alys Galsen is a bounty hunter, but mostly that's just to pay the bills. She likes to travel, going wherever the wind takes her and seeking out adventures. While passing through RavensDale, she was dragged into the Dreamworld Saga storyline when one of the Lord of Nightmares' generals hired her to kidnap Calan. That being done successfully, her employer offered her a place in the nightmare armies, but she'd had enough of that. She's not really a villain; she just looks out for her own interests. Anyway, she later took on another kidnapping job, and she was asked to bring her employers a local merchant. When she had captured him, on their way to her employers, the man asked her to go to the inn and find an item he had hidden there and keep it for him. She didn't really understand why he was asking his kidnapper to help him out, but she decided to do as he asked. After delivering the man to her employers and collecting her pay, she went and found the item, which turned out to be a map.
What Alys didn't know was that the map was what her employers were after. They had expected the merchant either to have it on him or to tell them where it was. He did tell them, but by the time they got to the inn, Alys had already taken it and left. Now her former employers are after her, suspecting she might have it. One in particular, Siarra Stormbreaker, has been hunting Alys down. Siarra is a high-ranking member of the Stormseekers, a guild which is something like a thieves' guild, but higher class; they're more like the mafia than petty thieves. The Stormseekers only go after targets that are very profitable or a great challenge. They're not just seeking money; they want glory and adventure as well, so in that sense, they're not all that different from Alys. Many of the leaders of the Stormseekers are actually respected and rich merchants who keep their shady dealings very secret. The guild is after the treasure to which the map leads.
Meanwhile, Alys and her friend Ryan Xander investigated the map and found out that it leads to where the legendary Crystal Sword is hidden. Most people in RavensDale should have heard of the Crystal Sword. (They haven't really, but we'll pretend. =P ) To people of this city, the sword would be as famous as Excalibur is to us, for example. No one really knows what the Crystal Sword does. Many of the legends are forgotten, though some bards could still tell a few tales of how it became famous. Legend has it that the quest for the sword would be an epic adventure, quite a crusade, but at the same time it would also be very dangerous. It is said that only certain people can touch the sword; whether anyone can actually wield it, no one knows.
The reaction of most on hearing mention of the Crystal Sword is to think it just a tale, a myth. But if one believes the stories, it presents an adventure, a chance for fame and great fortune. Some think of glory or power. In the end, it may just be a ridiculous tale, but if it isn't...the search for the sword could be one of the greatest quests in history. Now it seems that Alys and Xander are going to set out on this quest. Xander was going to arrange passage for them on a ship heading to Vryxia, where the map starts..but he unexpectedly disappeared several months ago, and Alys hasn't heard anything of his whereabouts. Meanwhile, she is taking on small jobs in RavensDale, dodging the Guard and the Stormseekers and trying to scrape together enough money to skip town...and also trying to find out what the heck happened to Xander.
