Grasping at Smoke [Epic Fantasy][Book 1 of 3]

The outcome of many epic wars often hinges on the efforts of unexpected heroes whose details are lost to time and never appear in historical accounts. This is one of those tales.

We travel to a monastery called the Luminarium nestled high in the Glimmerstones and home to a group of warrior monks. Together with other orders throughout the mountain range, they monitor the mountain passes as a form of early warning system for the kingdoms to the south and east against threats that may arise from the wildlands to the west.

When hook-headed demons attack without warning, slaughtering the brothers and sisters of the Luminarium, early clues suggest the use of magic well beyond the capabilities of Venn's contemporary masters. The two surviving monks join forces with some old friends and new allies to determine the perpetrator and their end game. What they discover is a potentially apocalyptic future.

What to Expect:

Multiple Main Characters: A group of imperfect non-human adventurers with various skills and backgrounds join forces for a common desirable outcome.

Collaborative Problem Solving: The struggle to become greater than the sum of their original parts and find a way to succeed as significant underdogs.

Exploration and Discovery: A world with history, magic, and cryptids waiting to be discovered understood, harnessed, and overcome.

Natural Progression (without the stats): MCs develop personally and professionally within the story's context, honing themselves and their craft as they go.

Dungeons and Dragons flavor: A homebrew world that broadly follows the ideas and constructs of the game.

More adventure than politics: Worldbuilding is minor and situationally relevant. There will be no info dumps of national history or political rivalry - except where necessary to the plot. For me, the characters and the adventure are the story.