Episode 1 of Season 1 of the Once and Future campaign.

Recently, the Earl of Winterburg has called for taxes on Chedon, with a levy of men instead of they are not paid. The Abbot had no luck convincing the Bishop of Winterburg to enforce the Church's sovereignty, so he has been corresponding with the Archbishop of Menendras, so far with no luck. Meanwhile, the taxes are due, and the Earl has increasingly pressured the town to produce.

The folk of the village pooled their resources, sparing absolutely everything they could for the upcoming winter, and provided a sum of grain and fruits of the earth to equal the Earl's demand. However, not a week later, the Earl sent men to collect more taxes; this time claiming that the village was in possession of a mine valued at many pounds of silver per year, and a portion of that output was due...even if the villagers were not actively mining it.

Outraged, but with few options to resist, the villagers debated the issue. The mines were dug by dwarves many centuries ago, and abandoned when their yield dried up. Later, they were re-opened as Esperite mines, until the Mist Cataclysm happened, and Espers poured forth from the mines; the heroic actions of Dolph Baron and others, aided by the Sword of St. Elys, prevented the town's ruin, and they were able to close off the mines, to seal in the monsters for good.

Now, they faced the prospect of re-opening the mines, and potentially unleashing horrors upon the village. Explaining this to the Earl was of little use; he dismissed their tales of history as fairy stories. Finally, Roan of the Brotherhood of St. Kord offered to examine the scene; he and his brothers would be able to detect the espers, and, if need be, combat them, as it was his order that laid the seal in the first place.

They did so, and found that the mines seemed to be clear of espers, but only explored to a point; some of the older shafts had been closed by the dwarves, and never explored by men. Though they did not know how to unseal them, they could not guarantee that espers would not be able to pass through. And so they sanctioned a return to the mines...with extreme caution, including a constant day-and-night rotation of brothers and knights to protect the miners, and to re-collapse the mines in the worst case.

And so the village has once again taken up mining. Those who can spare the effort journey to the mines by day, to gather what few scraps of silver remain, and return to the village before nightfall, as miles separate the two, and monsters roam the wilds at night. And so, as the harvest approaches, and the impending final tax deadline afterward, they have nearly gathered enough silver to pay the overbearing Earl.

That is, until something goes terribly wrong in the mines.

On one otherwise innocuous day, the time comes for the miners to return...and they do not. The Abbot is informed, and he quickly orders the Knights of St Arja and the Brothers of St Kord to investigate. They do so--and just as the town is at its weakest, who should arrive but the Sheriff, the Earl's man, ready to take advantage of the situation.

Even if they should triumph over this brute, what awaits them at the mines?