[Astromancer]

The Walls of Mist

Long ago the Mists came. They were never like natural mists. They're always bitter cold and raining within. The sun's light is weak within the Mists and does not banish ghosts or the undead. No one can follow a path or find their way in the Mist once they are out of sight of the border.

It's lucky that only limited areas were enshrouded by the Mist. There are lands only twenty miles from each other that might as well be on the far side of Cathay as far as traveling from one to the other.

Your job is a simple but dangerous one. As the entrance to the mine which is the lifeblood of our town is fifty yards within the Mist, you must guard the miners going to and from the mine and guard the shipments of ore as well. The Baron, who was fifty years dead before the Mist came, still demands control of the mine and the town. The Baron was a tyrant in life and death has not improved his character.

Basically, it's a classic mythic trope. The life's blood of a community is threatened by the unquiet dead. The PCs guard the path to the mines which is rich in copper, silver, and iron. The mines are vital to the survival not only of the town but of the kingdom.

The Baron is greed incarnate. He's a vampire who seeks to enslave the living and the dead. The very type of King Holdfast who will not allow anyone else any say in their own life. He has many slaves living and dead, within the Mist and without.