The world of Edda is one overrun with magic, wonder, and adventure. From its powerful leylines to its unique magically enhanced materials, there is something powerful to be found everywhere. But that power comes at an inverse cost, and danger just as powerful lurks at every corner.

Danger especially arises from worlds outside of Edda, the alternate Planes within the cosmos of the world. While many of them have structure, and a few even have grand civilizations of their own, chaos and malice still find their way into the hearts of those outside the planes, so threats spill in constantly.

Typically, such jobs will be for adventurers or Mercenary Guilds near the point of entry, but there's one group in particular that acts as a stopgap for Extra-Planar Threats and is dedicated to stopping the threats before they can harm any innocents.

This organization is known as The Sunsetters. Situated out of the country of Boncly, in the central-western side of Edda's grand landmass, The Sunsetters work independently from other governments and groups to protect the innocent people of the Material Realm, ensuring secrecy in all regards, much like the country's isolationist nature.

But, they are not hesitant to bring in agents from outside their borders, especially those who are exceptionally talented at hunting down and dispatching threats once they arise. 

Take, for example, the group of five fledgling members into the organization, taken from all different countries and backgrounds, who were assigned a mission to assess their field readiness, and ended up changing the fate of hundreds of lives.

It was a normal winter day in Wyatt, one of the eastern cities of Boncly. The nation was split almost in half by a vast mountain range known as The Folded Mountains, which kept the western half green and prosperous from the rain, while the eastern was much more arid and dry as a result, although there was much to find and grow in the east as well.

On this winter day, five individuals had gathered. An older woman, a blue-cloaked woman, a black-dressed woman, an orange-haired woman, and a tall blonde woman.

The snow had not yet begun to fall along the desert plains, but the chill was in the air, causing the five women to shiver a bit, as they waited outside the mayoral office for Wyatt. They would not have to wait long, however, as Mayor Gordon Booth quickly welcomed them in.

He was a short and round man, with golden blonde hair only barely fading to grey at his age, and a handlebar mustache the same color. If one wasn't seeing him in person, they'd think he was a mascot of some sort, and he certainly maintained the peppy and optimistic personality of one.

"Thank you all oh so very kindly for comin' in at such short notice! Please, step right in, get yourselves nice and warm, it ain't much but I do have some cocoa ready for ya!" He announced, leading them all in and advising them to sit down.

As all five of them came in, and the door shut behind them, Mayor Booth sat behind his desk and pushed up the small pair of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

"First of all, I want to formally welcome all of you to Boncly, and our lovely little city of Wyatt! We're one of the only ones that allow casual tourism in the country, so we're quite the lovely city if I do say so myself!" He bragged, with a small smile.

"Secondly, I'd like to introduce myself properly. I am Mayor Gordon Booth, as you're all aware, but I'm also the head of the Sunsetters Public Liason group!"

"The Sunsetters?" Asked the blue-cloaked woman. She was a Dark Elf, with dark purple skin, white freckles, and almost white, yet vaguely lavender hair, with mismatched green and blue eyes, which were currently staring with a confused expression at Mayor Booth.

"That's right Miss Atarah! The Sunsetters. I suppose this is the first time the five of y'all would've been hearing the name, but the organizations you've been working with, following your recruitment, are branches of the overarching group!" He explained.

"For example, you've been working as a Tracker and Investigator with a group known as the Dustcrawlers. They do a lot of the undercover recon work, and occasionally covert combat operations as well." He continued, reading off of a page of paper. "Before we get too far, why don't you all introduce yourselves to one another, you will be working together after all!" He postured.

"Sounds good to me!" A peppy voice popped up.

Downing a cup of cocoa, the tall blonde woman stood up suddenly, surprising Atarah and the older woman. Her mid-tanned skin contrasted sharply against her soft blonde hair, which was purely white at the bangs, along with her heterochromatic white and blue eyes. 

"My name is Flora Madressilva! I'm a resident of Dallas across the mountains, I've been working with the Windrunners, I consider myself a great Wizard, and my star sign is The Catbeast!" She announced with a spin and a wink.

There was a bit of silence in the air after that, although the older woman chuckled. "Well, that's one energetic beginning! Can't let that fall flat can we?" She said. She didn't stand up, but she sat up straighter in her chair.

The older woman had long black hair, braided into long sections, but like Flora, the braids that came from her bangs were stark white, and there were streaks of white and grey throughout the rest. Her skin was a very dark brown, only a few shades of saturation away from her hair, and her eyes of gold popped out in contrast. She definitely looked as old as she sounded, about mid 70's at the very least.

"The name's Alena Löwenherz, but you can just call me Alena! I'm not as interesting as Flora here, but I'm a Cleric, a Forge Cleric specifically, under the Mother Dragon Heliotrope. I'll make sure to keep you youngsters up and kickin'!" She said with an arm pump and a hearty laugh.

"Oh, and I've been working with the Lightmakers in Agartha, which is now a Sunsetters thing I suppose!" She continued with a shrug, before looking towards the orange-haired woman to her left

"I should mention my companion here. This is Valp, she's a quiet sort but a good kid, and has kept my old rear safe plenty of times over the past couple of months." She pointed to another person.

She had firey, messy orange hair, mostly tied back into a ponytail, but with a lot still going every-which-way. She had olive eyes and pale skin with plenty of scars, along with a striking yellow sleeveless long-coat, that seemed to have some fur lining.

"Nice working with you all," Valp said quietly, with a slight nod.

"I suppose that means I should go now." Said the black-dressed woman, who was already standing in the back. Wearing a fully black skirt and shirt, with purple and silver accented sleeves and stockings, fingerless gloves, pitch-black hair, and violet eyes decorating a strangely pale face, the figure exuded confidence and contempt in equal measures.

"Kage Kamimori, if you must know. I'm a spellcaster with mastery of shadows and a damn good one. I've been working with the Waterwalkers for a bit now, as it was convenient in the long run, and they paid well." She said, casually checking her equally black nails. 

"Which just leaves me," Atarah said, standing up to reveal her dark blue cloak in entirety, which covered her entire form except for her boots, a singular red armband used mostly by arhcers, and only a faint glimmer of a pale green sword could be seen. "The name's Atarah. I'm a tracker and a pretty solid fighter, and like Booth mentioned I work with the Dustcrawlers." She said, before sitting down once more.

"Wonderful! With that out of the way, I move on to my third point!" Booth said, taking over for the conversation once more.

"The reason the five of you have been gathered from your disparate countries and workplaces is to induct you all into the Sunsetters proper. Normally there'd be some planned trial or test, but we have something more serious for you to handle instead."

He then pressed a button on his desk, and an arcane crystal projected a light screen with a map of the Wyatt territory, with one dot blinking black and white.

"One of the most well-known families here in Wyatt, the Bunker Family, has suddenly gone missing. We aren't sure what happened, but we know that they've been gone for almost a month now, and strange sounds can be heard from their homestead at night. But, the Sunsetters, which like your separate groups is focused on Planar Defense, found that every night there's strange extra-planar energy that comes through that we just don't know much about." Booth explained.

"Your first priority will be to see what happened to the family. The second will be to find the source of the strange energy. The third will be to stop any threats that have come through. That's why we have gathered all five of you in the way we did. From what I've heard of your supervisors, you've all been gifted and skilled agents, but we just don't know what to expect." He finished.

Atarah sat forward in her seat, inspecting the map. "Is there anything you've already found out, or are we going in blind?"

"Our local guards' initial look at the house showed nothing. They seemed to be entirely gone, and the lower floor seemed strangely barren as well. It's like they vanished into thin air." Booth said.

"How much land did they have?" Valp asked, still relaxed in her chair. "Is it just their family home, or are there more locations they could be hiding, or stored?"

"The energy was located at their family homestead. It's a decently large farm, but there's just the house and a small barn there, no other land." Booth clarified.

"For clarification, is the energy a portal of some sort, or a presence?" Flora asked, already furiously writing down in a journal.

"It's hard to tell from just an initial viewing, but hopefully it's released by a presence, a portal would be much more serious work! I should stress this, if you find yourselves in a dangerous situation, you are to use these badges to call for assistance and extraction ASAP. Protecting needs to be done, but you can't do anything if you're dead." Booth said, pushing forward five brass and silver, circular badges, each with the insignia of a sun setting past a horizon.

"Are we getting paid for this? Like, I know it's an induction thing, but if we do anything more than look around the place will there be compensation?" Kage asked.

This caused Booth to give a cheerful chuckle, which sounded exactly like a scripted mascot in a radio show. "Not to worry Miss Kamimori, you'll be rewarded either way!"

"If they've been gone for a month, what are you hoping will be there? It's not like they could live 30 whole days without coming to town for food, farm or not." Alena questioned.

"You're right in that aspect, we aren't being very optimistic. However, we can't let a disappearance be unsolved, and the cause of this energy must be found. We are hoping for clues at the very least."

There were a few moments of silence as the five minds put together the initial information.

"When do we leave?" Atarah asked, standing up and stretching. "We shouldn't waste any time."

"I've already paged one of our local Automated Cart companies to lend one out for you all, covered by the Sunsetters obviously. Here is a map for you all to get there, and if any of you have Cell Stones, the information will be sent to them as well!" Booth explained.

"Good luck you five, and remember to stay safe above all else."

The five of them were quick to head out, although Flora took the time to fill a small canteen with more cocoa on the way out.

"While we're here, we should get an understanding of combat roles," Atarah suggested as they walked through town, as her blue hood was up.

"You're expecting a fight?" Alena responded.

"It's not impossible, and if it happens I'd rather have an understanding of where I should be in it all. I prefer to be a close-range fighter, but I excel more in skirmishing tactics than brunt force attacks." She explained.

"You can count on me for those," Valp said, brandishing a two-handed hammer, half of the head and pommel being covered in tree roots of some kind. "I take hits, and I hit back harder." She continued, keeping her eyes forward.

"Lucky me!" Flora said with a wink. "I'm awful at taking hits, but I'll do my best to muck up our opponent's plans and defenses with my magic~!" She explained.

"I'm glad I'm not the only arcane caster around here," Kage said. "If you lower their defenses, I'll blast through them like a sword through paper the same way." She said confidently, tightening one of her leather gloves.

"Alena, you mentioned earlier you're a healer, right?" Atarah asked.

"Yep! And a damn good one if you ask me. I kept an entire battalion up and kicking for hours during the wars, so you can rely on me easily!" Alena confidently replied with a hearty chuckle afterward.

Even though she wasn't dwarven, she clearly had the dwarven spirit in her, especially if she was able to go through a worldwide war and still smile and laugh the way she was.

As they walked, Atarah kept towards the back of the group, and occasionally stole glances to the side to inspect the area thoroughly.

"You're quite the pragmatist, ain'tcha?" Flora asked, suddenly appearing at her side. Atarah quickly put space between them, and although Flora couldn't see it under the cloak, the shortsword at her waist was drawn.

"Wow! You've got a leap to ya too! I'm not trying to criticize or anything, it's actually nice to have someone smart on the team. Well, someone other than me that is, teehee~!" She said in defense.

"You don't think the others are smart?" Atarah asked as the other three were far enough ahead to not hear them.

"Hmm, who's to say. But, Kage seems overly confident, Alena is a born-and-bred soldier type, and Valp seems combat decent but loose in the perspective department." She began, adopting a different tone and posture with her words.

"But you, you've seemed different. Something about you is more analytical, judgemental, prepared. It's something I can respect, honestly!" She said with a sharp toothed-smile.

"However, don't think I didn't notice the fact that, when I jumped up to give my introduction earlier, your eyes drifted towards my neck rather than my face." Flora said, with a sudden frown.

This shocked Atarah, who didn't notice she had done that reflexively then, but she got the sense that trying to cover it wouldn't be wise. "My apologies. If you know anything about Paris' Crescent Moon Ward, I think you'll understand my reasons." Atarah said.

"Oh, I wasn't trying to threaten you one teensy bit! I just want you to know, like all sleights of hand, the jig is up once you know their tricks! That goes for killing instinct as well! So as long as we get along, then there'll be no problems~!" She said with one of her textbook winks.

"Although if you want to look out for someone," Flora said while turning to walk towards the rest of the group. "Kage focused her eyes on my heart, and even had an oh-so-subtle finger pointed."

As Flora walked away, Atarah couldn't help but wonder what she meant to imply. Did she not trust Kage? Did she think that Kage was as much a killer as Atarah could be, if not more? Was Kage a threat?

As Atarah quickened her pace to the rest of the group, who had mostly kept the same pace, she opened a small device on her belt, a C.E.L.L Stone. A small white stone box, with a magic silver inlay that contained an arcane crystal that did a multitude of things, but the primary one Atarah was using was their ability to send text-based messages to another user that has been registered in the crystals memory.

In this case, it was a contact labeled as Marianne

'I need some info.'

'What on?'

'People, four of them, all weird bunches.'

'O.K. Added to your tab, give me names.'

As she typed the last letter, she sent it forward, and returned the Cell Stone to its inactive state on her belt, and rushed to meet the rest.

"Took you long enough! We only have a few hours until sunset I'll have you know!" Kage complained.

"Since strange noises have been coming at night, wouldn't it be better for our investigation to go then?" Atarah responded, rejecting the emotions from earlier for the time being.

"It's still better to be there when it happens. Don't you know anything about preparation?"

"Alright, you two!" Alena jumped in. "We're all here now, and ready to go, so let's get a mosey on before we gab the light away." She said with her typical energy, patting both on the back in a slightly judgemental fashion.

With a mutual huff, the two of them did just that and piled into the Automated Wagon, which had the appearance of a covered wagon, albeit without horses. Instead, the power came from an Arcane Engine, and the vehicle was controlled by a standard pedal and wheel system at the front.

Alena took the wheel, as she was decent at steering a cart, even if it was a newer machine. Atarah situated herself in the back of the wagon, so she could peer to the outside world. The other three sat comfortably in the wagon proper, although Flora gave herself room to watch the road next to Alena.

As they piled in with their necessary gear they took off swiftly from the town, traveling towards the Bunker homestead as the sun set behind them.