1

Night had fallen over the kingdom of Armello.

In the great white castle in the center of the kingdom, the king was still awake, brooding and muttering. The lion had not been sleeping lately.

In rat clan’s shantytowns, couples were dressing up in their finery, hoping to sneak their way into the parties held in the mansions of the upper crust.

In the grand warren of the rabbit clan, the rabbits slept beneath their caverns of earth, stone, and gold.

In the northern mountains, wolf clan cubs pestered their packmates to spar with them on the snowy ground.

In the forests, bear clan sages slept in their caves and dugouts, trusting the Wyld to keep them safe while they dozed.

But scattered between these grand places of the kingdom are towns, villages, and hamlets, all homes for the creatures making their way through life in Armello.

In the town of Stag’s Landing, pine marten cheesesmiths had finished flipping their last cheese wheels for the night and were starting home. In the hamlet of Greenguard, the badger leatherworker and his apprentice had finished setting up their work benches for the next day’s orders.

And in the the settlement of Southbank, almost everyone had locked themselves in their homes.