Dungeon Deep

Acacia Bookender, a former Royal Arcanist to the Crown of Normangord now disgraced and stripped of her duty, creates floating eyes to capture her actions and view the images later. Her ongoing adventures are seen through these magical devices (a la “found footage”).  She discovers that her missing father, a commander in a sect of royal knights called Paladins, was with a platoon who themselves were recently reported missing near the border of a once enemy, now allied kingdom, Qadira. Acacia takes her new inventions and vows to find her father. Acacia attempts reinstatement as an agent of the Crown but is rejected. She looks for the unit investigating the lost platoon and finds Edin, a young volunteer who wants to use the mission to enroll in the Mage's Academy. She lies, giving him a false name, and promises to make him her apprentice if he gets her a meeting with his commanding officer, Captain Riggerton. Between her skill as a caster/sword fighter and her capturing devices, she gets a spot on the unit. She meets the team, including Merlin, the sergeant. Before they march, the unit is presented with an extremely deadly undead Grave Wight, who was captured near the border as a warning of what they might be up against. On the trail, the team encounters a squad of Paladins with the Paladin High Guardsman. The High Guardsman reveals Acacia's true identity. Enraged, the Captain has no choice but to keep the ignominious Acacia since they are so far into their mission. At the village where the platoon was last heard from, Acacia and the soldiers are attacked by villagers, now undead ghouls. Acacia and Edin are separated from the unit and encounter a Qadirin outlaw, now a ghoul. Believing the Qadirin ghoul to be the reason the village was turned, and believing Riggerton and the team dead, Acacia follows the Qadirin ghoul's tracks to an ancient dungeon. With Edin admonishing her for lying yet agreeing to follow her, they delve in. In the dark, creepy catacombs, they find evidence of a Qadirin hideout and remnants of a large amount of ghoul plague that has been removed, no doubt for nefarious reasons. They stumble upon an entire hideout's worth of Qadirin ghouls and are about to be devoured when Riggerton and the surviving team rescue them. As one of the soldiers is bitten, and reanimates, Acacia finds Zoona, a Qadirin wizard, who Acacia seemingly knows. The wizard leads them down to the next level where Riggerton is killed by a Grave Wight, dressed in the armor of the missing platoon. They are chased to the lab where the ghoul infection is being produced. Merlin is about to take command, but Edin, with the backing of the rest of the unit, chooses to give Acacia command because of her bravery, valor, and former status as a commanding officer. They discover evidence that the now-missing ghoul plague is to be released in two days at a festival. They also find silver weapons, so Acacia splits the unit to kill the Grave Wight. The remaining soldiers are killed at the hands of another, hulking Grave Wight called the "Juggernaut", and an ooze, which is released after one of the soldiers trips a trap.  Zoona, who is revealed to have been an old professor of Acacia's, saves Edin from the ooze. Acacia and Merlin then find evidence that it is Paladins who are responsible for this plot. Acacia doesn't believe this but is ultimately convinced by Zoona that Paladins kidnapped her to create the infection, hoping to use it against Normangord and frame Qadira into a new holy war. As Acacia, Merlin, and Edin are about to escape, It is discovered that the infection was created with the blood of a River Hag when the hag escapes. The hag unmasks Acacia's father as the head of the traitorous Paladins right before the hag kills Edin. Grief-stricken and unwilling to believe her father is responsible, Acacia incapacitates Merlin and must avoid the hag and Juggernaut as she delves into the deepest part of the dungeon. She discovers where the Grave Wights are kept and created. She finds the head Paladin's chambers and is confronted by the High Guardsman who confirms her father's involvement. Acacia is attacked by the Juggernaut, and rescued by Merlin who kills the monster. They vow to bring the Paladins to justice and escape the dungeon, chased by the River Hag. Merlin almost sacrifices himself to kill the hag, and Acacia is confronted by her father. She denounces and duels him, then kills him and his Paladins with magic. Acacia and Merlin then vow to intercept the remaining Paladins with the plague before it's released.