The Three Companions #1 (Sword & Backpack, 1, Band 1) - Hardcover

Soria, Gabe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593522745 ISBN 13: 9780593522745

Verlag: Penguin Workshop, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

Embark on an epic journey with three unlikely companions in this rousing tale of friendship and adventure in book one of a fast-paced, action-packed middle grade fantasy trilogy.

Calling all young sorcerers, rogues, and warriors—grab your swords, grab your backpacks, the grand age of adventuring is…over. It's over.

In the once-blazing city of Lanternport, the College of the Three Companions was an esteemed institution, but now, for nearly a century, it's stood abandoned. Elsewhere in the city, young sorcerer Ehmett is fascinated by the College and is determined to discover what knowledge has been lost behind its walls. By chance, or more likely by fate, Ehmett's solo mission to infiltrate the school soon becomes a team endeavor when he is joined by Barten, a sneaky rogue with a knack for lockpicking, and Kellis, a skilled warrior determined to carry on her family legacy of sword-wielding.

After unknowingly binding themselves together, Ehmett, Barten, and Kellis must embark on their Wanderyear—a months-long "study abroad" journey that will take them away from Lanternport and into a world filled with magical creatures, ancient lore, and a quest to revive their city's lost spark.

Friendship and the promise of exciting times of old await in this thrilling first book of a fantasy trilogy. Perhaps the age of adventuring is just beginning…

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Gabe Soria is the creator of the Midnight Arcade series and the cocreator of the comic book MegaGhost. He has written for Cartoon Network Books and created the Sword & Backpack RPG from which his latest middle grade series is based. He can be found wandering the streets of New Orleans.

Alfredo Cáceres is an author and illustrator from Santiago, Chile. He has worked in picture books, magazines, newspapers and video games. His latest project is a graphic novel that's based on the city of Valdivia, Chile where he grew up between rain and moss.

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From the pages of The Young Adventurer’s Almanac,
Fifth Edition, published by Rothbard & Gazpus, Inkwell Row, Lanternport:

Gazetteer:
“Lanternport: Gateway to a Thousand Adventures”

Ah, the glory of Lanternport! Of all the cities and towns and villages in the Open World, Lanternport is perhaps the greatest of them all. Home to over two hundred thousand souls of different backgrounds and origins, the City of Torches is one of the primary commercial and cultural hubs of the Known Kingdoms, a melting pot of wonder, adventure, and danger, a grand metropolis that can be all things to all people. Surrounded by a protective wall and bordered by cliffs, forests, hills, and placid Lantern Bay, Lanternport has natural protection against invasion by land and sea, and attracts visitors and immigrants from all points of the compass rose. The city was named for the lighthouse that stands on Lantern Rock, as well as the countless lamps and torches—­which are fastidiously maintained by ward organizations called Lamplighter Guilds—­that line its docks and city streets. The city stands as a figurative and literal beacon of excitement and opportunity, and for centuries it has been the embarkation point for countless quests both small and epic, whether they be travelers shipping out to the west to try their luck in the labyrinths of the Catacomb Archipelago, setting out on the Northroad to seek fortune in the Crookspire Ranges, tramping along the Eastway to explore the forests of the Outer Downs, or hitting the Southmarch to find intrigue in the tropical latitudes. But as this entry in the Almanac will show, there is more than enough intrigue and adventure to be found in Lanternport itself to satisfy even the most jaded Mage, Knight, or Rogue. Which is fortunate, as the city produces so many of them, thanks to one of its chief landmarks and the reason you’re holding this textbook in your hand: the College of the Three Companions, founded by the legendary Three Companions themselves to train Knights, Mages, and Rogues in their respective disciplines. Many of the finest adventurers in the land have graduated from this grand institution (tuition ranges from low-­cost to free, and the campus itself is a marvel, home to practice dungeon simulators, dueling grounds, excellent feasting halls, and top-­notch magical research facilities). The college is a beacon in a city of beacons, a monument to the era in which we now live, which the wise have called what is sure to be an enduring era of wonder.

The Grand Age of Adventure is just beginning.

* * *

Chapter One
THE MAGE

The Grand Age of Adventure was over. That much was true and agreed upon everywhere. Its passing was discussed among the Sorcerers who sat on the Council of the Seven Seats in the Twilight Keep in the Crookspire Ranges of the frigid north. It was commemorated in the shanties sung on the ships that sailed the Catacomb Archipelago of the Western Seas. It was eulogized in taverns along the Eastway and as far afield as inns in the Outer Downs. Everywhere, the accepted wisdom was this: The Grand Age of Adventure had come to an end, and in its place, an age of grimness and cynicism and hard-­heartedness had arisen and taken hold of the hearts and imaginations of the people of what used to be known as the Open World, but which was now called the Splintered Lands.

The adventuring spirit itself had not died so much as it had become . . . distasteful. Unfashionable in its earnestness. It was a relic of the past, something to be embarrassed by or looked down upon. Oh, the three great adventuring professions still existed, but that was more in name and title rather than their original intention or spirit. Knights still plied the trade of the blade across the Splintered Lands, but instead of taking principled stands against injustice or undertaking righteous causes and crusades, they mostly went about acting as mercenaries: fighting battles for this old kingdom or that upstart empire, guarding merchant caravans, taking on duels for noblefolk who wouldn’t lower themselves to lift up a sword, and other suchlike jobs requiring might and force. Mages still scribed spells, studied unknown mysteries, and told fortunes for monarchs and peasants, but most of their time and effort was spent as hermits locked in their isolated sanctums and aeries, looking only inward for wisdom and insight and turning their backs on the mundane trials and tribulations of the rest of the world. And Rogues still skulked around the dark corners of the night, but rather than engaging in secret missions, grand deceptions, and sneaky acts of bravery, to be one in this day was primarily to creep onto the second floors of castles in search of unattended jewels, or to don disguises to deceive the eyes and drain the purses of targets.

Adventurers themselves were held in low esteem by many, and were considered undesirables, or actual criminals in some places. Groups of adventurers still roamed the Splintered Lands, but they were mostly bands of treasure hunters dedicated to plundering long-­abandoned tombs and temples, groups of angry hired swords spoiling for conflict with any creature unfortunate enough to cross their path, or loose-­knit gangs of rowdies to whom adventuring seemed primarily to be concerned with boasting about their weapons and brawling with anyone who looked at them sideways or raised an eyebrow askance.

Yes, no matter how you looked at it, adventuring was in a sorry state, and this sorry state was what preoccupied the mind of Archivist Apprentice Ehmett Turzel as he skulked along a shadowy, torchlit corridor of the Eternal Archives, the vast library that was his home.

Why am I creeping out of the safe confines of my home to venture out into the midnight streets of Lanternport in search of adventure? he asked himself. If the wisest Archivist Adepts agree that the Grand Age of Adventure is truly finished and the epic tales recounted in the histories of the Three Companions are firmly in the past, who am I to contradict them?

The Eternal Archives was where Ehmett lived, studied, and worked. His role as a young Archivist Apprentice meant that he was learning the disciplines relating to the gathering and preserving of knowledge. He was devoted to the Archives, and he was enormously curious about all manner of subjects, but his chief passion was cartography, both magical and mundane. The study of maps and mapmaking thrilled him to no end, and that passion was one of the reasons he was skulking about this evening.

Though the Eternal Archives never truly closed its doors to patrons, at that late hour there were few researchers lurking about its torchlit, labyrinthine corridors. Its miles of stacks, cells, basements, subbasements, oubliettes, study carrels, attics, and great halls were almost deserted, so there were few to note Ehmett’s passing. But it was also the hour in which any Archivist Apprentice not burning the midnight candle at their desk or busy studying books and scrolls was expected to be abed in their dormitory rooms, most likely dreaming of studying books and scrolls. If Ehmett was challenged on his midnight skulking, his plan was to explain to the questioner that he was simply making his way to the kitchens of the Archives in search of a cinnamon pocket and a mug of instant hot spiced tea to sharpen his studying. Which was true, in part; he was going to the kitchens, and he was going to sneak a pocket or two, but instead of returning to his room, he was going to continue on to the door in the kitchen that led to Script Alley, the narrow thoroughfare that ran along the rear of the Archives. From there, he would continue into the nighttime streets of Lanternport, heading to his planned destination:...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Workshop
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593522745
• ISBN 13: 9780593522745
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Zeichner: Cceres Alfredo
• Anzahl der Seiten: 240
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar