When the Grand Expansion of Orre began nearly 100 years ago, it was increasingly common for bored city folk to head for the region in droves in pursuit of fortune, fame and adventure. While many were mere "tinhorns" who bumbled about the harsh desert for a few months before either giving up or meeting an untimely end, there were some who were smart and resourceful enough to survive and flourish in that dangerous land.

One of those was Daniel Page, a newspaper editor from Evergrande City who had become sick of printing countless stories about dull society functions and political machinations. The very same day he got wind of mass explorations happening in the Orre region, he quickly packed up and left town with the intent of bringing back something truly exciting to publish. Along the way he spent much of his personal fortune buying up a small armada of steam-powered and clockwork gadgets that he thought would be useful in the frontier, or at least worth more than what he paid for them.

Although he was originally blown off as being yet another city slicker on a misguided treasure hunt, Daniel's bold curiosity and his keen eye for detail eventually won him a reputation as a skilled adventurer, albiet a touch overeager. Despite being criticized for relying too much on his "explorin' toys", when they did fail him he was still able to get the job done quite well. Soon he had gathered a dedicated team of 'mon who accompanied him on his journeys and escorted renowned archaeologists and historians to ruin sites, and ocasionally even assisting law'mon in tracking down criminals who sought refuge in those places as well. This group would eventually become one of the first professional freelance "exploration teams" on record.

Still, for all their success... you know what they say about curiosity.

On what was to be his last job before retiring, Daniel, his oldest son Alistair and the rest of their exploration team were escorting a well-known archaeologist to what was believed to be the burial site of an ancient tribal leader. The townsfolk had warned them desperately to stay away, saying that the site was cursed and that anyone who set foot on those grounds would inherit that curse along with their families. Of course this was just scoffed at as being nothing more then a legend.

As it would turn out, they discovered that it actually was a burial site of a tribal leader... a Ninetales to be exact. And that legend about a curse? Well, sometimes legends have a lot of truth behind them. A week after the team left the archaeologist was discovered just outside of town, every bone in his body smashed. Two days later the town itself would become the first victim of a band of murderous bandits that history would come to call "The Shadow Stalkers". Nobody who was in town that horrible night was left alive to tell of what exactly had happened.

The Shadow Stalkers cut a bloody path across Orre for almost a year before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. No one was able to tell exactly who they were or why they committed such atrocities, though the most likely rumor seems to connect them to an exploration team that disappeared in the area shortly before their first appearance. The ancient burial site has long since been forgotten, along with the curse it carried... although forgotten doesn't exactly mean gone. Some of the families that carry the burden of the curse are still around, one of them being the descendants of the once-famous Daniel Page. Safe to say, his great-great grandson Chris wouldn't exactly be too pleased if he knew the details of the legacy his ancestor has left for him.