Chronicles of Charnia - "Lanterna"

Here is a brief (preliminary) introduction to the upcoming campaign...
Background-
approximately 60 years have passed since The Great Battle of Charnia (see "The Exile"). After that battle, the creatures and followers of Zorn continued to grow in numbers and eventually run the Charnians from their homes. The Charnians escaped into the forest and eventually crossed through a great mountain range via the mountain dwarves passage. On the other side of the mountain they began to build a small town with a few outlining villages. The followers of Zorn eventually stopped hunting the Charnians and returned to their lands. They began to lose focus (since there was no one to torment) and eventually separated into different clans and tribes based on race (goblins, orcs, ogres, dark dwarves, kingman, etc.) About 10 years ago your (the PC) father led a large group of Charnians in an attempt to return to Charnia. Since the attacks had pretty much ended, they felt that maybe Zorn's evil creatures had all destroyed each other and returning to Charnia would be safe. The caravan never returned. You and your brother were young at the time. Your mother has never recovered from the loss of her husband. A month ago your brother led a small group to try and find out what happened to the first caravan. They were only supposed to be gone for a week, but haven't returned. The past few months, there has been a dramatic increase in attacks on the outlining villages by goblins. Your mother has been very ill and bedridden due to all the stress of losing her husband and now her eldest son. You have decided to form a very small (thus undetectable by the goblins) party to search for your brother.

I have a basic outline of the main events of this campaign. There will be three chapters. Each chapter will advance you a couple of levels (maybe you'll reach lvl 6 or 7 by the end - like BG1). I want the areas to have a BG1 type feel (nonlinear, some areas with only side quests, etc.). I want the combat to be challenging and require tactics like IWD1. Most importantly, I want the companions to be interesting and fun to have around (since they are the ones you will be interacting with the most). I want people to feel sad that the story has to end - I know, that's wishful thinking ;)

Jer