A circle sewn with fate

Paths of Salt

At the end of last year, the Grendel were rebuffed from Redoubt after a failed attempt to seize the port of Elos. In their wake came the Children of Wrecks, likewise keen to attack Elos, and likewise rebuffed despite unexpected support from Marcher malcontents. During the Winter Solstice, Imperial heroes faced a second serious attack by the servants of the Mistress of Wrecks when they sought to devastate the spires of Visten with supernatual power drawn from the Ribbon of Salt.

The Empire prevailed for the most part, but the Gyre coven was still able to smite Redoubt with magical storms. How much worse it might have been had they managed to achieve their full ambition does not bear thinking about. As well as mostly thwarting the Children's magical aims, the Empire also scattered a gathering of traitors - although only one is truly accounted for. Ezhabbenar of Hedrossan is dead, but the other four survived the Imperial assault and left the battlefield with their entourages. It's doubtful that the Empire has seen the last of them; their knowledge of the Empire will no doubt prove a boon to the Children when they plan raids against their former nations.

Across the Bay of Catazar, from Feroz in the west to Mareave in the east, the air is thick with anticipation and anxiety. The Grendel armada may have been forced to retreat from Redoubt without succeeding in a single significant raid, but they suffered little more than a bloody nose in the process. The Children of Wrecks may have been stopped from devastating Elos and Visten, from unleashing the Ribbon of Salt, but their navy and the many pirate fleets that support it remain at large.

Only the fortifications established in Sarvos, Spiral, and Necropolis, and a scattering of enchantments, protect against a surprise attack from the sea. The southern Imperial coast represents rich pickings for the greedy pirates, and the conquest-hungry Salt Lords.

Who knows where they will strike next?

Out From the Shadow of that Red Rock

While the Children of Wrecks are a pressing concern for the Freeborn of Madruga, and those left in Feroz, there is a more pressing issue. Two weeks after the Winter Solstice news spreads like wildfire through Oranseri that a significant force of Grendel soldiers have crossed the border out of Morajasse marching directly toward the port-town of Oran. At their head is Commander Gallum Fiersach, the charismatic warlord who holds sway over Mora's Rock. it looks as if Gallum has emptied the garrison of the 'Rock; a cohort of Grendel soldiers with fine arms and armour and evidencing remarkable discipline even for the orcs of the Broken Shore. They ignore the villages along their route, ignore the Freeborn they pass. Not that any of the Freeborn in Feroz at the moment would have much chance of slowing the advance of what seems to be almost the entire garrison of Mora's Rock. They are an arrow arching directly toward the western gates of Oran.

In the midst of the Grendel force there is a palanquin within which rides the Wind Lord Saoirse, partner and lieutenant of Commander Fierasch. This master of the Lore of Sand is accompanied by her entire coven; it is clear she does not intend to allow her disability to either slow the forced march of the Grendel forces nor prevent her from assisting her husband on their campaign. Along with a handful of siege engineers, it looks as if the Grendel have grown bored of waiting for Imperial diplomats and have decided to take matter into their own hands.

The attack comes as a complete surprise, unanticipated. The expectation is that the Grendel at Morajasse would stay there until either the Empire removed them, or the Grendel came to collect them. Indeed, their movement spreads a real fear that the navies of the Salt Lords may plan to attack Oranseri at any moment. Then the situation becomes even worse.

Racing the Storm

The Gathered Storm - the ramshackle, naval force raised by the Children of Wrecks - is spotted sailing south from Madruga on wings of rain and thunder. Guiding the way is the newborn Storm's Child, a fromer Grendel vessel that now serves as flagship, a stolen figurehead shining balefully at its prow. It's sails, and on the sails of many of the vessels that follow in its wake, bear the unmistakable design of a gaping shark's jaw. Drums beat on the decks, and the pirate-marines howl their defiance, their bloodlust, their yearning for plunder.

The navy is supported by dozens of independent vessels. it seems a significant part of the Children of Wrecks' strength has gathered here to feast on Oran, to steal the wealth they assume the wicked Governor Rahab left behind him when he died. They are likely misinformed - Rahab has left no trove in Oran - but there are plenty of other reasons to ravage the coast here. Supplies sent to support the people of Oran as they try to rebuild their lives, for a start. And the people of Oran themselves are a commodity to the Children of Wrecks - slave or sacrifice they are little more than loot to be claimed by the cruel pirates.

As always when the Children move in force, the waters around their ships boil with the servants of Siakha, especially the monstrous carcharadon. As well as the smaller heralds, it seems that High Priestess Shivaarn has been granted the service of one of her mistress' mighty guardians - a terrible hybrid of armoured turtle and predatory drake the size of a fishing boat that seems equally at home at land or sea. It will surely make short work of the patched-together defences of Oran, opening the way for the reavers and marauders to fall on the folk taking shelter behind the walls.

Lightning marches across the eastern horizon, and terror sweeps through the people of Oran. They are ill-equipped to endure what is to come, poorly armed and armoured, with a skeletal garrison of Freeborn veterans to try and hold back the tempest tide that threatens to break across them. There's little doubt that this force will not only devastate Oran, but should they choose to do so they could make significant headway toward conquering Oranseri in the name of their goddess.

It is clear Oran is doomed; the only question is who will reach the town first?

Desperation

The limited garrison of Oran scrabbles to prepare for the coming attacks, sending desperate messages west toward Segura. A small band of courageous youths set out to cross the Scorrero, to navigate the Siroc Bayou and try to get help from Quzar - they dare not travel by sea with the Gathered Storm spearing south along the cost. There is little hope that these emissaries will achieve anything - there are no significant Imperial forces close enough to intercede and the closest are already across the border into Reinos.

Under the Grendel there were almost no Freeborn left in the town. Since its liberation a small number have returned and tried to pick up the frayed threads of their lives. Some of these citizens of Oran flee south-east, toward Afarjasse. They dare not take the road to Lucksprings with a Grendel force sweeping east across the grasslands. They see little advantage in fleeing south into Fontargenta, reasoning that the Children of Wrecks will simply follow them. They gather their possession as swiftly as they can and set off on foot across the grasslands.

Most decide to remain behind; they have fled once and they have little heart for fleeing again. Many have simply had enough, enough of being pushed and pulled this way and that between Grendel and pirates and Imperial politicians. There are refugees here from the corsair families of the Cazar Straits eager for vengeance against the orcs or the marauders who seem bent on pillaging Oran once again. They seek restitution for all they have lost, between the destruction of Shantarim and the rise of the Children of Wrecks they have nothing left to lose. While they don their bravest faces, nobody is foolish enough to believe that any of this will make a difference.

In the end, fate decrees that the two forces reach Oran at roughly the same time. Even as the Grendel approach the walls, the Children of Wrecks begin their assault against the quayside. Ships disgorge dozens of bloodthirsty pirates, human and orc alike, as the Carcharadon and Tempests drag themselves out of the waters of the Bay to wreak their own destruction on the town and its defenders. Thunder rumbles, lightning stabs the horizon, and a downpour begins.

For their part, the Grendel barely pause. It's been barely six months since the Siege of Oran when the Wolves of War systematically destroyed the defences the late and unlamented Governor Rahab has established around his prize. The Grendel shatter the makeshift defences of the western gate using an ironbound ram in the shape of a great serpent. The soldiers accompanying it lock their great round shields above their heads, shielding themselves and the crew deploying the runebound ram from the arrows of the defenders.

As the gate falls, the Grendel soldiers pour through...

The Battle of Oran

The Grendel soldiers pour through... and they ignore the Freeborn defenders. With Commander Fiersach at the front with his personal guard, a dozen veteran Stone Born in dreadnaught armour, they hurry toward the bay with the rest of the garrison at their heels. They've barely paused since they arrived outside Oran - this final few hundred yards is like the culmination of the trajectory they have carved across northern Feroz. Without preamble, with no battle howls or posturing, they fall on the Children of Wrecks and cut them to pieces. The rest of the soldiers follow their lead, spreading out through Oran, killing pirates and heralds they encounter.

Orc siege engineers move with calm, swift precision to take command of several key locations - it seems these soldiers know the layout of Oran quite well having visited several times during the Grendel occupation. They set up a number of ballista, trained on the ships of the Gathered Storm and begin to pelt them with javelin-sized bolts. In this they are shockingly assisted by what appear to be a dozen Freeborn, citizens of Oran who seem to have been expecting the Grendel soldiers and stand ready to assist them.

It's clear the Grendel have a focused purpose here. As battle erupts across Oran, the Grendel make no effort to harm the Freeborn trying to defend the town - unless they try to interfere. Anyone who tries to bar their way is given one chance to lay down their weapon before being efficiently struck down by the soldiers. They don't bother to execute anyone - and most of those they cut down are saved by their neighbours. They have no such mercy for the Children of Wrecks - any who fall to their blades are swiftly dispatched, their bodies left to bleed out in the gutters. They

Battle rages. Grendel against 'Children with the Freeborn for the most part as onlookers. The soldiers of Mora's Rock are supremely disciplined, even for Grendel, and many of them are older veterans of campaigns across the Empire and beyond. The Children of Wrecks are little more than a rabble, a mass of pirates and marauders who barely trust each other. They are rivals, rather than allies, and the Grendel (and the Freeborn prepared to accept their aid) exploit this to divide them and dispatch them.

The Corsairs who have committed to the defence of Oran have little love for the Grendel, but they see which way the wind is blowing. They do not question the un unlooked-for boons ofMistress Fortune, and waste no time in taking the fight to the 'Children. While the Grendel form a wall of steel that closes slowly around the docks, the corsairs are an unpredictable blade striking at the pirates without warning and disappearing back into the streets or onto the roofs of the town before they know what has hit them.

A major force of the invaders attempts to sack the Temple of Balo and the Black Bull, another launches a raid against the remains of the Palace of Rahab. In both cases the Grendel surround them once they reach their goals, and cut them to pieces. Those who manage to escape these killing grounds run straight into the blades and bhuj of the corsairs, who make short work of the fleeing marauders. After three hours of fighting, the Children of Wrecks break. The survivors flee back to their ships, as the Gathered Storm retreats back into the waters of Cazar Straits taking the foul weather with it. The soldiers cheer, voicing a single word three times "Dubhtraig! Dubhtraig! Dubhtraig!" . Not the city of the Grendel, but the ancestor who built it.

With the Children of Wrecks on the run, the soldiers regroup... and leave.

After the Rain

It falls to Wind Lord Saoirse, imperious in her armoured chair, to explain what has happened. Intelligence reached Commander Fierasch from... sources... that the Children of Wrecks intended to assail Oran and seize the coast. He decided that they would not achieve that goal, and acted accordingly. "We despise traitors," says the Wind Lord simply. "And these Children of wrecks are doubly traitors against our people. Before they were Children of Wrecks they gave themselves over to Maelstrom, and deserve nothing but our contempt." There is some mention of fidelity and retribution but it's clear that Saoirse has little interest in small talk.

With Oran safe, she says, the Grendel will return to their holdfast at Mora's Rock. The opportunity to stymie the Children of Wrecks here is unlikely to come again - without the advance warning delivered by the "ghost of the sea" they would never have been able to react in time. The elements of the left-behind Grendel espionage ring they've drawn on are now burned, and they'll no longer be able to call on their expertise to help them as they did here in Oran. They suggest that if the Freeborn wish to avoid being pillaged by the 'Children they make preparations themselves - or at least persuade their leaders to reach some sort of accord with the Grendel of Mora's Rock.

And with that, they gather their dead and injured, and set off back west toward Morasjasse.

Game Information

Feroz

Feroz is under Imperial control Madruga remains uncontrolled The Grendel garrison protected Oranseri from the Children of Wrecks

Both Feroz and Madruga remain uncontrolled. The Empire controls three regions of Madruga, one is controlled by the Children of Wrecks, and three are uncontrolled (four are needed to control the territory). In Feroz the Empire holds three regions and thus controls the territory, but the Children of Wrecks and the Grendel still hold one region apiece.

The Children of Wrecks attempted to conquer Oranseri and pillage Oran in the process; the Grendel defenders of Mora's Rock used an opportunity to intercede. While they have no love for the Freeborn, the Commander of the garrison and many of his soldiers appears to have a personal dislike for the Children of Wrecks. Part of the reason they were able to reach Oran in time was information from a Grendel agent, but they also received assistance from the [[espionage ring that is apparently still active in the territory. While some of its agents have been revealed, the rest remain in hiding.

Commander Fleisarch has indicated that he is prepared to accept winged messengers from representatives of the Empire. His partner Wind Lord Saoirse could be communicated with in the same way.