Even darkness must pass

To See Such Times

In the Sarangrave, chaos reigns. It is a season of ruin, of madness, bloodshed and terror, fury and despair, magic and steel and water and twisted bough, poison and hope, light and darkness, endings and beginnings. You can feel it in the air. The red dice are rolling, the world is in free-fall and nobody has the slightest idea of what will be showing when they finally come to rest.

The blight of ruinous Spring magic begins to settle over the waters here, but at the last moment it frays and falls to pieces. Instead, a different power of magic spreads out, filling the waters with wholesome healing power. Imperial magicians have undone the scheme of the Druj, replacing their malign curse of death with a benign curse of life for everyone fighting here.

There is plenty of other magic at work here. The behemoth god-beast Kroll has risen from the nameless lake to loom over the Palace of the Sleepers, and yet the Palace itself has vanished. Wards and traps unfold across the marshes and the forests laid down by fleeing magicians and desperate covens. The Druj miasma clings to everything here, heightening feelings of fear and despair, but the Imperial armies are accompanied by thousands of golden knights drawn from the court of Queen Eleonaris. Part of Zenith has fallen under Druj control, trapping Imperial armies in Bloodwater Marsh, but the Empire moves its own soldiers to try and reclaim it. The power of the Shackle Smasher has been unleashed in the Nesustak Forest, while wicked wards of Spring and Night run riot across the marshlands. Alliances shift, and nobody can be entirely sure who is a potential friend and who is secret foe.

All Seem Accursed

The chaos spills south into Zenith. The Towerjacks have come to the forest of Lustri. There they meet the Argent Sword; the army of heralds, guardians, and soldiers from the Iron Labyrinth who march as part of a costly bargain wrought with the Sovereign Lords of the Cities of Autumn.

The second army of Urizen is a thing of wonder. An army of minotaurs, their horns adorned with gold and steel, who march in the shadow of three dozen many-armed bronze colossi each a head taller than any mortal being. An army of hammer-wielding smiths, as broad as they are tall, warriors of the City of Fire and Stone under contract to Callidus of the Coins. An army of both swift-moving almost fox-like scouts with a supernatural sense for the presence of wealth, and of ox-sized silver spiders recruited from the City of Bridges to provide expert support on matters of logistics. They march under orders from a human general, and they are unlike anything that has been seen in the Empire in living memory.

During the Summer Solstice, the Druj attempted to assail the marshes of Proceris. With the aid of the Green Mother they sought to transform the bog octopuses of the waterlogged region into ravenous monsters; if not for Imperial heroes the many-legged tasty cephalopods would have undergone an unnatural growth spurt. Their scheme was stopped, those responsible scattered.

Now a ward of Night magic hangs over Proceris protecting it from further trouble - there are sentinels already at work seeking out any remaining Druj and giving them swift justice. Even with the power of the ritual reduced to protect only the region where it is cast, there is nowhere for these guerillas and ambushers to hide - the empowered magic of Night sees to that. Ironic, given that empowerment was worked by the Druj in the first place…

Two armies then march to the woodlands of Lustri. The Urizen of Zenith are first to warn of the Druj trap. The Tainted Basilisk have worked their own enchantment on the forest, weaving an entangling net of Spring magic between the trees. The effect is horribly familiar - a ward that is all too easy to pass into but almost impossible to escape. Druj warriors and awful venomous abominations alike sneak and skitter between the trunks of the dark woodlands waiting for the armies to put a foot wrong.

They have reckoned, however, without the ingenuity of the Towerjacks. This trap may be magical in nature but ultimately it is just another kind of fortification. There are safe paths here, as well as deadly ones. There are choke-points and dead-ends, killing grounds and barriers, but the Holberg engineers are no stranger to such concepts. It takes a little less than a week to reconfigure the Imperial strategy, and then with the Towerjacks in the vanguard the armies storm the walls the Druj have raised.

The fighting is bloody and terrible. The Argent Sword are disciplined but fundamentally unfamiliar with woodland fighting. The Towerjacks are adept at predicting and defusing the traps of the Druj wards, but they must still deal with the warriors and beasts protected by that magic. Blood spills and pools beneath the trees as the season rolls on. It is slow going, every step risks setting off a trap or an ambush. Yet the armies do make progress, do take those steps.

Almost immediately it is clear that the armies of the Druj are not in Lustri. It is clear they are relying on their ward to hold back any Imperial counterattack while the six armies that came down from Therunin have pressed into the Sarangrave in hope of slaughtering the Empire’s soldiers in the southern Sarangrave.

It might have worked. The ward is powerful, but the Towerjacks make all the difference. They unravel the puzzle, match cunning for cunning, disable the traps, and break through the dead-ends and barricades of writhing thorns. Ten days before the Autumn Equinox news comes from the front; the armies of Urizen and the League have been victorious. Lustri is now in Imperial hands once more.

So Our Path Is Laid

Six armies of Druj, out of Therunin, fresh from the ruination of the Stork’s Gaze. Without exception they hurl themselves into the fray, an overwhelming assault against the Bloodwater Marsh and the Imperial armies caught between their hammer and the twin anvils of the vallorn of Béantal Dol and the colossal fortification of the Tower of the Skink.

There is a desperation to their strategy; it seems that several of these armies are drawn from the septs of the marshlands. Six armies. The Arrow Viper and the Thorn Born, the Jagged Claws and the Hunting Scorpion; the Flame Beetle and of course the Tainted Basilisk. They have pulled out all the stops; almost all of them bear an enchantment of Spring magic that grants them the cunning of the predators coupled with a thirst for blood and mayhem found nowhere in the animal kingdom. The blessings of the Tainted Basilisk.

They face two Imperial armies - the Winter Sun and the Granite Pillar. The Granite Pillar continues to fight alongside the Knights of Glory drawn from the Summer realm, who relish every opportunity to strike against the hated Druj. The Winter Sun bear a different boon - a strange enchantment of Night magic whose effects are at first not entirely clear. The Granite Pillar have their work cut out for them, holding the territory the Empire has already taken while the Winter Sun focus on seeking out native forces that might aid the Empire’s plans.

Battle erupts across the Bloodwater Marshes again - the Empire fights against the desperate, furious Druj and their vicious enchantments. Like the orcs, they are also caught between hammers and Anvils. From the south-west, six armies. From the east, the Tower of the Skink. To the north of them, the vallorn and the feverwater. A war in microcosm, as the Imperial armies must split their attention between pushing into Whisperwood and fighting off nearly thirty thousand powerfully enchanted Druj warriors.

Watcher in the Water

In the north, the ghulai of the Palace of the Sleepers, along with their college of magic, have disappeared. They have left behind a terrible beast; the catastrophically large single-eyed octopoid horror that they called from the lake below their conical hill. As large as a castle, the supernatural terror sweeps aside the soldiers arrayed against it with its immense muscular tentacles.

As it fights, it lets loose terrible booming cries that cause the lake around it to surge and explode upwards. The ground itself runs like water, miring those trying to fight their way clear of the area. It soon becomes clear that the god-beast Kroll does not intend to fight alone. In answer to its thunderous call come hundreds upon hundreds of bog octopuses. Not the tiny cephalopods that throng in the marshes of Proceris to the south, but full-grown beasts that sometimes rival an ox-wagon in size. They erupt from the marshes, falling on the Imperial armies.

While they fight, the Druj forces battling to keep Sarangrave fall back. They seek to take advantage of the confusion to flank the northern force - the Eastern Sky, the Fire of the South, the Gryphon's Pride, the Lions of Adelmar, the Northern Eagle and the Boyar's Hasta, and the Summer Storm, joined by the Quiet Step from the Barrens, and the Citadel Guard and Golden Axe driving north with some preternatural force.

Arrayed against them are the Deadly Blade and the Hidden Snake, the Hidden Widow and the Poison Crane, the White Lion and the Red Lizard. They are no less desperate than those attacking in the south, and many of them bear the same enchantment - a parting gift from the ghulai of the Palace of the Sleepers no doubt. The Deadly Blade and the Hidden Widow supplement their vicious attacks with terrible venoms, which they distribute among the other armies freely. Their aim is clearly to kill as many Imperial soldiers as possible; an aim that is proudly supported by the cruelty and merciless tactics of the Black Wind. They wield the power of fear and despair as a weapon that is well-suited to their hands.

It is just as well that the water here runs with life, or their murderous plan would have taken an unspeakable toll against the Empire.

Completing the conquest of Kroll requires a confrontation with the god-beast of the lake and its multitude of progeny. The Eastern Sky and the Gryphon’s Pride hurl themselves against the immense octopus with resolute fury, revelling in the chance to accrue unlooked for glory by facing this monstrous beast. The Lions of Adelmar need all their defensive mastery to ensure the other Dawnish armies are not torn to pieces by their courageous assault. In the end, they cannot defeat the beast alone; it takes the arrows of the Golden Axe to finally inflict enough damage on the beast that it is forced to retreat. Not slain - but driven off. It dives deep into the depths of the lake, leaving behind a lake stained black with ichor. Presumably, it has returned whence it came - back to the Spring realm to recover from its wounds. Hopefully this will take a long time indeed.

The beast inflicts serious casualties on the armies arrayed against it, and even after it is driven off, its progeny continue to harass the Imperial forces and the Druj armies with equal indiscrimination.

Where You Might Be Swept Off To

In the end, the Empire is victorious. Their magical mastery, their zeal, and sheer force of numbers win the day. It is a close-run thing; when the water begins to clear the Imperial forces have claimed Kroll in the east and are four-tenths of the way toward taking the Nesustak Forest in the west. In the south, the four armies have not only held off the six Druj armies, but they have pressed forward into the Whisperwood and are three-fifths of the way towards capturing it entirely.

Yet the chaos shows no sign of ending. When it is clear that the Empire has the upper hand, when Kroll disappears beneath the surface of the lake, most of the Druj armies abandon Sarangrave. Harried by Imperial raiders, they pull back into the Salt Flats of Sanath. That is not to say that the territory has been abandoned however; the Tower of the Skink still dominates the Thornfen and represents a major obstacle to Imperial control of the territory.

Not all the armies have retreated however; the Hidden Snake and the Poison Crane have pulled back to Thornfen to bolster the garrison of the fortification. In a way they have no choice; the septs that support them are Sarangrave steps and if they abandon the territory they will suffer increasing losses. It is not a matter of courage or loyalty, but of fear - the fear that if they leave their territory they will be seen as weak and expendable by the other Druj of the Mallum.

In the south, the six armies that attacked out of Zenith are in an even worse state - they have been forced out of the Bloodwater Marshes but they cannot retreat into Lustri without facing catastrophic losses at the hands of the two armies there - and risking being trapped in their own web of traps. Their situation is a mirror of that which faced the Druj in Zenith several years ago when the Empire trapped them in the south. It is fortunate for the orcs - and unfortunate for the Empire - that the Tainted Basilisk are with the southern force. They have already demonstrated their ability to weave Night magic, to create a shroud of power that allows armies to move through dangerous territories. Yet where will they go? Will they risk slipping through the Imperial lines to the Salt Flats? Try to make a stand at the Tower of the Skink? Or perhaps find a way to escape into Therunin - and the uncertainty of the vallorn?

Do Not Be Too Eager

There is one other matter that demands Imperial attention. An unexpected development. As the Imperial armies in the north press into the Nesustak forest, they find the Druj defenders and the sept of the Banded Snake in disarray. Their defence seems uncoordinated, confused, sporadic. The further the armies push west the clearer it becomes that something is afoot.

The Druj magicians have raised a ward of Night magic here, and it serves to aid the defenders, but there is something else afoot. The Banded Snake seem to be fighting on two fronts. As the Autumn Equinox draws near, the truth of what is unfolding becomes clear. A force of former Druj slaves, subject septs, and children of the Prince with a Thousand Foes have been quietly gathering in the depths of the forest and now they have struck against the Druj. Taking their former overlords by surprise, exploiting the fact that the focus of the masters of the Mallum was on the Empire, they attacked without warning. The Druj panicked - unprepared to fight those they had considered broken. Their former masters were overwhelmed quickly thanks in large part to the support of the Thorn of the Ancestors. Those who were not slaughtered by the Empire have fallen under the knives, spears, and clubs of the risen slaves. A week before the Autumn Equinox it becomes clear that these free slaves have claimed the rest of the Nesustak Forest - that the Druj who remain are hunted fugitives.

At the same time, in the south, the power of Night magic enshrouds the Winter Sun. It hones the intuition of the soldiers, and urges them to find those who will make common cause with them, focusing their efforts to break the chains of the Druj slaves. Those who fight to free the slaves and the conquered septs, rather than focusing on taking land or slaying the Druj, find that the voices of their ancestors become clearer and clearer - and that some of those ancestor voices are very old indeed. Ancient orcs of the Mallum, pressed into slavery by the old Imperials, drawn not from the Druj but from those who were their slaves. Terrible tales of those who fled tyranny to find death and enslavement waiting for them when they left the Mallum at the hands of humans who saw them as little better than beasts.

Normally, these voices are loud, angry, full of fear and hate. Under the influence of Night magic, those sincerely fighting to liberate the septs find these voices quiet, become clearer, become more lucid. Distant memories of ancient pacts and traditions empower the Winter Sun to reassure those who have spent too long under the thumb of the Druj that they are not the enemy. They can do little to moderate the fear that these orcs feel for the other Imperial armies… but it is a start. A unique chance to treat with the survivors of centuries of oppression.

It is while they fight in the Bloodwater Marsh and the Whisperwood that this approach bears dividends. The Bloodwater Spears have been missing from the Sarangrave since the Imperial forces first crossed the border from Lustri. It now becomes clear that they had simply been waiting for an opportunity. Some are in Nesustak Forest working with the rebels there; others have been in the Whisperwood quietly recruiting the elders of the Water Walkers sept to their cause. An alliance between the two groups has been forged, and now they reach out to the Unshackled. They make common cause - but they also know how to exploit the situation.

As the Winter Sun press forward, the Spears and the Walkers launch their own forays into the Whisperwood. The mighty Fortress of the Skink still provides a measure of support for the beleaguered Druj forces here, as they fall back. As the Empire advances, the rebel orcs give their own signal and bands of them attack where they can, picking off loan Druj warriors and exacting a bloody revenge. Druj scouts are discovered hanging from trees, their bodies held aloft by grim nooses formed from their own entrails. Druj supply wagons burned, the bodies of the paymasters chained to the charred remains. Corpses of Pakkad and Chikad warriors with their eyes and tongues torn out.

Beneath the dark boughs of the Whisperwood, the waters of the Sarangrave seethe with boiling fury, a thirst for vengeance that no amount of murder can slake. The Spears and the Walkers clearly have designs of their own on the Whisperwood and they are far from friends of the Empire. But for the Druj there is only the most pure and undiluted hatred.

Even The Very Wise Cannot See All Ends

As the Autumn Equinox draws close, the leaders of the ramshackle rebellion have a message for the Empire. Their message, relayed by those Winter Sun orcs who have fought most closely with them, is that they will not harass the Empire’s troops as long as they focus their attention on the Druj. If they seek to attack the rebels in Nesustak Forest or Whisperwood, they will protect themselves.

When the Druj are finally driven from the Sarangrave, there will be a chance to talk about what happens next. Then hopefully the Empire will know whether they have come to the Mallum as liberators, or conquerors? They cannot be both, after all.

Game Information

Sarangrave

Nobody has dominion of Sarangrave The Empire controls three regions The Druj control two regions The vallorn controls one region The rebels control one region

The Empire has claimed Kroll and now controls that region along with Turn Flats and Bloodwater Marsh. The Druj still hold the Tower of the Skink and the surrounding region of Thornfen, and for now they cling on in Whisperwood. Two armies - the Poison Crane and the Hidden Snake - are still in Thornfen, bolstering the fortification there. The other Druj armies in the north have abandoned the territory and withdrawn into the Salt Flats of Sanath.

The Palace of the Sleepers appears to have disappeared. It is not clear if this is a permanent disappearance, a transportation of some kind similar to that used to try and protect the Halls of Knowledge, or simply a shroud of some kind. It’s also not clear what this will mean for the Tainted Basilisk, who rely on the Palace and the associated ghulai and septs to support their army.

Rebel Orcs

Rebellious former slaves of the Druj claim the Nesustak Forest Some of the rebellious orc faction are Water Walkers who have been recognised as foreigners by the Senate

Last season’s enchantment on the Nesustak Forest, placed by Imperial magicians, seems to have empowered Irra Harah to throw his entire weight behind these rebels, and that region is now in the control of the rebellious Sarangrave septs. Supported by Irra Harah, they have launched a surprise attack. With the Druj armies cut off from the region by the Imperial invasion, the Bloodwater Spears, the Water Walkers, and an unknown sept have taken the opportunity to overthrow the Druj, butchering the handful of remaining tepel and their guards to seize control.

It seems the rebels would like to have pulled off the same in the Whisperwood, but here the going is much harder, with the Druj armies based in Thornfen defending fiercely. If the Druj abandon the territory completely, or are forced out of Thornfen, then it's possible the rebels could claim more of the territory.

The Empire has made serious inroads into Nesustak (two-fifths towards claiming it) and Whisperwood (three-fifths towards claiming it). With Nesustak falling into the control of the rebels, it is impossible to take any more of the region without fighting and killing the rebel orcs that have risen up and displaced the Druj there - and the Senate recently recognised the Water Walkers as foreigners. The Whisperwood is a simpler prospect - the Empire could seize control of it by driving the Druj out, if they continue as they are.

The rebels show no signs of trusting or liking the Empire. There has been contact with the Winter Sun, but the most it has achieved so far is an agreement not to attack each other. The rebels won’t share what knowledge they have, and they don't have the force of arms to attack the Tower of the Skink. It is not clear if there is a basis to negotiate - they appear to want the Sarangrave for themselves, and for their fellows, rather than see it conquered by the Empire. At the moment their ability to do so is limited due to their lack of anything approaching an Imperial army in strength… but if they got control of the Fingers of the Devourer in the Whisperwood it would be dangerous to assume they cannot find a way to make an army.

Disaster in the South

Six Druj armies are fighting on the border between Zenith and Sarangrave Their disposition depends on what happens during the Autumn Equinox

The six armies in the south of the Sarangrave have nowhere to go - they have been driven out of Sarangrave but cannot withdraw into a safe region. For the moment they are fighting on the border, but it is clear that they have plans to escape. They will likely intend to take advantage of Night magic to do so, as they did when they escaped Zenith after they were trapped by the Empire.

The Weight of Glory

Soldiers in armies enchanted with Knights of Glory this season are becoming more attuned to the Summer Realm The Sarangrave armies under this enchantment this season can no longer use the Give Ground or Cautious Advance orders

In the reign of Empress Brannan there was a growing problem that armies were becoming reliant on Knights of Glory, but more importantly that exposure to the glorious knights of the Summer Realm was having an unlooked for effect on Imperial soldiers. It seems that the excitement of fighting in the Mallum is, indeed, starting to affect the Empire’s loyal warriors - possibly because of the oppressive aura of fear coupled with the feeling of pride and strength exposure to the heralds of the Fields of Glory brings.

During the next season, any Imperial army in Sarangrave that was supported by Knights of Glory this season cannot take the Cautious Advance or Give Ground orders. If the general issues such an order it will default to Balanced Attack or Solid Defence instead. This effect persists until the army in question has spent an entire year without experiencing the Knights of Glory enchantment.

It may be possible to ameliorate this effect by other means but it is not clear quite how this might be done. The national or virtue assemblies of the Imperial Synod may be able to assist in this matter, perhaps with a suitably worded statement of principle.

Magicians working with the armies point out that this is not something the heralds, or their eternal mistress, are actively doing. It is rather a side effect of extended exposure to the enchantment, and to the magical warriors it summons, possibly compounded by the terrible aura of fear that hangs over the Mallum. Eleonaris is not able to "stop doing this" because she and her soldiers are not actually doing anything to make this happen.

Participation

Citadel and Sky

Characters whose military unit supported the Citadel Guard or the Eastern Sky receive a potent boon

The Knights of Glory are powerful soldiers summoned from the Summer Realm and often influence the mortal soldiers they fight alongside - especially when the army and its orders are in synch with their mistress Eleonaris. The Eastern Sky engaged in a triumphant charge against the Druj this season, and the Citadel Guard drew on unique Summer magic to empower their own strategy. In both cases, the summoned Knights enthusiastically and vocally supported their actions, and threw themselves joyously into battle against the Druj.

The captain of any military unit that fought alongside either the Eastern Sky or the Citadel Guard begins the Autumn Equinox with an enchantment - Glory to the Sovereign. This gives them two ranks of endurance and the ability to call cleave twice each day when wielding a one-handed weapon, one-handed spear, great weapon or polearm with which they are proficient.

As well as the game benefits, the aura creates a roleplaying effect: You feel a strong urge to do great deeds that will make you the centre of attention, and you take particular pleasure in approval and adulation. You particularly want to do things that will make you be seen as worthy, strong and powerful warriors; being overlooked or dismissed may cause you to lose your temper.

The boon can be removed as normal - “overwritten” with a new enchantment - and will have faded by the start of the Winter Solstice.

Other Knights

Characters whose military unit fought alongside any other army enchanted with Knights of Glory in Sarangrave receive a different benefit

Knights of Glory also fought alongside the Fire of the South, the Golden Axe, Gryphon's Pride, Lions of Adelmar, Northern Eagle, and the Granite Pillar. A character whose military unit supported one of these armies may choose to have been impacted by the experience of battling in close proximity to heralds of Eleonaris.

If you possess the hero skill, you may choose to increase your number of hero points by one until the end of the Autumn Equinox. If you do not have the hero skill, you gain an additional temporary hero point which, once spent, is permanently gone. It will have faded entirely by the end of the Autumn Equinox regardless.

Anyone who chooses to gain this benefit also experiences a roleplaying effect that lasts until the end of the Autumn Equinox: You feel a strong urge to do great deeds that will make you the centre of attention, and you take particular pleasure in approval and adulation. You particularly want to do things that will make you be seen as worthy, strong and powerful warriors; being overlooked or dismissed may cause you to lose your temper.

Battle Opportunity : To Deal Out Death in Judgement

The Imperial prognosticators have identified a major conjunction of the Sentinel Gate that seems to open in the Bloodwater Marsh. They believe it offers some opportunity to influence the strategies of the Druj armies currently caught between two forces of Imperial soldiers.