To hold death's hand in mine

Blood and Roots

The Imperial armies, and their allies from the Great Forest Orcs were forced to retreat into the Barrens. The Navarr feel the loss of Isaella's Dance especially keenly. For the first time since they committed to destroy the vallorn, the spirit of the nation stumbles. The surviving soldiers of the Black Thorns feel the loss particularly keenly. They watch the southern borders of the Barrens, eager to welcome survivors from the 'Dance until the very last moment when they must march west to resupply in Reikos. Their hope fails quickly; barely a handful of survivors make it to the Barrens after the Winter Solstice. The wound of grief goes unannealed, without solace, and it may take a long time to heal.

The scattered rumours emerging from East Ring speak of carnage. The walking dead, the undying remnants of the Iron Helms, continue to feast on the warriors of the Druj. They rip and tear into the orcs of the Mallum, but their fury is ultimately unbound and undirected. As the weeks pass, it is clear that the winter spirits bound to the shattered army are gaining the upper hand. Whatever remnant of the former soldiers of Varushka still remained within the ghouls is droned out by the indiscriminate hunger rages within them. They are drawn equally to the splintered remnants of the Imperial armies and the insolated steadings that have so far avoided the attention of the invaders.

Nothing stands between the folk of western Therunin and the orcs of the Mallum. As the Druj march, word begins to spread that the priests of the National Assembly urge their people to flee. Therunin is lost, they say. No Imperial armies are coming to protect it. Those who stand and fight will have no support, although their courage is recognised. Those who flee should seek to carry the lore of Peakedge Stead with them to the wider Empire.

It is difficult for many of those who call Therunin their home to hear these words. Similar assurances were made about Liathaven as well, yet years have passed and still the western forests remain solidly under the control of the Jotun. The enemy have built new settlements there, they have even chosen to rename the territory Ashvale. Why should anyone believe that Therunin will be any different? The words of the assembly fall like the grim knell of doom on the ears of those who hear them. So many sacrifices made, and still the Imperial Military Council cannot justify protecting the people of Therunin.

Through the Valley

The words of the Assembly are not welcome, but some choose to heed them nonetheless, especially in the Tarn Valley. The waters of the Lower Valley are tainted now, corrupted by the effluent from Sephal's Cauldron. The threat of the Druj is immediate; the bulk of the invading forces are still in Eastring and East Ashes and while their armies may be delayed fighting the ravening remnant of the Iron Helms their raiders still strike westward into the Valley.

Some of the people of the Lower Valley have already fled north into the Barrens, to the welcoming Eaves of Peytaht. The last of the Great Forest Orc villages and proto-steadings are emptied. As they depart, the orcs invite their neighbours to come with them, to seek the safety of the weirwood groves. The children of the Great Forest know what it is like to lose their homes to the malice of the Druj. Others - orc and human alike - flee up to the Upper Valley. Some join the defence of the steadings there, others press on toward Peakedge Song.

Where the Navarr and their friends flee west, they are perhaps surprised to find people travelling in the opposite direction. The Senate has established the first true sodality of the new era, the Imperial Apothecaries' Guild. Thanks in part to the support of Highguard, an antidote to the poison of the Lower Valley has been found, and these masters of herb lore from many nations have been charged with putting it to good use.

Or at least that is the plan. Once it becomes clear that the assemblies are urging everyone to flee Therunin, the plan is forced to change. If there had been any Imperial presence in Therunin, or the Druj hadn't decided to advance, then it might have been possible to begin the work of clearing the poison. Instead, it is clear that it would be madness to attempt to enter the Lower Valley in force - any apothecaries who made the attempt would quickly fall victim to the depredations of the Druj. They would be murdred or more likely enslaved, if the Druj discovered they were skilled apothecaries. Either way, their lives would be forfeit - and it would achieve nothing.

Instead the majority of the apothecaries set to work helping the refugees, providing much needed medical assistance to those who have been injured. Many move to bolster the defences of the Upper Tarn, or turn back entirely to help evacuate Peakedge Song. In many ways the Empire has been fortunate - the efforts of the Imperial Apothecaries' Guild have still cost the Senate ten thrones, but the leadership and direction of the sodality has prevented the outcome from being much worse.

A Ravening Flood

There is no doubt they have made the wise decision. The last of those prepared to quit the Lower Tarn have barely crossed the border before the ravening storm breaks. Uncountable thousands of Druj warriors spill out of East Ashes and Eastring, tearing through the defenders who remained behind. The Black Wind are in the vanguard, many bearing torn banners of the Iron Helms and Isaella's Dance, or wielding weapons taken from slaughtered soldiers who never left the eastern regions. The “true” Druj are close behind them, their own standards fluttering in the midwinter winds. Wicked scorpions; pale ants; sickly yellow serpents; crimson lizards with ivory horns and talons patterned with blood; the burning beetles; and everywhere the twining brambles of the Thorn Born.

The Lower Tarn Valley falls swiftly, the remaining steadings offering little resistance to the force that washes over them. Yet the Druj armies seem to want to spend as little time as possible there - they may have their own antidotes to the corruption of Sephal's Cauldron but the poison that seeped into the ground still costs them. They do not delay, do not divert their forces to all the distant corners of the marshy valley. Only the Thorn Born seem to make a point of seeking out the defenders of the eastern valleys, relishing every opportunity to smash a steading or put a former Great Forest Orc village to the torch. The bulk of the invading force pushes through quickly, following the refugees to the Upper Tarn Valley.

Even the Black Wind seem more interested in conquest than in tormenting the Navarr, always pushing forwards rather than pausing to make an example of those crushed in their wake.

Very few Navarr who face the Druj survive the experience, but their focus does not make them any less terrible. Anyone in the path of the armies is either slaughtered without mercy, or enslaved by the chikad of the Red Lizard who follow close behind the other armies. They are especially eager to drag the herbmasters and apothecaries of Navarr back to the Mallum - just as well the Apothecaries' Guild chose the wiser course. Most of those who fall into the hands of the Druj slavers choose to accept the Gift of Kaela rather than the collar and the lash. After all they know that nobody is coming to save them any time soon. Better to seek the Labyrinth than to become a slave of the Druj. It is no doubt a source of fury for the Red Lizard, for all the good that does those left with no choice but the nature of their deaths.

Pride and Courage

The defenders of the Upper Tarn Valley believe themselves ready for what is to come. Resolute, those who have chosen to stay and fight prepare themselves to meet the advance of the Druj. Bloodharrow Philtre flows like water, thanks to the presence of the Apothecaries Guild, and any who want it can secure a flask or two of one of the Legacies of Thorns. Their numbers are further reinforced by a scattering of healers from the Houses of Healing, and a handful of heralds of Lord Rain, ready with words of healing and purification.

Only a scant few of those who have remained behind to fight believe they might halt the invaders' advance. Have they not faced the vallorn for centuries, and turned it back every time? Even there, though, many must know in their hearts that their taks is impossible. The Druj are a very different enemy to the vallorn; cunning, cruel, wicked.

Most of the defenders know that the best they can hope for is to delay, to buy more time for those who choose to evacuate to do so. There is a sorrowful pride in many of those who would not flee. Knowing they are prepared to lay down their lives for their family, for their homes, some find that all those little distractions of day-to-day life drop away bringing with them a bittersweet clarity.

The sacrifice of those who remained behind to garrison the steadings of Upper Valley buys only a few hours. The blighted armies roll over the defenders like a tidal wave, shattering the defences of anyone who lies in their path westward. But each moment they are delayed is precious, granting those Navarr who have heeded the call to abandon their homeland the breath they need to flee.

As in the Lower Tarn, they waste comparatively little time consolidating their hold on the region. Some of the steadings do not see a single orc through the entire campaign. It seems the eyes of the Druj armies are on sweeter fruit.

Song Into Silence

The Druj come, then, to Peakedge Song. Here, their advance slows slightly as they encounter the swiftly assembled fortifications raised by the Towerjacks. Unfortunately, the embankments and ditches, the pallisades and spikes laid down to defend the region have lost much of their effectiveness since the League engineers left for Redoubt.

Only once, years ago, have the orcs of the Mallum tried to lay siege to Peakedge Stead. The conquerors of Reikos, trapped between the Great Forest of Peytaht and Imperial armies sought to escape through Therunin to the Barrens. They were pushed back into the killing ground of Highguard by the armies of Navarr and the Granite Pillar. They did not come close to achieving a foothold, and were ultimately forced to flee north to escape Reikos, paying a terrible price for doing so.

This time, though, things are very different. This is not a beleaguered and battered force of Druj on their last legs but a grand host of spears and arrows, merciless fangs and cruel claws. Peakedge Stead is a powerful and enduring symbol of hope for many Navarr; a place of healing and gentleness, a quiet contrast to the terrible battle they fight against the vallorn. It is a symbol of cooperation, of bringing together, where Navarr, Highguard, and the Great Forest Orcs all worked to preserve life and bring succor to those who cannot be saved. It is where Tarnfather's Houses of Healing stand, and where the great college of the apothecary arts Thornsong House, was established.

The college at least is safe for now. Barely a day after the Winter Solstice, as night fell a wall of impenetrable fog wrapped itself around the college grounds hiding them from sight. The wall remains, warding the entirety of the 'House. Coils of mist form and shift giving the impression of great thorn-wrapped brambles wrapped around the hidden buildings. Those who dare to venture within are confused and glamoured, unable to find anything within, to the frustration of the invaders from the Mallum. Some of the staff departed as the wards started to rise, but many more remain within. They protect their stores of lore, and by all accounts have enough supplies to last a year. They will wait for the Imperial armies to free Therunin, protected from any danger that might seek to harm them - but hidden also from those allies who might seek to help them.

The Druj beat against the League defences, drawing closer and closer to Peakedge Stead. Many desperate counsels are held, and a significant portion of those who call the steading their home choose to accept the offer of sanctuary in High Chalcis to the west. Those patients able to make the punishing journey with the Druj at their back do so, but there are more who cannot move, who would not survive the exhausting flight to Reikos. Some of those who tend them, the vines and physicks, apothecaries and magician-healers, refuse to leave their patients behind. Humans and orcs alike refuse to flee, doing their best to reinforce the walls of the great hospital-steading. There is hope that the Druj advance might have spent itself in conquering the Tarn Valley, and against the Towerjacks' defences.

Rainfall

It is a vain hope. The Druj armies do not stop, closing on Peakedge Stead. The drums of war batter and beat in the nights, and the first torches appear through the woods a little less than a month before the Spring Equinox. There will be no Welcoming this year at Peakedge Stead for the first time in two hundred years or more. There is a bitter argument about whether it might be best to fire the steading, to stop the herb gardens and stocks of medicine falling into the hands of the Druj, but the defenders refuse to give in to despair even though defeat seems inevitable.

As the sun rises on the last day, a soft, sweet rain begins to fall. Where the raindrops strike soil, yellow and white and pale lavender spring flowers bloom. The Druj pause, uncertain - but no more confused than the defenders of Peakedge Stead. Then, with a noise like thunder, the spring that rises in the heart of the Houses of Healing just outside the steading explodes. A waterspout sixty feet high rises over the trees. Water flows down doward Peakedge Stead, streams dancing and coiling around each other joyously, like living things. Within minutes, the streams have become a river - a moat around the hospital and the Houses of Healing. Then, as the Druj launch their first volley of arrows against the defenders, the ground explodes.

Brambles erupt from the wet soil where the flowers bloomed, each as thick as a person around. They rise like serpents, weaving themselves together, with vicious thorns facing toward the Druj armies. They spread outward, as well as upward, creating an impassable barrier around Peakedge Stead, a thicket of impenetrable greenery.

At the same time, heralds of Ossegrahn emerge from the regio of the healing house, and move through the defenders with words of support and encouragement. As well as the person-sized heralds the Empire has seen before, there are a dozen massive guardians, quadrupedal creatures of living wood that creak and groan as they walk, flowers exploding in their wake as they move to form a perimeter around the steading and begin to sing - deep, bubbling notes that twine around each other in strange harmony all through the thicket of massive brambles, huge buds emerge and open into beautiful flowers.

The Druj, all their armies, cannot penetrate the wall surrounding Peakedge Stead and the Houses of Healing. Those who try are turned back - hacking at the brambles proves fruitless as the singing guardians simply heal any damage inflicted on the hedge. A few of the servants of the Centipede General who often march with the more venomous of the Druj armies manage to find a way through, but the defenders make quick work of them. Peakedge Song falls, but Peakedge Stead stands. For now at least.

There is muted celebration within the walls, but the heralds of Father Waterfall do not join in. There is a palpable aura of sadness around those who move among the defenders of the steading, and the explanation for their sorrow soon puts paid to any hope of triumph. It seems that this wall cannot last. This unsubtle, ungentle manifestation of Spring magic taxes Ossegrahn's power greatly. There are armies of Druj, cunning ghulai and terrible servants of the Scorpion Queen and the Woodwyf among them. The wall will not last. As the Spring Equinox falters, so too will the hedge of Lord Rain.

Peakedge Stead, and all it represents will be destroyed by the Druj. So too will the Houses of Healing. There is a way to ensure it does not, but the means to achieve that end lies in the hands of the Conclave and the Senate, far away at Anvil.

This is a doom held in abeyance, not averted.

Spite and Malice

Denied their prize, the armies of the Druj complete their conquest of Peakedge Song. The Arrow Viper and the Hunting Scorpion pursue those who tarried too long before fleeing, chasing them down and slaying them. Most are dead before they realise the danger that surrounds them. The Druj impale their bodies on spears along the road to High Chalcis.

A significant force remains outside Ossegrahn's hedge, watching. The Druj are no masters of Day magic but it would be foolish to assume they did not know how tenuous this ward will prove to be. The rest of the Druj armies spread through Therunin as the Spring Equinox approaches, securing their new territory.

While Peakedge Stead is safe for a few more weeks, Therunin itself has fallen entirely to the Druj. They are masters of this place now, and those Navarr who remain are hunted prey where once they were masters of marsh and forest.

Of course not all inhabitants of Therunin live in the Tarn Valley, in Peakedge Song. There are steadings within the vallorn itself, fortified structures designed to provide places of fleeting safety against the vallornspawn. They, at least, are not in danger from the Druj.

Surely?

Tainted Vengeance

After their defeat during the Battle of Ashwater, the army of the Tainted Basilisk withdrew from Therunin. Now, it seems, they have returned, following behind the conquering wave of the Mallum. The ghulai who lead the army weave ritual magic to support their fellows, but they rarely engage the Navarr directly. They lag behind as the barbarians press ever westward.

The soldiers of the Tainted Basilisk move slowly, with purpose, more interested in gathering magical resources than fighting it seems. Only at the old, abandoned steading of Return do the Tainted Basilisk take the lead. They seem to have a particular interest in that place where the exemplar Gerallt Brackensong gave his life to thwart the machinations of the Green Mother, to keep the slumbering vallorn of Tharundid undisturbed.

So it is of particular concern that the very few eyewitnesses that make it back to Imperial lands claim that among the orcs of the 'Basilisk are a number of unnatural creatures - inhabitants of the Primal Forest. Figures of wood and bark, wound with ivy and vines, some no taller than an orc or human, others towering above them. Servants, most likely, of the Queen of Brambles who the Druj know as Greenhand or Nest of Thorns. Warm honey flows like sap among the ghulai of the Tainted Basilisk as the Spring Equinox approaches.

Then, barely a week before the Equinox, while the rest of the Druj lay siege to Peakedge Stead or hunt straggling Navarr in the Tarn Valley, something happens. Adepts of Spring lore, especially those trained as vates, sense a pulse of Spring magic rising in Therunin and striking out along the trods into the Barrens, into Reikos, into Redoubt and Zenith. Those who are drawing on the trods at the time are knocked off their feet, left insensible for a few mintes, by the force of the magic. Everywhere along the trods of the neighbouring territories, plants rise and stretch, leaves rippling across their branches, buds opening, life straining through their roots. It is followed a moment later by a sensation of inrushing, of sucking, as if the magic that has come roaring out of Therunin is being dragged back along the trods, like water spiralling down a drain.

It takes only a few days for the magicians outside Therunin to realise what has happened. With blood magic, with goetic invocations of Greenhand and Nest of Thorns, with terrible drums and chants, with the use of items of worth seized from the steading of Return, and with nobody to oppose them, the Tainted Basilisk have finally realised the ambition that was denied them at the Battle of Ashwater.

They have roused the vallorn of Tharunind to wakefulness.

Game Information

Regarding Therunin

The Druj have conquered Therunin Peakedge Stead, the Houses of Healing, and Thornsong House are the only significant structures still in Imperial hands

The Druj have conquered the whole of Therunin, save only the vallorn regions of Sweetglades and Greenheart. Following the Spring Equinox all Imperial personal resources will experience the conquered territories penalty to their production unless they are protected by magic such as Vale of Shadows.

At the urging of the assemblies, almost all the Navarr stridings and many of the Navarr steadings evacuated Therunin before the Druj could overrun them. Refugees have found a welcome in Reikos, among the Great Forest orcs in the Barrens, and in northern Urizen. Others have simply joined some of the remaining stridings that continue to walk the trods.

The plan to remove the poisoned quality from the Lower Tarn Valley has failed. As explained in the Wasp nest wind of fortune, the fact the Druj have captured the Lower Tarn means the original plan will not work. There will be no opportunity to remove the poisoned quality unless the Druj are driven out. The 10 Thrones of support the Senate applied has been used to aid the people of Therunin and cannot be refunded.

The situation with Peakedge Stead and the Houses of Healing is discussed in more detail in the TBC wind of fortune.

The Vallorn of Tharunind

The vallorn of Tharunind has been roused It is slowly reaching out into regions neighbouring Sweetglades and Greenheart Parts of Morrow may also be imperilled Any forest in Therunin, Morrow, Zenith, High Chalcis, or The Barrens, that provides chaos fruit will produce two additional chaos fruit after the Spring Equinox

Last Autumn Cintra Blackstaff sought to direct the force of the vallorn against Peakedge Stead. Now, with the direct aid of Yaw'nagrah, the Tainted Basilisk have achieved something similar, but different. The vallorn is rousing in Therunin, but it seems to be reaching out in all directions, not only towards Peakedge Song. Vallorn miasma drifts north and west, and in Urizen the heliopticon glitters with worried news that pools of miasma have been spotted in the northern foothills of Peregro and Altis. Where there is miasma, there are vallornspawn husks and, because this is Therunin, ettercaps. Abominations shift in Sweetglades and Greenheart themselves, and the steadings within the Tharunind vallorn are quickly placed under seige.

This is not a case of the Druj having awoken the entire vallorn all in one go; rather it is closer to the kind of thing the Heirs of Terunael tried to achieve. The vallorn has become active, and seeks to expand. At the moment, that expansion is focused on Peakedge Song and the Upper Tarn Valley. The vallorn is moving slowly at this time, but if it follows a similar pattern to that observed during similar incidents it is likely to gather momentum as it expands. The energy that drives the expansion is likely to be comparatively short lived - if it can be driven back it will eventually slip back into uneasy slumber again. If it is not driven back and is allowed to infest an entire region then the unnatural vitality that prevents the vallorn being directly damaged will mean that reclaiming such a region will be next-to impossible.

Navarr prognosticators believe that by the start of the Summer Solstice the vallorn will have overrun most of the steadings in Sweetglades and Greenheart and have begun expanding into Peakedge Song and the Tarn Valley. After that it's hard to say - a lot will depend on what the Druj are planning to do. It is entirely possible given the involvement of Yaw'nagrah that the vallornspawn and the miasma will not stop at the borders of Therunin and will eventually threaten the people Highguard, Dawn, and Urizen.

The burst of vitality along the trods around Therunin seems to have brought with it a questionable benefit. Any forest that has been permenantly diversified to provide chaos fruit will provide an additional two fruit at the Summer Solstice.

Participation - Apothecaries

Characters with the Apothecary skill may have helped support the defenders in Therunin

The Apothecary Guild, established by the Imperial Senate during the Winter Solstice, sought to remove the poisoned quality from the Lower Tarn Valley. They were prevented from doing so, and some chose to instead put their talents to work helping the defenders of Therunin. Obviously it was not possible at the Winter Solstice to formally join the Guild, but there are player characters whose interests align with those of the guild. As such, any character with the apothecary skill may decide that they would have been involved in Therunin. Any such character may email plot@profounddecisions.co.uk and request a lingering traumatic wound that represents injuries sustained during your time in Therunin. Be aware that these injuries will take the form of poisoned wounds, and may prove fatal if not treated quickly.

This opportunity is only available to characters with the Apothecary skill; while anyone may join the Apothecaries' Guild once it is properly established, and anyone can roleplay they were involved in Therunin, the option of being poisoned by the Druj is only available to characters with the apothecary skill.

The deadline for emailing Profound Decisions about this is midnight on the 31st of May.

Participation - Navarr

Characters whose personal resource is in Therunin may email plot to request a traumatic wound

Any character whose personal resource is in Therunin may likewise email plot@profounddecisions.co.uk and request a lingering wound, representing injuries received trying to hold the Druj back. Again, it's fine for people who are not based in Therunin to roleplay that they have been in the territory helping resist the Druj advance, but the option to receive a lingering wound is only available to those who live in the territory.

Alternatively, a character whose personal resource is in Therunin who wishes to have responded to the assembly urging them to flee may email plot@profounddecisions.co.uk and ask to swap their current personal resource for a new standard personal resource in either the Barrens or Reikos - taking advantage of the new wayhouses established there - without paying the usual 2 crown fee. They'll start the Spring Equinox with their resource in the chosen territory.

The deadline for emailing Profound Decisions about either of these options is midnight on the 31st of May.

Further Reading

Therunin Under eastern skies - Winter 386YE Wind of War Blood and mire - Autumn 386YE Wind of War Ashes - Summer 386YE Wind of War