Last rays of the sun

Two armies of scions remain in the Empire; the Cold Sun is setting but it will not be extinguished without sacrifice.

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Saros

It's been barely a year since the first appearence of the scions of Cold Sun. Since their initial probing assaults, they have brought immeasurable suffering to the people of the Empire in their pursuit of oblivion. Warbands of heralds gave way to entire armies, bringing devastation to territories otherwise assumed to be safe from attack.

The Spring Equinox just passed saw heroes aided by Lord Rain blunt the terrible dying curse of the Winnowers in Bastion, and attempt to protect the Haamrikoht Stone in Karov. The battle against Cold Sun is not solely a clash of arms; in Segura artists and musicians worked with Lashonar to build a beacon to draw in the scattered scion warbands and allow them to be destroyed by Freeborn warriors. Yet every victory against Cold Sun has been hard-fought, has been paid for in blood sacrificed to protect the people, the soul, of the Empire. The Imperial Orcs know that particularly well - a desperate attempt to intercept scions in Skarsind saw many brave warriors fall, and the remnants of the Still Walkers destroy themselves to unleash devastating unseasonal storms across the territory.

While there are still several warbands of scions at large within the borders of the Empire, one by one the armies drawn from the Day realm have fallen to the courage of Imperial soldiers. After the Spring Equinox only two remained at large; the Empty Hands in Miaren, and the Silence Arc in Hahnmark.

Rhonwen's Fall

Thorns, we are going home, our job is not done. The Cold Sun scions still burn but their flames are dying out. Call on the Courage of your oaths to fight as thorn. Remember what they have taken from this Empire. Let them take no more, destroy them, for Liathaven awaits!

Farenthar Shattersong, General of the Quiet Step

The Empty Hands taint and twist the trees of Miaren. Last season the armies of Highguard protected the people and the territory but could not destroy the scions army. As the Spring Equinox approached, the heralds of Cold Sun advanced on Rhonwen's Fall.

The Granite Pillar and the Valiant Pegasus are needed elsewhere, answering the call of Hahnmark's beacons and Kahraman's defenders. In their place comes the Quiet Step, marching down from distant Karov to strike the final blow against the Empty Hands. The Navarr Assembly has urged the thorns of the nation to destroy Cold Sun and to protect Miaren in particular. Warbands from Navarr, Urizen, and even Highguard swell the ranks in Miaren, practically doubling the number of soldiers fighting against the scions of Cold Sun.

The Quiet Step reach Miaren at Serenael and move carefully south, alert for the possibility of a trap. There are scattered encounters with the scions – the Empty Hands have sent warbands north and west from their position in Greenfalls, seeking to attack steadings who have refused to give ground in the face of the threat of Cold Sun. The further south the army travels, the more sign of the scions taint they see – trees transformed into an unliving material similar to polished bone or hard ceramic. The mark of the Empty Hands, which spreads wherever they travel and seeps into the beautiful woodlands of Miaren that the invaders seek to cleanse.

They also see other, more immediate, signs of Cold Sun's presence. Burnt steadings, villages, orchards, and farmsteads. A profound absence of people – many fled, many more slain by the servants of oblivion.

The main body of the army is gathered at Rhonwen's Fall. Once this was Sanctuary Falls, a refuge where Navarr took shelter from barbarians and treated the scars of their thousand year battle. It was renamed in the first few decades of the Empire, in honour of the archmage who gave her life to help defeat the vallorn of Miaren. There are two steadings here, close enough that many Navarr considered them to be one and the same – Fallshome and Longshadow where artisans once worked to capture some of the beauty of the cascading water. Built into the cliff under the falls that feed the upper reaches of the Gancio, the Imperial scholars who gathered here studied ancient designs carved into the rocks, teasing out information about the creation of the trods, and old ritual dances that date back to the earliest days of the Navarr.

By the time the Quiet Step reach Rhonwen's Fall, not a bird or a beast stirs in woodlands blasted by the presence of the Empty Hands. Barely one tree in five is still alive, the rest having been transmuted by the aura that emanates from the scions. The gates have been broken, the scars of desperate battle visible around the area. They take no prisoners, the scions of Cold Sun. They are strangers to the idea of mercy. The pool below the falls is choked with ash.

Grief fills the hearts of many Navarr thorns, especially those who had visited the Fall in happier times. To see this place of sanctuary and learning defiled by the madness of Cold Sun drives many to furious rage. The Thorns quickly discuss their approach, and prepare an assault against the walls of the steading.

The scions are not the only ones who can fight without mercy, but the orders of the General hold the angry thorns back, preventing them giving into rage and vengeance and throwing their lives away. Scouts identify the best route to approach the former steading, probing strikes launched to test the defences of the invading heralds. As the sun rises in the east the day after the Quiet Step reach Rhonwen's Fall, they begin their attack.

There is nowhere left for the scions to retreat, and they fight viciously to kill as many of the soldiers that come against them as they can. They make good use of the defences of the steading, but what failed to protect the Navarr people here will surely fail to protect them from those who come to avenge their victims. Half the scions that burned First Voice Glade, and sought to destroy the city of Seren, have already been destroyed. The remainder are no match for a furious army of Navarr and their allies, but they never attempt to surrender, to ask for or offer quarter. As each scion falls – dying silently without a whimper or a cry – their body crumbles to ash. Those who fall in battle against them meet a crueller fate, their bodies calcifying in the manner of the trees of Miaren. A few magicians are present to prevent such a tragedy, ready to offer Surcease of Sorrow to those who cannot be saved, or to Turn the Circle for those who have lost their lives before the malignancy that surrounds the Empty Hands can save them. A score or more of bodies now lie where they fell, uncannily precise sculptures of grief and foul magic.

As the sun rises higher, the defences around Rhonwen's Fall are broken a second time. The Imperial soldiers spill into the ruined settlement. The last defenders, including the Grand Archon of the Empty Hands, withdraw into the caves carved into the wall of the falls, into the depths of Fallshome. The Navarr follow. The beautiful murals are spattered with blood, tapestries and paintings centuries old are ruined or burned by withering fire. The carpets sodden with blood as one by one the last of the Empty Hand fall.

The last to go is the Grand Archon itself, brought to brook in what was once the dining hall of the steading. It shows neither regret nor remorse as the last scions fighting alongside it are cut down, and just before it is dispatched back to its hateful master it says... something. No-one records its final words, and whatever they are is lost in the chaos of the final fight.

Between the engagements with warbands, and the Battle of Rhonwen's Fall, more than a hundred Navarr are slain. The Empty Hand is shattered, the army destroyed by the Navarr. A handful of warbands, those too far from the falls to make it back in time to join the desperate defence, are still at large in Miaren but the vile aura that was slowly killing the trees in Miaren has at least ceased to work its terrible transformation.

Both steadings at Rhonwen's Fall have been utterly ruined. What the scions themselves did not destroy was broken during the attack of the Battle itself. The designs that once drew scholars from across the Empire are still mostly intact, but parts have been scoured or broken by the scions, seemingly intentionally. If they had had a few days more, there might have been nothing left.

In the days that follow, it becomes apparent that some of the Navarr who lived here escaped, fled before the coming of Cold Sun into Astolat. Most chose to stay and fight, to protect the sanctuary of the falls and the history it represented.

For now, there is time to regroup, to mourn the fallen and what has been lost, to repair the trods that run through Miaren. Then, perhaps, it will be time to look toward the future.

Or perhaps, more immediately, to look to the north...

Tower of the Eagle

Autumn Hammers! We have only just formed and yet the cold sun have bled us. We will NOT let this stand! We will take the fight to the Cold Sun in Hahnmark, we will make them know fear with the strength of our arms and the sharpness of our wits forming a balanced attack. We will strike with the names of the fallen in our hearts and in our voices. Ashborn Shad. Firestorm Kirra. Bloodcrow Vassa. Bloodcrow Rakk. Bleakshield Zorra. Redhand Spoons. Skywise Felk. Irontide Brakken. Gaterender Dran.

Vana, General of the Autumn Hammers

Legionaires, Janon heralds. We broke the Still Walkers in Skarsind, but we faced losses in skirmish. Firesong Kirra, Irontide Brakken, Irontide Finn, Bloodcrow Vassa, Bloodcrow Rakk, Ashborn Shad, Redhand 'Spoons', Skywise Felk, Bleakshield Zorra and Gaterender Drall. We carry these losses with us as we go to Hahnmark to kill the Silence Arc. Be relentless. Cut them down. No more losses.

Irontide Skorr, General of the Summer Storm

Sisters, Brothers, Siblings, a long journey I have walked, way before you all knew me and the Empire was even a Dream. When my name was Apaay Ukiuking, chief of chiefs of the Suaq - She who mediated the first meeting of the three people who would become one nation. Slow was my progress until the day Lev of the Unbound asked me to stand as your general. Swift the virtuous cavalcade every day since taking up the Granite Pillar mantle. What a gift to my soul's progress it has been to lead you. I ask today that you follow me on one last journey to answer the loyalty of Kindra Surefoot and the call of Iron Osric's aching heart. For me this is a pilgrimage - a return to the place where my story started. I ask that you join me and use this opportunity to bring virtue to the Scions in Hahnmark. With every deed matching word, let us also show the people of Wintermark our commitment that we will heal the wounds that past delusions and strife across the Empire have allowed too long to foster. To the people of Wintermark I say -This wound once healed will be a scar that tells an important and beautiful story. Look to the East. Grandma is coming home.

Asenath, General of the Granite Pillar

For the last six months Hahnmark has been defended only by the heroes of Wintermark. By the light of the beacons, they have fought the scions of the Silence Arc. They have driven them away from Valashal, and chased them across the flatlands of Kronemark.

The beacons have done their job; helped the champions of Suaq, Kallavesi, and Steinr keep the scions from spreading their curse of oblivion across the entire territory. Now, at least, three Imperial armies come to answer their call. As Spring fades toward Summer, the Granite Pillar of Highguard, the orcs of the Summer Storm, and the newest army of the Imperial Orcs nation, the just-mustered Autumn Hammers, come to the aid of the 'Mark.

Highborn zeal and the focused furor of the Summer Storm are counterbalanced by the more even-handed tactics of the Autumn Hammers. They waste little time; their aim is to destroy the Silence Arc before it can use the power of Cold Sun to bring widespread devastation to the heartlands of the Steinr.

The orcs fight with the names of the dead on their lips, the names of those who fall fighting the remnant of the Still Walkers in Skarsind, and the crimson-skinned heralds of the Shadowed Flame who fight beside them fan the flames of their grief and their anger. They aren't the only supernatural entities who accompany the Imperial Orcs; a trio of iron-masked observers from the City of Bar and Bond have taken it upon themselves to accompany the Autumn Hammers. They occasionally make tiny, inconsequential suggestions as to how this supply line might be better organised or that makeshift palisade might be better positioned, but for the most part they simply observe the tactics of the new-minted army.

The Highborn fight with virtue as their shield and sword alike; they have faced three armies of scions, and now they will ensure that the heralds are driven back to the demesne of their crazed master. Cold Sun has sought to slaughter the virtuous of the Empire, to tear at their spirit, for almost a year. The first army of Highguard will not rest until their threat has been ended once and for all.

As well as the armies, four thousand independent warriors fight alongside them. The majority battle with the Summer Storm, but a few with each of the armies and a couple of Wintermark champions still battling beneath the light of the Hahnmark beacons. They are also joined by the host of the red bear - the same powerful ursine heralds from the realm of Cathan Canae who fought in the defence of Valashal, called to battle the enemies of Wintermark in acknowledgement of the heroism of the nations warriors.

For their part, the Silence Arc are gathered at the Tower of the Eagle. The old ruin, a tumbledown tower atop a hill that was once a beacon, marks the location of a powerful regio aligned with the Day realm. Three thousand scions have encamped around the tower, raising defences and clearly preparing to face the assault of Imperial forces. Why here? Why now? The Summer Storm saw the destructive force unleashed by the Still Walkers firsthand; they have reason to be worried about what the Silence Arc may be planning.

The scions send a few warbands out to keep pressure on nearby halls, but they are focused on ensuring they are not driven from the ruins. They have quickly established defences; barbed spears of blue-green crystal jut like distorted stalagmites from the low hills around the Tower of the Eagle. They are strong as stone, and glow with an unwholesome radiance at night. They also take advantage of the terrain here, working with the familiar supernatural cohesion to keep a force several times larger than them at bay.

It's rare to see the scions fight defensively; this may be the only time they have not actively been striving to spread their wickedness and find new victims to destroy. The supernatural soldiers fight with the same awful silence they have shown before; they do not cry out when injured, they do not sing or shout in battle to raise morale, they simply fight as effectively and efficiently as possible to bring down their foes.

Unconquered scouts report that the concerns of the Summer Storm are by no means unfounded. While the majority of the scions keep Imperial soldiers at bay, a small cadre of channellers are busy building something atop the central hill, using the hollow shell of the Tower of the Eagle as a scaffold. They work under the guidance of the high archon of the Silence Arc. The Unconquered say the majority of the construction seems to be done by coalescing or extruding the same crystal that makes up the defences scattered around the tower. They are also using significant amounts of mithril, and small amounts of what can only be ilium. The courageous scouts who manage to confirm this pay the ultimate price; the last burns to ash from the inside out even as they deliver their final report to the commanders of the Imperial forces.

Stories of what happened at Duzekani, at the White Tower, are known to everyone here. With grim determination, a bold plan is sketched out and put into operation. As the Summer Solstice approaches, the Granite Pillar launch an irresistible attack against the Tower of the Eagle. They press forward, focusing on killing every scion in front of them, but trusting to the Imperial Orcs to protect their flanks. For their part the Summer Storm focus their fury not just on the destruction of every scion who tried to stop their advance, but on ensuring the Highborn will get where they are going. The Autumn Hammers split into three cohorts, supporting the 'Pillar and the 'Storm and making certain that the scions cannot encircle their comrades and strike at their rear.

As battle is joined, thousands of orc throats give voice to a savage cry; the names of the fallen. Firesong, Irontide, Bloodcrow, Ashborn, Redhand, Skywise, Bleakshield, and Gaterender. None are forgotten. Many of the Highborn soldiers join in, adding the names of their own fallen heroes to the chant, as they thrust an iron spear into the heart of the Silence Arc.

(Nobody knows it, but just as the Highborn vanguard clashes against the defences at the Tower of the Eagle for the first time, the Quiet Step launch their own final strike against the Empty Hands in neighbouring Miaren. When the last of the scions assailing Rhonwen's Fall is destroyed, a shudder of unseen power runs through the remaining Silence Arc, strengthening them, restoring them, bolstering their will to fight. They are the last army of scions left in the Empire, and the entire focus of Cold Sun, its terrible remorseless gaze, falls upon them.)

They fight like demons, mortals and scions alike. As the battle is joined, a blue-green radiance kindles inside the ruined Tower of the Eagle and washes out across the battlefield. Anyone who falls beneath the weapons of their foe will find no tomb, no rest in the grand ossuary of the Illarawm. As the heart beats its last, each body bursts into unnatural flame, consumed in an instant, leaving only ashes behind. As each scion falls, the light within the tower becomes imperceptibly stronger, brighter, harsher. By the time anyone realises that there is something wrong, they are committed – it is too late to pull back. Two thousand scions die and burn, but they do not falter. They give no thought to their self, only to the strategy of their master. Two hundred Imperial heroes fall, too far from healing touch or the succour of their allies. Each orc who is lost, their one life given to save the people of Wintermark, is marked by the heralds of Janon, who add their name to the battle-hymn as the fighting presses closer and closer to the cursed tower.

And then they are through the defences, and fighting up the hill. The army of the Silence Arc is falling apart but they do not, will not, can not stop fighting. A terrible roaring noise comes from within the tower, and a column of blue-green flame erupts toward the heavens, brighter than the sun at noon, visible as far south as Tassato, as far east as Laroc. A terrible, discordant, indescribable roar, louder than thunder, splits the air and the tired remnants of the Tower of the Eagle collapse, pulled inwards and burned to nothing in the space of three heartbeats.

The fire falls back down, sucked into the heart of the construction the channellers have built within the regio. A gate of shining mithril and aquamarine crystal, carved with runes and sigils inlaid with ilium. Twenty feet tall, twenty feet wide, it marks a space within which can be seen a light so potent it is impossible to look at directly, but there is movement within. Even as the Imperial heroes press closer, the Grand Archon of the Silence Arc, the last Grand Archon still in the Empire, gives voice to a terrible cry of their own raising their arms... and a dozen fresh scions of the Cold Sun step through the gate, out of whatever chamber lies on the other side, onto Imperial soil. Despite the wards that lie across the Empire thanks to the power of the Imperial Conclave, the Silence Arc have torn open this regio, in the wilds of Hahnmark, to allow their fellows to cross from the realm of Day to continue the invasion of the Empire. Thousands of them, ready to continue their master's crazed plan to bring oblivion to the whole of creation.

But it's too late. The Silence Arc have taken too long, and underestimated the Imperial armies ranged against them. The Grand Archon falls, peppered with arrows, as do the channellers arranged in a tight circle around the gate. Their magic is clearly not fully woven, not properly anchored to the structure they have built.

As the scions fall, the light in the gateway flickers and cracks, shattering impossibly into pieces that explode outwards like the glass from a broken window. The scions still fighting to defend the regio absorb the brunt of the catastrophically disrupted magic, torn to shred and blasted to ash in a second. A hundred Imperial soldiers – Highborn and Imperial Orc alike – are caught in the backlash, half of them killed instantly, the rest marked with the terrible touch of Cold Sun. Many more are stunned, temporarily blinded and deafened, hurled to the ground as the magic unravels, expands outward... and then is sucked back into the space within the gate taking the remains of the fallen with it.

The gate itself is left as ruined as the tower that stood around it – two columns of twisted crystal are all that remains, broken off less than ten feet from the ground. There is no sign of the rest of the structure. Between the two pillars, though, the blue-green radiance persists, a steady, terrible light that spills out. Where it touches the living, it leaves terrible burns, melting skin and flesh, twisting bones, burning anyone who gets too close. The surviving soldiers retreat back, and those who are not focused on the matter of getting away from the corrosive light marvel at the fact that not a single scion seems to have survived the battle at the Tower of the Eagle. A couple of warbands that were elsewhere when the tower fell, might endure, perhaps, but the vast majority of the scions are no more, blasted to ashes by their own collapsing gateway.

The soldiers don't know it yet, as they count the cost of this terrible battle, but the destruction of the Silence Arc marks the end of the Cold Sun incursion. There are still warbands here and there, remnants of other armies or of those groups that came across in the initial flurry when the gates of Day were thrown open, but they are few and far between, and getting rarer. Hunted. On the run, at the mercy of the heroes who will not let them regroup, who will not risk the Cold Sun rising again, not while there are Imperial champions to oppose it.

Coda

The Empire has been scarred. The marks of Cold Sun persist across Imperial territories where they fought, and it will likely be generations before they fade – if they ever do. Thousands have died, both in the initial attacks and in the seasons of fighting waged across almost every Imperial nation. Entire settlements have been annihilated, leaving ashen ruins or rings of warped glass behind as sole markers of where they once stood. But for now, at least, the threat is ended. Except...

Where the Tower of the Eagle stood, two broken pillars of warped and blasted crystal remain, twenty feet apart. The illumination that burns between the two columns is steady, unblinking, and irresistible. There's no way to approach the regio. Living beings who get too close, get within a quarter mile or so of the blasted hill, burn. Those who test the edges begin to die, and only immediate aid helps them avoid being burnt to ashes. The gate that lies at the heart of the regio is closed, help shut by the declaration of the Conclave. But if the vigil of Imperial magicians ever falters – if for whatever reason they consider Cold Sun no longer an enemy of the Empire for whatever reason – then the force that keeps this portal closed will falter. And then... Well. The Empire has seen what Cold Sun and its scions are capable of.

Game Information : Cold Sun

The region of Kronemark has gained the Sungate quality representing the magical disaster constructed where the Tower of the Eagle once stood. The steadings that made up Rhonwen's Fall have been destroyed, and much of the ancient artwork found there damaged or ruined by the scions.

The regio once marked by the Tower of the Eagle has been permanently altered. While Cold Sun is under the enmity of the Imperial Conclave it is quiescent. Should that enmity be relaxed to neutrality or amity, the eternal would be able to send at least one army of scions through, perhaps more depending on how long the enmity were relaxed for. Dismantling the gate at the Tower of the Eagle is currently impossible; the regio will quickly kill any living being that gets too close.

There is also an unsettling concern that this is only the regio the Empire knows about. A lot of mithril and ilium fell into the hands of the scions during the first months of the incursion and it is possible that similar nascent gateways may have been established in out-of-the-way places. Almost certainly not on the same scale as that in Hahnmark - a pillar of fire reaching to the sky would be hard to miss - but a potential threat should the Conclave decide to remove enmity from the eternal... or should enemies of the Empire find a way to force one open in spite of the Conclave.

None of the military units supporting the fight against Cold Sun in Hahnmark or Miaren received shares of the Imperial Guerdon.

Participation: Miaren and Hahnmark

If your military unit was assigned to support the Quiet Step, you may have been present at the Battle of Rhonwen's Fall. If you wish you may email plot with your CID before the 19^th of July and ask for a lingering traumatic wound to be included in your pack. This will represent either lasting damage to sight or hearing, or injuries inflicted by the unravelling Day magic. Be aware that while it will be treatable, if this wound is not healed by the end of the event the effects of some of these injuries might prove fatal.

If your military unit was assigned to support one of the Imperial armies fighting Cold Sun in Hahnmark this season (Summer Storm, Autumn Hammers, Granite Pillar), or the Beacons of Hahnmark, you may have been present at the Battle of the Tower of the Eagle. When the gate constructed by the Silence Arc was disrupted, the energies unleashed hammered everyone nearby. If you wish you may email plot with your CID before the 19^th of July and ask for a lingering traumatic wound to be included in your pack. This will represent either injuries inflicted by the unravelling Day magic or damage to your senses from the light and noise involved. While it will be treatable, if it is not healed by the end of the event the effects of these injuries may well prove fatal.

In addition, a player whose military unit specifically supported the Summer Storm may have come into contact with the small number of heralds of Janon who fight with the army. If you wish, you may experience a roleplaying effect: The memory of friends and family who have fallen in battle intrudes on your thought, and you feel driven to ensure they are never forgotten. It is easy to be angered by anyone who seems to be diminishing the grief you feel, and easy to lash out physically at such individuals or institutions. If you choose to embrace this roleplaying effect, and have the Hero skill, then at any time during the Summer Solstice you can gain a single temporary hero point, provided you engage in appropriate roleplaying showing how you channel your sorrow into a burst of rage or fury. You cannot use this ability if you are weakened or dying. Once expended the hero point is gone, and it fades naturally by the end of the Summer Solstice.

Conjunctions

Three opportunities exist to confront the remaining scions of Cold Sun during the Summer Solstice, using the Sentinel Gate.

Fading Words (Hahnmark)

A force of scions are threatening Wood Heath
This skirmish is a combat highly likely encounter
The thane of Dunhearth Hall is responsible for stopping the scions

Last season a force of scions were able to channel the force of Storm Pass above Pakaanan's Pass, Skarsind. A force of Imperial Orcs, supported by heroes from across the Empire, met them through the Sentinel Gate but were forced to withdraw. The scions unleashed the force on Whitelake, severely damaging the structure and then using the cover created to move south. Now they have been found, attempting the same thing on one of the peaks in the north-east of Wood Heath, Hahnmark.

If the scions are able to unleash something similar to what they managed in Skarsind then it would cause a disaster across the region. Where Pakaanan's Pass has few settlements - most of the Imperial Orcs preferring the other regions of Skarsind - Wood Heath is one of the more densely settled regions in Hahnmark. The burgeoning town of New Dunhall, along with the many structures around it, would suffer widespread damage. There are many commissions at risk: Autumn's Boon; Vale's Mightl; Fallsheart Cave; Dunfirth; and the Valley of Pride; as such the civil service have judged that the citizen responsible for this conjunction is the thane of Dunhearth Hall. It is up to Tobrytan Dunning to ensure that the scions do not complete their ritual.

A Message Sent (Redoubt)

A force of scions are advancing on the Tower of Light and Shadow
This skirmish is a combat highly likely encounter
The Penumbral Watcher is responsible for stopping the scions

During the Autumn Equinox 385YE a force of scions marched on the Brilliant Star. When part of the garrison of the Court of the White Fountain arrived at the mithril mine they discovered it had seen a fundamental change to the nature of the mine, but no clue as to where the heralds of Cold Sun had gone with the mithril they had claimed. Some of them journeyed to Hahnmark to support the Silence Arc in their failed attempt at claiming the Tower of the Eagle. The rest were assumed to have been killed or moved to support one of the other armies that has since been destroyed. The scions managed to avoid notice as they patiently waited for their chance to strike at the Tower of Light and Shadow.

The scions are on the move; advancing on the Tower of Light and Shadow and the force is expected to arrive a few days after the summit. If they are not stopped then they will unleash something similarly dangerous to what was done to the Brilliant Star, fundamentally changing the nature of the Tower. Given that this represents a direct threat to the Tower of Light and Shadow it is the responsibility of the Penumbral Watcher, Izora Highwind, to stop the scions.

Pale Shadows (Miekarova)

A force of scions are advancing on the Icy Crag of the Eternal Sun
This skirmish is a combat highly likely encounter
The Master of Ice and Darkness is responsible for stopping the scions

Shortly before the Spring Equinox the Blade of Skies were broken by the combined wrath of the Iron Helms, Northern Eagle, and the Quiet Step. Only scattered remnants of scions remained; most were hunted down by the soldiers, some were left to the schlacta and wardens to deal with, but a few remained. The largest group of which travelled north into Miekarova. Towards the Icy Crag of the Eternal Sun. There is uncertainty among the cabalists who discuss the matter; what could the scions possibly hope to gain? The force is too small to threaten the college of magic, especially if the heralds of the King of the Forest of Arden help defend it.

The answer comes shortly before the summit: the scions - invested as they are with the same potency as the Blade of Skies - will break the high hill that overlooks Volchitrava and cause significant damage to the Icy Crag. Given that this is a direct threat to the Icy Crag of the Eternal Sun it is the responsibility of the Master of Ice and Darkness, Ceinwen Eternal, to stop the scions. On hearing of the threat Silverbrow dispatched one of his swift messengers to deliver a small package of aid to the Master, in his capacity as patron of the college. (OOC Note: The Master will find a number of golden apples, a couple of potions, and a ribbon for a rod in their pack)

Last rays of the sun

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