Tread of dust and darkness

Silence. No sound of wind. No breath in the body or the world. The dust and the ash lie undisturbed, save for a single line of tracks. The mind's eye leans in, swoops to follow. A straight line of tracks, one pair of feet, through the arid land. The sun is hidden behind clouds. Rain falls, but it does not disturb the ash. It hardly seems to touch the ground before it is swallowed up, gulped down by the thirsty ashes. No puddles form no little rivulets, nothing to wash away the tracks.

Nothing but the ash and the tracks and then on the horizon something else. Slip closer. Ruins. Beautiful once, this place. Houses, workshops, a long table under the eaves of a red stone building. Even here, even at the heart of a family twisted by the past, there would have been laughter and music. Nothing of that remains, only the dust and ash that coats everything.

The tracks do not veer. It is as if, a dozen miles away, the one who made them knew exactly where this door was and set off to walk through it even though it could not possibly see where it was. Ruler straight, the tracks disappear into the house. They become harder to follow, how. Ash has blown in from the outside - the door is wide open - and settled on the ground in irregular patches. The tracks veer around an upturned table, and down through another door. No more ash here, but the dust is thick in the air. We no longer need to see those footprints to know where they are going - it's inevitable. There's only one way to go. Down the stairs into... a cellar? A hidden chamber? The air is hard to breathe, as if it resents even the movement of a single pair of lungs struggling not to drown in the dryness.

The last thing we will see in our mind's eye is a shape, a humanoid shape, falling to dust, sifting from solid to aid in the blink of an eye. There is something here, here in this dark chamber. Something that thirsts. Something that is calling its children home.

The Blight is quiet, for the moment, but it is not defeated, it does not truly sleep, it simply waits.

Overview

• Imperial heroes defeated the Dry Patricians' attempt to spread the Blight
• The Blight remains a threat however

Seek out the poison in your neighbour’s fields, lest your own crops be blighted. -- Saying of Vigilance

In the Spring, the heroes of the Empire scored a decisive victory over the Dry Patricians. Partly thanks to the use of certain mysterious preparations whose secrets are known only, it is said, to the Hakima of Salt and Sand, partly due to the courage of those who refused to allow the Madrugan blight to spread any further.

The threat of the Blight spreading from the region once called the Great Grasses - and lately, "Blightheart" - has been ended. At least for the moment. The ashen desert still remains, and there are still parched horrors in its depths. It is only a matter of time before another effort is made to expand its borders. Vigilance, therefore, demands further action.

Wash It All Away

• An arcane projection that will cause the Scorrero to burst its banks has been created
• It will flood the Great Grasses and (hopefully) wash away the blight
• There is some fear that if the magic is performed without first ensuring the heart of the Blight is cleansed it may just change the nature of the disaster
• The arcane projection is believed to be in the possession of the Eliza, Grandmaster of the Unfettered Mind

Last season, Dyan of Eagle's Striding presented an arcane projection that can be cast at the Summer Solstice, causing the Scorrero to flood its banks and wash over the surrounding areas. The projection is believed to be in the possession of the Grandmaster of the Unfettered Mind, Eliza. The Rainmaker, Ossegrahn, has offered his aid in casting it, and it is believed that it would have the effect of washing the region clear of blight...

Unfortunately, there are real concerns that unless the magic at the heart of the blight is ended, this could well simply change the problem rather than bringing it to an end.

Bakar i Riqueza, Hakima of Salt and Sand

The Unaccounted For (Conjunction)

• The remains of one of the di Tutamen family are still unaccounted for
• It may be that the curse of the Blight is now focused around that individual
• This is a combat possible encounter
• A conjunction of the Sentinel Gate has been identified leading to the heart of the Blight at 23.30 on Friday night
• Aligning the regio there with Spring would allow Ossegrahn to claim it and at least temporarily cut off power to the Blight
• The civil service have determined that the Hakima of Salt and Sand should take responsibility for the conjunction

Lutomysla Niegoslava performed the appraisal that provided some answers to the threat of the Blight. While she has been busy in the north-east for the last few months, the Prognosticator's Office has liaised with Gideon of the Farthest Shore - the member of the Unfettered Mind rescued by Imperial heroes - seeing what can be learned from the magician's own observations of the Blight. Based on the work of Lutomysla, Bakar, and all that has come before, he has concluded that, now that the Blight has entered a quiescent phase, its power is drawing towards its centre - to the abandoned villa of the di Tutamen where he believed all this began. There is known to be a powerful regio aligned with the Winter realm at its centre. He believes it is no coincidence that the body of Aldea di Tutamen - the apparent focus of whatever ill-fated ritual opened the way to the Wasteland - is still unaccounted for.

Gideon has a supposition. He believes that the body of Aldea di Tutamen lies at the centre of the Blight. With the defeat of the harbingers, all that is puissant within the dead lands will be focused within her. The curse is weakened, but will continue to grow in strength again until another cycle of expansion begins. It is possible that, in a literal sense, she is the centre - unable to move, an unliving regio, monument to hubris. Whether any consciousness lurks within the body - or what the nature of that consciousness could be - is unimportant.

Gideon notes however that one of the properties of a regio is that it can be claimed by an eternal. If an appropriate eternal could be convinced to do so, it might provide a way to cut the Blight off from the Wasteland. Right now, to claim the regio would be to claim the Blight. Of course, they would have to be a Winter Eternal, as it is a Winter regio - and this is unfortunate, because the Winter Archmage is meeting at this summit with... a certain unsuitable candidate of whom to make this request.

Fate, however, has offered an opportunity. Gideon has identified a conjunction of the Sentinel Gate that will open at half past eleven on the Friday night of the Summit. It is a small conjunction, allowing only for five people, but it opens to The Villa of Aldea di Tutamen, Blightheart, Madruga - to the heart of the Blight itself. If an agreement could be brokered with Ossegrahn earlier that evening, and a suitable ritual team sent through the gate, to brave whatever they find there... the Empire has the means to, however briefly, allow the Blight to gain the nature of Spring - and allow Ossegrahn to claim it. Then, surely, it would be safe to perform Dyan's ritual, and cleanse Madruga once and for all. The civil service have identified that the Hakima of Salt and Sand, as representative of the hakima of Madruga and one who has been heavily involved in the matter of the Dry Patricians, should be responsible for this conjunction.

Ashes and Dust

• Azoth is exploring the possibility of a destructive alchemical preparation
• The Crucible has an offer of their own for Bakar, regarding the destruction of the blight
• Once the Blight is resolved, it will share the result of its explorations with Bakar i Riqueza

The incursion of Lucksprings during the Spring Equinox saw a tough battle against the Parched, but in the process Bakar i Riqueza was apparently able to claim some of the dust and ashes of the Dry Patricians. The eternal Azoth had already offered some aid, working with the hakima to create an alchemical substance that made it easier to destroy the dreadful creatures of the Blight. In return, it asked for some of the ashes of the Dry Patrician attacking Segura.

It appears that the ashes were delivered, and the Crucible has begun to study them and their essential nature to see what secrets might be teased out of them. The process is still ongoing, but the eternal of Night has promised that, if it is at all possible, it will create a new ritual text for Bakar, something that will create a substance with a more general use. Once the Parched are dealt with, after all, a material specifically designed to destroy them loses much of its appeal.

However, because one thing must end before another can begin, Azoth cannot complete its research until the Blight is dealt with. They say that they intend to make to the Empire, through Bakar, a request: "to choose a wound transformed over a wound healed". What that means, hopefully, will be clearer to Bakar as the Solstice approaches...

Once it is resolved, one way or another, it will be able to find the final spark of genius it needs to complete its work and provide the ritual alchemy it has been exploring to Bakar i Riqueza.

Dry Falcons, Dry Drakes (Conjunctions)

• Two groups of Parched have been corraled by soldiers of the Drakes and the Burning Falcon
• These skirmishes are combat highly likely encounters
• Tancred of Meade is responsible for defeating the Dry Patricians
• The General of the Burning Falcon is responsible for defeating the Dry Patricians
• It will be required to cast Words of Ending at magnitude 14 on the Dry Patricians
• Neither of these skirmishes are taking place under the effect of the blight

During the recent storms a number of Dry Patricians and Ashwalkers were displaced from the Great Grasses. They do not seem to have the power to spread the Blight and luckily, Imperial armies are in the territory to hold them up whilst support arrives.

The Drakes have sent out scouts, and report that the creatures have split into two groups, one heading for their own camp and one for the camp of the Burning Falcon. The armies are exhausted from a season of fighting during a hurricane, but there is little doubt they will be able to deal with the threat. A detachment from each army has been dispatched to corral the wayward creatures of the Blight, but if the Parched are able to be defeated through the Sentinel Gate they will be able to return to their respective armies.

A total of four conjunctions have been identified; two apiece opening in the area of each group. The expectation is that the first group will go through to establish a beachhead against the Parched, perhaps taking a few down, before they are joined by the second group. Each conjunction allows eight people to pass through the Sentinel Gate; the first will open at 18:45 and then another five minutes later, allowing a total of 16 people through to fight the group corralled by the kohan. It is the responsibility of the General of the Burning Falcon, Aracelis i Erigo, to defeat this group. Doing so will allow the kohan to return to the army, providing 50 additional strength to the Burning Falcon.

The third and fourth will open at 19:15 and 19:20 respectively allowing another eight people each through to fight the group confined by the bills of the Drakes. It is the responsibility of Tancred of Meade, General of the Drakes before the start of the summit, to defeat this group. Doing so will allow the soldiers to return to the army, providing 50 additional strength to the Drakes.

Curiously, it seems that each force has two actual Dry Patricians with them and that the Drakes' scouts have identified this by runes on their faces. These Dry Patricians, while formidable as ever, are not bringing the Blight in their wake. Probably unrelatedly, the Drakes' scouts also report that small amounts of dried meat were found stolen from their provisions the night before the Patricians were first identified. A strange mystery. Perhaps it shall endure forever.

Further Reading

• Parched earth - 386YE Spring Appraisal
• Fading like a Flower
• Various storms and saints
• Not a drop to drink
• Colourblind