Taken at the flood

There is still work to be done in the Barrens; the Druj armies may have gone but their malicious presence must be hunted out .

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Second Breath

The Towers of Dusk fell before the Hounds of Glory. The Dawnish slaves of the Druj rose up in rebellion, taking bloody vengeance against those Mallum orcs who had spent so long attempting to break their spirits. The Senate spoke, and the Barrens was part of Dawn for the first time ever. Yet there is no time for celebration. The Druj are not defeated, merely scattered. Their malice does not sleep, nor rest. There is still work to be done.

Of those armies who brought the Barrens to the edge, four remain. They are joined by the Iron Helms and the Valiant Pegasus. Together they face the difficult task of bringing the remaining regions of the Barrens at least nominally under Imperial control.

The Winter Sun and the Citadel Guard fight with supernatural clarity. The Iron Helms are Bound by Common Cause making it easy for the captains and commanders of independent companies to fight alongside them; it goes some way to smoothing the rough edges caused by the Helms' peculiarly Varushkan traditions.

The blue-and-yellow banners of the Golden Sun are joined by banners of crimson-and-gold as the Knights of Glory join them from the Summer realm, eager to conquer the entire Barrens alongside their mortal allies. This initial enthusiasm is tempered significantly by the fact that the midnight-armoured knights of the Bound King also fight beside the Golden Sun. The two cohorts are not friends; indeed their rulers are polar opposites. There are clashes between the heralds of Summer and Winter, with the knights and yeofolk of the Golden Sun forced to play peacemaker. In the end every effort is made to keep the two groups of warriors apart, but doing so creates significant headaches for the commanders of the Dawnish forces.

Soldiers of the Sun, once again we carry out a Grinding Advance across the Barrens this time with the Bleaks in our sights. Only this time we march on Imperial Land, in the words of the Troubadours where the Druj have sown fear we will make flowers grow. The weavers and witches of Dawn have sent a growth of Flowers for us to march on as we build on the glorious sacrifice of the Hounds of Glory.

Zoran De Orzel, General of the Golden Sun

Siblings of the Valiant Pegasus, we are resupplied and it is time to once again return to finish what we started in the Barrens. Undertake a Steady Conquest and bring relief to the Subjects of the Druj.

Achseh, General of the Valiant Pegasus

Heroes of the Winter Sun, we have bled hard with our Empire in the last season but we have blazed a trail across the red soaked land and left inspiration in our wake. Chains have been broken, those who languished in suffering rising for the first time to claim their worth. But our work has just begun. We take our fury now in conquest of the Bleaks, to Break the Chains as we lift high ruins of their masters and continue to declare "Never Again!".

Skywise Rykana, General of the Winter Sun

Sentinels and sword scholars it is time to finish what we've started. The sacrifice of the Hounds of Glory will not be in vain. The barrens are an Imperial Territory again, the Druj are fleeing. Let us liberate the remaining regions so this land and this people can heal. We will march with a Steady Conquest starting with the Bleaks then moving to Farweald. Make me Proud.

Nicassia Avicia of Phoenix Reach, General of the Citadel Guard

once more ask for you to take the hard path. We paid our part of the cost last season, and have sent the Druj blooded and broken. But we are not done. The Blackwind, Arrow Viper, tainted basilisk run near broken. We now move to collect more banners belonging to the Druj. As we break them under our Grinding advance in conquest of the Bleaks. Sharpen your blades, grab your shield, to Victory!

Belakov Zakharovich Prochnost, General of the Golden Axe

Helms we strike back into the Barrens to finish the fight. Alongside our cousins the Golden Axe we will cleave through what remains of the Druj.

Alderei the Fair, General of the Iron Helms

The strategy of the Imperial armies is reasonably straightforward; consolidate gains, drive the Druj out of their remaining hiding places, and bring the rest of the Barrens under Imperial control. The Golden Sun and the Golden Axe between them focus on the first part of the plan, focusing on defence even as they advance, grinding forward slowly and methodically. The Citadel Guard and the Valiant Pegasus more steadily but carefully, remain alert for traps and ambushes, carefully considering each move and relying on the expertise of Imperial healers, physics, and apothecaries to deal with the many natural threats of the Barrens as much as the venom of the Mallum orcs. The Iron Helms support the other four armies equally, but are often at the forefront of the Imperial advance.

The Winter Sun, as they did last season, focus on liberating the slaves of the Druj. Wherever possible, they are the first into a new region, immediately moving to identify the largest septs and settlements, and bringing them the news that the Druj are beaten. Their chains are broken, and they are free. They receive a varied reception; some welcome them, while others are suspicious that they are replacing one cruel overlord with another. Overwhelmingly, as always, the main stumbling block is that the orcs of the Barrens are no friends to the people of Dawn.

At the urging of the Synod, the other armies likewise work hard to try and dispel any fears that the Empire will prove tyrannical overlords. They continue to adhere to the mandates that urge them to see themselves as liberators, not conquerors. Or at least the Dawnish, Imperial Orcs, and Highborn do. The Urizen of the Citadel Guard and the Varushkans of the Axe and the Helm care nothing for the words of the Synod; for the most part they focus on securing the remaining regions of the Barrens and waste little time worrying about the well-being of the orcs who live there.

Echoes of Spite

From their base of operations at the Towers of the Dusk, the Imperial forces strike north and west. The Druj armies are nowhere to be found; they have fled back to the Mallum. That is not to say that there is no resistance to the Imperial advance, but for the most part engagements are with small groups and warbands, or with larger concentrations of Druj left behind on the wrong side of the Steel Causeway and unable to reach the dubious safety of the east.

Their remnants are everywhere, however. There are always Druj left behind when the orcs are driven from a territory, hiding in the wild places, ready to strike at their victorious opponents. Yet these guerrillas and insurgents are not the only threats. For what may prove to be the last time, the magical malice of the Druj hangs heavy over the Barrens. The Tainted Basilisk has clearly expended a great deal of energy in the last days before they fled, weaving curse after curse of Spring and Winter magic and hurling it without concern across their lost dominion.

As always, the Druj have raised their magical protections, weaving Spring magic into the forests to turn the trees and the beasts against the humans, and offer shelter to the orcs. In the Untrod Groves and the Bleaks, these wards claim a number of Imperial lives before the forests are finally conquered and the magic falls quiescent. At least one of their traditional curses has been stymied; the ghulai sought to taint the waters across the Barrens to bring sickness and death, but Imperial magicians countered with a ritual of their own. The waters remain fresh, and natural, untainted by Spring magic.

Unfortunately, these familiar magics are only a small part of what the Druj wizards have prepared. Three days after the Spring Equinox, a devastating magical tempest crashes across the territory, echoing the storm-magic that recently drowned the Saltmarsh. Perhaps this is the Druj striking against the Vendarri for daring to surrender to the Highborn. Whatever their motivation, it will take even longer for the marshes to recover if they ever do. It also sees even more damage inflicted on the Fangs – the mithril mine survives and is still in the hands of the handful of Rahvin who have occupied them but there are by all accounts several deaths, and its effects are by no means limited to Saltmarsh and the Bitter Sea. The rain causes flooding everywhere, relentlessly pounding soldiers and refugees alike, contributing to the misery and ruining what few crops were being grown to feed the people.

Worse is to come. For the first time since Holberg, the malicious orc ghulai conjure bloodthirsty spirits from the Spring realm and bind them into the ancient trees of the Barrens, sending them forth to kill and destroy. Unlike the more straightforward effect of Thunderous Tread of the Trees currently raging across Liathaven, the arboreal monsters unleashed by the Druj seem more cunning, more vicious. They prefer to attack from ambush, appearing as normal trees until their unwitting prey drops their guard, and then striking without mercy, clubbing and piercing as many as they can before they are seen off with burning brands or axes.

Not all the magic loose in the Barrens this season is entirely malign however. Wherever the Imperial armies go, mysterious black roses follow in their wake. In some places, the sable blossoms emerge where they have no business being, or warp existing flowering plants so that roses burst from their buds. While the roses are mostly seen as a beneficent omen, there is something unsettling about seeing an apple tree whose blossoms have all become ebony roses. This strange spread of magical plant life is part of a Spring enchantment laid over the Barrens by a trio of Dawnish covens: the Sages de la Tempête Attrayants, the Verdant Glade , and the Cabal of the Smiling Grove. The flowers seem particularly common near recent battlefields, as if they grow more readily from bloodsoaked soil, although this might only be a coincidence. Sadly their presence sometimes goes unremarked in the torrential rain, or merely serves to accentuate the macabre aspect of the animate trees.

While many of the spells woven on both sides draw their power from the Spring Realm, others are empowered by a different source. A terrible desiccating wind sweeps through the Bleaks and Farweald. In spite of the thundering rain, the wind causes many of the plants it touches to wither and desiccate, killing the smallest sapling and the mightiest tree with equal capacity. Drained of moisture, all that remains are dried, withered husks, invariably then shattered by the terrible rain. The wind also effects living creatures in these regions, causing their skin to crack and their joints to ache. It has some effect on the terrible murderous trees that have emerged from the woodlands, but mostly to drive them out to attack other parts of the territory. Likewise, it does little to diffuse the magical protections the Druj have laid on those regions. Mostly it simply leaves ashen scars in the deep woods. Rather than having been created by the Druj, there are rumours that this is the effect of a ritual recently placed in Imperial lore - The Flower is Withered on the Stalk. Perhaps the Druj ghulai have their own version?

All of these competing curses are exacerbated by the final malediction; a swarm of malignant spirits that emerge from the darkest places to bedevil soldiers and former slaves alike. Fruit and vegetables turn to mush; animals sicken and die; humans and orcs alike suffer a terrible malaise and dreadful soul-shredding nightmares that leave them exhausted once the dawn comes. The bad weather is worsened, the tumultuous rain accompanied by alternately unseasonal hail and unseasonal heat. Tempers fray, and everything goes wrong at once, especially with regards to efforts to try and persuade the orc inhabitants of the Barrens that the arrival of the Empire is a good thing. There are even a few reports here and there that some of the dead have risen in the wake of this Winter curse – that some of the spirits have found hosts for themselves among the recently unburied dead. There are plenty of battlefields, and plenty of corpses to inhabit. It's not clear how many of the summoned spirits manage to find a host, but those that do gather around the Winter regio that dot the territory.

Only the Golden Sun is spared the attentions of these awful spirits; the knights of Tharim have little patience for them and shoo them away whenever their presence is detected – except when they are bedevilling the servants of Eleonaris when they simply take shameful joy in their misfortunes.

As the magic gyres and twists across the Barrens, the scholars who fight alongside the sentinels of the Citadel Guard report an odd phenomenon. There appear to be a great many more Winter regio in the Barrens than anyone was expecting. Their assumption that the Barrens would be wild with Spring regio has proved incorrect. Yet while many of these cursed places are old and powerful, a great many more appear to have appeared only recently – or at least to have gathered significant strength in recent months. Their supposition is that the terrible bloodshed, rage, and desperation of these last few months has created a connection between the mundane battlefields and the magical realm of the Wasteland. They might close again naturally, or they might not. Nobody can say for sure. There doesn't seem to be any plan behind this, at least. It seems to be a purely natural phenomenon.

If the servants of Tharim know otherwise, they keep their own smirking counsel on this matter.

Victory and Uncertainty

As the Summer Solstice approaches, the Imperial armies have conquered the Bleaks, the Untrod Groves, and Farweald. There are a few Druj holdouts in Murderdale and the Heart of Peytaht – reinforced by orcs fleeing the rebellion in Dawnguard. The rest of the Barrens is notionally at least in the hands of the Empire, and thus the Dawnish.

Yet not everyone welcomes the Imperial presence. The Vendarri may have surrendered to the Highborn, but they are keen to secure concessions from their new “masters” that will see the Saltmarsh largely ceded to their control – what remains above the storm-tossed waters at any rate.

The orcs of the Bleaks and the eastern Plain of Teeth, a sept known as the Karass, show little interest in cooperating with the armies of the Empire, especially as they have suffered the brunt of the unnatural desiccation that struck their homeland. Many of their number have disappeared into the deep woods of the Bleaks, and while there has been no violent resistance from them as yet, they do not cooperate with Imperial soldiers. They don't appear to see the Imperial soldiers as liberators, despite the hard work of the Winter Sun, viewing them rather as just another set of conquerors. Any offer of aid or gifts are soundly rejected - any Karass who are met by Imperials refuse to even touch anything that has been made by Imperial hands, and it is clear they are uncomfortable even being seen in the presence of Imperials.

A great deal of blood has been spilled, and more will no doubt be required.

The mithril mine of the Fangs remains in the possession of the Rahvin. The Menrothat of Ossium have sent emissaries to their Varushkan neighbours to remind them of the offer they made the Imperial Orcs regarding Farweald. The Great Forest orcs have started making preparations to return to the Forest of Peytaht, and their briar allies with them.

The Imperial Senate may have allocated the Barrens to Dawn, but it seems that not everyone has gotten the message...

Game Information

Only two regions of the Barrens are not in Imperial control; Murderdale and the Heart of Peytaht. There is still some Druj resistance there, but it will do little to delay Imperial armies should they wish to continue the liberation of the Barrens.

A number of curses were placed over the Barrens by the Druj; most of their effects have already resolved, but they have also inflicted punishing losses on the civilian population of the territory, both Dawnish and orc. Anyone interested in creating stories about the impact of the curses should read Thunderous Deluge, Winter's Ghosts, and Thunderous Tread of the Trees in particular. The latter is certain to continue causing problems in the Barrens for some time to come; the trees will take at least a year to subside again.

On a final note, it is very clear that the Knights of Glory and the grim servants of Tharim do not get along. While they are prepared to fight beside their Dawnish allies, neither group will fight alongside the other. Indeed, there are several clashes between Winter and Summer heralds. For now, the Dawnish are able to keep the two forces separated and ensure they spend as little time in each others' company as possible but it might be a good idea to ensure that this situation does not reoccur any time soon.

Conjunctions

Shelter from the storm (Conjunction)

• The Montanians have asked for aid from the Highborn
• The Sentinel Gate will open at 18:30 on Friday to Oakenclough, Hope's Rest, The Barrens
• The General of the Valiant Pegasus is responsible for routing the Druj and rescuing Circe the Stalker

A force of Druj have managed to capture a number of Montanians in Hope's Rest and are in the process of enacting their twisted rites on them to create tortured souls. The Montanians are at least a week away from the woods of Oakenclough but they know about the Sentinel Gate and they have been impressed by the actions Valiant Pegasus in focussing on freeing slaves rather than conquering. One of those captured is Circe the Strider; known amongst the residents of Dourfell Keep as a great champion of Courage. There is a note of worry that if Circe is turned they will become a dangerous threat to those living the Barrens.

So the Montanians have made a plea to the General of the Valiant Pegasus to help them by routing the Druj and rescuing as many of the Montanians as possible. If the Druj are not routed and they are able turn Circe and the rest of the prisoners then they will present a threat to those living in the Barrens.

The force is made up of a combined force made up of a number of different arkad along with a number of tortured souls. Given that this is a direct request to the General of the Valiant Pegasus it is the responsibility of the incumbent, Achseh, to rout the Druj and rescue Circe.

The long chase (Conjunction)

• Varag Soulflayer is moving to unleash a boon of Agramant in the Untrod Groves
• The Sentinel Gate will open at 19:00 on Friday to Garstang Thicket, The Untrod Groves, The Barrens
• The Knight-protector of Winter is responsible for stopping Varag Soulflayer

Following the Winter Solstice and the previously failed attempt at slaying Varag Soulflayer, the tepel is once again active in the Barrens. Managing to avoid the Imperial armies and moving ever deeper into the Untrod Groves. A small number of unconquered of the Valiant Pegasus were able to uncover that Soulflayer is moving towards a Winter regio near the centre of the Untrod Groves in order to release a boon of Dream of Famine.

This boon will unleash Winter spirits across the entire territory; killing soldiers and civilians indiscriminately. If the tepel is not stopped then not only will 500 casualties be split amongst all Imperial armies in the Barrens for the next year, but the Winter spirits will also likely wreak havoc on the small holdings in the territory.

Varag Soulflayer has drawn together a disparate warband made up of a number of different arkad along with a number of tortured souls. Given that this is involves the machinations of an eternal of the Winter realm it is the responsibility of the Knight-protector of Winter, Aranel Mortere, to kill Varag Soulflayer.

A place of safety (Conjunction)

• A force of Druj are moving to slaughter the elders of the Orcs of the Great Forest of Peytaht
• The Sentinel Gate will open at 21:30 on Saturday to the Silent Glade, Heart of Peytaht, The Barrens
• The Senator for Therunin is responsible for stopping the Druj

The yeofolk of House Forcade, scouts of the Golden Sun, managed to identify and track a force of Druj moving through the Heart of Peytaht towards the largest of the Great Forest Orcs settlements. They are accompanied by a number of heralds of Surut and appear to be focused entirely on their task, whatever that is, not even turning aside to strike when the yeofolk were spotted. One of the yeofolk, Florine Smith, was able to get close enough to overhear a conversation between two of the Druj; this band are, or rather were, responsible for taking the children of the Great Forest Orcs who showed some aptitude for herb lore and moving them elsewhere. Now they have some final task to demonstrate to all the septs of the Barrens that even if the Druj have lost dominion of the territory they can still strike down those who challenge them, having wrested blessings from their subjects to allow them and their allies to walk into the Great Forest of Peytaht.

If the Druj are not stopped they will slaughter all the elders of the Great Forest Orcs who remain in the Barrens. Nobody is entirely sure for certain what might happen as a result of this, but what is certain is that it could be used as an example by the Druj to further strengthen their stranglehold on the septs of the Mallum. A member of the Great Forest Orcs will visit Anvil at 20:00 on the Saturday to talk to anyone who is willing to journey through to the Heart of Peytaht to try to stop the Druj. If the Druj are stopped then the Chief Valack has sworn a promise that the elders will teach the armies of Navarr how to cross through the Great Forest.

The Druj force is made up of warriors from across the Arkad along with a number of heralds of the Burned Prince. Given that this is a direct request to the Senator for Therunin; Travid Longest Path, it is their responsibility to stop the Druj.

Watchful

• This encounter takes place in the Heart of Peytaht and is under the effects of Watchful
• Anyone in a Watchful area is affected by WEAKNESS unless they have received the blessing of the Great Forest
• Anyone in a Watchful area is affected by a roleplaying effect: "You are certain that you are being watched and that you are unwelcome" unless they have some way to overcome it

Being under the eaves of Peytaht leaves a certainty of being watched that can be distracting to anyone who does not have the ability to overcome it. The easiest method to overcome the sense of being watched is to receive an anointing, but particularly heroic individuals, or those in possession of certain enchantments or magic items may also be able to counteract the effect. The other dangerous aspect of being deep in the Forest of Peytaht is that there is something in the air itself which is anathema to living creatures; weakening anyone exposed to it that has not received the blessing of the Great Forest.