Vailin's Vengeance

When news of the atrocities committed against the people of the Great Wild Wood reaches the capitol in Vailindor, the outrage ripples throughout the lands of Vailin. All over the countryside, men, elves, treants, and other loyal subjects take up arms and march northward.

A great gold dragon from the Vast Peaks spearheads Vailin's retaliation force against the zombie hulks who have invaded. It swoops down into the forest setting the trees and rotting fiends ablaze before they can even strike. The stench of burned rotting flesh lingers eerily for many days.

From the Crimson Ramparts, Karkoth's forces lead by a famously wicked battle maiden named Eilstine Gellantara watch as the armies from Cernal and the Barony of Brandil to the south approach. Eilstine's guards crush the invading armies who die bravely climbing the battlements in the siege. While the men of the southlands coat the Crimson Ramparts with more blood, Zembar launches a secret naval assault and it's marine scouts scale the walls on a lightly defended flank.

In a costly battle, a small squad of Zembar's marines remain victorious. They capture the Crimson Ramparts and the siege weapons within, though their allied units from Cernall and the Barony lie dead and broken all around them. When the scouts find the battle maiden's body, Gellantara's head is removed and sent to the Karkoth Throneholds with a small band of defeated mercenaries, so that her necromantic masters can learn of their defeat directly from her own dead tongue. They brace themselves for the inevitable battle they must face alone to protect their newly won prize. They honor the dead with bitter wine and song.

Meanwhile, Vailin's navy enforces a blockade on the Zemish Strand and the Sea of Ghosts, blocking all passage from the north to the southern lands. Commanding the naval blockade is Zembar's renowned Admiral Norneiros Swordhand, who swears an oath to wipe the unnatural blight of Karkoth from every Sea in the known world. He tells his men they will send every Karkoth ship stern, sail, and anchor to the bottom of the abyss.