The Corsair King Joins Vailin

The Corsair King, long a rival of Admiral Nornerios Swordhand, now offers his allegiance to Zembar and rallies Vailin's fleet in the Sea of Mist. Meanwhile, the Admiral leads his army of griffins and archers into Amil Forest where they stalk those undead who remained after the Dread Lich's conquest.

South in the Satrophy of Numoth, Zembar sends a rare Platinum Dragon, rumored to be an Aspect of Bahamut himself over to crush the skeletal legions that have driven the people from their cities. The dragon devastates the countryside rooting out the foul creatures, but in the end it succumbs itself to the plague that the tainted things carry with them wherever they go. Once again the Satrophy is left in chaos in ruins.

Ser Ellert Rainwood rides out to join Magus Greycloak in the Barony of Brandil and learn more of the fate of the late lord Alrick Silvanus, cousin to the Crown Prince of Vailin. Ellert leaves Queen Silvanus in charge of the court back in Vailindor and she works to strenghten their defenses as the Karkothi menace closing in around them.

Dragons at the Borders

Karkoth sends it's draconic forces to it's northern and southern borders. Behind enemy lines, their bone golems crawl from the walking wood into the vast plains and cut a swath of death through the elves garrisoned there. The unprotected villages of the plains and deep havens fall prey to the vicious monsters soon after the elves' defeat.

On the central island, the Dread Lich enters the Tomb of Horrors, long dreaming of unlocking the secrets of the evil demi-lich Acererak, while his undead army marches south on the weak Satrophy of Numoth. Though the lich's army quickly takes the Satrophy in his name, driving all the living residents from the major towns and cities into the countryside, the lich himself is defeated on his quest in a battle with a half drow/half spider Drider guarding the tomb.

Nerath's Fury and Karkoth's Revenge

Lord Mithraelfast calls his cousin Ironfist to take command of the capitol, while he leads his personal guard against the traitor, Lord Mackelroy, in Fallcrest. The city's militia yields when their old liege arrives, but many of the lord's men in the keep die bravely protecting Mackelroy before he finally yields. Ironfist learns that the Iron Circle captured Mackelroy's eldest son, who was studying with the swordmages in Rethmil. His son was being held at the Iron Citadel to guarantee his allegiance. Lord Mithraelfast showed mercy, confining the Mackelroy's to their own dungeons until he could determine how to justly punish their treachery.

The milita's of Therund were called to Nera, where they joined the armies assembled there under the command of Laralove Dewshining and Xanroar Carter. From the Stonemarch, the riders who guard the passes and plains from the Bloodspear Orcs rode down to Therund to guard against incursion from the Trollhaunt Warrens.

On the Eastern front, Dolranth, the Templar of Light gathered his host to assault Blisterforge. He rode at the front of his ranks, leading the footsoliders, some trained, others green slaves risen from the ashes of Karkoth's conquered lands. Beside him four magic users, the Crow Shaman, the Priest of Light, the Lunarmancer, and Ella the Enchantress wove spells onto the dreaded minions of Blisterforge, blasting the thousands of skeletons and the storm elemental that guarded the pass through the mountains.

When Dolranth and his men crashed into the ranks of the Darkranger and Ebek the Drow's spider riding minions, Nerath's five great dragons swooped down to strafe the lines of the foe. A Dracolich wheeled overhead, drawing the dragons away, while Nerath moved in Mammoths to crush the Darkranger and his evil mercenaries. When the Dracolich was finished, the dragon returned to finish burning away the last of the drow and spiders. A cheer went echoing through the pass from the Nerathi forces, and the day was won.

Dolranth rode ahead with several knights to claim Slaughterguarde, who's defender slunk away when the servants of light approached. Everywhere he rode he saw that the Karkothi had set loose a foul plague among their own people in all of their lands to weaken the slaves that thought of revolt. Many of Dolrath's men died on the march through Slaughterguard from the plague called Soul Rot, their very spirit drifting away until they were nothing but pale shells of their former selves without joy, and upon death, no spirit remained to resurrect or to pass onto the next world.

Word spread that the plague had spread to the south. Magus Greycloak nursed the necrotic wounds of the dragon in Brandil who had caught "the rot" as it had come to be known. On the central isle all of the iron circles fighting legions who assembled along the border of Amil Forest died of the rot, leaving the lands in chaos without a governor. The Karkothi's revenge spread to all the lands on their borders, and touched all their enemies.

Fallcrest Joins the Iron Circle!

As the milita's of the league call their bannermen to arms, all notice the absence of one particular flag among those assembled. The city of Fallcrest, lead by Lord and Lady Mackelroy of the Moonstone Keep have not sent any of their nearly 350 strong milita to join their strength to the others. Lord Ironfist of Hammerfast who was on the King's Road fighting bandits from Raven's Roost was sent to investigate. When he arrived at the King's gate he found no welcome among those manning the walls and was dismayed to find the banner of the Iron Circle flying above the city's colors.

Lord Mackelroy's own captain of the sixty man city guard rode out to meet Lord Ironfist, proclaiming that the city of Fallcrest had joined the Iron Circle, adding vaguely that the Iron Citadel had made them an offer they could not refuse. Lord Ironfist and his small band hurried back East to bring the grave news to the King of Mithraelfast. The loss of Fallcrest effectively cedes all of the surrounding lands and trade routes of the Nentir Vale to the empire in the South. The league is shocked by the betrayal of the Lord of Fallcrest, whose line was known to be loyal worshippers of Sehanine the Moon goddess, not the infernal gods of the southern lands.

Dragon on a Spit

Against the advice of the chief wizard and adviser to the Crown Prince of Vailin, Magus Graycloak, the prince's cousin and defender of the realm Alrick Silvanus orders his knights to ride to Brandil to meet the foe. They bring with them the weapons of war they built in the capitol, and a volcanic dragon summoned from White Plume Mountain. The ghouls on foot are no match for the mighty war machines crafted by the elves skewering them along the wooded landscape as they approach.

The dire wolves are run down by Silvanus' knights and driven off. The volcanic dragon seeks the majestic purple dragon and melts its necrotic flesh and bones. Alrick and Magus Graycloak ride into a sacred vale desecrated by Yllakin the half-orc paladin of Orcus. The magus is the only one to return alive. He speaks of Alrick's valorous defeat of the half-orc, though it cost him his life in the bargain. His soul no doubt found peace liberating the sacred vale of the four free gods of the elves.

Under the orders of the new captain of the king's guard Ser Ellert Rainwood, footsoliders march to protect the vulnerable southern lands from the remaining monsters left from Karkoth's incursion. In Zembar, Admiral Swordhand leads his griffons and army into the Dread Marches, hunting the Dread Lich Lord himself, though he finds only an empty crumbling mausoleum that was once his palace, and a trail of rotted flesh and bones that leads him further onward to the West into Amil Forest.

As the admiral travels on foot, his navy assembles its full strength in Vullwar Passage to blockade the island territory of Rellis Vullin from the lands of the Iron Circle to the south. Their lands and food already stripped by the Iron Circle's armies to the north, the people there grow so hungry and restless over the next several weeks that the bravest among them take up arms and hunt the sleeping red dragon sent by Worg Oswe. They carve the beast up and sell its flesh and bones in the markets, making for a bizarre spectacle. It's the tongue of the dragon that they say was the softest and sweetest bit.

Conclave in Marhad

The seven monarchs of Karkoth call a conclave in the high thronehold of Marhad, their Imperial capitol. After the crushing defeat of their northern allies by the Nerathi, they ponder their next move. Meanwhile, on the central isle, the Lich Lord of the Dread Marches enters the Amil Forest to the east to inspect the ruins of a long lost city from an age long past. He found the forest and lands abandoned, save for a few free forest folk, and some other magical beasts, all of whom fled before his undead soldiers.

Fall of the Gorgon King's Realm

Ella the Enchantress confirms the Iron King's suspicions that the true power behind the Orc Lord was the Gorgon King to the East. The Gorgon King spurred and supported the aggressions against Skalgard, acting on his orders from the Karkothi Throneholds. Gathering her siege engines she met with Toj Firebeard and the Lunarmancer on the great plains of ice and rock outside the Gorgon King's impressive thick-walled fortress.

Joining the cause were the remaining dire bears and four great metallic dragons: Copper, Silver, Iron, and Bronze. The dragons took flight and led the battle against the mighty stone towers of the Gorgon King. Soon they were met on the field by a menagerie of monsters. Orcs, skeletons, goblins, fowlspawn, and dark dwarves manned the defenses. The great gates opened to release a small army of infantry, supported by displacer beasts, fomorian giants, and even a dreaded rhemorhoraz, a creature so unruly it killed even its handlers when their guard was down.

As the dragons assaulted the walls they took much of the soldiers bolts and blades, relentlessly crushing the guardians in their claws and powerful jaws. Flames and lightning courses through the defenders ranks, but most stood their ground in the face of certain death, for all knew the gallery of statues that the Gorgon King kept of those who had betrayed him.

The displacer beasts destroyed the seige engines, before Ella could blast the tentacled beasts with blasts of light and acid. The Lunarmancer engaged the fomorian giants, dodging beneath the lumbering giants to release blasts of lighting and wind that knocked them to the ground. The rhemorhoraz ate the dire bears, ripping through their ranks a s Toj Firebeard rushed beneath the things many legs and through the main gate. When he arrived in the main hall, a gallery of somber statues met him. The Gorgon King's throne was empty, and so Toj crept carefully through the complex searching.

Outside the tide had turned decisively for the attackers. The infantry on the walls were all vanquished or surrendered, and a great blizzard dragon defending the main keep was surrounded by the four metallic dragons, who circled their prey, waiting for the inevitable opening to slay their foe. The Lunarmancer and Ella finished the fomorians and turned to the rhemorhoraz, driving the thing off into the cold wilderness.

When they claimed the keep they found Toj Firebeard's petrified remains in an adjacent antechamber. The Gorgon King's magic was such that even the Lunarmancer and the Enchantress could not free him from its grip. The evil tyrant had fled through a cavern system into the underdark and on to where, none know.

News arrived slowly of other victories. In the Skallan Reach an elemental from the Eastern Midnight Sea had sunk the Winterskull war galleys sworn to Karkoth. In the Gulf of Kar, a Templar from Zaarnath named Dolranth sailed with several Zaarnathi infantry and sunk the Karkothi's royal battle barges, and he established a monastery to his Order of Light on the Plain of Ebon spires, where the freed slaves had worked tirelessly to restore that ancient ruins of the ebon spires to some of their former glory.

By decree of Mithraelfast, all regions raised militias from the local populace to help protect the League. The greatest response was found among the newly freed folk of the Karkothi lands to the east in the Icebound Wastes, and in Sarthel, but there a sizable number of new recruits in the lands of Vor Rukoth, White Raven, and Skalgard as well. Free men all of tribes and peoples joined in a common virtuous cause.

Serpentus Rift Delved, Death of the High Druid, and the Conquest of Zaarnath

Alukahn the Dragonborn Mercenary tries his luck in the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, but a great wild minotaur lurking there brings him to a quick end as he probes the caves in search of treasure. As Worg Oswe the Half Ogre has been named Lord of Solandir, the Citadel declares Baerth Talg the Bugbear it's new champion and sends him to the ruins of Serpentus Rift, the oldest city of the ancient Dragon Empire.

Baerth fights his way through hordes of undead dragonborn guarding an ancient temple and unearths an old Figurine of Wonderous power. He brings it back to the throneholds and summons a great Tyrannosaur with it's power at court to the surprise and wonder of all seated before him. He is showered with wealth and riches and a great feast is held in his honor, along with several games where slaves from Rethmil are cast into a pit to be consumed by the great beast.

The Citadel also lays plans against the High Druid beyond Druid's Reach on his isle. Lord Worg Oswe, the half ogre, leaves his court in Solandir to assault the island by sea. He brings two forces of footsoliders and a storm elemental. The High Druid and his forest folk manage to pin down and shatter one of the half ogres legions of pikeman, but Worg Oswe finds the High Druid and slays him in his sacred circle before burning the sacred grove to the ground, blackening the ancient stones.

On the central Island, Kein the Bloodmagus, the Teifling power broker in Numoth, leads his neighbors from Rellis Vullin to conquer Zaarnath. The league city, already weakened by aid pledged to the north, could not hold out against the attack from the two southern city states, and their garrison of knights sworn to the Order of Light fell to Kein's dark sorcery.

Many Zaarnath men flee in fishing and trading craft from the Northern shore to the other League cities to the North and further West, decrying the Iron Citadel's treachery.

Dissent in Vailin

Admiral Swordhand gives commands to his fleet to raise more ships and begin defending the coastline of Zembar's central island. Against the orders of the crown prince himself, Vailin's home fleet strikes off on the Admiral's orders to patrol, where they encounter a storm elemental positioned by the Iron Circle in the Saris Straight. The fleet is sunk, but not before its own storm elementals overwhelm and consume the magical essence of the Iron Circle's guardian.

Back in Valindor, the King's advisor Magus Graycloak, sends the bowman guarding the city gates south to guard the Deep Havens, against the protest of the kings cousin Alrick Silvanus, the captain of the Knights of the Vale. Graycloak argues that he is merely defending the free and loyal peoples in the Deep Havens who are providing Vailindor's crops. He sets his own woodshaping mages to work building war engines to guard the city gates.

Crush the Rebellion! The Death of Roq Firebeard

From the Throneholds, the dark lords of Karkoth quickly summon their armies to suppress the rebellion. Ebrek the Drow warrior takes his elite unit of soldiers riding giant spiders from the jungles of Zannad north to Slaughtergarde. There they ambush Yvonne the Punnisher, capturing their web and putting down her slave revolt. Yvonne and a handful of strong survivors are taken to the Vault of the Drow and put to work in the deepest mines of the dark elves.

The freedom enjoyed by Blisterforge's peasants is quickly soured by the arrival of the Karkothi hero Darkranger, a twisted being who once may have been human, but over time became corrupted exploring the shadowy parts of the feywild. He brings a legion of skeleton warriors, and elemental and a dracolich with him, firmly establishing the Karkothi lords authority through fear and destruction to those who openly oppose them.

The Gorgon King sends his personal orc guards south to the Maze of Markull, along with some bolt throwers, a pair of medusa riding iron gorgons. The huge black dragon from the crimson ramparts flies up the coast to join their assault.

The League of Nerath's combine armies had taken refuge in the great tower at the center of the maze. As the orcs and bolt throwers set up positions on the cliffs alongside the tower, the Lunarmancer lead the dire bears out across a wide stone bridge crossing a chasm to confront them. The Lunarmancer cast a great blinding light from the sky as they crossed and the bears tore into the seige engines and troops.

The iron gorgons mounted by medusa's charged into battle, turning the bears to stone. The Lunarmancer dove off the bridge, featherfalling to safety. The two copper dragons atop the tower swooped down to strafe the gorgons on the bridge, their hide turning stoney as they resisted the creatures dark powers and continued to rain cold and fire on the bridge. Finally they cracked the great bridge with the force of their breath weapons, crumbling the stone bridge with the gorgons atop it, who fell to their doom.

During the battle, the huge black dragon silently sailed to the opposite side of the tower, intent on killing those remaining defenders inside. Roq and Toj Firebeard the northmen, hid themselves just inside a balcony as the beast prowled along the far side of the tower, looking to ambush the copper and silver dragons when they were vulnerable. Roq distracted the great beast with a mightly blow that severed one of its wings, and died in a great blast of acid that melted his flesh from bone. Toj cried out and leaped to the other side, severing its other wing before forcing the great beast off the balcony with a furious smack that the thing falling to its doom.

In the aftermath, the Lunarmancer used his rituals to reverse the petrified Dire Bears and their handlers. Toj burned Roq's remains in a great pyre atop the tower of Markull, as the mighty dragons and bears roared in tribute to the fallen hero.

The Iron Wolf Hold Strikes! Rebellion in Karkoth!

From the Iron Wolf Hold, the king plans a powerful offensive against the Karkothi lords to the east. He sends his best mage, called The Lunarmancer along with two northmen heroes, Roq and Toj Firebeard to rally forces in the White Raven chieftain. They join up with the copper and silver dragon and unit of shifters driving a pack of dire bears to mount an offensive against the Maze of Murkull, land of the minotaur chiefs.

The Maze of Murkull is a treacherous series of valleys, canyons, and tunnels. Some are natural while others are carved from the rocky cliffs by picks and magic. The Maze's master, a wicked mage called the Nightmaster lets the army press deep into his territory before his army of minotaurs, ogres, and shadar-kai attacks. The White Raven clansmen charge valiantly forward alongside their dragon allies, taking the brunt of the ambush. As the dragons and men pin the armies of Murkull down, the Lunarmancer weaves a powerful mist spell that blinds and chokes their army. The dire bears then wade into battle, decimating their lines. Roq and Toj the northmen fight through the ranks of brutish guardians to slay the Nightmaster as he is chanting to reverse the Lunamaster's incantation. Once their leader falls, the remaining Ogres and Minotaurs flee into the labyrinth.

Further north, Ella the Enchantress, a powerful adventurer journeys to Skalgard to join Prince Stalkingwolf. They lead their army east to exact their revenge on the Cloven Skull Orc Hold. The orcs rush out to greet them on the field of battle before they reach the hold's gates. Leading the charge into battle is the dread wraith Kraxus. Prince Stalkingwolf and Kraxus square off, but the wraith envelopes him and drains his life essence. In his weakened state he still manages to defeat Kraxus, but the elite unit of frost giants charging over the plains surround and crush the prince and his retinue. Ella the Enchantress squares off against the orc hold's foul necromancer. Fighting and dodging her way through a skeletal legions arrows, she slays the deathpriest with a silver dagger through the heart. Ella rallies her army and routes the few orcs and giants remaining.

In the far northern icebound wastes. News of the giant's defeat encourages a slave revolt. It first starts with a champion, a half elf named Yvonne the Punisher, who kills the frost giant guards and sends the newly freed people west to join up with the League's units on the Plain of Ebon Spires. As the miners labor to build a fortification and defenses in the plain, Yvonne takes a small force on a raid further south, across Blisterforge and into Slaughterguard. Along her path she frees slaves and takes her growing army of rabble toward the Thoneholds, to unseat their former masters.

Back in the Iron Wolf Hold, the King buries the Prince at sea, setting his burning funeral vessel north into the icy waters. Songs of his great battle with the dread wraith tell of his valiant end, though his closest friends hold their tongues. For they all dream that he has not ended, but has risen again as a wraith himself, haunting the bloody field of battle, draining the souls of the lost in the night.

Xanlomin's Last Stand

The tactics of Xanlomin's gnome rangers puts the Iron Citadel on the defensive, forcing them to double back and retake lands they had moved through quickly on their assault against the Duchy of Solandir. Still the opressive weight of the wealthy city-states' alliance proved too much for the rebel armies of Vailin.

Tithnian soldiers returned from the duchy, their pockets full of coin and plundered riches, and they crushed the Emerald Blade's forces with their siege engines. Great Iron Golems moved south from Tithnia through the Thorndeep, carving a road through the wilderness, allowing safe passage for the Iron Citadel's legions of footsoldiers.

In Rana Moor, a dragonborn mercenary named Alukahn leads a power force from the Citadel of Iron's Grasp to defeat the Druid Isle's storm elemental that was plaguing the region. Worg Oswe, Half-Ogre takes a bride, Alrackis the Bloodhanded. They celebrate their new lands as the new Duke and Duchess of Solandir with public executions and trials by combat for the defeated nobles that fill their dungeon.

Worg Oswe's great red dragon moves to join a unit of infantry from the northern coast, where they had been occupying the Sand Sea tribes lands. New garrisons move in as they join an elemental force to destroy Xanlomin Goblinsfoe's mountaineers in the Black Stone Desert. Xanlomin's carefully laid trap defeats the infantry easily, leaving the Black Stone canyons littered with arrow filled corpses of hobgoblin soldiers.

The gnome's best laid plan is twarted when his carrion crawler is tied down by a storm elemental and his rangers must do battle with the great red dragon high atop the cliffs. The monster and elemental destroy each other and his rangers are picked off one by one against the dragon. Finally Xanlomin himself leaps onto the dragon and stabs it furiously, but he is crushed beneath the monster as it rolls into a cliffside. The dragon survives, but Xanlomin is no more.

Meanwhile, a Tiefling Warlock named Irielyassa disembarks from the Iron Circle's navy in the Emerald Blade Barony. She summons a great pack of Succubi and takes control of the Baron and his court with their wiles.

Castle Zembar

Admiral Norneiros Swordhand returns from the Sea of Ghosts a haunted and changed man. Having seen many men die at the Crimson Ramparts he brings news of the recent defeat to the Crown Prince of Vailindor. When he arrives at court he finds that the Prince has locked himself in the high tower, enveloped in the pleasures of his court, and avoiding the responsibilities of his office. Since the recent string of defeats the Prince has declared that he wants no further news of the war until there is good news and to that end, he cares not what actions his servants take, so long as he is secure in his palace.

Refugees from around the southern lands have choked the streets and the walled gates have been closed and all the knights pulled in to defend the capitol, effectively leaving the surrounding countryside to conquest. The admiral sneers at the Prince's advisers and heads to the royal treasury, taking a large sum with his men and loading it onto his ships. He takes the bravest knights from the surrounding lands and flight of griffons, along with the best stone and woodshaping mages in the kingdom, and sets sail for Zembar. When they arrive at his homeland, the admiral begins construction of a spartan, practical fortress along the cliffs overlooking the Zemish Strand.

On the peninsula ruled by the Iron Circle, the disparate forces of Vailin's southern kingdoms re-align themselves after the fall of the Duchy of Solandir. Choosing hit and run, guerrilla tactics they strike toward the weaker heart of the Circle's territories, rather than a full confrontation with Worg Oswe's powerful army. The Emerald Blade Baronies army moves west into Tithnia, their long-time rival, crushing the garrison left behind in the Circle's advance to the Duchy. Xanlomin Goblinsfoe the Gnome, leads his small band of rangers into the Blackstone Desert. The goblins there are taken by surprise as he sends an enormous carrion crawler (the unseen river monster from the Massacre at Thorndeep) up the side of the mountain pass to consume their archers, while the rest of his force scales the opposing cliff to gain higher ground and rain down arrows on the fleeing survivors.

The Isle of the Druids sends their Storm Elemental to Rana Moor, where their hippogriff riding soldiers are drawn up into the great magic vortex and burned and blacked by the lightning in its heart. The Prince's advisers send word to him in his great tower of ivory and gold, but they find him intoxicated in bed smoking strange spices from the lands across the the great eastern mountains. They resume their plans to restore their kingdoms glory and honor.

The Rain of Colorless Fire

In the Karkothi's northern lands, the dark lords send out word to their necromancers to begin a great battle ritual. Three great pyres are built and prisoners from the dungeons are marched into the flames. Three great pillars of black smoke rise into the heavens forming a great cloud that snakes along the coast to the southern lands.

On his flagship in the Sea of Ghosts, Admiral Swordhand witnesses the black cloud darken the skies above his blockade and the Crimson Ramparts. Over the ancient fortress a colorless fire descends, raining death upon Valin's guardians. The storm elemental hurls itself up into the cloud to dispersing it and the elemental in the process. Valin's dragons spread their wings to protect the vulnerable treants from the magical flames falling all around.

The Karkothi attack comes swiftly on the heels of the storms wrath. An ancient black dragon from the north leads the charge spewing acid onto the treants as they hurl boulders across the ruined walls to strike at Karkoth's undead soldiers, lead by the resurrected Elistine Gellantara, who is now a vile wraith. Valin's dragons take flight, strafing the undead legions, consuming Gellantara and her footsoliders in their flames. As the battle concludes, the two wounded and weakend metallic dragons stand against their larger chromatic foe. In a bloody land battle, the black dragon rends one in half with its claws while biting the head off the other. It burrows into the mud of the moat along one of the many battered walls to recover before its next flight. The carnage strewn battlefield is silent.

Further East in the Great Wildwood, the peaceful forest peoples had just begun to recover their wits and confidence with the help of a garrison unit of elf archers, lead by Richand Woodsheart the ranger, and Zannerios Dragonsbane the arcane archer. Both witty and cheerful and great storytellers and bards as well, they have lifted the peoples spirits after their successful liberation from the zombie hulk invasion. With their help the people train in archery and learn skirmishing tactics to help aid in their defense the next time they must defend the lands.

Still they are unprepared for what comes next. Yllakain, the Half-Orc Paladin of Orcus rides through the forest with a pack of dire wolves to sniff out the woodfolk, with a unit of ghouls stalking behind to catch any that are missed by the wolves. Overhead, a purple dragon circles the skies scouting out the locations of the wildwood people's refuge and leading the army to find their hidden forces, thwarting their ambushes. In a delicate game of cat and mouse the elves move carefully through the wood, trying to find the best terrain for their attack, but when Richand and Zannerios are finally captured and impaled on Yllakain's blade, the rest of the archers break ranks and begin to flee through the woods where they are run down by the ghouls and dire wolves. Yllakain cuts down the most ancient tree in the wood and has his dragon roll it's trunk over the captured soldiers as the rest of the forestfolk prisoners watch in horror. He then sends the forest folk in chains to the north to serve the Throneholds.

The Barony of Brandhil braces for the worst as news of the invasion to the north trickles in. A small force of townsfolk with light armor and pikes they take up positions on the edges of their town to guard against the horrific undead stalkers that have overtaken Cernal. Soon they too fall to the silent predators who pick them off slowly, savoring their cries in the dark night. The creatures leave no bodies in their wake, only cold hearths and abandoned homes, as they move further and deeper into the Walkingwood, home of the Treants. While the proud warriors of the Walkingwood die defending the Crimson Ramparts, the undead menace creeps into their forest groves, uprooting their seedlings and driving out the rare animals they had gathered and protected there. Poachers who once prowled the woods looking for easy meat in the Treants' absence now stay clear away from the Walkingwood, declaring it haunted.

Skalgard Keep liberated! Sinister secrets unearthed in Sarthel.

Laralove Dewshining rests from her expedition to the Sunless Citadel in Fallcrest then joins an arcanist named Xanroar Carter on a journey to the Trollhaunt Warrens. There they battle a tribe of hill giants loyal to Skalamad the Troll King. In the hill giant's lair they find a horde of gold. Xanroar uses the bones of the hill giants to craft powerful magic gauntlets that are shipped to all the fighters in the league. The two mages rest in Nera, among the ruins of the old Nerathi Empire's capitol.

The city state of Sarthel has been defiantly collecting taxes from neighboring villages and invading those who refuse to pay for their protection. Many refugees from the raided villages and those who have no more coin to sustain themselves head to nearby Vor Rukoth seeking sanctuary. The dwarves stationed there hear the villagers cries for help and mobilize their cannons and mountaineers. They also recruit a tribe of stone giants nearby who owe their clan a debt from ages past, and a silver dragon from Winterbole Forest who has sworn allegiance to the league for honoring an ancient Nerathi Imperial pact to leave his lands untouched by axe or plow.

When the force from Vor Rukoth arrives at Sarthel, many of the wealthiest nobles have already fled. The mercenary guards abandon their posts at the sight of the powerful army set to lay siege to their city. Only a handful of loyal warriors fiercely defend those few houses who remain. They are quickly overcome and the rabble flood through the gates alongside the army, rushing into the lush mansions to loot the remaining wealth within.

An elite unit of dwarves scales the back wall of the fortress and captures several fleeing noblemen. As they move through the nobles home making more arrests they make an unsettling discovery: a great subterranean temple to Asmodeus the Lord of Hell and signs of human and animal sacrifices. The nobles found in the home above the temple and inside are executed for devilry, and the remaining prisoners are held for trial later as investigations continue. The house and temple are razed to the ground by the great dragon.

In Skalgard Keep, the orcs reign of terror continues and the lands fall into chaos. Prince Stalkingwolf leads the Iron Wolfhold's liberation force. The orcs, too busy plundering to rebuild the main gates of the keep, which they had smashed with their siege engine, were unable to repel the Prince, though they held out long in their fight and claimed nearly one thousand of the Wolfhold's soldiers on the battlefield. Their great engine of war, with it's cloven skull rolled out from the keep, decorated with the bodies of Skalgard's finest knights. It's great wheels crushing many of the advancing troops before the Prince himself climbed atop the great machine, setting it ablaze with his flaming sword. A bronze dragon joined the strike, setting orc archers on the towers of Skalgard Keep aflame, as great stones heaved by trebuchets battered the walled defenses. The last of the orcs standing on the field of battle were cut down by the Ironwolf's berzerkers, a loyal shifter clan.

The King in Ironwolf Hold drank to his son's victory, and sent ale to all the villages in his honor.

The fall of Solandir, and massacre at Thorndeep

The Iron Circle scoffs at Valin's diplomat. The Iron Citadel draws and quarters the elven messenger accusing him of insulting the court. Horseman drag the remains to the four corners of the City-States' Empire bringing word to the peoples there of Valin's words of affront. The court of the Citadel of Iron's Grasp declares, "If Valin wishes to speak to us of aggressions, then we will bring them to their doorstep."

Worg Oswe the Half-Ogre champion of the citadel strikes at Valin's strongest ally in the Western peninsula, The Duchy of Solandir. The soldiers and war engines there hold out for a short time as the Iron Circle's forces strike from land sea and air. Surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, their castle falls to Worg's army, who quickly replenishes the Duke's barracks with his own men, and sets them to work rebuilding the damaged walls and towers of the Iron Circle's newest member state.

In Thorndeep, further West of Solandir, the Iron Circle sends a strike force to level a small outpost there. Upon arrival, they find the outpost lightly guarded and Cresom Coldmane the bugbear cheiftain leads his troops in to conquer the base and rest while they wait for a siege weapon to be ferried up the river from the southern coast. That night, Thorndeep's elite strike lead by the gnome ranger Xanlomin Goblinsfoe. The outpost is set ablaze, and those able to escape from the burning fort are cut down by arrows from the forest. The barge traveling up river with the war engine tries to find targets, but the cover of the woodlands is too thick and vast. A few patches are set ablaze but those burn out in time to no great effect. At last a great river monster rolls the barge over in the river, and the last of the Iron Cicle's forces are dispatched. The woods become silent again.

Vailin declares war on Karkoth

A message is sent to the rules of all lands from Valindor. "The honorable warriors of Vailin do not start wars. Let those who attack us be warned. We will seek quick retribution against only those who attack us!" In the west, Vailin's allies reinforce their lands defensively, wary of the recent predations of the neighboring city states.

In the Sea of Ghosts, Admiral Swordhand enforces the blockade against intrusion from the north. His landing parties depleted in the earlier assault on the Crimson Ramparts, he awaits reinforcement from the rear of the fleet, as the brave marines of Zembar die fighting the undead hordes. As the blockade wears on, the Sea of Ghosts takes it toll, as some men grow despondent and throw themselves into the fog that swirls around them assuming shapes both lovely and terrifying. Still, the brave sailors of Zembar hold the line patiently as the bulk of their force arrives.

The storm elemental moves to the front of the fleet and heading ashore where it pins down the skeleton legion from Zannad, deflecting their arrows away from the advancing Vailin forces rallied from the Great Wildwood and beyond. Two metallic dragons swoop down onto the towers crushing all the undead there beneath their mighty talons and blackening their bones with fire till they crack and break. A squad of treants advances from the woods, battering down the now nearly useless ragged red gates. The treant and dragons laboriously destroy all of the undead without casualties, but there is little celebration as they learn that their dead are not among the bodies in the fortress. They turn their gaze to the north, where the Karkothi breath new life into the bodies, sending them forth again to reclaim their old homelands for their dark masters.

When war arrived the Summer tournament at Vailindor was at it's peak. With heroes from across the lands demonstrating feats of might and magic. The wise rulers of Valindor selected the two strongest from the games, one sorcerer and one swordsman to root out the silent lumbering evil that had settled into the lands of Cernal. The brave heroes set out with their retinue, squires and apprentices as well as several other braves volunteers who wished to see them in action again after the games. As they entered the beautiful lands of Cernal, they were immediately struck by the silence of the place. Birds and other beings had fled. Folk were missing from homes, some with a trace of struggle or bloodshed, but no remains to be found.

After a few days many of the merry makers left to head back to Valindor as the rest of the party moved further inward. Those who left early made it home safely, but those who accompanied them further inward told tales of their comrades snatched in the night by a silent, shadowless enemy that left no trace save the screams of their victims. At last all that remained in the party were the two champions, all others fled or missing, and since entering a golden vale shoulder to shoulder they were never seen or heard from again. None speak their names now, for fear they may return as Karkothi wraiths in the black of night.

The long siege of Crimson Ramparts and the march of the Cloven Skull orc horde

The Karkothi countered the daring assault by the marines of Zembar, who managed to seize the siege weapons at the Crimson Ramparts, but were now hopelessly undermanned to guard their new position. From the dark jungles of Zannad crept an undead legion, skeletal and covered in creeping vines. Joining them at the gates of the Crimson Ramparts were great lumbering skeletal warriors, composed of the bones of many great beasts, fused together unnaturally.

The marines managed to seal the walled fortification, but this proved to only slow the inevitable. The skeletons threw their dark vines up over the walls and each time one was cut, two would quickly replace them. The great skeletal abominations pummeled the reinforced doors which had been broken down just days before. The marines held to the last man for three days, but in the end they all we slain to the last man, and their remains were carried back to the Throneholds to be granted the honor of resurrection as undead beings serving their new masters.

The brave men of Cernal, who had advanced on the Crimson Ramparts in Vailin's first assault, where no longer there to protect their families. The bulk of Vailin's thrust had been on the redemption of the villages of the Great Wildwood. The great skeletal hulks silently crept through the lands of Cernal at night, extinguishing the lights of every home they found along their path of terror. A few managed to flee to the hills to escape the slaughter, but even then they lived only to hear the howling cries of those they left behind in the valleys, as their hiding places were eventually discovered by the Karkothi's soulless hunters. A great wave of terror gripped the peoples of the Barony of Brandil, then on to Vailindor and the lands further south.

In the north, the Iron Wolfhold had sent their siege engines to their neighbor the Barony of Skalgard. Their worst fears confirmed, the Cloven Skull Orc horde descended from the steppes further east and laid siege to Skalgard's keep. The men of the Wolfhold and Skalgard struggled to repel the advance, but they were unfamiliar with each others forces and strategy, and so had trouble coordinating their defenses. The orcs brought in a great battering ram the length of a great sailing ship on six massive stone wheels. The head of the battering ram was shaped in the visage of a great skull and the engine's shaft was fashioned to be the axe buried in the skull. Skalgard's gates opened after a single blow and a great cheer chilled the hearts of the defenders. The farmers in the surrounding villages fled to the White Raven Chiefdom to the south, but many were captured by the orcs and sent east in chains to work in their mines building more fearsome weapons for their armies.

The Karkothi nobility declared a day of victory, sacrificing slaves, and holding great blood feasts throughout their dark crumbling cities.

Heroes of the League

Threatened by envoys from Karkoth who vow to crush them in the West, and the predatory advances of the city states to the South, the League of Nerath slowly moves to reinforce their borderlands. The Barony of Therund sends it's best mage and siege equipment to guard Nera, the old capitol of the long crumbled Nerathi Empire. The dwarves of Mithralfast sent more siege engines and footsoldiers to the ruins of Vol Rukoth and the naval fleet that awaits to transport them wherever they may be needed next. The Iron Wolfhold also sends siege equipment to it's neighbor, the Barony Skalgard, who fear advances by the Cloven Skull Orchold.

Mixed news comes when two heroes from Nentir Vale, Otimorn Dewshining the elven Bard and Laralove Dewshining his half elf spellcasting sister, lead a party to the Sunless Citadel beyond the Winterbole Forest. Battling their way through undead hordes they at last arrive at the fortress which had long sunk beneath the surface of the earth. At the ruins of the fortress they delved within and were ambushed by trolls who had taken up residence there. In the battle, the beloved songsmith of Nentir was slain, but his sister saved the rest of the party with her spellcraft.

After the trolls' defeat, the party discovered an ancient armory of holy swords, which they returned to the Lord of Fallcrest. The best blades were transported to the champions of Nerath to aid them in their valiant defense of the League. A large horde of gold was found as well, which was transported to the League's warchest in Mithralfast.

The Iron Circle Expands

The southern pact of city-states in the warm desert lands to the southwest is known as the Iron Circle. It is widely rumored that these states also secretly pay tribute to dark gods, perhaps in the Abyss or the Nine Hells, though no one has yet lived to provide proof of such acts.

The eastern cities of Tithnia called upon the Citadel of Iron's Grasp to enforce the defensive treaty among all the southlands against it's neighboring tribes in the Sand Sea. Among a long list of grievances, from generations old territorial disputes to water rights on border wells, were accusations of piracy and banditry by the tribesman. The Citadel reviewed the evidence provided by the Tithnian diplomat and declared war hastily. Calling on the mercenary captain Cresom Coldmane, a brutal military commander who trains his hobgoblin shocktroops at the summit of Mount Korinda, the Citadel ordered them to end the Sand Sea's reign of terror against the pact of the Iron Circle.

Cresom lead a dawn assault against the Sand Sea Tribes fishing fleet in Vullwar Passage. Though they called a great elemental storm to sink the vessels, the nimble Sand Sea skiffs danced atop the high waves summoned by the Iron Circle's war mages. It was the ramming prows of Cresom's ships that eventually broke the fleet. The Sand Sea sailors fell into the Vullwar's grasp, and as they sank the Sahaguin fish men who live below rose to feast on them, filling the noon skies with terrible screams as they jabbed them with their jeweled tridents and hauled them below is great silver nets.

The next day Worg Oswe, a Half-Ogre champion loyal to the Citadel flew to the Kingdom of Rethmil on the back of a great red dragon, where he provided the Tithnian diplomat's proof of the Sand Sea Tribe's piracy to the city's chief mage and advisor, Brilwemand Waylander. He also demanded passage of his army though the Kingdom to capture the Tribe's lands to the east. A Sand Sea representative arrived shortly after to dispute the charges, claiming the evidence was false.

Before Waylander could discern the truth of the matter, it was too late. Dercassian troops from the west had already positioned themselves to lay siege to the city. Worg and his dragon sacked the main city gate and the assault was joined by Cresom's fleet, who had sailed down the river from Vullwar Passage. The old mage guarded the royal palace but he was overtaken and slain by the Dercassian warriors who swept through it's halls, killing all in sight. Worg and his dragon burned the city barracks and siege engines, leaving Rethmil's market and people ripe for plunder.

Further to the east, the Tithnian soliders joined a unit of iron golem sentinels from the Black Stone Desert as they conquered the villages of the Sand Sea Tribes, driving their peoples into the hills and burning their encampments. The iron titans crushed all defending warriors mercilessly beneath their massive fists and feet, as their arrows and spears bounced harmlessly off the juggernauts' black metal skins.

Back in the Citadel of Iron's Grasp, a great feast was held to celebrate the victory over the Sand Sea Pirates, and the craven Kingdom of Rethmil. They sent word to the other city states that Rethmil's treacherous magician Waylander had been secretly building siege engines with the intent of striking the good people of Dercassia. Fortunately, with the help of Worg Oswe, this plot was unraveled and the lands of the south were saved from Rethmil's menace. Sadly, during the assault they were unable to save the royal family, who was killed by the power-mad mage's wicked conspiracy.

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.

Karkoth Invades Vailin!

The Seven Dark Lords of Karkoth order their mighty siege engine and an army of large undead creatures to invade The Great Wildwood to the south. The brave elven archers defend valiantly, destroying the siege engine, but the monsters are too much for them and overwhelm them, plundering their gentle forest communities and eating those too slow to flee from the advancing zombie hulks.