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.
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