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.