Chronicles of Ymph Tome I

[Drakill Tannan]

This tome is magnific. Bounded in black leather without a single mark or stain, in perfect state, with golden ornaments in the cover and durable paper, it appeared as if the author took a lot of effort on finding a good place to write his text. On the cover it reads:

Chronicles of Ymph Tome I
By: Master Adventurer Drem Merin

Fifteen or so pages are empty at the very begining. The text starts in the sixtheen page. Perhaps they were meant to have an introduction that was never written.

//OOC: I have the other chapter in my laptop to wich i won't have acces in some time, when i have it i'll post it here, it shoulnd't be considered as if this had been updated though, when it happens, it's an OOC issue... //

[Drakill Tannan]

Chapter 1 - The outset

 
 

I

 
  I woke from my slumber to the light of four large spheres glowing over me. As I opened my eyes the naked sky of the dusk greeted me with a warning: something was terribly wrong. It did not take much time to find out I was not at my beloved Lurien, rather I had been teleported to an ancient island filled with ruins by the power of the mythalar. Those who have read the book “Shadows of Undentide” will know a small bit of what I speak about. A mythalar is a powerful netherese artifact witch was used to power up the flying cities of the civilization of netheril, before its fall. At least three of such artifacts had survived: the one the hero of Unentide took from the tower statue, and later destroyed as he collapsed the city, the one that had teleported me here, and a second one within this ruins, which makes a magical enclave known as “The tracendent conclave” float in the skies again. It was by action of the second that I am here.
 
  The name of the man responsible for my “kidnapping” is Zyphaen Faussad, a fabled scholar and one might say even archeologist. The man left waterdeep in Tarsakh third, on the year 1375 DR to travel to this very archipielago, in particular to the island where the city of Old port resides. Now, Old Port may be the archipielago’s capital, but it’s not on the largest island, rather in one of the smallest. Founded by hunters, exiles and smugglers some 400 years ago, or so the legends say, the city of Old Port is led by the count Zorano Spensur, who took control of the city in a large staged coup with the help of his elite caste of soldiers. The Count proceeded to close down most of the trade routes of Old Port and limited non-citizen to the central part of the district, solely. Zyphaem and his two companions were unable to travel away from this central zone in the district; where he witnessed he kind of population the port has: Slaver, pirates and the like, because slavery and trades with the neighbouring Underdark cities are common sight in Old Port. Zyphaem describes the mood of the city as “grim and hostile” to quote him, with the count’s soldiers keeping a very uneasy peace. He was quite happy to leave the city for good, Old port was not his goal anyway.
 
  And it's not like it matters. To the day i haven't stepped there once. This island is actually called Ymph, and it was the place Zyphaem wanted to visit. Turns out he was intrested in the netherese ruins of this island, wich has quite a lot of history, of wich i'll speak later. But in a summarised words: it was a prision colony in ancient Netheril. The most undesirable yet brightest people of netheril were brought here to continue their research away from the rest of humanity, so thay they presented no harm. This sistem seemed to work well: there was only one entrance to the island, the portal atop the ziggurat, and it had no way back. Once inside, you never got out. And Zyphaem re-activated that portal, and i was one of his many victims.
 
  That's right, i can't go back through the portal. It was a one-way ticket. Sailing away to the shining seas won't work either. I'll elaborate on that later.
 
  Over the time, a colony was settled in the ruins. Some came from Old Port, and were loyal to Zorano, others were, like me, teleported by the cursed mythalar, yet others arrived from a city known as "Sanctuary" in the underdark, from wich they escaped for some reason. As of today the colony has grown into a city. The "Duchy" of Nebedzzos they call it. And it even has it's own king: Antonuie Trennada the First. Who, if i'm not mistaken, went insane as of yesterday. And then there's the natives. The stargazer hin, and the wild orcs.
 
  Yes, of cource there's orcs here. My life woulnd't be fucked up enough without them.
 
  These aren't your regular orcs, however. Gods know what they've gone through, but they are far more savage than most brutes i've found, and they are resistant to fire. I don't know why, but else they seem like regular orcs. And like regular orcs, they raid and pillage for fun and food.  The particular night i arrived to the ziggurat they were attacking the city.
 
  I am not sure how i got dragged into the defence of the farmlands. But it wasn't something nice. We had to hold out untill we got reinforcements, and the capitan told us orcs were aproacing from behind our position. We were goign to be surrounded. Before i could object, however, waves of greenskins poured from the east, and we had to defend ourselves. It was not a simple raid, it was an organised warband. Since i had lost all my gear when i got teleported, all i could do was grab a sling and help from behind. I did kill two or three raiders, but that wasn't much compared with the amount that was incoming. Eight men or so held a tick grass road near a steam, wich offered the advantage we couldn't get surrounded, yet.
 
  But before long we heard shouts behind us, as the mercenaries that were watching our back called for help, overwhelmed by waves of invaders. At that point, the orc-fuelled hell broke loose. A few champions broke our lines, i particulary disliked a one-eyed orc with a spear, that seemed to disapear wherever there was a shadow. Took down a man, then came after me. I had only a knife stored in my boot, wich i threw at him hoping i'd get enouhg time to hide behind somone who actually had a sword, but the beast seemed inmune to any pain, even though the knife had made it a nasty wound in the tigh, it charged at me and knocked me off with the flat side of the spear before attacking another warrior. When it scared the other away, it burried the spear on my left leg. The scar hasn't healed. Luckly i was rescued by the quick hand of somone with a magical healind device, enough for me to drink a blur potion, grab my sling and begin shooting again. The spear-wielding orc was out of sight, but he was likely nerby, when it jumped out of the shadows and (aparently) killed another of the warriors with a single strike in the back, i decided it was not worth it, and fleed to hold of the orcs at the bridge, where we would not have anyone hacking swords at our backs.
 
  The orcs, however, had taken the gates of the city. For some reason they were unmanned, Though the corspe of a sentry was there. I ran as fast as i could, alone this time, with three unvaders steping on my talons. Through quick maneuvers i evaded two of them, but a single orc warrior eventually cornered me. I had recovered a knife in the farmlands, from the hand of a young orc warrior, so i confrotned my attacker. I'll equiped as i was, it's axe nearly cut me in half a couple times. I do remember it left a wound that later required stiches. However, at some point the orc let his guard down, i i ducked and rolled in between his legs and stabbed him in the kidney, he fell to his knees in pain, i jumped at his back, grabed him by the face with my left hand (wich sometimes i could swear still smells like orc drool) and sliced the throat with my knife using the other hand.
  The other two catched up with me eventually. I was in no shape to fight a single orc, let alone two, but i spotted a small balcony just above a pile of rubble nerby. It was my saving grace. I climed as fast as i could, and when the orcs tried to follow me i merely threw a good-sized rock to the face of the first, who rolled down the pile of rubble, crashing with his buddy in the proces. One fell to the ground, it's leg was bent in a very unfomftable way- broken as it was he couldn't follow me anymore, and the other had fallen into the moat arround the city just besides the rubble. I don't think it knew how to swim. Regardless i was safe at last. Couldn't go down so vulnerable near where the orcs attacked the city gates, hence i followed a series of passages through the balcony, eventually exiting to the Gobsquat.
 
  I arrived on time to warn the people about the orc presence in the gates. By the time i had done so, however, the mercenaries had regrouped at the gates, and slain the rest of the orcs.
 
  That is when lord Stenton, one of the nobles of the colony and the man in charge of handling the farmlands decided to lead a second wave of soldiers into the farmlands. The orcs had scattered, and we merely killed thouse who had been left behind, although our mission to defend the farmlands had indeed failed, as everyone there was dead or missing. Regardless we were rewarded for our efforts. All of this left a bitter taste in my mouth however, as i collaped into my bed in the local public house, and fell unconcious within seconds.

[Drakill Tannan]

II

   I mentioned Lord Stenton, as one of the nobles of the colony. Since the city was founded, many of the wealtheir residents of old port have come here. These are royalty within the Count's colony, and lead the place. But they are not precisely in agreement with each other every time.
 
  House Stenton seems to be one of the nicest of all the noble houses. Lord Stenton a good man, under the local standarts, and he was kind enough to gift me an exelent armor as a reward for aiding protecting the farmlands. There is also house Djure, who is a more liberal-minded house. I'd say that's the nicest of the houses, though it's leader was reciently killed by Lord Stenton for an incident i'll mention later, concering the farmlands and the so called "Wavelord Rus". Finally there's house Harvix, wich is a bunch of evil necromancers up to no good. Conveniently they handle the mortuary. Go figure. The local authority is the Stygian Armada. These started as elite mercenaries for Count Zorano, who after the incident known as the "Ixtapadian war", their leader, Duke Antonie Trennada was raised to owner of the island, although he did gift a bit to Lord Durgrim, the Thane of the golden aliance, and lost quite a bit to Lord Blackhearth, another lord i'll speak a lot about later. In recient times Trennada rebeled against the Count and proclaimed himself king of Ymph.
 
  I mention this because a retainer from one of the noble houses, i belive Stenton, led me to my next "adventure" the day following the orc raid.
 
  I opened my eyes to a magical voice in my head. I later understood this was a magical process through wich the mythalar could channel the words of any man to anyone near the ruins of the colony. I can't remember the exact words, but a man spoke of a scout of house Stenton or another noble house asking for aid at the city gates. After a few stiches and sessions of magical healing the day before, my wounds had healded, and my curiosity led me to investigate. A group of adventurers and i arrived there to see what was going on. The man in question was a wounded scout, who said something about the rest of his batallion being fighting against more orcs. Yes, the orc episode wasn't finished yet. The other adventurers and i agreed to help them, join the battle and bring them back to safety. This time i actually had an armor gifted to me by Lord Stenton, so i figured i might as well stay behind and sling some bullets. Oh, boy, what i got myself into.
 
  The scout led us to a trail in the woods. For the most part, it was empty. We figured the battle had ended, but decided to keep moving in case we could aid the survivors, or kil the surviving orcs. As the trail became more narrow and twisted in small corridors surrounded by trees, a sensation of uneasyness fell on us all. It was too dark, to quiet and to narrow. We were in a very vunlerable position. We finally arrived to a clearing, that while small housed a small ruin, probably built by the stargazers, composed of several dolmens in circle. Inside the circle we found what we thought to be, the corspes of the other soldiers. But they didn't seem to have fallen there. And i, in my stupidity had to jynx us all.
 
  "It's an ambush!"
 
  What is most often scary about orcs is their ferocity in combat, and their numbers. But their lack of organisation makes them easily defeated, even if the outnumbered, with proper tactics and discipline. This soldiers however, weren't berzerken brutes. A horde of orcs are scary, but nine strictly diciplined orcs coming out of nowhere cause a severe impression. And these weren't the regular soldiers. Each had only one eye, and all wielded a large axe, all of then equal They stood in formation, and with a mask of serenity in their faces. They were champions of Grumush, the one-eyed god of orcs.
 
  We, of cource, attacked first. I took some special axes i bought and began throwing them at the orcs. But despite my exelent aim, i managed to hit them only twice, once, in the leg, the other i just barely hit the left side of the head, cutting off an ear. The bastards moved with a grace and descition i had never seen in one of their kind, but althouhg disciplined as a strongheart marcher, they were no less savage and mighty than their bretheren. They were perfect soldiers. We were not, and they knew it, and mocked us for it.
 
  Beacause while at first the match was "eaven", as soon as they got tired of toying with us, we began to fall like flies. Each of the warriors was subdued and thrown in with the corspes in the ritual circle. Me? I ran as fast as my legs could once about half of them fell in mere seconds. Despite my speed the orcs caught up with me, but did not finish me off. Rather they grabbed me by the hair and lifted me and... well, the last thing i remember is a huge green fist comming towards me.
 
  I woke up minutes later inside the ritual circle. The orcs sought to parley. Intresting concept, coming form their kind. But only the leader was to survive, the rest of us would die, and i couldn't flee, and i wasn't the leader. Just as they were about to execute the first one of us, i heard a shout in the distance. It was just like the epic stories we all have read, and that are all fake. Except for this one.
 
  "For the Three!"
 
  It was only three men. All in black uniform. They were zealous, they were firm. They appeared unstopable. And for the orcs, they were. I only recocnised one, a woman with a wooden staff who had helped defend the farmlands the day before. Later i would learn she was Dame Emma Snow, seer of the Numinous Order. But for now, i merely watched as her and her companions destroyed the orcs without mercy, and saved us all. All this was slightly anti-climatic, but i cannot complain. This was the second time the order had saved my life, for untill this point i hadn't realized the man who had saved me one night earlier was also an orderman. I was in debt.

[Drakill Tannan]

III

 
  Just who are the Numinous Order of Brethren Votarient? I do not know much of ther history in the island's past. They were here present, and very influential. Many shrines to their gods: the three and one, can be found in the wilds. But the Order came to an end abruptly, before resurfacing in recent times. Following the battle of the Bogs that brought an end to the Order's presence in the Colony,  Lord Martyn Greywood, the final living member of the House Greywood, one of the four great families that were once among the ruling Houses of Old Port, entered the region to unravel several mysteries, to aid the Colony, and to restore honor to his family's name. This was previous to the Ixtapadian war, and it is said he helped the would-be-queen Ixtapadia Sabuth. He uncovered and manned an old castle, called Castle Blackhearth and allowed the new Order that would come to get a foothold on the island. Some months after his death, a man of the colony revealed himself to be Lord Agravian Blackhearth, and took over the lands surrounding the castle, and the castle itself. The Count recocnsied his rule, and thus the reformed Numinous Order began.
 
  Their order is reilgious in nature, and, to what i've learned, heretical. The religious doctrine of the Numinous Order is very convoluted and sometimes contradictory. They revere a tetrad of gods known to them as the Three and One, but called Tyr, Ilmater, Torm and Helm by everyone else. According to the Order's dogma, these gods bestowed prophetic visions upon their through the Mist of the islands.
 
And although the truths that the mystics of the Order have learned are kept secret from the uninitiated, it was well known that nothing less than the fate of the world rests upon the Order's collective shoulders. The Masters had foreseen nothing else than the End of the World. And while not without their critics, as i write this lines nobody dares to dobut the prohpesy that has slowly become true.
 
  Alas, once again i'm getting ahead of myself.
 
  My asosiation with the order came to being thanks to Hin matriarch Dalidas Sandyman, who also happened to be a priestes of Yondalla, the mother and provider of the hin race. Like me, she was teleported to the island thanks to the mythalar, and she took it on her shoulders to create a hope for me and my kin in this island by constructing a village somewhere in the wilderness. To this end she had enlisted the aid of several kin, me included. And dealt with the order a special deal.
 
  Vortgyn's rest used to be a hamlet near castle blackhearth. To tell the truth, it never got to be something more than a bunch of tents, improvised houses and a well. But in exchange for our service for it's protection, we would be allowed to build it up, and had plans for an inn, a blacksmith and several burrow homes for our kin. The matriarch enlisted herself, and ordered us to enlist in the Vortgyn's rest militia, of wich i'd eventually become a lieutanant. The militia answered only to the numinous order, but we were mostly free in our actions. We worked alongside the order many times. And got into serious trobule for it. I happen to remember an incident with the Manchakan enclave of Old port, wich sent "the finest blade of ymph" to kill us all. I don't remember his name.
 
  One of the templars, Soravia Sarges, had captured a thief who had tried to mug her withing the ruins of the colony, who apparently, had a bounty over his head. Knocked unconcious while we were moving him to the Castle for trail, a friend of him stopped our path. The Manchakan. Apparently the thief was an agent for him, and he was going to make us pay for "meddlig" with his busines.
 
  When you outnumber a foe 8 to 1, you are not often afraid of loosing the battle. I was certian we'd kick his ass. And  I was wrong. Sistematically he took each and every one of us down, one by one through about a one-hour fight. His blade seemed unatural. Although in truth a great deal of his succes was due to magical potions he drank like they were spring water, he moved with an unmatched grace, exploiting openings in every defence, and dodging the attacks of three men at a time when his magical defences were not enough. With a scimitar and a shield, and five-thousand worth of magical potions he defeated the entire group that was heading to the castle, the matriarch and i included. And the bastard was planning to execute us all, and would have succeded.
 
  I remember the poor Godfrey Ishatro. The Manchakan had a serious issue with him. He humiliated good Godfrey, although considering he tricked me into selling him a scroll worth at least nine hundred ducats for only a hundred and fifty, i suppose he had it comming. The Manchakan was about to execute him styleishly when our saviour appeared from out of the woodlands. A single arrow slammed the hand of the Manchakan, and from the treeline a red-headed and tribal looking woman in leathers jumped from the shadows and dual-wielding her swords foguht alone against the Manchakan, to whom she appeared eaven. Many crazy things happened then. Perhaps i was hallusinating due to the bloodloss, but i could swear large chunks of ice began to rain from the sky, i saw a tilefling heading towards them, and then everything went dark. I think i was unconcious after that happened. I remember waking at the kingsmans, my head aching and my belly starving. Perhaps one of the others carried me there. The thing is, i do remember hearing the Manchakan saying somthing about "Next time" and running away, but other than that it was all confusing. It's a shame i never got to thank the tribal woman, the next time i saw her a giant undead constuct broke her spine in half before i could speak a word.
 
  Despite the trobule they got me into, i was loyal to the order for a long time after that. Escencially out of fear, for i was witness to one of the many prophesies that heralded the end of the world, and who only they could stop.

[Drakill Tannan]

IV

   This happened a day like any other. I was to acompany the ordermen to one of their shrines, that had been taken over by gnolls, to recover it and clear them out. But fate had other plans, for as we exited the colony through the main bridge, i was witness for the first time to the powers of the mist. I don't remember the exact words i heard when it decended. But it said some vague prophesies. A feeling of despair overwhelmed us, and then we were somewhere else.
 
  I cannot be sure if we were asleep, hallusinatig or if it was real. But everyone there had the same memory, and the vision came true after a month or so. So i do not dobut it's veracity, whatever it was. All that could be seen was the endless mist in the horizon, in the floor, in the sky, everywhere. Two men of the order were there, who told us they had been holding out the forces of evil for many days now, and had reciently lost a compaion. They warned us that the next attack was comming, and disapeared. Helpless we saw at the distance some sort of army heading our way, we quickly took positions to defend ourselves, as panic began rising among us.
 
  They were wild animals. But not just any animals. Undead critters, mockeries of life, far stronger than your average beast, and some had intresting magical abilities. From boars to rats, bats and wild large cats, even some bears, we were quickly swarmed. Despite this, we held our ground. During this time i would hear voices shouting something about the end of the world. It was maddening.
 
  When the second wave aproached, i thought there was no way we could survive. Matriarch Sandyman had been in great risk of falling twice now, and my supplies were running low. Yet, depspite all odds. We survived. But i was not prepared for what was to come next.
 
  Have you ever seen a white stag? it a wonderfull creature, so pure and inocent. Gives you a feeling of peace just by placing your gaze on it. But it feels bizarre in the extreme when such beautifull sight walks throguh a field of animal rotting corspes to eat the pasture that is not there. I cannot begin to describe the strangeness of the feeling that came when through a vile magical spell, someone in the darkness killed the stag, that began to rot at an incredibly fast rate. When the guily came out from the shadows, it was quite a shock to discover it a hin. But not just any hin, a white-skinned undead hin with a vile scent of darkness and evil upon him. This was the first flayer i met, and the impresion i felt remains today every time i gaze at one of their vile kin. Even more when i remember it's words and the words that came after i decapitated it with "emma", my shortsword. It spoke of the rise of a great master, and the doom of us all. The end.
 
  And then, i was back at the bridge, exhausted. From that trip i adquired the ability to channel some of the power of the mist to aid me in battle, and the scars i had were real. I dedicated most of my remaining time to investigate what did the mist meant with this "Master".

[Drakill Tannan]

V

   H'bala. That is the name of the master the prohpesy mentioned. I know little of her origins, but several documents found in places such as her first prision have revealed me some of the most "recient" things she's done.
 
  The now queen of the undead used to be a mortal yet very powerfull sorceress. Whatever had driven her to seek power and be worthy of being sealed in the prision this colony used to be is unknown to me, but she was one of the most feared, valuable and important convicts of the prision colony. Sealed in the tower we call "The tower of Mercy" she continued to incese in power and corrupt what already existed to her own twisted and unknown ends, untill she was so powerfull she managed to escape her prision into the island of Ymph.
 
  For some reason, the netherese guards did not went looking for her. Perhaps they were too ashamed of the fact she managed to break free. Perhaps she fooled them into thinking she was not there, or perhaps they were too afraid of her, what i do know is that she was left alone to do her will, and she used this oportunity to sieze the only power she did not already control: the power of the earth itself.
 
  That is why among the druids of the island she is known as "the betrayer". At first she aproached them inocently, hiding her true nature, aparently purely curious to learn and grow. And once she learned all she could from them, she showed her true colors. Many of the druids died by her hand, i'm sure. And she completly consumed the island where this happened. Nowdays it is called the island of blight, and steppin on it will sap your life from you for the mere emptyness the betrayer created. It was often said that would be the ultimate fate of the entire world if she was to be released. Because of cource, she was temporarily stopped before she could take over the entire world.
 
  I know little of how this happened. The ancient stargazers of the island united with the druids and in a powerfull ritual managed to defeat her, and seal her inside a massive tower near the bogs of the island. She remained there for a long time. But altough sealed her influence extended wide throughout the island. For many years she appeared to it's inhabitants as a beautifull and helpless maiden that was unfairly jailed for a crime she did not comit, and persuaded many to release her. The stargazers were smart enough not to listen to her, as they knew well of her true nature. The colonists that arrived long after these events happened were not so wise. Many were lured and gave their lives trying to release her, charmed by her magic and her influence. But one of the colonists nor adventurers managed to succseed.
 
  Somehow, and despite all logic, this lead to our downfall. For the druids of the island grew worried that eventually one might succed. And they began to plot the ultmate destruction of the trapped maiden to end her vile existane once and for all. They would open her tomb and when she was weakened, destroy her for good. Little did they know this is exactly what she wanted. But that part of the story is still further ahead in my tale.

[Drakill Tannan]

VI

   I'll narrate a few of the relevant events that lead to the eventual release of H'bala into the island. As i said before, this was the fault of the stargazers and the druids of the island.
 
  I've mentioned the stargazers a lot, but have never explained who they are. If you have ever met a ghostwise hin you can give yourself a pretty good idea of what the stargazer folk is. As far as i know they only live in this archipielago, and live in comunion and harmony with the natural world. They were here before the netherese, where powerfull enough to seal H'bala in her tower with their ancient magics, but they are not fond of strangers, particulary the colonists who live in what they call "The cursed stone". They also hate the Numinous Order fervently, and because of my asociation with them, they hate me as well. They belive we destroy the natural world simply because we prefer to build a house than sleep in the mud, and intend to stop us from doing so, or at least pretended to. If i'm not mistaken, very few live by now.
 
  You an divide the stargazers in two groups. The regular stargazer folk, divided into "clans" lead by animal totems such as panther, frog, etc. And the flyaers. The flayers are servants of H'bala, feral and driven mad, their totem is the spider and they seem to have a fetish with spiders and rotten stuff. I've never spoken to one, they kill and eat anything that aproaches them that is not a spider or another flayer. Mostly i had problems with these vile mockery of my kin, but initially my porblems were with the true stargazers, particulary the tiger tribe.
 
  The incident went on like this. Near Vortgyn's Rest there used to be a shrine to the three and one, very ancient, and mantained by the men of blackhearth. As i returned from one of my usual patrolls arround the woods that surround it, the horn sounded at blackhearth and i attended to see what was going on. You see, while i learned the details later, the thing went like this:
 
  A group of younglings of the stargazer tiger tribe must have gotten drunk and foolish, and decided to drive away thouse who they thought invaders to their lands by asaulting this shrine of the nuinous order. However, they were repeled. The problem was that they attacked with such ferocity and savagery they were confused by flayers, and this slain and impaled as a warning for other flayers not to attack the shrine. This impaled corspes were spoted by scouts of the tiger tribe, who began planning their vengance for this action. Angered because of the treatment given to their young, a large group of the tiger tribe stargazers marched towards this shrine. The numinous order and Vortgyn's Rest militia was told the savage flayers were attacking the shrine, and were told to head there and defend it. Alas, they had sent us in a suicide mission.
 
  When we arrived, all of the tempalrs of the roder were already dead. I killed three stargazers before being taken down, as did my companions. Then we found out these weren't flayers, despite they acting as flayers. Their intent was not noble at all, however. They taunted our weak and fallen into dueling them, a duel with rules not respected by them, who would gang against a single wounded man, two or three on one, over and over. When the humiliation was over they used their magic to destroy the shrine, and then robbed us of our gold and killed two of the templars: Bartorious, the elder templar, and Egeir, a spellsinger much like me, who sacrificed himself to save me when i was to be the next "victim" of their taunt. The rest of us were left to go free. Perhaps so we could spread the tale and create fear of the stargazers among our ranks, it was a grim day.
  And i must say, the grudge is not over. That happened perhaps a month ago, yet two days before this a group of stargazers insisted on dueling to death a good friend of mine, Tara Swift, to make "justice" of their fallen young. She was stronger than they thought, however, and won the duel, sparing the hin.
 
  War was declared against the stargazers from this day, something that did not make them more likely to heed the warnings we would shout at them, once we learned of their plan to release H'bala so she could be killed once and for all. Their grudge impared their judgement, and might have doomed us all. They reacted too late, in the end, by the time they acepted our alliance the best way to halt H'bala's progress was to slay them all before they could be raised undead servants to her as foretold by the prophesy, and so the purge began, something i was glad not to participate in.
 
  However, before that we managed to lure some others to our cause and stop their mistaken influence from making it easier for the now lich-queen to take over.
 
  I belive a key instrument in her release was an obesse and deformed stargazer calling himself "Frog". I belive his true name was Gaxo'the, and he was a spellsinger of the frog tribe of the stargazers. He was present during the attack at the shrine, and was one of thouse who would gang up with another to attack a wounded temaplar in a "fair" duel, just to mock him. Hence i held a grudge against him. And yet, he was perhaps the only one who advocated peace. Then again, he still did far more harm than good. Many times i would have killed him, but he was a mighty foe, at a time where i could not slay a razor boar or a dire wolf on my own, Gaxo'the would kill and eat elder werewolves with ease. Later i understood the source of his strenght: Frog was truly a werefrog, and in his hybrith shape he was very powerfull, nearly unkillable. I belive in the end Frog turned out to be an agent for the lich, some say unwilling, but i'm not so sure at this point. Truth is, i really hope i had killed him when i got the chance.

[Drakill Tannan]

VII

   The Order was beginning to take messures against the coming apocalypse. It was said that only with the help of Nethzerym the Awakened we would survive. But Nethzerim the awakened was not with us, he belonged to the god of savage massacre: Targus.
 
  I do now know why. but i do know the Avatar of the god possesed the body of Nethzerym since anceint times. As far fetched as it may sound, such being was at only a few steps off the place i slept. In an ancient Netherese temple dedicated to the dead god, Targus, lays a portal that leads to his relm, a massive arena where the Awakened stood waiting for the final chalenger. It was said that somone would need to defeat him in order for the Netherese o be freed, and the end to be stopped. In order to release him the trails of fate began. This trails of fate where some sort of tournament in wich a single man proven worthy would recive power directly from the three and on to strike at the avatar of targus and release Nethzerym. Oddly enough the man who succeded was not one of the templars, but rather one man under my command: Brok'tor Kildare.
 
  And i say "my men" because when this happened i had acended several ranks in the militia. Sandyman was long gone, probably eaten by a jungle cat, but i had shown promise. During that time i went over my simple rank of Watchman, became a Sentinel with command of two other watchmen and then Lieutanant, with comand over Brok'tor, who at that time was a sentinel, and four other active watchmen. Only Capitan Aaron, who i belive died in the defence of Vortgyn's rest outranked me.
 
  I decided not to participate in the trails of fate. Nobody had mentioned it, but i smelled something fishy about it, my predicion that whoever was chosen to fight Targus would sacrifice himself and take the place of the Awakened turned out to be true, and i was quite wise not to participate. Brok'tor was either too fool or too noble, and i belive it was the second, that he was able to accept the sacrifice, and when he won the battle, he was not seen again. I reject greatly not having been able to say goodbye, Brok'Tor was a good friend, a good man, an example to humans, orcs and half-orcs of all Fareun.
 
  But i did witness firsthand at least part of this trails of fate. As i acompanied another of the participants: Egeir Perigarade, the man who had saved my life back at the attack on the shrine. Templar Bartorious, Templar Egeir and myself headed to the mountains to search for the other shrine, and there i witnessed the power of the Mist for the second time, in all it's glory.
 
  Atop the mountains, en-route to the Dwarven hold of the golden alliance there is a small path that leads to a camp shrouded in mist. It stands at the edge of a cliff, and beyond it lies a large flat rock, almost like an island in the wind. It is inaccesible, or would be if the mist didn't form a solid bridge to thouse who had faith on it. In the middle of this island is a stone circle, and an ancient crystal tablet written in a language i canot recocnise, but wich i know speaks of three "mist dragons". Stepping inside thsi circle is dangerous, should you enter violent visions will flood your mind, and you will begin to die slowly. While the visions are forghoten as soon as you exit it, the power of the mist cann't be argued. It was inside this circle Egeir stubbornly stood and prayed to the three for guidance.
 
  It is said the mist is the breath of Helm, the Dreamer god of prohpesy in the Order pantheon. And the mist does seem to favor the templars. Althouhg in strange ways.
 
  From inside the circle strange creatures materialized. Winged beasts that appeared to have dominance of the mist who began to attack us, and yet, they were repelled. As a reward for succeding in this test, the mist transported us, -just like last time- inside it. Were i faced the most horrible vision i had.
 
  It was a battlefield. The floor was littered with corspes of all kinds arround a tree, it was a depresing view. Bartorious Egeir and i headed near the tree and gazed at the corspes of the Stygian Armada and the Numinous order. But even worse, we saw that this tree bleed, and was an undead tree. It was Very disturbing. Like last time we faced a fierce battle. This time it wasn't undead animals: rather undead infantrymen of the armada and ordermen of the Numinous order. We stood firm, and succeded. Voices shouted us the end was comming, and we knew this was what was foretold to happen if H'bala was to be released. And it all slowly seems to have become true.
 
  Much of the island has been turned into undead. From ravens to wild cats and boars. Cave bears, like in the first vision the wilds have become a mockery of themselves and turned against us. The rotten tree of the latter vision came true when Vortgyn's Rest fell. The hamlet housed the "world tree", a powerfull tree with great significance for the wildfolk, wich conected the entire island throguh it's roots. It has become exactly what i saw in this vision.
 
  Yet not everything was discouraging. The last part of the prophesy was perhaps the only thing that has kept me alive, thanks to my hope. For as we began to fade out of the mists, a massive beast, a horrible creature that caused a great terror on us all came out of nowhere, and began to taunt us. It shouted, it mocked us, it was terrible, it felt great at the same time.
 
  "There is no end. The end is a lie".
 
  A lie! The visions tell us what might happen, but not what must happen. We are to live if we fight with enough strenght and will. That is the only thing that has kept me alive. Alas, the apocalypse did come. When the creature was destroyed we awoke at a desert in the other side of the island, near one of the shrines of the order. While encouraging that things were going well, we came to have an unexpected incident in our way back.
 
  The only road back to blackhearth's lands was throguh the unyielding pass, inhabited by the tribe of Gasserric the Unyielding. A powerfull barbarian who lives in the mountains. And as we passed through there, we met the druids and stargazers who had attacked the shrine, in the middle of their plot to release H'bala. Yet despite our words they did not listen. Three days later, H'bala was free.