Metamorphosis

Run, run as fast and as far as you can. Take only what you need, for what you do not need, you do not need.
Hide, hide in the deep and the dark places where no-one will ever find you. Emerge when it is safe. Come out when the monsters are gone.
Fight, fight for you will die if you do not. It is better to try. Wounds can be healed. Hurt can fade. What is lost can be made new.
Live, please, I'm begging you, just live. I will help you. Only live, and then in time things can get better.

Tome of the Warrenwise

Overview

It has been a tumultuous time in the Sarangrave; first the Druj, then the Vallorn, and now husks. All while the Empire has been endeavouring to make diplomatic inroads with the rebels of Nesustak forest. Sadly troubles abound, the eviction of so many from Thornfen by the Axou has raised the spectre of famine in the territory. And now the Druj enemy scattered through the territory after their armies disbanded are threatening to raise a second dark spectre - the beast that lurks beneath the waters of the Sarangrave, the dark and terrible Kroll.

It is not all bad news however, the last of the miasma pillars has been destroyed, bringing blessed relief to the territory. Slow but steady progress in the long term project of making the former territory of the Mallum into a utopia.

Persevere

We the people of Urizen welcome the displaced orcs, who have been rendered homeless by the Axos in Thornfen, to make their home within Urizen.

Delara, Urizen National Assembly, Summer Solstice 388YE, Vote: 236-0 Upheld with a Greater Majority

• There are not enough provisions to feed and shelter the former occupants of Thornfen
• If nothing is done, there will be widespread famine this winter
• The Keeper of the Breadbasket can distribute the Imperial bounty to them to stave off famine
• No benefits from the breadbasket would be available for the next two seasons
• The Druj in the territory will benefit from the breadbasket alongside their former subjects
• If the orcs are allowed to starve, the Druj warriors in the territory will be unable to cause problems for two seasons

It has not escaped the notice of the leaders of the loose coalition of ex-subjects that orcs have been expelled from their lands following a treaty formed between the Empire and Axos of which they and the residents of Thornfen had no part. Sadly this does little to improve feelings in the territory. While the statement of principle enacted by the Urizen National Assembly is clearly well-intentioned, the words fall on barren ground. More than a few orcs seem aggrieved at being invited to live with people who some feel are responsible for their eviction.

The influx of people have stretched everyone's resources to the limit. It is as if the entire population of Meade had suddenly been evicted and forced to find new homes elsewhere in the territory. Without any support or provisions they are going to suffer and the handful of Urizeni settlers cannot manage that by themselves. There are as many or more orcs in the Sarangrave as the entire population of Urizen, and even if spires had been built across the territory already there would be not nearly enough Urizeni homes to house them. As it stands, few Urizeni have yet moved in. Doubtless more will in time, but there is a lot to be accomplished before that happens.

There are now hungry orcs spread across those parts of the territory the Urizen control. The rebels have taken in those who can fight, but most are being turned back from the borders of Nesustak Forest - there is simply not enough food to go round and if the rebels take them in, then everyone will starve. As a result, scattered bands of orcs are gathered round anywhere the Urizeni have put down roots. They might not like it, but it's clear to everyone they that is their best chance of surviving the harsh winter.

The food supply situation will come to a head over the coming winter, and there will be widespread famine among the former occupants of Thornfen, if the Empire does not take steps to deal with it. The obvious solution is the Imperial Breadbasket. If this precious resource was turned over to feeding the outcasts then it will provide enough food to ensure that nobody starves in the coming winter and the subsequent spring. By that point, people will be in a position to fend for themselves. That would mean that the Breadbasket could not provide benefits to the Marchers or any Imperial army for two seasons, but would ensure there is no famine in the territory.

There is a downside however - there are thousands of Druj warriors scattered across the territory looking for any opportunity to take advantage of the situation. If the Empire distributes food to the occupants of the territory, some of it will inevitably end up in the hands of the Druj. No Imperial citizen is ever going to knowingly hand food to the Druj, there's no suggestion of treason here, but they are skilled cheats and liars who won't hesitate to rob and kill to take what they need. If the Breadbasket is used to feed the Sarangrave this winter, then inevitably, it will help to bolster the Druj forces in the territory.

The only visible alternative is to let the famine run its course over the next two seasons. That would be a gruesome outcome, but after two season those who survived the famine would be able to fend for themselves and it would make it impossible for the Druj warriors to cause trouble in the next two seasons, as they would be too focussed on their own survival. It would inevitably inflame anti-Imperial sentiment among the survivors of course.

Politic

Slawomir Rabovich Bolotstrazh, Imperial Consul

• The leaders of the rebels are coming to Anvil for a meeting with the Imperial Consul
• The rebels control Nesustak Forest but they want control of the Bloodwater Marsh
• Giving them the region would mean Urizen losing control of the territory

The Empire has saved the Nesustak rebels from total obliteration twice now, and the work of many individuals, including not least the Gryphon's Pride and other armies, strongly suggests that the Empire wants them alive. Now, it is time to discover for what purpose. Halyx Fire-Eyes, the leader of the Bloodwater Spears and Agoska, leader of the Water-Walkers will be making their way to Anvil at 21:00 on Friday. They have accepted the offer of the Imperial Consul to host them, and are happy for the other citizens who wrote to them this season (Frith the Advisor on Orc Affairs, Ser Guy of the Twisted Rose and Fausta Ankarien) to attend the meeting as well. As part of her previous work, Naomi of Virtue's Rest has arranged a short briefing to advise the Consul and other attendees on the current situation and what might be discussed.

The rebels will demand that the Empire allow the free orcs of the Sarangrave to live in their own homes under their own laws and traditions. That sounds fine in principle, but it has two problems. The Axou have made it clear that they won't permit this in Thornfen, but it would be trivially easy for the Empire to allow everyone else to live within the borders of the Empire as foreigners. But the only legal way the rebels can live "under their own laws and traditions", is if they control the regions they live in.

Of course they already control the Nesustak Forest, and everything suggests that they will fight to the death to hold it. They rebelled against the Druj and risked death at their hands to control the Forest - so they unlikely to back down to threats from the Empire. But Halyx Fireeyes leads the Bloodwater Spears, the former occupants of the Bloodwater Marsh. Their demands are going to include the Empire giving them control of that region as well and that would be difficult. It would mean that the Empire no longer had control of the territory - while people might consider the territory part of Urizen, it would no longer have a senator. The rebels won't care about that in the slightest, but it's likely to be a significant concern for the Senator for Sarangrave at the very least.

If the Empire held Thornfen, then it is possible that they could afford to let the rebels control the Marsh. Doubtless negotiations could be agreed to let Imperial armies move through those regions freely - the rebels don't seem to have a problem with that. But of course Thornfen is under the control of Axos, and they are unlikely to want to give it up. Axos currently has one army in the Thornfen, but there is a huge fortification in the region. The longer the Empire left it, the more difficult it might become to take the region, as the garrison eventually resupplies.

The only other way to give the rebels what they want would be to take back Bendol from the vallorn. That's impossible at the moment, but it might not be forever. If the Empire had Bendol, they could afford to give the Marshes to the rebels and still keep control of the territory. Naomi believes that if the Empire's representatives tried, they could persuade the rebels to accept a future promise - but she warns them to think very carefully about the timescale of such a promise. Promising to give them the Marsh in a decade's time will not be acceptable, but an offer to hand it over in a year could be astonishingly difficult to achieve without compromising Imperial control. Maybe there is a time scale that is acceptable to both parties - maybe.

Pushback

• The Empire could reject any or all of the demands of the rebels
• The rebels are in no position to fight the Empire - at the moment
• The tenor of these negotiations will set the baseline for future relations between the Urizeni and the orcs of the Sarangrave

Put bluntly, the Empire could easily rebuff the demands of the rebels. They are frantically arming themselves, with weapons and pieces of armour scavenged from the battlefields, but at the moment they don't have an army to speak of. If the Empire hadn't saved these people twice, they would be dead already. There is no requirement to give them anything. The Empire could even seize the Nesustak Forest from them, the rebels might fight to defend it, but any Imperial army attacking the Forest would suffer only minimal casualties. It might take a season or two to conquer the whole region, during which the rebels would put up a valiant fight to the death - and then it would be done.

What complicates the matter is that the Empire has repeatedly talked of liberating the septs who have lived under the rule of the Druj. That seemed to work in Ossium but in the Barrens and here in the Sarangrave it is painfully clear that the idea of liberation is fundamentally incompatible with forcing people to live in the Empire. The Empire can conquer these lands and the people who live here - they can force them to obey Imperial laws. They can rule the Sarangrave with or without the iron fist the Druj employed.

What they cannot do is liberate the people of the Sarangrave and then demand they live in the Empire under the Empire's laws. That is only liberation for anyone who wants to live in the Empire. The Nesustak rebels have dreamed of throwing off the yoke of the Druj. They've longed for a day when they could rule themselves for hundreds of years. They're not about to give those hopes up now, unless they're forced to. The Empire must choose whether it is liberating these people by giving them lands and self-rule, or conquering them by claiming the Sarangrave for themselves - it cannot easily do both.

However, this situation with the rebels is resolved, it will set the tenor of the Empire's relationship with the existing inhabitants moving forward. If the Empire are seen as conquerors, simply new if more light-handed, masters than the Druj, then the rebels will resist Imperial rule and make every effort to reclaim their homes. They will try this first diplomatically, but ultimately they will resort to violence if that fails. These people have had the first taste of hope for freedom in their lives, and now that suffocating power of the miasma pillars is gone, they are growing more confident by the day.

If the Empire are seen as liberators, relations could slowly improve. The Empire have saved the rebels from certain death twice - enough to prove they are not the monsters the Druj have painted them. Once the Urizen have dealt with the other problems the territory presents, there will eventually be opportunities to benefit from mutual cooperation with the rebels. The Sarangrave was the Druj breadbasket, and no-one knows its secrets and how to maximise its output like those peoples who worked these lands. The Empire cooperated with the Sand Fishers, and while they keep asking for more, relations grew steadily better over time.

The coming negotiations are likely to prove crucial. For those taking part, it is essential to remember that these septs do not like or trust the Empire. Generations of Druj propaganda, and more recently the words of Irra Harah, and even their own bitter experiences from the Empire's attacks on Mallum make that impossible at this time. They hate the Druj, but they don't have many reasons to like the Empire any more than they did the previous rulers of Sarangrave.

The Empire have proved that they want the septs alive. But so did the Druj, after all.

Terentia of Sarangrave Reforged
Grandmaster of the Golden Pyramid

Prestidigitate

• The last of the miasma pillars in the Sarangrave has been torn down by the Waterwalkers
• The sept send their thanks to the Empire's magicians for the ritual text they provided
• With the pillars gone, the spirits of everyone living in the territory begins to lift

By the time of the Autumn Equinox, the malign effects of the miasma pillars in the Sarangrave have begun to fade as Agoska of the Waterwalkers leads a group of his apprentices to cast Dreadful Ending on the last one as supplied to them by the Conclave. This effect will still be in place during the summit, but it will be the last one. Agoska was apparently quite emotional to see the end of the Druj suppression of his people, and sends his profound thanks to the Conclave and the Golden Pyramid for their help in this matter. With the pillars gone, every inhabitant of the Sarangrave is finally free.

The Druj used the miasma pillars to cow their subject septs and break their will to resist. With the pillars gone, the miasma will slowly burn away. In it's place will be a growing confidence among the inhabitants of the territory.

Pupate

Sentinels of Urizen! In the Sarangrave the beast Kroll has retreated, but it will return, and we ask you to prepare us for this. Survey the terrain. Speak to those in the Citadel Guard who fought it and those of the septs who were made to live with its presence. Determine how we may have the advantage on its return; ensure the defense of our nation.

Solas of the Spire of the First Light, Urizen Assembly, Summer 388YE, Vote: Upheld with a Greater Majority 222-0

• Kroll is slowly regenerating and could re-emerge at any time if the region is attacked
• There is an opportunity for the Urizeni to destroy the guardian's lair and remove the threat permanently
• It will require a force of 7500 to destroy the three bloated sacs that permit the gigantic beast to enter the world
• There are two conjunctions, each of which could be used to destroy one of the sacs, reducing the force needed proportionately
• These are both combat highly likely encounters

Sentinels of Urizen

Aella

Alcetas Starsong

Althaea Sunshaper

Andronikos of the Lighthouse-That-Was

Aquila

Arephanes of Tropaion Citadel

Argentus

Atreus

Boagrius Stillwater

Brius of the Wise Citadel

Cabeiri Gobán

Cassandra Stillwater

Cassian

Cassian Highwind

Cassilda of the Wise Citadel

Charito

Corinthius

Cyrus

Cyrus Stillwater

Dae

Deanna of the Myriad Stream

E'nareon

Erebus Kentigern Highwind

Farre

Ferrus

Floria Sunshaper

Grakulus

Ivander

Kazan

Khaytanus Everwatch

Linos

Lucianus

Mara

Marcus

Nicassia Avicia of Phoenix Reach

Phobos

Sicarius

Solus

Synthyche

Valerius

Varric of the Scarlet Guard

Verus

Vespasian

Volidus

Imperial armies defeated Kroll but the monster has not been slain; it has only withdrawn to its lair. In fact, most scholars suspect it can't be slain, not permanently at least. In many ways it is no different to an eternal - a manifestation of the terrible destructive power of the Spring realm, but without any of the "subtlety" of Yaw'nagrah or Siakha.

If the region is attacked - then the beast will emerge, and with nobody left to control it, it will run amok, slaughtering attackers and defenders alike. There are no armies attacking the Sarangrave this season, but there are significant remnants of the Druj forces and a vast sea of husks that are slowly advancing. If the husks reach Kroll, they will trigger the beast to emerge and it will devastate everything.

Even though it can't be killed, it can be got rid of - by driving it back into the Spring realm from whence it came. Solas of the Spire of the First Light has called on the sentinels of Urizen to find out how the nation can deal with this danger. The call has gone out across the citadels; there is work for the finest military minds of the Empire to apply themselves to in the Sarangrave. Not just capable warriors, the sentinels of Urizen are scholars of martial matters, be they tactical, logistical or supernatural. Experienced warrior-magicians have studied the enemy and devised a plan to deal with it.

In the coming season, there will be a questing venture for Urizen military units to Destroy Kroll's Lair. Three anchor points have been identified at Spring regio in the area that supply rejuvenating energies to the enormous beast. These help to keep it in the mortal realm and support its prodigious regeneration. The sentinels will need to amass 7,500 force strength in order to completely defeat the creature and drive it back into the Spring realm. Anything less, and the creature will eventually regenerate and return. The three sacs are filled with sticky sap, which turns out to be a form of vital honey, so a basic military unit will obtain two of these for taking part in the operation, with upgraded or enchanted military units receiving proportionally more.

This is a hugely challenging operation for the small nation to achieve. There are hopes that the Dawnish might assist, as it's almost impossible to mention a task like this without a whole procession of knights seizing a chance to win glory, but due to their highest calling they are otherwise engaged fighting the chaotic spawn from the spring realm. All is not lost, however; Imperial prognosticators have identified a pair of conjunctions of the Sentinel Gate, each of which leads to one of these sacs. There, Imperial heroes will be able to cast Inevitable Collapse into Ruin or Rising Roots that Rend Stone to destroy them and claim the bounty of vis they contain. Each one destroyed will reduce the strength required by 2,500. Unfortunately, a unit of Vikari who are favoured by Arhallogen are in the area and bound to seize an opportunity to make the Empire bleed for taking the Sarangrave from them.

The civil service has nominated Solas of the Spire of the First Light and the Warmage, Ibiss Briarheart, as being responsible for each conjunction, respectively.

KROLL! KROLL! KROLL!

The spawn of Kroll are numerous and strange.

• Urizeni sentinels could attempt to gain control of Kroll, rather than defeating it
• To create an arcane projection to summon and control Kroll requires three of its names be spoken aloud
• Sentinels could cast Bright Lantern of Ophis on the sacs instead of destroying them to discover one of the beast's names
• Seven rings of ilium and a guarding venture of 7500 strength is required to put wards in place to control the beast

There is ... another option.

People sometimes forget that sentinels are Urizeni, and their understanding and application of magic to the martial pursuits rivals that of any war witch or runesmith. Anthemia Willstone points out that regardless of how this particular guardian got into the mortal world, it is here now and that presents an opportunity. It ought to be possible to create a projection (of the Spring realm) to summon Kroll to defend the Sarangrave in line with Urizeni interests. It's nothing like Forge the Wooden Fastness, but if Kroll was at the beck and call of the Urizeni magicians, the effects might be similar - a powerful force of murderous Spring life, under the control of the Urizeni - just.

As with many incantations of this kind, it would require the use of three of the names of Kroll, Devourer of the Unworthy. One is already known, but casting a sufficiently powerful Bright Lantern of Ophis (of magnitude 40) to overcome the shrouds on one of the pulsating sacs rather than destroying them would allow someone to discover another name. Anyone who had all three names could attempt to create the projection (they would need to include all three names in the text of the arcane projection).

This plan is not without risks; choosing not to destroy the sacs will mean that Kroll will definitely re-emerge the next time a threat presents itself. Discovering Kroll's names would give Urizen a degree of control over the monster, but by itself that won't prevent the creature from running amok if it is disturbed. To make the place safe, Urizen would need to put suitable wards in place so that Kroll would only emerge when summoned - and only by the Urizeni and only under their control.

If the Urizeni use the conjunctions to get three names for Kroll, and neither sac is destroyed, then there will be a guarding venture to Ward Kroll's Lair. This will require the full 7,500 strength - that will require most of Urizen's military units, and the majority of them enchanted with Aspect of the Mountain or something similar. If the venture succeeds, then the nation will be able to put wards in place using seven rings of ilium to create a seven-pointed heptagram, a "lock" that will keep Kroll submerged until called by Urizeni magicians using the ritual they have created.

It is an outrageously ambitious plan. The simple choice, the sensible choice, is to destroy the three sacs as quickly as possible and be done with Kroll. The second option is more difficult, but if successful, would give the Urizeni a powerful weapon to defend their new home if it were ever threatened. With the three names of the guardian, Urizeni magicians could create a projection to summon it from its slumber to defend the region. With a successful venture and seven rings of ilium, the nation could ensure that nobody else can control Kroll or cause the beast to attack.

Ultimately, the people of the High Peaks look to their Sentinels to make the decision on how to proceed. This is their role after all - this is what they study for. If both sacs survive and are divined, the venture will be a guarding action to Ward Kroll's Lair. If one or more sacs are destroyed, or both of them are not divined, the venture will be a questing action to Destroy Kroll's Lair.