Shadowed boughs of twilight

"Why Grandmother, what a big axe you have. Why don't you put it down?" said the wide-eyed child.

"All the better to cut the trees from our path child." the elderly woman replied with a smile.

“But, Grandmother, what heavy armour you have! Why don't you take it off?” asked the child in a voice full of concern.

“All the better to protect you and me both dear,” the old woman replied without skipping a beat.

At that point a foolish woodcutter appeared, stood just off to one side of the path. "Look out!", he shouted, "she's a mora!"

Thus revealed the wolf fell to the ground screaming and writhing in pain as feathers appeared all over it's body. A moment later it lept into the air, eager to fall on the helpless and devour them. The woodcutter stepped forwards eager to save them, but the monster hurled him aside in a heartbeat...

...whereupon Grandmother fell on it, and with one quick flick of her axe, she chopped that wicked creature's head clean off it's body.

Fantastical dreams, and paths lost and tangled, these are the gifts of the Night realm.

Overview

Ossium has been part of Varushka for six years now, and what was once a wretched place clenched in the iron fist of the Druj is rapidly becoming one of the most prosperous territories in the Empire. Years of investment have paid off, with the vales here becoming stronger and richer with each season. Some of the finest Imperial forests are found here, and it is also home to places like the Palace of Orieb, the Bone Hives, and Marshstand Skerry that show what can be achieved when resources are taken from the masters of the Mallum. There is even some cautious trade with the orcs of Otkodov who control the northern forests, although there is also a little friction from those who resent the presence of interlopers who are not Imperial in their territories. Then, a couple of years ago, another "wave of settlement" took place when Awstin's Rest wayhouse was built in Nearweald, bringing with it the families of Navarr keen to share their own culture and customs with their Varushkan neighbours and learn from them in turn.

All of this preamble sets the scene for what happens after the Summer Solstice. Magic of the Wondrous Forest rises in isolated places across the territory, seeping out from beneath the trees, pooling in their shadows. It spreads quickly across the entire territory - - in both Imperial and Thule lands alike - bringing with it the unmistakable blessings of Night magic - blessings that have a regrettable tendency to be somewhat mixed.

The Forests of the Night are wonderful - they contain wonders. They are also terrific - they beget terror.

Dark Dreams

• People in Ossium this season experience vivid dreams full of strangeness and wonder
• Some of those dreams are dangerous and folk are injured or even disappear
• Characters in Ossium may choose to experience the last of these dreams in Anvil

Within a few nights of the Summer Solstice, Night magic creeps out from under the trees of Ossium. It brings strange dreams, and the influence of both the Wondrous Forests and the creatures that live there. Each dream is as different as each dreamer, but as the season lengthens the commonalities between the night-time visions become apparent.

Not every dream is influenced by enchantment, but those that are, are very distinctive. They involve dark forests, and while they may feel familiar at first they quickly turn dark. Exploring them finds strange foliage - and in some cases trees give way entirely to stone halls supported by marble columns carved to resemble trees or great forests of titanic fungus. Sometimes northern pines are replaced with trees more suited to the jungles of Sumaah or Asavea, or waterloged willows and mangroves reminiscent of the Siroc Bayou. Some even dream of exploring vibrant forests of coral and anemone that are clearly deep under the sea despite the absence of anything approaching water around them.

Even stranger than the trees are the creatures that live there. Moths of all colours, ranging in size from the naturally familiar to creatures so immense one could imagine riding on their backs. Fabulous squirrels the size of dogs; scuttling little star-nosed monkey moles who shout mockery from the high boughs or try to engage visitors in unwise trades; talkative caterpillars longer than an arm; stealthy cats with fur the colour of night and polychromatic eyes; snakes that swim effortlessly through the air, shedding scales behind them, of music not skin.

Both fauna and flora might shift size, shape, or colour without warning but almost without fail they are beautiful and strange. While some fear sleep and seek to avoid the unknown mysteries of the enchantment, others embrace their nightly sojourn, eager to see what new splendours they will encounter.

There are clearly dangers here and everyone who experiences one of these dreams knows it. Yet the sleepers are not without protection. Every Varushkan knows that there are certain virtuous animals that look after those under threat, or that come to the aid of the lost and the frightened. Unlike the peculiar, phantasmagorical creatures of the dreams, these guides and sentinels look entirely mundane, entirely normal, for all that some of them possess the power of speech. There are a number that are familiar - the spider and the squirrel; the goose, the bear, the boar and the hound; deer and eagle; hare, fox, cat, and rabbit; and of course the bees. There are a few that are less familiar - snakes that offer good advice, doughty oxen who face down too-wide smiling tricksters, rebellious otters, industrious beavers, placid dodo birds that caution against rushing off into the unknown half-cocked, and many more. Helpmates and companions, these creatures appear in dreams to guide the sleeper and keep them safe.

One danger seems omnipresent; those who experience many of these dreams speak of a stalking creature that they never quite catch a glimpse of but that they know is shadowing their dream quest. The signs of its presence and passage, and the sensation of its unseen presence, haunt many of the most sensitive dreamers. Some say it is clearly an unnaturally massive wolf, others describe it as a constricting serpent with a naked-bone skull for a head, others as a sleek black shark that glides silently through the coral, or a great brindled lion larger than anything found in the wild forests of Weirwater. Some sleepers awaken with wounds that cannot be easily explained - raked by claws, bitten, gored - and while the injuries can be treated easily enough they are still a cause for alarm. There are also about two dozen stories of actual disappearances as well. Such things are by no means unknown in Varushka at the best of times, but there is a different tenor to these particular nocturnal vanishments. Those who disappear always seem to be magicians, and they always vanish unnoticed while everyone is asleep. At first there is worry that this is the work of Night Below but it lacks many of the telltale marks of such an event. Some cabalists point to the disappearances that very occasionally accompany the enchantment Sift the Dreamscape's Sands and mutter to themselves.

But for all the mystery and apparent danger, the dreams are also sometimes helpful. Sleepers awaken from particularly vivid nocturnal experiences with their minds ringing with symbols and metaphors. A rare few manage to untangle the visions to get some sense of them - intentional or coincidental is hard to say - and again the cabalists suck their teeth and point to a known magic - Signs and Portents - and speculate on what might be gleaned when an entire territory of people experience it over the course of a season.

Bronimir Ranedzkah Pinewheel, Senator for Ossium

Participation : Dreams

• Any character living in or visiting Ossium this season will have experienced odd magical dreams
• Any character whose personal resource is in Ossium might gain additional benefits

Anyone who lives in Ossium or spends time there this season is encouraged to make up some dream experiences by using the above narrative as a guide, or perhaps looking at the Sift the Dreamscape's Sands ritual. As well as phantasmagorical nighttime adventures, and fairytale encounters with virtuous animals, you might have experienced the sensation of being hunted, or even woken with injuries reflective of a bestial attack. You may have had a particularly symbolic dream that forewarned you of a coming challenge, or helped you untangle a thorny problem, or even just nudged you into finding your glasses after they had been missing for several days.

Any character whose personal resource is based in Ossium - most likely either a Varushkan or a Navarr character - may choose to have had a deeper, more magical experience and find that the dreams linger a little into their time at Anvil. Provided they are either targetted by Signs and Portents, or consume a dose of Goosewhisper Infusion at some point during the day before going to sleep, they will again experience vivid dreams. This cannot be done by anyone who for whatever reason cannot dream, or for anyone using a different method to get magical dreams whether it is Dreamscape of the Endless Hunt, Somnolent Wanderer, or the dreams created with liao using the dedication skill. The next morning when they awaken they will enjoy a short-lived benefit:

• If they have the magician skill, they can have two additional personal mana over their usual maximum. These points are the first spent, and once gone cannot be recovered.
• If they have the hero skill, they can have one additional hero point. This is also temporary and is the first one spent and cannot be recovered.
• If they have both skills they must pick one benefit.
• If they have neither skill, they instead awaken with a source of spiritual strength that will allow them to overcome any roleplaying effect that would cause them to become afraid or filled with despair (including the druj misamsa).

In each case, the benefit lasts until time out and can only be gained once. It cannot be used if you have benefitted from other downtime option related to your activities before the event, such as those provided by supporting an Imperial army.

While you benefit from this boon, you also experience a roleplaying effect: You occasionally catch sight of things that are clearly not real out of the corner of your eye; weird trees, strange animals. You may also experience visions of a particular virtuous animal accompanying you that nobody else can see or hear that responds when you speak to it and offers appropriate advice.

There is one final option - if you choose to take this boon, the next time you sleep you may choose to vanish entirely. If you do this, simply don't go back into character after time-in the next day and when you have a moment go to GOD and mark your character "dead" on the system. In character, you have slipped away into dreams in the manner mentioned in Sift the Dreamscape's Sands.

The shadows beneath the boughs are deeper, and more dangerous.

Mouse Ddawnswraig, Strategos of Navarr, oversees Awstin's Rest wayhouse.

Twisted Paths

• Travellers in Ossium who leave the path find it all too easy to get lost
• Following the Autumn Equinox there will be opportunities to rescue or avenge people lost in the forests
• The Protect the Vales of Varushka venture provides different rewards in the coming season

There is however a darker side to this enchantment, and it is a serious concern in a place like Ossium. While dreamers wander phantasmal woodlands, waking folk have to contend with woodlands turned malignantly mysterious. Every area of trees, from a small copse to the great expanses of places such as Echofell becomes hard to navigate. Travellers easily find themselves becoming lost or turned around even in areas that would otherwise be familiar. Odd creatures, some similar to those seen in dreams but more threatening, are occasionally glimpsed. As long as everyone stays on the roads everything is fine. Anyone who tries to cut through the wilderness however...

The obvious problem here is that people who get lost in the woods of Varushka are often never seen again and this certainly appears to be the case. For every band of hunters that recounts the seemingly miraculous assistance of a chirping sparrow who helped them find their way back to their vale, there is another that disappears into the woods and never returns. Or worse, sometimes they do return, shambling in the dead of night and trying to get back into the houses they once lived in, hungry to share their pitiful accursed state with their loved ones. The woods of Varushka are much more dangerous for the lost and the unwary than any amount of magical dream forests.

As the Autumn Equinox draws near, some of the missing parties or travellers are accounted for but most are not. With Winter approaching, those left behind are frantic to see their loved ones, friends, business partners, and neighbours brought back to safety or - if they have already fallen prey to the wolves - freed into death and/or avenged. Even at the best of times this would need a certain type of person to step up.

Following the Autumn Equinox any Varushkan or Dawnish military unit that participates in the Protect the Vales of Varushka venture will receive additional rewards from the frightened folk of the vales. As well as the standard production (90 rings, and five random measures or ingots for a standard military unit), each such unit will receive a consumable item from their adventures in the deep woods. These will include sanguine potions related to the dubik such as Bloodvine Liquor, Blackblood Thorn, or Darkwine, as well as the Elder's Gift created by the now-scattered trudniki, and even Heart's Blood.

Participation : Twisted Paths

• Anyone living in or visiting Ossium may have gotten lost in even familiar woodlands

Anyone who lives in or visits Ossium will be aware of the dangers of the woodlands, and if appropriate to their characterisation they are encouraged to create stories of getting lost in familiar woods, encountering dangerous wolves, or knowing people who have been lost in the wilderness possibly forever. It is only woodlands that are rendered dangerous and people traversing Bittershore or Galath Fields remain oblivious. The effects are also limited in scope - the larger the group of travellers the less likely it is anyone will get lost. Armies will have lost a few scouts or unwise sentries but it has no effect on their ability to pass through the territory for example.

The effects are particularly pronounced for people visiting the more out-of-the-way parts of the woodlands, such as those tending the Bone Hives or anyone who takes care of a forest resource given they are often off the beaten path.

Nothing can be said that can't be sung.

Miroslav Dainovitch Temnavoda, Grieftender of the Forgotten

Sofonisba Amilcara of the City Below, Map to the City Below

Night Walkers

• At least three Night eternals have focused their attention on Ossium with mixed results
• Another eternal, who was not invited, has nonetheless expressed approval for the enchantment

The enchantment on Ossium has other effects. Night regio are empowered, and in some cases regio connected to that realm that are normally too weak to be noticeable may open like late-blooming flowers able to affect the world. Encounters with heralds of the Night eternals, and the interests of those eternals themselves, become more common. Three in particular have focused their attention on Ossium with mixed results.

Shadow Singer

• Heralds of Sung have walked the roads of Ossium singing and asking questions
• One of the heralds has presented a challenge to the Varushkan assembly
• They have also put forward an offer relating to the Field of Glory

The Rainbow Serpent can appear whimsical sometimes, even for an eternal of the Night realm. When the magic takes hold in Ossium, she sends her heralds to wander the Iron Roads, singing songs and collecting stories. They also ask two questions what is grief? and what does it mean to be forgotten?. Her servants visit Awstin's Rest to spend time with the Navarr, explore Lomaa, Ketsov, and Kostjyas Respite, and gather finally on the Galath Fields. At the Field of Glory to be precise.

Once thirteen of the heralds have gathered at the Field of Glory, they spend an entire day and a night singing a threnody that weaves everything they have been told in the past few months into one intricate, unending ribbon of sorrow and remembrance. All those who hear it are filled with profound awareness of the bittersweet nature of life, and the sad truth that in time everything will be forgotten. The song ends on a hopeful note - that bad things are forgotten along with good things and that the things that matter last the longest. That grief gives way in time to acceptance and that the idea that everything passes eventually is a blessing as well as a curse.

The heralds then pack up and return whence they came - all save one. Threnody is also the name of the herald, a quiet creature with the aspect of a naga but who, when not singing, communicates in sign language. She communicates two offers from her mistress.

The first is for the Varushkan National Assembly and also the Navarr National Assembly. If they are prepared to tackle her questions - what is grief? and what does it mean to be forgotten? - then her mistress will consider their answers and if she finds that they contain truth or wisdom she will grant boons in recognition of their understanding of these mysteries. All they need to do is raise a statement of principle in their national assembly and answer one of the questions - but only one of them for each statement. Whichever statements get the highest margin in an assembly, she will take as the answer of the entire assembly.

The second matter concerns the Field of Glory itself. Grief, like joy and love, is a mystery. When the Fields were first recognised as a place for the forgotten to be remembered, there was talk of a chapel. It would please the Lord of Illusions if that chapel were built. Provided the work was completed within a year - by the start of the Autumn Equinox 389YE - Sung would send one of her heralds each season to provide the Grieftender with two feather tokens that can each be used to smooth the way toward a performance of Secrets of the Soul's Desire, Shadowed Glass of Sung, and Clear Counsel of the Everflowing River. As long as Sung was not placed under the enmity of the Conclave, and as long as Varushka continued to use the chapel to honour the lost and the forgotten, the gift would continue. The civil service have confirmed that the opportunity to build the chapel still exists, and will remain available until the end of the Summer Solstice 389YE.

In a seperate matter, Sung has asked that Sofonisba Amilcara of the City Below, the Map to the City Below, Nathair Autumngale, the Singer of the Silence, and Ceslev of the Circle of Zulgan Tash (or one of their covenmates) help the assemblies consider her questions, and determine if her offer regarding the chapel is acceptable.

Finally the herald has a peculiar personal message for the Martiza of the Circle of Zulgan Tash. The Moon Moth has no knowledge of the ones she seeks, but names are like colours, and everyone sees them differently. If the Martiza asks of this matter of the Night Singer when next they meet, then she must throw her history into the river and together they will see what floats. Then she will know the truth of what she fears.

The herald treats all three messages with equal weight, and having delivered them, departs after her fellows.

Not Father of Bats

• The Towers of Zulgan Task are labouring under the effects of a curse of some kind
• The soldiers of the garrison appear to have forgotten they work there

The Towers of Zulgan Tash were drawn from the Night realm in an act of consummate magic performed by the eponymous coven of Varushkan cabalists. As many magicians know, they "stole" the fortification from the realm of the Brother of Wizards, binding them to the marshes of the Drownbark Forest using a great stake of pure star metal (and anchoring it with the star metal found in the waters of the old marsh). The towers are garrisoned by Varushkan soldiers, who keep a vigilant eye on both the borders with the Mallum and with the Thule-claimed forests to the north.

About a month after the Summer Solstice, the vales of Ossium realise that it has been some time since anyone saw anyone from the Towers of Zulgan Tash. Given the way the enchantment interferes with travel, which have already become apparent, the assumption is that something like that has happened. But another three weeks pass and people begin to worry. Especially when soldiers known to be part of the garrison start turning up at their homes, often homes they haven't lived in in years, across the territory with no recollection of the Towers of Zulgan Tash or their duties there. So a party of schlacta and wardens sets off to the site of the Towers to make sure nothing has gone wrong.

Something has gone wrong.

The towers are wrapped in silken cobwebs of impossible quantity, and the entire tower appears to have been overrun by little multi-legged creatures similar to many-eyed crustaceans or armoured spiders. They run away from what is now clearly a rescue party, but wickedly launch surprise attacks and ambushes whenever they think they can get someone alone. They don't kill people though; rather they attack their memories. The garrison of the Towers of Zulgan Tash isn't dead. It isn't even missing. It's just that the soldiers have mostly forgotten what they are meant to be doing. Some have forgotten the outside world even exists; others have apparently deserted simply because they failed to remember they had a duty to perform.

The critters aren't particularly dangerous in small numbers, but when a dozen or more get together they can cause nasty bites. Worse, if they can take someone unawares they can start poisoning their memories. In the end, it takes a month or more to clear them out of the Towers of Zulgan Tash. Fortunately, the wardens and schlacta receive some unexpected assistance as the Autumn Equinox gets closer. A cadre of battle-wizards with iridescent mage armour and staffs of twisted beggarwood appear one evening to support the Varushkans, and to deliver some helpful advice. They deny it but they are clearly servants of the Brother-of-Wizards; as one points out they can't be friends of the Black Wyrm because he is still amazingly pissed off with the Varushkans and so would never send any of his little wizards to help them out, would he?

They turn out to be moderately useful, and seem to take a particularly grim joy in stamping on the spider creatures whenever they get the chance. They also confirm the suspicions of the wardens - this is the work of a creature of the Night realm but not the Globbersnotch himself. Rather this is a symptom of something happening in the Night realm, in the demesne of the Father of Bats. The creatures were able to slip through into the mortal world here - in defiance of the enmity of the Conclave - because of the connection that still exists between the Towers (which the heralds call the Whistling Strand), the nearby regio, and the Wondrous Forests. The other side of the regio is safe now, so no more should come through, but the wardens reckon that the main factor allowing them to reach Ossium was probably the enchantment.

Forgotten Garrison

• The garrison of the Towers of Zulgan Tash has dropped to 0
• It will not start recovering naturally until the curse lying over it is removed
• Removing the curse requires Piercing Light of Revelation cast at magnitude 60
• Once the curse is removed the garrison will begin to recover naturally

The Towers are clearly under a curse, one that is showing no signs of going away on its own. The wardens on the ground assessing the situation say they think a Piercing Light of Revelation, cast at magnitude sixty and targeting the towers, will destroy the webs and kill most if not all of the weird critters - which they think might be particularly vicious boggarts. Fortunately, the fortification is in an Imperial territory and should be reachable from the Anvil regio.

They don't think it will damage the Towers themselves - they are physically present after all - but it's not impossible there may be some damage given their origin. But without this kind of dramatic action the only thing to do will be to wait for the cobwebs to fade and there's no indication they are going to do so by themselves.

The garrison of the Towers of Zulgan Tash is currently zero, and it will not start recovering until the curse is removed. At that point it will receive natural resupply, which can be speeded up by any of the usual means (mithril or an enchantment such as Bells of Silver and Brass). The problem isn't that the garrison is dead - it's that they have mostly forgotten they are a garrison and it will take time or magic to round them back up and treat the damage to their memories the spiders have inflicted.

Great Serpent

Cede the Palace of Orieb

Commission Type: Concedence

Location: Drownbark Forest, Ossium

Cost: None

Time: 3 months

Effect: Concedes the Palace of Orieb to Azoth Removes all existing benefits and causes the Palace to produce three crystal fire and an arcane projection each season Removes all existing opportunities related to the Palace

Special: Azoth has made it a condition that the title "Apothecary of Orieb" not be abrogated as part of this motion; it claims it will restore the palace after one year

Availability: Autumn Equinox Only

• Azoth has an interest in the Palace of Orieb

Heralds of the Azoth have also been seen in the territory, most notably slithering in and out of the Palace of Orieb. The palace is known to contain peculiar arrangements that seem to be "shrines", intended to allow the Druj ghulai to secure vis from each of the six realms in return for what amount to sacrifices. Given recent synod concerns about idolatry, it's not a surprise that the activity here has caused some concern. Not least from 'Konstantin Rabovich Bolotnikov, the Apothecary of Orieb themselves apparently. At the moment only one of these "shrines" is active - and its patron is the Crucible itself, the Azoth.

As night magic settles over Ossium, heralds of Azoth pop up at the Palace of Orieb and are a little surprised that people are not happy to see them. Taking it in their stride, they quickly work out what the problem is and after seeking a little "inspiration through madness" (talking to their boss), they adjust the proposal they were going to make and come up with a completely new one.

If the Empire is game, they can hand the entire place over to Azoth for a period of one year. The Crucible will spend that time running a number of exciting experiments, using the easy proximity of regio connected to all five of the "lesser" realms and the surfeit of herbs that grow there - and most especially the realmsroot. This would require the Senate to use a senate motion to concede the Palace, but Azoth promises that at the end of the year it would return it to the Empire. While it has uses for a palace full of herbs and apothecary tools it isn't greedy. After a year its experiments will be complete and it will restore the palace to the Empire. Obviously the place will be transformed, but even Azoth can't predict how. All it can say with certainty is that its unlikely the regio will survive the experiments it has in mind, and so any problems with future idolatry will be well-and-truly dealt with. Other than that, and the fact there will definitely still be a Palace of Orieb... anything could happen. That's part of the fun!

Under normal circumstances conceding a commission automatically abrogates any title associated with it; Azoth has made it a requirement of their offer that this not take place. It does not want to "rob" the Apothecary of Orieb, and each season while it is in control of the place it will provide an arcane projection to the Apothecary of Orieb that will allow them to infuse realmsroot with the essence of one of the realms. It will do this in the "order of the colloquium" because that is what its heralds suggest (that is, the order in which the archmages are called on to speak). When someone points out there are six realms and only four seasons in a year, the heralds wave it away.

During the time Azoth controls the Palace, the Apothecary will not be able to purchase herbs, realmsroot, or vis. Instead Azoth will simply provide them with three crystal fire in thanks for their (presumed) assistance.

Shut it Down

Remove the Shrines

Commission Type: Alteration

Location: Drownbark Forest, Ossium

Cost: 108 crowns in labour

Time: 3 months

Effect: Removes the ability to equip the Palace of Orieb with shrines that provide vis

Availability: Ongoing

• The Senate could use a commission to remove the idolatrous elements of the Palace of Orieb
• They could alternatively abrogate the Apothecary of Orieb and let the palace fall into ruin

After discussion with the magistrates, it appears that the "shrines of Orieb" are a legal nightmare. While only one set of them are active, the entire way they are set up is clearly in breach of the law of idolatry. Having visited the area themselves, they have prepared guidance on the matter that would allow the Palace to be brought inline with Imperial law. It would require altering the commission to remove the idolatrous elements which will require a commission, a Senate motion, 108 crowns, and take three months. At the end of that time any potential for the Palace to have shrines specifically used to get vis from eternals will be removed but the palace itself will be left intact.

Alternatively, of course, the Senate could just abrogate the title and leave the palace to fall into ruin. This would still require a senate motion, but would not have any other costs. It might be seen as throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but it will resolve the situation.

""More of this kind of thing please!."

Blood on the Snow

• Agramant has registered approval of the enchantment

Agramant is not an eternal of the Night realm and has no business having any opinion at all on the enchantment settled over Ossium. However, he is included on some rosters of sovereigns and it seems that makes him feel he can express his enthusiastic support for the magic that has been worked here. The servant (its not clear if its a herald or not) that delivers the message has to shout it at the walls of Kostjyas Respite while cheerfully dodging arrows. The message amounts to "Voice of the Pines, He-who-calls-the-lost-to-feast, heartily approves of this ritual because people who get lost in the woods of Varushka either gain wisdom or provide a meal for someone stronger than they are." The herald goes on to request that the next such casting take place so that it will affect the Winter months when many predators risk going hungry, and if possible use Winter magic so that Blood-on-the-Snow can have as much fun as his fellow sovereigns.

There are monsters in Varushka, and that includes Ossium.

Message delivered, the messenger disappears into the darkness. There is no way of telling if this was a herald that had defied the Conclave's enmity (very unlikely indeed), a human servant of Agramant (possible), or someone with no connection to Blood-on-the-Snow trying to stir up trouble.

Dark Powers

• Eternals of the Night realm are not the only inhuman powers responding to the enchantment on Ossium

The wolves of Ossium are only one facet of the dangers of this formerly Druj territory. There are of course any number of left-behind traps rusting away in the middle of nowhere eager to crack unwary bones or strand a traveller tens of miles from any help as the night closes in. There's also all kinds of venomous creatures or mundane predators that will think nothing of bringing painful death to anyone lost in their woods. All of this pales into insignificance next to the greater threat woven through Varushkan society. The sovereigns.

Dark Waters

Dho'uala is a sovereign who claims the entire Semmerlak, and the rivers that flow into and from it, as her domain.

• The enchantment has touched the edges of the Semmerlak and the realm of Dho'uala
• The Journeyman Towers have dealt with the threat of the lake sovereign
• The Watcher of the Semmerlak will receive 2 wains of mithril from the boyars of Drownbark Forest

Dark forests call to dark powers. The enchantment on Ossium touches the shores of the Semmerlak and the domain of the sovereign Dho'uala. Within a few weeks of the Summer Solstice, there is some indication that She-Who-Keeps-What-She-Catches has noticed the minor intrusion and is preparing to respond to it. Her sodden servants are spotted in the Drownbark Forest and those who get lost there invariably find themselves emerging from the woods onto the shores of the lake (assuming they emerge at all). Fortunately for everyone, the Watcher of the Semmerlak Romand Reinetova Remislav and the assorted guisers, volhov and mountebanks that work alongside the Journeymage Towers are on the case. Most of these relatively minor incursions are dealt with through negotiation but when they can't be resolved without violence the protectors of the Semmerlak prove more than equal to the task. As thanks, a few of the grateful boyars of Drownbark have put their hands in their pockets and made arrangements to provide the Watcher with a small gift to demonstrate their regard - two of the wains of mithril that are their allotment from the Vale of the Sunless Depths.

Shadow Garden

• Dubik have become more active in Ossium this season
• Forests in Ossium will suffer a one rank penalty in the coming season due to the Dubik
• Such forests will instead receive additional resources harvested from the bloodthirsty monsters
• There is an opportunity to gather dubik for harvest but it may go unpleasantly wrong

As the enchantment takes root, it becomes apparent that it is not the only thing blooming in Ossium during the late Summer and early Autumn. Travellers in Drownbark Forest, Echofell, and Nearweald report multiple encounters with the vampiric dubik. They appear in wooded areas in small numbers, and there are sightings of more of them lurking along the edges of less-travelled paths and the outskirts of isolated vales. A type of wolf, they take the form of animate plant-like creatures that thirst for human blood. They have an ability to mimic human speech, and seek to draw unwary travellers off the road so they may feast. The enchantment plays right into their hands. While they are not appearing in sufficient numbers to try and overwhelm a vale, there are still enough of them to make people nervous. Unsubstantiated reports say they may also be gathering in Bonewood and Webwood as well.

The main threat they represent is to those who control forest resources in the territory. Whether composed of beggarwood, harvested for ambergelt, host to the beautiful winged butterflies, or with roots dug deep into soil rich in dragonbone the enchantment seems to be drawing the dubik to them like bees to flowers. There have been a few incidents, and there are likely to be more as Winter draws closer and the nights get longer. Monsters are not a new threat for the people of Varushka, and wardens, sellswords, and questing-nights aplenty to protect the more isolated forests but it will not be an easy winter.

Following the Autumn Equinox, every forest in Ossium (whether Varushkan or Navarr) will produce 2 fewer measures of base material due to the depredations of dubik. It is not all bad news; fighting off the dubik mean that every such forest will instead receive a blackblood thorn or a dose of bloodvine liquor.

Bloody Harvest

• The ritual Verdant Bounty of the Twilight Bayou will attract larger numbers of dubik to a forest
• This would cause more disruption to the forest but provide more opportunity to harvest the dubik
• If too many forests are enchanted in this way it would damage Kurstrozi's Lumbermill

Some forest owners may want to go further though. Any forest in Ossium enchanted with Verdant Bounty of the Twilight Bayou will be absolutely irresistable to the dubik in the territory. They will gather in numbers and attack the forest. Instead of the usual increase to production that the ritual applies, it will instead produce four fewer measures but receive five blackblood thorn or bloodvine liquor to its production. There is a potential side effect though - if more than half the forests currently in Ossium are enchanted in this way it will focus the dubik on those forests. Any forest that isn't enchanted with the ritual will not be attacked, receiving its usual production with neither losses nor increases.

Unfortunately, focusing the dubik in the territory into areas of naturally high industry, will also result in damage to Kurstrozi's Lumbermill, the great work that provides a significant boost to the production of Ossium's forests. Until the start of the Autumn Equinox 389YE the lumbermill will not provide any measures to forests - instead each one will receive either a blackblood thorn or some bloodvine liquor as they continue to experience problems with the dubik. Causing trouble for the Lumbermill could have other impacts as well - there are plans to make use of the Lumbermill which could not be pursued while it was plagued with dubik.

The civil service cannot provide accurate numbers easily but they estimate that between Varushka and Navarr, there are at least a hundred individuals attending Anvil this summit who operate a forest. If fifty individuals receive Verdant Bounty of the Twilight Bayou it will be enough to drive the dubik into a frenzy, draw them away from forests that haven't been enchanted , and damage Kurstozi's Lumbermill.

Paragon of Wisdom, who commanded beasts to serve.

Dreams of Wisdom

• Dedicates of Wisdom who have visited the Maze of Zoria may have experienced revelatory dreams
• The dreams come wherever they are in the Empire or beyond - not just to those in Ossium

Part of the power of the Guardian of the Maze of Zoria is to empower The Naming of the Beasts. Precisely what that is and how it works is a spiritual mystery, but it often takes the form of dreams - sleeping or sometimes even waking - in which animals representing the virtues bring knowledge to the Wise.

As the enchantment is rippling over Ossium, a very different ripple is spreading out across the Empire. Dedicates of Wisdom who have made a pilgrimage to the Maze of Zoria experience strange dreams of their own that don't seem to be caused by the Night magic in the north-east but nonetheless are clearly connected to it. These dreams contain revelations - warnings - of dark powers. Of sovereigns. Of the source of the dubik, and of the false-friend who even now spreads poison on the roads of Varushka.

The Dubik

• The Dubik is apparently loose in Ossium
• The sovereign is the font of the lesser creatures that share one of its names
• It is a horrible spirit that corrupts and poisons woodland and vegetation

Those dedicated to Wisdom, especially those who have made a pilgrimage to the Maze of Zoria, report dream encounters with white-pelted squirrels and small pale-feathered birds crowned with crimson that provide an unpleasant explanation as to why dubik are spreading across Ossium.

The magical creatures whisper a secret to those able to listen - the Dubik, which is also called Odech the Wanderer, That Which Walks Among the Boughs, the Death of Grass, Thorn-that-thirsts, Venomroot, Ghost-of-the-Dead-Forest, Thornroots, Bloody Rose, Death-that-waits, Moontree, and Summer's Bane among others - has returned to Varushka. The Dubik, the progenitor of the creatures that share its name, always appears as a creature of wood and leaf, but it is actually a bodiless spirit that can move as a wind. Sometimes it slumbers, like a tree in Winter, but when it wakes it follows a pattern, It finds a plant - usually a tree - one that has stood proud and strong for many years - and it leeches the life from it, possessing it, transforming it into a vessel for its vile consciousness. It cannot move - not without outside assistance - but it squats somewhere in some out of the way place and it waits. It births dubik, who go out into the world to seek the blood of the living. Sometimes it draws to it those poisoned by hate, or jealousy, or bitterness. It stings them with its thorns, and a little of its malice takes root within their spirits and slowly spreads through them, granting them boons but ultimately turning them into living tools of its spiteful design. It also creates other servants - it can use a fraction of its essence to craft servants from plants that died of poison and send them out to bring ruin and misery.

Finding Odech the Wanderer is a daunting task. The sparrows sing that it is one tree in a forest, that there is something in its essential nature that allows it to hide as long as it is surrounded by living plants. Magic will not find it - and the squirrels whisper that Zoria herself could not find its location with her divinations, no matter how long she looked. She wondered if perhaps the true secret of Thorn-that-thirsts is that it is the ghost of a dead weirwood tree, and that it enjoys all the protections that a living tree might have.

Even if it is found, like any sovereign it probably cannot be destroyed while Varushka persists. It's body can be destroyed, but that frees it to move as a spirit and find a new host to poison and inhabit, and the only thing one can say with certainty is that host will be far, far away from where the last one died. The only good news is that after it moves as spirit, it inevitably slips into slumber. Indeed, say the little birds and the ivory squirrels in the dreams of the wise, it has slept away the last few years in the Heart of the Tempest, and called its children around it. Now though, it has awoken again and the enchantment on Ossium has drawn it to that place to take up its new body and begin the new season of its cycle of misery.

There is more of course - the Dubik is said to have been the creator of the Crown of the Dark Forest, or at least arranged for it to come into Varushkan hands - but those stories are for another time. For now it is enough to know that the Dubik is awake, and it is somewhere in Ossium.

Stranger on the Road

Take care when fighting monsters, lest you become a monster yourself.

• The Stranger apparently walks the roads of Varushka
• It is a source of creatures that appear as mortals but are actually monsters
• It corrodes bonds of trust and corrupts people into performing terrible deeds
• Unlike the vast majority of monsters it can travel along the roads of Varushka - albeit with certain caveats

At the Spring Equinox, the Guardian of the Maze of Zoria Illya Nikovitch Volkov, proposed an odd statement of principle to the Wisdom assembly. It was supported with a greater majority. At first there was a lot of discussion and very little happened, but following the Summer Solstice something blossoms in the hearts of the Wise and not just in Varushka. Dedicates of Wisdom who have ever made a pilgrimage to the Maze of Zoria dream of hounds with red eyebrows and of imperious geese - and sometimes these dreams come when they are wide awake. Both the dogs and the birds bear a warning to anyone prepared to listen.

The Stranger is a dark power of Varushka, and it is Pleasing Face. It is You Are Not Who You Are, and the Wicked Storyteller, and Do-not-take-my-hand, the False Friend, the Smiling Mask. It is Wolf-on-the-inside, and Fellow Traveller, and Uncanny Companion. It rarely appears in the stories of Varushka in a recognisable form because it is always, always in disguise. The mora are either its children, or creatures it has twisted to its purpose. The trudnik were its creations - warped and twisted by boons they should not have asked for into the horrors they became, empowered with glamours that let them pass as human. That uncanny child that turned out to be a twisted stump full of spiders that came out of Ossium with the freed slaves all those years ago? A pawn of the Stranger. It is fundamentally the danger that looks like a friend, the false sanctuary, the trap that closes when one feels safe.

The Guardian of the Maze of Zoria calls for the aid of the wise ones of the Empire. The Maze of Zoria has proven in the past to be a conduit of knowledge regarding magical beings such as the sovereigns of Varushka. Come to the Maze of Zoria, together we shall discern the nature of the creature behind the face-peelers. This creature is known as "The Stranger", "The First One", or less commonly "The Smiling One". Let us learn of this threat to our Empire together.

Illya Nikovitch Volkov, Spring Equinox 388YE, Vote: Greater Majority 328-0

It is the only dark power of Varushka that can travel by the roads, but when it does so it is bound to harm none and present only a pleasing face. It cannot hurt anyone who travels with it - and they often do not realise the horror that walks alongside them - unless they somehow invite it to do so. It is an echo of this essence that causes the mora to act as if they are simple travellers until someone breaches the bonds of hospitality, that let the trudnik masquerade as innocent draughir until their hosts or guests gave them the opening to attack. What it can do, however, is use words as weapons. It can poison those who listen to it tell its tales or offer its friendly advice, and if they accept its twisted words and act on them, it lures them into its service. The worst of its servitors are those that look to all eyes as if they are just normal folk, but whose spirits and minds are rotten and twisted. The wolves who are "hairy on the inside" - who stab their friends in the back, hack their parents with axes without warning, poison a meal for no reason. Not all random acts of inexplicable cruelty and violence are the doing of the Stranger, but many are.

Uncanny Companion can be bargained with, and as long as it is in its fair seeming its boons may be dangerous but they will be true. If it is not in its fair seeming form, then the boons it offers are curses that will drag those who accept them to their doom. The problem is that it is often not possible to tell simply by looking at it whether it is truly fair or just pretending to be. One of its strangest elements is that it tells the truth. When it is wearing its friendly seeming it never lies, but it allows people to deceive themselves by interpreting its words the way they want to. Always and always, it works to corrode trust. To make people suspicious of strangers who could be their friends, to drive wedges between loyal companions, to sow distrust of honest merchants and virtuous folk.

The hounds and the geese whisper one last secret - it is the roads of Varushka that are its domain even though paradoxically it cannot directly harm anyone who uses them. The roads promise safety, but that safety is constrained by rules, and it is this tension that grants the Stranger and its servants their power.

Why is this relevant? Because like the Dubik, the Stranger is in Ossium as the Autumn Equinox begins, walking the roads in its favoured guise of a storyteller who spins yarns that encourage people to monstrous action. And, say the magical beasts, its current intent is to tear apart the tenuous alliance between the Thule and the Varushkans. Not the treaty - it doesn't care about that - but to find any bit of common ground and poison it with words and bloodshed.

Participation : Dreams of Wisdom

• Anyone dedicated to Wisdom who has in-character made a pilgrimage to the Maze of Zoria might have dreamt of the sovereigns

Part of the power of the Guardian of the Maze of Zoria is to empower The Naming of the Beasts and that is what has happened here. Anyone dedicated to Wisdom who has visited the Maze of Zoria may have experienced the revelatory dreams mentioned here, whether they are in Varushka or not.

Counting the Sovereigns

For the last few years we have been slowly adding more information about the primary sovereigns of Varushka to the wiki. Night Below, Dho'uala, and the Charnel Lord have their own pages and there is also information about the Howling Queen and the Rat King of Temeschwar. With the information here about the Dubik, and the Stranger that list is largely complete (unless something awful lurks in the [{Forest of Ulnak]] which is by no means impossible). We intend to add full pages for the last four as soon as we can.

There is one other being that is listed alongside the sovereigns of Varushka - the eternal Agramant. While he is not a creature of Varushka he is known to have a particular interest in the place, but also to operate there in a much more clandestine and subtle fashion than he does elsewhere. Why this is the case, and what it means for Varushkans in general, is not clear.

The Dark Power Problem

• Large scale magic used in Varushka will invariably effect the monsters that live there as well as the mortals

Rituals that create territory-wide effects - enchantments and curses alike - always do certain things. They might also do additional things depending on the circumstances in the territory where they are cast, but the effects are unpredictable. There are monsters in Varushka, and while they are not an omnipresent threat by any means they are certainly not tamed. Any large-scale magic that targets a Varushkan territory will impact not only the Thule - who can at least be reasoned with - but also the wolves, sovereigns and other entities that lurk in those territories, who cannot.

Imperial Enchantments by contrast are rarely focused enough to have a significant impact on the sovereigns of Varushka or their creatures. Yet even here there is a little bit of risk. An Imperial curse that made the dead walk for example could easily create significantly more problems in Varushka.

Before anyone asks, it isn't possible to make an arcane projection that targets a territory but circumvents this problem. The only way to avoid or mitigate the problem is to create the arcane projection carefully and give thought to what its effects, and especially roleplaying effects, might do to a monster.

Kindra Surefoot, Ambassador to Otkodov

Ten Shadows

• The Thule are not happy
• They have not yet demanded any reparations for losses in their part of Ossium but may still plan to do so
• If the Conclave endorses the enchantment it will make it difficult for Imperial law to become involved

The Thule, through their ambassador Runa, Who-Speaks-for-the-Dragons-Undivided, have expressed significant dissatisfaction with the enchantment that has also shrouded the Bonewood and Webwood - especially as they are in the middle of negotiations with the Ambassador to Otkodov to determine how to proceed in the future. They have let it be known that they expect the Empire to identify and deal with these reckless individuals responsible. Whether they do or not, the orcs of Otkodov will certainly be considering whether to draw on the treaty that says either side can resolve any breaches of the law by the citizens of one nation in the lands of the other through diplomatic channels and in mutual respect.

Given that the Thule-controlled parts of Ossium are two areas of wild forest, and that if there are any roads there they will be perfunctory at best and used for the transport primarily of weirwood and armies, there is little doubt they will have experienced some significant difficulties with the effect of this enchantment - even if they will also have had all the benefits of incredible dreams and occasional flashes of prophecy.

There is no suggestion that the enchantment is in any way illegal, it's not a crime to annoy the Thule. The Conclave could choose to endorse the casting of the enchantment, which would ensure that the coven involved was shielded from any legal consequences. If that happens, the Thule would instead demand that the Conclave itself make amends for their losses.

Further Reading

• Ossium

• Guardian of the Maze of Zoria
• Varushkan Monster
• The Naming of the Beasts