Gate Of Storms

Friday October 10, Madrigal

Soulblighter cannot be stopped. His armies foul the land south of us for half a thousand miles, and his search for The Summoner has left none alive within his reach.

The cities of Scales, Covenant and Tyr have all fallen to him in the last three weeks. It seems that too many years of peace have softened the once legendary armies of the West. Rabican, Murgen and Maeldun have been dead sixty years, and today only Alric remains of the great leaders who defeated the Fallen Lords.

Survivors reached us from the garrison at Tyr today, confirming the city’s destruction. One among them told us of being captured and dragged before a woman so disfigured by injury and age that he turned from her, repulsed. In a rage, she gouged out his eyes and shrieked “Tell Alric his nightmare has just begun!” and released him to stumble out of the conquered city.

I believe something about the message has unsettled our king. Today he sent what is left of our army north to the city of Tandem. Their instructions were to gather as many able bodied men as they could along the way and wait for him in Tandem.

King Alric is staying in Madrigal with a mere handful of men in order to make sure that no one is left behind. Only then will he withdraw from the city.

With everything else that’s happened in the last couple of months, snow this early in the year is hardly worthy of note. At the moment it isn’t coming down hard enough to impede Soulblighter’s advance on Madrigal, but there’s always hope.

Soulblighter: Balor's second in command during the Great War. Arguably the most dangerous of the Fallen Lords, his cruelty and ambition knew no bounds. Many think that he was once Damas, one of Connacht's lieutenants. ↩
The Summoner: Legends tell of "a man not yet born who would resurrect the myrkridia and visit horrors on the world without equal in history or myth." ↩
Covenant: A great city of the Province, Covenant was sacked by the Dark in the Great War. ↩
Tyr: A large city of The Province that was sacked by the Dark ten years before current events. ↩
Rabican: One of the Nine. During the War of the Fallen, Rabican faced Shiver in the battle for Madrigal, casting her down in a terrifying dream duel using secrets revealed to him by The Head. ↩
Murgen: One of the Nine. He was trapped in the Tain along with Cu Roi and the Legion. He did not survive the destruction of the Tain. ↩
Maeldun: One of the Nine. He was severely wounded in battle at Bagrada near the end of the Great War. ↩
Alric: An Avatara of years past, Alric is the only surviving member of the Nine sorcerers who opposed the Fallen Lords during the Great War. Alric reclaimed his throne after defeating Balor. He has spent the last sixty years rebuilding the Province. ↩
Fallen Lords: Six sorcerer-generals of dark and fearsome power, led by Balor during the Great War. Numbered among their ranks were The Watcher, The Deceiver, Shiver, and Soulblighter. It was thought by the Nine that their powers were derived from Balor himself, but plainly this was not the case. ↩
Madrigal: A city in the northwest of the Province, Madrigal was the site of a great battle between Rabican and Shiver during the Great War. Though it was successfully defended by the Light for most of the war, internal strife and the crushing weight of the Dark armies caused its downfall only weeks before the war finally ended. ↩