Myth Journals

The Legion has come two hundred and fifty miles in little more than two weeks. Not returning west, to safety, but headed north, toward the melted cities of the Trow and Balor’s fortress.

Back in Forest Heart, Alric convinced our officers that the west was lost. That our small force could contribute nothing to the hopeless battles that would soon be fought around Madrigal, Willow and Tandem. These cities would fall, he said, and all their people would die, whether we sacrificed ourselves or not.

Then he told us what we could do instead.

Alric was interrogated by Balor during his captivity, and he learned by chance that Balor had bound each of The Fallen to himself, to ensure their obedience to his will. The Fallen draw their power through these links, and were Balor to be killed they would all be powerless. The armies of the Dark would collapse.

So Balor must fall. But today we are only at the edge of the Dire Marsh, nearly five hundred miles from his fortress, with The Watcher waiting in ambush ahead and Soulblighter shadowing us from behind. We have a long road before us.

A few men and I are leaving the main column in a few moments to discover the fate of a scouting party which has not returned. None of us expect to find them alive, but we must recover an artifact carried by their leader, gr’Uman, Lieutenant of Archers.

1. Trow: The Trow are relics from a forgotten age. During the height of their golden age they were responsible for the creation of many complex megalithic structures, but as their civilization declined they began enslaving their lesser brethren, the Oghres, to construct their cyclopean edifices. Finally, during the Wind Age (after many centuries of domination at the hands of their cruel masters), the Oghres attempted to throw off the shackles of Trow tyranny. The resulting war left the Trow city-states severely weakened and the Oghres extinct. The hero Connacht took advantage of this conflict and entombed the Trow where none would ever discover their barrows, and melted their iron cities into the ice. Since that time, the continent has been free of brutalization at their massive hands. The Trow retreated to the north at the end of the Great War, and have since held a nervous truce with the humans who slew so many of their number during the conflict. Their bitter memories of their own golden age many generations ago have left them with a collective hunger for a return to better times. This urge does not prevent the Trow from exacting a frightful toll upon any who would pass across the land they have claimed as their own. ↩
2. Balor: Leader of the Fallen Lords. ↩
3. Forest Heart: An ancient and majestic forest east of the Cloudspine. Home to the peaceful but powerful Forest Giants. ↩
4. Alric: One of The Nine, former King of the Southern Provinces. ↩
5. Madrigal: One of the Free Cities of the North. ↩
6. Fallen Lords: Six powerful wizards who were suborned by Balor. Among them: Shiver, The Deceiver, The Watcher, and Soulblighter. ↩
7. Dire Marsh: An enormous swampland, fed by the poisoned Gjol River. ↩
8. The Watcher: One of the Fallen. ↩
9. Soulblighter: One of the Fallen Lords. ↩
10. fir’Bolg: Formerly enemies of humans and their nations, the fir’Bolg changed their minds when they realized they didn't stand a chance against the Fallen Lords by themselves. ↩

«These cities would fall, he said, and all their people would die...»