Interlude

Winter Solstice, 1311 CE

From Azarra’s journal, scribed in secret runic scrawl

No parable of heroic suffering, no tale of ancient plight can compare to what we hath struggled through since our flight from the Sanctum. Bitter cold surrounds us, and starvation gnaws our stomachs. For weeks our ‘haven’ has been a modest at most hovel of a cavern tucked far from the world, now but a distant memory to us all. We possess some provisions and at least this cavern system holds a tiny boon of deep wellsprings. My sentinels provide us meals from the flesh of bears, winter wolves and rabbits of snow. But as the gray days pass on their numbers thin swiftly. Even the animals of the wilderness are averse to help me...

Several weeks pass as steady creep since I sent an envoy to Hearthfarrow with a letter pleading to my family there. Not a word whispered back. I fear it is not simply the snowstorms which keep them from reaching out to me. They reject me in this lonely hour, leave no room for me in their hearth nor hearts. Mine own heart tells me that those who would be kin abandon me to this lonely end. I am naught to them but a scorned sinner, apostate, bereft of a blessing.

Whether they believe me a heretic deserving of immurement or whether they fear allowing my presence would incur that Monster’s wrath upon them and lead the bears right to their doorstep it matters not. How long till the rest leave me? I am alone, save for Delphine. O how the sun still glimmers in the darkening hours of the wolf through her undying optimism.

If not for sweet Delphine by me, I would hath long given in to that lingering tremor in the back of my brain which whispers: ‘why not drown the little babe in the river and end the source of all this misery?’

As I look upon the dreary, invasive countenances of those still sworn to me by Gaahl, it is my love & friend in her whom inspires a defiant strength. For Delphi I persist when unable to find hope for myself. Tis she who grants me the only slumber not hunted by disturbed dreams - when she cradles her head upon my shoulder during coldest nights. For her I will find us a proper home once these cruel storms settle... We will not only survive but wreak Hels’ winds upon all who spurn us!

Spring 1313 CE

Letter to Azarra from Delphine, scribed in their sisterhood runes

Praise be unto you, Divine Mother. As harrowing as the past lunar cycle hath been while bereft of your astral company I held the importance of your dispatch tight to my breast & hath not failed you in this quest. My search for lodgings took me to Erosian Heath, a place of gorgeous meadows & kindly herdsmen. They hath respond welcomingly to your missive & grant us their honored hospitality. The people of this Elysi clan are far more open to the spirits and the change of the wind which guides them with more rigor than others.

They are a collection of families of artists, weavers, makers, farmers & skalds who live to share stories and virtue. Thus, they are open to our new word. Willing to host us from the elements, they present us with a chance to enfold our cause with theirs.

Although there are some new sects sprouting up, adjacent to us both. A few of our are neighbors to be name themselves ‘Erosi Disciples’ and take the libertine nature of their line to more hedonistic soil. Hopping here in drunken, orgiastic rites. Yet this too may be for our benefit, O brave & beautiful Azarra!

The elders of the Elysi tribe believe our cause Just & Astraean. & given that the Heath is well tucked away from the clans beyond, they are delighted to allow us into the hearth at the earliest instance. The sun shines warm on the fields and the faces here and the faces of its people are bright with humble generosity. I hath etched directions on this epistle and scribed a rough map therein.

Come east to this Erosian Heath. See these meadows of Elysi, the totems and nectarine indulgence of their Erosi cousins. Surely this peaceful place shall provide us a range to raise Drakkon. This is something we hath long sought and longer deserved. O Azarra! My heart alights with blissful prospect that these emaciated eyes of mine may soon be graced by your immaculate visage!

Summer 1316 CE

From Azarra’s diary

As I reflect on the relative luxury this pleasant Heath hath gifted my cause, Delphine seems more & more my beloved savior for finding this quaint sanctum. Here I watch both my son & our coven grow in strength. The grove they provided for us even brings me a sense of meditative liberty from the woes which so long hunted me. Near weekly new sisters, disciples & servants flock unto me seeking wisdom and the call ov Divinity in flesh ov my son.

The boy is treated with such reverence here. As are all our herd. Something which took a great settling into after those years of scorn.

Drakkon seems almost too comfortable at times with our staple here. He appears dangerously fond of a young girl – Corinna or Cortrina, her name, though I know naught her sires nor kin – who tempts him to wander off from his training. She steals him away from the duties and rituals that will sculpt him into an image in motion of Lordship. He forgoes them too oft for sake of wasting away with her beneath cypresses of childish wiles.

I try to remind him that such worldly pleasures are not for his sake, but he displays a fair amount of defiance at times, which stirs in me no small distaste. Yet, as the seasons turn, and the warm veneer returns to touch the soft fields all around me I hath even come to possess some love for the child. Honest emotion trickles in. Suddenly to me he no longer appears to be simply the twisted seed of that Ferali fiend...

Delphine takes fondly to educating him on the ways of our world. Thankfully her talent for storytelling and the boy’s inquisitiveness imbues in him an ample understanding of the threat both the Ferali warmongers & the greater Vizzari Realm pose to our way of life. He can recite to me with proud excitement the foundation of our world by his namesake. And freely retells that which I’d almost forgot – in my hate for another - about the formation of the Vizzar. How those three tribes of Abraxas, B’aal & Th’uul turned against their creator and the mother-goddess of the world’s vast worth, and all those that gave them life and the grace of their fields. All to worship instead their Serpent-state Vizzarion. More than this, he learns to hate them!

I grow excited when I see his eyes burn with awe & inspiration, hearing of Vizzari’s brutality visited upon their former kin. He understands the corruption they present. Knows we must be greater to rise to their ruin. I feel old Gaahl would be happy to hear that his prophecy against those snakes bolsters in accuracy and fortitude every day in the boy. All the while Tallis excels in teaching Drakkon martial manner. He’s a natural talent in ways of the sword and he’ll need to master it more along with the art of war.

Likewise, he grows in both body and understanding of our own tribes, our neighbors who we must unify (or be throttled against). For to truly speak to the hearts of each tribe he must understand them. Which is why I, as Oracle and guide, bestowed knowledge unto the boy that he will be a being – more than man, should we convince enough of his Miracle Birth - of knowledge & capability.

For when we go into Harnow Gully one day to meet with the tree suckling revelers of green faeries & nymphs of the lower Herathi, in their ardent worshipful tending of the earth and their valleys, Drakkon must look to them the very blessing of Nature. Be to them avatar of all our Elderath’s virtues in form of man, and Deliverer.

To gain their arms as ours we can offer them aid against the rampaging brutes. That their precious groves and cousins’ highland gardens be preserved. With respect for the woods and the bows born of them we might earn enough archers to never again fear taking blind flight in the night from those black heath bastards. With words we will earn the strings to pull back a proper volley at our pursuers. We shall stick them through that no hooves trample us

Alas, when it comes to my birth stead, I trust little that I would be welcomed back after being shunned so long. I am but an apostate who darkens their gem. But the Herresi covens to the South? Should I outstretch my hand to those who are greased to more maternal influence in their worship of the arch goddesses. The support of the common woman is as essential as earning the favor of fresh spears.

But which of these will truly accept us, let alone reach out from rumored repute only? How far from me still is the rite of retribution? When can my life orbit more than the Bear of Nightmare?

Near every night I sneak away to the secret glades of the grove where there fall such soft flakes of luminescence. In solitude make offerings to the Fates, that I may be their vessel of retribution. I envision the blood of Kassan spurting from his throat. Imagine the taste of fiend’s blood upon my tongue as my chalice fills with fruits of righteous reprisal! O, how the longing for that moment can drive me made with impatience!

Drakkon is but a youth and though our numbers increase in slight waves, nothing we yet hold could come near enough to ring the death knell of those who damned me so. Ah, but despite this peaceful country of nigh endless summer, there is another disturbance which slithers through my veins and severs my sleep. One which I cannot quite place. I feel that our stay here is but temporary.

For in my dreams, I see such gangly, twisted torrents brew on the horizon which spell a doom reborn for me in some shadowy form which reaches out with dire tendrils. I pray once more that this is but some phantom of paranoia, but I ready my soul’s shield against whatever blow may come as time marches against me...

Autumn 1322 CE

Letter from Gaahl to Azarra

My child, I wish the wiles of fate could grant me gentler greetings. Alas, I must inform you of ill tides. Dreadful visions sunder this old soul by baleful flashes, haunting my meditations. My scouts confirm the awful truth of these. You and your kin must make for fresh shelter. The swarm of spies lodged in our lower temple surged out suddenly, marching southeast. Surely intent on joining their siblings in slaughter, aimed at Erosian fields.

Even sending this warning was no simple feat, dear girl. Ferali talons clamp about Ty-Drasil’s neck. We are unable to voice admonishment against Kassan or offer any advice to those he intends to punish & pillage, lest his attitude turn to us as wrath inflamed. My familiars can do little against their full force. The Black Bear’s emissaries seduced all too many sages. Yet I am not inclined to believe that someone here is responsible for this treachery. For there are few here who even know of the Heath or its whereabouts. Perhaps in your camp there is also treachery afoot?

That young girl, Corinna, you sent us awhile back, touched by the gods: at first, I feared that she may hath been coerced by one of these spies, since she hails from the Heath. But she proves not only a promising oracle but possessing of cunning beyond her years. The young oracle reminds a bit of you, even. Tis not her who turns cloak, nor your Delphine. But she too spots shadows over Erosian sun.

No matter where you head, do find your way. Know that there is a foe among your ‘friends’, Azarra.

Spring 1323, CE

From Azarra’s envoy to Elder Gaahl

Dear friend & wise Elder. You hath once again proved to be my mortal savior. Without your foresight doom surely would’ve befallen us all. I received it only days before the arrival of those feral black mongrels and as we took flight far from the plains ‘twas only a single dawn passed before we could see the outline of deathly smoke rising beyond the hills where Erosian Heath had once stood in its gentle solitude. I bid some of our contingent stay and help defend the humble place. But thus far only my guard captain, Tallis, and a couple spears survived and found their way back to our herd.

For now, I am nestled relatively comfortably in the homestead of a kindly noble, Beruvius. He whose fortune I helped previously expand through a reading for which he remembers me fondly. Hence his allowance of my presence within his estate. Few of my Drakoni remain as guests of the nearby inn while others sought lowly quarters in stables or hovels of sympathetic locals. Many still are unaccounted for, scattered through the wilderness. But we cannot prolong our stay much more despite this ephemeral luxury. I hath not forgot your words of caution regarding the serpent in our grove.

Might you lend me more eyes to spot the stain of sedition. Aid me with what loyal sentinels may be your ears & watchers? That any ‘familiar’ faces of our sect seen without true leave from me might be marked? Perhaps I must test the reverence of my few faithful, put each captain through a gauntlet…

Once we abolish this duplicitous burden haunting our steps, we will be that much closer to the brink of our divinely moved purpose. I swear you will live to see Kassan’s reign cut short and the stolen Crown returned to its rightful place in your vault. Drakkon has grown into a considerable young man, absolutely blooming with aura of leadership. We will grow beyond the puddle our sect is now. It could well come to pass that the fate he was born for might be realizer sooner than e’er expected!

Late Summer, 1323 CE

From Drakkon’s report to his mother

Dear Mother! I bare unto you most blessed news of the traitor’s demise... ‘twas Tallis who betrayed us, as justly surmised. The sentinels from Ty-Drasil confirmed it. Following his stay at Solvstead he was found by the border with an accompaniment of Ferali beasts, unharmed by the vicious brutes. I made him confess his end when we snatched him back from their broken fingers into our camp, the one he forsook for them…

The disloyal fiend begged for a swift end to his humiliation, but I recalled your dignified teachings on how our Drakoni most operate within this darkened world. Be brutal to our enemies that we may spread the Light through all living hearts which tread upon the soil of creation. Thus, I bid that Tallis’ fate be that of teaching a lesson to those who would turn away from our Cause. I would spare you the gritty details of this ‘lesson’. Know however that it was righteously inflicted, and that after deserved suffering our fallen captain is a feast for the wolves & those scavengers of the wood who are of his ilk.

I do hope that this punitive execution pleases you, mother. That you are truly proud of me. This is but a single step in our ascending path to the spiral staircase of Empyrean glory! With it I raise you & our Cause above the mud-soaked meddling of faithless vermin. Yet this necessary step also serves as a bridge. For as Tallis pleaded & writhed like the worm he proved himself to be, he revealed vital instruction the Bear’s gives his standards.

From Solvstead, where the Ferali stole another Keep (which we could not unseat them from) they march further inland with plans to ambush the locals from behind their main line. They plan to evade the bulwark by traversing Harnow Gully. The humble village militias just South of the Gully will be no match for their savagery. Thus, I believe we must ally ourselves with those Harathi highlanders and peoples whose homes will soon be endangered.

We will hold Harnow Gully. Then Kassan’s only means of reaching deeper will be through Moribond Pass, requiring his line to be thinned to cross. Taking the advice, you shared with me in verse of exchanging ‘a bane into a boon’, in how we can use the treachery of Tallis against his dark masters....

Early Autumn, 1322 CE

A sage’s envoy quilled by serpent scrawl of the Vizzar

Brother, this cult endures. Their infant star grows to contest the Bear. We must press inquisition upon their fellows. Test their false dragon’s teeth against the Serpent’s fangs. Then we might see if this savage sect shall truly have yield for Abraxas.

As Spring submits to Summer, 1326 CE

From Delphine’s account to Azarra

Hail to you Azarra, with love & light! I bring to you blessed news which I hope finds you more than well. Drakkon raised yet another flag of triumph over Ferali at Harnow Gully! Finally, our efforts here, redeemed! With this victory rises the spirits & dreams of all peoples among & beyond us!

I know how ardently you wished for me to remain outside the realm of battle, but I had to follow my soul’s whim and stay with your son and our warriors that I could avail mystic seal of the gods’ favor. My undying faith in Him proved rightfully placed. He truly does shine with the spark of Divinity and brings me back to belief that the gods do favour our fight against the creature.

The firmness of his command, his talent for strategy & his persistence to fight to the bitter end proved utterly contagious in both our troops & the local militias who gave battle beside us. There were demoralizing rumors spread before the conflict that Kassan had sent his fiercest harbinger – I believe Stieg was the barbarian’s name – and yet this supposed indomitable juggernaut fled the Gully with his tail tucked between his legs!

Drakkon is very much kept busy with organizing our surviving numbers & coordinating plans with those Harathi who chose to throw their lot in with us in the crucible of the Gully and thus he commissioned me to write to you on his behalf. This is fortunate for me as I wish to impart to you further information, of which is bittersweet in a sense.

Hearthfarrow is suffering from a great struggle from their unending war against Kassan’s intrusion. Redoubling his claim to Astralis et Farrowkin lands has taken a considerable toll on their joint folk. Among the fatalities were your former kin. I am deeply saddened to report that your father & siblings hath been interred among the dead, casualties of the incessant conflict. Alas your birth mother, Malaena, is afflicted with a wasting disease.

Poor woman is eaten away day by day. She could not have offered help to us before if she wanted to. It only grows more pallid now that she is left alone to the woes of the world. I pray you do not think me intruding into your personal affairs, nor that I am being too imperious in what I am about to suggest. But in my humble & honest viewpoint this calls for your return, Azarra, to retie those threads to the Astralis Circles and your Sylvani ancestry.

Perhaps if we journey there in time, you may heal your mother’s aching bones & waning spirit with how much you hath grown. Even if the fates turn a cruel twist of the knife against that reunion, that those who would deem you an outcast or heretic are in need may form path of living means. That we may establish a foremost base against your adversary. I beseech you to join us here in this meagre grove and discuss it with our newfound sisters & show how hope blazes within me. Light which warms my bones and melts the snow with thoughts of how we may take fate fully into our own hands!