Stories from the Land, Part 4

How do you move thousands of people through a mountain range? There was no other option for Travance but to brave the pass from Vallenro in Ostcliff to Vindholm in Pendarvin. It started out smoothly enough, for this section of the great Eastern Trade Road had been completed, but by the time Travance reached the pass itself, winter’s bite had sunk in its teeth, and the going was slow. The strongest of the group, mostly subjects of Ostcliff who hadn’t been running too long yet, led the way to pack down the snow. Fortunately, once they crested the foothills, they could not get lost. Pendarvin’s signal towers were lit and a great column of colored blue smoke rose from the direction of Vindholm. Far off in the distance, the weary travellers could make out columns of more blue smoke, and some red and green smoke as well. The people of Vindholm provide a temporary warm welcome, but it was clear that this settlement could not hold the large group for very long. The people of Vindholm packed what they could and the throng moved on towards Honor’s Peak.

None of the people of Pendarvin were surprised by this evacuation. The Lord and Lady had managed to warn them in advance and the signal towers kept most of the people away from the threat of the husks.

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The Cracked Plains lay between Vindholm and the remainder of Pendarvin. The Eastern Trade road pattered off into dust where it had not yet been completed. The front of the column past by a small work camp that had been shut down, tools left ready for workers to return. Anything of use was stripped from the camp and carried forward so efficiently that by the middle of the column’s passage there was no longer a trace of the camp. A silence suffocated the land and though the beautiful frozen plain provided miles of sight for the weary travelers, it left them completely exposed.

Minotaur are not known to be fast creatures with their massive bulk of muscle, hide, and steel. Their territory was left unprovoked by the people of this area for many good reasons, but the minotaurs were no match for a force that could turn them against each other and remove their strength. That is how it came to be that the silent minotaur husks now dragged their great blades alongside their hulking forms and slowly descended upon the refugees. Thankfully the openness of the terrain gave ample time for several defensive units to form up to protect the people. The warriors waited, conserved their energy and allowed the massive husks to come to them.

Owen Piper paused, as one of the great, bulky minotaurs approached him, saluting it with a flourish of his sword before unleashing a furious series of strikes that actually manage to stagger the incoming minotaur husk. Those injuries bought time and gave Leif an opening to strike a telling blow with his massive polearm. Leif bared his teeth as he channeled the strength of the dragon into the strike which felled one of the husks. However, many husks still remained and were raining numerous injuries down upon the defensive units. All might have been lost for Owen and Leif had not Therion appeared, seemingly from nowhere, acting quickly to refresh and heal those on the front lines, and occasionally planting a judicious blade in an exposed husk flank before moving along nearly as quickly as he had appeared.

With the advance of the minotaurs slowed by a solid wall of steel some dwarven and barbarian husks started to move to threaten the flank. There they were met by Bjorn who raised his mace high and lowered it repeatedly with deadly effect. His strikes were shattering arms, skulls, and ribcages with equal fervor, giving to any and all husks absolution through battle, sending them to the judgement of Galladell. Those that were not felled by Bjorn were finished off by a group wearing the colors of Ostcliff who had decided to follow Cyrik for the time being and who were in position nearby.

But even the solid wall of defense could not hold for long and one of the minotaurs broke through and rumbled through the civilian lines. Many innocent lives were lost before that husk was finally downed by a fatal blow from Kreylin Ulvar. Amalthea, Brighid Valendall and Trisana saved as many lives as they could in the aftermath. But even their combined prowess was not enough to save all of the civilians.

During this whole fight the column trudged on. Broken souls, too tired to run, too frightened to be flee, simply placing one foot in front of the next because to do anything else would mean certain death. The warriors here outnumbered the husks and so the tide was turned, but the costs kept mounting.


Culpepper Farms had been evacuated well in advance by the warning from the Signal Towers. With such an early warning the people of the settlement had begun preparations to collect their small harvests and supplies long before any refugees or husks would arrive. Without that warning there is no way of knowing what would have happened. Instead the settlement was evacuated with perfect efficiency and no loss of life. They could only hope that with no people or animals there to attract the Nulls or Husks, their homes would remain standing when they returned. The people of Culpepper Farms joined the column as they came by and spread out to distribute their food and supplies as seemed best, lending their pack animals to carry the wounded or picking up stretchers when the animals ran short.

While searching out some of the more remote areas looking for survivors, Ikari Shizen came upon a hunting lodge with the corpses of strange animals laying around it. Some kind of bear with… antlers? As he examined the bodies some hunters began making their way out of the trees. The husks had come through this area a while ago and the hunters had been hiding for days. They were forced to eat whatever the husks had slaughtered and left behind and these strange bears were all they could find.

Formerly a local resident, Thalia used her knowledge of the area to find isolated survivors, mend their wounds and bring them back towards the great migration. She was also to use that local knowledge to be able to avoid a lot of the pitfalls and treacherous trails that would have claimed less knowledgeable adventurers, or, for that matter, mindless husks.

Imrahil and Fira Sinclair found themselves teamed up at the head of the column. They found that by staying calm and focused on the first group they could keep them motivated to move. This naturally drew the group behind along and so on down the line. A steady pace would be needed to make the next stop before dark.
Nearer the end of the line a group of former slaves were marching along under the watchful eye of Dame Arden of Winterdark. Dressed in whatever layers of clothing they could find, they were seemingly worse off than most of the refugees. The Knight had rescued them from ships shortly before this whole ordeal had begun and had not had time to properly equip them for winter marching in Pendarvin. However, they were all very strong-backed and strong-willed, many of them taking it upon themselves to carry those wounded who could not walk on their own. You could see the gleam in their eyes as they found satisfaction in being helpful voluntarily rather than forced labor. Even though the conditions were horrid, it was clear they were happier than they’d been in a long time.

When everyone was settling into Honor’s Peak Raxas organized a recording of the population by settlement. The list of missing was too long. Several groups volunteered to head out and search for some of the people who had not made it yet. Denis Brand and Dorn Marblecarver headed two of the groups as they both knew Pendarvin well, and each group headed for the rougher terrain. Dorn returned with some of the missing, but as hours faded into days, Dennis and his group did not return. Reluctantly his name was added to the list of the missing.


Though the child-like Weg had come to Honor’s Peak terrified, it was clear his months in the city had brought him confidence that his great strength could be used to help others. He hefted a great cart of supplies in his arms. Trent Mayfair was near by tasked with keeping the young ogre in high spirits with his dashing smile and charming banter. There were a few murmurings of concern of what would happen if the ogre realized just how dangerous the situation really was but so far things have gone smoothly.

When traveling through Vindholm and into Alomiolande, Collin Flamel perfected a concoction to produce a dark bronze smoke signal, one that would safely plume long after the settlement was evacuated. It would be a good way to signal to others that the settlement was emptied and word spread quickly among the refugees and scouts to help inform the group.
A very knowledgeable resident of Pendarvin, Brunner Rubicon was quick to find multiple locations to hide grain away in both caves and long spent mine areas all over the mountains. His local knowledge and natural skills allowed those with him to bypass several near encounters with husks that might otherwise have proven fatal, or at the very least time consuming and exhausting. Talion, a nimble Namierran helped scout the deeper caves and channels, his natural reflexes preventing several unexpected results.

Things were starting to get a little chaotic. There was so much to hide, and so many husks to stay away from. Somewhere in the center of the chaos, Tobias Armitage had created a small zone of calm and stayed busy gathering medical supplies, filling in the low stock. The job was never-ending, but he managed to keep enough supplies on hand..
Eventually someone realized they could protect a lot more supplies if there was a quick way to seal over the cave and mine entrances so they couldn’t be easily found. The guildmistress of the Mages’ Guild, Tari, quickly gathered a group of mages to join her. They set about melting snow and ice into water which ran down into the cave entrances where other mages were ready to ice the entrances back over. They were mindful to keep out of sight of the many people in Pendarvin distrustful of magic.

The people of Travance worked endlessly to preserve what they could before fleeing to the next safe location. They knew nothing was truly safe, but what they had managed to save before beginning the flight to Kaladonia gave them hope for the future of the barony.