Faldu of the druids

1519 - the spirit of the guardians

In February, Mohtep left town, and the human Taelis became new assistant archdruidess.

In Summer, feline druidess Genri was named assistant emissary of Darmahk.

~*~

This year was dominated by a happening that later historians called "the spirit of the guardians". The begin of the year had seen a couple of dread attacks, one in the south where the dread used the villa as their base to attack Darmahk. These were rather weak attacks and the enemy was fought back without losses.

On march the 17th however to our surprise the Warlock visited Ateraan again and called all citizens to their temples. He asked each faith to choose one among them who knew most about the four guardians and meet him at the oasis. These were the merchantess Tharia representing nature faith, shaman Asriel for the Dahkoarim and High priestess Seraphine of the Waylumi. He instructed the three chosen to teach the people about the battle of the guardians as a time would come soon where this knowledge was needed. He warned the horrified listeners of a return of the destroyers, But he gave us some hope - the destroyers were still weak from the fight against the guardians. And he presented a powerful artifact - the Staff of Healing, once given to the guardian Shora, which was now handed over to Seraphine.

The days passed, and the three chosen followed the order to teach the people of Ateraan about the battle of the four guardians. Then, suddenly, at the 30th of March, a message was heard by the Baobab tree himself, calling everyone to the sanctuary in the savanna, where the chosen did a speech and a ritual about the fall of the guardians. After they finished, the tree announces that something would arrive, and indeed, a small spot was seen in the sky. Some thought about the arrival of the destroyer and prepared for battle, but suddenly, streaks of purple, red and blue arced across the sky, and behold! - In front of the astonished audience stood no one else than the Guardian Warg, now a servant of the oracle. And he brought a mighty symbol of power an hope with him - the Staff of War, carried by himself in the battle of the guardians. He called the warrior Hrung forward, who was now named the fourth chosen, and gave him the artifact, asking him for an oath to make any sacrifice and perform any duty to defeat the enemy. And the tree himself lowered his branches and gave everyone in the audience a valuable gift - one of his silver leaves.

The next weeks were spent with more teachings and preparations. At the end of April however the concerning precursors of the things to come intensified. The cool forest brook dried out, and other areas in the eastern forest as well. Four energy fields appeared at the corners of the forest. The helpless citizens were struck by periodical energy drains. Suddenly animals started to leave the forests and attacked the city of Gahlen. The attack was fought back, but the energy drains had made the druids loose their abilities, and the energy fields north as well as in the south prevented them to enter their guild hall. In this desperate situation the old elf lord called the druids to the brook. He confirmed that the hostile activities were caused by the dread, and that the energy field was the preparation for a prism at the oasis. He called the chosen to the brook, where he performed a powerful ritual to heal the brook and the forest. Having gained their original strength, the battle group was able to destroy the prism at the oasis.

The coming month were interrupted by smaller attacks, where, however, the enemy tried to use new forces. Diseases were spread, and also orcs were involved into the attacks, which proves that there is indeed some kind of relation between the warlord and the destroyer (though it is possible that the warlord isn't aware of that.) The nature faith reconsidered their choice and named Dallia the new chosen to represent the faith.

Mid of August, the Warlock visited Ateraan again, followed by the four Guardians. The remaining staffs were handed over, the staff of disease to Asriel and the staff of death to Dallia. Guardian Kyte met the nature faith in the circle of the ancients and gave instructions to lead the people to the star, to remember it's message. And the Warlock appeared again at the baobab tree, announcing the final battle.

After some more smaller attacks, in the following months, the 4th day of October saw the appearance of a strange purple prism, which was draining power from those who touched it. The following day, more prisms were found, one at each direction from the city of Gahlen. At the seventh evening toll, the Warlock appeared again, and warned us about the things to come - each of the prism portals would be defended by a portal guardian, which had to be defeated before the portal could be destroyed.

The first portal guardian came out of the western prism, a horrifying 20 feet tall creature with four arms and legs, with eyes pulsing from energy. The knights build up a catapult, and the guardian was driven back into the portal, which was destroyed. The forces used the following night to recover, until on the next day at noon, the northern portal guardian arrived.

This time, the defenders were less lucky - some blast of energy not only destroyed the catapult, but also the remaining battle supplies in the tavern. Having to fight the demon face to face, the defenders fought a desperate battle, finally driving back the prism guardian into the portal. The third portal guardian appeared not long after, in the eastern forest. The position in the woods made it impossible to use a catapult, so the portal guard had to be attacked directly again. After a long and tiring fight it was finally defeated.

As the defenders regrouped in town, a message came through from Warg, warning Hrung that the next prism guardian would be significantly stronger than the others. A catapult was build up again, but it wasn't of much help - the prism demon sent waves of dread attacking the fighting forces. The battle raged on, and after a long and hard fight, even this last of the portal guardians was defeated.

Now, following the directions of the Warlock, everyone gathered to perform a final ritual. Prayers were shouted to the sky. Each of the chosen was sent to a prism -Seraphine to the north, Dallia to the west, Asriel to the east, and Hrung to the south - and being aware that this very deed could cost their own life, they took their staves in hand and destroyed the prisms.

A cry of victory and relief raised over the lands. The staves were returned to the oracle, and the chosen were returned back to center of town to celebrate the victory with the other brave defenders.

~*~

In winter 1519, Arch Druid Aneirin stepped down due to personal reasons. His assistant Taelis was named new archdruidess and the leader of the champion circle Dallia her assistant.

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The year ended with another two smaller attacks by the dread within two weeks, where they burned down the winter trees of both cities. Again, the enemy was defeated.