Long have the drums of war beat outside the gates of Kinsarmar and Celidon -- from time to time in recent years, both magick organizations have faced sporadic raids of a different sort. Fearless and brutish orcs, ogres, and goblins have set up camp in the Highlands, occasionally invading the city in a show of sheer force.
The people of Kinsarmar in particular seemed under specific attack. Messengers sent to Kinsarmar now and again demanded that the city be surrendered, and spoke in brief passing of some new sort of leadership among the Horde. However, even this information seemed futile, as no one from Kinsarmar could find anyone -- even previous affiliates of the Horde -- who knew what the messengers spoke of.
Unbeknownst to the wielders of magick, the Horde had been using these raiding parties to distract attention from some other shifty dealings. In early Solis, 677 AD, a particularly massive group attacked both Kinsarmar and Celidon, resulting in magnificent losses of life of denizens and citizens alike. When the Horde threat was routed, an arrogant messenger came and demanded that the city be released into Horde control. "Give up the city!" was the demand, "And give up the Grasslands!"
The non sequitur mention of the grasslands was not lost on many citizens. Apparently it was not lost on the messenger's guard as well, for the troll guard took this opportunity to slay the messenger, ostensibly to keep him from speaking any more. It came at the same instant that the citizens moved to kill the messenger for his outright disrespect towards the individuals there.
When the messenger and his guard had been killed, the search was on to find what the Horde was trying to do in the Grasslands. Genviere and Edmund interrupted a force of orc miners by Lake Orestis, and soon the entire group of magick citizens were crowded into a rubble-strewn shaft that led deeper and deeper into the ground.
The group's advancement was impeded finally by a room filled with statues, which also contained a bizarre stone lever that, when pulled, killed all those standing in the room. The statues were a puzzle that confounded even magick's greatest thinkers for nearly a full day before it was finally figured out.
The lever was pulled, this time without blowing everyone up, and the explorers emerged into a large burial chamber. Justus opened the sarcophagus at the center of the chamber, and what was found within amazed them all. A staff was found, along with three pages from some book detailing key events from long ago, and a crystal of amazing properties.
Speculations have flown down the line, everything from rumours of the stirring of Divine to concerns at the urgency with which the Horde were attempting to excavate the cave. Only time will tell.
Penned by My hand on the 20th of Solis, in the year 667 AD.
