The Enmity of Scolrys, Part XI: Messengers and Sentinels

Early in the month of Severin, the Deepest City sent another messenger out into the world. Once more bound for the Dragon of the North, the rune-scribed golem trekked through Dun and Praelatorian in a dogged attempt to reach its destination, but found itself swiftly waylaid by the forces of the Threefold Alliance. With the automaton’s remains taken into their care and its message decoded, the three cities swiftly set about preparing a counter-offensive to disrupt the plans they gleaned from the golem’s message.

Unwilling to betray the allies who had already gained so much for him, Varach Scolrys personally set out to communicate with the Sheryni, the Dragon’s Strategos. After explaining that Qor Qogol intended to make good on its promise of Fabricator technology, the necromantic noble informed her that he would be deploying a sentinel golem to the North as a gift to be explored after the cessation of all hostilities. Informed now of the coming operation, Sheryni swiftly roused the Spirean militia into action and handed down orders to prepare for the inevitable conflict to come.

The violence of a war past only continued to intensify in response to the North’s preparations. Each dusk, the four cities brawled within graveyards and chasms in an attempt to hinder or help the skeletal soldiers raised from their graves. A complex back and forth developed as the Dragon’s soldiers sought to secure the line of passage betwixt the Hlugnic Labyrinth and Spinesreach’s gates, including the binding of myriad arcane aegis and the sanctification of new shrines. Not to be outdone, the Alliance deployed experienced warriors in hopes of tearing these defensive structures down before the battles began in earnest – an operation that found mixed success.

In the middle of Severin, as the hour drew nigh, battle came early to the doors of Qor Qogol. The Alliance and the Dragon clashed repeatedly, felling one another in droves through spell, sword, and ensorcelled pacts with Xa’azamit and the Calliope alike. The screams of the dying serenaded the Dun Valley, breaking its usual silence with the cacophony of marching armies and heated warfare. When the Fabricators deployed the promised sentinel for transport, however, the combat reached new heights. Utilising coal to stoke its furnace, the Dragon kept the sentinel alive long enough for safe transport despite the Alliance’s attempts to destroy it. Taken now into the city’s safekeeping, the North swiftly began to research the being’s body and make, though they achieved no scientific breakthroughs at that immediate moment.

As the six nations grappled in the throes of geopolitical discord, the servants of Lanu Du toiled away for sake of Insanity’s dark designs…

Penned by my hand on Falsday, the 6th of Dharos, in the year 3 AC.