The Night of the Winter Flare

The majority of forces deployed to fight the creatures of Ob-2 came from Colum, almost 15,000 in total in a mix of military personnel and adventurer guilds. From Waleah 700 Warforged battle units were deployed with 150 Artificers to repair them throughout the battle. Kingcardine contributed 4,000 soldiers and adventurer guilds independently deployed members totaling less than 1,000, many traveled across the Rune River into Harthwater to make a pincer with the 1,800 troops and adventurers stationed there. The allied forces formed a half circle that bent around the edges of Ob-2 and Last Rest, a hand that would catch any creature attempting to cross into the realm of civilization.   The de facto leader of the allied Terisian forces was Queen Cassandra, the ruling monarch of the most powerful country in the world, the same country that was closest to the border of Ob-2 and the army of marching monsters. It would not be discovered for many hours, but the night hordes also had a powerful leader guiding their movements. An unknown creature that had eluded all divination and scrying magic, a leviathan of rotting flesh and scales that was more than one-hundred-and-fifty feet long. An aura of decay clung to the being, so rancid and horrid to behold that even creatures near it that had not been struck would fall to their knees, retching and heaving all the way down. Despite its considerable size, it was also incredibly swift and would carve trenches across the battlefield with the weight of its body. It seemed to have some kind of telepathic link with the creatures of the night hordes, as if it had enthralled them to do its bidding, and they would interpose themselves between it and anything threatening. Undead creatures seemed to be especially vulnerable to its psionic charm, throwing their bodies in the way of artillery and long-range spells without any verbal communication. These traits combined earned it the title "The Dread General".

The two forces met at Last Rest, and even though the alliance of Terisian forces was severely outnumbered, they had figures of immense power among them. Individuals like Brayden Bradley, Cassandra, the Beautiful, Syrene Randwyr, Iollan Ryyd, and the sensational Jester Voss all held the line. To the east was the mouth of the Rune River, and to the west were the peaks of The Green Line, and with the Terisian forces stationed in a half circle meant to catch the night hordes, the flatlands of Ob-2 became a funnel that sent the armies toward one another.

The alliance of the living repelled the enemies attempting to enter their land and secured the border of Ob-2 once again. Many losses were incurred, but celebration took place as the last of the intelligent creatures among the horde ran back to the safety of the dark. Curiously, the undead continued to fight a losing battle, even after the Dread General had been destroyed, leading some to speculate that there was another force that placed the entire horde, even its enigmatic leader, under its control to siege the civilized settlements.

Queen Cassandra played a vital role in the success and triumph of the living but walked away from the battle with deep mental scars. To her eye, the world had yet another near miss with catastrophe--while everyone else involved went off to celebrate she set to work creating a new guild system that encouraged cooperation and early, preventative actions. Some investigations have been approved by the crown of Colum to look into the possibility of another, more sinister force that lurks within Ob-2, trying to determine the cause of the Flare. The crown is especially concerned with the idea that whatever force is out there is intelligent and scheming. Even the Dread General in all its writhing anguish was a brute that could not be reasoned with, or even telepathically contacted. Immune to all psychic probing and damage, the creature was later determined to not have the capacity to command the army that it did. If the Flare was not simply an alliance of the creatures within Ob-2, then whoever is responsible for their uneasy cooperation may still be at large.