Volshkan Crusade

Shadows Over Volshka

On the Eastern edge of Anvimar the Volshkan people tend the land between the Titan's Claw range and the Vestren Sea. In 337 A.E. Nicholae I ended his mostly peaceful reign at the age of 58, Making way for his eldest son, Gheorghe II, to take the throne. Shortly after Gheorghe's coronation, plague enveloped the land. Before long it slipped the borders of Volshka and threatened to spread throughout Anvimar.

The wasting disease robbed its victims of their sense and will. It hollowed out their faces and gave them a mask of death long before it stole the life from their bodies. While priests prayed for miracles, alchemists researched curatives, and surgeons readied their leeches, the messengers went searching for the origin. Ten knights and two priests rode out from the Needle in hopes of re-establishing contact with Volshka and their fellow messengers living there.

They found Volshka was a land transformed. Poplar, oak, and ash twisted and bent, their growth unnaturally stunted. The woods were quiet and what animals they came across appeared either sickly or starving. When the delegation reached town the once vibrant people, those who had been spared from the disease, were haunted and hushed, wary of strangers among them and eager to urge them onward. After the third village treating them in a similar fashion, one knight was sent back to report.

Eventually they drew to the city of Brachau, at the edge of the Emberwoods. Brachau had been celebrated for its beauty and arts. A place where humans and elves had grown together over centuries, intermingling to a degree rarely found throughout Anvimar or the wider world beyond. Yet as the delegation approached the city was hushed, no guards manning the walls and the once colorful flags in tatters. With the sun hanging low they rode into town seeing few signs of life; the odd hen or cockerel and an abundance of rats. But arriving at the market square they were astonished to see their former compatriot, the knight who had been sent back, impaled on a wooden spike and left for display.

They were more astonished when he raised his head and moaned in a lifeless voice that they should not be there. As the sun dipped behind the Titan's Claw, the former residents of the town poured forth. Transformed in rotted monstrosities, the townsfolk were driven by one thing: hunger.

If not for their holy powers the priests and knights would have been immediately overwhelmed. With their faith in Waymein, skill at arms, and pure will, the retinue were able to make a stand and hold off the undead hordes. The remains of a guard tower became their safe haven until dawn when the attacks abated. It was then that the priestess Cardossa drew on his gifts to send word back to the Needle and call for aid. Three of their number had been lost in the night. Of the twelve who rode out, Cardossa and seven knights remained.

When reinforcements did arrive, they found Casimir's corpse adorning the gate. Brachau was burned and the lands around salted. No trace of the remaining knights was found.

War

The gauntlet had been thrown and answered. An undead force now ruled Volshka. The Church of the Messenger led the battle against it, seeking survivors where it may, and calling all good people to lend aid. Their actions at Brachau are not repeated, and the truth is not uncovered until generations after the war.

The undead army seems nearly unending and as living foot soldiers fall they join the enemy ranks. The war ran for years with the undead general only being revealed as the Messenger army finally closed in on the Volshkan royal stronghold: the king's uncle, Prince Vasile, presumed dead for over 30 years now a vampire preying on his people, not just for sustenance but for amusement.

But as the Messenger's closed in on Vasile, he had one last surprise. Behind the lines, where the lands were beginning to be restored and resettled, appeared nine knights. Their armour was blackened, their swords broken, and their eyes flame. They cut a swath of destruction to the base of the Needle. Overdrawn and over-committed to the war, the Needle was ill prepared. Though the messengers remaining managed to hold off the assault, it was at great loss and they were unable to destroy the newly created death knights.