Night of Weeping Stars

Everyone knows what happened next. No one knows what caused it. Was it some last-ditch weapon unleashed by the desperate? Some unforeseeable reaction between the vast array of clashing magical forces? A dread and profane ritual gone terribly wrong - or even terribly right? Only the dead and the mad know for sure.

— Toran Medazak, The Lessons of the Past

During a goblin assault on the city of Ormithlor something triggered an event known as the Night of Weeping Stars, or sometimes just the Weeping. The calamity destroyed Ormithlor and scourged the land for miles in every direction. An area the size of a small country was transformed almost overnight into the wasteland now known as the Desolation.

Background

The Drorec Tribe was one of the oldest and greatest goblin tribes in the Kwal Dominion, but its leaders were unsatisfied with how it was treated by the Dominion leadership. Their perception was that goblins were treated poorly and not accorded the respect they deserved. In an attempt to prove their worth, the tribe sent its entire fighting force on an unsanctioned mission into Alliance territory. Their troops mounted a daring campaign to bypass the frontlines, taking a treacherous route through the upper levels of the Underdark. Casualties were heavy, but the goblins made it through, emerging near Ormithlor. They wasted no time in marching for the City of a Thousand Spells, laying waste to the countryside as they passed.

The goblins' route through the Underdark, combined with the magics of the goblin shamans and the use of various artifacts held by the Drorec for centuries, had shielded their approach from Ormithlor's scryers and rituals of warning. It was only when the goblins came above ground that they were finally detected, causing something of a panic in the city. Ormithlor had few soldiers, but those they had quickly prepared the city to withstand an assault. As the goblins neared the walls, the city's mages activated the ancient protective wardings buried within the stones and readied the numerous combat enchantments that dotted the battlements. Although the defenders were vastly outnumbered, they trusted in the well-known magical superiority of their city.

The Weeping

The first goblin assault was repulsed with ease, for the goblins were unprepared for the ferocity of Ormithlor's defences. Vast numbers of goblins were slaughtered by magical assaults, while the walls themselves repulsed any attempt to scale them. The Drorec pulled back while their shamans readied countermeasures, and as night fell they launched their second assault.

No one knows what caused the event that followed, though there are plenty of theories. Some think that the goblins unleashed some terrible ritual in a short-sighted attempt to breach the walls. Others think that one side or another misused an ancient artifact they did not fully understand - both the Drorec and the Mithlorians held artifacts from aeons past, and the Drorec had further collected more on their recent passage through the Underdark. Another theory is that, as the Drorec shamans and Mithlorian mages struggled for supremacy, the vast array of conflicting magics in some way reacted unpredictably. Some speculate that the half-completed Ramag obelisk was involved somehow. In all likelihood, the truth will never be determined with any certainty.

While the cause is unknown, the events that followed are well documented. Reality itself was damaged around Ormithlor. The sky split and great blasts of eldritch energy tumbled down from above. Eye-witnesses variously described the colour of the blasts as blue, white, purple, orange, and not any colour they'd ever seen before. Ormithlor was reduced to a smoking ruin, the Drorec were all but exterminated, and as the night wore on the devastation spread further out from the city, blasting the once-lush grasslands and forests into devastated wastelands. Most of the Drorec and Mithlorians were killed that night, and those unlucky enough to survive were turned completely insane.

by Luke aka Fieldweeble

^{The Weeping falls on Ormithlor}

Aftermath

^{One of the Relyth}

Fortunately for the Alliance the destruction did not spread indefinitely, and as the sun rose the rain of power ceased. The affected area, now known as the Desolation, is hostile to life. The remainder of the Drorec tribe still lives there, having mutated into a sub-species of goblins called dust goblins. Any other beings who spend too long in the region risk being infected by the disease called the Maddening, ending up either dead, insane or turned into one of the Relyth - a race of beings corrupted by whatever alien influence still plagues the Desolation.

The creation of the Desolation was a severe economic blow to both Esé-Nal and Yol, and also killed a large chunk of the Escana Forest. Forces from Esé-Nal, Yol and the Escana Union now cooperate to patrol the borders of the wasteland, aided by organisations of Killoren and Shardminds who arrived in the wake of the catastrophe.

The loss of almost its entire fighting force broke the once-proud Drorec Tribe. The lands, treasures and remaining members of the tribe were divided up between their neighbours, and the Drorec leaders executed. Their utter failure further lowered the Dominion leadership's view of goblins, and has led to tighter controls on the independent fighting forces maintained by the various component factions of the Dominion.

Date

1245 PC (220 AR)

Location

Ormithlor, Esé-Nal/Yol border, Nalunara

Alternative Names

The Weeping, The Calamity of Ormithlor