The Sunless Season of 708

The following is an excerpt from an archival report of Magistrate Rion Lucasias, who had been dispatched to capture a Principality fugitive on the 11th day of First Season, 708, and whose pursuit led him to Windwell Port Town.

On the 24th day of First Season, I had arrived at the wayfarer's refuge at the southern crossroads, just west of the Vannis District. Here, I noted that the caravans had already stopped traveling past the Chouta Mountains, as all caravan masters had called a halt to westward travel. Weather was rainy and windy, but the skies were grey and reasonably well lit - but even at this distance the blackened clouds to the west were an ominous sight. Information collected here from traders and one unfortunate mercenary's team indicated that no travelers had emerged from the west since one wind-ragged Power-Wagon had drifted in on the 17th day of the season. That vehicle carried another ominous sign in the form of a corpse; the driver had found a dead body on the road and had thought to bring it with him rather than leave it for the crows. This story aroused suspicion, but personal inspection indicated the body had been hit by flying debris at wind-driven speeds sufficient to crush a skull, and I determined that the driver was not suspect.
Through discussions at the refuge, I determined that the fugitive Kamsin had travelled through the refuge on foot westbound towards Windwell Port Town. Marshal Carilla was still recovering from a broken leg incurred in the Pasch case during Fourth Season (reference my prior report), and while she was adamant that she travel with me into the storm, I judged that long distance travel without a power-wagon would only impede her recovery; I bade her remain and rest at the refuge while I pursued the fugitive. While many power-wagons could be hired here, none wished to travel west, and so I purchased a riding ox for a journey that, during ordinary weather, would take roughly eleven days.
While the weather was generally poor east of the Southern Chouta Pass, the pass itself was a blustery mess; the stormy winds had been channeled through the pass to a degree that had scoured limbs from trees and uprooted ground cover plants. I fashioned a windbreak for the ox and walked it through the pass rather than ride; the risk of being simply blown off the animal seemed like a major concern. The pass itself had a number of destroyed power-wagons and ox-carts laying in gullies, but with no sign of their drivers. Visibility was extremely limited, to perhaps a quarter mile or less, due to the sudden absence of light, even in midday.
Though the pass itself posed only moderate hazard, the descent towards Windwell was nearly impossible. Mudslides had destroyed most of the wagon-road switchbacks, forcing me to lead the ox essentially directly down the muddied hill in torrential rain. At the bottom of the slope I encountered what seemed to be a vast river, but was actually slow-moving floodwaters; here, the ox proved its value, as it seemed unfazed during the fording. The stormwinds were less dangerous in the forests leading to Windwell, as those still-standing trees screened most of the wind and major debris. Progress came to a crawl repeatedly, however, due to fallen trees blocking what remained of the wagon-road as well as major flooding and washouts, forcing multiple miles of detouring to find a viable fording point in nearly pitch darkness.
I estimate that I arrived at Windwell roughly around the 51st day of First Season; time was difficult to track due to the near-total absence of visible sunlight. The stonework and masonry buildings were mostly still standing, but the timber buildings were wrecked by storm damage and uninhabitable. While no business was being conducted in Windwell, the keeper of the Western Arms was happy to host a Magistrate of the Principality, and was greatly surprised that I had managed to make it to town in the midst of the storm. 
Unfortunately, my investigation of Kamsin came to a halt here, as I was informed that a man matching the fugitive's description had stolen a light rowboat and set off in the Feryll Sea, in an apparent attempt to make Raefel Island. This seemed ill-advised; the docks and warehouses at Windwell had already been shattered by the twenty-foot crushing waves and driving winds, but I corroborated the story among the locals who were riding out the storm.
Seeing as how I had no further line of inquiry or possibility of pursuit (as the oceans seemed an immediate death sentence), I rode out the rest of the storms at the Western Arms until the skies finally cleared, in what I believe to be the 81st day of First Season. Subsequent travel to Port Raefel confirmed that none there had seen a man matching Kamsin's description; it is my belief that he is drowned and dead as a result of misadventure.

Manifestation

While in most of the Principality of Etoile 708 was a year like any other, the far southwestern portion of Western Saibh closest to Raefel Island was subject to catastrophic storms for eleven straight weeks during First Season. Locals reported an unending grey of murky skies, pounding rain and hail, and howling winds, while travelers found roads utterly impassible and sea travel treacherous. While most storms exist as somewhat distinct entities, so many storms struck during this season that they all simply blended together.
Stormy weather is not new to the area. Raefel is battered by storms all seasons, and the nearby mainland (including Windwell Port Town) sees destructive storms regularly during the rainy seasons. 708's First Season began inauspiciously, as wrecks of carracks plying the Great Circular Trade Route began to wash ashore on the mainland, from the direction of Raefel Island. Contact with the island itself was severed when the captain of the Principality Navy resupply power-sail refused to embark from Windwell in the face of roiling seas and ten meter waves. Local observers from The Academy of Etoile recorded concerning measurements from their gas tensometers (a useful predictor of storms), and recommended that as many people as possible leave Windwell and cross the mountains to the east. This evacuation was prescient, as a week after the evacuation, storms of such intensity came ashore that the roads were rendered impassible to Power-Wagons and ox-carts, and the Great Circular Trade Route was itself rendered too dangerous to complete. Raefel Island was effectively cut-off from shipping during this time.
Eleven weeks later, after the skies cleared and the seas calmed, the first Principality resupply caravans that arrived at Windwell found scenes of moderate devastation - riven fields, shattered irrigation works, and a completely destroyed power distribution network. No crops had survived the torrential rains and complete absence of sunlight. The town itself was still mostly standing, though several timber buildings had collapsed due to waterlogged soil. The first Power-Sail to Raefel found that its lagoon was almost entirely covered in fallen driftwood, with the jungle covering shredded by high winds and mudslides. Port Raefel had fared better; the locals had held out in the caverns, which store enough dry sundries to keep the population alive for up to four seasons.