Battle of Orlo's Hand

Military action

The lich Arcalturn of the Cult of the Black Bone, using prisoners taken from the nearby goblin, human, and dwarven civilizations was attempting to create an undead army fueled by Orlo's Hand. The townsfolk rebelled and managed to drive him off and destroy his minions.

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Initial Destruction

This three day battle began with an attack on the settlement of Redsand (afterwards abandoned) by the Cult of the Black Bone and their undead minions. The townsfolk were driven out but were able to counterattack with the aid of the Nature Guardians. This occurred in the evening of the 31st. Although the times is uncertain, it is also believed that the tribal Goblin camp of Garknoff was also attacked earlier in the evening. Very little information on this attack is known. In the evening of the 1st, a diplomatic envoy bound from the Durgord Kingdom to the East for the Amiro Empire in the West was waylaid as they camped for the night. They managed to repulse the attack and defeat one of the supposed leaders of the Cult of the Black Bones, obtaining parts of a ritual that was going to be used to draw the power from the stones into living hosts. During each of these attacks, the cultists managed to drag off the bodies of those they who fell for use in their ritual.  

The Counterattack and Victory

The villagers were the first to reach Orlo's hand. They clashed with Arcalturn's forces in the forests beneath its shadow and did battle. This battle raged throughout the night of the first. Finally, with the help of the Ent Hardwood they managed to defeat the skeletal forces and reach the hill. While this battle was occurring, the diplomatic envoy's guards managed to come around the far side of the hill and find their way into the underground passageways. Led by a Goblin youth named Garlo, they managed to trace the steps of the cultists who had escaped them. They managed to find on the crest of the hill an entrance to the catacombs within and began searching them for their missing companions. However, by the time they reached the bottom-most chamber Arcalturn's ritual was nearly complete. Lightning from the storm raging outside had lit and empowered 5 of the six pillars. After a long fight with Arcalturn himself along with many of his skeletal guards and elite cultists, the two remaining prisoners were set free and Arcalturn defeated. However, Arcalturn was not killed, only defeated. Seconds before he could be killed he teleported away, leaving no trace. As he disappeared though, it seemed that a spell that had been holding down a force within the bones themselves was released. It flowed upwards from deep within the earth and took on a deathly figure, formed from the very dust that the pillars were surrounded by. Together the remaining members of the diplomatic envoy rallied and managed to subdue the creature, which in its final moment, triggered the collapse of the entire cave system. Immediately fleeing the scene and narrowly escaping, the guards left potentially undiscovered areas of the passageways unexplored and waiting for the lucky treasure hunter to find. However, Arcalturn did escape to continue the plot of the Cult of the Black Hand.