Their crossing into the Grizzly Hills was a most unpleasant one. At first greeted by ruined wagons and mangled bodies, they were able to save the sole survivor, a local trapper, from the brink of death, though not before one final attempt on his life was made by the undead that stalked the land. These were no feral ghouls and skeletal warriors, however, fighting with the guidance of forces unseen.
Yet while these revenants posed little threat to the Order, there was one creature that did. It hid in plain sight and appeared without a whisper to foreshadow its coming, dismounting Sir Uriel as he charged across the open plain. A creature of misty midnight, humanoid in shape but demonic in nature, the shadowy construct engaged Uriel with unholy determination, brushing aside the efforts of the rest of the Order with little effort.
When it was done, only fragments of the tenebrous metal bindings remained, and the swirling questions of what, why and how. Onwards they pressed to Amberpine Lodge, to discover that Svanrir - the third, recently-discovered companion of Arduran - was a common relative of no fewer than twelve of the youngest generation of trappers in the Hills.
The next night, they travelled eastwards towards the Ashwood Trading Post, searching for the man named 'Gorm' - one of the latest descendants of the hunter Svanrir - and along the way they were ambushed once more by the shadowy cosntruct. While this man knew nothing of obvious value to the Order's quest to find the Crypt of Arduran, they did learn of why Svanrir did not join Arduran and To'toni in their ill-fated but no less successful venture. In the possession of Svanrir's descendants was a seashell necklace that once belonged to To'toni the Tuskarr, a 'trophy' by trapper accounts, but presumably a great betrayal on behalf of long-dead Svanrir.
Moreover, they learned that the Cult of the Damned had moved to Solstice Hill, just south of the old Westfall Brigade campsite, and that a new wolfcult had arisen therein. Those that went by the name of the 'Bloodpelt' included another of Svanrir's distant descendants, a man named Torsten, a cousin of Gorm who possessed the heirloom seashell necklace, as it had been passed down from eldest son to eldest son.
With Solstice Hill heavily fortified, their lead regarding Svanrir bringing them to little more than a simple fisherman on the shores of frost arctic lake, the Order turned their sights to the Dragonblight, to Moa'ki Harbour. Yet the Hills had one more surprise for them in the form of the Order of the Blood of Martyrs, who had pursued them from the fjords to the foothills, and one ambush later the Order of Lordain was no longer in possession of the Hoary Key.
Though the path ahead was as clear as mud, they forged onwards, into the dragon wastes, and towards the gathering storm clouds...
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