Guardians of Sunfist release

Guardians of Sunfist release is an Official GemStone IV Document, and it is protected from editing.

Dateline: 2/5/5108

Authorities from as far apart as the port of Solhaven to the Fortress of Ta'Vaalor are struggling to respond to a multitude of reports of marauding bands of giants, trolls, and orcs assaulting cities and settlements. No explanation has yet been offered for the invaders' ability to suddenly appear, attack, and just as quickly vanish. Scholars of Ta'Illistim are reportedly at a loss to explain how this force could have mustered in such numbers without drawing attention, let alone how they are managing to coordinate their attacks.

The Militia of Ta'Vaalor mustered quickly to repel the assaults on that city, but reports from the western side of the Dragonspine are more dire, with rumors of raiders plundering the streets of many settlements of the Turramzzyrian Empire. Particularly hard hit were the iron mines of Krinklehorn, with squadrons attacking and destroying a number of the region's crucial forges and foundries.

Travelers are warned to be particularly cautious when venturing far from their local city's defenses and encouraged to stay in groups.

Dateline: 2/7/5108

The Vaalorian and Turramzzyrian armies have mustered and have managed to repel several assaults by the marauding creatures that have come to be known as the Grimswarm. Major cities both east and west of the Dragonspine continue to experience unrelenting waves of attacks but the organized defense forces, with the aid of innumerable and heroic volunteers, have kept the invaders largely at bay.

Constant raiding across smaller towns and villages has begun to worry the major political leaders of all races, however, as concerns over their inability to protect the citizens of more distant and isolated villages and hamlets are realized. Streams of refugees have been pouring into the most defensible cities, and the specter of food shortages looms large as rural farms and fields are pillaged and burned.

Even more troubling is the Grimswarm's startling ability to appear out of nowhere, pillage, and then disappear immediately after retreating with their loot, making an effective counter attack impossible. The armies of Tamzyrr and the Vaalor thus appear stymied in their efforts to decisively engage and destroy the Grimswarm. They continue to restate their prior warnings that the countryside is not secure and that any travel or hunting should be done with the utmost caution.

Dateline: 2/22/5108

In the face of increasingly effective hit-and-run tactics by the Grimswarm, the human and Vaalor armies have decided give up their fruitless and costly attempt to engage the Grimswarm in open combat, and to pull back the majority of their forces into their most heavily guarded towns and fortresses. As such, large swathes of the countryside have effectively been ceded to the Grimswarm. On those lands, reports from adventurers and other hardy souls have indicated that the Grimswarm has started to move beyond nomadic raiding and is apparently beginning to lay claim to lands and to start what appears to be long-term settlement.

All hope is not lost, however, as several representatives from an organization called the Guardians of Sunfist have visited towns on both sides of the DragonSpine to offer their aid in the struggle against the Grimswarm. These individuals claim that the ability of the Grimswarm to move about undetected and strike from hidden staging grounds is due to the Grimswarm's recent mastery of powerful shrouding magic. The Grimswarm has since used that magic to escape from their old lairs in the DragonSpine and freely pillage the rich human and elven lands.

Fortunately, the Guardians of Sunfist claim to have developed a method that can temporarily pierce the magical shrouds that surround the Grimswarm's encampments. They have successfully demonstrated this technique on several occasions, which has allowed intrepid adventurers to enter and destroy Grimswarm warcamps near Ta'Illistim and Wehnimer's Landing. Talks between the Guardians of Sunfist and the various town and imperial governments have commenced, with the hope that the techniques of the Guardians of Sunfist could be taught to beleaguered human and elven armies, and thus turn the tide of the war.