Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The Heroes of Corvis and the Witchfire Blade

More than 20 years ago, King Vinter Raelthorne IV sat on the throne of Cygnar. Known as perhaps the greatest swordsman the Iron Kingdoms had ever seen, this harsh sovereign utilized tactics of rule such as a wizard-led secret police called the Inquisition, which pursued and eliminated potential enemies of the crown. So ruthless was he that the nation rose in rebellion, led the king's gentle younger brother Leto, and supported by no less than the Patriarch of Morrow himself. Leto overthrew his brother and took the crown, but Vinter escaped justice, kidnapping Leto's wife and son and disappearing in a hot air balloon across the Bloodstone Marches, from whence no one ever heard anything more. Though in his youth, the wish of his heart was to become a priest, Leto has ever been a good and just king, well-beloved of his people.

On a balmy day in 602 AR (that's 'After the Resistance'), our gallant protagonists--Islene Hartwick, Ian Cathmore, Tagrak Boomtongue, and Braydon Grath--first met in what would become a heroic quest to save the city of Corvis. When the Witchfire Blade, an artifact with the power to drink the souls of spellcasters and command the dead, resurfaced, they found themselves striving against vilest witchcraft to claim the sword and keep it from the hands of two feuding magicians.

What they thought to be a relatively simple (if dangerous) task became suddenly far more perilous when the long-absent Vinter Raelthorne IV returned at the head of an inhuman army raised beyond the Bloodstone Marches. One of the contending wizards, Vahn Oberon, revealed himself to be Vinter's trusted old aide Dexer Sirac, who had led Vinter's Inquisition during his iron-handed reign.

Forging an alliance with the young sorceress Alexia, who had sought the Witchfire, and aided by a crafty military Warcaster named Lieutenant Cyrus Vanfeld as well as a church guardsman named Douglas, our heroes sought an army of their own to face Vinter's alien Skorne warriors. Guided by the prophecy of a cursed, betrayed legion that lay sleeping until roused at a time of Cygnar's need, the little group woke the spectral Legion of Lost Souls to rescue Corvis from Vinter's forces.

In the aftermath of that battle, the sorceress Alexia used the Witchfire to devour Vahn Oberon's soul, for he had slain her kind-hearted mother, then attempted to exact vengeance upon him by destroying the blade. Thwarted, she fled with the sword. Neither has been seen since, though fading traces of the Witchfire's power still linger about Corvis, stirring the spirits in the City of Ghosts to greater than usual restlessness. After duelling with the Warcaster and his Warjack (in which Cyrus could not be said to have had the upper hand) Vinter Raelthorne likewise escaped. Undoubtedly, he will return to trouble the realm again.

In gratitude for their service, King Leto Raelthorne himself called them to audience at his court in Caspia, where he hailed them as the Heroes of Corvis. Islene Hartwick and Ian Cathmore accepted knighthoods, and the king granted each of the city's saviors a boon, to be called upon at their discretion. Likewise did the king's advisor and court wizard count himself in their debt for at last unearthing Dexer Sirac, for whom he had searched ever since Vinter's exile.

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