The Grizzly Guardholme

"Hail and well met!"

The Grizzly Guardholme is a lodge nestled in the Borealis Forest of Wayfarer Foothills. Here, guests are welcome to join grand feasts, enjoy a tankard of strong ale, or rest in one of many available cots.Join us as we trek across the vast Shiverpeak Mountains, a land of mighty beasts to hunt and secrets waiting to be uncovered. It is here you will find companions ready to stand at your side against even the fiercest odds.Make your legend and be remembered for years to come. We seek to share in those chapters and stand as part of your tale, so that your legacy may be made immortal.

Merchants

Many Norn gathered outside the lodge, sharing drink and laughter, when a massive explosion erupted near Snowlord’s Gate. The celebration shattered instantly. Rushing to investigate, they discovered Dredge assaulting the are, armed with strange, unfamiliar weapons and capturing Norn in the chaos.At their head stood a one-eyed Dredge commander, Lieutenant Syk, wielding an iron rod crackling with unnatural power. At his side lumbered a massive, plated behemoth, its hunger for blood unmistakable.The Guardholme forces soon joined the fight, led by Magna Strongarm. They split their efforts, some engaging Dredge fighters and riflemen, while others confronted the armored behemoth, leaving only a few to challenge Syk directly.The battle was brutal. The Dredge deployed odd weapons: grenades that pulsed with magical electricity, and Syk’s enchanted rod that could halt a Norn mid-charge before hurling them violently to the ground.Despite the odds, our heroes pushed the Dredge back and beheaded the plated behemoth. Seeing defeat looming, Syk ordered a retreat. Several Norn had already been captured and dragged into a massive hole blasted into the mountainside. Among them were Dagny and Magna. Before pursuit was possible, Syk sealed the passage with a deliberate cave-in.In the aftermath, the heroes interrogated a surviving Dredge. Through his venomous words, they learned of a higher power, General Torlok, and a grim warning: the rise of the Dredge was only beginning.

Snowden Drifts offered the best lead in the search for the captured Norn. Upon reaching the village of Mennerheim, the heroes found it scarred by an attack much like the one at Snowlord’s Gate. All signs pointed toward Molengrad, a Dredge mine rumored to be holding prisoners, and the group pressed onward.They did not get far.Ambushed from all sides, the heroes were forced into a brutal fight. These Dredge wielded the same strange weapons seen before, confirming they were on the right path. Through bloodshed and sheer determination, the heroes fought their way forward and located the prisoners. Among them were Dagny and Magna.The escape was no less dangerous. On the road back to Mennerheim, their path was blocked by a titanic Dredge drilling suit piloted by Lieutenant Molev. Armed with mounted cannons and a massive ley-imbued weight, the machine turned the passage into a killing ground. Against all odds, the heroes survived the encounter and pressed on.Back at the Guardholme, wounds were treated and the broken ley-charged weight was recovered from the wreckage. Alongside the other strange Dredge weapons, it was studied in hopes of uncovering its secrets. Though their kin had been saved, one truth remained clear, the Dredge threat was far from over, and it would have to be ended.

Days later, a group of heroes led by Alberto, a skilled necromancer, traveled to Lion's Arch in search of information about shipments of strange weapons matching those used by the Dredge. Their inquiries led them through both official and less reputable channels. The Lionguard and contacts within the Undermarket independently confirmed the same troubling detail: such weapons were being shipped from Rata Sum.Following this lead, the heroes took the asura gate to Rata Sum, arriving at the city’s bustling docks. There, Chris, a skilled thief, slipped away from the group to examine shipping manifests and port records, searching for clues that might reveal the source and destination of the weapons.The heroes soon noticed a vessel that had been making frequent trips to Lion's Arch and decided to investigate. Aboard the ship, they discovered several crates packed with the same Dredge weapons they had encountered before.Their search did not go unnoticed.The crew confronted them, and battle broke out on the deck. Steel clashed and spells flew until the heroes emerged victorious. Under interrogation, the surviving crew revealed themselves to be hired mercenaries, paid to smuggle the weapons into Lion’s Arch. Desperate to secure their freedom, they offered a final revelation: someone in Rata Sum was responsible for manufacturing the weapons.Before the Peacekeepers could arrive, the crew fled the ship. As they escaped, their captain spat a final warning, the heroes would not be forgotten, nor forgiven.

While some of the group journeyed to Rata Sum, those who remained behind turned their attention to the strange new Dredge weapons, including the recovered ley-imbued weight. Their investigation revealed the artifact to be of Dwarven make—but the discovery triggered an unexpected reaction.The weight cracked and fragmented violently, releasing the raw magic contained within. From the escaping energy, hostile ley elementals coalesced.Battle was joined as the magic surged. A far larger elemental formed, assembling itself from the shattered pieces of the weight and using its own stone fragments as weapons. Through grit and determination, the heroes brought the construct down. When the fighting ended, the weight was reduced to little more than broken stone.Bloodied and exhausted, the heroes took stock of what they had learned. These weapons, powered by unrestrained magic, were unlike anything they had faced before. If the Dredge continued to wield such forces, the danger they posed to the land, and to all its peoples, would be far greater than anyone had feared.

Days later, rumors reached the heroes of renewed Dredge activity within an abandoned mine in Lornar's Pass. Upon arrival, they encountered wounded members of the Lionguard, survivors of an ambush after investigating screams and strange noises from within the mine. While some had escaped, others, including their squad leader, had been taken.A rescue was quickly planned, dividing the heroes into two strike teams.The first group, led by Ganthet, fought their way through Skritt-infested tunnels and clashed with familiar mercenaries, the same smugglers encountered at the Rata Sum docks days earlier. Their advance led them deep into the mine, where they discovered the last of the captured Norn prisoners locked away in the dark.The second group, led by Khorthall, pushed through entrenched Dredge forces and uncovered a massive, unsettling machine, an unholy fusion of Dwarven craft and Asuran technology. There they found Lieutenant Syk. The heroes arrived too late to save the Lionguard squad leader; Syk had already torn away his very essence of life, using it to empower the machine.Both groups converged for the final confrontation. United, they faced Syk and the terrible power of the arcane engine. Through sheer force and determination, the heroes struck him down. But victory was short-lived. In its death throes, the machine unleashed a violent surge of magic, triggering a catastrophic collapse throughout the mine.The heroes fled as the tunnels caved in around them. Against the odds, the remaining Lionguard and prisoners were rescued, and all escaped the destruction. The group returned to the Guardholme to rest, recover, and celebrate their hard-won success.Yet even in triumph, one truth lingered—This was far from over.

After the victory in Lornar's Pass, a rare calm settled over the heroes. Peace was celebrated with a wedding, coinciding with the Festival of the Four Winds. Food and drink flowed freely as friends and allies gathered in good spirits.That peace was broken when an asura named Zed arrived from Rata Sum, urgently seeking out the heroes.Zed confessed that he had been responsible for shipping the strange devices, what he believed to be tools and research equipment, to another asura named Glyn. According to Zed, the items were intended solely for controlled experiments. He claimed no knowledge that Glyn had weaponized them, nor that they would be supplied to the Dredge.Before Zed could reveal anything further, chaos erupted. The mercenary captain who had trailed him struck without warning, assassinating Zed in cold blood. The captain and his crew launched an ambush, driven by vengeance and unfinished business. The heroes responded swiftly, cutting down most of the attackers. Still, the captain and a handful of survivors escaped, stealing mounts from the stables to flee into the wilds.On Zed’s body, the heroes found only a single clue: a map of the Shiverpeaks, marked with an ominous “X” deep within Timberline Falls.With the threat now striking uncomfortably close to home, the heroes resolved to follow the map and end this conspiracy once and for all. The Guardholme, a place of fellowship, drink, and refuge, had been threatened. It was only a matter of time before it became a target itself.And this time, they would not wait.

Days later, the heroes followed the map into Timberline Falls, where it led them to the village of Balddistead. From concealment, they observed Dredge forces occupying the settlement alongside mercenary-crewed airships circling overhead. Villagers had been captured and bound, the village repurposed as a fortified base camp.At its center, the heroes witnessed a grim council: the mercenary captain Marek, the Dredge general Torlok, and the asura Glyn.Hidden among the ruins, the heroes listened as a heated argument erupted between Torlok and Glyn. The dispute ended abruptly, Glyn struck down the Dredge general without hesitation, killing him as if he were nothing more than a disposable pawn. The act ignited chaos among the Dredge ranks. Infighting broke out as mercenaries opened fire from the airships above, exploiting their advantage. Leaderless, the Dredge began to retreat and scatter.Amid the confusion, the heroes moved swiftly, freeing the captured villagers before the fighting could spill back into the streets.Their actions did not go unnoticed.Spotted by one of the airships, the heroes were forced to evade cannon fire as Glyn and Marek made their escape. Fighting through the barrage, they managed to board and seize the attacking airship, defeating its mercenary crew. The victory was short-lived. A coordinated volley from the remaining airships streaked toward them, threatening to tear the captured vessel apart.At that moment, Hathra, a mysterious shaman of Raven, summoned a towering wall of magic to shield the heroes. The barrier strained under the assault and would not have held much longer.Then the mountain answered.The earth convulsed as a violent eruption shattered the ground nearby. From the broken stone burst forth a colossal Spirit of the Wild: Wurm, its massive form rising amid fire and debris. With terrifying force, the Wurm seized one of the attacking airships and crushed it within its maw. The remaining vessels broke away, fleeing the battlefield with Glyn and Marek aboard.Smoke, fire, and silence followed.And the hunt was far from over.

The following day at the Guardholme, Briggs, a stowaway from the captured Airship, shared what little intelligence he had uncovered about Glyn. She was once an Inquest researcher who specialized in ley-line magic. Glyn believed the ley lines of Tyria were spiraling into chaos, an imbalance she blamed on the Elder Dragons, the Human Gods, and the mortal races who exploited magic without restraint.Her research led her to a forbidden breakthrough: a method to drain ley magic directly from both physical and magical beings. Using a fusion of Dwarven and Asuran technology, Glyn began testing this process on specific targets. Her focus had now turned toward the Spirits of the Wild themselves.Hathra confirmed the danger. In her meditations, she had heard the Spirits crying out for aid, just as Wurm had answered before. The Spirits were under direct threat, yet Glyn’s whereabouts remained unknown. The Guardholme would have to remain vigilant if they hoped to protect the remaining Spirits from what was coming.Weeks passed.During a hunting trip high along Hangrammr Climb, a small group from the Guardholme witnessed an airship spiraling out of the sky and crashing into the forest below. Investigating the wreckage, they found a single survivor, one of Glyn’s mercenaries. Before they could decide what to do, they were interrupted.A mysterious Norn clad in black emerged from the treeline. The survivor claimed this stranger had been the one to bring the airship down. Calm but threatening, the Norn demanded the mercenary be handed over.Tension mounted as the heroes realized they were surrounded by the Sons of Svanir.As violence became inevitable, Teraj of the Bloodpaws acted without hesitation, unleashing a barrage of pistol fire to draw attention. Her sacrifice bought the others time to escape with the survivor.They fled back to the Guardholme, where members of the Bloodpaws were gathered. Upon learning of Teraj’s capture, her brother Koleburn rallied the Bloodpaws at once. They set out on their own to rescue Teraj and confront the shadowy force behind the ambush, a threat the heroes knew they would face again.Meanwhile, the remaining heroes interrogated the captured mercenary. Broken and fearful, he finally revealed what he knew: Glyn had gone north to Frostgorge Sound. There, she had uncovered knowledge of another Spirit of the Wild, Whale, and intended to harvest its magic to fuel the next phase of her designs.

The Spirit of Whale was said to be the oldest and most powerful of all the Spirits of the Wild, hidden deep from the world of Tyria. When Hathra learned it was in danger, she acted immediately, leading the heroes north into Frostgorge Sound.There, they discovered Glyn’s airship suspended above the frozen waters of Watchful Fjord. On its deck, the same dread machine they had seen in Syk’s final battle had been repurposed. It pulsed with blinding energy, channeling a focused beam into the depths below, toward a hidden shrine where Whale slumbered. The Spirit was being forcibly tethered and drained, its connection to the Mists severed strand by strand.Realizing time was running out, the heroes devised a desperate plan. A nearby Pact settlement provided catapults and supplies, while others sought aid from the Spirits of the Wild themselves. Through invocation and resolve, Minotaur and Otter answered the call.Launched by catapult onto the airship’s hull, the heroes stormed aboard. They were met by fierce resistance, mercenaries still loyal to Glyn, led by Captain Marek. In the chaos of battle, Alberto faced Marek directly, ending the captain’s vengeance-fueled crusade with a decisive strike.The heroes pushed forward into the heart of the vessel, carving a path through the remaining mercenaries until they reached the command deck. There, they finally confronted Glyn.The battle that followed shook the airship itself. Amid blades, magic, and collapsing machinery, the vessel began to rise uncontrollably, its device drawing Whale upward, attempting to drag the Spirit from the Mists into the world of Tyria.At the brink of failure, the Spirits answered.Minotaur and Otter intervened in full, turning the tide just long enough for the heroes to act. One group engaged Glyn directly while another fought to destroy the engine core. As Glyn was finally brought to the edge of defeat, she triggered the airship’s destruction, sending it into a catastrophic free fall.The beam severed. Whale was freed.But there was no escape from the fall.In the final moments, Hathra gathered what remaining magic she had and formed a protective dome around the heroes. The airship crashed into the frozen lands below, shattering in a violent impact.When the world went still, the heroes awoke among the wreckage.Hathra did not.In the days that followed, peace slowly returned to the Shiverpeaks. The threat of Glyn’s machine was ended, and the Spirits were no longer in immediate danger. At the Guardholme, the heroes gathered once more, sharing drink, remembering the fallen, and holding onto what they had saved.And though peace had returned…They knew better than to believe it would last forever.

The End

The Forgotten Relics of the Wild were said to be ancient artifacts forged by the four Great Spirits to aid the Norn during their great exodus south. Their deeds lived on only through myth and oral tradition, stories of divine gifts never confirmed by sight or touch.That changed when an elder of the Guardholme, Valhir, a seasoned and formidable warrior, revealed the truth.The Relics were real.Valhir spoke of visions he could no longer ignore: something malicious was searching for the Relics, intending to corrupt or weaponize them. Though scattered and lost across the world, their return now felt inevitable. With no clear path forward, the Guardholme committed itself to the hunt.Valhir then revealed a final truth, he himself wielded one of the Relics: the Claws of Bear, a pair of daggers that granted their bearer immense stamina and strength. In recognition of the growing threat, he entrusted the Claws to the heroes. Each Relic, he explained, shared a faint magical bond with the others, enough to be used as a guide in their search.If the Relics could be found… they could also be protected.But if they fell into the wrong hands…The balance of the Wild itself could be broken.

The first Relic to reveal itself was the Howl of Wolf, a powerful war horn capable of shaking the very ground when sounded. Its call drew the heroes south of Lornar's Pass, to a long-forgotten shrine dedicated to Wolf.There, they encountered a mysterious figure cloaked in black robes. Recognition came quickly, the same Norn who had brought down the aetherblade airship earlier. He was no chance meeting, but a deliberate presence. More importantly, he was also hunting the Relics for his own purpose.The visions had spoken true.He was the malicious force foretold by Valhir.Realizing he was outmatched, the stranger slipped away into shadow before the heroes could close the distance. Though he escaped, it was clear they had not seen the last of him.At the shrine, with the aid of Wolf’s presence and the power of the Claws of Bear, the Howl of Wolf revealed itself fully to the heroes. The Relic accepted their claim, binding itself to their pursuit and marking them as worthy of what was to come next.

The next Relic to surface was the Eyes of Raven, an artifact said to reveal what the unseen concealed. Its trail led the heroes to Jhavi Jorasdottir, great-granddaughter of the Norn hero Jora and current leader of the Vigil.Jhavi revealed that she already possessed the Relic, bound within a powerful scepter entrusted to her order. Given its rarity and significance, she refused to part with it lightly.Only after extensive discussion and recognition of the growing threat did Jhavi agree to aid the heroes. In exchange, the Vigil would lend their strength to the coming conflict.She then shared troubling reports from across the Shiverpeak Mountains: homesteads and Norn villages had been visited by a dark stranger cloaked in shadow. The description matched the necromancer-like figure the heroes had encountered before.It was no coincidence.Wherever he appeared, fear followed and so did danger.And now, it was becoming clear he was closing in on the Relics as well.

The final Relic was the Hide of Snow Leopard, a cloak said to grant its wearer true invisibility. Seeking its location, the Guardholme followed rumors to a Snow Leopard Shaman believed to hold knowledge of its resting place.But on their search, they encountered the cloaked man once again.This time, the truth was revealed.He called himself the Flayer, a name whispered in ancient, half-forgotten Norn tales of a necromancer who had become a lich, forsaking life itself in pursuit of dominion over death.Now, his legend stood before them.The Flayer made clear that he was not merely hunting the Relics, he had been following the heroes all along. With the power of the Hide’s magic already partially within his grasp, he demonstrated his unnatural ability to vanish and reappear at will, slipping through space like a wound in reality.Though the heroes managed to escape, the encounter left no doubt: he was growing stronger, and more dangerous with each Relic uncovered.And worse still, he now knew where they would return.The Guardholme was no longer a safe haven.The hunt was coming home.

The heroes prepared for the Flayer’s arrival, now in possession of three of the four Relics of the Wild. They knew what was coming, an army of the dead, twisted constructs of bone and flesh, led by hulking abominations and boneskinners bound to his will.When the attack came, it was relentless.The battle that followed was brutal and uncertain, each moment threatening to become their last. The Flayer’s power over death itself turned the tide against them, and victory seemed impossible.Then Valhir acted.Sensing something deeper within the lich’s connection to the Relics, he made a final choice. In a moment of sacrifice, Valhir gave his life to strip the Flayer of the Hide of Snow Leopard, the very artifact he had been concealing and using to extend his unnatural power.With Valhir’s death, the balance shifted.Empowered by the remaining Relics, the heroes unleashed their combined strength, breaking the bindings that held countless stolen souls from ages past. Freed at last, those spirits surged through the Flayer’s magic, unraveling his dominion and stripping him of his invulnerability.For the first time, he could bleed.For the first time, he could be killed.Realizing this, the Flayer fled the battlefield, retreating into the mountains with what strength remained. The heroes pursued him to a high mountain pass, where the final confrontation ended in his defeat, his form lost to a sudden, violent avalanche that sealed his fate beneath stone and ice.In the aftermath, victory felt hollow.A pyre was raised in honor of Valhir.Upon it were placed the Relics he had helped preserve, the Claws of Bear, the Howl of Wolf, and the reclaimed Hide of Snow Leopard, offered in tribute to his sacrifice. The Eyes of Raven were returned to Jhavi Jorasdottir, entrusted once more to her protection.The Guardholme stood in silence, remembering their fallen kin.Though peace had returned to the Shiverpeaks, the heroes knew better than to believe it would last.For the Wild still watched.And so did the world beyond it.

The End

It began with visions, dreams and nightmares calling out from the far southern lands of Cantha, as if something… or someone… was pleading for aid.Answering the call, the heroes set sail by airship, crossing the sea toward Seitung Province and the surrounding isles seen in their visions.There, amid bustling trade routes and crowded markets, they saw it, the Spirit of Fox.Curiosity drew them in, and the heroes followed the silent Spirit through winding streets until it led them to an ancient, weathered shrine. They attempted to communicate, but Fox remained distant, elusive… until a new presence arrived.A shaman appeared, Melandra, a devotee of Fox, who claimed she had been tracking the Spirit in hopes of protecting it from an entity she called “The Hunger.”The moment those words were spoken, a suffocating darkness swept through the minds of the heroes. One by one, they collapsed into unconsciousness.When they awoke, Melandra was there.She explained that they had been marked by this Demon, though she could not say why or how. For now, their only path forward was to aid Fox. The shrine had been damaged, its power fractured. Its central focus, a jade tablet, had been broken in two.The Guardholme believed this was no coincidence. The visions, the Spirit, the shattered relic, all of it aligned.And so, they chose to help.Not just the shaman…But Fox itself.

The heroes journeyed onward to the Shing Jea Monastery, where they met a companion named Aijana, an experienced guide through Cantha’s lands. She believed answers to the shattered jade lay somewhere within these ancient grounds.The group split to search for knowledge.One party overheard a professor lecturing his students on jade craftsmanship and restoration, learning that fractured jade could be repaired using specialized resources and techniques long preserved in Canthan study.Another wandered through bustling streets of noodle vendors, merchants, and aristocrats. Amid casual conversation and local folklore, they learned of the Spirit traditions of Cantha, not only Fox, but also Crane, White Tiger, Wallow, and Turtle, each representing a distinct balance of nature and spirit.A third group entered the monastery’s library, where they uncovered references to something far more unsettling: writings concerning “Dark Spirits.” Their search was abruptly interrupted when an unseen presence stalked the stacks. The Hunger revealed itself, just long enough to threaten them before vanishing into the shadows. They were saved in time by Melandra, narrowly escaping the darkened hall.Reunited, the heroes shared their findings. Together, the truth began to form: the jade tablet could be repaired, but not here. The restoration required access to the laboratories of New Kaineng City.However, entry would not be granted freely.Aijana explained that official documentation would be required to even approach the facility. With no legitimate means available, she proposed a riskier solution, sending word to William, a former pirate with the skills and connections to forge the necessary papers in Lion's Arch.And so, the path forward was set.To mend the jade…They would first have to bend the rules.

William was soon joined by other heroes, along with his longtime acquaintance Fryda, a former pirate who had since taken up service with the Lionguard. While she could not directly forge the documents needed, given the political risk of the growing alliance between Tyria and Cantha, she offered an alternative path.There was someone who could.To proceed, they would need to meet the so-called “Skull Swagger King,” a notorious kingpin within the Lion's Arch Undermarket, known for acquiring anything… for the right price.Delving into the city’s criminal underbelly, the heroes arranged a meeting.But the Skull Swagger King was no stranger.He was revealed to be Eric, a Norn mercenary the heroes had encountered before, tied to the chaos involving stolen wyvern eggs and the resulting devastation caused by two enraged adults across the Shiverpeak Mountains.Tension immediately rose between Eric’s crew and the heroes. Old grudges lingered beneath forced civility, and trust was fragile at best.Then came the offer.Eric proposed a deal: in exchange for his assistance, the heroes would help him hunt a Leviathan Broodmother, a colossal sea monster of terrifying strength and scale.The task was deadly. Broodmothers were known as ancient apex horrors of the deep, nearly impossible to kill without significant loss.Fortunately, or so it seemed, Eric claimed his crew would stand with them.But something about the arrangement didn’t sit right.And the heroes could not shake the feeling they were being led into deeper waters than they intended.

The next day, the heroes prepared to sail with Eric and his crew. Tensions remained high, old history lingered between them, and now they were bound together for a hunt they neither fully trusted nor understood.Once they had sailed beyond Lion's Arch, they reached a remote island where Eric claimed to have been luring the so-called Broodmother. His plan, he insisted, required coordination between his ships and his crews stationed on the island shore.It did not take long for the target to appear.A massive Leviathan surfaced from the deep.Cannons roared from two anchored ships while crews onshore opened fire, turning the waters into chaos. Yet before the battle could truly unfold, the Leviathan surged forward, straight toward the vessel the heroes stood upon.Eric reacted instantly.With rocket boots igniting and a glider snapping open, he abandoned the ship and escaped to the island’s safety.For a moment, it seemed clear: they had been betrayed.The heroes braced for death as the Leviathan struck. The ship shattered under the impact, sinking beneath the waves. But in its final moments, concentrated cannon fire tore through the creature’s hide, killing it before it could disappear into the depths.The sea went still.The heroes survived, barely, swimming to shore.There, they found Eric and his crew waiting.Alive. Unbothered. Grinning.It was no Broodmother at all, he explained, just a Leviathan he had been hunting for ambergris. He had never needed their help. The entire ordeal had been… a test. Or worse, a prank.Before tempers could erupt, Eric produced what they had come for: forged documentation for their allies in Cantha. Despite everything, he had delivered on his promise.Whatever his methods, one truth remained:He was still a man of his word.

Time passed, and at last the forged documents arrived. With them in hand, the heroes set out for New Kaineng City, a sprawling metropolis of jade-lit towers, winding canals, and intricate technology woven into every corner of life.They made their way to one of the city’s jade laboratories.After brief scrutiny from security, the documents granted them passage under the guise of a visitor tour. Inside, they were led into a control room where technicians and researchers worked with quiet precision, paying the visitors little attention.Through cautious conversation and measured charm, the heroes gained enough trust that one technician offered assistance: the jade tablet could be repaired using specialized machinery designed for restoration.For a moment, it seemed they had succeeded.Then the facility began to change.A deep, unnatural banging echoed through the room. Lights flickered in erratic pulses. One by one, the technicians froze then moved with unnatural stiffness, as though controlled by unseen strings.The atmosphere collapsed into dread.And then the Hunger revealed itself.The technician at the console became something else entirely, its mouth splitting open as grotesque, grasping limbs forced their way outward. The floor itself ruptured, hands emerging from beneath to claw at the heroes’ feet. Weapons twisted and writhed, becoming extensions of something alive and starving. Laughter filled the chamber, wrong, layered, and inhuman.Reality itself seemed to unravel.In the chaos, Sonje, the holosmith, acted without hesitation. She leveled her weapon and fired into the control system’s power core, triggering a catastrophic explosion.But nothing truly broke.Instead, the horror dissolved.Silence returned.The destruction, the creatures, the chaos, it had all been an illusion, a shared hallucination layered over reality.And in the aftermath, the jade tablet stood restored.

When the heroes returned to the isles, they found the locals gripped by fear. Rumors spread of a terrible beast that had taken root near a nearby village. The shaman insisted the worst had come to pass, the Hunger had finally arrived. She urged the heroes to hold it back while she sought out Fox.But when the heroes reached the village, they did not find the Hunger.Instead, they found the Spirit of White Tiger.Fierce and distrustful, the Spirit regarded them with hostility. Yet it did not strike. Instead, it spoke in warning, commanding them to cease their pursuit of Fox and to stop aiding those it called enemies.Confusion spread among the heroes. What enemy? What betrayal?Before answers could form, a distant cry echoed across the land, the unmistakable call of Fox.White Tiger did not hesitate.It surged forward, charging past the heroes as they rushed to follow. What they discovered shattered any remaining certainty.Fox had been found.And Melandra stood beside it.The jade tablet had been transformed, no longer a relic of restoration, but a conduit of control, used to bind and trap the Spirit of Fox.Battle erupted.Melandra revealed her true form, a Revenant clad in advanced jade-infused armor. Her strength and precision eclipsed the heroes, forcing them onto the defensive at every turn.But White Tiger arrived.The Spirit clashed against Melandra with overwhelming force, turning the battlefield into chaos. In that moment, the truth was laid bare.The Hunger was not merely present.It had been inside her all along.Possessing Melandra. Guiding her. Using her.The heroes fought desperately, managing to break Fox free amid the chaos. But victory came at a cost.The Hunger fully emerged, abandoning its vessel and in a horrifying instant, it consumed the Spirit of White Tiger whole.With no strength left to stand their ground, the heroes fled. They escaped the isles by ship, battered and shaken, watching the land fall behind them.One truth followed them across the water:This was not a force they understood.And it was only growing stronger.

Across the vast sea, the heroes sailed toward Seitung Province, tending to their wounds in uneasy silence. The journey was heavy with loss and realization, the Hunger had consumed a Spirit of the Wild.That night, the sea was calm. Grief lingered aboard the ship.Then Fox awoke.For the first time, the Spirit spoke.What followed was a long night of conversation, of distant lands, ancient Spirits, and truths long hidden from mortal understanding. Through Fox’s words, the heroes came to realize something profound: it had not been Fox who called to them in their dreams. It was Raven who had heard Fox’s suffering from afar and sent them across the world to intervene.As the night deepened, the sea itself seemed to respond.A presence emerged from the waters, vast and ancient. The Spirit of Turtle rose silently from the depths, its immense form gliding beneath the surface before surfacing alongside the ship. For a brief, impossible moment, Fox and Turtle drifted toward one another, two Spirits acknowledging each other across the thin boundary of sea and air.No Norn had ever witnessed such a sight.Then, as quietly as it had appeared, Turtle descended once more and vanished into the horizon.By dawn, the ship reached the shores of Seitung Province.Fox remained close. The Hunger still roamed.A plan began to take shape, if the entity fed on Spirit magic, then perhaps it could be drawn out with bait it could not resist.But for now, another journey awaited the heroes.Not one of distance…But of understanding.

Back at the Guardholme, Lycan, a Shaman of Raven, proposed mist walking through a nearby Raven Shrine to seek answers about the Hunger. He asked the heroes to join him.At the shrine, Lycan entered the Mists.But something went wrong.The entire group was pulled in with him.Within the shifting void stood Raven, who warned them: the Hunger had evolved. It was learning, adapting and somehow now able to traverse the Mists.Before more could be said, the shrine shattered. Raven withdrew, ordering them to flee.It was too late.The Hunger manifested around them, trapping them within the Mists. Magic failed. Blades passed through it like smoke. It turned its focus to Lycan, the source of the connection.The entity seized him, corruption burning into his arm as it began to consume him. The heroes managed to pull him back, but the damage had already begun.A portal tore open, Kristoff had sensed the danger and forced an exit.They escaped together, but Lycan was changed.His arm bore a living mark of corruption, and from his palm, a grinning mouth slowly opened.And it spoke.

Days passed at the Guardholme, but unease spread among its patrons after witnessing what had happened to the heroes. Lycan’s condition, revealed by Raven’s warning, only deepened their fear.That fear soon turned to panic.Shouts erupted within the lodging. Patrons argued, accusing one another of curses and monsters among them. Attention quickly turned to Lycan when his corrupted arm was seen, sparking a frantic mob.Chaos broke out as the heroes were forced to defend him from the crowd, now driven by fear and blame, convinced Lycan was possessed by the Hunger.Before violence could escalate further, a cloaked stranger intervened, silencing the mob’s leader and forcing the crowd outside.The stranger revealed herself as Fryda, the Lionguard contact.She had been listening, concerned by the heroes’ talk of the Spirits of the Wild and the rising threat. Offering aid, she provided access to Priory texts and scrolls that might help cleanse Lycan’s corruption.From these records, the heroes uncovered mention of an ancient ritual in the fallen city of the Gods, once used to purge elder dragon influence. If it still worked, it might save Lycan.Fryda offered her airship. Their next destination lay in the risen lands of Orr, where a Durmand Priory contact awaited.

Our heroes boarded Fryda’s airship bound for Orr, many uneasy at the thought of returning to the cursed, risen lands. After a day’s journey, the captain signaled their arrival over Fort Trinity.Disembarking, Haldyssa, a skilled ranger, used Fryda’s notes to locate a Thrixx, a Durmand Priory scholar stationed at a southern camp. Thrixx explained that the ritual they sought required a Forgotten Seal, an ancient artifact rumored to be tied to Orr’s past. He believed it could be found within the nearby structure known as the Vizier’s Tower.The tower’s gates were sealed by an unbreakable enchantment, leaving no choice but ascent. The heroes climbed its exterior, forcing their way to an upper opening that led into the Vizier’s quarters. There, they discovered the Forgotten Seal and an ancient altar prepared for ritual use.With all components assembled, they began the cleansing ritual for Lycan.But something went wrong.Shadow erupted from Lycan’s corrupted arm. His body went still, his mind pulled elsewhere, lost within a false dream. When he moved again, it was not as their ally.The Hunger had taken control.Lycan turned on them with violent instinct, driven only to kill.

With the ritual underway, the heroes realized the worst had come to pass, Lycan was no longer in control. The Hunger within his arm had fully taken hold. They knew they could not harm him; their only chance was to complete the ritual.Thrixx instructed them to contain Lycan within the ritual’s bounds, but it was no simple task.Lycan fought with terrifying force. Shadows erupted beneath him, forming spikes that lashed out to impale anyone too close. His corrupted bond with Raven twisted violently, sending the spirit-like presence into a frenzy. It seized Ash and dragged her toward a cliff’s edge before she was caught at the last moment by Anki, a quick-thinking engineer.The others struggled to restrain Lycan as he lashed out indiscriminately. In the chaos, Thrixx was struck down.Yet within the storm of corruption, the real Lycan remained trapped in a dream.He stood in a place of peace, where his wife Zelda called to him. His blindness was gone. He could see her. Hear the faint presence of his newborn daughter. For a moment, he was whole again, tempted to step forward and remain there forever.But he understood the truth.If he crossed that threshold, he would never return.With immense will, Lycan shattered the illusion and reclaimed control of his body.In an act of defiance, he forced the corrupted arm into the ritual’s golden light. The shadow burned away, peeling from his flesh and pooling lifelessly upon the ground.But the Hunger did not die.What remained slithered free, escaping through a fractured portal before it could be destroyed.Without hesitation, Anki, Zakauv, Lothane, Saizen, and Lycan himself leapt after it, chasing the surviving essence into the unknown.What waited beyond the threshold was uncertain.But there was no turning back.

Guided now by Fox, the heroes in Cantha formed their next plan. Fox spoke of a sacred place where the Spirits of the Wild gathered, Crane, Wallow, and others, now endangered by the Hunger’s reach.Their journey led them into Echovald Wilds, a vast labyrinth of towering trees and ancient ruins. Deep within, they discovered an old shrine descending into the earth.The deeper they ventured, the more the truth revealed itself. This was once a resting place for spirits and wandering ghosts alike. At the lowest chamber, where water pooled beneath a broken altar, Fox called out to the Spirits.There was no answer.Only silence and growing dread.Then the Hunger arrived.It crawled along the cavern ceiling before dropping into view, revealing a twisted, feral form, what remained of the Spirit of Tiger, already consumed. In an instant, it ensnared the heroes in a shared dream-state, attempting to sever them from reality while reaching for Fox.But Fox resisted.With the last of its strength, it released an echoing surge of spirit energy, breaking the illusion and freeing the heroes from the dreamscape. Fox was taken but not without defiance.The Hunger spoke.It offered them escape.Instead, the heroes raised their weapons.And accepted the challenge.Shadow tore open reality as portals spread across the chamber. From them emerged corrupted Norn shamans, warriors from Tyria who had fallen to the Hunger, twisted as Lycan once had been.Then, another portal flickered.A fragment of fleeing darkness attempted to escape but a single shot rang out. The essence shattered mid-flight, dissolving into shadow.Stepping forward was Anki.Behind her, the rest of the heroes followed, those who had chased the Hunger through Orr, now reunited with their allies in Cantha.The battlefield went still.Across broken stone and fading light, the Hunger remained.And now, for the first time…The heroes stood ready to end it.

The battle began in full. The heroes of the Guardholme finally stood face to face with the Hunger.While some held back the corrupted shamans, a smaller group pressed forward to confront the demon itself. The Hunger shifted as they advanced, its form warping into something vast and predatory, moving on all fours like a great tiger, save for the countless grotesque arms that writhed from its body.Within the chaos, reality itself began to fracture. Heroes were pulled into brief, disorienting visions, while their attacks struck only empty distortion. The Hunger showed no fear. It did not defend itself, it watched, as though testing them.Then Sonje acted.She revealed an idol of Jormag, corrupted and humming with unstable magic. For the first time, the Hunger hesitated.That single moment was enough.Anki unleashed a radiant shot that tore into the creature, shattering its jaw and weakening the nightmares bound within its form. Seizing the opening, Zakauv brought her axe down in a crackling surge of fury and power, cleaving deep into the monster’s skull.The Hunger fell.But it did not die.From within the broken corpse, something far worse emerged, the true form beneath the mask. Shadows erupted outward, engulfing the battlefield and dragging the heroes into its domain.They were no longer in Echovald.They stood within the Hunger’s realm.Reality twisted into nightmare as the entity revealed itself again, now reshaped into a colossal, impossible vision, an echo of Jormag, constructed from a writhing mass of thousands of grasping arms.The battlefield shifted.The true fight had only just begun.

Within the Hunger’s realm, the heroes faced what remained of the abomination shaped in the likeness of Jormag.Floating platforms drifted through an endless void, each bearing a stone prison, statues of Crane, Tiger, and Fox. The Spirits of the Wild, trapped and silent.The heroes fought across the shattered expanse, reaching each shrine in turn. Their attempts to communicate were met only with silence… until Anki made a decisive choice, shattering the stone statue of Tiger and breaking its prison.Freedom spread.Crane and Fox were soon released, and the Spirits joined the battle against the entity at the heart of the domain.Crane blessed the heroes with spectral wings, allowing them to soar through the void. Tiger answered Eyja, a veteran of the Vigil, merging spirit and warrior into one as she took on its form. Zakauv’s rage awakened her axe into a crackling extension of fury, carving through the demon’s corrupted flesh. Even Alberto, master of shadow and death, was tested within the Hunger’s realm, only to turn its darkness against itself and regain strength.Through brutality, sacrifice, and unyielding will, the heroes pressed forward.The false dragon fell.But it was not the end.From within the broken form, the true horror emerged, grotesque flesh, writhing and endless, crowned by a single burning red eye. It stared upon them in silence… before a rift tore open behind it, revealing an unknown abyss beyond reality.The entity recoiled, cursing them as it was dragged back through the breach.The realm collapsed.With the aid of the freed Spirits, the heroes were carried back across the veil, returning to the Shiverpeak Mountains.The corrupted shamans were freed. The Spirits were restored.And at last…The Hunger was gone.

Most of the Guardholme had been away for weeks, drawn to Cantha to confront the Hunger and its growing threat. Now, days after their return, they rested and healed, some finding quiet solace, others still haunted by what they had witnessed. The road ahead would be long. For many, recovery would mean more than healing the body; it would mean reclaiming the mind.Yet one day, an unexpected visitor arrived.A familiar figure stood at the edge of the Guardholme, Melandra. She wore simple leathers and travel-worn furs, carrying only a light pack meant for a long journey. The false shaman garb and corrupted jade armor were gone.She was free.No longer bound by the demon’s influence, Melandra had survived and found her way back to them.With a quiet apology, she offered a small wooden carving of Fox, a token meant to be placed within the Guardholme as a reminder of what had been endured and saved. There was no grand farewell, no long explanation.Only understanding.Then she turned and continued on her journey, seeking who she might become now that the shadow was gone.The heroes may never see her again.But no words were needed.She had already been counted among those they saved.

The End

It all began when a Norn opened the doors of the Grizzly Guardholme. It was meant to be a home for weary travelers, a kinship of adventurers and hunters who called this land their own and sought to protect it.For a time, it remained peaceful and welcoming, filled with good company, shared drinks, and stories told by the fire. Yet this was only the beginning of a story yet to be told and a legacy yet to be made.

Campaigns

• I • The Magic Under The Mountains
• II • The Relics Of The Wild
• III • The Laughter In The Dark
• IV • Legacy