Tales from Etheraz: August Event 2025 Recapt pt. 2

Greetings saboteurs, sinners, and slanderers! 

I, ATLAS THE BARD have returned once more to deliver news of the Coalition against the Blakka forces. Recall that YES, the Southern Barricade has fallen in an incredible blow to the might of House Blakka. I’ve received word from my favorite confidant Kyran on what occurred in the final hours leading up to the siege:

Hello Atlas,
As you know, The Coalition has taken over the southern barricade due to the sacrifice of 20 soldiers. They gave their lives to protect the people of Arancis. They knew they weren’t going to make it out alive but they did it anyway. Don’t let them be forgotten. One of them was a writer, his name was Veran, I found his notebook on the edge of the battlefield. I’ve sent you some of his stories, my personal favorite is the one about the two fish. I hope his memory can live on through his writing.
Both the Blakka and Coalition soldiers were killed by a swarm of hollowed from the pits, they both died the same way in the end. Myrden fled, leaving his soldiers to die. He’s still out there but at least for now, without his soldiers, he is much less of a threat.
As I write this ASTE is reading over my shoulder and would like me to tell you, “Hello Atlas! Keep up the good work, and I hope you enjoy the stories that Veran wrote!”

-Kyran Greyling Corvis

Though the brave heroes that caused this victory gave their lives in order to do so, certain members of the group known as the PC Party traveled through the Dreamlands to collect their memories and preserve the events that took place. That sacred information was given to ME, a deeply unbiased herald, to which I deliver to YOU, dear reader. Behold, the twilight of the Southern Barricade and how it fell. 

Last I left you, the Coalition soldiers had convinced the Blakka army to take them off as new recruits, claiming to be defectors to the Coalition who wanted nothing more than to serve at the Lord Commander’s will. Under the orders of Commander Myrden, the brutal commander of the barricade, the soldiers killed a Coalition prisoner to prove their loyalty. They passed the test and successfully infiltrated the army as new recruits. They were brought to the mess hall to converse with the Blakka soldiers and make themselves at home! 

At the mess hall, the true everyday cruelty of the Blakka soldiers were revealed. Though the soldiers were in good spirits, to entertain themselves they participated in an impromptu fighting ring and egged each other on to injury. But the good spirits were dashed when Commander Myrden came in and brutally slaughtered one of the soldiers for smuggling in contraband. Those Blakka soldiers do NOT mess around.

Readers, I will be honest with you: in the hours before the soldiers made it to the point of breach, they did some truly awful things for House Blakka. Forced to prove their loyalty repeatedly, the soldiers were sent on increasingly sadistic missions from Commander Myrden. First they had to retrieve their confiscated weapons from the Hollowed-infested woods, where the Blakka had scattered them as a sick hazing ritual. Then, they had to raid a nearby family of their wood, destroying their home and stealing their possessions. They could leave no witnesses, so the two innocent inhabitants were left to rot in the forest. Their final dirty deed was to hunt down a deserter from the army who was fleeing Myrden’s cruelty and looking for a better life. To this, you would think the Coalition soldiers would be sympathetic towards, right? WRONG. They quadruple-beheaded her. That’s right, all, FOUR people beheaded her all at once. Where did the line between undercover and Blakka cross? How much had it blurred? Or, had it simply disappeared completely, and for a brief moment Blakka had 20 new, highly competent, incredibly bloodthirsty new soldiers? Though we have the memories of these soldiers they are no longer on this plane, so our questions shall go forever unanswered. 

Once they were relieved from their duties, it was time for them to breach the wall and finally complete their mission. The goal was to carefully cut a hole from the wall in the Barricade to allow in a steady stream of Hollowed that would overwhelm the barricade and take them out from within. It was a great plan: the only small complication was that they would have to quietly and sneakily cut out a giant hole in the wall using mining tools without the bloodthirsty Blakka soldiers overhearing the sounds of rocks grinding and soldiers yelling. Should be no problem, right? 

As dusk approached, the soldiers began their work. Blakka patrols passed by frequently, and the smiths would have to pause their work to avoid suspicion. Fortunately, as shining new Blakka recruits they had built up some goodwill between them and the other Blakka soldiers, and they passed by without any incidents. Finally, it was time. The hole had been chiseled out of the wall, and as soon as the rubble was removed, the Hollowed would flow in. The soldiers said their goodbyes, knowing that they would not return from what they were about to do. There was no guarantee of their success, even now — the Blakka soldiers could still repair the breach — but still, it was worth their lives just to try. 

The rubble was removed, and the Southern Barricade was breached. 

Almost instantly, Hollowed began to flow in, mindless and starving for blood and bone. Within minutes, the Blakka soldiers arrived on the scene en masse to try and repair the breach. The barricade became a screaming mess of violence, with more and more Hollowed coming in by the minute. Even when facing the monsters, with their death impending, the Coalition soldiers stood strong and resolved to take as many Blakka down with them as they could. All the day’s crimes and bloodshed was all for this moment, for the future of Arancis, for the survival of the Coalition and hope that a brighter day would come. They could not let Blakka repair the barricade. They could not let it be for nothing. 

The battle — or slaughter, really — raged on, but the soldiers kept their swords raised. The Blakka soldiers came in ways, desperate and terrified, but as the Coalition soldiers fought, their numbers wavered. With each wave of reinforcements came fewer soldiers until finally, none more came. All that was left was the Coalition soldiers and the endless, starving waves of the Hollowed. The Hollowed were unrelenting, but still the soldiers fought. 

Until they began to drop. 

One at a time, the Coalition soldiers fell. The Hollowed were too many, and their numbers still few. As dawn broke upon the Southern Barricade, the brave Coalition soldiers gave their last breath. But, they could rest easy knowing their mission was a success; that there was now hope for a free Arancis. 

Readers, we must attribute the future of the Coalition and the hope for freedom to these soldiers. Without their noble sacrifice on this doomed mission, we would have been overrun. But the Coalition lives to fight another day. 

One of these soldiers, a young man by the name of Veran, wrote a number of stories. I have preserved them here. Through his words and his deeds, Veran and his fellow soldiers will be remembered. Remember: fight together, or die alone. 

Signed, 

Atlas the Bard

This is blog written from the perspective of an in-game NPC intended to catch players up on what they missed during events!