Heroes VII

Stories of the Decade War, Part 3: http://mmh7.ubi.com/en/blog/post/view/tale...ears-war-part-3 Approximate translation: Three days later, the bells of Flammschrein began to toll, but their song was mournful and sad. It was a funeral knell. Sandalfon was dead; the dark blade was plunged into his heart. Murazel was nowhere to be found. Stories of the Decade War 845 - Omen of War. The Conclave of the New Dawn was thrown into turmoil after the murder of Sandalfon and the disappearance of Murazel. The sanctity of Flammschrein was threatened, old prejudices and suspicions resurfaced, and the voices of reason were soon drowned out by the noise of old grudges and petty squabbles. Hopes of finding a suitable consensus quickly faded. The Month of the Sun's Bloom, dedicated to the worship of Elrath, arrived, and there was no Emperor. The 20th day of the Sun's Bloom – the first equinox, one of the most sacred holidays of the Empire – came and went, and it was now clear that the Conclave had failed in its mission. However, the imperial crown still needed a head to wear it. Many prayed that Elrath himself would descend from the heavens and choose a new ruler, but the God-Dragon of Light did not intervene. This was something that people had to figure out for themselves. Just as distant rumbles of thunder herald an approaching storm, it became increasingly clear that this would soon lead to war. It was inevitable. The only thing left to determine was where and when the lightning would strike first. It struck on the 11th day of the Dancing Flame. A pretext for war In the early days of the Dancing Flame, militias loyal to one duchy or another began to gather in the area of the small town of Maiden's Path, on the border between the Hound and the Unicorn. Tensions had been steadily rising since the funeral of Mive, fueled by centuries of atavistic mutual contempt. On the tenth night of the Dancing Flame, a member of the town council, serving the Hound, was attacked and left to bleed to death in the streets; a house belonging to a Unicorn judge was set on fire, with the family still inside. Each side was quick to blame the other for these heinous acts. Indeed, they had all been waiting for this to happen, and it really didn't matter who actually drew the first blood. A pretext for war. By noon the next day, all that remained of Maiden's Path and its inhabitants were smoking ruins and mutilated bodies. The Hound militias emerged victorious – if one could call this massacre a victory. Two days later, Rowena Unicorn, the Red of Yrvik, sent an official letter to Engerrand Hound, demanding an explanation. But he could only offer his own accusations. Neither ruler could leave the horrors of Maiden's Path unpunished. The growing tension reached its peak. The word that no one dared to speak was finally spoken. Old alliances If the conflict had remained limited to the duchies of Hound and Unicorn, perhaps things would have been different. But there were old alliances, forged in blood, ink, and marriage, that had to be taken into account. Amilcar Bull sent his troops to reinforce Engerrand's armies as soon as they began to march on Rowena's lands. Closely watching the old friendship between the duchies of Unicorn and Griffin, Ivan gathered his troops to fight on Rowena's side. Fearing Ivan's power, Engerrand and Amilcar decided to act against his advance. Thousands of men, women, and beasts, led by Amilcar himself, set out north to intercept the Griffin army as it passed south of the Rose Mountains. The Duke of the Bull intended to settle the score after his early humiliation at the hands of Ivan. Stefan Wolf and Sheamus Deer took no sides. They watched from afar, waiting for their time and waiting for events to unfold. But my spies reported that Sheamus, unbeknownst to everyone, was secretly sending fighters south. It soon became clear that his goal was to reclaim the old province of Falcon, including the ruins of Falcon's Nest... The storm began, howling, torrential. And no one could stop it anymore. A quick note about Ivan's sword: It should be noted that at that time, Ivan was no longer wielding the Blade of Revelation, but the Iron Quill, an old family heirloom that belonged to his ancestor Istvan, the last king and first Duke of Griffin. After what happened during his duel with Amilcar a few months earlier, Ivan vowed not to draw the sacred sword of Griffin until the Empire was whole again.