[windraker007]

1st of Summer, 129th Cycle:

A early summer's day dawns upon the reaches of Caer Sidi. The sun warming the sky; the early morning dew that has collected upon the countless blades of grass melt away, giving way to a light fog. A beautiful gleam of sunlight shines off the silent Aimsir Citadel; silent since the last time it was unsealed during the departure of former Winter Queen Cthoria Moreaux.

The cries of ravens and wolves however, are a portent of something ominous this morning like no other before. Nearby the Citadel, reports start coming in of strange sights of lights and whispers from agents unseen, and nature itself starts to cry out as if to warn of something dark and more sinister. The beauty of the day gives way to a darkening sky overhead, pushing not just upon the sight but the very soul, as clouds form that bear the stench of darkness and decay.

Lightning starts to strike out, blue and black, from the clouds near Aimsir, as the sounds of screaming and wailing press upon the ears of scouts and guards nearby. The storm intensifies as the air ionizes, the tang of ozone drifting from the spire above. With an audible snapping noise, the gates long sealed since the 34th Cycle of the Second Era are breached from the other side... Chaosium.

Something rips the once connected gate to Chaosium asunder; the doors that once were sealed have been forcefully broken open. A figure, clad in bleeding metal armor and wielding a sword that screams as it's swung, emerges from the gate, leaving a bloody wound floating in the space where the gate should be.



His armor blackened and steaming, the metal greaves of the figure scrape loudly and methodically down the staircase from the gate, towards the doors to Caer Sidi.A horrible fleshy noise comes from beyond the scar. Emerging behind the bloody knight is a hulking spider of a creature the size of a mammoth; it's carapace charred and blackened from the journey. It lets loose a blood-freezing chitter, and follows behind the knight as would a mount.

The doors that lead from the inside of Aimsir to Caer Sidi proper break open with the mount slamming into it, the doors falling unceremenousiously to the ground with a menacing thump. The figure rides the mount out into the summer afternoon darkened by the clouds.

"Ah, the sweet stench of this land; unstained by greed and malice," He ominously intones in a gravelly and sinister tone. "It seems a pity this will be so simple a task. My masters will be pleased when I bring this land to heel."

The token guard force at Aimsir only notice the poor weather at first; thinking it's some sort of freak summer storm and pay it no mind. However, the screams of the sword wielded by the Red Knight as the doors to Aimsir are destroyed quickly change their mind as to what they were planning on doing that day. Most of the guards are immediately slain by the Knight and his steed, however a couple manage to find nearby horses in a detached stable and hard ride the full day or so to Chail to report the horrific things they've seen, as the clouds thicken and storm around Aimsir.

The ground outside the gates of Aimsir is stained by the blood of the guards that did not escape his wrath. The Knight's hands dig into the blood-stained earth, and beneath his visor, a small grin creeps across his face.

[windraker007]

*** Location: Aimsir Citadel ***
Time: 2st to 4th of Summer, 129

As the days pass from the first reports of the incursion of Chaosium and the Red Knight reach those in the Capital and trade cities, reports of nightmarish beetles and insects the size of dogs roll and fly through the widening breach that has been opened. The stench of burning and charred chitin is able to be smelled miles away.

The dirt surrounding the Aimsir Citadel, previously stained with the blood of the dead guards and scouts caught in the grasp of the Red Knight, now starts to take on a dark red hue. The plants that survive the hostile ground have twisted and deformed into shades of their former luster, and raising spires of dark red stone jut into the sky, criss-crossing into walls that surround the site. Anyone caught too close to the site that were once turned away now get dragged into the dark site, and screams and wails are carried on the wind.

The once white tower that stretched up into the sky now looms with dark and stormy clouds that surround the spire, bathing it in a dark and sinister glow. Braziers that burn flesh and the dead creatures that fail to make the journey from Chaosium dot the area, and talk of other more twisted creatures are said to lurk in the shadows where the light doesn't reach.