This document was published at the request of Baron Valentin Voght in 223. It is an excerpt from a report written to the Baron in regards to the Harbringer Stands, dangerous arcane structures crafted by the Zekartaal within the Greenweald.
The Nature of the Harbringer Stand
The darkly enchanted carrionwoods wrought by the cabal of Brother Ash are a blight upon the land. They corrupt magic and the beasts of the Weald even further, feeding on the leylines to fuel their arcane malady.
Each Harbringer appears individual, with its own circumstances, enchantments and doom. But there is rhythm to the rhyme. We have noticed a number of similar Harbringer appearing in sequence and it has raised the idea that they are signatures of a single magi. We believe that Ash has a limited number of magi capable of crafting the Harbringer Stands and each leaves their mark on the Harbringers they make. Their works are not exactly the same but appear similar. We have isolated three styles so far, but believe there may be as many as seven or more. They are as follows;
Curl the Beastial Heart
Marked with the rotting flesh of slain creatures and adorned with the sigil of a heart pierced by roots made of spines, this Harbringer is corruptive and violent. Rather than calling forth additional dangers or arcane curses, A Curl Harbringer corrupts normally mundane creatures into foul simulacra. Rabbits raised into loping skeletal humanoid figures feeding on bone marrow, bloated frogs that can cast magic through forked tongues and oxen capable of breathing plague gas. These creatures slowly form into a beastial tribe that drag the bodies of their victims back to the Harbringer, piling them around it and daubing it with the blood.
Call the Screaming One
Also called ‘The Beautiful Wail’ by some of our more unfortunate researchers. A Screaming Harbringer worms its way into the minds of the people that dwell near it. A wailing song emanates from its withered boughs that weaves its way into the minds of those within two or so leagues. First those affected by it find that their paths make their way closer to the Harbringer, where they find its form adorned with glittering gems, ravens feathers and infested with snakes. Once they arrive at the Harbringer, they are lost. Their skin will stretch and break, hands turned to claws and the jaws slacken. They will then move into the trees, a baleful scream the only noise escaping their disjointed mouths. These ‘Screaming Ones’ spread far and wide and appear to have ability with necromancy, raising their victims into disjointed creatures of bone, viscera and underbrush that move like puppets.
Corrupt the Hidden Will
Smallest of the Harbringers, a Hidden Will is cunning and deceptive. The Hidden Will appears as any other carrionwood, save for its heartwood, which appears to be perfectly clear glass. These Harbringers corrupt magic within their influence. Curses become more vindictive, spells go awry, even divine ceremonies fail, the influence of the Spheres clouded by the subtle influence of the Harbringer. Children born as graces rarely survive their first month whilst in the influence of a Hidden Will and places that bind people together (inns, churches and granaries for example) fail and decay.
As stated, each Harbringer varies in its own way, but I hope these examples provide a sense of the danger and the power of these entities.
We remain still unaware of how Harbringers are created, but we have had success in destroying them, albeit not without cost. On two circumstances we have managed to destroy The Harbringer and it appears that the effect ended shortly after it was felled. The method was as follows.
It is important to note that all of what follows must be completed in a single night or day that is either a full moon or storming. We know not why.
First, the Harbringer must be located and the area around it rendered safe. This is easier said than done depending on the Harbringer. Understandably we have been unable to destroy a Screaming Harbringer for this reason. But in both circumstances with success we had nearly thirty warriors, priests and hunters present for the task. The Harbringers appear to fear destruction and you should expect the dangers they post to grow greater the closer you are.
Secondly, the Harbringer must be felled if it still stands. It must then be split into as many pieces as possible. We found that pieces no larger than a man’s torso will suffice. Beware the Hidden Will, its hartswood shatters when struck. All this must be done without anyone bleeding on the Harbringer.
Thirdly, the shattered remnants of the Harbringer must be burned until only coals and ash remains. Importantly no part of the tree should be untouched by flame. If your felling occurs in storm you must either wait for a break or use lantern oil to induce the flame.
Fourthly, the ashes and coals must be blessed by a priests of at least three spheres. During this process symbols of the Harbringer must be burnt on the coals. We found that the bodies of a creature the hunters called ‘The Twisted Rabbit King’ worked in one circumstance.
Finally, the ashes and coals must be removed from the site and taken at least ten leagues away. We are unsure how dangerous the remnants of this process remain, but caution is better than whimsy.
One other nature of the Harbringer Stands we have noticed, much to our dismay, is that much like the Carrionwoods they replace, the Harbringers support each other. In an area where there are multiple Harbringers, their maladies overlap, their servants support each other and they form a nexus of peril. This is what has occurred in the North Western Ravensreach. An area that some among our number have dubbed the ‘Harbringers Nightmare’. The first ‘Call the Screaming One’ we have discovered (and failed to destroy) was but the easternmost of this hellwarren. Scouts that have followed the edges judge that there might be as many as fifteen Harbringers within, supporting each other in a web of corruptive arcane energy. I applaud your dedication to pursuing research rather than destruction, as I believe hundreds would have died needlessly and painfully in a foolhardy attempt to destroy this place.
As it stands, the Harbringer’s Nightmare may very well be the most dangerous place in the Barony. I am utterly at a loss on how we would even begin to address it. Our only saving grace is that all of the Harbringer Stands do not appear to have the ability to shift or grow. They simply are. Provided we do not allow Ash any greater chance to create more, this problem may simply exist as is in perpetuity. Although this says little for the Havens of Blerinz, Asterwold and Herrinberg that exist within it. Spheres kindness to whatever has happened to those people.
There is vanishingly little we can do right now to address the danger of the Harbringers. I hope that opportunities will arise in the coming seasons to learn how we might undo the danger of the Nightmare and disrupt the Harbringers across the rest of the Ravensreach, which we estimate to be thirty or less. I will continue my work, provided I can find more volunteers, and write to you in the Winter with more news.
In the Spheres light I pray, Meister Vulanz Grunsben, Krezenberg.
Game Note
Is Harbringer a word? No. Is it a misremembering of the word Harbinger? Yes. Did we realise this well after the Harbringer Stands had already been in the world of Concord for months? Also yes. The Story team offers its apologies, but hopefully through the repetition of a word that does not exist we can allow it to exist.