View source for We Defy That What Threatens Our Downfall

Rumours are more common than fact when it comes to the actions of heroes during a Summit. Publicised documents, motions of the Senate and Church, orders given by Generals of The Warchamber; these are the things that are clear and well-communicated to the wider populace, where time and limitations allow. But what happens beyond the infamous Waystones? What is it, truly, that heroes accomplish through the magic of the portal? The populace will never know the factual and singular truth, but they will whisper and shout of rumours all the same.

What follows is a rough summary of last Summit’s Confluxes, defined in thematic tones that can be expected to be known by the wider Concord, as well as a simple table defining locations, results and the responsible party of each Conflux.

== The First Day; ==
[[File:699987874 122145039428993969 3684005743830818407 n.jpg|thumb|Andashi forces found themselves trapped between honour and the law.]]
Pathfinders found themselves aligning Waystones and Portals all across The Concord on the first evening of The Autumn Summit of 226. From Andash to Bordevar to The Iron Valley, with yet others preparing over the night to have their Waystones ready for the next day. Pathfinders are ever busy, and it is well known that they have the front-row seat to the greatest dangers The Concord has to offer, while at the same time seeing the greatest actions of its heroes. While not known as rumour-mongers and tattle-tales, perhaps the Pathfinders have begun to believe that in sharing what they see from a distance, the greater Concord can come to appreciate the efforts its most powerful go to to protect it.

The first to be seen were Andashi, large in number and supported by a cohort of Bordevarian Knights. They stepped onto the expanses of Mukarrems plains, near to The Salt Road, and met a force of enemy combatants that could be no other than those that served Questor Vikandius. Artebazzani, supported by various hired mercenaries and Principality bottom-rung. What unfolded appeared to be a terse conversation between leaders and a parting of ways, but no steel clashed, no blood was shed, and no lives were lost on either side. 

By the time the Portal became ready to open, night had well and truly fallen. This time, it was to Bordevar that it was directed, towards some hidden clearing somewhere in Heartsgrave, where it was clear something untoward was planned. Led by the Sheriff of Weiland, the heroes could barely be seen by the eagle-eyed Pathfinders as they positioned themselves to garner information that would perhaps prove tantamount to uncovering a plot so far unstopped. Pathfinders know better than any that there is value in simply gathering information, but what was learnt remains a mystery even to them. 

Finally, as the night drags on and the world begins to settle into its panicked evening rhythm, the Portal would open a final time for the day. It would open in The Kings Pass, at the top of its Highest Keep within the walls of Baelag’s Holdfast. What occurred within that room remains a story that could only be told by those that were present, but all within The Holdfast at the time could feel the deeply magical pulses that were emitted, and feel the arcane power that once again began to seep into the stones of Baelag’s itself from places both near and far. Whatever was achieved, however it was achieved, it must have been a great victory.   

== The Second Day; ==
[[File:699968572 122145047138993969 1630374284380339426 n.jpg|thumb|512x512px|"HEALER!"]]
As the sun would rise on the second day, so too would Concordian Pathfinders. The earliest to rise would be those responsible for preparing the most durable of Waystones, those that would allow for a mass of heroes to appear before a Strategic Opportunity and enforce their might and strength, or falter under the enemy’s. They waited with well-earned patience for the Call Winged Messenger to arrive, to inform them of who was to expect heroic arrival. One waited in Bolsterlee, ready to see The Concord rebuff The Drowned from its shores, while another waited just beyond the city limits of Mandrianos, ready to see heroes destroy some hidden mining efforts of The Cursed Choir. 

It would be to Mandrianos that the Portal would be opened. The Pathfinder watched as over a hundred powerful Concordians flooded from the Waystones and split into two groups. Even from a distance, the plan was clear. Tackle each mine entrance with a roughly even number, have flankers run between the two to support whoever was suffering more, use banners to communicate at a distance. Fighters of Bordevar, Lerona Mere and Andash would work together to attempt to seize a full victory, but they would fall short by a matter of seconds. The mines were cleared, but with a slight delay between them. Enough to throw off the greatest of victory, but still a feat that claimed it nonetheless. This victory would be enough to support the coming warfront against The Drowned in Mandrianos, but it was not the boon The Warchamber hoped for. 

Not long after the Strategic Opportunity had passed, the Portal opened once more for those who perhaps needed it most. The Academy, small heroes in their own right, would find themselves on adventures of puzzling nature, requiring them to use agility, finesse and smarts to overcome the challenges that awaited them. The Pathfinder responsible for the Waystones used would chuckle as they imagined what difficulties awaited the youngest of heroes, but could only speculate as it was within an enclosed space that betrayed no information to distant overseers. 
[[File:699355195 122145053078993969 3490994702037164428 n.jpg|thumb|More than any other force, The Concord clashed with the Severed Lords last season.]]
As the day turned to afternoon, The Iron Valley would seize their moment. The Dawning Fastness and Inner Hold of Baelag’s required heroic intervention, and Pathfinders would ensure the chance was given. Two times would the Portal open, with a scant few hours between them. Both times would see Valleyfolk and some allies warring against The Severed Lords that sought to keep a hold of The King’s Pass. The first Pathfinder watched as Valleyfolk seized a crumbled gateway from the enemy, and held firm against two more surges of reinforcements. The second Pathfinder watched as the heroes held points of strategic value against what felt to be a never-ending wave of foes. Both would claim victory. Both would see their ancestors made proud, if they were still watching. 

Pathfinders are trained experts, but not immune to failure and accident. Fighters of Lerona Mere would learn this fact firsthand as they found themselves through the Portal and in front of a cave entrance along the edge of The Plateau of The Gods in Mancante Terra. Armed with limited alchemical explosives and expecting to fight The Drowned in the waning light as evening set, Lerona Mere and their allies would find themselves beset with choices. One, to save the Pathfinders who had found themselves trapped and injured by sudden rockfall, and three others. The Pathfinders were too wounded to remember clearly, but the resolve of heroes to save them before making any other choice was not easily forgotten. Lerona Mereian strength and decision making saved lives that day, and surely there is no greater victory than that. Whatever else decision was made would be known by those present alone, and would remain their grandeur to boast of. 

Darkness had well and truly set in The True Wilds as midnight fast approached the shivering Pathfinders sharing a warm cup by a campfire. Their Waystones were set, but they just could not seem to remember why they had been set, or where exactly they were. Perhaps it was a habit, a faltering from some plan gone astray. Perhaps they were just tired. As they drank from their cup, and looked up to the stars, it was almost as if the looming obsidian tower was not even there at all. 

Once more on the second day would there be a call for the use of Portals. Once more, before heroes could begin to forget about the stress of their calling. Once more, Baelag’s Holdfast would call to those that wished to claim it. The Valley would strike against their foe that have called themselves Lords firmly, quickly, and with such devastating force that the sapper equipment carted around by the enemy would combust and explode, lighting the night ever so briefly and throwing all near it across the field. The watching Pathfinder surmised that whatever plan there was for the sapping equipment was simply not a plan that could survive against the steel of The Valley.

== The Final Day; ==
[[File:699737575 122145061832993969 6179983402911225245 n.jpg|thumb|Dark weather could not darken Concordian spirits.]]
The last day of a Concordian Summit usually begins as the second does, with Pathfinders awaiting the decision of The Warchamber regarding where the mass Concordian effort is to be focused. This time, there was no question. The Strategic Opportunity was to be directed at Baelag’s Holdfast, and was to hamper the retreat of The Severed Lords. To remove from them any item of interest they tried to take with them. To reclaim any ancestral belongings that were in the hands of those who did not deserve them. To stake a hold in Baelag’s and firmly earn it with blood, sweat and iron. 

The Pathfinders were not surprised in any way to see that The Iron Valley were present for this Strategic Opportunity. It simply made sense. But they could not do so alone, as they would be outnumbered beyond three to one. The heroes of The Greenweald would support them, and together they would utilise Portals to their most powerful effect seen so far. Multiple Waystones, set up along intercepting paths, allowing Concordians to strike out near-instantly at unsuspecting fleeing parties. 

The Valley and The Weald would fight together, and would fight to protect the belongings of an ancestral home that has been lost for too many years. Two fights, two Portals, two victories. 

But this would not be the last time the Portal wavered and opened on the last day of Summit, and would not be the last victory sought by Wealders this Autumn. The Sableheart called, and its Queen along with it. An anxious Pathfinder watched from a distance as twenty heroes of The Greenweald held an audience with The Fae Queen, fighting hard against a vicious horde of Boghoffens and barely holding together to slay them, just to have to treat face to face with a great power of The Weald itself. The Pathfinder watched as heroes knelt in placation, and a scant three stepped forward. This would not last, as blades would be swung by heroes, sacrifices would be made, and the screech of a dying Weald-Thing would spark changes unforeseen and unknowable.

The Pathfinder who remained to collect the Waystones, and all others throughout the Summit, would grit their teeth and calm their minds as they dwelled on what they saw and heard. It is difficult to speak to the truth of the happening, and even harder to feel comfortable sharing it with the wider Concord, but rumours will spread no matter how hard one tries to prevent it. It remains to be seen if this will be a boon or bane, but as with all things, time will tell. 

== A Simplified Summary; ==
{| class="wikitable"
|Location
|Time
|Forces
|Responsible Party
|Result
|-
|Mukarrem, along the border of The Salt Road and The Priado Expanse
|5:30pm, Day 1
|25 Andashi
|The Champion of the Tribes
|Unknown
|-
|Weiland, somewhere in Heartsgrave
|8pm, Day 1
|10 Bordevarians
|The Sheriff of Weiland
|Victory
|-
|The High Keep Chamber, within Baelag’s Holdfast
|10pm, Day 1
|10 Valleyfolk
|The Champion of the Valley
|Full Victory
|-
|Near the city limits of Mandrianos, Mancante Terra
|10am, Day 2
|Half of the Concordian Cohort
|The Field Marshal
|Partial

Victory
|-
|Along the shores near Jaalstead, Bolsterlee
|10am, Day 2
|Half of the Concordian Cohort
|The Field Marshal
|Not

Taken
|-
|Unknown
|12pm, Day 2
|The Academy
|The Academy
|Victory
|-
|The Dawning Fastness, Baelag’s Holdfast, The Kings Pass
|2:30pm, Day 2
|20 Valleyfolk and 10 Allies
|The Champion of the Valley
|Full Victory
|-
|The Inner Hold, Baelag’s Holdfast, The Kings Pass
|4pm, Day 2
|20 Valleyfolk and 10 Allies
|The Champion of the Valley
|Full Victory
|-
|Near the border of Plateau of the Gods and La Dove Dormani, Mancante Terra
|6pm, Day 2
|20 Lerona Mere and 5 Allies
|The Champion of the Revolution
|Full Victory
|-
|Unknown
|8pm, Day 2
|Unknown
|Unknown
|Unknown
|-
|Near the Arcane Stones, Baelag’s Holdfast, The Kings Pass
|9:30pm, Day 2
|15 Valleyfolk
|The Champion of the Valley
|Full Victory
|-
|Baelag’s Holdfast, The Kings Pass
|10am, Day 3
|Half of the Concordian Cohort
|The Field Marshal
|Victory
|-
|Somewhere in the Sableheart, Resinderholz
|1:30pm, Day 3
|20 Greenwealders
|The Sage Superior
|Victory 
|}

== Further Reading ==

* [[Winds of the World - Spring 226]]