30 Mirtul 1372

Dear Master Zorthaster,

Our plan to explore the Spiderhaunt took a sudden and unexpected turn. Instead of looking for the Easterling Moonblade, we made a rapid return to northern Daggerdale and have met the minions of Shade enclave on the field of battle. Under Lord Morn's leadership we escaped with our lives and most of our troops, but little else. It was not a good day. We were driven from the field by a colossal monstrosity carrying several howdahs and catapults.

This whole affair started immediately after we slew the steel predators and raised Xan. I received a sending from Deveral that Harper agent and Priest of Azuth that forged Manshoon's sigil for us back in Kythorn of last year. Obviously he had recovered from the debilitating effects of Azuth's punishment. He told us that we were required to return to Daggerfalls immediately. I told him that we were on our way.

Before leaving the forest, I scooped the still smoldering remains of the wizard's scrolls and books into a bag to take along. Primula took one last bearing with the moonblade's amulet. The sword lay due south of the ruins. I took a quick look around to familiarize myself with the location and then teleported us directly to the Garrison Gate at Daggerfalls.

We arrived to discover a frantic, bustling town. There were troops moving, obviously preparing for a major military action. Oskar went inside to meet with Morn while we were told to sit and wait. When the dwarf finally returned we learned that we had been ordered to muster as many conscripts from Shadowhold as we could and return with them to Daggerfalls within the ride. We set off to do Lord Morn's bidding but got side tracked by the Rangers Three who invited us to pause for a moment and sit down for a mug of ale in the Red Brick Inn.

From the Rangers Three we finally got some detailed and useful information. We had already heard much of what they had to tell us about events in the wider world. Evermeet's High Mages were mostly dead, and the attention of Shade Enclave was turning this way. What was news to us were the reports of hundreds, perhaps thousands of orcs pouring out of the Desertsmouth Mountains, flying banners of Shade Enclave.

Our drinks were only half finished when Morn's messenger found us once again. Again we were ordered to present ourselves to the Lord of the Dale and receive new orders. Morn now informed us that we were marching in the morning because the Zhents had sacked Hadreth's Glen. Morn intended to meet them at Teshmere.

With powerful spells we were able to return to Shadowhold and muster our troops. Oskar went directly to Teshmere and did some forward scouting. He found that the Zhent troops had stopped at the village of Hadreth's Glen and appeared to be waiting for stragglers to catch up.

Only a dozen of the Shadowhold refugees were capable of mustering to join Morn's army. We teleported us and them directly to Teshmere and joined up with the army as it pushed on to White Chalk Hollow. By the time all our troops were formed up, we were able to field an army that consisted of 200 light cavalry, 100 dwarven heavy infantry (veteran), 100 medium infantry (also veteran), 100 light archers, and 300 irregular light infantry.

Either Morn's information was terrible or he was withholding a lot from us. Our army's first encounter was with a force of routed Zhent troops that just wanted to get past us so they could go home. During the negotiations a Zhent wizard teleported in with orders for the captain to surrender command so his troops could be taken to the Citadel of the Raven which was under attack. The new arrival shut up quickly when he realized that the army he wanted to take to battle was in the process of negotiating a surrender and safe passage home. Their commander parleyed with Morn for a while and were eventually allowed to pass. Our men didn't like it. I didn't either, but Morn didn't seem to care what we all thought.

It wasn't long before we met up with the army that had routed the Zhents. There were several hundred orcs and goblins, all appearing to be well trained, and moving in formation. Despite my best efforts to educate him about the use of battlefield spells, Morn ignored me. I tried to get him to listen to me so we could plan the best application my newly mastered rain of fire. Obviously the man is more used to dealing with hedge wizards than Archmages. He dismissed me out of hand and then failed to give me orders to use the art against the massed troops before he ordered the cavalry to charge into them. Rather than wasting the opportunity, I want ahead and cast the spell before it was too late. That one spell took out more than half the enemy troops in an instant. Perhaps Morn will be more willing to pay attention to me in the future after seeing that.

If the orcs and goblins that Morn had told us about had been all we faced today, we would have had a significant victory. Instead, we learned that the Shades had bigger tricks up their sleeves than just well trained goblinoids. A Shade sky ship appeared to watch over the battle just as the biggest living creature I'd ever seen came over a rise and made all our previous success seem as nothing. The monstrosity stood hundreds of feet high at the shoulder and carried at least a half dozen catapults in fortifications built on the creature's back. The beast's stride carried the thing forward hundreds of feet in an instant. A single terrible footfall from the colossus crushed dozens of men. The catapults launched flaming pitch from their seemingly impregnable fortresses.

At first I thought I might be able to bring down the beast with a powerful spell or two. I had disintegrate and horrid wilting prepared for the battle, but nothing seemed to affect the monster. I communicated this to my friends as quickly as I could and the message got relayed to Morn. He called for an immediate retreat. I covered the retreat with a wall of force at the monster's eye level, hoping to slow it down a bit. I also hit most of the surviving goblinoids with a sunburst to keep them from chasing down our fleeing troops.

Someone on the other side didn't like our fighting withdrawal because the walking castle charged forward again, trying to catch up with our troops. The wall of force slowed it down long enough for our forces to get away. I'm afraid that even with our best speed however, if the Shades want to catch up, they will. No army we can muster can defeat what we faced today on a field of battle. We have to find another way to deal with the threat.

I'm considering two main options. One is to teleport the Wandsmen into the fortifications on the beast's back. From there we can destroy the fighting force that rides the thing. The second is to seek out Dreel, the planar ranger we know from Sigil. Neither Tuskgrin nor I have ever heard of this type of monster, but it has to be a planar visitor. Something like this cannot be from Faerun. Perhaps Dreel would know something about the beast that would help us defeat it. Another alternative, one I'm not real certain about, is to hire a force of spelljamming ships that could attack the moving castle as well as the skyship that accompanied it. We'll see what ideas the others might have.

What a mess. I had high hopes today that we would be able to hand the Shades a stinging defeat and it has turned into a loss for us. We lost an entire unit of cavalry to the beast and flaming pitch. The other troops are still running. It will be nearly impossible to rebuild their morale after this. We'll probably loose half the fighting strength of the army to desertions. Morn will be trying to drag frightened soldiers out of the hills for weeks if not months.

If this is any example of how we are going to fare in the Shadow War, we might as well give up now for we certainly seem far outmatched on the battlefield.

Sincerely,

Cedar