Hard Water

The Willowswift River in an uproar

The **Hard Water** arc was the first set of battles and efforts to take place exclusively in Seabreach County, as part of its reconquest.

## Gone Fishin' (event)

As the Knights of Ashfall continued to work to help the people of Pinehold in their recovery, an unusual situation came to their attention. A pair of fishermen reported that they had been ejected from their boat, forcibly, by unseen entities; it seemed to be the river itself. They had lost their boat, gear, and catch, and wanted them back. The Knights responded on June 18, along with Lady Isobel de Stopham.

Upon arriving, they found the boat lying against an island in the middle of the river, and the water undisturbed. Sir Baelthane Anvilmar and Ragnar Blackburn took a rope and swam out to secure the boat--only to discover that the river was, indeed, disturbed. Water elementals swarmed out of the river to attack those remaining on the shore, and continually attempted to physically eject the swimmers. After a protracted battle, the Knights managed to haul the boat to shore and move out of range of the elementals' wrath.

After this incident, Lady Isobel declared the river off-limits to civilians pending resolution of the disturbance.

## Something in the Water (event)

On June 22, the Knights returned to the river, this time with shaman Meilann Clayshaper in tow. Clayshaper had crafted a totem that would help to suppress the water elementals' unrest by operation of the other elements; she needed to activate it, which would take time.

The Knights lined up on the shore and intercepted the enraged elementals that moved to stop her. After several onslaughts, Clayshaper completed the empowerment ritual, and the water elementals were soothed.

An earth elemental arose and informed the party that the other elements would work to lend aid, for now, but that they must find the source of the wicked magic soon. Under this direction, the party investigated the shore for clues, and discovered that the slain elementals' cores were studded with strange shards of stone. The cores were brought back to Lord Auromere at Pinehold for analysis.

## The Core of the Matter

Lord Auromere examined the elemental cores--a task typically for a mage or shaman, but in this case, a lapidarist such as himself. He extracted the stone shards from the cores, and determined that they were infused with magical energies.

Lady Isobel informed him of a circle of standing stones that lay to the south of the Willowswift River, a circle that had been used in "strange rituals" in days gone by. Auromere determined that this would be the best place to investigate.

## Shards of Mystery (event)

A scouting party set forth on July 5, traveling south across the bridge and down along the river into the plain of Grantwell Barony. They went unchallenged.

Upon arriving at the circle, known as Earth's Hand, the party split up and began to investigate. Ghanan Steelbeard located runic carvings on one of the stones, and on the reverse, words painted in Zandali, the language of the trolls. The inscription read:

*"Once we held dominion over the waters. Once we ruled the rivers of the jungle. Now we have jungle no more, but a lord is always a lord. Rise up, ye waters. Rise up, and hate my enemies."*

Further evidence of trollish involvement were a set of bones that appeared to be a humanoid spine. A footpath was discovered traveling south from the circle, which the party followed to the mouth of the Willowswift River. There they discovered the ruins of Halimar, which were clearly occupied by the crew of a pirate ship.

Lord Auromere called for a regroup back at Pinehold, to plan and prepare to claim the lost harbor town.

## Halimar (event)

On July 6, the Order made their first assault on Halimar. It had been assumed that the ship was gone, or at least unable to see through the bank of fog upon the bay. The plan was to infiltrate the town, locate strategic points, kill or capture the pirates, and then hail the ship, board it, and capture it under pretense of being part of its crew.

While a larger cavalry unit stood by to strike if necessary, a smaller party infiltrated the town and located the powder magazine and a covert exit through its back door. After evading patrols, they discovered a pair of night-elf captives, mother and son, in one of the other buildings.

As they were freeing the captives, a troll identifying himself as Zul'maka arrived. He taunted the party, claiming to have instigated the water elementals' unrest so as to occupy the people of Ashfall and keep their attention away from Halimar. His goal, he claimed, was to become a loa, and thus had carried out a great deal of unnecessary human sacrifice and cannibalism, with the pirates' captives as victims.

Zul'maka was slain with prejudice, but not before he could call out an alarm to the rest of the town. The occupying pirates made for what appeared to be predetermined shelters, and the ship--lying out in the bay--began bombarding the town. Lord Auromere noted that specific buildings were not being targeted, and ordered the party, seemingly against all reason, to take the escape route through the gunpowder stockpile.

The stockpile was not struck, and as they departed, Auromere set fire to the building to cover their escape.

## Outcomes

The party was unharmed, and after a period of recovery, the captives--Shana Leafsong and her son Sen--were sent on to the Darnassus embassy at Stormwind City.

The Willowswift River is now quiet, the witch doctor troubling it dead. Patrols are sent regularly to ensure that no further activity is taking place at Earth's Hand, and the Earthen Ring has been contacted regarding cleansing the site.

Lord Auromere took the partial victory rather personally, and placed an order for cannons of his own to be used against the pirates. This aligned nicely with an opportunity to explore and enjoy Dun Vor, so he assembled a party to travel there.

Lady Isobel came to trust Lord Auromere as a result of his labors and work to protect her people, and a growing affection sprang up between them.

The pirates remained in the bay for the next while, but Lord Auromere would later finish what he started.

## The Heroes of the Hard Water Incident

* Lady Isobel de Stopham
* Sir Baelthane Anvilmar
* Thane Ghanan Steelbeard
* Ragnar Blackburn
* Peryn Crowson
* Sir Marcus Kaspin
* Meilann Clayshaper