The Siege of Boval Vale

Boval Castle

## Participants

Minalan, Garkesku their apprentices, Zagor, Koucey, Cei and the Bovali
Shereul, Urgulnosti, and the Gurvani

The Mercenaries from Tudry
Pentandra, her personal guard and the Warmagi

## Overview

The siege of Boval Vale officially marks the gurvani, popularly known as goblins, incursion into the *Five Duchies*. It also marks the first time that *Shereul*, the Dead God, was learned about, and eventually seen by Minalan and his band of warmagi at the end of the first novel, Spellmonger.

During the siege of Boval Vale, over a hundred thousand gurvani descended from the west Mindens, located in Alshar. The gurvani invaded Boval Vale due to an ancient grudge that occurred over two hundred years prior, in an event popularly and unofficially known as the "Goblin Wars." Sire Koucey, the Lord of Boval Vale, and descendant of the House Brandemount, was implicit in the act of treason that lead to the gurvani invasion. His forefathers, and sire of the Brandemount line, betrayed a truce with the gurvani and slaughtered Shereul, a powerful shaman and leader of the gurvani, along with many women and pups (children). After pushing the gurvani from the Vale, desecrating the Sacred Cavern, and stealing the wealth of the gurvani, the Brandemounts set roots in the newly name Boval Vale by grant of the then Duke of Alshar. This insult was what caused the gurvani to spend nigh two hundred years preparing for not only the re-conquest of the ancestral homeland of Boval Vale, but also to destroy the entirety of humanity through sacrifice and slaughter.

*Minalan the Spellmonger* was a central figure of the siege, as it was through his guile and craft that the gurvani were not only kept at bay for months, but it was through his efforts that the use of irionite became common place again in a world of underpowered magi. The beginning of the siege was comparatively mundane, as the beginning of the gurvani invasion force was only just arriving, and was mainly comprised of inexperienced tribal gurvani, and not trained and experienced gurvani warriors. The tribal gurvani were inexperienced at making siege craft, as demonstrated by a catapult that could lob objects no heavier than rotten gourds. This changed as the siege elongated into months and a warrior cast of gurvani arrived to take charge of the siege, and the resultant knowledge of siege-craft grew significantly. Instead of tame catapults, mighty siege towers, trebuchets capable of lobbing great boulders, and many other siege-craft besides became common threats against Boval Castle.

Minalan and *Garkesku*, and their apprentices, Tyndal, Rondal, Urik and Fenar, were the initial magical corps that protected Boval Castle from the ferocious onslaught of the gurvani. After Urik's Rebellion, the magical corps lost two members, Urik and Fenar, and hope was quickly dwindling as the number of gurvani increased, and the number of defenders decreased. This trend turned, however, in the most unlikely moment. During a surprise breach of the outer bailey, through the construction of a mining tunnel by the gurvani, Minalan traveled beyond the wall to seal the tunnel while his magical corps fought the ingress of gurvani into the castle to a standstill. While preparing the spell that would destroy the tunnel, Minalan fought an elite shaman, controlled by Shereul, to a standstill. After many minutes of intense martial and magical dueling, of mortal mage against an all-powerful, reborn deity, Minalan was finally defeated when his magical reserves were depleted. He was ultimately rescued by a band of warmagi led by Pentandra and destroyed the gurvani tunnel.

### The Warmagi

Minalan had his magical corps bolstered by nineteen ferocious and highly trained warmagi, who would later go on to play a large role in the series. The notables among the ranks of the warmagi include Terleman, Azar, Wenek, Horka, Hestia, Mavone, Carmela, Astyral, Curmor, Rostallo, Delmund, Taren, Rolof, and Reland. Upon the arrival of the warmagi, Minalan armed each with a shard of irionite, resulting in weeks of unbridled magical slaughter that was eventually curtailed by the oncoming approach of Shereul, a foe not even the newly equipped magi could face.

Desperate to escape the oncoming entity, the magi scrambled for a way to escape Boval Vale, the answer, it so happens, was right beneath their feet. The Sacred Cave of the gurvani, located under Boval Castle, contained a *molopor,* a "weak point" in reality that allowed for the creation of magical anomalies.Minalan crafted aningenious plan with his magical colleagues to use the molopor to create a portal from Boval to somewhere else. Through a powerful ritual, powered by magical sex between Pentandra and Minalan, the band of magi were able to create a portal that transported all of the occupants of the besieged castle to Inarian Academy, located in Castal. Once all of the occupants left that were not part of the magical ritual, the magi sealed the portal and prepared to make a desperate flight through the valley to escape the oncoming presence of Shereul.

When Shereul sensed the massive influx of power that was used to create the portal, he sped to Boval Castle through magical flight to confront Minalan, the remaining magi, and strangely Sir Koucey, who remained behind to obtain an honorable death due to a Peasant Revolt led by Minalan. Only a timely intervention by the Aronin, leader of the local grove of Treefolk, allowed Minalan and the warmagi to escape through a portal that led to a different part of the Alshari Wilderlands. Sir Koucey was captured and enslaved by Shereul, and *Boval Vale* finally fell to Shereul, and became his seat of power.