The Invasion of Heaven's Nest

The Invasion of Heaven's Nest was the culmination of a series of attacks planned by the necromancers Miguel Desafiante and Alistair Jörmungandr to weaken and destroy Heaven's Nest and its protector: the angel Seraph Delareina. On the same night as Bones to Ash's cursedefier test, Miguel impossibly led an army of undead onto the forbiddance, unleashing a wave of death and destruction as the townsfolk fought for their lives.

### Lead up to Invasion

* The entrance to the Forgotten Grotto is broken open and the ghouls inside instructed to conduct a ceremony of desecration - further empowering Chemosh. Ghouls also assist in imprisoning the Ice wolf matriarch and her puppies.
* Imprisonment of Ice Wolf Matriach + puppies leds to Ice/Dire wolf pack attacking Heaven's Nest livestock as they desperately search for easy prey. Eventually leads into a full scale attack: 3 cursedefiers are injured, 2 gravely (Esme, Cid and Isra). Ice Wolves eventually freed and ghouls are put down only for some to be resurrected the next day.
	+ No casualties but resurrected ghouls attack cursedefiers+ civilians attempting to burn bodies of victims, have to be \*re\*killed
* Reported presence of unusually strong undead in area, undead thunderbeast + rider seen en route to Roanoke, Ruadhan also makes note of an uptick in coordination among Chemosh followers

### Evacuation Stage

Having returned triumphant from their cursedefier test, Bones to Ash (accompanied by Stevfirakas) watched in horror to see their home on fire and under attack. Against all logic, the group split up to separate encounters in a rush to save their loved ones and fortunately succeeded in each one. During this stage, the goal was to rescue those under attack and then help them evacuate to the docks down in the southern part of the forbiddance.

#### The Red Cross

Fearing that Heartbeat (and the injured) would be trapped at the Red Cross, Del immediately ran there only to be faced with a contingent of ghouls led by a ghast. Thinking quickly, she was able to use magic to charm the Ghast into thinking she was an invading necromancer and sent them away to look for Miguel. Though the Red Cross was empty (Heartbeat and her patients had managed to evacuate in time), Del as able to keep the area from being desecrated by the undead as well as secure healing potions for the group. Following the encounter, she left to help Montoya.

#### Shenyu's Hut

Shenyu was the first to leave from the group, running immediately to his hut to find his daughter Yuji. Once there, he found that she (alongside Napa who had only 4hp) was trapped by a Whight. Shenyu was able to defeat the White with the assistance of Togu (Skullcrusher the llama who transformed into an elf after being stabbed with a magic dagger), though something happened afterwards the chronicler was not allowed to see. The stress of this event caused some of Shenyu's hair to turn white but also led to an access to new abilites. Afterwards, he sent Yuji along with Togu to evacuate and went to help Koshi.

#### The Rosehall

Koshi was the second to leave the group, heading to the Rosehall to help Nox and Sebastian. The two were barricaded in the hotel, though Nox was moments away from inviting in a vampire spawn who was begging for help and pretending to be human. Koshi was able to warn them and, with the help of Nox and Shenyu when he arrived latter, they were able to kill most of the vampire spawn. Thanks to their efforts, Nox didn't have to fireball the hotel (though it was still damaged) and didn't loose an eye. After this, Shenyu and Koshi went to her log to pick up Blaithin while Nox and Sebastian left to help the Stonevault.

#### The Refugee Encampment

Watching as her friends split into 3 groups, Montoya decided to follow the trend and ran on her own to help protect the refugees. There, to her horror, she saw a zombie hoard, the same kind of enemy that had killed her mother Lenore. Fueled by heartbreak and unearthly rage, Montoya unknowingly channeled her divine blood: golden tears fell from her eyes and radiance burst forth from within her as she joined the fight. She was able to immediately kill one of the flaming skulls leading the horde, before being hit with a fireball by the second. Thankfully, Montoya was able to fend off the undead with the help of Stevi and Tadgh (in his werewolf form) before she was joined by both Del and the newly hatched Inigo, who had been warned by Sargonnas to hatch early. Together, with the aid of the refugees who had banded together, they were able to dispatch the horde and remaining flaming skull as well as put out some of the fires in the encampment. Montoya, realizing the werewolf was Tadgh, convinced him to come along with her and Del to defend the stonekeep, leaving Stevi and Inigo to protect the refugees. Despite his reticence, he agreed and the trio left to save Lao.

#### Koshi's Log

After helping Nox and Sebastian safely escape the Rosehall, the duo went to Koshi's log to make sure Blaithin was safe. As an untethered soul she was especially in danger from the necromancers and her doll body left her largely unable to defend herself. During the trip over, Koshi revealed to Shenyu that she was a former Chemosh follower and after an extremely ironic conversation regarding the past being behind them both, Koshi's past immediately showed up to cause problems. Zishi, a member of Koshi's former cult, was part of the invading forces and was actively trying to kidnap Blaithin as well as eat Koshi. Shenyu and Koshi fought him off with some assistance from Blaithin (who possessed him at one point), but Zishi seems to have escaped. Thanks to their actions, Blaithin remained safe and has been with Bones to Ash on their adventures since.

#### The Stonevault

##### Phillip Wintersbreath

On the way to the Stonevault, Montoya caught sight of a body lying on the ground. Despite worries it was a trap, she rushed forward to help and realized it was Phillip Wintersbreath. He had been attacked, his throat slashed, and was bleeding out. Thankfully, Montoya had not yet used her healing hands ability and was able to stop the bleeding. As her magic was still ice based then, it actually healed more than usual and allowed Phillip to be hale enough to start making his own escape. Later, he'd be partially carried by Tadgh and Montoya and was able to survive the final fight.

##### Lao

After sending the refugees off to the docks, Montoya, Del, and Tadgh went to the Stonevault to help keep the forbiddance from falling. There, they met up with Nox and Sebastian and quickly realized that Lao was fighting off a horde alone, barricaded in the Stonevault and shooting fire down below. Revealing himself to be an arcane trickster, Nox turned himself invisible and climbed up the tower to relay messages to/from Lao. While waiting for instruction from Lao, Montoya noticed that a deathlock was moving through the horde and towards the entrance - carrying Phillip's stonekey. Realizing the horde would soon be able to break in, the group moved to kill the deathlock before it could rejoin the others (unsurprisingly the fight did not go well for a caster against 4 tanks) and Del was able to use her magic to mimic his voice, keeping the rest of the undead from realizing anything was wrong. Hiding behind the tower, with the key recovered, Montoya used her rope of climbing to talk to Lao herself. Despite his initial hesitation, he agreed to come down from the tower and promised not to sacrifice himself. The last to make his way down, Lao activated all the runes surrounding the stonekeep which led to a massive explosion, decimating the undead horde surrounding it. Thanks to Del and Montoya, the Stonevault remained safe and Lao did not have to die in defense of it.

### The Last Stand

#### The Fall of Seraph Delareina

Though the town's survivors had made it to the evacuation point, they did not have time to escape before the undead horde reached them. Shocked, Seraph recognized the leader of the horde as Miguel but was unable to do anything to stop them before he shot her. To the utter horror of the town, Seraph's disguise was torn away and their true, angelic, form was revealed before their wings exploded: heavily injuring Miguel + some of the undead forces. Seraph remained unmoving on the ground, back bleeding from their missing wings and unimaginably old as their divinity was torn away.

#### The fight

Overcome with pain and fury, Montoya finished her transformation into a scourge aasimar and rushed to kill Miguel. She grew a halo and pair of raven only for both to erupt in fire as she flew for the first and last time. She would be locked in combat with him the entire fight, suffering extensive injuries until she used Spite's power to try and cut off his head. Miguel was able to escape using a teleportation spell at the last second but not before Montoya cut his arm off. Montoya was shot in the heart and nearly died but survived with a scar. Shenyu despite still being shaken from what happened at his home, fought valiantly alongside his teammates in defense of Heaven's Nest, notably severely injuring Miguel. Koshi fought alongside the town's residents as well, cementing her separation from Chemosh as she killed her (former) fellow goats and helped save the life of both Del and Montoya.

During the fight, Del was faced with the ghoul she had tricked earlier that day at the clinic. Desperately she tried to fight only to fall to the Ghoul's paralysis. Alone and trapped, Del called out to Duanalla and sold control of her soul to the demon.

Though the town had banded together in desperate struggle, the tide of the fight was not truly turned until the arrival of the caravanners. They had arrived to find their campsite and forbiddance stone destroyed, forcing them to ride through the night. Though they were exhausted from the ride, the caravaners were able to route

### Aftermath

Heaven's Nest saw many losses, though Koshi was able to decay the bodies before they could be stolen by necromancers. The caravanners likewise suffered causalities (3 captured by vampires), their current status unknown. Much of the town was destroyed/corrupted in the attack and with the caravanners unable to leave safely, supplies were stretched thin. Thankfully, most of Heaven Nests's farm animals were able to escape (the llamas running to high ground) and the surviving townsfolk were able to hunt to tide the town over.

- Rosehall is partially destroyed, as of the Hardy Harvest Arc (several months later) it is still mostly uninhabitable

- The Stone Vault withstood the siege but lost all its protective runes, Shenyu Baosheng is currently on the look out for a diamond mine so that Lao can rebuild them

- The refugees survived, but their camp was partially burned down. They have since rebuilt and efforts to build them homes (prior to winter) have begun in earnest.

- Caravanners are unable to leave and lost 3 members

- some of the altered undead go up river to Hardy Harvest and kill several of their curse defiers, at least 1 vampire spawn prowls the area around Heaven's Nest

- Del remains in the thrall of Duanalla, Ruadhan's own control is tightened in response to their attempts to help

- Montoya formally rejects the raven queen and is approached by Sargonnas with a new quest and artifact of her own

- Shenyu gains the ability to use force damage and has a new son as well as white hair

- Seraph survives but remains in an ancient, weakened state. The outside world is told she died in the siege

- Koshi continues on her journey as a druid, now disavowed by her former clan

- Tadgh is out as a werewolf, his true identity as a Lobos is revealed

- Nox assumes temporary control of the town, his identity is revealed as well