04/22/2026: Wintersplinter Rising

Torgen crouches in the brush beside the wolf he has killed. Two more circle nearby, noses working the air. They haven’t spotted him yet, but with their senses, it’s only a matter of time. Somewhere east, three druids are moving through the trees, and from the hilltop above, a raven shrieks with increasing urgency.

At the base of Yester Hill, Violet Robin’s patience runs out. A late arrival to the group and a member of the Order of the Feather, he has heard the distant snap of bowstrings, and that is enough for him. Krelldutt calls after him not to go — they have sent two scouts out already, Danika and Torgen, and neither has returned. But Violet Robin is already moving.

He scrambles up the steep face of Yester Hill and pulls himself onto the highest terrace. There, lying on its back, is the creature. Up close, it resolves into a massive construction of lashed branches and timber, built into a rough humanoid shape. Upright, it would account for the enormous figure they have been watching in the firelight for several nights running — the silhouette that no one at the vineyard quite believed was a single thing. But it is not upright now. It is not moving at all.

Violet loads his crossbow and fires a bolt into its midsection. It strikes with a solid thunk. Nothing happens. He moves back, dropping to the terrace below to join Krelldutt and Feesh, who have caught up.

The tortle had watched the tabaxi go with poorly concealed irritation. Now he and Feesh press along the outer wall of the upper terrace, and the moment Violet reaches them, they hear the snap of a bow. Behind them, an arrow finds Blinksy’s shoulder. The toymaker grunts and sits down hard. Over the monkey’s screaming, Krelldutt can hear Friedrich whine.

Krelldutt drives a Spike Growth into the terraced ground around the three druid archers. The thorns spread wide, locking all three enemies in place — a move in any direction and the damage will be significant. Two of the archers had already ducked behind trees. Krelldutt can see them peeking from behind fat trunks. The third stands, trapped by the thorns and exposed in the open. Before he can react, Violet Robin covers the distance in raven form and arrives before him, transfiguring with a rapier already drawn.

The exchange is brief and uneven. Violet dispatches the archer in the open. One of the wolves barrels into Violet, knocking them into the Krelldutt’s patch of thorns, where they pause. Torgen, Krelldutt, and Feesh press the other two with well-placed arrows. One falls, the other is left badly wounded and barely standing.

Then Danika drops out of the grey sky, shedding her were-raven form as her feet hit the ground. “Krelldutt! The creature at the top of the hill — something is happening with it!”

Even as she speaks, a deep groan of timber carries down from above. Branches crack. Something shifts. Every head turns toward the hilltop, where the enormous construction is no longer lying on its back. It is rising with the slow, grinding sound of a thing that is not meant to move, but intends to anyway.

At the crest of the hill, Rahadin appears. He sits astride a nightmare, the horse’s mane trailing smoke, its hooves leaving nothing where they press the earth. The Chamberlain looks down at them with a grim, composed expression and calls out in a carrying voice: “Give my regards to the city of Vallaki.”

He wheels the nightmare and follows the creature, which is already striding down the far side of Yester Hill toward the valley below.