Fires still lick at the blackened ruin of the farmstead. The mud in the yard is grey with ash and churned by footprints. Some flee westward. Others, light and slender, circle the ruin. One of your guards pulls an arrowhead from the smoking wood. "Elfshot!" He hisses.
The homesteads along the hissing fringes of the Tirashan were unprepared for the attack. You listen to the refugees' tales of a narrow moon that spread long tree-shadows, of the lithe figures that slipped between them, of arrows that sped from the night, sudden as death.
"The knife-ears drove us from our home!" one peasant cries. "We heard them, laughing from the dark!"
Available actions[]
1.
Increase patrols along the edge of the Tirashan The fields and orchards belong to you. The elves need to keep to their woods.
Difficulty: Derring-Do*6/5
Success: The Forgotten Ones Your soldiers clash with elven archers at the forest's edge. The elves are cold-eyed, with tattoos of brilliant crimson. They extract a red price from your warriors before fleeing into the deeps. For a time, the border is untroubled. "I've fought the Dalish before," mutters a scarred sergeant. "I've heard them call on their gods in battle. Elgar'nan for vengeance. Fen'Harel when they think all is lost. But these ones called out to no gods I've ever heard of before. They weren't calling out for aid; they were offering us up. Like pigs on a platter.'
-5 Peril, -5 Twilight
Failure: Forest ghosts Your soldiers have little luck rooting out the elves. The Tirashan is miserly with its secrets. Finally one patrol, daring deeper paths, is shot at by an elven hunter. They give chase, pursuing her into the deeps, and are never seen again. Days later, their broken swords are found in a pile at the forest's edge. Your bard spins a fanciful tale of doomed heroism around the event and sets it to an old Serault folk-tune. The Fated Few catches on, and bards sing of the hopeless valor of your soldiers in half the courts in Orlais.
+5 Dignity, +3 Peril, +2 Twilight
2.
Revive the old, harsh laws of the western forest The Dalish rarely launch an attack like this without cause. Perhaps some of your folk strayed too close to one of their camps.
Difficulty: Scholarship*2
Success: Lessons learned You learn a great deal from the new cases brought before your court. You hear of unsanctioned tree-felling, of widespread poaching, of heathen rites conducted when the moon is blind. You punish the crimes appropriately, and people learn to avoid the Tirashan.
-4 Peril, +3 Clues
Failure: Too familiar with the forest Hunters, delving into deep, ancient glades. Ambitious villages clearing centuries-old trees for pasture. A growing community of trappers and charcoal burners reaching further and further across Serault's border and into the untouched precincts of the Tirashan. You dispense harsh punishment. People need to learn that the Tirashan is a sleeping beast, and enough gnat-bites will rouse it.
-6 Freedom, +3 Clues
