Remember that one time we had a Grim Misadventure? Last time, we announced our UI overhaul coming in v1.3.0. After some unplanned delays, the public playtest for that update is starting very soon. Check it out for yourself once it begins! Today, we cross beyond the safety of Kurnhold’s walls and venture deep into enemy territory. This is the domain of the feared Bloodbound, an enemy from within. This foe is like a festering wound, refusing to be stamped out. And now they appear closer to their goals than ever.
The Bloodbound originated from a disgraced Kurn lineage, the Martok clan, who ages ago turned crisis into opportunity to advance their dark ploys. When the great war between the Kurn and Erulan was reaching a bloody crescendo, the Kurn chiefs found themselves on the defensive, their dead lying in great heaps upon the fields of war. It was then that the Martok shamans arrived with promises of a dire solution. Such was the dour mood among the clan chiefs that they were willing to accept any bargain. But the true aim of the Martok was far darker than a Kurn victory at any cost, for they served a master far older and more terrible than any throne of men.
From the blood spilled by Erulan and Kurn alike, this unseen force drank deep, granting the Martok ungodly power. They unleashed indescribable horrors upon the world, forged from sorcery and blood offerings. The resulting devastation spared neither Kurn nor Erulan. Only through the valiant deeds and sacrifice of the heroes of their age was the darkness thwarted. The land still groans beneath the weight of what was done.
The corruption had deep roots though. It lingered in the dark places of the wilderness, waiting, watching. And when famine clawed at the Kurn people in the long Winters that followed, the whispers returned, offering comfort, power, vengeance… and, again, the weak and broken listened.
It would be simple to dismiss these cultists as the last blighted offspring of the traitors, but the ugly truth is that their ranks have swelled, even as the Kurn that remained true to their ancestors wither like frost under a weak Spring sun.
But the Great Annihilator’s tendrils do not just seek the weak hearts of man. Through the relentless passage of time, even the most stalwart souls can form cracks through which can seep in despair. Such a fate would befall the avian Hranaak, an elder race that served as the keepers of the verdant valley. They who once taught the early Kurn shamans how to interpret the magical runes and to harness and thrive in nature’s bounty, whose songs once echoed from the great peaks, would find themselves in rapid decline. And as their numbers dwindled, they began to succumb to their darkest thoughts and embraced nihilism.
The few Hranaak that remain started to believe that the only way to save Cairn was not through painful and slow healing, but by returning the progenitor to his throne. Only by freeing the Dying God from his prison could the wrongs of the past be righted and the Hranaak restored to greatness. These fallen ones would become known as Kaw’Hranaak, deceivers…destroyers. For that is all that remains of their purpose. They now serve Ch’thon alongside the Bloodbound to usher in the coming of the end.
Like knowing what is coming up next for Grim Dawn? Check back on 03/09/2026 for the next Grim Misadventure.
