Yigra, High Chieftain of the Kurn
You are always welcome here, friend of the Kurn.

Farewell.
Is there something you need?
Where is Bloodbound Bastion again?
Bloodbound Bastion overlooks the Ruins of Utak Kunar, another shameful reminder of our ongoing battle with the Bloodbound.{^n}{^n}Find Thane Vilgar there and deliver carnage to our foes!
I will.
No. I was just leaving.
*High Chieftain Yigra nods her head*{^n}{^n}Greetings, friend of the Kurn.

Farewell.
Mind your actions, lowlander.{^n}{^n}Your welcome here may run its course.
I will.
I hear you have been busy working alongside the venerable Thane Vilgar to bring honor to my people and restore old relations.{^n}{^n}Who would have thought it would take a lowlander to mend the wounds between us and our once dranghoul allies.{^n}{^n}With our numbers bolstered, I believe we now stand a chance to land a decisive blow to the Bloodbound.
What did you have planned?
When the Bloodbound assaulted Kurnhold, they were unsuccessful in taking our capital, but they did claim a lesser citadel to the west of Ulo's Springs. It was once known as Korba's Stand, but we now call it the Bloodbound Bastion.{^n}{^n}Alongside our dranghoul allies, the time has come to take it back. We will not stand the presence of enemies at our doorstep any longer!{^n}{^n}Thane Vilgar has requested you personally. Meet him at the gates of our enemy and aid him in whatever ways you can!
The Bloodbound will suffer defeat!
I need time to prepare.
We will speak of this later.
*High Chieftain Yigra nods her head*{^n}{^n}Greetings, friend of the Kurn.

Farewell.
We could hear the sounds of your battle from here.{^n}{^n}It will make for an unforgettable ballad!
We were able to save Beronath.
Friend of the Kurn, you have achieved the impossible.{^n}{^n}Alongside our brave druids, you have freed a proud creature from the clutches of the Great Annihilator. Their names will live on in song, but yours shall be carried to the eternal halls of the ancestors in honor of your bravery and tenacity.{^n}{^n}I feel as if a miasma of apathy and defeat has been lifted from our shoulders. This day shall never be forgotten among the Kurn now living, and those yet to be born. And it is all thanks to the unthinkable: a lowlander willing to extend a hand across centuries of mistrust.{^n}{^n}I hope these meager offerings will suffice as a token of our thanks.
What will the Kurn do now?
Beronath's injuries were immense, and they were never allowed to fully heal during centuries of its imprisonment with the Great Annihilator's tendrils boring into them.{^n}{^n}I am confident that, with the aid of our healers, the Great Beast will rise again and its roar shall echo across the valley.{^n}{^n}This day marks a new beginning for the Kurn. We will reclaim our ancestral lands and restore nature's balance in Asterkarn.
I'm glad to hear it.
Farewell!
Thank you. Farewell!
I give you my respect, lowlander. You have the honor, and the burden, of sparring with a demigod.{^n}{^n}If the druids cannot fulfill their duty, then I expect you to do what must be done.{^n}{^n}Beronath is a wounded creature. Cornered, it could well become enraged. Do not hesitate, or it could spell your doom; mayhap the doom of us all.
I will do what I can.
I am well prepared.
This will be easy!
Few have been up the sacred mountain since the Bloodbound took control of the western reaches.{^n}{^n}It was once considered a rite of passage to make the pilgrimage to the Roof of the World, to dance among the breath of the gods and gaze upon the infinity of stars.{^n}{^n}Much of that is lost to us now.
Maybe we can change that.
Mind your actions, lowlander.{^n}{^n}Your welcome here may run its course.
I will.
There are songs written about Beronath's eventual return.{^n}{^n}I thought them little more than wistful prayers crying out for better days. But if the elder Skald believes there is a chance, then we must see it through. We owe the demigod that much.
I will do what I can.
I am skeptical, but we can try.
Speak to the elder Skald.{^n}{^n}I may bear the burden of leadership, but she bears the spirit of our people.
The Skald sounds important.
Skald Magwyn is in tune with the soul of Asterkarn and she carries the memories of our ancestors.{^n}{^n}She was Skald when my great grandfather served as high chieftain. I am humbled to still draw upon her wisdom.
I will speak to her immediately.
It will be an honor to speak with her.
I will seek her out.
As soon as I can.
You have proven yourself, lowlander.{^n}{^n}When you sealed the wounds, you dealt a great blow to the Bloodbound and slowed the spread of the infection. However, now we must deal with the original source.
Enough games. What is the truth?
You have shown that your intentions are pure. I no longer see harm in laying bare our plight.{^n}{^n}Earlier I spoke of the Bloodbound. They may be servants of chaos, but the source of the corruption is ultimately of our own making. Guardian's Sorrow was not, as you likely surmised, a shrine to the Great Annihilator. It was a prison created by our mystics to contain our utmost sin.{^n}{^n}The demigod Beronath was once the ancient protector of the Kurn, the embodiment of Asterkarn's wild majesty. Now it is the harbinger of our unmaking. If it is not stopped, we may as well all take a leap from the heights.
Is there any hope?
Time had weakened Beronath's chains, but the Bloodbound set it free. Our former guardian now seeds corruption with its every step. We all fear what might happen if it reaches the Roof of the World.{^n}{^n}But two unthinkable options exist: slay a demigod, at last releasing it from its anguish, or...{^n}{^n}I am not one to dwell on slim hopes, but our elder Skald Magwyn believes Beronath can yet be saved.{^n}{^n}If you wish to see this through, then speak to her here in Kurnhold. If all else fails, we may need to prepare to lay down our lives and face our once beloved guardian.
I will speak with the Skald.
I cannot help you.
How did Beronath become corrupted?
In the folly of our desperation to defeat Erulan, we lured the divine beast into our petty mortal strife. Beronath lay waste to Erulan legions but eventually their machines of war and sorcery wore the beast down until it could fight no more and retreated to rest behind Kurn battle lines.{^n}{^n}When the Martok's abominable ritual opened a rift to the void and unleashed the wretched spawn of Ch'thon, all chaos broke loose. As I said, both armies turned to fight the new inhuman threat and, at some point in the ensuing battle, Beronath was poisoned with chthonic energy.{^n}{^n}The beast went mad and could not discern friend from foe. It retreated back to Asterkarn, killing all in its path, leaving a wake of destruction. As Beronath's lifeforce is interwoven with the land and all life, so did the corruption spread from the beast to the land itself, warping trees, corrupting living creatures, leaving its vile mark even upon the very rocks.{^n}{^n}Some years after the war, it was decided that the tribes had to take action to prevent the beast's corruption from fouling all the lands of Asterkarn. Brave warriors and the most powerful shamans from each tribe united to contain and bind Beronath. There it remained for centuries, seething with memories of the injustice. That is, until the Bloodbound became emboldened enough to openly challenge the tribes. They struck at Kurnhold but were unsuccessful at breaching the walls. With all eyes turned toward Kurnhold, another force was able to move in and overpower the protectors of Guardian's Sorrow. There they succeeded in their goal of freeing Beronath and setting it once more upon a path of destruction, sowing a trail of corruption across Asterkarn.
So is there any hope?
I need to process all this.
Sorry, let's discuss this more later.
Not many would venture into the Dread Wastes so boldly knowing what to expect.{^n}{^n}I admire your perseverance, lowlander.
I sealed the wounds, yet the corruption remains.
Yes... we knew that would be the case.{^n}{^n}I have not been forthcoming with you, lowlander, but you must understand. Erulan has brought my people nothing but anguish and slaughter. It would have been foolish of us to trust you outright. For all we knew, you came to seek the very power you swear you wish to stop.{^n}{^n}While we sent you to the Dread Wastes as a form of test, that does not mean your actions there were without merit. With the wounds sealed, you have stopped the fever, but the source of the infection yet remains and must yet be purged.
Quit playing games. What is happening in Asterkarn?

I need some time to process all this.
I don't know if I can trust you.

If you wish to stop the spread of the corruption festering here, then you will need to go to the Dread Wastes.{^n}{^n}There is no other way.
Where are the Dread Wastes again?
You must travel west through Ulo's Springs to the north. The forsaken Dread Wastes lie beyond, on the far side of the Ruins of Utak Kunar.{^n}{^n}Find the Bloodbound rituals that tear open wounds in reality and end them. If you seal them all, that should stop the spread of corruption.
Alright.
Alright.
I'm not sure this will help Erulan.
The Bloodbound are a stain upon our history.{^n}{^n}They are the corruption you seek.
How do we stop the Bloodbound?
I am surprised that a lowlander would have so much interest in the troubles of a foreign land.{^n}{^n}The Bloodbound homeland is a dead land, defiled with corruption. It is a place lost to us. I forbid all Kurn to go there lest they be captured and drained of blood, or worse, fall under the spell of the Bloodbound.{^n}{^n}But that is where you will have to go if you wish to stop the spread of the Great Annihilator's void. Travel north to Ulo's Springs and then west through the Ruins of Utak Kunar until you enter the domain of the Bloodbound, the Dread Wastes.{^n}{^n}Find the rituals that tear open wounds in reality and end them. If you seal them all, then the land may heal in time.
I will seal these wounds.
Sounds like a Kurn problem.
I already sealed those wounds, yet the corruption remains.

May I ask a question?
Why do you ask if you can ask?{^n}{^n}Speak what you will and I will answer or not.
Who are the Bloodbound exactly?
Would that I could claim they were naught but old ghosts; the last blighted offspring of the disgraced Martok clan. Yet the ugly truth is their ranks have swelled, even as we, who stay true to our ancestors, wither like frost under a weak Spring sun.{^n}{^n}Among us, as I suspect among all people, since times before memory, there have always been secret worshipers of the dying god. I can see you know of what I speak... We turned a blind eye to these shadows for too long. Pretended they did not exist. When the Kurn first beat the drums of war against Erulan, we thought with the tribes united, we were unstoppable.{^n}{^n}Slowly though, the blood tide turned against us and our dead laid in heaps upon the field of war. Disbelief turned to desperation and in that desperate hour, the Martok shamans came promising a dire solution but such was the mood of the clan chiefs that they were ready to accept any path out of the crisis. The true aim of the Martok was darker than Kurn victory at any cost, for they served a master far older and more terrible than any throne of men.{^n}{^n}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 sacrifice. The devastation spared neither Kurn nor Erulan. Two bitter foes joined together that day, bound by the struggle for survival and, in time, the abominations were cast down and bound away, but both armies were broken and many heroes were made and mourned in the aftermath. The land still groans beneath the weight of what was done.{^n}{^n}Shame and betrayal tore the Kurn apart. We fled into the frozen heights of Asterkarn, hollowed by dishonor. The corruption had deep roots though. It lingered in the dark places of the wilderness, waiting, watching. And when famine clawed at us in the long Winters that followed, the whispers returned, offering comfort, power, vengeance... and, again, the weak and broken listened.
So how do we stop them?
May I ask another question?
I need some time to think.
I will be right back.
What are the Dread Wastes?
The homeland of the Bloodbound is a name that chills the tongue. Once, long before Martok's corruption, it was a sacred forest of great beauty and abundance where our ancestors would hunt and gather.{^n}{^n}The Dread Wastes are a reflection of the Great Annihilator's realm, a glimpse of how our world will be transformed if this evil cannot be contained. Chthonic energies pulse within the soil, the trees stand as blackened husks, their roots coiled like serpents; bare branches clawing at a sky shrouded in ash. No bird sings there, no wolf howls and the very air tastes of decay.
So how do we stop the Bloodbound?
May I ask another question?
I will be right back.
What happened between Erulan and the Kurn?
I know only as much as has been passed down in the old stories. For most it is enough to know Erulan means enemy but the truth is perhaps more complicated.{^n}{^n}In distant times, the Kurn were many disparate tribes, often warring with one another. We ranged far and wide, our herds tasting the grass of many distant valleys, our hunters always returning from different hunting grounds. Sometimes we raided south and stole the Arkovian's gold and spices but they mostly stayed to their own lands. Then the Erulians appeared, encroaching on lands Kurn tribes held by blood-claim. To the ignorant Erulian mind, land is not owned unless it is covered in your ugly buildings, the trees cut down and the streams diverted to crop fields.{^n}{^n}Southern Kurn tribes made sport of raiding the Erulian homesteads for a time. The homesteaders seemed soft, as not all your kind are warriors, but then the military came, the raids were repelled, the encroachment continued. In time, Kurn rage boiled over and for the first time in our history, all tribes united under one war chief. Our warriors crushed the Erulan outposts, razed the ugly buildings and cleansed the land of settlers.{^n}{^n}Perhaps we should have stopped there but bloodlust clouded minds and the thanes agreed to press forward, to drive Erulan back to the sea. We underestimated our foes and the blood-cost was great for both sides.
What happened during the war?
The Kurn had strength in numbers and the savage might of our warriors routed the Erulians before us. Our great beasts struck fear in their hearts and trampled defensive lines. We were unstoppable... for a time.{^n}{^n}We underestimated the cunning of our foe though. Erulan soon adapted their tactics and when we faced their most hardened legions, we broke upon them like a wave upon the rocky shore. Where the Kurn favored decisive charges and rushed in to win personal glory, the Erulians relied on discipline and patience.{^n}{^n}They feigned weakness, offering easy targets to lure our war bands into ambushes; picking us apart like an unruly mob. Their armies advanced in tight formations, anchored by shield walls and fortified positions.{^n}{^n}When the Kurn attacked piecemeal, as individual clans or warbands, the Erulians met them with concentrated force, isolating and destroying them one by one. Our momentum ground to a bloody halt. Desperation sapped the hearts of our chiefs and the high chieftain was forced to make difficult decisions.{^n}{^n}To preserve Asterkarn and our way of life, he allowed the Martok clan to do its vile work. With the land drenched in Kurn and Erulan blood, the chthonic rituals reached a crescendo of disharmony.{^n}{^n}Fiends emerged that defied imagination, reality itself warping around their twisted forms. The vile sorcery of the Martok culminated in the Voice of the Great Annihilator crawling from the depths of the abyss, and its chorus of otherworldly screams drove warriors on both sides to madness.{^n}{^n}Ironically, the end only came when the untainted Kurn forged a fragile alliance with the surviving Erulians to banish the creature from our world, but a heavy price had already been paid in both blood and shame. The Kurn tribes were shattered and slunk back deep into Asterkarn to mend. Despite the madness unleashed by the Martok, or perhaps because of it, the Kurn were defeated.
So how do we stop the Bloodbound?
May I ask another question?
Thank you for this retelling.
I will be right back.
So how do we stop the Bloodbound?
May I ask another question?
I will be right back.
Nevermind. How do we stop the Bloodbound?
Nevermind. I will return.
Do you have time for my questions now?
Hah, very well, Erulian.{^n}{^n}I will sate your curiosity.



Nevermind. How do we stop the Bloodbound?
Actually, nevermind.
I need some time to think.
I will be back.
Well, lowlander?{^n}{^n}Did you find what you seek?
I have been to Guardian's Sorrow.
Then you have seen how the Great Annihilator still writhes within the soul of the Kurn.{^n}{^n}The Bloodbound are honorless dregs suckling at the teat of corruption. Their shamans spread malice with every chant and rune which now festers within the once pristine hot springs.{^n}{^n}These springs were a source of heat and life in these otherwise inhospitable mountains and now that life begins to wane. If the Bloodbound have their way, their poison will spread across the land and all of Cairn would suffer the same fate.{^n}{^n}They are the source of your corruption.
How do we stop them?

We will speak more of this later.
I'll be right back.
Well, lowlander?{^n}{^n}Did you find what you seek?
Where is Guardian's Sorrow?
It is a wonder you've ascended to Kurnhold on your own but now can't find your way out?{^n}{^n}Take the eastern gate out of Kurnhold and follow the rivers north toward Ulo's Springs. Guardian's Sorrow is a defiled place, and hard to miss.
I will go there now.
Not yet.
You bear Ulfgarn's sigil, so you may speak.{^n}{^n}Why do you seek the Kurn?
I want to find the source of the corruption.
The Kurn have long contended with this evil. Though its tendrils spread far, it is deeply rooted here in Asterkarn.{^n}{^n}Yes, you may see its nature for yourself, if you wish. I will allow it.{^n}{^n}The guards at the eastern gate will not deny you. Pass through the gate and follow the river north towards Ulo's Springs. A defiled site of profaned rituals we call Guardian's Sorrow is not far from here.{^n}{^n}If you truly wish to learn the truth. Then witness its horrors firsthand.
Very well.
I must return to Erulan.
I've already been to Guardian's Sorrow.

May I ask something?
My duty is to lead my people, not entertain uninvited guests.{^n}{^n}Go find someone else's ear to beg if you wish to engage in idle conversation.
I'm sorry. Back to the corruption.

I did not mean to offend.
Forget it.
I'm sorry, I'll be right back.
So you are the one from Erulan, how interesting.{^n}{^n}In another time, maybe I would claim you and keep you as a curiosity. Study you so as to learn more of our great enemy to the south.{^n}{^n}But all things have changed. The Erulan Empire is shattered and a war between ancient powers threatens all life, binding humankind together. These are days of great purpose - what is your purpose traveler?
Ulfgarn bid me to speak with you. I carry his mark.
The ever vigilant Ulfgarn has granted you this honor personally?{^n}{^n}Ulfgarn is not a man whose approval is easily won.{^n}{^n}If you've come to speak, then speak.

Nothing for now.
I was just leaving.
By Mogdrogen's decree, you are to be granted sanctuary within these walls.{^n}{^n}But it is by my command that your head has not rolled, lowlander.{^n}{^n}I admit, you are a curiosity, but curiosity wanes and boredom make blades twitch in their sheaths.
I understand.
I mean no disrespect.
