Priory of Snowstill
The Priory
The Priory of Snowstill is a small monastic cell in the Diocese of Myrken Wood.
Snowstill's main crop consists of potatoes and other tubers. Due to Snowstill's more mountainous location, it is extremely important that the monks harvest before heavy frosts begin. Field frost damages potatoes in the ground and cold weather makes potatoes and other root vegetables more susceptible to bruising and rotting, which can quickly ruin a large stored crop. As a result, the priory's yield is carted to the Priory of Stonebrook, where it is stored for monastic consumption. Since little-to-no farming can be done at Snowstill during the winter, the priory is largely abandoned during the winter months.
Snowstill is currently in a state of disrepair after a large fire at the priory.
The Priory also served as a lair to the notorious Teron Ashfiend for several months. Upon kidnapping the barmaid Teddi he brought her there. He also used it as the staging ground for numerous unprovoked attacks upon Myrkenfolk. The Battle of Snowstill was the result of the Ashfiend's presence here: an alliance of native and foreign forces that broke apart the Ashfiend's undead forces and drove him from the Priory. The battle also left Alastir Savoy insane as well as precipitated the Great Madness upon Foggy Bottom.
Exterior
The Priory consists of two structures. The first is the main building, which serves as the monks' living quarters and dining facilities.
The other building is a small chapel that is rarely used by layfolk. It, like most other chapels of the One True Faith, was built in the shape of the Crusorbis.
The Fire
In the cruel depths of a recent winter, three warriors made the long ride to the Priory, on the basis of information given to them by the cultist Fawn. Throughout the coldest months of that winter, Fawn had explained, the Priory had stood abandoned -- and her master, Thadius Dhrin, had taken its empty halls for his home. He'd kept wisely to the inner chambers, where the light from his tallow candles would not be seen by any of the infrequent passers-by; he had made himself comfortable with silk and fur stolen from local merchants, had slain rabbits for their meat, with his own clever hands.Most importantly, it was there, amongst the rats and dust, that he now held Governor Altias Bromn as his tortured prisoner.
On the night following this revelation, Ariane Emory, Councilor Kerrak al'Nerun and the drow Jirai rode to the Priory with two aims: the rescue of Governor Bromn, and the destruction of Thadius Dhrin -- along with the remnants of his cult, the Order of the All. Heedless of Fawn's warning that Dhrin expected them, they were accompanied upon their mission by the physician David D'Rael, Councilor Suede Roschen, and the engimatic Nightshade.
The fields of wheat which surrounded the Priory presented themselves as a simple and obvious target, for a group aware that it was already both outnumbered and outmaneuvered. A distraction was needed: something to draw attention away from those who would storm the Priory itself; something that might strike fear even into the heart of Dhrin himself. It was for these reasons that, upon arriving, Ariane made only a single request of Councilor al'Nerun: "Burn it all."
And so it was that a heathen set afire the fields of God. Reaching down into the depths of his strange talent, the Councilor created flame to course and flow through the night, as dark-clad Jirai scaled the courtyard wall at the Priory's rear. With the good Doctor waiting at a safe distance outside, Ariane and the drow made their entrance into the Chapel proper, where Dhrin awaited them at the pulpit.
They had no way of knowing that the consciousness of enigmatic Cameron Holbrook had visited Bromn just moments ago, enlivening not only his spirit, but his massacred flesh. They could not predict that Bromn would stalk from his cell with newfound vigour; that, with the calm of a saint, the strength of a monster, he would seize the sword from Ariane's hand, and with it strike the head from his nemesis Dhrin. But so it was, and as silver-robed cultists burst from the night's shadows, they were cut down by strange Nightshade, who stalked the outside fields, and Kerrak's men, who yet waited just beyond the Chapel doors. It was they who cleared the way for Jirai and Ariane's escape from the burning building, and at the night's conclusion, more than a score of the cultists had died at their hands.
No triumph comes without consequences. His efforts that night very nearly cost Bromn his life; he survived only due to the later efforts of physician D'Rael, and the magic of Coran D'Zir and Jinx Spellfire. Similarly, the cost to Councilor Kerrak was immense, for the power required to set afire the Priory's fields was almost more than his fledgling talent could create. Even Jirai's unborn child was put at risk in this endeavour, and the Chapel itself was left a scorched shell, its benches and doors obliterated. As for Dhrin himself...
"You are a fool," he'd whispered, as Bromn came for him with bared sword. "It does not end here. It will never end." And in time, the small group would come to know the truth in those words.
The Battle of Snowstill
The Battle of Snowstill was the first pitched battle of Myrken Wood against Teron Ashfiend. His kidnapping the barmaid Teddi from the Broken Dagger Inn and Tavern precipitated the joining of many personages in alliance against the Ashfiend. Amongst them were Cinnabar Calomel, Seth Bloodmoon, Glenn Burnie, Patience Mayfield, Sir Malaroth Deucalios of Zachea, Alastir Savoy, Zalin Savoy, along with a combined force from the Myrkentown Constabulary and Shepherd Knights of the Silver Staff and Gray Lancers.
While a harsh battle, it is generally considered a victory for Myrken Wood. The Ashfiend's undead minions were destroyed, Teddi was rescued, and he was driven from the site, never again to use it as a lair. However, during the conflict, the Ashfiend also used fell magic to drive Alastir Savoy insane, while the attack itself also precipitated the Great Madness of Foggy Bottom. However, many Shepherd Knights perished on the battlefield holding the line against the tide of undead.
