As Glomdoring struggled against the nightmares, their coming long
foretold by Mother Night in dark and terrible visions that plagued their
restless sleep, their troubles recently became two-fold: Queen Maeve of
the Fae, true to her promise to Radella Airmid of the Caoimhe Dell,
assisted the Serenwilde Forest in the healing of their plagued animals.
Yet this did not sit well with the Glomdoring, who's marshall boldly
demanded Maeve's assistance for her forest instead of continuing helping
the Serenwilde. Angered by that and later deeds, Maeve sent her away -
only when the Glomdoring Forest, led by Xenthos An'Ryshe of the
Ebonguard and Rowena Nightshade, came to ask for assistance did the
Queen of the Fae did she express her empathy for the Glomdoring, and
said she would not cast the forest of Mother Night from her, and
graciously offered them her guidance. Eagerly aware of what must be
done, Rowena Nightshade and Brennan Stormcrow fled into the forest to
prepare. Returning soon after, Brennan and the Dark Council, the four
skeletal druids who assist Brennan and Rowena in the dark rituals of the
forest, began to instruct the forest on how they had devised to defend
it. Taking the corpses of the animals of Glomdoring, each of the undead
druids, the Lord of Bats, the Lady of Wasps, the Lord of Beetles and the
Lady of Widows constructed circlets from the animal's remains, imbibed
with their power and that of the Glomdoring Forest. With effort, the
mindless zombies, wild harpies, faceless loamadores and predatory
thornbeasts were subdued into service, though it took many days.

In the interim, growing frustrated with the waiting, Rowena Nightshade
began to instruct the Night Coven of Glomdoring on how to raise a cone
of protective power about the forest. Feeding the Ebonglom Wyrdling a
variety of creatures from the Sea of Despair and the Glomdoring Forest,
the Shadowdancers managed to procure grotesque pustules from the
Wyrdling, delivering them along with shadowy essence to the once Queen
of the Night. As Rowena worked her magic upon the vat in the Chamber of
Night, high atop the Black Tower, more and more creatures were bound
into Glomdoring's service, defending the forest - indeed, many were
spotted slaying the very nightmares that plagued with relative ease.

Finally, their task completed, the Dark Council turned their eyes east,
where Rowena and Dominique Nightshade, with the Shadowdancers in tow,
beseeched Mother Night beneath the darkness of the New Moon. As the
forest shuddered and the creatures of Glomdoring attacked, driving the
nightmares from their home, the Great Spirit, Crow, took flight and
joined the fray, leading the nightmares from the forest. And so, her
opportunity showing itself, Rowena Nightshade called down a cone of
power about the forest, shielding it from further incursions - though
Crow now lied beyond its protective walls. With a terrible caw the Great
Spirit slew the nightmares in droves, until one crept over the Southern
Mountains, massive and terrible, its darkness spreading across the land
as it reached for the winged spirit. Joining the fray, Mother Night came
down from the skies above, and eventually swept herself and Crow to the
ethereal fold, and then to the reflection of the Merciless Forest.

Yet that did not slow the nightmare, who gave chase - Night sank into
the ethereal forest, along with her avatars, while Crow took to his
nest. There, the nightmare reached for Crow, only to find the trees
grasping at its empty form, its branches cutting and clawing at it. As
Mother Night laid her essence throughout the forest, even the Master
Ravenwood Tree came alive, his branches shifting the great nest of Crow
higher into the branches, out of its reach. The forest quickly repelled
the creature, sending it south, as Rowena's cone of protection soon
sprang up there as well, with the assistance of Mother Night and the
renewed chants of the Night Coven back on the Prime Material Plane.

Yet the New Moon would pass, and as the early morning light pierced the
sky, so did the cone of power fade - indeed, the Glomdoring procured
little essence to maintain it, and only the New Moon had sustained it so
long. Hunger, eagerness, vengefulness - whatever drove the nightmare
drove it well, right into the heart of the Glomdoring Forest. Eager to
avenge the torments done to them in their sleep and while awake, those
of the forest quickly took to the nightmare, and slew it, though it was
far more powerful than those they had faced before.

And so the Glomdoring Forest was freed, and its inhabitant's sleep once
more peaceful, though the dreams still lingered from time to time of
what could have happened. Avechna's Peak rumbled ominously at the
nightmare's death, and a great cloud of essence was spewed into the sky.
The First World would shake in a dark greeting to the deeds that had
come to pass, as many wondered what was to come of the Gods, the cities,
and themselves.


Penned by My hand on the 11th of Roarkian, in the year 225 CE.