Late this September, the people of Ravenholt struggled once more against the twisted forces of the chaotic nightmare being known as Nikijo. Though their survival an their very skills were at stake, Ravenholt's defenders prevailed once more.

On the night of Friday September 20th, the fifty heroes who had vanished on a quest to defeat the Nikijo minion known as Colta were rifted back into town along with Colta and the other six death knights that were Nikijo's elite minions. Colta announced that he had enslaved the wills and spirits of these townsfolk, and that if the people of Ravenholt attempted to rise up against him he would Obliterate all of those whom he held in thrall. He then attempted to bring Nikijo's plane to this one, but a dark elf woman with strange abilities somehow focused the power of ritual casters to block him. Nikijo's castle itself was the only part of his realm that crossed over. Colta then created a powerful Chaos ritual circle in the center of town that he meant to use in 24 hours to try to summon Nikijo himself.

That evening, a man named William of the Joyous Guard arrived with more information and a message of slim hope. William had been the leader of the Joyous Guard, an order dedicated to the preservation of Order, before Colta successfully challenged him to become its leader and twisted the order to corruption. William told Duke Andros that he believed Colta was keeping the spirits of the enslaved townsfolk in a place called "The Oubliette of Lost Souls," on Nikijo's home plane. While these souls were in the Oubliette, Nikijo could use them to generate power for his ritual, but they could be freed if rescue parties traveled to the Oubliette.

Rowena, the Life elemental that once was Duke Basil's wife, appeared in town and gave Andros a rifting device that allowed adventurers to get to the Oubliette . Groups venturing to the Oubliette had to face their greatest fears but those who were successful despite these terrors were able to regain the spirits of trapped friends. Once a spirit was released, Colta lost all power over it.

the townsfolk also discovered another chance to defeat Colta. Since he was the leader of the joyous Guard, he had to answer challenges to single combat. While the combatants fought, they would be suppressed, fighting on the basis of skill alone, with none of Colta's Death knight powers. However, in order to earn the right to challenge him a warrior first had to challenge his way up through the ranks of the Joyous Guard, who had all been turned into undead by Colta.

Several highly skilled warriors attempted to earn the right to challenge Colta, but the preliminary levels were very dangerous. During the last round, the penalty for losing was a mummy curse and resurrection. Sir Thedien of the Ducal Household died bravely for Ravenholt in this fashion, resurrecting successfully.

Five warriors won all three of their challenges, and earned the right to challenge Colta: Arracor Stormhaven, Vastin Ardaen, Garth Seyseyer and Donal McRenn of Anvil, and Forestlord Ehawk.

On the night of Saturday September 21, Colta's minions came to Ravenholt again in great waves. Since the townsfolk had all been freed from the Oubliette of Lost Souls, Colta needed another source of power for his ritual. He sought to send his six elite death knights into the Chaos Circle that he had erected. The townsfolk gathered to keep the death knights out of the circle, for with every one that reached the circle and gave its un-life to the ritual, Colta's chance of success grew. Ravenholt fought off several waves of increasing ferocity, but the last wave brought a truly terrible foe: the missing members of the court of Eastwyck and Stormwatch, turned into undead and compelled to serve Colta's will. The skill of these warriors is legendary, and the battle between those who normally fought side by side was grim and ferocious.

In the end, few death knights reached the circle, giving Ravenholt a slight edge. This edge was increased when the Order of the Belladonna were able to prevent Colta from drawing on the power of the creature known as the Sending, as well.

At the last, those who had earned the right to do so came forth and challenged Colta to single combat. The first challengers, Arracor Stormhaven and Vastin Ardaen were defeated despite fighting valiantly, and were turned into death knights by Colta's dark power. Forestlord Ehawk, a consummate warrior finally defeated Colta on the third challenge. Colta's spirit was sent back to its bottle in Nikijo's castle; The ritual to summon Nikijo had failed.

The next morning the people of Ravenholt assaulted Nikijo's castle and obtained Colta's spirit bottle, shortly before the castle itself crumbled and vanished. They were able to destroy the bottle through the combined effects of Destroy Earth and Permanence Rituals. Stormwatch and Eastwyck were also rescued from Nikijo's plane where they had been trapped for weeks.

The remaining six death knight minions are presumed to be resurrected and at large. However, scholars agree that without all seven of the original death kinghts Nikijo cannot be re-summoned. Colta's destruction has removed the Nikijo threat for good.

While Ravenholt contended with Colta this Fall, the Order of the Belladonna fought their own battles against the minions of Nikijo. Though the Raven's Herald was unable to obtain many details about the activities of this secretive order, it is clear that they were vital to the defense of the town during those fateful days.

The Order of the Belladonna is led by Brandemante, a powerful being of order. The Belladonna exists to defend Tyrra against the Sending, a pantherghast-like creature that attacks men, but is only affected by women. This creature escaped last year and caused a great deal of havoc in town before the Belladonna were able to capture and re-imprison it.

Apparently Colta was able to somehow steal the Sending, intending to use its power in his ritual to summon Nikijo. The Belladonna, including Jatrina Sartosa, Emerald the Sarr, Emerald the Gypsy, Dame Lilith of Capulus, Taylynd Voltan, Kestryn Ardaen, and Michaela Bronwyn went on several quests to regain the Sending. In their final quest, with which they were assisted by many townsfolk, they faced Brood. It is believed that the Brood were merely nightmare projections from Nikijo's realm, rather than a new hive. There had been no further sign of Brood in the area.

When Colta attempted to draw upon the Sending's power in his ritual, the Belladonna had to release and then re-imprison it in order to free it fully from Colta's power. The Belladonna gathered around when it was released, expecting a long fight to capture it again; however, Taylynd Voltan felled it with a single rap to the back of the head when it had barely finished forming.

Colta was unable to draw upon its power for his ritual, a factor that was critical in assuring the ritual's failure.

The Sending is reportedly safely contained once more within it's prison, though some have speculated that the decay of magicks may have either released or destroyed it.

Dire the Stone Elf recently returned to Ravenholt after a long absence, and was liberated by his friends from an even longer mental enslavement. Apparently for the past two years he was completely under the control of a very old and powerful Stone Elf called Zakill Katahdin.

Zakill is said to be about five thousand years old, and to have been born in the time before the Stone Elves and Wild Elves split into two separate races. Through his great powers, he was able to seize control of Dire, and he was also able to control Dire's soul mate, Jatrina Sartosa, through the link between them. He was attempting to gain control of Viscount Daramor Darkcloud as well, and may even have succeeded, but Daramor was able to reveal him for what he truly was, and word went out that Dire was not to be trusted.

Dire was eventually captured by the speed and skill of the court of Westmarch. During the fight to capture him, and at other times, he displayed strange powers and unusual immunities to common magical effects.

Jatrina went into Dire's mind to attempt to free him from Zakill's control with the aid of Magenta, Stack-o-lee, Houlie, and Emerald of the Baljar Gypsies, Koriandyr, Sir Grim of the Ducal Household, Forestlord Ehawk, and an Illnarie that Jatrina summoned from the Stonewood Forest. They were ultimately successful, though they were all greatly exhausted. Zakill was imprisoned by Jatrina and the Illnarie, who took him back to the Stonewood Forest.

Dire is now apparently completely free once again, although he lost all memory of the time that he was under Zakill's control.

This September, further hostilities between the outlaw group called the Blood Alliance and the minions of Harbinger threatened the fragile peace that exists between the clockworks and the flesh and blood citizens of Ravenholt.

The Blood Alliance, apparently acting with powerful backing that allowed them to hire mercenaries attacked the two creations of the late Tinkerer known as Colossus, and Turbo. Some unconfirmed leads point to Niman as the source of their backing. Turbo was able to escape the attack, but Colossus was defeated and either destroyed or captured.

Shortly afterwards, several members of the Blood Alliance were captured. They had been hefting Colossus' arm as a trophy, and proudly admitted their responsibility for the attack. The arm was confiscated by Duke Andros. Lucien another clockwork who has often been friendly to the people of Ravenholt, seemed almost on the brink of anger, and actual emotion, at the bragging of the Blood Alliance.

One of the captured Blood Alliance members claimed that Colossus was actually traded to a Nimani, posing as a Voltan trader. Sir Dougan of Arkham quickly sent riders to intercept the cart carrying him to the border. The cart was found but before it could be confiscated, some clockworks counter-attacked the Blood Alliance. In the fray, the clockworks overturned the cart into a river and then fled. Colossus' body was unrecoverable.

Lucien had recently been badly damaged by another Blood Alliance attack, but due to stopgap repair efforts by the Toymaker he was able to recount a fuller picture of what happened in Harbinger's coup against the Tinkerer this August. Harbinger apparently used some strange power to force the Tinkerer to recount all of his life experiences, learning, and experiments, which Harbinger memorized with his great mental capacity. The Tinkerer then turned to ash, and has not resurrected.

Once Lucien had told his tale, a group including Count Gaerath of Arkham and his knights, Dame Anastasia of Dragonshire, Sir Havalock, Arick, Jordreth, and others brought Lucien to an abandoned repair shop, where he is currently being repaired by resident clockworks. Unfortunately, the workshop had recently been refurbished by Harbinger, so Lucien is almost certainly no loner free of his control.

Shortly after, Chronos appeared with other clockworks and ordered Turbo to report to Harbinger for an "Upgrade". When Turbo refused, Chronos shut him down with a vocal command and attacked. After defending Turbo, the Arkham nobles executed Chronos for his assault. Turbo has still not revived from his sleep state, and is currently in Blackpool.

Of the eleven captured Blood Alliance members who attacked Colossus ten were executed and the last was sent back with a message warning the Blood Alliance that further attacks on the clockworks would be considered treason, as it jeopardized the fragile peace that exists between Harbinger and the people of Ravenholt. In that message, Sir Dougan stated that "Harbinger has asked for peace, and has shown no hostile intentions towards us. The past is the past. The madman called the Tinkerer is no longer their leader.

A large band of brigands that had ravished the countryside extensively for the last year and a half were recently brought to justice. Sir Zeyr of Arkham who had been kidnapped by the brigands nearly a year ago, managed to slip out a message to his liege that the brigands held him in what they believed to be the ruins of a dragon city. There he and many others were held as slaves to assist in the uncovering of the city.

A small strike force led by Count Gaerath of Arkham managed to infiltrate the camp by means of a back entrance to the city and drive most of the brigands back into the hands of the waiting Arkham troops. It is reported that this back entrance was quite hazardous.

It is unknown whether any of the brigands slain in the taking of the camp have since resurrected, If you come into possession of information regarding the whereabouts of the leaders of any of these men, please bring this information to the Court of Arkham. Their names: Hans Bluesword, Jayson Amberwine, Erich Dorian, and Brent Hadrian.

Sitting by a warm fire in the sanctity of my private study in Ironvale, I, Derek Northridge put to paper a few reflections regarding one momentous occasion. I would share these thoughts with as many people as would care to read about the ascension of a previous noble of these lands; known to all as the most skilled of warriors, to some as a man of uncompromisingly great heart, and to myself along with a few others as a friend and true comrade in arms,-from local hero, to much more. The man I speak of is Vastin Ardaen .

Most are all too familiar with the events that took place during our recent gathering in Ravenholt regarding the death knight Sir Colta and his corruption of the Joyous Guard, but few know the details of how exactly this took place, and what specifically came of the situation other than the fact that Colta and his undead legions were defeated. I will try to do the tale justice in brief, without entering too much into a retelling of the entire month long struggle.

The Joyous Guard as I understand it is essentially a group of warriors, noble in heart, who have dedicated their lives to fighting for the cause of Order. Rank within the Guard is based upon skill in single combat. Therefore the head of this order has to defeat the entirety of its membership in honorable combat, and in doing so, "bind" them to follow him. Sir Colta fought his way up the ranks of this order and into its leadership position, corrupting the Joyous Guard away from their original purpose through his control over their oaths to the order. By the laws of the order, however, as Sir Colta had won control over its membership, he was bound to defend his position against any qualified challengers.

To make a long story short, Forestlord Ehawk defeated Sir Colta. It was at this point that a small band of weary citizens, myself included, journeyed one more time with the Forestlord to the citadel called home by the Joyous Guard. There we witnessed the true splendor of the order and more. Late though the hour was, beaten and bedraggled though the members of the guard were, they had assembled in full color guard to welcome their new leader home. For any who have not seen a brotherhood of noble warriors stand together in full honorable color presentation, that in and of itself was enough to take one's breath away. What happened next shocked most of us present while at the very same time, making more sense than almost anything we had ever seen. Forestlord Ehawk was given the choice to either accept the Joyous Guard as his, or to name a successor. As expected he declined leadership of the order. Rather than turn the mantle back unto one already within the order however, he said that there was only one man he could ever imagine leading such a group, and thereupon offered the position,(represented by the holding of it's sacred weapon) to Vastin Ardaen.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment . Vastin, his head bowed in respect for the Forestlord, with his shocked wife Kestryn and their companions from Ravenholt looking on, slowly reached out and accepted the blade. As the Joyous Guard knelt in recognition of their new leader, I was saddened by the realization that I would soon be saying goodbye to one of the best men that I have ever known. I also realized that the Forestlord's words rang true in my own heart. Though I will miss his sword and company by my side, as countless others will, I know there is no better man to lead a brotherhood of Order than Vastin Ardaen. Good Luck my friend; we will continue to learn from your examples.