The Neches'Re of the Roses, Miro Klippenwald, called on the Realm and her allies for aid. His manor Herzenruh at the Heart Lake had been burned to the ground and most of its people slaughtered. Expeditionary forces from around the Realm and her allies met in Zackenberg to prepare for an expedition to investigate what happened there. His Excellency himself, Miro, met the expedition there and gave a speech pertaining to the mission ahead. After, Castellan Stordan von Zackenberg assumed command for the march to Düstertrutz. The mission would end in blood, flames and death.

The Expedition to Herzenruh

At the northern Fortress of Düstertrutz, members of the Expedition, most notably Sir Antonius and Captain Oswulf of Waldesleben, met with the garrison to collect information for the journey and mission ahead. After a brief rest, near half of the allied force that had marched from Zackenberg remained within Düstertrutz either to heal from cold-weather injuries or to supplement the defenses until the cause of the destruction of Miro's Manor could be ascertained. Lady Sayeh of Sapphire Isle, Emissary for the Kingdom of Blackwood suggested the use of snowshoes to aid in traveling over the snowdrifts. These came into good use over the next leg of the journey through the forest (name of forest?) which allowed the expedition to conserve energy along the way.

At the Heart Lake, scouting reports suggested the lake would be a dangerous mystery. Sir Dagger of Blackwood urged that the expedition travel a more known path around the lake through the territory of the Narech'Tuloch. Many of the commanders agreed with this plan and thus the expedition avoided the lake and traveled around it. This brought them into direct confrontation with the Narech'Tuloch. After a heated, yet brief cultural exchange, the Narech'Tuloch joined the expedition. Together the children of Terra and the expedition marched to Herzenruh.

Herzenruh was a burnt out ruin yet its second story was still partially intact. The remains of the manor were examined for structural integrity. After, the manor was used as a shelter from a devastating winter storm. At this time, two children from the Circle of Redemption, an outlaw cult hiding within the forests of the North West territory of the Realm of Roses, were uncovered and interrogated. At the same time, an exhausted search for the bodies began. Captain Oswulf checked the bodies against a list of missing staff and personal guard, which had been provided back at Düstertrütz. The bodies were collected and placed in a pile in preparation for a funeral pyre.

Once the work at the manor was completed, Sir Antonious, now in command, ordered a large portion of the expedition to remain behind to defend the bodies and to provide a rear camp for the next leg of the expedition. With that, the allied force set out for the nearest camp of the Circle of Redemption. Upon arriving at the Circle, the expedition established a perimeter while the rest spoke with and or interrogated the members of the Circle living there after returning the children to their mother.

While on patrol, the party of Sir Dagger of Blackwood, Karmal, Phinea of Schönweiler and two Circle members and led by Oswulf of Waldesleben spotted tracks leading away from the camp. Sir Antonious ordered the tracks followed. Together the scouting party followed the tracks deep into the forest and away from the camp of the Circle of Redemption. What they found at the end of the trail was a very large Undead Flesh camp complete with two mages of the Circle of Redemption within.

Battle of Blue Forest

The undead appeared to be preparing to march in the direction of the camp of the Circle of Redemption. Using hand signals, Captain Oswulf ordered that the party run all the way back to camp to warn the expeditionary forces and the Circle of Redemption. The scouting party fled the area but were spotted by undead scouts and followed. Once the scouts reached the outer edges of the Circle camp, they split and sent up signal rockets to both warn the expedition and to confuse the undead. A volley of arrows followed them in sticking many.

The Expedition combined with the Circle of Redemption, who were not traitors, rapidly moved into position to defend the Camp and themselves. Battle erupted all around and the wounded and dying piled up quickly. The undead were more in both number and better armored than the defenders. For the first half of the battle, the Expedition and Circle attempted send out sorties to kill the Equalibri that had been undoing any progress that had been made against the undead. These sorties were more damaging than they were successful meaning it was only a matter of time before the Undead were victorious.

Not far from them Circle of the Redemption camp, a portal opened and from it came reinforcements, mostly mages and scholars, from Shan Meng'Feyn. Immediately, they came to the aid of the Expedition incinerating undead before them. As the reinforcements neared the expedition, the two groups united. Sir Antonious formed a plan to break out of the losing situation. Captain Oswulf took command of the right flank for the main battle line, Sir Dagger of Blackwood took command of the left flank and Sir Antonious with Stordan von Zackenberg took the center while the mages drew on whatever power they could.

The combined forced formed a wedge, with the wounded in the center, and broke through the undead commons they were engaged with and moved quickly toward the position of the remaining two heavily defended Equalibri. The mages unleashed waves of fire and wind at the enemy before them clearing a path and creating chaos at the same time. Sir Antonious ordered the flanks into a cohesive line and together the combined force assaulted the position of the Equalibri. Tacumi'lumas killed one of the Equalibri with an arrow while Davion and Karmal killed the last. The Forsaken broke after the death of their Equalibri seeding the Battle of the Blue Forest to the Realm of Roses and her allies but at the cost of blood and many lives.