Eyewitness Account of the Mage-Rupture Event

19 Snowveil, 124: Discord

To the esteemed Council of Kazenrock,

I, Captain Deu Frupin of the merchant vessel "Stonebreaker", write of a calamity that has befallen Orsia. What we witnessed defies belief, yet I swear by my beard that every word is true.

We were three days out from the port of Az'gith when the sky turned an unnatural hue. At first, we thought it a storm, but no storm in all my years at sea has ever looked so wrong. The very air crackled with fell energies.

Then came the screams. Even from leagues offshore, we heard them - a chorus of agony that chilled us to our very souls. The land itself seemed to convulse, great fissures opening up to swallow entire settlements. Fire rained from the heavens, and the sea boiled around us. Against my better judgment, I ordered the ship closer to shore. The devastation, by Baiqul's forge, I lack the words. The proud cities of Orsia lay in ruins, the land scarred and glassed beyond recognition. And the orcs, there are so many dead. Those few who lived stumbled about like lost spirits, their eyes vacant, their bodies wracked with some terrible affliction.

We spent two days scouring the coastline, plucking survivors from the water and razed beaches. Many slipped away despite our best efforts, their bodies simply giving out. The ship's hold now overflows with the injured and dying.

One delirious orc spoke of mages attempting some grand ritual. "The cult," he kept muttering, "the cult has doomed us all." He died before we could learn more.

Our supplies dwindle, and sickness spreads among the crew. I fear we may have exposed ourselves to whatever foul magics wrought this destruction. Yet I cannot bring myself to regret our rescue efforts. No being deserves such a fate as that which we have witnessed. We make for Kazenrock with all haste. I beseech the council to prepare healers and quarantine measures. The survivors we carry may be Orsia's last orcs. Should we not reach port, let it be known that my crew acted with valor beyond measure and that their names deserve to be carved into our records.

May the Stonefather protect us all in these dark times.

Your faithful servant,

Captain Deu Frupin