1208 RE-- The Miracle of Ergsund Pyre
Date: 1208 RE
Outcome: Miraculous outcome.
Parties: Beguine Panne of Gaunt, Trolls of the Mar-Tal-Hro tribe
In 1208 the settlement of Ergsund in northern Gaunt was having a terrible year. The harvest had been mediocre at best due to an unprecedented early frost, and the early cold had driven several troll tribes southward from their homes in Oresund. One of these tribes, the Mar-Tal-Hro tribe, had settled in the forests surrounding Ergsund, raiding the settlement for food and hunting the same game that the settlement relied on. This began a quickly escalating conflict between the trolls and the locals that moved from theft to all out war in a matter of weeks.
The settlement of Ergsund is little more than twenty daub and thatch huts along one of the major roads to Oresund. Aside from the road the only thing of note in the town is the remains of the ancient fortress of Pyre, now a charred collection of half standing stone walls and uneven floors. Back in ancient times Pyre was a fortress of the cabal of the Knot of Fire, which was destroyed by the Wolf King during his conquest of Druma. Afterward Pyre served as the home of the local lord appointed by the Wolf King until the fall of Druma, at which point Pyre was abandoned. It remained empty until 1189 RE, when a hermit beguine (female friar) of the Redwood Throne by the name of Adele Panne moved into the structure. Beguine Panne did not interact much with the locals unless they needed healing or advice and most of the locals thought her little more than a crazy woman. The rumor was that she had for some reason left the hierarchy of the Redwood Throne in Luzerne City and traveled to Ergsund to find something in the ruins of Pyre, but she never discussed why she was there.
Three weeks after arriving in the area, a group of trolls stole several pigs from Ergsund and killed two farmers that tried to stop them. While the locals had been vigilant to this point, their defensive measures were proving ineffective. Under the guidance of the defacto warleader1 of Ergsund, the locals sent word to neighboring septs for assistance and retreated to the remains of Pyre with what supplies they retained. There they built up their defenses and waited with Beguine Panne for help to arrive. Unfortunately for them the trolls quickly pursued the villagers to Pyre and laid siege. While the locals were good solid, Gauntish folk they were outnumbered by more than ten to one. The locals despaired that they would survive until help arrived, but Beguine Panne dismissed their fears. She brought the villagers together at the heart of Pyre and told them that if they worked together and had faith in themselves and the Redwood Throne they would survive, ending the sermon by sprinkling the assembled host with holy water. Shortly after she finished the trolls roiled up from the surrounding forest, beginning a battle that would be nearly constant for the next three days.
At the end of the last day, warriors from several neighboring septs arrived to help and found the walls of Pyre surrounded by troll corpses and the villagers of Ergsund all alive, though exhausted, save for Beguine Panne. From what the survivors said they had been invigorated and "bound in spirit" following the blessing by Beguine Panne, enabling them to fight for three days without sleep and quickly recovering from any injury. Beguine Panne dropped dead as soon as the last troll fled, at which point the unity the defenders possessed faded. Both the survivors and the rescuers ascribed this strange occurrence as a miracle of the power of the Redwood Throne, with Beguine Panne being the agent of that miracle. Beguine Panne now is revered in the region around Ergsund as a local Agia (Saint). In addition, she has become commonly revered as Adele Agia of Lost Causes, among the wider ranks of the Redwood Throne.