We do not think this was related to a Black Tribe However, the stone head is intriguing. The mageling mentioned he found it in old ruins beneath the city.

Nanthleenee

Fine, it wasn't a betrayal, but it was down-right stupid of her. And now she's fled like a coward so we cannot hold her accountable. Whatever. I hope a kraken eats her boat. But we're still screwed on the negative energy issue. If someone can lead me to one of these altars, I can perform a Legend Lore spell to learn as much as I can about the magic tied to them and maybe find a way to undo it.
Osco

One cannot simply create such a thing. Opposing elements create this world but they contrast and battle each other always. They are one with this world, yet they stand apart from each other. Life cannot be balanced without death, as much as death cannot exist if there is no life. Elements sometimes merge in pair, but to merge all? This would not go well. Chaos would come and undo all their work.

To heal the Forest, one calls on the elements individually. They would call for the rain to quench the thirst of the land. They would call on the wind to breath fresh air within stale fields. They would call upon the earth to bring fertility to the grounds. They would even call the flames to purge the woods and start anew.

To heal the land, ones calls upon its spirits and its people. To labor and bless, to rebuild and plant the seeds of new life. One does not simply wave a wand to cure the land and return the Balance.

But before one can heal the land, they must end what harms it. A Black Tribe must be eliminated, and the source of their corruption destroyed. Hunt them. Defend their targets. Weaken them. Raid their supplies. Spy on them and learn where they go, what they need and want. Then Strike at these targets. Study their foul corruption so it may be countered. Then remove their wicked touch from the land one site at a time.

They must be weakened before their camp can be assaulted.

Nanthleenee

Addendum and Update #2:

Once again I come to revisit assumptions and present new information that may help us work out the best course of action. Note that right now I speak to the conditions of the White Horde and not necessarily the Black Tribe. I realize they are a more pressing threat right now, however these conditions will inform our strategic approach and tactical preperations.

Strategic Conditions

Temporarily Enthralled

It has come to my attention after some discussions that the nature of the enthrallment is not permanent as I had first assumed, but rather a recurring process that must be refreshed- it can be refreshed by agents with physical access to those enslaved by the White Staff’s magic.

While I do not currently know how it happens, we can take from this that some form of Enchantment magic is in play rather than a constant stream of it, this would make Project Moonlight simpler to perform and expand.

There are cases of dead gnolls and goblins, and kobolds found together when an enthrallment has broken. It’s unclear who started the fight or who did what, but I think it’s relatively safe to assume that the gnolls carry some power to refresh this enslavement to the White Staff. My encounter with them in the Hilmarch shows a direct coralation to their seeking out a local den of kobolds and those kobolds being enthralled. Attached

We can capitalize on this in innumerable ways.

Feather Totems

I have dwelled on this since the kobolds in the cave near Hilmarch, the totem that bore no magic, the gnolls in the area doing what I had assumed to be ‘collection’. It didn’t add up until another piece of the puzzle slotted into place with the nature of these creatures’ enthrallment.

If the enthrallment is temporary, has to be refreshed, and most importantly can be broken then we can extrapolate from experience that the totems exist as a signaling device to show the gnolls where to refresh the enthrallments.

We can use this to perform false flag operations (literally), mess with their ability to coordinate their forces and, critically, route out pockets of them that pose an immediate threat to our strategic assets. This is not a suggestion, we are in the information gathering phase. Acting now would throw our advantage away before we can use it effectively.

Unknowns

It is still not clear to me if the Black Tribe is acting on its own iniative and leadership (like a conventional force), and is working with the Horde for similar goals or what. We are still at a critical information deficit there, and we are working on it- Delilah is drumming up some support and finding people that can do some gathering there, however with how short our time is before the invasion of the Redwoods, I ask you to consider the following:

Difficult Choices

If Project Moonlight produces the result of breaking the thralling of a group of creatures, we can expand that. We can nuter their entire army without having to get close to the staff and secure our assets from attack with things like warding and- critically- not exposing our knowledge of this advantage.

This is the big problem, and the one that we need to tackle morally and ethically before we even think about using this against our adversary-- if I am right, and if we can dispel the enchantment on members of the white horde and if the Black Tribe is enthralled by the horde (I have my doubts but let’s go down this road because the question will come up repeatedly in the future).

We need to decide when we can start employing this. The moment we do, it needs to be wide spread and pervasive; our war needs to be won before the first rune is cast or we will throw that surprise away, the Witch could use their forces to attack our settlements and resources causing a lot of chaos and death before we’re ready to act.

IF the Black Tribe are enthralled and we warded the entrances to the Redwood, we might win that battle, but henceforth she will change tactics and our planning will have to start from scratch with an enemy wiser to our approach and capabilities.

Our battles will be harder, our victories exhausting and our successes bittersweet once the losses are counted, but I have to impress upon you just how critical it is that if we can develop this advantage, we withhold its use for as long as strategically possible.

Strategic Recommendations

Discover and Map Horde Assets

We are still knowledge poor on the Black Tribe. You've all said it yourselves, we need to fix this. Let's begin finalizing those plans and start acting on them. Delilah has been working hard on this, perhaps we can sort out a plan-- key concerns (to my mind):

-Are they enthralled or free agents?
-Are the Black Tribe so well provisioned that they can stay in their base indefinitely?
-Can we cut off avenues of support before they can muster anything?

Gather information on where totems are located. We take scouting parties or ‘casual walks’ out into the wilds surrounding Arabel and note the locations of white feather totems. For all intents and purposes, these denote an enemy encampment nearby. Cut them down if you must, but NOTE THEM in a file so we can map out their staged combatants.

From what I’ve gathered, we know the Horde stages in the north, if we can get some people out there to map the most likely avenues of approach through the area, we can use this to:

Learn How the Enchantments are Refreshed

Work with wildwalkers and sneaks to follow a gnoll tribe TO the site of enslavement. Learn how they refresh the magics on those enthralled. Do not interfere, do not engage with them, do not be detected. This is critical to the n’th degree: we cannot be seen to know how these things work.

Knowedge Testing

Let us test our assumptions by moving the feather totems and watchnig them- use of mage alarm or on the ground people to keep an eye on it will let us know if the gnolls stop by. This will tell us whether or not we can move these totems around to advantage us.

We shall complete Project Moonlight with a small sample of enthralled creatures and bring people who are especially skilled at breaking magic bindings, if successful, we will develop a ward to the same effect and try it out.

Finally, we stage a massacre near one of these totems. We use small weapons (such as shortswords) to kill a few gnolls, some larger ones to kill some goblins or other known horde creatures. Our sneaks linger invisible in the area and watch how they react. Then we follow them back to wherever they came from and map out the path they use. Idea being that most humanoids aren’t as careful when they think their mission has failed because of something normal (IE: The kobolds broke free and killed a party out to refresh their wards). So we give them something unexpected and we watch what they do.

All in all, I think our success is upon the horizon- we do not yet have the Witch nailed down, but we have their forces in sight. All that remains is to learn, test our assumptions, and refine our efforts. If they prove correct, we will make our victory within the month.

-Aspirant Keline Hallenthen

Follow Up Report:

Time: One day after the preceding event.
Location: Hilmarch Camp
In attendance: Myself.

During a routine mining trip, I encountered a small scouting party of gnolls in the mine itself. Numbering about seven, they seemed to be searching for something, there was no sign of what (or whom) they were searching for. The caster of the group regrettably got away, I didn’t pursue it because it didn’t seem to be aggressive enough to mess with the locals and I did not know if it was attempting to lure me into a trap.

Upon returning some time later, I picked off three stragglers from the party that had been searching for something outside the cave entrance. These gnolls were active, alert and calculating- they attempted (basic) tactics to out maneuver me and their caster actively retreated when the battle was lost.

This may also be related to the recent speech and activity with House Misirim, however this is speculation on my part. Of note there is a White Feather totem in the area, at first I had assumed it to be some kind of cause or conduit for the Witch’s energies to take root in the kobolds. Retainer Rismente Waldon of House Misrim took a long and concerted look into it and came up with nothing, it was a simple totem with no magic whatsoever.

Speculations:

The gnolls came to collect the kobolds. The white feather totem acts as a marker where groups can be collected by these gnolls. The gnolls were looking for someone or something. (They did not have mining equipment, nor would it make sense for them to be mining so close to Arabel). By not killing the caster, the Witch will know that their attempt to turn the kobolds has failed. The self preservation instinct displayed by enthralled creatures is not of the will of the Witch, but simply a basic state that whatever magic used perpetuates- like a primitive brain with territorial boundaries in its mind.

Questions:

Could this also mean that the process by which these creatures are enthralled is not instantaneous or ‘complete’ without some other component?

Sincerely,
Aspirant Keline Hallenthen