After a long-running war in the Dry Plains and the Ithmias, a definitive
victory against the violent regime of Juxa Steelhew was finally secured.
Troops from the Duiran Council, moving over the crushed bodies of Juxa's
trolls and their allies alike, secured the dead city of Hashan and
surrounded the citadel while the warriors of Bloodloch purged Tasur'ke
of the Troll armies. With the recent deaths of both Grax and Grufin,
Grumgeshi to Juxa's armies, the soldiers were discouraged and cut down
to a man.

In the wake of this success, the obsidian citadel at the heart of Hashan
cracked, allowing Spirean scouts and later representatives of many
factions to enter and discover a grisly sight; Juxa Steelhew,
self-proclaimed Queen of Hashan, impaled against her own throne by the
Blade she claimed mastery over. By the smell and the decay of the many
Troll corpses strewn across the dome, she had been dead for many months.

In the wake of the capture of the citadel, and before its violent
collapse, a strange and disturbing visitation occured; a Demon, Ruin by
name, appeared before the gathering, declaring Itself to be freed from
the prison of the Blade by the offering of so much blood, and
well-pleased with those who offered It such tribute. In the end, it
departed - but not before leaving the Demon Blade itself as a
benediction and a gift to the 'things of meat' that served It so well.

Chaos erupted as the Blade was contended for, poisoning the minds of all
present with bloodlust. In the ensuing madness, Damariel was grievously
wounded by Feichin of Bloodloch and the berserk Chairwoman of the
Republic, Moirean, and the weapon was spirited away by Spirean agents.

The location of the Blade rests as a mystery to many, and it remains to
be seen what the new owners may choose to do with the much-diminished
but malevolent artifact now in their possession.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Slyphian, in the year 414 MA.