Agobezen Field
Agobezen Field was a wide, long glacial scoured plain in the northlands. The Valga river wandered down a gradual slope of the Agobezen Hills in the northeast, pooling in the Variadun Lake fed by many streams. The area was a giant caldera, and had several warm springs of various mineral content.
Agobezen Cold Watch: A fortress on a plateau that oversaw the tundra for dozens of miles in every direction. It was manned by the legendary Chillguard – vicious and competent, who fought a lonely vigil. They accepted any and all aid, and were known to welcome those on the run for the law. Those that fought 15 years were settled nearby, to support those in the fortress. In return, their past was held forever at bay. The armor that survived is said to have residual magics absorbed from the area… though the few surviving Helm of the Chill Guard that were given to the Druids of the Wyld were altered to see the Seal of Gaia’s Wrath on their intermitent checks of the battle site.
The Chillguard
It is covered in Ice now. Using their fell magics, the undead besieged it for 11 years. They could not break the Chillguard. Then the Lich Lords found a way to with the plants and drive living game away, isolating the guard. Then they drove from the earth all its moisture and covered the area in frost. In three months time it drove all sustenance from the area. The Chillguard had a lot of supplies though, they had been besieged before. They settlers stayed, the legions of the dead tried several times to break the fortress, encircling it. The days grew long, and the clouds let loose frozen ice crystals for days. Lightning flashed n the west and kept the living army of reinforcements away. The Lich Lords themselves fought amidst the lightning, they fought hard to take the thorn in their side away that had prevented their forces from moving west for hundreds of years. More heroes and powerful priests were killed in the fields of the west than the fortress itself. The guardians withered away of the years. More than half were killed by frostbite and hypothermia, and they saw the writing on the wall. They assembled the old and weak and drank the last of the northern wine. Before the last of the clergy of Merkaine and Darupet the fading life of the living put forth, with their dying breaths, a curse upon their enemies. Those remaining then sacrificed the slumbering willing, and bled thems out into the dry earth. Those remaining drank poison, and climbed upon a pyre. A spell was chanted, and after all had passed, the pyre became lit. It was a beacon that burned as a cyclone 500 feet high, in the center of the fortress. A massive herd of Caribou came from the north, and created a dividing line between the armies of the living and dead. amidst this, a few of the Chillguard made it free (perhaps a couple dozen) and dispersed and their special gear with them. Most have been buried with their owner or lost to history. The forces retreated from the fields, and all the blood that spilled was pulled toward the fortress in the earth – the streams and lake turned red.
Sometimes called The Soul Blight, the Seal of Gaia’s Wrath is in effect. Now anyone or anything entering the domain (except the clergy of Merkaine) is sucked of all vitality – dry and brittle, skin, bones, and Essence crack and break – to such a degree that eventually the skeleton and undead minions of the Lich Lords broke when taking a step. The land remains cursed and neither side can make use of it. The broken legions of the dead fell when their bones gave way, and the interred undead rest, until the Lich Lords can free their minions. The Druids left behind flies, ticks and mites which feed off the Zombie animations the lich lords send to keep watch – they can stand the intense coldness – they remain undetected and watch the fruitless efforts of the Winter Host.
The area now stands as a more effective barrier than ever than when the living stood watch. Several attempts have been made to move armies around it by the Lich Lords, only to have it swept into the area in a hammer and anvil maneuver by the riders and freefolk forces of Kaald.