The following day, Darva shared a brief summary of the conclusions from the extended council meeting. Overall, there was consensus that an intervention unit should be sent to Hooren to assist if necessary, leaving the matter of Forgdom for later. However, there was significant disagreement about how to form the unit. Should it be composed solely of forces from the Kardum district, or should they attempt to gather it from all five remaining cities? If the latter, it would require time and coordination that they might not have. Darva claimed that the silver lining was that a substantial number of scouts had already been dispatched to gather information about the current situation.
As Darva explained, there was still a faction within the council that clung to the belief that direct military confrontation might not be necessary. They assumed that the Last Tribe had merely seized control of one city, consolidating their supporters there. Since the other towns were not aligned with the Tribe, it seemed logical that the Tribe would eventually be forced to negotiate terms for continued coexistence. After all, they could hardly imagine that, under the leadership of their Elder, the rest of the districts would simply submit and hand over the keys to their gates. Darva, however, dismissed this as the wishful thinking of cowards—individuals unwilling to bear the weight of difficult but necessary decisions. The captain agreed with Moira: The Elder had to be stopped.
By the next morning, it became clear that the scouts had not made it far. Refugees poured into the Kardum district and the city itself, bringing firsthand accounts with them. The debate over whether to form broader forces from all allied cities or only from this region became moot. It was too late for either option. Hooren had surrendered without a fight in exchange for assurances that no harm would come to its residents and that those unwilling to live under the Last Tribe’s rule would be allowed to leave. Fortunately for such individuals, the Elder not only accepted these terms of capitulation but also honored them. While there were minor incidents and some casualties, the agreement was largely upheld.
The accounts of the thousands now camping in Kardum and its surrounding villages painted a vivid picture. In Forgdom, the northernmost city, the Last Tribe had long enjoyed substantial popularity. Its mines sold their entire output to the south, benefiting a handful of influential and wealthy families with connections to dwarven clans. The locals, however, saw little of these profits. The Last Tribe's rhetoric fell on fertile ground, with calls to expel southern outsiders resonating among the working masses and even finding sympathy among the city's enlightened and tolerant minority.
The narrative was simple but compelling: southern financiers had funded the equipment, technologies, and dwarf engineers that made mining possible. While the city authorities had no reason to complain, as the operations paid significant taxes to the city’s coffers, both parties consolidated this arrangement, finding no room for profit-sharing with the masses. Resentment simmered among the miners and laborers. When the prophecies of ancestors calling for the cleansing of the north from foreign influence began to circulate—and ancestral specters appeared—the Tribe's recruitment skyrocketed. Within weeks, miners, shepherds clinging to traditional ideals, and many ordinary folks dissatisfied with their lot in life joined the movement wholeheartedly.
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Facing an imminent bloody revolution, Forgdom’s authorities opted for survival. They accepted the Elder’s offer: leave with their lives—and their southern allies—but abandon all property. The city seals were surrendered, and they retreated to Hooren, begging for assistance.
Hooren, while harboring some sympathizers of the Last Tribe, lacked the critical mass for a coup. Yet the Elder acted swiftly. Two days after Forgdom's former councilors and financiers arrived, demanding aid, the same letter reached Hooren that Kardum had recently received: an official declaration of Forgdom’s secession from the Northern Cities Union and a call to submit to the Last Tribe. By evening, an army of poorly equipped but numerous peasants, workers, and nomads arrived at the gates, supported by specters, beasts and the Elder himself. They demanded an answer for simple question: join or surrender.
Thus, Kardum—and likely other cities—faced an overwhelming wave of refugees from two cities. Former councilors and the wealthiest merchants and entrepreneurs, now dispossessed, demanded urgent talks with Kardum’s council and immediate assistance. Many, especially those from the south, sought to flee further to Aderon, the Empire, or beyond, cursing the day they had decided to invest in this remote land.
Moira reflected with a mix of disdain and admiration on the calculated nature of the Tribe’s strategy. There had been no massacres or kidnappings for ransom. Members of influential families, who might have swayed Southern politics or financed mercenaries to find a military solution, were unharmed. They had simply lost property and some wealth—assets that could be regained. It was a masterstroke of pragmatic rebellion.
Chaos reigned. Couriers spurred their horses back and forth, carrying letters between the remaining five cities of the Union. Kardum had always been a bustling, cramped city, even before this crisis. Now, within a single day, it had become almost uninhabitable. Lines formed at every water source, stretching endlessly. Efforts were made to find shelter for the refugees, both within the city and in a makeshift camp outside its walls.Nights were growing colder, and countless fires were lit to keep people warm. It was a miracle that the first night didn’t see a massive blaze; one incident nearly got out of hand but was fortunately contained in time.
The council’s grand meeting hall, like many other municipal buildings and spaces, had been repurposed as a shelter. As a result, the council convened in the middle of the night in Captain Darva’s office at the road warden’s garrison. Present were all the council members, most of the city’s key officials, and, notably, the first and only magical advisor in Kardum, Moira, accompanied by the same entourage as before—Ashan and Otan. A long night awaited them all.