Their queen is dead, their home is on fire and in order to survive at all, they were forced to release their greatest nemesis, truly the world seems dead-set against the Asrai. Naieth the Prophetess, Scarloc the Scout Captain, Adanhu and Durthu descended into the entrance to the world roots, protecting the remaining civilians turned refugees, located at the foot of the Oak of Ages, the greatest tree in Athel Loren which very soon shall no longer exist. As they travel deep into the roots, they can hear fighting and the sound of mortar explosions above. Fortunately, tough as they are, even Slayers are slow compared to elves so with any luck their battle should be over since not even the maddest of Dawi engineers would dare to send war machines armed with bombs into the roots of the world. Sadly it seemed less than a sixth of the Asrai population made it here. The tunnels in the roots were seemingly endless. Queen Ariel had always been able to transport herself and her troops through them at incredible speeds but sadly, neither Naeith, Durthu or Adanhu knew how she did this meaning they would have to take the slow path of walking through the tunnels, step by step.

As they walked through the root-paths an argument seemed to break out between Adanhu and Durthu. The two treemen loudly groaned at each other as they spoke in their unintelligible ancient tongue to one another. Scarloc, the Champion of the Deepwood Scouts, ran up front to where Naieth was to ask what the commotion was about. “It seems the Eldritch Elders disagree over our coming strategy.” Scarloc responded in a bemused tone “Since when do we have a strategy? I thought we were just running for our lives.”

“As we were entering the tunnels, I spoke to Lord Adanhu about our predicament and what we should do next. Together, we concluded that these roots only have exits large enough for our people at certain locations and as such, there really are not that many options open to us. Within those select options however, we agreed the wisest thing to do would be to follow the roots to their opening on Ulthuan. From there we may be able to petition one of the Asur kingdoms to offer our people shelter. I hear that the Kingdoms of Saphery, Avelorn, Chrace and Ellyrion have plenty of open natural spaces so hopefully they should offer decent refuge. The Kingdom of Avelorn even houses a sub-species of treekin according to Adanhu so they should be the ideal choice to hear our cause. Apparently, Durthu disagrees though. He thinks we should use our greater mobility while in the roots to travel to the Dawi homelands and attack them before the Grudgebearer’s armies can return home…I’m not sure how he factors in all the civilian men, women and children though.” Naieth responded.

“Are you so surprised by his reaction? Our race has known nothing but shame of late and now you wish to make that even worse by prostrating ourselves before the spire dwellers who prefer to keep to their own kind and corrupt our people from afar? I doubt our queen would have consented to this.”

“Well, she’s not around anymore is she?” asked Naieth rhetorically. “Our home has burnt and our leaders are dead. All I have left is my duty to ensure that our people survive to live another day and the Asur seem to be our best option in that regard.”

The crowd of people began to walk again when they came to a junction in the roots which led to more groaning between the tree elders. “What are they saying?” Scarloc asked once more. “Lord Adanhu believes we should continue our current course and head towards the Bretonnian coastline. Lord Durthu however, believes the other tunnel would give our people the opportunity to travel South far quicker than the Dwarves above could, perhaps offering us the chance to invade the Dawi Karaks before their main army can return home to defend it.” Naieth responded through strained expression. Adanhu motioned towards Durthu’s charred arm that had never quite healed from his encounter with the Chaos Dragon Galrauch, clearly trying to suggest that Durthu was in no state to start an invasion. In response, Durthu loudly growled as he lifted his sword and cut off his burnt arm, which was instead replaced by a series of whip-like vines which emerged from the wound of the jettisoned broken arm. And so the group was split, with Durthu leading a group of vengeful treekin and dryads off into the second route while Adanhu insisted on maintaining the current course. However, it wasn’t just Durthu that abandoned the crowd of Asrai refugees for Scarloc and a group of Waywatchers seemed to be arming themselves to go as well!

Realising this, Naieth ran over to Scarloc, “No, you can’t leave us we need you to cover the group’s flanks from any invading warherds!” Scarloc turned to Naieth and regretfully said “Just tell me one thing Lady Naieth, you claim to see the future. Tell me, will we ever see our home again?” Naieth’s eyes glowed a bright blue for a second before a somber “No” reply left her lips. “Well in that case, how can I possibly let this go? By Kurnous we must have vengeance by some means.” Scarloc replied. “And how are you going to attack Dwarf holds? They may be undermanned but you only have 30 or so Elven Scouts between the lot of you with very few arrows left between you and I wouldn’t rely on the trees to save you if something should go wrong.” Scarloc thought pensively for a moment before suggesting that Prince Oreon had set a colony up in the Southlands a few centuries ago. They had long since fallen out of contact with the mainland but if he could make contact with the lost prince, they may just stand a chance at gaining some much needed reinforcements. Naieth took Scarloc hand in hers one last time with a simple “Please, I don’t want you to go. I…I need you” but Scarloc ignored her final plea and left with Durthu, the more aggressive treekin/dryads and his own remaining waystalker units.

And so Adanhu and Naieth led the mostly civilian population further down the world foot paths towards Avelorn, well aware of the fact they would be far more open to attacks now with only a handful of scouts left to keep lookout up ahead.

Days turned into weeks as the elves population found themselves barely closer to their destination with Adanhu estimating they were all somewhere near the port city of Bordeleaux at this point. Resources were scarce and Naieth was already being forced to consider leaving the informed behind to die in order to make rations last longer for the rest of the population. A week or so back they had passed an underwater spring from which they had been able to fill their satchels with water but even that would run out in a week or two. However, this was made worse when the crowd lost contact with their scouts who were travelling ahead to make sure the tunnel was safe. Had they simply strayed too far for their smoke signals to have any effect or had they been slain?

The answer came almost a day later when they finally found the scouts bodies which it seemed had not only been killed but also had been dragged further into the root tunnels based on the trails in the ground. However, a horn suddenly howled in the distance ahead of Naieth and her people which was immediately followed by the thunderising sound of hooves approaching. Could it be a cavalry charge? Well, not quite for it was at this moment that Ghorros Warhoof, the Sire of a Thousand Young, could suddenly be seen riding into the light followed by almost a thousand of his Centigor children and were headed straight at the Asrai. The few remaining wardancers and eternal guards formed a choke point within the small pass in the cavernous tunnels as the civilians picked up whatever branches they could find and Adanhu prepared to fight off any bestial riders who made it past the front lines. Meanwhile, Naieth the Prophetess prepares to fight off Ghorros herself.

Love React: Naieth tapped into the lore of the heavens and as the Beastmen approached, she called down an immense Comet of Cassandora spell towards the surface above, causing the tunnel above the beasts to cave in on itself and crush them. From there, the Asrai left the tunnel to wander the surface above, hoping to find food and water along the way.

Laugh React: The Elven wall held the line as the centigors came into combat range, largely thanks to Adanhu’s ability to simply swipe at the centigors from above since they were so much taller than the elven infantry. As the soldiers fought, Naieth cast a chain lightning spell which thanks to the small dimensions of the tunnel, was able to massacre hundreds of centigors in one go. As Ghorros came into melee range, Naieth used a well-timed curse of the midnight wind to confuse him and lower his senses. Naieth approached the Beastman in melee, her eyes glowing blue to suggest she was using her gift of foresight to preemptively predict his attacks. She couldn’t avoid all his hits, and even took a nasty blow to her left knee from his spiked club but by and large she was able to predict his attacks and avoid them until finally she got close enough to stab the Centigor Lord in the throat with a small dagger. Seeing their father die and realising they weren’t having much success, the remaining centigors turned around and fled from the battle. Many of the elven spearmen and spearwomen had died in the fight but fortunately, only a handful of the civilians behind them were felled in combat. The elves continued to venture into the tunnels, taking the deceased centigors with them which they hoped they could purify and use as food. Hopefully, they would come across another underground spring soon for water…

Wow React: The Beastmen horde charged at the Wood Elves when suddenly, the ground above tore open to reveal a resplendent display of Bretonnian Pegasus Knights led by Duke Alberic de Bordeleaux on his Gryphon and the Fay Enchantress on her unicorn Silvaron, who evidently had used her powers to tear the roots open. The Knights rode down into the tunnels and smashed into the Centigor hordes, killing Ghorros and forcing the few survivors into retreat. From there the knights offered the Elves safe passage to the great city of Bordeleaux, provided them with food, shelter and drink and prepared a series of ships to take them to Ulthuan safely.

Angry React: The centigors rode into combat with the wall of Asrai soldiers, slowly picking them apart through sheer brutality. Naieth managed to wound Ghorros with a lightning bolt only for her to be stabbed in the back by his offspring. From the moment the battle started, many civilians started fleeing immediately, giving them some much needed time to flee. Eventually the centigors broke through the Asrai troops but Adanhu was able to keep them back long enough for some elves to escape. Eventually, the centigors simply ignored him and made it past where they proceeded to slaughter many civilians but around 2 in 5 elves were able to flee far enough into the tunnels for the centigors to stop pursuing them.

Sad: Ghorros and his Centigor offspring charged into the Asrai with the full force of a thousand cavalrymen as they instantly tore the wall of eternal guards and spear-wielding wardancers apart. Naieth channelled her spell only for Ghorros to violently club her head open with his spiked club known as the Mansmasher. Adanhu was soon overrun by the tide of beasts and knocked to the ground where they violently hacked him apart. The Asrai civilians tried to turn back and flee but without any cavalry, stood no chance of escape as the centigors rode after them and wiped every single one of them out.