The Erovast Codex
Status
active

Investigate the Pestilence#

Status#

Active. Odine Dunmere came to Everdale hoping to find advice or aid for the pestilence ravaging the Thornwood Vale. The blight is now named the Wither and is confirmed to be spreading into the Crownlands. Gruvelda Duskbelt has revealed that Odine’s grandmother Mara sacrificed herself to hold it back, and that the King’s famed “victory” over it about 150 years ago was a lie. Source: 2026.05.05, 2026.05.12, 2026.06.11, 2026.08.18.

Known Details#

  • The pestilence affects plants, animals, and people in the Thornwood Vale.
  • The pestilence is related to the mist entity and appears to be a manifestation of its malignant energy or magic.
  • The corrupted horse seen before the party reached Everdale resembled what Odine has witnessed at home, suggesting the entity’s curse is affecting things outside the Vale.
  • Odine has black tentacle-like lines or scarring on her arm similar to the corruption. She told Jevon she has carried them for “about 15 years” (since roughly age 10–11). Source: 2026.05.12.
  • Marea Voss warned Odine that many people exploit misinformation about the pestilence and told her to seek true sources. Source: 2026.05.05.
  • Gruvelda Duskbelt survived the same corruption by severing her own hand. She keeps the preserved hand in a wooden box and wears a prosthetic. She said plainly: “None of these people know what’s coming.” Source: 2026.05.12.
  • Maralynn, the witch who taught Jevon, is from the Thornwood Vale and wields power that Jevon described as “unfathomable.” House Godrin is actively trying to find her, possibly for her knowledge of the Vale or the entity. Source: 2026.05.12.

Gruvelda’s Revelations (2026.06.11)#

Once Odine Dunmere showed her the ~100-year-old straw doll from the Vale, Gruvelda Duskbelt opened up about the blight:

  • She personally knew Mara, Odine’s grandmother. They became “long friends” after meeting by the river when Gruvelda was young. Mara “sacrificed herself—a sacrifice no longer remembered by most of these humans.”
  • Odine confirmed that Mara died at 71 and that the entity is as powerful now as when Mara first cast it back.
  • Gruvelda recognized Odine as one of the Touched: “Mara told me about your lineage and the burden you have borne.” The lifespans of the Touched have been dwindling over the generations, and she feared none might remain.
  • She confirmed that the hollowing (the blight) is spreading faster than ever and has begun appearing in the Crown Lands.
  • Mortals still believe the King defeated the hollowing about 150 years ago. Odine, tearful, called it “Lies.”
  • Gruvelda’s closing counsel: “True power comes from within.” The conversation set the party’s purpose: win the King's Tourney so that the Vale’s deed stays out of the great houses’ hands.

Source: 2026.06.11.

Leads#

  • Gruvelda Duskbelt: She has first-hand experience with the curse and agreed to speak with Odine in depth after the first festival week. — done (2026.06.11); see above. She remains a key ally and knows more about Mara’s line.
  • Maralynn: A witch from the Thornwood Vale who may know the entity or the nature of the pestilence. Her current location is unknown; Jevon is her last known connection.
  • Marea Voss: Warned against misinformation. Could be revisited if more evidence or symptoms appear.
  • Determine whether House Godrin’s drive to control the Thornwood Vale is connected to finding Maralynn, exploiting the pestilence, or something else entirely.
  • Determine whether House Wulfhelm’s current control of the Vale connects to the spread or concealment of the pestilence.

The Wither#

In an untranscribed session before 2026.08.11, the blight was given a proper name for the first time: the Wither. The names the pestilence, the hollowing, the blight and the Wither all refer to the same corruption. An Oathkeeper knight the party met on the road into Everdale is privately fed up with the order’s oath-bound inability to act against it. See Oathkeepers. Source: 2026.08.11.

Confirmed spreading to the Crownlands: Duke Tristan Blackwood confirmed directly to Odine Dunmere that the blight has begun affecting the Crownlands themselves, not just the Thornwood Vale—supplying the word “blight” himself before she could finish describing it. Source: 2026.08.18.

The Legend of the Dark King (2026.09.22)#

In Havenport, the old Oathkeeper Ian told the legend the veteran Oathkeepers believe:

  • The Dark King (also called the Nightmare King) was a ruler from a “far realm,” not of men, elves or dwarves, and “the very essence of corruption itself.”
  • It began with fairies and will-o’-wisps luring children to their doom, then learned to corrupt people from within and make them part of its mind.
  • King Aldrich marched against it with all his forces and nearly lost. Ian’s grandfather fought at his side.
  • Aldrich then withdrew his army and went on alone with only his elite circle of mages. The Dark King was defeated, and “all that was found left of him in the Vale was a statue of himself.”
  • No one knows what King Aldrich did that day.

Why it matters:

  • Ian says the Wither’s symptoms resemble what their ancestors suffered in that war. The Wither is now taking victims in Havenport too.
  • Odine Dunmere has seen the statue with her own eyes: King Aldrich kneeling with his sword in the ground, alone in the Vale’s forest. She said the tale is “very similar” to her family’s stories of the entity and of those who fought it.
  • The legend is widespread folklore among men; Aldric and Cassian both grew up hearing versions of it.
  • This bears on the “King’s victory 150 years ago” that Gruvelda and Odine call a lie. Whether the Dark King and the Vale’s entity are the same being is unconfirmed.

Source: 2026.09.22.

Leads (2026.09.22)#

  • Books or records about the Dark King war may exist “amongst the wealthy, those that keep libraries.” Havenport has little literature.
  • The convergence of the ethereal and material planes in the Westermere Manor undercroft may be connected to the rise in deaths. This is unconfirmed.

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