EMPIRE EXAMINER
Special War Edition #21, DAEDALAN 968AF
"All the Empire's News That's Fit to Print"

NATURE'S GIFT OF DEATH: HOLLOWHEART BLOSSOM CLAIMS HUNDREDS IN ASHTAN SLUMS
By Winston Oxmiller, Chief War Correspondent

FROM THE RUINS OF ASHTAN'S LOWER QUARTER - The screams have finally fallen silent in the tangled wreckage of what was once Ashtan's poorest district, where the Hollowheart Blossom's murderous roots have claimed hundreds of lives in what witnesses describe as an unprecedented botanical slaughter. Your correspondent, observing from behind a particularly sturdy section of remaining wall, has witnessed firsthand the devastating aftermath of Lady Gaia's "gift" to the Seat of Chaos.

The horror began with a deceptively gentle cascade of molten droplets from a crystalline reliquary, followed by a shimmering haze of spores that seemed almost beautiful in the afternoon light. "Our lava!" came the first cry of concern from a prominent citizen as vines burrowed towards the subterranean heat, before the eruption of violent chaos as twisted roots erupted from the cracked streets, toppling fragile buildings and ensnaring the helpless. The screams of women, children, and the destitute filled the air as the blossom's virulent growth consumed all in its path.

Most tragic among the day's casualties was Guard Captain Valentius, whose final moments embodied the very essence of duty that he had demonstrated throughout his years of service. The Guard Captain had previously been entrusted to develop city-wide evacuation plans during the Wattley Castaigne affair, and so it is no surprise that he put those plans to action in the face of a different threat. "Come, rally to me! We must save what we can!" the Captain shouted, making his last stand against the crawling onslaught of twisted roots. With one final, galvanic effort to defend the slums, he was crushed beneath the blossoming briars - a stark contrast to the relative safety enjoyed by Ashtan's elite in their elevated quarters.

"We don't need to be concerned so long as it's in the poorer parts of Ashtan, do we?" one such patrician, Ulvin Devi, inquired of his fellow revelry-attending aristocrats. When asked by a passing Hashani if the devastation was what the revelers had "signed up for," a youth of the aristocracy proclaimed in the affirmative: "It's Chaos!" came her jubilant response.

REVELRY OF ROT AND RUIN: A PRELUDE TO DEVASTATION

This catastrophic "blooming" follows a celebration between Ashtan and Eleusis hosted in the Black Forest by the Wildwood Queen Herself, exclusively covered in an upcoming edition of the Examiner by our cultural correspondent, Darona Firedancer. The so-called "Revelry of Rot and Ruin" featured a grotesque carnival of mockery, with participants competing to craft the most cutting caricatures of their rivals. Three effigies dominated the clearing - representing Hashan, Mhaldor, and Targossas - each destined for ritual immolation.

In what now appears a grimly prophetic gesture, the Earthmother presented the Hollowheart Blossom to Overseer Grandue as a "token of solidarity," describing it as "a promise of transformation, perhaps even liberation." Who among the revelers could have anticipated the brutal nature of this "liberation" as it manifested in Ashtan's poorest quarter?

"We knew it was coming," said one such reveler, and even as the voice of the Earthmother later resonated across Ashtan's streets proclaiming the coming of Rot, and Ruin, Overseer Grandue Xeh'ria simply nodded. "As predictable as the setting sun," he mocked the Goddess of Nature.

"SUCH DEVASTATION": VOICES FROM THE CHAOS COURT AND THE SAVAGE WILDS

The response from Ashtan to this catastrophic loss of life has been characteristically mercurial. "Ashtan is no stranger to that which most consider apocalyptic," declared Emperor Emeritus Imyrr Invictus in an exclusive statement to the Examiner. "We mourn the slain even as we plan for a future which honours their sacrifice."

More telling still was the response from Eoka Nithilar-Tarxun, Voice of the Apocalypse, who expressed "little concern and a great deal more curiosity" about the devastating bloom. "I very much look forward to seeing what else now lurks below the sap-soaked streets of Ashtan," the Voice declared, in stark contrast to Guard Captain Valentius' sacrificial defense of the downtrodden.

While Ashtan's elite raise their glasses to "transformation," voices from Eleusis offer a more sobering perspective. "One wonders if such callous disregard will leave other Ashtani wondering about how the Archons' glasses will clink when it is their own family that feeds the ever-hungry earth," observed Sir Aodfionn Wintermourne, retired General of the Untamed Legion, in correspondence with the Examiner.

The General's words carry particular weight given his presence during the blossom's release. "The most-relevant information seems to have been known by all parties involved," he noted with characteristic directness. "Nature is dangerous."

As your correspondent writes from behind a conveniently positioned chunk of rubble, the twisted roots of the Hollowheart Blossom continue their inexorable spread beneath Ashtan's streets. Whether they represent a declaration of war by the Wilds or are instead the next step on the path of Rot entwining itself with Ruin - the true purpose of Lady Gaia's "gift" remains to be seen.

~~~

Summary: Following the Revelry of Rot and Ruin in the Black Forest, the Hollowheart Blossom wrought a gruesome harvest in Ashtan's slums.

Penned by My hand on the 7th of Daedalan, in the year 968 AF.