Long ago in the time of legends, an unexpected snowstorm hit the small mountainous kingdom of the High Reaches just as farmers were beginning to gather the harvest. Even as it struck, an army of goblins launched an attack against the kingdom. Most of the small kingdom’s residents managed to escape into the Fortress of the High Reaches, where they were safe from the goblin army – but without the harvest, they will surely starve. For the freak snowstorm was created by a powerful goblin shaman with the might to control the weather.
The King of the High Reaches was able to send one brave young man sliding down the mountain pass “mounted” on slender boards strapped to his feet. This allowed the High Reaches to warn the Sonaide Bri communities below that the goblins were seeking to descend upon their communities.
The only thing holding back the goblin hordes was the Fortress, and without the harvest properly stored, they could not last through the rest of the snow-packed autumn, much less the always-cruel winter. They would starve to death and wouldn’t be able to defend themselves. The goblins could then batter down the gates at their leisure without fear of arrows or boiling oil, and nothing would stop them from descending upon the Sonaide Bri.
Mother Una, the aging grandmother of the current king, went to bed praying for deliverance. In her sleep, the goddess Bráenna ap Túirenn came to her in a dream and delivered unto her the Croccán dé Túirenn. And when she awoke, the great cauldron was sitting in the center of her tiny chambers.
She effortlessly carried the great cauldron to the Grand Hall, for though it was a massive burden that would take several strong men working together to lift, for Mother Una it weighed no more than a tiny thimble. In the Great Hall, she used a ladle to fill every bowl with hearty soup, enough to make sure that every man, woman, and child in the High Reaches could eat their fill. Then she carried the Croccán dé Túirenn to the infirmary, where she dipped a cup into it, filling the cup with a pink potion. Each of the wounded soldiers and farmers who drank the potion found their wounds quickly healing. At night, Mother Una returned to the Great Hall to make sure everyone could once again eat their fill.
This continued the next day, and the next, with Mother Una feeding the residents of the fortress every morning and night, and magically curing the injured during the day. And so the residents of the Fortress, though trapped by snow and a goblin army, were able to survive the snow-bound autumn and the cruel winter in relative comfort, keeping the goblins at bay.
The snow continued into the spring. But then one spring morning, the soldiers in the High Reaches awoke to the sound of horns and drums. The dwarves of Kirienhald had gotten word of the siege and had tunneled their way towards the High Reaches. Dwarven soldiers were able to come to the rescue of the High Reaches, attacking the goblin army.
The dwarves were accompanied by Myogan, the Kestrel, a powerful Sonaide Bri mage. When the Sonaide Bri were warned about the goblin attack, he took the form of a giant falcon and flew to the dwarven kingdom to seek an alliance. His spells helped blast a passageway through the mountains, allowing the dwarves to come to the aid of the High Reaches.
As the dwarven army joined with soldiers from the High Reaches to engage the goblins in battle, Myogan again took the form of a giant falcon. Flying above the battle, he spied the goblin shaman on a mountain crag using his magic to control the icy storm. Myogan snatched the shaman from his perch and dropped him to his death. Within minutes, the snowstorm began to abate, and within an hour, the weather had returned to a normal warm, spring day.
The goblin army was beaten back, and dwarven and human soldiers traipsed into the Great Hall, where Mother Una served hearty soup to everyone after tending to the injured soldiers in the infirmary. It was late at night when she was finally able to retire to her room to sleep, the Croccán dé Túirenn as always in the center of her room.
But in the morning, Mother Una did not appear in the Great Hall like she did every morning. When the King himself went to check on her, he found that his grandmother had passed away in her sleep, her mission to save her people done. And the Croccán dé Túirenn, too, was gone, for the goddess Bráenna had taken it back.
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