Skarhald Clan

Skarhald Clan

Also known as: The Ghostborn Clan, Flameforged Defenders, Tiamat's Bane

Status: Extinct (c. 756 DR), but spiritually active

Known Regions: Starspire Range, Greypeak Mountains, Emberdeep Grove

Overview

The Skarhald Clan was an ancient orcish lineage of warriors, mystics, and nature-bound guardians who rose to prominence in the late 7th century DR. Unlike many of their kind, they rejected the worship of Gruumsh and embraced a code of honor rooted in ancestral legacy, resistance to tyranny, and the balance between nature and strength.

Their most well-known historical act was their open defiance of Tiamat's cults, making them one of the few orc clans actively opposed to chromatic dragons. This resistance ultimately led to their total extermination by order of Tiamat herself, carried out by her red dragon champion, Tazrith the Ember-Wyrm.

Although the clan was destroyed, five of their most powerful champions remained bound in undeath — not by curse, but by oath, awaiting the rise of a worthy heir to complete their war.

Recent Discovery & Manifestation

During the party's confrontation with the adult red dragon Vaartox in Session 38 - Now We Have a Hoard, the half-orc heir Xanphina, a member of the Order of the Gauntlet, called upon her Ancestral Guardian powers. In response, the spirits of the five Skarhald champions appeared in full force — visible to all present for the first time — each bearing an ancient weapon:

• Warchief Grolgar – Flame-scarred general who slew Tazrith with his final breath (Greataxe — Ashcleaver)
• Shieldmother Makha – Grovewarden and battle-sage who preserved the sacred oaths (Greatsword — Verdant Reprieve)
• Thargun the Scout – Sky-runner and storm-walker; master of hit-and-run warfare (Warhammer — Skybreaker)
• Garmok the Chainbearer – Capturer of beasts and breaker of tyrants (Flail — Oathshackle)
• Zarhanna Tidecaller – She speaks with the sea's fury and strikes without warning (Trident — Undertow)

These spirits accompany Xanphina and may manifest briefly in moments of peril or when their relics are invoked. Their purpose is clear: to prevent the return of Tiamat, finish the war they died fighting, and restore the legacy of their fallen people. Veylan Duskbane advised Xanphina to seek the champions' final resting places and return their spirits home to Starspire Grove (east of the High Moor, in the foothills of the Greypeak Mountains).

Destruction of the Clan

During the attempted release of Tiamat in the 7th century DR, the Cult of the Dragon had orders to remove all obstacles to her return. One such obstacle was the Skarhald Clan, who had pledged to prevent Tiamat's return from Avernus.

Five mighty warriors quickly made names for themselves disrupting the cult's plans. The cult hired assassins and attacked the clan directly, but could not stop their disruptive campaign. Tiamat therefore directed the cult to separate the champions from the clan and from one another, and to set a trap for each.

In 759 DR, the plan was executed. Simultaneously across the Sword Coast, dragon cultists launched wide-scale assaults on anti-Tiamat strongholds. This forced the Skarhald Clan to divide its strength in response, each champion setting out with a complement of orc warriors — and into the cult's traps.

Zarhanna Tidecaller

Location: The Broken Tower, deep within the Fields of the Dead, near the Reaching Woods

Zarhanna received word of a cursed spring — once holy to water spirits — befouled by black draconic essence. Scouts reported unnatural weather and erratically swarming kobolds. Knowing corrupted water could spread like blood in the tide, she went alone, trusting her command of sea and storm to cleanse the tower.

But the cult had seeded the Fields with a virulent magical disease, Whisperscale Fever, delivered through the water table into hundreds of kobolds, turning them into frenzied, hive-minded berserkers. When Zarhanna reached the crumbling tower, the kobolds came in waves — hundreds of them — chanting in Draconic beneath a sickly green sky and stinging, acrid rain. She held the tower's broken steps for days, her summoned tides battering the base, but was finally overwhelmed. Her soul is now bound to her trident, Undertow.

Garmok the Chainbearer

Location: The Shrouded Fen, within the Mere of Dead Men

Garmok was drawn by rumors of enslaved dragonkin — twisted wyverns and bound half-dragons held in chains. The mine was in truth a prison of the cult's design, its walls carved with infernal sigils that unraveled binding magic. When Garmok broke the chains of the enslaved, it triggered a planar breach to Avernus. Devils poured through, and the freed monsters — manipulated by layered illusions — turned on him in a frenzy. He died sealing the breach, his soul bound to his flail, Oathshackle.

(See Garmok the Chainbearer and Garmok's Flail for the party's recovery of his relic in Session 44 - Garmok's Mine.)

Thargun the Scout

Location: Stormwatch Peak, an isolated summit near High Ice, just north of Anauroch

Cultists hijacked a signal from a known Harper agent, claiming a celestial relic had been stolen by white dragonspawn. Thargun's bond with the Harpers drew him into the frozen heights, where illusory storm spirits crafted with warped Harper iconography led him into an ambush. Blizzards conjured by a cult-bound white abishai cut off all escape, and the true storm turned against him. Thargun froze defending a ledge so his scouts could descend. He is now bound to his warhammer, Skybreaker.

Shieldmother Makha

Location: The Ashwatch Hold, a temple of Eldara near Silverymoon

A forged plea from druids of the Emerald Enclave warned of unnatural corruption in an ancient grove-temple. Makha arrived to find the land tainted, vines strangled, and sacred animals twisted. A black dragon's essence had seeped into the earth, animating the wetlands and creating a psychic mire that turned her orcish guardians against one another with visions of betrayal. She held them at bay until her dying breath, binding her soul to her greatsword, Verdant Reprieve.

Warchief Grolgar

Location: Starspire Grove

Warchief Grolgar stayed behind in the Starspire grove with a fraction of the clan's might beside him. Tiamat ordered Tazrith the Ember-Wyrm to destroy the clan and its sacred grove. Tazrith burned everything in sight and slew every orc present — and was himself slain by Grolgar with his final breath. Grolgar's soul is now bound to his greataxe, Ashcleaver.

Ritual of Grove Cleansing

The sacred tree at the center of the Starspire grove lit up like a torch but did not perish. It still stands, but the body of Tazrith has poisoned the ground beneath it, corrupting it.

Once all five champions' weapons have been retrieved, the party will need to cleanse the grove as part of the ritual to lay the Skarhald spirits to rest and complete their war.

(DM note: this Grove Cleansing is a separate rite from the Rite of Sundering sought through The Ashtongue, which addresses the distinct infernal rift beneath Garmok's Mine.)

Relics of the Champions

Champion	Weapon	Name	Resting Place / Status
Warchief Grolgar	Greataxe	Ashcleaver	Starspire Grove — unrecovered
Shieldmother Makha	Greatsword	Verdant Reprieve	Ashwatch Hold, near Silverymoon — unrecovered
Thargun the Scout	Warhammer	Skybreaker	Stormwatch Peak, near High Ice — unrecovered
Garmok the Chainbearer	Flail	Oathshackle	Recovered by Xanphina (Session 44)
Zarhanna Tidecaller	Trident	Undertow	Borne by Xanphina (the "Trident of Zarhanna")

Last Descendant

Xanphina is the last known heir of the Skarhald bloodline — found as an infant wearing a scarred bronze pendant of the clan and raised in Hollowstone Vale. Through her, the five champions continue their war against Tiamat and the Cult of the Dragon.

Open Threads

• Locating and recovering the three unrecovered relics (Ashcleaver, Verdant Reprieve, Skybreaker)
• Cleansing the corrupted Starspire Grove once all five weapons are gathered
• Whether other Skarhald descendants survive
• Tazrith's descendants seeking vengeance — Vaartox the Red carried Tazrith's blood (see Session 38 - Now We Have a Hoard)

Appearances

• Session 38 - Now We Have a Hoard – The five champions manifest visibly during the battle with Vaartox
• Session 44 - Garmok's Mine – Garmok's relic (Oathshackle) recovered
• Session 45 - The Mind Gobbler – Garmok's final charge; the Ashtongue quest set