Oriq Attack on Strixhaven

The title of this article is speculative or a fan-created nickname.

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Nickname The title of this article is speculative or a fan-created nickname. This article is about a subject that has not been identified with a specific name in official sources. History forgot her name but not her victories.

[["Information",[{"data":"[[Mending Era]]","label":"Era"},{"data":"4561 [[AR]]","label":"Date"},{"data":"[[Strixhaven]], [[Arcavios]]","label":"Location"},{"data":"''[[Strixhaven: School of Mages]]''","label":"Sets"},{"data":"[[Will Kenrith]], [[Rowan Kenrith]], [[Liliana Vess]], [[Arlo Wickel]], [[Nassari]], [[Imbraham]], [[Lisette]], [[Kasmina]], [[Extus Narr]], [[Tavver]], the [[Blood Avatar]]","label":"Characters"}]],["Outcome",[{"data":"\n*The [[Oriq]] are defated. [[Extus Narr]] is killed, and the [[Blood Avatar]] is unsummoned. \n*Several deaths across the campus, both among students and faculty, and among the Oriq attackers.\n*[[Will]] loses his leg below the knee and starts using an ice prosthetic.\n*The Hall of Oracles is destroyed and left in ruin.\n*[[Kasmina]] starts to pay particular interest in [[Rowan]].\n*[[Liliana Vess]] drops the \"Serafina Onyx\" moniker and starts to use her real name while staying on as professor at the school."}]],["[[Timeline]]",[{"data":"[[Battle for Kaldheim]]\n\n[[Oriq Attack on Strixhaven|Oriq Attack on Strixhaven]]\n[[Harvesttide Festival]]"}]]]

Oriq Attack on Strixhaven
Information
Era	Mending Era
Date	4561 AR
Location	Strixhaven, Arcavios
Sets	Strixhaven: School of Mages
Characters	Will Kenrith, Rowan Kenrith, Liliana Vess, Arlo Wickel, Nassari, Imbraham, Lisette, Kasmina, Extus Narr, Tavver, the Blood Avatar
Outcome
The Oriq are defated. Extus Narr is killed, and the Blood Avatar is unsummoned. Several deaths across the campus, both among students and faculty, and among the Oriq attackers. Will loses his leg below the knee and starts using an ice prosthetic. The Hall of Oracles is destroyed and left in ruin. Kasmina starts to pay particular interest in Rowan. Liliana Vess drops the "Serafina Onyx" moniker and starts to use her real name while staying on as professor at the school.
Timeline
Battle for Kaldheim Oriq Attack on Strixhaven Harvesttide Festival

The Oriq Attack on Strixhaven was a sudden and devastating assault by the Oriq forces led by Extus Narr against the Strixhaven campus in Arcavios, in the year 4561 AR. The attack featured swarms of insect-like Mage Hunters and culminated in a battle within the ancient Hall of Oracles, where Extus attempted to harness the Strixhaven Snarl's chaotic magic to summon a destructive Blood Avatar. The combined efforts of students and faculty, particularly siblings Will and Rowan, ultimately defeated the invaders, though at great cost.

Description

In 4561 AR, the Strixhaven campus in Arcavios was subjected to a large-scale assault by Oriq forces led by Extus Narr. The attackers employed Mage Hunters — hostile insectoid creatures with violet-glowing spines — to initiate the offensive. The Mage Hunters rapidly advanced across the campus, causing widespread chaos and forcing students and faculty into defensive action.

Initial defenses were coordinated by Professor Serafina Onyx and the deans Kianne and Imbraham, who identified the attack's strategic objective: to encircle the Biblioplex and trap the student body. Professor Onyx recognized deeper elements of the Oriq's plan beyond the immediate violence: the whole attack was meant as a distraction to darker goings-on.

During the attack, students including Will and Rowan Kenrith actively resisted the invaders, with Will utilizing ice magic to delay enemy progress until reinforcements arrived in the form of dragons, which significantly disrupted the Mage Hunters. Following this, Onyx guided the Kenrith siblings through forgotten underground tunnels used by Extus to covertly maneuver forces beneath the campus.

Extus Narr had infiltrated the Biblioplex, seeking to perform a ritual leveraging the volatile magical vortex known as the Strixhaven Snarl. After securing an ancient tome, Extus was momentarily impeded by a Silverquill student's attack and the sacrifice of an agent, Tavver, but continued his efforts unabated.

In the Hall of Oracles, Extus breached sealed doors and commenced a ritual to bind himself to the Snarl's power. Despite attempts to counter him, Extus succeeded in summoning a massive entity called the Blood Avatar, a war creature symbolizing apocalyptic destruction.

The Blood Avatar caused extensive structural damage to the Hall of Oracles and posed a critical threat to the campus. Will and Rowan Kenrith engaged the creature, with Rowan channeling the Snarl's chaotic energy in a powerful counterattack. Ultimately, Will combined his precision with Rowan's power to form a magical red halo to seal the creature's head, allowing them to suppress and neutralize the Blood Avatar despite Extus's interference. Extus was subsequently killed when crushed by the Avatar's hand as the ritual was disrupted, but the Blood Avatar managed to cut off Will's leg below the knee before being unsummoned back into the Snarl. In addition, the Hall of Oracles had sustained too much structural damage, and collapsed during the confrontation. Dean Nassari and Lisette rescued the Kenrith siblings before they were crushed by falling rubble.

In the aftermath, campus repairs were undertaken with the Hall of Oracles remaining in ruins and later marked by a commemorative monument. Will adapted to a prosthetic limb combining ice and steel, rejecting a wooden replacement. Kasmina took a particular interest in monitoring Rowan's recovery and activities. Serafina Onyx revealed her true identity as Liliana Vess, ceasing the use of the alias and accepting a permanent teaching position at Strixhaven, marking a renewed chapter for the institution.