| abstract | - A Distant Cry is the first scenario in The World Tree, the fifth part of Heroes Chronicles. Tarnum is woken in the middle of the night as the Ancestors scream inside his head to "Save the World Tree!". He feels compelled to travel northeast, but doesn't know why the Ancestors doesn't call him before them, like they usually do. He eventually finds the remnants of a barbarian tribe who guard some secret caves in a mountain, though they don't know why. Some necromancers attacked them and went into the caves, but haven't been seen since. Tarnum leads the tribe into the caves, trying to find out why he has been summoned. He asks some local shamans what the World Tree is, and where to find it, but while they pretend to know, it's clear none of them have any idea. It's an old barbarian story, but mostly forgotten. Grumba, Tarnum's second-in-command, tells him not to trust shamans - the ogre doesn't like spellcasters. From a captured necromancer's apprentice, Tarnum learns that the necromancers want to destroy the World Tree - they hate life, so they want to destroy the thing that gave life to the world. With the help of the barbarian tribe, Tarnum eventually defeats the nearby necromancers, allowing him to head deeper into the caves.
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