On 13 Neth, 4429, disaster struck. Shoanti brought pitch-covered and pitch-filled canoes down the Jeggare River and snuck onto Endrin Isle. Although the first group to land consisted of only a handful of brave and suicidal warriors, with the element of surprise they managed to light their canoes and set ablaze the wooden palisade of the fort.

The Great Fire razed the palisade and all the buildings of the fort, as well as half the civilian buildings on the island and some of the docks and ships in port (including the Merciless). Many of the settlement’s most beloved residents perished, as did roughly one-quarter of the entire population and all but a company’s worth of soldiers. Only two members of the Sable Company survived, but those who died inflicted heavy casualties on the Shoanti.

Alika Epakena had seen the fire in a vision some time before, though, and warned Waydon Endrin. Endrin contacted Cheliax about her vision and the emperor responded by sending a flotilla of warships and an entire regiment of soldiers, which arrived only a week later. This influx of Chelish soldiers prevented the Shoanti from capitalizing on the settlement’s weakened state, but it signaled a subtle shift in power.