Beware Traveler: The content below contains spoilers for HeroQuest.
Dread Host
Among the many terrors that have arisen in the long struggle between the Realm and the powers of darkness, few names inspire such dread as the Dread Host. This formidable host is the vast and terrible army gathered beneath the will of the sorcerer Zargon, sworn servant of the great powers of Dread. When its banners are raised, the lands themselves tremble, for the coming of the host is said to bring fire, ruin, and despair in equal measure.
The earliest chronicles speak of the First War, when the Dread Host swept across the Realm like a shadow cast by a storm. Under the Black Banner, the sorcerer’s legions advanced with relentless fury. Warrior kingdoms faltered, villages burned, and even hardened soldiers fled at the sight of the immense horde. Such was the terror of the Host that many believed the end of the Realm had come.
The strength of the Dread Host does not lie in any single people, but in its dreadful unity. Zargon’s armies draw their numbers from many dark sources:
- Orcs and goblins who serve as the brutal rank and file
- Monstrous beings such as abominations and gargoyles, wrought or bound by Dread magic
- Undead legions—skeletons, zombies, and mummies—animated through sorcery
- Corrupted human warriors who have become the feared Dread warriors
Through dark magic and ruthless command, these disparate creatures are forged into a single engine of conquest. Bound to the cause of Dread, they advance with cruel discipline, heedless of loss and tireless in pursuit of annihilation.
The chronicles tell that the Realm was spared utter destruction only through the rise of Rogar the Barbarian and the heroes who stood beside him. Their strategies fractured the Host’s strength, and in a great battle fought in the high passes, the tide of darkness was turned. Yet the victory was incomplete. Zargon and his generals escaped beyond the Sea of Talons, and the remnants of the Dread Host withdrew to gather strength once more.
Thus the scholars of the Realm warn that the Dread Host is never truly gone. Whenever Zargon stirs in his distant strongholds or hidden wastes, rumors spread that the Black Banner may rise again—and with it, the countless hordes of Dread ready to march once more upon the lands of the living.
