Guts returned after roughly a year and rejoined the surviving Band of the Hawk for the mission to rescue Griffith. The rescue succeeded physically but not spiritually. Griffith was alive, but his body and future had been destroyed by imprisonment and torture. His dream of becoming king through human means seemed impossible.
This is the final human tragedy before the supernatural rupture. The Band risked everything to recover Griffith, only to find that the man they saved could not simply resume command. Their love and loyalty could not restore what had been taken.
For the campaign, the rescue should be treated as a secret event with scattered traces. Guards died or vanished. Records may have been destroyed. The royal court wants silence. Surviving witnesses may be hunted. The route from prison to escape can become a chain of abandoned camps, hidden doors, bribed servants, and terrified informants.
The AI should use the rescue as the last moment where human action still seemed capable of fixing the story. Immediately after, the narrative falls into causality, beherit activation, and the Eclipse.
This is useful for NPC motivation. A former guard may fear divine punishment. A servant may have helped the escape and now lives under a false name. A priest may investigate rumors of an inhuman prisoner beneath the tower.