View source for The Swamp undead and the doings of King Sigismund

[[Category: Scribe Notes]]

'''The Swamp Undead and the doings of King Sigismund'''

These are old scribe notes recently handed to the guild librarian.

=30 June 1994=

The guild has been commissioned to undertake a dangerous but necessary mission to clear undead and evil influences from the small village and area of [[Gladheim]] in the County of [[Ormond]].  The Mayor Paul Squires of Gladheim has journeyed to the guild to get a party of stout hearted, brave and resourceful adventurers together to aid this small village.
<br/>

In the guild meeting room #3B the party assembles.  The members are	
# [[Father Broc|Fenton von Hecklyn]], An Elven Binder and Sage
# [[Prydera]], A Dwarven Mind Mage and Fighter
# [[Clementine]], A Hobbit Mind Mage
# [[Maxamillion]], A Human Namer
# [[Casmira]], An Elven Earth Mage and pacifist
# [[Dorn]], A Dwarven Fighter
# [[Thrukgin]], A Dwarven Fighter
<br/>

We are briefed with the following outline: 	
Gladheim is a small village of some 1000 people plus outlying homesteads in the Southern Feanargh Marshes.  A small ruined Castle is situated to the East of town, noone goes there as it is reputed to be haunted by the dead of the past, but six months ago 3 young boys decided to brave the castle and go looking around, during which time it is thought they found a large underground crypt.  The upshot of this was that only 2 of these boys returned to the village whilst 1 of the boys disappeared into the castle. The villagers searched where they could in case he had run off somewhere but to no avail and so he become 'missing'.<br/>
<br/>
Not long after this event strange things started happening in the village and people started dying or being killed off, which naturally upset some people who then decided that they needed a change of village for a while.  This emigration en-masse disturbed the village and villagers greatly and they sought to solve the problem by what ever means but they could think of none.
<br/>

The Mayor however had decided to run away too, and while he was running south towards Carzala with his Faithful employee Harold, he remembered a great and powerful adventuring guild of capable problem solving individuals of multiple skills and lead by the great and renowned explorer and cartographer [[Bartholmew Toadswart]]. He decided that while he was down here he might as well get some guild members to solve the problem and then he would return to the village from his "holiday" which it turns out the villagers don't even know the Mayor is taking.<br/>

The mayor stopped by a Sage on the way named Prossus in [[Uperdek]] who informed the Mayor of a few things 
# There is presently a ghosts uprising
# The village was long ago part of the site of the penultimate battle of the [[Drow]] incursions from [[Novadom]]. 
# The site is the "Battle of the River Landing" where [[King Sigismund]] and his forces of the Western Realm defeated these evil dark elves and destroyed their presence here in the Western Realm.
# There is a large Burial ground of the dead in/under and around the village as it was once part of the old bay before it became swamp.
# There is an evil at work in Gladheim.
Anyway the Mayor then came to us and the rest is history. We undertake party duties.
We decide we will take this mission and nominate the following people to positions in the party: Leader - Prydera; Military Scientist - Maxamillion; Scribe Fenton
Once these important decisions are made we continue with our preparations.<br/>
<br/>
We convince the Mayor to accompany us in the morning on our way to his small little village of Gladheim, and in the meantime the party splits up in order to maximise it available time to it's best advantage.  So half the party go to the Crazy Horse pub for a good drinking session (as dwarves are inclined to do) and I go to the library and start some research on the area to which we are going.
Little information is forthcoming on the area as it is little traveled by guild members or indeed surveyed by anyone else it seems.  Equipment is purchased and passage arranged by ship for the morrow by Maxamillion.  I know the danger of pirate encounters at sea and decide to buy a battering ram, once at the ship yards I purchase a 300lb 'log' for my purposes although the log does turn out to be quite phallic shaped as it was to have been the forelog of the 'SS Hardship'.   I learn of a possible contact among the pirates if we should encounter him , namely Red Daniel cons Satchel (cuckold in law) , a gentleman of repute who stole Gerald Satchels wife.
<br/>

=1st July 1994=
The party wakes early as arranged and meets outside the guild gates in the courtyard at 8am.
The ship "The Swamp Spirit"  is leaving at 9am so we proceed to the docks.  Pridera gets a fright when she sees my log at my side and wants to know what that is, I explain and although she accepts the explanation I feel she is not particularly happy about my new possession.  The rest of the days travel is uneventful and we complete some days towards ranking various things.

=2nd July 1994=
Dawn sees us passing westward of [[Sanctuary]] and no encounters as we do.  The day passes in blissful peace.  Night Passes..... .

=3rd July 1994=
We are still sailing and have no encounters.	Night passes......

=4th July 1994=
We arrive at the town of Uperdek around 4pm after a hard days sailing through the shallow waters. The area is humid, fishy smelling, rundown and swampy and that was just coming into the docks area, the town itself ain't no portrait of a saint either!  The mayor (Paul) says we should make haste to the tower of [[Prossus the Sage]] who lives to the east of town, there we will meet someone else of the Mayor's staff!.	I look around the harbour and discover after some careful looking that some of the ships in the harbour are possibly seaworthy - I spot 2 Bowcourtian naval frigates in the harbour.  One of these is a hulk and likely to sink as I watch while the other is a pristine condition battle frigate of power so I merely take note of its name and colours and then continue on my way.  <br/>

I cast the flying spell on my log as it is too much to carry and then sling it over my shoulder as we leave town and enter the countryside.   Some 2 hours later at about 6pm we reach the tower of Prossus the Sage (the tower is 60' wide at the base and some 60' high, @ 3 floors + a roof - I Guess??)
We are introduced to Prossus who turns out to be a stunted short ugly fellow of short temper who takes an immediate liking to our companion Clemintine the Hobbit. <br/>

Anyway he reveals that he has been doing some research on the subject and has found an ancient prophecy regarding the area where we are headed to.  It is by '[[Mad Barton]] the Mad Monk of Midheim' who lived some 500 years ago around the time of the great battle involving King Sigismund and a F#*?"!& lot of evil, nasty, disgusting and vile Drow. 
The prophecy reads	''At the battle of river landing, Seven from the Seagate Guild met the _______????, and told him of the troubles, and sent him on his way''
<br/>

He has also found that there was a great relic used against the Drow, namely the [[Lost Orb of Namange]] which is a fabled lost relic of the Western Kingdom!  Bob arrives at the tower at this point and gets hold of me.  I am mystified at how he finally found me but he says he 'felt' my presence nearby so he came and found me!  Anyway we are reunited for the first time since that terrible storm in Seagate in which Lath was involved some 18 months ago, so we go over some old times while he avoids telling me what he has been doing- where he has been- how bad he has been etc!!!!   We stay here the night and we have no further encounters or wild occurrences.

=5th July 1994=
The morning dawns bright and clear, by 8am we are on our way with some provisions provided by Prossus for money of course.	We travel until noon when we meet a Bowcourtian Caravan on it's way to the coast and it looks well guarded so we decide to give it a wide berth.  Once we are past it Bob appears beside my ear and tells me he was just flying around inside the caravan ( where there was a lot of valuable silk by the way - he says in passing )  and he noticed some women tied up in the back of the wagon along with a man armed with a whip such as the slavers have.
<br/>
At this time up rides a knight by the name of [[Carlos of Dumar]] who is traveling home from the war, we inform him of the grave news and together we concoct a plan.	I act as a ferry service getting the group past the caravan at speed and into a suitable position to ambush them on a forest trail that they must pass through.  We ambush them and in the fight Bob disappears and we can't find him at all, also we find there aren't any slaves in the wagons.  We recover some salvage anyway (as per our guild contract) since we find these are members of the Sanctuary assassin's Guild. The evidence is then burnt to a crisp and we continue on our peaceful merry way.  Night Passes....

=6th July 1994=
We continue traveling to Gladheim this day and it is uneventful. We finally reach the village of Gladheim by 6pm this night and we spend the evening at the Mayor's residence (after slipping in the back door under cover of a light fog).  Night passes...

=7th July 1994=

We awake to find great commotion in the Village, apparently the have been more murders in the night and the townspeople are terrified. We do some scouting around and find some bodies in an alleyway and an old skeleton in a boarded up house but this looks like it died of natural causes.  We try to calm the townsfolk but most are very upset.  We decide to try and protect the village by patrolling around tonight and also organise the villagers into patrol groups.  	We feel during the night evil magic wash over us but we resist and soon screams split the night but we fail to find the source. Night Passes...!

=8th July 1994=
We wake to find yet more are dead in the village and it seems that friend shave killed friends and brother killed sisters too!  This is bad.  We decide to examine the nearby castle to see if it is the source of the bad 'vibes' the village is experiencing.  We leave at noon and get to the castle by 1pm.  The weather changes from bright and sunny to gray and overcast almost as we come within 200ft of the dark and foreboding castle walls.<br/>
<br/>
The castle appears to be a ruin but closer examination reveals several towers still standing along with sizable portions of the walls.  We enter the castle via the main gates and soon we detect minds in the locality, 1 sneaky and several undead like ones. We find an old (34yrs) skeleton of an elf and then notice that we have seen no wildlife for some 2km now and upon reflection the mayor says none has been around here for about 3 months now.<br/>
<br/>
We find the keeps graveyard and note that about a dozen of the graves are disturbed, the castle appears to have belonged to the Van der Horst clan and the last one of the line died some 180 years ago and the oldest grave is dated some 300 years ago.  All the clan (some 20 people) died within 120 years.<br/>
<br/>
We search the towers and environs and find some creatures. After a short combat I overcame some monsters but required healing. Pridera healed me again.  We exhume some of the graves and recover some possessions from the graves.  We decide to camp here for the night, in the woods around the castle. <br/>
<br/>
During the night Clemintine and I decide to fly over the castle to see if there is anything we failed to see in the day in the area.  As we do so Clemintine is struck by a mind telling her to kill me but she thankfully resists and tells me of this.  We speed out of range and head back to the party. We see on our return 2 skeletons heading for the party and we head straight for them and turn the log broadside thereby smashing the skeletons to small bones.  We double our watches for the rest of the night. Night Passes...!

=9th July 1994=
We awake in the morning after a disturbed nights rest and return to the village of Gladheim.
We find yet more deaths and the village with less and less people, as each night more families leave and depart for more peaceful climes.  The situation is getting desperate!!  We get Thrukgin healed of an injury by the town doctor and plan yet more security for the village.  <br/>
Evening approaches and we again band together security patrols.  We (the party) all decide to sleep together in the mayors common room.  During the night Bob returns but he doesn't seem to be himself and in fact turns out to have been possessed by some evil thing and acts very demonic.  We attempt to capture and disable him but he eludes us and flys through the door.  Now I am worried , maybe the bad thing is Bob??     Night passes........!


=10th July 1994=

Yet more deaths have occurred and we are seemingly powerless to stop them. We do the only thing we can and call a town meeting.  We advise everyone to visit their relatives for a few days while we cleanse the area of its evil and nasty influences.  They readily agree to leave for a week under these circumstances, while we travel to [[Mordeaux]] to ask for the Bishop's help in this matter as we believe we need some sort of Exorcism here.  We leave at about 4pm for our journey to Mordeaux.<br/>
<br/>
Have decided to fly as it is quickest and we believe time is of the essence.  I can only take half the party at a time so I first take Casmira, Maxamillion, Dorn and Clementine some 90 miles by teatime and land them in a meadow beyond a small hamlet. I then return for the others.
By the time we link up again there are lots of the locals around the party members and they are acting scared of us. Clementine screams "Don't just stand there bring us some food you cretins" , and so a young lad brings us some food and he says he wants to be an adventurer.  We inquire his age and status and find he is 12 and lives with his grandfather in the hamlet. We say he can join us if his grandfather says he can - Pridera asks for this permission to be in written form.<br/>
<br/>
After Dinner we take off again but with Pridera, Thrukgin and Dorn in the first load and I deposit them some 10 miles short of Mordeaux.  Upon returning to the others I find the boy (whose name is given as Ulrik - by Clementine as she didn't like the name Jack Thingy) has a note from his grandfather (but in Clementine's handwriting) saying that he can go so I take all the rest of the party and join up for the last leg. Pridera shows no real surprise at the note and readily accepts the boy into the party.  We set up camp for the night in wooded area South of Mordeaux. Night passes.....

=11th July 1994=
We arrive at Mordeaux and go direct to the main temple to see the Bishop, but he is away at the war and so we are shown to a lessor priest and meet a Michealine knight - Sir Guivard.  We are then all examined, mind read and asked why we have come here, we tell them what has happened and they ask us to wait while they confer.  They say we are free to roam the public areas of the temple for the next 2 hours until they have decided what to do about the problem.<br/>
<br/>
I meet a priest and spill the problems of my soul to him and then I decide to become an acolyte of Gabriel who is aligned to the powers of light.  I spend the rest of the day with this priest when we are told that we will be leaving with some help for us.  Night Passes....

=12th July 1994=
The priests still discuss what to do.  I do research and meditate with Casmira. Night Passes.......

=13th July 1994=		
We all meet Captain Azgarg of the Michealine's ,his five men and a Gabrielite named Galanin, who are to accompany us back to the castle and aid us in the destruction and cleansing of whatever evil  and depraved power resides there.   I enter the room wearing the white acolyte robes of a Gabrielite and the party stare in awe.  Pridera has a go at me and questions my decision but in the end accepts my right of choice and I am now Acolyte Ga'Fenton of the Gabrielites.  I decide to use the Temple library to do research on our intended destination and what happened there so I spend my day in the library.<br/>
<br/>
A nice guy by the name of Ephraphenous is the chief Librarian.  I spend the time after the evening meal meditating with Casmira on peace and well-being.	Night Passes......
The results of my researches are as follows
* 500 years ago the present Feneargh Swamp was a sea passage called the Fennel Bay which was picturesque and extended all the way to Bowcourt
* Gladheim is the direct point or the most discernible point of the Drow incursion.
* The "beach" under Gladheim was the site of the Major battle called the Battle of the River landing.	A Drow unit set up a portal from Novadom for them to invade through.
* The battle was joined by Sigismund and his sons who was holidaying on the shore at the time.	and he used his orb to vanquish the undead and the battle was won after some 100,000 Drow had died, they were buried in a mass grave near the present town.
* The aftereffects of the orb created the swamp when it buried the bodies and changed the bay.
* The [[Van der Horst]] family was founded by a Gabrielite knight who was made a count after defeating a rebellious Baron at Ranke,  this was granted by the Marquis of Bowcourt.
* He married a Ranke lady and was the First and Last Count of Ormond.

=14th July 1994=

We leave in the morning by way of Shadow Wings and log, using these modes of transport we arrive at Gladheim by 2pm.  The troops quickly disperse around the village and destroy anything remotely threatening in their efficient style of "Marines" combat tactics.  We get souped up after clearing the village and prepare for the Castle.<br/>
<br/>
We move to the Castle and ESP to detect the nearby minds and apart from ours - a devious but sleepy mind, an exhausted/annoyed mind, 12 eating/hungry minds and lots of semi sentients but no local animal life to the range of the spell.  Knowing this information we enter the castle and find several skeletons which are quickly dispatched by by the Michealites.  Enter the Keep and descend, searching rooms as we go.  We enter the Vaults below the castle after negotiating a 40ft drop to the floor, the stairs have been destroyed in the past and find some people down here waiting for us.	Albrecht, Durar and Von Goph are here but only Albrecht is alive as the others weren't quite as good as Albrecht is. We convince Albrecht to accompany us for some monetary reward and he readily agrees, this suits us well as we realise that we have no 'mechanically apt' people in our party at present.<br/>
<br/>
We try to clear this level and start searching, we find several secret doors with no discernible treasure.	We descend down some stair into an unpleasant gas filled room and I create a bellows to blow some of the smell away which is mildly successful. We discover two upright menhirs in the room and a strange looking space between them.  Investigation reveals this to be some sort of teleport.  We decide to test if it works and so Thruckgin throws the bellows through the gap, there is a blinding flash of light and we then find ourselves on a beach on a bright summers day.

=14th July 1494=
We overcome our disorientation quickly and then assess our surroundings. None of us recognise them so I flying up and scout the area, I see a small boat nearing the beach and I descend to the party and inform them.  I then go to get a closer look and see them as a few fair skinned albeit a bit sick looking elves. Unfortunately I seem to get too close and bear the brunt of a sleep spell,  consequently blacking out.  I splash down in the water as the party move into a defensive formation on the beach while preparing for combat.  The boat lands and battle is joined with the result that all but one of the Michaelites are killed, the party are beaten off but they capture an elf who now turns out to be a disguised Drow.<br/>
<br/>
I am taken by the drow and tortured for information of why we are there and who we are and miscellanious other details. They then compel me to kill the party "In as subtle way as is possible without arousing suspicion".  The party after the battle and seeing me splash down and captured then decide time is of the essence and depart to warn the king.<br/>
<br/>
Later that afternoon the Drow again come into contact with the party and arrange to swap me for the drow captive ( less his expensive gear and conversly mine ), the exchange happens without mishap and I am returned to the party to carry out my compelled mission.
Two hours later and some distance from a town the party decide we need to travel faster and so I volunteer to fly some of them and then return for the rest of the party.<br/>
<br/>
I take all of the party except Clementine, Maxamillion and Thruckgin and head of out to sea. Once out of sight of the others ( who stop and look around for a camp ) I do a barrel roll and dump my passengers in the drink ' I was hoping they would drown'.  But they manage to trigger a spell at me which stuns me and so I splash down yet again.  Recovering I fly off by Instill Flighting my boots.
I head for the shore and find another fallen log for me to use  and I head back for the remainder but I find that they were already suspicious of me and have their weapons ready, so I decide to ram then with my log in order to incapacitate them.  A short battle ensures whereby I am shot several times and fall mortally wounded to earth - but yet I survive again.<br/>
<br/>
Later on the party members from the sea reemerge and they reunite with the land members - I didn't manage to kill a single one of them (how sad) and they find out that I was compelled to do this and so they counter the compulsion with another.
Anyway the drow must have realised this and so they end up coming after the party, again I offer to fly people around and they accept, only Max holds a dagger to my throat for the entire flight.  We manage to get to a castle which is then seiged and almost flattened soon after we arrive there.  I and the others decide to sacrifice ourselves so that Max and Prydera have a chance to escape via the secret underground  tunnels. <br/>
<br/>
The battle looks hopeless but we keep up our efforts at tying down the drow and them occupied here at the castle.   It turns out that Max and Prydera did get away and later that same afternoon are approached by a mounted troop of Knights that enquire as to their business, this is quickly explained and after being checked by some mages are shown into the presence of King Sigismund - King of the Western Kingdom.  Hurried talk ensues between all the parties.
Finally the siege of the castle is lifted and the penultimate battle occurs on the beach near where we first appeared. We are all still alive at this point too.  Night passes ........ .

=15 July 1494 to 18 July 1494=
The battle rages for the beachead and massive magics are bought into play by both sides but the scales of balance tip in favour of the Kingdom and good prevails over the Drow.  The king bestows us with some small gifts and we pass on some requests.  Prydera, Thruckgin and Dorn decide to remain here and go with the king on a quest to the East.
Kasmeria and I decide to stay in this time (since we are elves after all) and live a little, perhaps raise a family since we are inclined towards procreation. The others go back to 1994.

=2nd August 1994=
Fenton, Kasaria, Elladan, Ithilmor and Ithildin are waiting outside the castle as per our arrangements with Maxamillion and Clemintine.	Clem, Ulbricht, the Michaelite and Max reemerge from the caverns and are set upon by Goblins.  We charge to their aid and the fight is short lived.	The decision is made to cleanse the evil from this place by the most direct method.  We start back down into the Catacombs under the Castle. We destroy the portal and leave the place to it's evil devices after killing the few remaining evil creatures therein.

=3rd August 1994=
We travel back to the port and take ship to Seagate.

=4th August 1994=
Time Passes at sea.

=5th August 1994=
Some of us return to Seagate and are "interviewed" by Guild Security over our losses!!