25th of Felsite, 703I am Bil Hammertome and this is my story. I grew up in Divedact, in the High Confederacies, and like absolutely everyone else here (apart from all the goblins), I have long, goldenrod hair, dark peach skin and aqua eyes. As I grew up, I loved reading books and so I spent much of my time at the Palace of Brains. In the beginning people teased me about it, but then they found out that old silver and stone-bound codices really pack a punch when in the right hands and then they stopped. And that’s how I got my nickname.
Anyway, because of my love for books I decided to become a bookbinder. I spent many years in the profession, slowly mastering the art of binding books. However, business has been really bad lately. In fact, no new books have been written in Divedact for around 500 years, since the necromancers first appeared in the area. Five times they have burnt down the town, and five times we have rebuilt it. I wrote a book about this, you may have heard about it. But the necromancers were never truly defeated. The armies of the dead were beaten back, but in many cases the source of evil – the necromancers themselves – were never brought to justice. They have left our land in peace for over a hundred years now, but many are still alive, hiding in their dark towers or in plain sight, biding their time and plotting their next move. If Divedact and the High Confederacies are to ever regain their former glory, someone must make sure the dead do not return.
And that is why I decided it is time to change my line of work. Together with my friend Kem, I will embark on a quest to rid the land of the undead scourge.
26th of Felsite, 703Spent most of the day trying to find somewhere to buy a backpack. No luck. Good thing my trusty steed Tor can act as a pack animal. I need to bring all my writing equipment.
I also went to the Palace of Brains to take with me some light reading for the journey. I picked a book called “More Moving World” by an unknown author. The writing is a bit sad, but I really like the silver cover.
We will set out to Mistirgospo – Momentcrowded - a known necromancer site, where the Horses of Perplexing reside. They are led by an ancient dwarf called Athel Ivoryknife who is responsible for having razed Divedact twice.
We set out in the early morning. There are villages along the entire route, so we didn’t worry about food or shelter.
The first village on the way was Brassconfused. It has been abandoned for a long time, but I had heard someone had settled there recently. However, walking down the main street, it seemed completely empty. Trying to find its inhabitants or perhaps something useful, Kem and I searched the houses. While inside the last house, I hear something outside. I come out and find myself surrounded by at least two dozen peasants:
They proceed to charge right at me, so I quickly mount my horse and charge right through their ranks. One of them tries to attack Tor, but Tor jumps away! We made it away, but I realize I can’t see Kem anywhere. I try to draw them away from the village while throwing mud and knives at them, and after a short while they seem to realize the futility of their endeavor and begin to run away.
My hands are itching for a good fight though, so I decide to dissuade them from ever trying to rob anyone again:
Having thrown away my knife, I charge right at one of my assailants and strike him in the ‘lower body’ with my silver-bound bedtime reading. Then she gets trampled by my horse.
I chase down and beat a few others, then ride back to the village to look for Kem. Sadly, he is nowhere to be found.
So I wait for a while and then he shows up, angry that I galloped away from him the moment we set out from Divedact. Perhaps we should get him a horse too.
Then we turn southwest away from the river valley and onto the great open plains. As we ride through several more ruined villages, we are reminded of the importance of our mission. All these places were full of life until the arrival of Mistress Oddom’s hordes. In an abandoned mead hall, I find some bronze plate armor and a Morningstar.
We continue on, and the landscape changes from open plains to forested, rolling hills. I stop by another village mead hall to see if there are more things I can use. I peek through the door and is greeted by a Goblin shouting “Identify yourself!”. The situation escalates quickly from there:
The goblin who spoke first, apparently the leader, tries to hold back his eager companion, who charges right at me. I quickly mount my horse and put some distance between me and the hall. The goblins emerge from the building, still arguing whether to fight or leave me be. As always when there is trouble, Kem is nowhere to be found. Eventually, they decide to attack, and both charge right at me. I only barely manage to escape.
I ride on to the village of Grayglory, recently reclaimed by my fellow countrymen. It is getting late, so I decide to stay here for the night. Hopefully Kem will catch up with me.
1st of Hematite, 703Stayed in Grayglory for a few days waiting for Kem. He hasn’t showed up.
Talking to the villagers, I hear news of the ongoing war with the demons. The war is going well and the High Confederacies are on the offensive. Perhaps my dream of peace is not that far into the future!
I heard something even more interesting from baron Zar. Apparently, a necromancer called Iton has sent out word that she wishes to acquire some lost artefacts, and that these are to be returned to her in Tongstreat, a tomb in the northern part of the High Confederacies. When I have completed my mission to Mistirgospo, I will go there.
Since Kem has abandoned me, I will continue the adventure on my own.
Finally, I have arrived at my destination: Mistirgospo. Before me, the forests give way to a plain field littered with strange towers and pyramids. However, the place seems eerily empty…
Investigating some of the buildings, I found an amusing guide to my hometown. Overall, the prose is great and I feel somehow connected to the woman who wrote it some hundred years ago. Apparently, she was taken prisoner when the necromancers from this place ravaged Divedact. She was seduced by the promises of unlimited immortality and became a necromancer herself.
After wandering around the site for some time, I found a building that set itself apart from the others. A twisted spire. No grass or bushes grew around it, as if even the plants knew something was wrong here. As I approached, I was greeted by an old, white-haired dwarf, who introduced herself as Behal the bard. However, upon interrogation she openly admitted to being part of the Horses of Perplexing. She was a monster. But now was not the time for justice to be delivered. I needed to know more about the place first. I rode up to the twisted building and peeked inside. It was dark, and I could hear voices. Behal passed me and went inside. I took a few steps back and walked around the building, thinking that I wanted a proper view of it before entering. It was very tall.
As I came back around to the entrance, I nearly stepped on a rotten hand. It was moving! I quickly smashed it with my Morningstar, then it became still.
I went inside, bringing Tor with me so I could quickly escape, turned left and peeked into a room. Empty, apart from some creepy statues. I closed the door, turned around and stared right into a rotten face. I was sure this was the end for me, and quickly took out my morningstar, but this however proved unnecessary:
I soon realized the dead weren’t hostile to me… Apart from the hands that are crawling around, trying to grab my feet. Although the walking dead cannot speak, they appear to have some amount of their humanity left. I explored the entire tower without getting molested by the poor souls condemned to forever serve the necromancers, but no-one other than Behal was there. I witnessed her raising a corpse when I was sneaking around, so she definitely isn’t a regular bard.
I decided to go back to the nearest village to spend the night and gather reinforcements.
2nd of Hematite, 703I found a macewoman called Asi who agreed to join me on my quest to purge Mistirgospo. We set out towards Mistirgospo at first sunlight. But something had changed. The forest was now crowded with the walking dead, and they were very hostile. It seemed we had to fight our way to even get to the tower. We had no problem besting them, though I regret the choice of the Morningstar as my weapon. Zombies can take many hits to the head before going down.
The last zombie before we reached the tower managed to twist the head of my horse so badly the skin tore up. He was just lying on the ground, however not dead. We decided to continue on and then return to see if he had gotten any better when going home.
After having fought about half a dozen zombies we finally made it to the tower. I was hoping the zombies aimlessly walking about the fields meant that the necromancers had returned from wherever they had gone so I could punish them for their crimes. However, the tower was just as empty as the day before, apart from the friendly, rotting zombies stalking the corridors.
Behal – the so-called bard I met yesterday – was nowhere to be found, but we happened upon another lady presenting herself as a herbalist. I questioned her about her family and she came up with some nonsense story about an aunt who died in 5th century. Obviously, no ordinary human could have an aunt that old, so I accused her of being a night creature. Her response was to raise one of the corpses lying around the room to fight us. We quickly bested it and chased after the necromancer. When we found her she yielded and admitted that her real name was Tawki Groupappeared and that she was a necromancer. So she was not the leader, just some apprentice. Then I struck her down.
We decided to return to the village nearby for the night. However, my horse Tor had disappeared. This is a problem since he was carrying all my food, books and writing equipment. Dammit!
As we walk back to the village, I can’t help but feel that this had been a failure. I know Athel Ivoryknife is out there somewhere, but I have no idea where she is. Should have executed that bard when I had the chance!