AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

A great malign feeling corrupts the air. An evil wind blows from the west. Fortunetellers and farseers speak of ill omens. It's altogether seeming like a bad day to be on the island.

An ominous voice, carried over miles by a dozen shout spells, announces the freedom of an ancient evil and the man to thank for this service: Someone merely named "Anen Evrion".

Far to the west, a dark and bleak island tower crumbles under the weight of its own failed design. Its purpose unfulfilled. The tower designed to be a prison with only one cell.

A single solitary prisoner.

A figure known only by one name, though sages may recognize its significance.

Mortegaurde.

Tera of the glade bore witness to the curse of this book and the unleashing of the Count. He laid trapped deep in the bowels of the earth. The difficulties were many to the companions... warded passages linked by portals... a game of "wizards chess" to make it into the prison. The positive energy helped keep him in his prison... the removal of the book and the curing of the curse destroyed the wards and released this foul count. There was a running fight back to the surface... and the count slipped away laughing as he did and calling joy to the burdened Anen who bore this curse.

Dill being quite injured in the game of chess decided it best to flee and recover, going back to the broken tooth cave she has no idea of if they got to the fabeld "treasure" or not.
Fleeing back to the broken tooth cave she hid herself under layers of bandages staying in the cave for quite a while cursing hummies for tricking her trying to kill her off

As the companions stepped off there weather beaten dingy and on to solid land once more, the dark cloud can be seen far to the west, none of them say much, they are just glad to be back on known land once more and out of the crumbling tower, one of them.. Anen Evrion, a twisted shadow of the person he was before embarking on this venture stares outward at the dark cloud, a look of anger and regret splayed across his face, his failure of being corrupted by the book and unleashing count mortegaurde always eating at his mind. When the companions finaly decide to go there own ways Anen heads to a local inn to get some rest. In his dreams he has terrible nightmares of the images he witnessed within the tower, he tosses and turns all night and awakes in a sweat, he gets out of bed and goes to the window, looking out at the dark cloud he knows what must be done, he whispers a silent vow to destroy the count, no matter what.

Atuil Ex'Villador could be seen spending much time in the library, attempting to dig up books about Count Mortegaurde. He could also be seen asking around if anyone has information about who this man is.

"Who?" Xal can be heard saying at the recent whisperings in gossip. He's clearly stumped, and is unsure why he should fear another upstart wizard.

The undead of Aigheshed have become restless, emboldened by an arrival of something. The dark cloud that hangs over the dead town is starting to grow and spread over parts of the Dormenwood.

When Aigheshed becomes affected, a certain wizard at the Monolith of Mystra starts acting... strange. More so that usual. She spends an abnormal time to herself, and begins scratching at her arms while pacing feverishly on the Offices floor of the tower. Her eyes seem to grow a bit wider-- fear stricken, and she appears to be in a cool sweat for some of the day. She disappears hastily when this happens, heading to the Caraigh...

*A letter is sent to Atuil, left for him in Mystra's Monolith*

Sir Diviner,

I have found him. Meet me in Wiltun when you can.

-Samrael

Information regarding Mortegaurde from old texts and Legend Lore spells is gives few and far-between details.

Rumor has it that one man claims to know more about Mortegaurde than anyone living.

The trouble is, he's said to be an inmate at Father Darian's Asylum in Caraigh.

//Interested parties may follow up on this or any other lead when I am online.//

A black leather clad woman would read the notice, memories of her encounter with the Count still fresh in her mind as she would make the trip to the Asylum post haste.

Upon hearing the news Einar frowns and calls for a meeting among his brethern.

Tera continues to keep an eye on Anen just to make sure that there is no residual effects from being controlled by the count. She also has started spending more time in Caraigh just incase this count makes another surprise visit to her.

Dill can be seen spending more time with certain people after the events. mainly the people who she went on the trip with. people she would of disregarded before. she keeps coming back hoping for any more information on this count.

*she did what she always did after battling alongside the others against that monstrosity. She scouted and in her searching she found herself looking off the edge of a cliff at a not too distant castle. It was sizeable, still seemed sound and there was little to no way to enter it from without. But mist, mist could seep between the stones or a narrow window.

It could enter, carrying whatever it had gone to the town looking for and left with.

She just needed to find someone who could fly to tell her more, or others who knew about the ruins which were now the home of others and see if perhaps the tunnel favoring creature had used an old tunnel up into the distant castle.*

~Perhaps it was not seeking to enter the Keep. But this is a distant place. Always distractions...~

*lost in her speculations, she went back to the pass*

The Restless Dead of Aigheshed are better established than ever. An occasional glimpse of shadowy humanoids is seen in the catacombs. And the cloud above it is blacker than ever.

A red haired woman can be seen pacing back and forth along the stone bridge in Ceyren's Mill. Her green eyes look south at frequent intervals. Worry is etched on her face.

Through out the next several days she can be seen heading south through Mushroom Grove, past the Elder Stones and into Aigheshed to face the undead that brave the surface.

"It's time to solidfy the defence of this town", she says to no one in particular upon retuning one day. She walks off with a brisk step heading to The Academy's offices to put pen to paper.

*they were weary. This new threat on the tails of another so near to be resolved was sapping them far more than any would wish to admit. Tempers were short and eyes reflected the fatigue that squared shoulders would not hint at.

She rubbed at her eyes beneath her helm and nodded as she listened to the reports which came concerning the town and murmured before arming those who went forth with things to weaken the newly strengthened undead. Or simply to assure that the wear was not taking a greater toll on the people of her circle.

In between, she spoke to those trusted or knowledgeable about the creature they would be facing. It's weaknesses if any, strengths, potential abilities, and in between what was heard she attempted to think as it did.

After all, a hunter gains its prey by knowing it.
Prey escape by knowing what the hunter may do.*

~ ...now to keep those of us from becoming the hunted...~

A large party takes to war in the Skull Craig Crypts, sending a forming coven of Vampire Spawn into gaseous retreat. The conquered Crypts were ransacked and coffins overturned, preventing future settlement of vampires there.

*rubs her eyes lightly and checks off a list which was growing faster than it was shrinking despite the best efforts of those of the Glade.*

Crypts of Lost River searched and the coven there examined but a few warders were asked to keep searching through that area just in case. The vast, ancient tombs buried amidst the sands had many secrets. Maybe The count was seeking something to be found there?

Crypts of Asrogg d'l'Elghinyrr searched and the coffin upon the dias will be examined again later. The ruins of a town found up above the crypts of the dead had been searched but save for the worgs, nothing more was seen. Even so, she marks it for another search.

Darkhold was searched and the dark plane beyond it was given a thorough sweep. She made another mark to remember to check through there in the evenings.

The shadowed lands beyond Shadowscape were searched, the sunless and moonless lands seeming ideal to a vampire. Nothing had been seen but again, a mark was made to remember to check through them again. After all, who knew what the shadows hid?

*she stared at the parchment and then rose to don her helm and pick up her bow. There were still so many, many places left to attempt to search*

It had been an amazing night.

The first thing that had been amazing was that no one had taken the elf Qirlan seriously when he told them the numerous cultists disguised as bats hiding in the cliffs were merely a distraction. The second occurance of superior amazement was the brief spell combat between the famed Count and the elf, which ended in the blink of an eye...literally. He had a bit more respect for the man's spellcraft, but the vampire lord was too much for either of them, and had fortunately fled at the sight of Matthias rather than feast upon the elf...who had not an ounce of gratitude for his 'rescue'.

Once again, more questions than answers as Mortegaurde had made off with another powerful artifact and left behind several of his disturbingly powerful servants to slay his potential pursuers. Several fire-breathing dragons setting fire to the forest and a hellball later, "the heroes" showed up - the bossy wench, the obnoxious mage, their equally late-to-do-anything comrades, and the rest who had remained distracted.

All in all, anti-climatic as they treated the elf like something diseased. The war party made it's way once again to the crypts in the Skull Crags, but all that awaited them was an escaped Count.

Mortegaurde: two, meddling kids and their hound: zero.

Tavern-talk around Bendir Dale, Uhm, and Wharftown seems to speak of strange disappearances occurring in the middle of the night. At first, drifters and vagrants would suddenly leave the scenes of these towns. Not many took notice of this, until average folks: hin, men, women, and sometimes children who wandered out after dark would not return, never to be seen or heard of again.

*Calin can be seen patrolling the nights in Uhm with the guard near his home.*

Notes posted in all Citys

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=48766

Bats swarm the township of Bendir. Haunting the dreams of many seers throughout Amia, the name "Atticus" is heard in dark whispers.

Leggomi Eggolas wrote:

Bats swarm the township of Bendir. Haunting the dreams of many seers throughout Amia, the name "Atticus" is heard in dark whispers.

Rikku hearing this name from a few of his 'sources' heads to Bendir and begins asking around about the bats, this Atticus name, and the count himself.

A few small hin parties stake out Clifftown, the lair at Uhm and Darkhold, but seem to have found no trace of bat guano or anything vampiric in nature.

Rikkudai, following his boar companion head toward an undisclosed location, he refuses to speak about it to anyone. He is eventually met by several cultists who with a vampire make short work of him and his companion. He is knocked unconscious, the boar, not so lucky perishes.

Others may see Rikku carry Khans body through portal into Cordor and north towars Bendir Dale. And eventually the he vanishes in a crack and portal towars who knows where.

Khan is dead.

Cory Shadowflame makes his way to Wharftown offering the High priestess a fair share of Garlic and Garlic wine to help aid in the defence of the town from vampires but inform her that he cant remain long he wants to get to Uhm befor night fall.

After a quick cart ride to Uhm he finds the milita commander and tells him how he just came from Wharftown droping off some supplies to ward of vampires and he was here to do the same and hands the commander the same fair amount of garlic and garlic wine that he did the priest.

Cory made sure to hand both the Highpriest in Wharftown and the Milita Commander in Uhm a copy of his note from befor with tips on defence from vampires and points out it might be wise to use the garlic on public buildings like Inns and Groverment buildings first.

if its needed I can try and post the screen shots if they worked.....stupid windows 7,vender the stuff to the priest and commander I trashed canned it so dont have to think I'm using the same stuff over

Much similar to Cory, Willow hands multiple whole garlic pieces and dozens of garlic wines to Brena of the Bendir Dale Militia for distribution within the Dale. She tells Brena that the wine is for Militia and other public servants and that the garlic pieces should be used in public buildings near openings. Brena takes these items, thanking Willow and goes about aiding in the defense of the Dale.

A similar deed is done for the protection of Wharftown, Willow being unaware of Cory's prior aid already. She gives a few whole garlic pieces and dozens of garlic wines to Lyle Torrowfire, resident of Wharftown, to hand over to the Mayor of Wharftown and the High Priestess of Selune. She gives him the same instructions on the usage of these items so that he may retell it to the Mayor and Priestess. Guards and Public servants, she says, are to be given wine and the garlic pieces are to be placed in public places at doors, windows and other openings. Though what Lyle actually does with the defense equipment and instructions would be solely his decision.

The small Hin then moves to do similar deeds for the Oakmist Vale and Uhm. Though these goals are not yet met.

Garlic seems to be all the rage. The popularity of the sometimes maligned seasoning has surged dramatically. The effects of distributing the messages and garlic have been felt: Panic. Yet even while more of the bulbous vegetables are being planted, the price of garlic soars until the new crop can grow to maturity.

The disappearances continue.

A Chilling message is left with the intermittent screams and lasting darkness above Kohl that persists for several hours into the morning. Some citizens are killed and drank from outright. Some disappear, presumed hauled away for dark and nefarious purposes...

The message is clear.

The last few remaining members of "Mortegaurde's Family" are free. The Coven is complete.

*Xals hears the rumours, he holds something circular around his neck, reading the inscription to himself. He frowns.*

"This Mortegaurde is going to be a problem. Its time he learnt that he is far from the real power on this isle, far from the oldest, and infact, a child among adults. I must speak."

Missing children reports are up significantly. Most disappearances happen just after sundown, in the last few moments before the children are called in for bed.

Several people claim to have seen a strangely pale child of no more than twelve with dark hair and eyes before they discovered their children gone.

One mustached mage seems devastated by the news of more children being taken, his spirits somewhat low after the fall of the Banite fortress. Amid a quiet day, he finds himself before the altar of Mystra on the rain and storm-swept Ruathym isle that houses the Monolith. A few quiet moments, and a few murmured words are spoken, lost to the winds, before he returns to the tower.

"I have been to your dungeon and escaped with innocents you took, when you thought to take me prisoner. I have bested your cursed stones, your futile attempt to corrupt the leaders of these isles. And my Mind's eye draws ever closer to your lair. I hold in my hands the designs to your end. The suffering inflicted on children, I will see upon you ten-fold.

Your end comes, Count. This I promise, so help me Mystra."

The anti-magic cell within the lair of the Black Dungeon was devastating on Madrik's body. Fortunately, the failure of the silver enchantments did not affect him until after he rose Ulrik Valis to his feet.

Being drugged by Triadic Knight Francis K. Wetter, Madrik was eventually resurrected once clear of the anti-magic field.

Lila paced the small room she had been using to work in, swearing under her breath"I thought we could stop them from getting out.. gods dammit.. even when we knew.. I need to finish those profiles and get them out to the others.. I was resting for five minutes and I missed it.. never again.. They will not win."
She slumped down into a chair at the desk and opened her sketchbook, taking out slip of parchment and beginning to trace over the pictures in the book.

Several citizens of Bendir, Kohlingen, Uhm, and Wharftown: Men, Women, Children, are seen returned to their respective homes. They claim they were rescued by a party of "Wizards and Knights", making blessings upon the kind souls who recovered them. They speak horror-stories of their time spent in a black, bloody dungeon, being bled to near-death to sustain evil, horrid monsters. There are many curses for the Vampires, and many solemn prayers for those who were not as fortunate to survive until rescue.

A red-headed weaponmaster settles underneath the eaves of an overhang atop her roof in Cordor, alone. Rain falls heavily into the streets as she waits, and solemnly cleans blood from a calmly glowing weapon.

"Your time is running short... at least one of you will be mine."

The aftermath of the vampire attack was filled with panic at the core for Nevaeh. Homes through-out the city were protected with holy water, and some buildings have cloves of garlic hanging from door handles, knockers, and door hooks. It continued for perhaps a full day, until the morning started to break,

In the morning, the lieutenant spent some hours outside the city. Where, exactly, is not known, but a couple residences in Wharftown find themselves protected.

After all the work was done, and a longer visit to another location ended, Nevaeh was settled in, reading to a certain red-headed girl, and a white-haired boy.

Glyph now a few days after the recent attack on cordor patiently works on forging an ironwood shortsword, hoping it will suffice as a decent stake should it happen again.

"There, looks sharp enough. ...can't believe how quickly everyone seams to have forgotten about this count...still perhaps calin was right, we'd be no match right now..."

he mumbles to himself and haur in the cordor smithery.

"I dunne about the other vampires haur, but something was way off that day...be about your self, aye?" an if ye' come across any o' those crystals let me know, we'll be needing them.

glyph is seen then speaking to the captain in the docks, off on another supply run to make more stakes for his customers.

A single vellum parchment is left on the notice board in Wharftown, there is neither signature nor any other marking to denote its origin. If anyone had been watching, they would have noticed a warrior donned in dark green armor and a hooded cloak to hide his face as he posted this message.

To those who have taken up arms against the undead,

I apologize for the public nature of this message, but I doubt that there is any actual way to contact you otherwise. I have in my possession a blade taken from the depths of Aegishead, bearing the title, "The Bride of Mortegaurde." Only recently have I learned about this threat and the disappearances of innocents. Perhaps studying this blade can lend useful knowledge and put an end to this threat. I pray that you will find some way to contact me which will not put you in open danger, whoever you are.

I'll be around.

Samrael on passing through Wharftown during a detour in her scouting routine takes notice of this parchment, remembering what she was warned of earlier that week.

"Ah, well that is very peculiar insight my dear stranger."
She writes just below:

Where Can I Find You?

In a bloody night for a town already touched by recent distress and tragedy, Guldorand is beset by the Vampires. The Survivors that remain are mostly lumberjacks who either could be resurrected, or evaded capture. However, their families, which included many women and children, were taken into the caves...

Serishala bowed to Master Tsn flanked by Hantani and Fang. They were a bit worse for wear after their chase of the acolytes and the mysterious vampire who claimed responsibility for the horror in Guldorand.

Her voice was steady as she shared her tale, she didn't feel steady. She felt sick. Chult was a dangerous place and she wasn't a stranger to danger. But this had been something else, an evil that had caused her skin to crawl.

"But," her voice cracked as she finished "we were too slow and it took those it stole and vanished." She took a breath to steady herself. "Those remaining will need our aid, Master."

Then whatever had held her steady during the ordeal broke. She turned and ran. She managed to reach the woods before she lost her last meal. "Cattle," she sobbed quietly "it called those poor people it's cattle."

Rumours have it that a certain recognisable Necrophant is seeking out this Count Morteguarde.

*An iron head peeks outside of the stone gate of her laboratory, then an axe splinters out before completely stepping out onto the land of her town. There is a string of viborant swears after learning of the recent attack, not having the strong will to be ever-standing at guard in her village, seeking peace, this was probably an easy purchase for the undead hooligans, she thought. Mynna heard about the vampires causing trouble, and was simply letting her fingers cross that they wouldn't end up here.*

"Well fuck!" And so, it was time to kill vampires afterall.

*Upon waking up in Amia Forest, She rises up and finds the nearest tree placing her hand on the bark causing it to rot and wither, then slides her arm leaving a message on the ground "I am back". She wanders around hearing rumours of this Count, a smile creeps across her lips. "Now to find this Count, perhaps with his help the island will finally pay for imprisoning me".

*takes place after she is brought back*

*Crimson has been seen asking around about the Count, she vigilantly spends times near the town that was attacked, also wanders the roads at night searching for the Count*

Much of the Women and Children of Guldorand are reunited with their families, after some grueling days of hardship, knowing little of their rescuer but owing much.

Count Mortegaurde

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