This Scroll was found at a disturbed grave by a militia patrol and brought to the library at Sanctuary for safe keeping. The other pages that followed had been used to light torches left by the looters who had plundered the disturbed grave.

The Swords of the Goddess

It is told in the ancient tales that when evil threatens the land the Goddess will call those who are true of heart to her service that they may defend the light and drive back the darkness.

Many have walked this path before us and many will follow in our footsteps, but this is our time and we must do our duty in honour of those who have gone before and in the hope of better times for our children.

My tale begins in sorrow and grief. I lived near the edge of the woods and my memories of my youth are happy ones. Our community would move every couple of years and build a new home for ourselves so the woods could reclaim our old one. Soon after I had undergone the rites of passage into adulthood, the first stories reached our community. It seemed travellers through the lands across the sea had seen terrified and injured people wandering dazed. When asked what had caused their pain they told of creatures of rotting flesh and bone who had walked out of the mists attacking all before them. Such tales had a visible effect on our elders, for the creatures described were the bodies of the fallen, raised using Fell magics to do the bidding of the forces of darkness. Throughout the summer more tales came to us, until in the autumn one of our people came to us from across the sea to tell us that a settlement of our cousins had been attacked and destroyed, with only a Few survivors. One of my family had been in that settlement and my blood ran hot when I heard the tale. There was however a ray of hope in the sorrow brought to us. We were told that a leader had risen from amongst those attacked, and strange as it was to us, it was a human who seemed to be leading those who were fighting back.

A group of us sought an audience with the elders and were granted one. We asked the elders for their permission to journey across the sea and join the fight against the evil that was spreading there. We also asked for their blessing on our mission. They would consider our requests and inform us their decision in the morning.

The next day the elders called our group to them. A few more now stood with us than had the night before and we were filled with confidence and a desire to be on our way. The elders told us that they were proud that we wished to help others and in doing so defeat an evil before it threatened our community. For this reason they had granted us their permission to go. They explained that because our actions would help defend our people we would be equipped and provisioned before we left. The smiles on our faces were short lived however, for the elders went on to explain that we would not have their blessing. They said that we were doing a brave thing for the wrong reasons and that would lead to further sadness. They told us that our hearts and our bodies were setting out on a journey and they would pray that our minds and our souls would join us down the path.

We set off soon after, the songs of our people in our ears as we began out long journey. The Sounds of singing faded and we set our minds to our task. We covered a good distance each day and fell in to a routine. Each of us took on several tasks and we kept up our good sprits with tales of past heroes. We passed beyond the lands we knew and though via many strange paths towards our goal.

We sensed we were close to our destination when the silence remained unbroken by the sounds of the animals or people going about their daily business. We approached carefully and passed by the hastily dug shallow graves of those who had already died in the struggle. As dusk fell we searched for somewhere to make camp and found no obvious place of solace in this injured landscape. Eventually as night begun to cover us in her dark cloak we stopped and set about making a camp.

I was a little way away from camp when they attacked but I heard the screams. I ran back to the camp and saw the bodies of the dead attacking, and there was something else, a chill that gnawed at the bones and sapped the strength. As my sword cut in to the rotting flesh before me I thought things could not become any worse. Then I saw a shadow move before me and the strength left my sword arm. A creature of darkness and evil moved towards me and I was powerless before it. My tale would have ended there were it not for the courage of my companions. One pushed me to the ground whilst the other attacked the creature. His axe passed clean through it and I began to believe it was just an apparition. Then the dark creature struck back and as its sword cut deep I heard a a scream as if the sword cut in to the soul as well as the flesh.

To my shame in the fading light I never got a good look at those who saved me from such a fate. Later I was able to piece together from images burned into my memory that I must have found a sword and fought my way through several of the unliving before running through the woods and eventually collapsing near a small stream.

When I came to the horrors of the previous night came back to me slowly. I wandered for many hours not knowing where to go or what to do. At last I came across an armed group who had obviously been involved in a fight of some kind. They told me that a great battle had been fought nearby and that few had survived. I made my way in the direction they had pointed and soon came across a clearing in the woods. There were only a few patches of ground not covered with the bodies of the fallen or the remains of the unloving.

I found a captain and told him of what had befallen our group. He told me that we were not the only ones to suffer such a fate, but that a few others had survived and had been sent to make up the losses in one of the most depleted units. I joined them soon after and the looks on their faces haunt me still. They were never the same after that night. They were darker somehow, and though they fought for the cause of good I do not believe they ever found joy again. They welcomed me though and bade me join them. We sat in silence remembering those who had died.

The next day we broke camp and our captain told us that we would march to join the combined armies of Estragales and Lyonesse. It seemed that word of the great evil had spread and old oaths still held power. Once our forces combined we would fight a great battle to decide the fate of our lands and our people.

It was not long before our scouts met those of the other armies and soon we were marching together to a low rise near the edge of the woods. Beyond it the land opened into plains broken only by low hills in the distance. We formed up our army and waited. As the day wore on our thoughts turned to making camp, but then a sergeant told us that we would make no camp that night. We would be brought food and water but we were to rest easy in loose formation.

As darkness fell a few songs drifted out from our lines across the empty pains. Then as the last light faded away we heard a low foul voice carried on the wind. The words caused worried looks through we knew not what they meant. Our fear was broken then by our commanders ordering us back to formation and ready for battle.

When I heard the movement out on the plains I knew at once what now faced us but I could not find the words to warn those who now stood with me. I saw the same struggle in the faces of those who had been with me the night before. Those who had not, found out soon enough that witch we could not tell. By the light of those few stars not covered by dark clouds they saw the corpses of the dead advance on us. Amongst them were a creature which fed on the flesh of the living and the dead and dark shadows passed between their lines.

First our archers took a heavy toll on their advance but then they closed to our lines and soon we were fighting desperately to avoid being swept away by the horde of the unloving that assailed us. I overcame by initial shock and soon found myself almost enjoying the destruction of those moving corpses. A gash to my left arm soon snapped me out of such a state and I said a silent prayer of thanks to the Goddess before resolving to concentrate on fighting more and less on my sense of revenge. We fought for what seemed like an age and many of those who had started the battle with me fell fighting off the risen flesh and bones of the dead. Then they stopped. We would have cheered had we had the energy but our spirits rose. We had hacked apart so many, maybe we had won a victory on this dark night.

Our brief hope vanished as the dark shadows moved out from there lines and into ours. Until that point the battle had been strangely quiet. The ring of battle, the sound of orders, the moaning of the dying had somehow failed to find its true voice in the brooding darkness. Now piercing screams followed the path of the dark shapes as the thing roamed through our lines. Those who stepped forward to aid the fallen were soon screaming too. Seemingly with no hope many now turned to fight. There were no cowards for they had already shown true courage on such a night, but they now faced creatures from their nightmares who had come to visit unspeakable torment upon their souls.

It was then that a breeze arose, a patch appeared in the thick cloud and the silver light of the moon shone through. I saw it in others first, near each of the dark shadows a fighter stepped forward. No taller or stronger than those that stood around them, but with a look in their eyes which made those before them part. They begun to face the creatures of darkness and in the pale light of the moon they held their ground where none before had. As I watched this I felt stirring in my heart as if a long forgotten voice now called me to action. I saw the moon and felt its light around me. Then I moved towards the nearest creature to me. By the grace of the Goddess I was able to fight the creature and as the images of my fallen people passed before my eyes I vowed that this dark being before me would cause no more of my people to suffer such a death. I fought with a song on my lips and warmth in my heart. Finally I drove my sword into the creature. A chill spread up my arm and I let go of my sword. For a moment my strength left me and I feared that I had failed to live up to my solemn vow. Then I saw the creature fall to the ground, where it lay for a moment before the breeze caught it and carried its dissipating form away.

I sunk to the ground and gave thanks to the Goddess for saving us on this night of darkness. Heroes had been made that day but we craved no lands or titles. We were all filled with wonderment at the strange feeling that had come over us at the moment when hope seemed furthest from us. We spoke of our experience and then decided we would travel together in the search of ways to better understand what had happened. We spoke to elders and wise folk in many places. We sought out hermits and mighty wizards, druids and priests and our journeys were long and hard. Some of those who had embarked upon our quest fell along the way, whilst others turned from the path to help people or tend to the needs of family and friends.

Little over a dozen of us remained when we finally brought our travels to an old castle. There we settled to discuss what we had discovered. We talked for many months and as we talked we set about the much needed repairs to our new home. We agreed that we had been called upon to defend our people where others could not. Almost all of our number agreed that it was the Goddess who had favoured us that day and that she desired some greater purpose for us. Those that did not follow the Goddess still felt a calling to aid their people, though they disagreed with the nature and origin of this calling. Though there were disagreements we shared a strong bond and as we trained, this bond grew into a battle brotherhood. We learned to fight with many weapons first by ourselves that we may defend our people on our own if we must, and then in groups for we knew even then that together we were stronger still.

Our time was not all spent in martial training however. We built a shrine to our fallen comrades and took turns in guarding it so that those that came there for quiet reflection need to not be concerned for their safety. We held ceremonies and celebrations to make the turning of the seasons, the births and deaths of the local people, and the anniversary of the battle that had brought us together. We wrote the stories of those like us who had faced the creatures in that fateful battle and when we found that we had no seen all those who had fought we knew we must journey out amongst our people to find these stories.

We found people struggling to rebuild after such a devastating war. We lent our aid where we were needed and thus our progress was slow, but after several years we believed we had found the stories of all those who had felt the calling that day. As we prepared to return to our castle we heard that the Lord of Estragales had raised the War Banner and meant to march against an Orc who had gathered a horde to take advantage of our weakness. We had enjoyed helping the local people upon our journeys and to see the looks of hope and happiness upon the faces of those we helped was a most welcome confirmation to us all that we had chosen the right path. Now our people as a whole faced a great threat and if we were to hold true to our calling we must stand forward and face it. We rode to join the army, so few now, but already word of our deeds had spread and others sought us out for they too had felt the calling. We would pass on what we had learned to those who would follow us, but first we had to survive the battle.