2833
The Northern Expedition
Lagomorphia
Several decades past, before the undead menace reared its head, there were tales of evil practices in the far north. These were intolerable to the civilised kingdoms, and in a grand gesture the King of Oren sent his six finest knights and a force of over a hundred men there, officially to bring order to the people there, but their true purpose was to spread the King's influence to the unruly lands. At the head of the army was Sir Erverin, a distinguished knight famous for his unique greathelm and for driving the bandit cartel known as the Poisoned Daggers from Oren. :: Little was known of what they found there, as only one man ever returned, a traumatised soldier called Orvl.  Most thought he was driven mad by whatever they found there, as did nothing but gibber that everyone was dead. He also spoke of a threat that had emerged from a eerie purple portal, of evil infused lighting twisting soldiers into monsters, and of Sir Erverin, standing over the corpses of his five knightly companions, staring at the portal, and, sword raised, charging into the darkness. :: The man was assumed to be an insane wreck, so the King and his advisors assumed his tale was a fabrication formed of madness and decided that the people of the far north had simply slain Sir Erverin and his army. That assumption would prove costly. :: Recently a man, or a close approximation of one, returned to Aegis, wearing a greathelm almost identical to the one that Sir Erverin once wore. Instead of the buoyant, fun loving personality of Sir Erverin, the man is focused only on his task. Instead of Erverin's trusting nature, the man is paranoid. Instead of seeming human, the man is cold, he does not bleed, and two sinister red glows can be seen through the eyeslit of his helmet. The man, if he is even that, calls himself Evern. Could he be the famed knight of old, returned from the dead to fight the undead? Is he alive, or as undead as the wretched creatures he fights? Only one thing about him is certain: his burning hatred for the undead menace. :: A note is scrawled below. "Evern was killed by Vikram Mournstone two years ago. Fatally wounded from Vikram's attack, he returned to the nether, leaving his helmet, and any remnants of his soul with Thaern, one of the Oren Guard. "