The History of the Old Marsh...

As written by the Keeper of the Lore, Bert


Once, long ago. the area to the West of the then village of Midgaard was an expansive track of lush forest. It was inhabitated by all manner of good creatures, including but not limited to spriggans, werebears, pixies and sprites, and friendly animals. There lived only one clan of humans in the forest and they have become very in tune with the forest, though rumors persist that only one of Clan Forrester exists...

Then, many years ago, rumors cropped up of a evil that took root in the far south eastern part of the forrest. A group of militia men ventured forth to investigate the rumors, only two returned. One of the ones that returned was fully sane and told them that they found a vast and wretched swamp in the south east and in it lived all kinds of evil creatures, including many that were not visible till they fell upon you. Out of the fivety or so that went into the swamp, only 15 made it to the other side. When they came to the end of the swamp, they had to make a boat to traverse a river that was there, for in the distant, they saw a looming castle that was not unlike an angry fist raised towards the sky.

The militia man shivered as he related the following part "We crossed the river, which was brackish as the swamp itself. When we landed, a feeling of great foreboding feel over us. It was like something had planted a silver of ice in our hearts. Many of us wanted to turn back then and there. But our field leader (for our original leader had been one of the first to die in the swamp) keep us going forward. We came to the castle entrance, where a single guard, in black and red armor stood. We asked him for entrance to see the lord of this castle. The guard said a simple "No". Our leader decided that the 15 of us could take him, though many of us wondered why only one guard stood there. We soon found out. As we charged the guard, he attacked with the strength and endurance of twenty score of men! In a few moments, all were dead or dying. He took me and Remiez inside to see their leader. As we entered the castle, it was like looking into the heart of evil itself. When we entered the lords antechamber, then throne room, we knew what had happened. The Avatar of Evil stood before us, his face a mockery of all that is good. He told us that we would be allowed to live to relate this tale to the pitiful folk of Midgaard. Tell them, he said, that Evil now rules this part of Therra and that no amount of Good will ever truly root us out. That's when we saw the rest of our company, except they were all shadows, evil shadows, of their former selves. My skin crawled at what he did next. He took a swirling glass ball from the top of his staff and threw it at Remiez, and it just got absorbed into his skin! With a wave, we were outside his castle. As we traversed the swamp yet again, his evil swamp trolls and swamp worgs followed us, wanting to feast upon our flesh, yet knowing we were protected by their foul master."

Thus is the story of the Old Marsh and Darkside Castle

Even more historie of MadROM

MadROM's homely hut