The Halls of the Dead

A series of reports written by Henry Bafford, necromancer and Blood Guard of Bane, after his experiments in the catacombs under Brogendenstein.

Part I

The Halls of the Dead, as are known the catacombs beneath Brogendenstein, house the corpses of the fallen and deceased Dwarven-folk of the hold, whose age is told by the crumbling old tapestries spread about its halls. Curious, however, is the strong presence of evil entities inside it.

The more one walks down the levels of the catacombs, the stronger it is the opposition of the Undead. Skeletons and their priests, ghasts, carrion crawlers, enormous bats, and grave worms roam those accursed halls. These beings are not guardians, but dark things that for some reason have taken interest in the tombs, as a local grave keeper explained to me.

Curiously, one would also find a wooden plaque identifying the digging spot of some archaeological site, which would let one conclude that these catacombs might not have been initially built by the people of Brogendenstein, something that demands further research.

The continuous presence of Undead beings picks one curiosity. The local writ agency offers jobs for adventurers beginning their careers to slay these Undead, but where do the skeletons and ghasts come from? Surely the number of adventurers who may perish in their writ quest aren't enough to bolster the number of the Undead horde that roams the Halls of the Dead. It is my belief that these might be coming from unexplored and hidden parts of the catacombs, perhaps from the Underdark itself, which is, according to the locals, quite close.

Perhaps also a mighty ancient Undead being with potent connection to the Negative Energy plane could be haunting these catacombs, unknown and hidden just as any potential chambers under the lowest reaches of these very crypts. Such beings can be angered by those who know the correct procedures for such.

These theories shall be put to the test.

- Day 8, Month 3, Year 149

Part II

In possession of an amulet blessed by the Lord Inquisitor Tyros, I set out with four other companions that won't here be named to the catacombs of Brogendenstein in order to test my theories. We arrived in secret. In one of the chambers we drew a circle on the ground using magical components in a mixture with corpse dust and scattered bones with little care for proper geometric shape.

In the middle of the circle, with the amulet of Bane in hand, I invoked the divine power of the Dark Lord through a prayer. One created by myself, not by any priest of the Banefaith. Here it is written:

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Hail Lord Bane, Emperor of All-Worlds!

I ask you, bring forth the evil presence that stalks these halls!

Force the heathen undead to reveal its withered face!

I ask you this, o Lord!

Hail Lord Bane, Emperor of All-Worlds!

I ask you, make the vile undead come before us!

The hidden Undead that here in secret dwells, make it show itself!

I ask you this, o Lord!

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At each new paragraph I invoked another power, one to turn undead. The ritual angered the spirits and the ground shook violently. Powerful Undead were sent to challenge us from the dark hallways of the catacombs as the ritual proceeded, until, finally, a hole opened in the ground.

My companions and I climbed down through it to find an ancient and secret crypt. Small in size, bridges above the largest of chasms was the way to navigate through certain parts of the hidden catacomb. In its center we were greeted by a curious sight, three Shades surrounded by several statues depicting Dwarven heroes.

I spoke with the Shades. They, in their strange speech, craved for death and vengeance, but the crypt was a prison and the statues their jailors. Without freedom there was little they could do. I cared not about their reasons or what had been done to them, but they promised to serve me and such was good enough. Time it was to face their guardians.

The statues did not remain idle by long. They put a fierce battle but were turned to dust. The Shades celebrated their new freedom and promised, in terrible shouts, to serve me and destroy Brogendenstein, however there was yet another task for us to perform.

The Shades needed a Champion to lead their Undead hosts, and for that they chose the deceased Thane Ghestaldt of Clan Blimth. They gave us an old mean axe, which needed to be reforged in the fires of the foundry of the Halls of Umbrick and then set upon the tomb of the fallen Thane.

I shall not speak of our journey to Umbrick, the lair of many Duergar in the Underdark, and its defenders that stood in our path and perished doing so, but know that our task was complete. The axe was reforged new in the fortress' forges, a mean weapon of destruction and corruption.

On the next tenday I once more arrived in secret to the catacombs of Brogendenstein with another companion. We made our way to the upper crypts and on top of the tomb of the fallen Thane we left the axe.

The ground shook and the lid of the sarcophagus holding the dead Dwarf inside fell to the side. Ghestaldt Blimth rose from his grave and grabbed the axe. Slowly the revenant walked up to us and promised to take the Golden Halls back. The creature of pure evil was firm in his words.

As his Undead hosts began to rise and mobilize for battle, I left the Dark Spires with my companion.

Much later I came to know that the assault of the undead upon Brogendenstein failed. The Undead Thane came close to killing the living Thane Falgrim in a duel, but was defeated and returned to his tomb. A great battle it was, but similar was the fate of the Undead hosts, they were destroyed.

- Day 14, Month 6, Year 149