Fire and Water and the Wand
The truth of what happened to
Marnek Jaull the day the Wand
of the Burning Dead caused a
mighty explosion can only be
told by one -- Hagad
Starshine, the only survivor
of that day. Hagad was a young
Deepwater Knight and squire to
the great Sir Toran.
During those times, there was
a foul Erudite named Kenox who
joined the Burning Dead many
years prior. During the years
of war with the paladins of
Prexus, he chose to betray
Marnek by making a deal with
the Deepwater Knights. He
would tell them where Marnek
was if they would promise him
freedom. Kenox told the
paladins of his great plan to
steal the Wand of the Burning
Dead, which would leave Marnek
helpless.
But the Knights betrayed
Kenox. When they arrived to
meet Kenox in a secluded bay,
they took Kenox and the Wand
of the Burning Dead that he
had successfully stolen by
replacing it with a false one.
But Marnek had played them all
for fools. As Sir Toran laid
his hand on the wand, it
exploded with great force and
tore the ship to pieces and
killed all the men, but one.
As the explosion occurred, a
small splinter of the wand
lodged itself deep into
Hagad's cheek, somehow
protecting him as the flames
burned around them all.
As Hagad watched the ship and
his crewmen burn, he prayed to
Prexus to save the sailors,
but the god did not. Instead,
Prexus moved the tides east so
that Hagad's body would be
found by a passing sailor
named Whent. While Prexus
protected Hagad, Solusek Ro
chose to use Kenox as a vessel
for his power so that Prexus'
pet would never gain control
of his faithful Kenox.
With his newfound power, Kenox
was able to lord over the
undead knights and command
them as he wished, but they
are all condemned to remain
under the sea else they
experience great agony. He
sent them to Deadbone Reef
until their time would come, a
time when they would find
themselves engrossed in
rebuilding the Wand of the
Burning Dead and seeking out
Marnek so he may feel Kenox's
vengeance.
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