Of Times Forgotten...

The Paladins that served the Sacred Order of the Ankh gathered a force together and moved in on the elven village that had been taken by Mord’chaal. There, they found the hordes of undead they had expected. What they had not foreseen, was the soothsayer “Alarien” at the forefront, summoning and directing the creatures. The savage battle waged for three days, with the Paladins stretching their abilities to the limit, and the undead falling only to be risen up again. In the end, Mord’chaal was cut down by Paladins.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Healers of the Ankh made their way to the elven village, in order to do more study, and hopefully glean more information concerning the Affliction. The elves claimed to have received it from Mord’chaal, and the Healers hoped to gain more understanding of the ritual used to enact it. Meanwhile, the Paladins left the village, returning to their posts in Vesper. They had no way of knowing that Mord’entaril and Mord’varek were now only a day’s journey away. And so, as fate would have it, the two Scions arrived to find a village of Afflicted elves and unarmed Healers. It was a massacre.

Their destruction was far from complete, however. A handful of Healers, with the aide of the elves, escaped the village and sped off to Vesper to bring warning of the Scions. There, for the first time, they were able to share the connection between the Scions and the Affliction. The Paladins had seen Mord’chaal’s power, and the Elves and Healers bore testament of the other two Scions, and how they had drained the life from their victims. The Healers had also seen the dark energy that resided within these sorcerers, and instantly recognized it as the source of the Affliction they had spent so long trying to combat. Suddenly, the Affliction was not a sickness, but an enemy. And it could be cut down at its source with a sword. Now, for the Paladins of the Ankh, it became not a matter of healing, but one of war.

Word was sent out the very next day to the Enclave, the central meeting place for the Sacred Order of the Ankh, built at the crossroads between Vesper, Yew, and Paws (for the great city of Britain had not yet been established). From there, the messages were sent to each of their strongholds, placing all the Paladins on alert. They now had an enemy, and they were to search for that enemy in their very homes, among those they trusted most.

And so it was that the Paladins, who thought themselves the saviors of the realm, became as feared as the sorcerers they sought. For the fear they incited turned to inquisition.