Zombie Plague of Cortton

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The Zombie Plague of Cortton is an event depicted in the final chapters of Death of a Darklord. Cortton, a village in Kartakass, was overrun by zombies, and any of the Living whom died in Cortton rose as one of the undead. The Brotherhood of Broken Blades were called in to save the town. The Plague was part of a trap set by Harkon Lukas, for him to hunt them down one by one. In addition, the corruption of Elaine Clairn's magical power provided another secondary complication.

Details

The Zombie Plague of Cortton was a conspiracy hatched by Harkon Lukas with the ultimate goal of escaping his domain using the body of Konrad Burn, a mage-finder and member of the Brotherhood of Broken Blades. Because of his malicious nature, Lukas also sought to destroy his fellow mage-finders before capturing Burn's body via soul transference amulets. To accomplish these goals, Lukas needed to lure the mage-finders into a trap that would keep them distracted. Lukas tempted the aged and dying Calum Songmaster into betraying his friends with the promise of a youthful body. Calum succumbed, sending a letter for help.

Lukas did not execute the zombie plague himself. He merely suggested it to Marland Ashe as a method of developing the way of perfecting the reanimation process to bring Ashe's late wife back from the dead. The numerous zombie reanimations were in a sense part of a great experiment to work out a necromantic spell so life-like it could restore the dead fully to life.[1] Marland began by animating corpses stolen from the vast graveyards outside of Cortton, the graveyards so large the dead outnumbered the living. Marland Ashe also poisoned the village's drinking supply, infecting it with a disease agent that caused those who died in Cortton to rise again as the undead.[1]

Fortunately, Elaine Clairn and Gersalius discovered the poison in the water and purified it.[2] The mage-finders led by Jonathan Ambrose discovered and rooted out Marland.[3] Hoping to gain assistance from Elaine Clairn in ressurecting the dead, Marland Ashe sent out his zombies to capture Elain Clairn. He tempted her with the resurrection of her dead brother Blaine Clairn. However, she did not give in.[1]

Marland's end came at the hands of Harkon Lukas. Lukas stabbed Marland's in the back merely to save face and conceal his involvement in the conspiracy. The mage-finders set Marland's home ablaze, burning many of the zombies in the process.[3]

The zombie plague was devastating for Jon and his mage-finders. In the ensuing chaos, both Blaine[4] and Tereza lost their lives, as well as least one adventurer, Averil Brilliantine, who was working with them.[5] Tereza rose as one of the zombies. She attacked Jon before being put to the torch by Gersalius.[6] Lukas was able to claim Konrad's body. Lukas' treachery remained essentially undetected[7].

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 p. 288-293
  2. p. 264-272
  3. 3.0 3.1 p. 284-285, 294-303
  4. DoaD 220-226, p. 243-247
  5. DoAD p. 275-284, 295
  6. DoaD p.295-299
  7. DoaD p. 301-303, 309