Dark Legacy MUD Forum

The First Scroll:

Much of the writing has faded with time, even through the protections of powerful spells that bind each of the Scrolls and protect them from any form of harm and decay. A central section of the scrolls seems to have been all that survived in any readable form,

... wandering knight-mage came upon... ea.. at.efi..ld. The Creatures of
Da.....s stre...ched out across the land.... endless ocean, preparing to
... ...own upon the small keep that guard... the entra...ce to a mountain pass.
Reaching for his powers.... Knight rode down into the battlefield. The
Creatures of Darkness barely had time to realise what was happening before he
was amongst them, laying about him ...ith sword and ...agic alike...torrents of
flame tore through the dark army's ranks, and powerful elementals of the earth
rose at his call, cru...ing anything and everything that got in their way.
And so he moved about the field, surrounded .... a walking barricade of
elementals, calling down fire and lightning as he passed...but at last the
elementals could serve him no longer. Their Bonds ended, leaving him amidst a
bloody field alone and without arcane reserves.
Even as the kni... was cut down, he called out to the gods who had turned away
from Alora so many centuries before...As the knight's lifeblood drained into
the earth, a single rose grew rapidly from the warrior's corpse. The rose's
petals were dark black, like the mixed ...od of the knight and his slain foes,
and it gave off a powerful scent of decay and rot.
The confused orcs plucked the rose...and sealed their doom. The mightiest of
the Avatars of each one of the Aloran gods appeared and smote the Creatures of
Darkness with all the anger of the gods for the desecration of their newest
shrine....
And the soldiers of the ...eep claimed the knights body, swearing vengeance in
his name.....a brotherhood of knights, destroying th...of Darkness
wherever they may be...answering the Call of the Black Rose....

The Second Scroll:

A dispatch from a place ascertained through research to have been the ancient and secret stronghold of the Knights of the Black Rose, the Priory of Radiant Shadows. Location: Still Unknown.

"Hail, Sonhcara, revered Lord Of Ebony Tower, Guardian of the Archon's Prison, and Ettercap Knight.
I send this dispatch to you now, after these long ages of peace, to inform you of an event that passed some nights ago. As you know, the Priory has remained empty except for myself these long years, and our once mighty armies long since disbanded after the defeat of our greatest foe, whom you stand watch over even now. As is my habit, I entered the Inner Sanctum of the Priory, to look upon the sealed tomb of the first Knight of the Black Rose and contemplate this long-lasting peace. What I discovered there, was a broken and empty tomb. The wall that had been put in place to seal the tomb was shattered into small fragments over the floor of the Sanctum...but the pieces lay as if an entity within had dealt the blow that revealed the Tomb's innards to the light after uncounted centuries. I inspected the tomb with every spell I know, calling even to my allies in the hereafter for aid in my search for truth, and it has become abundantly clear what has occured. The Knight-Mage who was to become our forebears inspiration and source of divine power for the founding of the Knights has been resurrected and walks the realms again. There is only one reason the Divines would cause such a thing to happen...the mightiest vassals of the Dark Archon have awakened, and seek even now to free their Master from his prison. Prepare yourself, my old friend. The Lord of Torment and the Lord of Terror come for you now...and this time, there is no legion of Knights to stop their Master, and I no longer wield the power of the Morning Star. Heed the Call, Sonhcara. Awaken the Lycan Lord and prepare for the end of the Age of Light...
Retired Knight and Ex-Wileder of the Morning Star,
Sir Lucipher, Undead Guardian of the Priory of Radiant Shadows"

The Third Scroll
Found amongst the other scolls in the private rooms of Ettercap Knight Sonhcara, within the Ebony Tower

"From the desk of the Lord and Guardian of Ebony Tower, Sonhcara,

To whomever has found these scrolls, Greetings. In my long life as Undying Guardian of the Ebony Tower, a horrid curse I would not wish upon even the most hated of my enemies, I have perused the secret texts stored away within the Tower's vaults and searched long and hard for the lost secrets of the once mighty Knights of the Black Rose. Though much time has passed since I was given my task of guarding the Ebony Tower, I have barely scratched the surface of revealing the secrets hidden away within the Tower. Recordings of ages long gone, of worlds beyond that of Alora, worlds with wagons of metal that can fly, and others that move along the ground faster that a dragon flies, fill the vaults in the Tower. There are many scrolls and books in languages I cannot read, and most that even my magical arts cannot translate due to their otherwordly qualities and the strange magics that protect them. In my studies, I have been unable to ascertain the location of the legendary Priory of Radiant Shadows, ancient stronghold of the Knights of the Black Rose, but I have at last, I believe, uncovered the identity of the Knight-Mage that so inspired the Priory's founding fathers and called upon the powers of the Divines in battle as no other before or since has been able to do. His titles were many, and amongst them were 'Maddog" and "Guardian of the Hel Gate". And so by linking these titles to vague references in myths and legends that have been passed down through the generations, I have at last found his true name. The mighty warrior that once stood alone against an entire army and spit in the eye of the Dark Archon was none other than the Minotuar Knight Cerberus, whose name still inspires fear in even the darkest beings in the Abyssal Planes. I can only hope that you take this information farther than I have been able to, and at last find the Priory and the mighty Knight-Mage's Tomb.

Forever in the Light,
Ettercap Knight Sonhcara, Lord and Guardian of the Ebony Tower"