TEXT:  
   
   
  BATTLE OF MARIGOLD HILL 
   
  ELKIANS IN FULL RETREAT! 
  Village of Briddip, North Elkia 
  Elkian forces are in full retreat after a 
  disastrous engagement with Sardian scouting 
  parties at Briddip. It is reported that Sardian light 
  cavalry units numbering some 500 men captured 
  the village of Briddip on the afternoon of the 19th 
  Earth and began entrenching themselves in key 
  positions on Marigold Hill and Ormara’s Ridge, two 
  rises of higher ground to the north of Briddip. 
  The militia in Briddip fled before the 
  Sardians entered the village and raised the alarm 
  with the authorities in Fort Dauntless.  A regiment 
  of Elkian foot-soldiers led by Knight Commander 
  Bael Halford had recently mustered in Fort 
  Dauntless and Commander Halford moved quickly 
  to meet the Sardian threat.  
  The Elkians marched on the evening of the 
  19th and formed ranks to the east of Briddip at 
  midday the next day. Halford’s regiment included 
  the “Black Arrows” a company of elite archers and 
  shortly after midday they began to launch repeated 
  volleys into the Sardian forces on Marigold Hill. At 
  around 8ASR, the Sardians positioned there 
  appeared to be routed by the arrow fire and the 
  majority of the forces withdrew behind the hill, 
  leaving a smaller shield-wall composed of 100 
  Trezkillian elite soldiers to defend the slopes of the 
  hill facing the Elkians. 
  Halford immediately committed a force of 
  500 men (half his regiment) to a full scale attack on 
  Marigold Hill and led the charge himself, with his 
  better-trained soldiers. This proved to be a tactical 
  mistake. The Sardians who were  
   
  positioned on Omara’s Ridge had secretly been 
  withdrawing their forces while the assault on 
  Marigold Hill had been underway. They had 
  ‘recruited’ commonfolk of xxx and put them on the 
  ridge under guard while most of their men 
  retreated into the vale behind the ridge where they 
  had corralled their horses. To Halford’s observers it 
  appeared the Sardians on the ridge were simply 
  holding ground and not committing forces to 
  support their comrades on Marigold Hill. 
  The cavalry mobilised and swung around 
  to the south of Omara’s Ridge and struck at the 
  Elkian formation that was still positioned on the 
  field below the hills. These men were mainly new 
  recruits and militia and, without Halford there to 
  direct their defence, the sight of 200 horsemen 
  thundering at them at full charge broke their ranks. 
  Halford, seeing the peril his men where in from the 
  cavalry attack, hastily gave commands to withdraw 
  from the fight with the Trezkillian Sardian shield-
  wall and to attack the cavalry on the field below. As 
  soon as this occurred, the main Sardian force, which 
  had positioned itself just behind the summit of 
  Marigold Hill, received the signal to attack, cresting 
  the hilltop and charging downhill at Halford’s force, 
  which was in disarray as it tried to go to the aid of 
  the men on the field. 
  What followed was a pitched battle on the 
  slopes and around the base of Marigold Hill. By 
  10ASR, the Elkians had withdrawn eastward and 
  formed a defensive knot in the wheat fields of 
  Buttertree Farm, using its fences as protection from 
  cavalry charges. Halford was wounded during the 
  fight at Marigold Hill and had been taken to the 
  22nd Earth 2150R 
  
  Buttertree farm-house for treatment. The Sardians 
  surrounded the farmland, cutting off any retreat 
  and sent a Trezkillian Invigilator to offer surrender 
  terms to Commander Halford. 
  Halford’s response was to lead a charge 
  with his personal guard against the main force of 
  the Sardians to the west, while his remaining forces 
  struck east to try and break the cordon surrounding 
  the farmlands. Halford and his men were 
  slaughtered but forces who attacked the cordon in 
  the east broke out and approximately fifty men 
  managed to escape across the Sweettrout stream 
  before the Sardian cavalry intercepted the 
  remaining Elkians. 
  The latest reports from Briddip warn of an 
  immediate threat to Darringmoor. The Sardian 
  legions of Black Widow and the Sundered Skull have 
  now arrived in Briddip and the cavalry that won the 
  Battle of Marigold Hill are reported as having been 
  resupplied and reinforced and that they have 
  moved northwards. It has been reported that they 
  are only ten miles from Darringmoor at the time 
  that this broadsheet goes to print. 
   
  Panda Killer Gang on a Rampage! 
  Darringmoor 
  Locals believe there is a Sardellan gang 
  associated with the Panda Killer inside the city 
  walls. This gang of thugs are alleged to be operating 
  from the local Darringmoor cemetery. A number of 
  strange occurrences have been witnessed in this 
  vicinity. Mistress Reebing the wife of our esteemed 
  carriage maker Charing Reebing has noticed some 
  very strange goings on in the area. 
  On the night of the 13th Earth a man was 
  seen in the midnight hours. “My wife heard some 
  noises coming from across the road and she asked 
  me to have a look. I could see a man who looked 
  like he had been drinking in the cemetery. Every 
  now and then he would look about.  He just looked 
  shifty,” commented Charing. 
  Our local Darringmoor guards have 
  confirmed that soon after this sighting, a man with 
  a thick Sardellan accent was taken for questioning 
  along with a very shady looking Dwarvin personage.  
  Due to lack of evidence they were unable to keep 
  them in custody but are monitoring their 
  movements. 
  Then shortly after dawn the Reebing 
  family heard more commotion from the cemetery. 
  “It sounded like a cart going backwards and 
  forwards.  There was shouting and terrible screams. 
  The screams were the worst…” said a shaking Mrs 
  Reebing. “I told Charing not to go out. I was afraid, 
  in case the Panda Killer was looking for new 
  victims.” 
  Early the next morning when Mistress 
  Reebing was walking her beloved dog she stumbled 
  upon a large pool of blood.  “What is the country 
  coming too when it is not safe to walk the streets at 
  night!” said Mistress Reebing. 
  Our local Major has responded to citizen 
  concerns by doubling the guards in this area. She 
  has assured the Darringmoor Dart that the Panda 
  Killer is still in custody and awaiting trial by the 
  Justicator. However, something is going on in the 
  cemetery and it all started with the Panda Killer. 
  Perhaps the Pander Killer is a Sardellan Spy working 
  with a cell of comrades – right inside our fair city? 
   
   
   
  Fitting Funeral for Bausntle Marlooka 
  Darringmoor 
  On the 13th Day of Earth the young 
  Master Bausntle Marlooka was given a lavish 
  farewell by his grieving parents Sarn and Verity in 
  the finest Ormocean tradition. This ceremony was 
  held on the family estate, in the Grand Ballroom. 
  Here the recently departed waited quietly for his 
  guests to offer their last goodbyes, leave mourning 
  gifts and feast lavishly in his honour. 
  A large number of family and friends 
  attended this event which was an absolute credit to 
  the family. The eulogy was given before the 
  majority of the mourners left, leaving the 
  immediate family solitude for their night vigil. 
  Bausntle’s younger brother Cran Marlooka, made 
  his parents proud, delivering a lovely speech about 
  the young Bausntle’s short life.  The young Lord was 
  a popular bachelor and his untimely death in a freak 
  riding accident will certainly be ablight on the 
  Darringmoor social scene for years to come. 
   
   
  
  Feature Article: The Shadow of Darkmoor 
  Returns? 
  Many centuries ago, our fair city of 
  Darringmoor was known as Darkmoor. In xxx the 
  city fathers elected to change the name and shake 
  off aspects of the region’s black history. Many 
  residents are completely unaware of the terrible 
  times and fell creatures that once haunted 
  Darkmoor, giving the area its more sinister name. 
  Larren Spindlthrift, resident sage and owner of The 
  Darringmoor 
  Curio 
  Shoppe 
  has 
  undertaken 
  research into some of Darkmoor’s darker days and 
  presents some of his key findings here. Spindelthrift 
  warns that there are signs that the evil forces that 
  once dominated are rising again and has tasked the 
  Protector of Darringmoor to be vigilant. 
  The following information has been taken 
  from Spindlethrift’s book, “Darringmoor’s Dark 
  Secrets” which is being published by the 
  Darringmoor Dart and will be available to the public 
  next March. 
   
  Records from the personal archives of the Empress 
  Taranae in the Imperial Museum, Jasper 
  Kallad Thuul, who was numbered as one of 
  the most powerful necromancers of the Serpent 
  Kings and his terrible reign during the Darktime was 
  detailed be a number of chroniclers of that age, 
  including Eronthale of Thander (who is considered a 
  most reliable source). Thuul was involved in a series 
  on protracted wars against rival sorcerers (which 
  included none other than the notorious Gauroth the 
  Abhorent). He eventually had to flee north to the 
  region of Estaran, which is now Darringmoor, where 
  Thuul busied himself with creating defences to repel 
  his rivals in case they moved against him. Records 
  show that the local population were enslaved to 
  build a fortification called Hurudaarg (the Grim 
  Hall), the ruins of which are located at Horror Hill, 
  near Little Briddip. Stories from those who survived 
  the slave pits of Hurudaarg tell of the creation of a 
  secret army of the Undead, made to challenge the 
  armies of Gauroth and his allies. 
    
  Eronthale says, “Kallad Thuul smote the 
  earth so that the walls between the worlds were 
  made thinner and breath of the Dead flowed forth” 
  It is not clear what he meant by that but it in later 
  years it was discovered that the area of 
  Darringmoor  was beset by dimensional instability. 
  Eronthale credits Thuul with the creation of this 
  anomaly but the great cleric and Scholar Abbott 
  Rallid, later proposed that this was caused by  a 
  meteor strike thousands of years before Thuul came 
  to the north and the weakness was already there 
  and simply exploited by him.  
  Thuul is said to have died at the hands of 
  the undead creatures he sought to control. Folk 
  tales sy that he still inhabits the ruins of the Grim 
  Hall in the form of a Lich. 
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  “Turning Back the Shadows”, by Abbott Farlan 
  Rallid 
  “Turning back the Shadows” is a well 
  known 
  work 
  amongst 
  clerical 
  circles 
  that 
  documents the terrible period in Darkmoor known 
  as the Time of Shadows, when numerous and varied 
  undead creatures roamed the region unchecked. It 
  also is one of the most definitive attempts to 
  catalogue the many types of undead creatures and 
  contains numerous drawings and descriptions of the 
  powers of these creatures. 
  Research conducted by Abbott Rallid 
  between 829R and 844R and detailed in his book, 
  found that there were multiple areas of dimensional 
  instability that he referred to as “Sirrit’s Veil” 
  (known also by the locals as the keenings) across the 
  region of Darkmoor,  that made it easier for 
  creatures from other realms to cross between the 
  
  worlds. Darkmoor ad become a place haunted by all 
  manner of undead for centuries (an era known as 
  the Time of Shadows).  
    
  Darkmoor was black mark on the map of the 
  emerging Kingdom of Sardell,, successive regents 
  being unable to effectively deal with the constant 
  incursion of undead creatures. No sooner had royal 
  guards been sent to eliminate the threat, a new 
  threat arose. The problem was the keenings and 
  they had to be shut down.  Abbott Rallid convinced 
  King xxxx to resource a contingent of Ormocean 
  Priests and Siritar Paladins to base themselves in 
  darkmoor for an extended period and it was 
  through his work that Rallid and his associates came 
  to understand the nature of the keenings and, in 
  consultation with arcnae masters in jasper, they 
  eventually devised constructs that effectively closed 
  the gates between the worlds and ended Sirrith’s 
  Veil. 
    
  During the time that Rallid occupied darkmoor there 
  was a heightened period of terror, as the creatures 
  of the shadow worked to destroy the priests and the 
  good folk of darkmoor town. The ferocity and 
  ceaselessness of the attacks led to the construction 
  of the “Sanctuary” a network of underground 
  tunnels and chambers beneath Darkmoor, warded 
  by the priests and protected by the paladins, where 
  the populace could seek refuge during the night, 
  when the undead were most active. 
  In 844R, after three years of relative peace and 
  inactivity Abbott Rallid declared Darkmoor a safe 
  town and retired to Jasper, though the church has 
  retained a strong presence in the  area ever since. 
  Darkmoor was renamed Darringmoor in celebration 
  of the defeat of evil in the area. 
    
    
  The Keenings, a study by Priest Caldwyllin of the 
  Church of Theydori (Page 321 (In Summary) 
  Although Rallid’s belief that Sirrith’s Veil 
  was destroyed and the doors between the worlds 
  permanently closed I find evidence that this 
  assumption is false. My visits to the outlying 
  regional areas that surround Darringmoor city have 
  discovered may places of disturbance that locals say 
  are the old keenings. The ‘cracks’ may have been 
  ‘plastered’ over by the Ormoceans but they have not 
  been repaired.  
  What is more, I find that there is a common 
  thread of stories that started around 3 years ago 
  concerning the Dark Walker, a figure of evil who 
  haunts lonely areas and steals people who wander 
  the roads at night, replacing them with soulless 
  shells. I was introduced to one of the soulless and I 
  am convinced there is something to these stories. 
  People in the countryside have dusted off 
  their teardrops, those old trinkets that people used 
  to give as wedding gifts once upon a time. People I 
  have talked to swear that they shine with a blue 
  light when the Dark Walker is abroad. 
   
  If you want to learn more and are interested in 
  acquiring a copy of Larren Spindlethrift’s book 
  “Dark Secrets of Darringmoor” you can purchase a 
  copy from yours truly Elly Twinfirbling, at the office 
  of the Darringmoor Dart, 27 Inkwell Way, 
  Darringmoor. 
   
  Mystery ‘Guests’ Ruin Wedding 
  Crowscall, Forest of Mourning 
  A report from Crowscall tells of a midnight 
  skirmish with skeletons that attacked a wedding 
  party celebrating in the village. One of the heroes 
  of the battle, Tomas, said that, “it all happened so 
  quickly. I know folk around here say we are making 
  all this up, but its Ormocea’s Truth – it really 
  happened. You can come and see the bones we 
  piled up in the midden!” 
  Tomas said that the village was lucky that 
  there were visitors at the wedding feast who had 
  some skills with a sword. They were able to provide 
  protection for everyone and, although there were a 
  few cuts and bruises, there were no casualties. It 
  was a mystery to everyone why Crowscall was 
  attacked and who summoned these creatures.  
  The village elder, Marrad blamed the 
  whole thing on the ‘Dark Walker’, saying that the 
  keenings are back and we all have to flee to 
  Sanctuary in Darringmoor. Our correspondent did 
  note that Master Marrad did smell of Ashfold 
  Sweet! 
  Friends of Tomas left to track a wagon that 
  was seen in the vicinity prior to the attack. It was a 
  distinctive yellow and red in colour. Nothing has 
  been heard of the group that went to look for the 
  wagon. 
  The good citizens of Crowscall have 
  petitioned their local lord, Rhenmarden for a 
  company of guards to be sent to provide protection 
  for the village.  
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Pathfinder/1st Edition/3rd Party/Friends of Eldoria/Darringmoor Dart 3.pdf