Edvard Taliesor

"My name is Edvard Taliesor, and up until five years ago, I was the ruling magistrate for this part of Thrane- an unusual choice, considering they generally favor the clergy, but then I had friends, and enemies, in unusual places. You see, I was a member of a cult--the Aurum. I partook in many heinous acts and ruthlessly pursued power by any means I could, until I received word," Here the ghost put his arm around the little girls' shoulder. She stared at them solemnly. "That my daughter's family had been ruthlessly slaughtered. All, except for this little one. It was a dark time, in those days I began to understand the terrible consequences of the War--a war that we of the Aurum had prolonged for our personal benefit."

They stood, listening, silent. There was a strange power in the words of the spirit, and almost against their will they listened to his strange, eerily familiar story.

"How I came to be appointed to this remote village, and found refuge is largely irrelevant. I thought that the Aurum were done with me, and I with them. Then, eight years ago, they came to me with a problem. They promised it would be the last job, the last thing they required of me, and then they would forget that they ever knew me. I didn't believe what they said, but... I had my granddaughter to think of. I was worried that if I didn't accept the job, some harm would come to her."

The spirits piercing eyes seemed to penetrate straight through to Quentin's darkest secrets.

"What they asked seemed no great harm, and a great flattery to my own ego. They wished me to devise a means to create a stasis disruption field during the moment of mortuary dissolution. It was difficult spell, something that had never before been done, though many times attempted. I was intrigued. In life I was a well-known master of necromancy, and I devoted a several years to solving the puzzle. It was only in the last few months that I truly began to suspect more sinister motives, although I should have been immediately suspicious. I was a fool."

"The spell, which had seemed to me merely an intricate puzzle to solve, was the missing component that the Aurum needed to create the ultimate death-spell, a spell capable of leveling countries. With it, they planned to take over the now exhausted Five Kingdoms. And my work, coupled with that of four other wizards, was what almost let them destroy our world."

"I tried to stop them, but this was the result." The ghost Taliesor disappeared, and for a moment they were engulfed in a scene of absolute horror. They saw the destruction of the mountain village- the screaming, crying women and children, the shouting men pointing in horror at the great blanket of mist and darkness that rolled over them, killing them where they stood. "Everything that I had worked for in life, gone in an instant. All, my fault."

Silence.

"Why are you showing us these things?" Quintin's voice sounded hoarse.

"Is it not obvious." The ghost looked at him wryly. "You will soon be making a similar decision. When I died, much of my research was lost. You, and your band, are here to take it back into the accursed light of so-called civilization. As I said, in life I had a greater mastery of death magic than any other human wizard in history. I managed to allow myself a voice in death, and even now I can see your spirits- your thoughts and intentions. But, until you choose, I and mine cannot stop you. So, what will you do?"

"Yes Quintin." Ireselan was standing in the doorway behind them. A moment later he was joined by twenty clanking men-at-arms, faces set in cold sweat, but Ireselan seemed calm. The soldiers took a look at the fully mortal band, and pulled out swords with sighs of relief. "What will you do?"