Lord Crawworth is Alive! Alive!!

He keeps going and going and going.....

You Saved Crawworth! You.... bastards??

FROM the Town Cryer Newspaper, on Sunday? the 25th of July...err..roundabout...

CrawWorth Lives!
Caitlin Elopidat
UP: Britannia

CrawWorth Rescued!
Vesper -- It was believed that Lord CrawWorth had suffered the fate of the late Sage Humbolt. That like Humbolt he had died in his unending quest for peace and prosperity for all of Britannia. His blood strewn about the bridge and his gold armor found in pieces seemed to tell the tale. His precious sword, mere feet from the pools of crimson that marked his disappearance, seemed to be the final exclamation point.

But this was apparently not the case. Word spread to all the town criers of the land that a band of orcs had mysteriously appeared in the old encampment East of Vesper. They had barred the doors of all the cabins. They seemed to be guarding something. And through the window of the southernmost cabin could be seen a prisoner. Lord CrawWorth.

Armed with the news of his reappearance, the criers spread the word far and wide, and soon his friends arrived. They were greeted by the arrows and blades of the orcs and trolls who patrolled the woods outside the cabin. Ettins rounded the bend and joined in the fray against the humans. Orcish mages wielded their mystical arts, and kept CrawWorth's would be rescuers at bay for a good while. But in the end, good won out. As it always does.

None of the beasts seemed to have the key to the locked door, and so finally it was broken down with axes and hatchets. When CrawWorth was finally freed he was in no condition to fight, and so slowly began to make his way back to Trinsic. He was not present for the discovery of the mysterious orders, apparently left for the orcs. Upon hearing of the orders later, he seemed withdrawn and detached from the situation. Who could blame him after what he'd been through.

Following is the note in it's entirety. Once you read it you will understand why CrawWorth has reason to fear for not only his own life, but for those he cares about. The note reads: If CrawWorth refuses to speak, I will deal with him. -W

The Zog Cabal? Who else. This is the second time that the mysterious -W has appeared as the signature of a note believed to be written by the Zog Cabal. Rumors that it is Winslow seem unfounded, but his actions have grown strange of late, and perhaps we must be fearful of his distaste for the Cabal. Perhaps it is time to find a new sage for Britain.

Tuesday, July 28, 1998
Lord Crawworth IS... "Hard to Kill"....
I missed both of these events, both the loss of Crawworth, and his return. I do have a simple explanation though... one particular guild on Atlantic has enraged me quite a bit, enough to get me involved in my own guild's ongoing war with them. This has interfered a bit with my typcial "free" time in game :)

Well, it seems to me that Crawworth was indeed innocent of faking his own death. However, it appears to me, more than ever, that whoever is behind this plot intended for Crawworth to appear dead to all of us, so that he could be used and interrogated (?) by this mysterious character who only knows his own first consonant (:P) '-W'.

Unfortunately, I dont think we're any closer to finding out who this '-W' character is. The town cryer update doesn't give us much, and I fear I missed something vital by not attending the rescue mission. If anyone has anything more of note from rescuing Crawworth, I'd love to hear it.

I do have one first-hand account of the event, and I'll post it here.. Thanks to Ashur Greytower for this:

My guildmate, Xendar, and I had encountered a man inquiring of where the cabins east of Vesper might be. We asked why he was in such a hurry and told us that he had heard the town crier yelling that trolls were mounting an attack from that area. We quickly hurried in that direction encountering more travelers and eventually running into the first patrols of the monsters. Upon arriving we found Crawworth locked in one of the cabins surrounded by many bands of orcs, ettins, and, of course, trolls. There must have been 20-30 people in the area who together slew all the trolls. As no one could open the doors, people began shouting to look for a key on the bodies. My guildmate happened to wonder if anyone had tried an axe and soon had opened wide the doors of the three cabins.

Crawworth was quickly surrounded by people and explained that trolls and the Zog Cabal had beaten him and locked him in the cabin. He had nothing but a pair of pants. Many quickly offered him food, clothing, armor and weapons. Unfortunately someone became bored and attempted to attack Crawworth and others (Crawworth was not invulnerable). Understandingly angry he attempted to hide and lose everyone. Either everyone else was bored or he succeeded as he was soon off and only I, Xendar, and two others followed him.

After convincing him we were not affiliated with the attacker we offered him armed escort to Vesper. He accepted and we set off for the journey. Upon our arrival he thanked us and said that he unfortunately had no reward for us, though he offered all he had. We quickly assured him we needed no award and that it was a pleasure to have helped.

This does make it sound as though Crawworth is afraid for his life. But, for what reason? What information can he possibly be withholding that would interest the Zog Cabal? And, if it so endangers them, why hasn't he spoken out on what he knows??