Caitlin Elopidat

UP: Correspondent

    Vesper – A local fisherman got the surprise of his life recently when during his daily fishing trip he was attacked on the road by a rogue skeleton who’d made it’s way out of the city’s cemetery. He made a quick trip to the local town criers, and soon the information was spreading throughout the city.

    It was only minutes later, in fact, when an intrepid group of adventurers made their way to the graveyard to confront the undead assailants. Magic was tossed haphazardly back and forth between a pair of liches and the heroic mob, and within an hour of the first sighting the entire ordeal had ended. At least two people died during the attack, both of whom were believed to have been resurrected by a local healer. Word is they’re doing fine and were back on their feet minutes after the incident.

    The liches were not in command of the undead gathering however, as soon it was discovered that a Lich Lord was residing in one of the larger buildings on the cemetery grounds. The warriors and wizards who had bravely defeated a large number of walking dead soon found that they were no match for this Lord of Liches. A brilliant young adventurer had a quick plan though, and soon he sent his fellows off to give him some room. Using magic he got the Lich Lord’s attention and then led the inhuman beast towards the city itself. Once safely inside he called desperately for the guards who quickly arrived to dispatch it.

    "We weren’t sure what was going on at first, " says Geoff, a guard who was on duty that day, "but once we realized that the thing in our city weren’t a proper citizen we wailed on it with our halberds." Geoff went on to say that this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened in the Vesper graveyard. "Couple o’ months ago we had a problem sorta like this, but there weren’t no Lich Lord that day. Just Skeletons and such."

    Local residents now fear that something sinister is taking control of the dead souls in the cemetery and forcing them to it’s will. Though there is no evidence to support this claim most people see it as the most logical solution, and hope that more brave souls like the ones who battled against the undead are on hand if it should ever happen again.

From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Friday, February 6th 1998