One seemingly innocent night, Aren and Nightshadow were wandering
through Pash valley, innocent of any dangers in the rich plains within
sight of Shallam. Suddenly, a rotting corpse stumbled out from the
undergrowth, startling them. Without any wasted words, the zombie
snarled at Aren and sunk its teeth into him before crumbling to dust
under Nightshadow's attacks. Puzzled, the two made their way back to
Shallam, where Aren discovered that he was now afflicted with a strange
illness. The best healers of the land were summoned to his aid, but in
the end nothing could be done. Finally, someone suggested that a session
in the Arena may restore Aren to full strength. However, when the duel
in the fields of Valor was completed, something happened that no one
expected. As Aren's body fell upon the ground, it began to wither and
transform until a hideous zombie stood in his place. The first thing the
zombie did was to jump everyone surrounding him and sink its teeth into
their necks before stumbling away, apparently unable to control its own
actions.

It did not take long for the people of Sapience to realize what a
horrible plague was hidden in the bite of the zombies, for each time a
bitten person fell to death, their body transformed into a horrible
walking undead. Unfortunately, the property of the disease was such that
despite all forms of healing the body soon succumbed to it even without
the ease of death. Despite the many attempts to isolate the infected
people from the healthy population, the disease began to spread, until
more than half of Sapience's population was afflicted with the crippling
disease.

Some groups attempted to come together and fight this disease, but they
summarily failed, their efforts destroyed by the rambling intrusion of
the zombies. It was not until the Prophet Averroes called to him all
those untouched by the disease that things began to turn for the better.
The bravest souls of Sapience gathered by the philosopher, who set them
on a quest to bring to light hidden knowledge, scraps of which were
beginning to come to light. Through many sacrifices, the story of the
plague began to unfold.

Many centuries ago, there lived a beautiful woman by the name of
Shariah. Her father, scheming for political advantage, gave her hand in
marriage to a cruel King named Neruef who cared not for her loveliness,
but rather kept her as any of his inanimate treasures. Resigned to her
fate, Shariah continued her existence until chance brought the daughter
of a neighboring queen to the realm of Neruef on a political mission.
The first moment the two women laid their eyes on each other, they fell
in love. The Queen's daughter could not conceive of a life without
Shariah, and so when she departed back to her court, Neruef's bride went
with her willingly.

The wrath of Neruef was great indeed. Marshalling all his powerful
armies, he set off towards the southern city where his bride lay hidden.
He laid siege to the city for many months, swearing to the Celestine
that Shariah would be his - in life or otherwise. Yet it so happened
that in one of the attacks, Shariah herself fell victim to the bloody
war. She was buried in a beautiful tomb far beneath the palace of the
Queen, and the Queen's daughter laid herself into a coffin next to her
love, forswearing life without Shariah.

Centuries passed, and the bloody battlefields of that ancient time had
sunk into oblivion. Yet the malevolent spirit of Neruef rose again in
undeath, marshalling his zombie armies to regain what he had lost and
re-unite with Shariah in death.

Guided by ancient manuscripts, the followers of Averroes began an
excavation in the fields of Pash Valley. To their surprise, they found
the remnants of many skeletons there, all that remained of Neruef's
ancient troops. Through the vague hints left among the rotted belongings
of the ancient soldiers, the questors eventually realized that the
ancient palace beneath which Shariah was buried was in fact the Vizier's
palace in Shallam.

After much hard work, the walls of the Shallamese palace were breached,
opening the dim passage into a long hidden tomb. Within a beautiful
sarcophagus, the adventurers found the remnants of a beautiful woman who
could only be Shariah.

The bones of Shariah were brought before Neruef, his spirit at last
regaining in death what it could not have in life. His tortured soul
departed from the land, and as his foul presence withdrew, so did the
madness and rot that had gripped much of Aetolia's population.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Lanosian, in the year 120 MA.