Ruins of Hatar and Tower of Garunda History

This is a revised description of the history of both the Ruins of Hatar and 
the Tower of Garunda. Some of this will appear in the ruins in a diary, 
although, most of it will be told by the Elves of Chrystancia when chapter 3 
rolls around.  But, no matter what happens, you can always go to the ruins 
despite what course you take in chapter 2. Bern is involved in this version to 
explain why Erdrick was given the writ and Hatar was part of Bern's kingdom at 
this point (I feel 3 kingdoms, two human and one elvish, is too much for such 
a small area personally). After the war, Bern will talk more about the past, 
but since he's involved in a war with Katwana in chapters 1-4, he doesn't have 
time to talk about something that happened 60 years ago (It would be like us 
talking about WWII in the middle of another war which really has no relavence 
to the situation and isn't important at the time).  Kievs, the town that 
replaced Hatar, was built in a different location, and was really established 
to replace Hatar after the elves fled and locked the undead in their tower. 
Since that time, both Bern and Chrystancia have kept a relationship, but it 
hasn't been the same that it was before, mainly because the Elves no longer 
hold as much power as they used to.  Kievs and Bern are outright allies, and 
basically, Kievs is still part of the Bern kingdom, although it is more like a 
commonwealth (I don't know how this will work, myself, but from what the guard 
says at the bazaar, it is at least feasible).

Around 60 years ago, Bern's kingdom, ruled by the humans, and Garunda, ruled 
by the elves, were allies.  Both kingdoms prospered and any war between them 
was unheard of.  Each kingdom came to the other's aid if the other was in 
trouble.  In the year 2811, in the depth of night, a messenger from the 
eastern city of Hatar, on the western border of Bern's kingdom, arrived in 
Garunda and stated only one word: Help!  The man relaying the message was 
dumbfounded; he was clearly in terror and was going into shock.  Within the 
hour, he was dead and there was nothing the elves could do.  The elven king 
was dismayed and frustrated, there was nothing to be done until daybreak.  The 
next morning, the elves sent out an attacking force to aid Hatar in their 
struggle and dispatched a message to Bern telling of what happened.  When they 
came to the city, the elves were surprized.  There was no evidence of an enemy 
force whatsoever:  no debris, no evidence of fighting, nothing, except 
everyone was gone.  Thinking that something was definately not right, the 
elvish commander decided to stay for a couple of days to see if anyone 
remained.  That night, the force disappeared with no trace just as the 
inhabitants of Hatar had.  The elvish king was terrorized.  He couldn't 
believe that such a force could arise, kill a whole army, and disappear 
without a trace by morning.  The ruler of Bern, Bern's grandfather, couldn't 
think of anything either and he went to Garunda with Erdrick and a force of 
Bernian soldiers to aid them if possible.  Bern and Garunda sent out several 
search parties in the coming week and they were never heard from again.  
Finally, they sent out one more search party and gave them explicit directions 
to be back by night.  Upon their return, they carried several broken swords as 
well as Garundan and Bernian armor, but no bodies.  Knowing that something was 
definately wrong, Bern sent out one of his greatest warriors, Erdrick, along 
with a joint force composed of both Elvish and Human men with instructions to 
stay there and to fight whatever appeared.  Erdrick did as ordered and his 
force camped out in Hatar for the day and into the night.  As soon as the sun 
set, Erdrick and his forces suddenly found themselves surrounded by a huge 
undead army composed of grues, vampires, and wraiths led by an immense and 
powerful looking grue known simply as a grue captain.  The army faught bravely 
against this force but the immense undead legions proved to be too much for 
them to handle.  Erdrick found most of his companions dying and when they did, 
they almost immediately turned undead which only hurt them even more.  Erdrick 
finally met eyes with the grue captain and immediately faught his way through 
the undead army to try to save what was left of his force.  Finally making it, 
he engaged the grue captain in battle, and managed to destroy it.  The rest of 
the undead were stunned after losing their leader and they went back to a 
zombie-like state, wandering around the city.  Erdrick knew that this would 
only be temporary and he quickly ordered his force to return to Garunda.

In Garunda, Erdrick told both Bern and the Elvish king what happened and that 
now that the Grue Captain was destroyed, that the undead are going to probably 
make a last ditch attempt to save themselves.  Their likely target would be 
the tower of Garunda since it was dark even during the day, and since it was 
closer to Hatar than Bern.  Bern and the Elvish king were still grave since 
this force was unimaginable; most of their best warriors were slain and were 
now part of the giant undead army.  As a result, there was practically no hope 
for them.  Fortunately, daylight came again, and this gave them all another 
day to figure out what to do.  Sunset did come again, though, and Erdrick was 
proven to be right.  Early in the evening, the elvish watchmen noticed a huge 
black cloud approach the tower and stop.  This was taken as a sign that the 
undead would appear soon, and true to their fears, the undead soon appeared 
and faught just as they had the day before despite the loss of their leader.  
The Elves and humans faught bravely and as before, they lost a lot of their 
forces.  Finally, dawn came once again and the undead disappeared just as 
quickly as they had arrived.  The elves at this point fled the tower and left 
it unlocked.  Only the elvish king remained behind.  He gave his loyal people 
a magical chime saying, "I'm afraid I may never return, but someone has to 
remain behind to seal these beasts in the tower for eternity when the sun sets 
once more.  I hope all of you remember what happened and keep this chime to 
remember me when I'm gone."  The king thereby reentered the tower and stayed 
there while Bern and Erdrick slowly walked away back to Bern to prepare their 
forces if the valiant elf king failed.  That night, nobody witnessed what 
happened, but an eager Bern sent a force to Garunda the next morning to find 
out what happened.  Erdrick returned with the news that a magical field 
protected the entrance and that the undead were indeed stuck inside the tower. 
 Bern was happy and sad at the same time.  His friend had protected them all 
but sacrificed his life at the same time and was now part of the vile minions 
of the undead.  Sorrowed, Bern wrote his whole account down in a book, and the 
book was handed down to the rulers of Bern from that point forward to keep the 
memory alive.  Bern still has the book and probably near the end of chapter 4 
when you rescue him, he puts it in the library for all. The book basically is 
a giant poem/song that Bern's grandfather wrote in memory of the elvish king.  
The elves and the diary in Hatar have all the information about the history 
and what Bern has left is more like an ode.  When you rescue him in chapter 4 
before going after the thieves again, he tells you that he heard about your 
adventures in the Garunda Tower and that by ransacking the tower, both by you 
and the thieves, that the undead are no longer a threat to the area and that 
Bern's forces can handle them from that point onward.  He thanks you, possibly 
puts your name on the plaque, says that the war he started might have turned 
out to be just as evil as what happened 60 long years ago, and that hopefully 
that memory of the war 60 years ago would stimulate unity once again.

This history is almost completely different from my previous attempt.  People 
in Chrystancia and Bern in chapters 2 and 3 can relate that undead have been 
appearing in the Garunda area for a while now and that they fear that the seal 
placed on the tower has weakened over the past 60 years, this of course after 
you've been to the counsel of the wise in Chrystancia (Prior to that, they can 
just say that it's dangerous to go out at night).  The opening made by the 
thieves is no longer a concern as to who made it and why since the undead are 
no longer strong enough to be a threat to Bern any longer and Bern is now 
brought into the history.  Hatar shouldn't be it's own kingdom at all.  As I 
mentioned before, 3 kingdoms in such a small area are too many.  Having it as 
part of Bern's kingdom makes sense and explains why Erdrick got involved in 
the first place.  As far as I know, I've taken care of all the problems.  You 
no longer go to Garunda to defeat all the undead, just to go after the thieves 
when you find out about them and Bern is now established in the history.  An 
explanation of why Bern doesn't tell you about Garunda is also explained since 
he's in a huge war at the time and can't be bugged by a war that happened 60 
years ago until near the end of chapter 4 when the war is over.  This timeline 
fits as far as I know, and everyone knows about the war to some extent.  I 
don't know if there's a quest to Hatar made by the elder of Kievs, and I don't 
want to give a recommendation at this time.  From what I've heard, it's 
already taken care of.