"You should not go without knowing who and what you are to face. If you can break the alliance between the Ghostlord and the Red Hand then you must. When I was younger, the Ghostlord was not a lich but a man. If you listen to the stories told by men of the bardic cloth around fires like this, he was a noble druid who worshipped lions and lead a nomadic tribe who lived in what is now the Thornwaste on the southern edges of the vale. The story goes that the nobles of Rhest betrayed the nomadic worshippers of the lions by killing a lion for its pelt, and the nomads responded by murdering the noble hunting party. When word reached Rhest the remained nobles dispatched their cavalry. The nomads did not stand a chance, the bard's will say, and their blood spilled into the depths of night. Their leader, the man who would become the Ghostlord. When the soldiers returned to Rhest they found ghostly lions prowling the streets and were slain to the man.
The region fell into decline and the verdant forests to the south slowly gave way to the wastes that are there now." She let the story sink in before continuing, "The tale of the bard's, like most that they weave, is only partly true. The Ghostlord was then known as Urikel Zarl. He was a blighter, a cruel druid who had abandoned the path of nature and instead of preserving it drained the land of life for his own gain and power. The nomadic lion worshippers of the tale were indeed lion worshippers, but they were also feral cannibals who believed in death they would be reborn as lions. The lords of Rhest set out to challenge this cult, and slay their dark druid leader. In the ensuing battle all were slain, and the land blighted by the now-Ghostlords influence."
