Vogoth

The dead do not rest easy in cursed earth. There can be no peace where the soil is steeped in madness and spite. Especially for one whose bones bear the taint of an unholy malediction. Such a being is Vogoth the Accursed. Once a mighty knight in service to the Banner Lords of Kaerok, Vogoth is now a lumbering, lurching pustule of necromantic foulness… a decaying hulk, whose very presence causes the waters to sour and the trees to wither. Centuries ago, Vogoth served his lord faithfully and well, facing enemies both on and off the battlefield. For him there was no greater glory than in a deed honorably done or an innocent life preserved. But even the most heroic of warriors has enemies. It is said by some that an honorable warrior is an asset on the battlefield and a hindrance everywhere else. Such was the case with Vogoth. He disapproved of the fierce politicking of the court of Kaerok, and unwittingly hindered his lord's attempts to increase his own influence at the cost of others, on more than one occasion. Finally, Vogoth's lord decided to dispense with his services. But he could not simply dismiss the knight, and risk Vogoth joining a rival's retinue. Nor could he simply have him killed, for there were those who might suspect the truth and use it for their own ends. Instead, Vogoth's end had to look like an accident… death by misadventure. So, Vogoth was dispatched to the Gasping Mire, where a nest of Undead were said to be lurking. The nearby villages had long begged their lord to end the threat of the dead things in the swamp, and they were overjoyed by Vogoth's arrival. The knight was accompanied by a group of eleven of his lordship's handpicked men; stalwart warriors, who could be counted on to accomplish the task alongside him. Twelve men went into the mire. But only eleven returned. It was claimed that Vogoth had died ending the Undead threat, and though there were some who questioned that, none did so within earshot of his lord. Within days of the knight's funeral, in which an empty coffin was buried with all honors, the matter was all but forgotten. A fortnight later, Vogoth returned. But not as a man. As something foul and rotten. Something in search of vengeance. Now, this blighted creature looms over his opponents, a towering slab of boil-encrusted meat. His cursed corpus is caught in a cycle of eternal decay, never fully rotting away, ever-expanding with unhallowed miasmas that vent from his ruptured skin with every swing of his rusty halberd. His once-handsome features are now a swollen mass hidden beneath a beatific helm, and his armor is a clattering mass of warped plates and broken straps, barely able to contain his bloated physique. The courageous battle-cries that once escaped his lips are now little more than gurgling groans, and he marches not for honor or glory, but to bring pain to the living. Vogoth has been destroyed more than once, often by knights of Kaerok or warriors of the Sacred Order. But within a fortnight of any defeat, he rises once more from the pestilent marshes where he died, eager to resume his unending war on the living. If there is a way of permanently ending Vogoth's cursed existence, no one has yet discovered it. And until someone does, Vogoth will continue to wage war on those whom he once sought to protect.