The Horror of Pamplemousse

Some years ago a dark cult was founded in the Forecastle area of Hahvrensburg. The cultists were defeated by a band of heroes and their secrets and plans were laid bare to the public and destroyed, well all of them save for one. The group of friends, and the city officials never found the final resting place of the cult's victims. Well over 100 men and women had fallen into their dark grasp and had not been recovered.

The bodies were hidden in the cistern beneath the cultist's lair. During the raid on the lair to save the princess, the leader of the cultists, Hoarth Mattock was thrown into the mouth of the well that lead down to the cistern. He fell a good distance, breaking several bones bouncing off of the walls on the way down. His fall was finally broken by the heap of waterlogged corpses in the cistern. The evil cultist died, but not before a well planned Contingency spell activated itself.

A month after the heroes left the city and went on about their business, something came out of the earth. It was massive, easily the size of a full team of draft horses and as tall as a building. The smell of wet rot and death clung to it, and it made a horrible noise. It moved quickly, smashing those who tried to oppose it, even slaying many of the town guard and even one of the Vizier's deputies. The freshly named Death Giant was warded into the Forecastle area by means of several well placed and strong wards, but none of the sorcerers or local swordsmen were willing to try and destroy the monster.

Those who were defeated by the monster were absorbed into its semi-liquid, rotting body. Their voice was added to the symphony of agony that issued from the creature constantly.

What had happened was the contingency spell tried to reanimate the mage as it was designed to do. The magic coursed through his body, but the axiom of contagion was in effect, the power coursed through his body as well as into the bodies off all of the victims in the cistern. They were drug into a sort of half life as a zombie filled with the pain of rot and water damage. Nearly mindless the new creature shambled up out of the ground, breaking through the floor of the cultists lair. It had no goals, it was merely attracted to the warmth of life.