Once, there was a small dwarven clan in the southern caves of Morcraven Marsh. They had travelled far away from their main stronghold in Mynadar to attempt to look for new ore deposits to be mined, not being satisfied with the gold trade. The dwarven clan of Searchstone was a peculiarly dark-complexioned one, having traditionally served as the explorers and ore-finders for the Dwarven City, and being tanned from their extensive travels.
They had found the beginnings of a promising mineral lode in the southern caves of Morcraven Marsh, and decided to settle there for a while to explore further, hoping to find richer deposits as they dug deeper. Unfortunately, the cave system they were exploring extended far deeper than they expected – all the way to Naralik, in fact. Their constant mining and hammering echoed throughout the caves, even to the catacombs. While this level of noise was normal to Dwarves, it was distinctly unpleasant to the main inhabitant of the catacombs, the Necromancer of Naralik (for his story, see here).
Aclys traced the noise back to the dwarves, and kindly asked them to stop and move somewhere else. The Searchstone clan, being the Dwarves they were, stubbornly refused, citing a standing order from the leaders of Mynadar to search for new minerals everywhere they went. Talks broke down, and Aclys returned to the catacombs, having failed to persuade them.
One night, an albino Elf maiden by the name of Merryn Lightfeather approached the Dwarven camp and introduced herself to the Searchstone family. She asked for shelter in the midst of a storm and slowly befriended the Dwarves, overcoming the racial barriers that normally impede Elven-Dwarven relations. Unbeknownst to the Searchstones, Merryn Lightfeather was a powerful Elven sorceress who dreamed of challenging Aclys’ power. She was manipulative and cunning, a mistress of deception.
Aclys had failed to persuade the Dwarves to leave the mines alone, and although he disliked having his peace disturbed, he nevertheless was prepared to tolerate the constant ringing and booming echoes that carried down into his sleeping chambers, devoutly hoping that the Searchstones would find nothing of interest and move on. In fact, after a few weeks, the mineral deposits petered out, and the Searchstone clan WAS planning to move elsewhere.
It was then that Merryn revealed her deadly plan.
She used all her arts of persuasion to convince the Dwarves that there were uncountable riches of minerals in the Naralik Catacombs. (Well, in truth, there WERE emeralds there, but Merryn definitely exaggerated the amount and variety of precious gems when she spoke.) Playing on Dwarven suspicion, and subtly enhancing their greed, she managed to persuade them that Aclys was hoarding the minerals, and was planning to forcibly evict them from the territory in order to have it all to himself. Needless to say, they didn’t like that idea one bit.
To cut a long story short, within three days of the Morcraven Marsh caves running out, the Dwarven clan of Searchstone mounted a pre-emptive attack on the Necromancer of Naralik, aided and assisted by their supposed ally, Merryn Lightfeather, the albino Elf. Aclys was hard-pressed at first, especially with the illusory effects of the magic that Merryn was casting, but eventually he managed to overcome them, blasting them all to oblivion.
The curse of the catacombs then took effect, and one by one, the dwarves and the elf maiden rose, zombie-like creatures. Aclys, having probed the minds of the undead dwarves, found out the truth of their deception, and pitied them. He even found the capacity in his heart to be sorrowful for Merryn Lightfeather, who, after all, was merely ambitious and took the wrong path. Because of his recent battle, his powers were taxed, and he was unable to restore them to full life.
A passing ant gave him an idea. Probing the mind of the ant, and of the ant colony it belonged to, Aclys was able to transfer some of that mentality to the soulless bodies of the dwarves and the elf. He satisfied Merryn’s lust for power by making her the Queen of this strange, motley collection of half-zombie, half-ants. Having satisfied the demands of his conscience, Aclys turned them loose to fend for themselves, ordering them to scavenge for food and items to support themselves.
Somehow, when giving his orders, the limited group mind of the Ants managed to perceive Aclys as their God, and every now and then, the Ant Queen orders one of her underlings to leave offerings to their creator at the grounds of Naralik. They wander the continent now, obeying their Creator’s commands to scavenge and hunt, aided by their instincts, fighting to survive and prosper in their own way. Aclys returned to his task in the catacombs and disappeared from sight, leaving behind a few Orc guardians he had called to prevent such incidences from disturbing him again.
And so, the once-proud Dwarven clan of Searchstone met their tragic end, and the elves of the Morcraven Marshes never could find Merryn Lightfeather ever again.
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