The Darkening of Paper Fern Lake

The Darkening of Paper Fern Lake was a phenomenon which took place in late EL 1000 during the Eventide, when the waters of Paper Fern Lake in Jeltir went black as shadow. The water's consistency and taste remained the same and apart from coloration, there seemed to be no evidence that it was harmful to those who drank it.
The phenomenon was caused by the warlock Zachár Flame-tongue, acting on the orders of his patron the Swill. The terms of Zachár's pact included performing a monthly ritual wherein he covered his blade with the blood of a freshly killed creature under the full moon, and on this particular day, the Swill demanded an extra step, due to Zachár having been on the elemental plane of water, where there was no moon, with the Light Brigade the previous month. This extra step was to perform the ritual out on the waters of Paper Fern Lake and wash his sword in those waters from his boat. When he did, the darkness spread from his blade. He hid this fact from the lord of Tensby at the time, Paisley Lannigan, but shared it with King Talesan Fairfell shortly afterwards. The darkness mysteriously vanished with the dawn after the Battle of Geldereth that December.
For some time the ramifications of the phenomenon were not known, and though the Swill's motivations are still shrouded in mystery, in the summer of 1004 scholars finally concluded that all children who were in utero at the time their mothers drank the lake's dark waters, a number in the sixties or seventies, had been endowed with sorcerous power.

Start Date

31 October 1000

End Date

23 December 1000