Elizabeth Montfort

Elizabeth Montfort was a female human paladin of Vesper and an NPC in the Emeron campaign.

## Biographical Information

### Place of Death

Plains of Galmar (as human), Hardale (as death knight)

## Vital Statistics

### Eye Color

Blue

Elizabeth Montfort, also called General Lizmont, was a paladin of Vesper. She was the husband of Edwin Montfort and the mother of Edella Montfort. She was killed by Mingolf the Soulcrusher and turned into a twisted death knight, serving him in his vile schemes. Her undead form was destroyed in the Battle of Hardale, and her soul trapped in a strange gem along with Edwin's.

## Background

### Early Life

Elizabeth was born and raised in the Barony of Fishton. She never knew her father and her mother died in childbirth, leaving her orphaned. She was raised by the Church of Vesper in Fishton and as she grew she proved herself capable at combat as well as merciful and generous of spirit. When she was old enough she wished to join the Order of the Dawn as a way to see the world and help the people.

Shortly after joining she met a new fellow student, Edwin Montfort. Along with their trainer, Sir Gibbon Keltey, the two were assigned a mission to defend a village in northwest Sellingsburg from a band of marauding ogres. The band proved to be a large clan, rather than a small band and the fight was far more difficult than expected and Sir Gibbon was slain. Still, Elizabeth and Edwin were successful in rallying the fighting men of the village to successfully defeat the ogres.

The two were both inducted as full members of the order after this mission and they met and befriended a fellow member, Winston Templeton whom they shared several missions with. Elizabeth and Edwin continued to grow closer to one another, soon falling in love and marrying.

In 1139 The Montforts and Winston were following up on rumors of kidnappings along the border between the Thorgain Kingdom and the barony of Lurinlund. They ultimately learned that the source was a kidnapping ring operating out of Fulton to sell drifters, beggars and the dregs of society to a tribe of ogres living in the foothills of the Dwarven Mountains as slaves. Worse, the ringleader was the brother of the marshal of Vynrib, who looked the other way to protect his sibling.

The trio broke up the slaver ring, killed several of the ogres and brought the marshal to justice. Several of the kidnapping victims came from the estate of Fulton as well, and Fulton's lord, Sir Lazrith, was immensely grateful and knighted the three paladins on the spot, offering them positions in his court. Winston accepted, being named as the Marshal of Fulton. Elizabeth and Edwin, however, declined a position on the court preferring to travel and continue to do good around the land.

By 1141 Elizabeth had become pregnant and the Montforts decided to return to the headquarters of the Order of the Dawn so that Elizabeth could give birth. On the 5th of Unicorn Elizabeth gave birth a daughter whom she Edella. The Montforts took a respite from active adventuring to raise their daughter.

### Return to Duty

In 1147 Elizabeth and Edwin received a letter from Sir Winston, stating that Sir Lazrith was investigating the death of Baron Jonathan Ravenut and his son Geoffry's ascension to the baronial throne. Winston stated that they needed someone trustworthy and capable to assist. The Montforts agreed to help, traveling to Fulton with little Edella.

Winston agreed to watch Edella and keep her safe during the investigation and she remained with him in Fulton while the Montforts traveled to Lurinlund City to search for any information on Baron Jonathan's death. In 1148 they learned of a member of the Baronial Army who may have information indicating that Baron Geoffry was culpable in the death of this father. Unfortunately the man had been patrolling the Plains of Galmar and been captured by a barbarian raiding party. The Montforts decided that, regardless of the information he may have had, that a rescue was in order and traveled to the Plains to recover him.

The information the soldier was said to have turned out to be false, seemingly a ruse designed to lure the Montforts out of the country to be killed. When they went to the plains to search for the man they were ambushed by a large force of undead led by a Galmari barbarian called Mingolf the Soulcrusher. Elizabeth and Edwin fought fiercely however they were defeated. Edwin and Elizabeth were both slain, their soul being sucked into the *Gem of Galmar*, which Mingolf possessed.

### General Lizmont

The cruel Mingolf raised Elizabeth as death knight, using the soul in the gem to complete the necromantic ritual. Elizabeth, in her new undead form, moved to attack Mingolf but he merely reminded her that should she ever turn on him that he would snuff out Edwin's soul, consigning him to oblivion instead of ascending to the afterlife. With nothing but hatred for Mingolf, she nonetheless obeyed him out of love for Edwin.

Mingolf dubbed Elizabeth "General Lizmont" and she became is right hand in his efforts to wipe out the other monster and Galmarian tribes north of the Tribarc River and consolidate power of the Rockwater Tribe. At Mingolf's orders she murdered and tortured anyone in the barbarian's way. Men, women and children fell to the terrifying power of General Lizmont. Little was left of the good and charitable paladin that was Elizabeth Montfort. The only spark of the woman she'd been in life was her still caring for and loving (as much as she was able) her family.

### Invasion of Lurinlund

In 1159 Mingolf had consolidated power over the Rockwater Tribe and wiped out any monster or Galmarian tribe that could challenge him. With a declaration of wishing to conquer the Kingdom of Emeron he rallied a massive undead army he'd created and the warriors of the Rockwater Tribe and marched on the Barony of Lurinlund, with General Lizmont at his side.

Mingolf's army was challenged by a host of Lurinlund forces under Sir Valin Taire in the First Battle of Undying Rage. The remains of Sir Valin's army was rallied and reinforced by, ironically, Sir Winston Templeton. Knowing they way Winston thought, General Lizmont suggested a strategy against Winston, which Mingolf adopted. Her tactics plan worked and Sir Winston's army broke in the Second Battle of Undying Rage.

During the fighting, Winston ordered a withdraw while seeking to hold off the undead so they could flee. Spotting Lizmont of the field, but unaware of her identity, he charged her seeking to end an enemy commander. As they sparred, she revealed her former identity of Elizabeth to him, proving her claim by asking after Edella's welfare and mentioning the marshal of Vynrib. The shock caused Winston to falter for a moment, and it was all Lizmont needed to strike down the man she'd once called friend.

### The Battle of Hardale

*See also: the Battle of Hardale*

At Lizmont's suggestion Mingolf ordered packs of Galmari riders and Ghouls to harry the retreating Lurinlund army. The day before the battle Mingolf received intelligence from his divine magic that Lizmont's daughter Edella had taken command of Winston's army. Determined to rattle the enemy leader, MIngolf sought a parlay with the enemy commanders.

During the parlay he demanded Hardale's surrender and displayed the zombified corpse of Sir Valin and presented Edella the head of Sir Winston. To further shake the psyche of Edella, Mingolf allowed Lizmont to reveal her true form and identity to Edella.

The following day Lizmont led the army of skeletons on the south wall. In spite of the defenses erected, it was not long before the forces had wiped out the guardsmen under the command of Sister Devina Arveniad on the south wall and invaded the city, slamming hard into the elderly and child defenders under the command of Baram Vallerad. Still, Lizmont herself had not yet entered the city, as she was riding in though Ronald Cunningham triggered a rock trap over the gate, trapping her and her undead mount under several hundred pounds of rubble.

By the time Lizmont dug herself out of the rubble, she knew her skeleton army had been defeated so she rode to join up with Mongolf's forces. She found the Joined of Vesper having laid MIngolf low and working to remove the magical gem that held Edwin's soul from Mingolf's chest. Ordering them to stand away she charged into combat, attacking the Joined with all she had.

At first the battle went well for her, in spite of being outnumbered 8 to 1, as she was able to use her horsemanship skills and her undead mount to harry the Joined of Vesper and severely wound Beybulat Tasho and Raskin Daggermaw. Edella, however, commanded her companions to take out Lizmont's horse, and once she was dismounted she was quickly surrounded by Edella, Delilah Farmeski and Briac Youngblood. The trio proved effective and countering Lizmont's attacks, especially Edella, who had infused her weapon with Vesper's holy energy. In the end, Lizmont was destroyed by her own daughter, as the girl firmly bad sadly stated that Lizmont had to be put to rest.

As her undead body crumbled to dust Elizabeth's soul was freed and she was seen to briefly smile at Edella. Suddenly, however, it was forcefully dragged back into the *Gem of Galmar*.

## After Death

After Elizabeth's undead form was destroyed and her soul imprisoned in the *Gem of Galmar* she was herself mentally again and mourned for what she had done as General Lizmont. She was comforted by Edwin, who was also trapped within the gem and did all he could for her.

Shortly after becoming trapped, however, the Joined of Vesper engaged in a risky ritual to send their souls into the *Gem of Galmar* to save the Montforts, and destroy the spirit of Mingolf the Soulcrusher, as the gem continued to try to regenerate his body.

As the Joined of Vesper came closer to Mingolf's soul in the realm he prepared a battlefield and kept Elizabeth and Edwin in cages upon it to taunt and further dishearten the Joined. Worse, Edella fell in battle with the realm, trapping her soul as well. To taunt both the Joined and the Montforts he placed her in a cell nearby her parents.

The Montforts took the opportunity to tell Edella how much they loved her and how proud of her they were. Edwin also revealed that since her friends entered the Gem they could feel the power of Vesper again for the first time since they'd been slain. Edella theorized that it was because pieces of Vesper's divine power were lodged in the souls of the Joined.

## Salvation

A short time after Edella was slain, the Joined arrived to confront Mingolf. During the fight Froderik Penderghast and Raskin Daggermaw freed the Montforts from their cells. Elizabeth, Edwin and Edella all prayed to Vesper for aid, and with the conduit of the Joined was able to conjure many of the spirits that had been trapped in the Gem for centuries, who immediately waded into the battle to aid the Joined.

Once the spirits had occurred, the Montforts found weapons in their hands again, and they charged into battle together. Elizabeth immediately made for Mingolf, attacking him furiously alongside Raskin and Beybulat Tasho.

With Elizabeth's aid Raskin was able to finish off Mingolf, and combined with the power of Vesper brought into the gem with the Joined of Vesper, the deity was able to break the hold the Gem had on Edwin and Elizabeth's spirits and they ascended to the afterlife, free at last after decades of horror and being trapped by Galmar.

## Personality and Abilities

Elizabeth was a giving and compassionate woman with a mischievous sense of humor and a love of benevolent practical jokes. She was a devout follower of Vesper and took his teachings to help others to heart. She was a highly capable rider and skilled warrior, both mounted and on foot. Her devotion to Vesper granted her access to low level divine magic.

As General Lizmont she was a literal monster, ruthlessly slaughtering anything that stood in her way or that she was commanded to kill by Mingolf. All that had made Elizabeth good and wholesome was corrupted or destroyed the day she was raised as a death knight. Her love of practical jokes had morphed into a satisfaction at inflicting harm and pain. The only thing left of who she had been was a love for Edwin and Edella and even that had been corrupted to be obsessive. She was still a fierce warrior, and her divine magics were replaced and corrupted by magical power granted to her by Mingolf's patron Galmar or by the magical nature of her new undead form.