Purge of Highwater

The 'Purge of Highwater' was an infamous incident that occured in the now destroyed village of Highwater in Varos. The village was supposedly raided and burned to the ground by members of the Kincaid Vampire Hunters in an effort to erradicate what was reported to be a cluster of vampires that were living there amongst the populance. All of its citizens were found to have been beheaded before the village was destroyed, in a form of 'ultimate cleansing' as ordered by the Inqusitor that had lead the raid.

### Before the Purge

Before the Purge, Highwater was a bustling little village, situated on a small river delta near the Highwater Marsh. Highwater Marsh itself is a stretch of swampland just south of Eastkeep that runs down to the border between Varos and the Lesser Kingdoms. Fisherman often used the village as a trading point for goods that they caught either in the marsh, or out at sea. Hunters and trappers also favored the village if they didn't want to venture into the larger city of Eastkeep.

The village was rather peaceful till onne morning during the fall of the 60th year, 24th cycle. On that morning, an Inquisitor by the name of Felicity Chamberlain road into town. She had been instructed by the Grand Inquisitor of the Kincaid Vampire Hunters to venture to the village in search of a rumored group of vampires that were using the village as sort of a hiding place and feeding ground. A short investigation was done, during which the Inquisitor discovered that there were in fact a pair of vampires living amongst the citizens of Highwater (though these vampires were living peacefully away from everyone, and feeding on animal blood instead of people.) This was all she needed to know. She departed three days later, returning to Southkeep to report that the village indeed did house vampires.

### The Purge Begins *(or Hell comes to Highwater)*

Inquisitor Chamberlain would return two weeks later, with two other fellow Inquisitors in tow along with a small force of vampire hunters. They arrived during the night, torches in hand, and proceeded to slaughter every villager that they could find in Highwater and the surrounding area. Inquisitor Chamberlain then ordered that the bodies be thrown into a pile in the middle of the village, and the entire village be burned to the ground. She intended on cleansing Highwater, purging it of the vile filth that lived inside of it regardless if everyone there were innocent. They had associated themselves with these vampires, and needed to die as well.

The village burned for two days, under the watchful eye of Inquisitor Chamberlain and her fellow hunters. When it was but scorched wood and ashes, they left without another word.

### The Aftermath

A crew of fisherman were the ones to discover that Highwater had been burned to the ground, as well as its citizens massacred and piled up in a heap in the center of the village. It was reported to the authorities (who in turn reported the incident to the Paladins of Dekanas and the Witch Hunters, in case the cause was of supernatural origin). Upon finding the scorched corpses of two vampires amongst the others, the blame was placed upon the Kincaids as they had been in the area at the time. The Kincaids denied the accusation, of course, and placed the blame of possible witches in the area. Still, despite deflecting the blame and no charges being brought against them, most still believe that the Kincaids were to blame for the incident. Especially since some of the fishermen recounted that they had seen Inquisitor Chamberlain in the village two weeks prior to its destruction.

*The ruins of Highwater, after it was burned to the ground.*