Note/L10N/Verona_House_Bloodlines/12/Books/VHQVeronaHistory3?
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<DIV align="center">History of Verona Bay<br>
<DIV align="center">Volume Three<br><br>
<DIV align="center">The Tragedy of Verona<br>
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By Hulter Hunser
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VanGarff and Berunda had lived a happy life together. Then came the fateful trip.<p>
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A party set out from Verona Bay heading for the Blackwoods on another one of Berunda ingredient hunts. Berunda was accompanied by four companions Rudgar Templar, a rugged no nonsense wilderness savvy hunter. Leela Brandyworth part of the Brandyworth family and an accomplished swordswoman. Berda Gra-Grak an Orc guide, with extensive field knowledge of the Blackwoods and the Black Marsh region. Completing the party was the Elven mage Sanderion. A long associate of Berunda and a member of the Mages Guild.<p>
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In addition two Imperial Guards, led by the dashing and dedicated Captain Vastek. Who was regarded as the finest bowman of his generation. Completing the initial party was Corporal Juno Kincade. He was the least experienced of the party and was only in his second year of service in the corp.<p>
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The party headed south along the Green Road, passing through Bravil before making camp by the shores of the Niben bay. At this time, it was common place for fellow travelers to seek each other out and make joint camps for mutual protection. This was the case with Berunda痴 party who were joined by a group of Argonian hunters as they made camp just south of Bravil.<p>
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According to the hunters・report, they made camp before nightfall. Later that evening, Sanderion and Berunda spent sometime apart from the party in what may have been an argument. As the sun set Sanderion, who was the only member of the party on horseback, set off towards Bravil.<p>
Berunda had become a little wary of towns since her marriage, perhaps fearing ghosts from her past. Sanderion was a town elf and had refused to sleep rough.<bk>
We know that he stayed the night in the Silverhome-on the-Water, although oddly he paid for two nights accommodation. He enjoyed a late supper, before retiring close to midnight. He was never seen again.<p>
Back in camp, Berunda sung to entertain the group. She had a wonderful and enchanting singing voice. Although as Blim MeRa, one of the hunters who had joined them for the evening remarked, "She was an odd one that Berunda. She would sing Elven laments that would bring you close to tears, and then suddenly break out into bawdy songs that would make a sailor blush".<p>
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The following morning fog had descended over the Bay and Berunda's party were upset that Sanderion had not returned. Finally around eleven in the morning the hunters agreed to go to Bravil and pass a message onto the wayward Elf.<p>
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Berunda and her companions headed south into the mist and were never seen again. Not a single trace of them has ever been found. It is as if the fog swallowed them up and took them out of the world altogether.<p>
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VanGarff was beside himself with grief. Almost overnight he seemed to visibly lose his strength and will. He spent a huge part of this fortune in the ultimately vain attempt to find his beloved wife. He was so grief stricken he abandoned his jewel of the bay, and never set foot in Verona House again.<p>
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So what happened to the Party? Of course there are more theories that you care to shake at stick at.<p>
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There are those who think the party where waylaid by Bandits who killed them, robbed them, and then dumped their bodies in the Niben. This may well be true. Bandits have operated in Cyrodiil for countless years. But they tended to operate at that time in the northern Wilderness rather than in the heart of Cyrodiil. Also consider the skill of the party. Only the young Corporal had little fighting experience.<p>
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Most importantly remember Berunda herself had been wandering in the wilderness since she was at least fourteen and probably much earlier. As well as an accomplished Alchemist she was a fierce swordswoman of reputed skill.<p>
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Verona House contains a legendary magical training room designed to keep VanGarff at the peak of condition. According to the household servants of the time it was Berunda who actually used this facility most, entering and surviving at the hardest level, time and again<p>
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If the party was attacked, the bandits must have been a very powerful gang indeed. It is hard to imagine that such a gang could exist without some sort of evidence of their presence being left, no such evidence exists.<p>
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And if they were robbed what of the famed White Lightning Necklace.<p>
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Bought by VanGarff as a wedding gift to his bride this spectacular enchanted diamond necklace would have been a worthy prize. It was a magical bond that tied the two lovers together. Van Garff's continued search for his bride, was largely based on the enchantment locked into this fabulous jewel. He continually insisted that had his love perished, he would have sensed it.<p>
However, as well as this fabled enchantment, the costly jewel was distinctive and given the amount of effort exerted to find Berunda after her disappearance, it seems unlikely that no trace of the necklace could be found.<p>
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Another more malicious theory is that Berunda and the dashing captain were in fact lovers and that they killed the remainder of the party before fleeing to set up a life outside Cyrodiil. This again is unlikely. Berunda was at the time, at the height of her beauty and it seems beyond comprehension that a woman of her caliber could disappear from view particularly given the amount of money spent by VanGarff throughout Tamriel in his attempts to find her.<p>
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Of course it must be remembered that both VanGarff and Berunda had acquired a long list of enemies over the course of their lives. Any one of these may have had cause to arrange her disappearance.<p>
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VanGarff was of course heartbroken. He became increasingly paranoid and reclusive. In particular he became convinced of the complicity of the elf Sanderion in his wife's disappearance and was equally convinced of that the highest ranks of the mages guild were aware of his location and was protecting him. Typically, Mages Guild secretes are well guarded. However, a few hidden documents have surfaced which suggest that the Guild had some knowledge of Sanderion's whereabouts after the party's disappearance., Yet, even this evidence is vague and inconclusive..<p>
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Five years ago, VanGarff passed away. He had dwindled to a shadow of his former glories. He took up residence in the Anvil Fighters Guild, where they looked after him as his powers dwindled. Finally, illness and old age overcame him. It is said that with his dying breath he whispered the word 腺erunda・. In his will, he left his estate to relatives overseas with instructions that the house should be only be sold to a worthy and outstanding hero. He left it to his executors to find such a hero.<p>
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The legacy of Berunda and VanGarff still lingers over the area. The so called curse still hangs like a shadow. For the Brandyworth family this is particularly true. Sander Brandyworth, brother of Leela continued to make sporadic trips south trying to find his lost sister. When his daughter Mina came of age she joined him.<p>
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When they also disappeared without a trace the mystery of Berunda deepened even further.<p>
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The mark of VanGarff and Berunda and echoes of that tragic trip south can be found around Verona Bay to this day.<p>
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