As Torn ponders what would be necessary to prevent the slain Trogs from being transformed into undead, she remembers a story a Knight visiting the Monastery of Heironeous once shared with the brothers.
"There I was. A Knight Commander of the Knights of Dispatch. A sworn brother. And yet although I was the highest ranking Knight of Dispatch, I was not the Knight Commander of the force. That honor was bestowed upon Sir Halworth of Hookhill, Resplendent Eagle, a Knight of the Watch.
"I know you brothers do not fully understand the split between the Knights of the Watch and the Knights of Dispatch. And to be candid, there are things I can not share about the split, but the two knighthoods still work together closely, and you will understand more after listening to my tale.
"There were fifty of us, Knights and squires, who had answered the call to oppose a terrible menace. A great necromancer had led an army of several thousand undead out of the Dim Forest. The necromancer planned to seize the Old Road and cut the supply lines between Hochoch and Shibboleth. Hochoch was in a precarious state in the war against the giants. If Hochoch's supplies faltered, all of Geoff might be lost to the Giants.
"The problem was that the Knights favored two different strategies. The Knights of the Watch wanted to charge the undead army at dawn. The Knights of dispatch wanted to ambush the Necromancer with arrows.
At this point, one of the monks, interrupted,
"Can you believe the incompetence? Leaving thousands of bodies where a Necromancer can animate them? If I was in charge, the Necromancer would never have gotten an army in the first place."
The knight replied,
"Ahh, and a wise leader you would be. But how would you prevent the Necromancer from creating undead?
"Would you reduce every corpse to ash? Necromancers do not need bodies to create Ghosts or Wraiths.
"Or would you bury the bodies beneath stone cairns, stones so heavy that an animated corpse can not dig its way out? But even if you lay heavy stones, another can remove them.
"Or would you desecrate the corpses, inflicting hideous wounds upon the bodies in a manner that all of the Gods oppose? Even so, Skeletons and Zombies manage to survive wounds that no normal body could ever survive.
"Or would you ask followers of Heironeous to consecrate the grave sites and patrol the cemetaries, on the look out for grave robbers? Ask them to forsake the living and guard the dead instead?"
The chagrined Monk sits down, suddenly realizing that his criticism was an old one that had been considered before, and that the world was still full of undead.
"So, back to my story, the debate was over. All of the Knights had given their opinion except the two commanders. As the junior commander, I told the assembled knights, 'If Sir Halworth desires it, we will charge the Undead Army at dawn.' Sir Halworth readily answered that that was exactly what he wanted. There was grumbling from the Knights of Dispatch, but they gave in. I announced that I would organize reconassance patrols and sentries for the night, to make sure that we were not taken by surprise.
"The Knights of the Watch and their squires shined their weapons and armor for a battle that would be sung of. Fifty of the best the world has ever seen against several thousand of the most horrible creatures known to man.
"I assigned the best archer amongst the Knights of Dispatch, a refugee from Geoff named Tarl, to go on reconaisance with me. We spied out the enemy army in the middle of the night and filled the Necromancer with arrows.
"The next morning, the fifty knights defeated the few remaining undead that did not collapse upon the necromancer's death. Although to tell the truth, the greatest threat the undead presented was the stench to our nostrils as we rode across a field full of rotting corpses.
"So as my tale concludes, I think you now understand better the difference between the Knights of the Watch and the Knights of Dispatch. And you, young monk, now understand the best way to defeat an army of the undead... kill the necromancer."
