Editing The Red Duke (section)

==Resurrection==
In the darkness of the first night, after the tomb was sealed, something stirred within the marble crypt. Something engorged by the darkest of magic and aided by a magic jewel forged out of the blood of the innocent. Something that ripped the broken lance from its heart. Something that sneered at the foolish compassion that had prevented King Louis from destroying its body. The King would suffer for his mistake... or so it thought.

Turns out that while the Prophetess had failed to convince the King to destroy the Duke's body she had managed to get the King to allow her to place enchantments upon the monument, spells that would protect the tomb and hold it inviolate against all manner of evil. Her spells would safeguard the tomb from the ravages of wind and rain, but they would also protect the land from that which lay within the tomb. When the Vampire attempted to leave the tomb an unseen power drove him back. No matter how hard he tried he found it impossible to even approach the walls of his crypt, repulsed by the enchantments that saturated the marble tomb. The Red Duke could only turn within the small interior of his prison and curse at the walls that confined him, the walls he couldn’t even touch. Alone in the eternal darkness of his own tomb, the Red Duke passed the long years, tormented by the bloodlust that consumed his corrupt body. Hour by hour, his ravenous hunger swelled, torturing him with pangs of longing he was powerless to satisfy. Vainly he cast his thoughts upon the past, trying to forget his hunger by reflecting upon his deeds, losing himself in moments heroic and infamous with equal abandon.

Almost 500 years would pass like this during which time the Duke would find himself descending further and further into madness. Then in 1932 IC an idiot necromancer named Renar and his cabal of witches and corrupt nobles made the mistake of cracking open the tomb of the Red Duke. Renar had intended to evoke the warrior-spirit of the Red Duke, hoping to channel his martial prowess into a chosen vessel for his cabal's dark purposes. Unfortunately for them instead of the bodiless spirit they thought they would encounter, the foolish tomb robbers instead found a vampire transformed from an already viciously eccentric and evil being into a completely insane and pissed-off monster courtesy of being imprisoned for so long without blood. Realizing they didn't have the ability to control such a being, Renar and company decided instead to save their own skin by agreeing to serve the infamous Duke.

With the aid of the Necromancers, the Red Duke summoned forth his undead steed and raised an undead army before commencing a bizarre campaign that recreated the war that led to his defeat at Ceren Field and the crusade in Araby. Though King Louis had long since passed away the Red Duke ignored the words of his saner associates and led his forces across the land. The mad Vampire slaughtered his enemies, even if he did not recognize them for who they were, but imagined them as opponents from ages past, both at home and abroad. Eventually, his campaign brought him to Ceren Field once more where he found a Grail chapel had been raised in honor of a Grail Knight named Galand, who had become legendary during the Duke's imprisonment. Before he could carry out his plan to defile the tomb of someone who he saw as another usurper the Red Duke found himself confronted by an army lead by the incumbent Duke of Aquitaine, Gilon.

Gilon was a veteran of a dozen grueling campaigns, a great leader of men, and a fearsome warrior armed with an ancient holy blade that was enchanted to grant its wielder the strength of a Giant. Alas, he was nearing the end of his long life, and many expected his son, Richemont to soon succeed him. Despite his age though, Gilon was still a powerful warrior both due to his blade and the fact he had achieved the perilous Grail Quest and supped from the Grail of the [[Lady of the Lake]]. Underneath his aging appearance, the Grail knight's frame still suggested a brooding strength, just waiting to be unleashed. Gilon would have left the Dukedom to his son years earlier and retired to guard one of its Grail Chapels. However, he felt that until his son had learned patience and grown in wisdom, he could not give up his position, something which proved a wise course of action as it put him in the perfect position to deal with the threat of the Red Duke.

On the day of the battle, the Bretonnians had arrived early in the morning, and Duke Gilon, fearing that the undead would encircle them and the villages they were defending, sent scouts to investigate the movements of his enemies. The squires entrusted with the mission returned quickly and brought word of the approaching undead. They warned of the great flights of bats that flew as a vanguard for the undead army and that the Red Duke himself rode at the head of his forces.

Later as the mists cleared, the Bretonnians took advantage of the slow deployment of undead and surged forward. Duke Gilon used all his experience to command his troops to the fullest effect, commanding his son, Sir Richemont to lead his Questing Knights into battle whilst Gilon plunged into the fray atop his Pegasus. Despite Gilon's best attempts though he failed to stop the Red Duke from reaching the entrance to Galand's chapel. Using its ancient magics to empower him, the Red Duke succeeded in wiping out half of Gilon's Knights of the Realm, with Richemont surviving only thanks to his magical armor of protection. At this crucial moment, the aging Duke soared from the skies and challenged the vampire to single combat. The Red Duke was angered by Gilon's arrival, for all he saw before him was an old man, aged and wizened. Smiling coldly, the Lord of the Undead instead sent forth one of his lieutenants, the Wight known as Sir Corbinian.

A fierce duel erupted, with Corbinian injuring Gilon's pegasus with his ghost blade before he was destroyed in turn by his opponent's blessed blade. Gilon then charged towards the hated Red Duke, and what followed was a struggle of epic proportions. Despite his advanced age, Gilon was still a Grail Knight and mightier beyond any mortal, swinging his holy blade into the Red Duke and wounding him greatly. The Red Duke, however, was one of the mightiest Blood Knights in existence. He responded with his own glittering blade, cutting through Gilon's armor and inflicting a mortal wound.

The Red Duke howled in triumph, but soon noticed the reality of the situation... his undead army was withering away thanks to the holy energy of the Grail Chapel and his mortal supporters including Renar were being cut down to a man. The combined bravery of Bretonnia's knights and the sacrifice of Duke Gilon had ensured his defeat. Injured but still determined to carry out his dark task the Red Duke once more entered Galand's resting place and this time he managed to reach the depths of the chapel.

To the Red Duke's surprise though upon reaching the center of the tomb, he found someone else waiting for him, a Prophetess named Iselda who mockingly told him the Grail Knight whose tomb he intended to defile was... his own son. As it turned out, unknown to the Red Duke, his wife had been pregnant when he left to crusade in Estalia and the child who was subsequently born had been named Galand by his uncle before being hidden away when his father had returned as a vampire. After the Duke's "death" at the hand of his grief-stricken brother, King Louis had decided to atone for slaying his brother by watching over Galand until he grew to adulthood and became a legendary Grail Knight. Compounding the tragedy of this revelation was the discovery that the so-called "usurper" Gilon who the Red Duke had slain earlier was a descendant of Galand and thus a descendant of the Red Duke himself!

Horrified and enraged by this realization the Red Duke killed the prophetess and tried to call out to his son's spirit only for his son's spirit to retaliate against his twisted progenitor by releasing a burst of holy energy which drove him into the Forest of Châlons. In the wake of this battle Sir Richemont inherited his father's rule as the new Duke of Aquitaine, and soon decreed that the Red Duke be hunted down throughout Bretonnia, an order that has lasted for centuries. Yet despite being pursued by many brave knights none succeeded in slaying the Vampire and it was said he continued to haunt the Forest of Châlons, awaiting his chance for revenge against the people of Aquitaine.