Tales of Cubonia

The Golden Hourglass 8 - The Witch

There are few left alive who remember that The Witch of The Wastes's real name was Broonhilda McGaugerty and that she was once a very pretty young thing from a small town in one of the southern provinces of Rodain. Thanks to Broonhilda, the town is no longer there, but I assure you, it existed at one point. At a very young age she was introduced to magic and sorcery, and took to it like a fish to water. She took a job as the local sorceress for her hometown, helping her fellow residents with pest and rodent removal, healing injuries, curing illness, and just generally making things a little better for everyone. As she grew, her magical abilities grew far more vast and impressive.

One day she met a young man by the name of Tomas Duggery, and almost instantly fell head over heels in the most annoying way possible. Duggery was well known all over Rodain as a wealthy merchant and tradesman. His wares were second to none, and if the ladies were asked, neither were his looks. He was quite taken with Broonhilda when they first met, and a romance quickly blossomed. The problem with dashingly handsome men is that they tend to be rather wishy-washy and easily distracted. Two weeks before Broonhilda and Mr. Duggery were set to wed, a young lady came a long and stole Tomas's attention and he left Broonhilda alone and broken hearted.

Some would argue that her broken heart is what drove Broonhilda to experiment with the dark magic that would eventually twist and shrivel her body into the ghastly form it would eventually take. Others would say that she was actually just a rather mean spirited person in the first place and just felt like she'd done enough good for the world. But all of those people are long gone along with the town Broonhilda decided to wipe off the map. The truth was that she was decidedly put out by what Mr. Duggery had done, but it wasn't until years after that she truly delved into Dark Magic. She was out for a leisurely stroll one day when a tiny pebble had managed to find its way into her shoe and refused to come out no matter what Broonhilda did to remove it. With each step she could feel it digging into the tender sole of her foot. All of her normal spells were useless, so she began doing research in any and every spell book she could get her hands on.

Eventually she found a spell that was perfect for her needs in a book of spells that were the Darkest of the Dark Magic imaginable. Our dear Broonhilda, plagued by the pebble, skipped the disclaimer at the beginning of the book that would have warned her that using even a single spell from the book would twist her mind toward darkness and that she would never be the same again, so it was probably best that you were already a little screwed in the head before using any of the incantations. The spell consisted of three simple words that took almost three full weeks to pronounce correctly and fully. The pebble was never seen again, but Broonhilda was irrevocably changed for the worse.

Weeks passed as her life collapsed in on itself while Broonhilda dug deeper into the pits of Darkness. Customers would come to her shop, but she would rarely answer, and when she did, it would be to curse whoever had decided to knock and disturb her work. Eventually she decided to leave the town in search of big, better, Darker things. The town would have been happy about that fact, but...well, you know how well they fared.

The Wastelands of Time called to Broonhilda on a deep spiritual level. Where others would fear to tread, she strode in and took over the joint as if it had always belonged to her and she was just finally coming home. The Wastes welcomed her with open arms, and bent easily to her will. They had been waiting for the right Dark Sorcerer to come along and Broonhilda fit the bill, but she didn't know that. To Broonhilda, she was just that powerful to control what seemed to be uncontrollable.

She moved farther into The Wastes than anyone ever had before her. When she was satisfied with a spot in which to set up shop – which just happened to be the exact center of The Wastes – she used her Dark Magic to create a massive crater in the earth and lined it with razor sharp stalagmites turning the crater into a massive makeshift punji pit. Above the pit she magically suspended a great chunk of rock upon which she constructed a threatening gothic-style castle complete with gargoyles and poor lighting. The perfect place for a witch of her prowess and dastardliness to hang her hat. She adopted the title of Queen of The Wastes, but was only referred to as such in her own territory. The rest of Cubonia would forever know her as The Witch of The Wastes.