Bonde Farm Massacre
| File:East Ruins.png The remains of the Bonde Farm following the massacre. | |
| Date | |
|---|---|
| Approximately 1769 Fourth Age | |
| Place | |
| Bonde Farm, central Wilderness | |
| Outcome | |
| Murder of all but one resident of the farm, beginning of the Spirit Beast's feeding cycle. | |
| Combatants | |
| Unknown Rogue Group | Bonde Family and Farmhands |
| Commanders | |
| Unknown | Not Applicable |
| Strength | |
| Unknown | Four Civilians |
| Casualties | |
| None | Four Civilians |
The Bonde Family Massacre was a civilian massacre that occurred approximately in the Year 1769 of the Fourth Age. The murders took place on the small Bonde Family Farm in the central Wilderness north of Misthalin and Asgarnia. The murderers were never identified or even searched for, given the isolated location of the farm and the lack of any governmental jurisdiction in the region.
Background
The massacre occurred at an unknown time during the Year 1769 of the Fourth Age, some 500 years ago. Several years prior, the Bonde family moved from the developing Misthalanian capital city of Varrock to the untamed Wilderness of the north, where they apparently were able to create a successful plantation. The farm was not the only Wilderness settlement established at the time, and was but one of many small farms and villages apparently created during an attempt to re-colonize the Wilderness.
The Bonde family brought with them three farmhands: Jallek Lenkin, Meranek Thanatos, and Gargon. Jennica Bonde, the wife of Erik Bonde, died several years after the family settled of a poisonous spider bite.
The Murder
At the time of the murder, Gargon was apparently in a nearby village on an errand. Because of this, he was the sole resident to survive. During the early night, the family and farmhands were attacked by a group of violent men whose nature and number remain unknown. It seems likely that the men slew the family simply for pleasure, given the excessive violence used in the attack.
Erik and his eight-year-old daughter, Summer, were captured along with the two remaining farmhands. The men tortured the victims through unknown means before killing them. They left after the massacre, never to be identified or captured.
Aftermath
Gargon, the farmhand who not been present during the murder, arrived to find the family's mangled bodies within the farm. After his initial grief, he took the remains of his comrades and buried them in a small cave north of the farm, where Jennica had been buried only several years before. He then left, and is presumed to have died some time later. Although it is possible he reported the murder to the Misthalanian police forces, it is unlikely any search was ever conducted as the farm was deep in the Wilderness and outside of the nation's jurisdiction regardless.
Meanwhile, the souls of the victims found themselves trapped in a type of endless parallel limbo known as the Spirit Plane. Their souls, captured as they departed by a powerful Spirit Beast, were forced to remain within this parallel dimension, the beast feeding on their energy. Summer described the first few weeks of their imprisonment as "pure torture", the group unable to do anything but scream in agony. The group gradually grew used to the pain, and for five hundred years they were forced to suffer as the creature fed on their life force and grew stronger itself. The family silently formulated plans to escape the beast, although these would not be set in motion until the Spirit of Summer and Summer's End quests, in which the player helps the family escape their torment.