MORGROM THE ESSENCE OF EVIL

Morgrom the Essence of Evil (whose name was spelled the same backward and forward), was also known as the Malignant, the Palindromic, the Multi-Faced, the Wretch of Wordplay, of the Reversible Name, Thrag's Bane, just to name a few. There were worse places than Hades, and he was familiar with them all. In fact, Morgrom had been evil for thousands of years since long before Entharion and had refined that quality so far that one had to have a grudging admiration for his skill and dedication. He had not earned the epithet of Essence of Evil for nothing. The One could have judged Morgrom long ago for his rebellion, but left him to work out His divine plan, at least until the tenth century. Until that date, no one who lived could put into words the reasons for Morgrom's actions.

Morgrom had long disdained to join the Supernatural and Fantastic Wayfarer's Association. He felt that the Assocation's mutual non-aggression pact would demean him, and so he was free to cause mistery to anyone of any description, human, supernatural, or divine. Other reasons included the inflated dues just to get a couple of publications that told him less than his own secret sources.

From the morning of the first fresh rainfall that fed into the Sunless Grotto, Morgrom dared to boast that he would be Queen Desiphae's ultimate husband and sought for an opportune time to despoil her by force. Though, fortunately, he would be destroyed before this intention could be fulfilled. Morgrom has also been made infamous because of his slaughter of Thrag. Through both this threat and slaying, the Essence of Evil had earned the hatred of Mirakles, Desiphae and Thrag's son.

In the mid-tenth century, following the famous unknown adventurer's trek through the Dungeon of Zork to obtain the title of Second Dungeon Master in 948 GUE, Morgrom attained to position of File Restorer. This seat of power allowed him to "restore" the elements of any "files" to his liking. He cared nothing for the faceless ranks of average people, but had horrible plans for one certain file: the Dungeon of Zork. He quickly set forth to renovate the elements of the entire underground dungeon, overseeing a workforce of zombies to go about the labor on his behalf.

Morgrom planned to restore the Great Underground Empire to its former glory, and he began by stocking it with new traps and new monsters and a few new, not very expensive treasures. Some of his renovations included the following: complete renovating of the White House (including the installation of an elevator in the living room, and lining its path with rocks), installing vending machines and zorkmid changers, revising the maze (for example, furnishing its central hub with a matching maroon sofa, loveseat, and wing chair, and enslaving the minotaur as a guard in the grating room), reconstruction of the Bank of Zork (which included the printing of new currency with Morgrom's face upon each bill--these bills are extremely rare and valuable today), restoration of the dusty room which had been demolished by the Second Dungeon Master, repairing the door that used to be smashed open between the living room and the Cyclops Room (he also let Spike the Protector live in peace in the Treasure Room, hoping the youngester would grow up to follow in the footsteps of his father Lucien Kaine), new artwork in the gallery (a series of paintings that were all variations on a common theme: a gigantic monster threatening a sword-brandishing, heavily muscled hero, and a usually recumbent, beautiful young woman with certain of her body parts of an unnatural size and her limited clothing in a state of disarray), trimming the hedges of the enchanted topiary into new shapes, new carvings (most of demonic shapes and figures), and much much more. New treasures included: Flathead Beer, a year's supply of Tortle Wax, a freezer with a year's supply of Inuit Pies.

During the process of his renovation, he recovered the ancient temporizer (a time machine) from the Royal Museum and brought it to the White House. He intended to use the machine to prevent the bungling and mismanaging of the file of men known as the Flathead Dynasty which brought the Great Underground Empire to an end in 883. His scheme was to replace Dimwit Flathead on the throne, unite the Eastlands, the Westlands, and the island of Antharia under his rule, and plunder the entire country of Quendor of its vast wealth. Then, using the temporizer, he would transfer that unimaginable mountain of loot to the present, where he would set himself up as the richest and most powerful  man in the world. With his almost infinite wealth and power, Morgrom would extend his influence across the entire world, down even to the Sunless Grotto itself, where Queen Desiphae would be helpless to resist his attempts to despoil her. But there was one element keeping his plan from fruition: the Golden Dipped Switch, used to operate the temporizer, had been stolen, and he knew that it could be anywhere in the Empire. Thus he needed a pawn to seek it for him. Mirakles of the Elastic Tendon. Knowing that the barbarian would not embark upon this quest unless there was a favorable incentive, Morgrom stole two scrolls from Mirakles' father Hyperenor.

This is when Mirakles of the Elastic Tendon with his companion, Glorian of the Knowledge, entered the tale, appearing in the living room of the White House. Bewitching the stalwart barbarian with an appearance that he would not recognize, Morgrom lured Mirakles into embarking on a quest for him to recover the Golden Dipped Switch. The Essence of Evil deceived the barbarian, by telling only a portion of his plan, to use the time machine in order to restore the Great Underground Empire to its former glory. Morgrom also presented Mirakles with his father's scroll, sealed with a Frobozz Magic Lock. To unopen this scroll, the Frobozz Magic Hot Key was necesary, which would be located beside the Golden Dipped Switch. Mirakles accepted the quest and began by ascending into the Dungeon of Zork. It was soon after that he realized that he had been duped by Morgrom, but his code of honor prevented him from revoking oaths, and thus he had to fulfill it.

In the meantime, Morgrom created an Embedded Character in the image of Bardalf, known as Ed, in the wall of the Coal Mine and placed the other scroll of Hyperenor there. For unknown purposes, Morgrom assumed this form. When Mirakles, with his companions Glorian and Spike, entered the Dome Room, Morgrom appeared in the disguise of Bardalf with his accomplice, Narlinia von Glech, who had allied with him for unknown reasons. While the exact purpose of their arrival is uncertain, it seemed to be in order to summon Shugreth the Uneviable to murder Mirakles, so that Hades could be searched for the Golden Dipped Switch. Mirakles was killed, although by grues, and thus an expedition was embarked by Glorian and Spike into Hades to recover Mirakles' shade. Thus Morgrom had forced them to comb that region. After the three returned, Morgrom briefly returned to tell them of his reasons for sending them to Hades.

The next encounter between Morgrom and Mirakles' party was in the Bank of Zork. Due to the barbarian's incapability of finding the Golden Dipped Switch, he intended to end his life and find another hero. Thus conflict broke out. When a wrestling match between the Essence of Evil and he of the Elastic Tendon faired for the worse, Morgrom sounded an alarm calling the zombies from their labor to arms. These zombies chased Mirakles and his companions out of the bank and away from Morgrom.

Mirakles later discovered the Golden Dipped Switch and returned to the White House to fulfill his oath by returning it to Morgrom. However, Morgrom was tricked. Behind his back, Spike the Protector stole both the Silver and Copper Dipped Switches from off the temporizer. Morgrom realized this and sought to destroy them, thus calling up an event in Zork history of which there is none else like it recorded. The Control Character, taking on a semi-physical form, descended through the Essence of Evil's newly installed elevator into the living room. Morgrom's protests against the higher of the Upper Echelons was silenced as he was suddenly gone, as if he had never been there. Thus the treachery of Morgrom the Essence of Evil had ended with punishment that had been delayed for reasons only known to Eru, the One.

Like many supernatural beings, Morgrom was able to assume whatever form he desired as well as disappear in a cold cloud of noxious vapor. Some of his known forms are as follows (all taken from Mirakles' quest):

(#1) During both instances at the White House, he was seen as a heavy, fat man with a gruff voice. He was rather good-looking if one liked plump men, brown hair that had begun to go to gray, very nicely dressed in a dark suit and vest. His teeth were brilliantly white.

(#2) While at the Dome Room with Narlinia, he stolen the image of Bardalf, a very old man, tall and straight, with bushy eyebrows and piercing eyes. He carried a stout hardwood staff and was dressed in a garment of shining cloth of magical workmanship, a long gray cloak, a tall pointed blue hat, a silver scarf covered by his long, gray beard, and on his feet a pair of admirable black boots.

(#3) After the return from Hades, Morgrom had transformed himself into a portly, florid-faced, sandy-haired man in his early 60s. He was not as fat as he had been upstairs in the White House, and the long, white, bristly mustache he had given himself made him look almost grandfatherly. He was donned in a military-looking officer's uniform of a heavy, dark blue material, decorated with rows of battle ribbons and medals.

(#4) During the encounter at the Bank of Zork, he took on the appearance of a twenty or thirty year old, a fairly recent graduate of some high-power business collage, young and handsome with abundant blonde hair parted on the left side. He wore a good, expensive, tidy, well-tailored blue banker's suit with a yellow power tie, and shiny wingtips that must have been imported from someplace where gnomes and elves stay up all night making the world's best footwear.

ADDITIONAL MISC INFO ABOUT MORGROM:
-a known curse is, "by Morgrom's moldy mother"
-Morgrom's magic was able to be deflected by Mirakles' sword, Redthirst