Drostan Hynd was originally a humanities professor from the University of Edinburgh, who got sought out by Heinrich Himmler to go to Heligoland to search for a specific artifact for the Nazi party. He was instructed to find an item belonging to the knights of the Crusade, without further details. Drostan, who was short on money at the time, agreed to do the job. To Himmler's dismay, Drostan could only find bones and carvings of a 1st-century A.D. Germanic tribe, and nothing that would relate to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa or medieval knights. Drostan, however, did find an urn filled with scrolls, which belonged to a mad monk that once resided on this island. Noticing the detailed artwork within the scrolls, he decided to keep them to himself, and upon realizing that the Nazis wouldn't let him leave in one piece, he snuck out on one night and returned to land via a fishing boat. He would later sell the urn close to a museum, and make some money in the process.
Over the years, Drostan continues to investigate and steal artifacts that the Nazis have their sights on; one notable location he went to was the Merkers Salt Mine. Eventually, he was caught by the Metropolitan Police and was given a choice: to go to jail for his thievery, or join the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program to reclaim stolen art by the Nazis. He chose to join the MFAA and was assigned to Major Hank Rideau's team to retrieve arts throughout World War II. Drostan told Rideau about his past involvement with Himmler, at which point he was told to keep quiet so that the team wouldn't jump to conclusions.
Drostan joined a 4-man squad consisting of himself, Marie Fischer, Olivia Durant and Jefferson Potts on a mission to Marie's hometown, Mittelburg, to retrieve several lost artifacts. Drostan questioned the ambiguity of the mission, given the lack of information they were given, and also disapproved of Marie's personal goal: rescuing her brother Klaus. Their train ride was intercepted by a colossal creature, and they were separated from one another. Drostan managed to make it to the village, where he later regrouped with the others and proceeded with the mission. After a brief conflict with Doctor Peter Straub and Colonel Heinz Richter, they managed to retrieve the hilt of Barbarossa's sword. They then encountered the creature from earlier, the Panzermörder, and discovered Klaus being attached to the creature's chest. Using charged magnets from Richter's zeppelin, they managed to draw the creature to the zeppelin. The Panzermörder's resistance caused its own demise as well as Richter's and Klaus'. However, using the hilt, the group was able to resurrect Klaus momentarily, though he lashed out at them for their actions before straggling into the village. Klaus told the group to continue their fight and to not allow Barbarossa's return, just as he activated the Well Trap, which then consumed him in fire.
Several days following the events of Mittelburg, Drostan and the group were sent to Heligoland to investigate Straub's activities. Upon arrival, they immediately fought off a wave of approaching zombies from the beach. Drostan was pressured by the other three into revealing what he knew about the island. He then told them the story of his former employment by Himmler, and his discoveries on the island. Later on, they found Straub's storage of zombies, which they realized would be used for an invasion on England, dubbed Operation Sea Lion. After surviving a Stukas air assault, They attempted to call the Royal Air Force to bomb the island, but Straub then destroyed the radio antenna, cutting off communication, then called in the KriegsmarineZerstörers to prevent the RAF from destroying the island. However, the group was able to take down the warships. They later discovered a secret ritual chamber dedicated to the goddess Nerthus, and after solving several riddles, they recovered the pommel of Barbarossa's sword. As the bombing began, the group made their escape on Straub's zeppelin, as he returned to Berlin in response to Adolf Hitler's call for rescue. While sitting on top of the zeppelin, Drostan began to write down his theory on the zombies' language, which Straub had also taken an interest in.
"Fucking time I had a bloody day off! So now I'm perched up here on a damn circus balloon after chasing that crazy French gal off the cliff. Found a little nook here where I can go through some of the good Doktor's notes. Looks like Straub was trying to translate the speech of our rotten friends - but he's a much better physician than a Wordsmith. I consider myself something of a cunning linguist, so I'll take a stab at this. No time like the bloody, frost-bitten, high-attitude present! Nice to have a moment to sit and think without some undead jobby trying to rip my face off. Trying to piece some of these words together... looks like some corrupted bastard-child of the Germanic tongue. TUBLU TBLUU ULBUT BUULT LBTU (too many) UBLUT"
— Drostan
Drostan Files #2
"Kept hearing this: SAD RTESCHWE LOS NZAGCHTAMEG → NERDEW. SAD → DAS? These stinking rotters have had their dirty way with the language. But why do they all speak like this? Effects of geistkraft on the left fractal lobe? Twisted synapses? My expertise doesn't cover necro-neurology. Oh damn. Why am I laughing? lost plenty of that back on Heligoland. RTESCHWE, EWHCSETR, WHCSETR → SCHWERT → SWORD? Finally making some progress here. I hope. Jefferson has been a lot of help - turns out he's got a knacle for languages as well. I'd but him a pint if we weren't stuck in a balloon. Flying - of burning cities. Bad - that."
— Drostan
Drostan Files #3
"So I keep seeing the term "Raven Lords" in the texts I was able to grab in Mittelburg. It appears to have been an obsession for young Klaus that Straub had little patience for. The sword that we uncovered, the aptly-named Red Talon, appears to have belonged to one of these Lords. The inscriptions in the hilt room both us the name and history of blade. Both are drenched in blood. Let's just say this is a rabbit hole. I'm afraid to explore... learned that the bas-relief carvings on the walls may allude to Barbarossa's disasterous attempt ( ) Second Crusade, where soundly beaten by the Turks. ( ) escape by ship. What I'm ( ) panel showing the ur-emperor on a strange, icy shore where to recover a sword. Yeah, that sword. ( ) was not long after this ( ) young Fredrick began his brutal and meteoric rise to power. So:
Where did he find his sword?
Why was it disassembled after his death?
What did the Raven Lords have to do with this?"
— Drostan
Drostan Files #4
"()everal promising students. One folder that included some letters ()n Straub to his one-time ()isstant in Berlin. It looks () young man had taken ()ty of "liberating" so () good Doktor's notes a() well as a shipment of Richter's geistkraft weapon prototypes in order () sell them on the black market. I like him already. Doktor Straub had already reported this failed protégé to the SS, and () wanted to let him know that () personally set a Wüstling to trac() his scent (duft?). ()efferson that we should keep an eye for this fella. Could be handy."
— Drostan
Drostan Files #5
"been building these damn ()eppelins for years. The skies over Heligoland were black () with them. This means Nazi () control of the skies over () Europe will be () conclusion. A() Not sure how () to get these artifacts safe back behind the Allied lines. I may have to investigate some of the black market channel() Possible connections. () come in handy?"
— Drostan
Drostan Files #6
"()ound the idea of some antediluvian () progenitor civilization has () the primary focus for () and the remaining mem() the Ahnenerbe. According to ()otes, Himmler has set his most ()rusted men to explore the ruins of Tiwanaku, Mount Behistun, and New Swabia. They hope to ()ome echo of the material that () Barbarossa's Hilt. Greedy buggers want more juice for makin' dead soldiers. I'm all for new archeological finds — but I hope this mess can just STAY BURIED."
— Drostan
Drostan Files #7
"homework for Drostan, thank few lines that I've been able to piece together - I'm never sure if this mad monk is hallucina() or actually annotating lines from the Raven Lords but there are several mentions of this myster() figure with "sanguineam oculos" and "carne alba" (CREEPY) The notes sound... hopeful? (or crazy) ()elp but think of Nerthus as a holder (Have there been others???) of this title... a title from long before the reign of Barbarossa. A title from th() days of Thule perhaps?
The One Who Calls
The Frozen Dawn
The Rookbane"
— Drostan
Drostan Journal Page 27
"So if they're not going to pay me in marks then I'll make sure that I'm compensated in some other way. Drostan doesn't work for free! Speaking of which, I had a chance to sit down and go over some of the pages I "liberated". More illustrations by the Mad Monk of Heligoland. Much of the text has been rendered illegible due to water damage... and my own subterfuge. Had to tuck the pages in my knickers while crossing the security checkpoint. Let's just say there's not a lot of extra room in there for antiquities. But better folded up in my trousers than framed in some Nazi estate."
— Drostan
Drostan Journal Page 28
"Did a quick rendering of the pages here. Not my best work, but helps to dissect the layered symbolism when I drawn them myself. Four Knights Symbol of guarding. Protecting Black Wings? Regal sword I believe this is the monk He thinks the Knights are angels? Worship or Fear? Sword lacks a pommel Why the dark wings? NOT angelic The monk is no expert on armor or weapon... but why wings? Makes no sense."
— Drostan
Drostan Journal Page 29
"text, from what I can decipher; relates the story of how this monk arrived on Heligoland to convert the locals to his faith. They weren't having it. Decided he would be their next sacrifice to dear old Nerthus. Not a kindly goddess Apparently, These four knights arrived in time to save his keister. Record gets kinda loopy then. Winds and lightning and magic weapons. Dead cultists. He ended up alone on that island "guarding the raven's egg" he wrote. Then he died."
— Drostan
Drostan Journal Page 30
"worst things would happen on that island. Fog rolling in with sounds that... didn't belong. I got headaches with some frequency. Himmler said Heligoland was the German Atlantis, a nexus point of electromagnetic energy. I didn't find anything to validate that, but did uncover some artifacts that resembled paleo-Indian tools, like those found amongs the Yaghan. Odd. The tools caused any electronics to go haywire when brought near, and our radio would screech unless we tuned it to 38.9, 39.7... after a minute we heard voices. I threw the radio into the sea that night."
— Drostan
Gallery[]
A photo of Drostan and the sculpture he has discovered.
