Realms of the Dead Realms of the Dead is an anthology of short stories from the " Forgotten Realms " , and the last published anthology of original tales to date . It accompanied the " The Haunted Lands " trilogy by Richard Lee Byers , and had stories spanning both sides of the setting - changing Spellplague . Contents . Pieces . By Richard Lee Byers This story follows Bareris Anskuld and Mirror as they try to rejoin the resistance movement against Szass Tam . In the city of Amruthar , they discover the body of Urmas Sethdem , whom they question with the aid of Bareris ' s bard ic necromancy magic . From him , they learn that he answered to Chon Vrael , an influential Kossuth an priest in the city who detests undead for the pain they ' ve caused his family . When they approach Vrael after one of his sermons and tell him about the death of his subordinate , he doesn ' t believe them ; not only are Bareris and Mirror both undead , but Urmas Sethdem is alive and has been advising him ! During the course of a conversation between Vrael and Sethdem , Bareris learns that the impostor is psychically dominating the priest and that it is using that influence to have Vrael call a meeting of his closest allies . During the course of the meeting , a necromancer under Vrael ' s command magically questions Bareris , forcing him to answer truthfully . When the council discovers he has been telling the truth and that someone was indeed impersonating Sethdem , they discover he is missing . Seconds later , a small group of skeletons and an ulgurstasta — a huge , worm - like undead thing — burst in to the chamber , killing three council members and mortally wounding Chon Vrael . Though Bareris manages to escape his imprisonment and defeat the impostor ( who turned out to be a visage ) and his summoned ulgurstasta , it is too late for the resistance leader . With his dying breath , he asks Bareris and his necromancer to raise him as a free - willed undead . Though they do their best , Mirror and Bareris agree that they did something terrible . Soul Steel . By Lisa Smedman Set on the 21st of Uktar in the Year of the Private Tears , 1204 DR , " Soul Steel " follows the story of Trelwyn Vithannis as she seeks vengeance for the death of her brother , Rollan , who was executed two days previously , supposedly for killing the pet jaguar of Queen Bethilde of the Forest of Amtar , though it wasn ' t wearing its collar at the time . When Trelwyn searched her brother ' s home , however , she found his journal , which contained memories of his having witnessed the queen having an affair with someone other than the king , and later a note about the queen giving birth . That same day , Rollan was executed . Seeking vengeance , Trelwyn meets with a drow lich by the name of Valek , asking him to enchant her sword with a dweomer powerful enough to pierce the queen ' s magical protections . The lich did so , telling her that anyone killed by the blade would have their soul absorbed into the sword until the sword killed again , at which point the previous soul would be destroyed . As part of the ritual , according to Valek , the sword needed to be used to kill someone . The dwarf Spinnel , who had been caught prospecting ore in the forest , was sentenced to death by the queen , and Trelwyn offered to be the executioner . A moment before the blade would have pierced the dwarf ' s chest , Valek stepped in front of it ( though he made it appear as if the dwarf had dodged ) and his soul was absorbed into the sword . Spinnel made a deal with Trelwyn : in return for killing the queen , Trelwyn would allow him to go free . Agreeing to this , the two traveled to the royal court , with Spinnel acting as her prisoner . When the guards demanded to know why she was returning with a still - living prisoner , Trelwyn told them that the dwarf had information about a traitor among the queen ' s guards , producing the collar of the jaguar her brother had slain , which she found not far from the spot where it had died . Knowing that Trelwyn knew of the part she played in Rollan ' s death , the queen dismissed her guards to deal with the two privately . Seeing her chance , Trelwyn threw her sword to Spinnel , but Bethilde reacted instantly and used magic to force the blade into Spinnel ' s chest . Enraged that she was not going to get her revenge , Trelwyn quickly retrieved her weapon and lunged at the queen . The queen temporarily blinded her with a quick spell , but Trelwyn kept swinging , and Spinnel ' s soul guided the sword , and she managed to wound the queen before the guards knocked her unconscious . When she woke up , Trelwyn found herself locked up , but Bethilde had her released . When the two were together again , the queen revealed that she was actually Spinnel in the queen ' s body , the sword having released his soul into her body . The two decided that the drow lich had planned it so that he would take over Bethilde ' s body and rule the elves there . They hatched a plan where they would escape the forest under the guise of the queen renewing her spells in a sacred grove . The original plan was for Spinnel to then go his own way and find a wizard to " polymorph " him back to his original form , but he decided he ' d rather be polymorphed into another — male — elf form , and Trelwyn decided to go with him . The Resurrection Agent . By Erin M . Evans Set over a two - day period in early Eleasias in the Year of the Reborn Hero , 1463 DR , " The Resurrection Agent " follows the life and death of a woman known as the Harlot , who is a " resurrection agent " — someone hired to spy on people and intentionally be caught and killed , and later " resurrect ed " to give testimony . Viridi , the woman who recruited her , has been killed , and she and a man known as the Shepherd ( the Selûnite priest who does the resurrecting ) go to retrieve the body . However , before they can escort the body to a place suitable for resurrecting Viridi , they are attacked by a vampire named Reshka and her minions , a pack of gravehound s and a wight named Na , both of whom are familiar to the Harlot ; the vampire was a woman the Harlot was hired by Saestra Karanok to find , and Na is one of the Harlot ' s dead bodies . The Harlot and Shepherd fight them off , but not before Reshka steals the body of Viridi . To prevent Viridi from being raised as a minion and spilling all her secrets , the two track Reshka back to her resting ground , a cave they are eventually forced to pull down on their own heads to defeat their enemy and bury Viridi . The Harlot is mortally wounded in the process , but the Shepherd escapes , and the Harlot manages to convince Saestra Karanok to let him go . Wandering Stones . By Bruce R . Cordell Set in early Eleasias of the Year of the Ageless One , 1479 DR , " Wandering Stones " follows the adventure of Jada as she tries to discover who she really is . The man she thought was her father , Shander Harimdor , has recently died and has left her a chest containing within it a journal . This journal , entitled " Dragonheir Clans " , contains the history and known genealogy of Dragonheir s — those who are rumored to be able to control dragon s . It also mentions that Jada is the only known survivor of the Marlserpent clan , who have been known to produce heirs with similar abilities , and that Shander adopted Jada when she was less than a year old . The journal also contains directions to a place known as the Wandering Stones , a city of slaves who have escaped from the tyranny of the Empress Dragon of Skelkor , and the only place within the Empress Dragon ' s domain where dragons cannot go . However , before venturing to this supposed sanctum , Jada decides to test her new abilities against a brown dragon named Thovantareth . Instead of becoming subdued as hoped , the dragon becomes enraged at her impudence and at even the possibility that she might one day come into her full abilities . It chases her from Eskorn to the mountains along the Skelkor ' s southern mountains before Jada finally makes it to the sanctuary . The Wandering Stones , as she comes to learn , is a town protected from dragon attacks by a field of stones that change position and configuration each night , and that spirits from all over Toril roam the areas between the rocks at night . These , according to one of the spirits , and the danger to dragons , is a remnant of the primordial Arambar , who died where the Stones now lie when his mount , a dragon , betrayed him . Despite the rumors of the protection offered by the Stones , Thovantareth attacks the village . Jada manages to figure out how to use her ability to some extent , but not enough to repel the dragon . However , before it can kill her , the spirit of Arambar manifests itself , literally picking up and throwing the dragon away from the village . With the village protected again , Jada decides to stay and try to increase her abilities . The Bone Bird . By Jaleigh Johnson Set in the village of Lendris in early Mirtul of the Year of the Ageless One , 1479 DR , " The Bone Bird " follows the story of Bromar , an experienced cleric of Chauntea . He and his mentor are sent a request for aid by the village of Lendris , who were having problems with an undead monster of some sort attacking each night . Though the village isn ' t far from their home in Baldur ' s Gate , it takes them nearly a tenday to make the journey due to the failing health of the older Chauntean , Relwin , who dies less than a day from the town . After burying his teacher , Relwin heads into town to its sole inn , The Bone Bird , where he meets the innkeeper , Amon , and his sons , Ralt and Toran . He also meets a woman named Milra , a thief who stole Relwin ' s holy symbol when the exhausted Bromar slept , and later steels Bromar ' s own when he confronts her . Forced to back down from an all - out fight by Amon , he recovers his symbol that same night , after Milra confronts the creature attacking the village and is slain . At the end of the fight , the monster — which Bromar identifies as an entomber — attacks and kidnaps Toran when it senses the boy has come into contact with the item it sought : a roc egg its master desired . After working out its goal and recovering the egg himself , Bromar tracks it into the Cloak Wood and does battle with it . He fails to kill the entomber , and it takes the egg , but Bromar believes it will not return , now that it has what it came for . He returns Toran to his father . Feast of the Moon . By Christopher Rowe Set on the first day of Nightal in the Year of the Plagued Lords , 1471 DR , " Feast of the Moon " follows Jaeg Felidae , a Malar - worshiping weretiger from the plains of Dambrath . Each year , the Malarites here hunt down the most dangerous foe in the area , and the story opens with the initiation of the ritual to receive that vision , the death and desecration of a wild boar . Jaeg receives a vision from the Beastlord of an opened tomb in the Hills of the Dead Kings . The vision shows him a party of halfling s entering the tomb , and it is accompanied with the scent of his prey . He travels there immediately , but by the time he reaches the tomb the halflings are dead , looking as if they had been killed weeks ago . Before he can investigate , he spies a pair of twin halflings approaching and hides , hoping to learn something . After the hin bless the corpses of their dead but before they can enter the tomb , a rot angel attacks them , though they manage to evade its attacks . Realizing this is his prey , and not wanting the halflings to steal his sacrifice to Malar , he immediately attacks but is forced to flee . After recovering , he begins tracking the creature again , catching up to it again beside a hill where the halflings trapped it using a landslide . After chasing the two off , he frees the rot angel , knowing Malar would prefer he give his prey a sporting chance . This time he was more seriously wounded , as the corrupted creature immediately attacked him . Refusing to give up , he caught up to the angel again , this time fighting the halflings in a clearing consecrated by whichever god they worshiped . Though the angel was sorely wounded , it managed to mortally wound both halflings and debilitate Jaeg . Instead of continuing with a fight he knew he could not win or abandoning his faith by fleeing , Jaeg picked up one of the silvered swords the halflings had dropped and killed himself with it , offering himself as a sacrifice . A Prayer for Brother Robert . By Philip Athans Set in mid - Nightal in the Year of the Ageless One , 1479 DR , " A Prayer for Brother Robert " follows the story of Jillea , a recently returned native of Dagger Falls , and Brother Robert , an Amaunator i cleric from the House of the Keeper there . With her daughter , Jillea fled the home she inherited from her grandfather to the temple after her daughter was attacked by a swarm of dismembered hands . The frightened but duty - bound priest returned with her to her home , only to discover that she lived in what the inhabitants of the town called the Northwall Deathhouse for its reputation as a haunted house . Rather than venture into the building , the two visited several taverns in the town , seeking someone who knew Jillea ' s grandfather and could possibly shed some light on the story of the house . They learned that the grandfather , Vathriss Koll , was a dangerous man rumored to belong to the Zhentarim and who was fond of clean , sharp knives and cutting off his enemies ' hands . After learning what they could and after Brother Robert donning his armor , they returned to the Northwall Deathhouse , but found nothing . Given that the hands attacked Jillea ' s daughter at night , they speculated that the creatures wouldn ' t appear during the day , and so they settled down to wait . Brother Robert accidentally fell asleep , and when he awakened to screaming several hours later , he found Jillea in the house ' s cellar , covered in and surrounded by hundreds of scratching , disembodied hands . After freeing Jillea from them , the two tried to escape , but hundreds more were blocking the front door . They finally barred themselves in one of the upper bedrooms , though unfortunately one without a window . The hands eventually broke through , but they didn ' t attack immediately . Several dozen of the hands interlocked their fingers to form the rough shape of a humanoid body who , through a conversation with Jillea , implied that he was the spirit of Vathriss Koll . Invoking the power of Amaunator , Brother Robert destroyed dozens of the hands and Koll ' s " body " . He and Jillea quickly escaped out a window across the hall . The King in Copper . By Richard Baker Set in and around Hulburg in the years between its repeated sackings and its rebuilding , " The King in Copper " follows the story of Angar Hulmaster , the harmach ( lord ) of Hulburg . Hekman Odelmor and Kindon Marstel , two former mercenary captains forced to flee Hillsfar when the Zhentarim invaded , had arrived in Hulburg two years previously . With their combined mercenary might , they force the young harmach to host them while they scour the ruins for anything of value . After two years and having run out of worthwhile leads to treasure troves , they finally force Angar to lead them to the crypts of Hammerbold Alley , a ruined Tyr ran temple where the city ' s first harmachs were buried . They find little of value , but in the crypt of Rivan Hulmaster Angar finds an amulet called the " sigil of Aesperus " , which the two lords allow him to keep , not realizing its value and planning to kill him soon anyway . Bargaining his life for the promise of more treasure , Angar next leads them to the Wailing Tower , Aesperus ' s last stronghold before he was defeated , and where ( according to the Company of the Black Griffon ) the King in Copper kept his treasure hoard . Guiding the two lords and their mercenaries to the secret chambers beneath the tower using the information provided by the adventuring company , Aesperus finds them before they even find the vault . The lich kills both Odelmor and Marstel , leaving only Angar and a handful of mercenaries alive . Angar bargains for his life with the amulet he had found , believing it to be Aesperus ' s phylactery , and promises that he will make the opening of barrows illegal . Aesperus makes him vow that he and his descendants will follow this promise and allows Angar to leave . With the two lords ' mercenaries without a leader , Angar begins making plans to take back his city . Dusty Bones . By Rosemary Jones Set in the City of the Dead in Waterdeep , " Dusty Bones " follows a day in the life of Leaplow Carver . His family had been in charge of maintaining the city ' s graveyards for centuries , and Leaplow had been left in charge of surveying the grounds for needed repairs and monitoring his cousin Fitnor Carver , who had only recently connected with his family and joined the family business . During one of their sweeps , Fitnor expresses the desire to see the inside of one of the crypts . Seeing no harm and expecting only a quick peek , Leaplow consents . However , while examining the tomb , Fitnor begins ranting about a scroll written by the magelord Archlis and the treasures it would lead him to . When Leaplow tries to stop him , fearful of unleashing some sort of undead creature or fell magic , Fitnor expels him from the crypt using arcane magic of some sort . This failed to stop Leaplow for long , however , and he is again forced to unleash his magic . This time Leaplow is knocked unconscious , falling upon the tomb as he blacks out . When Leaplow wakes , a ghostly woman who identifies herself as Ash appears and explains to him that she had been sealed in with a being she identifies as Dusty Bones , sworn to guard it and a map . She tells him that when Fitnor opened the tomb , he stole the map and Dusty Bones , identified later as a dust wight , began chasing him , trying to recover the map . Ash gives Leaplow a silver feather enchanted to protect its wearer from the wight ' s ability to turn people to stone , and the two give chase . They track its scent to the Hall of Heroes , where Fitnor had been altering the building ' s " portal " to escape . Leaplow has other ideas and attacks him , smudging the chalk - drawn runes and unintentionally altering the " portal ' s " destination . When Fitnor falls through it several punches later , it is somewhere completely unintended . Leaplow then helps Ash subdue Dusty Bones . After identifying the " portal ' s " destination as " not a good place , " and understanding that the crypt was no longer a safe place to store the wight , Ash pushes it through the " portal " . Her energy spent and the seal she had been surviving in broken , Ash fades from the mortal world . Leaplow returns to his family ' s home , giving the recovered map to one of his uncles for safe keeping . The Many Murders of Manshoon . By Ed Greenwood One of Manshoon ' s clones sets out to cleanse the Zhentarim . A Body in a Bag . By Erik Scott de Bie After a lordling is turned into a wight while in an exploration with his fellows , those two friends , a necromancer and a tiefling , face troubles in their lives . Iruladoon . By R . A . Salvatore Set in Icewind Dale , after the Spellplague , " a place without time " tries to claim the crew and passengers traveling across Lac Dinneshere . Two of the crew stumble across a duo long lost to the world .