Plot Summary (December 2022)

The story begins with Aesculus, Aphelion, and Sir Ariam traveling to the town of Therege on the edge of the wilderness known as the Hills of Shade. The leader of Therege, Rhenna Frost, invoked the Therege Charter - a document written when Therege was founded to ensure its protection despite it falling under no nation's sovereignty. They met Dedmoul, whose party of dwarves had been waylaid by faeries, and Talibah, who had been captured by orcs, along the way. Talibah was convinced to join the party by Sir Ariam, who promised her an invitation to study with the Keepers of the Art in Felwithe once the mission was over.

Upon arrival, the party learned of strange lightning storms near Therege. After speaking with the locals, the party traveled just outside of town where they were confronted by the gnomish necromancer Shymar Stul, who had recently developed a method for mass-harvesting souls of living creatures using necrotic electrical storms. Upon defeating Shymar, the party found a number of clues (including an ancient coin, a skull with mysterious runic writing, and a letter signed by "H & M") that led them to believe the gnome was employed by a necromancy school somewhere in the Commonlands in Western Antonica run by the Tier'Dal Shadowknight Sedrit Hague. The party interviewed a known gnomish necromancer, Nyrac Thornhock of the Dark Reflection, who took no hostile action but confirmed the party's suspicions.

Eager to disrupt this school (and to prove himself capable to his overbearing father), Sir Ariam talked the party into working for him. He decided to go to Freeport to lay the groundwork for the actual invasion of the school while the rest of the party traveled to the Estate of Unrest to recover a set of earrings that Shymar Stul was apparently sent to retrieve for Sedrit Hague. The main problem was that the path to the Estate was lost hundreds of years ago when the Deathly Peaks rose and blocked the way into Dagnor's Cauldron. In Kaladim, the party learned that the only rumored way into the Cauldron was through an ancient, ruined dwarven fortress called Khundrukar.

The party set off to find Khundrukar and the path to Dagnor's Cauldron. They met Tully, the half-elf bard, in the small town of Aegis along the way. They eventually found the entrance to Khundrukar and, after battling orcs, ogres, fish-people, undead, possessed dwarves, and a shadow dragon, the party emerged in Dagnor's Cauldron along with the dwarves they saved in Khundrukar - Didek Stormhammer, Hargrim, and Bargrim. In the Cauldron, which had been lost for centuries, the party rediscovered The Ledge, uncovered a lost history of an unknown Dwarven king and the disaster this king created when he angered Brell by bringing the mountains down, and helped an aqua goblin shaman wrest power from an abusive and despotic tidal lord.

Eventually, they found their way to the estate. They met a being named "Harald" who kind of helped them, fought off tons of undead, found interesting loot, and encountered yet another gnomish necromancer named Khrix Fritchoff (Dark Reflection) who was living there and studying the place. After finding (and being underwhelmed by) the earrings, the party left in a rush to avoid being eaten by an undead army and returned to civilization where they are questioned by dwarven authorities. The party agrees to copy the documents they recovered from Khundrukar for study by dwarven scholars and wait for King Kazon's return from Felwithe so he can address them in person. The party learned that Sir Ariam's trip to Antonica has caused an international incident, and that King Kazon will likely task them with bringing him back.

In their communications with Sir Ariam, he seemed increasingly despondent. The Knights of Truth in Freeport dismissed Sedrit Hague as a minor criminal, focusing instead on the reports Sir Ariam gives from the party: necromantic storms in the hills of shade, a battle with a shadow dragon, and an ancient lich commanding an undead army. While Sir Ariam continued his search for the location of the Hague School, High Priest Tholius Quey and Grand Marshall Valeron Dushire received simultaneous revelations from the Marr twins to mount a crusade to Faydwer to rid Norrath of the building undead scourge.

Sir Ariam continues searching for the necromancy school. He eventually tells the party he has arrived at Befallen and intends to investigate. His final communication is cryptic, but suggests he may try to infiltrate the school himself.