aving returned from their quest to retreive the Great Spectum, the followers take council with Thulyn. He congratulates them on their success, but informs them that they cannot delay. His scouts have reported a secondary force of undead amassing near Nendal. He explains that the Great Worm has been reawakened, somehow, without the stones. Troubled by this, Zion tells the council that the Worm must be shut, and that he must take his leave with the Silverveil Transformed. Before he leaves, however, the followers recover the treasure that their master’s had amassed, opting to store it in the Elven Vaults, beneath the Nendal Palace.

After bidding Zion farewell, the Heroes return to the council chambers. The Prince explains that the Lich Lords are well known in the lands that they hail from. He gives their names and last known locations to the Heroes, and informs them that they must part ways, and strike out at the Lich Lords in seperate groups, five of four, in order to more quickly and effectively stem the tide of undead flowing into the Elven Nations. Solomone suggests spreading the Seven Stones out amongst members of the five parties, that each may take shelter in the pocket dimension, and have access to the Arc of Shadow. The group agrees, and the stones are handed out to Marcus’ followers. It is decided that a priest should be brought along in order to revive any of the party members, should the need arise. One in particular, Gregor, steps forward, and offers his services for two-hundred and fifty thousand gold pieces. The party agrees, and they show him into the pocket dimension, where he is to stay until called upon. With an indifferent shrug, he enters, and makes himself at home.

Natalia, Thorvold, Zahara, and Annywnn are charged with tracking Morthis, the Decaying. The Prince explains that she is in the land of Nu’emon, two-hundred miles past the eastern border of the Elven Nations, and that she is, and has been, for the past century, wreaking havoc upon the people in the city of Narthros. After gathering supplies, the four decide to make use of the Jaren’s Jaunt, in order to lessen their travel time. Thorvold, however, expresses her dread fear of heights, and opts to walk to Narthros – explaining that she will meet up with them in due time. Their number reduced by one, the three remaining heroes follow the King’s Road east, out of the Elven Nations.

After a day and a half of travel, Natalia spies an overturned wagon on the road ahead. Upon closer inspection, she sees that there are barrels of black powder lying in the road, and that there are two people, a man and a woman, with their backs pressed against the overturned juggernaut. She notices, also, that they are surrounded by six undead figures in full plate, swords clutched in their bony claws. In an effort to save them, she lowers the ladder, and lowers the ship down in such a way that the two may grab it, and be pulled to safety. The woman leaps for the lifeline, snagging it. The man, however, is not so lucky, and is mauled by the undead after he slips and falls to the ground. Swinging the ship around for another pass, the party are horrified to see the undead dragging the mans body towards a small graveyard. In an effort to destroy them, Annywnn hurls a fireball at the overturned wagon. Too late, the woman screams out that it was, in fact, a bomb. An earth shattering explosion hurled flame and shrapnel outward for some six-hundred feet, destroying the man and his six undead assailants. The woman is struck in the head by a piece of the metal, and killed instantly. The Jaunt, however, manages to stay afloat, due, mainly, to Natalia’s careful piloting. The three decide to take the woman’s body to Gregor, that he may restore her life. Opening the pocket dimension, Gregor snickers at how quickly the party has come to need his assistance. He obliges them, and calls upon Pelor to restore the woman’s life.

As she awakens, she asks about her husbands whereabouts, and explains that the whole scene was a ruse to lure out the undead. Her husband, George Markwynn, was a tinkerer, and had built a bomb in order to exact revenge upon the undead for slaying his brother the previous week. She tells them that he had crafted a token which would allow them to teleport away the instant George pulled the lever to activate the fuse on the explosive. Feeling positively counter productive, the party decides to ressurect George as well. As he comes to his senses, he runs to his wife, Gina, and they embrace. He scolds the party for interfering, but admits that he is indebted to them for saving their lives. He explains that he is a tinkerer, and that the black powder came from Narthros, where they live. The five gather on the Jaunt, and begin making their way for the city. Natalia explains that the three have come to destroy Morthis. The Markwynn’s offer to help in whatever way they can, explaining that Morthis, who lives in the haunted wood north of the city, has plagued the countryside for well over a century. George also explains that the people of Narthros burn their dead, rather than burying them, lest they rise up and attack their loved ones. He offers to build more bombs for the party, should they need them, and should they be able to come by the required supplies.

After arriving in Narthros, the party sets to work on gathering the supplies. After a run in with a less than wholesome gentleman in one of the blackpowder warehouses around town, they manage to secure enough material for ten powder kegs – six more than what had caused the massive explosion earlier that day. The three devise a plot to pack a wagon full of the kegs, and lead it to Morthis’ lair… detonating them in an effort to destroy the Lich Lord. After transporting all of the supplies to George and Gina’s cabin near the northern wood, they ask George to make nine full-scale explosives, along with several small explosives. He agrees, but informs them that he will have to work for three days to complete even one of the smaller-scale devices. They agree, and as the four converse in the barn, Gina screams from within the cabin. Rushing into the kitchen, the party sees Gina atop the kitchen table, screaming and pointing at the floor. Glancing down, they see that the ground is alive with movement – the movement of a swarm of undead rats. Taking action, the party makes quick work of the hoard of rats. George continues his work on the explosives, but the party spends the night out in the Markwynn’s field, keeping an eye out for the source of the rats. Natalia spies an owl landing in a decaying log out in the middle of the field. Upon closer expection, the bird is, in fact, undead, and there are decaying animal corpses in the log. Annywnn suggests that Morthis’ dark magic is causing the local fauna to reanimate.

At first light, the party makes their way into the northern wood. They scour it for several hours, finding a cave sometime around noon. In an effort to scout the area, Natalia creeps up to the cave’s entrance. Peering inside, however, she finds herself eye level with the chest of an undead creature, a wight, that swiftly attacks with its enterouge of zombies. After a short skirmish, Natalia is grappled and dragged into the cave. Annywnn and Zahara rush to her aid, and, after an intense, and close, battle, the three manage to escape. Severely weakened by the wight’s touch, Natalia decides that the party should make haste back to the Markywnn cabin, where they should rest, and await Thorvold’s arrival.