1497: The Beckoning Death Crisis

In the mid-1490s DR, the Red Wizard Sofina, operating in disguise, hired the ex-Harper turned thief Edgin Darvis and his band of thieves, Holga Kilgore, Simon Aumar, and Forge Fitzwilliam, to aid her in infiltrating Korinn's Keep to steal its treasures; But the horn of beckoning death was her true goal. This horn had the power to turn large swathes of land into a breeding ground of undead creatures, and if unleashed on a city, could raise a large undead army from its own inhabitants.
For this robbery, Edgin Darvis donned his old Harper uniform and Harper pin; however, they triggered an alarm and fought with Harper guards, but Sofina betrayed the thieves and escaped with her prize, the Horn of beckoning death.
Edgin and Holga were left at the scene of the crime and captured by the Harpers, convicted of crimes of skullduggery and grand larceny by the justice of the Lords' Alliance, and incarcerated in the Revel's End prison.
Two years later in 1497, Sofina had aided Forge to become Lord of Neverwinter. But their scheme was far larger and more terrible in scope than simply ruling: Szass Tam did not merely want his horn back, but instead set Sofina a greater task. She aided Forge to become Lord of Neverwinter, with her as his advisor. From the shadows of her office in Castle Never, Szass sent whispering images of himself to communicate with her, giving counsel and encouragement. One of the Forge's main acts was to revive the High Sun Games, a monster-filled bloodsport that had been banned by Lord Neverember as he considered them too brutal. Forge also ordered the construction of the Neverwinter arena to host the Games. The first Games were to be held by late 1497 DR, allegedly as a way of bringing the city together, as well as many wealthy visitors from outside Neverwinter, with their riches.
During the High Sun Games themselves, Forge Fitzwilliam encouraged everyone in the audience to stay until the very end, promising "a wonderful gift" for each of them, and later tried to flee the city with the riches he'd stolen. Finally, the culmination of the games, Sofina revealed herself as a Red Wizard of Thay and used the horn of beckoning death above the Neverwinter arena. The crimson smoke engulfed the viewing platform used by the gamblers and the servants, turning Din Caldwell and Porb Piiradost and the others into ravening zombies. Fortunately, Edgin and his thieves used a portal from the hither-thither staff to pour the stolen treasure from a hot-air balloon over the stands and streets, leading all the people out. The Beckoning Death was rendered useless and Sofina's concentration was broken, ending the spell.
The aftermath of the crisis left Neverwinter in a sour state, them believing that the rest of the Lord's Alliance was apprehensive to help due to their feeling of superiority over Neverwinter. Also, as it was discovered that the Harpers had ownership of the Horn and lost it to Thieves (Regardless of Said Thieves being the ones to stop its use being successful), the Harpers were banned from setting foot in Neverwinter, nor were they allowed dealings with the City or their property. By the time of the First Red Wizard War, they pulled out of the alliance, and once the undead forces were driven back, they had absorbed local towns and villages to form the Neveren Empire.
Thay would learn of the events of the crisis by the following tenday, and intel on the Sword Coast would be funnelled to their realm in order to formulate plans. The eight Zulkirs of Thay recruited notable Thay Wizard Aldros Arcanod in order to infiltrate and subvert Western Faerun in their own interests; this quest led Aldros to the company of notable Scientist and visionary, Cenric Ceadda.