The Night of Fire, Secrets, and Shadows

As chaos grips Al’ean, Warren races through the smoke-filled streets back to House Nevroti. All around him, news spreads that the attackers—orcs, goblins, and undead—hail from Uthar, their minds twisted and enslaved, likely through the necromantic influence of Black Mage Mesuli.

At the Nevroti estate, Captain Kaylor and the guards line up the fallen invaders and repair the battered grounds. Their faces are a mixture of resentment and confusion, the loss of Gregory Thatcher weighing heavily even as Warren's past deeds in Middlesborough soften some hearts.

Under orders, Kaylor leads Warren into the estate, where he finds Casden Nevroti and—impossibly—Cassidy Nevroti, alive but irreversibly changed.
Cassidy now bears the touch of death: her skin pale, her once-blue eyes burning an eerie yellow. She has been resurrected through a forbidden ritual enacted by Baron Oswin Nevroti, who sacrificed his own life to bind Cassidy’s soul to Casden’s bloodline, cursing future generations to share her tethered existence.

Despite her ghastly state, Cassidy remains lucid and grateful. She and Casden urge Warren to keep her secret and stay away from the assassin if he can. They are depending on him, and Cassidy assure Warren that she will do all in her power to learn about the secret her father was keeping to perhaps aid him on journeys. Their heartfelt thanks weighs heavily on Warren’s heart as he leaves with a strange new ally and a pocketful of new mysteries.

Later that night, Warren seeks counsel from Ly’ra Brightstar at the Church of Valindria, finding her amid the sea of wounded. Ly’ra informs him that I’na Brightstar has pursued Mesuli north, crossing into Uthar. She warns Warren that the borderlands will be volatile and dangerous in the wake of the assault—and that Mesuli's ambitions are far from over.

Exhausted, Warren beds down in a spare chamber in the church...
But the nightmare has only just begun.

As he sleeps, The Bagman, a twisted humanoid cursed within the Shadowfell, reaches through the Bag of Holding Warren recovered in Middlesborough.
Dragged into the realm of shadows, Warren comes face-to-face with the twisted, charred form of the Bagman. In a ghastly encounter, the creature marks Warren, infusing him with shadow magic—a cursed gift that will fester and grow.
Bound by the Bagman's dark will, Warren finds himself unable to speak of the encounter or the powers that now stir within him.

He awakens at dawn, rattled and changed, carrying a terrible new burden.

Without wasting another moment, Warren mounts Goliath, his warsteed, and rides north toward Uthar, determined to:

• Rescue his brother Rikar,
• Stop Black Mage Mesuli,
• Uncover the growing conspiracy that threatens the stability of United Leona and beyond,
• And outrun the dark fate now whispering in his blood.