Vermeer Tarron mysteriously vanishes, after leaving cryptic clues that scare Demeter. She sends her daughter into hiding with the Cult of the Beast Lord, setting off in search of her husband.
In the Battle for Black Pearl Keep, the forces of the Black Pearls, Izzet's First Ariel Company, and the unknown cultists of the Queen of Blades with Demeter Tarron bring Kugnarz the Hobgoblin Warlord to his knees. With his forces petrified by the Crystal Prince, and only a unit of Hobgoblins and a Young White Dragon to protect him, he is defeated and dethroned quickly, freeing the Boreal Valley from his tyrannical grasp.