Meanwhile in Fallow's Cross, Relg had moved his forge to the finally completed encampment beside Stanzfeld Mansion. A newcomer from Shou Lung in the Far East arrived, bringing with him the revolutionary metal folding technique. This was Miamoto, who found a soul mate in Relg surprisingly enough. They spent several weeks during the depth of the winter cloistered in the forge, practising this new technique. Relg's overriding obsession was to somehow adapt the method to improve in the battleaxe - to him, the ultimate weapon of battle. A dwarf to the very core!
Beyond the confines of Stanzfeld Mansion and Fallow's Cross, a great evil had come out of the frigid north. From apparently nowhere, an army of undead spread through the North, advancing through the deep snowdrifts, unaffected by the terrible weather conditions. The opposition was not so immune and gave the undead horde its greatest advantage. It pressed this advantage - aided by superb leadership - and attacked Silverymoon in a titanic midwinter battle, which the absence of Alustriel allowed to go the way of the undead. Silverymoon fell - the Jewel of the North was in the hands of an army of Undead! The hoard penetrated south, bypassing Luskan. A truce with the mages of the Host Tower of the Arcane in believed to have spared the city. The army passed virtually unhindered down the Vale of Dessarin until it came to the walls of Waterdeep. Here it halted and the Siege of Waterdeep began. The siege was to last seven months. The sea routes came under attack from Pirates, aided by undead troops, but the Waterdeep Navy were able to keep the sea routes open, lessening the devastating impact on the city of a prolonged siege.
The great mages of the North investigated the source of this undead army and discovered its was lead by an entity called Maldanek. Nobody was able to find out who he was, where he had come from or much else about the brilliant leader of the army. The Blackstaff was able to discover that there was an important artefact which may help defeat Maldanek. His own agents were tied up with the siege, so he turned to the small mercenary company he had dealt with once before - Fallow's Cross Adventurers! He informed them that they must find three ancient magical items: the Hesper - a crystal ball which also functions as a gem of seeing); the Fasces (a bundle of magical rods) and the Annulus (a helm of telepathy which duplicates the powers of a helm of Comprehend Languages and reading magic).
The first was to be found in a distant place in a temple to a long forgotten god - Amnissos. The volunteers from Fallow's Cross were Jason, Kattie, Styrel, Bobat, Sable, Miamoto and a newcomer called Lutiar. Lutiar was an Elven Sword Bard, but was erratic in the extreme and did not endear himself to many of the others. This was a common feature of his relations with the rest of Fallow's Cross Adventurers even to the present day. Khelben provided them with a mechanism to return from the temple once they had found the Hesper.
The Temple of Amnissos was found to be beneath an ancient circle of megaliths. They eventually found the Hesper but not before encountering Cockatrice, Medusa, Mummies and Golems. Returning to Khelben, they handed over the Hesper and discovered that the second part, the Fasces, were in The Tower of the Lord of Eternal Night. This they found was in the midst of a desolate desert, which they later deduced was in the southern part of Anauroch.
On finding and entering the tower, they found themselves pitted against Spectres, Shadows and strange reproducing Golems. They managed to fight their way to the summit of the tower, where the came upon the Lord of Eternal Night, a Lich imprisoned in the throne, with the Fasces in his right hand and an Imp familiar on his left. In the terrible battle that ensued, Miamoto bravely sacrificed his life to save the party. The Lich was defeated, and the Fasces recovered. The mood of the party was sombre as they returned to Khelben. It was decided to return to Stanzfeld to re-equip the party and recruit more help.
When Relg heard his friend Miamoto was dead, he vowed to take his place on the quest. Djerrold joined the party as well. The third item was to be found in the Tomb of the Faceless One. They arrived at a large burial mound, with an overgrown entrance to the tomb. They entered the tomb, dealing with a dozen Stone Golems and Skeletal Warriors, but in the battle Lutiar injudiciously cast a Blink spell, which blinked him into a brick wall, killing him. There was a minor party dispute after a mistake with a sarcophagus full of hundreds of Crawling Claws which was opened before Jason could fireball it with nobody else in danger. As it was, he was forced to fireball Relg with it. Relg was not impressed. Three wraiths also attacked while the party was dealing with the Crawling Claws. Soon after, they came upon a strangely armoured warrior held immobile in some strange magical field. Neutralizing the field, they were already to battle the strange warrior, but he seemed in a state of disorientation. He introduced himself as Kromer, and it became apparent that he had been in some sort of Stasis Field, for he seemed to talk a very ancient form of the common language, and he was astonished to discover the tower was in the midst of a desert. The last he remembered it was in the middle of a wide, lush valley. He was from a country which existed in the time of great Netheril, before the Anauroch desert covered the area!
Various undead had to be dealt with and upon descending to the lower level of the tomb, a trapped door severely damaged Djerrold's armour. More Mummies and Zombies were dispatched before they reached the real Tomb of the Faceless One. Opening the sarcophagus, they found a mummy wearing a mask in the form of a squid with tentacles for a mouth. On removing the mask they revealed a mummified Illlithid, which immediately attacked, and was slain with great difficulty. The mask was the item they sought, the Annulus.
Returning to Khelben they handed over the last part of the artefact and returned to Stanzfeld to recover. This quest was complete, but there was more to do before the North would be free of Maldanek.