Stormcrow Mercenaries

Sandro succeeds in manipulating Nighon into an alliance with the devils of Inferno to claim territory on the mainland. Mutare and Tor Anwyn meet with Xenofex and launch a joint campaign against Eoful, Avlee, and Erathia. While Inferno holds down Eoful and keeps Avlee busy, Nighon would tunnel under the Barrow Downs, neutralize the dwarves, and begin to attack Erathia. With Catherine Gryphonheart recently returned from Enroth, she was able to lead an alliance of Tatalians and tribes of Krewlod in a campaign against her father. With his forces distracted fighting the Warlocks and Overlords of Nighon, Nicolas was unprepared for an assault from Tatalia.   In a major spearhead operation, Catherine was able to take Steadwick and finally put her father to rest. With the Necromantic Order's hold on Erathia broken, Sandro was able to rally the necromancers loyal to him in a coup against those that served Nicolas. Although Sandro takes control of the Necromantic Order, he has no interest in the rule of Deyja itself. After a series of skirmishes, the problem is resolved with Commander Shortstack, leader of the goblins of Deyja, in command of the region.   With the Necromantic Order no longer in control of Erathia, Queen Catherine is able to form an alliance with King Eldritch Parson of Avlee. With the two working together for the first time in centuries, they were able to hold firm against the advances of Inferno and Nighon. The war was effectively ended when the Warlock's hold on Grainrich was shattered and Inferno was convinced to stand down.

A collaboration of Erathian and Avleean forces destabilize the warlock forces in Grainrich, forcing them back into the tunnels under Stone City. During the last sweep of the tunnels, the warlocks are forced to concede defeat. In a fit of anger, Dungeon Overlord Mutare sets off an explosion to try to kill a unit of Stormcrows but instead destabilizes the tunnels. The collapse of the tunnel causes a chain reaction in the region that causes the Grainrich region around the Barrow Downs to collapse. The landscape of the region falls 30 feet except for the areas anchored to solid stone. Only three barrows are accessible by foot. The others can only be accessed by magic.

The Crawfish Clan, with the assistance of their Stormcrow brethren, is tasked with the discovering the location of Corlagon Daigotsu's manor, which has disappeared. Once located, they were to search the premises for any notes or journals regarding Corlagon's research into the Taint. Discovering that hidden his manor on the Ethereal Plane, they managed to disrupt the spell enough to reveal the door and enter.   Inside, they discovered that Corlagon had cloned himself to create a private army of soldiers, although only a remnant remained within the estate. They also discovered that almost all of them were Tainted beyond recovery and had to destroy those they initially found. Only having numbers and not given names, Soldier 45 found the group and helped how he could.   With the knowledge obtained from Soldier 45, they learned that Corlagon had found one of the Elemental Chimes and was conducting experiments on it while researching the Taint during the Succession War. Although he believed it contained, the influence of the chime broke its containment after one of the Urtiv units broke their psychic link in panic, collapsing the psychic field. This collapse lead to the almost all 50 of the Urtiv units in the estate becoming heavily corrupted with Taint, one Urtiv in particular receiving almost double the effect of the others. Corlagon himself, heavily corrupted by the event, fled the estate with the chime and headed to Castle Alamos.