Banesmark Crisis

The Banesmark Crisis (7 Flamerule - 29 Nightal 1496) was a series of connected conflicts, attacks, and escalations of violence secretly caused by the aboleth S'gothgah, as part of the aboleth's plot to create an Avatar of Bane. While many of the disparate events of the Banesmark Crisis are common knowledge, the underlying throughline of S'gothgah's involvement is a heavily kept secret from the general public.
The crises is so named for the pivotal role of Banesmark, magical symbols created by the god Bane that allow powerful individuals to directly control the thoughts and actions of those inflicted. While knowledge of the Banesmark had been repressed since the Century of Strife in the 9th century, the aboleth's rediscovery of it greatly increased its already sizable telepathic powers.
While the roots of the Banesmark Crisis extend back to 1492, the crisis itself is defined by the involvement of the Heroes of Saltmarsh, who ultimately foiled S'gothgah's plan.

The Conflict

Prelude

Sometime before 1490, the aboleth S'gothgah was exiled from his people for his unorthodox beliefs, seeking to find a purpose for life beyond the elevation of the self. In Flamerule of 1490, S'gothgah became beached on the Isle of the Abbey, where he was found by Ordurn, the leader of the isle's Cult of Bane. Ordurn decided to help the aboleth, and the two struck up a unique partnership, Ordurn finding an intellectual equal in the aboleth, which resulted in S'gothgah developing a reverence for Bane. S'gothgah, going simply by "S," secretly worked with Ordurn on unraveling the mystery that had haunted followers of Bane for centuries: what was the tool Bane used to control masses of humanoids during the Century of Strife. Their work bore fruit, and on the 1st of Hammer, 1492 the two rediscovered the Banesmark, a magical symbol that when placed on another creature allows one to control their thoughts and actions.      
Later that year, the Sea Prince Syrgaul and his crew attacked the Isle of the Abbey. S'gothgah, finished with Ordurn, took control of Syrgaul and left for the open ocean with the crew, abandoning Ordurn and the other members of the monastery and turning his former "friend" into a skum as a parting farewell, preventing the cult leader from spilling the Banesmark's secret.
The Syrgaul and the members of his crew, enslaved to the aboleth's will, began searching the seas for creatures of great power. Inspired, by the Bhaalspawn Crisis, S'gothgah believed the best way to exalt Bane was to create an Avatar for him, but the aboleth wanted a host far more powerful than a humanoid. In late 1492, S'gothgah found what he was looking for in the Whalebones, locating a preserved nest of kraken eggs. S'gothgah took one of the eggs and then sunk Syrgaul's ship, the Tammeraut, and transformed its crew into undead guardians, should anyone else stumble upon the nest. 
In 1493, S'gothgah moved into the Styes, establishing a base in the long forgotten Seaton Temple of Bane, and the aboleth began working to establish control over the ruined city's leadership, gaining the willing cooperation of Seaton Committee member Mr. Dory.
In 1494, S'gothgah gained control of the Grand Shade of the Twilight Monastery, gaining him control over a group of elite shadow monks and the knowledge they possessed. From the monastery's library, S'gothgah learned about the Feast of Corruption, which could greatly expedite the maturation rate of any creature placed inside by absorbing negative emotions, such as fear, sorrow, or despair, from a limited radius. S'gothgah tweaked the ritual's mechanics to increase its range many times over, encapsulating nearly the entire Sword Coast North, though at the cost of being less effective. 
Here, S'gothgah's plan came together. The newly hatched kraken, inflicted with a Banesmark, would be placed and raised inside of the Feast of Corruption, while Banesmarked minions of S'gothgah would systematically create and inflame conflicts across the northern Sword Coast, strengthening the negative sentiment in the area and accelerating the growth of the kraken. Once the kraken reaches full adulthood, S'gothgah would summon a Sliver of Bane, a piece of Bane's soul, into the Prime Material Plane and the Sliver and the kraken would merge to create an Avatar of Bane.

The Engagement

In mid-1496s, the chain of dominoes S'gothgah had arranged began to fall.
In Focosgost, the Free Focos Movement, encouraged by their Banesmarked members, began launching more violent attacks of resistance against the city's lord Hargrave Decker. Members of the Twilight Monastery also began encouraging violence, going so far as to launch a false flag attack as members of the Free Focos Movement during the the Neverwinter Gala on the 22nd of Eleasis.
In Neverwinter, crime sprees committed by Twilight Monastery members began making people feel unsafe, while Banesmarked members in the Neverwinter Guard and the Neverwinter Assocation of Orcs inflamed conflicts between the two sides, leading to protests and then riots in late 1496.
The town of Leilon was beseiged by hill giants led by Chief Guh, encouraged by Twilight Monaster Shade Bo Latarn, in mid-1496 until Elient of that year.
The Sunny Shore Tribe was ejected from their home in early 1496 by a group of sahuagin, led by the Banesmarked Baroness Seklaz, with plans to raid across the Sword Coast.. Smugglers, employed by S'gothgah's minions, then provided the exiled lizardfolk with weapons to fight their sahuagin conquerers. The conflict between the lizardfolk-formed Dunwater Alliance fought the sahuagin at the Battle of the Spire in Elient of 1496.
In addition to the general miserable conditions of the Styes, S'gothgah continued stoking the desperation and worries of its populace, such as creating serial killers, like the Lantern Ghost Killer, to target vulnerable people.
The town of Saltmarsh, in addition to participating in the Dunwater Alliance, also had the conflicts between their Traditionalist and pro-Neverwinter Emberist factions.
However, the efforts to inflame conflict in Saltmarsh was mostly stimied by the Heroes of Saltmarsh, a group comprised of Necian Arrzen, Lyra, Micah Pierce, Mogran Oredelver, Oceanus, and the pseudodragon Sizzabiz, who began uncovering S'gothgah's plot.
The Heroes first became involved by getting Saltmarsh to join the Dunwater Alliance, before working with the town wizard Keledek, to investigate the Emperor of the Waves, Keledek's ship which was piloted by his apprentice Pearce, who discovered the Banesmark while investigating strange goings on in the Styes. Though Pearce was killed by S'gothgah's minions, and the ship was sunk by the aboleth's kraken, the Heroes recovered a depiction of the strange symbol.
The Heroes then discovered the Banesmark's history during the attack on the Neverwinter Gala, preventing the soul trap containing the soul of Brisk, the court wizard of Neverwinter that helped end the Century of Strife, from falling into S'gothgah's hands.
The Heroes then investigated the Isle of the Abbey, discovering where the Banesmark was rediscovered, but learning only that the one using it went by "S."
The Heroes helped Saltmarsh prepare for the battle agains the sahuagin by reopening the Saltmarsh Mine, killing a den of sahuagin, and driving the hill giants away from Leilon, ending S'gothgah's ploy there.
Following the Heroes' key role in turning the Battle of the Spire into an overwhelming victory for the Dunwater Alliance, denying S'gothgah the desperation and and sorrow that would've come from a harder-won victory, and the B-Team's arrest of Bo Latarn and Banesmarked Saltmarsh Town Council member Anders Solmor, the aboleth redoubled his efforts in Saltmarsh. His minions Banesmarked another member of the town council, Manistrad Copperlocks, various other important figures in town, as well as Crab, a confidant of the Heroes.
In Uktar of 1496, the Heroes raided the Twilight Monastery, killing the Grand Shade, disrupting the aboleth's control, and learning both S'gothgah's name and about the Feast of Corruption. Following their return, the Heroes then, with the aid of an ally of theirs, Krisella Ferox, discovered the kraken nest the crew of the Tammeraut was guarding, killing the undead crew and destroying the remaining kraken eggs.
At their wits end, the aboleth confronted the party, threatening them to remain in Saltmarsh, and if they were found leaving town, speaking about the Banesmark, or making any move against him, he would destroy the town with his Banesmarked minions.
Having figured out the aboleth's plan to create an Avatar, the Heroes believed that the God Trap, an unbelievably powerful soul trap found by Mogran Ordelver's clan before it ws stolen by the black dragon Voaraghammanthar, could potentiall block or trap the Sliver of Bane. Mogran, Lyra, Micah, and a member of the allied B-Team Immortal Valentine snuck out of town to kill Voaraghammanthar while Necian used magic to make it appear as if the other B-Team members, Seraphina Pierce, Ardek Oredelver, and Raven Bloodash, were Micah, Mogran, and Lyra respectively.
After killing the dragon and stealing the God Trap, the Heroes returned to town, briefly killed an unrelated vampire that had been released while they were gone, and then convinced the town that the Banesmark was in fact a parasite from the Shadowfell which caused irrational behavior and everyone afflicted needed to be quarantined, preventing the aboleth from destroying Saltmarsh.
The Heroes, alongside Krisella, then sailed to the Styes, interrogated S'gothgah's minion, Mr. Dory, and raided S'gothgah's base. However, as insurance, the aboleth had Banesmarked multiple people close to the Heroes, including Micah's brother Pallu and Lyra's mentor Brenvark Coldscar. Unaware that the robed figures in the central chamber were mind controlled, Necian launched a fireball that killed Brenvark and nearly hurt Pallu, but the Heroes didn't have time to capture him and pushed forward.
During this time, the newly formed Neveren Alliance had formed the Great Neveren Trade Fleet as a symbol of their prosperity. Needing one more massive injection of fear and terror for the kraken to reach maturity, S'gothgah had placed minions all throughout the fleet, and the aboleth and kraken, carrying the Feast of Corruption in its tentacles, fled from the Styes and raced to the trade fleet, planning to destroy it in a final show of terror.
The Heroes chased after them on their ship, and on the 29th of Nightal, prevented the kraken from destroying the fleet by killing it, and then fought and sealed the summoned Sliver of Bane inside of the God Trap, unlocking its true form and permenately weakening Bane, if only by an incremental amount. However, S'gothgah himself was able to escape.

Outcome

Following the attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet, members of the Blackstaves and the Hand of Mana traveled to Neverwinter, Saltmarsh, the Styes and elsewhere to remove the Banesmarks from those afflicted and muddle the memories of those who were under its sway, running with the Shadowfell parasite explanation the Heroes of Saltmarsh crafted.

Historical Significance

Legacy

Though many of the lesser conflicts and acts of violence caused by S'gothgah are well known, the overarching influence of the aboleth and the Banesmark across the northern Sword Coast during this time is a closely guarded secret, done in order to prevent a larger panic and to supress information about the Banesmark. This includes the attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet, where the involvement of the Sliver of Bane is not widely known.
Due to their actions during the crisis, the Heroes of Saltmarsh became beloved in their own community and in Neverwinter for saving the trade fleet, though the official story is that the Heroes were just in the right time and place to stop a rogue kraken. Though the Heroes went their separate ways after, the legacy of their deeds would remain alive and well in Saltmarsh's local memory, and a statue honoring them would be dominate the town square by 1500.
Though defeated and humiliated, S'gothgah survived the events of the Banesmark Crisis. Though without the resources and secrecy he had accumulated over the last half decade, he remained no less committed to exalting Bane.
Following the attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet, Micah Pearce sacrificed the Sliver of Bane to his Great Old One patron, freeing him from his forced contract and siphoning a piece of Bane's soul to an unknowable Great Old One. The effect this may have is as of yet unknown.

Included Conflicts

• Attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet
• Attack on the Neverwinter Gala
• Battle of the Spire
• Neveren Orc Riots

Start Date

25th of Flamerule, 1496

Ending Date

29th of Nightal, 1496

Conflict Result

S'gothgah's plans to create an Avatar of Bane foiled

Location

Sword Coast North