Haroun gathered a group of strong people to escort smart people from Port Anji to Tirva to find out more about the Necromancer Xanark. Chared, Veylan Bane, Zaree, and Draxus Soljourn joined Haroun and Mehraveh in the Adventurers’ Barracks in Port Anji. They set out for Myhooven, intending to reach Tirva as swiftly as possible.

In Myhooven, what appeared to be a young hafling boy approached the group and begged Zaree to come with him to help his parents. Zaree started to go, but Haroun, wary of another vampire trick, touched the holy tattoo on his forehead and cast Detect Evil and Good. The child was undead. Haroun pulled out his war pick and attacked the halfling child. Chaos ensued. The crowd scattered, calling for guards. Some of the group helped Haroun, but others were confused. The child started screaming and crying. When the guards arrived, the child ran into a guard’s arms. He was telling anyone who would listen that the group murdered his parents and was trying to kill him. To make matters worse, Zaree, a human woman, turned into someone called Zeraa, a tiefling woman. People thought she was a fiend and controlling the group to sacrifice people. Haroun searched the alley, finding two dead humans with claw wounds and piercing bite marks on their necks. Some of the guards took the halfling boy to safety. Chared had to transform into his true self to convince the guards to hear the group out. The guards took the group to the barracks where they discovered the halfling boy had attacked and badly injured the guard who had carried him before fleeing into the jungle.

The guard captain was cautiously apologetic, but he received mostly sarcasm and judgment from the group (spoken or unspoken). As a result, he retracted an offer for the group to help hunt the vampire in the morning. He told the group to leave and stay at an inn.

In the morning, the guards’ attitudes had not changed. They prepared to head into the jungle after the vampire. The group traveled south to Zulif. On the road, the group met a man and his son, heading home to Zulif after a successful hunting trip in the grasslands. He warned the group there were rust monsters in the plains. The group warned the man about many things, including the halfling boy vampire and the Necromancer. As the boy was getting more and more upset, the man tried to change the subject, but in the end, he stopped and let the group move on without them. Haroun apologized to the man.

The group arrived at Zulif and spent the night without incident. The journey from Zulif to Fort S3 was also uneventful. At Fort S3, a half-elven merchant sold a sword to Chared. Again, the attitude of some members of the party soured the merchant’s disposition towards the group. Chared offered to escort the merchant to Tirva, and he agreed; however, in the morning he was unconscious from overconsumption of liquor. Some members of the group considered recouping the spent gold, but Haroun put a stop to it.

On the road from Fort S3 to the Crossroads Temple, the group met another merchant. Mehraveh bought a healing potion and collar for Big Dawg from him. At the temple, the group found the priests and acolytes overwhelmed with refugees fleeing the Barcain Dominion conquests and abyssal portals to the south. Kamran the Bard was there, and Chared told him the story of the Battle of the Bog. Kamran offered 5 gold to everyone in thanks, but Chared, Haroun, and Mehraveh turned him down. Haroun encouraged him to help make Chared’s name better known in the Belt of Tirva.

The journey from the Crossroads Temple to Fort S5 was uneventful. At the fort, Haroun requested the practice ground to spar with Draxas. Haroun wanted to test his skill before the group faced a serious test in battle. Draxas’ aggressive swordsmanship won the sparring match, which impressed Haroun.

On the road from Fort S5 near the lake almost to Tirva, the group found a badly wounded woman collapsed, exhausted by the side of the road. She had a small child in her care. Zaree healed her. The group learned creatures had attacked their homestead on the lake, and her husband held them off while she fled. The group set out towards the homestead to investigate.

At the homestead, they found a pack of five ghouls and a mummy. The ghouls were eating the remains of the family’s livestock, and the mummy was poisoning the lake. A banshee appeared out of nowhere, intending to kill Haroun. It rushed Haroun, who fended it off.

The group went into action. Draxus hit one of the ghouls with a javelin, hobbling it. Chared flew up and roasted the ghouls with his breath. Zaree turned into Zeraa, charged closer, attacking and missing one of the ghouls. Chared swooped down and breathed fire on all the ghouls. Veylan hit the banshee with a guiding bolt. The ghouls charged Zeraa and Veylan surrounding them. Zeraa went down under their blows. The ghoul Draxus hobbled was easy prey for Chared, who destroyed it. Mehraveh shot the banshee, and Haroun smote the banshee with great wroth and holy power. Draxus killed one ghast and then moved to flank another with Veylan. Veylan healed the badly bleeding Zeraa. He turned the ghoul between Draxus and himself, and when it fled, Draxus hewed it down. The mummy empowered one of its ghouls. Chared charged at it and rent it to pieces. The ghouls took Zeraa down again. Haroun and Mehraveh finished off the banshee. Haroun rushed to help with the ghouls, and Mehraveh turned her attention to the mummy. The mummy empowered its last ghoul. Chared and Haroun finished off the last empowered ghoul. The mummy rushed the group, trying to kill Zaree. It placed a terrible, rotting curse on her before the group destroyed it.

The group found where the mummy had been poisoning the lake. Despite their best efforts, they could not stop or undo the damage. They were also unable to help Zaree, who was rotting away. The group rushed into Tirva to warn the authorities about the lake being poisoned. They took Zaree to a temple to be cured. Zaree, Haroun, and Mehraveh pooled some of their reward coins from the city authorities to pay for the healing, which was successful.

Only then did the group quickly complete their mission. At the Academy, they learned more about Xanark the Necromancer. He was a half-elf who was discredited and kicked out of the Academy because he was hiring poor people, killing them through his experiments, and raising them as undead. Through his experiments, he learned to customize his undead creations to suit his fancies. Xanark’s fall was attributed to him finding a book in an old, ruined tomb. Some believe it gave him knowledge and power to do what he wished in more powerful ways; others think he was corrupted by the book.