Backcover Blurb

[Black Wyvern]

For centuries the Great Tolmeny Lake formed the connecting boundary of the Old Empire and the three realms of the Dutish peninsula. Her shores were spotted with villages and mighty trade ports. Ships of all four nations swarmed her surface. The wealth of the known world moved with her winds.

First among cities was the Free City of Herden, which was built on the surface of a small island very near the center of the Tolmeny. Herden’s tall walls were faced with glistening white marble. At the tallest crest of the island was her towering lighthouse; whose beacon was visible for miles out.

As the Empire grew old and corrupt its jealousy was heaped upon the new and vital realms of the Dutish. Wars in the far East had turned against the Empire and its treasury began to empty. Weighing his options the Emperor looked to the peaceful shores of the Tolmeny as a potential source of new wealth and growth.

At first the forces of the Empire found no power that could rival them. Imperial war galleys crushed the fleets of the younger nations and laid siege to the glistening walls of Herden. They burned cities and villages all along the shores of the Tolmeny leaving ash and death in their wake.

The young nations were slow to respond but when they finally did they were able to start pushing back the Imperial wave. The war waged for years ravaging the wealth and vitality of all involved. Finally out of desperation the new Emperor sent the necromancer Krixiem to lay low Herden and shatter the alliance of the Dutish realms.

Krixiem was vile and remorseless. The necromancer created foul undead and summoned beasts from netherrealms undreamed of by mortal men. Krixiem made pacts with dark and forbidden powers and eventually brought enough power to bear to crack the walls of Herden and bring her low. Hell fires raged over the isle until naught but cinders remained. Even to this day foul vapors cloud the ruined city in a toxic fog.

Fortunately for the Dutish the Empire reached its cracking point and it was engulfed in civil war that shattered its lands into a hundred tiny fiefdoms all plotting for control over their neighbors.

Krixiem outlived the Empire and took up residence on the charred remains of Herden’s lighthouse which he renamed Tehl-Azgar. For two more centuries he troubled the Dutish realms. In the end it took all the magicks the Dutish could muster to destroy Krixiem but he was finally felled. Those loyal to the beast necromancer buried him in the tower of Tehl-Azgar and went their own ways, leaving vile magic and otherworldly guards to protect their master’s grave. It took nearly another century for the poisons Krixiem had poured into the lake to fade and her waters to clear. Populations have returned to the shores and found they were able to eek out a meager living on the lake. None dare go within sight of the Charred Isle or the ruined tower of Tehl-Azgar.

Three weeks ago the crown princes and princess of the Dutish Realms went missing in their sleep. The symbol of Krixiem was burned into the floor under their beds. The three kings sent out word to all the land for help. Asking for the mightiest of heroes to come to their aid in recovering their heirs.