With the disappearance of the decanter, the stars in the constellation
of the Scales of Justice, a symbol sacred to Miramar, the Divine Patron
of Shallam, began to fade. As each star faded into obscurity, Miramar
was weakening as well.

Meanwhile, the demi-lich called to the Idol to release the gore that had
built up within, and the blood of five thousand children, concentrated
and corrupted, flowed into a black obsidian decanter. The spiritual
leader of the city of evil, Father Wulfen, mixed the profane blood of
the Idol with the pure essence within the decanter and gave it to the
demi-lich. Thanking the Tyrannus, the demi-lich promised that the
Goddess would fall as it leapt into a red portal and vanished.

A few days later, a brown-robed priest was heard yelling for help in the
dungeon of Azdun. Both Rianara and Delphinus heard the cries, and
Delphinus was first to discover the strange laboratory where the priest
was being held bound in chains. Mhaldorians quickly arrived on the scene
and began to assault the priest Ator, and just as his chains were
removed, the Mhaldorian dragon Tsara Lichlord ripped his frame to shreds
with her sharp claws. Shallamese there, though unable to save the
priest, found five obsidian vials with a strange glowing liquid within,
each marked with the symbol of one of the Patrons of Good.

The priest's death was not the last he would endure. Ator prayed in the
Halls of Maya for a second life and was granted it. Wandering from the
cave, he made his way into Shallam, where the order of Miramar found him
and escorted him to their Temple for safety.

What few knew was that since the earlier raids on the decanter by the
Undead forces, Miramar's Order, called the Astraean, had been receiving
disturbing visions. They foretold of the Undead Raid of Shallam, Miramar
bound in suffering, and hinted at possible cures and a brown-robed
priest that would aid them. Unfortunately for the Astraean blindly
trusting these visions, the hand that held sway over their minds was
that of a master of manipulation.

After Ator's recovery, he asked the trusting Astraeans for help in
brewing a potion to strengthen their ailing Goddess. He insisted on
being escorted by the Order on several trips to a remote laboratory in
the Tundra to perfect his concoction, making the final touches after
requesting the Order retrieve the rare acites plant.

Doubt as to his intentions grew as Ator urged the Order to allow him to
mix the potion with the contents of the one of the vials recovered at
the laboratory in Azdun: the one imprinted with the symbol of Miramar.
Unbeknownst to the Astraean, the vial contained some of Miramar's
essence taken from the decanter and had been planted there by the
demi-liches. With the mixture complete, Torain, Altarius, Morthif,
Manuella, Lyndee, and Carmell escorted Ator to the master shrine, where
he convinced them to offer the potion onto the shrine to Miramar.

Disaster was the result as Ator's treason quickly became apparent. The
black fluid of the mixture quickly seeped into the white marble of the
shrine, and a red light shone from the Temple as the entire Pash Valley
began to heave. Though Ator was slain for his crimes against Justice, he
only laughed in response to Miramar's shouts of his betrayal and his
crumbling body arose again as a lich. Retreating through a fiery portal,
Ator returned to Mhaldor just as the shrine exploded in a fiery blast
that decimated the Temple of Justice and all within.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Valnuary, in the year 408 AF.