In the past decade of relative peace, a wretched puzzle had been
disturbing the Underking's moments of repose. Everytime He surveyed the
Underhalls which He ruled over, the discrepancy jumped out at Him,
worrying and irritating in small, disturbing increments, until at last,
Dhar decided to personally look into the anomaly.

If the mortal creatures of the Albedi have souls, as they surely must,
why have none of them appeared in His halls after their deaths?

The Underking rose to His feet in a single, swift motion, and His
summons reached through time and space, bringing Edhain to His side.
Despite Edhain's worry, Lord Dhar announced His intention to travel to
the far continent of Albedos. In His absence, the Soul Plane will be
entrusted to Jirair, His High Priest, and the Order - a responsibility
that Edhain solemnly accepted.

Edhain's worry was realized to be well-founded in the months after
Dhar's departure, except that the danger was to emerge from within the
Underhalls rather than without. Jirair urgently summoned Edhain to
Dhar's temple with the news that a revolt had begun within the Abyss of
the Damned. The absence of the Underking had weakened the prisoners'
bonds, and the temptation led them to attempt escape from their eternal
suffering. With Jirair by his side, Edhain quickly entered the Soul
Plane to resolve the problem.

Within the Halls of Judgement, the duo met with one of the cloaked
guardians of the Underhalls, and found that the situation had
deteriorated beyond their expectations. The majority of the prisoners
were no match for the guardians, save for one called Verkai, a mortal
that had resisted the coil of death for so long that Dhar had to
personally drag his soul into damnation. They rushed to the entrance of
the Abyss, only to find Verkai standing triumphantly over the corpses of
several guardians.

Jirair and Edhain quickly launched a furious assault upon Verkai, but
their efforts were futile. Verkai had been a powerful necromancer as a
mortal, and as a Spirit within the Soul Plane, his power had been held
in check only by Dhar's presence. With great glee and little effort,
Verkai dispatched the hapless High Priest as one might swat at a fly.
Enraged by the death of his comrade, Edhain flew into a frenzy,
launching attack after attack in a flurry.

Despite Edhain's best efforts, however, Verkai was far too strong to
subdue. Growing bored, the escaped spirit entrapped Edhain with the
intention to turn him into his minion. He demanded Edhain's servitude,
but was met with an unequivocal refusal, and in a fit of fury, struck
him down and expelled him from the Underhalls. Left facing little
resistance, Verkai claimed Dhar's throne and proclaimed himself the new
Underking.

Shortly after Edhain's return from the Soul Plane, the very fabric of
reality was rent asunder as Verkai shattered the barrier between the
Prime Material Plane and the Underhalls. His ambition insatiable, Verkai
claimed not just the Underhalls, but also the Prime Material Plane. He
had moved to merge the two planes together in order to exert his usurped
influence over Sapience itself.

Edhain gathered a party to counter Verkai's mad bid for domination, only
to find that Verkai's disruption had destroyed the entrance he and
Jirair had used before. Even as malicious spirits slipped through the
weakening barrier, mortal intervention remained hobbled. Until the
merging progressed to a state where corporeal bodies can pass through to
the Underhalls, Verkai would remain unchallenged upon Dhar's usurped
throne.

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Severin, in the year 317 MA.