Undead (novel)

Undead is the second novel of The Haunted Lands trilogy by Richard Lee Byers.

"The dead walk in Thay, and as the rest of Faerûn looks on in stunned horror, the very nature of this mysterious, dangerous realm begins to change

What started as one wizard's ambitions to take over the ruling council has become a vicious civil war that breeds a monstrous array of undead. And while the undead have always been a part of life in Thay, after ten years of constant battles, they have begun to outnumber the living."

Summary
In the region of Thaymount, on Hammer 11 1385 DR, the lich Szass Tam, zulkir of necromancy and the self-proclaimed regent of Thay, met with his prisoner, Yaphyll, the zulkir of divination, to discuss the War of the Zulkirs, the chaotic conflict between Szass Tam and the Council of Zulkirs that began a decade earlier. Over the course of the ten years of fighting, Thay's civil war had developed into a stalemate as neither side could gain an advantage. By 1385 DR, Szass Tam controlled the northern tharchs of the nation, Gauros, Lapendrar, Surthay, Delhumide, and Thaymount, while the council controlled the southern regions of Priador, Eltabbar, Tyraturos, Thazalhar, Pyarados, and the island of Alaor. Throughout the conflict, some of the country's tharchions and nobles, such as Yaphyll, had switched sides a couple of times. The powerful diviner had forsaken the other zulkirs and joined Szass Tam in the hope of shifting the balance of power, breaking the stalemate, and ending the war before it entirely destroyed Thay. This didn't occur however, the stalemate had endured and Yaphyll eventually decided to switch sides once again, as she preferred to support the living rather than the undead. Before Yaphyll could rejoin her council peers, Szass Tam had taken her prisoner and magically bound her using the Death Moon Orb and Thakorsil's Seat, two powerful artifacts of imprisonment and domination.
 * Prologue:

After speaking with Yaphyll about the war, Szass Tam forced her to perform the strongest divination known to the Red Wizards, no matter the consequences to her own well-being, granting him insight on how to strike a decisive victory over the other zulkirs. Yaphyll completed the ritual and instructed Szass Tam to lead the legion of Thaymount, allied with those under the command of Hezass Nymar of Lapendrar, in battle against the Keep of Sorrows, a maneuver which would entrap, and ultimately defeat the council's forces. Yaphyll then had a vision of an imminent catastrophic event, the Spellplague, and gave Szass Tam a cryptic warning regarding the "White" and "Black Queens" before she was surrounded by blue flame and broke free of the lich's control. When he tried to regain power over the diviner, Szass Tam unintentionally killed her with his poisonous touch. He then began planning his campaign against the Keep of Sorrows.

On Ches 16 of that year, Aoth Fezim, the warmage captain of the Griffon Legion of Pyarados and his griffon mount, Brightwing, set out to hunt a group of undead that Szass Tam's followers had sent to raid the countryside of Pyarados. They were accompanied by one of the Griffon Legion’s officers, the warrior-bard Bareris Anskuld, his griffon Murder, the ghost known as Mirror, and Malark Springhill, a monk of the Order of the Long Death and the spymaster to the zulkir of illusion Dmitra Flass. When the companions tracked the undead marauders to a small village whose inhabitants had been slaughtered, they destroyed the skeleton warriors along with a colossal bone serpent.

On Ches 26, Hezass magically traveled to Eltabbar, the capital city of Thay, and met with the Council of Zulkirs, several of the Thay's tharchions including Nymia Focar, military officers, as well as Iphegor Nath, the High Flamelord of the church of Kossuth. Hezass revealed to the assembly his intentions to switch sides in the war, along with the revelation that Szass Tam was going to soon besiege the Keep of Sorrows. Seeing this as an opportunity to decisively defeat the lich, the zulkirs decided to gather the armies of their tharchs and strike at the necromancer's legions as they arrived at the fortress. A few days later, Tammith Iltazyarra, a vampire who was magically bound to Szass Tam and the atropal Xingax, infiltrated the ziggurat of Kossuth in Escalant. While she was born a Rashemi mortal, and once taken Bareris as her lover, Tammith spent the last decade honing her vampiric powers and took lead of the Silent Company, an elite fighting force of vampire-kin. As she progressed through Kossuth's temple, Tammith was assailed by a large magma spider, who she managed to slay after a short battle. The altercation attracted the attention of Hezass Nymar, who was armed with the divine power of his god. Again, Tammith defeated her foe, subdued High Priest Nymar and swore him to keep his allegiance to Tam; the Kossuthan would convince the convince the council of his loyalty, assist their preparations for war and betray them at Tam's orders during the battle at the Keep of Sorrows. She ensured his compliance with a bite to his neck. During the middle of the moth of Tarsakh, as the southern legions prepared for the upcoming battle against Szass Tam, Aoth confided in Bareris his thoughts of abandoning the war and leaving Thay with any of his fellow griffon riders who felt the same. However, Bareris, was determined to gain vengeance on Szass Tam and his necromancers for Tammith's transformation. He knew how important Aoth and his aerial company were to the Council of Zulkirs' cause, and persuaded his friend to stay in Thay and keep fighting, with the aid of his bardic magic. On Tarsakh 29, Szass Tam’s massive army began to besiege the Keep of Sorrows. On that day, two messengers from Hezass arrived at the fortress, Red Wizards named Muthoth and So-Kehur, told Nular Zurn, the castellan of the keep, that Hezass and his host were moving into a position to strike the lich's legions in concert with the Council's army. However, unbeknownst to the Keep of Sorrows’ garrison, Muthoth and So-Kehur were actually necromancers serving Szass Tam and Hezass intended to betray the zulkirs. The legions of Eltabbar, Pyarados, and Tyraturos used powerful magic to conceal their advance, and when they assembled at the Keep of Sorrows, they believed that they had successfully surprised Szass Tam’s host and had trapped the northerners between themselves and the fortress. The council's forces immediately attacked the undead wizard’s army and drove them toward the castle, where the defenders assailed them from the walls. Szass Tam discerned that they were too fully engaged with his followers to withdraw and sprung his trap. The lich's leading manufacturer of undead creatures, Xingax, who had replaced his damaged body parts with those of the fallen nighthaunt Ysval, used his newly-acquired abilities to enshroud the battlefield in a magical darkness. Tammith and her vampires, along with the wraiths and other undead servants Szass Tam, who normally could not withstand being out in daylight, immediately joined the fight and engaged the southern forces under the protection of the magically-created darkness. In the Keep of Sorrows, So-Kehur cast a necromantic spell that transformed the dead bodies in the fortress' crypts into undead soldiers while Muthoth summoned a caller in darkness. As the undead creatures attacked and slaughtered the castle’s garrison, the two necromancers continually reanimated the fallen defenders in order to strengthen their force. Meanwhile, dragon-sized shades and kraken-like undead behemoths emerged from the ground behind the council's legions and proceeded to massacre the southern troops. With their newly-acquired undead forces, Szass Tam's army launched a counterattack against the zulkirs, bolstered by Nymar's legion from Lapendrar. Knowing that his army's victory was inevitable, Szass Tam projected his form into the center of the fray and tried to use the Death Moon Orb to coerce Dmitra, his former ally, into re-joining his cause, offering eternal life as a lich. At that moment however, the Spellplague fell upon Toril and the dark artifact exploded in lich's hands. Gravely hurt by the explosion, with his lich-form revealed for all to see, Szass Tam made his way to Xingax and ordered the atropal to transport them within the Keep of Sorrows, which his army had just overrun. A wave of azure fire swept across a portion of the battlefield, killing Hezass Nymar, his entire army as well as many of the griffons and their riders. Aoth and Brightwing were struck, and the war mage was essentially rendered blind, with a blue flame that flickering in his eyes. Earthquakes devastated the area around the Keep of Sorrows and arcane magic began acting in an erratic manner. Chaos and confusion engulfed the two Thayan armies, and the scores of undead and fiendish beasts were no longer under the control of the Red Wizards. As the remnants of Szass Tam's army withdrew into the Keep of Sorrows, the surviving legions that served the Council of Zulkirs' retreated from the battlefield. The following day, Szass Tam met with his allies Azhir Kren and Homen Odesseiron, deciding to defend the Keep of Sorrows while the majority of his forces withdrew to northern Thay to rebuild their strength while a new plan was formulated. Meanwhile, Aoth met with Bareris to discuss his strange blindness, which could not be cured by clerics, but allowed the battle wizard to occasionally see beyond normal sight. Aoth named Bareris the commander of the Griffon Legion while he was out of commission. When the former captain looked upon his friend, he saw an illusory image of Bareris dangling a marionette of himself, pulling the strings to make it dance. Aoth realized that Bareris had used magic to convince him to not leave Thay and confronted the bard with the truth. Bareris' confession filled Aoth with such disappointment and pain that he shunned his comrade. Following the battle, Tammith realized that the Spellplague had eliminated the enchantments that compelled her obedience to Szass Tam and decided to desert the lich's army on Greengrass 1385 DR. As Tammith left the Keep of Sorrows she was attacked by the blood fiend Tsagoth, but managed to wound the undead fiend and flee.
 * Chapter 1:
 * Chapter 2:
 * Chapter 3:

When the Council of Zulkirs and the southern army's other leaders met in the town of Zolum to formulate a new plan of action in early Mirtul. After some discussion and argument, Bareris suggested that they launch an aggressive campaign against Szass Tam, as the diminished and unreliable effects of arcane magic weakened the lich and his forces more than it did their own. The zulkirs agreed with the idea and decided to strike swiftly and gain control of many of the lands that were under the undead wizard's dominion. While the council and their subordinates were still discussing their new strategy, Tammith interrupted the meeting and told the assembled leaders that she wanted to join the fight against Szass Tam as revenge for her enslavement. Tammith compelled the Thayan rulers to assault Xingax' undead manufactory, which was hidden in the desolate foothills of Sunrise Mountains, in order to prevent Szass Tam's legions from being reinforced with new undead troops. Bareris and Tammith shared a brief reunion following the assembly.

On Mirtul 10, a small group of Thayan soldiers tried to separate Brightwing from the blinded Aoth, while he recovered in Zolum. Using his bardic magic, Bareris convinced the soldiers that the tharchioness' orders had changed. Following a brief conversation between the former friends, Bareris noticed that the specter Mirror, who had been a stalwart companion over the last decade, had abandoned him after his falling out with Aoth.
 * Chapter 4:

In mid-Mirtul, Szass Tam and his army returned to High Thay, the lich cast several divinations in an attempt to learn more about the Spellplague and the state of arcane magic, and gleaned some visions of the Shadow Weave. During one of the rituals, Tam was assailed by an entropic reaper. Following a brief exchange and short arcane battle, the lich swiftly defeated the undead creature of Elemental Chaos.

As the combined hosts of Eltabbar, Tyraturos, and Pyarados marched north during the month of Mirtul, Bareris, Tammith, and several griffon riders scouted ahead to watch for enemies and hazards created by the Spellplague. When the group reached the town of Solzepar, they discovered that blue fire had swept through the settlement and caused parts of the ground to float in the air. Bareris and his companions landed on one of the larger floating islands and searched a building that had been a chapterhouse of Red Wizards' evokers. After they rescued a young Mulan apprentice hidden within a large chest, the group was attacked by a band of the Red Wizards who had been transformed and possessed by evocation spells during the Spellplague. They quickly fought their way out of the building and fled the floating island.

Following the battle, Bareris and Tammith reconnected over their shared hunger for revenge against Szass Tam and began to reform their relationship as comrades-in-arms.

In late Mirtul, shortly after Aoth and Brightwing arrived at the Central Citadel in the port city of Bezantur, another group of Thayan soldiers attempted to apprehend Aoth Fezim and poisoned his loyal mount Brightwing. Dmitra Flass and the Council of Zulkirs had decided to vivisect the war mage in an attempt to discover more about the azure fire. After Aoth's altered vision revealed illusory knives in the hands of the orcs legionnaires sent to seize him, he managed to incapacitate them despite his blindness.

Mirror, who had remembered how to use the divine powers he once held in life, proceeded to heal Aoth's eyes, leaving the battle mage with a superior ability of sight. Aoth and Mirror hastily made their way to Brightwing's aerie, where the ghost cured the griffon. Afterwards, Aoth appealed to Malark Springhill to aid his cause and convince the council he was valuable. The monk agreed to assist the griffon captain, and he convinced Lauzoril, the zulkir of the enchantment, to allow Aoth to return to active duty.

After the Council of Zulkirs' armies that advanced north from Zolum divided to undertake their different tasks, Bareris, Tammith, riders from the Griffon Legion, along with a contingent of wizards and Kossuthan priests traveled to Xingax's hidden manufactory in late-Mirtul. On Kythorn 2, the concealed band deceived their way into the fortress, and then immediately engaged the stronghold's small garrison of Red Wizard necromancers, gnoll, orc and goblinoid marauders, Thayan legionnaires and undead entities, including an enormous lizard-like monstrosity and a risen, cloud giant sorcerer. While the company defeated Xingax's minions and gained control of the fortress, Murder was killed by the monstrous lizard. During the battle, the Bareris and Tammith confronted and killed the atropal, albeit at a grave cost. The severed head of the re-animated cloud giant managed to decapitate Tammith once more, as it bit down upon her form.
 * Chapter 5:

Bareris broke open the head of the zombified giant with an enormous battleaxe and recovered Tammith's head. While the Kossuthan priests sanctified the undead manufactory and the griffon riders eliminated the remainders of Xingax's forces, Bareris tended what remained of his vampiric love along with one of the Burning Braziers. To save Tammith from true destruction, Bareris fed her his blood mixed with her own, and she was resurrected to undeath. They succumbed to their instinct and consummated their love in an abominable display of passion and violence.
 * Chapter 6:

Once the griffon riders and their comrades destroyed the undead manufactory, they successfully withdrew from Thaymount. Many of the other southern forces also achieved victory over Szass Tam’s legions throughout the month of Kythorn; Thessaloni Canos, the tharchioness of Alaor, led her legions in a campaign that secured both Escalant and Laothkund for the council.

On Kythorn 21, Szass Tam infiltrated the Central Citadel of Bezantur in the illusory form of a young boy, in order to speak with Malark the Monk of the Long Death. After revealing his reasoning for murdering his ally Druxus Rhym, the zulkir of transmutation a decade earlier, the lich persuaded Malark to betray the Council of Zulkirs and join his cause. Instead of openly switching sides, Malark continued to serve as the council's spymaster, but used his position to sabotage their war efforts. Malark revealed the southern legions' plans and dispositions to Szass Tam, guided them into traps and other hazards created by the blue fire of the Spellplague, and sowed disaffection and mistrust among the Thayan officers and soldiers.

While Bareris and his band were returning to southern Thay sometime between Kythorn and Flamerule, they encountered an enormous abomination created by the Spellplague that was attacking a contingent of soldiers of Tyraturos. Bareris, Tammith, and their comrades immediately assailed the formidable creature and destroyed it.
 * Chapter 7:

As the Council of Zulkirs' forces continued to be defeated and suffer setbacks in the middle of Flamerule, Aoth spoke with Malark, and his enhanced sight showed him the spymaster's face turn into a naked skull. Aoth realized that Malark may be serving Szass Tam, and although he and Brightwing then began to deliver dispatches throughout the southern provinces for the council, the warmage planned to try to find evidence that would either confirm or deny his suspicions.

After Bareris and most of the Griffon Legion returned to Bezantur on Flamerule 19, Aoth resumed command of the aerial company and tentatively renewed his friendship with the bard. The battle mage also enlisted the help of Bareris, Tammith, and Mirror in verifying his suspicions about Malark.
 * Chapter 8:

Meanwhile, Szass Tam summoned an audience with the god Bane, in an intricate arcane ritual that required him to sacrifice slaves, necromancers, and even the tharchion of Thaymount, Pyras Autorian. Szass Tam Struck a bargain with Lord of Tyrants. Bane agreed to provide the lich with his knowledge about the nature of magic in the aftermath of the Spellplague, grant him the ability to create more undead creatures and enhance his mystical strength. In exchange, Szass Tam promised that the worship of Bane would be the national religion upon his ascension, and that he would also surrender his soul to the evil deity after one thousand years on Toril.

Although Bane made a pact with Szass Tam, he told the undead wizard that his priests and other worshipers would still aid the Council of Zulkirs in order to ensure that he would benefit no matter which side ultimately won the war. Szass Tam knew that the magical strength that Bane gave to him would gradually fade, so he decided to exploit his new power immediately by augmenting his armies with a vast number of undead.

Aoth and Brightwing intercepted a secret message that proved Malark's treachery, which they subsequently provided to Nevron, the zulkir of the conjuration. The powerful conjurer ordered them to arrest the monk. Aoth, Bareris, Mirror and Tammith confronted Malark and tried to apprehend him on Eleasis 14. The spymaster used a magical stone given to him by Szass Tam to summon several allips, the vengeful spirits of suicides. Malark fled while Aoth and the others defeated the undead entities, and although Tammith managed to catch up with the monk, she was incapacitated Malark and escaped from the Central Citadel and Bezantur.

Following Malark's escape, the Council of Zulkirs immediately tried to repair the damage that the spymaster had inflicted on their cause and convened a war council on Eleasis 21. The zulkirs knew that Szass Tam was gathering his forces around Thralgard Keep in preparation for an inevitable assault on the rest of Thay. However, the council was reluctant to engage the lich's legions in a major battle. While Dmitra wanted to confront Szass Tam’s troops as they descended from the heights of High Thay, the other zulkirs decided that they would instead focus on rebuilding their strength and gaining control of the far northern provinces. Unexpectedly, a vision of the god Bane appeared in the meeting and instructed the Council to fight Szass Tam’s forces when they marched down from High Thay in order to settle the war. Choosing to follow Bane's directive, the zulkirs hastily assembled their legions and advanced north to the plain at the bottom of the road that led down from Thralgard Keep. The southern host prepared to battle not only the warriors of High Thay, but also a contingent of troops whom Szass Tam had brought north from the Keep of Sorrows.
 * Chapter 9:

When Szass Tam’s legions descended from Thralgard Keep on Eleint 15, the Council of Zulkirs' army immediately engaged both them and the soldiers from the Keep of Sorrows. Initially, the lich's forces suffered many casualties and could not break the southern troops' formations, but they started to gain the advantage after the necromancers began to magically assail the Council's host. Szass Tam then used the power lent to him by Bane to summon a dream vestige, which began to steadily move across the battlefield and obliterate a large number of the zulkirs' soldiers and wizards. Neither the zulkirs nor any of their followers could defeat the dream vestige, and as the Council's legions fell back before the fog-like entity and their formations collapsed. Malark joined the fight, made his way to Dmitra and slayed the Princess of Thay by punching through her chest and snatching her ruby amulet. Although Szass Tam returned the dream vestige to its astral domain in order to keep the creature from escaping his control, the remnants of the southern army could not withstand the undead wizard’s forces and had to retreat south.

Shortly after the end of the battle, on Eleint 16, the Council of Zulkirs met in Bezantur to discuss their disastrous defeat and their inability to overcome the dream vestige. Since they had lost the greater part of their military strength and Szass Tam now led a massive army of undead, the Red Wizard leaders realized that they could not defeat the lich. The zulkirs decided that unless they discovered a way to change the situation, they would use their fleet of warships to flee into exile and abandon the main part of Thay. Nevron then ordered one of his demonic minions to kill Zola Sethrakt, the weak representative of the small number of necromancers who supported the council, out of pure anger and hatred.
 * Chapter 10:

Meanwhile, the defeated southern army broke into numerous bands and fled south toward Bezantur while being pursued by Szass Tam’s forces. One of the fleeing contingents was led by Aoth, and when they reached the small city of Mophur, they were denied access by the inhabitants. Aoth’s company learned that the citizens of Mophur were following the commands of the clerics and worshipers of Bane, who had been instructed by their god to no longer support the Council, rally the people against the mage-lords, pledge their allegiance to Szass Tam, and help the lich gain control of the southern provinces. Aoth, Brightwing, Bareris, Mirror, Tammith, and the bard's griffon Winddancer swiftly defeated the soldiers and priests guarding Mophur's gates so that their comrades could enter the city and gather supplies before they continued to retreat south.

Aoth’s band and many of the Council of Zulkirs' other remaining forces eventually made their way to Bezantur, but throughout southern Thay, towns and fortresses joined Szass Tam. On Marpenoth 3, agents of the church of Bane instigated a riot among the common people of Bezantur and convinced them to try to steal the council's ships in order to flee the city. While the zulkirs' troops fought the unruly citizens throughout the harbor, the followers of Bane snuck over the rooftops of nearby buildings and shot flaming arrows into the vessels in an attempt to prevent the mage-lords from being able to escape from Bezantur. Only four ships were destroyed before the Council’s forces managed to defeat the mob and Bane’s agents.

The night after the riot, and with Szass Tam's vast army swiftly approaching Bezantur, the zulkirs decided to flee with their remaining followers into exile in the Wizard's Reach, where they planned to gather strength and await an opportune time to renew the struggle against the lich. The council's large fleet departed from the city on Marpenoth 4, but not before Nevron killed Kumed Hahpret, the zulkir of evocation, because he had not believed that the other wizard was worthy of his title.

A few days after the Council of Zulkirs' ships left Bezantur, Szass Tam and his host arrived in the city, where they were welcomed by cheering crowds. Although essentially all of Thay was now under his control and the war was won, the lich was still determined to pursue and annihilate the zulkirs and the remnants of their legions. Szass Tam, his necromancers, and the other Red Wizards serving him performed powerful magical rituals that summoned a sizable force of drowned men and undead aquatic beasts. They also created a fleet of warships consisting of darkness that could carry a large portion of the northern army. Szass Tam and his spellcasters then used their magic to raise a storm at sea to slow the Council’s flight in order to allow his forces to hunt them down. The turbulent weather delayed the Council's vessels long enough that they could not reach the Wizard's Reach before Szass Tam’s ships and undead minions would intercept them, so the mage-lords decided to confront the enemy fleet.
 * Chapter 11:

When the Council of Zulkirs' forces, including the surviving members of the Griffon Legion, moved to engage Szass Tam’s followers on Marpenoth 11. Nevron and his conjurers summoned numerous fiendish and elemental entities, particularly denizens of the infernal oceans, to assist them. In the brutal battle that commenced between the two fleets, the aerial and sea combatants were evenly matched and could not gain an advantage over each other, but in the ship-to-ship fighting, the Council's vessels fared better than their foes and defeated or destroyed many of the lich's ships. Since his forces were losing the battle, Szass Tam used the last of the power that Bane had given him to once again summon the dream vestige. As the fog-like entity started to eradicate the council's followers, the zulkirs' Red Wizards and priests attempted to stop it, but were unsuccessful.

While Aoth and Brightwing flew over the dream vestige in an attempt to find a weakness by learning about the creature's nature, Tammith was assailed by Tsagoth. Bareris, Winddancer, and Mirror soon came to Tammith's aid and joined the fight, but when the four nearly defeated Tsagoth, the blood fiend tackled the vampire into the sea, where the water completely immobilized her and began to slowly dissolve her body into nothingness. Bareris and Winddancer followed the pair into the water, and resumed their attack on Tsagoth until the undead demon was forced to magically transport himself to safety. Although Bareris hurried to get Tammith out of the water, he could not do it in time and his beloved perished.

Bareris was anguished over Tammith's death, and after Aoth told him of his findings about the dream vestige's nature, the bard set out in a small boat to confront the entity. Although the dream vestige engulfed Bareris, he managed to destroy the fog-like creature with his bardic power.

Following the dream vestige's defeat, the Council’s fleet rallied and the battle quickly turned in their favor. Realizing that his forces would inevitably be defeated, Szass Tam ordered his remaining ships to withdraw while his undead aquatic and flying minions covered the retreat. After the battle, Aoth and Brightwing found Bareris floating in the sea, but the bard had been transformed into an undead entity by the necromantic energies that had bound the dream vestige.

By Marpenoth 18, the Council of Zulkirs' fleet arrived at Escalant in the Wizard’s Reach and the mage-lords began to establish the region as their new dominion. Shortly after the refugees’ arrival, Bareris told Aoth that he and Mirror had decided to return to Thay to resume opposing Szass Tam and his followers.
 * Epilogue:

The following day, Szass Tam prepared for his official coronation as regent of Thay, and decided that he would leave the remaining zulkirs to live in exile. The lich met with Malark, who gifted him a tome of ancient Netheril, written by a brilliant, but anonymous arcanist and recovered by Fastrin the Delver.