On 1 Hammer, 1374DR, following the departure of envoys to the iron mines and of the first caravan to Assur, a mysterious illness struck Freehold. Mild enough, at first, it took children and the infirm hardest, but seemed to descend almost overnight with no immediately discernible pattern. A canvass of the village revealed that many citizens had been experiencing symptoms for a tenday or longer without realizing them to be more than simple digestive discomfort.

While Trendal Kingshand set about tending as many Freeholders as he could, Abae Khon discovered strange sediments in the waters of the Liontongue River. Working with Belle Kingshand at the Kingshand Clinic and Infirmary, Abae learned through alchemical testing that the river had been tainted by some kind of unnatural slurry. Further investigation identified the specific compounds as an artificial lubricant often found in dwarven mining machinery. This explained why those near the riverfront and town center had fallen ill, while villagers further north and at Sterlingview House were largely unaffected, since they had been drinking, cooking with, and bathing in stored or processed water.

While the sick were being treated, druids Ash Nahcomence and Holy Moon sought out the source of the pollution, determining that it was seeping up through the aquifer a scant mile or two west of Freehold. Since this implied that the cause lay close by underground, Councilor Lysander Arkaine and his familiar Karou scoured the area along the south bank of the Liontongue for possible entrances to a subterranean structure, since it was public knowledge that ancient ruins dot the region there.

After successfully locating such an ingress, Lysander recruited Abae for his alchemical and engineering expertise and Holy Moon for his knowledge of and power over nature, intending to descend into the ruins and attempt to find some way to reach whatever was poisoning Freehold's water supply. Several rescuees from Ghauwffhwar, including Lukas Cale, Greiz, and the water mage Ssarissuss also volunteered to assist. Together, the party ventured belowground to solve the mystery.

Unfortunately, they were immediately met only by further enigmas: A long corridor led them to what seemed like an ancient laboratory or workshop of some kind, including biers laden with skeletal frames of an unfamiliar metal. The entire place was suffused with background magical energy, as of the remnants of some ancient and powerful spell, or perhaps a quiescent dweomer awaiting a catalyst. Several strange metal books were discovered in an unidentifiable language, readable only through one of Abae's extracts; one was apparently some kind of diary, the open pages of which bore references to some sort of war between an "arrogant" slave-taking enemy apparently called the sarrukh, and the pacifist society of whoever built the ruins. Mention was made of a colony on another world, and of some kind of shield meant to end the conflict peacefully, with the hope of convincing the lost civilization to remain on Abeir-Toril instead of emigrating. The results of this plan are unknown, since the author never returned to collect the journal.

Inspection of the alien tomes and the door ahead were interrupted when an arcane orb reacted to Lysander, causing the facility to spring to a sort of half-life complete with flickering light panels in the ceiling and voices from nowhere, which addressed the Cormyrean as "Maker." The telepathic projection rambled about nonsense such as "critical power reserves," "primary systems" being "offline," and its inability to "establish network connection," among other gobbledygook. Announcing it was "resuming last known good operational routine," the voice apparently manifested as a spirit, taking the form of Trendal Kingshand. In response to the consternation thus provoked, the spirit of the ruins claimed that, per the "Maker's" instructions, it was set to "present as the individual deemed to hold the greatest measureable percentage of emotional significance to" the Maker, and had chosen its appearance after "scanning" Lysander.

Further nervous interrogation of the spirit revealed it to believe no river existed nearby, and that the structure had been built to access "plentiful deposits" of some unknown resource, though only part of the facility was "dedicated to extraction," operating under the Maker who designed and maintained it, the Director who administrated it, and a third functionary who dealt with records and data. No concern was spared for "the primitive warfare and occult practices of local natives," but the spirit mentioned a "temporal displacement" that protected them by "preventing direct contact." The facility was described as subordinate to some other site, meant to "manufacture anti-sarrukh defenses" and supplying power to the "suppression shield." According to the weird spirit, the shield was "housed in the adjoining mounting and projection facility" and "intended to induce a state of harmless hibernation in sarrukh within its radius."

The laboratory didn't seem to be the source of the contaminants, however; the spirit asserted that "no chemicals harmful to local life or environments" were stored there. It disappeared shortly thereafter, seeming unable to maintain its manifestation any longer. Continuing on into the ruins, Lysander inexplicably found himself now able to open certain doors with a wave of his hand. Following this discovery, the party advanced to encounter fungus charged with lightning, growths of glowing green crystals, more of the armatures from the first chamber, and, eventually, kobolds.

The first such individual they met was taken quite by surprise, and was thus able to be snatched through a door and questioned about his people's activities in the area. Though at first he refused to speak, stating that he was far more afraid of his superior or leader than of the Freeholders, the kobold was sufficiently intimidated by Lysander to confess that they had a mining operation going in which they used a device to mix water from the aquifer with abrasive sand and alchemical lubricants. The mixture was being injected into a wellbore to force open fractures in the rock so that gases and fluids could be extracted, in a process called "hydraulic fracturing." The kobold claimed that the drilling had been going on for about a month, but the fracking had only started a tenday prior.

Horrified by the environmental ramifications of this process, Abae explained the possible consequences to the rest of the group, in response to which Holy Moon pragmatically offered to eat the captive. The kobold hurriedly agreed that his folk had not built the place, but had been sent to investigate a surge of unusual magical energy in the region. Upon discovering the ruins, they found an ore saturated with magic, powerful beyond anything they recognized, but it was poisonous; unable to drill through the walls of the structure, they had switched to fracking in an attempt to bypass areas tainted by the miasma and access the ore.

Their prisoner admitted his people had found some kind of old power source, which was "tied into subsystems all over this place," and "working, but nowhere near full capacity." Recognizing that the kobold had been surprised to see them and, thus, reasoning he was probably unable to move about the facility like Lysander, the Freeholders decided to use that advantage to ambush the remaining interlopers after confirming that diplomacy was likely impossible. Their foe was indeed a foe, aware of the village overhead, which made their carelessness somewhat more malicious. Armed with knowledge of the kobolds' traps and security measures, the villagers stowed their informant in another room and plunged ahead.

Wary of the toxic "blightburn" energy suffusing the place, they moved swiftly, giving the other side one chance to speak peacefully before going on the offensive. While Abae dealt with a mechanical bridge contraption over an alchemical sludge pit, the rest provided cover from range, eventually penetrating to the other side and dispatching the miners there. The defenders were all geared with unusual masks and other strange equipment, but at least their fracking mechanism was temporarily disabled. As the fight moved further into the ruins, kobolds were encountered who gave most of the Freeholders a run for their money, but Lysander demonstrated his wartime prowess and cut through the antagonists without mercy. Numerous deaths, many traps, and several chambers later, a larger troop of kobolds led by a maniacal one-eyed alchemist gave a solid accounting, using undead gnolls implanted with explosives to ward off the villagers.

As their opponents retreated, Holy Moon employed summoned beasts to detonate their mines while Abae cleverly dissipated a lingering cloud of poisonous fumes with the nearby fracking machinery. On the heels of these delays, the kobolds fortified their position and fought back tenaciously in a room filled with production devices that explained the origins of the undead gnolls, or "witherlings," sighted near the settlement, aboveground. Again Lysander spearheaded the advance, while the rest concentrated on preventing their enemies from activating the pods containing the witherlings. The fight was close, with magic and alchemy flying from both sides, but the Freeholders emerged victorious...only to be confronted by the kobolds' apparent leader.

Appearing via magical projection from someplace else in the ruins, the creature taunted them, alternating between applause for their victories thus far and dire threats. Unimpressed with the Freeholders' retorts, the kobold admitted to having been here even before the village was founded, and to a hope that everyone in the settlement would "just go peacefully, drinking the runoff" from their mining operation. Acknowledging that the party was unlikely to withdraw, the foe invited them to come finish the battle, mocking their bravado and the general inferiority of non-draconic races before vanishing. After taking a moment to recuperate using what resources they had, the group retraced their steps, with Lysander using the behavior of the kobolds encountered earlier to reason out the likeliest location for their newest adversary.

The final clash occurred in a massive room filled with blazing pillars of crystal and leaping lightning. The kobold leader continued to provoke and belittle the expedition, and was recognized by the spirit of the ruins, "Ehyai," as the "Director" when ordering the place's construct defenses to attack. Trapped in that awful chamber by an invisible field of force that separated them from their foe, Abae and Lukas frantically worked to disable the crystal eyes of the facility and their rays of fire. The inner workings were uncovered by the combined strength of Greiz and Holy Moon, who peeled back the metal paneling to allow access to a strange control system beyond.

Meanwhile, Lysander wasted no time in teleporting through the barrier to engage the kobold directly. The creature proved a mighty opponent, seeming more amused and, at times, even impressed than concerned; the latter was particularly true when the Councilor cannily smashed a healing potion in his enemy's eyes, blinding the apparently undead monster. Conjured serpents were countered by Holy Moon's summoned hyenas, but still the confrontation was a narrow thing; only by managing to reorient the ruins' eyes on the kobold were the others really able to help, until Abae figured out how to disable the force wall. This proved to be nearly more hindrance than help, as everyone on the near side was blasted by the hot, poisonous air trapped beyond. Nonetheless, they persevered, and with the way cleared, Ssarissuss brought a looted staff to bear against the foe, while Abae expended a precious symbol of healing that restored his comrades even as it damaged their antagonist.

Bombarded by all of this and by the injured Lukas, the kobold finally congratulated the party on "meeting the limits of this body," and promised them while disintegrating, "You think those flea-ridden and benighted gnolls were a menace to you? Wait until we meet again...Freeholders."

With the door unsealed and "Ehyai" encouraging them to find a "decontamination chamber," the victorious villagers made a run for it, but their progress was halted when Lysander collapsed, spent well beyond his own limits after the protracted duel inside the heart of the lightning engine. Despite his command for the others to run on, Greiz remained to collect the dying Cormyrean. The tiefling found himself unable to carry the Councilor's sword, Betrayal, which was instead snatched up by a fleeing Abae, who was forced to take charge and lead his allies onward.

The desperate search for the indicated room turned up a warning from Ehyai that the decontamination systems were "offline." Some toying around with one of the magical displays in the witherling laboratory yielded what seemed to be a map of the complex, but this proved of little use when the spirit warned the sorely-pressed Freeholders that "environmental hazard gear" was required to proceed, in the form of "tempsuits requisitioned from the maintprep minifactury." Armed with this cryptic clue, Ssarissuss hurriedly scoured the kobolds' research notes and, with Abae's assistance in converting their figures, was barely able to guide Holy Moon in operating the "interface" to produce magical armor personalized to each member of their haggard group. This allowed them to penetrate further south, on the hunt for an exit. Unfortunately, they were greeted by a somewhat ominous message from Ehyai:

Maker to reactor systems housing. Sector compromised. Contamination beyond mandatory minimum safety levels. Subreactor shielding critical. Contamination represents possible threat to indigenous locals. All personnel evacuate this sector immediately. Maker to reactor systems housing for immediate maintenance. Cold reboot of local systems necessary. Director's mandate: Priority one, protect indigenous population from exposure. Maker's team to reactor systems housing for cold lockdown. Message loops: Warning...

In the end, it fell to pressing buttons, and Holy Moon was able to activate some kind of emergency teleportation mechanism. The device seemed confused about where it was supposed to send the party, who found themselves a number of miles west of Freehold, upriver and well beyond sight of the village. After escaping from their suits, the task-force headed east, reaching town by sundown and hurrying to the Kingshand Clinic and Infirmary for treatment. Trendal Kingshand was chagrined to see the state of Lysander, frantically casting spell after spell with little result until finally discovering that the blightburn affecting him had been absorbed like a poison, but was actually killing him more like a disease. With a combination of powerful magicks, the healer was able to save the Councilor in the nick of time, though some long-term care was thereafter necessary. Thankfully, the revelation made it far less risky and difficult to successfully treat the others.

An examination of the local water by Ash Nahcomence projected that the Liontongue would be clean again after a short period, with no long-term harm to Freehold or to Assur, downstream. Councilor Raxam Kelastro, upon hearing a much-abbreviated version of the harrowing tale, ordered that the entrance to the ruins discovered by Lysander should be off-limits to any further exploration, at least until everyone had fully recovered and both Nitis Nochan and Shara Graye had returned.