The Dead Walk

In Hammerfall Pass, the graveyard covers much of hillside. The necropolis here is vast, and it was perhaps inevitable that it would draw an evil necromancer like Nitari Valshar to it.

In the guise of a wealthy apothecary and herbalist, he bided his time. After poisoning a number of Hammerfall Pass' leading townsfolk with a slow toxin, he spread rumours of a vampire abroad in the town - and attempted to make the Shadar-kai Advar ko Shalis the scapegoat. The climate of fear this engendered allowed him to move quietly through the necropolis and practise his foul art.

Valshar's goals remain unclear. He was unlikely to be able to seize power from the rulers of Hammerfall Pass, yet persisted in creating his own private army. Most likely insane, he may not even be aware of his actions. Nonetheless he is a powerful necromancer by all accounts, and that alone makes him an extremely dangerous individual.

Slowly he built up an army of zombies in the caverns beneath his mansion, using a magical mirror to transport dead bodies from the necropolis. The chance discovery of the caverns by a group of adventurers caused him to flee the town with his undead pets in tow. Small skirmishes erupted between the Town watch and the undead, but Valshar and the majority of his troops were able to leave the town quickly, on a night thick with fog.

Information is sketchy after this. Under cover of a magical cloud, the undead attacked Shimmerbridge. A Dark Seed assassin had been spotted in the town earlier that day, so the town was much more alert than normal. With heavy hand-to-hand combat in the streets, many Halflings used their superior accuracy to rain down missiles on the attacking undead from the rooftops. One of the town's breweries was destroyed in a huge explosion when a cleric of Pelor, Sylvester Tea, cast incendiary magic against the Dark Seed assassin as he tried to slay Tea.

The undead forces were beaten back from Shimmerbridge, and the remaining zombies were last spotted in the mountains of Tarad's Teeth. The fate of their creator, Nitari Valshar is unknown. It is unclear as to whether he was slain in the fighting at Shimmerbridge or not. Only time will tell.