One breezy summer day, the citizens of Shallam gathered within their
museum to hear the lecture of a scholar who had come to visit the city.
The scholar, whose name was Seraphina, told her gathered audience of her
research into the mystic artfiact called the Idol of Pestilence, a
creation dating back to the ancient Ankyreans. In recent times, the idol
had come to pass into the hands of Spinesreach, where it remained well
hidden. Yet Seraphina warned the citizens of Shallam that the idol could
be a great danger to followers of light, and that precaution should well
be taken.

News of this lecture came to the Prophet Averroes, who delved into the
ancient tome in search of answers. What he found horrified him, and he
besought the citizens of Shallam to retrieve the idol. Yet they appeared
uneasy at the prospect of waging war, and soon the Prophet appeared to
desist. The threat of the idol still hung in the air, but all had
returned to apparent normalcy.

That is, until the Ard-Dhasani of Spinesreach Zahmekoses Nebre'seir
walked into his chambers several months later and found that the idol of
Pestilence was gone. The door had been expertly picked, and the only
route of escape visible anywhere was a billowing curtain. Perplexed,
Zahmekoses called upon the citizens of Spinesreach to recall if any had
seen anything strange. Cillian, the Locksmith, remembered that he had
seen a cloaked Rajamalan slip through the city, and swore he saw the
livery of Shallam beneath the dark cloak. Yet the picked lock left him
stumped, for he claimed the job had been far too well done to be
completed by an amateur. Cillian managed to retrieve the lockpick that
had been used, and announced that it was forged by one who knew at least
some Ankyrean secrets, for its quality by far exceeded modern forging
techniques.

This suspicion was further confirmed by Qeddwyn when the people of
Spinereach came to ask his advice. After a long and largely fruitless
search, the suspicion regarding the intruder's identity fell squarely on
the shoulders of Zsarachnor, the Vampire Lord. Yet one fact remained
undisputed - the idol, by some strange circumstance, was now in the
hands of Shallam.

Perhaps the idol could have been kept in safety forever, out of reach
for those who might choose to use it. But then a nameless whisper began
to pervade the minds of several Shadowsnakes, and scraps of awareness of
the idol's power began to form in their heads. Entranced by the visions,
a shadowsnake named Sinis infiltrated the Paladin Guildhall where the
idol was rumored to be, using trickery to lull the attention of the
Guildmistress Elinja.

Bursting into the room with the idol, Sinis hurriedly spoke the words
etched upon it. Even as the last sound left his mouth, the idol began to
pulsate, and a plague of locusts burst forth from it to descend upon the
unsuspecting Shallam.

While the locusts eat away the valuable commodities of the city, there
is but one bright thought for Shallam. Having been used, the Idol of
Pestilence is now gone, to plague mortal lands no more with its foul
power.

Penned by my hand on the 2nd of Lanosian, in the year 111 MA.