From Introduction:
Pellamshire was a wealthy realm, blessed with good timber and plentiful crops which were exported far. This prosperity came to an end when the baroness was called by the king to aid in a grand crusade. As a loyal lord and a skilled warrior she gladly accepted. Arming herself with magic gifts crafted by her husband the Grand Squire, she set out on the South Road; never did she return.
When word of the fate that befell the Lady of the Quest reached the Grand Squire he was destroyed. Unwilling to accept her fate he tapped into powers no mortal should tempt, still she was beyond his reach. He was driven mad; but before he met his own twisted end, the Grand Squire left scars across Pellamshire; a shroud of evil draped over a doomed barony.