The quest book tells this story only briefly, in Mentor's messages and the quest notes. This page mixes the official names and events with fan elaboration, and labels the elaboration where it appears.
After the Rescue
The Mage of the Mirror ended in celebration: Princess Millandriell was home with Queen Terrellia and the archmage Sinestra was defeated. Mentor's opening message in Rise of the Dread Moon starts there and turns dark quickly. "Despite the festivities, I fear a great evil still simmers in Elethorn."
Here is what has gone wrong:
- A company of Guardian Knights, "loyal swords of the realm", was sent to help the Queen, and then all contact with them stopped.
- Someone has tampered with the Mirror Gates that linked Elethorn to the rest of the Realm, and travel and messages no longer get through.
- In their last report, the knights said they were tracking a traitor from their own order, Sir Ragnar, who had joined Zargon's agents in Elethorn.
- The Night of the Dread Moon is approaching.
The Night of the Dread Moon
Mentor calls it "an astrological event that happens once every thousand years". On that night, the Dread Moon "bolsters the dark influence of Dread magic in these enchanted lands". Even the Loretome is no help, because its runes keep shifting "with Elethorn's uncertain fate". In play, the moon's influence is simple. In the late quests, every monster rolls an extra Attack die.
No werewolves here. Despite the name, this pack has no lycanthropy, curse tracks or moon-phase rules. The only werewolves in the Elethorn saga are the giant wolves in Quest 7 of The Mage of the Mirror. The Dread Moon is a rare event that strengthens Dread magic, nothing more.
Mentor ends his message with the line that sums up the whole pack: "remember well that even the darkest of nights must yield to the rising sun."
A Kingdom at War with Itself
Elethorn's sentries turn the heroes away at the city gates. Inside, the capital is under strict rationing and curfews, and refugees and outlaw traders crowd an ancient underground city beneath the streets. Zargon's agents spread rumors, turning the heroes' good deeds into stories of rebellion. Mentor himself wonders whether they have been "duped into turning this civil war's bloody tide".
The enemies are mostly elves who have gone bad:
Magus Guards
Once elite soldiers of Elethorn, now serving the powers of Dread, which strengthen their magic and their skill in battle. They patrol the streets and guard the dungeon.
Assassins
Once agents of the Raven's Veil, corrupted by Dread. They work in the shadows and set traps for their prey.
Elven Warriors and Archers
Once loyal and proud soldiers who gave in to "Zargon's promises of power".
Dread Cultists
Devotees of Dread who have spread to cities across the realm. Their chants summon terrible things.
Specters
Ghostly undead that pass through solid matter and drain the life from the living with Dread energy.
Friends in Low Places
The heroes aren't alone. A mysterious stranger shows them a forgotten way in, under the walls, and keeps helping them from the shadows. At one point he throws a key into their cell. He turns out to be Ithraeon, an advisor to Queen Terrellia and a member of the Cadre of the Raven's Veil, "a centuries-old secret order dedicated to the protection of the royal family".
Zerese, a travelling merchant and long-time friend of Mentor, sets up shop in the underground city and keeps the heroes supplied. Ordinary citizens help too: an old elven minstrel, a retired veteran, prisoners jailed for defying Zargon's agents, and loyal soldiers who become the heroes' elven mercenaries.
Fan elaboration: The Raven's Veil makes a good recurring faction. Treat it as a network of watchers who serve the crown rather than whoever happens to wear it. The Assassins were once its members, which makes their betrayal personal. Ithraeon's caution makes more sense if he never knows which of his old colleagues he can still trust.
The Temple of the Moon and the Lunar Charms
The elves keep shrines to the moon, and the Temple of the Moon holds many of Elethorn's historic relics, including the sacred Lunar Charms. By the time the heroes arrive, the temple has been wrecked. Its shrines have been ransacked, its statues are crumbling and it reeks of an arsonist's smoke, with Dread magic still hanging in the air. The heroes gather all the charms they can before Zargon's horde arrives.
The charms matter later. At an alchemist's bench a Lunar Charm can be turned into lunarium, and only a hero coated in lunarium can pass through the Mirror Gates into the arcane tower. It's the same silver substance that opened the way to the Realm of Reflection in The Mage of the Mirror.
Sir Ragnar's Betrayal
Sir Ragnar was the knight the heroes rescued in the Game System's second quest, "one of the King's most powerful" knights. In this pack he is a traitor to the Guardian Knights, patrolling the royal palace grounds with his lieutenants. The heroes defeat him in the palace, and Ithraeon takes him into custody.
The conclusion confirms that the Order of the Guardian Knights has arrested him. Sir Ragnar "will face the king of the realm to answer for his crimes", standing trial "for the breaking of his oath", and he will never again raise his blade for the realm.
Magrian, the Dread Wraith
Behind it all is Magrian, a Dread Wraith. The quest book describes these creatures as "amongst the most powerful and feared monsters from the Dread realm", ancient evil elementals that "feed on fear and anger" and are hard to hurt with mortal weapons. Dread incantations carved into the floor of the arcane tower are pulling Dread magic out of the Realm of Reflection, through the palace's Mirror Gates and into Elethorn. The barrier between the worlds is starting to give way.
Queen Terrellia tries to seal the Mirror Gates to the tower and traps herself inside. Magrian holds her in an Arcane Prison and feeds on her strength. The heroes meet a mirror image of the Wraith first. Then, on the night of the Dread Moon, they face the real one.
Dawn
In the conclusion, the heroes have rescued Queen Terrellia, exiled Magrian to the Realm of Reflection and sealed the corrupted Mirror Gates for good, "forever denying Zargon's access to them". Mentor pulls the heroes out of the arcane tower just before it falls into the abyss. Elethorn loses the use of its Mirror Gates and has to rebuild, but the Queen calls that "a trivial price to pay" to be rid of Zargon's influence. The heroes' deeds forge an alliance between Elethorn and the realm "that shall last for generations". The Dread Moon begins to wane, and the heroes start the long journey home.
Fan elaboration: A kingdom that has lost its gates is a good starting point for your own quests. Think of slow overland roads where mirror portals used to be, the Raven's Veil rebuilding its ranks, and questions about which Magus Guards were truly corrupted and which only followed orders.
Where Next
For the rules and quests of this pack, see Rise of the Dread Moon. For the first half of the story, read The Mage of the Mirror: Lore. The next quest pack in this guide is The Prophecy of Telor.