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          LADY  L LMARROW                                    The line of Vol had long been rivals of the Undying
                                                            Court, and many whisper even today that the attack on
          Lady Illmarrow is a legend-an ancient lich said to dwell   House Vol was nothing more than an excuse to elimi­
          in a castle of bone and ice in the coldest regions of the   nate a political rival. But others believe that what the
          Lhazaar Principalities. Some stories say that she is   Undying Court truly feared was a path shown in the
          served by a legion of undead and that she maintains a   Draconic Prophecy-that a child born of dragon and elf
          court of vampires and ghosts in her palace of ice. Other   could become a godlike avatar of death.
          tales claim that when anyone dies in Lhazaar, Illmarrow   1 1 / m  arrow Rises. Even as dragons and elves fought
          chooses whether to take their soul before it passes on to   to destroy the line of Vol, a child was born to the house:
          the Keeper and Dolurrh.                           Erandis. A scion of elf and dragon, Erandis bore a Mark
           But Lady Illmarrow is no folk tale. She is the greatest   of Death unlike any other. In time, it might have been
          necromancer in Eberron, and after centuries of silence,   her gateway to immortality and unrivaled power, but she
          she is setting ancient plots into motion at last. She is   was hunted down and killed long before she could mas­
          the power behind the Order of the Emerald Claw, but   ter the mark's magic. Her mother, Minara Vol, escaped
          her motives for founding the order are buried in her   with her daughter's body to the icy reaches of Farin en,
          past. Lady Illmarrow has no interest in ruling the living.   far from the conflict. There, Minara unleashed all her
          Rather, she seeks to become Queen of the Dead.    necromantic power to raise Erandis as a lich.
           T h e M a r k   of Death. Illmarrow is a fiefdom on the isle   As an undead being, Erandis lost the use of her drag­
          of Farlnen-home to a community of elves exiled from   onmark. Thus, when the diviners of Aerenal asked if
          Aerenal, who have practiced necromancy for centuries.   the line of Vol had been exterminated and the Mark
          But Lady Illmarrow's roots extend far beyond her is­  of Death destroyed, they received a vision affirming
          land domain.                                      that the bloodline of Vol was no more. To the world,
           Long ago, it was revealed that the elven line of Vol-a   the last survivor of that bloodline is known as Lady
          house that practiced the art of necromancy and bore   Illmarrow. But in truth, she is Erandis Vol, heir to the
          the Dragonmark of Death-was engaged in secret blood   Mark of Death.
          rites with a clan of dragons. The discovery of this pact   T r apped in  U n death. When Minara restored Erandis
          triggered an unprecedented alliance between the Sib­  as a lich, she hid her daughter's phylactery, weaving
          ling Kings of Aerenal and the dragons of Argonnessen.   enchantments into it that cause Erandis to be reborn in
          The Sibling Kings proclaimed that House Vol would be   a random safe haven after she is destroyed. Thus, even
          exterminated to the last member, and the Mark of Death   Erandis herself doesn't know the location or form of her
          would be eliminated from the world.              phylactery.

          CHAPTER 6  I  FRIENDS AND  FOES
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