The Fall of the Aethelgard Lineage

As Valerius von Aethelgard dissolves into a cloud of thick, cloying mist, his ornate suit of armor clatters to the flagstones of the private sanctum. The chamber, once a bastion of forgotten nobility and dark arcane practice, now lies silent. Among the discarded remnants of his knightly garb and the velvet linings of his iron-bound chests, the party finds the accumulated wealth of centuries, shimmering with a cold, predatory light that reflects the fallen aristocrat's former station.