Ten years have passed since the beginning of the war, the lands divided as both sides struggle for survival, neither believing victory will ever be within their grasp. However, the tides of war have begun to shift as new technology has been developed and shipped to the front, allowing the Free Races the ability to go on the offensive for the first time since the conflict began. The dwarves, having finally ended the civil war against their dark cousins the Duergar, have arrived in force in Grendweir, and are preparing to move north and retake the lands the Phoenix has stripped from them. Armed with superior weaponry and with the orcs at their side, they march on the stronghold Anubis in hopes of driving the enemy back into the abyss from wince they came. Merlin has returned from a year's absence with urgent news, he has found the long-thought dead Queen of the Elves, and they must journey deep into the heart of enemy territory to rescue her. For only she may bring her husband back from the brink of insanity, the king's lust for vengeance driving him down a dark path that he may never come back from. Tristan, having only recently saved his daughter from the Phoenix's wrath, is forced to leave her behind as he leads his party deep into the Blackedge Mountains, hoping infiltrate the enemy stronghold from within. While Kylee's Nightstalkers have been ordered to take a more direct approach and assault the keep directly, hoping that the Free Race's armies can lay siege to the fortress and distract the enemy long enough to extract the captive monarch from her dark prison. Yet, betrayal lurks in the shadows, a threat so close to home that it threatens the sanity of one, test the love for a daughter with another, and ultimately will decide whether or not the Free Races will survive, or will finally be crushed beneath the boots of their enemy