"The Riddle of Storien-Rhudd" continues the tale of the stubborn resilience of the lands of Falanholme against the monstrous evil that seeks to overwhelm them. With the first Darkling Horde destroyed; Calladhor, The Lord Guardian of The Light, is now at liberty to commence his quest to the east to seek out the key to the riddle that will free his Dragon allies from the blight of "The Dread Imposition"... the terrible retribution imposed upon them by the Lord of The Darkness... the Dreadful, Dark Entity, Baelar, as punishment for confounding his designs to turn all back to Chaos. "The Dread Imposition" transformed them from their original human form into Dragons... feared and shunned by all others. The Riddle exists on a stone tablet in the Dragon Eyrie of Storien-Rhudd. A covenant was laid between Calladhor and the Dragons that, if they would ally themselves with his forces to destroy the first marauding Darkling Horde; then he would seek out the key to the riddle to set them free. Now the way appears to lie clear for him to honour this covenant. The key to the riddle lies far to the east, somewhere in the ruined Kingdom of Astalan. As he progresses east; Calladhor meets with a girl whom, he anticipates will be his travelling companion. This, however, is not the case. She is destroyed by The Darkness, and eventually replaced with another girl... a warrior who accompanies him into Astalan. What they find there is dreadful. The first Darkling Horde has burnt and pillaged their way up from the south, and it seems, there is no life at all in this Realm.