Hard by the King

When the lords overthrew the King, they repented of what they had done and searched for him. But when they found him, he was starving to death in poverty, and they mourned him, burying him in pomp beneath the Hard-by-the-King Bridge. Now it is 400 years later. The Twelve Fiefs of the Kingdom have degenerated, for the common people have become corrupt, evil and honorless: tenants though they are, they seldom pay their rent, beggaring the lords who no longer even have the funds to keep themselves, let alone make repairs or maintain their fiefs. Few and impoverished, the noblemen band together under the urging of young Renstorm of the House of Sontar, to excavate the Tomb of the King and bring about the King's Return. But the Kingdom is underlaid by a horrible enchantment, the Law of the King, and it has doomed the lords to death.