The story begins in a small village called Hilltop, one of the few well-defended free towns that dot this remote northern region called the Silver Marches. This region, also known as the Savage Frontier is a land of wild beauty... and home to barbarians and monsters. Hilltop has been founded recently by ex-soldiers of the Zhentarim who are looked upon suspiciously by the other free towns which cannot forget how expansionist the Zhentarim has been in the past. Nevertheless, people living in these free towns mind their own business and never ask any question about anybody's past - or future.

In Hilltop Master Drogan has retired after a long life of adventures. He has choosen you to pass on his knowledge and has also selected a few promising pupils.

You start your adventures in your own room, inside the Apprentices' Quarter.

The main plot start

Open your footlocker to get 50gp, a useful item for your PC, a Focus Crystal, a ring called "Mystra's Hand" and read your own journal. It will tell you more about the other apprentices who are learning skills with you: Xanos the half-orc sorcerer, Dorna the dwarven rogue and Mischa the paladin. You will also understand that you are the fourth and senior apprentice. Put on the ring. You can now open the door and meet your comrades.

Right after your little chat with them, you can hear that Drogan, the master, is in trouble. Xanos urges you to use your ring to get at once at his side and your three comrades vanish. You can choose to do so at once too or to explore the other rooms now and use your ring later with no consequences (you will also be able to get back to these rooms later). Let's say that it seems proper to use the ring now, to understand how it works.

When you get by Drogan side, a gang of kobold are attaquing him, and though he seems strong enough to defend himself, one of them succeeds in thrusting a knife at him. Most kobolds flee then, and you can now try to help your comrades to get rid of the last ones.

You can then listen to Ayala Windspear who declares that Drogan's defences have been defeated and that he has been poisoned. This poison resists curative magic. By taking some time to talk with her, you will learn that she is an investigator and a Harper and that Drogan is a Harper too. She actually was following the tracks of those kobolds who were wandering far from their caves. Then Drogan wakes up just enough to reveal that four dangerous artifacts have been stolen. Ayala explains that the artifacts had been put in Drogan's keeping by the Harpers to study their malevolent nature, and she is afraid of what could be done with them.

You main quest will be then to get those artifacts back. To help you, you have Mystra's Hand ring which will teleport you near Drogan just before dying if need be (for a respawn), or at your leisure. Don't forget that it works only if you have the ring on, and a Focus Crystal in your backpack. Each utilisation of the ring uses a Focus Crystal. Ayala is able to teleport you back to the place you were last time you used the ring. She can also cure your PC free as many times as you wish.

Here are the artifacts:
- a Mummified Hand from a destroyed lich named Belpheron;
- a Dragon Tooth from Hephaestagon, a great dragon of the evel black arts;
- a Tower Statue found in a desert tomb many years ago;
- a Mask which belonged to a high priest of the Lord of Shadows.

You can now explore the whole place and here we go!

When you have retrieved the Mummified Hand, Ayala remembers that one of the hand's property is to show which direction the other artifacts lay. You can then choose to keep it, or to give it to her.

When you have retrieved the Dragon Tooth or the Mask, Ayala just take them...