What follow are the events that led to the death of Kelemvor and the rise of Myrkul.
The Necromancer
Circa 1379, a Myrkulite necromancer called Vraer began roaming Sundren, granting small boons to adventurers and speaking of the inevitable return of the Lord of Bones. It wasn’t long before his prosletyzing earned the ire of the Triumvirate, and the Black Hand’s known interest in recovering Myrkul and placing him on Kelemvor’s throne made Vraer an enemy of Sundren entire.
The Deception
The Black Hand and the allies of Sundren alike were deceived into thinking Vraer carried a splinter of Myrkul’s essence within him and that that essence would be instrumental in restoring Myrkul to godhood. Would-be heroes and villains were also led to believe that the dead god Bhaal’s essence was present in the Abyss in the person of Jon Irenicus, and in order to brave the Abyss and recover Bhaal’s essence, the planeswalkers would need armor crafted of pure and powerful Sundrite to survive the harsh environs. Thus began an enduring skirmish between the Triumvirate and the Black Hand to secure Sundrite ore veins, the Triad succeeding and securing plenty of the rare material so that the Hands could craft the fabled armor.
The Amulets
As it turned out, Vraer did not hold any of Myrkul’s essence, faithful to the Reaper though he was. He was captured by the Triumvirate and remanded to the Legion for sentencing. While held in custody, Vraer refused food and water until he died. He resurfaced days later, alive and well, commanding powerful undead and terrorizing the country as though naught had happened. Paladin Dain Tornbrook gathered a company of heroes and chased Vraer into the spine of the world, where he slew the necromancer and claimed an amulet marked with Myrkul’s symbology and radiating tremendous power.
Study of the amulet by the Hands of Mundus revealed that it contained Myrkul’s essence, and the wizards discerned that two other such amulets existed. Were the amulets to be united, they would empower Myrkul’s essence through the Crown of Horns and manifest in the Lord of Bones. The Black Hand and the Triumvirate began searching for the other amulets, each faction already in possession of one.
The Betrayal
The third amulet was possessed by the Thayan Enclave, who readily traded it to the Black Hand in a mundane transaction given their necromantic leader’s preference for Myrkul over Kelemvor. The amulet held by the Triad came to rest with the Black Hand when a host of Colibrite vampires terrorized Aquor. Dain Tornbrook faced the undead and traded himself to the vampires to free a woman they’d taken captive. He had the amulet on his person, and the Colibrii took it from him.
The Reckoning
All three amulets together, the Black Hand resurrected Myrkul, who challenged and defeated Kelemvor, absorbing him and strengthening his own power while reclaiming his place as the God of the Dead. Sundarian commoners quickly turned from Kelemvor to Myrkul, even threatening to raze the Kelemvorite temple in Sestra. Before the building could be defiled, clerics and Doomguides of the Judge of the Damned destroyed their own temple, securing some holy relics and leaving Sundren. Other members of the temple easily transitioned to worshiping Myrkul or his seneschal, Jergal.
As for Jon Irenicus, the Abyss, Sundrite Armor, and the essence of Bhaal, it all turned out to be a lie concocted to convince the Triad to secure Sundrite deposits for the Hands, who would later use the Sundrite to raise the city into the sky: a pursuit the Triumvirate never would have aided, hence the deception.
Dispater