Our hero Nivix Guildmage, with the help of friends Crackling Triton and Fathom Mage, just recently defeated the dark lord Duskmantle Seer (who was possessing Professor New Prahv Guildmage). He had returned to his Aunt Priest of Iroas and Uncle Skarrg Guildmage's house for the summer, but it certainly wasn't a peaceful one.
One evening, a house-goblin named Goblin Shortcutter warned our hero not to go back to Stomping Ground, and dropped a cake on the heads of Aunt Priest of Iroas and Uncle Skarrg Guildmage's guests so as to deter him. They thought it was Nivix Guildmage and sentenced him to imprisonment in his room for the rest of the summer.
Luckily for Nivix Guildmage, good-guy Crackling Triton and his twin brothers Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers borrow their dad's Azorius Keyrune and bring Nivix Guildmage to their house for the rest of the summer. Mr. Wavecrash Triton and Mrs. Azorius Justiciar welcome Nivix Guildmage into their home and take the whole family out to go school-supply shopping at Simic Guildgate.
While at Simic Guildgate, the crew runs into their good pal Duskmantle Guildmage and his father Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. After some nice, racist conversations, they return home and prepare for their journey back to Stomping Ground for the year.
At the Transguild Promenade, the Stomping Ground students go through the Rogue's Passage to get to the Temple of Mystery; however, when Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton try, they are unable to get through. The only way they can get back to Stomping Ground is to steal Wavecrash Triton's Azorius Keyrune and fly it back!
The pair eventually do make it back to Stomping Ground, but they accidentally crash the Azorius Keyrune into the Sylvan Caryatid and break Crackling Triton's Staff of the Mind Magus. When they get inside, their least-favourite professor Incursion Specialist wants Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton to be expelled, however professor Artisan of Forms vouches for them and sentences them to detention instead.
A detention sentence with Professor Sunhome Guildmage seemed bad enough to Nivix Guildmage, but things got worse when he started to hear voices. "Kill, kill" he continued to hear, and when he was excused from detention he went searching. After running into Fathom Mage and Crackling Triton, the three found Deadly Recluses running away and a message on the wall warning the school that the Watery Grave has been opened, written in the blood of Caretaker Hired Torturer's now-petrified pet Trained Caracal.
At Stomping Ground, Magic season starts up and Duskmantle Guildmage is the new Dimir seeker. Nivix Guildmage wins the first game by catching the golden Prophetic Prism, but an enchanted Ratchet Bomb breaks Nivix Guildmage's arm. Celebrity professor Sunhome Guildmage attempts to Read the Bones and restore it, but accidentally removes all the bones from his arm. Nivix Guildmage goes to the hospital wing to spend the night under the care of the school's Master Biomancer to regrow the bones in his arm.
In the middle of the night, Goblin Shortcutter visits Nivix Guildmage and tells him that he was the one responsible for the incident at the Transguild Promenade with the train. He was trying to help Nivix Guildmage by keeping him safe from the dangerous Stomping Ground. Goblin Shortcutter then disappears and a boy is rushed into the hospital wing. Nivix Guildmage pretends to be asleep and overhears Headmaster Ral Zarek talking about shutting down Stomping Ground due to an attack on the students.
Professor Sunhome Guildmage begins to teach dueling lessons in an attempt to better train the students against the attacks. Professor Sunhome Guildmage chooses Nivix Guildmage to be an example in a duel and Professor Incursion Specialist chooses Duskmantle Guildmage to Pit Fight him. During the fight, Duskmantle Guildmage summoned a Wasteland Viper. In response, Nivix Guildmage spoke Dinrova to the Wasteland Viper to try to calm it down. Fathom Mage later told him that it is an extremely rare ability and that he's frightened everyone because only the heir of Dimir is supposed to have the ability.
Heading back to the Izzet common room, Nivix Guildmage hears a voice demanding blood. He finds Nearly-Headless-Crypt Ghast petrified and Deadly Recluses crawling away from the scene. The caretaker, Mr. Hired Torturer, finds Nivix Guildmage at the scene of the crime and assumes he did it. Mr. Hired Torturer gets Professor Artisan of Forms, who brings Nivix Guildmage to Headmaster Ral Zarek. Ral Zarek believes Nivix Guildmage is innocent and lets him go.
One night, Crackling Triton and Nivix Guildmage see that the girl's washroom has flooded. They go in to check it out and find Keening Apparition crying because someone threw a book at her. Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton grab the book and take it to Fathom Mage. They learn that the book belonged to Voidwielder who was a student at Stomping grounds when the Watery Grave was last opened. The diary, however, is empty.
Later, Nivix Guildmage opens the diary when he is alone and writes his name in it. The diary responds by introducing itself as Voidwielder. The diary shows Nivix Guildmage the events that took place at Stomping grounds fifty years ago and how Groundskeeper Towering Thunderfist was blamed for the attacks because of his pet spider, Archweaver.
Just before a magic game, Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton are brought to the hospital wing by Professor Artisan of Forms. Fathom Mage was found petrified in the library. Professor Artisan of Forms says that unless the culprit is found, Stomping grounds will likely close. They visit Towering Thunderfist to try to learn why he was blamed for the attacks, but he is being and is taken away to Blood Crypt by Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and the Minister of Magic, Mercurial Chemister. Headmaster Ral Zarek is given an order of suspension by Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver from him and the other eleven governors of Stomping Ground. Ral Zarek leaves, peacefully.
Now, more determined than ever, Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton go into the woods to find Archweaver and question him. He tells the two that he was not the monster and that the monster killed Keening Apparition in the girls' washroom. He then tries to kill them by having his Giant Spider children attack. Luckily for them, Azorius Keyrune comes to save the day and autopilots them to safety.
Crackling Triton and Nivix Guildmage rush back into Stomping grounds, only to find that Crackling Triton's sister, Auramancer, has been taken by the monster into the Watery Grave. Professors Artisan of Forms and Incursion Specialist assign Professor Sunhome Guildmage the task of rescuing Auramancer. Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton head to his office to find him packing his things, almost ready to leave Stomping grounds. He reveals he is a fraud and that he excels at Mind Rot spells, only to have Nivix Guildmage raise his Staff of the Flame Magus and Crackling Triton raise his (broken) Staff of the Mind Magus at him. They bring him to the girl's bathroom.
Nivix Guildmage finds Keening Apparition, who tells him that she saw the monster by the sink and heard someone speaking a strange language. Nivix Guildmage speaks in Dinrova and the entrance to the Watery Grave opens. Crackling Triton and Nivix Guildmage push Professor Sunhome Guildmage in first, and they then follow.
Once inside, Sunhome Guildmage grabs Crackling Triton's Staff of the Mind Magus and tries to perform a Mind Rot spell on the boys, but the spell backfires because of the broken staff. The Shock from the spell causes a structural collapse, separating Professor Sunhome Guildmage and Crackling Triton from Nivix Guildmage. Professor Sunhome Guildmage has lost his memory and Nivix Guildmage proceeds.
Nivix Guildmage finds a giant Dimir Cluestone and speaks in Dinrova to open it. Inside, he finds a shrine to Dimir, an unconscious Auramancer, and Voidwielder. Voidwielder reveals that he is draining Auramancer's life to restore his own. Voidwielder was Duskmantle Seer's original name, and he now stood before Nivix Guildmage. Voidwielder called forth his pet, the Nemesis of Mortals, the monster terrorizing the school, to deal with Nivix Guildmage.
Ral Zarek's pet Chandra's Phoenix delivers the Prowler's Helm, the same one that originally sorted Nivix Guildmage into Izzet, to Nivix Guildmage, and pecks out the eyes of the Nemesis of Mortals. Nivix Guildmage found the Civic Saber inside and stabs the beast through the mouth and out the top of its head with it, ending its life. In the process of doing so, Nivix Guildmage was jabbed by one of its Pithing Needles, which has the same effect as a Vial of Poison. Nivix Guildmage removes the Pithing Needle from his arm and pierces the book with it, killing Voidwielder and returning Auramancer her life.
Auramancer awakens to find a dying Nivix Guildmage. The poison is getting to him and it is only a matter of time now. Chandra's Phoenix cries, and the tears drip onto the Stab Wound on Nivix Guildmage's arm. Phoenix tears have healing properties and Nivix Guildmage's life is saved.
Headmaster Ral Zarek congratulates Nivix Guildmage and Crackling Triton in his office for saving Stomping Ground, but while he was doing so, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and his servant, Goblin Shortcutter, enter. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, apparently outraged by the survival of the school and return of Headmaster Ral Zarek, storms back out with Goblin Shortcutter. Nivix Guildmage, knowing that house elves are considered free when their masters give them clothes, puts his sock in Voidwielder's diary and gives it to Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver takes it and hands it to Goblin Shortcutter, thus freeing him from slavery.
Professor Bogbrew Witch, who had been working on a remedy for petrification all year, finally finishes the potions and distributes them to all of the afflicted. Fathom Mage and everyone else are back to normal, and Towering Thunderfist returns to Stomping Ground. The entire banquet hall cheered and celebrated with a grand feast.
Fin.
