Then there's Shar. Yes, she's all connected to the Shadow weave in the lore. I believe she created the shadow weave.
Her goal, as far as I know, is to bring darkness to everything. That seems to be the same goal the illithids have, to darken the sun and take over the plane.
I was just thinking about the Necromancy of Thay. Doesn't it say something about how the book makes you feel like you can do anything... like even darkening the sun?
And that made me think of this. Shar's goal. And perhaps the illithid goal, as well. If the illithids can darken the sun then the whole world is like the underdark to them. I seem to recall reading that as a goal of theirs once upon a time.
Who was the necromancer in Moonhaven trying to bring back? And what happened to the necromancer? We find the apprentice's body, but not the necromancer's.
Why have some of the companions lost so much of their remembered strength? Some people just sort of roll their eyes at this, assuming it's just a way to have characters with big backstories in a level one adventure... but I suspect it's tied directly into the plot somehow.
And so much of this story is about rebirth, or more specifically, one thing being birthed from another. The mindflayers from people. The gnolls from hyenas. There's a theme there. Intentional.
