Although Raistlin and Caramon urge him not to go, Sturm Brightblade attends an annual Solamnic ceremony that is interrupted by...a stranger, taunting challenge. Clues from the past. Death.

Once he accepts a mysterious gauntlet, young Sturm must make a dangerous journey with some curious friends, rescue a fair if querulous maid, defeat a traitor knight, and learn the secret fate of his long-lost father. He must also learn the meaning of honor.

The fourth installment in the popular Meetings Sextet tells the story of Sturm Brightblade, the noble Solamnic Knight, in the years before Sturm joined up with the other companions of the best-selling Dragonlance series.

In the cold hush of winter, Sturm Brightblade, young and idealistic, accepts a challenge that will test his very soul. Attending a solemn ceremony at the High Clerist’s Tower, he crosses paths with a mysterious and almost mythical figure known as Vertumnus the Green Man, who confronts the assembled knights and demands they honor a pact. When the knights refuse, Sturm accepts the challenge himself, bound by personal honor to meet Vertumnus again come spring in the heart of the Southern Darkwoods.

As the seasons shift, Sturm begins his journey south, joined by an unlikely band of companions—a curious and cheerful kender, a traveling bard, and a few other wanderers, each drawn by fate or whim to his path. Together, they navigate a world teetering between myth and reality, where ancient forces stir beneath the surface of daily life. Along the way, Sturm learns that the Measure, the rigid code of the Knights of Solamnia, may offer structure but cannot always provide wisdom or truth.

The journey challenges not only Sturm’s sword and resolve but his very belief in the ideals he holds sacred. He confronts the shadows of his father’s legacy and the flawed nobility of the Knighthood he reveres. The deeper he ventures into the Darkwoods, the more the journey becomes one of self-discovery—forcing him to reckon with the difference between blind obedience and living with true honor.

At last, Sturm faces Vertumnus once more, not merely in a contest of blades but in a trial of heart, where truth, sacrifice, and compassion must guide his choices. In the end, he does not win by strength alone but by understanding the deeper spirit behind the oath he’s sworn to uphold.

The Oath and the Measure is a rich, introspective tale that explores the moral complexity behind heroism. It is not a tale of great war or grand conquest, but of a young man defining his path in a world where virtue is often lost in the noise of pride and politics. This journey shapes the Sturm Brightblade who later steps into legend, standing tall not because he follows the Measure—but because he understands it.