Gray is such a unique color in its own as it is a color without color. As you walk, the achromatic color begins to take on a new meaning. It makes things clear at times and mocks you at others. The gray preys deep upon your thoughts as you make your way along the seemingly endless sea of astral. Swirling pool like portals litter the ground as if the aftermath of a rainy day. But here, no such commonality of weather occurs. The plane just is and presents itself as a distortion of what was. It is both maddening and intriguing as your eternal walk continues. The cleric informs you that it didn't used to be like this. Before the Spellplague things were calm and this was a plane of peace where travelers could stop to regain their thoughts, face their inner self, or conduct fantastic workings of the Art and Power. The pools once linked travelers to a life chain that would guide them home and while time flowed much slower, it was easy to discern when and where you were. The Spellplague perverts, and now the pools are just reflections of different points in time in a fashion of false hope that leads travelers astray. She says that all the planes are like this now; distorted in various ways by the plague...by Cyric's betrayal and Mystra's demise. The answer doesn't sit well with you as you knew the Spellplague had a great effect on both Faerun and the Planes, but nothing to this magnitude. As your journey continues you began to pick Herzes brain a bit. His mask shifts endlessly trying to warp from wood to metal as the Druid tried to remove it earlier. You deduce that this effect may be permanent as the rupture of the gate may have distorted the Druid's magic. Surprisingly, he isn't in a lot of pain and is in remarkably high spirits so you take the opportunity to ask away. Herzes chuckles at your question regarding the absorption of the Shadow Weave. "You are an interesting fellow, Captain. You are a man willing to flirt with death in order to see your goals realized." His voice softened its joking tone into a partially serious one. "While it is true that you could absorb the energy of the Shadow Weave, you cannot use it to power your own spellfire." He holds up a fist then quickly opens it mimicking an explosion. "When the spellfire interacts with perversions of the weave, specifically those of the Shadow Weave, that magic simply ceases to be." Herzes places a finger to where his mouth would be. "As I'm sure you're aware, the Shadow Weave is a perversion of the normal Weave. When Mystra died, both collapsed." He chuckles again. "A miscalculation on Shar's part. You see, even the deities have their flaws." His tone returned to its serious tone. "As servants of Shar, the Nether knew her machinations in Mystra's assassination in hopes to establish the Shadow Weave as the one true weave. For our part, we, myself included, formulated plans on how her death would affect the Art and as such were prepared for the Spellplague. Mainly because this was not the first time that the Spellplague existed." He glanced over for your reaction before continuing. "Are you familiar with Karsus' Folly? If not, it happened in -339 DR, when Mystryl sacrificed herself to stop the Netheril and the Sharn, and in turn created the first Spellplague. The only difference between then and now, was that then, and I can attest to this as I was actually present at the time, Mystryl immediately reincarnated into Mystra and saved magic by rewriting its rules. So the question presents itself, why didn't she reincarnate this time?" The wizard danced about you playfully. His mannerisms and presumed expression where that of a curious child. "No answer? Don't worry, it may make sense in time." He stopped and resumed his walking next to you. "The problem with people is that they never ask the right questions. You want to know how to stop the Shadow Domes when you should be asking HOW they exist in the first place. A large concentration of power such as that manifesting onto the Material Plane that is immune to both the plague and anti-magic is a grand mystery in its own." He pointed to the wounded elf. This time his tone fully serious like a scolding father. "You have the means to get in once the Gatekeeper Crystal shard is extracted from him and reunited with its counterparts. But that won't stop the domes. You're only looking to treat the symptoms and not the root cause. You would think that one of the "Sahir Alllamie" would be more..." He sighed and regained his joyful demeanor. "I digress. It is not my place to speak of such things as I no longer have a place in the history of our world." The mage cleared his throat. "Perversions, or manipulations, of the Art work both ways. You have already seen that from that lich Aumvor, whose magic is in a class of its own and one you should stay far away from. The Nether created the "Fusailis", or Spellplague bombs as you call them, by manipulating active strands of the Shadow Weave from Shar herself and the dome is a byproduct of that mixed with strong Necromancy. The domes blend high level Arcanist spells with Theurge magics to bring pieces of the Shadow Plane to the material..." He wagged his finger at the Captain. "Spells that shouldn't exist anymore with Mystra's rules." His finger returned to tapping against the mask. "Deities cannot act directly in our world but somehow Shar has a direct influence on Nether activities. A better quandary perhaps is how did Bahamut, a good deity, manifest fully upon the Shadow Plane? How do two wielders of the Spellfire, two chosen, a non-mage elf who can use magical artifacts without training and is drawn to the Shadow Plane, and that Panther thing, I don't even wish to get into what Nendawen was thinking with that one, came together in this cause? Divine intervention perhaps? Fate, if I should be so bold?" The man chuckled once more. "There is more afoot than you realize. Than any of you realize. You world is going to get a lot larger very soon. I look forward to seeing what happens. Giddy almost. This will be a grand show indeed...once this walk is over of course. But what's this tiny wait compared to the centuries I've waited for this grand show to begin? Do not let me down Captain Soarcanas. I am rooting for you, and your companions, to set things right again." Herzes nodded to himself. "Haha, love the name you choose. It's fitting." EXP earned = 1,000 If you wish to ask him further questions you can and I will inject the dialogue before the last paragraph. As for intel gathered, I list that below: - The portals offer different views of events and people. Some react to your conversation with Herzes while others are random. - One is of Karsus' Folly which shows the Nether and a monstrous race known as the Sharn, at war with multi armed, sentient worm creatures known as Phaerimms. The very landscape around them warped from the powerful magics of the Sharn and Phaerimms. Karsus cast his greatest spell, Karsus' Avatar, which allowed him to slay Mystryl and take her place. However, he was not a proper deity and as such could not uphold her duties to regulate the Weave. Before his death from petrification, his last images were the floating cities of Netheril crashing to the ground without their magic to keep them afloat. - The fall of the Netheril Empire - You see Mystra's birth and her actions to limit powerful magics. She saved three of the Nether cities out of mercy and future priests and priestesses of the new deities of magic were told the story of Karsus in dreams and visions when they prayed for spells. It was Mystra’s attempt to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again. - You see a fourth Nether city which survived the fall, Thultanthar, which was pulled into the Plane of Shadow to strengthen the Thirteen Princes of Shades (Nether ruling mageocracy under the Arcanist Shadow, Telamont Tanthul) spell power. - The Sharn Wall, a shimmering, silver-colored magical barrier in the Anauroch created by the sharn to imprison the phaerimm. In 1371 DR, the Sharn Wall was punctured by an explosion caused when magical bolts fired by Galaeron Nihmedu and Melegaunt Tanthul collided. This freed the phaerimm, an ancient, malevolent, and powerful race that were imprisoned beneath Anauroch by the Sharn after the collapse of Netheril. - In the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, Thultanthar returned to Faerûn after the elf Galaeron Nihmedu finished a spell to bring Shade back to Toril where the shadovar, led by Telamont Tanthul, found themselves floating over the Dire Wood. Almost immediately, the princes of Thultanthar (now known more commonly by its translated name of Shade) were busy looking for Netherese ruins and artifacts as well as spying on people and places that could possibly hinder their ultimate goal of creating a new Netheril in their image. - Sakkors, the Netherese floating enclave not seen since the days before the Spellplague. You see it's appearance simultaneously at two points in time. 1.) moments before Cyric assassinates Mystra in 1385 DR and the Nether finishing a powerful Mythal within it. As the plague hits in its blue fire glory, a barrier protects it from the flames before its disappearance, and 2.) 1395 DR and its reappearance over Daerlun in the dead of night. The pool shows you the weave in its purest, energy like state, in both points. At the moment of Mystra's death and the plague, the energy vanishes. When Sakkors appears, the Weave begins to restructure around Sakkors and spread out, reviving (mostly) throughout Faerun. - You see a scale with the symbol of Mystra on its center. It teeters up and down balancing two things. On the right is a tree of life harboring the soul of magic and the Weave itself. On the left is you with a skull over your head. Watching your side of the scale are two unseen figures masked by a powerful storm. You then disappear and are replaced with a silhouette of a man with no discerning features. As the silhouette appears the scale balances out.
