What would you say if I told you there was a device...that
could cross dimensions and force material to be created, practically
out of thin air? You would say that ol' GreyPawn is off his
rocker, some of you already do, but that's besides the point.
Recent events in Moonglow have shown that there does indeed
exist such a device. Let me relay to you a short tale of how
this thing came about to be and the events surrounding it.
There is an ancient wyrm. Her name, is Lady Liane when
she is in human form, which she takes on merely to oblige
the social graces afforded such. This ancient wyrm came
into possession of The Sword of Sacrifice via a snivveling
thief who was subsequently charred and dismembered. The
Sword of Sacrifice, I will remind you, has power great enough
to vanquish any single foe, with the cost being the wielder's
life. Forces of Light and Forces of Darkness have attempted
to woo this ancient wyrm to trade for it, or offer other
services to no avail. Thus far all these have gone futile.
The ancient wyrm seeks something of such grand entertainment
to itself, that it would be willing to trade the sword in
return.
Gregory Ironhand, Grandmaster Tinker and retired guildmaster
of the Tinker's Guild in Moonglow, knows this, and has quested
for the sword alongside us, with great zeal. Gregory recently
informed us that he was working on a project of quite a
bit of interest. A contraption, a device, he told us, was
being worked on at the Illusionist's Guild in Moonglow.
He could tell us very little because even he wasn't at that
time privy to the information the Guild chose to keep from
him. Intrigued, we visited the Illusionist's Guild several
times, to find nothing but scattered papers and the usual
mages selling their wares.
Awhile later, Lady Liane, the ancient wyrm, came to visit
Moonglow. She had heard word of this device that was being
worked upon and took great care to let us know she was indeed
interested. We walked, most of the way, to the Illusionist's
Guild, along with Lady Liane, who refused to enter the building
herself when we arrived. "Something is going on in there.
Those mages are up to something..." was her comment before
departing. About half a week later, frantic reports streamed
in from a great number of people, screaming "Shadow creatures
are attacking Moonglow! Send help immediately!!!" Needless
to say, I was on the spot-post haste.
The creatures...appeared to take the shape of normal everyday
monsters we fight in the land of Britannia, but with two
great differences. They looked like pure and total shadow,
and for shadow, they were severely strong. Where an ettin
normally would have taken a minute or so to dispatch, the
shadow ettins took neigh on a quarter of an hour each. The
land near the Illusionist's guild was scattered with the
massive and powerful shadow creatures, among them shadow
orcs, ettins, trolls, ogres, and the worst of all, shadow
elementals. To relay to you the horror of the difficulty
in besting these creatures, I can only refer you to what
you know. Imagine if one of the "a rotting corpse" creatures
from the invasion of Trinsic had a baby with an Ice Fiend
and it was very mad. That being said, I thank the Virtues
for the bard that was on the scene, without which the night
would have never ended.
Two shadow creatures remained on the field, and Gregory
Ironhand arrived on the scene. He appeared to be most troubled
by what he saw, and after seeing the last two dispatched,
he started towards the interior of the Illusionist's guildhall
and took the teleporter up to the rooftop, with us in tow.
A snivveling little mage named Dastryl peered out over the
balcony at the carnage and smirked. Gregory at once struck
up a conversation with him, asking him why this had happened,
and where they had taken the lantern. "Lantern?" was the
resounding question posed by both myself and Thoma Valient
at the same instant. Gregory went on to explain that the
device he had been working on was a lantern that could control
the indwelling forces of the dimension of shadows, and their
creatures. The Illusionist's Guild elder mages, it had seemed,
had taken advantage of the project before completion, and
utilized the lantern. That was the cause of the shadow creatures...
He continued on to explain in some detail, how a flame
of shadows was the beginning source of the entrance to the
shadow realm from which these creatures spawned, and the
lantern was to be created to control the flame existing
externally from it. The snide little mage dismissed himself,
and Gregory and the rest of the coateree proceeded to hypothesis
what such an object could do. If it could summon forth shadow,
and turn it into substance, than it would be capable of
creating anything one wished for or desired. Constructed
of exotic ore from Fire Island, this lantern had been lit
prematurely, and released hordes of shadow creatures on
the land near its lighting as a cause.
Today, it happened again.
I was summoned on the scene by a frantic missive from
a friend, who was screaming that there were shadows attacking
him and the townspeople. Knowing where they were coming
from I head to the Illusionist's Guild just in time to see
a gout of shadow elementals burst upwards towards my face.
The battle was harsh, and lasted a good two hours. Shadow
elementals this time, came, along with thier orcs, ettins,
and lesser creatures, with Shadow Deamons. As the battle
waged on, more and more townsfolk joined in, peoples from
all around Britannia rushed to Moonglow's aid under this
attack of shadow. The Order of the Ebon Skull and the Cult
of Infernal Necromancy were even on the scene, taking up
swords, obviously understanding that the powers of creation
twisted into this form of shadow, is nay beneficial to either
side, Light or Dark.
At the peak of the battle, Xerot the Black, an illusionist
in a dark blue robe, strode up from the south road, carrying
the lantern and smirking. He mentioned several times that
what he saw, did indeed please him deeply, although it "needed
work". The battle still raged, and the mage watched on in
pleasure, noting the power and strength of the shadow beings
as they were dispatched. The lantern, hued dark and apparently
forged of a blackish metal, glowed dim as the last shadow
deamon was laid low. The mage, ignoring most of the inquiries
being volleyed at him, examined the device closer, and became
somewhat saddened. The lantern had gone out...and Xerot,
after exchanging some words with a few of the undead whom
were present, fled to an unknown location to relight the
lantern from the shadow flame.
One can only surmise that there will be more horrors to
come shortly from the realm of shadow....and no one truly
knows the intentions of the Illusionist's Guild Elders or
this mysterious Xerot the Black. We will watch, and we will
wait for more signs or clues, and faithfully report them
to you as they become available. Till then...Walk in Honest
Light.
Sincerely,
Your Humble Servant,
After making
our way through the hedges (with the assistance of some magic
of our own), we came upon the abandoned buildings that lie
at the center. After a brief search we found some fresh footprints
leading to a hidden tunnel under the main house. Inside what
looked to be a summoning chamber we saw the post, made of
pure black obsidian, lying on top of a stone table. As to
its purpose ... one can only guess �but if the reports at
the meeting are true then this is not the only one. Windlord
