AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

In the late afternoon on Amia, those in the region of Benwick’s Hollow, the Eilistraeen Shrine and Actand would feel a momentary increase in air pressure and a faint tingle across their skin as a field of energy washed across them. It spread until it encompassed the entirety of those areas. Within this field, all forms of magic ceased to function. Spells faltered as they were cast, wards flickered out of existence and summoning spells forcibly ejected those creatures called by them from the planes. All magical equipment, golems and permanent magical items similarly failed as the field spread over them.

Meanwhile, the skies above Actand were filled by a swiftly growing cloud of purple fog which loomed ominously over the region. Tiny points of gray light moved erratically through the cloud, flickering as the passed across the landscape. To a discerning individual, it may appear as though they were searching for something.

Roughly an hour after the signs first appeared, the lights vanished and the fog began to disperse. All permanent magical effects that had been suppressed by the wash of energy resumed working, and any summoned creatures whose allotted time on the Material Plane was not up were returned to it. The cause of the stifled magic and the unnatural fog? Unclear.

-----

"Somewhat better, yes?"

"Could've been worse."

"...More fuel. Feed it, and we'll try again. I'll contact the expert."

"Of course."

-----

A wizard name Laiath, with a warrior Sielen and with two ladies, (apparantly elementals also), went to investigate the cause. The outcome was two unconcious elementals, one needing resuscitation, which Sielen has provided with wizard's help.
During this whole event Laiath was trying to guess the substance of this dead-magic zone and the fog, although he failed in spite of high Lore, because it was of no source he was aware of.

// Nice fun Manarethan, thanks for the event!

A mage, one of the residents of Cliffside, can be seen outside scrutinizing the skies, as she watches her spells fail one after the other. However, when a little voice calls for "Mommy?" she goes back inside without fully investigating.

The region is Actand is momentarily bathed in white light as a column of energy strikes down upon the Lost Fields. It is swiftly followed by three others, one directly to the south of the first, and then two in the Giant's Stair. Each column is marked by the ground shaking vigorously, and they each left behind a large obelisk, spiked out of the earth and covered in eldritch runes. Following the brief mis-adventures of a group of travellers, the obelisks are left alone, and appear content to remain inert. However, they do possess a faint aura of magic surrounding them, and any attempting to touch them would find themselves in quite the predicament.

These strange events do not seem to have had any immediate consequences, though their purpose remains unclear...

...On a possibly unrelated note, it seems that the demons and celestials who facilitated transport into the Bastion are no longer present. Those attempting to enter would need to find another way.

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"Won't be long now."

"Are the others prepared? We don't have enough time to wait much longer for them."

"It'll be fine. Now, shall we return? Its time to finish readying the stage."

"Quite."

"Then lets be off."

-----

Not long afterwards Laiath comes to the place, yet aware of what happened to some other people, he observes the objects from a safe distance.

On one of the ascetic's increasingly brief and proportionately valuable forays into the world outside the Salandran Temple, a simple looking rock is retrieved from a pouch at his side, and held until warm.

"I need to sleep." He whispered to the stone.

*Within Actand, the old citadel known as the Bastion had been unnaturally quiet. Where angels and demons once fought in bloodthirsy, endless combat, there had recently been no signs of conflict, ever since the four obelisks had appeared in the surrounding region.

...till now. Those who visit the surrounding area might notice strange cries emanating from the Bastion, the garbled screeching of some unnatural creatures. Points of gray light can be seen moving atop its walls, and the air itself above the citadel appears to be taking on a purple hue. Evidently, something is stirring...*

It started with a horrendous screech, emanating from the high walls of the Bastion that echoed across the region of Actand. The screech, a garbled cacophony of anguish, pain and madness, heralded the arrival of numerous foul abberations, monstrosities of warped flesh and oozing liquid that had clambered down from the citadel to take residence in the surrounding region.

Their presence was short-lived as a large group of adventurers heroically dispatched them, though not without heavy resistance and an intense struggle. However, the monstrosities were not the main concern.

Twice, a pillar of gray light spiked upward from the Bastion to pierce the sky. The first time, the pillar appeared briefly, its form fluctuating in size before fading away. A short while afterwards, the clouds parted above the citadel to reveal the sky had changed. Instead of a dark night, the sky was the stark-white of bleached bone, harsh and discomforting. Dotted across its surface in place of stars, tiny points of black light rested, forming constellations never before seen. The sky became obscured by clouds again moments afterwards.

Then, the second pillar of light, heralded by the ground shaking and beginning to crack and break around the Bastion. The clouds parted and the unnatural sky returned, but this time, the pillar of gray light did nothing but expand until it had consumed the entire Bastion in its vivid display. There was a resounding ‘CRACK!’ that could be heard from miles around, and then everything returned to normal, except for one substantial change…. The Bastion, along with its immediate surroundings, had been seemingly ripped from the Material Plane. Where it stood only moments ago, there was now an enormous crater, swiftly filling with ocean water.

Astronomers gazing into the night sky following the event might be shocked to find that some of the constellations they know so well appear to have changed, ever so slightly, as a small patch of sky has gone entirely dark….

------

"I'm sorry to say that this -will- hurt."

'CRACK!'

------

After the last wave of monsters, and for a few brief moments, a medium sized winged humanoid could be seen on the battlements of the Bastion speaking to a figure wielding a giant greatsword. Soon the sword sliced through the air creating a rift, and the two figures disappeared.

Within the hour the citadel was carved from the Prime, and the winged figure was returned, both pieces of her, to a certain office floor.

For twenty four hours after the sky changed colour and the bastion disappeared, the city of Underport grinded to a complete halt. No residents beyond the merchants seemed to want to interact with anyone or anything, standing where they were in place.

The Illithids were also unresponsive to the populace, like they were ignoring them utterly.

"They are here..." The half-mad wizard muttered to himself in the wake of the events that torn the sky asunder with visions of utter madness. They had called him mad, insane, and a dozen other epitapahs reserved for broken minds. No it wasn't broken he was the only one who understood, the only being who had any clue the threat that had torn its way into faerun.

"The Codex, I need the Codex it holds secrets, weapons... I must find a copy!" he muttered harshly to himself as he pulled down countless books from shelves in the demiplane of knowledge. Frantic, driven my desperation and fear he searched in vain for a tome that might give him an edge against the lords of madness.

No! You can't take it from me! came the voice of a shouting knight in a panic in the sewers. But the process was taking place regardless of his protest. The assailant connected tubes up to his neck, arms, and torso, and the vats they were connected to began to go to work. The silver liquid known to him as Quintessence began to fill them.

I won't let you take this power from me! he howled, but it was no use. The assailant had him thoroughly bound. No matter how he struggled, he was at the other's disposal. He could feel his blood being drained from him, and it filled him with dread. He would be vulnerable again, and he wouldn't be able to stop it. The silver glow that had taken his eyes of late faded, and he could do nothing about it.

Then he heard a voice.

You appear to have my captain. The voice cut through the darkness as a swarm of vermin from the sewers surrounded his assailant. A distraction at best, but better than nothing. The two spoke for a time, but the knight could feel what precious blood he had left being stolen from him.

Kill him! he shouted at the lady knight, voice increasingly weaker. And as he ordered it she did, proving that his assailant was not invulnerable.

When he was coherent later, he would think about how the simple pleasures of having a loyal retinue.

...In Wharftown, a man awakens to find himself dripping with blood, the body of his wife torn apart at his feet. His mouth is filled with fresh meat, muffling his scream of horror...

...The townsfolk of Uhm are awakened by a woman's terrified scream. The militia are mobilized, but they find nothing until they search the cellar of the inn, where they find an unconscious woman and a grisly scene. Each barrel of ale has been shattered, their new contents now strewn across the floor; bloody entrails and human fingers...

...Two women and a man are found in Cordor by the Guards, hanging by their feet from the rafters of their home in South Cordor. Their eyes appear to have been scratched out, and the blood beneath their fingernails signals the perpetrators. Rumour has it that while being taken to the Hospice for treatment, each was sobbing the same, barely coherent phrase. "...We had to let the emptiness out..."

...The Sky Forest near Winya sports a grizly sight. Two elven males are found dead, nailed to the branches of a tree. A third corpse lies beneath them, still clutching a hammer with a death-grip. A nail is hammered through her heart...

...In Kohlingen, a guard is asked to investigate after customers of a local butcher complain about odd-tasting meat. The freshly slain body of a young woman is found in the meat-grinder of his shop, and when the butcher is arrested, he bites his own tongue and drowns in his own blood, still laughing...

...The corpse lockers of the Magisterium Mortis in Tarkuul appear to have been tampered with in the night, a third of the bodies having simply dissolved into a gray liquid. Refugees throughout the city report signs of odd flickering amidst the shadows, but the reports are too confusing to be clear...

...An elderly hin woman was seen by the militia wandering up into the Skull Crags, seemingly in a daze. When followed, they discovered no trace of the hin, but oddly, a pack of Skull Crag trolls were found huddling against the hill-side, utterly terrified of...nothing...

In Kohlingen, the bald man with a spared horsetail hair hears the gossips about the event. He manages his way to get access to the shop and, if allowed, he would be looking for magical tracers or marks without touching anything. He would naturally protect his mind and against spells before doing so. Any attempt to stop him, he would argue with a terrible accent "It's for the safety of my people".*

In L'Obsul, a man wearing a Burgundy standard easily recognizable as the uniform of Tarkuul's Living Guard seems to be taking lessons from one of the refiners there. When his portal wand fails, he is seen reaching for a scroll and polymorphing into a massive, chitinous monster. Soon after he and an armored figure fight, and the knight is defeated.

Using fear as a tool to maintain silence, the armored figure carries the First Knight off into the darkness of the caverns...

Luminosity of Silence

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