The Time of Troubles
by Edelgarde Spades, Guide of Candlekeep and Underpriest of the First Scribe
Candlekeep, 1358 DR Year of the Shadows
In memory of Ser Alexander Holgart and all those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of duty.
Preface
When shadows descend upon the lands, our divine lords will walk alongside us as equals.
So sayeth the Wise Alaundo.
Scholars call it Time of Troubles, the Godswar or the Fall of the Gods. All these terms fail to convey the confusion, the fear and sense of doom the days between the 1st of Flamerule and the 24th of Marpenoth brought upon us. I chose to tell the events of this book in chronological order, and not as I experienced them. In fact, the purpose of this book is not to bring up the loss of any resemblance of stability that the silence of the Gods - the very pillars of our existence - the loss of our loved ones or the seemingly unstoppable unraveling of the Weave brought into our lives. Yet, I feel the need to lay them bare in this preface, before I start telling the facts as faithfully as possible. Because they have been there, and shall not be forgotten.
As an avowed I preserve knowledge, yet as a scholar I seek answers. And as a scholar I felt the pain of having none for those who flocked to our Keep seeking them, like scared children would hold onto the skirts of their teacher. As a mortal I felt the fear of uncertainty and the void that death inevitably leaves in our souls.
Yet there was also hope. I was one of the lucky few who could not only feel but converse with their god. When many felt the silence of their gods, I felt the presence of the First Scribe for the first time as those blessed with His gifts would and this has been with me ever since. And although I still feel the pain of the loss of a friend, I realize that death is not an ailment to be cured. The ailment is the grief of those who remain, which only time can heal. I pray death finds me the same way: quill in hand, performing my duty.
Praise be the First Scribe!
Ao the Overgod
In order to understand the events of these troubling times, it is important to understand that, unlike what we believed before, the gods are not the most powerful beings in existence. There is in fact an Overgod, a balancing force, that oversees the functioning of this Sphere: Lord Ao. He is the one responsible of banishing the gods, as described by the Lord of All Glyphs and Images, whose words have been preserved by myself:
We call him Ao. The Overgod. Mortals didn't need to know of his existence. He himself never cared to be known. He exists outside of the usual rules binding us, Gods. Ao oversees that the Crystal Sphere functions to his hidden designs.
Contrarily to what one may think, Lord Ao never acted as arbiter among the conflicts of the gods, which as we will see in the coming chapters developed in a full scale Godswar after the gods were banished.
The Exile of the Gods
It all started with the theft of the Tablets of Fate: tablets written in the Language of Creation that held the written rules of existence. Or so we believed. To quote the words of the First Scribe:
Tablets of Fate are items which Ao have created. They contain rules and duties for each god and the portfolio they rule over. They are stone tablets, each etched with words in archaic forms of Celestial rune script known only to Deities. Their purpose is to serve as a balance between forces of Law and Chaos on a cosmic scale, and to remind all gods their duties and their spheres of influence. Our portfolios. Naturally, we are all following the laws of our respective offices, to put it plainly. The Tablets of Fate are much more than what I am describing here. I'm afraid the in-depth knowledge cannot be handled by mortal minds. And I wish not to damage anyone's sanity.
It is unknown who stole the Tablets and why, but what is known is that in the summer of 1358 DR Lord Ao gathered all the gods to answer for the theft of the Tablets. So said the First Scribe:
It all began a few tendays ago. Have you ever been to divine realms? I have met a few walkers across Planes, in my time. It is not something I advise to anyone at the present. The domains of Gods are not looked for, with our imposed exile from the Upper and Lower planes. It means there is much chaos in our domains as well as upon the Prime Material plane.
He called upon us, all of us. Gods of mortal humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, illithids- All of us. In front of him. And he spoke onto us: "Come hither thee, who hath broketh my law and stolen the Tablets of Fate." None had stepped forth. None had spoken up. I have not even known such were stolen. And for this, Ao flew into rage as some gods began to bicker amongst each other. Very few, mind you. I was a bit out of sorts there, if I am to be honest. I have several things on my mind to properly keep track of the conversation. Regardless. Ao flew into rage. And thus he had declared that since no perpetrator would step forward, he would cast us all down.
Lord Ao has, however, decided that we have grown lax with out powers and that we ceased to care for our worshipers. Which is painting us all with a broad brush. Then again, Lord Ao isn't known for his unending benevolence. A collective punishment for a treachery of the few. There was one bold enough to question the justice of his decision. Tyr, the Even-Handed. He spoke to Ao and questioned the justice of his. Why is he punishing everyone for acts they did not perform? Many gods cared for their children. Seldarine, Mordinsamman, Lords of the Golden Hills, for example. And many of us, which are commonly referred to as "human gods" or "Faerunian". For his impertinence, Tyr has been blinded. Ao took his eyes. I do not know where he ended up, however. And so all of us were cast down from our domains into the mortal realm. Each of us taking forms of our Avatars in mortal bodies of our followers.
Although all the gods were cast out of their divine realms, only Helm retained His full powers, as He was tasked to guard the Celestial Staircase. Says the First Scribe:
He is not in his home domain. He is guarding the Celestial Staircase from any God which wishes to come back without Tablets of Fate. Only those who carry them will be let back into the heavens. For they all must be found. So had Ao spoketh.
This left the other gods vulnerable, and incapable of being in all places at the same time. This, in turn caused the Silence of the Gods and great limitations in the power of divine spellcasters.
The situation will not change until all Tablets of Fate are found. Our powers have diminished due to being cast down in such a manner as well. We cannot be... Well. Everywhere with our presence as we used to. We can only be here and now. We can hear prayers of our faithful, but to answer them with power and magic would require us to concentrate and focus on solely that. It leaves us vulnerable.
The Chaos in the Realms
On the 1st of Flamerule, the sky darkened and the earth trembled. Meteors fell from the sky, although none of our astronomers predicted such movement. Although the Keep wasn't directly hit, the Weave became unpredictable. Monstrous creatures started appearing seemingly out of nowhere, with the sole purpose of destroying. As if it wasn't enough, the gods became silent and divine casters unable to cast anything above the third circle. The only exception were the follower of Helms, who still retained all their spells, albeit subject to the chaos of the Weave, even if the Guardian Himself remained silent.
The meteor swarm eventually stopped, but the Weave remained unreliable and the gods silent. Localized odd occurrences have also been witnessed in various areas of the Coast.
The bizarre occurrences can be classified in two types: some were widespread, others were localized to certain areas.
Examples of the widespread ones were:
- - The silence of the gods;
- Impossibility for divine spellcasters, except Helmites, to cast spells above the Third Circle;
- Chaos of the Weave, which in turn caused all spells to become unpredictable (see next chapter);
- Meteors and a dark corrupting rain fell from the sky, and earthquakes ravaged the land. All these events eventually ended;
- Appearance of aggressive monstrosities.
Some localized effects have been observed as follows:
- - Candlekeep: books gained a small measure of sentience that caused them to fly around and pronounce seemingly random sentences, all ink became a poisonous cherry scented syrup and any air current within the premises acquired peculiar pastel colors;
- Beregost: the settlement was pelted by a blood blizzard, which eventually melted;
- Nashkel: for a short period of time, lightning arcs traveled between rocks and wooden items;
- Vicinity of Nashkel: a number of peaks and mountains disappeared from the landscape, a mountain was observed to be upside down;
- Reaching Woods: the presence of undead was reported;
- Baldur's Gate: apart from the Halls of Inner Light being hit by a meteor, simple, rudimental spells caused large explosions;
- Cloudpeaks: unusually cold weather, appearance of paraelementals of ice near the temple of Auril.
The Chaos of the Weave
A more ample discourse is required for the instability of he Weave. Mystra's banishment left the Weave unattended, and this in turn caused magic to become unpredictable.
Although such peculiar effects seemed to be completely randomic and not related to one another, it was clear that all of them were caused by the unpredictability of the Weave. Observing the places affected by the chaos, it is widely believed, although not proven, that the intensity of such effects was directly proportional to the concentration of active magic in the area.
If we focus instead on the alterations of the spells rather than the bigger incidents, all the occurrences observed in the first tendays of the chaos, involved seemingly random mutations that never altered the nature of the spell. Thanks to the Arcanist Sirion Te'dwa, who utilized 138 Light spells, we could make the below observation:
- - 100 spells (74.6% circa) functioned normally;
- 13 spells (9.7% circa) failed completely;
- 8 spells (6% circa) reflected on the spellcaster;
- 7 spells (5.2% circa) appeared in the wrong location;
- 6 spells (4.5% circa) were stronger;
This left a value between 0 and 0.75% unaccounted for, of spells that might have behaved completely differently.
Seeker Tiawyn Aleaneldeth, acolyte at the time, attempted the same with Cure Light Wounds, casting 143 of those spells, which yielded the below results:
- - 104 spells (72.73% circa) functioned normally;
- 11 spells (7.7% circa) reflected on the spellcaster;
- 10 spells (7% circa) failed completely;
- 7 spells (4.9% circa) hit the wrong location;
- 6 spells (4.2% circa) were stronger;
- 5 spells (3.5% circa) produced shimmering lights but worked as normal;
This left a value between 0 and 0.70% unaccounted for, of spells that might have behaved completely differently. It is easy to notice the statistics are very close. The only thing that differs is the shimmering lights that might have appeared in the previous experiment as well but weren't noticed as it was in fact a spell of Light.
The Silence of the Gods
At the time we did not yet know what had caused such chaos.
Some feared the gods were dead, although this sounded impossible since divine spellcasters still retained some of their spells. Others thought that the gods had forsaken us. Others suspected Helm of orchestrating everything.
Not much time later, rumors of people making contact with the gods started flocking in the realm. At first it was a sunite knight who claimed to have received a vision from Sune and manifested her intention to "ride to her". Then an increasing number of rumors from the City of Splendor claim that Selune made Herself manifest to Her faithful.
More and more recounts of gods walking among us, on the Prime Material, made their way on the Coast. Of note were the claims of several amnian travelers that Milil walked the streets of Atkatla.
Mystra's Death
On the night between the 5th and the 6th of Flamerule, an ear-piercing scream could be heard across the Coast. To me and most likely the other arcanists or priests of Mystra was immediately clear that this was the last cry of the dying goddess. The circumstances of her death remained unclear to us until a representative of the faith first and the First Scribe later shed some light on the situation. Mystra was in fact killed by Helm in the attempt of accessing the Celestial Staircase without the Tablets of Fate. A member of the clergy received her call and with many members of Her Cormyrean church traveled to the Stonefields. There he witnessed Her death by the hand of Helm.
The First Scribe described the event as follows:
Indeed. I knew immediately once I have heard her dying scream. Loyal Helm has been put as the guardian of the Celestial Staircase by Ao. She must've tried to try and walk past him. Helm can have a caring heart... But he will perform his duties no matter what.
The First Scribe
On the 8th of Flamerule, a meeting took place in Candlekeep open to the representative of all faiths to discuss the current situation.
It was during the meeting that two members of the Church of Mystra in Cormyr who declared to have witnessed the last moments of Mystra in the Stonefields told us of the circumstances of Her death.
Not much later, Gorion asked me to follow him as there was a guest who required to speak with me.
An elderly man in blue robes, with vivid blue eyes that almost looked like they were in flames, stood before me. I almost fainted on the spot when He introduced Himself as the First Scribe Deneir, the Lord of All Glyphs and Images and Oghma's Faithful Scribe in propria persona. Only then I noticed that the air around us was no longer pastel colored and everything seemed back to normal.
The Weave became more stable, and although spells could still fail or miss the target, unoffensive spells were again safe to cast.
I myself was accepted by Him as part of the clergy and bestowed the gift of channeling His blessings. While being close to His avatar I was not limited by the third circle spells.
I took the chance to ask about the recent events, the reason why the gods are walking among us, and recorded His words. After recounting the fact I described in the previous chapters, He issued a warning:
I'm afraid conflict is inevitable, regardless of any explanations. And not only between the Followers of Mystra and Helm. Each deity has been cast down. Not everyone is interested with Tablets of Fate. This moment presents an opportunity to all Gods to destroy their hated enemy. In a way, Lord Ao has started, quite possibly, the greatest war between all Gods this world had seen.
Unfortunately, the death of Mystra meant that the Weave would remain unattended and this in turn would cause the situation to grow worse with time, until someone inherited the portfolio as explained by the First Scribe:
I'm afraid such [chaos] may become more and more common. Think about it, my priestess. The office of the Keeper of the Weave has been vacated. Then, Mystra has been slain by Helm. Who is there to oversee the Weave? Magic will exist regardless. It is the Weave that everyone uses as a common tool, since it makes spellcasting much easier. And that tool is now destabilised. Since there's nobody to stabilise it, it is only natural that it will become further so.
Many probably know that this was not the first time the Keeper of the Weave died. Karsus folly caused Her predecessor Mystril to die, which in turn caused all magic to plummet into chaos the same way Netherese enclaves plummeted to the ground. This however lasted only for a few moments, as Her power was immediately transferred to Mystra. The Weave being unattended for so long was certainly an unprecedented event.
Other examples of deceased deities are Amaunator and Murdane. Although some portfolios can be inherited by others, this is not guaranteed and they may fade if unclaimed. This cast a bleak shadow on the future of the Realms. To quote the First Scribe:
Ah.. Murdane. It has been a while since I have heard her mentioned. Her portfolio faded out. A cynical person may remark that it is the reason as to why so many mortals are irresponsible. Whether true or not, the fact remains that her portfolio has not been claimed and it is gone, now."
Chaos Among Mortals
The natural order was not the only thing that was thrown in disarray by the Time of Troubles. As it is natural, people as well found their certainties shaken.
The wildest theories started circulating and some groups took advantage of this to spread their own narrative, may that be out of malice or ignorance.
A fitting example is that of the helmite group Ordo Veritatis, who claimed that the Time of Troubles was the result of the hubris of arcanists and that Helm was the one true god, who in time would kill the other false gods. This attitude was not only despicable but also dangerous, as the conversions motivated by fear might result in the newly converted paying lip service to the gods and therefore being condemned to the Wall of the Faithless.
In turn, many faithful of Mystra in Baldur's Gate gathered in protest in front of the Temple of Helm.
Even without outside intervention, such chaos caused people to lose faith. And even those who retained it feared the consequences of dying during the Time of Troubles. Flyers were distributed by an unknown third party, claiming that everyone who died while the gods were exiled would be inevitably destined to the Wall.
This, however, proved false as the First Scribe confirmed that
"The dead follow the same system that was put in place by Ao."
Another side effect of the Chaos of the Weave, was an increased distrust towards spellcasters and measures were implemented to discourage magic.
Some were necessary precautions, like the prohibition to cast any magic within Ducal Land. Others turned into a full fledged persecution of arcanists.
A group of mage hunters lured any arcanist they could find saying that someone was affected by a curse. Then they would execute the arcanist and hang their mutilated body to the nearest tree. This group, which was only a cell of a larger Sharran group, was however dispatched by Rhaeg of the Commons, who posed as a wizard and followed the lure to the rest of the group where he defeated them in combat.
Amn itself purged the Cowled Wizards and declared arcane magic illegal, punishable with death. Some of the merchant groups even offered coin to those who would catch any arcanist in Amnian grounds. Many attempted to flee and in the end Beregost declared it would not give shelter to the fleeing arcanists.
Notably, some organizations like the Bladestone Foundation, offered shelter to the persecuted arcanists.
The Chaos of the Weave caused the ongoing war between the Lords Alliance and the Black Network to slow down. Although skirmishes still happened, the instability of the Weave made magic on both side unpredictable.
Meanwhile, more and more rumors about the whereabouts of the avatars spread in the Realms. Selune made Herself manifest at the House of the Moon in Waterdeep, although later on she was revealed as Shar in disguise, when a battle ensued between her and her sister Selune in Waterdeep, that forced the Lady of Loss to retreat. An unusually cold weather was registered in the Cloudpeaks. An unusual number of paraelemental of ice gathered near the temple of Auril. Increased attacks of lycanthropes were recorded on the Coast. Rumors say that this was due to the presence of Malar's avatar. The avatar of Garagos wrecked havoc in West Gate, before disappearing into the sea.
Portals in Baldur's Gate
Despite the ban on spellcasting within Ducal Land, according to Arcanist Sirion, who was in Baldur's Gate at the time, on the 22nd of Flamerule an acid rain fell on the city. He also observed that a number of portals opened near the orphanage, and from those portals flesh abominations came out.
Many came to fight them, although some utilized spells and this caused the situation to worsen. The abominations were repelled in the end.
Traces of a summoning ritual were found near the walls.
The Serpent
Several people witnessed on the 2nd of Eleasis a gargantuan blue snake appearing south of Beregost. The creature caused violent bursts of Wild Magic and the appearance of elementals of all elements and creatures that respond to the description of white slaadi. It "devoured the earth" and then disappeared below ground.
It is currently unconfirmed whether the creature is the avatar of a god.
On the 12th of Eleint 1358, Szarilana recounted her first hand experience with the blue serpent. This has been reported verbatim below:
Got-to-see-very-close. Tried-speaking-to-it. While-others-fought-and-died-in-droves-on-other-side-of-the-area. Self-stood-alone-on-opposite-end. It-speaks-in-colors. Inside. Not-going-back. No.
When asked if the creature changed colors to other things, she gave a negative answer, and then continued:
Sound-changed. What-was-outside-was-drowned-out. But-inside. Highest-of-pitch. Ears-bleeding. Into-lowest-rumbling. Something-happens. Sound-of-world-comes-back. It-is-shrieking. Look-up-as-colors-return. The-world-shakes. It-is-in-the-air. Coming-for-Self. No. No. We-through-the-world-together. Into-the-Places-Between. Through-the-waters, holding-too-much-life.
At this point I asked her to elaborate about the Places Between and the "waters holding too much life".
The-walls. Between-the-worlds. Seen-much. Was-it-water? Mucus? Do-not-know. Perhaps-water-is-different-elsewhere. These waters had too much life. Things-squirming-everywhere. Things-moved-fast. The-worm-creature-disappeared-after-a-while. Like-.. Was-removed. Had-difficulty-keeping-track-of-everything. Self-does-not-.. Travel-in-such-ways.
I then asked how she managed to return to the Prime Material.
Self-found-way-back. Swam-back.
Wondering whether Szarilana had physically shifted to another plane or was just victim of an hallucination, I asked if those present saw her disappearing.
No-one-else-had-seen-Self-the-entire-time. Serpent-was-colossal. Focus-elsewhere, likely. Tried-to-find-others-who-had-been-there. Spoke-to-Dunn-of-Vanguard. Said-it-had-leaped-off-to-dive-at-place-near-the-campfire-there. Where-Self-was. Left-only-crumbled-earth-before-it-disappeared-through-world. Dunn-was-with-others-on-other-side-of-the-serpent. From-what-he-said, seemed-he-only-saw-serpent. Seemed-they-were-busy-fighting-other-kinds-of-critters-as-well. After-it-dove, he-said-all-the-others-melted-into-nothing.
The Battle of Tantras
On the 13th of Eleasis, a great battle raged in Tantras and a duel took place between the avatars of Torm and Bane. The latter, greatly empowered, moved towards the city. In order to defend it, Torm reached out to all His clergy in Toril and offered them the chance to aid in the battle by sacrificing themselves. Everywhere, faithful of Torm dissolved in gold dust. Among the deceased are Ser Alexander Holgart, Ser Thomas Garlendt and Squire Simon Sainteclaire.
The battle ended with the death of both deities.
In the same period of time, various people dropped dead in many towns of the Sword Coast, mostly humans and halflings.
The death of the Tyrant was felt and celebrated across the Realms, although sages and scholars cautioned it might have been too soon to celebrate. But the common folk was not the only group who had reason to celebrate. Taking advantage of Bane's death, Manshoon, who founded the Black Network with Fzoul Chembryl and later on opened a portal in Dragonspear Castle causing the Devilwars, ordered a purge of the now defenseless banite priesthood. Fzoul managed to flee and Manshoon took control of the Black Network, claiming that a new era free of the banite fanaticism was ahead.
Rifts and Undead Attacks
On the 15th of Eleasis, a giant flesh monster appeared in the Palace District and attacked the Vale Estate. With the aid of many, including the Flaming Fist, the flesh monster was destroyed, though not before dissolving an unfortunate soldier.
Although it is not yet clear whether this was the result of the Chaos of the Weave or something unrelated, events concerning rifts and undead took place in various places of the Coast. Szarilana recounted the events that took place on the 3rd of Eleint near the Friendly Arm Inn. Her recount has been reported verbatim:
"Was-the-third-of-Eleint. Orcs-attacked. Reason-not-known. Rarely-is-with-them, not-that-they-usually-need-one. Firebombed-the-walls. Few-of-us-were-caught-outside-as-the-gates-shut. Much-fighting-occurred, eventually-turning-tide. They-started-setting-the-forest-around-their-caves-on-fire. Was-.. Problematic-for-the-others. Did-not-handle-heat-as-well. Inside the-caves-was-not-much-better. Do-not-know-why, but-they-set-their-own-place-on-fire-too. What-came-later-gave-Self-some-ideas. Perhaps-paranoid, but... One-of-orcs-cast-one-spell-too-many. Rift-opened. Undead-swarmed-out. Orc-bodies-began-being-raised. Chaos-ensued. Much-fighting-was-had-before-one-in-the-group-cast-something-into-the-rift [one in Szarilana's group, not the orcs'], causing-it-to-react-violently. We-retreated-to-another-room-before-it-exploded. The-caves-were-still-muchly-filled-with-orcs, alive-or-undead. But-we-came-across-something-else. After-travelling-through-caves-for-a-few-minutes, began-noticing-shadows-closing-in. Harsh-whispers. Self-stayed-as-the-others-searched-a-room. Something-spoke-as-if-it-knew-Self. Do-not-know-how, but.. Self-was-stabbed-in-back-by-a-claw-of-some-kind. It-uttered-things-as-if-it-was-old-Baba [Night Hag killed months ago]. Know-she-cannot-have-formed-so-soon. What-burst-through-the-doors-were-dopplegangers. Expect-it-to-have-been-them-doing-that-little-shadow-trick. Perhaps-they-did-not-know-and-it-was-just-spell-playing-tricks-on-Self. Do-not-know-if-they-were-there-beforehand, tricking-orcs-into-attacking-the-Arms, or-if-was-brought-by-rifts. Was-about-six-to-eight-of-them."
At this point I asked if any of the orcs exhibited any eldritch powers:
"The-orcs? Not-what-Self-could-tell. They-were-much-eager-to-throw-their-little-firebombs. No. Some-mystics. Odd-cleric-or-two-perhaps. Saw-nothing-eldritch."
I then asked if she or any of those present recognized the spells used by the clerics:
"Could-not-tell-exact-spell-out. Seemed-to-be-some-manner-of-mindspell. Greenish-glow. Aimed-at-us. Fizzled, then-.. Well, rift-appeared. None-of-us-were-.. Magically-inclined. Will-ask-if-running-across-them."
On the 16th of Eleint, a similar event took place in the Cloakwoods. A witness who wishes to be known by the name of Savrine, recounted the events which have been reported verbatim:
"Yuri and I fought our way to the top of this derelict manor in the Cloakwood. I was just about useless, between not having magic and not having any silvered blades. Not my finest moment. Naturally, he didn't mention the lich. We won... somehow without blowing ourselves up. But after taking what we could from its hoard, we rushed out, hoping to get away before it pulled its body back together. We'd only just left the building when we found ourselves in this thick, unnatural darkness. A thick fog, or a darkness spell, I couldn't tell. Inside were a horde of ghouls, giant undead boars, and... something alive, we couldn't quite make out what it was. Humanoid. Not of this plane, or at least not completely. We managed to fight our way through the first wave, and avoided some kind of undead spellcaster blasting us with acid. Yuri took a hit, but... it's Yuri. Then this tiefling ran past us while we were making our way out of the woods. We turned back to try and save him - unnecessary, as it turned out - and ended up fighting another wave of undead and... I'm just going to call them fiends for simplicity [She refers to the unidentified humanoid creatures]. Gods know that acid blast looked enough like pact magic. I decided to chance an acid ward - it's still on both of us."
I asked what these creatures looked like:
"I couldn't tell. Like I said, humanoid, and alive enough that I could get away with stabbing its vital organs. Taller than me, but what isn't? No horns or other unusual extremities, though. Just..."
At this point, I asked if they were doppelgangers, but Savrine didn't know what a doppelganger is. I therefore provided a brief description [A doppelganger is a monstrosity that can shapeshift into any humanoid. In their true form they look like humanoids with no distinctive traits, very pale skin and well a bit like mindflayers but without tentacles].
"These were considerably more humanoid than that. More like... genasi. But they didn't look elemental. The pact mage looked like it might have been a wight of some kind, but... I've never seen one casting spells that powerful. One of her acid blasts, it... it knocked the wind out of me, even through the ward. I think it would have burnt a hole right through my body."
She then concluded her story:
"Anyway, before we regrouped for a third attack - and our second clash with the wight - I sent to you, in case they overran us. We won. Didn't find anything, but it was me and Yuri. Not the best people to investigate whatever that was."
On the Fields of the Dead, the magic taking hold of undead declined steadily. The restless dead lost their connection to whichever power had control over them and started spreading across the region, extinguishing all life that they met and saw.
The 7th company of the Flaming Fist was sent in response of the increasing undead attack. After setting a perimeter around the Vault of the Dead, them and other volunteers from various factions, defeated the dark power that lurked within. It is rumored that Jergal Himself made His appearance to dispatch the undead foe.
Evolution of Wild Magic
As predicted by the First Scribe, magic became more and more unstable as the Weave unraveled and new effect were witnessed.
In some places, like the Greypeaks, the Forest of Wyrms or the High Moore, magic was observed to fail more often.
Seeker Tiawyn gathered a list of the new effects of Wild Magic that were observed:
- Red Mist coming up at random times and covering many areas;
- A Crack in the ground opens and Lava spills out of it, while the spell simply fails;
- The Earth begins to shake randomly, when someone casts a spell. The spell itself missed the actual effect;
- A man almost lost his hearing after a Sending spell hit him, instead of the usual message in his mind;
- If someone casts a spell, those in range may lose all of their hair and nearby plants grow hair instead;
- Green and oily slime oozes out of each of your pores like rotten sweat.
I personally observed the appearance of dark mist that dampened sound and of glowing green smoke. Both effects were harmless.
At the end of Eleint, at least two events related to Wild Magic took place in Ducal Land: the river Chiontar was filled with pink poisonous water and a building in the Outer City caught fire and being of fire and ice came through from another dimension.
Finally, the area of Baldur's Gate became a dead magic zone, an empty hole in the Weave.
Bhaal's Death
On the 8th of Marpenoth 1358 DR a battle took place in the Boareskyr Bridge. On one side was Bhaal's avatar, as described in Seeker Tiawyn's report, gathered from the eyewitnesses Maraav Deinir and Drinmar Ironfaar, of the Azure Arcanists:
A man appreared who turned out to be Bhaal. There were discussions overhard, that Bhaal may have sacrificed one of his followers to gain more power. Waves of undead attacked from east of the bridge, likely a manifestation of Bhaal's power. But perhaps there was also a necromancer behind the scenes.
On the other was a group of three people: an arcanist woman, a man armed with a red sword and another man with mustache. After the end of the Time of Troubles, Lord Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun revealed that the woman, who at the time went by the name of Midnight would ascend to become the new Mystra, while the man with the sword was Cyric, who would ascend as well. The man with mustache was a human warrior named Kelemvor. The three were helped by various people of the Coast. To quote another fragment of the report:
A fight with Bhaal himself also started. A human woman with black hair was seen, expressing that she wanted Bhaal to die. She unleashed harmful spells at him, ripping a good part of his skin from his body. A man with a mustache, also human, attacked Bhaal with a sword, that had a red glowing aura. Eventually the Heroes triumphed over Bhaal but this caused Bhaals corpse to explode violently, destroying the bridge and injuring some knights and ladies. The female spellcaster teleported away with the man in the end. Their names are not known as far as I understood.
The three teleported away and the area turned into a dead magic zone. To quote the report:
Normally one could have tried to track them magically. But the violent explosion not just injured many people and destroyed the bridge. It also turned the place into an area of dead magic. Warnings were given, to leave the area, but for some it was too late. Some at least listened and fled.
The Era of Upheaval
Eventually, the war between the Zhentarim and the Lords Alliance comes to and end and a treaty is drafted on the 15th of Marpenoth 1358 DR.
On the On the 24th of Marpenoth, a deep voice resounded throughout all lands:
"I have created the gods for a purpose. Today, this purpose is reminded to them. Your true power depends upon the faithful you serve, not your rule over them. The Tablets of Fate lie destroyed by my own hands, for they held not any power to be stolen in hubris. Now, let the gods return to the heavens and earn their mortal worship anew!"
After Lord Ao spoke, the gods returned to their divine realms, marking the end of what will be known as the Time of Troubles.
The Mystran Temples coming back to life marked the ascension of a new Keeper of the Weave, the one who once was a young woman named Midnight and who defeated Myrkul in the skies above Waterdeep. The one who killed Bhaal, the man named Cyric ascended to godhood as well, subsuming the powers of the Dead Three, as explained by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, who did not elaborate much on this new god other than marking him as an enemy.
Torm, now called the True by the young faithful called "the Martyr's Progeny", was returned to existence by Lord Ao's hand and rose to great prominence in Faerun, with many reforms to His church.
A sermon was held at the Temple of Torm, where such reforms were explained to the faithful, with the reassurance that those who died for the ultimate duty are now at peace with the Loyal Fury.
From the clergy of Selune and Mystra came a warning about a new corrupting tool of magic recently discovered to have been created by Shar, called Shadow Weave. It is important to point out that the Shadow Weave -must not- be confused with Shadow Magic, which is a subschool of Illusion.This is described by Lord Arunsun as follows:
"From what we can tell, it is created by Shar, in her intention as an alternative to the Weave, It is a mockery, an insult. Any who practice it should be considered the greatest enemy of the servants of Mystra and Azuth. And those who do touch it will be denied the Weave by Mystra."
Although the Weave is now more stable and the chaos that ensued in the past months was mostly undone, it remains unstable or absent in certain areas.
This marks the end of the Age of Humanity, and the start of the Era of Upheaval.
Restoring the Weave
Not much time passed before Lord Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun made contact with the Temple of Mystra in Baldur's Gate, which is still a dead magic zone, to discuss the new events as per order of Lord Azuth, now that a new Mystra, originally a mortal woman by the name of Midnight, has ascended. I was asked to be present by the representatives of the Temple of Mystra and witnessed the below events in person.
On the 27th of Marpenoth me, Seeker Tiawyn, Archmage Maraav Deinir, Ser Althalous Fenwick, Arcanist Drinmar, Lord of Mystery Gabriel, Lady of Mystery Neela, Sean Asen and Lord Fenix Wandersoul met at the temple of Mystra with Khelben Arunsun.
Lord Arunsun assigned to each of us one or two spells to cast, then requested a number of enchanted items and wands, one for each school, to be broken by Ser Fenwick and Sean in order to release a burst of arcane energy. He then explained that we would head outside the dead magic zone, where he would levitate us, bringing us directly above the dome of the dead magic area. There, through our spellcasting and his Silver Fire we would make way for the Weave to reknit, while Lady of Mystery Neela would remain at the temple to act as catalyst.
Once we reached the Wyrm's Crossing, Lord Arunsun used a levitation spell that brought us above the clouds and there he ordered Drinmar to cast an ice spell. As this was done, he molded the ice in a stable platform where we could all stand. We then disposed ourselves in a circle around Lord Arunsun, who told Ser Fenwick and Sean to break the wands at his command and us to cast our prepared spells outwards. At his command, Seeker Tiawyn inspired us through her bardic magic, while a burst of arcane energy burst out as Sean and Ser Fenwick broke the wands and us in circle cast our spells: healing spells, dispells, necromancy, arcane fire and more. Meanwhile, silver fire from Lord Arunsun spread outwards and interacted with our spells, creating a web of colours.
This repeated for four times, every time the webs became larger and larger, connecting with each other and forming a Weave. Finally we pushed the newly formed Weave outward, to connect with the edges of the hole in the Weave. Lord Arunsun then confirmed that the Weave would slowly flock back in the paths we created.
He then used the lingering magic to enchant a magic item for each of those present. Maraav, Tiawyn and me opted to return our part to the Weave.
After Lord Arunsun led us back to the ground, he accepted to answer our questions.
He confirmed the identity of the three people at the bridge who defeated Bhaal.
and told us about the Shadow Weave.
Lord Arunsun then advised for the people of Baldur's Gate to listen to their leader, especially Duchess Liia Jannath, and to trust in Mystra and Azuth.