Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

The awakening

Pharaxes opens his eyes to find himself laying on a stone table in a dark room, his mind clouded in a thick fog. He tries to get up but his body refuses to move being completely numb from a prolonged immobility. As the fog slowly starts to fade away from his head, he begins to recall the event that led to his situation.

It was during the preparation for the battle against the Alhoon. He had received a summon from Valshar, the Eye of the circle, his master. Knowing all too well that there would be casualties during the battles to come, he wanted to make sure he would have an agent left after this crisis.

‘’I will put you in a stasis sleep’’ he said ‘’while in this state, time will have no hold on you and you will be oblivious of the event that occurs’’

The last thing he can remember is his master skeletal hand on his shoulder and as he recites an incantation.


The lab

Time passes and vitality start coming back to his body. Being able to move a bit, he starts to study the room he is in. The stone table he is on marks the center of what seems to be an arcanist lab: Old tomes, vials containing various mixtures, magic circles here and there and the mixed up smell of blood, decaying flesh, and herbs.

He suddenly feels like he is being observed and stop is examination of the lab to concentrate his senses on finding who was watching and where he was but in vain. The only thing he managed to perceive was the whisper of a ghostly voice saying: ‘’The pawn is awake. Need to tell the master.’’

Some more time passed and his body still wasn’t able to muster enough strength to move about. The sound of a lock being removed put a stop to Pharaxes reflections.

The master

Pharaxes turn his head towards the door as it opens on a man wearing a hooded black robe. The glimpse of his skin he could see under the hood, once of a dark ebony, was now pale and even if his hands were gloved, Pharaxes knew at least one of them was showing no more sign of the skin and muscle that used to cover it... only the bones remained, its touch cold as death itself.

The dark mage known as Valshar the Black, the Phantom Wizard , former Eye of the Circle, now Weavemaster of the School of Necromancy, entered his well hidden personal laboratory

‘’Ahh, Pharaxes...long time no see.’’ He uttered in his blank tone, devoid of all emotions.

‘’Vendui Revered Eye, pardon ussa if I lay still but my body refuse to move and so I cannot kneel before you.’’ Pharaxes replied.

The black robed arcanist glided casually beside a large shelf, living shadows twitching in his wake as his gloved hand gently tipped several vials, finally choosing one in particular containing a dark liquid.

‘’Hmm...yes...yes, this one should do...Drink. Your strength will be restored shortly...’’

The concotion did not take long to bring the desired effect, and only a few seconds later Pharaxes was able to move freely. Getting down from the table, he kneelt in front of the necromancer.

‘’How long have usstan been unconscious master.’’


Ooc : All part that have to do with Valshar have been and will be approved and/or edited by Aelcar himself

The events

‘’Your world froze in stasis, Pharaxes, but the one outside did not. Much has happened in the many cycles you have been suspended...Tasks await...objectives need to be reached...Balance and stability are relative, and dynamic concepts... ’’ His Master rambled on in his typical mysterious, convoluted prose. A whole year suspended...factions that rose and fell...Grandmaster Arkentlar a Conclave Seat...a plot to destroy the very City of Dark Weavings foiled...

Pharaxes pondered silently for a while...Despite the enormity of it all and the power lust driving a Drow towards making the most of his time, all things considered his own plans would not suffer too much from that delay. He then waited for the dark clad figure to go ahead with his tale on the major events of all those missed cycles...by now, he knew the Phantom Wizard well enough to be aware of just how much he loved the sound of his blank, unsettling voice...

''As you very well know, the ruins of the Alhoon war left a...peculiar...political situation in our beloved City, a situation we still need to contend with...''

Listening to what his former master was telling him, Pharaxes had to agree things had changed quite a bit but some door had opened for him.

The release

‘’Usstan see, congratulations are in order then, Weavemaster. Usstan ought to pay my respect to the chapter master as well. Do dos have any command before usstan part way?’’ asked Pharaxes


"Congratulations, you say?"
The once mortal creature now known as Valshar the Black caressed the rim of his mushroom wine's glass fondly, the faintest hint of an amusement he could no longer feel in his voice.

"Yes...yes, I suppose they are in order, after all...Valshar The Black, the Necromancer, The One Who Lived, The Dark Wanderer, The Phantom Wizard, Former Eye of the 7th Circle and now Weavemaster..." he mused. If there was one thing Pharaxes remembered perfectly beside just how dangerous the dark wizard was, it was his love for titles...a true obsession.

He turned his glowing red gaze on Pharaxes', the depths of his cowl so dark that not even his Illythiiri senses could pierce it...another development of his power over the twitching living shadows all around him, surely...

"Of course I have orders for you. But first, you need to report to the 7th Circle, and my old abbil Archmage Ilphryssin Arkentlar. That has the highest priority at this stage. Once you reconnected with the Circle, come back to visit me..."
Said that, he turned towards the hanged svirfneblin left to bleed on a side of the lab, examining critically the red drops flowing into the bucket under the gutted body...

''A'dos'quarth master''

On this Paraxes stood up, and after bidding farewell to his master he left the sanctum to go set up a meetig with the Circle chapter master