Darkvision (novel)

Darkvision by Bruce R. Cordell is the third book of The Wizards series.

"Exile of the Deep Imaskar. Adept of forgotten mysteries. Sorceress of the Celestial Nadir.

Haunted by nightmares and driven by desire, Ususi defied the will of her people and ran away, venturing alone into the outside world her people abandoned centuries ago.

Now Ususi tracks down the relics that brought both prosperity and doom to her people. But when an old adversary finds her trail, she discovers the danger she thought past might only be beginning.

Bruce R. Cordell weaves a gripping adventure of mystery, magic, and eldritch horror."

Summary
Something malevolent stirs in a desert, beginning its vengeance by explosively rejoining an ancient castle with the physical world. In response, three different storylines emerge.

The story next follows an agent of vengeance, Iahn Qoyllor, an Imaskari vengeance taker from Deep Imaskar, currently searching for Ususi Manaallin on the overworld. Cutting to Ususi, she wakes up from a nightmare where darkness swallows her; she reminisces how she and her twin sister, Qari Manaallin, were often tormented by the same nightmare. For whatever reason, the darkness from this nightmare always follows her outside her dreams, dousing all lights around her. Not dwelling on it too long, she returns to her appointed task: a year ago, she found a violet crystal from the Celestial Nadir for sale in Two Stars, and decided to search Imaskari ruins along the way to Vaelan for entrances to the Nadir.

While Ususi explores a ruin, Iahn Qoyllor discovers several creatures ransacking her stagecoach; they soon attack him. During the fight, he discovers that they are wearing amulets made of purple crystal, and that they die if separated from it: they also drop the name of Pandorym. Entering the ruin after the fight, he gets caught in a trap. Ususi frees him after confirming that he's not out to kill her, but simply looking for her expertise on the Celestial Nadir in order to stop an enemy that is attacking Deep Imaskar. She suggests that instead of returning to Deep Imaskar, they proceed south to Vaelan, where she knows an entrance to the Nadir must exist. While in Vaelan, they discover a number of people sporting implants made of the same violet crystal as they had both seen previously. After leaving the store where such crystal prosthetics are sold, they meet with Eined Datharathi, whose family sells the crystal and its prosthetics. She suspects something is influencing people through the crystal, and asks for their help in getting to the mine, where her grandfather creates the prosthetics.

At the dock, they are forced to fight some toughs sent by her family. During the trip, Ususi has another nightmare, and then is attacked by creatures of darkness, shadow efts. Iahn must force her to drink a healing potion afterwards, since the sight of the efts has drained her of all willpower. Once at the mine, they soon meet her grandfather; he reveals that he can control people through the crystal, but adds that there is one more. Ususi guesses it is Pandorym, who soon takes over Shaddon and attacks them. The Elder Evil slays Eined, while Ususi and Shaddon narrowly escape by fleeing through a portal.

The other storyline concerns Warian Datharathi, a drifter who has fallen out of favor with the Datharathi chaka of Durpar, whose arm was replaced by a crude, clumsy crystal prosthetic seven years before. While playing Three-Dragon Ante in a town in Dambrath, he gets into a brawl with the other gamblers, and his crystal arm flares to new heights of speed and power. After easily defeating the other brawlers, he decides to return to Vaelan to consult with his grandfather, Shaddon Datharathi, about this new power he has observed in his arm. However, upon his return, he discovers that crystal prosthetics have become common in Vaelan. Visiting his sister, Eined, at her home, he runs instead into several suspicious men upturning the room; a fight breaks out, stopping when his uncle Zeltaebar Datharathi shows himself to be the boss of those men. He admits that Eined has gone missing, and that he suspects Warian might be involved, given the timing of his return. Warian decides he'll tell the whole family together at the next meeting why he has returned.

Two days later, Warian notices that his entire family is behaving strangely during the meeting, and that they all have crystal implants. They collectively decide without his input that he will head off and visit Shaddon at Adama's Tooth immediately on a Halruaan skyship. At the last minute, his aunt Sevaera Datharathi boards the ship; he later discovers his uncle Zeltaebar has secretly boarded the ship while in disguise. On arrival, Warian's meeting with Shaddon soon sours as the patriarch sends spiders after Warian's arm; Zeltaebar brains his father with a crowbar, but his voice then issues from Sevaera. Shaddon, from Sevaera's body, reveals that he can possess plangents at will. However, the arrival of other guests, Ususi and Iahn, forces him to take his attention elsewhere. Sevaera returns to her senses briefly, and as the two other Datharathis explain the situation to her, she becomes possessed by Pandorym. She knocks out Zeltaebar, and Warian is forced to flee through a portal.

After crossing the portal, both the Datharathis and the Deep Imaskari are faced with a monster created from the head of Sevaera Datharathi. Ususi defeats it, and then the four of them join forces to investigate the Nadir for an entrance into the Palace of the Purple Emperor after giving Eined a burial. Inside, they are soon caught in a trap; they fail to bypass it, and Ususi magically fashions a dome of stone in order to protect themselves from the crushing walls.

Through all those events, Thormud Horn, a geomancer from Mulhorand, discovers that the energies he uses for foretelling are disturbed, and decides to head south together with his bodyguard, the star elf Kiril Duskmourn. The two of them board a granite destrier; along the way, the geomancer attempts another divination, and is attacked by a mysterious force; Kiril destroys the enemy with her blade, Angul, and the only thing left is a fragment of violet crystal. The next night, the fragment summons a demon to attack both travelers, and Thormud summons a powerful elemental, Prince Monolith. After the elemental slays the demon, he reveals that he has been investigating the disturbance too, and suggests they head north instead, where he has determined that the true origin of the disturbance lies.

Prince Monolith guides them across a pass between the Giant's Belt and Dustwall mountains, and Kiril discovers the dwarf is carrying some sort of affliction after their encounter with the demon. Trying to avoid a dust storm, they make a stop at the elven enclave of Al Qahara, where a healer reveals that Thormud's been cursed, and that his curse is similar to that which an elf brought back from a newly appared tower to the north. She proceeds north the next day, and Thormud arrives with just enough strength to open an entrance into the tower, the Palace of the Purple Emperor. Inside, Kiril discovers two elves from Al Qahara wearing violet stone amulets; they attack and she is forced to slay them.

Kiril and Monolith then save Ususi, Iahn, Warian and Zel from the trap in which they fell. The six of them reluctantly join forces, only to become swallowed up in the darkness from Ususi's dreams made manifest. While in the darkness, Ususi is visited by a vision of her sister, who gives up her percipience, her ability to see across any and all kinds of darkness, so that Ususi may confront Pandorym and defeat it, thus saving Deep Imaskar. Ususi successfully breaks out of the darkness, and the party enters the Imperial Weapons Cache. After a battle, they successfully re-engage Pandorym's containment unit, sealing the Elder Evil anew.

Zeltaebar and Warian offer the services of the Datharathi chaka to the now ruined Deep Imaskar; Ususi continues her explorations of the Palace, planting the seed of what will later become High Imaskar.

Index

 * Characters


 * Locations




 * Creatures


 * Magic
 * Items
 * • •  •  •  •   •   (Cerebral and Ki-Strong • Full-Body Prosthetic • Insightful and Spellstrong • Pious and Healing • Quick and Vigorous • Strong and Tireless) •  •   •  •




 * Spells


 * Organizations
 * Datharathi


 * Religions


 * Customs
 * Card Games


 * Languages
 * Common • Elven language • Roushoum • Terran


 * Ethnicities


 * Flora
 * cactus • grass • Jasmine (plant) • lichen • lyrwood • red-leafed chaparral • vine


 * Fauna
 * bat • falcon • horse • monkey
 * coyote • golden eel • jackrabbit • snapper
 * coyote • golden eel • jackrabbit • snapper


 * Items
 * cart • cherry tobacco • coach wagon • cup • goblet • incense • kettle • kuevar oil • lift (mechanical) • rickshaw • satchel • scroll case • spoon • tureem • waterskin
 * haddrum • oil • perfumes
 * haddrum • oil • perfumes


 * Currency
 * pari


 * Musical Instruments
 * drum • flute • harp • sitar


 * Weapons
 * bow • club • dagger • dragonfly knife • Repeating crossbow • scimitar • short sword • sword • stiletto


 * Clothing
 * boot • caftan • cloak • elven chain • gloves • gown • great-jacket • hood • leggings • sash • tunic • vambraces


 * Food and Drinks
 * apples in cream • clary peppers • clove • curried nuts • fish soup • fried breads • pale cheeses • pickled mushrooms • raw fish on rice • salted ham shavings • sliced fruits • tea • dried fish


 * beer • bread • eggs • mead • molasses • spicy tea • spirits • wine
 * beer • bread • eggs • mead • molasses • spicy tea • spirits • wine


 * Materials and Substances
 * Textiles
 * linen • silk


 * Metals and Alloys
 * bronze • silver


 * Gemstones
 * agate • calcite • plangent crystal • redstone • rose quartz • selenite
 * amber • amethyst
 * amber • amethyst


 * Other
 * clay • glass • glaze • hide • leather • sheepskin • verdigris • wood


 * Miscellaneous
 * Books


 * Ships


 * Other
 * berserker • knife juggler • puppeteer
 * berserker • knife juggler • puppeteer
 * berserker • knife juggler • puppeteer