Plague of Spells

Plague of Spells is the first novel in the Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy by Bruce R. Cordell. "29 Tarsakh, 1385 DR

THE HORIZON WAS ON FIRE

Raidon Kane emerges from the Spellplague with a sapphire tattoo burned into his flesh, strange supernatural powers, and eleven missing years.

"The world had ended. How could he forget that?"

His daughter dead. His home has been destroyed. His life is empty save for one thing.

"Everything faded to blue, then to nothing."

REVENGE"

Summary
Plague of Spells takes place after the Spellplague through the years of 1385 to 1396. It follows the Shou monk Raidon Kane, a survivor of the Year of Blue Fire; Japheth Donard, a young warlock who gained his post-Spellplague powers through a mysterious pact; and Anusha Marhana, a naive young noble whose curiosity gets the better of her.

Synopsis
In 28 Tarsakh, the Year of Blue Fire (1385 DR) the Shou monk Raidon Kane was traveling across the Sea of Fallen Stars back to his adopted daughter Ailyn, after a long absence while looking for any hints of his mother as well as hunting aberrations using the Cerulean Sign, his amulet that could detect them. The following day Raidon was hired by a trading company heading to Nathlekh. As the caravan was leaving Starmantle they were caught by the disastrous wave of what came to be known as Spellplague. As everything and everyone around Raidon was mutating suffering and dying consumed by the blue fire, the monk himself was encased in crystalline columns created by the calamity.

Around ten years after the Spellplague in the Year of Silent Death (1395 DR) deep in the Sea of Fallen Stars, a kuo-toa whip of the Queen of the Depths - Nogah along with her junior whip Curampah were traveling towards a drowned Illithid city. Confusing the luring call of the aberrant artifact called the Dreamheart for a call of Blibdoolpoolp, the Sea Mother they embarked on the perilous quest. Curampah did not survive, but Nogah reached what appeared to be an illithid archeological dig. As she picked up the Dreamheart, her fingers tingled, then her arms. The artifact started burrowing into her mind, filling it with visions and suggestions.

A year later in the year of the Secret (1396 DR), Anusha Marhana a rich heir to Marhana Trading company in New Sarshell, was plagued by weird dreams. In reality, what she assumed were dreams was her uncanny spell-scarred ability to assume an astral dream-like state while her body was in slumber. While in her dream form she wandered her family mansion and the city until she discovered that she was unable to venture too far away from her physical body. Going back to sleep and back into her dream form, she stumbled across Japheth Donard, a warlock employed by Anusha's brother Behroun Marhana. The girl followed Japeth into a shadier part of the city and into a salvage trader's shop where she witnessed the warlock buying an illicit substance called Traveler's dust. Having her interest spoked by said revelation, she continued following Japeth back to the Marhana Manor in her invisible dream form. Anusha spied on the warlock's meeting with her brother during which Japheth was instructed to meet Captain Thoster on the Green Siren ship to secure an alliance beneficial to the Marhana with an unknown party.

Meanwhile, Raidon Kane woke up from his crystal stasis disoriented by the alien surroundings twisted by the Spellplague. The half-elf managed to break free from the brittle confinement realizing that his chest was adorned with a tattoo of blazing cerulean color, the Cerulean Sign merged with the monk as a result of spell scarring. Upon reaching the now destroyed Starmantle, Raidon faced mutated ghouls with monstrous maws gaping from their stomachs, even though his leg was badly damaged he managed to destroy the monsters discovering that the Cerulean Sign's powers now coursed through him, he was able to tap into the amulet's abilities.

In Olleth, Nogah has accumulated a following of fellow kuo-toa, and preaching about the visions granted to her by Dreamheart and using its power to enthrall them. When the Morkoth Arcanum staged an assault on Noga's temple she summoned the kraken Gethshemeth to aid her via the power of Dreamheart. She did not realize in time that Gethshemeth arrived not to help her, but to claim the aberrant artifact for himself.

The crew of Green Siren, including Japeth, left New Sarshel heading towards the mysterious future ally, as the warlock ingested more Traveler's Dust reminisced about his past in Candlekeep. Back when the Spellplague swallowed the land the great library of Candlekeep was in disarray, Japeth gained access to an ancient tome "Fey Pacts of Ancient Days" which led to the warlock pact with Nefion the Lord of Bats. His addiction to the nefarious drug started when he was just an acolyte, and he knew that he was on the perilous one way Crimson Road heading toward the Abyss. The pact allowed Japeth to avoid certain doom. The warlock's reverie was interrupted when shouts of a "ghost" came from the bowels of the ship.

Unknown to the crew of the Green Siren, Anusha out of the desire to foil her half-brother's possibly villainous plans, altered the ship's loading manifests to include a trunk, the one in which she slept while projecting her dream form on the ship. Anusha accidentally touched the hulking first mate Nyrotha and it hurt him, leaving him convulsing on the ship's floor. The young noblewoman realized that her mere touch in the form was dangerous and that she was invisible to non-magically affected eyes but still reflected in mirrors. Her form was that of a humanoid, black silhouette outlined in pulsing white and blue flashes. Anusha was attacked by Seren thinking she was a ghost of a drowned victim, the magic was able to hurt the girl in her dream form.

Raidon reached Nathlekh, his hometown where he left Ailyn. The city was changed by the Spellplague. The Shou ward where Raidon's home used to be was raised several hundred feet higher than the rest of the city. Upon entry, the east-born monk discovered the citizens of Nathlekh developed xenophobia towards the elves and fey in the past years. He was reluctantly gained entrance though. Three days later Raidon managed to discover the fate of his adopted daughter: she perished in the earthquakes created by the Spellplgue, abandoned by the hired caregivers she died alone under the rubble. Devastated, Raidon found her clay grave marker in the Nathlekh's city of the dead. While grief-stricken the half-elf was confronted by an angry mob craving fay blood. The violence ended abruptly as Raidon was whisked away to Stardeep and its small demi-plane in the Ethereal Plane. The dungeon's construct guardian Cynosure was the cause of the planeshift. Cerulean Sign was placed on the golem's chest similarly to Raidon's. The construct was the last guardian of Stardeep, it was connected to the powers of the Cerulean Sign, and Raidon now was a breathing manifestation of it. Cynosure was exhausting the arcane powers of Stardeep and pledged to help Raidon fulfill the Cerulean Sign's purpose in wiping the world of the aberrations of the Far Realm represented by the Abolethic Sovereignty waiting to be awakened with the help of the Dreamheart. But the only thing on Raidon's grieving mind was his daughter...

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