The Abyssal Planus Mechanus Nether Scroll was one of the famed Nether Scrolls of the Planus Mechanus chapter, which related to planar travel, conjurations, and the mechanics of the planes.[note 1] It found prominent use by the forces of Thultanthar during the Shadovar invasion of Wheloon in the mid-1480s DR, and was fought over by various factions before being hidden by Elminster.[1][2][note 2]
Powers[]
The Shadowfell Nexus was visible from all the way across town and from outside the prison.
We have begun to analyze the Nether Scroll pieces that we have found so far. The power that it holds is almost inconceivable! We have not fully divined the scroll's purpose. Azmagol holds that the scroll deals with fiends, while Tamarkoth believes it tells the secrets of planar gateways. We know more when we obtain more scroll pieces.
The Scroll contained deep and powerful lore regarding the planes of existence, especially that which tied to the Abyss. It could also be used as a spellcasting focus of sorts for powerful planar rituals, as it was more than able to channel immense magical energies. The artifact seemed to have a subtle and malevolent will of its own, though if it had any conscious opinions or goals they remained unknown.[1][2]
History[]
The Shadow Over Wheloon[]
Once our operations here in Wheloon are complete I will return the Nether Scroll to the city of Shade. My research into it is far from complete. This scroll is part of the Planus Mechanus, and I'm sure we could use it to reach other planes. Imagine what we could do if Netheril's reach extended from Celestia to the Nine Hells!
The Cormyrean adventurer-noble Oriphaun Huntsilver first laid eyes on the Nether Scroll in the Storm Horns, while he was roaming about Cormyr hunting for rare artifacts. In his whimsy, he considered it to be a suitable trinket to add to his collection, though he did not manage to actually obtain it at the time. Instead, the Scroll was taken by the forces of Thultanthar, who were also in the area secretly recovering an intact mythallar.[1][2]
The Shadovar of Thultanthar used the Scroll as the centerpiece of their attack on the Cormyrean city of Wheloon in the mid-1480s DR. Archwizard Tyvrus used it to force open a conduit between the Shadowfell and the Wheloon Prison, called the Shadowfell Nexus, and used it to move large quantities of soldiers and materiel into the city at Oldstone Hall. They managed to subvert a large portion of the city before the Cormyrean garrison became aware of the Shadowfell conspiracy, and their invasion threatened to completely conquer the city with their growing army.[1]
The area around Oldstone Hall was coterminous with the Shadowfell.
Unbeknownst to both sides, the irrepressible Oriphaun was already in the prison city seeking thrills and interesting trinkets (he bribed the lizardfolk of the underground tunnels to smuggle him in), and he unwittingly discovered the Netherese in the process. He knew that his duty demanded that he put the good of the realm ahead of his pleasures, and so devoted his efforts towards uncovering how the Shadovar had entered the city and what they hoped to achieve there.[1]
From the outside, the local Oversword Edric Crastmere and Constal Davny Selkin organized the Purple Dragons, War Wizards, and a number of adventurers (who may have been from the distant world of Eberron) to investigate the odd events occurring within the darkened city. After uncovering the Netherese presence, the Wizard of War Jacinta Last managed to identify the cause of the Shadowfell incursions and sent a strike team into Oldstone Hall, where they found Oriphaun Huntsilver already prepared to steal the Nether Scroll himself.[1]
After a brief discussion with the Cormyrean agents about the situation, Oriphaun climbed up the outside of the structure and planned to sneak in through a window where the archwizard Tyvrus kept the Scroll, while Cormyr's forces fought through the manor, in part using the gossamer-thin Shadowfell border to overcome the defenders. The agents arrived at the top of Oldstone Hall's tower only to find Oriphaun already there, frozen in place by Tyvrus's magic and the Nether Scroll in his hand. After a grueling fight with the arcanist in both material and shadow realms, Tyvrus was slain and the Shadowfell Nexus collapsed, ending the Shadowfell connection to Wheloon and stranding the remaining Netherese forces inside the city. Without a moment to waste, Oriphaun took the Scroll away from the city in order to hide it from its former owners.[1]
The High Road of Shadows[]
Oriphaun knew that getting the Nether Scroll off the Netherese was just the start of his problems.
Oriphaun fled the scene in Tyvrus's tower as soon as he had the Nether Scroll, knowing that would be pursued to the death by the agents of Netheril. He managed to make contact with the Harpers and was quickly initiated into the group, then vanished once more into the wilderness. In an attempt to buy time before the shades of Thultanthar recovered the Scroll, or at least prevent them from getting the whole thing, he tore it into several pieces and hid them in various places along the High Road between Eveningstar and Tyrluk, hoping that his Harper allies could muster their forces in time to stop the Netherese properly. With his part done to the best of his ability, Oriphaun moved on as quickly as possible to return to the Storm Horns, where he went on to discover a Netherese plot to raise a flying enclave from a mountain glacier.[1][2]
The Harper response was assembled by Rina Belostos, who set up shop in Eveningstar with a large crew of Harpers disguised as a traveling troupe of performers. They scoured the countryside where Oriphaun had hidden the Nether Scroll pieces, trying to find where they had been hidden and fighting the Netherese for them.[2]
Despite the battlefield being in the heart of Cormyr, the Purple Dragons and War Wizards of the realm were largely absent from the matter, having already focused their efforts on the already pressing drow invasion of Eveningstar and Darkening, untangling Lolth's schemes to consume the Thread of the Weave and replace Mystra as the goddess of magic, and the ongoing situations in Wheloon and on the Sembian border. As a result, the High Road was left unprotected and became infested with bandits and werewolves, and the Netherese were able to bring in large numbers of agents and an army's worth of amoral sellswords to support their efforts. This allowed them to operate openly and without opposition as they searched for the legendary magical artifact. One of their most overt acts was their assault on Granwell Keep, an isolated Purple Dragons fort in the nearby Blooded Wood, which they then used as their base of operations along the High Road.[2]
The Detour[]
The Netherese blockaded Greenweald Lane in an effort to catch the Harpers.
The Harper agent Bensen Virandson recovered the first piece near the Greenweald Trail, a path through the King's Forest. He and his escorts fought through a small army of hired thugs and an elite mercenary team led by the psychopathic Dom as they transported it to a hidden Harper safehouse deeper in the woods. Along the way, the fighting triggered magical reactions from the Scroll piece, causing dretches from the Abyss to be spontaneously summoned (to everyone's displeasure). Despite discovering the hidden lodge thanks to the druid Rand, the Netherese agents were unable to stop the Harpers, and the Scroll piece was safely delivered.[2]
A new and novel use for Nether Scrolls: bar tabs.
Oriphaun hid another piece in plain sight inside the Old Man's Face Inn of Tyrluk. In a masterful stroke of cunning, Oriphaun scribbled a promise of payment for services rendered upon the blank side of the scroll and had bartender William Windsphere pin it up in the taproom amid other receipts and notes. When the sellswords arrived with their Netherese commanders Wyle and Tarys, they walked right past the Nether Scroll fragment as they ransacked the establishment and were unable to locate it before Rina's Harpers and adventurers arrived and defeated them.[2]
One fragment was hidden in the collapsed chambers of Beckside Castle, a ruined keep commonly used as a camping spot. The pursuing arcanists Keldan Shadeskein and Gaston Wyrst took over much of the castle along with their summoned monsters and hired blades, but before they could abscond with the Scroll, Harper agents caught up with them and slew them, taking it for themselves.[2]
Oriphaun also dropped a piece off with his good friend Seamus, a hermit who lived in the dismal Lost Souls' Swamp. While the Netherese did not discover this piece, the medusa Sshaastess detected the magical energies and took it for herself, and drove Seamus out of his own home as she made the swamp her domain. Harper agents had to fight through enslaved elementals, maddened dryads, and fierce wildlife before even getting to her, but managed to recover the Scroll regardless.[2]
The End of the Road[]
The Netherese reassembled the scroll, just in time to lose it.
Despite the setbacks, the Netherese had managed to gather up several pieces of their own and gathered them at nearby Granwell Keep. While they examined the assembled fragments inside the captured fortress, their forces found and overcame the Harper Girmond Dyle nearby, who was organizing the Harper attack on the Keep as well as holding their own collection of Scroll pieces. The Netherese triumphantly returned with all the remaining Scroll fragments, displayed Girmond's remains at the entry to the keep, and set about reassembling the the pieces into a useful whole. Unknown to either side, local yuan-ti had been monitoring the situation and planned to swoop in and steal the Scroll for themselves. However, they were unable to bring their forces to bear before the Harpers launched their own attack on the Keep.[2]
In the midst of the Harper attack, one of the attendant arcanists was overcome by a lust for knowledge and power and accidentally used the Scroll to open a portal to the Abyss itself. The glabrezu Razagnol appeared before the terrified wizards, and mockingly informed them of what they had just done before summoning forth a horde of dretches. A three-way battle broke out between the demons, Netherese, and Harpers, which ended with the Netherese slain and the portal closing with Razagnol's defeat as well.[2]
The dust had barely settled when Elminster himself teleported in alongside Rina Belostos, having detected the portal opening but arriving just a moment too late to assist. With congratulations to all involved, the Old Sage took up the Nether Scroll himself and vanished, intending to hide it so thoroughly that the Netherese would never find it again.[2]
Appendix[]
See Also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The Nether Scroll is never specifically named as such in-game, and is named in this article for clarity.
- ↑ Menace of the Underdark (including Web of Chaos) is dated to the period of 1484–1485 DR, as it references the ongoing Darkening. Shadowfell Conspiracy (including Disciples of Shadow, Shadow Under Thunderholme, The Druid's Deep, and The High Road of Shadows) are dated to the same period, as they are stated to take place at roughly the same time as Menace of the Underdark.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Standing Stone Games (August 2013). Dungeons & Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy. Daybreak Game Company.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 Standing Stone Games (November 2012). “The High Road of Shadows”. In Dungeons & Dragons Online. Daybreak Game Company.
- ↑ Greg A. Vaughan, Skip Williams, Thomas M. Reid (November 2007). Anauroch: The Empire of Shade. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 102. ISBN 0-7869-4362-9.