7 Kythorn, 1372

Dear Master Zorthaster,

The past several days have been a whirl with scouting, information gathering, and many, many as-yet unanswered questions. Nevertheless, we have tracked down some things and uncovered more mysteries. Perhaps the most astonishing thing we have uncovered is that Peraus Wands is responsible for teaching Lord Shadow the Art needed to take Shade Enclave into the Plane of Shadow. I fear that I too bear some of the responsability for this terrible thing and it adds to the list of black deeds that form my ever-growing shadow.

When last I wrote, we were fresh from the painful defeat on the battlefield against a huge beast carrying a great castle. We spent the next half a ride spying on its movements and helping our fleeing troops avoid the army associated with the creature. The castle riding atop the monster was constructed of a dark gray stone and was larger than Shadowhold and yet, the great creature left no tracks or footprints of any kind. After our encounter, it and the enemy force turned and went after the Zhent's Flaming Tower. The monster was fitted with a gigantic battering ram and succeeded in completely destroying the tower. The top part of which floated off to the west when the chains holding it in place were broken. The little Netherese skiff was spotted several times, but it did not pursue the floating rock.

The objective of the enemy force seemed to be routing the Zhent forces out of Anauroch, the Desertsmouth Mountains and the borderlands. The mountainous creature returned to the pass through the mountains with which we were familiar as soon as that task was completed.

Sendings with desperate questions to various allies brought little information about the monster even though the monster was bigger than many towns in the Heartlands. A sending to Omen with a question about the menhir we found marking the "Heart of Borem" brought his fantastic teleporting ship to us in a quarter glass from the time of my art. He was terribly concerned about the heart but was even more overwhelmed with preparations for the Shadow War. What a familiar feeling. After telling us a bit about Borem's Heart and the dagger that pierces it, and how important it was that it should not fall into the wrong hands, he sighed deeply and turned his attention to briefing us on Halruaa's response to the return of Shade Enclave.

The Halruaan mages have a feet of 60 sky ships headed into battle. They have also been devising several spells that they believe will give them some advantages in the fight against the shades. At least one of the arts holds promise to create a persistent effect that combines, at least to some degree, the effects of sunburst and daylight spells. He really wanted more information about the size and nature of the enemy force, but we were able to give him very little help there. After informing him about what we knew of the Blinding Tower and a bit more plotting and trying to coordinate the efforts of the forces coming together to oppose the Shades, Omen left us, returning to his other duties and promising that we would see the skyships in about 21 days if all went according to plan.

Our next information gathering expedition lead us to the shop of Peraus Wands, perhaps for the last time. When we arrived, the precious multi-gate was gone, and resting on a platform nearby was a big, beautiful sleigh with brass rails, a red deck and a golden podium adorned with a large black disk covered with runes and gemstones. Master wands sat, writing in a small note book stuffed with scraps of paper. Resting next to his elbow, and receiving a panicked glance now and again, a black hourglass was running very, very low. Wands was looking extremely young but both he and DaRoni appeared disheveled and flustered.

Wands looked up from his notes as we approached and informed us that we may not see him for a very long time, in fact, he may be gone forever. He then went on to reveal, with a combination of sheepish embarrassment and deep sadness, that he had been trying to change the past. He had been trying for a very long time to change events in the past so that the love of his life, Syrah, would not fall in love with Lord Shadow. He was giving up on that quest and instead was working to form a network of "time police" to prevent people from damaging the time stream. It was getting all very esoteric and philosophical until Wands mentioned that he was also going back in time to help Lord Shadow learn how to transfer Shade Enclave to the Plane of Shadow.

We were stunned. He went on to explain that he was unable to return the Nether Scrolls I had leant him because he had given them to Lord Shadow. I was outraged. Primula was ready to blast the man with holy fire. He hastened to explain. He told us that Lord Shadow had to learn to take his city to the plane of shadow otherwise he would be around to see Karsus prepare to murder the Mother of all Magic. And, if Shadow learned what Karsus had planned, Shadow would take the Karsus's Avatar spell from his rival and use it himself. What's more, he would likely succeed where Karsus failed to contain the divine power of the slain goddess and assume her place as manifestation of the weave. This revelation left us dumbstruck. Primula seethed with fury but she didn't know who to lash out against, me, Master Wands, or every human at once.

Wands apologized profusely and sincerely, and tried to compensate us for his colossal deceit and theft by giving me his notes on estate transference. He explained that with the spell and his extensive notes, we could essentially convert Shadowhold and its environs into a magical device, powered by the Spark, capable to shifting back and forth between our home plane and the plane of shadow. It seemed small payment for the lies and the loss of the Nether Scrolls known as Planus Mechanus.

Wands gave another quick glance at the black hourglass and pushed on with his final words to us. He again threw us for a loop by insisting that we were essentially necessary for establishing the "Shadow Alliance" to fight against Shade Enclave. With that, Captain Leevoth stepped from the shadows and was introduced to us as another essential member of the alliance. Wands claimed that he had been fighting the evil of the shades for a very long time that that he was willing to ally himself with us if we could assure him that we were careful and sincere enough. When I demanded to know what was being done with Larissa, he at first was unsure of whom I meant. He still didn't remember the details of his raid on your shop and her kidnapping. But he supposed that if she had been taken by him and showed promise in the art, she would be tested and then taught more.

Primula was about to explode with fury and action and divine power. She hasted herself and cast daylight in the gloom of the workshop and appeared to be preparing to cast more. Meanwhile Leevoth removed a gemstone from his forehead and revealed himself as a paladin. The gemstone shields him from arts that try to divine his intentions and motivations. A close inspection by Xan, with his drow mask, revealed that the captain was devoted to the cause of good. The final member of our alliance was then introduced to us. It was a kenku, a bird-man of the race we recognized from our trip into the distant past. This one, named Leaping-from-the-Aerie wore the necklace that his long-ago ancestor wore when we freed him from Lord Shadow's cage. He was here to represent "All those who have sworn service and refused."

We learned from him that the kenku were told that the Arcanists would one day return and despite the cost, they refused to become their slaves despite the shades' belief that the vow of servitude, given by kenku generations in the past still bound. We agreed to meet again in five days as an alliance before the kenku left us. Master Wands time was also up; his black hourglass empty. He climbed aboard his beautiful sleigh, set the rune covered disk to spinning, inserted a wand in a specially prepared slot, gave it a twist, and was gone.

It was then that I teleported in to your shop with DaRoni and my sudden request that he be taken to Oriseus. Again, I regret that I could not linger, but as you shall see, I still had much to do that long day.

When I returned to Daggerfalls we found a secluded spot across the square to watch Master Wands' shop. Wands had told us that his laboratory was going to be raided shortly after he left. It was important that certain things in the place get distributed to the right people. As always, he was very cryptic and we had little information to act upon. We decided to alert the nightwatch to possible, unspecified dangers, and to watch his shop ourselves. Our goal was to ensure that any raid on his workshop did not spread chaos and evil throughout the town. After a long and very boring watch, Kerith, with the help of a clairvoyance spell, told us that four dark, hooded figures had just descended the stairs into the workshop. They were pale of complexion and medium sized, humanoid in appearance. In the unlit gloom of the workshop, with their muted cloaks, he could make out little more. All was quiet. Corporal Gregory of the nightwatch was on duty and just as we decided that we were going to see no more of the dark thieves, he came around the building wearing a concerned expression. He told us that he had just had a very bad feeling. He said that it felt like there had been a turning point. He was uncomfortable and restless but did not know what had just happened or if there was anything to be done about it. I just shook my head and turned away, sharing his angst. I hate being powerless and in the dark.

We spent the next day and a half back at Shadowhold resting. I took the time to study the notes left me by Master Wands. The seed of the art that Wands had been weaving was an old spell called estate transference. It allowed one to take a big chunk of real estate and permanently shift it to one of the elemental planes. In the original spell, this was a one-way trip and the transferred property was somewhat fragile, easily destroyed by the elemental energies of the plane if the central spell focus was disturbed. Master Wands' research led to a way of preserving the safety of the property be allowing it to shift back and forth between planes based on the position of a mechanical device imbued with strong magic and powered by a Spark or perhaps another node of power. In some notes directed especially to me, he spoke of his thoughts on how to utilize the Spark above Shadowhold to safely take the fortress back and forth to the plane of shadow. I spent several hours pouring over the notes and research papers. Kerith was essential in helping me understand how we might create a magical device that could function as the focus of the spell. He agreed to help construct the thing when it comes time.

We next traveled to Sigil in our ongoing attempt to find a weakness or a way to defeat the Netherese monster with the fortress on its back. We went in search of Dreel, our friend the outlands ranger. We found Ebb Creaknees at the Smoldering Corpse, but not Dreel. A quick sending came back with a desperate cry for help. Instantly I whipped out the scrying crystal to locate him. I found him fleeing from a huge head-shaped creature that pulled itself along the ground at great speed with what looked like tentacles or entrails. It was horrifying.

We immediately drew weapons, dropped our extra gear, and I teleported us all to the ranger's location. Unfortunately, my spell failed to bring Shane and Moradin's Breath along. They stayed behind and gathered up our packs and guarded them from Sigil's thieves.

The battle with the crawling head was short and terrifying. The horrible things was a strange sort of undead monster and almost immediately grabbed Dreel and Oskar with its strong tentacles. Oskar nearly got decapitated with a bite. Fortunately, he kept his head and used his paladin's powers to burn the thing with holy energy. The tentacles fell limp, the terrible keening that turned my guts to water stopped, and the monster rolled over on its side, feathered with arrows, and smoking from spell energy and holy power. Dreel lay on the barren ground smiling and shaking his head. "Now I know why nobody ever returns from that place!" was all he was willing to say.

I wove up a magnificent mansion for a comfortable, secure place to talk with our rescued friend. Using a recently purchased illusion scroll, I showed Dreel an image of the war beast and a brief bit of the battle in which we encountered it. His first reaction was concern that this related to the Blood War. When we assured him that it did not, he was willing to talk. He called the monster a Kadtanach, a native of the Beastlands. There they are herd beasts that wander the lands feeding on plants and generally bothering no one and fearing nothing due to their great size. This one appeared bigger than most with longer horns and a kind of creepy-looking dark coloration.

Dreel speculated that this one might have been the kadtanach he had heard about being taken by a wizard clan named the Daegoth-Szonri. They were part of, or connected to a merchant family on a backwater prime. They wanted a beast of burden for an unassailable caravan business. The project was eventually abandoned due to a growing conflict with the githyanki. After a time the Daegoth-Szonri fought off the githyanki but in so doing, gained the attention of the Malaugrim. Eventually, with the help of Lord Shadow, the Daegoth-Szonri defeated the Malaugrim. After that, the kadtanach was not seen again. We speculated that in payment for his help, Shadow took the kadtanach, somehow moving it from that prime to Shade Enclave where he trained it in warfare instead of using it in the caravan trade.

We could spend the next couple of rides tracking down more information about the Daegoth-Szonri and the ecology of the kadtanach, but with the threat of an expanding war on our doorstep, we felt that we did not have the time to indulge in such pleasures. Instead we made our way quickly back to Sigil via a wind walk and a gate from Excelsior. We picked up Shane and the cat along with our other gear and made our way back to the Dalelands.

Before heading back to Shadowhold, we used our connection to the Rangers Three to arrange a meeting with Storm Silverhand We met with her to talk in some detail about what went wrong in the previous assault on Shade Enclave. We learned that despite their disguises, when they ran into one of the Princes of Shade, they were revealed. They then tried to attack the mythal directly. It was very powerful and well defended but Silverfire, that signature art of Mystra's Chosen was able to damage it. Even so, the power of the army of Shade and the combined might of the Princes was too much for such a blunt, direct assault. We probed further, asking for ideas about how to gather information and she suggested that if a team could get in and stay low, out of sight of the Princes and rely on stealth and magical disguises, trying most importantly to avoid capture, that team might just be able to remain long enough to gather vital information. She warned us though that the Chosen discovered that they could not teleport into Shade Enclave and that the mythal had some defenses against illusion and invisibility spells.

We chatted on for a time, discussing strategy and tactics, learning all we could about the forces of Shade Enclave, but it became clear that Storm was seeking more information just as we were. We concluded, in the end, that we would attempt to use the newly formed and as yet untested Shadow Alliance to get us into Shade Enclave and there we would do our best to play the part of spies and secret agents to discover the strengths and weaknesses of our enemy.

Sincerely,

Cedar