22 Mirtul, 1372

Dear Master Zorthaster,

We've spent several more days in research and uncovered some startling and disturbing information regarding the Shadow War. Our investigations have revealed that the victims of the Shade kidnappings all appear to be descended in direct lines from ancient Netherese High Arcanists. Even more shocking and unsettling is the discovery that my sisters and I are all direct descendants of Karsus, murderer of the Mother of all Magic. Tell me, do the sins of the father stain the son as well?

In the days before discovering this painful information, our group of adventurers had been very busy. I wrote to you about my activities, but not all of the things my friends accomplished. Oskar, Shane and Xan all made a quick visit to Sigil to sell some of the loot we had recovered and to buy supplies and adventuring gear. While they were there they visited Alnuf, the Red Wizard held prisoner in Excelsior. He has made a remarkable transformation in his life. His only concerns now relate to how much help he can be to other people. He was very thankful to us for bringing him to Excelsior and letting him find a new life. He was very willing to tell his visitors what he knew about cooperative magic. I have relayed all that was learned from the reformed Red Wizard on to Oriseus. I hope that he can find a way to use the information. I certainly don't see how it will be important on a battle field. Perhaps in a strategic or tactical sense it will prove of greater value.

I learned a few things from the report of our Excelsior team. First, the Thavian magic system is a tangled mess with a combination of ritual, Art, strict hierarchy and indoctrination. Separating out the essential parts of Art from the other garbage is likely very challenging. Secondly, I found out that circle magic requires a focus. In the case of the Red Wizards the focus is usually tattoos. If there were a way to erase or destroy a Red Wizard's tattoos, we might be able to prevent him from using the cooperative magic. Of course we are going to need to discover the type of focus used by the shades if we hope to act against their Art. Alnuf had no idea what the shades might use as a focus. Finally, in terms of actually practicing circle magic, we learned that one wizard benefits from the Art whereas the other participants contribute to the leader's power, allowing him to weave more powerful spells than he would otherwise be able to do. Limited as it is, this is the information we passed on to the War Wizard.

Recently we had a rather unexpected and interesting encounter with a powerful adventuring group. We were gathered in Shadowhold when one of our guards announced the arrival of an important personage. Outside our gate was a flying ship. It was not a spelljammer, but a Halruaan vessel. We soon met Omen, High Mage of Halruaa and his crew of adventurers aboard the "Realmsmaster." They travel about the world seeking out and destroying evil artifacts. They were drawn to us by the terrible item we had recovered from Irea T'sarran. We talked briefly about it but were soon off on a different tangent when Primula, in her own endearing way, asked Omen if he knew how to destroy a mythal. That took the seemingly unflappable arcanist off guard and left him speechless for a breath or two. Kerith took up the tale to properly explain the recent events in detail when we discovered that Omen had no knowledge of the return of Shade Enclave. I took a bit of sick enjoyment in overwhelming the poor man, knowing that it was usually our role to be on the receiving end of information so difficult to absorb.

Omen immediately decided he needed to leave us to deal with Kiransalee's artifact while he returned to Halruaa to "raise the fleet." He left in a hurry, but not before noticing the spark where my laboratory will soon be built. He also noticed that this "estate had been transferred before." He went on to say that this may prove useful in the days ahead. He and his crew boarded their ship and with a crack of thunder, they disappeared.

It was not long after Omen's visit that we made our way to the Leaves of Learning in Highmoon with the aid of a teleport spell. There we found out that the Shades had been there before us and had been investigating genealogy. It took us a few days of research in the magnificent library, but we discovered a great deal of important information.

Primula learned that her grandfather founded the temple to Corellon where we found Gorgoland. It was originally open to all of good faith. His openness and his relationship with a follower of Eilistraee broke the family apart and the drow were driven out and killed in Spiderhaunt Woods. We further discovered that the grandfather once possessed a magical amulet and sword that always indicated the location of the other. From a picture in an ancient tome she recognized the necklace we found on Dravis, the ranger killed by the white dragon at the stronghold where we found the dwarven tellstang. It was the same amulet that continues to point toward Dravis's sword somewhere in Spiderhaunt. Primula also told me the name of the temple. Roughly translated, it means the "temple of the father and the daughter." It is interesting that Corellon's daughter is Lolth. Certainly it is a coincidence that the grandfather and grand daughter have both struggled to protect or restore the temple to the father and the daughter. It no longer seems surprising to me that the three drow priestesses are on quest to aid Primula in restoring the temple. There reference to her as "Sword Sister" still puzzles me a bit. I don't imagine that Dravis would have been in possession of an elven moonblade, but I suspect that the sword calling to her from Spiderhaunt will be an important family heirloom and needs to be recovered.

Further investigation into Primula's family lead to some frightening information. It appears that many of her relatives are members of a fanatic elven society dedicated to fighting off the influences of the other races in elven lands. From everything we learned, they seem to be focused on revenge and restoring the power of the elves at everyone else's expense. It was telling that it is widely understood that Corellon has refused to grant these fanatics any divine magic. Even so, their power is considerable and we will likely have to face them before the temple of the father and the daughter is fully restored. We had some brief contact with Gorgoland, explaining that we intended to move on to the temple relatively quickly in order to restore it and destroy the evil artifact we carry. The urgency of this task, compared to some of the other things we need to do seems questionable to me however. As it turned out, this quest was delayed for now.

The library also had information about the Bazontras. This clan rebelled against Calderon the Magelord, ancestor of Lord Morn. This occurred before the strife between Calderon and the other Bladebrights. The rebel clan went eastward into the Dagger Hills, in search of mines and lost tombs. Amongst the dusty records of the lost clan, Kerith discovered a map of the Tethyamar mines. He hired a couple of the library's many scribes and put them to work copying the treasure on the spot. It will likely prove invaluable to us when we get there.

Xan ran across Brother Cole in the library. If you recall, this is the monk hired by Xanthalus to research the bracelet given to him by his father. It had once belonged to Xan's mom. Brother Cole has been obsessed with his research ever since Xan set him to the task. He claims the bracelet is an "ultimate helm" and is the key to the Spelljammer, a city-sized ship that may be sentient. He also warned us about the Vondoni, a race whose empire spans nine spheres. It was actually Shane who brought the topic up first in conversation with the scribe. Apparently Master Wu had casually asked Shane about the presence of dog-headed men in the area. Cole told us that Master Wu was likely referring to recent sightings of a vondoni scouting mission. We hired Cole on as our librarian for Shadowhold even though we have only a handful of books that stay at the keep. He was thrilled by the prospect and agreed willingly as long as Xan promised to take him along when we went spelljamming and looking for the Spelljammer. Again I kicked myself mentally for not taking to opportunity to grab more of the books in the mindflayer prison library when I had the chance. They, because of their alienness, would have been a great addition to our little collection.

Of course the main reason we sought out the Leaves of Learning was to discover any possible linkages between the kidnapping victims of the shades. Two frightening things leapt out during my research. Every person that I could research here was both very young and a direct descendant of a high arcanist of ancient Netheril. Each person had an ancestor who had mastered Arts that have since been forever banned by Mystra. It appears likely that the Shades believe that since Shar, not Mystra appears to control access to the Shadow Weave, and since it seems unlikely that Shar would have banned the use of High Magic as Mystra has, they are looking for candidates with the ability to learn powerful spells to help them rebuild their empire. Their aim is undoubtedly to take back all that they feel was lost to them since the fall of Netheril. I wonder just how accurate the Shades are in this belief. My belief is this: Mystra as the Mother of All Magic controls the Weave, source of all art. The shadow weave is, it being a shadow after all, an aspect of the true weave, just as the shadow of my form cast on a wall nearby is an aspect of myself. Without the weave, there is no shadow of it. Therefore if Mystra withdraws the weave from the shadow magic users, there is no shadow weave either. My belief raises more questions however. Such as, "why would Mystra allow the users of the shadow weave to do what they are doing?" All I can guess is that it has something to do with the growth and development of the art. Perhaps she is allowing this path of shadow magic to be explored because she wants us to learn about an unexplored aspect of the weave. Even so, I have a sense of revulsion for working with shadow magic. Even spells that are well known but that were created long ago by Lord Shadow and once bore his name hold no appeal to me. But, perhaps that is part of the issue that She wants addressed. One vague rumour we uncovered lends some credence to this thought. I have heard that there may have been some unexpected synergy between spell effects cast by weave users and shadow weave users. I do not yet know if the rumour has any shred of validity, but it is something I intend to research. If it is true, and there is some powerful interaction between the two types of magic, this could signal an important leap in understanding and growth of the art. Perhaps this is the answer to my question of "why?"

As painful as it was, I relayed the information and our speculations on to Orisius, Lord Morn, Omen and Cadderly. It gives me some comfort to realize that the Shades' plans for Larissa do not involve her immediate death. I do worry about the methods they might use to indoctrinate the youngsters they have been abducting. None of their victims has been more than 12 or thirteen years of age, so I suspect the Shades will be working to twist these kids' minds toward their evil ends. I know that Larissa is strong willed, perhaps stronger than any of the rest of us. I just hope she can keep herself strong and safe until I find a way to rescue her.

The fall of Netheril was once to me just an old story of a long lost empire. Now, knowing that I am descended from Mystra's murderer, I don't know what to think of it. My heart feels heavy with the guilt of the murder and the destruction of the glories of Netheril and the deaths of thousands. Her murder and the blood of all those living in the enclaves that crashed to the ground with Her death stains Karsus's spirit. How does the stain of that sin pass itself so readily from great, great grandfather to me? I felt it descend upon me as I read the words scratched out in the genealogical scrolls resting with such deceptive peace here in this magnificent library. It felt like a physical thing, like the weight of a cold, wet cloak suddenly draped over my shoulders. A weight I can never remove, a sin for which I can never atone. Primula's ancestor built a temple to tolerance and beauty. Mine killed the Lady of Mysteries and brought an end to the golden age of magic. Perhaps she is right and the Nether Scrolls should never be reunited by human hands nor read by human eyes.

During our time in Highmoon we stayed at the home of Xan's father. It was a comfortable place with plenty of room to accommodate all of us. Xan and his dad clearly had a lot of catching up to do. I got the feeling that Xan had left home with the spirit of a child and had returned home with a far greater maturity than either the father or the son had expected. I see the archer almost every day for a large part of the day. I've come to depend on him in a way that I never could have even imagined little more than a year ago. It was odd seeing the archer with his father with the older ranger struggling to account for the changes in his son over the past year. In the final analysis, I think Xan's dad was very proud of his son. He should be.

While we were staying at the ranger's home we received an unexpected visitor, a friend from our past. Late one evening Sahana, the beautiful construct from the Chronomancer's palace arrived at our door. Officially she was there to deliver a letter. It read "By order of the Temporal Guardians, desist in helping the rogue Peraus Wands. Failure to comply will result in your eradication in all time threads." Short and to the point. Unofficially, after the missive was delivered, she asked us to please help her creator. There was a moment of confusion and then stunned disbelief as it dawned on us that Peraus Wands was in fact the High Arcanist known as the Chronomancer. Sahana urged us to find and protect DaRoni and that we should "check the docks" for him. She also asked about the "gray man" and we passed along the little scraps of information we had about him, specifically that Artur Grossman had been unable to find out anything about him. She seemed disappointed in this but not surprised. Sahana seems to like to flirt with me a bit and, despite being a construct, she has a wonderful personality. Even so, as much as I'm sure she wanted to, she was unable to spend more of the evening with us and soon left, her footsteps fading into another time thread.

This morning we teleported to the docks in the old port area of Saerloon. This is a very large city and bustling with colorful, beautiful people in an old, old city made of white stone. The flow of goods and money in the dock ward was amazing and I could have easily been distracted just investigating interesting sights and sounds. I felt the country bumpkin in my drab Dalelands garb amongst the nobility in their finery. I would have liked to look up a good tailor, but we were here on rather pressing business so I tried to stay on track. Fortunately, Kerith and some of the others were more focused and with the help of Primula's use of the art, we found our way to DaRoni's home. Sadly, he was not around and his shop was closed up. Kerith quickly went to work asking neighbors questions, leading on that we wished to hire the inventor for a big job. Kerith has a way of dealing with people so that they seem eager to help him with whatever he wants. Before midday, the bard had discovered that DaRoni was last seen with a man known as Rimrus. This fellow runs supplies back and forth to a lighthouse run by Zembrath Klun and his family. He also learned that Klun's daughter Seliece is often seen in Rimrus's boat traveling between the city and the light. Seliece has a bit of a reputation as a "danger-seeker." Kerith discovered that the last anyone saw of DaRoni was one evening when he got into the boat with Rimrus. The assumption was that they were heading out to the lighthouse. That is where we are going now. I just hope we are in time to help the eccentric inventor.

Sincerely,

Cedar