Equipment Printing School Mage
Page 260
[…Oh? You guys have a trump card?] Imoen's spirits suddenly rose.
[Unfortunately, I don’t have the right to say.]
[As long as Apodel and Mars can return to Baldur's Gate alive, I'm not interested in anything else——]
After the communication ended, Emiya and his group, along with Storm Silverhand, escorted Havelfont to the gate of the inner court.
Waiting here are two members who did not go to the Sharptooth Forest: Mars and Metatron.
The paladin on the team, now helmetless, frowned in agony at Haverfont's tragic appearance. "Yesterday, you should have made it clear: you were only there to mediate. In this situation, you could have used your connections and authority, and Sig could have said a few kind words. So, I didn't go—so, who is this person?"
"A powerful illusionist from the Church of Shar," Emiya replied. "We only survived thanks to the Moon Lady's power. So we must be cautious with her."
He paused and pointed to the emerald gate leading to the inner court. "Is it convenient to enter now? She should be one of the most senior figures in the Church of Shar. Mere mortal strength may not be enough."
Just a few days ago, the secret of Candlekeep lay solely with the two Silver Hands. Now, a new, powerful figure has emerged within Candlekeep. Could this believer be Shar's Eye? Emya couldn't make the decision on her own.
To Emiya's surprise, the two Mystra paladins were stunned for a moment, then replied with a strange look on their faces, "You can come in."
**********************************
"Puha! Hoo! Hoo!"
The moment her restraints were released, Haverfont immediately began to breathe heavily - the measures used to restrain a great wizard were too harsh. Even though she was only restrained for less than ten minutes in total, she felt like she was about to suffocate.
Before her other restraints were removed, however, a second pair of shackles were placed on her wrists, stripping her of all spellcasting ability.
"I don't recommend you breathing too hard." In front of her were two women dressed as mages. One had long, smooth, sky-blue hair and slightly glowing eyes, and looked like an Asmoan.
The other was a human female with black hair, but her skin was slightly darkened by the sun. The hard work of an adventurer's life made her appearance quite dull, much inferior to Metatron next to her.
"It's certainly uncomfortable to be short of breath. But over-exhaling can also cause numbness in your limbs."
Haverfont took a deep breath, enduring the numbness on his face. "You're my jailer? You want to interrogate me? And what about the Chosen One of Selune? Isn't he interested in my answer?"
In front of her was a stone table, with her dimensional bag and dimensional hole neatly placed on the table.
Followers of Selûn?
Metatron didn't answer the question. But she quickly realized that she was referring to Eimia of Lunya.
They had quickly exchanged information. Emiya had finally used a vat of moonfire to forcibly dispel the Shar power from the shadow material, narrowly managing to break through Haverfont's shadow material.
No one would believe that someone who could use the secret treasures of the Church of Selune as consumables was not a Selune believer or even a Selune voter.
...Shame on you.
Metatron shook his head. "This is none of your business. Now, tell me your intentions—are you going to be a prisoner, or have you decided to change your allegiance?"
Haverfont was silent for a moment. "If I were a prisoner, would I still be in the same state as before, unable to take care of myself?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Metatron didn't budge on this matter. "A rainstorm is coming, and it's hard to trust someone who comes in the dark. Even if you say you want to surrender completely, we won't agree."
Then she changed the subject: "However, if you are willing to confess some information truthfully, your treatment will be better."
"for example?"
"For example, from those harsh physical restraints to anti-magic shackles." Metatron said, "Even if you are still imprisoned, at least you can regain your five senses within the cell."
Emilia's overly pragmatic approach really shocked those who stayed in Candle Castle.
"...Ask me, please." Haverfont said weakly, "Shar's eyes are on me. I can't tell you the secrets that concern you most."
Then, the basic interrogation process began.
Haffont, a shadow spirit subspecies of the elves, a nine-ringed wizard, and a member of the School of Illusion, was one hundred and seventy years old. He was young for an elf, and incredibly talented. Even more so for a nine-ringed elven wizard.
However, to Haverfang's surprise, both of them knew about the Shadow Spirit, a secretive subspecies that only existed in the shadow world. Upon hearing the name, both of them were filled with a look of "as expected."
Metatron knocked on the table. "Why do you follow Shar instead of the Raven Queen?"
The Raven Queen led a group of elves into the Shadow Demiplane long ago to avoid the gods of the ancient elven pantheon. According to legend, she became a god through the devotion of her followers, and those elves who followed her into the Shadow Demiplane have since called themselves Shadow Spirits.
Whatever subrace these elves once belonged to, they are now clearly so deeply influenced by the Shadow Demiplane that it is impossible to distinguish their origins.
But it was clear—this subrace should undoubtedly follow the Raven Queen rather than Shar.
This question really surprised Haverfont: "-Isn't Shar the real name of Her Majesty the Raven Queen?"
The two female mages across from her once again shared a look of astonishment. Seizing the name of another god, and thereby stealing their followers and divine power, was a common occurrence among the gods.
It is even possible that the reason why the Cult of the Rising Sun in Elturgard is so prosperous is because of Lathander's instigation.
Whether it is Lathander who takes Amaunator's name, or Amaunator who is reborn in Lathander's body, it will surely be a major event that will shock all of Toril.
In short—this group of shadow spirits was tricked into Shar's service. For a great wizard like Halffont to emerge from such a deceived branch of the tribe, Shar had to be incredibly lucky.
Rather, the fact that an elf like Haverfont, who had lived in the shadow plane for years, could actually create such a lifelike forest was the most incredible thing in itself. If she hadn't had some other fate, then the only explanation was that she possessed the aura of the elves at their peak, when they could wield all the magic in the world.
"So, what is your purpose in coming to the material plane this time?" Metatron asked.
Halffont replied, "To gain territory under the sun, to proclaim our Lord's return, to help our Lord reach the summit of the gods—there's nothing to be ashamed of. Don't waste time on more specific plans. Firstly, I can't tell you, and secondly, I don't care."
"A place under the sun?" The black-haired adventurer-mage sneered. "Coming from the mouth of a Shar believer, such words are quite humorous."
"The Goddess of Night has always revered the darkness of the human heart. Darkness is merely her cover—and the same is true of her followers." Metatron shook his head. "Well, Miss Haverfont, for now you can only be tied up in the corner of the cell. Perhaps your companions can rescue you. But if you attempt to escape, you will no longer be a prisoner if you are discovered. We will kill you without hesitation. Do you have anything else to say?"
Metatron didn't think this conversation would end like this.
Although many people think that mages are a group of people who live in ivory towers and are lazy and ignorant, there are at least two schools of thought that are definitely not the case.
Illusion and enchantment. It's almost impossible for a wizard from the school of illusion and mind manipulation to be uninformed about the ways of the world. This is their foundational skill.
Halffont was even acting a little naive now - but Metatron knew well: less than a day ago, the illusionist had brought the Forest of Teeth and Elturgard to the brink of war without a single blow.
She decided to start by getting Haverfont to speak first. If she only asked questions that Haverfont expected, her answers would be flawless.
"Then let's start with the visible benefits." Metatron pointed to a small ball of black sand on the table. "I'm sure that shadow matter is different from a hundred years ago. What can you say about it?"
"...You separated so quickly." Halffont was silent for a moment, then spoke firmly, "This is one of my lord's most proud achievements in recent years, Shadow Sand. It is infused with my lord's divine power, and only Shar believers who rely on my lord's divine power can effectively control it—just like outsiders cannot control the moonfire of the Church of Selûne. We use it to more easily penetrate the thin barrier between the material plane and the Shadowfell. Of course, I cannot tell you how this is achieved."
"It's now affected by the Moonfire... I don't know what exactly happened. But you're relying on this inactive shadow sand, so you can't recreate my spell."
Midnight narrowed his eyes slightly: "Are you confident in your illusion?"
Haverfont sat up straight, a rare look of pride on his face: "Yes."
Metatron was silent for a moment, then tapped the table with his knuckles. "Come to think of it, I remember Tantamut wasn't studying illusions. Is your teacher from the City of Ghosts?"
Midnight also frowned at this moment: "...Indeed. I remember that the Ghost City has always been specialized in the study of shadows."
"——" Haverfont sat back and glanced at the table.
"I did learn the arcane arts from him in Shade City," she replied, her lips trembling.
******************************************
“I just don’t believe it!!!!!!!!!!”
Meanwhile, Yin, in a rare moment of impatience, said, "If Shar can do it, I can definitely do it too!"
Now, the area under the city wall outside the window of their residence was full of sand and soil. After Emiya returned to her residence, she hastily filtered out a small amount of shadow sand and gave it to the teacher and Midnight, and then focused on separating all the shadow sand.
This work took up a lot of his energy, but late at night, the work was finally completed.
The bad news was that this shadow sand, influenced by the Moonfire, was more inert than expected. While it did respond slightly to magic, proving it wasn't ordinary sand, it was a pipe dream to imagine being able to manipulate illusions within a few kilometers at will like Haffont did.
It could still be used with traditional shadow illusions... but just for that, they wouldn't have to go out of their way to scrape a layer of land from the Sharptooth Forest.
Now, in order to filter the shadow sand out of the soil, Emilia used all her magical skills and it was so painful that she finally separated the sand and shadow sand.
Now tell him that shadow sand is no different from the previous shadow material?
Not to mention Yin, even he was unwilling to accept it.
Silver claimed that Shadow Sand was vastly different from the Shadow Matter she knew, even when purified by Silver Fire. In this regard, Emiya had unconditional confidence in Silver.
"Actually, I'm thinking she might have relied on magical items to achieve this—even though we haven't found any." Although Alestria enjoyed taking risks, she didn't like coming away empty-handed. At this moment, she began to ponder, a rare occurrence: "Could we have missed something among the magical items?"
"No." Yin threw himself into Emilia's arms in anger and said muffledly, "I've already looked through them all. There are no magical items with similar functions. They are all ordinary things. If there is anything worth mentioning..."
She struggled to sit up and said, "There's a sphere made entirely of shadow matter. It's a bit strange. However, I'm sure that sphere is just... a receiver. The owner can't actively do anything with it. It's not what we're looking for."
Things of this nature are too dangerous. Emiya and others are unable to keep them, so they naturally handed it over to Midnight and Kelanwo immediately.
At that moment, Asur's voice, thick with fatigue and uneasiness, reached Emya's heart: "Lord Emya of Lunya, I have terrible news for you—a large number of liches have been discovered around Belgost. The Church of Lathander in Belgost has formally requested our assistance. ... We cannot refuse. We can only hope we can contain enough of them here."
Fifty Shadows Become Reality (Part 3)
The night had deepened, but the light in Candlekeep had not faded. Candlekeep was no longer entitled to the luxury of enjoying the tranquility of the night.
The gatekeepers guarding the building retraced their movements. The sheriffs, who were originally responsible for maintaining order, now had only one task: to confirm activities near Candlekeep and promptly inform the entire Candlekeep of any changes.
Therefore, when Emilia opened the window to ventilate because he had made no progress for several hours, he could see the bright light on the city wall when he stuck his head out. Not only the city wall, but even the path under the wall was as bright as day.
In contrast, the space near their team was surprisingly dark.
Just like Emilia's mood at the moment.
He even consulted Midnight himself, but only got this answer:
"I'm convinced that I completely detonated the Shadow Weave when I was near death, and Shar must have been seriously injured. Her return only now is likely related to this. Therefore, she must have been forced to reform her church's spellcasting system in the Shadowfell Underworld. So, although I don't recommend it, if you really want to research something, I don't recommend starting with the shadow illusions of the past."
"...Besides, I don't really recommend delving into magic when facing a formidable enemy," Midnight said. "I'm well aware of your deeds. With your current talents, you should be working, not researching."
Midnight, the third generation magic goddess, was born into an adventurer family. Therefore, she wasn't particularly passionate about magic research, instead focusing more on the effects of magic itself.
But Emilia's stubbornness also came out - even if it meant prioritizing, she still had to give it a try and get some preliminary results. How could she accept being turned away now?
At least let him and Yin be willful today.
Say so.
Emiya sighed.
Now, all his and Yin's efforts to activate the Shadow Sand had ended in failure. Yin had rarely used his Silver Fire, but the Shadow Sand still refused to give him any face.
Shadow Sand must be no ordinary shadow matter. Old shadow illusions that relied on traditional shadow matter still functioned normally. Shar may have transformed the Shadowfell, but she hasn't yet brought the entire Shadow Demiplane under her control.
He can use shadow sand to cast shadow illusions, but the effect is only half that of traditional shadow matter.
"Actually, I've been wanting to ask this." Sig had obviously gotten enough sleep the past few days. As a result, after a busy day for the team, while everyone else was already yawning, Sig was in high spirits, judging without a hint of sleepiness, "That dead elf called Haverfont..."
"...Shadow Spirit." Although this name was not inaccurate, it was too rude, so Emilia corrected it.
"It doesn't matter, they all have pointy ears." Sig twitched her ears impatiently, as if she had no idea that her own ears were just as pointy. "Why can she cast spells in the daylight? We have to avoid the light even when we're doing experiments with shadow sand."
Emiya hesitated for a moment before answering, "Because Shar is the goddess of night, it's reasonable to assume that things blessed by her should avoid light, right? Although Selûne has long been the goddess of the moon, not the goddess of light. I tend to believe that Halffont can cast spells in daylight, not that she's unaffected."
"That's quite strange," Sig said casually, swinging his legs. "If that's the case, why did Shar go to the Shadow Demiplane? Isn't she the Shadow Goddess?"
"She's definitely not the Shadow Goddess," Yin said confidently. "It's true that she's coveted the Shadow Demiplane since the Nether era. But she's definitely not the Shadow Goddess—we named it Shadow Sand because it comes from the Shadowfallen Underworld. Our previous attempts were all attempts to activate its dark properties. We previously tried to use it to cast Shadow Illusions, but the results weren't very good.
"As for why she keeps messing around with Shadow Demon Network, something that doesn't belong to her at all... How would I know? I've never understood what she's thinking. My impression is that she's always been doing these meaningless things."
However, at this moment, Elastri couldn't help but look up from her book and replied, "...Excuse me? Please allow me to interrupt. I dare not comment on the goddess Shar, but I have read clear records about her priesthood."
"Shaar is indeed the goddess of night. But she is also the god of shadows. About a hundred years ago, in the year 1374 of the Vale calendar, the god of shadows, Mask, returned his power and ministry to Shar. From then on, people knew that the god of shadows and Shar were actually almost mother and son. No matter what, Shar definitely controls the shadows now - unless she lost her again in the Arcane Plague."
"Huh!?" This made Yin's voice suddenly shrill, "Is there such a thing?"
"...No, no, no, that's not what I mean." Xige was obviously not an academic, and she was not here to debate.
She tapped her lips and said, "I want to ask, are there shadows at night? There are shadows only when there is light, right? Aren't night and shadows mutually exclusive? If there is no light, then there is only darkness, and no shadows at all. Are you studying shadows or darkness?"
*******************************
Haverfont's situation wasn't too good at the moment—in the end, her only range of activity was a narrow dungeon.
And her jailer was a top-notch choice—the Holy Knight Apodel Adrian, who was holding the Holy Avenger in his hand and quietly guarding outside the door.
Although Halffont was an excellent illusionist, she was still unable to overcome the Holy Avenger's blockade. For safety reasons, she still had anti-magic shackles on her hands.
For a great wizard, this kind of life was like a fish out of water; naturally, it was extremely difficult. Haverfont had tried to find topics to talk about with Apodel more than once, but almost every time he was met with a bland rebuff.
Halffont knew what the people of Candlekeep wanted to hear, and Adrian also knew that Halffont might have a way to try to circumvent the Goddess's restrictions.
"—You want to use imprisonment to wear down my will, but that's unlikely."
Haverfont began his usual rambling: "Although the light here isn't bright, it's better than the grayish-white underworld of the Fallen Shadow. The environment here isn't exactly elegant or comfortable, but it's better than the ordinary houses in the Fallen Shadow. Killing time? I can stay here until Lord Shar rescues me!"
"That's all right," Apodel replied. "My biggest worry is that one of my men is a spendthrift. Now I'm worried that when I return to the camp, the soldiers will line up in two rows and demand my pay. As for the invasion of Shar and Larloch, that's not enough to frighten me."
This similar topic has been repeated countless times.
Haverfont exhaled indignantly, then finally sneered, "As you please. You are obsessed with the secrets of our Lord's creation, and that's understandable. But alas, no matter how much you try, it will be in vain."
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