The End is Only the Beginning chapter three
Three humans and an elf appeared just outside of Wayreth having arrived by Teleport. The female human was wearing red robes, one of the males was wearing white and the other wearing black. The elf was wearing a knee length khaki tunic over khaki leggings, and over this she wore a forester's cloak made of alternating patches of green and brown canvas. They sent a message to the master of the tower seeking admittance. They had found a wizard from off world stranded on Krynn with no means of returning to her home world. The Conclave was rather familiar with spelljammers, ships that could travel between worlds. One such vessel was called the Silver Dragon. Her entire compliment of officers and crew were either elves or half elves from one of four worlds including Krynn. The Silver Dragon would occasionally bring raw iron from Oerth to Krynn to trade it for gold. This trade was done through the conclave.
The master of the tower, Par-Salian, came to greet them and admit them to the tower. He curious as to why it took three fully trained wizards to bring in one renegade. Though with renegades he supposed it was better safe than sorry. He was not sure what was more dangerous: the native born Krynn mage who was a renegade by choice, or the off world mage who just didn't know better. At least with the latter if you couldn't reason with them, you could send them home. Many off world mages just wanted what was referred to as a "three day pass" to decompress and recover from cabin fever aboard ship and were willing to pay for it in raw iron. Three bars of iron, a promise to limit spell casting to basic utility and defense, and they had to be back aboard ship in three days.
"Would you mind indulging an old man's curiosity and tell me why it took three fully trained wizards to bring in one renegade?" asked Par-Salian.
"It didn't, but my two brothers have a bet going on as to which order she is going to end up in. The loser buys the winner a case of elven moondrop," said the female in the red robes. "Speaking of which, has the Silver Dragon made a stop here lately? I know she always has a small cargo of the stuff."
"The Silver Dragon left port a week ago and will not return for another year," Par-Salian informed them. "Ladonna is on good terms with one of her officers, Reeve Duskblade. Oh I forgot, the young half-elf just took over as captain. His predecessor retired last month. I believe introductions would be in order."
"I am Eleanor. The one in the white robes is my brother Murlynd and the one is the black robe's is my brother Rary," Eleanor told him. "The elf is Eärlindë Sylath, lately of Oerth."
"Thoiravel was here?" asked Eärlindë. When Par-Salion looked at her strange she continued "The one you called Reeve Duskblade. My son Thoiraval goes by the name Reeve Duskblade."
"Young Reeve was talking about returning home to Oerth to visit his widowed mother. He told me his father was killed…"
"In the Greyhawk wars at the battle of Celene Pass," Eärlindë interrupted. "I lost Feravon to a disintegrate ray while I was off flying a combat mission and he was working as a field medic."
"Reeve is going to be disappointed when he gets home. Why don't you come inside and tell me how you ended up on Krynn," Par-Salian said gently.
"About that," said Murlynd. "I think we need to speak with the heads of all three orders in an informal setting if possible."
"As soon as possible," added Rary.
"It is really important that this be done discreetly and privately," added Eleanor.
It took some convincing, but Par-Salian sent off for Ladonna and Justarius. While they waited the other three spoke privately.
"Rary? Did you really have to go with that?" asked Nuitari.
"What's wrong with that?" asked Lunitari.
"I would have preferred Robilar, at least he did not betray his friends," protested Nuitari.
"Oh you mean the crazy fighter who solo dungeon crawls in Zagig's funhouse," retorted Solinari. "I do not know what Baccob was thinking elevating that mad mage to demigod status. The uncaring is most certainly an apt title for him."
"He criticizes us for being too controlling," replied Lunitari.
"Actually, Baccob does care about something, magic. He is the one who organized locking Tharazidun in that pocket demiplane prison he is in. Tharazidun, lunatic deity of Oerth, his desire is nothing short of the ultimate destruction of everything that is, was, and will be, including him. The reaction from Baccob was something akin to, "You found something I care about. Congratulations, here's your prize: an eternity imprisoned in your own private demiplane beyond the confines of the multiverse."
This had the three gods of magic laughing.
"Unfortunately his cultists are not no laughing matter. In attempts to free their dark master they perform rites unspeakable even by the standards of other evil deities," she informed them.
They instantly sobered, even Nuitari.
"That explains why many visitors from Oerth have a hard time taking my followers seriously," Nuitari commented dryly. "They have become desensitized toward evil."
She told them about the Book of Vile Darkness, the Hand and Eye of Vecna, the Tabard of the Disembodied, the Executioner's Hood, the Chromatic Rod, and the Chain of Obeisance. The story about the Tome of the Stilled Tongue made even Nuitari a little queasy, especially since it was a spell book. Pure anger and hatred radiated of Eärlindë as she told them about the Shield of the Hand and how it came to be.
"Of course there is the story about the head of Vecna. No, it is not a real artifact. It was a scam designed by some bard and some stupid adventuring party fell for it," she told them. "It could be entirely apocryphal because there are multiple versions of it out there. However the one I am familiar with goes like this."
Eärlindë told them the story about the Head of Vecna scam. This adventuring party had heard rumors about a powerful artifact called the Head of Vecna. A local bard claimed to have a map to the artifact's location so they bought it from him. When they found it one of the party members tried to have his head replaced with the fake head. Since it was a fake, obviously it did not work. They went back to the bard and the bard told them they obviously did not put the head on fast enough. So another party member tried it with the same results. By then the bard was long gone. The adventurers could not get their friends raised because their respective deities had deemed them too stupid to live. This had both Nuitari and Lunitari laughing. Solinari just leaned his head against his hand and closed his eyes as if he could not believe anyone would be stupid enough for fall for that hoax. They looked up to see Par-Salian, Ladonna and Justarius trying not to laugh and give away their presence.
"We didn't want to interrupt," said Par-Salian.
"Admit it, you wanted to hear the "Head of Vecna" story as much as I did," said Justarius. "Sometimes I wonder if that story really happened. No two people ever tell it the exact same way."
"I certainly enjoyed hearing it again," admitted Ladonna, closing the door behind them. After she cast Private Sanctum she asked, "Now what is so important that you required all three of us?"
"Please sit down, what we have to tell you will be a bit difficult to understand," said Murlynd. Once the others were seated he revealed himself to be Solinari. "My father brought her here from Oerth. She is a worshiper of his aspect over there and has gotten herself into a bit of trouble."
"Define "a bit" said Par-Salion Par-Salian, regaining his composure and wishing he had not told the other two about the bet.
"She cannot return to her home world," said Nuitari as he and Lunitari revealed their true nature.
"Please tell me this bet of yours was just a part of your cover story," said Lodonna sardonically.
"Sadly, no," said Lunitari. "They were acting like first year apprentices trying impress another female student the entire way here! You would think they had never seen a primal sorcerer before!"
Solinari gave a bit of a sheepish smile and Nuitari flashed an unrepentant grin.
"A what?" asked Justarius.
"Oerth allows both prepared and spontaneous casting." said Solinari. He explained what she could do and why they could not do anything to take away or suppress her primal sorcery. He told them what had happened to her. He explained why she had been brought to Krynn and why she could never leave.
"Fun and games with metamagics, being able to apply metamagic feats to one's spells without preparing it ahead of time, increasing the spell level, or casting time," said Nuitari. "Quite the tactical advantage, though the trade-off is you burn two spells at once and you will never get to the most powerful spells."
"So you will be staying on Krynn permanently. I know this is not your first time here, but staying is not the same as visiting. You are in for a bit of a culture shock," Ladonna said gently. "I understand where you come from humans and elves actually have rational relations."
"It depends on the individual human or human land," said Eärlindë. "Humanity is the source of Oerth's most noble heroes and its vilest villains. One thing you can say for humans, they tend to put down their own rabid dogs."
"Excuse me," stated Ladonna.
"Shall I tell you about the horrors the Temple of Elemental Evil inflicted upon the Village of Homlet and the sounding area? It took an alliance of the men from Furyondy and Veluna, dwarves from Lortmils, gnomes from the Korn Hills, and elves from my home in the Gnarley Forest to stop them. Or how about the The atrocities committed by the Empire of Iuz in the Greyhawk wars? Far too many lives were cut short on the altars of Vecna and Nerull. Shall I tell you of those I have fought side by side with against such evil? Shall I tell you about the kindness and gentleness of Brother Martin, or the faithfulness of the Valiant Paladin Thase? There are others whose names I can no longer remember, only their noble deeds still linger in my memory."
"Such an advocate humanity would have in you to the Qualinesti and the Sylvanesti. The only problem is, would they listen?" said Par-Salian.
"There is one more thing. There are some conditions we have placed on letting her keep her primal sorcery," explained Lunitari.
"Are you telling us this because you want use to help ensure these conditions are met?" asked Justarius.
"To assist, or to enforce if necessary," said Lunitari. "The first one is she must take and pass the test of High Sorcery. Upon completion she is expected to enter one of the orders. She will need some retraining in order to qualify. She is to be careful in the use of her primal sorcery. We would prefer it if she limited its use to augmenting her high sorcery or fuelling the staff she carries. No one is to be told of her primal sorcery except on a strict need to know basis. She is not to teach primal sorcery to another unless it becomes absolutely necessary. She is not to allow her primal sorcery to surpass her high sorcery."
"I see," said Ladonna. "Would you care to define necessary?"
"That will depend on whose order she ends up in," said Solinari. "If keeping the restrictions causes more harm than lifting them."
"I would define it as what helps maintain the balance in the magic," said Lunitari.
"Option of last resort, or if needed to deal with my mother's mechanisms," said Nuitari.
Author's Note
Yes Solinari did a face palm
There are nearly as many races in the Gnarley Forest (yes it really is spelled that way) as there are in the rest of the Flanaess (the major continent on Oerth), though only a handful are unique to the forest. Primarily the sentient races include (in decreasing order of population):
Human (and various human-hybrid races including half-elf and half-orc)
Orc
Elf
Halfling
Goblin
Gnome
Dwarf
Troll
Centaur
Ogre
Giant
Dragons