publish writings/umbral1

acl.cool/site/writings/umbral1.dj

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ The wealth of knowledge and experience between them does little to make clear wh
 
 Warren[^warren] looks much as his companions remember, powerful and rotund as the day they parted. He opened a business a while back, crafting and trading in high-end cutlery, and has taken up residence within a nearby mid-sized town, to which customers are drawn from all over Faerûn by the fine workmanship of his forks, knives, and spoons. He carries several examples of that handiwork with him now, secured by loops and pouches all about his person. As the harengon talks, he reveals a few interesting details of his past, including that he was raised underground among the dwarves!
 
-Eyes turn to Clementine[^clementine], who is dressed in the crisp uniform of an officer of the city guard--- one heavily altered to accommodate her equine anatomy. Clementine' rank is clear, but no insignia advertizes an allegiance to any house or party: a rare independence for a person of standing in Waterdeep. The discharge of her guardly duties has allowed the her to amass considerable knowledge of the city's criminal and/or political institutions, but even that intimate familiarity fails to yield clues about the situation. Like Warren, Clementine's person is largely unchanged by the intervening years, save for a new and conspicuously superior longbow at her back.
+Eyes turn to Clementine[^clementine], who is dressed in the crisp uniform of an officer of the city guard, albeit altered to accommodate her equine anatomy. Clementine' rank is clear, but no insignia advertizes an allegiance to any house or party: a rare independence for a person of standing in Waterdeep. The discharge of her guardly duties has allowed the her to amass considerable knowledge of the city's criminal and/or political institutions, but even that intimate familiarity fails to yield clues about the situation. Like Warren, Clementine's person is largely unchanged by the intervening years, save for a new and conspicuously superior longbow at her back.
 
 Constitutionally peaceful cleric Almuth Cheerio[^almuth] sits pensively, forgoing his vestments today in favor of well-worn leather armor. The servant of Eldath is prepared for the possibility that their forthcoming task involves inescapable violence--- he has arrived with steel in his heart; whatever the matter, he will do the will of his goddess without hesitation. His gaze radiates self assurance and wisdom of a new profundity.
 
@@ -29,13 +29,15 @@ With trepidation, they glance around the war-chamber before them. Gottlob and Cl
 
 The Open Lord goes on to divulge details of the incursion, prompting Almuth--- summoned for his expertise on beholders--- to elucidate the species for his companions. He describes beholders' conventional behaviors and motivations, explaining their cunning paranoia, supreme arrogance, and their origin in the Far Realms, being descended from a deity that beholder-kind calls the "Great Mother". Producing an image, he goes on to detail the monsters' abilities: from their central eye, they project a cone that suppresses magic, and from the eye stalks that surround it, rays of devastating magical power. Though capable melee fighters, most beholders prefer to float just beyond the range of attackers' primitive physical weapons, raining curses and death on their playthings from above.
 
-As Almuth concludes answering the questions that inevitably follow his lesson, Lord Silverhand makes the adventurers' task clear: they will vanquish the interlopers, or they will die in the attempt. As skepticism permeates the group, Laeral reveals that the party will have assistance from two consultants who will be attending shortly. As if on queue, a lurid vortex of dust like fireflies fills the space beside her, and a raven-haired woman[^tasha], dressed to match, materializes with a rush of air and a crack like a gods's tankard, fumbled from the table of heaven, striking earth a mile off.
+As Almuth finishes answering the questions that inevitably follow his lesson, Lord Silverhand makes the adventurers' task clear: they will vanquish the interlopers, or they will die in the attempt. As skepticism permeates the group, Laeral reveals that the party will have assistance from two consultants, who will be attending shortly. As if on queue, a lurid vortex of dust like fireflies fills the space beside her, and a raven-haired woman[^tasha], dressed to match, materializes with a rush of air and a crack like a gods's fumbled tankard tumbling from heaven to strike earth a mile off.
 
 She is introduced as "Tasha", but needs no introduction. It was she who sealed the planar fissure and tracked several of the nine beholders to their current locations. The demonologist and renowned planeswalker volunteers to serve as transportation for the party, shuttling them through dimensions to far flung corners of Toril unreachable by non-magical means. Alas, the witch's aid shall extend no further than this; other, more pressing issues demand the bulk of her attention elsewhere.
 
-Concurrently, Laeral traces an inscrutable pattern across the tabletop, her long and practiced fingers striking in their graceful undulations as she gathers the weave about them. A sphere, hewn of one massive, hazy crystal and polished to a glassy sheen, deploys from the great slab's center to rest on the velvet cushion of a squat plinth. As Tasha finishes speaking, Laeral continues her spell, and smaller spheres, set into the walls of the room, float upward, issuing a limpid glow in solidarity with the overextended lamplight of the chamber's recesses. A voice like sand and broken glass emanates from the central ball as it too glows and the Xanathar[^xanathar] makes himself heard.
+Concurrently, Laeral traces an inscrutable pattern across the tabletop, her long fingers striking in their practiced undulations as she gathers the weave and casts her spell. A sphere the size of a gnome's head, hewn from a single hazy crystal and polished to a mirror finish, deploys out of the great slab's center to rest atop a velvet cushion. As Tasha finishes speaking, Laeral finishes her spell, and smaller spheres, set into far walls, float upward, issuing a limpid glow in solidarity with the overworked lamplight of the chamber's recesses. A voice like sand and shattered glass emanates from the central ball as it too glows and the Xanathar[^xanathar] makes himself heard.
 
-The Xanathar needed little convincing to join the effort; to see Toril purged of his abominable kin is among the crime lord's greatest aims. Still, like that of Tasha, his assistance must be limited in scope--- the underworld's quotidian is demanding, and he cannot afford to compromise his position in Waterdeep by quitting it for the lairs of his enemies. Still, the beholder's insight into the machinations of his own kind is invaluable--- he imparts morsels of wisdom with the adventurers and bystanding officials of Waterdeep. Tasha produces sketches of the nine so-called "Umbral Tyrants".
+As he speaks, it becomes clear that the Xanathar needed little convincing to join the effort; to see Toril purged of his abominable kin ranks among the crime lord's greatest aims. Still, his assistance, like that of Tasha, must be limited in scope--- the underworld's quotidian is demanding, and he cannot afford to compromise his position here by quitting it for the lairs of his enemies. Still, the beholder's insight into the machinations of his own kind is invaluable--- he imparts some morsels of wisdom to the adventurers and bystanding officials of Waterdeep's open government.
+
+Moving the proceedings along, Tasha produces eye-witness sketches of the nine so-called "Umbral Tyrants".
 
 ![Sketches of the nine escaped beholders: "Candlehead", "Death Kiss", "Astral Conductor", "Deathrun", "Necromaniac", "The Omni-Viewer", "Cyclone", "The Witness", and "Monoeye".](/assets/umbral_sketches.jpg)
 
@@ -46,9 +48,9 @@ The party's decision is a difficult one--- agreeing on a choice, more difficult
 {.thematic}
 ***
 
-Under the light of the scimitar moon that slips coolly over blinds and around shutters drawn only half-shut, our heroes slumber in rented beds, paid for with municipal coin. As some toss and turn, thrilled to wakefulness by thoughts of the dawn's adventure, most appear serene in their anticipation. Amidst a clamour of clocks across Waterdeep that chime the midnight hour, the party is seized by an unanswerable magic, whisked from tremulous visions through chasms and curtains of vapor and deposited, standing, upon a stony rosette amidst a muddle of lilac effervescence. Each is unsettled to see the others in their dreams so suddenly and in so strange a setting, but before any ask the question on their lips, Tasha reappears in a turbulence of fizz, preempting them all.
+Under the light of the scimitar moon that slips coolly over blinds and around shutters drawn only half-shut, our heroes slumber in rented beds, paid for with municipal coin. As some toss and turn, thrilled to wakefulness by thoughts of the dawn's adventure, most seem serene in their anticipation. Amidst a clamour of clocks across Waterdeep that chime the midnight hour, the party is seized by an unanswerable magic, whisked from tremulous visions through chasms and curtains of vapor and deposited, standing, upon a stony rosette amidst a muddle of lilac effervescence. Each is unsettled to see the others in their dreams so suddenly and in so strange a setting, but before any can ask the question on their lips, Tasha reappears, a turbulence of fizz preempting them all.
 
-The renowned planeswalker proposes an alternative conduct to Silverhand's regimen of violence. If the party is willing to approach their quest with empathy and guile, to learn the beholders' motives, relate to them, and guide them away from evil, then she is willing to dispense handsome remunerations. The irregular behaviors displayed by the creatures loosed onto Toril hint at irregular temperaments, and if a chance appears to align such powerful adversaries with good, it must be seized with all tenacity and vigor. The party considers, but she has no need to hear an answer; Tasha knows the merits of her proposal and the accordant intelligence of the party members. Her aim satisfied, she vanishes just as she materialized, jarringly and with color, leaving the party--- restored now to their natural dreams--- facing a task rich with depth and opportunity well beyond that of mere moments before.
+The renowned planeswalker proposes an alternative conduct to Silverhand's regimen of violence. If the party is willing to approach their quest with empathy and guile, to learn the beholders' motives, relate to them, and guide them away from evil, she is willing to remunerate those efforts handsomely in turn. The irregular behaviors displayed by the creatures loosed onto Toril hint at irregular temperaments: these beholders may be less rigidly evil than most, and if a chance exists to align such powerful would-be adversaries with good, it must be seized with all tenacity and vigor. The party considers their options, but Tasha has no need to hear a commitment; she knows the merits of her proposal and the accordant intelligence of the party members. Her aim satisfied, she vanishes just as she materialized, jarringly and with color, leaving the party, now restored to their natural dreams, facing a task of depth and opportunity well beyond that of mere moments before.
 
 
 [^warren]: Harengon Forge Cleric (10) of Moradin