Mystran rest

[Anastasia]

There is a long note of silence.

> roll 1d2 one of those rare coinflips because they're so torn on saying something or not
<Penuche> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 1 > [d2=1]

"Has the Incarnation of Law returned his gaze to us?" Selune asks. "For Ao makes no move to stop Shar yet."

"Had he done so and had he not announced it, we would not be able to say," Latha says in response.

[Ebiris]

"I'm sworn to silence," Alicia apologises. "But it is a power of Creation that guided us to the divine seeds left behind by the Incarnation of Balance before its absence."

edit: Alicia said Incarnation of Law but it was the Incarnation of Balance that set these up. Corrected here since she would remember better than me, it probably doesn't affect Selune's reaction.

[Anastasia]

Fury? Anger?

No. There is a moment of contemplation, "How often I am where you are now," Selune reflects, "How rarely I am where I am now. I understand."

[Ebiris]

"Unfortunately I don't have all the answers, I'm more piece than player myself," Alicia says, still sounding apologetic. "But I'm bound by my word as well as the consequences of discovery, and can tell you no more. Thank you for understanding, Selune. My silence is no slight."

[Anastasia]

As the light of the moon shines down, "If when this is over we both live and you can speak freely, I ask that you come and tell me of these matters."

In a more contemplative voice, "The Prophecy of Primus and now this. Has the Last Day managed to surprise us all with how close its drawn?" Slowly Selune fades away into the moonlight, gone.

[Ebiris]

"Come. Dweomerheart next, Mystra must hear of this," Alicia says to Marie and Latha, opening a gate to her sanctum in Dweomerheart and allowing Mystra to redirect it as she sees fit.

[Anastasia]

You appear before Mystra. She sits atop the roof of her palace, in the shadows of the stars above. The Stars of Mystra surround her, a spell chanted by all of them. Yet on your arrival they stop in tandem, bow and vanish.

Mystra looks to you, "Grave and graver tidings?"

[Ebiris]

"We found out what Shar used your blood for," Alicia confirms, voice like the grave. "She's used it to develop a system for merging herself with the essence of a plane - we fought an avatar who had merged with a demiplane."

[Anastasia]

"A mere demiplane would not be that catastrophic," Mystra immediately says, "She's taken it farther."

[Ebiris]

"An avatar and a demiplane, Shar herself and..." Alicia trails off before voicing the conclusion. "The demiplane was morphic. I don't know if that was a requirement for the process but it gave us a wedge we could use to reverse the process, only with time and great difficulty."

[Anastasia]

"You saw it yourself," Mystra says at last, "Your own judgment considers it a grave threat?"

[Ebiris]

Alicia makes a small noise of frustration. "There's a lot I still don't know. I don't know if it's purely defensive and makes Shar impossible to assault, or if she can bring that power with her on the offensive. Either are catastrophic but one is certainly worse than the other."

Marie speaks up after having been silent for a while. "Unless you're strong enough to destroy a plane, or you have enough anarchic power to contest her control and wrench her loose, it makes her invincible. I don't know if her powers are stronger, but she can attack you and you can't meaningfully hurt her. That's a horrible place to start a fight from."

[Anastasia]

"She wants us to know that," Mystra agrees, "I have known Shar long enough to know that she will assail your mind as surely as your soul. I could not say with any certainty which is true. I would expect it cannot leave her plane, but Shar has already accomplished one deed of great danger, a second may not be beyond her."

"In other words, we are forced acknowledge the possibility," Latha concludes, "It casts a shadow on us as a mountain casts a shadow as the sun sets."

[Ebiris]

"Even if she can't walk from Shadow to Elysium and bring Shadow and all its power with her... there's magic she can cast from one place to affect another that might be further empowered now," Alicia says.

"I doubt she's going to just sit still after showing that off," Marie says. "Something else is coming, so we need to either brace, or try and take back the initiative ourselves to throw her off."

[Anastasia]

"A direct assault is suicide if she has Shadow's power," Mystra agrees, "Something to set her back and make her react."

"It would be wise to try and surmise her next move, if we can," Latha grips the handle of her mace tight, "She has many enemies, so she need not choose the most obvious to strike against, but the most vulnerable. The vulnerable are those freshly risen."