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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3003428" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #352a] The Opposite of Life[/PLAIN]The general consensus among loremasters and sages regarding planer theory was that the numerous planes of the multiverse formed a great wheel. The Outer Planes - from the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia to the 666 Layers of the Abyss - orbited the Inner separated by the expanse of the Astral Plane like the rim of a wheel around its axis. In 462 AE Mageholme's Department of Thaumaturgy in Barnacus commissioned a vast and complex orrery in order to depict for students the interaction of the Outer Planes with the Prime. Since then such devices had become the accepted representation of the cosmos as it was understood on Oerune.An unfolded tesseract, however, was the typical method of representing the Inner Planes. Each cube of the tesseract's face was generally color-coded to correspond to one of the six Inner planes - four Elemental, the Positive Energy, and the Negative Energy Planes. If it were physically possible to fold this hypercube into a standard three dimensional object, then all of the Inner Planes would overlap in the center forming a representation of the Prime Material Plane.It was an accepted truism that despite the fact that the Inner Planes were the building blocks of all existence on the Prime, taken individually, they were inimical to those from the Prime. The most dangerous of these was the Negative Energy Plane. It was Death and Undeath; the Void; the End of All Things. It was Destruction and Unmaking, the polar opposite of life. It killed life because it was its nature to kill; it was what caused death. It was what made living beings age and die; what made wood rot and grass wither.If either Huzair or Morier had spent more time on planer studies they might have protested more vehemently when Ayremac volunteered to break the binding runes.Shamalin sighed, having thought it might come to this. She didn't know if the spell would work, considering the strange state the suspended beings were in. But for their own sake, whatever they were, she knew she had to try. As disturbing as the thought of trying to rouse these creatures from their transfixion was, the idea of stabbing one with her sword seemed worse."Shall I try to Speak with the Dead?" she asked, her reluctance to do so plainly audible in her voice."I say we mar the runes on one first and see if that wakes it up before Shamalin tries to talk with the dead," Lela suggested and the dwarf nodded."Aye lass you have the right of it, I think," Karak told the sprite. "Good work, Lela, spottin' those runes. I say, we mar the runes on one o' them, and hold it still. Then ask it our questions. Of course takin' the mist away may wake it up, do you think we do it thru the mist?""I don't think we should do it at all," Morier stated flatly. "Waking up the dead has too much potential to go wrong." Huzair nodded over his shoulder."We're messing with some powerful magic here," the mage added and Ayremac looked up gravely."Why don't you all stand near the door there, ready to leave if things go bad," the Holy Warrior suggested, gesturing with his glowing morningstar. "I've been able to build up a bit of resistance to cold over the years so it might be best for me to take the brunt of it. I'll mar the rune and step back, waiting to see what happens. If the room clears and the vector is reachable, I will grab it and bring it you.""Good thinking, Ayremac," Shamalin agreed. "I have an Endure Elements spell that I could cast and remain close." Huzair snorted."Good luck... An archmage would have trouble dispelling this," he muttered sarcastically. "I am sure that rubbing away the symbol will work." Shamalin shot him a disapproving look and leaned in close to his ear."Your sarcasm lends power to an already sinister place," she whispered. "Have faith in our efforts." And then she began to cast, calling on her goddess for intervention.Ayremac made relatively short work of the runes. It was loud, work, however. His morningstar clanged again and again on the stone floor, and although both Karak and Morier stood ready at the door, no one came in response to the noise. After a half dozen double-handed blows from the glowing weapon, he had sufficiently marred one of the runes to have an effect. It just wasn't an effect he was hoping for.The mist that swirled within the small cell, began to spill out from an invisible crack in whatever force was keeping it contained. It blossomed like a roiling, bubbling cloud of smoke squeezing through a door left ajar in a burning building. Ayemac backed up, slamming bodily into Shamalin and almost knocking her to the ground in the process. Neither one of them was fast enough to avoid the soul-freezing touch of the cloud and they both screamed as the smoke caressed their flesh, deadening their life force as it came.</blockquote>

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