The following is an excerpt from a research journal found in the Tower of The Beyond in 969 RH. It was written by a researcher working for the Wizards of The Beyond and relates to The Stone of Divine Bargaining.
The first matter of business was to find out how the
stone was used in the past, if at all. After exhausting just about every diviner in the realm, and wasting time listening to some
myths told by a tribe of desperate
kenku, the
wizards found a few leads. They believe there were exactly two instances of its use, but they were only able to gather details on the most recent occurrence.
The First Use
Any information on the earliest use of the stone is mere speculation. There are some who theorize that the very universe that they’re in restarted at some point after undoing the efforts of the earliest gods in existence. This goes further than the speculated capabilities of the stone that they have now, but it’s possible that the stone used in this “old universe” had different properties and may not have been in the shape of a stone at all. Regardless, this line of thought is impossible to prove and doesn’t bear pursuing.
The Second Use
The latest instance of the stone’s use was reported by a cultist who wished to remain anonymous and managed to succeed in retaining that anonymity despite the wizards’ best efforts. This person claims that the stone was used to reclaim the soul of someone precious to the one who claimed all of the shards. This soul was devoured by Bhaal after being sacrificed to him by his worshipers.
A soul devoured does not come back; not unless the soul was never devoured in the first place. Now, despite Bhaal’s best efforts, he will never be able to reclaim that precious person’s soul again. It’s said that the one who claimed the stone gave it to Selûne, who ascended from being a lesser deity, to a greater one, and one of the most powerful and influential gods in several pantheons.
The Experiments
After learning of the stone’s capabilities,
Knuramus sent many explorers out to find the remaining shards. Meanwhile, he opted to have his home team conduct a few experiments on the shard that they already possess. Here are some of the things they found out:
The shard was able to pass through gates and be held in bags of holding, but when we attempted to send it into another plane entirely, it created a massive resurgence of energy that caused heavy damage to everything and everyone around it. We believe that the artifacts of
The Beyond do not have issues with “pocket” versions of planes or dimensions, but aren’t meant to fully leave their intended place of origin.
One experiment involved attempting to shatter the shard, which supposedly happened as a last resort by Knuramus after becoming increasingly frustrated with his lack of findings. They learned a bit more about what The Beyond responds to, but more often they only found out what it didn’t.
- Non-magical damage does nothing.
- Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Psychic, and Thunder damage does nothing.
- Necrotic and Radiant damage caused the shard’s form to shift slightly but always returned to its original shape and form.
The only successful way to damage the shard was through Force damage. Raw, unfiltered magical energy. Even then. came at a cost. Every time it was shot with a Magic Missile, the caster would experience the same damage that the shard withstood. The strangest part is that when we healed the caster, the shard also began to repair itself. We attempted this again, this time using a mending spell on the shard directly, but the caster’s wounds did not heal. It was as if the shard was telling us that we are all connected to the power inside of it.
We cannot destroy it without destroying ourselves.
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