The Faerie Ring darker magics are at work The city itself is a sight to behold—twisted spires of shadow rise far into the sky, reaching incredible heights, bending at strange angles that would be structurally impossible on the Material Plane The city changes subtly with the phases of the moon, becoming more solid and defined as the moon becomes brighter, peaking with the full moon This may seem counterintuitive, but after all, the brighter the light, the darker the shadow In fact, there are some areas of Zussael that are only accessible during the full moon, and several only appear for those scant few minutes when the moon is at its zenith THE FLICKERS As the Plains of Desolation give way to the Shards, a multitude of intermittent glows, as if from hundreds of fireflies, appears along the northwestern approach to the mountain range—an area known as the Flickers The warm glow seems friendly, and the light initially leads travelers to safety in the plains The creatures creating the glow (related to but not nearly as powerful as will-o’-wisps) are capricious and often become bored with their “guests.” In these cases, they lead victims to precipices, moving just far enough to hide the chasms from view They also enjoy bringing visitors to caves inhabited by grue Oddly, though, if grue or other danger threaten the glowing creatures’ guests before the creatures have grown bored, they reliably lead them to safety Travelers aware of this quirky behavior manufacture danger to assure a safe journey GLASS SEA Named for its smooth surface, side effects of a lack of current and wind, the Glass Sea is the largest body of water on the Shadow Plane The sea supposedly mirrors a placid underground sea in the Material Plane, but no one has found a crossover point between the two planes to verify this Jagged rocks surround the sea and form caves within which one finds safety and occasional portals to the Material Plane The portals lead to a variety of different locales, further confusing the sea’s corresponding location on the Material Plane Most inhabitants of the caves surrounding the Glass Sea are those who have successfully fled from Zussael and now eke out an existence, either by fishing and snaring other creatures beneath the sea’s surface or by making forays into safer portals to obtain goods Unfortunately, crueler and more powerful denizens claim the better locations, leaving the destitute to starve or face a return to the city and the Hidden Blades’ mercy Rumors speak of a caravel belonging to the Silver Path, who ply the sea and collect survivors braving the water Due to the lack of wind and current, sailing the Glass Sea requires incredible manual labor or powerful magic Dangerous predators fill the waters and content themselves with smaller prey beneath the surface or occasional shoreline raids Oars breaking the water’s surface is a sure way to attract these creatures, which destroy the hopes of those crossing the sea to find the rumored caravel GRAND MATRIARCH’S LIBRARY There are whisperings among some of the eldest darklings, those that remember and speak only behind closed doors, that the grand matriarch has a secret library within the bowels of her estate The library, it is said, holds not only the forbidden history of the darklings and rituals to contact the ancient spirits, but any artifacts relating to the darklings unknown past that have fallen into the grand matriarch’s hands Its existence remains but a rumor, however, and none dare question the grand matriarch for fear of being permanently silenced GRIEVING FIELDS A seemingly welcome expanse of prairie breaks up the Plains of Desolation to the west of Zussael In the moonlight, tall flowers, much like sunflowers with white petals surrounding a tenebrous seed head, sway in a breeze However, this prairie is anything but welcome to visitors The Shadow Plane touches on the Material Plane in many places and soaks up negative emotions, mostly related to anguish and loss These emotions are deposited in disparate locations across the plane, and the Grieving Fields are one such location Nourished by the abundance of sorrow, the — 129 —