Voyage to the City of the Shade Makers.

[TLDunn213]

Quest for the Umbral Archives.

Or any other names you want to use here.

This is an outline/framework that you can use to build a quest for an RPG group or as a starting point/outline for a story if you want.

I might try building a story with this later.

Anyway to undertake this Voyage/Quest you will need a few things.

Being insane is often listed.

Although there is some debate about this actually being a requirement. 

An individual or group with some reason to make the trip.

So, let's take a moment to consider reasons for wanting to go there.

Which in turn requires knowing what the place has to offer.

Mostly it offers knowledge. Including the knowledge of how to become a Shade. 

A rather surprising number of sages and scholars have sought this knowledge; for actual use and not just academic coursity; over the ages. 

Or maybe it's not so surprising if you think about it. Of the various types of undead one might consider becoming Shades are the best suited to the purpose of continuing academic activities free from the distractions of being alive. No need to eat or sleep. No worries about getting sick or dieing of old age before you finish studying your chosen subject. 

This has inturn lead to the creation of the Umbral Archives. All that research and knowledge has to be stored somewhere. 

And that somewhere is on the Demiplane of Shadow. Where exactly?

Well, that's rather hard to say as things on the plane of Shadows tend to wander around,  rather a lot actually. 

Fortunately there is a way to travel directly to the Umbral Archives. A few different ways actually. If you have the aid of someone who knows the place well and/or has made the trip often. They can lead you there by way of the Plane of Shadows or a Teleport spell.

Unfortunately people who know the way and are available to act as guides are extremely hard to find. 

However there is another option.

Apart from just blundering about the Plane of Shadows and hoping.

And that option is a ship known as the Shadow. 

The Shadow is said to make port at the Umbral Archives regularly. However it is not known to make port anywhere else.

And finding a captain willing to take you out to meet the Shadow is not exactly easy. 

The Shadow, the Umbral Archives, anyone who wants to go there, or even talk about it, are all things most people consider to be bad luck. Or rather, talking about it: bad luck, actually seeing the Shadow: BAD LUCK.

Although enough money, including the price of Blessings from a Priest and many lucky charms and talismans, can convince some captains to make the trip. 

Make sure you have a reliable way of determining a person's true intent. As more than half the captains who say that they will take you to the Shadow are going to try to kill you and toss you overboard as soon as you are out of sight of land.

One of the other challenges is finding an Orical who can tell you when/where the find the Shadow.

I'll cover the details of how to board and travel on the Shadow later.

Edited May 22 by TLDunn213

[TLDunn213]

Upon first sighting the Shadow you will likely see it maneuvering in a way that is only possible with a full crew.

Any attempts at communicating from this range will receive no direct response. The ship will however take up station keeping once you have signaled your intention to come alongside or otherwise board. 

If the ship doesn't do this or disappears, return to port and get a new time/location to try again.

Once you are within range to do so, you will see absolutely no one on the Shadow. Magical items, spells, etc that enable seeing invisible beings will probably allow you to see the crew. It is generally considered a bad idea to do this. The Shadow disappearing or sailing away are the most common results. There are some reports of the crew of the Shadow attacking. This is largely unconfirmed, but all such reports agree that this happens only if you are already alongside.

As to what the crew of the Shadow look like; I'll cover that a bit later.

Never set foot on the deck of the Shadow until you have asked permission to come abroad.

You will know if it was granted by nothing happening. There are no reports of the request being denied if you were allowed to come alongside in the first place. There are no confirmed reports of anyone being stupid enough to not ask permission. So what exactly would happen is unknown. The most likely reactions are the Shadow disappearing or the offending individual being tossed over the side.

In any event once on board find a spot on the deck that is out of the way of the crew and stay there. Unless you feel like you are being asked to get out of the way, then get out of the way.

Do not interfere with the operation of the ship.

Do not go below decks.

Do not go into the galley. And especially don't sit down and eat when there is a meal on the table. Unless you want to join the crew. More on what happens if you do in a bit.

Do not enter the captain's cabin. Some say you can enter if you ask permission and have a good reason for being there.

Make sure you have a good supply of food and water. If you follow the rules the trip can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of weeks. 

When you arrive at the Umbral Archives. Thank the captain and crew for their hospitality, and get off. 

For those who lack common sense and want to push their luck. Here are the likely results of breaking the rules. 

You will be attacked by the crew, and the ship itself, if you are holding your onw against the crew. They will either throw you over the side, or kill you and then throw you over the side. 

Assuming that the ship doesn't just vanish.

If you are still in the normal world, pray that there is an island nearby. In any case you are in the ocean, good luck.

If you have crossed into the Plane of Shadows, you are stranded there in a random location. Good Luck. Or you have landed in some random Demiplane. You will probably need all the luck you can get.

If you fight the captain and somehow manage to win. Whoever landed the killing blow is now Captain of the Shadow. Everyone else in your group is now part of the Crew. Any surviving members of the original Crew are now as loyal to you as they were to the former Captain. And you are now bound to the service of The Supreme Shadow, Lord of the Umbral Archives, and whatever other titles that notable might happen to have. 

In theory you can take that Title by winning a duel or otherwise conquering the current Supreme Shadow. 

There are no confirmed reports of anyone ever having managed to do it.

The Crew of the Shadow are Shades with the ability to turn invisible and stay that way even when attacking. They are also able to heal themselves as per Vampiric Ring of Regeneration channeled through their weapons.

The Captain has the Crews abilities as well as the ability to Animate Object anything that is part of the Shadow as a free action. And is almost always a Magic User of some sort. 

I might try to work out more exact stats for these guys later.

 

Edited May 22 by TLDunn213

[Snypiuer]

Hmmm, I was contemplating a trip to the Archives for the cookies 🍪. . . I was under the impression that they had REALLY good cookies . . . I was TOLD that, not only were there cookies, but that they were astronomically superior to fresh DoubleTree cookies . . . was I misinformed!?🤨

I am going to be HIGHLY perturbed if THOSE cookies aren't there.😠

[TLDunn213]

Some notes about the City itself.

As noted elsewhere The City of the Shademakers is located in the Plane of Shadows. It's not entirely clear just when, why, how the place got started but the general drift of the story goes something like this. A group of scholars/sages/lore masters ect who were all interested in Shadow Magic, Necromancy and other such related topics worked together to establish a research area free from distractions. Just when they discovered the process enabling the transformation into a Shade is not recorded but it was long ago and over time others learned of the Umbral Archives and came to join the group. Then others came not wishing to become permanent members of the group but wishing to visit and consult with the resident scholars. 

This created a need for the compound to grow into more of a regular city.

For while the Shades don't need to eat or sleep,  visitors who were mostly still among the living most definitely did. And anywhere there is a need that can be satisfied for a profit, sooner or later someone is going to start a business satisfying that need. 

And so all the usual business turned up.

There was already some need for transport to and from the Umbral Archives as many of the Scholars needed research materials, add to that the needs of a growing city.

This lead to the creation of the Shadow Fleet. There are actually several ships that are all The Shadow. 

As the ship is believed to be an Ill omen it never makes port as itself but takes on the aperance of some other ship. Quite probably the ship it was before joining the Shadow Fleet. 

Just how a ship joins the Shadow Fleet is a secret known only to the Captains and the Supreme Shadow. There are likely a few others who have figured it out, But they are not likely to be sharing that information unless they are offered a good reason typically in the form of a rather large amount of treasure or possibly information that is valuable enough.

It is worth noting that because it started as a city of scholars, information and research materials are as much a form of money as actual coins and gems. 

As to the matter of food and lodging it depends on your personal taste and available funds.

If you are broke and/or don't care about quality you can find a place about two streets back from the harbor. Or you can try camping in one of the empty warehouses right along the waterfront.

If you happen to have some coin to spend and want a good deal try looking about five to six streets back from the docks. This is also the point at which you are most likely to find merchants with goods that are actually worth buying.

If you are rich and/or looking for magic items and such you will need to go twenty streets in and get a guard to let you in. The walls and gates here mark the start of the city proper. This is where a city watch actually bothers with patrolling and such. Before this you are in Thieves Guild territory. Not that the Guild doesn't have a presence in the walled parts of the city. But outside the walls they are the ones running things. Inside the walls, they keep a much lower profile.

Edited May 23 by TLDunn213