Heartspace...
Off the well established trade routes of the Radient Triangle lies a crystal sphere called Heartspace. It's main world, Crescent, is known for being dreary and dull. Grey was the color of choice for most of the natives, mainly because of a religious and cultural additude that being "visible" was bad for the spirit. The one redeaming factor of the planet's main city, Compact, was the Great Archive, one of the largest and most extensive repositories of knowledge in the known spheres. It was because of this archive that a solitary squid ship now rested in the harbor of the city. The squid ship, painted bright bule with silver and aquamarine highlights, stood out like a lantern in a dark forest when viewed with the rest of the harbor. The squid ship, a free adventurer known as the Calla Maraine, was the only spelljammer in port. This was the rainey season; most travellers preferred to visit other ports. On this day, the rain was falling heavily, leaving an ever changing pattern of tiny streams on the stone streets of the city. The wind was cold, and very few people walked the streets.
Two humans, one a heavily mussled man dressed in black, and the other, a woman with bronze skin and long, black hair, entered one of the more respectable inns of the city. The Great Archive stood silently on a hill above them. Once inside the inn, they quickly shook their cloaks to shed the excess water. From the other side of the room, two other humans gestured to the pair. They walked over to a table near the fire to join the others.
"We can get into the Archive tomorrow," Skot, the man said. "They are currently repairing a hole in the roof."
"That will be fine," Tiegorus of Maplegrove answered. Tiegorus was small for a human, but proportional. Her reddish-brown hair, normally long and curley, was today tied in a bun and tucked under a hat. Still, she was a stunning beauty.
"I still have to go over some of the materials on the ship," she added. "I doubt I would be ready until tomorrow anyway."
"The rest of the crew want some shore leave," Bagath stated. Bagath, a Cosmotist Druid, was Tiegorus's husband, and the everyday operation of the Call Maraine often fell to him, while his wife worked tirelessly on her quest for magical knowledge.
"They don't want it here," Tempest added. "This place doesn't like strangers." Tempest was a human, but she looked like something else. Her mother had been a wizard, and her parents were seasoned space travellers. At one time her parents were being persued by the beholders. When they realized the Tempest was to be born, they decided to flee to a safe place to raise their child. Her mother was forced to use a major helm well into her seventh month. This magical mutation caused Tempest to be born with bronze skin, hair that was black with a white stripe down the middle, and colorless eyes. She also had an aptitude for certain kinds of magic, including the use of a spelljamming helm. She was perhaps the best helmsman available, and she had never failed the Calla Maraine. "In fact," she continues, "Skot and I were given several invitations to leave."
"Agreed," Bagath said. "They will have to wait until our next destination, wherever that is." He chukled and sipped his ale.
"That's what I need to find out," Cherry (Tiegorus) said. "If I can find any clue to the location of the key segments, it's here."
"You appear very confident," Barath said.
"I have to start somewhere," Cherry said with an impish smile.
After years of research, Cherry Tiegorus had finally uncovered a clue regarding the White Nimar. Eight centuries ago the last of the White Nimar had boarded The Spelljammer and left Cartania. This after a centuries-long conflict called the Magic Wars, when the White Nimar battled their wicked counterparts, the Black Nimar. With the Black Nimar defeated, the people of Cartania, tired of the continued battles, demanded that the White Nimar leave forever, which they did. One of them, a renegade named Darran-Koor, had remained behind a little longer. He knew, somehow, that Cartania would need the Nimar again, so he had left behind a means for their return. This was a key, divided into five parts, that would open a hidden vault on Cartania where the secrets of the Nimar were housed. The pieces of the key were scattered across the spheres, and Darran-Koor had vanished, leaving only a cryptic message. One of the pieces of the key was securely in Cherry's possession, locked away at her villa on Cartania, trillions of miles away. She had to find the other four pieces. Perhaps the Great Archive would give her a clue of where to look.
A messenger had reached her on the world of Crescent. Gordon Yarnof, one of her old adventuring companions, had found an artifact giving clues to the locations of the remaining four segments. One of them was reported to be in Ringspace, and he himself would search for that one. Another was reported to be in Pirtlespace, where Darlena Webb would search. The remaining two were still unaccounted for. There was reason to believe that one of them was in the hands of the arcane; Tabatha Cherna had been sent to tell Hall-ee-mor Dargess of this fact. The last piece, the center piece of the strange, ring-shaped key, was lost without a trace. It was this centerpiece that Cherry would concentrate on finding.
Through the next day, the four travellers wandered around the vast halls of the Great Archive, tracking down and referencing the various bits of information gained from the index. Bagath had used the strange, gnommish indexing machine to generate a huge list of sources. In a small conference room on the top floor of the archive, Cherry sat amid a pile of papers, scrolls, artworks, artifacts, books, and clay tablets. Gnomes occasionally came by the check on her progress and remove unwanted or used works, while Bagath, Skot, and Tempest brought fresh materials from the stacks.
Every so often, a magical pen would write a few notes on an easel that was in the corner of the room. With the permission of the librarian, Cherry had cast a personal spell on the Great Archive - something she called Tiegorus's Relentless Researcher - to do some of the hard work of tracking obscure citations.
It was late afternoon when she finally stopped, and her face was very pale. She haddn't eaten all day, but she wasn't pale from hunger. An open scroll lay in front of her, while the magical pen copied down the poem that was written there. Bagath came up becide her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and quietly read the poem. He too went pale.
The poem was the cryptic message that Darran-Koor had left on the day he left Solaris, almost 800 years ago. It read:
The White will return some day anon,
When the Black return to darken the dawn.
Five parts of the key will rekindle the sun,
When placed together, the five made one.
The White will return, but not by your hand,
Only a Nimar can make the first stand.
I will be waiting, in a city burned stark,
By the mountains of a world, where the sun burns dark.
The first stanza was apacrophyl, while the second heald some concrete references. Deep in the musty chambers of the Archive, Tempest had found a map. It was a world that no one in living memory had visited. In fact, most believed it to be a legend. On the map was a city named Tyr, and to its west was a mountain chain. To the east was a wide open plain, and eventually a shallow, silty sea. All of the evidence pointed to this city. This was where the fifth segment of the Key was. On a world where the sun burns dark: Athas.
"I was hoping this wouldn't be necessary," Cherry whispered.
"But you knew it would be," Bagath offered. "Otherwise you wouldn't have asked Hall for a copy of the Tranax map."
"I know, it's just that..." Cherry stumbled on her words for a minute. "That sphere has been sealed for over a millenia, and if the legends of the place are true it should stay that way. If we go in there we may unleash untold destruction on the rest of the spheres."
Bagath was very quiet. He was a listener, not a talker.
"Perhaps the loss of Solaris is..." Cherry couldn't finish the sentence.
"You don't mean that," Bagath whispered. "We must save Solaris. What choice do we have?"
Cherry sighed heavily and stood up to embrace Bagath. After a few minutes Cherry looked away.
"We'll need a Psionicist," she said.
"Funny you should mention that, because I think we may have one."
That night, Cherry and Bagath returned to the Calla Maraine. Cherry was carrying a large bag filled with notes and scrolls from the Great Archive. It hadn't rained that day, but the air was still raw and uncomfortable. When they reached the dock, they noticed a short, elfen-like woman looking at the ship. Tempest was pointing out some of the ship's features to the curious visitor.
"Ma'm," Tempest called, "this kender would like to join the crew."
"Kender?" Cherry whispered. That's all we need, she said to herself.
Tempest walked up to Bagath and Cherry while the kender walked up and down the pier.
"She's a psionicist, and a good one," Tempest said. "She was able to levitate the ship!"
"Impressive," Bagath commented.
"She says she was trained by a Fal in Heardspace, and that she has a variety of skills to her name," Tempest added. Her voice lowered somewhat. "In light of where we are going, she may be useful."
Cherry just nodded and started for the kender.
"What's your name?" Cherry asked.
The kender turned around rapidly. She has wearing a white dress that looked something like a wizard's cloak, with a red belt and sleeve cuffs, and high, black boots. She had an elfin look, like that of a teenage girl, but her ears marked her as a kender. Her thick black hair cascaded all over her shoulders.
"Gaeadrelle Goldring, but you can call me Gaye," she answered with a big smile. "I'm a psionicist, and a seasoned space traveller. I've been through over a dozen spheres! Would you like me to tell you about them?"
"Not now," Cherry answered softly. "I understand you want to join my crew?"
Gaye nodded and said "Sure, but only if my friend can come with me."
"Where is your friend?"
"On your ship, having a look. He's a half-elf, and he lives for space travel." Gaye paused. "He was even at the Battle of the Broken Sphere."
"We'll talk to him." Cherry and Bagath walked onto the ship as Gaye resumed looking at the ornate brasswork on the Calla Maraine's railings.
The pair entered the ornate, main chamber of the Calla Maraine, where they saw Skot speaking with a half-elf. From the few seconds of conversation they caught, it was clear that this half-elf was also well-travelled and experienced. If he was to come along, at least he woudn't be dead weight.
"Captain, sir," Skot said, "meet Djan Alantri."
The half-elf stood up curteously and shook hands with Cherry and Bagath.
"I understand you and the kender are looking for work?" Bagath asked.
"Indeed we are," Djan answered. "I come from this dreary place, and I can only take it for short periods of time. I've seen so many other places, that this looks drearier each time I come home." Djan paused. "Being a half-elf in a city of purist humans doesn't help, and having a kender for a friend makes it even worse."
Cherry smilled and nodded. She needed some new crew members. She was releived that two experienced travellers were available.
"The accomidations on this ship aren't exactly the best," Cherry said, "but its a smooth ride and a reliable one."
"Nonsence," Djan said with a sarcastic smile. "This is one of the best looking ships to drop into Compact in years. Heck, people were staring at you when you sailed in. The accomidations will be fine."
In truth, the Call Maraine was very well furnished and supplied. The cargo area had been converted into a variety of rooms. The ship could only carry about five tons of cargo, but twenty people could live on it, very comfortably, for several months.
"Before you sign on, you should know were we are going. This could be a one way trip to death," Cherry said, very seriously.
Djan paused then called for Gaye. Gaye came running in like an energetic little girl and stood becide Djan. Tempest followed and locked the door. Bagath unlocked one of the cabinets on the wall and withdrew a chart.
"Have either of you ever heard of Athaspace?"
