Later that day, Soliana welcomes Heppa and Tric into her study. Unlike Fenowin, she has a proper house with walls, not a cave with ivy curtains. However, there are various plants growing throughout the space, and the floor is packed dirt, not planking or rushes. Although she can hover, when Soliana greets them, she is standing on the ground, barefoot. Her twisted branch staff leans in the corner, leaves sprouting upon it. There is a side table, upon which Heppa’s maps are spread, but Soliana does not have racks of books and scrolls like Thrandolil does. Hers is not that kind of knowledge. It is experiential; it is what the fae currents tell her.
The conversation starts with mushrooms, as that is what caught Soliana’s attention during the council meeting. “A natural lifeform that is now permanently imbued with corruption!” she says, harkening back to the mention of the dapper inkcap. “That is not a concept I have come across before.”
Heppa shares that the wose Roombledoombledeur did not have any suggestions on how this came to be, though it knew the change happened after humans—and supposedly necromancy—came to the continent. “Was this the intentional outcome of an experiment on the mushroom or was it a by-product? Unknown. Mushrooms are the most likely thing to grow on the dead, though, so maybe the dapper inkcap somehow suffered from the plague touch,” Heppa muses. “But all of them? Hmm… maybe through their fungal network.”
Dapper inkcap grows primarily in caves and other dark places. Certainly there are some areas where it grows in the Heart Mountains. Soliana does not have any personal experience with this mushroom, though. The information exchange is a delight to Heppa. It is so nice to have a really interested person to talk with. Up until now, she has not thought much about plants being corrupted, but Blululldrum has indicated people can bear it, people such as Heppa. It occurs to her that this might also be what Kachen suffers from, some sort of inherited corruption, just like what mature dapper inkcap mushrooms pass on to the next generation through their spores. Mal-Ravanal was steeped in necromancy, and Heppa does not know at what point in his magical career he had children. Probably ingesting so much dapper inkcap has not been great for Kachen’s corruption levels, either. Even if it is how he stops undead from finding him, it might be fighting fire with fire.
For a brief moment Heppa’s heart flutters in panic at the thought that she might be introducing the same problem into her own community—not that she is going to have children anytime soon. But surely she is not as bad off as all that; she is not attracting walking corpses, after all. She just has the concerns of a wose to go on. And she is not sure about exposing her personal problems to an elvish star. There are no stars in Estbryn Forest. This is a level attained by only a handful of elves ever. Soliana does not seem as scattered as Fenowin, but she is interested in this mushroom issue to an intense degree. She may be one of the foremost experts on shamanistic magic in the world, but that comes at the cost of her being detached from many everyday concerns. Compassion for people is not her mission, oneness with the fae is.
While Heppa is mulling that over, Tric tells Soliana about the physical corruption they dealt with near the Estbryn Forest, the water pollution caused by a dwarvish mining technique. To Tric, this is akin to the spiritual corruption that they experienced first hand in the Grey Woods. In the water case, the best they could do was stop the source of the problem and then allow the water table to slowly heal itself. “Does this kind of corruption slowly heal itself?” he asks Soliana. “Or are dapper inkcaps forever corrupted and the Grey Woods can never be saved?” That would not bode well for their final rest research. However, rather than wait for an answer from Soliana, Tric compulsively begins weaving stories. “In that case, we should cede it to the humans in some trade agreement, and they’ll think they got a good deal. Different humans than the ones we kicked out, of course….”
Heppa gets them back on track, trying to subtly move the conversation in the direction she needs it to go. “These mushrooms can be corrupted. What about if people got corrupted? Can that happen? Even elves? And is there a way to clear the corruption out of them?” she asks. She is not bold enough to explicitly say that she is concerned about her own state. It is true that Soliana has not suggested destroying all dapper inkcap everywhere, but given how Fenowin can get carried away, Heppa wants to remain careful with what she reveals. It occurs to her that if Soliana has ideas on how to treat her own condition, she could in turn apply that to Kachen.
“It is unfortunate that corruption can happen to elves,” Soliana says sadly. “It’s not widely circulated, but there was a tragic incident of an elf succumbing to it. Unfortunately, the only recourse available was to end that elf’s… unlife. Not many elves are aware that necromantic magic is essentially the flip side of fae magic.” Heppa begins furiously scribbling this information down, worries of her own condition swept aside by curiosity of a fascinating new topic. “I am not talking about natural decay, mind you. Decay and death are part of the natural cycle. But necromancy seeks to circumvent that. If necromancers had their way, there would be no nutrients in soil.” That last comment seems almost a non sequitur, but an elvish star’s priorities are different from an elvish scout’s. “You need decay for life to happen. You need death for new life, and necromancy bypasses that. Most elves are wise enough to stay away from that, but there have been elves who have meddled in it and paid the ultimate price, the loss of their souls and their lives, too. I’m not just talking about ancient history. There’s a recent example from just the last hundred years.”
“Right, from the Aethenwood,” Tric comments. Soliana must be talking about Lady Ethiliel’s teacher, the sage who became Mal M’brin.
“One would hope that one could reach the corrupted elf, talk them down, and bring them back from that path before they got too far down it,” Soliana says. She then takes on a more strict tone, as she looks at both young elves and cautions them, “Necromancy is never the answer to the problems that one has. Elves are not immune to corruption. We are made of sturdier stuff than humans are; they succumb much more easily. Even just fancy baubles can warp the soul of an unwary human.”
Tric pulls out a snack, nervously nibbling on it, as he considers what that means for him. I had an important bauble for a time, he thinks, remember how that necromancer’s staff made him feel.
Soliana tells them about the Sceptre of Fire that the humans use to designate who their ruler is. It is an ornate rod crafted by dwarves with the Ruby of Fire mounted on top. The ruby has been passed down among the humans for over a thousand years. Any human who interacts with it, if they are not strong of will, will grow paranoid and corrupt—in a social sense. They begin to distrust everyone. “This is part of the reason why Wesnoth is such an unstable collection of humans. They use this artifact, the Wesnothians do, because one who can demonstrate mastery over it is worthy to lead. Unfortunately, they also have a hereditary tradition. So sometimes it gets passed down to someone who cannot handle it!” Soliana throws up her hands. “Who knows why the humans think this is a good idea. There is no trial period; they are not conducting tests of worthiness with it. They do not use it to choose which of their children will inherit. It is madness, but it is what the humans choose to do.” She sighs, shaking her head at human choices.
“How do we know it’s this sceptre and not just the stress of leading their fractious human kingdom?” Tric asks.
“Or the bloodline?” adds Heppa.
“There have been some incidents of their bloodline getting interrupted and other people coming to power but still having the sceptre,” Soliana says. “Originally, it was just a ruby, but it is an artifact of power. The dwarves put it in a setting for the humans, mounting it properly. And while dwarves have no sense of the fae, they are able to accomplish something with their scratchings.”
“Some dwarves are not without magical talents, we’ve found,” Tric says.
“Yes, yes,” Soliana says dismissively. “They have their little etchings that they do.”
Tric does not really want to derail the conversation, but thoughts of Glammur have raised a point he is interested in. “So, necromancy is the opposite of fae energy, right? Is there an opposite to human arcane magic? How do various other magical forms fit into this picture?” He does not come right out and name storytelling magic, not yet.
“The dwarves closely guard the rituals associated with the runes of power that they carve into things. I do not know anything particular about those,” Soliana admits. “For them, it is a matter of stamping their armor or hammers with something that will enhance them. Or their walls, to make teleportation runes,” she says casually, though this is fascinating new information to her audience. “They also have this side-business of making artifacts for humans. How much of the dwarvish rune-learning goes into that, I don’t know.”
“But it seems that there are certain ways of drawing upon magic that can lead to corruption but aren’t necromancy-specific,” Heppa says in a roundabout manner. Soliana immediately asks her to elaborate. Rather than pull Lady Sabine’s ring out just yet, Heppa explains, “Human forbidden magics seem to be about the way of accessing magical energy, whether it explicitly calls forth undead or not. Like the lightning mages.”
Soliana nods. “Liches can send bolts of power shooting across open space to zap you,” she warns, speaking from personal experience back in her younger days.
“Whereas traditional human mages are fond of fireballs,” Tric observes.
Soliana shrugs. “There’s nothing wrong with that. That doesn’t corrupt anything.” Heppa is a little disappointed that the star does not have any greater insight into human magics. As far as Soliana is concerned, the only aspect of it that matters is that necromancers are a blight to the natural world.
Heppa has touched so many magical artifacts in the past few months: Lady Sabine’s ring, the purple crystal from the staff they found under South Tower, the blue crystal from the Foul Fen staff, even that broken rod in Daddy’s office. Any of those could be the source of her problem, though Blululldrum’s comments implied the ruby ring might be the most immediate trouble. Heppa pulls it out now. “I do have a rune, if you’d like to inspect it,” she says, holding it out to Soliana.
Soliana takes the ring and examines it, noting the rune carved in the stone. “I am not a crafter of magical items,” she admits, “but if the stone in this ring is anything like the Ruby of Fire, then you could be dealing with something that can change the wielder if they are not strong of spirit. But, at the same time, there are plenty of baubles that the humans have that enhance things without warping the personality of the wielder. That this is stamped with something, I would say is a cause for concern.”
“But how would you know?” Heppa asks. To her disappointment, Soliana shrugs.
“Runes are not a thing elves do,” the star says. “As far as this equipment goes, I cannot help you. That this has a rune suggests to me that it was crafted by a dwarf. But dwarves are rather secretive about that aspect of their craftship. I don’t know if you would be able to get a dwarf to tell you anything about that. That is who you would have to go to; the dwarves are the people who have that knowledge.”
“Ah, so you would not be able to know if it was corrupting just by somebody activating it or using it, not until they go crazy?”
Soliana suggests, “You could monitor the person and see if their behavior shifts when they are dealing with the object. That is how I would approach it. Like, if a person is becoming more greedy or possessive…”
Or takes an unhealthy interest in undead activities… Tric mentally adds, though that could apply to him or Heppa or Kachen… or Thrandolil.