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Interlude: Preparations for Limbo

The party gathers information in Tollen.

Timeline

Philosopher’s Guild Information

The party trades the Dust of Glibness from Ra’ghemdros’ Hoard for information about how to heal extraplanar wounds, and the Frostbrand Greatsword, also from Ra’ghemdros’ Hoard, for information about how to travel safely in Limbo. They receive these letters:

Philosopher’s Information Concerning Extraplanar Wounds
Philosopher’s Information Concerning Limbo

Knowledge from Contact Other Plane

The party asks a number of questions of extraplanar powers, include several for Rai himself, as well as follow up questions for the Tanshi.

Questions to Rai

Are the monks of the Awakened Soul alive? Answer: in a sense
Are they near you? Answer: yes
Can you move? Answer: no
Do we need to bring anything in particular to Limbo to heal the wound? Answer: not that I know

Research in Tollen

The party searched in the University of Tollen and the various libraries and other sources of information on Vindristjarna for knowledge about Limbo, about Isingue, about extraplanar wounds and the nature of the multiverse, and a variety of other topics potentially relevant to the journey to Limbo. From this research comes the following information.

The basics of Limbo are easy enough to uncover. It is commonly mentioned in standard works of planar geography or arcane cosmology, though typically only in passing. All authorities agree that Limbo is associated with chaos, and the fundamental property of Limbo is that nothing remains constant. In particular, elements transmute into other elements rapidly, so fire may rapidly transmute to ice or stone, which may in turn collapse into water or blow away as a gust of wind.

However, deeper studies are rare. Planar geographers rarely pay attention to Limbo, for it is thought to be impossible to map. Even the depths of the Nine Hells or the endless pits of the Abyss have permanent features that can be described, arranged, placed in context – not so Limbo. Arcane cosmologists and other scholars shy away from Limbo, not the least because it is has no known native inhabitants. Not only does it have Demons or Devils that can be studied, and even in some cases questioned, but the lack of natives makes it unclear the purpose of the study of Limbo. The secrets of the Abyss can, perhaps, defer corruption and death at the hands of demons. But what good are the secrets of Limbo?

Nonetheless, there are four lines of research that have turned out to be productive. First, there are scholars who believe that the Cha’mutte, the enemy of the Great War, drew much or all of his power from Limbo. Second, still remain pieces of ancient works, most notably The Unstable Sphere and the catalogs of Gaius Devarro, that reflect the knowledge of Limbo during the height of the Drankorian Empire, when extraplanar scholarship flourished. Third, there are persistent claims that the nature of the evils of the Plaguelands result from corruption from Limbo itself, a line of argument most proposed by various scholars but explicitly outlined in mathematical form by the discredited dwarven scholar Harbek Ferrystone. Fourth, while not directly related to Limbo itself, there is much useful information about planar connections, which has been a historical and current focus of scholarship at the University of Tollen.

This information is outlined below:
- Research about Limbo and Cha’mutte
- Research about Ancient Sources on Limbo
- Research about Limbo and the Plaguelands
- Research about Planar Connections