Shadow Mole

Displayed are the records from Corbin the Spiritwalker during the Shadow Mole incidents of 141 AR.

Interview: Wotan Woodberry (Corruption Effects)

This interview was conducted in the inner Temple of Bendir Village. Wotan states that he has been having vivid nightmares due to the corruption effects that the Shadow Mole awakened. To ease this, he says, Merry and Maya made him an enchanted bed.

His new dreams are of an inner voice telling him “It is time” in the voice of his fallen mentor; Torland Ironfoot who died to Terto (who had succumb to corruption). The dream reveals a green passage that he falls into and floats. When he sees Torland, he wakes. The nightmares mostly involve shadow moles and spriggans.

He was corrupted during the war through a machine that spriggans used to corrupt gnomes by firing at them. He is unsure of how the machine works but believes it may have been powered by shadow moles. Terto was also present during this attack. The pain hit Wotan mind, body and soul but he survived.

He hugged the nearest tree, praying to Baervan causing him to be covered in bark. He assumed that this had drained it but it may have just sealed it away until it was awakened again. He now feels aggressive, easily angered and has been having distressing flashbacks.

Interview: Meriam Fuzzypaw (First Shadow Mole Encounter)

This interview was held in the inner Temple of Bendir Village. On a trip to Glorag Mur, present was Meriam, Wotan, Oskar, Haley, and Bill. They fought their way to the last, locked door of the lair. Golems started to pour out of it. They held them off for a time but the formidable, massive Mingon prompted Meriam to command Oskar and Haley to fall back.

She lured the Mingon into the side room and sealed it. This is when darkness flooded the lower chambers and their animal companions were abducted. Using ultravision, through the darkness they could see the Shadow Mole mauling their companions. It drew away as they approached.

Wotan told them to stay put as he ran ahead to confront the mole. It asked him if he was its new master. The mole asked where Mephez was, an enemy leader from the Spriggan war that Terto executed in revenge. The mole also said it was bound to its location since the war and was very hungry. It wanted blood.

Meriam and Bill tried to join Wotan, to save him from corruption, but the Mingon was in the way. Oskar returned with reinforcements, interrupting the talk, prompting the mole to flee.

Interview: Wotan Woodberry (Second Shadow Mole Encounter)

This interview was held in the inner Temple of Bendir Village. Wotan states that adventurers approached him just outside of Bendir Village. They were wounded and said that they encountered a Shadow Mole in Glorag Mur that appeared in darkness.

He recalls running up to Glorag Mur to confront the beast with recruit Found. When he arrived, he was covered in darkness which awoke the corruption. All the suffering and hate he had during the war returned. Wotan attempted to control the mole using his connection to tame animals. He thought he could banish it however when this failed, he tried to kill it.

He states that no gnome can harm or kill it. However he does recall that recruit Found seemed to be able to harm it. He was lost in fear and anger; it too Meriam's love and attention to bring him back to his senses.

Interview: Recruit Found (Second Shadow Mole Encounter)

This interview was conducted in the inner Temple in Bendir Village. Found states that the Trader outside of Bendir got into a fight with some orcs so he and Wotan were there administering healing. An elf lady came by with a corpse of her friend. Wotan was told the details but Found heard them as well. Her friend was slain by the mole.

Found handed the corpse to Tina, a hin of Bendir, then he and Wotan headed up the Skull Crags to the old dwarven lair; Glorag Mur. They got a speedy from Meriam telling them to wait for backup however Found obeyed Wotan, his commander, instead. They pressed on. Within the lair, everything was covered in darkness.

Wotan gave him a brief background on past Spriggan events when they came upon the mole. It was as large as a northern bear The Mole taunted Wotan (he was not in his right mind). Wotan tried to reach out to the soul of the bear and dominate it but in doing so he corrupted himself.

Found saw, thanks to the faint glow of his sword that Wotan's eyes grew fierce, bestial and his hand grew dark. He also screamed. Then the battle with the beast started. It nearly killed Found but he told Wotan to flee to Bendir to stop the corruption from spreading. The beast was occupied with chasing Wotan so Found stabbed it in the back.

He felled it and blacked out. When he came to, he checked the felled beast to ensure that it was not an illusion. It didn't appear to be. He wants Wotan to be the one known for slaying it as he knows how much pain it has caused the gnomen people.

Interview: Terto Tarquin (Corruption)

This interview was held in transit between the Arcane Tower and the Ursa cave outside of Greyhammer. Terto says that the cave on the mound is important to the Spriggans. He recalled them gathered there during the war. They danced around a gnome bard that was able to turn beasts into regular animals without bloodlust.

He says that corruption could manifest in any one Gnome, due to the Crawler. One could argue that we all carry the vital parts of it all our lives and all that is needed is a little push in the wrong direction. The Urdenlite cult built a device to do exactly that. He does not know how the device functions.

During the onslaughter of Burrowhome by the Urdenlite forces, the device was deployed. Wotan and Terto were caught in a direct blast. The explosion did nothing to them physically but cause them great pain but it also awakened their minds; its effect caused him to see the world as it is and not as we want it to be.

He does not consider corruption to be the right word; rather he was altered. The main trait of this alteration is physical pain. Although he doesn't claim to be corrupted he shows signs of transformation; long fingers with nails curved into a small claw. The skin is cracked, infested with yellow tinted flesh and black veins.

He says that he has not seen any shadow moles but believes that their presence re-activates this corruption; somehow they are linked. He fights Spriggans almost every day suggesting they have no effect.

Terto states that, according to the dogma, bloodlust and greed fuels the corruption. That same dogma states that reverting the corruption is impossible however it doesn't explain why but says that corrupted beings must be vanquished for the safety of many.

Lissa Donnatilo Whitehorn's aunt was converted back to her former self by being reunited with the thing that drove her insane; her own daughter had been missing for many years. The presumed death of her daughter drove her insane and corrupted and mending that wound brought her back.

He claims Garl is not the counter to Urdlen. The pantheon is like a wheel; Garl and Gelf on opposite ends (east and west) and Sheyanna and Urdlen (north and south). She opposes him not Garl. Which may explain why during the war affection hurt the prisoners physically.

Interview: Buppi (Spriggan Prisoners)

This interview was held at sea. Buppi states that the Spriggans were attacking Bendir and going after certain individuals like Lissa. At one point they took over the Grotto. They stormed the Grotto with their favourite tools; gem golems. They took a dwarf hostage. Buppi cannot recall the name, maybe Torgal.

The Earthkin gathered, mostly Brog and headed down the elevator. Tallies were excluded from going along since laws and treaties still mattered. In the Grotto, the gnome guards were killed and some spriggans attacked them in the main communal chamber. They went to the village below but were slowed by traps along the way.

They fought golems and spriggans. The leader of the spriggans was in the village's main building. Wotan and Ivory were guarding the building for some reason. It appeared as though they were following spriggan orders. Buppi says Terto was involved as well and he was clearly working with the spriggans during the war.

The dwarf came out of the building but it wasn't him, it was a copy. Copies were a favored tactic of the spriggans during the war. The would-be guards refused to let the group in to negotiate for the dwarf. Later they got him back by means Buppi does not recall. When they finally did convince the gnomes to let them pass, they stormed the building but it was empty.

They got word of mouth that some dwarves had captured a spriggan. They went to the Grotto cells. The dwarves were questioning and even torturing the spriggan but it seemed to enjoy the chaos and pain. At one point, while the group was discussing how to proceed, Terto went into the cell and made an exchange with the spriggan.

Buppi believes it may have involved golem control stones but he is unsure what Terto traded in return. As the only healer, Buppi was sent in to comfort the Spriggan, as their plan dictated. He tended to its wounds and spoke comfortingly to it which unnerved it. This was the first negative reaction that they got which prompted Buppi to hug the spriggan; it screamed.

It cried out for a time untill it confessed where the main stronghold and cannons were in the Plane of Shadows deep in one of the forests that echoed Arelith Forest. Then they left the spriggan to the gnomes to handle and returned up the elevator to discuss and plan.

Interview: Airli (Third Shadow Mole Encounter)

This interview was held at the Heartwood Grove. Airli states that he wanted to thwart the disgusting dwarven mistakes in Glorag Mur; golems, also known as the ugly things with spirits trapped inside them. He was joined by Aeldrevar, elf and emissary of the Weeping Princess; Vandria Gilmadrith. There were others but they did not share much names.

There was one 'silly billy' that tried to befriend the beast; she was a half-a-man (a hin) who was not as gay as they were known to be, a bit dim; Shenn. She was in the company of humans. She was just like the stories of half-a-man.

She lacked prowess and was right to the point of taking sides with the ugly creature. She was asking it all manner of things even when it called for man flesh. He says that no one should make tea with ugly man-eating things. When they entered Glorag Mur, the place got 'rumbly' and filled with water.

Then the foul mole burrowed up and screeched. It didn't appear that the golems and the mole were working together, just mutually aligned. They fought it and won. Airli says the mole 'melted away' It was dumb and slow and 'nibbly'. It fell easily to Airli. The half-a-man used something explosive to help them leave. This is unclear due to Airli's colourful language.

Interview: Meriam Fuzzypaws (Shadow Mole Hunt)

This interview was held in the inner Temple of Bendir Village. Meriam states that Wotan put out a call to head toward Guldorand then Glorag Mur. He was getting more agitated as the corruption awakened inside him. They set out from Bendir, through the Halls. They joined Suli Mountain, Wotan, and Tabitha at Glorag Mur. Meriam later summoned Falgrim.

They fought their way through Glorag Mur, fighting golems, being led by Wotan. When they got to the workshop it was flooded with salt water. There they encountered water elemental infused golems. They were equipped with electrical traps making them more dangerous. Meriam fought through three of them which significantly hurt her.

The water was pouring out of an elemental gate that stood over the door that went deeper into the lair. It led to the Plane of Water. Meriam used her monolithic air shape to provide everyone with air and keep them from drowning. They fought a lot of sharks but no sign of the Mole. They searched for other planar doorways and found one which led to the para-elemental plane of magma.

They landed on solid rock floating in a sea of lava. Magma elementals assaulted them. They moved forward down the only path available when they came across an actual portal which was likely made by planeswalkers. They took the portal to the Plane of Earth thinking a mole would like to go there. All the planes they entered were true and not the pocket ones that can reached through the astrolabe.

Meriam states that on the Plane of Earth they found living rocks and mad adventurers that were so hungry that they attacked, among them even dwarves. There was also a crazed wizard. His reason for being there is unknown but he was strong enough to cast time stop however Meriam got an inferno spell off. He attacked them on sight.

He fell to the group. They thought he might be a Mole cultist. They searched the area and found a doorway that led to the para-elemental plane of ice. This plane had vicious ice elementals and biting weather. They fought their way through until they found a portal similar to the one in the magma plane.

Although they activated the symbols on it, they didn't enter. Instead they were dumped into the Shadow Moles pocket plane in the shape of a spiral made of stone and metal pathways with the Mole's alter at the center. Two lesser moles appeared before them. They were on the short pathway from the sprial. Entropic beings were present, demons, and drow trained spiders.

All fighting each other; the true realm of chaos, likely torn from Pandamonium. The moles took the forms of friends, Lizza Whitehorn and Garmr, former Ulstevuard of the Golden Halls. The Moles appeared as illusions. They tried to convince the group that they abandoned or forgotten their friends. Meriam states that they live on in spirit and memory.

Meriam pointed out that she was doing the entire trip with overwhelming joy to keep Wotan from being overcome by corruption. She was cracking jokes, pointing out funny things, finding humor regardless of what happened. That clearly upset the lesser moles. The lesser moles made Wotan and Ivory a deal to take them both to the Mole.

They threatened Suli, Falgrim and Meriam that if they moved they would devour their souls. The trio ended up being portaled further away to the spiral walkway while Wotan and Ivory were moved to the center. They couldn't leave them soo they carved through an army of entropic mages, spiders, demons, balors, pir fiends and the like.

The three reached them as the deal was made. Ivory gave her life to heal Wotan completely. Meriam thought it was part of Wotan's plan but it seems improvised by Wotan and Ivory. Ivory got something from the Mole; a flute that summoned and commanded a giant swarm of rats - a connection to the feywilds.

Ivory was a forest gnome so she ended up there instead of truly dying. So the Mole didn't get his soul and Wotan was healed. Meriam named the Mole Steve and mocked it the entire conversation. The Mole then wanted to sacrifice Meriam, Suli and Falgrim. Instead, Meriam told them to kill it.

Meriam turned into a dragon and they all attacked it. The Mole had trouble striking her in combat and it tasted disgusting. As they were killing it, the pocket plane began to collapse. When the creature died, rifts to Pandimoniom opened letting in /many/ entrophic beings. They had to fight their way back out with little to no wards remaining.

They made it by Meriam putting everyone on her back and launching them as close to the portal as she could. She says there is no chance of the Shadow Mole coming back as the plane it bound itself to collapsed. The portal spat them out in Glorag Mur where they entered the Plane of Water. Entropic beings were pouring out the gate as well.

They couldn't decide if to run or fight. Meriam ended up fighting to cover the group's retreat and managed to push two beings back through the portal. She tore the walls around the planar gate down, cutting the magic off and collapsing a large portion of the lower level. Glorag Mur started to collapse around them with massive chunks falling from the ceiling, the rubble blocked them repeatedly.

She cleared the rubble in the way with lightening. At one point, she went back for Falgrim that got trapped in a collapsed corridor on both sides. They ran into Duncan Waynolt, on their way out, and Meriam dragged him out with. [It is important to note that Tabitha and Wotan were present during this interview and may have influenced Meriam's recollection.]

Interview: Wotan Woodberry (Shadow Mole Hunt)

[Please note that Meriam and Tabitha were present during this interview and may have influenced Wotan's statement.] This interview was held in the Inner Temple of Bendir Village. Wotan states that well before the hunt he felt the negative energies of the corruption taking effect. Nightmares started to be more real with violent outbursts and thirst for blood.

Before the hunt Meriam worked with him to help him avoid stress and such through love, positivity, kindness and stopping him from rushing to kill Terto Tarquin who fell to corruption when he killed Mephez in anger. Meriam worried that the encounter with Terto would seal Wotan's fate.

Wotan felt twisted, bend and sick. His skin, claws and fangs were affected turning into a spriggan. Much like what Terto is like, these days, under his armor. The best he can describe it is he was full of negativity.

When he encountered the Mole, he made it believe that he had come to serve Urdlen and Ivory was his angry lover. They were buying time so Merry and company could reach them. The proximity with the Mole made the corruption feel stronger like being one with it. The Mole was the source of the corruption itself, given form.

Ivory traded her life to cure Wotan. He says that when the corruption was lifted, he felt truly free like never before, life was flowing into him. No nightmares, no flashbacks. A weight had been lifted. When the mole died by his arrows he felt something that perhaps only a gnome can feel there, that evil had been driven out.

Since then he has been able to sleep, be happy, experience positive things and smile. He describes his memory during the hunt as being cloudly like he was a different person under the corruption. Merry's jokes kept hurting him but it was because her positivity was keeping him under control.

Interview: Falgrim Vintergard (Shadow Mole Hunt)

This interview was conducted in the tavern within the Golden Halls. Falgrim says he was outside the Golden Halls when he came across Ivory. She had a mischievous mood about her; stating she was on a quest. Later when he was inside the Golden Halls, the Mayor of Bendir; Meriam ran past shouting about the Mole and Wotan.

He was occupied at the time so did not join right away however later, after sending work by speedy, Meriam summoned him to Glorag Mur. When he arrived, the area they were in was flooded. They fought golems, some infused with water spirits. It was at this point that Tabitha left due to the electrical traps making the water dangerous. They found the source of the water; a door leading into the true plane of water (unlike to the astrolabe). They struggled to breath however Meriam changed to her air form, allowing them a pocket of air. They fought sharks and fish while searching for a way out. They found a door in an underwater cliff. They door led them to a landscape of ash.

It was later believed to be the para-elemental plane of magma (Ivory joined them). They fought many magma creatures. They found a spot that appears to have been used by plane traveling wizards; it had sigils on the ground representing different planes. While they tried to decide which plane to pick, Wotan could barely contain his anger.

Meriam sought the answer of which path to pick through magic however they finally settled on the Plane of Earth due to it being the most hospitable for moles; the others were an abyssal layer and the para-elemental plane of ice. Falgrim says that in the Plane of Earth they mostly found and fought living rock.

As they wandered on, they found a small camp with a crazed wizard, possibly human. The wizard attacked them and they felled him. The only interesting possession he had was a book of smells. The group's best theory was that the wizard may be a cultist of the Mole, gathering smells for it as this is what moles use for navigation.

While Falgrim was collecting samples for his rune masters other crazed people attacked; humans and dwarves. They appeared to have gone mad from hunger. They wouldn't listen to reason so the group was forced to kill them. When they wandered again, they found another portal. He doesn't recall if anyone did anything special or if it was a stroke of luck.

This time they ended up in the para-elemental plane of ice. The weather was attacking them as much as the natives, with constant ice storms. The weather was so bad that they elected to pick any direction just not to get pinned down. After some time, they found another of the improvised portals. It had more sigils that represented planes; ice, lava, earth and the last was some sort of diabolical plane.

They ended up in one where everything looked spiderlike, like old Udos in the lower dark. Small narrow bridges, spider web etchings, statues of spiders and everything beneath the walkways was pitch black. They stood on a platform and before them was Ulstevaurd Garmr Stonesoul, a shadow variant of him.

The reason why the shadow moles' pawns took his form was because they used a shadow clone of him during the illusionary war. They talked to him but Falgrim doesn't recall any specifics. He knew it was a fake because the real one died several years ago. Another appeared,it was Lissa Whitehorn, Mayor of Bendir during the illusionary war and Archmage of the Tower.

She also had shadow characteristics. Once the shadow moles knew they didn't 'buy it' then they turned into shadow moles again. Wotan agreed to something and he and Ivory were transported elsewhere. That left Meriam, him and Suli. They were transported to the next platform over. Everywhere were infernal creatures, many fighting each other.

They followed the narrow paths, which they discovered was clearly a maze. After a long time they reached the middle where Wotan and Ivory were talking with the true shadow mole, the massive one. Falgrim didn't know the plan beyond that they were going to hunt down the creature. Wotan said he had a plan and to trust him, along the way. They were arguing back and forth with the creature. Somehow Wotan had convinced it to free him from the corruption but the mole needed something in return. So he killed ivory. It was crazy but she was smiling and everything so Falgrim assumed it was part of the plan and agreed to follow even without knowing. He recalls Meriam being shocked.

After they slayed the Shadow Mole, Wotan told them that Ivory traveled to the fey wilds and that she wanted to do that for a long time. Meriam told them to retreat so he started to, leaving the plane. Glorag Mur seemed to be collapsing, he doesn't know why, so they moved out swift. He believes Meriam collapsed the portal so people wouldn't walk in by mistake and more infernals couldn't come out.

Research Notes: Shadow Mole

My search has found that the Shadow Mole cannot be felled on the Prime. This is due to the Spriggan connection to the Shadow Plane. Notably, the location at which this Shadow Mole is bound to; Glorag Mur, is attuned to the Astrolabe so it is very likely that the Mole is crossing planes to hide.

It is my recommendation that a hunting party involve magic users capable of scrying or tracking magical disturbances as well as rangers that can track across terrain. It is very likely that the Mole is holed up in the Shadow Plane or the Abyss (Molrat layer, perhaps).

I suggest that the hunting party ward for mind effecting magic as it is very likely that the Shadow Mole's corruption abilities extend to those with burdened or darkened dispositions. It is important to note that the corruption can be affected by love, affection, friendship and joy.

I highly recommend that the hunting party involve friends and loved ones of Wotan Woodberry to maximize corruption resistance effectiveness.