The Shadow Fey Road Ritual

**Level -** *4*

**Components** - *100gp or 2 hit dice, consumed with the casting of the spell and special component*

**Casting Time -** *10 minutes*

**Duration -** *Instantaneous*

**Key Skill -** *Arcana or Nature*

*The Road is known more commonly to non-fey as the Shadow Road or Fey Road.*

*This ritual permits travel to designated locations within the Shadow Realm, throughout the lands of the Moonlit King and the Queen of Night and Magic. The starting points in the mortal realm must be a site of a murder, suicide, or other significant tragedy. A fresh recreation needs to happen in a loose sense. To cast the ritual, the ritualists spin a lantern and lift it in and out of a bag of sackcloth, creating alternating light and shadow. At the same time, the ritualist and any travelers move from an area of dim illumination to an area of darkness. A confession of lost love, betrayal, or failure adds +2 to the Arcana check. If someone moving with the travelers but not accompanying them to the destination provides this confession, add +4. Eladrin, elves, and other creatures with fey blood gain a +5 bonus to their Arcana check when opening the Shadow Road. At the completion of this ritual, make an Arcana check (ONLY those with fey blood may substitute Nature). The result determines the duration that the road remains open.*

**Skill Check Result**

*Portal Duration*

**10 or lower -** Portal stays closed

**11 – 13** - 1 round

**14 – 18 -** 2 rounds

**19+** - 3 rounds

*While the portal is open, any creature that enters the circle at the fey door appears at the other location 1d4 hours later along with anything the creature holds or carries. If the creature travels with several others, they all arrive in the same round and in the same sequence that they entered the road. The destination of the road is always set when the portal is opened; the destination can be changed only with effort. Those with fey blood can choose to change the destination of the Shadow Road, imposing a -5 penalty to the Arcana roll. The fey creature must have visited the new destination before, not merely heard of it (a bartered memory is also sufficient, see page 30). Any number of creatures of any size can use an open road; the only limitation is the number that can reach the portal before it disappears. Certain fey roads are guarded; others lead in only one direction. Anyone standing in the vicinity of either end of the portal sees a foggy road through a forest but no hints of the destination. Environmental effects at one end of the road don’t affect the other end.*

**Shadow Road Lore**

*Arcane or Nature Check DC Result:*

**10 or less** - You really don’t know how the Shadow Road works.

**11 – 13** - Fey Roads connect two points through magical travel. The two points are always set in advance, and the doors to them are never open long.

**14 – 18 -** The entrances to the Shadow Road must be a site of a murder, suicide, or other significant tragedy.

**18 – 24** - The destination of a Fey Road can be changed, most often by the fey themselves, but it can also be changes by anyone who has visited the destination and has some mastery of the Arcane.

**25+** - Some Fey Roads are guarded, and others lead only in one direction.