Introduction to the Confluence

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Title: Introduction to the Confluence

Author: WINTERDAWN

Date Published: 2021-10-07

What is the Confluence

The Elemental Confluence is a nexus of interplanar collision between the Prime Elemental Planes and the material plane where Elanthia exists. This just means that it’s an unnatural occurrence between our plane of existence and another. It arrived in 5115 and appears to be here to stay due to us messing with it.

In terms that we’re more interested in…

The Confluence is a place for those that are 80th training or higher, with foes that are of 95th to 100th train difficulty.

Where is the Confluence

Entrances to the Confluence are all over. They are the elemental instabilities you see as you travel about.

If you’re ATTUNEd to an element, you can ATTUNE SENSE to locate one with increasing accuracy the closer you get to it. If you’re not attuned to an element, then you’ll have to explore until you find one or ask around as to the location of one.

There are many Confluences throughout Elanthia, but they are local to each realm. This means that adventurers in Icemule using different instabilities to get in will end up together, while someone entering the Confluence in Wehnimer’s Landing will not encounter them.

How do You Get In

Once in front of an instability you can use a soulstone to get inside. You need to PUSH INSTABILITY WITH SOULSTONE which will use trapped elemental essence to force open the gateway.

As you enter there will be various energies that will: strip defensive spells that you cannot natively cast, drain spirit, and, if you’re not attuned to the element of that particular instability, cause damage to you.

Once inside the non-native defensive spells can be safely put back on you.

Soulstone

The soulstone used to get inside is an item made by skilled sorcerer alchemists.

It absorbs the essence of elementals that you destroy, and it takes about 10 elementals of 100th train to be able to generate enough power to break through the interplanar barrier of the Confluence. Any elemental can fuel the soulstone, but the weaker they are the less powerful their essence, and thus the more of them that will need to be destroyed. The difficulty of the elemental, relative to your skill, is irrelevant. All that matters is their power and that you get the final attack that destroys them.

On a separate topic…

Wearing a soulstone, charged or not, while checking for Adventurer’s Guild tasks, is how you can get assigned to patrol for bandits in places that do not have “capped” hunting.

What to Expect

The quickest way to explain what to expect inside the Confluence is pure craziness. There is a lot that happens, and it can be overwhelming, but, with a little experience and taking it slow, it’s not that difficult to become comfortable.

There are two sides in the Confluence, separated by a bottomless pit that you can JUMP PIT (or GO PIT) and use to cross between them. On the cold side are the weaker elementals (air, earth, ice, and water) while on the hot side are the stronger elementals (fire, lava, lightning, and steam). They each have aspects that make them dangerous, as well as things that hinder them. For example, cold damage on an air elemental will slow it down. Worth noting is that all elementals will dispel your defensive spells if you’re too well defended against their attack.

The environment will change on you which makes keeping track of the exit rather difficult. It also is very rough terrain, and you will find it difficult to move about, though skill in Survival and Climbing will help with this.

To make matters worse there is a twisting vortex that roams around that you should be mindful of as it can do various things to you, none of which are good. Even the foragable plants are dangerous if you’re not prepared for them!

Someone who enjoys chaos will be quite at home in the Confluence.

What to Bring

You want to bring a full complement of herbs, as you don’t necessarily want to be jumping in and out a lot since that will waste the essence in your soulstone. You may also have a difficult time finding the exit and roaming around unable to cast or defend yourself is extremely risky.

If you swing weapons, you’ll benefit from using cold flaring ones against hot elementals, and fire flaring ones against cold elementals. Lightning elementals also have reactive flares when attacked, and a wooden weapon protects against that. You kept your training gear, right?

A Couple of Tips

As I mentioned earlier, the key to getting comfortable is to take it slow. I recommend sticking to one elemental at a time until you get a feel for your offensive and defensive capabilities against them. I also recommend PEERing before moving to make sure where you’re going is safe.

Be aware that Minor and Major sanctuaries cannot be cast in the Confluence, and so do not plan on them as a safety measure.

Gold rings and fogging can be used to move around inside the Confluence. However, fogging without being elementally attuned can be dangerous.

How do You Get Out

As difficult as it was to get into the Confluence, it is almost as difficult to get out as there is only one way: through a point of elemental tranquility. There are three of these points, one on each side and one that changes between each side.

Various methods of “fogging home” will transport you to within distance, but not exactly next to, a point of tranquility. Some methods, such as Symbol of Return, will not transport the entire group like they normally do.

If, unfortunately, an elemental or two gets the better of you, someone will have to enter through an instability in the same realm as you to be able to rescue you. Once they bring you to a point of tranquility, they can drag your body through it, and back into Elanthia, via DRAG <yourname> TRANQUILITY.

Plinite and Foragables

There are several items of note that can be found inside the Confluence.

First are shards of plinite. Plinite is a substance created by compressing the raw energies of an elemental into a single stone. When destroyed, the elementals in the Confluence can leave behind a plinite shell with a potent magical core contained within.

It's pretty easy to tell how to get at the core when you LOOK at the plinite. The plinite shard, and core within, can be sold as gems. However, as I mentioned, the core possesses magical properties, some of which can greatly assist you.

An elementally tranquil core can be used to transport you and your group, including a lost child, out of the Confluence. An elementally churning core, on the other hand, can be used to transport yourself to the nearest attuned instability if you’re having difficulty finding an entrance.

There are cores that prevent being dispelled, protect your weapons, add flares to them, cast spells, and even a very rare and sought after iridescent glowing core. It’s used in alchemy, and you don’t want to sell that one to the gemshop on accident.

The second thing that can be found in the Confluence are various foragable plants. Take caution though as these plants have various harmful interactions, such as a glistening engorged bulb and a spiky luminescent blossom causing a spark between the two if placed within the same container. This spark destroys both plants and hurts you in the process.

Conclusion

I would like to give special thanks to Vice Chancellor Xorus and Magister Raelee for their research into the topics of the Confluence and plinite.