The Layer of Infinite Portals is dotted with an infinite number of fortresses some of these holdfasts and, indeed, palaces lie atop portals others serve as billeting for large garrisons that guard other portals. On this day, a host of demons as chaotic and legion as the very layers of this mad realm await the birth of another portal. When, at last, Tyranthraxus's emissary brushes the sad forlorn face upon the Hades Elm trinket the sky burns; a great red wound in the sky weeps Abyssal fire. The heat and flames curl the very essence of the plane away from the wound--and the legions of the Demon Lords invited to ravage Shadowdale leap through the tear!<br/><br/>Beyond, the temples of Lathandar and Tymora lie bright and resplendent, in the distance. The River Ashaba cuts through the village, blue like beaten steel. There rises the Tower of Ashaba and the demesne of Elminster. As soon as the smell of Abyssal fire rises high in he air, an alarm sounds, the bells of Lathandar's temple toll, and so to the Temple of Tymora. Prays drift heavenward as the priests call down the blessings of their deities.