Nullstone

Nullstone is the rare mineral that Aurelia sets against arcane magic: its buildings are raised from pale stone mixed with it, and the Nullstone Constructs that marched on Arcanthys in the War of Fractured Heavens were forged from a black-veined kind (world brief). The DM confirmed the building material at the table in session 5 ^[39][40]. The party has handled it once, as the runework of the plate armour taken from the Aurelian Paladin in session 10, which resisted an Identify and gives its wearer advantage on saving throws against arcane spells ^[3][41][6]. Vasquez wore that plate ^[42][14].

Overview

Nullstone is a rare mineral that works against arcane magic, and Aurelia uses it in two ways that the world brief records. It is in the city itself: Aurelia’s buildings are “raised from pale stone mixed with Nullstone”, which most citizens see as “a form of holy protection built into the very bones of the city” (world brief). And it went to war: the Nullstone Constructs, Aurelia’s colossal divine war machines, were forged from black-veined Nullstone that suppresses magic, and marched on Arcanthys in the War of Fractured Heavens (582 to 589 A.I.) until the Grand Conflux fought them to a stalemate (world brief).

The brief is careful to say the mineral is believed to shield the capital from dangerous sorcery and magical disaster. The party has not entered Aurelia, so the Nullstone in its walls has not been seen at work. The only Nullstone they have handled is the armour of session 10.

Known traits

• In armour. Worked into the runes of Aurelian plate, it turned aside a hostile spell in the fight ^[2], resisted an Identify with the line “You feel the armor resisting your arcane spell.” ^[3], and gives its wearer advantage on saving throws against arcane spells without blocking beneficial spells such as healing ^[15]. The effect lives in the runes, not in a gem set into the metal ^[16][17].
• Common in Aurelia. “No one in Aurelia is really magical.”, the DM said, and “A lot of them are paladins, so they have divine magic, but even normal fighters have this on.” ^[18][5].
• What the players read into it. That it stops its wearer casting, or a barbarian raging, is the players’ reading ^[19][20]; the DM made no ruling. Hugo’s player said the plate was no good for Hugo because it would block his rage, and wondered whether it could be reworked as half-plate ^[21].
• Not known. How the masonry works and what it would do to a caster inside the walls; where the mineral is found and who makes the runed plate; whether it stops its wearer’s own spells; and whether it has any part in Aurelia’s way of detecting magic, which the DM has not explained. Nothing links the two.

Relationships

• Aurelia and the Pure Light: the city built of it and the church that calls it holy protection (world brief).
• Nullstone Constructs: the same mineral at siege scale, never mentioned in play.
• Arcanthys: the target of the Constructs, and the one place whose casters Aurelia tolerates (^[22]; see Nullstone Constructs).
• Aurelian Plate Armour with Nullstone Runes: the one object of Nullstone the party has held; the Aurelian Paladin wore it before Vasquez did.

History in the campaign

Session 5: Black Hollow Market Tunnels and the Hollow Guardians

Main article: Session 5

Nullstone surfaces out of character, while the table waited for a late player. Terry generated a quiz on the campaign and asked what material Aurelia uses in its construction to suppress arcane magic; Nick, as the DM, answered in one word, “nullstone” ^[23][1]. It confirmed the world brief’s building stone at the table. Nothing in the story of the session touched it.

Session 10: Ruin Joins, the Aurelian Conspiracy, the Plate Armour

Main article: Session 10

In the Umbrafall alley fight the Aurelian paladin’s armour reflected Ruin’s Witch Bolt ^[2]. Vasquez asked to take the plate ^[24], and during the long rest Ruin tried to identify it, drawing a Constitution save and the DM’s “You feel the armor resisting your arcane spell.” ^[25][3]. The DM confirmed it: “It is Nullstone armor.” ^[26]. The advantage on saves against arcane spells sits in the rune work ^[27]. Terry asked whether the runes could be copied as a tattoo ^[28], and the table’s next idea, grinding the armour into Nullstone ink, got “you could definitely try”; nobody has ^[29].

Session 11: Owlbears and the Soulbinder

Main article: Session 11

Table talk before the owlbear fight turned to Aurelia as a land of Nullstone. Terry asked whether True Strike would still work there, said he was glad to be a Bladesinger “because otherwise playing a wizard in a nullstone area sounds horrible” ^[30][31], and wondered whether he could make a Nullstone helmet, since the armour made playing a tortle feel worse ^[32]. Later he joked about releasing a bound owlbear soul beside a Nullstone pillar, where it would fizzle ^[33]. The DM gave no rulings.

Session 14: The Gummy Mummy and Aurelian Eldwythe

Main article: Session 14

With Vasquez and Caelumn cursed by the Gummy Mummy, the party weighed how to break the curse. Terry asked who had been wearing the Nullstone armour and whether it could remove curses, “because it repels the magic in the curse”; Hugo said the armour was Vasquez’s and he had no idea ^[10]. The question went no further, and the DM was not asked for a ruling.

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

In the Eldwythe sewers, Phil Flowerforge offered to help the party towards Aurelia, where a horned member would have a bad time. He suggested the disguise item in his old stash by the sewer exit, adding, “I don’t know how it’s going to work with the Nullstone” ^[11]. He did not say what he feared the stone would do to the item.

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

On the skiff at sea, as Mike began conjuring unseen servants to row, Terry remembered a warning for the newcomers: Aurelians tend to be quite resistant to arcane magic and “also have Nullstone, which disables arcane effects, apparently” ^[12]. Mike said he would lean on cleric spells over wizard spells ^[34].

Session 18: The Wyrm Falls, the Catfish Escapes, and Mike Dies on the Road

Main article: Session 18

On the Aurelian farmland, Terry told Mike there was “a lot more Nullstone here than Adamantine”, and explained it as “the magical black stone that seems to disable magical effects and would be resistant to all magic” ^[35][36]. Mike wanted none of it on him if he meant to cast ^[37]. When Terry asked who had worn the Nullstone armour, the DM answered in the past tense: “Vasquez was wearing Nullstone armor” ^[38].

Status

As of session 23. Canon, and unmentioned since session 18. The only Nullstone the party has held is the plate Vasquez wore, which is presumed to have left with him ^[14]; Aurelia’s walls and the Constructs remain unseen.

See also

• Aurelia
• Nullstone Constructs
• Aurelian Plate Armour with Nullstone Runes
• Aurelian forces
• War of Fractured Heavens

References

1. ^ Session 5, line 74-77: Terry's quiz asks what material Aurelia uses in its construction to suppress arcane magic; the DM answers "nullstone".
2. ^ Session 10, line 964: In the alley ambush Ruin's Witch Bolt "just kind of gets reflected off his armor".
3. ^ Session 10, line 1639: "You feel the armor resisting your arcane spell.".
4. ^ Session 10, line 1642-1643: "Is it Nullstone armor?" "It is Nullstone armor." (the DM's answer).
5. ^ Session 10, line 1687: "A lot of them are paladins, so they have divine magic, but even normal fighters have this on.".
6. ^ Session 10, line 1784: "it gives you advantage against saving throws against arcane spells".
7. ^ Session 10, line 1788: "It's part of the rune work inside of the armor.".
8. ^ Session 10, line 1791-1798: Terry asks about tattooing the runes; the table's idea of Nullstone ink; the DM: "you could definitely try".
9. ^ Session 11, line 80-102: Table talk as the party heads for Aurelia: Terry on casting in a Nullstone area and on Nullstone armour for a tortle.
10. ^ Session 14, line 538-541: Terry asks whether the Nullstone armour Vasquez wore could lift the Gummy Mummy's curse.
11. ^ Session 15, line 668: Phil: "I don't know how it's going to work with the Nullstone".
12. ^ Session 17, line 1146: Terry warns Mike and Steven that the Aurelians "also have Nullstone, which disables arcane effects, apparently".
13. ^ Session 18, line 1920-1922: Terry on Aurelian farmland: "a lot more Nullstone here than Adamantine"; "the magical black stone".
14. ^ Session 18, line 1930: "Vasquez was wearing Nullstone armor".
15. ^ Session 10, line 1783-1784: Inline citation.
16. ^ Session 10, line 1787-1788: Inline citation.
17. ^ Session 10, line 1794: Inline citation.
18. ^ Session 10, line 1685: Inline citation.
19. ^ Session 10, line 1644: Inline citation.
20. ^ Session 10, line 1659: Inline citation.
21. ^ Session 10, line 1659-1661: Inline citation.
22. ^ Session 14, line 1616: Inline citation.
23. ^ Session 5, line 61: Inline citation.
24. ^ Session 10, line 1071: Inline citation.
25. ^ Session 10, line 1631: Inline citation.
26. ^ Session 10, line 1643-1644: Inline citation.
27. ^ Session 10, line 1784-1788: Inline citation.
28. ^ Session 10, line 1791: Inline citation.
29. ^ Session 10, line 1795-1798: Inline citation.
30. ^ Session 11, line 82: Inline citation.
31. ^ Session 11, line 88: Inline citation.
32. ^ Session 11, line 102: Inline citation.
33. ^ Session 11, line 1574: Inline citation.
34. ^ Session 17, line 1147: Inline citation.
35. ^ Session 18, line 1920: Inline citation.
36. ^ Session 18, line 1922: Inline citation.
37. ^ Session 18, line 1925: Inline citation.
38. ^ Session 18, line 1927-1930: Inline citation.
39. ^ Session 5, line 74: Inline citation.
40. ^ Session 5, line 77: Inline citation.
41. ^ Session 10, line 1643: Inline citation.
42. ^ Session 14, line 538-539: Inline citation.