Listening Shadow

This spell creates a mobile shadow that transmits sounds within 60 feet of its location to its caster (similar to, but by no means exactly like, the wizard spell clairaudience). The locale being listened to need not be known. The shadow need not be man-shaped, but it is always of approximately the same cubic volume as the caster. It can squeeze through any hole that one of the caster's hands, up to the wrist, could pass through, and the caster can change its shape at will. The shadow glides along the ground or floor at MV 15, feather falling gently to earth if it moves over a sudden drop-off. It cannot fly or rise except by moving up a stair, or climbing a wall, rock face, or incline that the caster could traverse.

The caster can simply send the shadow this spell creates a certain distance in such-and-such a direction and listen at that spot or even let the shadow move for the spell duration and listen as it travels. If creatures being listened to move beyond 60 feet from the heart of the shadow, the priest can move the shadow as many times as desired to try to pick them up again, but the direction and distance moved has to be guesswork unless the priest is situated so as to overlook the shadow.

The shadow is visible, and will no doubt attract attention if it moves, stops, moves again, and appears to follow beings— especially when no shadow should be present.

The range of this spell denotes how distant the shadow can be from caster before it dissipates.

Although the shadow must initially appear within 300 feet of the caster, both it and the caster can move during the duration of the spell, and the caster can employ other magics without ending the listening shadow. (The caster could teleport away from where the shadow was cast and maintain contact with it so long as his or her new location is still within spell range.)

Some senior priests of Mask have access to powerful magics that allow a listening shadow to teleport to another or even a succession of locales, listening in to each one for a time; certain Maskarran clergy are quite practiced at skipping from one end of a long-range conversation that is being conducted by magical means to another to try to hear most of what is said by all speakers involved. Those who know how can cast a modified tongues spell on a listening shadow (which must be touched directly by the caster at the time) so that although the shadow transmits actual speech and sounds, a simultaneous translation is heard as well in the caster's head alone.

The presence of lead or gorgon's blood in walls (or their mortar) serves as a barrier against the listening linkage of shadow to caster, but the caster retains control of the spell effect. If the shadow can then be moved to a spot where there is no effective intervening barrier, the sound link is restored. Only sounds that are normally detectable by the caster can be heard by this spell, and it only functions on its caster's current plane of existence.