Emma, Session 13

9th day of the 3rd ride, month 6 , 1262

We arrived at Bournemouthe in the late afternoon, as the bustling city was starting to wind down. We got a glimpse of the bustle and prosperity of the town. It is evident that there is a wealth of exotic and uncommon items available here. We will do well to stock up on supplies here. If we can’t find it here, we will not likely find it further on in our endeavor.

After consulting a local we decided to quarter at the River-Stone Inn. It was described as a reliable if somewhat dull place, which well suits our needs. The dullness is pervasive and emanates from the large dour-faced owner Elmund. Emrys failed to bring lightness to the place, but did procure a good amount of information on Lord Destan.
It seems that he quartered his guards at the River-Stone, while he enjoyed the hospitality of local notables: the Lansdowne family. The Lansdowne family operates an auction-house, where the Sheridans auctioned off magical items to establish their wealth.

We had a good meal at the River-Stone and discussed our plans. Emrys, James, and Astrid would spend the next day to find some supplies as well as visiting the Lansdowne auction-house to inform about Lord Destan. I requested 25 crowns worth of silver dust, so that I might make more holy water. Luca suggested to find healing potions. Luca planned to spend all of his time at the academy’s library and I volunteered to assist him where I could.
While the others retired in exhaustion, Luca insisted to start out for the library immediately. I escorted him there in the darkening warm evening.

We noticed that Ioun Island, which houses the Academy was guarded by Crownsguard instead of local Bournemouth guards. On the way over I thanked Luca for having my back with the whole Vadoma ordeal. His honesty allowed me to see the matter in its proper perspective. I expressed my desire to deepen our friendship, and the bonds within our group.
The Island was fairly quiet, which all manner of students quietly studying or practicing outside in the warm evening. We found the library without trouble.

At the library, Luca immediately inquired after a certain Falka to a librarian and he hurried of to find her. Falka turned out to be a middle-aged woman, who studies and teaches ancient history at the Academy. She was both surprised and happy to see Luca. It appears the two had been in correspondence, and that Luca is in the possession of one or more books that would interest Falka. I did not interfere in their greetings.
Falka explained to Luca and me how the library was organized and that she would be available from time to time to assist in our research. And that we were more than welcome to make use of the study-rooms of the library. Moreover, she explained that she had helped Lord Destan as well and could help us find one or more items that interested him. She also explained that Lord Destan was very much interested in the Silver Crusade.

Since it was already late, and I felt my connection to Sedna weakening, I decided to retire to the River-Stone. Luca was adamant to stay and start work. Falka joined me and we departed. We chatted on our way and I inquired about a Dunagore legend, since she hails from Dunagore. She revealed two interesting things. First that Dunagore Castle is unlike most Lyrian castles in construction methods and scale. The latter is especially interesting, since it seems to have been built for individuals of extraordinary size. Secondly, she could tell me about a certain Admiral Karadim who was betrayed by his daughter, which all happened at Dunagore, but, as Falka emphasized, was not from Dunagore.
She wasn’t particularly interested in the legend, but said she would be happy to see if there was more for me to read on it.

10th day of the 3rd ride, month 6 , 1262

The night was thankfully dull and I got a good night sleep. After breakfast I headed back to the library, while Astrid, James, and Emrys set of into town.

Back at the library I found a sleepy Luca, who, despite his stubbornness, had been overcome by sleep. We were joined by Falka a little later. Luca asked me to excuse myself while he and Falka sorted through something. I waited outside the reading-room until a clearly indignant Falka came storming by. I went to join Luca and inquired about what had happened. It turned out that Falka was unable to read from the book that Luca had brought for her, and neither could I. I have no understanding of why this might be, but it seems that the contents of the book is privy to young master Luca and no-one else.
Given that Falka might prove crucial to our endeavors here at the library, we sought her out to make our apologies and to regain her trust. I mostly served as a beacon of calmness to allow Luca to mollify the indignant Falka. He did so to great success. So much so, that Falka offered her services for free and immediately sought to provide a particular poem that Lord Destan had been interested in.

The ancient poem is possibly the only record in which the Crimson Tower is named by name. The poem provides an artistic description of the tower and introduces direction to it, but these were missing. Falka explained that Lord Destan had been looking for the second part of the poem, but couldn’t tell if he had actually found it. We decided to make our own effort to find the second part. Realizing that Luca would be much better suited in this task than me, I beseeched the Mistress to help young master Luca in his quest. After some hours of work, during which I doubt my efforts were particularly useful, Luca achieved victory and recovered the second part,

The second part of the poem provides a set of cryptic directions to find the Crimson Tower. Many parts make rather disturbing allusions and suggestions, but for now we are focused on the name of the lake in which the tower is supposed to stand: The White Eye.

Could the legend be true after all? I would almost hope that my previous assumption was true, that we were merely chasing after the wackiest of three brothers who himself was on a pointless endeavor.

I started transcribing the entire poem.

A little later we were joined by Emrys and James who were seemingly impressed with Luca’s work. Before they could tell us about their adventures in the city the door opened and a stern, if not arrogant looking young lady ordered us to vacate the reading-room.

Leave a Reply