Today I went for a run, and was shocked at the amount of litter I saw in a park. I have spoken about how bad the litter problem is in England (see here, and here), but my dissatisfaction with the situation seems to be growing worse. I spent some time litter picking, as there were bins nearby, and I noticed that the litter consisted of plastic energy drink bottles and discarded fast food containers. Perhaps the people that consume that stuff have so little respect of their own well-being that they cannot be expected to care about their surroundings or the environment.
Author Archives: Dennis
Finding the Book of Woe
Previously, the heroes made their way into the Newport Vault in order to search the library, convinced that the Book of Woe, which Epidemius had charged them to find, could be found there.
Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)
The heroes had found more than a dozen books that were either magical, or of other interest. Neamhan had found a piece of bark which had symbols burnt into it which was an archaic version of druidic. She was convinced it held knowledge of a connection she had not established yet. And Chakuq had found a white leather tome, fashioned from horse hide with velum pages painted in gold. He sensed that the book had some significance to him and his tribe.
Luca went to task on the magical books, using a ritual to be able to identify a handful of them. Even though it would reveal the properties and abilities of the chosen books, the ritual could not establish the provenance of them, but, the young warlock reasoned, at least it would be something that could lead them to the Book of Woe.
The Demonic Articles of Golnaz was one of the books which Luca identified, a libram written in red ink, bound by monstrous, red hide, trimmed with bone. Whenever it was opened, other magical items worn by the reader would cease to function. Another book was Archeros’ Manuscript, a compendium bound in thick, cream-coloured hide, which contained the instructions to help anyone achieve mastery over polearms, provided they dedicated time to read the book.
Blackstar was singularly focussed on another book, a simple, unadorned, black leather book, and it urged Luca to focus his attentions on it, too. It became so insistent that Luca took that to mean that this was the book the heroes had come down to the vault to find. To Luca’s mind, the book appeared to be a spell book containing several necromantic spells, meticulously documented, and was nothing like what he expected the Book of Woe to be like. He suspected there was another reason why Blackstar was so insistent.
In the meantime, Quentin was inspired by Garven and Brandomiir’s work and he managed to convince the pair to create a hidden compartment inside one of the walls they were repairing which could hide not just Muirgheal, but Lash as well. Brandomiir, who was helping the heroes in the catacombs underneath Lynnecombe, remembered that the heroes had found Muirgheal, Blackstar, and Toruviel there, understood what the intent was. A price was agreed and Quentin handsomely overpaid the pair with the help of some of the gems that Emrys still had in his possession, lifted from the Atilesceon’s treasure after his defeat. The last request the heroes put in was to inform Emma once the vaults had been completed and the weapons were stored.
Neamhan became increasingly uncomfortable with being this far underground as the conversation between Quentin, Emrys and the two builders continued. The thick walls all around her, and the knowledge of all that earth and stone bearing down on her was making her itching to get to the surface. She wondered how the dwarves of Ard Thoradun endured living like that.
Both Emrys and Quentin picked up on Neamhan’s discomfort and they, together with Chakuq, moved to go back to the library to see how Luca was faring. When they passed the entrance, Neamhan spotted a warm, golden light call to her from down the other corridor which lead to the gallery and she headed there, accompanied by Quentin, while Emrys and Chakuq continued to the library.
While Quentin had seen the gallery before, the site was new to Neamhan. There were rows upon rows of paintings framed by wooden frames from which different types of plants grew that sprouted flowers which glowed with scintillating colours. Small crystals were wrought into the wood of each frame, and each of the paintings depicted a different verdant scene.
Between the entrance and the paintings stood two sets of tall statues, both depicting three women; the maiden, the mother, the crone. They were holding up their hands and in their palms rested a coloured fire; one set of three carried a golden green flame, while the other set of three carried an icy blue flame.
It started to dawn on Neamhan that the gallery would allow for natural growth, though she could not quite discern how it did so. It gave her the idea to communicate with one of the plants sprouting from a frame. Neamhan found that each of the frames was a living plant, and that their roots grew very deep. They did not have names, but they had “made a connection” with another whose name was Bláthnaid, who was responsible for the spring that fed the royal palace. The roots of each of them came forth “from the past”, and each guarded a different “doorway”.
Learning that the plants did not have names, Neamhan took the time to give each of them a name. She named the one she spoke to Sadhbh, and in their joy Sadhbh encouraged her to name the others. Sadhbh also shared that Bláthnaid had shared that the mood inside the palace was sullen, and that the queen had turned angry, and was “beholden to another”, someone who was responsible for “a scarlet rain in the east.”
Back in the library, Chakuq and Emrys find Luca sitting in a cricle of magic, while Falka stands at a distance looking on. Chakuq wanted to get a move on and grabbed a burlap sack from the provisions stacked up at the entrance, emptied the contents of cabbages, and started to load up the books which were of interest. When prodded to help, Falka did not react, and Emrys noticed her hesitation.
Falka requested that Quentin and Neamhan join the rest of the group, and she revealed that she had found the Book of Woe. The book looked as if it was made of skin that had been inflicted by a bad burn wound. A crystal which seemed to have trapped a foul liquid was embedded into the front of the book. Falka had been hesitant to reveal the book to the heroes because she was fearful that they would hand the book back to Epidemius. She felt she had lost touch with the friend she had made while corresponding with Luca, and was not sure who had Luca had become since then.
Falka had chosen to be cautious and had already sent word to the Order of the Shield to report that she had found the book. She felt that the book was best returned to the Apothecaries of Photus, who had been guarding the book for centuries, but she was unsure on what to do. Eventually, Falka put the book back into her bag until it was clear what the heroes were intending to do with it.
With the Book of Woe found, there was some confusion around the simple black spell book that Blackstar was obsessing over, and it was quickly revealed that the book once belonged to Blackstar’s rival, a Senhadrim wizard by the name of Maltorius. Toruviel could share that Maltorius was partly responsible for creating the Arms of the Senhadrim, and it seemed that Blackstar was intent on finding and vanquishing him.
Achttien Jaar Geleden
Achttien jaar geleden zag ik je dood gaan. Het laatste gesprek wat we hadden was of je klaar was om te sterven. Je was er klaar voor. Je was niet bang.
Achttien jaar geleden. Ik mis je pappa.
A Friend’s True Name
Previously, the heroes returned to the Newport Vault for the first time since the defeat of Xarrombus. For some it was an eerie return, for others a sad and emotional one. And for Neamhan and Chakuq it was their first time inside. They found Brandomiir and Garvan excavating the vault, and Falka researching the library, and turned to the library to find the Liber Bubonicus, the Book of Woe.
Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)
The presence of Xarrombus lay over the vault like a cloud. This was most evident by the enormous, calcified tentacles which lay wrapped around the underground structure, and sometimes punched through a ceilings, floors, and walls to make it clear just how large Xarrombus was.
The heroes headed towards the reliquary. Garvan and Brandomiir were hard at work at destroying the tentacles that held the vault in its grip. They used blasting powder and thunder sticks, which were a speciality of Brando, and then large blocks of masonry and mortar to secure the holes left in the walls.
Neamhan asked about Xarrombus; neither her, nor Chakuq, had been present during the defeat of the aberration, yet both their lives had been unpleasantly impacted by it. Luca tapped into his obedience to Aurion and conjured up an image of Xarrombus during the fight with the heroes, complete with floating eyes in its orbit, and giant tentacles tipped with a maw of razor sharp teeth. Luca recounted how Astrid had been swallowed by one of the giant tentacles only to carve her way out of its stomach and burst out through its side.
Falka mentioned that Xarrombus also had agents called the aberrant lords who were tentacle-faced humanoids with terrifying power. Chakuq asked whether these agents were still around, but Luca thought it impossible. Emrys claimed that as Xarrombus was defeated, all of its agents and people under its influence died.
Though he tried to hide it, this topic caused Luca anguish. When Neamhan tried to offer some support, in the form of words, and a conjured black lily, he turned away and went back to the library, claiming he was fine. Neamhan, confused, turned to Emrys and asked him why Luca was lying to her. Emrys explained that the death of Hamish caused him a lot of pain.
Luca and Falk went back to the library to continue their research. Luca was eager to identify the magical nature of the books they had found, and Falka went to assist. It would mean performing a ritual and making a careful selection of the available books to perform it on. Luca’s obedience to Aurion meant he would have to triage which books to inspect. He decided on the bookwheel, the wand retrieved from Sadwick, and two books, which would be the extent.
Before starting, Luca convinced Falka to write down her real name in his grimoire, which she does, so that he may help revive her if anything were to happen to her. It was clear that the warlock was determined not lose another friend again.
In the reliquary, Chakuq managed to convince Garvan and Brando to take a break so that the heroes could climb through one of the holes in the wall left by the tentacles and explore the spaces behind it. There was a foul smell emanating from one of them that lead Chakuq to wonder whether they could be coming from the Book of Woe.
The space behind the wall seemed to serve a ventilation purpose, and went straight down. Chakuq climbed down careful, and Neamhan followed. Unfortunately, she was not as careful, slipped and almost plummeted to her death but managed to transfigure into a fly at the last second. Chakuq, having missed her transfiguration, thought that Neamhan displayed a spectacular feat of acrobatics. Emrys, ever the gentleman, decided to use Toruviel to slowly descend down the shaft.
Once the three of them started to explore the corridors at the bottom of the shaft, they recognised that they appeared to be private quarters that were part of a dormitory of sorts. Emrys recognised that these were likely the Halls of the Senhadrim, the living quarters that seemed to always accompany a vault. The foul smell seemed to come from stale air and rotting matter of old roots and other natural decay. They decided not to proceed much further and return back to the vault’s reliquary.
In his ritual, Luca identified that the bookwheel was enchanted to magically aid any research done at it. Sadwick’s wand was a broken Wondrous Wand which could produce a multitude of different effects when used. The two books he had picked out were Archeros’ Manuscripts, a book which provided the ability to learn certain martial polearm techniques at an accelerated rate, and the Demonic Articles of Golnaz, which caused all nearby magical items to cease functioning when opened.
Somewhat disappointed that he did not find the Book of Woe, Luca turned to the book of spells he had found, which contained several spells of the dark school of Necromancy. Luca tried and failed to convince Blackstar to help him understand the spells within but despite the staff’s reluctance, it was clear that it was interested in the book. Blackstar claimed that it would brim him closer to him, but it was unclear who he was. It was clear that there was something here that required further investigation.
Investigating the Newport Library
Previously, the heroes visited the Baths of Sedna on their way back from the wine shop, where they took Muirgheal into custody, making good on their promise to Emma. They decided to go and find their way back to the Newport Vault in the afternoon and found that Falka was using an entrance to the ancient waterways at the Silver Cross, a house of pleasure in the Lace. From there, they gained access to the waterways and followed Falka’s until they reached a landing at the dead end of a canal.
Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)
Just after fourth bell, the heroes found a small rowboat moored at the landing at the top of the canal which belonged to the Silver Cross. Falka had used it to keep her feet dry, and her boots clean. The landing ended at a large, bricked-up archway. Some of the veteran members of the Heroes of the White Eye were convinced that this archway could be turned into a portal if they could only find the keyhole. Finding miniscule lyrian crystals all over the wall strengthened their conviction and it did not take long before a subtle keyhole could be found which accepted one of the crystals that Luca had brought with him for just that occasion.
While the other sought for a sign of a keyhole, Neamhan reverted back to her trueshape and asked how thick the walls would be. When nobody could give her a satisfying answer, she attempted a connection to the wall in order to open it up so she could pass through. To her surprise the connection was rather rudely rejected, as if the wall itself was an unwilling partner.
The number of the original one hundred lyrium crystals the heroes had found in the Senhadrim halls underneath Lynnecombe were dwindling; through loss, trade, or by using the magic stored inside of them to power spells… or to open the gates to the Senhadrim vaults. This lead Luca to speculate and consider whether there was a way to recharge the crystals. He stored that idea away for later consideration.
Once inserted, the lyrium crystal was drained of its magic and turned dull. At the same time a dark gate opened in the archway; a perfect, black void whose pull was so irresistible that air audibly rushed in, and even light was sucked in around the edges, causing a fiery corona. Knowing that Emrys would collapse the gate behind him, it was decided he would go through last.
Before stepping through, Chakuq made sure that this void portal would not take him directly to hell. He had seen into that desolate wasteland and the very thought of it filled him with despair. Quentin took comfort in the people he had surrounded himself with and stepped through while joking to Chakuq that if it did take him to hell, he could always sacrifice Luca to generate the power to get back. Following Chakuq, Neamhan stepped into the portal while every instinct told her not to. Luca went next, and as agreed, Emrys went last, predictably closing the portal behind him.
In a blink, the heroes woke up at the entrance to the vault; a large circular room with a dome so high they could barely make it out in the gloom. The only light came from a handful of small lanterns, as well as from three crystals atop pillars set in alcoves. There were five other crystal-topped pillars, each in an alcove of their own, which seemed to be dormant. Quentin, Emrys, and Luca recognised this to be the entrance to Xarrombus’ hideout, and also remembered that the three pillars that were lit were by their doing.
Both Neamhan and Chakuq instinctively ducked their heads as they came to terms with being deep underground. Neamhan’s instinct told her that there were tons of rocks and earth above her head, only kept from crushing her by the virtue of the vaulted dome. That thought unnerved her, and she wondered how the dwarves of Ard Thoradun could live inside their mountain kingdom.
In the centre of the room was a circular shaft leading down. Chakuq took a look and found that there were ropes leading down to a landing far below. From that landing other ropes lead to an even deeper landing, and so forth. Emrys offered to provide flight to everyone through his magic, but Chakuq decided to climb down instead. As he did so, he found that the landings were the tops of large, stone faces set into the wall of the shaft. As Emrys descended and past the faces he was reminded of Jan the Custodian reciting the names of the faces;
“Raphael; Elohim.
Michael; Malakim.
Uriel; Seraphim.
Gabriel; Cherubim.”
– Jan
Neamhan took to the magical flight very naturally, and as she descended deeper the pressure on her ears increased and she was reminded of the first time she shaped into a bird and got overconfident and flew too high, too fast, and almost lost consciousness due to a lack of oxygen. For Chakuq, the memory was of a treeless, rocky landscape, sitting around a campfire with other boys. An old man came up and barked a command, and the boys began to run up the slope, racing to the top. The higher the boys climbed, the thinner the air, and the test was to see at what point he would pass out. The others shared in their memories, the same way that Chakuq and Neamhan shared in theirs.
As Quentin descended he was surprised to find that he recognised the style of armour that one of the stone celestials was wearing, as it matched some of the magical pieces of armour the heroes had recovered and he had in his possession. He concluded that there are different types of celestials, each with their own distinct styles.
At the bottom of the shaft the heroes found themselves on a crossroads with a corridor leading to each of the cardinal directions. With the exception of Chakuq and Neamhan, the heroes knew that the corridors lead to the armoury, the reliquary, the gallery, and the library. The heroes headed to the library where they found Falka standing at a book wheel doing research. It took her a moment to realise the heroes had come in because she had stuffed her ears with wax. It was to keep the noise of the excavation out; Garvan, one of the Steady Hand, and Brandomiir, an acquaintance of the heroes, were in another room performing work.
Falka explained that her research had not made a lot of progress due to a confusing filing system. She felt as if the library had been maintained by different librarians over the centuries, and that each had insisted on changing the filing system without ever being able to finish the task, leaving the library in disarray and unnecessarily complex to navigate.
The goal was to find the Liber Bubonicus, and so Chakuq and Neamhan started sifting through the rows and rows of books, hoping to find it. In the meantime, Luca drew a magic circle which would help him perform a ritual that would allow him to sense the presence of magic. Neamhan looked for anything that was written in Sylvan, or druidic. While Chakuq looked for leatherbound books.
Much to Neamhan’s surprise, she found a piece of old bark which was inscribed with burnt symbols that was an even more archaic version of druidic. It was not immediately clear to hear what it said, but she sensed that the text held within it a connection, but one that she had not yet established.
Chakuq’s attention was caught by a book of white leather which he reckoned was fashioned from horse hide. The pages were of a thin velum whose edges were painted in gold. Even though Chakuq could not read the text, there was something about the book which told him that it was important to his people, despite his people favouring the oral tradition over writing. When Chakuq asked Emrys if he recognised the language, the sorcerer could tell him that it was similar to Primordial, but that he did not immediately recognise it.
In the meantime, Quentin went to the armoury in order to store Muirgheal only to find it completely empty.
When Luca finalised his ritual he could see the weave of magic all around him, and he quickly identified twelve books that were magical in nature. He also recognised that the book wheel that Falka was using was imbued with divination magic, that the piece of bark which Neamhan had retrieved held necromantic magic, and that the white, leather book that Chakuq had found was mundane.
One of the magical books, the heroes reckoned, must be the Liber Bubonicus.
