Knowledge and Madness

I woke up very early this morning, the dream from last night was worrisome. I went ahead and went downstairs to eat a few hard boiled eggs and some assorted fruits, before I left the house and made my way to the council. As I made my way to the council, Malien appeared just ahead of me. So the two of us made our way towards the council chamber to gain access to outside the wall. While waiting for my father to deliberate with the council, Morrighan made her way to the council chamber as well. Father handed me the new pass that allowed me outside the walls, so Malien and I went to the Magic Emporium while Morrighan stayed with my father to converse with him.
 
I ordered several scrolls and then left to wait for them to be completed. During the wait, I changed Malavash from a large cat to a hummingbird. The three of us, Morrighan, Malien and I went to the Magic Emporium to pick up the scrolls I ordered. I payed for them, then the three of us left to leave the town and entered the forest. Three hours into the journey towards this temple that we were warned about, we were ambushed by several harpies. The three of us were able to dispatch the creatures relatively easily.
 
We made our way to the temple where we ran into a large tainted tree that had several tainted dryads. We were able to deal with the dryads, by giving them gems to appease them. They allowed us to go into the temple where we found the sphinx, in the process of being tainted. We started by attacking wherever the cone was emanating from at the top of the chamber the sphinx was in. I could here something cracking or breaking like glass, so I looked out where the pillars were and noticed that they were damaged. So I took out a sledge hammer and began smashing the pillars. I ended up handing Morrighan one of my sledge hammers and we destroyed the pillars together. Doing this freed the sphinx who we would learn was known as Rivianna.
 
Since we were able to free her, she told us she would answer five questions and give us a dangerous artifact if we wanted it. I went straight to saying that I would receive the artifact, no regrets thus far. We asked our five questions. The first was on the artifact and unfortunately, Rivianna did not have much information to give. The Tome for the Raven Queen, which I now know is the Silver Tome of Sealing is in the hands of someone who should not have it, there was also a hint that it this person or entity may be on one of the five smaller islands. We then asked how we could help Mystia. There is a temple on one of the islands (once again very vague) and if we clear it out we will be able to help Mystia, somehow? We also asked how we could save the people strapped to the pillars, there was no beating around the bush on that one, Rivianna stated a hard 'there is no saving them'. Finally, Rivianna stated that she can lift the curse of the unending sleep which will wake everyone, including my sister.
 
Rivianna transported us back to the town so we went directly to the council. We informed the council about Rivianna, which they seemed to already know about her. With this finding and communicating everything that happened, for the most part. The council is giving us free reign of the island (s). Something I do not think anyone has had in a very long time. I will take the councils warnings to heart though, we must find others to help us with everything that is transpiring. So, we should probably find the other two from the paintings. The fun part is going to be explaining to them what is going on, without freaking them out. Diplomacy is definitely going to be needed.
 
While Morrighan and I were in the council chamber, Malien was not around, then suddenly appeared, there is something ... untrustworthy about him. As we moved forward, he did supply me with all of the equipment that he did not sell. Strange, is this some kind of game to get me to trust him? I am not sure, but I am definitely going to keep my eye out for him.
 
I finally got home. Now to take a look at this artifact that Rivianna relinquished to me. Interesting, as I took the artifact out, it hummed and got warm. The small oval stone was a deep dark green with a yellow eye that had a pentagram for the pupil. As I concentrated, it seemed to blink at me and I felt myself go deeper, and deeper, where all kinds of celestial bodies surrounded me in the blackness. I could hear my heart beat, like a massive thump thump, thump thump. Then I heard the voice in my head as it came through. It was delighted that I was somewhat intelligent, the voice felt like, tentacles caressing my brain, probing my thoughts and enhancing both my knowledge and charisma.
 
Feeling the vast knowledge of this entity, I figured why not, lets try something. So, I asked it a question. One about the Silver Tome of Sealing, the book that Morrighan is after. Evidently, it is dangerous to these Great Old Ones, but it is most dangerous to the one that we seek. After attuning to the artifact and learning about this journal from the Raven Queen, I sat and meditated for a little while. And that is when the inner dialogue started:
 
"Be careful of your companions, you cannot trust them. Not fully, especially the one know as Malien. He is up to something, something dark and sinister. He is false, a traitor? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He has been slippery, but has not done anything specifically against us. But why has he been conspiring with that she devil? Something is up, he knows something, he is hiding something. What is it? What is it? What is it? ... I don't know! "