Session 0 - Sylbella
General Summary
It is a warm and sunny day, only two days before Zenith which marks the first day of Summer and Stoneblossom Village is busy as it can be preparing for the annual celebration. But as usual, Sylbella is digging in the dirt and consulting her books on archeology.
"What are you looking for now Sylby?" she hears the familiar voice of Taynor say from behind her. He has been her mentor both in archeology and druidry for many years now. He also happens to be her uncle.
"I have to find the things that need finding, uncle." she says.
"Indeed," he chuckles. "But you've dug up half the village by now."
"Only half?"
"Well, perhaps I dug up the other half," Taynor says. "How would you like to accompany me on an adventure where you can dig in a much larger place?"
Sylbella's eyes get big as saucers with excitement as her mentor and uncle tells her that he has been asked to join an archaeological expedition in and around the great ruined city of Ghor Dranas in the Kryn Dynasty . Naturally, Sylbella agrees, especially since preparing for that means not having to help with the Zenith preparations.
Nearly a year and a half has passed since joining Taynor on his expedition to the ruins of Ghor Dranas, Sylbella finds herself exploring a crypt about day's ride north of the city. This is the fourth site they have uncovered in the last year and half or so. At this point all they have managed is to setup an underground base camp in the first room encountered. There is of course a full base camp on the surface.
Taynor is pouring over his notes and plans as Sylbella has come to expect of him. He is more likely to allow her or one of his other assistants to explore new sites on their own to start with; he'll gladly come look at anything interesting they uncover though. And so, Sylbella begins exploring through the parts of the crypt that are still accessible as there are still some corridors that need to be dug out.
The first room she comes upon is a library although most of the books and scrolls have disintegrated. Those that are intact will require very delicate handling.
Searching the library, she finds a single page, seemingly dropped as it rests partially on a lower shelf and partially on the floor. It has clearly been torn out of a larger tome. Returning to her uncle she shows him the page but all it says is "...alogus Art..." as some of the ink has faded away. Taynor is curious and mumbles "it can't be; that's not possible" and then tells Sylbella to try to find the book the page was torn from.
Within the library though all the books that have not disintegrated to dust have no pages missing. But in searching she finds what appears to be very old footprints in the dust leading either too or from the door to the south.
Going through the door, Sylbella finds a large area that appears to be a temple. As you look around, most of the tapestries have rotted away and faded but the reliefs in the walls, while also faded with time, seem to be shaped like spiders.
There is stone altar in the center of the room and the south wall has the barely visible image of a mural of some kind painted on it.
It does not take her long to figure out that this was once a temple of Lolth, nor to notice what appears to be a loose stone on the bottom of the altar. Behind the loose stone she finds a very large tome which has clearly had its title scratched off; it is also missing several pages including its title page.
Uncovering the book however triggers the emergence of a Zombie from the other side of the altar which attacks Sylbella. Although she has seen these creatures before in other crypts, this is the first time she has has to deal with one on her own. But she handles herself well and manages to dispatch the foul undead without suffering any injuries of her own.
Assuming this is the book she has been searching for as the tor page matches almost perfectly, she takes both back to her uncle.
As he carefully pages through the book with Sylbella looking over his shoulder, it becomes clear to Sylby that this is some kind of catalog of items.
Taynor becomes quite elated and explains that this very well could be the lost fourth volume of the Catalogus Artium which catalogs all of the most rare and powerful artifacts and magic items ever known.
Taynor goes on to explain that the Catalogus was written in four volumes and in such a way that no one volume contains all of the information on any of the items listed, thus requiring all four volumes if one wanted to try to find any of the artifacts. To make this even more secure, three of the volumes were sent to the three largest and most secure libraries in the world but the fourth has been lost and believed destroyed for millennia.
If this is indeed the fourth volume, it would be the most significate archeological find in thousdands of years. This type of thing needs to immediately be taken to Queen Leylas Kryn! And so, they tell the rest of their expedition that Taynor, as head of the archaeological digs, has been invited to the Bright Queen's court for the coming New Dawn celebration and is allowed to bring one guest, which he has chosen to be Sylbella.
And thus, they find themselves in Ghor Dranas to meet the Queen on the last day of the year 1499.
Rewards Granted
Missions/Quests Completed
Character(s) interacted with
In Game Dates: 1498 CE 24th of Unndilar (1498-24-5) to 1499 CE 32nd of Duscar (1499-32-11) Locations: Ghor Dranas, Kryn Dynasty
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