Journal of Grognard, Meenlock Caves
The Mighty Menagerie found this elaborate locked book in the meenlock caves.
They were able to open it and solve its first riddle.
This book is undecipherable and was found in the possession of the Meenlocks. Shadow's brother seems very concerned and interested in this book.
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As this book is first studied it seems it is written in Loross, an ancient Netherese Noble tongue not really known in Dierde. (Loross on Forgotten Realms Wiki)
It seems that the bulk of the bulk is non-linear, written in various codes and languages -- much of it is indecipherable at first glance, but surely the more time invested in studying this book it seems one can surely learn all types of secrets.
Historical Details
History
As Barlo pulls out the items, Beast says the book is his. He looks to Shadow and says it is the "thing". She says that was about a book? Beast: "It's a very important book. What honestly I don't know the whole history of it, but this Bargle character, he it was important before him, obviously, because that night was before I had ever heard of him. But he seemed to also be interested. I'm telling you, though, that it had nothing to do with what I don't think it had to do with this but it's like, can we just get out of here? And we could talk about it later. It's the book is mine. We'll talk about it all later. We can figure this all out and well, let's let me get some rest you're out." Shadow: "My stupid brother..." Beast speaks about how Bargle was interested in the book. then says: "I'm saying that he was interested in that as well. He was interested in her, but he wasn't like the book says the book was something else. And it's just a strange coincidence with this. So, I mean, I know it always seems like it's coincidence, but in this time, it is a coincidence." ... A Wizard took Beast after he tried to help his girlfriend, Mellow Robin "Mellow" (Barlo's Sister). She was taken "months" ago. This all has to do with the book that Shadow in the Snow and Beast seem interested in, the book that Beast pointed out was buried to Bastion Bladesinger. The book was wanted by Bargle it seems. He knows about the party and family members.
Beast: "Yeah, I when I tried to rescue her, she was being held by Bargle. He and the Satyr Warlock of Tharizdun were responsible for him for hiring me to get that book and then after that, they ended up taking her away at some point. And so when I realized that they had her, I went to go try and see if I can get her back. ... The party got Journal of Grognard, Meenlock Caves opened and a music began to play softly before it quickly stopped. this is a Wizard's book and the sigil is of Grognard. He raised Bastion Bladesinger, and was a friend of Barlo as a child, and visited the party at the Black Obelisk, as part of the Two Obelisk Strangers.The Journal of Grognard, Meenlock Caves has a latch. Barlo picks the lock and then when he finally gets it to click, he hears some strange tune play in the air. Bastion rumminates on how best to learn more about this item. He is sure if a Wizard of merit, or Grognard himself, was here it would be no problem. Examining it he knows this is a protected book for a Wizard of some sort. These can tend to be magically and mechanically trapped. He attempts to Identify it -- not magical, persay. It does have some elements of magic though, but nothing that the Identify spell can discern. He also sees the sigil he identifies as being that for Grognard. He also thinks of the melody, is it a song he remembers Grognard singing? Calliope thinks about what she heard and recalls how it sounded. Barlo pulls out some old torn sheets with musical notations: "does this look like what you're playing? Is this what you're playing? Because I have no idea how to read this." Barlo pulled out some music sheets he had and Calliope Galanodel matched the song to the book and 'success'. She notices a similar chord progression between what she heard and what the paper has -- assuming the missing piece is what she heard. She plays it on her pan flute. Bastion starts going over ways to reach Grognard. He realizes he can't use the Scroll of Telescription as he is on another plane. He doesn't have a Message spell or similar magic. He writes a note that he needs to get a hold of Grognard and puts it in the Enderbox. They mystical shadow that usually exists on the bottom of the box is gone. Probably also because of them being on another plane. He tries the Scroll of Telescription anyways, also no luck. So, Barlo picks the lock again, and as the melody begins, Calliope finishes the tune. Barlo doesn't recall how these sheets got into his possession, only remembers that he has had them for a long time.It is mostly in Netherese, Loross to be more exact - an ancient language of the Netherese. It has drawings of various items throughout. The book is full of various types of paper and some are very thin sheets of some metal-like substance. There are blueprints of the Adventurer Class Airship as well. Beast was acting very strange. Someone asked Beast whey he was trying to stop them from looking into the book. He replies that he wasn't, he only knows it is very important to the ones holding Mellow Robin "Mellow". He doesn't want anything bad to happen to the journal. They ask if he might know where to start looking for Bargle, where he might have taken Mellow Robin "Mellow" or anything else he heard or saw. The reply was that he knew where she was, but it's doubtful they are still there. They were already moving when he was brought to the Meenlock Caverns Skola Vale, Feywild Side. That's when the book was buried. Brother of Shadow Belly of a Beast believes that Bargle wanted the Meenlocks to also protect the book. It seems to have a lot of different types of secrets. The party discusses if they should go try to find the siblings, or continue in the Hag hunt. Discussing Beast and Dryad going back to Village of Skola Vale he says he can take the book with him. Shadow says: "I don't trust you, beast. You've already proven that you're willing to do anything and risk anyone to have this book. You don't deserve it." Beast: "I don't want the book I think it just might be a way to get her back. That's all. ... Sas W.T. Rayce has the book in her shell, the party acts as if Bastion Bladesinger has it -- in case Beast has a plan. Shadow says: "He betrayed very good people in the village to get this book. He used to do it I've no idea what he's doing and people got hurt. Good people got hurt for this book. I don't know why he wanted the book. She got the book? Yeah, so I don't know who he's working for. I don't know how long he's working for people. I don't know he's by himself. I don't know if he's with the group. I feel like I don't know anything about him, so I just don't trust him. Don't let him anywhere near maybe we still pretend like."
Shadow sees based on PerceptionLook of anger on his face, he moves forward. He is younger -- much like Jeremy irons. "So, that little Satyr was right. You were coming out here. For some time we had been looking for you, especially after you helped us open that book. For so long our Order has sought the way to reveal its secrets as it is half of the key, and yet here you are. Bringing that half to the other half, just as we expected. Now we can finally find out what the Tortle is hiding in that shell of a brain of his… I want to thank you, since that last form got a bit too corrupted, and it is nice to be young again. A perk of the Order, if you will. Now, you can set the book down and run off with your tails between your legs or we can do this the easy way…" ... Shadow in the Snow: " we heard him talking to the Mindflayer who told him to get the book, we assume it is one we have. and to not kill the tortles, which we assume is Sas and her dad we are looking for, we need to find him."Hears Gruzzussk D'Achtend say: "Jacoby, they are here. Stop them, see if they have the book. Don't kill either Tortle they are the key with the help of the book. I'm off to check on the dig site. Don't fuck this up."
He asks about Jacoby, she remembers not much. The last thing she remembers? She was supposed to get a book. She was working with a Satyr working with a book and they were supposed to get a book. She realizes who Shadow is as they talk. She says she was Beast on the job, but the memories are vague. She remembers working in a salt mine, some attack, working on ships and being caged in ships. Barlo brings up her art and why she was doing this -- she wanted money. Her and Beast went to get a book, He said he would get the book. Shadow asks if she was part of it, she wasn't supposed to get hurt -- but Beast felt Shadow would help more than Mellow. Why the book? The Satyr and Wizard work with some secret organization that is sure some secrets reside in the book. She realizes she has been drugged for a long time... [quote] "My understanding is that they know it. So I guess that they work with some group of wizards, some who were evil kind of organization thing. And yeah, they believe that there was secrets that were in that book that that's as much as I ever really learned that some secrets in the book and that they can figure out how to unlock it. It would help them..." ... "Where are we? This part of the plan was never told to me. I know we need the book and I need someone who can cast Mending." ~Solec ... Barlo yells at Mellow for getting too close to a cage. She brings up how she wants to find Beast. She is fine they got the book, she doesn't care about that. The Leonins start moving through the group and as he gets to the end: "You can do whatever you want here, but the only thing I need to do is ... Well thank you for fixing the shell, I think I can get the book later..." He reaches out and grabs Solec then disappears.
Learned that Captain Meklan and Jeriah Chronos made the Journal of Grognard, Meenlock Caves to hide secrets ... Jacoby: "I'll say, I was surprised you made it through the door, I was sure the traps would take care of you. So, I did underestimate you... a little bit. This transaction is simple, you want the Tortle and I just want the book." The party: "What's so important about the book?" Jacoby: "The book isn't important, the secrets it holds are. What I'm willing to tell you is that the book alone has tormented Bargle for a long time, I am the one who realized it needed your father to unlock it. He has long ago locked up that part of his mind and then put himself into the slave trade to hide from anyone seeking him out. The book unlocks some secrets, and that's all I want. Then you can leave, take your father and do whatever it is you people do." The party asked something else... Jacoby: "That book was put together with the efforts of Captain Meklan and Jeriah Chronos to hide their secrets. The secrets in there are something your little minds would never understand. ... Jacoby: "How about you give me the book and I'll give you the Tortle..."
Barlo: "Why are you doing this? Meklan: "So, there were things I was trying to fix.. the biggest being the destruction of, ... I think what is safe to tell you is that -- as you've learned by now, the old world that was once here, it was Toril and is now the gem one of you now holds. In that realm was a powerful culture of man - the Netherese. One of them was a powerful Wizard, Karsus who tried to become a god. He screwed up the spell and instead of becoming a god he only became a god for a moment -- destroying everything. It was his folly, but it was kind of my fault. I stole the spell from him, before he used it. The reason I keep coming to you right now is that you hold the book still. That book holds the actual Karsus Avatar spell, and I believe it is the way to defeat the Dragon That Slumbers. Shadow: "What book?" Meklan: "The book you took from the Meenlocks, the one I originally hired your brother to steal. Shadow: "We openned it, I thought we ... Meklan: "You need the cube. That's why Jacoby is chasing me, without the cube you will be cursed by trying to use just the book and the sigil. He and I are both jumping in and out of time and space. Shadow: "We need to retrieve the cube stolen from Barlo Meklan: "I tried to keep them with Barlo Barlo: "I thought it was just a toy Meklan: "It wasn't. I tried to hide its purpose. I tried to manipulate some other events so it would return to your possession, but that didn't Work... The one thing I can tell you is I have tried to fix this quite a few different ways, I even learned that repeating the very same things could produce very different results -- You are the Wild Cards. and the name was born Shadow: "we are the chaos incarnate, you are saying? Meklan: "Pretty much. I even tried to control Bastion's destiny when he was growing up, I thought if I could only Lead him down the path I thought best to fix these mistakes... the point is I have made mistakes with my time travel and I've been trying to fix them, which has made things worse. That book holds one of the most powerful spells ever created, and I am sure Bastion can fill you in more about it. I also know that on the ship you have Professor Umbercresct who knows a lot about the Netheril which can help... I think.. hm,... and his mouth starts moving but he vanishes out. ... Grognard sees the confused look: "I see you are confused, that doesn't matter now. I will soon erase the memories of this discussion and I will return them later.. possibly. (looks at the sand timer), Oh, I am running out of time for this. ... this has to be the one... Okay, the main point is that the book you have is important. You need to protect it. You don't have the book now, but in the future when you regain this memory you will have the book. The things to think about then is how this book ties into Dendar the Night Serpent and the Draconic Prophecies -- this is what I've pushing to really manipulate with my actions. Most of my changes have... no. you know what, that should be enough without being too much... oh, the book holds Karsus' Avatar -- the real spell, the one he was to perform that day and not the one I replaced it with. Only in Dierde will such magic Work as the god's blocking of such high level magic no longer exists, it's complicated. The point is that high level magic as the Netherese once performed can once again be done, although this is not common knowledge at all. Most of those spells are lost, but it might be possible to use the spell to use the orbs and create new realms. I've been trying to find other ways to create such rebirth - but all the ways I've tried have failed. he starts to cast a spell, at the time Bastion was unaware of the spell. It was a Modify Memory and it seems in present time Grognard has released the spell to return the true memory. |Session 57: Blue Dragon Attacks Report [quote]Shadow in the Snow: "you were here 15,000 years ago?" Solec: "More like 17,000 years ago.Well, yeah, that's when that's when ...we our time was and ...we knew that ...we'd have to come to the future when the next awakening would happen. And so ...we brought ourselves here and ...we set up ...our lives and waited till the events. So you guys said you guys were able to unlock the book then? So he was right that you guys would figure that out back then?" Someone asked if Meklan knew it would happen again (or something...) Solec: "Yes, he put some things into motion, and planned for a group like you to have the book. My understanding is, I mean, he's he's used a friend of his has has an understanding of Chronomancy, which is a type of magic that deals with time travel. And so he had he had been using that to set different things into place. He had been looking for characters, people who would be hard to, whose destinies are kind of in flux. And it seems that you guys would be the ones that he had found that he would trust to this." Someone asked about Captain Meklan. Solec: "He's a Wizard of many years, and he's definitely found ways of extending that lifeline." Shadow in the Snow: "And what does this have to do with the Arcane Order?" Solec: "Well, the Arcane Order is able to get that book. There's other stuff in there that they might be able to manipulate for their own means. Shadow in the Snow: "About the Dragon?" Solec: "just in general...to be fair, that I think that they would like to see the Dragon destroy this world. And if it destroys this world, that will become another orb. So for them, either way, it's to their favor. If they can get the powers to get out of it, of course." Barlo: "...so this book was created 17,000 years ago?" Solec: "in the time since then, probably he had been working on it for some time. What I was what he had told ...me was that ...I would have to go into hiding. And so ...I decided to get myself captured. I figured that would be the best place for me to hide and nobody to find me. If you and if you guys are able to open the book, we can kind of figure out where some of the secrets are and try to help make sure that we're able to help stop this before it happens." Bastion starts to investigate the fallen body of Jacoby Drexelhand, but after trying to insight on the validity of what Solec is saying Barlo just assumes Solec is full of crap. Shadow also is looking for tells... insight on SolecSolec: "Well, I have to say, you've been able to save ...me twice in two days. You know, ...we kind of put this into motion long time ago. And with ...me and Captain Meklan. That book was written by him to hide secrets and there are secrets that are locked inside of me. I think what we should do is go to where you guys hid the book and we can try to take care of that part." Bastion Bladesinger: "Well, the good news is, is don't we have it on us?" Shadow in the Snow: "Yup, Sas does, in her shell." Solec: "Also, you guys did actually bring the book. What, are you guys actually going to trade it to him?" Surprise on his face. Bastion Bladesinger: "Nope." Shadow in the Snow: "No." Solec: "Well, my understanding is the machinations set in place that you guys would be able to find a way of unlocking the book. Did you guys find the key to opening that book?" Bastion Bladesinger: "We did not." at the same time, Shadow in the Snow: "What do you what is it? Do you know what it is." Barlo is a bit confused "I thought hat we unlocked a book... I'm confused." table talk, seems they were not bluffing about the book
Shadow in the Snow: "Well, like you said that you've been planning this for a long time. Planning what exactly?" Solec: "As I understand it, the long time ago, ...we we were part of the efforts to stop the Dragon that was waking up underneath the ground and...after that ...our party found ...ourselves far in the future of those events. Meklan came and said he had some secrets he put in that book to help ...us fight the Dragon again. He was worried the Arcane Order would use those secrets for power so he hid the book and secrets in the ...my shell. There are secrets to stop it again." Barlo: "if it wakens again, this book will help..." Solec: "When it wakens, because it will it is Dragon Prophecies prophecied to destroy everything. Shadow in the Snow: "How long was this first time you stopped it?" Solec: " To be honest. ...I'm not even sure what year it is right now. Since the last ...I don't know how many years I've been kind of on. The problem is, is that when you become a slave with the Blood Hand Orcs, they kind of keep you with types of drugs that makes your brain not very usable. So ...my memories of the last how many years, obviously it's been long enough. See, and looking at how ...my daughter has grown so much that...." Shadow in the Snow: "You said you teleported into the future. Right? So you were here the first time. The Dragon Awoken. and was the teleportation into the future was on purpose or an accident? Solec: "A little bit of both. ...We didn't plan on when, but ...we knew that it would definitely have. There was a possibility that ...we would go into the future of some of the stuff ...we had to do to help kind of fight. The Dragon used all different types of magics and different types of technology. And part of the backlash was to that ...we got sent. It was 15,000 years before the great King's Calendar, so -15,000 YBK." [aloud] RETCON: DM here, I think I fudged and it should have been -11,000 not -15,000 YBKC. What's 4,000 years or so between friends? The First Rise of the Dragon It was an event that started at -11,000 but ended at -10,000 with the Great Sacrifice. ~Retcon from the DMOkay, I'm going to step away from the catcher. Yes. You guys have opened the book. But we could have read it right or right. But you guys were, you know, there was nothing about madness, but you guys were able to open the book because Barlo had some musical notes that he had just sitting in his possession forever, and he wasn't sure where he got it from. And then Calliope played the music. So, yes, you guys, I wasn't sure if you guys were just saying that or if you forgot the. Yes. You guys have opened the book, but then you guys couldn't understand what was inside of it. Right. Yeah.
Barlo to Sas W.T. Rayce: "You were born here? Do you remember traveling from the past?" Sas W.T. Rayce: "No, I do not." Bastion Bladesinger: "Do you remember growing up?" Sas W.T. Rayce: "Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just a bunch of my time as a child. And then I was a hermit for a bit." Shadow in the Snow: "Do you have many memories of your dad?" Sas W.T. Rayce: "No. He was taken when I was very little." ...He is telling the truth for the most part, but he is hiding something, and it is possible that he's not all there right now as he just came out of a decade fog according to his story. Calliope also checks her Ring of Truth Telling which seems to show that he is telling the truth.
Solec: "so if you guys are able to open the book, I think like I said, we could get that taken care of and now we can also get you guys back. ... We can get ourselves back to wherever it was you guys came from and maybe ...I can finally go back home and see your mother there." Sas W.T. Rayce: "And how she misses you. That would be amazing." Bastion: "How would you know that?" Solec: "Because I was part of the plans to put this into motion." Bastion: "No, I was asking SAS." Sas: "How would I know that? My mother misses my father?" Bastion: "yeah! You don't even know if this is your father. For sure." Sas: "But no, we've determined that this is him. It's just his memory came back by me saying my name." Bastion: "Did your memories come back?" Sas: "I didn't have memories that were lost." Bastion: "Oh, well, see, you don't have memories." Shadow: "What's your point?" Solec: "The truth is, is that ...I left when she was very young. Um." Shadow: "I'm sure at some point her mother has said that she missed him. Okay, well, SAS, this is your call. You have the book. This is your dad. If you feel comfortable and confident in sharing this with him, that's. That's your call." Barlo: "So what's our plan with the book? We. Are we destroying it? " Solec: "Yeah, well, if you can. If you guys are able to open it, I can get us to the part where it will prepare ...you guys... to help fight the the Dragon That Slumbers, before it wakes. And from there, I can also get you guys back to wherever it is. You guys came from." Barlo: "Well, I want to check this place out first here, and I'll go over now. Okay." Calliope looks to her ring. She gets the strong sense that there is truth and much that is hidden here. She then gathers the rest of the party away for a moment and then Calliope says: " I don't just feel like he's hiding something. He's not telling us the whole truth. And then watching his movements as I'm watching his eyes, I'm a pretty good lie teller. And I'm just getting a vibe." Bastion: "...lie teller?" Calliope: "yes." Bastion: "or Lie detector?" Calliope: "Both." Calliope: "And I'm just, I'm getting the vibe that he's not being 100% honest with us." Shadow: "Yeah, I think, I think it's maybe not that he's lying to us, but he's definitely not telling the whole truth. He's like Calliope said, he's just not telling us everything. He keeps saying there's more secrets in this book. But what secrets." Barlo: "He doesn't totally trust us, which is good because we don't really trust him, so.." Shadow: "Calliope, have you ever touched the book?" Calliope: " I don't. I, I, I know I didn't. That's a good idea. Sas are you okay if I touch the book?" [aloud] She starts to see flashes, the Two Obelisk Strangers They are the ones who wrote this book and they put in secrets and spells. Jeriah Chronos and Captain Meklan (Grognard). They spent many years putting this book together. She sees Sas's father on a beach, with Meklan telling him he needs to go into hiding. There is a vision of the Metal pieces being inserted in Solec's shell and then they damage his shell.Tabletalk about Meklan and sigilThere was a bit of table talk to clear up the confusion here a bit. The sigil was the Metal pieces which were damaged so that they would be unusable unless a Mending was cast. He had his memory wiped and he went to become a slave. Meklan is Grognard and he used to travel in time with Jeriah, including when they met the party at the Ziggurat it would seem.
Barlo: "so do we know of any other names he went by?" Bastion: "Is he known as like all of these names?" Shadow: "So I know that the shaman at my village knows him as Captain Meklan." Barlo: "But I knew him as Grognard." Shadow: "Do we know which came first? Meklan or Grognard?" Barlo: "No kidding"... Shadow: "So what happens if it doesn't awaken in our time? Then are we supposed to train somebody else how to do it?" Solec: "And those would be questions that you would have to ask him. ...My piece was just to help hide what I know that's inside of that book and once I'm back with the book, I can unlock those secrets. And then the next step is, ... that's all I'm supposed to do." Shadow: "Have no ambitions beyond that, no ambition to keep the book." Solec: "I don't see a need to once I've done what I'm supposed to do." Calliope is checking on her ring throughout this, and at the end it seems more honest than before. Barlo: "I trust you guys, but I do want to check this place out first before we leave." Bastion: "We should definitely do that." Shadow: "Well, do we, do we trust him to read the book while we explore? Or do we want to explore first and then give him the book?" Barlo: "I mean, how long do we think it's going to take him to read it?" Bastion: "You want to do you want to keep me here and like watch him?" Shadow: "Yeah, that's a good idea. I was going to say we should put somebody on him. I'll take this Arktos' face in my hands and give him some ear scratches and say if he tries to leave without us. Don't eat him, but sit on him. I mean, similar thing and turtle squished down to where his like little arms are. Like a plate with arms. Yeah. Okay, buddy, if he tries to leave without us, sit on him." Solec: "Um, it won't take me long. I mean, once you guys unlock the book, I can show you exactly where the part is. And then, I mean, honestly, I...' they realize it is closed again and must be reopened each time. Barlo: "Okay. Yeah. I trust you guys the trust. So that's fine. He wants to let him read it. We'll finish reading it. We can go. But how do you plan on getting home from here?" Solec: "Using the mirrors. Put some money in the left alcove and there is a way to get back to the one you came from." Barlo: "How do you plan to get home from there?" Barlo and Shadow begin to examine the area. Calliope plays the music to open the book, then asks Barlo for her cloak back. A light comes off Solec's shell and he finds a page and puts his hand on it. He is concentrating on it as his shell sparkles. Then he looks at Bastion: "I never underestimated you." The then realize it was Jacoby. He took the book. They realize he must have been very tricky in his responses. Bastion had tried to cast Counterspell, but it did not trigger -- it must have been a natural ability for him to do whatever he did, possibly.
Type
Journal, Personal
Medium
Paper
Myth
Location
Authors
Session Reports
- Session 30: The Siblings Affair Report
- Session 31: Stop Hitting Yourself Report
- Session 40: Beneath River's Keep Report
- Session 57: Blue Dragon Attacks Report