Arias Dreisari
Lady Arias Dreisari (a.k.a. Master Librarian)
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
She makes an effort to appear clean and prim, but her distractability shows through. She dresses nicely and keeps her face clean, but you can tell her hair was hastily tied up, perhaps without looking in a mirror, and she often has dirt or ink on her hands.
Body Features
She's a tall and somewhat imposing, in a friendly sort of way. She has olive-toned skin and a pale complexion that shows how much time she spends indoors studying this and that.
Facial Features
She has a prominent nose, sharp chin, and sleepy-looking blue eyes. She's often seen wearing a pair of reading glasses.
Identifying Characteristics
"You mean that tall pale woman in finely made clothing who's talking loudly about the finer points of bookmaking and the metamorphosis of insects?" ...She is not an easy person to miss.
Apparel & Accessories
In town, she wears a brown vest over a light blouse and a knee length skirt. She usually has an embroidered shawl over her shoulders. In the field, she wears finely made and sturdy travel clothes.
Specialized Equipment
She has a lot of mundane adventuring gear: Crowbar, hammer and pitons, a chisel, some rope, a signal mirror, etc. She is also never without a pen and paper. Her folder of research notes never leaves her person.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Arias was born the eldest of the Dreisari family, an important noble family in the port city of Calstona. Her parents attempted to groom her to inherit the family titles and estate, but she never had any interest in that. She was highly distractable and always had her nose buried in a book. At every opportunity, she would sneak outside to wander the city and the countryside, or she would go off to the run-down ancient library run by her "mad uncle".
After spending years wandering the shelves of that library, she fell in love with it. And began to understand its secrets... And the reason for her uncle's madness....
It caused quite the stir when, reaching adulthood, Arias requested ownership of the library and officially renounced her rights as first born, leaving her sister, Lenore, to be head of the family. Since then, Arias, with the help of her youngest brother, Dewey, has returned the Grand Library of Calstona to its former glory. The Library is now internationally renowned, and is integral to the city's government and its universities.
Once The Library was running smoothly, Arias took to various adventures, traveling to far off lands to conduct archaeological research. She seems to quite enjoy delving into old ruins and ancient tombs, braving dangers, meeting strange monsters, and uncovering ancient secrets.
Officially, no one knows specifically why Arias has come to Idriell, so far from her library. But her wandering ways are well known to those who know of her.
Sexuality
She has been involved with men and women in the past, but has never seemed to be terribly interested in relationships. Some would say she's married to her work...
Education
She was privately tutored as a child in math, science, language, history, and finance, and has spent endless hours with her nose in a book.
Accomplishments & Achievements
She has turned an aging and decrepit library into the heart of her city's civil and academic identity. She has also braved the danger of the wilds and ancient ruins to uncover many an ancient mystery.
Failures & Embarrassments
Her refusal of her inheritance and her position as head of the Dreisari family has been the subject of much gossip.
There are many rumors that she is simply mad. Prone to babbling on to herself in quiet rooms, sleepwalking, or performing strange rituals at night. They say she's more comfortable with wild men and goblins than in civilized society.
Intellectual Characteristics
Arias is easily distracted but will hyper-focus on anything that interests her. She is endlessly curious and will talk your ear off about her myriad subjects of study.
Morality & Philosophy
She believes first and foremost that the hunt for knowledge is, in itself, virtuous. She believes in the rights of all thinking beings and has been known to get into fights arguing to leave a monster to its own business. She would much rather talk and bargain with a monster for free passage and for information.
Taboos
"I swear to Ioun, if you ever damage a book in my library...."
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
To acquire knoweldge and uncover secrets. To forge alliances between the different peoples of the world.
Likes & Dislikes
Likes: Books, monsters, ruins, good conversation, patient listeners.
Dislikes: Rude people, excessive violence, boorish and uncurious types.
Dislikes: Rude people, excessive violence, boorish and uncurious types.
Vices & Personality flaws
Her primary vice is her obsessive and distractable nature that leads her to ignore personal relationships and walk head first into danger.
Personality Quirks
She is often fidgeting with her hair and tends to wring her hands.
Hygiene
Mostly clean and well-kept, but she often has a bit of dirt or some ink on her hands.
Social
Contacts & Relations
She has numerous contacts in academia, in Calstona's government, and in the church of Ioun.
Highly notable is an old friend, Elizabeth Myrtz, a high Cleric of Ioun.
She has an old friend, Mara, who used to work as a servant at the Dreisari mansion, but was expelled shortly after Arias left. They have reconnected recently.
Family Ties
Her youngest brother Dewey takes care of much of the practical concerns of running the library while Arias is off galavanting across the world.
She has a rather strained relationship with the rest of her family, not caring much for their Noble values and the way they treat the servants. She doesn't get along with her mother and father very well, but her sister Lenore is surprisingly understanding of her obsessions and pursuits. Though perhaps Lenore is just happy to be receiving Arias' inheritance and title....
Her Great Grandfather, Luvan Dreisinas, is a full-blooded Elf who lives a life completely separate from his human-blooded descendants. Arias does not necessarily care for him much, but he is pleased to see her restoring the Dreisari's library to the thriving state he remembers in his youth.
Religious Views
She is a devout follower of Ioun. She believes in the acquisition and spread of knowledge as a religious virtue.
Social Aptitude
Despite her obsessive and distractable nature, Arias is rather shrewd and socially adept. While generally humble, she is tenacious and persuasive, and tends to get her way.
Hobbies & Pets
She has (or will soon have) a curious pet spider... Her work is her life, and nothing that she does could be considered a hobby.
Speech
She is verbose, and her pronunciation is very precise. She speaks with genuine enthusiasm with technical and arcane language.
Wealth & Financial state
Her money on hand tends to ebb and flow quite a lot, but you can tell at a glance that she is reasonably well-off.
Species
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Lady
Master Librarian
Master Librarian
Year of Birth
204
51 Years old
Birthplace
The Dreisari Manor, on the outskirts of Calstona
Children
Current Residence
Pen and Parchment Scriptorium, Vareholm
Gender
Female
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Black
Height
5'11"
Weight
155 lbs
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Most Excellent!"
Other Affiliations
The Library has Changed
27th of Lowsun, 242
It’s a brisk Autumn day on the verge of Redfall in Calsonta. Arias, wearing a formal cape and a fancier dress and jewelry than usual, emerges from a small corner cafe near the library. She is accompanied by a nondescript man in a nondescript suit. The conversation they’ve just had appears to have been tense. The man gives her a stern nod, “Have a nice day, Lady Dreisari,” and disappears into the crowd.
“You as well,” she says in a dry tone. She stands by the street for a moment, glancing at the clock tower, trying to figure out what official she needs to talk to next, when one such official finds her.
“Arias! You’re here?” Arias turns around to see her good friend and ex girlfriend, Beth, dressed up in her formal High Priest of Ioun robes, rushing over to her.
“Beth! I thought you were back in Marstow.”
“And I thought you were in Idriell.”
Beth puts a hand on Arias’ arm and leans in close. “They sent me to investigate the disappearances. What the hell is happening in there?”
Arias glances around to see who’s noticed their conversation, then looks Beth in the eye and gestures to the library.
The two of them hurry over and into the cathedral-like building. They rush through the foyer, past a few… armed guards? Arias apologizes as some of the staff try to get her attention, and ignores as others of the staff whisper and gossip. Dewey notices the two going into an office and follows, calling for someone else to watch the main desk.
Inside the office, Beth stands up against a bookcase as Arias starts pacing. “You remember what I told you about Idriell’s Infinite Library?” Arias says.
“There’s a statue that resembles Ioun out front? It charms visitors and tries to keep them in there? Wraiths and porcelain people?” Beth says.
“Yes. And… about that special mission I could not go into detail on?”
Beth squints at her. “You haven’t shipped all those priests off to Idriell, have you?”
“No… a bit of Idriell has come here.”
The two of them turn their heads as Dewey enters, carrying a small bag. He nods at the two of them and grabs a seat. After a moment, Beth speaks up again. “Alright, what does that mean? A bit of Idriell has come here?”
Arias sighs, and continues to pace and gesticulate as she talks. “Back when The Library first heard about the library...” A pause. “Ah… hmm… Back when… The Owl first heard about the Idriellic library it started hatching a plan to, well, integrate the infinite library into itself.”
Beth looks at her wide-eyed. “It what?”
Arias makes the motion of putting books away. “It sent me with a series of books, demanding that I place them inside the infinite library, and, as best as I can tell, the two are merging.”
“That’s… how… Has it ever done anything like this before?”
“It has been very busy. I tried asking for more details but it’s not responding much. I don’t think it would even remember if it had done anything like this before. You know, before I started making an effort to connect with it, its perceptions of the world around it were vastly different from ours.”
Beth takes a moment to process this information. “Alright… so… your library… the, uh… The Owl is trying to integrate the Idriellic library? What’s happening? How does this work?”
“Well, some of my companions in Idriell, Caelam Zefer, Kitarel, Chris Hemsworth, Kaecil, a Tiefling paladin we hired, and I teleported to the Idriellic Library’s entrance and… it looks like a small Calstonan villa now. The Ioun statue has been replaced with a statue of The Owl. There were Gilnaith Drones out front, but they didn’t respond violently to us.”
“Wait, this is outside Gilnaith?”
“Yes, dozens of miles away. The city has apparently managed to expand its influence somehow. And The Owl has done something to make the Drones accept me as a citizen. So after talking to them, the library stairs opened to us, and rather than the old waiting room, there was now a wooden door,” she gestures to the door of this room, “opened by the keys in my pocket. This door led to the grand hall. Here, in this library.”
“Here? You’re telling me there is now a door in Idriell that leads directly to this building?”
“Yes, though I don’t think the stairway will open for just anyone. Part of why I’m here now is to discuss matters of security with the city. Anyway, when we looked around, we saw, well.. The owl,” she gestures wide with her arms and speaks to the ceiling, “who can now apparently physically manifest as an owl, visible to anyone,” she lowers her arms and resumes pacing, “we saw it fluttering up in the stacks and chased after it.
“With the help of Shuffle, we eventually found ourselves at a new door. The image of the Ioun Statue was engraved on it.” Arias gestures with her thumb and forefinger making a circle over her forehead. “The door required us all to weaken our mental resistances before entering. Luckily, the paladin we’d hired could protect us from the room’s influence.”
“Inside we found… ah….” Arias pauses her very energetic description of recent events. Dewey looks away and Beth leans in with anticipation.
“What? You found what?”
Arias sighs. “A small section of near-infinite library. A hallway. There were some odd creatures with six arms, and... Mikael Invorati (I don’t actually remember his last name.)"
Beth perks up. “You found Mikael!?” Her excitement quickly turns to worry when she sees the mournful look on Arias and Dewey’s faces.
“He wasn’t… he was… He was one of those porcelain people. With large pieces of his head missing. And he attacked us on sight. Viciously. With Fireballs.” She says that last bit with an added twinge of anger.
“He… his head? And he attacked you? Why would he attack you?”
“He wasn’t himself anymore. He was lost. Though the other porcelain people from before never seemed at all aggressive. I just don’t know… There was a swarm of Wights, as well.”
“Wights! Inside the library!?”
Arias nods. “We are looking into having guards stationed, but… as far as we can tell, they have never gone out into the library proper. The Owl has managed to keep things sectioned off. So… we had no choice but to fight back. Every hit that Mikael took, pieces chipped off of him, until… he.. Well.. shattered.”
The room grows silent. Beth rubs her eyes and shakes her head. “Great. Just… fucking great. So you’re telling me that all these missing priests may now be violent porcelain zombies?”
“I… hope they’re not all as far gone as Mikael. We still don’t know if recovering from this condition is possible, but I think the resources to do so may be on Idriell. But… finding more of these rooms has not been easy, and we need adequate preparations to go inside. Even with some of the most skilled people from Vareholm, the six-armed alien creatures nearly defeated us.”
Beth looks up, brow furled. “Six armed alien creatures?”
“Yes… Tall humanoids. When we arrived, one of them appeared to be attempting to question Mikael? I’m not sure if they are responsible for his condition, or if that’s just a feature of the Idriellic library. After the fight, and after they sent some Invisible Stalkers after us, we chased them to the end of the hallway.
“Once we had them pinned down, they proved themselves to be powerful spellcasters. Each had some sort of colorful disc to aid in their casting, and their multiple arms seemed to allow them to cast multiple spells at a time. We had immense difficulty with their ability to counterspell faster than we could cast anything. Luckily, when we could reach them to make attacks, they proved to be relatively weak. We slew one of them, and the others teleported away when things got too intense.
“In the end, we found what they had been searching for. A book with The Owl’s face on the cover, several magic gems embedded on it, and a directory of the library.” Dewey draws the book out of his back and goes over to Beth so she can have a look. “The room returned to a normal room, without the Charming effect, and we exited out directly to the Grand Hall.”
After a moment, Beth asks, “Is that it?”
“Essentially. That is what we were able to accomplish so far. We haven’t be able to locate any of the other doors yet.”
Beth is glaring at the floor now, processing everything. “So this… Idriellic library, which… is now contained by Your Library… seems to be preying upon Ioun’s priesthood.”
“Yes… as best we can tell. The only people that have gone missing are from the church. We’ve been trying to keep track of all attendance since it started”
“Have you considered shutting the place down?”
Arias looks at her with shock. “Shutting down? We can’t shut down!”
“It’s not safe, Arias.”
“Beth, it needs people! It needs interest and curiosity and learning! Conditions won’t improve if people stop visiting. It will starve! It will start losing the battle. For all we know, it might become hollow and dangerous, like the Idriellic library. And it will...have to take more from me.” She says that last bit with a distinct tone of fear in her voice.
Beth stares down Arias for a moment, then heaves a sigh and looks away. “Alright, fine. It needs to feed. But how are you going to protect people?”
Dewey pipes up now. “We’re talking with everyone. The church, the guard, the university. We have investigators from ‘The Spiders’ scouring the place. We’ve posted notices. There’s will be guards. The City is taking this situation very seriously. We’ve had to go a little more public with the overall nature of the place. I can share some of the plans with you if you like.”
“Alright,” Beth responds. “I should go report back with what you’ve gold me. I’ll come over later tonight to look over those plans.”
“Okay,” Dewey says. “I guess I’ll get back to business, then.” He nods to Arias and leaves the office.
Arias and Beth stand in awkward silence for a moment, not really looking at once another. Eventually, Beth starts towards the door, stopping just next to Arias. “Can you tell me, Arias. ‘The Owl’. Does it care that its experiment here has gotten people killed?”
Arias has to think a moment before responding to that. “I don’t know that it feels guilt or shame the way we do, but I can tell you that it very much enjoyed the company of Mikael, and of others that have gone missing. It would never have wanted this to happen to them.”
“Hmm…” Beth mumbles, and nods. She glances up at Arias and takes her hand, giving it a slight squeeze. “I guess I’ll see you later tonight.”
Arias gives her a smile, with Beth returns, very slightly, before heading on her way.
The Vault of Hourglasses
It was quiet when we arrived in Aurlus Solaris. Disturbingly so. I expected to be greeted with threats. Perhaps to fight Christo right away. But we made it to the Planetarium without incident. Myself, Korrik, Davin, Ignis, Kitarel, and Zephyr headed inside, while the rest of our party remained outside to keep watch and deal with whatever threats would come to them.
Having the solutions to all of the various puzzles, we proceeded quickly through the previously explored sections of the vault, obtaining various priceless artifacts along the way. (Arias will recount what they were, but I don’t remember. There was a stone eye from one of the statues, and a fancy dress.) I was a bit distressed to find one of “The Stygian Boys” crumbled to dust upon hitting his weak point, and we decided not to destroy the remaining statues. But we retrieved all the other treasures.
At the end of the previously explored section of the vault, we were transported to another room where dozens of narrow tapestries hung from the ceiling. A dreadful fiend of some sort attacked us. It looked like numerous sickly, lanky arms protruding from a flowing robe. It levitated and used the tapestries to move, inflicting us with curses and poison using needles extended from its fingers. We won the fight, but were badly injured.
I spoke with the fiend’s corpse, and it gave me the name of the person who built the vault. Or at least that room. (But Krail doesn’t remember the name. Started with an R?). And of course, it confirmed that this was Pykir’s vault.
After the fight, we discovered a spot that warped us to another ‘room’. A broad grassy plane, with numerous trees nearby. There were many small, dry trees, and four larger trees with leaves like steel razors. Korrik spoke with the plants, and Ignis (I think?) used Detect Thoughts. We determined that the larger trees could shoot lightning in a manner similar to the breath of a blue dragon, and surmised that the intended way to exit the room was to hit all of the smaller trees with lightning, or defeat all of the larger trees. Luckily, we were able to rest for a bit in this room.
While the rest of the group engaged in combat (those razor leaves fucking HURT), I managed to charm one of the larger trees and convince it to wander about the room, lighting up all of the smaller ones.
After solving that puzzle, we were teleported to some sort of colosseum suspended amongst the stars. Various chains hung from the sky, and when one was touched, the ground split open. From some unseen location in the sky, a body fell and was was hanged, and its spirit fell to the ground. There would be a total of five of these. When one was defeated, another body was hanged, and we fought another spirit. We have encountered permanently “Blinking” knights in the streets of Aurlus Solaris. These spirits were similar, but stronger. They possessed special abilities that they seemed to use as a reaction to being struck by a weapon. We would later learn their names.
The first was Valendrin Yauthlo, the Unblinking Wall. He cast the spell, Shield, upon being struck. Second was Bisfra Yauthlo, the Starry Illusion, who used Mirror Image. Third was Sedara Ichiom, the Quickened Blade, who used Haste. Fourth, Navione Aiat, the Horizon Walker, who I believe used Dimension Door. Finally, there was Leohain Abbesz, the Eldritch Wind, who seemed to use a minor version of Steel Wind Strike. We later learned that Leohain, upon his defeat, appeared outside in Aurlus Solaris, cursing the name of Korrik, who defeated him.
Each of these spirits also had the horrifying visage that can instantly age those who gaze upon it, in much the same way Mara was aged. Several us us were aged, but thankfully, Zephyr was able to restore us before too long.
After defeating all five, we found an invisible path leading off into the stars. What happens next was…
I’m afraid I simply do not have words for it. I can feel the lapse in memory. I do not know how we ended up where we were, but we found ourselves in a room with a massive pit filled to the brink with our own corpses. There was a door across the pit with an inscription above saying “Atone for your sins”. There were instructions on one of the walls, written in chalk, with my own handwriting, telling us to keep throwing ourselves into this pit until we could cross.
I can only imagine that this was a powerful illusion. I know of spells that work in similar ways, creating lived experiences and modifying memories. But I don’t wish to dwell on it.
The next area appeared to be the core of the vault. There were halls lined with alcoves, and statues would appear as we unlocked sections of the vault. In the center of the room was a large tree with various hooks hanging from its branches. Hallways led off from the central room, and there were a total of 26 side rooms. Each one contained some sort of puzzle or physical challenge. (Arias will absolutely list each of the 26 puzzle rooms, but I will not)
Each room granted us one item of power, which we have taken with us, and one item attuned to the energies of one of the various planes. And oh what I would give to be able to take those items. Unfortunately, they were the key required to exit the vault, and planar travel seems to be blocked in there.
From the various statues, we now know the names of 27 important Oshrans. I will post the list later. It is worth noting that “Pykir the wise” was among them. The planar item associated with Pykir was attuned to Ril Anon Ost, the Oshran city. Perhaps her lair is there. Kyas Malisius, The umbral Herald, was among the names, as well as two other Malisiuses, listed as the Cleansing Herald and the Ashen Herald.
Inside the tree, there was a sword. Upon finding the correct item, the tree opened up, revealing a skeleton, with a plackard reading “Silvaria Brightwood, the Traitor”. We know from the inscription at his grave that Silvaria was Selval Brightwood’s mother. We can only wonder what she did they considered traitorous…
With all the plane-attuned items in their place, we were able to leave the vault, and found ourselves back in Aurlus Solaris. It seemed as though the outside party had a very eventful three days.
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