Bran Camlann
Scholar Bran Camlann (a.k.a. The Damned Scholar)
Bran Camlann is prestigious and prodigious Scholar of the Imperium Academia (IA). An Imperial "approved" Library dedicated to the acquisition and protection knowledge, history, religion, culture, lore, and even magic. Bran is a talented Linguist, who dedicates himself into the languages and their potential application in the Verbal component in magic. One day during his research he discovered a secret room deep within the archives of the IA's main campus, and fell into the clutches of a demilich. His life and his soul made hostage by the demilich, Magister Myrddin Emrys, Bran became a Warlock in his service and was given knowledge and power. Currently his newly added purpose in life is to collect souls for his Patron, in hopes of one day reclaiming his own.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Thin, not overly muscular. He's spent most of his life indoors even prior to being a Warlock, but he is by no means weak for the most part... books can be heavy after all.
Body Features
Pale skin, as if he rarely goes out into the sun. Not unlike what one could assume from some sort of Undead.
Facial Features
Thin, no roundness to his cheeks and rather boney. One would assume this would be the result of his poor diet and life spent reading dusty old tomes, it is that but his nature as an Undying Warlock has exaggerated these features a tad bit as well.
Identifying Characteristics
His raven black hair and pallid complexion are hard to miss, but most write that off to him being a Scholar and spending most of his time in one of the many libraries and archives of the Imperium Academia.
Physical quirks
He likes to crack his neck and knuckles quite often, unnaturally often even. His other joints creak sometimes too with extraneous movement, though he is unlikely to complain too much.
Special abilities
As a Warlock, he can call upon Eldritch magicks of the other Planes granted to him by his Patron. In addition as an Undying Warlock he has an affinity for death, undeath, disease, poison, plagues, and necromancy as well. But prior to being a Warlock he did have a knack for learning a variety of languages, which is a rather practical life skill.
Apparel & Accessories
Dressed in his traditional crimson red and steel gray Imperium Academia's scholar's robes and equipped with leather armor, he looks like the average scholar in this regard. When not using his glasses to read, he tends to put them up in his hair or on his forehead. In addition he always has a book him to read, and he has a Shard of Obsidian with him... sometimes he talks to it secretly in order to communicate with his Patron.
Specialized Equipment
As a Scholar his eyes and his brain are his greatest resource, he is a speed reader and knows his way around any library, archive, or bookstore. He also can recognize rare and valuable pieces of literature or tomes on sight due his well trained eye and knowledge, though he prefers to read using his glasses. As far as weapons are concerned; he was issued by the Imperium Academia a Light Crossbow, Bolts, Daggers, and a Quarterstaff.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Bran's parents disappeared when he was young, Setanta and Medb Camlann, they too were members supposedly of the Imperium Academia (IA) and were out searching for new tomes and lost knowledge for the collection... but they never returned from one of their adventures. Thus Bran was raised by an Elvish Scholar within the IA named Magister Morgana Albion, she taught him Elvish from a young age and from there his love of languages grew. He specialized in mastering many of the more common and more practical languages of the realm. As a teenager he proved himself as an ideal Scholar of the IA and was granted access to many areas of the IA that many his age were not permitted. He has never crossed the line and has never had much of an aptitude for any actual magic, all his research was purely theoretical when it came to his theories on the Verbal component of spell casting. He postulated that the intent behind the spell rather than the words themselves caused the spell to take effect rather than the words themselves. His research and dedication put him on the fast track to becoming a Magister himself. However his late discovery of Magister Myrddin Emrys in the archives changed his plans immensely, rather than pursue a life of research he requested to be put out in the field hunting down books like his parents before him. It is the only way he can keep his Undying Warlock nature a secret, and can collect souls safely for his Patron.
Gender Identity
Male
Sexuality
Heterosexual
Education
Well educated, was raised by the Imperium Academia for the Imperium Academia. His knowledge on arcana, history, nature, and religion is above average and rather refined. The purpose of his education and his life is to collect knowledge and bring it back for them to collect, curate, store, secure, protect, contain, and hide.
Employment
He is a Scholar of the Imperium Academia, previously he was just an archivist and researcher much like his teacher and foster mother Morgana Albion. But with the enslavement of his soul and pact with his new master, he has to abandon that way of life for one of adventure. So he switched career paths and has set out hunting for knowledge, much like his parents did before him.
Accomplishments & Achievements
An accomplished and well learned Scholar of high Intelligence and with an excellent education to back it. In addition, with his natural innocence and naiveté, he's developed some well meaning Charisma and genuine kindness.
Failures & Embarrassments
His Strength and Wisdom are less than ideal, he is working on that... trying to become a bit more athletic and growing some common sense as it were. Especially since he's being thrown out into the "real world" now, the world that killed his parents.
Mental Trauma
He fears Magister Myrddin Emrys and for his soul, he has no choice but to obey him. In addition if the wrong people were to find out what happened to him he could be killed or worse: be expelled from the Imperium Academia. In addition, since the loss of parents he's bit worried about the outside world and about his foster mother Magister Morgana Albion.
Intellectual Characteristics
He sees himself as much as a teacher as a student, he likes to share his knowledge but is always open to learn more himself. He may come across sometimes as condescending, but he is genuinely trying to help people and teach them.
Morality & Philosophy
As a Chaotic Good, the tends to ignore laws that make no sense to him and defers to his own personal moral compass. He is almost always willing to reach out a helping hand to others.
Taboos
Destroying any knowledge, book, scroll, tome, or lore of any kind is unforgivable. All knowledge, good or evil, has its place within the Imperium Academia.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
He loves to learn, read, study, and grow as a person. He is a Scholar of the Imperium Academia at his core, it's what defines him. Without it, he doesn't know what he is or what his purpose is.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Savvy: He knows books and studying, toss him in position that requires forethought and research he's your man. Need to find a monster's weakness from a Bestiary? Need to find a secret tunnel from some old blue prints? Need to find out what an old schematic builds? Need to translate or decode an ancient tome? Talk to him.
Ineptitude: Lack of common sense, he's not very streetwise and is unfamiliar with much of the criminal underworld and the ongoings of daily life on the streets. He knows the political issues regarding the Imperium Academia's stance versus both the aristocracy and the temples; but beyond that he's ignorant.
Likes & Dislikes
Likes: Books of any kind, new knowledge is new knowledge.
Dislikes: Destruction of any kind of Knowledge, if one cannot preserve or remember the past then how can one grow from it?
Virtues & Personality perks
He is at his core morally just, but the ends do sometimes justify the means. He doesn't like torture or cruelty, but will kill those he judges evil in fight without hesitation. He also feels knowledge and education should be free for all, but sometimes people can't get it, don't want, or destroy it and that hurts him.
Vices & Personality flaws
He can be naive, too optimistic, and too kind sometimes. This is due to a lack of wisdom and experience on his part. Plus if anything were to happen to the Imperium Academia, his foster mother figure Magister Morgana Albion, or any of his friends it would break him.
Personality Quirks
Likes to crack his neck and knuckles, reads on his down time or resting, and tends to correct others when they're saying something wrong.
Hygiene
Very clean, or at least he cleans himself as often as he can. Would try to shower daily if he could, but field work sometimes prevents that due to a either a lack of funds or being too far from civilization.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Both his parents, Setanta & Medb Camlann, went missing when he was young while they were questing as Scholars for knowledge for the Imperium Academia. Though he is still close to his Elvish foster mother, Magister Morgana Albion.
Family Ties
Parents (Setanta and Medb Camlann) are believed to be dead, and he never bothered to look for other "Camlanns". Only Magister Morgana Albion, his mother figure, is all he has.
Religious Views
He knows Deities are real; as are other Celestials, Fiends, Fey, and Aberrations... he does not worship any of them though. He is just aware of their existence and knows enough that it's best to avoid such beings if possible, and if it is not possible be ready show them as much respect as possible or to run away from them (or kill them) as quickly as possible.
Social Aptitude
He fits right in alongside other Scholars and members of the Imperium Academia, however out in the "real world" he still has a lot to learn and learn he shall. He can talk and be polite, but one can tell he's lived a sheltered life.
Mannerisms
He is polite, well spoken, and well educated. He can blend in both temples and the aristocracy, but barely due to his education but lack of experience.
Hobbies & Pets
No pets, but he is considering getting a familiar with his newfound powers. His hobbies all revolve around books though. Reading new books and writing things down he learns are his favorite things to do.
Speech
Well spoken in many tongues and languages; Common is his mother tongue but he speaks excellent Halfling, Elvish, Undercommon, Dwarvish, Orc, & Gnomish. His Goblinoid tongues are as rough as gravel and grating to the ear as he is still learning.
Wealth & Financial state
Commoner level, whatever he has in his pockets is what he has money-wise. Though he could technically requisition some funds from the Imperium Academia if need be... particularly and especially if he were to go through Magister Morgana Albion.
A Human Undying Warlock and Scholar of the Imperium Academia, ready for adventure in the name of learning new things and saving his soul
View Character Profile
Alignment
Chaotic Good (CG)
Honorary & Occupational Titles
His current rank within the Imperium Academia is "Scholar", and the highest one can achieve is "Magister" though there are some ranks in between.
Age
27
Date of Birth
Unknown
Birthplace
The Imperium Academia
Children
Current Residence
Varies
Gender
Male
Eyes
Pale Blue
Hair
Raven Black
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pallid
Height
5'11"
Weight
180 lb
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Eldritch Blast!" (In various languages)
"You're talking a lot of shit for someone in Eldritch Blasting distance" (When threatening)
"That's one for the books!" (after accomplishing something cool)
Days 16-17: Harpies & Hunger
We set out from town that morning bright and early... then spent the next few hours in the cart on our way to the bridge. Much of the day after that is blur, must be due to the adrenaline and excitement of what came after, we literally spent the whole morning and early after noon fighting those Harpies. We found them in a dirt den by the bridge, which fortunately seemed to only minimally damaged, and they assaulted us as soon as we approached. I lead the attack with my Mirror Images with Erron Panzer, who we had brought to us via Janott Knurtle's spore way. Janott herself however needed to take a nap or something afterwards, so she couldn't help with the Harpies. Furthermore Medea was flanked and I was unable to help her, for which I feel terrible about in truth.
After the fighting was done, we all rested by the wagon and Janott rejoined us, but as we approached the den once more to our surprise an even bigger threat came from the cave: a Wyvern and its babies. The Wyvern fight was an absolute terror, both Janott and Erron almost died in the conflict of which I know Luticia will be absolutely pissed about... as I personally promised her that we would send him back unharmed.
After the fight with the Wyvern I was unable to capture its Soul in order to feed my Patron, which is unfortunate as I can sense his hunger and I fear he may choose to begin feeding upon my Soul soon unless I feed him more. On the plus side however we found some treasure in the cave and I was able to claim about 100 gold pieces for myself. Most of the treasure we sent back to Luticia with Erron, as an apology of course.
Oh, one last thing: I asked Luticia what was special about the blank book I found back in the mushroom dungeon and if she could identify it... apparently its a book that can answer almost any question, I fused it with my Book of Shadows making it an even more powerful and indispensable. I feel my personality twisting with every battle and my memories of home fading.
Days 13-15: Toadstools & Troubles
On the evening of the 13th day of starting this Journal and my adventures, we started feeling a bit melancholic about our life back in our old time and began telling each other finally our stories and our origins. Janott talked about her life among the Firbolgs, Wraith told us a bit about the secret society he's a part of, and even Medea opened up a bit about her life locked in a tower... though she did not tell us why they did so. I even told them how I lost my soul and my intentions on recovering it. Janott even remarked on how I'm just a normal guy who just keeps having edgy and ark things happening to him, which is a fair summation of my life recently.
It was then we started questioning our next move or plan, as we could not stay here at our "safe haven" forever... we all had our own personal goals. It was then that it appeared, a myconid with a familiar face. I believe it its name was Pscion(?), and it was indeed the small myconid we encountered over century ago in the dungeon beneath Krelyria. It said it was there, more or less in its incoherent ramblings, to guide us and it needed us to go west to help fulfill some sort of prophecy. That with winter coming that the war would begin again and that Arthund the Book Burner would return. We each "consulted" our respective deities and patrons, and found we do indeed fit the prophecy for the most part with I being a "Savior of Darkness". Now most myconid don't live more than a few decades, so the fact this one somehow travelled this far north and has lived at least a century baffles me. But with no other options or real plans so we agreed. We rested and packed that evening, excited to finally have a clear goal of sorts.
The next morning we realized we had 3 options on how to travel west: the first being to head north around the cliffs and bluffs encircling the wasteland and cross the desert like biomes, however the myconid warned us that there were many dangers to the north and that we would surely perish and in its ramblings said "rask" which I believe to be a "Tarrasque". Wraith saw this as an exciting challenge and voted for that routed, though he was quickly vetoed. The second route was to cross the lake directly, this would involve us chartering a ship/boat to cross or Janott creating a potion of some sort to permit us to breathe underwater. The myconid said that it would be safe but insecure route, and said something along the lines about an "Aboleth", so that was no go as well for multiple reasons. We decided on the third option, heading south on the road around the lake and then proceeding west. The myconid said it would be the longest but most secure route to travel, and personally I would like our guide and friendly face to survive the journey in order for us to know for sure where to go.
We went to town to purchase a cart, I could've negotiated the price but we were short on time and in a hurry. So we dropped a 100 gp, 50 of which was mine from selling my crossbow, and had Janott's familiar shift into a horse to pull it. The goliath barbarian, Twitlick, Erron, and Luticia remained at the safe haven to protect it... the rest of us set off south. On 15th day we arrived at a town that seemed to be a bit rundown, damaged dwarven barricades in small town. Needing a rest stop and information, we ventured inside. Medea and I went towards the tavern while Wraith and Janott went shopping for a wench of some sort, just in case the wagon was to get stuck or to help get it uphill. Though we noticed was dilapidated and damaged, as if it were recently attacked.
When Medea and I arrived at the tavern, the only occupants were an elvish barkeep and a pair dwarves at a table. After paying for a few drinks, none of which were milk unfortunately, and was my first taste of hard liquor. We began asking a few questions in their own tongue, which strangely they did not speak. From there we learned that the town had recently been attacked by a large flock of particularly dangerous harpies and furthermore it seemed the town couldn't handle another attack nor was any aid coming. According to the Dwarves, the harpies were coming from the west and in addition the were nesting in the vicinity of a destroyed bridge to cross rather wide river that was fed from the lake northwest of here. To make matters worse, that bridge was the only means of heading further west and one would have to travel south for many days to find the next crossing.
Harpie, I remember from my studies being rather immodest and effeminate looking creatures as they tend to be nude and that even the males had breasts. They were vaguely humanoid look beings with wings, talons on their hands, and have avian legs; with their most dangerous feature being their seductive and mesmerizing voices and song as Sirens of the Sky. What also troubled me was the presence of a river, as I do not recall there being one passing through this area... it made me wonder how much of the world's geography has changed from what I knew.
So, I made drunken deal with the Dwarves: If my friends and I cleared out the harpies, they would repair the bridge and we would continue our journey west. The Dwarves seemingly agreed, though they seemed doubtful of our success considering how much the Harpies had destroyed their town and decimated there men. It was around this time we heard shouting in the street, and it was the familiar voice of Wraith... and him yelling is never good sign.
When we arrived outside, Medea and I arrived in time to see Wraith decapitate harpy that somehow survived last night's attack, we filled them in on the situation and the plan and made our way back to the cart. There we see our myconid friend being accosted by ruffians, but before we could even make a move to aid him he somehow swallowed the men whole. Despite our confusion, I asked Janott to use her magic ring for a second to see if she could see anything strange about our myconid friend. She saw nothing but still, I have many questions about the myconid... but those would have to wait as we had another long journey to the harpy nest to the west.
Days 6-12: Our Safe Haven
The next week or so passed relatively quiet and peacefully, with no direction or plan... we decided to settle in and make ourselves comfortable. With the help of Erron and Luticia, we began to restore to compound and the surrounding land. We rebuilt the farm house, the barn, and the fence around the perimeter. I mostly helped where I could with the cleaning inside with Medea, while Wraith and Janott set up hunting traps around the swamp and foraging for herbs. At the end of the week, Medea finally named our new home: Te'armann Sa'bhaite, safe haven in an old tongue. For this place will be our safe haven for the foreseeable future, as we are directionless and guideless... in future not our own.
Days 4 & 5: Investigations & Firebolts!
The next morning Medea and I went out and investigated the main house, while Erron watched Luticia tinker in the barn, and Wraith and Jannott checked out the swampish woods. As expected most of the house was a ruin, we found little loot just some Hide Armor hidden inside a mattress and bunch of rusty weapons and old arrows in the basement. The only thing of genuine value there was a few ancient magical Vampire Arrows which I snagged to hand off to Wraith, as I felt he could get some use out of them. I doubled back to the barn, to see if Luticia could do some smelting or smithing and perhaps restore or melt the rusted weapons. To which she replied she could not, as she was a tinkering Artificer not a smith. I replied that I thought Gnomes and Dwarves were inherently good at such things. In which she took exception to that and was about to throw one of her hammers at me and Erron stood up threateningly. I apologized and skedaddled out of there pretty quickly, it was then that I remembered most dwarf women had beards and that was probably why she was so offended.
I went out to the old farm fields to check and see if any of the old produce was still growing, and it seemed the orchards were in good order albeit a tad bit wild. It was around this time that Wraith found me and asked me if I could identify some tracks and the danger of the beasts or monster that made him, and indeed they were dangerous. It seemed he came across, besides the obvious common animals, some Griffin, Dretch, and Slaadi tracks. The Griffin is threatening but not nearly as disconcerting as Dretches and Slaads. The former is a Lesser Demon of the Abyss and the latter is an utterly terrifying Abomination of Limbo, neither of which should be found here on the Material Plane. I don't know what black magicks the Emperor brought forth with his damned book burning War, but he is surely at the heart of this somehow. The illiterate power word stunning git.
After some further investigation through our knowledge and the use of Jannott's magic ring, we found the Dretch lair. We made our way back to the barn after Medea called us for dinner and we made plans to attack it at dawn, and while I was at it I gave Wraith the arrows I found which he was extremely grateful for and he casually mentioned that it may be time for him to tell us more about his family... but he would do so later.
The next day Luticia gifted Medea a Bag of Holding and I a Wand of Secrets, she both wanted us to test her toys out and wanted us to help keep her and Erron safe while we all investigated the Dretch lair. We found the place easily enough, especially withe combined skills of our resident monster hunter Wraith and resident know it all Bran (me). We noticed quickly that there was at least 6 of the fiends down in the lair, we would've confronted them directly but we quickly realized that their presence produced a thick miasma of poison fog like gas that hung over in their den like a foul musk. It was then that Medea and quickly nodded at each other attempted to light the gas aflame, as we both have found fire to be the best solution when dealing with unknown enemies. The answer is to always Fire to every question.
Luticia and Jannott caught on quickly to our plan, and joined in adding their sparks and flames to ours. The resulting explosion was near deafening and singed all of us. The Dretch were most definitely dead, but we were almost as well. Rather than loot their layer, we decided to double back to the barn and rest awhile... and to sleep off our burns and injuries. But before we left I attempted to use my Obsidian Shard, subtly mind you, to absorb their 6 demonic souls. Unfortunately, those 6 souls were only equal to 1 normal soul. Still better than no soul, believe me.
Day 3.3: The Soldier & The Tinker
We made our way south of the city and night was approaching fast, it seems to be fall and nights take of three quarters of the daily cycles now. We moved swiftly down the aged road skirting swampish woodlands that were no doubt the home of some at best deplorable bandits and at worst some foul dragonkind. We arrived to the property outlined by the deed and found the main house of the farm or plantation to be an utter wreck and in disrepair, but fortunately the old barn still stood as strong as ever so we decided to take shelter there. But as we approached the entrance, there were signs of habitation... so we cautiously entered. Jannott and Wraith both felt we should take an offensive approach to the problem, Medea and I thought it'd be more prudent to be peaceful. The goliath seemed to have no opinion one way or another.
From the cellar or basement of the barn we could hear the sounds of small hammers and whirring clinking machinery, I approached the stairs and called down in a soft voice "hello? anyone one down there?". The sounds stopped all of a sudden and we could hear a mechancial bellow as if it were yelled in a metal barrel in a deep voice: "FUCK. OFF". The source of the voice marched up the stairs, one at a time slowly and methodically until it reached us. There standing at around 7 foot tall and easily almost 400lb was a Warforged, it's body tinted in rusted and worn in time but it did not dull his apparent ferocity. Again it told us to "FUCK. OFF.", in which Wraith replied from somewhere in the rafters above "NO. YOU.". The Warforged's one eye, as the other had a leather eye patched, looked up seeking him. After appraising us a brief moment and counting us, he turned and called down the stairs "TO. PAZ.".
Behind the mechanical behemoth, sprung out a small Rock Gnome woman. Immediately Jannott found her adorable and implicated she wanted to keep her, like her pets or Twitlick. The Rock Gnome narrowed her eyes and Jumped up on the Warforged's shoulders and introduced herself as Luticia Topaz the Artificer and the Warforged as Erron Panzer. I remembered seeing schematics back at the IA of prototypes of Warforged, they unlike Golems and other such constructs were designed to have a particular and unique intelligence and sentience: they were made with souls. I in truth found this Erron Panzer quite fascinating and the Artificer equally fascinating as such a practice was already rare within the now Old Empire and here she was in this broken new time, she surely had much to tell us.
Luticia invited us down for some tea in her workshop basement and we had a nice long talk and rest down there while Erron and Wraith kept watch outside. She explained that after she left home, for reasons she did not explain to us, she found Erron alone and mostly unconscious in the woods covered in moss. As Warforged are beings that do not sleep that is most concerning, and so she had begun repairs on him and they have been together since. They found this old barn and the workshop beneath it almost 2 years ago, and have been squatting and living here since. We in turn explained our circumstances, telling the same story we told the priest back in town, and astonishingly she believed us. Medea, with the deed in hand, explained that this land and the barn belonged to her. Luticia rebuttled politely something along the lines of "finder's keepers" and "squatter's rights". They hashed it out, politely, and came to a deal. Medea could have the main house and the surrounding land and fields, if Luticia could keep her workshop and most of the barn. In addition if Luticia could help provide equipment and artifacts that would be appreciated too, and surprisingly Luticia seemed excited by the idea. She seemed eager to test out her new Sending Stones and offered one to Medea, so that the next time we travelled we could keep in contact. As an added bonus she said her and Erron would gladly travel with us if it meant finding new lost magic and tech in doing so, a prospect I could certainly get behind for sure. As we talked into the night we finally drifted off to sleep.
Day 3.2: In which we are "out of time"
We, all of us with the exception of Wraith again, walked into the bookstore to see what we could find. But as soon as I walked up to the book keeper all the man could do was gasp and ask if I was going to a costume party of some sort, as he thought I presume that my Imperium Academia Robes were some sort of silly outfit. I immediately corrected him and asked why he thought so and to make a long story short... the empress didn't just throw us through space in some sort of Gate but through time as well, by a couple of centuries in point of fact. I'm traditionally a man who prefers a cold glass of milk as his choice of beverage, but in that moment I think I wished to taste my first sip of some sort of alcohol instead. I immediately requested a history of some sort over what has transpired over the past few centuries, and went to reading. As I am sure that I could read faster than that man could ever hope to speak, as I can read two pages at the same time. I don't know how I learned this skill, but it did aid in my studies and training at the IA.
After copious amounts of reading completed in under an our and some heavy note taking in my Leather Journal, I returned the book and mentioned that there were no accounts of what happened to the Imperium Academia. As it was the arcanic and academic heart of the Empire, surely it survived and was protected. The bookkeeper had no answers but the mention the "Dirty King" was known to burn books and the like during his campaign in an effort to destroy all magicks and knowledge. I don't know what it was that broke in me in that moment, but it felt like I was about to have some sort of nervous breakdown that would result in blood pouring out of many of facial orifices. It was Medea that calmed me down in a few words, but it wasn't the words she used "calm down" but the tone and pressure behind them. I held back my potential loss in sanity as the last piece in the puzzle fell in to place.
I was always curious since my youth why the Emperor and the nobility not only tolerated but help fund the IA; in land where magic was illegal why was so much of it secured, contained, and protected behind its black marble walls? It was then that I realized that those blue flame torch lit halls, the mahogany shelves, and labyrinthine corridors that went many storeys up into its towering shape and miles below didn't exist to preserve such knowledge but to hoard it. The Emperor had planned his assault for decades, perhaps centuries, or even prior to the founding of the IA when the first 9 Magisters came together. We, the IA, were just another chess piece on game board; so long as he had us and his hoard then he didn't need to preserve the rest of the world as he tried to burn it to ash.
As recited much of this knowledge and conclusions out loud, Medea shushed me and told me to keep my blabbering mouth shut in front of mixed company indicating the book keeper who was slack jawed and wide eyed at us at this point. I only had two questions left for this noble seller of learning: Was there still a courier system in place and was there anywhere else where we could get information? He said the courier system was by foot only, as it seems and aviary mailing as been either destroyed or never made it this far north. Which is a shame as I wished to contact my foster-mother Magister Morgana Albion, and elvish woman of character as I am now worried about her. In addition I wished to contact Magister "Bran" as he told me to contact him in two days time, and it seems I missed our appointment. The book keeper's other answer regarding information redirected us to a temple/church that held not just a god or pantheon but all the known gods of the realm.... a house of a thousand deities of sorts. We thanked him for his time and made our way there.
We arrived that the temple and the place was enormous and full of parishioners, the priest there looked a bit stunned and confused. You would have though he'd seen the face of a devil or demon or something, and he was just as confused when he met us. He asked where we came from and I spoke over Medea who claimed we were "from the mountains" and told the good priest the truth. The man's eyes glazed over and was even more confused, so I asked if he heard that story before and he confirmed he had. I asked if it was from a red Tiefling and he said yes and pointed towards the celtic altars, and sure enough there was Wraith. I yelled over to him but he ignored me, and we ran out of questions to ask the priest and thanked him for his time.
Following that and Medea's lead on her new deed, we saw our way out of the city to what was to be our new home for now. Until we find a way back to our time and perhaps if we're lucky kick the Emperor's ass for stunning me and burning libraries. Dirty effing King indeed.
Day 3.1: Goliaths, Halflings, & Shopping?
The next thing we knew the five, yes five of us, reappeared in what seemed to be the master bedroom of a gorgeous palace. Janott, Medea, Wraith, myself... and Goliath woman. Immediately I had no trust for this woman as she was wearing the uniform of the Emperor's guards and stoody there haughtily and imposingly. I immediately primed an Eldritch Blast for her as I was no longer stunned and feeling a tad bit irked by my experiences this morning, I demanded that she tell us who she was and why we should not attack her on sight. She introduced herself, she apparently is just a Goliath Barbarian and wandering mercenary who picked up this job on whim almost. Such logic checked out with me, as I'm familiar with Goliath culture during my readings and they tend to be quite an honorable, honest, and yet competitive mountain race.
No sooner than we finish introductions the a small, polite, and rather meek looking Halfling knocks on the door and lets himself in. He says that he is Servant of the Empress to which Janott replies "well, I think she's dead", which causes the Halfling to start bawling his eyes out. Medea goes and gives the Halfling a hug while I admonished Janott. Wraith says the Halfling deserves the truth, while I am inclined to agree there are better ways of saying it and breaking it to him. The Halfling guided us out of the room and as we questioned him, he left us more confusing questions than answers. He brough us before a Gate, teleporting ring of sorts and told us to leave before vanishing into a light. The teleporter began to crack so we swiftly left before anything else could happen to it.
On the other side of the Gate, we appeared in the center of a bustling and beautiful city. We recognize it the capital of Empress's land as the place bustled with elves, shops, half-elves, stalls, non-humans, and markets... I stuck out like a thumb here. Medea immediately threw back her hood with her slit-like eyes glowing with excitement as she yelled "Shopping!", as she grabbed Janott and our new Goliath friend by the arms and dragged them to various little boutiques. Wraith and I followed a long a bit, I acquired some much needed coin and sold most of the gear issued to me by the Imperium Academia. I traded by Crossbow, Bolts, Pitons, Hammer, and my remaining Torches. I gifted 6 of my Rations and my Rope to Twitlick to keep in the bag that Medea bought him. The best purchase I made though was a Leather Binder, a leather cover and a few free pages where I can add and remove sheets in order to keep records and scraps of information I come across, such as the "shopping list" I found or the "rubbing" Wraith made. In fact the very Journal your reading is kept in this Binder... I think I'll call it Bran's Leather Tome, maybe, might change the name later. I'll be using the materials in my Writing Kit for this, perhaps I'll turn my records here into the IA's collection after I'm finally able to return home?
Anyway, after some chatting with Medea, I gave her the weird deed I found on a cultist in exchange for coded a map of the entire labyrinthian mess of the catacombs beneath the Empire. Wraith and I promised each other look in detail as it was written in Infernal and a bit in code, before he immediately spied some gamblers and irreputatble sorts in order to make some coin and possibly get some information. I suggested to Medea that we should look into a bookstore, perhaps they will have something on "snakes". She narrowed her pretty eyes at the statement, but agreed with the idea. I suspect that she suspects that I suspect what she is. In any case, I plan on having the shopkeeper helping me identify a strange book I found, it's blank but the pages hold no ink... perhaps they may help in identifying it?
Day 3: A "Stunning" Morning
If there was ever a morning that needed to start with a tall glass of milk, it was this one. I awoke to the sounds of Wraith and Medea arguing about the loot division from last night, and despite my spitting headache such noises were a welcome reprieve from my nightmarish coma-like state. I swear by the Gods that I feel like I was trapped in that limbo for two weeks or more rather than a few hours. I awoke with memories and thoughts that were not my own, I knew of spells and magicks both forgotten and forbidden. Despite my splitting headache, I had two goals this morning: deciphering the glowing green text over by the archway and investigating the sealed gate in opposite corner of the room.
Ignoring the arguing and Janott's cooking, I grabbed a handful of ash and staggered over to the glowing letters. I tossed the ash into the air making a cloud and casted the ritual "Comprehend Languages", sat on the floor and stared at the letters for the next few minutes until they began to make sense to me. Slowly the letters reshaped themselves in my mind's eye into common tongue, and they read: "To those whom enter. Grave danger. To those whom come Death". I once the I fully translated them called over my shoulder to the others, telling them the meaning... though since we cleared the room and this dungeon of sorts of cultists the message is a tad moot at this point.
Following this, still mostly ignoring the others and trying to fight the headache, I made my way to the sealed gate. After a brief but thorough examination, I let the raw and painful energy and knowledge flow from my mind to my palm. It lessened my headache as I invoked an Eldirtch Blast forth, and burst forceful power thrusted itself from my hand with double the strength of any of the spells I casted yesterday. It utterly destroyed the gate and repulsed it's crumpled remains into the cell. Wraith and Medea ceased their bickering and conversations and approached the cell as well. They too investigated, Medea threw a few spells at it while Wraith threw an apple. What we could concur was that the room was filled with a magical darkness obscuring the chest hidden in the back of the room. We feared the darkness may consume or hurt us if we entered it, or the chest could be a mimic, or perhaps some other trapped was hidden... we were not about to risk it.
Towards the end of our investigation of the cell, Janott called out to us complaining that none of us were eating the breakfast she made for us using the non-humanoid ingredients we found down here. It smelled and tasted lovely, and the last remains of my headache finally faded away. However our breakfast was cut short by the sounds of a disturbance above us, we company of possibly the violent kind. Medea and I hid over one side of the room by the glowing lettered archway while Wraith hid on the other side of the room closer to the cell. Janott remained out in the open in front of her giant pot of breakfast stew/soup, though not before tossing some of the most definitely poisonous mushrooms in there first.
Descending from the stairs flanked by his entourage of guards, was what appeared to be the Emperor himself. Initially I believed this to be an illusion or trick of some sort, for why would the infamous and nigh immortal Emperor Arthund of the Krelyrian Empire be down in this musty mushroom infested hole in the ground? This place, along with our issues with the Wendigo, the cannibals, and the Rosa Sanguinem were beneath such a man's notice or care? In fact half the stuff the Imperium Academia gets a way with is due to his patronage of coin and his desire to collect knowledge for himself and to destroy everything else... so why would he be here? All my doubts were erased however the moment I laid my eyes on his onyx-hued and ominous sword: Ingervanal, The Stream of Anguish. That alone confirmed that it was indeed the Emperor, and that we indeed were royally screwed.
He addressed Janott, threatening her and demanding where the rest of us were. She tried bluffing and selling it that she just was making breakfast and no one wanted to eat it, and tried convincing the Emperor to have some. The Emperor seemed seconds away from smiting her just to silence her crocodile (Tortle?) tears and her admittedly rather whiny voice, that I stepped out and attempted to introduce myself in hopes of saving her from being made into Tortle Soup. No sooner than I introduced myself, he spoke he single word and I fell over petrified and paralyzed... he had Power Word Stunned me. I knew from my time at the IA that this was an 8th Level spell, and that we were more screwed than I thought. Between his magic sword and his mastery high tiered magicks that there was no way we could survive a direct confrontation with him. I rolled my eyes over to Medea, hoping I could such a message with my eyes to her. Fortunately, such a message was felt by everyone in the party as Janott casted Mist in order to make her escape and grabbing me. Wraith attempted to goad and antagonize the Emperor as we tried to make our way to the green glowing archway. The Emperor Dispelled the Mist and was getting ready to really attack.
Divine intervention or something akin to it befell us, as none other than Empress Sachiel teleported her way into this dungeon from out of nowhere! He attacked her, with a seemingly mortal wound as she saved us by teleporting us up and out of the dungeon to God's know where!
Day 2.5: "Mushroom" for Improvement
So there we were in the Gravekeeper's cabin, a musty mushroom ridden place that smelled of death. On the bed were the remains of the man, a pile of ashes and soot that smelled strangely of roses. According to Wraith, our Tiefling Ranger friend who watched him die, he drank a potion or poison shortly before his death. I investigated this potion or poison bottle to confirm my suspicions, it too smelled like roses. Again and again, more and more puzzle pieces are appearing on the table... and they are all connecting to make the shape of that damned skull and roses marker: The Rosa Sanguinem.
The Wendigo Elvish woman, the card and the tavern's archway with the emblem, the mutilated soul and body of the Half-Elf in the form of a ring and book, the scroll hidden in the library, and now this? It's all coming together piece by piece, but we need more... we have the pieces but cannot put them completely together yet. Perhaps if I discuss these findings with the local Magister he may be able to help more? But before then we must explore this cabin and the secrets beneath it. In the chest at the foot of the bed, Janott we found almost unsurprisingly an assortment of humanoid body parts. One of which I was able to identify as Elvish, but the others were too rotten and covered with an almost bouquet of mushroom growth. Then on the table Medea found two strange pieces of paper, one of which had strange symbols I couldn't read and the other was instructions on how to create and illusory guard. Putting two and two together, and the supposed Gravekeeper may have been as such.
Following this, we made our way into the cellar that utterly smelled of death and mushrooms. There we found a long corridor with three doors: The door on the left side of the corridor, Wraith and I discovered lead down to the catacombs beneath the city. Wraith found a strange blank book that apparently held no secret message that we could find, I took the book and said when we get out of here that I would show it to the local Magister and see if he could see anything, The door on the right, Medea found that it lead to a living area with half walls and a decent fireplace. I followed Medea, leaving Wraith at the entrance of the catacombs alone. While she was looting for food and supplies, I saw a sewer grate where the bars were bent upwards and out in a rather disturbing fashion. I lit one of my torches and dropped it down... and I could not see nor hear the bottom. I began to freak out and call for Wraith so he could have a look at it, he however ignored me. Medea came up to me though and told me she saw some children's books in the back. I began to relax as I thanked her and investigated the books, as even children's books can contain interesting tales and folklore.
In fact, the Imperium Academia has a whole department dedicated to such readings. The department is an esoteric one admittedly, as it is separate from early childhood education. But rather the department studies what many may call "fairy tales", supposedly fictional works that are for encouraging young children to behave in accordance to cultural and familial expectations. But the department there looks deeper than that, looking at the monsters and origins used in these "fairy tales" seeking grains of truth and connecting the data into a bestiary of sorts that has discovered many lost or forgotten aberrations and monsters. Despite their research being overlooked, no knowledge should ever be discounted.
But I digress, as I read the books I discovered two key pieces information: Firstly, these books were not written as cautionary tales, as they seemed to be written and colored by children playing. Secondly, the monster of this particular story were giant mushroom people. Immediately I remembered some of my botany and nature classes with Magister Morgana Albion that such creatures were often found in the company of death and supposedly were friendly sort of beings unless they felt threatened; The Myconids. I then remembered this place was covered in mushrooms, and admittedly I went into one of my more panic states and I ran to find the others.
Both Medea and Janott were about to open the last door , a strange mossy covered door that Janott seemed to enjoy petting. I told them to be careful of the mushrooms, they may be trouble. We found that the path ahead was blocked by rubble in a sort of ramshackle barricade of sorts. Medea thought it'd be a good idea to cast a Fire Bolt at it, setting the place on fire. I began to panic (again) and told her fires underground in enclosed spaces are a terrible idea, Janott put it out with her control flames ability and I cleared the rubble using my greenish burst of raw power... an Eldritch Blast. Beyond the barricade we encountered what appeared to be a cultist in a cloak in a repulsive shade of green. Alongside him were two enormous rats, and before we could say a word the three of them engaged us. Medea incinerated one of the rats, Janott befriended the other, and the cultist was reduced to a meaty paste by Janott's maul in a single swing. My Eldritch Blast was less than useful in this fight, in fact I was even cut by the cultist's dagger.
I took the dagger as a trophy, and whilst our looting Janott conversed with her new rat friend and pet. I was gonna give the dagger to our little sleeping goblin friend so he could defend himself, but as it turns out he was armed to the teeth with a scimitar and daggers already. So we just let him sleep in Janott's shell a little longer. The rat however gave us some critical information as the next room apparently had a few more cultists, but there was a secret entrance into the room through the fireplace. So the three of us came to an agreement, Medea and I would use the tight passage and Janott would use the main entrance to flank them. The signal being one of us shouting "Kerblang" and as Medea and I snuck up on them through the secret tunnel, we overheard them talking and complaining about some sort of guard duty. Medea, redeeming herself from her kerfuffle with her Fire Bolt earlier, brilliantly lead with sacred flame and blinded the cultists as I yelled "Kerblang" to signal Janott to come and reduce them meaty goo.
The fight went rather quick, and none of us were hurt this time and I collected a few souls with my Obsidian Shard. Though Janott did lose her grip on her maul at one point and threw across the room and embedding it in the wall. In fact I was a bit more useful this time around, I did a bit more damage and helped a bit more this time. Honestly, the whole we've been down here I've felt a bit useless and weak. When I'm not in my element, a library or a place of learning, I'm not capable of doing much to help. Janott has her hammer and pets and Medea has her healing and armor, I just have my my brain of useless knowledge and weak magic. We investigated the chamber and found in addition to more mushrooms, two points of interests: a steel grate with strange scorch marks and large sealed door covered with green runes that even i couldn't read. The scorched grate did not interest me as much as the green door, and it was around this time that Wraith finally returned and joined us. We questioned him and he told us he was below and exploring the catacombs. He discovered there were at least 92 layers beneath us and that it ended in a collapsed dead end. He produced a cloth rubbing made with dirt, he offered it to me and I translated from strange form of Dwarvish that below the 92nd level there was the "Dark". I presumed and told them they were referring to the Underdark considering how deep this place is. Though assuming this place may have Dwarvish architecture the deeper it goes, it's hard to believe that it would have collapsed down there naturally and that it must of been damaged by someone or something.
After some trial and error, we figured out how to open the green door via using one of the mushrooms as a key. Beyond the door we made our final encounter of the evening: Three more cultists and their head priest. Medea again lead by blinding them, only this time she disturbingly Sprayed some sort of Poison from her mouth into the fire in the center of the room causing a huge fiery explosion and thus giving me another clue into her nature. The head priest rebutted us by launching a Fireball at the four of us in the doorway, hurting Wraith a bit while severely burning and hurting me. Wraith countered that by sending perfectly shot arrow through his eye. Then after another brief fight we looted the corpses, where I came across a "grocery list" of sorts listing a variety of desired body parts and pieces. In addition I came across a deed to a small piece of land, Medea expressed in interest in this for some reason and I will consider her request to look at it. It'd be nice to have a "hideout" to call our own when the time comes for it or we could sell it for gold.
Of the three cultists and the head priest, we could only officially confirm three fatalities. As one of the cultists dove into the well rather than face us, I dropped another torch down the well and I couldn't see the bottom but after about 10 or so seconds we could hear it hit the bottom. More likely than not the cultist died, but we may investigate in the morning as we all were exhausted. Janott checked out the mushrooms, and surprise surprise she made another friend: a waist height little Myconid. She fed it a bit of humanoid meat and then she searched for a pot to make some sort of soup for the rest of us. I however just ate one of the rations I looted earlier, collected what souls I could into my Obsidian Shard, and crashed on a cot and passed out. I was done for the day and tired of being next to useless in the fight, so maybe my dreams could provide a means of safety...
Day 2: A Grave Mistake?
The next morning, I made my way down to breakfast as I negotiated a free meal with our stay. Unfortunately, I never negotiated drinks... so my tall glass of milk costed extra. Fortunately Janott kindly covered me for it as we all sat down for breakfast, but it was here that I first noticed something off about Medea's eyes and began asking questions out of pure curiosity. Out of the four of us, she was the quietest and she seemed the most mysterious. I mean I've been pretty forward about who I am, Janott was pretty blunt and open about her origins, and Wraith despite his gruff nature was pretty forthcoming with his apparent experience as a "Monster Hunter" of sorts. But Medea was quiet and she seemed to just follow us for the most part, if she had words last night with Wraith I don't know. Regardless, I was curious and wished to know more about her. I had a good measure on "what" she was, but Wraith snapped that we all have secrets and it's better not to discuss them. I'm inclined to agree with him for now, as they loaded their packs with food from the buffet.
It was around then that an obnoxiously obese Elf approached our table with narrowed eyes, he said is name Gylex and he was a priest and cleric of the Dwarven God "Gond". He heard rumors that we have been investigating and poking our noses into things, I directly addressed him told him that as a Scholar of the Imperium Academia it is literally my job to look into things and poke around. Furthermore he told us he heard we were practicing magic, and of course we denied such allegations but we told him if we saw or heard of such things that we would report directly to him. Wraith on the other hand slyly taunted him asking questions about the Gylex's god and talked about his own practices, I say sly as it was posed as questions rather than directly challenging his faith. The Elf dismissed us and left, and we all agreed that we should avoid that church at all costs... Medea the Cleric especially agreed.
From there we headed north to investigate the graveyard and at its entrance, I kept a lookout for "Rosa Sanguinem" iconography and found none however fortunately. While Wraith made his way to the Gravekeeper's house, we investigated some of the supposedly human graves. Two of which have been recently disturbed based on the soil and the writing on the headstones have been recently changed, as if they were rewritten over with the old names carved over by different letters. I did my best to try and read the names but to no avail. Janott using her ring realized that the corpses in the graves were in complete skeletons and were not human.
Just as I was about to turn and check out the local mausoleum, as they tend to be places of more honored or important dead possibly that of a certain Half Elf? We the heard a loud scuffle from the Gravekeeper's house, Wraith quickly let us in and ordered Medea to heal the clearly poisoned and dying Gravekeeper on the floor. Medea swiftly healed him, but the man was as good as dead anyway. Especially when Wraith slit his throat with his Shortsword in an attempt to help him breathe better due to be swollen shut. Wraith said something about wanting information from this apparently suicidal man, and so I had an idea.
Wraith said we all have secrets to keep, so I tipped my hand a little and revealed my own secret to them: my Shard of Obsidian. I used it... to absorb the Gravekeeper's soul. In turn, while giving the others a cagey look, I turned and whispered to the shard that we needed answers to Wraith's questions. The shard whispered back that it had none, for the Gravekeeper's mind had been wiped and erased. So we had no choice at this point but to investigate the strange cellar like door in house and to enter the dark abyss below...
Day 1.5: Lies and Libraries
So there we were, slowly making our way through the town towards the local Library branch. Janott took point playing with her new ring. Oh, I may have failed to mention that when the Elf woman disappeared, she left behind a magic ring of sorts that allows people to "see" things they wouldn't normally be able to see. So while playing with that and me still a panicking mess, we made our way to the Library. Along the way, we reencountered the Goblin and sort of adopted it I suppose. Though I'm the only one that can sort of even remotely speak his tongue, he has taken a liking to hiding in crest and sort of nook at Janott's neck in her shell.
They were not too happy with us showing up so late, but fortunately for Scholars of the IA a Library is never closed. There we set to work looking for anything that can help us with this cult, which I remembered was called the "Rosa Sanguinem", and our Wendigo problem. Wraith, despite still being somewhat drunk and pukey, found something while using the ring: A strange book. The Human woman in our little party, identified it quickly as being bound in human flesh and gut. I quickly took the book and read what little Elvish mixed in with the Abyssal I could and then looked into the ring itself. With my experience, I investigated the ring and realized that ring itself was a life and somehow connected to the book... in fact I found that the ring had a soul trapped within. Wraith put the ring back on himself and tried to read the book at the same time.
Though we could not see nor hear what he could, he recounted for us that witnessed an emaciated corpse of an Half Elf man that spoke to him. According to Wraith, all he said was "Do not trust the king". Though most who don't even know the King know better than to trust him, with his parley with the Orcs and the conquering of the area, there are few would trust such a man. But I digress, for shortly there after the magic ring and flesh bound book reacted to one and other. They transmutated into what appeared to be an ordinary golden band and the book into an ordinary parchment bound book. I immediately snatched the book and took it to the counter, demanding the Scholar there to bring out the local Magister. When he brought out the tired man and we went to his personal study, I swiftly and albeit rudely listed my grievances with his branch of the Library in regards to the book and the fact something so sensitive and dark should of been shipped off and sealed at the IA's main campus. Furthermore I went into more detail regarding the exact nature of the ring and the book to the Magister and what I have learned thus far, for if I can't trust a fellow man of the IA then who can I trust?
We swiftly went to see Janott and her ring, though at the time she was surrounded by Initiates and seemed to be a bit claustrophobic, to clear the aisle I shouted "Move!" in Orc. Orc tongue isn't exactly a friendly sounding language, so for all they know I may have insulted their mothers. The Magister then investigated the ring himself... then the most curious thing happened. His eye color changed, they turned as black as night and I felt a familiar sinking sensation in heart. I looked at him and slowly slid my shard obsidian from my tunic, his eyes darted towards it and gave a sign of acknowledgement. The Magister knew, he knows more... way more than I ever believed or hoped. He said that ring was safe for now and gave it to Janott, who was still cowering in her shell with the Goblin. He told me to come see him in a day or so, presumably alone. He may have the answers that I seek. I asked him his name, and he gave the most curious of answers "Magister Bran" and he went back to bed.
Janott and I made our way back towards Wraith and the Human woman, whom I finally learned was Medea Delphi, and we began investigating a bit more in the forbidden section of the library. We explained what we learned about the ring and the book, while they explain some of the things they've recalled and learned about the Wendigo. I went to work looking up things about local cults and the "Rosa Sanguinem", I found some local history regarding them as a sort of Druidic Circle dedicated to death and such. While discussing such practices with Janott, who informed me that she herself was a Druid, Wraith had discovered a secret mechanism of some sort within the bookshelf.
After some investigating and some persuasive uses of a crowbar, we discovered between two fake solid wooden books a third but hollow one hid a scroll detailing a mysterious story about the origins of the town. It told us of a tale that some sort of Half Elf died protecting the place... perhaps it is the same Half Elf whose flesh made up that book and whose soul was trapped in the ring? How does this all connect to the Wendigo? We weren't going to find any more answers tonight; tomorrow we plan on invesigating the docks, the graveyard, and the walled off quarter that formerly held the mages homes. Wraith seems insistent on seeing the graveyard first in the morning, perhaps he has a contact there or old friend there much like how I insisted we go to a library.
Regardless, we needed an Inn for the night that wasn't a front for a cannibalistic cult. So we settled on the "Lovely Ducklinn", a pricier sort of place that I was able to negotiate a better price on plus breakfast. The four of us shared a room for the night, Jannot body blocked the door in her shell, Wraith slep facing the window for security, Medea took the only bed, and I crashed face first into my pillow and passed out as I swapped my crowbar for Janott's bedroll so I could sleep somewhat comfortably. Until tomorrow I suppose...
Day 1: Less Than "Inn"ocent "Cult"ure
All I wanted that evening was a nice glass of milk, that's all I wanted and now I'm caught up in secret cannibalistic society and/or cult that predates most cultures here. On one hand this is quite fascinating and I'm sure the Imperium Academia (IA) would love to read my report on these transgressions, but on the other hand I feel that these reports and cultists will be the death of me. But I suppose I am getting ahead of myself, and I should explain everything that happened to me that evening as best I could. From the top: So I was at the Inn, the Cracked Flagon, a less than economy and more of a slum like Inn in the impoverished quarter of the city of the Krelyrian Kingdom. I paid a gold piece to what I believed to be the good tavern keeper for my lodgings and a tall glass of milk, it's good for the bones you know. I also asked the tavern keeper if he knew any good local rumors, hoping to hear something about a strange ring of some sort that I heard from the IA. But all he could tell me, if I remember correctly, was that heard of some strange things were happening as of late. I don't remember the exact details as a rather grouchy hellborn, a tiefling, down the bar was being rather rude.
There I met a fascinating stranger named Wraith, a drunken and gruff red skinned Tiefling, armed with Short Swords at his hips and a Longbow with a Quiver strung across his back. It was then that we heard a scuffle going on beneath the tavern where the beds supposedly were. We were asked, or rather he was and I followed, to go deal with it and he would be paid with a meal. There we encountered a rather irate dwarf, whom Wraith dealt with rather swiftly and rather unorthodoxly with his horns ramming his tender bits. It was then we heard the sobbing of a small goblin, whom I attempted to speak with in his own tongue (mind you, I'm not exactly proficient yet in Goblin) and sussed out his name, "Twitlick", and that he was a slave of sorts. Shortly thereafter he hugged my leg and ran off into the night. And yes, I checked my coin purse.
Shortly as we were making our way towards the stairs, we encountered something even stranger: A Tortle named Janott Knurtlo. Yes my fellow Librarians, an honest to goodness Tortle on this continent. I was rather shook myself and utterly fascinated, as we were walking back up stairs I began asking about where she came from she regaled me with a brief tale of her origins (though I do hope to get more details for the IA later): She was apparently raised by Firbolgs and has never seen another Tortle before in her life, in addition she seems rather dare I say hellbent on finding a mate. I do recall reading that Tortles don't even live as long as average humans, so I think I understand her need to do so. In addition she was armed with a rather impressive looking Maul made completely out of wood, equally heavy yet lethal I presume in her hands.
As we made our way up the stairs, to our surprise another new encounter awaited us. Two women, a Human and an Elf, seemingly arguing over an absolutely sauced Halfling. The Elvish woman seemed insistent about dragging the more dead than drunk looking Halfling out of the Inn, while the Human was genuinely concerned about his well being. The Elvish woman turned and was about to walk away carrying the Halfling like he was a sack of potatoes and tried to ignore the Human and us, it was then I called out to her in Elvish to introduce myself and ask her to listen to us. She whipped around like Magister Morgana did when I did something wrong as a child and stared at me with her cooly eyes, I switched into Undercommon and back to Elvish to get a better measure how best it was to communicate with her.
She came back to the bar when I offered her a drink, milk obviously, and she deposited the Halfling on the table and the Human woman went to work helping him. She used, honest to goodness magic, to begin trying to heal him. This did not go over well with the tavern keeper, despite her and I's protests that she is a Cleric and clearly allowed to use such magics. Meanwhile the Elvish woman seemed a bit off, and offered me a strange card. Initially I was confused, but then it showed me the most curious symbol and iconography: A bleeding skull with four roses encircling it. It was then I realized that she was eyeing me rather strangely and kept staring at my arm. What followed after confused me greatly as a whirlwind of strangeness unfolded that lead me to, admittedly panicking and "freaking out".
The Innkeeper after being shown a strange paper and gold by the Human woman called the Elf woman I was speaking with a "Demon" and everybody started speaking what I believed was a Abyssal tongue and throwing words like "Wendigo" out, and the Tortle like me was getting freaked. At this point I was holding my Quarterstaff in front of me out of more panic than self defense, and just as the guards came in and kicked in the door. The room was filled with a magical Darkness... and both the Elvish woman and the guards were gone. After a brief but still panicked talk amongst ourselves and the Innkeeper, and me slowly connecting some dots, especially after seeing the cultish iconography on the door. We realized, and more importantly I realized, this Inn was a front for a cannibalistic cult that "worships" the Wendigo and we were in terrible danger.
It was at this point that I insisted, albeit demanded, we go to the nearest library. There we could utilize its resources for research and as a place to hide... after all what's safer than the library?
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