Ciphered Poem
The Ciphered Poem is on a rolled sheet of parchment that was found in Auren Vrood's bone scroll tube after he was defeated in Feldgrau. Also known as the "Carrion Crown Poem", it is written in an Aklo cipher, which has been translated. The poem appears to be a guide to a ritual, which is either called or summons something called The Carrion Crown, which is key to releasing the Whispering Tyrant.
The poem first gained the attention of the Fellowship of the Sun when Professor Petros Lorrimor brought it forward with an assistant scholar who was nameless.
It is unclear as to what this stanza refers to, but it is generally assumed that the Whispering Way has already completed this step.
Analysis
The Carrion Crown Poem details steps and required components for a ritual that can free the Whispering Tyrant. The Fellowship has had some success in puzzling out some stanzas of the poem and their meaning:Stanza 1
Upon the ashen pathways tread
Softly, as the whispered dead.
As mortal flesh doth rot and fail
To leech and maggot, ebbing frail.
Stanza 2
Unhallowed words cannot be spoken,
With whispered oath, death lies broken.
Shed fear, shed life, shed pain, shed time,
Eternity seized shall soon be thine.
Stanza 3
First spirit torn from Grave-Lady's grasp
Be rent and sown as soured ash.
Soft the spiral song reverses,
Judgement lost, damnation surges.
After further consideration, I believe this stanza most likely refers to Warden Lyvar Hawkran's ghost and its capture, which the Whispering Way has indeed already done. The prison burned down, which would make anything there "rent and sown as soured ash".
"Grave-Lady's grasp" appears to be a clear reference to Pharasma with "soft the spiral song reverses" possibly describing the ritual needed to bind the spirit.
"Judgement lost, damnation surges" would also directly describe the events that immediately followed at Harrowstone Prison after this occurred. With Warden Hawkran gone and no longer holding the prisoners accountable ("judgement lost"), the malevolent spirits were free to terrorize the town of Ravengro ("damnation surges").
Stanza 4
Keeper of the damned's soul take,
With packlord's heart the beast shall wake
And flesh be wrought in disarray-
Stillborn cocoon, to blessed decay.
"Keeper of the damned's soul" is still referring to the Warden. When Professor Lorrimor found Vrood and the Whispering Way performing a ritual to capture the soul, the Way killed him and attempted to make it look like an accident. His death led to the direct involvement of the Fellowship of the Sun.
"Packlord's heart" is the only obvious component in this whole affair. After that business in the Shudderwood with the werewolves we know that Vrood came away with a piece of it.
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References: Auren Vrood - Keeper of the Damned's Soul - Professor Petros Lorrimor - Shudderwood - Whispering Way
Stanza 5
A hundred slain lie innocent,
Grind bone and marrow to cement.
Craft now a skull of splintered graves,
Unmake life, unmake the slave.
This stanza refers to the Skull of Splintered Graves that Vrood created in Feldgrau from the bones of those poor townspeople.
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References: Feldgrau - Skull of Splintered Graves
Stanza 6
Where history churns dream to blister,
Necrophagous secrets whisper
Through chronicles of Raven's tongue-
A legacy of fear unspun.
This stanza, I feel, is particularly important. It seems to suggest the location that the Carrion Crown ritual needs to be carried out. "Where history churns dream to blister" could be referring to Gallowspire, the area in which the Whispering Tyrant is believed to be imprisoned. In a letter to Professor Crowl, Professor Lorrimor wrote, “It’s been reported by our few men that have crossed Virlych that manifestations of the Tyrant’s mind appear in their dreams as horrific nightmares and in the waking hours as phantoms. As stated, it’s entirely possible that Gallowspire contains the Tyrant not just bodily but also mentally, with these ley lines] augmenting his spiritual prison.”
"Necrophagus" would certainly describe the undead inhabitants of that wasteland.
"Chronicles of Raven's tongue" may tantalizingly refer to a tome or book of some kind. Chronicles when known, more often than not, take the form of some written record.If this is true, does the Way already have it? Or is it something we can acquire for ourselves?
Later: Recent discoveries seem to indicate that an artifact known as the Raven's Tongue could be the subject of this stanza. It was a mace wielded by Prince Virholt and both were lost during the battle at Gallowspire against the Whispering Tyrant. "A", or more appropriately Prince Virholt himself, seems to have charged Gaster Lucas with its recovery before Lucas's death.
Stanza 7
Blood spilt atop the Iron Thorn
Invokes that which cannot be born.
Arise the Tyrant now unbound,
Bearer of the Carrion Crown!
I believe this stanza further describes where the ritual must be performed and what must be done: a sacrifice on top of that one towering spire in Gallowspire. It does, however, beg the question of the nature of the sacrifice. Can it be anyone or someone specific? If there was a way to know perhaps that knowledge could be used somehow to disrupt the ritual.
Item type
Book / Document
Rarity
Unique
Raw materials & Components
Parchment