This cursed scroll was taken from Wendell Redstar, the prophet of the True Family who was the cause of all of this when he was captured from the Stigmas di Cristo. The scroll is in anagram; it looks like nonsense. The first person to read it will gain a paranoid regard for normal noises. Anything the character hears with no attributable source means something bad is about to happen, some creature sneaking up on them. The character will be unable to naturally sleep, rest, or concentrate for any period longer than a few minutes.
The scroll begins:
Oh say unlove dances all. Or one way unveiled. The thought wind misses scorn and deals red ink, or drowns your grand, sour rank. Shy fool she rushed vanished fear where love and brewer drape mask.
Here rest the thin, roving flutes of your wild free rosin. Yes say revenant moon mice ate lies.
Unscrambled, it would read:
No candle shall save you. No dawn relieve you. In the darkness, around corners, through doors and misty windows, dangers lurk. You shall never be free wherever shadows form and dark shapes hide.
For you, the night is forever filled with unseen terrors. Every noise is an enemy come at last.
However, the text disappears on being read, so they’ll only see the scrambled text once and are unlikely to decipher it (although some magic might allow reading what it used to say).
The remnant of Eliazu’s presence on Earth, the Demon’s Head was specially constructed to hold the Demon’s life force and still retains magical properties after the Demon is gone (this assumes, of course, that Eliazu was returned to Hell). The head is evil, and assists evil works. Any evil person wearing it will gain a bonus of 2 on all saving rolls, and a bonus of twenty survival points. Any good person wearing it will gain a penalty of 3 on all saving rolls, and a penalty of 3 to all attack rolls.
The Demon’s Head may be destroyed by any extremely strong person both good and pure of heart. The destroyer must be Ordered Good or Chaotic Good person with a strength of at least 20. The person must be dedicated to and stringent in their application of, their moral code.
This is a +1 sword (+1 to attack and +1 to damage). Its possession grants the bearer a bonus of 2 to perception rolls. Elven swords are used by Rivelaelfte leaders and those on important missions for the Rivelaelfte.
The hilt is gemmed, and while the blade is slightly banged up, it is still in fine shape. It is marked by the symbol of the Rivelaelfte.
Formed by the combined strength of soul of the victims of the Order’s depredations in its degeneracy, the Marrow Cross will grant a bonus of 2 to any attempts to exorcise demons; it will also grant a bonus of 2 to any attempts at turning undead. It also has the ability to grant power in weakness: in a place of power aligned to Evil, the Marrow Cross will reverse the penalty for using the place of power for Good, turning it into a bonus.
A leather bag inscribed with a circle and a lopsided five-pointed star in the manner of Ralph Steadman. The powder inside is enchanted with an Dead Night at level 4. This means that it has a diameter of nine yards and lasts eighty minutes.
It automatically centers on the person tossing the powder into the air, or on an immediate object that it is tossed upon.
Silver, translucent, with finely engraved hares that seem to float just below the surface of the metal, this magical ring is imbued with the Escape spell with a trigger and a delay. The Escape is triggered if the wearer successfully attacks or is successfully attacked. The Escape is delayed by d10 rounds. It is at the twelfth level of effect, which means that the “escape line” has a leeway of 12 yards. See the description of escape for details, but the spell causes the wearer to teleport to the furthest surface within d1000 yards in a horizontal direction determined by d12 on a clock face, and a vertical direction determined by 2d4 minus 2 on a clock face.
Once triggered, the escape spell is on the character; if the ring is removed, the escape will still occur. The ring may be used twice per day.
While the delay spell is active and the ring is worn, the hares seem to jump about in a circle around the ring.
The ring has indestructible object at the twelfth level of effect, for a bonus of 12 to saving rolls vs. its destruction or damage.
The ring is extremely old, and predates the cataclysm. Ensender inherited it seven hundred years before his death. Ensender was a high elf, and was 1,300 years old at his death in Illustrious Castle.
The scepter holds Tragos’ rib bone. His shell is tied to the scepter. His ghost doesn’t haunt the castle, it haunts the scepter. On nights of the full moon, Tragos will appear as an apparition. On All Hallow’s Eve he will appear as a full-fledged phantasm.
He’s a relatively willful ghost, even as an apparition, and will not appear so often to the same people as to make them less afraid, or encourage them to become more prepared for his Hallowe’en assault.
If his ghost is successfully destroyed, Tragos’ body will decay a hundred years in a few minutes time. Tragos’ body may not be destroyed except by destroying the scepter. Tragos will exact revenge on anyone who tries. If the scepter is brought more than a mile from the body, the body will appear to go dormant (bugs and maggots will crawl away) but will not decay.
Tragos may not venture further than 300 yards from the scepter.
The scepter was created as an aid for summoning and controlling demons, but is tied to Tragos. For him, it gives a bonus of 3 to demon summonings and other demonic spells. For others, it gives a bonus of only 1.
Arthur Wells was born in the 881st year of the Cataclysm. He was left-handed. He disappeared in the 909th year of the Cataclysm, after leaving Crosspoint for Black Stag. Any male member of the Wells family will recognize the Shield, and any member or friend of the family will recognize the crest of the Wells. On the shield is embossed a well on a hill, and the morning sun. This is a +1 shield that has been handed down in the family since it was blessed by the prophet Robert Annis over four centuries ago.
Three of the Order’s spell books survived the destruction of the botched summoning. Each book is bound in leather, with a pyramid inscribed on the cover. The tenth volume has an eye inscribed within the pyramid. The Order were mnemonic sorcerors.
First Level Spells: Angular Reformation, Farseeing, See Whole
Second Level Spell: Sensory Assurance
Third Level Spells: Locate Origin, Seek Object
Fifth Level Spells: Dispel Magic, Flame Ward
Sixth Level Spell: Clear Portal
Second Level Spell: Dead Night
Dead Night is the enhanced version of the reversed Sunlight spell, and was a “gift” from Wendell Redstar.
A golden staff head, of a dove in flight with an olive branch in its beak. It is worth around 900 shillings without regard to its magical qualities. This Christian staff contains two fourth-level spirits of healing. It may be used twice per day (once for each spirit) by any creature of Good moral code, manifesting any fourth-level or lower Healing effect.
Because it requires choice, only prophets may use it with certainty. Anyone else must make a Willpower roll to cause it to do what they want. For non-prophets, the effects must be ones that do not require communication back to the staff’s user. For example, Detect Poison can only be manifested by a prophet, because it requires giving information back to the staff’s user. But Cure Nausea could be manifested by a non-prophet if the Willpower roll were successful, as it has a specific, immediate action on the target only.
At the time of this writing, the following fourth level and lower healing manifestations are known in the Divine Lore Lorebook: Cure Nausea/Nauseate, Detect Disease, Detect Poison, Fresh Air, Restore/Deplete Vitality.
The golden staff head was a gift to the order, given by the prophet Hanthur a century after the Order’s founding.
Legend places the wand’s origins in Hell. It is covered in Greek inscriptions identifying it (to anyone who knows Greek, which no one does in Highland, or to anyone with the appropriate spell) as having been granted as a boon by Ekdulon (a demon of Hell) in exchange for meritorious service. The wand dates back to the ancients.
It radiates evil to any means of detecting moral code, and touching it to (or being touched by) a truly good person will cause the good person d4 points damage per round. A short touch, as in combat, will cause 1 point of damage.
The wand gives a bonus to sorcerors of three levels for purposes of casting summonings and a bonus of one level for purposes of casting divinations.
The wand gives anyone with the Turn Undead specialty a bonus of three levels for attempts to control undead.
There is a ritual, which the Illustrators had not acquired and which may be lost, that allows those who convert to the Night God of Death to double those bonuses during special times of the year, of which All Hallow’s Eve is one.
The wand is made of a dark, nearly black, ivory-like material with grains of brownish-red. It was a “gift” from Wendell to the Order. He gave the Order the information they needed to retrieve the wand from ancient ruins.
The Order of Illustration had its own coins minted in the forge at Biblyon. They had two types: electrum and silver. They have reeded edges.
Electrum is a combination of gold and silver. One side has a scroll with the letters LUX written on the scroll. The other side has a simple stylized Christian fish. These coins are worth about three shillings each. They weigh .08 pounds (one hundred of them weigh 8 pounds).
The silver coins have a torch on one side, an eye on the other. They are worth a quarter of a shilling each for their metal value, though a collector might find them worth more. These way .02 pounds (one hundred of them weigh 2 pounds).
Among Ensender Eanderon’s notes are that the elf sword was rumored to have been found among goblins somewhere far south of Stone Goblin, by one of the religious orders there. He’s narrowed it down to the Illustrators or the Astronomers.
“Tragos asked me how I knew. I told him, we know where all the Elven swords are, and we aren’t missing any.”
“I know there is a secret or hidden door to something in the back barracks, probably near the two guards forever on duty there. The Order is not as small as it looks. There are still well over a hundred members. But they aren’t all living in those tiny cave-barracks.”
The notebook contains mostly notes on the day-to-day running of the order. A diligent search will discover a few entries that deal with the discovery of the dead at Illustrious Castle in 911. The notes are on small, loose-leaf papers wrapped in a leather binding. Each day begins a new page, though some pages can be on the backs of others. Paper is relatively expensive in Highland, and so they used front and back for notes such as these.
There are no notes for November 20 or 21. A search through the rest of the notes will bring up a handful of other times when Abacus missed a day or two, but not very many. Most of them are followed by a note about being too busy. In this case, he simply did not take notes those days; this was, although he did not realize it, under Eliazu’s urging. Eliazu did not want a written record of the back area (he didn’t want a written record of anything, but chose to influence as best he could in his weakened state).
Mostly self-explanatory, this is a map of the secret places before the summoning went awry.
The abbreviations used by the map-maker are abbreviations of Latin words that denote what the room is for.
|
bllts |
ballatus |
dance |
|
ccntrm |
cocinatorium |
kitchen |
|
cll |
cellola |
servant’s room |
|
cn sprms |
cena supremus |
last supper |
|
crcrrm |
carcerarium |
prison |
|
crmnls |
cerimonialis |
ritual |
|
dlm |
dolium |
place for grain, etc. |
|
dprtrm |
adparatorium |
sacrificial preparation room |
|
dscttr |
adsectator |
student |
|
lbrrm |
librarium |
library |
|
pprts |
apparatus |
equipment |
|
prgts |
purgatus |
cleanse |
|
trlm |
atriolum |
ante-room |
Worshipped in secret, in the shadowy places of the world, little is known about this sect. What little is known is known only by specialized scholars. Chances are, none of the player characters know much, if anything, about them. They sometimes refer to themselves as “the fit may rule”, an anagram for “the True Family”.
Worshippers of the True Family tend to be Ordered and Ordered Evil. Worshippers worship the entire pantheon. Their Gods include Nias, the Bishop of Bone, who commands the red-stick men; Laten, the Horse of Hunger who commands the five night riders; and Hetae, the Queen of Insects and the Hidden Word. Prophets of the Night Gods use spirits of Order, Death, Charm, Prophecy, and Prophet.
Within this adventure, the corruption of the Order to the service of the True Family was performed by Wendell Redstar, a True Family Prophet captured by the Order who, as prisoner, wormed his way into the confidence of Tragos and the other leaders of the Order.
Wendell brought three books to the table, which can currently be found in the secret room upstairs, room 14. These are written in Latin, the Ancient tongue.
A collection of stories of the exploits of the True Family. One somewhat unique feature of the religion is that it explicitly believes in other pantheons; one of the True Family’s goals is to overcome and enslave all other pantheons, including the Christian God.
This book explicitly references Christianity, including the trinity, Mary, and Lucifer. It references the Greek Gods (which the characters may not recognize much of). It also references Arlindor and the Elven Gods. And there are some completely cryptic places, such as the Dry City and the Shells.
Among the Dry City are the Papercuts, Acephali (Headless Men), Not Flies, Oblivion Fleas, Trivial Pursuits, and Prayer Bees. In something to do with a shell, there are the First Fallen and the creatures of nowhere. The Papercuts are accompanied by an illustration of a playing card and beneath it the words “Too late he heard that snapping sound.” A poem accompanies it, about a boy who reads late into the night, wasting candles, despite his mother’s urgings to sleep and work hard.
Johnny threw the book to ground.
Too late he heard that snapping sound.
Beneath his sheets he hid in gloom.
The snipping stopped outside his room.
The door flew open, in he ran:
The great, long red-legged scissor man.
He snipped and snapped from side to side.
One hand soothed, one hand lied.
When morning came, the room was bare.
The sun shone in, ‘twas no one there.
But on the bed his father built,
A John-shaped hole lay in the quilt.
A catechism of the religion: a series of studies and rituals designed to convince the reader to join the service of the True Family. There are rituals for individual conversion as well as rituals for group conversion. Reading this book requires a strong will. Anyone reading it through must make a Willpower roll at a bonus of 10 or be compelled over time to search out more information about the True Family and eventually convert. Presence of a True Family Prophet to explain things and guide the reader will reduce or eliminate that bonus.
It’s a catechism. Look at the world around you. Examine your life. Your birth gods have abandoned you. The true family welcomes you back. Read, and enjoy.
A description of rituals for summoning and binding the servants of other Gods, especially the demons “below the shell”, but also including what appear to be angels, muses, and dryads. Studying this book should be disgusting, enlightening, and confusing as hell. It will give the reader a better understanding of how Eliazu was summoned. But it will also introduce things the characters have no idea about.
This is a difficult text. The members of the Order who studied it did so for months before performing the ritual, and still failed. It also contains clues about how to reverse the process and send the demon back home. Successfully extracting that information will require an intelligence roll. A failed roll will give the reader some information, but not all of it. It takes one month to read it well; for every week under four weeks, there is a penalty of one to the roll; for every day under four days, there is a penalty of one. However much the roll was made by, give them that many clues rolled randomly.
According to Discussing Lesser Families, a summoned demon may be forced home by:
1. Open the circle with the creature’s sigil to allow the creature escape.
2. The circle is opened by inscribing the creature’s sigil in a smaller circle upon the circle’s edge.
3. The opening must be made in a specific direction.
4. The direction is the rising of the sun.
5. The circle that holds the creature’s sigil must be two hand’s diameter.
6. The circle’s width must be measured from the ritual’s performer.
7. Do not break the larger circle while inscribing the smaller one until the moment of the ritual’s voicing.
8. The ritual should be performed at the first rays of dawn.
9. If the ritual can be performed in a named place, it is more likely to be successful.
10. The further you can be from the creature the safer you will be.
11. The creature, during the ritual, may be able to affect the physical world.
12. This thing reads like stereo instructions.
Discussing Lesser Families references the Summoning Powers of Words (see More When Doors Mow Spun Death) as an important encoded text, as well as Recalling the Fallen of the Lost Families (not found in this adventure), a set of rituals for calling “back” unbelievers who have “fallen to the shell lands”.
By Sam Noyuno
This is an encoded book on demon-summoning. It is an incredibly obtuse and, frankly, insane encoding method. Each sentence is an anagram. The title of the book is an anagram for “The Summoning Powers of Words”. The author’s name is an anagram of “Anonymous”.
Among other things, it mentions the First Fallen and the creatures of nowhere, though only in anagram.
It is unlikely that you can expect your players to solve this riddle, except to guess that it is in anagram. That’s the important part. The rest can be handled in-game (although if they desire it you can certainly let the players work on the problem for as long as they want).
Translating this book should take a human lifetime for a 15 intelligence, and comparatively less for higher intelligences. The Guide should determine what knowledge is contained in the book. Once they figure out the scheme, you can give them a week per sentence, reduced by one day per intelligence point greater than 15.
See the Props section for the encoded text of the first few paragraphs of the first chapter. Chapters include:
|
Encoded Chapter Title |
Unencoded Chapter Title |
|
More When Doors Mow Spun Death |
The Summoning Powers of Words |
|
Shearing Howl Dead Chants |
Reaching the Shadowlands |
|
Ring of Rim as Mesh of Hate Lurks |
Raising from the Realm of Husks |
|
Let Leash Chill Tong |
Calling to the Shell |
|
Once Dicer Rile Faith Count |
The Ritual for Coincidence |
|
Elite Ox Bird Hum |
The Delirium Box |
See the props section for encoded text of the first few paragraphs.
Show test children throw this toe shaft at sad fig wights.
Fire lash foe thaw doe mesh of hate lurks.
Throw man dies lord.
Anonymous
Words are the source of power for the human race. Indeed, it is the written language that is the source of magic and the means of summoning. If you would summon Nowhere, you must know where on it is. Through words is the power of the True Family.
To understand the nature of summoning, you must know where those you summon exist. The World as we know it is not the only world. There are things below, and things above. And there are things in the realm of the Ether, and the realm of the Astral. The semi-material, and the semi-light.
Exercise utmost care when summoning from husk and shell and lower than shell. If you fail to protect the world from the demon, the Earth itself will refuse to accept the creature’s entrance into the world of blood. As a man vomiting, it will heave and expel the nightmare.
With the first light on the Gods was cast the first shadow. The shadowlands are the shadow of the divine and the shadow of humanity. The shadows are shell and husk. Mindless forms may be risen from the realm of husk to do the true family's bidding. Powerful creatures may be summoned from the realm of shell under the true family's control.
The realm of husks are the shadow of life.
The shell is the shadow of the divine. Creatures of the shell feed from fear, desire, pain, despair, and all the emotions of the living.
Creatures of the shell are restricted from appearing in the natural world. They may appear only through summoning. While summoned they are susceptible to banishment by sorcery, ritual, or divine command.
The world is random. Though we have bound it to stability, its natural state is chaos. An egg laid with the face of a God has no meaning but what we give it. Through this meaning that we assign, we gain power over the gods and all other creatures.
Coincidences occur every hour of our lives without attracting even momentary notice. There are combinations of simple natural objects that through the correct placement have the power of affecting the natural world, the divine world, and the shadow world.
The Delirium Box siphons husks from the living to create Ur-Men. The Delirium Box can also create minor Men from Nowhere. The Delirium Box is a gateway to the city where no one goes.
There is another, abridged, version of this book in the Library at Bibylon, entitled “No More Stars”. It was taken from the Order’s upstairs library after the Order died. Notes in the papers say that they believe it to have been written by Minar Taxos of the Astronomers, “one of the many Orders in the mountains of East Highland.” (But the Astronomers of West Highland have an excerpt that says it is from the Illustrators, if the characters have gone through The Lost Castle of the Astronomers.)
No More Stars contains the chapters “More When Doors Mow Spun Death” (but without the title), “Shearing Howl Dead Chants”, “Once Dicer Rile Faith Count”, and “Elite Ox Bird Hum”. See Lost Castle of the Astronomers for the abridged text of the title chapter.
Most of these props are nearly a hundred years old. You can make them look old (and really cool) by staining them with tea. It’s very easy. All you need is a large bowl, a bunch of tea or teabags, and some hot water from the tap.
Cut up the props so that only the game world text (i.e., not the title) shows. You might also cut around the sides to remove the margins: there’s no reason for their paper to be 8.5 by 11, and they would not have wasted the margin space so much as we do.
Put the tea or teabags into the bowl, and pour the hot water into it. The water should stain a dark brown (put in more tea if it doesn’t). Then, place the props into the water. Let them sit for a few hours (depending on how dark you want the paper to be), then bring them out and let them dry.
If they are meant to be scrolls, then before they dry completely roll them up. As they dry, they will maintain the shape of the scroll. (You don’t want them to be too wet when you roll them up or they’ll stick too much.)
The unsent letter needs to be burnt as well. Do this in an open area with lots of water on hand! It is easiest to burn the correct locations if the letter is still slightly wet (for example, from staining). This will keep the fire from spreading beyond the needed area.
The part around the words “di Cristo” will be burnt, because that might be too much information. The part about the supposed treasure that the Astronomers have will still be there, because Eliazu will not at all mind if they head down south and never come back. The rest of it is up to you, although there should still be some sense of urgency left and a sense that someone is corrupting the order. It takes work for Eliazu to burn something; there may be dark marks around the parts he is currently trying to burn.
My friend I commend me unto you and would be right glad to hear of your welfare, etc. This is to advertise you that inasmuch as you now and then take some pains in writing unto me, I would be loathe you should think your labor utterly lost and forgotten for lack of writing again; therefore and because I reckon you to be some deal desirous of such news as hath been here with us of late in the matters of your old home, I intend to inform you a part thereof, according to the tenure and purport used in that behalf.
Saturday last began the celebration of Whit Sunday, and I am sure you remember the grand manner of the celebration among the people of our city. With all the crafts of Crosspoint thereunto well appointed, in several barges decked after the most gorgeous and sumptuous manner, with diverse pageants thereunto belonging, repaired and waited all together upon the Mayor. And so, well furnished, came all the procession into the square, where they tarried and waited for the Bishop’s coming to his seat. Once arrived and greeted by our Mayor, they like to brought the walls down with trumpets, shawms, and other diverse instruments all the ways playing and making great melody. From here the Bishop and Mayor together were carried by coach amidst all revested priests, guards, and councilmembers, and all the ladies and gentlewomen in robes and gowns of scarlet, to the great park which was filled to bursting with all manner of citizens.
Whereon the celebration was so intense we nearly did see the flames once more descend from heaven to the purple and painted faces of all the devout present on both stand and street.
Edgar, my greetings and prayers from Crosspoint. I hope this letter finds you well, your troubled spirit buoyed by the Lord. I am making inquiries into how to deal with your problems. You know my door is always open to discussion even though it be by letter, and I have enclosed some information which may aid you if your personal difficulties worsen. There is no truer family than that which you find yourself in. We have no need to look below the words we speak, to unscramble hidden meanings. Such is not our way. Beyond this is only God or the Devil.
In the spirit of peace, Rbt Ag
Oh say unlove dances all. Or one way unveiled. The thought wind misses scorn and deals red ink, or drowns your grand, sour rank. Shy fool she rushed vanished fear where love and brewer drape mask.
Here rest the thin, roving flutes of your wild free rosin. Yes say revenant moon mice ate lies.
This hand-written note was found in the book, Discussing Lesser Families.
A circle will keep the host from becoming a host, and a mock court will provide a host for our guest. Should the court fail, the sigil to the lesser throne will reverse the trap.
->Circle
->Sigil
->Court
->Prince
->Scepter
->Wand
->Attendants--Redstar, Acastus, Cleophus
->Keeper of the lesser throne--Alogos
->Fast Engraver--Corlile
This text is written in the Ancient tongue.
The priest must invoke the authority of Jesus the oath-giver. The authority of Jesus must be invoked upon the devil. The devil must not be given any choice but to bind itself to the oath of Christ. Surround the spirit with the heavenly shape, the endless circle, clean, and allow escape only to the Pope. The larger circle must completely contain the devil.
Facing the pope in purple, the reader must inscribe the sigil of the creature within a smaller circle two hands side to side. Do not break the circle until reading God's word or the devil may attack both physically and through the powers Satan delivers unto it. Only on reading the word of God at the rising of the sun should the sigil break the devil's prison.
The reader must himself be free of sin. Prepare by reciting our belief in Jesus.
Take forth a pinch of salt and spread it into the air before you. Take in a cup of virgin wood the blood of Christ, calling on the trinity as you drink.
Hold the cross in your hand and consecrate in the Lord's language with the Pater Noster.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God calls you! Draw forth this sickness from our mortal world!”
“Jesus Christ is Lord! He died for our sins, but lives forever! Everlasting life is God's great gift to His children. Our Father treasures His children. Signs, wonders, and miracles pale compared to the joy of knowing God. Life as God's friend is fun! Under God's protection, peace reigns. Your life and reward are safe with Yahweh. Seek righteousness, O my soul! My desire is to follow God's ways. Christ Jesus is our example. Emmanuel is the Way to our Father in Heaven. Hallelujah! Jesus Christ lives forever!”
“Shout for joy! The Anointed One reigns! Riches and pleasures in this world pale compared to God's glory! Satan's bait is no match for Yahweh's righteous rewards. In our Father's presence there is great joy. In Almighty God's protected place, all needs are met.”
“Show me Your ways, dear Lord, so that I may walk with You. Allow me to stay with You always. Teach me to be righteous and holy like You. Help me to love all people like You. Infuse me with Your glory and compassion. Rescue me from evil thoughts, words, and deeds. Set a watch over me, Lord, and protect me from evil. Enshroud me with Your integrity and conquering love. Let your Holy Spirit be my constant guide. I set my will to obey You always. Only You satisfy my soul!”
“God Almighty, I love You!”
“Rejoice, for God is good!”
“Be joyous in the sight of the Lord.”
“Day by day, I will praise the Lord.”
“Sing praises to our God forever!”
Be faithful, and hold fast to the Lord, for nothing shall overcome whom the Lord protects.
Sam Noyuno
So the four maps to Charon were cured here of war. Ten fun games cause doom to man in his writing, creating the lament that is his fee due god. We issue in you this world of humor, you mute women known. Wipe rough sword for those the fit may rule.
Test semen under no fat woman gods you nurture, you who mint them the noxious musks. He who draws to worlds will knit one toy net. Hinges vow to better hinge, and bar shale. Harm all strange metal, and adhere to the thin hate of the freer sin there. Tithe the lemmings, see math dial air.
Excise no mucous where son rents muted rank fright and shallow hells helm man. Fie on carp, the white fish whelp doth call totem's force to rent refuse and entice your true fate to mold hot word bile to Elflore tract. Please exhale naive man thing, malt ire and vomit wight.
It has been nearly three weeks since we last saw an Illustrator. We feel as if some invisible string were fraying above us, soon to drop the sword. I have sent Roben and Tame to discover what the Illustrators are up to now.
Leren Praxos returned from the East with a few treasures today: a fourth copy of Dodgson’s Wonderland and some fragments of Ancient. Some he found in the ruins of Haven, but some were wide open in the bazaars of Crosspoint! We are slowly restoring the Library to its ancestral glory. I see Truman tomorrow to present him with these new gifts.
Truman and I had a long discussion about the future of the Library and the Order. He will re-open the Dormitory, and will invite several scholars to visit as in days of old. The shadow of the illustrators hangs over us as a shroud, tho. If they do not fade further of their own accord, there will surely be a confrontation some day, and we must be prepared. Truman suggests alliances, but the world is still tired from the wars. I see little chance of outside alliances in the near future. The most likely source of an alliance would be the Stigmas di Cristo whom they fought several years ago, but the di Cristo order has ever held a secretive lust for power. Nor would I trust the Astronomers even if they were to re-appear in High Town.
Leren returned also with several orders for copies of library books. This is good. We must stop living day to day. Arani in Black Stag, I trust, will also return with coins and manuscripts to duplicate--and add copies to our collection. Leren suggests starting a Tutoris “branch” from our root, in Crosspoint. Scholarship is rising again; the world awakens. He may be right. I’ve asked him to outline a plan, how many it would pull from the field and how much it would bring in.
Librarians and Tutors are cautiously recommending luminaries to invite to Vincent. I am surprised at the optimism which remains. Truman takes his notes and asks us to research the field of possibilities. Normally Leren would wait until spring to return to Crosspoint, but he is eager now to assist Truman’s search. Snow will come soon, so he must leave now if he is to safely cross High Town Pass.
I sent Arlen up to see Tame and Roben. No sign yet of anyone entering or leaving the castle. No raids, nor hunting parties, nor even leisurely walks. Can they have left? Are they planning something? I have instructed Arlen to organize a small party to search the surrounding area for any sign of military activity, raids on the farmers and others outside the wall, or anything out of the ordinary.
Managed to scrape by one more year, it appears. Just enough in trade and coin to fill the winter cellar from the final harvest’s last pickings. We shall certainly have our fill of turnips before the river opens again.
Awoke to a light snowfall. Beautiful on the mountainside and around the grove, but if it lasts it will make sneaking around the castle more difficult.
Arlen returned today with nothing to report. It has been at least four weeks since anyone has seen an Illustrator. Few mind the absence, though many do remember the old Order.
It has been 32 days since the last verified sighting of a Knight. Tame and Roben have camped at the river mouth for five days and have seen no one enter or leave the castle. Tomorrow we organize an expedition--a delegation, if anyone will greet us.
It is a charnel house. I write this in a tent by the river mouth. None of us will stay in or near the castle this night or for a long time. The whole place smells of rotting flesh. The dead are everywhere. It looks like they killed themselves--a mass suicide of the entire Order and the servants. There are not enough crossroads in all the world for this tragedy. Many still clutch cups in their fists as if they died in great pain. Others died at their posts or in their beds. I have instructed Marlin to remove the bodies carefully for a proper burial. It must be done. The cemetery will grow this year.
I will not forget the dead guards in the foyer, lightly armored as for duty. Their eyes bulged, but this may have been the effects of decomposition.
The old bazaar is still in poor repair. They never restored it after the goblins. They have barely maintained the castle. The towers are learning farther than they ever did. There are cracks in the walls that were not there when the goblins left.
Some of the silliest items are recorded in history: of all the little we know about their demise, we shall always know that their last meal was venison stew. The recipe was still on the countertop amidst the pots and pans. The door to the back is jammed into the walls. It is too beautiful to destroy, so I have instructed the others to wait before we force it open. There is enough elsewhere to keep us occupied.
The throne will be the hardest item to carry back to the Library. I have delegated to Tame the task of overseeing its removal and lowering it to the path.
The news is now out. A few farmers and townsfolk arrived today and began carrying off ‘souvenirs’. I have given Leren the task of assisting Marlin burying the bodies--and to commandeer any ‘sightseers’ into assisting them. That might keep the place free of tourists for another day or so.
I have set Roben to cataloging the Order’s books and transporting them to the Library. He say’s we have acquired at least two very interesting formulae: something for the manipulation of shadow and line, and a sort of magic cart or work bench. The latter, he says, bears the marking of the Costumers of Crosspoint, but if so they have not shared it with their colleagues here in Biblyon.
While counting in the shade, Roben found more bodies. I scolded him for following the path into the back rooms alone, but can understand the excitement of a new discovery. But, my god, there are so many bodies back there. I twill be impossible to bring them out through the tiny passage. Yet it seems wrong to leave their bodies for looting. I have instructed Roben to keep the bodies a secret until we decide what to do.
The immensity of this act weighs on my mind. How could they do such a thing? Many must have left the Order before it came to this. I wonder if any left that night, and what they are thinking now?
It has been difficult to write about these last few days, and I struggle to put down into words what we all feel. We have emptied the castle of all learning, and leave the rest to the looters. How have the mighty fallen! I can see several flickering lights in the town below as I write this. We are its protectors now. We can step into the light. I will be glad to cleanse myself of the miasma in the bathhouses below when we arrive home tomorrow.
Truman greeted us openly on our return and thanked us for the increase in his Library.
Roben is off now to the north to follow rumors of books. Marlin is set to the task of creating a new planning committee to take hold of our future in this new world.
After this it goes back to normal Tutoris activities.
Armi Patrocini Veneficium
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The black parts are the cut-outs.
Recuratus Morbi
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This letter is written in Ancient.
We have heard the name Kristagna again. A visitor from the Long Lakes arrived on Saturday during services. Ensender is his name. He is the first of his kind I have seen, though many of the others claim to have seen them during the war. His presence makes Tragos nervous, which means that my Lord’s plans are nearing completion. As you know, I am not privy to the Order’s inner circle but I have no doubt that the Glory of God shall prevail in all my Lord’s plans.
The visitor has come looking for the Order of the Astronomers. There is rumor that they have an Elf-sword of which he would not tell us further. If it were not for the Order’s reduced number, this would almost certainly mean a new foray into the southern forest, for Tragos certainly covets an item of such power. It would do our Order well. Tho as reduced as the Illustrators are, there is no evidence that the Astronomers survived the goblin wars at all. If the di Cristo prisoner has his way, there will be more casualties in the castle, but I know that my Lord has this dark man under careful scrutiny.
I thank you for this post, but do wish that we could speak face to face again. Mark me: writing through post is like speaking through a closed door in a darkened room. I see the light on the other side through the cracks, but fear there is no person there. I thank you for your letter of assurances and the gifts you enclosed. I pray it will not be necessary to utilize such weapons in times of peace. My friend