Session 11: The Library Report

General Summary

Grimmaz and the militia make it into the library. There they find a two circular rows of bookshelves with a space leading to the centre. In the centre is a dais made of black stone and a shard of amber on top. In front of it is three lecterns, with a book on the left one, a book on the right, and the middle one empty. Light is shining down on the dais, and just beyond is the shape of a person. The militia spreads out to cover all possible routes behind them, and Grimmaz goes forward with Mikeal the Sergeant at Arms a few feet behind him. He examined the lecterns and notices that there is no dust on the middle one, and the other two do. Also the person is a humanoid, and initially thought to be a statue.   Eventually Grimmaz moves forward, and the humanoid comes forward slowly to one side. It speaks in a monotone feminine voice, and has feminine features. It lacks any hair and the top visible half has a vest-like covering of black shiny leathery apparel, gray skin, and scars on her body, face, and head. The scars are stitched in such a way that when she moves the scars open pulling the stitches. No blood comes out but still looks raw in beneath. It introduces itself as a Cenobite of the Order of the Gash. When Grimmaz questions it, it explains it is a follower of Leviathan, the lord of flesh & order, and is here to prevent the creature trapped in the amber sarcophagus from escaping. The creature & sarcophagus came as part of a meteorite thousands of years ago, breaking up and crashing into the mountains. From there it influenced three civilisations in the region to start experimenting with a substance meant to improve them & their technology and make them dominant. It also pushed for torture and the giant skeleton found acted as a mutated herald, using a wind instrument to call to prospective recruits to it's cause. Her order is opposed to it, as they believe they are the only ones to rule over the world and that pleasure & pain is their domain. Grimmaz finds he can take the books and allowed to rifle through the gear of the skeletal remains of a fighter of some type at the other side of the dais. This is in part due to him & the militia tipping the other part of the sarcophagus into a lava flow. She also explains that the creature was trapped in the sap of a great world tree in ages past and forced into the Material Plane. The state of the crucified creature they passed is a representation of the creature. The middle book also had been lifted by Vitus Nhung and sent to a 'council' of powerful undead.   When he examines the remains there is some gold & silver, two ingots, a rough old bag, a well-kept bag with two trinkets in them, and an axe with Dwarven & Elvish runes carved into it. At this point he lifted everything and backed away. They made their way out and talked about the encounter. The battleaxe seems lighter to use, and extremely sharp, and Mikeal has heard of Leviathan in the form of a serpent from the depth as mentioned in the bible along the lines of one so large it is related to the Behemoth. He thinks it may have been mentioned in Revelations but not sure. They meet up with the remaining militia, and Fleec, deciding tat all they will tell the powers that be in Parisius that there is nothing more than a ruined city in the caverns and that the books have to be left off with a Father Tussil in Wien to prevent it falling into the hands of de Rais who has a sinister reputation in Parisius, with children being killed near his estate & business (with their throats cut, and stabbed in the heart). Also, he has the reputation of following unwholesome religious practices & beliefs.   The party made their way to the tower again where Grimmaz lifted a book with stuff in it that looked like necromancy, and decided that it is better to give that to Father Tussil, Fleec lifted 20 gold, and then they all set about burning down the tower. When it is burning down, Grimmaz goes back to the entrance of the valley, and spoke to the Wood Elf leader & Olec the La Tene Celt telling them that it is all sorted now. Shortly after the tower collapses, Fleec, Mikeal, and the militia make their way back out, and all make their way to their waiting transports and start to travel back to Parisius.

Rewards Granted

20 gp to Fleec.   8 gp & 32 sp, 2 silver ingots, fancy bag (bag of holding), battleaxe (+2), two books (Treatise of the Seelie & Unseelie Courts, and The Elements of Nature), a book of necromancy, two small trinkets, and 2000 xp to Grimmaz.

Missions/Quests Completed

The Caverns, Tower, and Valley of the Crucified.

Character(s) interacted with

The Burgeaters (militia), Mikael the Sergeant at Arms, Cenobite (Stitchscar), Olec the Celtic chieftain, the Wood Elf leader.