The Ancient Tablet in DEADHAUS SONATA | World Anvil

The Ancient Tablet

Written by Temuldjin

2th of Auct, in the year 219 after Deadhaus.
The day started like any other, me being left alone in my studies, digging through ancient books trying to decipher long since forgotten languages from before the rise of deadhaus, then I was abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door. Before I could even tell whoever was so rudely interrupting my studies to go away the door was opened and a servant handed me a letter on a silver plate with a wax seal of the Empire, I quickly grabbed the letter ushered the servant out and read the content of the letter:   Your presence and expertise is being requested at the Frontier village in the southeast reaches of the Empire, a coach is already waiting outside and ready to embark.   Well, of course it is, there isn't exactly many in the empire that have specialized themselves in ancient languages, who else in the Empire can boast about being able to write in 7 languages that no longer exist? But what about the assignment i was already working on? These things don't exactly translate themselves you know, one cannot simply leave a manuscript mid translation like that... I'll head strait for the Headmasters chambers, give him a piece of my mind is what ill do! Is what i though would happen, instead I was almost pushed strait out to the coach while being told this new assignment takes precedence and before I could even ask what it was about I was told we keep the letters of the Empire vague for a reason Hans, as if I didn't know that, this assignment better be worth my time.   11th of Auct.   Whom ever said "Existence is pain" was right all along, I was blind but now i can see, or rather, feel... I am still surprised just how much the buttocks can hurt even though I've done nothing but sit in this damned horse drawn box of torture for mere 8 days, I'll never complain about a light back pain from sitting hunched over reading books late into the night ever again, I swear to everything that I hold holy!   13th of Auct.   After 10 and a half excruciating days of travel, we have finally arrived at a very small frontier village close to the border of the Deadhaus territory, I am too hungry and too tired to write anything more.   14th of Auct.   I've finally been told the reason for my summon; while the locals were digging out the foundation for a new building they found the existence of a ancient building even deeper down under the planned depth of the foundation, and what might very well be the dig site of the century, even deeper still they found an intact basement under this ancient house, and the content of that basement can simply only be described with a single word, treasure-trove. I almost don't know where to begin! I feel like i am 25 again.   15th of Auct.   I've spent the whole day categorizing the scrolls, books and a stone tablet, I barely found the time to write this, there is just no time to waste, led alone rest it's time to put my skill to good use, this is where my talent will outshine anyone else, there will be no sleep tonight that i am certain.   29th of Medilun.   As far as I know I should have deciphered the Stone Tablet now, both Archivist Alexi and Head Librarian Tomas have not only read through my notes they even helped me find some real obscure books in the locked section of the library from the capital that were of great help and we have all combed through them and arrived at the same conclusion, As far as we can see, i have indeed cracked the linguistic code in this ancient language and the tablet should have been translated correctly, yet none of us seem to be confident after having read the end result.   The Translated Tablet   " I will admit there is so much I do not know, so much I have forgotten... I am so old I no longer remember my name. When I try, there is just a vague sense of lingering emotions, mostly anger and hatred, adorned with flashes of faceless people, souls I must have known before but which are now strangers to me. It is like a parchment without writing on it, shattered and broken memories of a life, long since past. A life I can no longer quite recall.   I do happen to remember a time before the vampires walked the land, however. There were wars then, and there are wars now. So much has changed, and so much is just more of the same. Yet, I still walk on this realm, without knowing the reason why… and I have forgotten more than most will ever know.   I am old, very old. So I implore you, ponder just how insignificant you are to me. If you get in my way, I will not even hesitate, for I possess only hatred towards this existence. I must continue roaming, even though I no longer remember why, as this is the only purpose that I have left… "   The books were old, some of the scroll's wore even older, and miraculously preserved in that basement, I may add, but the tablet, the tablet has to be at least 1.900 years old that much is certain, the language chiseled in that tablet is just that old, my god at least 1.900 years old, possibly closer to 3.000... Could it really be that the dead already roamed the earth that long ago? How could this be? Either way, what I must do now is deliver my notes, write my final report on the subject and do something about my aching back, i mean how hard can i be to get a comfortable cushion around here?   Still i wonder, at least 1.900 years?   – Hans von Richten, Inquisitor of the Thacean Empire

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