The true words of Teymy Thidfud, the Tablet Bearer. An account of how I bore the Viceroy’s tablet to the deepest places of Erinyaa, and there bound the Maw of the Deep—written by my own hand in the eight hundred seventeenth year after my birth.
Now, Da the Glorious, the Viceroy of Rinyaa and Erinyaa, had for long striven against the Maw of the Deep, whom she named Am. From the times before memory, she protected not only our people but all the peoples of the upper and lower realms from the predations of the Elder God. At last, she met the Maw of the Deep in single combat in the lowest places of Erinyaa, just above where Earth becomes Fire. It is not known to me the specifics of that duel, save that it lasted long, even in the reckoning of our people, and that, in the end, Da struck down the Maw, though she did not have the power to slay it fully. While it lay deep in the bowels of Kornax, regaining strength, she hastened to her citadel. There, she called forth from nothing a wonder – a tablet made of granite, gold, mithril, and diamonds. Affixed on its surface were four runes in the language of the Dragons. There was the rune for Honor, the rune for Spirit, the rune for Might, and the rune for Humility. Taking this tablet in her clawed hands, she breathed on it. What transpired next was a second wonder, for some of her very Essence passed from her, through her breath, into the tablet, endowing it with power beyond any single item I have ever seen before or since. I know the truth of this account, for I witnessed this tablet's creation with my own eyes.
She then bade me descend into the deep, far below our range, to the cavern in which the Maw lay. She bade me use the power of the tablet she had made to imprison or banish him.
I was brash in those days, so I eagerly agreed to this task. Little did I understand what was required. For months, we traveled ever deeper into Erinyaa. We faced the Khaedrags. We battled a great purple worm. We were captured by the foul illithid and had to fight our way free, losing half our number in the effort. We met a beholder, paranoid and powerful, who strove to enslave us, but we prevailed against them. In the end, we made our way to our objective. As we entered, I perceived, for the first time, the enormity of the labor the Viceroy had laid upon me, for the Maw was at least a mile long and half as high. It’s catatonia was all that saved us from certain annihilation.
Taking the tablet in my hand, I called upon its power, the Essence of Da, and attempted to banish the Elder God. Alas, my wind was too weak. The power of the Viceroy flowed directly from the tablet through my mind, rending it. The Maw was not banished that day, for I was not equal to the task. But he was bound to the chamber where he lay, for as long as the tablet should remain whole. The power of Da’s Essence, meanwhile, ripped through my mind, nearly unmaking it. I collapsed and was borne away by my companions, who used their magics to revive me. We returned to the Viceroy and reported all that had transpired. Expecting admonishment, I was stunned when she had mercy. Instead of pain of punishment, she took the tablet from me (for it would hear my control no more) and healed me, mind and body. Blessing me, she bade me return to my people a hero, for I had secured the safety of many.
I write these words in the hall of my daughter, who is now called Geath Ciltyc, Pasop of Daa, for so she named the realm she founded, in honor of the Viceroy who secured peace sufficient that our people could finally settle rather than wander from cavern to gallery, and from gallery to vault. As the light of my life dims in my eyes, I record this account so future generations know what transpired to give them a place of safety to call their home. I, Teymy Thidfud, the Tablet Bearer in the service of the Viceroy of Rinyaa and Erinyaa, declare all these words to be a true and accurate account of the binding of the Maw of the Deep.
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