Wealday, 5th of Desnus, 4721 AR
Gauntlight Keep
Level 3 - Library
Tunnel
10.45p
Tristan points out a door in the northside of the tunnel that he noticed during the heat of battle. Examining the bodies of the children, the group finds that their clothing is tattered and dirty, suggesting that they served as ship's mates. Closer examination of the tunnel reveals the walls to be smooth and do not appear to be dug out, most likely created by a purple worm. The opening of the door in question was carved in after the worm's passage.
Reading Room
10.55p
Forcing the open the door inward, Tristan pushes a rotted sofa out of the way. The party finds themselves in a cross-shaped room with ruined furniture and a dry fountain in the center. The air is musty, but everything appears to be in order. A stack of books sits on the rim of the fountain. Doors are set to the north and east.
Kaliff examines the old books and finds two of interest written in Taldane:
"The Misfortune of the Curse" and
"Eliminating the Mountains". However, the first book is the love story of some unfamiliar prince and his mistress. Fluttering the pages at Zor'ahn's suggestion, a small wooden bookmark slips out, but it is practical and plain. Tristan asks the ranger if he detects any magic, but he does not.
Opening the northern door reveals a long hallway with several doors off from it. Tristan begins to hear the ghostly whisper of voices, sounding strange and difficult to make out. The voices grow louder as they advance, and a faint green glow emanates from under the eastern door. Tristan carefully opens it and the greenish energy suddenly coalesces into a message from Otari:
"Belcorra fell to the Roseguard, but we never knew of these vaults below."
The words reabsorb, then begin to slide down the wall, morphing into footprints, which walk out the door. Passing through Tristan, the footsteps begin moving northward. Beyond is a small room filled with white mist and more phantom voices. As the footsteps pass through the mist, it suddenly sucks into itself, solidifying into a tentacled creature with one large eye.
One of the
mist stalker's tentacles sweeps out at Tristan, smashing into him and his shield. Grunting, the fighter shoves the monster wetly back with his shield, but another limb snakes out and wraps around his midsection. Zor'ahn takes position next to their foe, the room still misty enough to slightly obscure sight. Zor'ahn rallies Tristan, inspiring him to wrestle free of the offending appendage. Tristan flanks with the ranger, but the mist impedes his attack. Kalitos strides into room and explodes his dueling sword and Sparkblade against its skin. Ehrn rages after and rips her glaive through the octopus' body. Kaliff moves forward and fires a
phase bolt.
The stalker, barely clinging to life, slams and grabs Tristan yet again. It restrains him and begins to brutally squeeze. Tapping into his inner shadow, Zor'ahn flows a powerful blow with his Wooden Argentis into the monster, sinking in deep. With barely a grunt of effort, the ranger rips upwards, severing the grasping tentacle, and ending its life. The ghostly footprints wait patiently in a hallway to the east before continuing north.
Zor'ahn confers with the party and suggests that they should take care in following the
ghost as it appears to not be concerned with their safety.
11.05p
After tending to Tristan, the party readies to follow. The fighter notes that this passage appears to have once been barricaded and torn down. The passage is found to open into the library. The way north is a set of long stairs leading up. The party returns to the passage and clears a second small room with ripped and torn furniture. Tristan lingers at the door and begins looking around, searching for something. "It feels like we're being watched, do you sense that?" he asks. He suddenly slams the door. "I saw a giant red eye in the wall. It was watching me." Zor'ahn insists on confronting the eye and opens the door again to rush in, but there is nothing to see. Peering back into the room, Tristan does not see it as well and the feeling of being watched is gone. The voices still remain, however.
Guardroom
11.15p
The unopened door back in the cross-shaped room shows another set of ascending stairs, presumably to the Ghost Queen
morlock kingdom. Back in the room where the eye was encountered, the northern door there opens into another shorter hall. The door to the west opens into still another set of stairs going up. Tristan opens the north door and is startled to find a large,
red devil with goat legs. It says in a deep, yet bored voice, "Halt, go no further." The guard wears spiked metal armor and holds a large, wicked glaive. He continues, "You are under arrest. Hand over your weapons." Tristan notices a large iron door to the west as well as hundreds of ticks and slashes all around the room. Zor'ahn rebuffs and asks under what authority. He replies, still bored,
Belcorra, despite her being dead. He too is bound by a contract. Zor'ahn ribs him, stirring some emotion from the devil and learns that he too has a contract against him. The devil says that the old chef is being held in the prison, with mushrooms growing on his body.
As the party goes to leave, Korlock asks them to wait. He tells them in response to freeing him, he will show them Belcorra's secret room, which he says holds much arcane knowledge and treasures. His exact orders were to let no one out of the jail. Tristan says they will find the contract if they are able.
Workroom
11.25p
Back in the library, the party opens the locked workroom door to a small room for binding books with a ghostly female form. A skeletonized body with a nearby vial is visible. Zor'ahn uses his shadowy hand to retrieve the vial, which is found to be an empty bottle of arsenic. A ghostly voice tells them that she is busy and cannot be distracted. She refuses help and entry. Zor'ahn says that there is talk of shutting her down and that they might be able to help her. She acts as if she opens the other door, eliciting a terrified response from her, and she pantomimes closing it again. She tells them to quickly hide because "they" will be looking for them, that they will do terrible things to do them, even in death. She adamantly declares she will take no part in it. Zor'ahn uses his shadowy hand again to take some old pages from the room. The writing is messy, but they are able to make out phrases in Taldane that are unconnected and almost random, some form of stream of consciousness. There are religious overtones, mentioning about the Cult of the Canker. When asked what she doesn't want to be a part of, the ghost replies that "They are feeding on themselves, all for her and undeath. I will not do that, not even for her." Kaliff tries to persuade her to leave, but she replies that Nhakazarin will not let that happen. Kaliff pulls Thud into view to show that he controls the canker and that the cult is no more. She asks for his name and in return gives hers, Jarelle Kaldrian. Before departing, Jarelle says that she has done many terrible things, but in the end, it should be remembered that she resisted. Kaliff reples, "And that is how you will be remembered, the only one who stood against her."
11.35p
Looking about the room, the party finds notes that primarily detail the creation of the cult and that the idea behind it was to prepare for Belcorra's resurrection and that the Canker was to be a vessel for her. Beyond is a small dusty bedroom with old books. There are a few items of interest on the corpse.
Belcorra's Reading Room
11.45p
The next "Repairs/Storeroom" also contains equipment. The next door is a short passage to another door into a small, brightly light room from a chandelier, over a desk and chair. Small gems in the fixture. Mirrors hang on the north and south walls, but are badly cracked. Another door to the west that looks slightly different and well made. There is a large decorative plate and lock on it with a stylized open book. Tristan examines it further, finds it well-crafted and requiring a large key. The light sound of laughter of a young child can be heard from within. The party asks
Augrael about the room, but he only says it's bright and was the domain of the Belcorra. A large key on the rusted ring of keys is found to open the door. Within is a small, 2 ft. tall
fairy-like creature with large eyes, elven-shaped eyes, and curved horns, holding a colorful quill and writing in a book. It looks at the party and giggles.
The being slaps the book shut angrily and a piercing ray of light slices through the air at Tristan, blasting him. Zor'ahn enters the room and reaches out with the hand of
Nhimbaloth, filling the creature with fear. Tristan falls into a dread stance, steps into the room, and vicious strikes it with his smoking blade. Kaliff casts
enfeeble from the necromantic staff. Kalitos also enters the room and piles on more pain.
The fairy's wings begin to flutter and it cautiously takes to the air before disappearing. Zor'ahn readies himself. Tristan closes the door. Kaliff commands Thud to do the same. Kalitos enters the room and Olli points out the fae. Zor'ahn enters as well and throws a dagger, but misses. Ehrn suddenly charges in and skewers the flying fae with her glaive before closing the only other open door.
