Crossroads Episode 24: Oddities

## Synopsis

10 Highsun 1258 IC

The party now within A.S. Cummings - House of Oddities and Curiosities find themselves face to face with who is assumed to be the man himself and Drago Todorov.

Tasya stands with swords at the ready as the sound of Cerin can he heard from outside shouting at the candlemaker to stop as the boy rushes inside. The door slams shut as the man assumed to be Cummings laughs, raises a hand and tears the boys soul from his body and into the house itself. The body disappears leaving behind only a shoe as the man announces the boy has been added to the collection.

Tasya rushes Drago but a steel cage appears around him and hauls him up, vanishing into the nether. Kreel tries to open the door allowing Cerin to enter but is met with the image of a lone tree made up of information itself and the sound of hundreds of whispering voices fill the air.

Seeing this Stünislav recalls his time on Raesik and believes this to be a "Fear Prison" the same as the Creed of Star used to control himself and the Rebels party previously. He tells the party not to believe what they are seeing but also treat it as real because the mind makes it that way. Illusions made reality in the mind can still kill them.

The party now realise Nep'Rixa is missing and the man's voice echoes through the house announcing she too has been added to the collection.

Surrounded by different items the party begin to investigate, some seem familiar but are off in some ways. Beatrix touches an elven skull on a nearby table and suddenly hears whispers in elvish in a familiar voice. Wyrm tries an item followed by Kreel, both hearing the familiar voices and seeing visions of the past. The voices familiar to them all are those they heard from the Gordex Lithari.

The whole party now begin to hear the voices and decide they better start moving or risk being trapped in this place. The organ music that fills the air no longer appears to be coming from the walls themselves but now from a room ahead of them. Before heading that way they decide to check a room beside them first in case it contains their missing allies.

The room contains a large chest, shelves of books and a doorway to the south with a blue glow emanating from the other side. Beatrix decides to dectect magic and finds the contents of the room aren't real and can only see her own magic reflected back at her and that the large chest is actually a mimic. Heeding Stünislav's prior warning knowing it isn't real but treating it as if it were, the party decide to keep their distance and go back to find the source of the organ music.

Entering the dark room, Wyrm throws a torch inside and the organ goes silent. A cage appears around the torch and as before it rises and dissapears into the nether. The room illuminates and reveals it to be empty except for a lone organ on the back wall. The lights begin to dim and a spectral figure appears as the organ starts to play once again.

Again the lights brighten, the organ stops and the figure vanishes. Wyrm decides to charge at the organ before it starts again and the party follow. They find sheet music where the figure once stood. The lights begin to dim again, not being able to read music Kreel plays a chord at random and the lights stop dimming briefly. The party realise they need to interact with the organ to maintain the light in the room and they hit all the keys together. The lights continue to dim.

Wyrm in a last ditch attempt uses ghost sound to mimic the the music heard playing previously, he succeeds. The lights return and the grinding of stone can be heard as a passage opens up.

The party enter and find themselves in a library with a spectral figure standing in the distance, it laughs and tells the party to indulge in a feast of knowledge before vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Beatrix casts detect magic. She sees one full case emanating arcane magic and approaches it with a child like wonder and excitment scanning the shelves, cataloging all the titles she sees.

Surrounded by books they find there is something for each of them, containing their past, their experiences, some things not even known to them or long forgotten as well as desired knowledge.

The voice rings out again and tempts them with the possible information within but there is a price for that knowledge, a price they will only discover when they consume it.

Wyrm discovers his, a picture book and as he flips through it his head is filled with the voices of the past.

The voice tells Stünislav that within his book lies the information to set him free from the debt owed to his father. Stünislav tells the others of the deal he made on Raesik and decides he has nothing to hide and reads the book aloud to the others. Wyrm sits next to Stünislav to listen and as he does Tasya notices the book Wyrm was reading is adding new pages, adding to the knowledge within as he listens to Stünislav's tale.

Looking down Wyrm notices the book Stünislav is reading is also a picture book and with those pictures he hears a voice relaying the current events back to him as they happen. To Stünislav this is a regular book, filled with words read like any other.

Meanwhile Beatrix pulls a book from the shelf and discovers the contents are almost perfect for her, containing spells and recipes for various magic items. She pulls another from the shelf and it appears to be a continuation of the previous book although a different author is named.

Tasya picks up a scroll from a nearby by shelf and within reads an account from Vaurain.

The spectral figure returns to the room and asks each of them what price they are willing to pay for the knowledge they have claimed.

Now holding Ruby in it's hand it turns and Kreel to name a price to discover their place in the world as nothing exists for them within the library, no book has their name but the next chamber does which Ruby claims is Kreel's.

*Synopsis written by Caffinated Viking*

## The Party

* Beatrix Qiroris - Lvl 6 Half-Elf Wizard
* Kreel - Lvl 6 Tengu Witch
* Nep'Rixa of Skor'Ritha - Lvl 6 Sadrath'il Cleric of Fayer
* Stünislav Marekoi - Lvl 6 Tiefling Redeemer
* Tasya Marinov - Lvl 6 Human Fighter
* Wyrm - Lvl 6 Goblin Rogue