Fable of Not'Chek

The **Fable of Not'Chek** is a Fable within a magical scroll on Glies.

## Description

The Fable is a magical scroll which contains a pocket reality. Inside appears to be a very colorful place with flowers and plants all around. It contains Scroll Siren spell constructs which will attack invaders. If one moves upward over 10 feet they turn 2D due to it being inside the scroll. Instead of having a sky, one sees the scroll covering where the sky would be.

## History

### Background

During a vision while inside the Fable, Anaalius Penetratius sees that the Fable was created during the Fifth Iteration by a Soul Painter who sealed invading Eyeless Ones into it. As he lay dying he handed the Fable to Not'Chek who ran far away from the battle and entrusted it to some monks at a monastery. The monks named the Fable and eventually the monastery where it was held after him. They continued watching over it and sealed it inside a building in the Monastery of Not'Chek where it remained even after they long died out.

Through further visions in the Fable, it was revealed to Brewbad that Not'Chek attempted to offer the Scroll to his Master Old Man Sai at one point, yet he refused. Not’Chek goes into a furious outburst, but his Master continues to sit in a meditative stance just like the Resting Monk. It is not long until Not’Chek leaves in anger taking the Scroll with him. Many years later Not'Chek is captured by the Eclipse and is met by the Pale Emperor who has him in chains while he holds the scroll. The Pale Emperor holds out his hand for the Scroll, but Not’Chek refuses. However, a conversation happens between the two, and Not’Chek grip weakens and he drops the Scroll on the ground. The Pale Emperor picks it up with a slight smile. Not’Chek then gives him a magical necklace carrying immense power. Not’Chek explains the mechanism of the Scroll and necklace to the Pale Emperor. The Emperor then takes out the crystal from the necklace, puts the necklace in an egg, clothes Not’Chek in Eclipse armor, and hands back the Scroll. The battle surrounding them ends, and Not’Chek rides to the north where he stores the scroll in the Monastery of Not'Chek which was a monastery recently conquered by the Eclipse.

### Discovery

Adrian Cotour hires the adventurers of Anaalius, Brewbad, Schmeg, Mataal Ika, and his assistant Scribbles to find the monastery and the fable within it. After exploring it they find the fable protected by a bardic spell. Mataal Ika is able to unseal it. As he does so Scribbles excitedly approaches the Fable but inadvertent looks at it causing the party to get sucked inside of it .The party awakens on a dirt path with flowers, mushrooms, and plants all around. Mataal is the first to notice a gigantic scroll where the sky would be, and the rest of their surroundings looks odd as well. Shmeg gets thrown upward by Mataal, but ten feet up he turns two dimensional and cannot go any higher. As Scribbles tries to read the Scroll, her eyes glaze over and her voice becomes ethereal: “Once in a meadow fair, the hero walked without a care. In misted wiles there was a guile and darkness in the cavern there.”

As the party makes Anaalius lead the way by telling him that there are drugs ahead, a harrowing wind begins to blow. Four Scroll Sirens, spirits of ink and parchment that bear the mark of erasure appear around the party, for they are not part of the story and must be erased. The party defeats these spell constructs and take short rest on the road to recuperate and regroup themselves. As Scribbles looks up at the Scroll, the words haven’t changed, but the passage she had read has lit up. The party continues on the path, which leads north to a pool of water. After Schmeg feels the water and confirms it’s safe, the party dives into the pool.

The party then enters some caves which house colorful crystals. They discover that the crystals have Eyeless Ones sealed inside them. Anaalius slowly uncovers the history of the fable by reliving the memories of Not'Chek through contact with the crystals. Mataal combines each colored crystal with his own psionic ones and eventually overcomes an psionic attack by the Eyeless Ones stealing some of their mental power for himself.

At the end of the caves, the party finds the Akuma Norubaga who they fight. After destroying him with Dust they move on to an underwater chest where they get sucked into a portal leading to a new party of the Fable.

They are deposited in front of an entrance to a large estate, a slight mist enveloping the area. There are two grand doors in front of them with the text ‘Green Sparrow Dojo’. Inside they find the sword Tomorrow which belonged to Old Man Sai, the master of Not'Chek. Anaalius has a debate with him winning his trust to take the sword.

### Fable's End

After continuing further they find themselves at the end of the Fable, in the Monastery of Not'Chek. The party enters the same monastery they encountered in the real world and notices that it is now in a well-maintained condition. They hear soft voices and footsteps, but they only see shadowy figures that pay no attention to them, like a memory. Anaalius notices a familiar statue, but instead of in a position of prostration, it is now standing. Shmeg investigates the hands of the statue and notices two indentations in the hands, hinting that an item could be placed in between. He suggests that the Lorekeeper Scepter could fit. As Anaalius places the staff in between the hands, it is infused with magic, and the surrounding shadows become more manifested. When the infusion stops, the Scepter seems more vibrant. The party then travels to a nearby door blocked by a field of force. However, as Brewbad brings the Scepter closer, the force begins to weaken. Right as he touches the door, the Scepter informs him that the Fable’s End is on the other side. Hearing this, the party decides to search the rest of the monastery before finishing the tale.

As they walk to where they first encountered the Fable, they see that the Scroll is closed and is surrounded by a library in pristine condition. Scribbles tries to touch the Scroll, but it just phases through her hand. As Brewbad infuses the Scepter’s power into the Scroll, it becomes old and faded. Now fully manifested, the Scroll opens and shows the story of Not’Chek. The party reads the final passage, which tells that in his torment of his sins, Not’Chek sealed away the Scroll with him inside it so that he could protect the final piece. The party realizes who awaits them at the end of this story, and they debate with each other what to do with this Scroll. Eventually, Scribbles takes the Scroll to go find somebody who can tell them more about it.

After defeating Not’chek, the Scroll begins to glow, as the Fable has ended. The area around them begins to fade away. Scribbles hastily studies the Scroll, trying to find a way out. The party heals themselves with the fountain water and their spells. Brewbad tells Shmeg to look at the Lorekeeper’s tomb, and he obliges. Anaalius follows behind and the two open the familiar coffin. However, instead of finding a corpse, they find a weapon from the Cataclysm lying on Spider Silk. On the pommel of the blade is a seven-pointed star. As Shmeg lifts the blade, it begins to shift into a ring. Seven gems of light appear before Shmeg, suggesting him to choose one. All the Colors are present except Violet, which is replaced by a clear crystal, offering the Way of the Mortal. If one does not wish to hold the knowledge of the Seven, they can choose the clear crystal.

Shmeg slowly reaches out to the clear crystal but then quickly grabs the Green crystal. A green jewel is placed upon the ring, and visions of a terrible truth flow through Shmeg’s mind. He witnesses the battle against the Herald. When those events have finished, he sees Not’Chek speaking to the Pale Emperor. Not’Chek shows the Emperor the Scroll and the same ring Shmeg now possesses, but the Pale Emperor made a different choice. Shmeg comes back to his senses and tells Anaalius what he saw. The two then head back to the rest of the party.

When they return, they see Brewbad mutilating Not’Chek’s other eye socket, muttering that the Eyeless Ones shouldn’t be here. Anaalius grabs the blade shards of Yesterday and Tomorrow while Mataal communes with the lingering psionic energies of Not’Chek. He sees an Eyeless One embedded in Not’Chek’s body, trapped in the Fable. Mataal realizes that this Eyeless is weaker than him, so he immediately consumes it to empower himself. Mataal then sees visions of the other Eyeless Ones hiding, waiting for their time to strike. At the place where the remnants of the Ominax live, the Eyeless Ones continue building their strength. Finally, Scribbles is able to find a way out, and the party escapes to the real world.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Scrolls of Not'Chek: Episode 03
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Scrolls of Not'Chek: Episode 04
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Scrolls of Not'Chek: Episode 06
4. ↑ Scrolls of Not'Chek: Episode 05
5. ↑ Scrolls of Not'Chek: Episode 07
6. ↑ Scrolls of Not'Chek: Episode 09