2023/07/26

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: Shadow academia

The party was on their way to Ceryl, where Cynthia Bennett told them that they could find the secret Thamarite Library. Ceryl is an old city, with a large history of arcane and secret endeavors. Ceryl's biggest part in history is that it was where the main birth of the rebellion against the Orgoth was founded. Something that continues to this day with it being the home of the Order of Wizardry, an organization that dates back to the rebellion. As the party landed in Ceryl, Cynthia wasted no time in leading them towards the older parts of the city, adeptly weaving through narrow streets and alleys before stopping in front of an old tavern called The Black Mare. Cynthia looked the party over and told them that they were here, and told them that they were to cause no trouble within the library lest the archivists take trouble with the party. With that warning, Cynthia looked at Xavier with a slightly disapproving gaze before offhandedly mentioning that he might not want to play up that he was Morrowan in there. Xavier said that he would try though he tended to exude Morrowan warpriest vibes.

With the warnings out of the way the party entered The Black Mare and Cynthia talked with the bartender about getting a back room for an enlightening experience. A couple of coded handshakes later and the party was being led to a room in the back where there was a number of bookcases along the walls. Cynthia opened the passage to the library by drawing a Thamarite sigil in one of the books before putting it back, which caused the bookcase to open, revealing a stone staircase that descended down. The stairs were fairly long, though were illuminated by green arcane torches every couple feet, which Cynthia explained were the chosen light source in the library as they were the safest for the archive and its irreplaceable texts inside. When the party reached the bottom they were greeted by multiple stacks unlike anything they had seen before.

As the party began looking for information on Ancient Icthier, As the party wasn't of academic background, they instead bribed the archivists to help them on their search. With a generous donation of 2,000 gold to to the library, they got themselves 5 archivists to assist them in their research. The work began going better with the assistance of those who knew the library and its secrets better than the party. First and foremost the party was looking into Ancient Icthier and anything relating that to the prophecy that Hector had received. Most of the library's knowledge on Ancient Icthier involved accounts from Menite forces fighting barbarians and cults of entities other than the God of Man. One of these accounts involved the Cult of the Dreamer which was of note given that name showing up in the final line of the prophecy. The account was an old one, dating back approximately 5500 years. The Cult of the Dreamer was a cult that exhibited fantastic powers, and despite their small numbers posed a challenge to the forces of Menoth. According to the text the cult was trying to dream their god into reality, though were stopped before such a thing could come to pass. The cult eventually made their last stand at the ruined city of Acrennia, where they were put to the sword and flame.

This was a promising lead for the party, as until now they were wondering as to what the dreamer referred to in the prophecy. Further research into the Dreamer revealed that it was an entity of prophecy and change, with the moon being a significant symbol in its worship. This revelation concerned Hector, who saw a significant overlap between his aspects and the Dreamer. Abe reassured him that even if he was related to the Dreamer he still was Hector at the end of the day and the party had his back. Charlotte asked the archivists if they had any further information on worship of the Dreamer, which there was some more of here and there throughout history. It seemed that despite the destruction of the cult, those in the wild places still occasionally worshiped the Dreamer in small numbers. A couple of these sects even came fairly close to what would eventually become Five Fingers along the coast, though there was no definitive evidence that they occupied the islands.

The party then asked if there was anything that would shed light on what they found in the tunnels underneath Five Fingers, Namely the portal to Urcaen and if it was possible that it had something to do with the Cult of the Dreamer. Once again there was little in the way of definitive answers, as the tunnels that currently run under Five Fingers had been added to for thousands of years, originally being a cave system that was carved by the Dragon's Tongue River that was exposed when the water level dropped. The caves first appeared roughly contemporary with the first sighting of the Cult of the Dreamer though there was a bit of wiggle room in either direction. The rough consensus was that the portal was there before the Orgoth occupation and the Orgoth sealed it away themselves. As to why it was now active and causing troubles who knows but that was the best theory the archivists could put forth.

After a slight detour as the Archivists asked questions about the party's experience passing through the portal and an offer from the party for some researchers to investigate the portal. The party asked some final questions, firstly they asked if the library had anything about the archon that appeared above Five Fingers, and secondly they asked about the Old Witch of the Woods. Looking into the archon brought a number of books more recent than the usual tomes and scrolls that filled the library, which made sense given that most of the information on archons comes from the claiming. The library was able to corroborate the archon, though weren't able to say what divinity sent it. Though they did say that it and its contemporaries seemed to be on their own side, while they would fight the infernals and their allies, they were also recorded attacking Menite archons and faithful as well. With that information the party believed that the archon was sent by the Dreamer to witness the change that befell the casino.

As for the Old Witch of the Woods, the Thamarite library had an entire section dedicated to the being that called itself that. The Old Witch is an ancient entity that if legend is to be believed predates humanity, though will occasionally walk among them to suit its purposes. The name that it has adopted over the millennia is Zevanna Agha and she primarily stays near Khador and its frozen wastelands. Thamarites have observed the Old Witch throughout the years to learn what they can from her power and machinations. The last major move the Old Witch did was releasing the Grymkin from Urcaen, an act that is still being felt to this day. As the Old Witch is often depicted in the company of crows the party asked if those included the humanoid crows that they fought in the tunnels before finding the portal. That didn't seem to be the case as the Old Witch's crows retained their normal appearance though were usually more intelligent than the standard corvid. If the archivists had to guess the crow men and the man with the shovel that the party encountered in the tunnels were entities from Urcaen passing the other way through the portal.

With their questions answered, the party thought that it would be best if they headed back to Five Fingers to drop off Cynthia as well as report to the High Captains about their findings. And from there they would head off to the ruins of Acrennia to see if there was anything that could be found there related to the Cult of the Dreamer. As sooner was better than later the party once again paid for passage on the next ship leaving for Five Fingers, to their surprise though, when they returned to board the ship, they found the ship already leaving port without them. Suspecting an ambush, the party remained on their guard for a little bit, though when nothing came of it they went to the harbormaster to complain about their experience. The harbormaster was rather disinterested in the party though did mark down their complaint as well as reimburse the party for the cost of their fare. Though there was no answer as to why the boat had left the party behind. Further attempts to get on a ship towards Five Fingers were even less successful with the sailors saying that the party was a bad omen and that they could feel it in their bones.

With nothing left to do, the party decided to take the road from Ceryl to Five Fingers, not a particularly long journey, though still a couple days longer than a ship. On the road the party began noticing a figure passing them going the opposite way as them a number of times. Eventually the next time Charlotte saw the man she stopped him and asked him if they had met before. The man denied knowing the party and said that he just have one of those faces, which Charlotte and the rest of the party didn't buy. The man began chuckling and threw off his cloak, revealing a heavily tattooed skin which began to shed itself from the musculature. Once that horrifying process was complete, the bones of the body made their way outside of the musculature as well, leaving three entities that were there to fight the party. During the fight, the skin enveloped Cynthia and forced her to use her alchemical knowledge against the party, reveling in the fear and anguish that it caused her. The party was victorious against the creatures despite Abe suffering multiple broken ribs at the fists of the skeleton. Abe was able to identify the creatures as a trio of Grymkin brothers known as Gristle, Flay, and Spinal who delighted in torturing their victims. With the party settling down for the night, they pondered what the trio was doing out on the roads and if it was part of a larger effort or just their bad luck to encounter them in their travels. Fearing the worst, the party stepped up their travels back to Five Fingers and found that it was experiencing troubles of its own, as they could see smoke on the horizon. When they entered South Shore the party found out that there was a jack revolt within the city. With that knowledge the party braced themselves for the chaos that was sure to be in Five Fingers proper.