The Great Library of Ekonda

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: The Great Library of Ekonda
GM: Helen
Season: Autumn 826 WK

Party

• Phaeton D’Tama Solar Celestial Human Male Scribe/Mil Sci
• Sooty Fire Elf Male Party Leader
• Hamish McLeod Wiccan Human Male
• Mira Stuart Earth Human Male
• Theodonna Namer Human Female
• Serra Angelus Earth Elf Female

Employer

Fred Kirby and Owen Livingston

Mission

To get into the Great Library and remove the data on the Livingston/Frazer expedition to Paradise

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsp0401.zip

Scribe Notes

Plane

Paolithica

Girven

Argen

Relan

Sol

Places Visited.

Various places in Relan

The Island of Gods - location of the Great Library

Paradise

Important People

The ‘Five’ - Yahzed (earth), Ylon (war), Ylira (fire), Ysandi (water), and Ylandra (air)

(Uncle) Giles Livingston

George Kirby, Fred’s brother

Bert

Our mission, this time, was to go back to the pilgrim’s origin point, find the original expedition notes, and remove them from the records of the religious society that they fled from so that they can’t be followed. Fred, the water mage, and Owen, the namer, who were part of the refugee trip were back at the Guild to tell us what was required. We also had to deliver a letter to their Uncle Giles, with the directions on how to get to Paradise. (ref the original scribe notes).

With me in the meeting room were:

• Sooty - Male elf fire mage who is pacted to one of the fire demons
• Mira – Female human druidic earth mage who was also a front line fighter.
• Hamish – Male human wiccan.
• Thedonna – A human female Namer. Loaded with counters but no specials.
• Sera Angelus – Female elf earth mage. Pasifistic earth mage, uses tulwar and maingauche. 2’2” with short silver hair.

I became the scribe and military scientist, as I was the only one in this party with some military science training, courtesy of Grendel, while Sooty was voted as party leader.

There wasn’t much they could tell us about the religion save that there were five deities, one for each of the following symbols: sword, flame, wave, cloud and mountain. Before we left, I spent 2750gp on a rank 11 greater for my magic. The trip to Rangifera was without incident and by the evening of the 8th we were on Paolithica backtracking the path of the wagon train, moving in a roughly south direction. We could see the tops of mountains ahead.

11th Thaw

Reached the river and crossed it. There were lots of tall reeds on each side while the foothills started further on to the south. Camped that evening. Watch order Mira/Phaeton, Sooty/Hamish Sera/Thedona.

12th Thaw

Were sandwiched between the river and the foothills as we continued. Glowing red eyes were spotted during the night. We presumed they were ferrets.

13th Thaw

Hamish’s idea for a prearranged signal – scream if you get eaten. Followed the foothills away from the river, camped before the ford on the next river. During the night something large headed towards the camp. I used a Friendly Light so we could see what it was, a large bear that wanted honey. It ended up terrorising Sooty. Finally finished it off. For some reason I was firing pink bolts of starfire. It was skinned and the skin stored.

14th Thaw

Crossed the ford. Spent much of the time getting ranger lessons of Sera

18th Thaw

Reached the portal to Girvan, identical to the one we came through, a standard trilithon. Once we ascertained it was still working, Sooty went straight through. Continued on around a forest and a swamp.

19th Thaw

Down a bluff and into a forest.

25th Thaw

Reached the northern edge of the bluff and camped. Sooty’s bolt of fire ward went off and hit Sera. Fortunately she was fire armoured.

26th Thaw

Follow the swamp. Encountered a dark aspected snake.

27th Thaw

Reached the portal to Argen. Came out in the hollow of a very large tree. It was night on the other side. In the sky were two tiny moons. The tree had a magical aura of translocation.

28th Thaw

Travel over a hill, see a large cliff face. Soon we were in large canyons heading upstream. Continue through the maze of canyons.

1st Seedtime

Saw a column of smoke rising from the top of the canyon which suggested intelligent life forms. So Sooty decided to leave some supplies. That afternoon we found the cave exit. Water was trickling out of it. At the end the cave back was a slab of black rock with the Plane of Destination being Relan, a match to the pilgrims.

2nd Seedtime

We went through the portal and ended up in four foot deep water facing a curtain of water. On the other side was a small pool. We had to wade out and convince the horses to come through. A road ran nearby so we headed along it. On the way we passed a shrine. No auras were detected. That evening we reached a town. The temple there was a five sided building, one side for each of the five deities.

3rd Seedtime

We had a closer look at the five sided temple dedicated to the ‘Five’: Yahzed (Mountain), a woman in a green dress with dark hair. Ylon (Sword), male, dark hair and beard who wears white. Ylira (fire), woman in red with white hair. Ysandi (wave), male with fair hair dressed in blue, and Ylandra (cloud), male with fair hair in blue. Sera – “Who started the rumour that I sleep with everyone? Usually I get up and leave.” Continued on. Reached a town by evening.

4th Seedtime

Theodona’s slip of the tongue – “I’ll try to be as indiscrete as possible” Full moon rose that evening as we reached the town.

5th Seedtime

There was a lot of hornblowing at dawn, evidently dawn services for at least one of the Aspects. However, it does not look like everyone is going to services so we wait it out. Once it is over, we head out. As we travel, we observed other ceremonies but managed to time it so we weren’t actually in the area. When we reached the town for the evening, we heard a rumour there were bandits in the nearby woods.

6th Seedtime

Continued on our way. Encountered a patrol of soldiers who were looking for those bandits. Their emblem was a white sword on a grey background. After asking our business, we were allowed to proceed. Finally reached an inn and crashed.

9th Seedtime

After more travelling, finally reached Giles’ farmhouse. The woman that answered the door Daed as a Namer. Giles told us that the documents are held in the Great Library which is constructed as a series of concentric pentagrams. First ring is general, second is crafts third, legal, fourth is the index. There are wards inside. It is open during the day and guarded at night. There is also the central tower which is priests only. Fortunately Giles has the index number to the documents, buried somewhere deep in the stacks. Under the building are sewers which might provide a way in. The religion is far older than the current theocracy. One thousand years on the Island of Gods (where the Library and capital city now is) the deities manifested themselves. Officially there are no mages in the theocracy for three hundred years. Unofficially the followers look the other way as the ‘heretics’ are removed. The wards are located on the stairs going down to the stacks and, as far as Giles could determine, the triggering condition is adept. The low ranked priests don’t go down there.

10th Seedtime

After a breakfast of hot porridge, we headed down to the nearby fishing town. Since Sera had sold the horses for local currency, we had to walk. Reached a medium sized coastal vessel commanded by Fred’s brother, George. Once safely on board we sailed around the bay and passed between two rocks, and into a patch of swirly water. Livingston’s grandfather discovered this odd portal. It looked as if we were spinning downwards then spinning upwards again. Eventually we emerged from between another pair of rocks within site of the Island of Gods. We could see a large fortification on top of the nearby cliff, as well as the queue of boats waiting their turn to use the portal.

The City of the Gods has a population of 30,000 plus, 7,000 being military, mostly housed in barracks behind the castle. One of the docks was military but we were towed in to one of the many civilian docks.

We made our way to the Purple Grape Inn. Three streets over is a bath house. Most things close around dusk and the library opens an hour after dawn. Each side of the library was marked with one of the Aspect’s symbols and there was no aura on the building. The library would also be closed during the Solstice and Equinox when the festivals occur. We were getting close to the Spring Equinox. The temples to each Aspect are separate and are spaced around the edges of the islands and any manifestations usually occur there.

Dinner was spicy. Just as we finished, George came in with Bert, one of the engineers. Turned out Bert was also a watermage and was involved in sewer maintenance. Down there are rats, spiders, and other creatures which seem to be bigger as they get closer to the Library. The whole city is, not expectedly, low mana. Finally we got a room each in the inn – closet sized.

Sooty – “Hamish. If you get arrested by the town guard, I’m not rescuing you before the equinox”

11th Seedtime

Theodona, Sooty, and Mira went on a boat trip in the sewers along with George. There are three sections of sewer network, none of which interconnect. The walls were carved smooth. When they got under the library they noted a several hundred foot 10ft wide shaft going straight up. Also they weren’t in a low mana zone anymore. The nature of magic on the algae on the walls was alteration. The water here was around 2 to 3ft deep. The algae provided no magical defense but they used magic. There was no aura in the air.

Sooty sent a small bound fire to clear some of the algae on the roof. Once it was clear, it was discovered there is a magical aura emanating from the roof with a nature of ‘leakage’. Probably the same sort of leakage that can radiate from the Guild Vaults. Meanwhile Mira punched a hole in a wall angling upwards and two tunnel lengths in, penetrated a chamber containing an eagle headed statue. They were sure it was enchanted to animate. While they were doing that, Hamish decided to explore the town. I followed at a discrete distance. Fortunately he didn’t get into trouble.

Once the others came back, we all went to the library and prowled around. I could see the wards on the stairs and determined that a bardic general counterspell would be required. Alarm spell probably. The reference we had was 2E10 which didn’t match anything on the rings. All I could find on the healing arts was what herbs were useful. The guards clear the library at night and all the gates are closed. Dogs aren’t used. That night, Sooty and Theodona went crawling on the library roof. They managed to find an open window on the mezzanine floor.

12th Seedtime

It was rather noisy that morning but I managed to purify. Again we went to the library and spent the whole day collecting information., trying to copy as many books as possible.

That night we powered up and snuck onto the roof, trying to be as quiet as possible. Unfortunately Sara knocked a tile off and the guards showed up Sooty leapt down and took them out before they could raise the alarm, with assistance from Hamish and Mira. The bodies were left on the roof.

Once through the window, Theodona counterspelled the ward and we went down. Upstairs, we could hear boots. Down below, we found another ward below. This one required a Wiccan Special Counter as it had a Hellfire in it. So Theodona put one on Sooty and he triggered it. I put another on Sera, just in case.

Basically we worked our way through the maze of corridors and rooms composing the second level of stacks. 2B contained intelligence reports, 2F was journals, 2H contained information on siege engines. Finally we found a corridor with doors marked 2E1 to 2E14. 2E10 contained the maps and journals we were looking for. These were removed.

Now all we had to do was make our way down to the sewers where the pre-arranged boat was waiting for us. We had to get through another Wiccan Hellfire ward and descended into a room with a pillar in it. Exits led out and light shone from a shaft above. So we explored this level. There was a series of rooms containing various items so we absconded with anything that looked interesting. We found rooms with pottery, glassware, books, and carpets. The books contained elvish poetry and one of the carpets had preservation magic on it. So that was why we were dragging a carpet behind us with stuff piled up on it.

We then found a room containing potions so we purloined the labelled ones. There was also a room of scrolls which I was tempted to check out carefully. One of the rooms we found had a portcullis across the opening with a ramp going down on the other side. There was a forbidding spell on the other side against undead. That seemed to imply that there was undead down there so we decided to leave it for a bit.

We also found a collection of small rag and string golems, strips of silver, presumably pulled up from casting chambers, magical clothes, including a belt of strength, a cloak of cold resistance and a tabard of heroism. All these ended up on the carpet. Already, some of the others were making plans to come back and ransack the entire library. Another room of rag and string golems was next, then house hold components, alchemist stuff, then a room containing half a dozen chests. One contained a harp with a built in ethereal orchestra, the next was enchanted chain mail armour. Following that was the bags of rings which were all thrown on to the carpet, followed by the belts and scabbards from the next chest then the magical crystal balls in the last chest.

The magical needles in the next room caught my interest then there was the room containing a collection of Holy Symbols, none of which we recognised. Sooty was getting very interested in a calf made out of gold, about 13 pounds of it.

Finally we worked our way back to the ramp. Sooty tried to contact the Power he was pacted to, presumably to help in the looting. The attempt failed, much to my relief.

So we headed down the ramp. Another Undead Forbiddance was at the bottom of the 120ft long ramp. At the bottom I laid down three Walls, two dark walls sandwiching a light one.

A bit further on we found a room with wagons in it. Under one of them was a scorpion which scuttled away. Further on we found a room filled with spider webs as well as a dark aspected 10ft large spider. The next encounter was with the ward containing fireball. A fire special counter took care of that.

The next room we found was full of books. They had preservation magic on them and were trapped, warded and cursed. A Geas would fall on a person who removed one.

Just then three spiders charged at us. One bounced off the wall I put up but another jumped on me so Sera and Theodona hacked into it. Sooty hellfired the lot while Mira fought the last one. When they were all dealt to I did healings and restoratives were passed around. Just then we heard the sounds of banging and clanging. Sounded like the guards were on to us.

The next room we reached contained a demonic book that was pacted to one of the 77, Melthos. If it was moved, it triggered a curse. Maybe I should take those lessons in demonology … know thine enemy.

We decided to take a fast way out so Mira made a tunnel straight down. All she found was bare rock. However, there seemed to be no sign of pursuit so we continued on. The next set of rooms we found contained urns. Each urn contained the ashes of a fantasical creature. We identified elves, hydras, and other entities. Were this lot engaged in genocide?

Mira probed with another tunnel and intersected a vertical sewer shaft. The sewers were 60ft below us. Just then there was the sound of guards coming so we shot down the hole and dropped into the sewer water below. Finally we found the boat, along with an illusionary note telling us where to go. So we rowed out of the sewers and stayed close to the cliff before meeting up with the waiting boat. We got on board and hid below.

The ship went through the portal then sailed into a cave. The Namer banished up to Alusia and we ended up on Rangifera, except for Sooty who appeared on his own plane of Thar. We made our way through the portals to Paradise, met up with Sooty and showed Owen we had the journals. Many of the items were divinated. We also found out there had been sightings of unusual horse creatures. Unicorns?

We finally arrived back at the Guild on the 2nd of Blossom.