Teira, Tomes and Terror

Week 3 (Thursday 24th March): Teira, Tomes and Terror
GM: Phil

Players:
 * Solene/ Christy
 * Ferris/ Matt
 * Anise/ Katia
 * Schmoopy/ Robbie
 * Rubrum Flax/ Beth

Dear Ma and Pa

Firstly, thank you for replying so quickly to my last letter. To answer your questions -no, I am not returning now; yes, I am eating well (enough); yes Legs is fine; no, Mum, I have not found a husband.

OK so the adventure we went on was kind of dangerous so Mum please sit down. I have been to a realm of Pon. BUT I AM OK! I MADE IT BACK! Let me tell you all about it. Get comfy, it's going to be a long one.

While at the barracks I saw a notice from the Keepers asking for assistance in investigating the disappearance of an entire floor of the Great Library at Teira. I am always keen to go to Teira as Legs loves the bugs and the humidity so I signed up and Schmoopy tagged along as usual. We joined Solene, a half elf half humanish ranger with a cat the size of a doberman named Loki. Mysterious one that one, with a fierce love of books, born to be a Keeper for sure. She had gathered a Dwarf skirmisher named Ferris and a human ranger named Anise (This one had a scary Owl named Sage). To Schmoopy's fierce protest we headed for the Teleporter rather than spend a few days travelling North to Teira. After his last travels in the Teleporter to Carabalis he was green (and brown!) and didn't want to risk it again. Essentially we told him to harden up and headed through. He was green on the other side (and some of the Halflings in the teleporter room did laugh) but he seemed much better than the time before.

Once there we went at once to the Great Library. It did look a lot shorter than the last time I had come to Teira. Inside we met with George, a hallifng cleric of Pon who worked as a librarian. Anise said she had met him at a pottery lovers convention, which was funny as neither of them looked like the potter type like Uncle Creigg. As I walked to Pon's altar I could feel a sort of humming tingle in the air, as if there were magics still at work.

We asked George about the disappearance of a floor of the library, and to my surprise it wasn't stolen by some nefarious wizard but instead the level which housed the restricted section of the library had a security system in place. Someone had broken into the level and in order to protect the items, a security spell had removed the entire fourth floor and those contained on it to a realm of Pon. Not only did they not know that this system was still in place as it was put there many years ago, but they had no records of the system and no way to return it!. The scroll with this information was stored in the restricted section!.

George had theorised using the law of contagion that if he created a portal near to this current flow of magic there was about a 70% chance it would take us to the same place. There was no telling what realm we would encounter on the other side and none of the initiates in the Temple or Library were keen on such a mission. Our main concern was being able to return if we did eventually make it there. Supposedly the scroll that would return us was a Jade scroll, one of 7 similar Jade scrolls in the restricted section. Solene and I are both Acolytes of Pon so could read the scrolls to discern which one could actually get us home, but we were both keen on some other help from the librarians. They provided us with Jennifer, a homely (2/10) Halfling teenage girl and Adept of Pon. She couldn't actually perform any spells but could assist in our spell casting, and I thought we could get along quite well. They also provided Solene with a spell of Sanctuary which could give us some protection on the other side, and another much older, almost decaying scroll which could hopefully return us to the library in case we could not find the jade scroll. Who or what had broken into the restricted section of the library? George couldn't tell us, as the security system had whisked the level away with the culprit. None of the staff of the Great Library had been present on the floor at the time, thank Pon!

Agreeing to take part in such a dangerous quest, we were led to the fifth floor offices, where George drew a chalk circle around us on the floor, lit the area with glowing orbs (no candles in a library, especially not a wooden one!). He walked the circle, chanting and shaking a rattle with a skull on it, and soon the air around the circle seemed to shimmer and blend until we found ourselves standing in a desert plain. Schmoopy took the journey remarkably well, as did Jennifer - however the rest of us were -ah -lets just say not ourselves. Somehow my soul had been transported into Solene's body, while she was in the body of the Dwarf Ferris. Ferris had moved into Anise's human body and it seemed she was in mine! Schmoopy was very much confused, and I must say everything looked much stranger from the height of an elf/human! Solene believed an item within the restricted section may help us return to our own bodies, so she looked around to see where we were. In the distance we could see the missing restricted floor, but behind us in the distance Schmoopy saw some blue glowing figures in long grey capes were heading towards us. Not wanting to stop to say hello, we (very awkwardly) made our way to the library. The sand made it hard going, and trying to walk in another persons body was incredibly uncomfortable and jerky. We made it there before the figures could reach us, and took a look at the restricted floor. We couldn't see a door but there were many windows. Taking a look inside, I thought I could see a rod which I had read about, where when two people held it their souls would switch. Solene could see a shimmering wall in the far corner of the library. Anise convinced Legs to help her by leaping up the wall and found the roof was missing. She threw down a rope and the others clambered inside while I took another look at the glowing figures -they were much closer and I could see their arms reaching out to me. As Solene yelled at me with her now deep dwarven voice not to damage her body or I would sorely regret it, I clambered up the rope, feeling a terrible cold move up my leg from where their fingers had brushed me.

Inside, I told the others about the soul swapping rod and we set to righting our souls, as the figures had begun to surround the building and our dexterity with these strange bodies could be our downfall. Solene and I went first, but although she became one with her body I was left floating and the body of Ferris lay on the ground, an empty shell. It was one thing being in someone else's body but being non corporeal was so different! It took a bit of trial and error but soon we were all in our own bodies in time to see the grey cloaked figures drift through the wall of the room towards us. Solene, Anise and Jennifer headed toward the shimmering wall. Schmoopy seemed enamored with a bejeweled crown in one of the display cases in the centre of the room, but managed to pull himself back enough to hide between the display cases. Rushing into the shimmering wall caused it to vanish, revealing a Halfling and a Human dressed in thieves clothing. The Human shrieked at Anise for breaking the shield, and flicked through a heavy tome he was holding, while Jennifer and the Halfling seemed to become fixated on each other (unhelpful!). I fired upon the hooded creatures but the arrows passed right through, so Solene enchanted one of her rapiers and Ferris's spears to see if that would help them wound these hooded figures. Fighting back to back, they whirled and spun, cutting through each figure causing them to vanish, but more and more came.

When I looked back to Schmoopy, he broke the glass case surrounding a broken spear, sending a shockwave that cause half of the hoarde to vanish but also pinned Legs and Anise under fallen bookshelves. The halfling thief Steve, as well as Jennifer and the human wizard Emery lifted the bookcase off of Anise. I could see Schmoopy was struggling with this spear he had grabbed, so I cast a blessing on him. Unfortunately my blessing had a bit of a kickback and a kind of shockwave radiated quickly from my body. In the distance we heard a hunting horn blown. NOT GOOD! I started looking through the fallen items for a jade scroll. I found one but quickly read that it wasn't the right one. Anise sent her owl Sage up to scout and see what the horn was about, and saw a cloaked rider on an angular horse rapidly crossing great distances with wave upon wave of the same hooded creatures! Schmoopy, Solene and Ferris had taken out almost every ghostly figure, slashing through each one with skill and ease.Suddenly, Anise handed me another Jade scroll and it was the right one! She told me of the oncoming horde, so I read the scroll aloud and with a lurch suddenly we could see a roof over our heads. Looking out the window I could see Teira - we had made it back alive!!!

While we debated what to do with the thieves, we managed to convince them to tell us more about why they had entered the restricted section. It seemed they were sent by an Elf from Bellefontaine name Le Clerc. They had been sent to bring back a single book - the Vitae Draconis (or book of the Dragon). They were to meet him a month from today at a tavern called The Green Cockatrice. I had heard talk of dragon cultist activities on Mt Beej, and knew the Sentinel would want to hear of this. I convinced the others to turn them in to the authorities, and the spell around the room was lowered. George came rushing in to see us, when out of nowhere I felt a vision come over me. I could feel a strong power emanating from the East, and see five burning pillars of light. When I came to, it seemed the others had been similarly afflicted.

Focussing back on the task at hand, George thanked us for the return of the somewhat damaged fourth floor. Schmoopy argued his case to keep hold of the broken spear he had used, but George was against it leaving. He said it was the Spear of Oxarius, a Halfling warrior who was said to have held off a horde of Orcs (with 299 comrades), and that his spirit remained in the spear and would take over the body of the spear holder. Schmoopy agreed he had battled internally with the soul of Oxarius and that he had quelled it, and should be able to use the spear. George agreed to a trial period of one weeks use, and Schmoopy was overjoyed.

We were each gifted two gems from the theives pay, on site access to the contents of the restricted section, as well as reward of a book copied by the scribes at Teira, for us to keep. Solene requested the Book of Monsters, Anise a book of Geography, Ferris a book of warfare, but I had a trick up my sleeve and requested a copy of the Vitae Draconis! That way, I could study further and discern what it might be the mysterious Elf Le Clerc was after. Upon returning to the Citadel, I signed up with the Sentinels, and in a month I will travel to the Green Cockatrice to meet with Le Clerc!

Gosh, it does seem like a lot of work once you actually write it down. As usual, say hi to the other relatives for me, and apologise to Uncle Creigg for not visiting him while I was in town - it was awfully busy!

All my love

Rubrum (and Legs)

Report from Solene (Christy)
Yes, before we headed into the death realm to recover the missing floor of the library I sent a letter to my mother. Yes she is an elf, though she is a scholar of many races, a career some might name as spy, she is a wizard that has perfected the art of mimicking other humanoid races. My father? On one of mother’s investigations, she met an impressive human and decided he had desirable traits to sire her child. No I doubt she loved him, considering her work for the King, I suspect that my father must be a person of interest but is of little consequence as I do not know who he is or was.

Yes my mother would care if I just disappeared into the death realm, half-elven children are not mistreated, in fact they are usually the only children of elves, some might claim we are spoiled, we want for nothing and nothing is expected of us and unlike pure humans we live long enough for it to be worth the time to get to know us. Even though we are cared for, should we live to be 700, we would still be children to them, it is… limiting.

As I was saying, the restricted floor of the library had been transported to one of the realms of the dead after a security system was activated. The head priest/librarian cast the ritual to transport us to the same location, it turned out not to be one of the heaven or hell dimensions but instead was one of limbo. You may find it strange that I was not pleased with this outcome, but nothing can be as miserable as being average enough to end in limbo, may my soul find its way to one of the others. The less said the better about or arrival, and peculiarities of transportation magic but we were not alone; spectral beings with glowing balls in their cowls instead of faces and stretched proportions of washed out grey began closing in on us from the moment we appeared.

Within the library we made a stand, the dwarf Ferris proving himself to be a fine fighter, though his style is somewhat unusual it seemed to complement my own. My other companions for the most part did an admirable job of causing chaos and finding the appropriate scroll to return the library to its proper place. After confronting the theives, who were still alive, we left just before an ominous dark figure on a horse reached the building.

Yes we saw the vision, by that time we had returned, the five pillars of light, grand and terrible due east of us. A portent to be sure, I suspect the Citadel is not going to want for work in the future. I should go now anyway, there are a few loose ends to follow up, you know Elves and there is a shadow creature that I need to look into, until next time.

Oh before I go, have you heard of someone looking for me? No one seems to remember what he looks like, though apparently he has an excellent description of me.