AAR: [4M] The Book Lover (2020-09-13 @ 18:30 GMT)

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Serespar
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Joined:Fri May 18, 2018 3:53 pm
Re: AAR: [4M] The Book Lover (2020-09-13 @ 18:30 GMT)

Post by Serespar » Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:52 am

<Throalic Date equivalent to September 13, 2020>


To Whom It May Concern at the Great Library

I met a most interesting book collector while traveling with my friends Bloodbeat, Redsun and Lazulin, as well as a new acquaintance, an elven wizard Named Dalyor.

The gentleman in question, one Jaspur Than, lives in a well to do mansion in Sosanopa (hex 38.06). He advertised in Throal for a group of adepts to retrieve an ancient tome for him, and we met with our sponsor after completing the assignment given to us by his agent.

Learned Than’s assistant, a human Gauntlet by the name of Sebas, greeted us as we approach his home (address and sketch of observed floor layout in Appendix A). Learned Than is a reclusive Nethermancer of some repute, but keeps an extensive magical library covering all the spellcasting Disciplines of Barsaive, as well as varied rare works from outside the province. His home is decorated simply, but elegantly, and it is clear that he has prioritized the collection of books and related miscellanea to reflect his interests and his wealth.

Learned Than spends considerable resources to track down famous and infamous magical works from before the Scourge with an especial interest in works whose creation and functions only worked properly at the height of the magic cycle and the Scourge. From a survey of the tomes in his home, he appears to be conducting research on the impact of magic spikes on enchanting, spellcasting, summoning, and the accessibility of other planes via astral space.

While we did not see his workroom or laboratory, the accessible volumes imply that he may be conducting experiments on the impact of the slow fall of the magic cycle from peak to the current day on all aspects of magic, from ritual to spellcasting, to summoning, to the magical channels we know as thread items, charms, potions, blood magic and so forth. The shear breadth of his collected works is impressive and would warrant some sort of access and exchange program with the specialist collection curators at the Great Library.

Sebas told us that during his researches, Learned Than allegedly discovered both the (rumored) location of a pre-Scourge high security vault in the ancient kingdom of Scytha, and one of the memory crystal keys supposedly needed to open the vault.

The Learned was interested in a specific volume, “On the Nature of Magical Lei Lines and Their Impact on Transforming True Elements Into Orichalcum of Various Grades” by the Esteemed Dwarven Scholar, Lactantius. While I am well aware that all copies of this work were thought lost when Lactantius and his library burned during the fall of Scytha, Learned Than had tracked down the location of a safe deposit box used by Lactantius’ daughter Avanthea, and a partial inventory of the contents that included a description of a black leather bound book with her father’s symbol on it that matched the notes from the few scholars privileged to read the work. To think a copy of his masterwork on magical theory and the embodiment of magical energy in intersecting physical loci might still exist! I was honored, overwhelmed, and giddy at the thought!

After hearing what we were being sent to find, I looked around excitedly at my companions. Bloodbeat and Dalyor were intrigued of course, while Redsun and Lazulin seemed more practical as they said something along the lines of “Oh, you want us to grab a book from this place?”



Anyway…



We booked passage on an affordable riverboat named the Dragon’s Breath, a paddlewheel barge used to transport copious amounts of garlic and agricultural supplies of an, ahem, fragrant, nature along the Serpent River. All I can say is it was clear the Dragon’s Breath doesn’t usually include passengers and the odors of our method of transport faded over the next several days after we disembarked (at hex 40.05). The price was quite affordable and the crew friendly, but the ship definitely earned her name.

We traveled north through the hills to the mountains, and then to the south side of the peak where the ancient bank was supposedly located (hex 40.03). In the mountains, we were ambushed by a pack of cockatrices, which we dealt with in our usual efficient fashion (tho I must say Bloodbeat appeared unnaturally delighted at plucking the long colorful feathers from the smoldering cockatrice corpses and kicking the bodies while shouting "Bad Bird! Bad!").

Once we reached it, the valley and slope were littered with ruins of a most distressing nature and heavy astral pollution. It is clear that echoes of the time of Horrors lies with a heavy hand over what was at one time a wealthy dwarven community and the underground mines that were the source of their wealth. Surface structures were obviously pummeled into near rubble by more aggressive horrors, while entrances to underground areas were marked by rising plums of heavy astral pollution of a more current sort. Extreme caution is advised for any adepts traveling to the area, especially if they choose to explore the underground ruins and the mines (see map sketch in Appendix B).

We were able to navigate to and locate the tunnel entrance to the once stately bank building built into the side of the cliff. We exercised extreme caution while exploring the ruin; the shear volume of marble and shattered remains of beautiful sculpture and public works were in sharp contrast to screams that still echoed on the astral (see underground map with notes in Appendix C).

As we worked our way deeper into the bank and closer to the vault, we disturbed the playthings? worshipers? of something that seemed to stir in a restless slumber even further in. The ghouls and other undead we fought exhibited some unique magical signatures unfamiliar to me or our Nethermancer. I can only advise other adepts to be cautions of their magical poison and the slow, numbing effect it has as astral pollution is drawn to and coats the patterns of those exposed.

After the battle, we used the window of opportunity to use the locking crystal on the vault door and explore the interior. WE FOUND IT! AN ACTUAL ORIGINAL! I was very jealous of Dalyor’s Book Memorization talent and his ability to study the work so quickly. We also salvaged two other tomes tucked into the vault, one of Wizardry and one on Nethermancy (see notes on untitled works, Appendix D). Given the tense energy and uneasy silence, we resealed the vault and left as quickly and cleanly as we could. I have to say I was very relieved when we put the ruins at our back.

Travel back to Sosanopa was uneventful and I spent it studying all three books. Absolute Heaven. Learned Than was understandably delighted with our finds. He paid the agreed upon fee, and included access to part of his lessor spell library as an additional reward. There is something very… …odd… …about the Nethermancer, but I must admit I am intrigued to visit with him again and learn more of the times before the Scourge with which he seems so familiar.

Your in service,


Nib

redwraith
Posts:147
Joined:Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:12 pm

Re: AAR: [4M] The Book Lover (2020-09-13 @ 18:30 GMT)

Post by redwraith » Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:33 pm

My day started pleasantly with me looking for a new place to reside in Barter town. There are some nice taverns here and I'm looking for a place near the edge of town but not to far from a good tavern. While I was sitting down to lunch a young lad came running up to me and handed me a note. The note was a request to assist a Jasper Tahn with some retrieval of an ancient vault.

I meet up with Nib, Bloodbeet, and two new adepts. Daylor an Elven wizard and Lazulin a Troll sky raider. It was nice to meet another troll and we started a nice conversation about our respective adventures on our journey to Sosanpoa. I must say Sosanopa has some beauty to it with the river running through town, maybe after this adventure I will spend some time here looking at houses.

We didn't meet with Jasper as he was out but his man-servant Seba provided us with the details of the vault and what we were being asked to retrieve. The vault has a magic door which Jasper has recently found the key for and he wants us to retrieve a book from the vault to add to his library. Nib was very interested in Jesper's book collection and wanted to negotiate access to Jasper's collection.

We eventually left Sosanopa and headed into the mountains to find our way to the vault. Once we were in the mountains I heard a strange scrapping sound behind us as a flock of Cockatrice were approaching. These ground based birds rushed around us trying to claw us in the back. We moved to keep close to each other and dispatched these bird creatures much to Bloodbeet's enjoyment.

We quickly found the vault and it has been plundered over the decades. We started to make our way into the vault cautiously and we were attacked by a pack of ghouls. Daylor seems to be a fire wizard and was setting multiple ghouls on fire while I was moving around the tight hallway as best as I could to pick off the ghouls. Lazulin held the corner to keep the ghouls off the rest of the casters.

Once we had finished off the ghouls we found the large magical door in the back of the vault and the key provided by Jasper worked to open the door and inside we discovered the book we were hired to retrieve. We searched the rest of the vault and found some other books and a pair of magic gloves of some kind. Nothing to interesting to myself and Lazulin as we just sat around waiting for the rest of the party to finish searching the vault before heading back to Sosanopa.

Once back in Sosanopa, Jespher offered to let us take some blood charms from him in place of silver which I was very eager to take him up on and I picked up some absorb blows and a targeting eye. Though I'm a little reluctant to stick a worm into my eye but the additional accuracy does seem very potent.

Anoush
Posts:160
Joined:Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: AAR: [4M] The Book Lover (2020-09-13 @ 18:30 GMT)

Post by Anoush » Thu Sep 17, 2020 7:05 am

Bloodbeat’s Journal:

An elven wizard, Dalyor, posted a notice looking for adventurers to travel to Sosonopa with him, on a job to retrieve some ancient books from the Scytha Mountains for his employer. That sounded interesting, and Sosonopa is a fine town, along the Serpent River, North of Throal. I often take a river boat from there when I return home to Syrtis.

The group all together were: Dalyor, an elven wizard, myself, and my friends Lazulin, Nib, and Redsun. The trip to Sosonopa was uneventful, about 5 days.

Our contact in Sosonopa was a man Named Jasper Tahn. Hmmm, that Name was familiar. I recall a Jasper Tahn from before the Scourge. A nethermancer, we worked together off, but his focus had been on surviving the Scourge by taking advantage of some undead qualities. Nah, can’t be the same person.

We easily found his house and were greeted by a human servant, Sebas, an adept (a Gauntlet per our Astral Sight readings). Dalyor explained that we were there in answer to an advertisement about retrieving some books. Sebas let us in, escorted us to a sitting room, and told us that he’d check with his master.

In the short trip to the sitting room, we observed our surroundings. The house was comfortable, well-furnished, so Jasper was apparently well-off. But what caught the eyes of Dalyor, Nib and myself was the library. We passed an open door that at a glance contained hundreds, perhaps thousands of books. Looking astrally we picked out a few that were astrally active, including a book on wizardry and one on nethermancy. Maybe we could bargain for access to his library?

Sebas returned shortly, explaining that his master was unavailable. We asked Sebas about Jasper. All that Sebas would say that Jasper was a nethermancer and very busy. Then he took a necklace off a wall hook, and a sheaf of papers. Sebas explained that there is a legendary vault built pre-Scourge by dwarves in the Scytha Mountains that contains lots of books. The vault was built to keep the books away from the Therans, or the others who would plunder them. Other valuables were stored there as well, e.g., coins, gems, artwork, and likely magical items. Jasper located the vault and provided us with a map to it.

The book that Jasper wants is one of extreme power, written pre-Scourge. We would recognize the book by the symbol on its cover, a summoning circle. It’s likely that the book can no longer be used because of how magic has changed in the world, but Jasper still wants it. The book can be found in a specific inner vault secured with a large, round bronze door. Holding the necklace up to the door will open it safely. Dalyor accepted the necklace for safekeeping. Sebas also gave us a map to the large Vault, within which would be the smaller vault containing the book that Jasper wanted. Sebas told us that Jasper wanted any and all books or objects in the vault that the crystal key opened, but that anything else we found we could keep for ourselves.

In addition, Sebas told us that while there used to be guards — dwarves, humans, etc. — there no longer were any such. Likewise, to the best of Jasper’s knowledge, there were no traps in the vault. We accepted the job and planned to depart in the morning.

That evening, we visited some of the pubs near Jasper’s house and asked about his, to try to learn more about his reputation and activities. All we learned was that people rarely saw Jasper. And when they did, they’d usually only catch a glimpse of him getting into a carriage. He seemed to an old, pale human-sized Name-giver.

We booked passage on a fireship, Dragon’s Breath, the next morning, which would take us East on the Serpent River for a couple of days. We would disembark roughly South of the vault.

From there we trekked North into the Scytha Mountains. Lazulin and I led, with Dalyor and Redsun behind, and Nib overhead.

On the second day of the journey, we realized that we were being followed. By cockatrices! What?! Birds?! Big, nasty, poisonous birds! That had to die! So we killed them all handily, although there was some worry about poison. But we all recovered quickly.

Then I plucked the wretched things. I must admit that cockatrice feathers are beautiful, multi-colored, iridescent, long, soft. Perfect for a future item of some kind, perhaps a cloak. So I plucked them and collected the feathers, along with the beaks and talons for good measure.

Less than one day’s travel later, we found the Vault area. The doors were caved in and broken. Other looters, er, collectors had been here before. The astral was somewhat tainted here, just enough to make it difficult to study the area. We methodically began searching the interior of the Vault area. Sebas had given us general directions for once we were inside, so we tried to follow his guidance. But the corridors turned and twisted, so that we ended up searching quite a bit of the place.

Turning down one corridor, we heard shuffling behind..Some kind of slow-moving creatures were approaching. Once we got a better look at them, we realized that they were ghouls. More an annoyance than anything else, they went down without too much trouble.

Then we found The Vault, yes, the one sealed with a large, round bronze door. Dalyor held the necklace up to it, we heard a small click and the dock was unlocked. Inside we found cabinets and bookshelves. The special book was there, along with a few others. Based on their patterns, the others were about wizardry and nethermancy. We collected them all for Jasper.

We finished searching the vault and in one room found a handsome pair of gloves, leather with finely details black thread. Definitely a Thread Item.

We returned to Sosonopa without incident and gave the books to Sebas. Again, Jasper Tahn was too busy to see us. He did offer us blood charms or access to spells from his collection at half the going rate. That was a nice bonus.

I’m looking forward to working for Jasper Tahn again.

yankeeschic
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Re: AAR: [4M] The Book Lover (2020-09-13 @ 18:30 GMT)

Post by yankeeschic » Sat May 24, 2025 6:16 am


yankeeschic
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Re: AAR: [4M] The Book Lover (2020-09-13 @ 18:30 GMT)

Post by yankeeschic » Mon Jun 02, 2025 3:53 am

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