Campaigns

Back to the Burning Star

Ex Libris, Part 4 and
Start at the End, Part 1

Players/Characters Present:
John Sikking - Basil Amantes (Ftr6)
Bruce Barnett - Bonzimir Amantes (Rog3/Hlf3)
Barbara Muth - Nereida Amantes (Clr6)
Chris Wood - Felix Amantes (Psi6)
Peter Drake - Demetrios Amantes (Ftr2/Wiz2/Hum2)

With Nereida dead and left on the altar of Borlamnos, the brothers Amantes continued to search the library of Anushirvan for some way out and for the books they had come to seek. The entered the "Island Portal" (really just another library room with a set of very effective illusions) where Basil was attacked by two of the plants - one which drained all memories of the last day from him and another which failed to strike him with its whiplike tendrils. The brothers retreated from the room and decided to seek the books elsewhere.

After much waiting on the shifting pattern of rooms, they entered the last of the library's rooms, a reading room. There they discovered many interesting books, including "Anushirvan: Works and Wonders", "The Rimewhite Codicil" and "Prophecies of the Burning Star". "The Book of Inverted Darkness" was nowhere to be found. Upon reading "Anushirvan: Works and Wonders", they discovered that the silver plates were the leaves of the Control Book mentioned in Daedalus's diary. They also began to realize that the plates spelled out the name "Oghma the Binder" with a cover at each end. With the entire book in their hands, they could control the shifting rooms of Anushirvan to assemble the Open Scroll symbol of Oghma from the red tiles in each room, and re-open the doors to the Null Space, leading back to the surface and Theeurth.

Thus, the Amantes boys set out to fight the devils guarding the remaining silver plates. They battled a green abishai with its poisonous stinger, two bright nagas with their deadly flame breath and two "nothics" with their terrible flesh-rotting gaze. They recovered all the silver plates necessary to recreate the Control Book.

That was when Nereida returned from the chapel. Or Nereida's body, in any case, walking jerkily and with a subtle blue light escaping from her many wounds. Holding up the holy symbol of Borlamnos, she said in a deep voice: "Fear not, for I only borrow this vessel a short time. I am Min, Last High Priest of Anushirvan, and I have come bearing thee a message."

Min (the priest who had destroyed the upper towers of Anushirvan in his fight with the evil Khossack), told the brothers to take with them all the books in the library, and promised to show them how it could be done. He also promised to show them a way to recover their sister. Gathering up the important books in the reading room, they followed Nereida/Min back to the chapel, where he bid Bonzimir to search the altar. The smallest Amantes brother did so and discovered a hidden space. Inside, he found a leather bag and a golden pendant. The bag is a Bag of Holding, and the pendant is the "Star of Anushirvan", which protects the wearer against any sort of curse.

Min then told them that the Book of Inverted Darkness was no longer present in Anushirvan. It is an artifact of pure evil which has come and gone many times in history. Some claim it was responsible for the downfall of the Ancient World. Certainly, it was responsible for the downfall of Khossack and Anushirvan. Min told them of the legend of Mons Tarteros, the Titan's Tower in Echoriath. 

Long ago, the mighty priest Danar, a companion to the First Conorrian Emperor, had attempted to gather together in one place all the evil objects of the world, which he called banes. His theory was that destroying them would merely free their evil which would settle into other objects eventually. But by containing the evil forever in one place, and then securely shutting that place off from all possible contact, he would make the world a safer place. 

Almost, he succeeded. But his actions brought the attention of the gods of Woe, who saw to it that among the banes he gathered, Danar came to possess the Book of Inverted Darkness, which was a supernaturally seductive evil. While he intended to seal the book away with the rest of the banes, Danar lingered over its pages for just one instant too long. Its cunningly crafted words beguiled him to keep the book by his side. Soon, he read more. And more and still more. The book consumed Danar, he neglected his quest to gather the remaining banes. he withdrew from his family and comrades. The book consumed Danar. He neglected his quest to gather the remaining banes. He withdrew from his family and comrades. 

The book’s dark lore corrupted his spirit and twisted his mind. The lure of the dark power and forbidden knowledge was too much, even for Danar. Danar became Eslathagos Malkith—the Dread One. With the vast resources of the banes he had gathered and the knowledge he had gained from the Book of Inverted Darkness, the Dread One withdrew into his tower. He emerged only a few years later, launching an attack so devastating, it threatened to tear the world asunder. His might knew few bounds, and with his magical aid, the armies he had created or summoned conquered the surrounding lands with ease. 

Theeurth itself, no longer able to tolerate the concentrated evil that Eslathagos Malkith and the banes represented, thrust the Dread One's tower away from it, creating a tall, impossibly high and narrow spire atop which the tower stood, its former pearly hue turned black as night. From there, the Dread One could survey the world—a world he desired to either conquer or crush entirely.

Only the actions of all the mortal races, led by powerful and stalwart heroes (many of whom had been friends and companions of Danar, including Vasil I, the First Emperor), stopped the forces of Eslathagos Malkith. It is said they carried the battle into the halls of the Dread One's tower itself. When it was over, the Dread One lay defeated. The world’s greatest heroes sprawled dead and dismembered all around him. Most of them had lost not only their lives but their souls to their foe’s magic and the banes he wielded. Some bit of Danar—the good and true man he had once been—still remained, however. His spirit, now free of corruption, managed to seal the Banewarrens once again. Although his quest remained uncompleted, and some of the banes were released again when he became Eslathagos Malkith, the warrens still contained vault upon vault of evil artifacts, foul creatures, and vile relics that it would keep away from the world at large. The Book of Inverted Darkness is thought to have disappeared during the battle. 

Having told his tale, Min went on to say how Nereida might yet be saved. Long ago, before the Summoning War had destroyed the fertile land now known as the Shattered Plain, the monks of Anushirvan had sealed away an evil themselves. The evil sorcerer known as Elizar Branded-Hand had been entombed in a valley not many days journey from Anushirvan. With him went all his treasure. Among that hoard lies an elixir which is said to have thepower to return the dead to life. Min warned that Elizar would still be a potent enemy after all these centuries, and that the Amantes should seek to destroy him, but under no circumstances must they allow him to escape into the world.

Knowing that Nereida now had time and that Min was in no hurry, the brothers examined the remaining books. "The Rimewhite Codicil" told of the worship of a strange demigod of Frost and the arcane spells of that cult. "The Prophecies of the Burning Star" told at great length of the discipline of Astromancy, of its practitioners, feats and spells. 

Thanking Min and gathering all the books (and loot!) the brothers opened the library of Anushirvan for the first time in sixteen centuries. Nereida's body immediately collapsed to the floor and the spirit of Min went, at long last, to its eternal reward. They placed Nereida's body in the bag of holding and set out to find Elizar Branded-Hand. 

It did not take long to find the valley (three days), but there were thousands of caves in the long desert canyon. Luckily, there was also water and game. Bonzimir and Demetrios spotted a man-sized blue dragon flying overhead and realized that it must lair in one of the caves - probably one with some wealth in it. The Amantes tracked the dragon back to its lair. There, they fought with two huge constrictor snakes. This alerted Kyroclides, the dragon, who surprised them with its lightning breath weapon. Nonetheless, they were able to get the better of the vicious beast and drive it off (Will we see Kyroclides again...?) After gathering together the dragon's small hoard, they moved deeper into a man-made tomb at the back of the cave complex. There, they fought a pair of plant creatures (shambling mounds) and weird corpse-like creature that was not undead (a flesh golem), but which was very powerful. 

[GM's Note: John noted, although none of the characters know it, that flesh golems and shambling mounds both get more powerful in the presence of lightning - like that in the dragon's breath.]

Here ended the adventure, for now. Will Elizar Branded Hand kill the rest of the party? Or will he provide the means to reunite it? Tune in next time! 

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