28 - A Hallway River
| Session 1 | Session 27 | Session 28 | ||
| ◀◀ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▶▶ |
| Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite |
And a crown to open doors?
We went upstairs, through a door, and into a strange room with levers. I wasn’t interested, but of course Zephyr was. He can’t keep his hands away from things he shouldn’t touch. I continued with Frostbite to the next door.
Behind us I saw some bugbear head appear out of nowhere, its mouth moving strangely, saying "Ba". More sounds echoed behind us. Nonsense.
The hallway river
Frostbite and I were looking at what was ahead. The hallway was flooded, dark water filling it. A small boat came gliding silently toward us — empty. It stopped right in front of us. Frostbite, the cleric, and I stepped inside.
Only then did I notice the water. White faces floated beneath the surface, shadows moving between them. The sight made my stomach knot.
Frostbite muttered, “They’re gone.”. I looked around. He was right. The others had vanished. No trace of them. The cleric said that maybe they spelled something — Babajaga. An ancient hag. I wondered, if you know something is an old evil, why would you ever think it’s wise to put the pieces together?
Frostbite took the rudder and the boat moved. The first room we drifted past was filled with mannequins dressed in costumes. I stepped inside quickly, checking for valuables. Necklaces, rings, anything worth something. Nothing. Just clothes.
Still… one of the costumes tugged at a memory. Something from when I was young. A story I heard: Iggwilv, the Witch Queen of Perrenland. And another costume reminded me of Tasha, like the glass display at the carnival. Why here? Why these clothes? Zyblina, Tasha, Iggwilv... what was their relation? Were they the same person? Frostbite leaned close and muttered that we should never mention this room to Maeve or Zephyr. They’d lose themselves in distractions. I agreed. Best they never knew.
The next room was worse. The floor swarmed with maggots, flies buzzing in the air. Eight wicker cradles stood among it all, strange mobiles with letters hanging above them. I could read some from the doorway: “A I L” and “Y B L”. Elven letters. From the cradles, small green claws twitched. No need to enter.
The library
We continued till the end of the hall. A door with a library. At first glance it looked promising: shelves of books, a desk, ink, and quill. I opened one. Empty. Only a single line on the first page. Curious, I wrote in it: Why is this book empty? The words faded.
My first thought: disappearing ink. I’d heard of that. Candles floated overhead, so I tried one. Too close. The page began to burn. I slammed the book shut, but when I opened it again, the writing was still gone. So maybe not disappearing ink after all. I tucked one of the undamaged books, along with the ink and quill, into my pack. Dhanell could study them later.
They are back
We turned back — and then we heard voices. Familiar ones. Maeve. They were back in the lever room. We went back and I explained what we had found — and what we hadn’t. I kept my promise to Frostbite and left the clothes room out of it. But then he mentioned it anyway? Why?
Naturally, Meave and Zephyr wanted to see it.
The books
I gave the ink and book to Dhanell. He and Ringlerun studied it together and uncovered the trick: you had to guess a book’s title. Then the words would appear. They guessed a title right, about the true names of Prismere. But one small section wasn't showing.. probably the one containing Zybilna’s true name, the only thing that mattered.
We all went back to the library to try out more titles. I watched, half interested. They figured out pieces of history — the Realm of the Prismere, the palace, its secrets. But still no mention of Zybilna’s true name. No gold, no hidden treasures. Just stories and names. A crown in a pond, they learned, meant to be placed on the stag or lion statues to open the doors. Strange.
I asked Dhanell to test one for Tasha. But whenever her name was written, it didn’t vanish slowly like before — it disappeared in a flash of light. Like the book itself recoiled at the name. My shadow flickered strangely, too, though no one else seemed to notice.
The crown in the pond
Next, we went to the pond. Zephyr was already flying over it. I crouched at the edge and touched the water to test if it was frozen. A hand rose from the water, holding a crown.
It was close to Zephyr. He tried to grab it carefully. It was covered in needles. Watching him trying was… entertaining.
We brought it to the front doors, the ones with the stag carved above them. Dhanell used mage hand to hold the crown up. Then he heard something. A phrase. “The beginning of Whenever…”. Soon they figured it out, "Wrath" was the solution.
Wrath!
I started yelling it. Then I heard whispers answering back. "We are Wrath".
They came from the tower behind us...
| Session 1 | Session 27 | Session 28 | ||
| ◀◀ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▶▶ |
| Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite |
Updated on: 21:50
