Journal Entry #11

Osgood,

First, I am terribly sorry to learn of the tragic events of the last several days.  I cannot imagine the pain that the village is feeling over the loss of our citizens.  Please do whatever is needed to keep the town safe until our return.  Which will be as soon as possible.  We were headed in your direction anyway, however recent events will undoubtedly double our pace.  A word to the wise.  Keep clear of this toymaker until you and I can talk in person.  Please.  For both our sakes.  In addition, please inform Klaus that I would love to meet with him upon my return to town.  I have a feeling he could be quite an ally if his character is truly as you have said.

I suppose I should fill you in on what is happening here in Shadowmount.  I'm not even sure where to start.  Osgood, what is about to follow is going to seem disjointed, and hard to follow.  That is because, at this time, that is the only way I know how to relay the information. 

The morning after my last entry, we went into the cellar of the Gutted Candle, and found an entrance into the ruins at the center of town.  It wasn't long before we realized we were in a structure that had been toppled, and were on a staircase leading down.  After taking time to get our bearings, we ended up exiting this structure into an underground . . . city?

The first thing we realized was that we were in a courtyard.  There was just a small piece of the area visible.  The rest was collapsed earth and rubble.  And the structure we had just exited was the remains of a tower that had been uprooted.  By the Marquis I am guessing.  A very long time ago.

Sidenote:  I need to research a magical means of dating things.  It would be tremendously helpful in my explorations.  Perhaps I could create a divination spell that can give the creation date of an item? 

In this "courtyard", for lack of a better word was a sign marking the area, the remains of a business with a sign hanging from it, and a narrow tunnel of rock that led away from this site.  All of the script was first world script.  The sign in the middle of the courtyard stated that this area was once called The Valley of Nabu's Tomb.  The sign post on the business said "Xiannian Pilgrim's Guest House".  I know I don't have to tell you that we will have a whole lot to research upon my return. 

Upon moving down the tunnel we came across an unmarked grave in the middle of the path.  Bajol sensed a powerful evil ahead and we decided to come back to the grave after the evil had been dealt with.  This tunnel led to another open area that found us in the presence of, what at one time must have been, a massive tomb, or crypt.  Next to the tomb was a building sort of like a guard house?  On either side of the tomb entrance was a large box.  Well to be more specific, on one side was a large box, still sealed from whence a strong evil emanated.  Carved into the box was the figure of a pig/walrus/monster/thing.  Hideous to say the least.  The other side was what used to be a box.  It had been smashed and all we found was a piece of stone relief depicting a horrible set of teeth. 

The building next to the entrance was well built.  Better built than anything I have seen in this world.  Apparently the technology level in the first world was far more advanced than what we have now.  (Ask Fyn to show you the strange sign he found on the Xiannian building)  We saw a symbol, or heraldic marking of a shield with a shepard's crook on the face of the shield.  Inside the building were the remnants of bookshelves that had been destroyed, and nothing else.  Behind one of the bookshelves was a poem, in the ancient script, carved into the wall.  It identified this place as an Argloian repository of knowledge that was alluded to in the ancient scraps of paper we have.  I am attaching the full poem, as well as detailed sketches of the entire area.

We debated going into the tomb, but decided to check the grave first.  We found the remains of an Argloian priest (?) who had a small box with a note asking for forgiveness for not placing this repository in the tomb, but he didn't want to wake the guardians.  However,  he did build a building to last the ages.  Himself?  Because this was a pretty impressive building for one man to have constructed.

At this point we started putting pieces together.  That was when I called for the Marquis' journal.  This is what we have deduced:

The Marquis, pre Awakening was a dumb animal that was compelled to stay in a box and protect the entry to the tomb of Nabu.  Once he was Awakened, he became awakened by the spell.  He eventually went to destroy the box, which is why the town square on his model had a note about the box being destroyed.

We decided to go into the tomb, but found magical writing on the door that claimed Nabu "The Tyrant" (new title) was entombed (not buried) here.  That made us re-think things a bit, and we decided to come back at another time to deal with this issue.

As we were leaving, a new problem occurred.  As we were inquiring about Thomas in the town (good call Bajol) my hands started burning and cramping as the word "Thief" was carved into both of them magically, then they began to pour a glowing blood.  After doing a little research on the matter, this is a spell the Marquis can use to hunt me.  Hunt me.  Hunt. Me.  (For the record, I regret nothing, and if he finds out what happened to instruction manual, he would do a lot worse than bleedy hands). While continual healing will mitigate the bleeding, I have yet to find a way to keep him from re casting the damn spell.  Perhaps a conversation with Fr. Theodore would be in order on this issue.  I'll take any help I can get.  Good news is that it is not hurting me, but it does draw a bit of attention.  Fydor was gracious enough to lend me an enchanted necklace that is controlling the spell enough for me to write this entry, but the effects will return.

Needless to say as this was happening, Fyn took me back to our room at the Gutted Candle to hide out.  So the rest of the information I have is second hand (no pun intended):

Thomas was here 2 1/2 years ago with a martial order called the Azure Guard or something.

His men were slain, and he was taken to the Marquis.

They came up from the south.  I am curious to see if he is working for Mario, and if that is how Mario ended up on the Marquis' radar.

There was a cult in town a few months back from across the sea to the South called the Golden Boat.  This is obviously a reference to the Argloian poem.

The person making Bajol's armor supposedly doesn't make armor for people anymore.

The Marquis doesn't come to the center of town due to fear of a confrontation.

He hasn't for the last 3 years or so.

Ellicor has been in town for 3 years or so.

There is a highly seasoned duo staying here who are looking for tombs in the area, and know of the one below this inn.

Bajol considered beating this duo into submission to keep them from the tomb.

Frumious doesn't like to tell people where the hell he is going.

So apparently The Marquis is scared of Ellicor beating the shit out of him.  Also, I have a feeling Ellicor knows who we are.  Once everyone is awake, I am hoping that we can discuss taking this duo, and Ellicor and exploring the tomb, as well as taking a trip to the keep and getting rid of this awakened fucker for good.  (I swear, you steal a few critical pieces of information, and this is what you get).

Well, that must be it for now, my hands can't take much more use today.  Again, I implore you to stay away from the toy maker at all costs, and if you have any suggestions for the bleeding, I would love to get my hands on them. (pun intended)

May Omnos guide, and protect us all.