IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE
PRELUDE 2A: THE AWAKENING – RANTHIR
PBeM – March 5th thru 9th, 2007
The 15th Day of Amseyl in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty
You were descending down into the darkness of the cave, confident that you were about to find the answers that would vindicate you at long last…
… it’s the last thing you remember.
And then… a fragment of memory… A door… It opens… Beyond it you see a magnificent chamber made all of gold. Its walls and floor and ceiling are all embossed and etched in bas relief. On the other side of the room there is a door of giant proportions – literally large enough for a giant to traverse it – made entirely of ebony and covered in similar bas reliefs. You step forward through the door…
… and awaken in a soft bed with warm sheets. Soft, pale light streams in through a window directly above the bed. From outside you can hear the sound of rain and the faint ringing of church bells.
The room is relatively small, but larger than your room at the Academy. Getting up you look out the window and find yourself looking north out across a metropolis. A few blocks away there is a gorge of some sort. Two bridges span the gorge within sight and the city continues beyond it.
You quickly head over to the door. You discover that it has been locked from the inside with a heavy iron bolt.
Looking around the room you see a bedside table, a larger table, and several chairs. On the bedside table you see a piece of paper:
Opening the drawer in the bedside table you find an ancient and tattered scroll. Unrolling it you find a lengthy treatise written in draconic, long sections of it badly damaged or completely destroyed. The title appears to be “An Analysis of the Arts of the Dreaming”.
Tucking the scroll and wanted poster away, you look under the bed. There you find a large chest which, you discover, contains several outfits of clothes and a miscellanea of equipment.
Searching further under the bed you discover a secret compartment of sorts: A section of the bed can be swung aside, revealing that a section of the mattress has been hollowed out. In this hollowed out compartment you find two things:
First, a box of polished obsidian which gleams with an iridescent sheen. Careful inspection reveals an almost imperceptible seam running around the exterior of the box, suggesting that it could perhaps be opened, although it resists your attempts to do so.
Second, a cache of documents. Opening several of them you find them to be Arathian identification papers. Dozens and dozens of them made out in your name, but also in other names: Tithenmamiwen, Agnarr, Dominic, and Elestra. There are a few others, as well, but none in the quantity of those other names.
You put all of this away, tucking it into the variety of bags and such that you found in the chest. Then you finish searching the rest of the room (finding nothing of interest). Satisfied that there are no more answers to be found here, you undo the bolt on the door and swing it open…
