LETTER FROM GATTARA TO TIANT
Sweetest Tiant,
Your words tantalize me, and I shall be certain to reward you with the most delightful suffering as punishment for your impudence.
In fact, you have spurred me to a wonderful bit of inspiration: I have sent a messenger to Runshallot Street and asked them to send you the next several doses of their liquid pain as soon as it has been extracted from their apparatus. I know how much you love to indulge, and I would not ask you to restrain yourself entirely, but save some for our games later.
Bring it to the curse den on Nethar Street and we’ll get a private room.
And a private plaything.
Gattara
GM Background: “Runshallot Street” is the Vladaam’s Slave Trade Warehouse. Gattara is also referring to the curse den in the Guildsman District.
REPORT FROM THE RESEARCHERS ON CROSSING STREET
Guildmaster Arzan,
I hope you find these tissue samples as fascinating as we have. You have several days before the preservations spells would need to be renewed. I have also included chrysalid samples.
I think you can assume that we’ll be continuing our work at Crossing Street for the foreseeable future. Not only are there still many questions to be answered before we untangle the riddle of what was being done here, but Mistress Navanna has been delivering new artifacts for our study. Due to the demands, Master Aliastar has had us establish an additional laboratory.
The work is hard, but fascinating. I don’t know that we could sustain the long hours without the assistance of Master Grui’s arts.
Sathara
GM Background: Sathara is a Vladaam Researcher working at the Oldtown Apartments. The tissue samples come from a pain devil, while the chrysalid samples were taken from the nests of the venom-shaped thralls. Master Grui is a Vladaam alchemist who has been supplying draughts of Morpheus to help the researchers work long hours.
A GUIDANCE FROM RENN SADAR TO THE ARCHMAGE CRETAI
Cretai,
I am, of course, disappointed to learn that there’s no chance the Box of Shadows might have been placed within the Banewarrens before they were sealed, although I suppose it’s good not to have wasted the effort on a fruitless enterprise.
I’m also sorry to report that I’ve been unsuccessful in obtaining any of the crystalline research from the Eslathagos project for you. The oversight triad is being unusually secretive, one might almost suggest panicky. If you can think of anything that might influence Unirthorm, Rinirgen, or Kaeran Altarstone to loosen their lips, I do hope you’ll let me know. I can confirm, however, that the crystal lenses are a crucial lynchpin in the operation of whatever the technomantic devices seal the Spire.
Fortunately, this missive is not wholly dedicated to disappointments. In the immediate aftermath of Rehobath’s power play, the Inverted Pyramid suffered a paroxysm of panic and certain old archives were unlocked. Among these were journals of Peruun pertaining to the Divine Blight. The project was only briefly pursued before those fearing it might trigger the very return to the Days of Blood that others sought to guard against prevailed. During this time, however, I was able to secure copies of Peruun’s notes, which I have attached here. I wish you luck in unlocking the secrets of the Blight and look forward to reaping the rewards with you when that day comes.
Don’t forget that you owe me a cup of ale next time you see me at Danbury’s,
Lord Renn Sadar
The attached research notes pertain to an arcane energy, referred to as Divine Blight, which temporarily severs the connection of a priest to the Nine Gods.
The efficacy of the energy cannot be questioned, but mastering the Blight for practical applications — a targeted spell or an enchantment upon a weapon, for example — appears to be an unmet challenge.
GM Background: The box of shadows is described in Ptolus, p. 636. “Eslathagos” refers to Eslathagos Malkith, the Banelord (Ptolus, p. 79) and the “Eslathagos project” assumes that the Inverted Pyramid is involved with the exploration of the Banewarrens (as described in the Banewarrens adventure). Peruun is a founding member of the Inverted Pyramid, who in his latter years became fascinated by chaositech. He wrote a number of journals, some known and many lost, which were encoded with an arcane cipher designed to confound comprehend languages and similar spells.
