Hello,
You left the fallen Men-of-Nothingness and pursued the three riders that bore Miguel deeper into the Wormweald. Boamund got lost in the frosty woods and Bog slowly weakened from the cold that sapped his Enlo strength. You made it to the shadowy gates of the Library, though, and Bog cast Darkness onto them to bring them into solid form, but the gates were locked and it was then you realized you lacked the dragonbone key! Bog struggled with the gates to no avail, so you turned away, hoping to find Ahappi at the sea somehow.
Boamund led you out of the Wormweald into the Bad Place, where dawn broke and you rested by a fire for a few hours for Bog to recover; seeing no enemies pursuing. Then you continued out of the Bad Place and camped on its edge. At least 2 days had passed since the battle. As you prepared to lie down for the night, haunted by sinister cries issuing from the Wormweald to the northeast, Captain Ahappi sat down nonchalantly at the campfire, much to your surprise! He explained that he had finished his business at Serpent Harbour, learning many new things including that he would take you on a quest sailing into the Sky Realm in the new year-the prophesized Boat Planet was coming, and Boamund might benefit from questing into the power of the Sky rune! Perhaps Bog could steal some of its fire and Fraud, well who knows what he'd do? But you had more urgent business-Ahappi had already visited the Sottogh and learned you'd come here, and you explained why, and of course he had the key with him. So you rested for the night and then returned to the Wormweald the next morning, where as usual night came once you entered.
Once more you trod the frosty, winding ways of the ancient Maggotwood toward the library, with Boamund leading the way. His keen ears gave advance warning of flapping things issuing crow-lie calls of “chon-chon” and you readied for battle, which did not disappoint. Five undead-heads flying on ragged bat-like wings came in a flock with four chon-chons; demonic (vampiric) heads that flew on giant ears, and behind them was a hellion; a demonic essence that was a silvery bubble which issued blasts of entropic energy at Ahappi (but gradually weakened as it did so, never overcoming him with its sapping power). You made short work of those heads-they were harder to hit but easy to kill once you did. Bog proved the hero of the battle by hurling his far-flung frost-flail at the diminished, retreating hellion and smashed it into motes of dust.
You made it back through the cold, unharmed, to the gates where you again cast Darkness and Ahappi inserted the key. The gates to the Psychetheca Everlasting swung open silently and a blast of icy air hit you, scalding ?Bog with its hellish cold. In you went, and surveyed the silent courtyard of the Library. It was even frostier than before, with everything concealed by thick ice, harder to make out discrete features within the open area surrounded by the low walls, except for the numerous horrid ice sculptures of local persons, including yourselves closest to the Library doors. Bog saw his form there, in evil parody, and in fury he rushed forth and smashed it; with eerie, threatening sounds issuing from around the courtyard as the shards fell tinkling to the ground. Ahappi's new form was represented there, too… curiously, one absence was Miguel…
Fraud opened the front door and you made your way into the silent corridor, seeing no threats. Ice coated all surfaces, dangling down from doorways in hungry fang-like shapes. The right side of the passage, you knew, had doors to the Waiting Room so you chose to go there, finding it was fairly bare now except for the awaiting skeletal-scholar form of The Greeter, bearing its ceremonial bronze staff. It gestured for Fraud to enter and take a seat on a frosty chair, so he did. You came in behind Fraud, except Ahappi who watched the hallway and the doors into the Collection. The Waiting Room bore blood and ichor frozen into the floor and walls from your past battles here, but no remnants of those you'd defeated.
Fraud asked for “Gratt”, and it left and brought back The Scrivener, the skeletal-zombie thing with extra legs supporting a bone-desk platform at its midriff. On the platform was a book of warty hide (toadskin of some kind, Fraud knew) with Stasis and Death runes on it, and [I forgot to mention] the words in old Seshnegi “Prisonne of ye Traitore” as a title for the book. Ahh. Yes, ancestor Gratt must have ended up here as a book in Yomil's collection; a sad fate. Fraud opened the book and asked it out loud “Who is the Stranger?”, seeing the old Seshnegi words slowly write out in blood: “Ye must ask him as he rises from his Prisonne to look for his children and kingdom only to find but bones and dust. That Prisonne sets him free to gaze forlorn on the shattered world at the end of every year, then he returns to his solitude and estrangement.” This did not make a lot of sense to you but Ahappi said the Pontiff had told him to meet it back at Burnt Priest's Hill with the answer to that question, matching information the rest of you had (e.g. the Pontiff insisting you must find Gratt before the year's end), so you expected the full answer to come-presumably the Stranger was some aspect of Granno, and his children were the Giranois, but maybe this too had something to do with the Old Gods and more?
Now you had a conundrum. Seeing no sign of Miguel, and knowing from past experience that horrors awaited if you entered the forbidden Collection or pressed further beyond, you cast spells and drew weapons and headed for the Collection, warned by the Greeter that you were indeed forbidden to do so, although it did not yet try to stop you. Fraud wrenched the door open and you saw into the Collection: the Scrivener was there by a bookshelf to the right, with a guardian-wraith bearing a spirit-noose there once again; the three Men-of-Nothingness were there across the Collection forming a line, swords drawn and weapons glowing with evil frosty powers, and behind them lurked the terrible form of Yomil the Necromancer. He clutched a book in one hand and extended his ghastly long fingers with the other, calling out “You come to the Psychetheca Everlasting for this? Or to offer yourselves as further additions to my collection? Well, I rather like my new addition here; I call it 'Hell For Miguel'. You may not have it, but I shall have you!” And another terrible battle began.
The Silenced One wraith glided to engage Fraud in its spectral combat. The Greeter waved its staff at Boamund, conjuring a force-blast but he withstood it (twice). The Scrivener unsuccessfully tried shutting ?Bog's eyes as he rushed it, hitting it in the head with his magicked mace, but it held firm; although staggered by his mace's undead-fighting powers. Boamund threw a Disrupt at a knight but it did nothing. Fraud hit the wraith, wounding it well. Ahappi tried striking the wraith but it dodged aside. Then the knights came in, and the battle got worse. Yomil was casting a massive spell in the background… There was a moment of hope as Ahappi smashed in the face of his Sir Mad undead knight foe and it dropped. Fraud faced another knight, Sir Ten, and Bog faced Sir Fit. You disarmed two of them but they soon drew ensorcelled spears instead. Then Yomil's spell was invoked, and this turned the battle strongly against you. Waves of black magic issued from his fingertips, threading toward each of your heads, and while all but Bog resisted the spell quickly flayed the skin from Bog's face, rending it back into Yomil's form and leaving Bog unconscious. Ahappi's Reflection spell protected him, but Yomil had a Cast Back spell active that caused the spell to volley back and forth between the two until its power dissipated. Then the Men-of-Nothingness struck at you, and Fraud fell to a head wound from Sir Ten's spear.
It was perhaps the most dire situation you'd faced yet. Two of you lay unconscious in one round, leaving Boamund and Ahappi to face Yomil and two (wounded) Men-of-Nothingness, plus the wounded (and mostly weak) wraith, Scrivener and Greeter. Badly outnumbered but charged with the task of recovering your friends and the “Hell for Miguel” book from Yomil's clutches, you grimly prepared for whatever fate had in store… -John
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