Derrick Fiskov ran off to get lunch with his sister in the castle
Horace Frostdir: “earliest possible time for Lady Novis to be back is evening, and I will be here in the office, I do say it is more interesting around here, I hope this Nyarlathotep figure is dealt with quickly”
Asks about catapulting Bloo to the library, and mending the windows and whatnot
And casting Fly on an elephant Sarah could summon
Horace: “Follow me” as he walks down the hallway
Horace: “I’m taking you to the courtyard”
Horace: “Before I was faculty I was a student”
Horace walks us to the courtyard, students practicing magic, a couple students casting Fire Bolts, a professor going “siiigh Aim Labs is free”
See a few scrawny mages asking “why can’t we be practicing magic” and a dwarf with a big thick beard “I didn’t spend 5 days making this sword to hear you guys COMPLAIN”
Horace unlocks a gate with a key in his belt, we see a giant wooden catapult, it has heavy looking rocks with oil barrels next to it
Horace: “Seliph says you’re a very interesting person Sarah”
Sarah: “Can I have that in writing”
Horace: “Yeah”
Horace: “I love messing with Seliph”
Horace: “Fun fact” points “you see that spot over there, we’re going to push the catapult over there and we’ll get a great angle”
Horace: “Wait I was playing along with your bluff”
Horace: “This is actually a relatively common occurrence”
Horace: “I’m not supposed to say this, there’s a landing pad on the library because I did it when I was a student”
We all help push the catapult, can see well indented areas on the ground where the wheels stop
Horace: “Should be the right angle”
Sarah: “There’s no way this is more efficient than walking”
Horace: “Well but this is fun, the students like to have fun, the students can have fun”
We all catapult together, Bloo goes in front with a shield that barrels in first with Yul, Lyra and Nim hides behind, and Nim will cast Feather Fall
Sarah flies over, Horace “i’ll just keep your horse in the stables…”
Horace pulls out a knife
We all get launched towards the library “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……………….”
All the students stop and look and point and go “They’re doing it!!!”
We are heading straight towards the library, while Sarah arrives at the 1st floor of the library
We are barreling towards the window and we all land on the cushion, and as we land the cushion bounces
Sarah flies up through the hole and mends the window at the same time
Hear a ringing noise, hear a voice “ah more students, is it already that time of the rite of passage as they call it? Hello”
Librarian: “Are you affiliated with the Academy? You guys aren’t wearing uniforms??”
Librarian: “Horace is always the one that green lights this, he’s the only one that green lights this”
Librarian: “Normally people enter through the first floor and this is the third floor”
Sarah: “I entered through the first floor and came here”
Nim: “Anything on dead religions such as Nyarlathotep”
Librarian: “History should be on the 7th floor, most things to do with scripture are on the 7th or 8th floor, ancient history on 7th”
Yul: “Are there books on soccer? I heard it’s like kicking nuts”
Librarian: “Are you interested in botany”
Yul: “Sure…”
Librarian: “Right floor, the third floor is the natural sciences”
Sarah: “Math books?”
Librarian: “Yeah top floor”
Bloo: “Blob-like life forms?”
L: “Third floor? Or first floor?”
Nim lies about being a professor
L: “My name is Alice, pleased to meet you”
Nim goes up to the 7th floor, everyone follows except Bloo
Variety of tomes, Nim has mostly read these, but you see most of the bookshelves are empty, this is one of the emptiest shelves, it’s least studied
You stumble across a piece of parchment paper, it’s in a language Nim doesn’t recognize, but Nim identifies it as Primordial, Auran
Nim takes the parchment down to Alice
Nim: “I found this scroll and it’s in Primordial but I can’t read that”
Alice: “I have a comprehend languages scroll, free of charge”
Alice: “I don’t recognize it, no leather binding? It’s just a parchment”
Alice: “I thought we filtered these out from anonymous donations”
Everyone grabs a comprehend languages spell scroll, while Nim takes an extra one
Nim casts comprehend languages and reads the parchment
King Hades, Ruler of the Plane of the same name, in order to summon, one must carry out a specific divine ritual
And then it goes on to say a couple things about King Hades and the plane
Lists him as a Sinister Vow of Nyarlathotep, third vow?
Hades is the personification of the plane Hades, is one of N’s Generals
Starts to detail a lot of things about human sacrifice and how to summon Hades
Sees the devastation that reigned upon and dangers of summoning such a creature
It doesn’t list all the directions
It requires: 3 severed heads, dried roots of a specific tree (a tree that bears a fruit that is no longer thought to exist, a tree in Geimshall Woods) and ashes of a root, the rest of the materials are not listed
Takes at least 2 hours, requires immense concentration and hand gestures, and a few hand gestures drawn, it’s smudged like someone tried to smear ink over it
Requires a summoning circle, but only the top part is on it (doesn’t match the top half of the circle we have)
Nim explains vows
The vows are basically super loyal of N, there’s 8 of them, not much is well known of them, we know they carry out acts, and harbinger of N coming was their doing, it’s like the horsemen of apocalypse
That Tiefling Dude we saw, that specific imagery is the most commonly used imagery when speaking of the vows
No one really knows about them
History has been intentionally obfuscated
Sarah: To own a plane, they’re greater deity-level strong, which implies N is much stronger and could have them fight for him
There are 3 gods on the same level as N, the god of life (name unknown but is the god that N is trying to take the power from), then another Primitive God of Consciousness
Those are the two other possible beings that may help
The God of Consciousness doesn’t like N to the degree of can’t be conscious if you’re dead
Nim doesn’t know their names, not worshipped any longer
One of the theories of the Life God, we theorize that the current gods, Yddris and Nyx are possibly two halves of the former God of Life
So the best starting point is with those, but mostly just theory from academia
Other thing is playing with the fish crystals and finding who started the worship of N
Sarah wants to take the teleportation circle to find out where it goes
Bloo doesn’t find much interesting things, Sarah and Bloo ask Alice and then follow up to the 8th floor, where curses are
Nim is going to look to find places of worship of Yddris on the 8th floor
Sarah looks for extraplanar curses, small section, mostly talking about Faewild, fae and fiends
Bloo is looking through curses book section, finds book on curses, it’s a student introduction book, super simple stuff like a textbook
Nim asks Lyra about Horace looking at Lyra weird
Lyra doesn’t know him, but we have the same last name and I’m going to look for Horace, I found it in a journal in my house
Lyra was told Goldrune is her last name, and I’m also half elf, and that was my human family and they never said anything about me being an elf
Thinks elven last name is Frostdir because she found it in a journal in her house’s attic
Nim looks at Lyra, has a human jaw line, horace and lyra have the same color eyes, they have a minimal resemblance
Lyra has gray eyes
Lyra is from Gongaga, Dagdra, east of Beryth Territory
Not at all related to the city named Goldrune in Dagdra
Bloo finds no other interesting books on curses
Large metropolitan areas favor the big gods, coastal cities favor gods of air/sea, geographically what makes most sense to pray to
Nim goes to look for origin stories of Yddris
Yul goes to look for books on the god of chaos
Most of the scripture involves stuff like “free-spirited nature” and a self-help book on gambling
Sarah hands this self-help book to Lyra, who only wants to use it as fire fodder
Yul eventually reads something familiar about Hrym
Hrym doesn’t want to step onto the god of fortune’s toes
Yul doesn’t know what deity she worships and/or gets powers from
Time has passed, it is getting dark
We go to Hugo’s hotel room, see the concierge, checking-in?, it’s halfling spinning on a tall stool “Wheeeeeee”
“We’re Hugo’s guests weeeeeee”
Bloo and Yul also gets on stools and start spinning
Yul starts spinning super super fast and doesn’t get dizzy
And then keeps spinning and there’s a gust of wind
We order room service
Bloo gets GARLIC BREB
Sarah gets sauteed squid
Nim gets 4 whole chickens
Also gets strawberry yogurt
A halfling, shorter than the cart, wheels it over
The strawberry yogurt is surprisingly good
Suddenly Sarah gets a message, it’s from Horace, “You should come back to my office, bring everyone, I find you responsible”
We all walk back to the Academy to his office
Horace is sipping tea with his door open
Sarah: “Do you have any kids”
Horace: “Am I legally required to answer?”
Nim and Sarah: “Yes”
Horace: “I don’t recognize her”
Sarah: accuses him of child abandonment
Suddenly feel a draft coming in, underneath a cloth there is a light, and then Horace yanks off a fabric
A giant teleport circle starts glowing as a bright flash of light, a very tall stern looking elf woman, long pointy ears, long hair tied back into a ponytail, it’s Astrid von Novis
Horace: “I remove the rug for dramatic effect”
Sarah: “Why’d you trap her in a cave”
Nim: “Are you her mom” pointing at Yul
Lady: “How long has it been, wait if you’re here, well shit, I assume she’s here because one of you broke the seal” sees Nim sweating “do you understand what you’ve released”
Lady: “Do you know who this is, I believe her name is Yul”
Lady: “She volunteered herself”
Sarah and Nim asking about Lyra asking about Horace being her dad
Lady points at Lyra, “this one?” Lady slaps Horace Frostdir (LFFGG)
Lady: “you told me you had a daughter when you came back and you’re telling me you forgot???? You had a daughter!?!?!?!?”
Frostdir is looking kinda sweat emoji
Lady: “You know I told you you didn’t need to come back Frostdir”
Lady: “I will have a word with him about this, I apologize, Horace told me about N.”
Sarah: “I wanna talk about Yul”
Lady: “I placed a shard in Yul, that was consensual, she was constructed for that purpose”
Nim: “Who constructed her”
Lady: “She is the likeness of her creator, who was also called Yul, it was more of a hobby project, like a simulacram, the fact she’s alive is quite a miracle, the fact that she has her own thoughts and feelings, I haven’t actualy talked to you in 150 years, would you characterize her as intelligent”
Lady: “I can restore part of her memories, may I?”
Yul: “Yeah”
Her core is suddenly to glow and her eyes light up, and now she knows a lot of basic things
Sarah: “Can you remove the shard”
Lady: “No not really”
Lady: “Crescent Grove is one of many shrines created by the Council to hide the shards, we didn’t put all the shards in people”
Lady: “We had our reasons for putting shards in people”
Lady: “It was meant to last until it was broken, I created it before I am this powerful as now, what you see is the spitting image of her creator, and Yul and I were close friends, I’m more interested ”
Lady looks at Bloo and goes “you seem familiar, smell familiar, this strawberry yogurt brings me back”
She touches Bloo on the shoulder, inquisitive face goes blank as she touches Bloo and casts Identify, and Lady Novis is crying, “Sorean, you’re still alive”, and Bloo suddenly knows such ire towards Duessel Sarde, Bloo killed Duessel Sarde
See Duessel charging out with a big sword and dark aura, casting dark magic, see a storm, trudging through the hunger of Hadar
Bloo is grasping a two handed sword, see a taller drow women with her bow and reaches her arm out, and see Astrid say “it’s okay I got this I’ve been trying this for some time” and she charges up for some time and her entire body goes blue as she presses her hand together a giant flash of light, and Duessel is charging over and he is frozen in time, and Drow women pulls her bow
Astrid helps Bloo stand and bloo charges and does an upward slash and it’s a flash of light, and suddenly Astrid on the floor crying
Astrid: when we meet again in the Novis territory, I’ll give you your sword back
We had special weapons made for us
Nim tells her about number three tiefling and she’s like “oh”
Lady: “I should ask Yul herself, I can leave the shard in you, it’s probably safer, but if you’re captured or killed by the Order they get her”
Sarah: “Can you destroy it?”
Lady: “I don’t believe so, I only know where three of the other shards are”
Sarah: “Hypothetically, is it the thing where you can kill her and take it out”
Lady: “Yddris smiled upon you and gave you her power, the original council tried to fragment the mirror, and this is the smallest we can do”
Lady: “I don’t know how many there are, I do know that the Mirror won’t have its full strength while there are missing shards”
Sarah: “I will protect her with my life”
Lady: “Fabricated the history of the mirror being made in Odemia”
Lady: “I remember you (Sorean) used to love mixing strawberry jam and yogurt”
Nim: “Do you have any fish crystals”
Lady: “No, I do know where one might be, the purple one, I take it this is connected to the Order?” “Yeah” “I also know that not everyone in the Order is a follower of N, their goals sort of align, Horace and Hugo already informed the queen about the LoL attack, so we should be fine”
Nim: “Diff purpose”
Lady: “The Order is trying to overthrow the queen, followers of N using the Order, and the Order is using the League, and the Order is the League, and the League is the Order, the League is the nonlethal branch of the Order, they do it to distract”
Lady: “I know the person who created the sword”
Lady: When Bloo delivered the final blow, there was a flash of black and white light
Lady: I guess the cursed magic gave you necromancy magic, Sorean we go way way back, hopefully your memories get restored gradually, perhaps, I will be sticking around a bit longer, Novis should be fine, I wouldn’t worry about the tiefling guy, I don’t think they’ll be getting through my defenses anytime soon
Lady: The same person who created our weapons also made the swords
The Lady: “I wouldn’t worry too much, Hades is not a planar god, he’s a personification, it’s a little exaggerated, but I think I could take him”
The Lady: “With the help of Sorean and our friend, we killed an avatar of N”
Lady: “To fully summon him need a lot more things”
Nim: “Asks about tree that is kinda extinct”
Lady: “The petricite tree, it is an interesting tree that I believe that does not hail from this world, but some cropped up in the Geimshall Woods”
Lady: “Quite a reunion, I should not stay for too long”
Lady: Asks about Arcana? Asks about how long Bloo has memories for,
Lady: “I sense a strong magical presence from all of you, except Nim”
Lady: “Lyra are you proficient in magic”
Lady: “Well Horace you’re good for something aren’t you, he studied for a while and then left for a place called…. Gongaga? Mhm yes, I’m sure he has plenty of explaining to do”
Lady: looks at Horace “You failed my classes plenty of times”
Lady: “I will teach you guys stuff, I want to teach you some techniques that might come in handy, but I need a wide open area, I will tell you more about it, but for starters”
Lady: “I’ve learned a lot of interesting things”
Lady: “Everyone close your eyes”
She rifles through her pockets, “Sorean do you remember this” “No” “Is this your card?”
King of spades
Lady: “Everyone who has an affinity for the Arcane, would you like to see smth cool”
Lady: “Remember what time it was when you came in, look out the window” she snaps her fingers, “clear skies”
We follow the Lady to an empty field, she pulls out a tiny orb of glass, it has a swirling rift, (it’s like the count’s orbs) and suddenly the rift starts to swirl, and it tears and then swirls, her ponytail rips open and the hair starts flowing, aura of blue veiled around her, the orb levitates and white streams of light schwoops into the orb, and then blue swirls around us, and then we all see our own pocket dimensions, you’re all standing still, as far as you’re aware, time has stopped, she taps all five of us, and suddenly time starts moving at normally, “I learned this from a time stopping spell”
Lady: “I can’t reverse time, but you can remember a few things, that bird over there hasn’t moved, I can create a void of time stop at will, I have inherent ties to the flow of time, I am one with the flow of time, except can’t reverse it” then she gestures, and the bird super speeds into the nest
Lady: “Remember where the moon was?” Veil drops and now the moon is directly overhead, “at least an hour has passed but only about 10 minutes has passed”
Lady: “I’m saying you all can do something to this flavor, I have to return to Horace, meet me in my office first thing in the morning, it’s one over from Horace’s, good byyeee” and then falls backwards into a portal and then flops up and hovers away