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| Photo by Natalia Y on unsplash |
I've started running the adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries lightly reskinned for my Krevborna setting. The characters are all employed as members of Creedhall University Library's "Special Collections" department, aka adventurers. This is a recap of what happened in the first part of the "The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces."
The Characters
Elsabeth, human paladin, played by Anne
Rising Leaf and Raging Storm, human monk, played by Michael
Events
Elsabeth and Rising Leaf were summoned from their quarters in the early hours of the morning by their superior, Horatio Lupa. He explained that the Library was facing a matter of some urgency: a visiting scholar named Dr. Matreous had requested a specific study room and a specific tome needed for his researches. However, he had disappeared; no one saw him leave his study room, but he definitely wasn't in there. The duo was tasked with finding Dr. Matreous and safeguarding the library's reputation.
Our heroes first decided to investigate the room that Dr. Matreous had requested. It was fairly bare, but the book he was studying was still inside. The book was a tome written by a woman named Fistandia and it speculated about other planes of existence and the theoretical possibility of creating one's own interplanar space. The book also featured a lot of marginalia penned by its author, but the marginal notes were written in a much more frenzied hand. Both Rising Leaf and Elsbeth were sure that there was a coded message in the marginalia, but neither could figure it out. Stumped, they pressed a scholar of the university's math department into their service and had him figure it out for them. The notes were hiding a code word: "scepter."
Returning to the study room, Elsbeth said "scepter" out loud, which caused a spectral double door to appear in the air. Figuring that Dr. Matreous had also discovered this secret and entered the doors, Elsbeth and Rising Leaf ventured inside to try to find him. The doors led them into the interior of a house made of gray stone with dark hardwood floors. Purple light streamed in from the windows; the world outside seemed comprised of swirling, luminescent purple mist. The two set about exploring.
They encountered a couple of giggling invisible beings in an arboretum; while Rising Leaf was inspecting two floating, glowing orbs in this area, he was doused with a mysterious gas that made him feel euphoric. They encountered many black cats in various rooms. They also encountered two obsequious homunculi working in the kitchen. The homunculi introduced themselves as Cumin and Coriander; Cumin was created by Fistandia, mistress of the house, and Cumin was the creation of someone named Freyot. Neither homunculi had seen their creator in a very long time. They also learned at some point Fistandia had summoned an imp in the house, but it was no longer in residence.
The characters inquired about Dr. Matreous's whereabouts, and the homunculi informed Rising Leaf and Elsbeth that he was just now on the stairs. Unfortunately, they were just in time to see the man rush past and flee through the portal they had used to enter the house. The doors closed and the portal vanish. They then heard a far-away sounding scream. They were now trapped in Fistandia's extraplanar home.
However, they were not without hope of egress. They discovered that Fistandia had hidden a number of blank books throughout her domicile; each one had a single letter on its spine. The theory is that if all the books are collected, the letters will spell out a word of command that will reopen the portal back to the study room.
Of course, not all of the books were easy to come by. In one chamber, they found themselves attacked by a pile of books that animated into a man-shaped monstrosity. In another, two longswords engaged them in a duel to the death. Rising Leaf angled the five telescopes in a planetarium room to reveal a hidden door. Beyond the hidden door was a strange bookcase draped with thick iron chains. Each chain was attached to the metal cover of a book on its shelves. As they got near it, the books took flight and began being whipped around by the chains like a series of flails made of iron books. Rising Leaf dashed in, grabbed the only book with an initial on it, and dashed out...narrowly avoiding being pummeled by this strange contraption.
Thus far, the duo have managed to acquire books with the initials I, R, T, L, B, and Y. They are just now heading into the hidden basement to complete the collection...
(Special thanks to Aos for sending me his notes from the game; it made the write-up very easy.)