Saturday Night in Icemule Report From Oubar 31 Dec 2017

Saturday evening in Icemule – Oubar traces out the sequence of the night with the bandits, the fire, the Mayor, the Tome, the orbs, the undead, the dome, an arch, a figure, and the Mayor. Wow, people are still evidently working out exactly what happened where… but what does it all mean? And what IS that Tome?!

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Category: Towns
Topic: Icemule Trace

Date: 12/31/2017 07:49 AM CST

From: CANNEL

Subj: Icemule Trace Events Report – 12-31-2017

Restday, 31 Eorgaen 5117

From the journal of Oubar Il’Prelay, Originator of White Haven

So many thoughts cluttering my brain that I don’t really know where to start… I’ll attempt to reconstruct the evening in sequence, I suppose.

A crowd gathered in front of the the Mayor’s house, where threats once more flew. Before too long, the bandit leader issued instructions to burn down the Mayor’s House! This seemed more than slightly counterintuitive to many of us, if his stated goal truly was the Tome. The Tome might well have been inside, after all! Despite our best efforts, we stood helpless and watched the house burn to ashes. In the furor that followed, a mysterious figure appeared, demanding that the chaos stop. It turned out to be Mayor Nihala herself, and she taunted the leader, explaining to him that she was unable to give him the tome, as it wouldn’t accept anyone’s touch but her own.

To illustrate this point, she put it down and offered to let him pick it up. Her defiance fell away, though, as the leader’s hands suddenly glowed purple, and he was able to pick it up! He gloated, but his tone quickly changed as the book proved to be far too much for him to handle. The book consumed him utterly, reducing him to a bubbling pile of goo, and Nihala recovered the tome for herself. She fled back to town, where she addressed us.

She told us all a bit more about the tome, revealing that Hibbits had actually found it in Pinefar, and suggested that perhaps we could find clues there. She struggled to explain why she was unable to stop reading from it, and then offered to SHOW us this phenomenon. She opened the book to a seemingly random page and began to read, in a voice and tongue that none of us recognized. When she finished, a ruckus was heard, and the orbs to the north and south of TC shifted one block closer.

Shortly thereafter, a guard came running into TC asking for help at the penitentiary. We raced there to see what was the problem, and found ourselves almost completely overwhelmed by undead. Many, many of the town’s defenders died, and the clerics were working overtime to raise those poor souls who were struck down. Just as we were able to set up a semi-effective triage, we became aware of a new wave of chaos in TC. Those who were able made their way there, and witnessed another apparition materialize, then merge with the dome in TC. The dome also reached a tendril out to Kilded, seeming to draw out the shadow that has plagued him of late, and morphed into an archway of sorts. When examined, the arch seems to lead to a deep, unending darkness, which contains a slender figure bound in veil iron chains.

Nihala was found, shortly afterwards, crying in a corner in Clovertooth Hall. We calmed her as best we could, but she was distraught, saying that she had destroyed the town. Once we reassured her to our best ability, she departed, clearly drained from the evening’s events.

There’s so much to process, and I’m sure there are nuances that I’m overlooking, but it was a harrowing night for all of us. This was by far the most deadly incursion of creatures to date, and the empaths and clerics were sorely pressed. I once again find myself so proud of our town, and its resilience. I know that when we stand together, there is nothing that we cannot overcome. Though I have no idea where these events will lead us, I know that we will remain strong.

-Oubar