At last came the night that we had deduced would be the night when we could meet him, whose seed had been Mondain the Wizard. We had agreed that the recess of land would have to be the village of Cove. Knowing this already I had gone there earlier, so that we would not enter right in the havoc of war, namely in the small area still guarded outside the village gates.
As nighttime approached the few souls who had agreed to help each other in discovering the books that were the ‘Tome of Virtue’, gathered at the Spiritwood Tavern. I was not shocked to see the forest witch Morrigana Aife there as well. Since her appearance in my dream I have ached over and over again.
After having been attacked by the orcs of Cove for a while, we agreed to go to the nearby graveyard to look for the place ‘where stones grow one by one’, but we still had to make it though the nearby orc warcamp. I decided to ride my trusted steed, Maw, hard towards the graveyard so I might provide safe passage for the others. Once there I summoned a magical gate to fetch the rest; I first saw only Dunkan come though. Not much later we were joined by the rest. Just Northwest of the cemetery we saw a ghostly figure who bore the name Mal’dain. truly the spirit we were seeking. One of the present mages, apart from me, revived the ghost so that we might speak with him.
He first told us who he was and then in return asked who we were. I responded in my mightiest voice that, “I am Kyp Durron, Second Paladin to the Legion of Noble Sphere”.
“NOOO, it can not be.” He said in a slightly discouraged voice. “Well if it could have been any one, it must have been you. Fine then, here take the diary. But beware Ye have released evil as well.” He passed me a book entitled ‘Diary of Mal’Dain’, he then ran off laughing an evil laugh.
The people now present Jen, Misha Andone, Bethor, Heero Yuy, Falcore, Dunkan and I moved a bit over. I foolishly placed the book on the nearby ground, not thinking that a book that had been held by a ghost for such a long time, would not be able to withstand the bright day light nor the touch of the near by graveyard soil. Although I did get to read a few pages before the book suddenly decayed right under our noses.
After a few moments of grief, a thought struck me; I had to return to the library of the Legion for in it I might find the help that I needed to reconstruct the lost book. I told the others that I would return to the tavern as soon as I had a more stable copy of the book. Having spent many hours in the library, I quickly found the help I needed to reconstruct the old decayed book. I then returned to the graveyard alone to remake the lost book. After a long line of chants and scribing in the ground I once again held a copy of the Dairy. I thus quickly returned to my compatriots in the tavern. There I read the Diary aloud to them, while Misha Andone kindly enough copied the book for me.
After having turned a good amount of pages in the book, I came upon a different handwriting, this one not strange to me at all. I recognized the precise and firm hand of my ancestor, Aeric Durron. It resembled the handwriting in a book my poor and lost father had sold to provide my mother and I with daily bread. The text is below:
Diary of the Dark Path
by Mal’Dain
Sennet 5 –
All around me is in chaos. The very air weeps continually for loss of the book. Death rides her pale horse across the land, and the other riders, famine, plague...all are loosed upon the weak and disgusting around me. It will not be long until the entire earth is destroyed by the forces of evil.
HAHAHA... I am a god.
Sennet 12 –
I have heard that Aeric has found the Tome of the Dark Paths. He can not possibly have the power to destroy it...can he?
The Legion of the Noble Sphere is withstanding the evil onslaught, and their force of good is great. Only ones such as they could foil my plans.
Maris 1 –
Over a month now and still they seek the book. I must speak to Darkhen about destroying them, before they destroy us both. Growing weaker.......
My son will succeed where I have failed. So it is written in the prophecies. His son will be even greater and it is said one day the world itself will crack from his hand.
Maris 7 –
It has come to pass. Maric has found the book and scattered its parts! The oiufsae nsad. akr. I.. I.. . dissolve into m.....adness....cannot focus..............................heart... black...
Maris 30 –
He comes for me with the sword nr shield of the ....on. I cannot with... ouvn.rnwen..car..narhhs. Help me, Dark Paths! Keep my journal safe til the winds no lo.....
Pain. I am lucid again. I shall not be hard to kill now, I would think. Aeric Durron will not long fight for my death.
Pai...........
Taris 3 –
..Almos... over.. they will never find the frag..t of the Spirit... cave... dragons... at the shrine it.... but must call on Baal to surrender it.... never!
It is safe.... as is this book... maoy nara.. civl.dri nsker.....
(blood stains the rest of the page)
(In a clear hand the following is written)
I, Aeric, do enchant this book so that someday it must be surrendered to my kin, who will come for it. The power of good will never succumb to the likes of this one. I go now to seek the books. If I fail, others someday shall not.
The Noble Sphere shall walk the earth again.
Honor to you, sons of the virtues!
Part 2 – On to Destard!
After having read the ’Diary of the Dark Path’ aloud to my comrades. I myself was not in doubt as to where to seek the ‘Tome Fragment of Spirituality’. We clearly had to go to the shrine in the depths of Destard. Once there I would have to call upon Baal to surrender the book to me.
I had wished to first go alone to provide passage for the rest, but Misha Andone convinced me that I should not fear for their path to the shrine. I still wished I would have had the chance to do just that because I would not have dared call upon Baal before I had my compatriots by my side. Though be that as it were, I opened a gate to the closest location I had in that very dungeon. The party had now grown in size and also counted Qagan of the Oymak Batachikan, Dogei Matur. I maybe should have waited, but I thought my friends all knew where we were going. I again rode as fast as I could passing dragons and murderers along the way. This time I just marked a rune and tried to secure the area. After a couple of minutes of waiting, I asked my friends through our mental link if they wanted me to join them in another place. Sadly some of them had fallen to the mighty dragons that inhabited this dungeon. I once again rode the path to guide them in the right direction. And found most of them almost at the goal. Dogei and Falcore followed me to the shrine, but not in time to hear me call upon Baal.
Then suddenly I thought I saw the vision of a lady in white, maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me yet again. Perhaps she was not there. The vision quickly began to shimmer and fade........ it must have been my imagination, though I caught a glimpse of her eyes of lavender like the ladies in my dream. On the ground I saw a book; I quickly grabbed it so this one would not wither away like the last one had. The previous reconstruction of the ‘Diary’ had tapped greatly on my mental resources that day. Dogei and Falcore shortly thereafter joined me. We secured the shrine easily and decided to set off for home, Spiritwood. Once there I was pleased to see Amrinth Takhista greet us at the tavern door, and shortly thereafter Jen, Misha and the rest joined us inside for refreshments and a talk of our findings.
I must have dozed off for a moment because suddenly all of them had made their way to Dreamstone. I quickly followed but sadly did not hear what they had come up with when I arrived.
One thing is for certain though. the next clues to finding the fragment of Honor are that it shall be found by one to whom honor is a banner, and it shall be found where there are lots of rats. But when we can find this is hard to know, we shall have to divine when Jupiter aligns with the two moons. Those are the clues in the fragment of Spirituality. Read it for yourself and see if there is more.
Quests
Tome of the Virtues
Twilight Dreams
