AD&D Session 83 - Through the looking-snowglobe
19th of Duscar, 835 PD
Continuing their first foray into Molaesmyr’s civic heart, the party focused on the ruined library they’d identified the day before. Behind shattered shelves they discovered hidden compartments, one of which held a wand-like device topped with a snow-globe. When shaken, it played vivid scenes as if they were memories or recorded visions from the city’s final days. Marcus observed a robed, greying figure moving with purpose through the library stacks, using a constructed device reminiscent of the “mallus key” research they had recently uncovered. The magic in the vision succeeded—then rapidly destabilised, tearing apart the surrounding space. The figure appeared disturbingly unconcerned, simply departing as the scene collapsed. The impression, and the name that had already surfaced in Blackcloak’s writings, pulled Marcus toward an unsettling association with Ludinus Da’leth and the Cerberus Assembly.
Repeating the vision several times, Marcus managed only brief, unclear glimpses of the observer’s own reflection—never enough to identify them. Other scenes suggested the same individual compiling notes and sketches on Vestiges of Divergence; one segment specifically referenced the Star Razor, and hinted at a register or catalogue that might tie these observations together. As their time in the city ran thin and the flames and instability of the Savalirwood pressed in, the party shifted to practical reconnaissance: Marcus found signs that someone else had been searching the library recently and selectively “checking out” texts—one connected to Blackcloak and the mountain laboratory they’d just escaped, another on ritual practice and construction, and another dealing with portal rune “addresses,” most of which seemed long-lost or removed over the last century. Unable to secure the register before retreating, they withdrew from the ruins, noting that the everburning flames were creeping closer to their repaired bridge and might render it unusable again within days.
20th of Duscar, 835 PD
At first light they re-entered Molaesmyr, intending to retrieve the register from the library. Marcus sent Whisper ahead with instructions, relying on her speed and climbing talent, but she returned with an unexpected complication: a lecture hall occupied by apparitions—and something more substantial—silently re-enacting a lesson as if time had snagged on a loop. As the group hesitated, the “lecturer” abruptly turned toward the rear chamber Whisper had entered, implying it had noticed her presence. Enikas reacted instantly, bursting in to draw attention and buying Whisper the moment she needed to slip back out. The party regrouped and disengaged before the situation could escalate.
Only once they were clear did they realise Whisper hadn’t come away empty-handed: a book had become stuck fast to her hand—or more precisely to a ring she’d carelessly donned, now revealed to be cursed. With no safe way to pry it free, they exploited one of the city’s scattered anti-magic dead zones to suppress the enchantment long enough to break the bond.
With the library objective concluded, they pivoted to the hospital, hoping civic records might clarify what truly happened after the Calamity struck Molaesmyr. In a nurse station they searched supplies and sifted through patient files. The documents painted a grim pattern: survivors suffering extreme physical transformation and emergent magical effects in the wake of the disaster—bodies fusing with surroundings, magic resisting treatment, amputations failing or reversing as tissues regrew, and afflicted patients becoming increasingly “other” by the day. Notes from the head nurse captured fragments of delirious testimony pointing to a hidden artefact or device—something no one could stop—suggesting the catastrophe may not have been a single event so much as an ongoing, uncontrolled consequence of whatever was unleashed.