A Letter to Sta Sokeus

The following was composed during our brief rest in Put. I include it in its entirety, as its contents may form a useful summary of our activities thus far.

Professor Sokeus:
I write from Put, to which I have recently returned. Progress has been swift, but in unexpected ways. I have traveled far and learned much. There is much to write of, but little time. Even now the party prepares for a further expedition. I do not know what parts of my correspondence have been lost to unreliable channels, so I will summarize the situation, starting from our departure in early April.

We left Put to follow a lead in the city of Polpettu, realm of the Orc King. The intelligence proved true, and we located and liberated a warrior from the old Put campaign, Dangargal. This rescue effort involved, much to my professional satisfaction, the operation of a ancient shore battery of considerable eldritch power. Operating the device, colloquially termed "The Bone Cannon," provided great insight into an ingeniously constructed magical focus (see attached figure 1a for a more detailed description-- eladrin mount, focus material of unknown origin). Our escape made good by the cannon's wake of destruction, we proceeded via naval transport (provided to us by the so-called "Book Club") to other locations of interest along the upper coast. Our means of transport bears further mentioning: it is a treeship, perhaps similar to one of the elven constructs I have read of (c.f. Rosenthal et al), whose construction was effected by a powerful transmutation potion. Our next destination of interest was the vault of the 101st immortal, also called "The Assassin."

But I reach too far. I should relate the fundamentals of what we have learned in the vault¹ and other places. The Old War society was ruled by a far-reaching system of magical law, officiated by "Judges" (a monastic order of magi) and enforced by a caste of "Executors." Elaborate rituals and spells formed the basis of this system. We discovered magical constructs ("animata") of complexity far surpassing even the golems of the Fey courts. I should mention the highly advanced mathematics of this society, which merit further study. The Sworn which you earlier discovered are those bound by an arcane ritual termed, naturally enough, The Swearing. The Swearing is a metamagical binding of great power, tying the Sworn's will to some creed of the swearer's choosing. It is a dark magic, and requires the swearer give his life to complete the ritual.

This system of law, however, did not persist. At some point this society was overthrown by a coup, the military leaders of which were called The 100. The Old War society was recast under this new leadership, no doubt in fundamental ways.

Here is where things become less clear but all the more interesting. Each of the 100 somehow achieved immortality. In this or in other affairs, I believe they entered into a pact with The Lover. At some point The Lover turned against them, and began to lay waste to their civilization. Defeated, the 100 fled. They used their chthona to enter a different world. By this I mean do not mean an unknown place, but rather that they crossed over to this world: the 100 and their entire retinue are in truth outsiders to our plane.

This event is referred to as The Convolution. I cannot yet conceive of its exact metaphysical mechanics, but now I suspect that all the evidence of the Old War society in this world- all of the ruins, the focus houses, the vault, the keep, the monastery- may in fact be the extraplanar debris of the 100's exodus.²

The most remarkable facts of all stem from the urgency of the current situation. The 100 exist in our world even today. Indeed, we have had direct contact with several of them, and much of what we have learned has come from their own mouths. One of the immortals is the Assassin, 101, himself-- he seems to have gained his immortality in defiance of the 100, and opposes them. He has offered us considerable guidance in uncovering these mysteries, but his own agenda is far from clear. The other 100 were apparently imprisoned, since the time of the Convolution, within the mysterious pale trees known commonly as featherwood. Now these trees have begun to die one by one, and the immortals walk our lands. There are divine forces at work here as well. Both Melora and Moradin have taken an active interest in the situation-- the featherwood trees were apparently a bid by Melora to protect this world, and it was Moradin's agents who healed the rift that the Convolution³ produced.

Finally, a more personal piece of information relating to our current quest. We now seek out your erstwhile pupil, the entity called the Mad Mage, to discover what he knows of the situation. I must ask you about an artifact that we believe he possesses: the Lens. Having retraced the steps of the expedition⁴ beneath Hokelithan, your stewardship of the Lens was revealed. I have learned that the Mad Mage came to possess this device himself, by thievery. I do not understand its exact purpose-- is its function that of communication? The Mad Mage reportedly managed to learn things from it. Was he taught, as I fear, by The Lover? I trust my inquiries are not too forward. This mage is by all measures a highly dangerous individual, and any information will help. We learned more of his use of The Forgetting -- and how it ultimately it led to his downfall. The spell employs an ornate knot as its focus, and only one who holds the knot is exempt from the enchantment, caster included. In an altercation during the campaign this knot was lost to the mage, and with it his identity itself. The magics we seek are dangerous indeed: both alien and awesome.

Sealed by the codex of the Lyceum Arcana,
Kale Metis, Apprentice



¹This vault was designed to imprison the immortal 101 (by chaining the man underwater, no less), but upon our arrival we found only demonic guardians and an empty prison. Evidence of the Assassin's escape was scant but conclusive.
²Perhaps an even more extensive exchange of the realities was effected-- I cannot be sure. During my travels I became involved in a ritual of Moradin to re-mend the rift left by this event. It seems that a number of dwarves from this plane were displaced during the Convolution, finding themselves on the other side. This outland is now apparently overrun by the forces of the Lover.
³The ritual spoken of before was originally performed by an ancient dwarven warpriest of Moradin named Po Betterum. I know little of the histories surrounding this figure.
⁴I note the slaying of a surviving dragon (alas, but one) in this affair, as well as the recovery of a map which led us to a lost teleporter network surrounding the northern swamps, denoted The Circle of Melora.