Stormbringer: The Book of Souls IC Thread

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

Stevethulhu

Studiously Indifferent
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
3,491
Reaction score
5,309
The rain finally eases off, giving a clear look at the Argimiliar coat for the first time in what feels like days. A gap in the clouds lets the sun light up the ruined tower, almost hidden among the trees atop the cliffs, like a finger with a jagged nail pointing to the heavy skies. Strange birdlike creatures take flight as the weather breaks, faint echoes of their hooting coming over the water to the ship.

The Journal of Djevbrok, found among a collection of random items in the markets of Old Hrolmar, says that when the legendary Sorceror left Melnibone some four hundred years ago, he built a tower on what is now the Argimiliar coast. The omens and other methods of divination suggest that this ruin is where he ended his days. Who knows what treasures, relics of Old Melnibone and books of lost lore might be found within.

The crew prepare a longboat to head to the shore at the foot of the cliffs. There looks to be a path up from the beach.


1591887228529.png
 
"No words to speak of what ills, may wait ahead, be cautious and careful, where you tread." Valric says as he watches the tower with uncanny eyes that look along the path and slowly move across the landscape to the tower.
 
Azla lets the first mate oversee the usual duties on the cog as she prepares to lead the longboat to the coast, with Valric and the crewmembers she picked for this initial incursion onto the coast.
 
After a short trip across the choppy water, the longboat crunches into the shingle beach. The crewmen drag the boat ashore and make it safe above the high tide line. Beyond the shingle lie sand dunes. Once past the dunes, the ground rises sharply and the trees take over.

"You want us to come with you, cap'n?" Asks one of the sailors.
 
OOC: how many came with us in the longboat?
 
OOC: hope you don't mind me throwing out random names for some of the crew.

"Talus, take the longboat back to the ship so we can get some more of the crew here. Depending on how long this expedition takes we'll rotate between some standing watch on the Sucra and others here as needed. Mangorus, stay here to keep an eye on the ship, and call out if they need to let us know anything." Even if this turned out to be a wasted trip, it would be a good thing for the crew to have a chance to stretch their legs a bit on dry land.

Azla turns to address the two remaining crewmembers. "Tyraa, Fulnif, you're with us. Let's follow that path and take a closer look at that tower, and at least get an idea what we might be facing here."
 
OOC: Feel free! Random names are great. Random bits of kit or lore about your ship are also fine.

Once you get off the beach, the air under the trees is cool and fresh. It only takes a couple of hours to find the trail to the tower on the hill. Which stands some 40 feet high, crumbled stone lying around under moss where the upper storey seems to have collapsed. However, there are no windows within reach and the door, a heavy, ornate piece of reddish wood, looks solid.

Under the ivy growing up the stone seem to be some kind of writing in an arcane language of some sort.

"Is that a sail?" Tyraa points to the other side of the headland from the one you landed on as a ship sitting at anchor becomes visible from the bottom of the tower.
 
Are they also here in search of Djevbrok's legacy, Azla wondered to herself, or do they have some other purpose here?

"Fulnif, head back to where Mangorus is so you can let the crew know we're not alone here." She then turns to Valric. "Viscount, can you decipher the writing there?" she said, indicating the ivy-covered stone. If he was indeed a Melnibonean, well, they were said to be an eldritch lot...
 
OOC: Can I read the writing?
"I will examine the writing carefully and the door as well, it never bodes well to tamper with old sorceries without knowledge of their purpose." He says as he reads.
 
OOC: Make a High Melnibonean roll

IC: The ship is a war galley, two banks of oars and platforms fore and aft for archers. At the top of the mast flies a black flag with a many tentacled entity in red. In the long haul, the galley would be left behind by Sucra. But the ram at the waterline, combined with the potential for a good number of marines aboard makes for a formidable pirate ship.
 
High Melnibonean: 76% (Roll 54)

"I believe I can make this out, and no need for my title Captain, you may just use my name, I don't require any more than that of a traveling companion unless they feel a need to throw their weight around, and I need to demand respect."
 
The Inscription:

Here is the soul of a man
Here in this place for the taking
Clothed in white, stand in the light
Here is the soul of a man

Down on the ocean, the galley lowers a boat into the water.
 
"Odd, a riddle and a rhyme, do we have the time to unravel it?" he asks of the Captain "It says,
Here is the soul of a man
Here in this place for the taking
Clothed in white, stand in the light
Here is the soul of a man
Here is the soul of a man
Here in this place for the taking
Clothed in white, stand in the light
Here is the soul of a man "

I do not simply know what it means, but perhaps we can unravel enough to understand?" He looks upward.

"I suspect that the latter part, is a warning as well--ritual vestments? Or a tomb, where one remains wrapped in cloth?"
 
OOC Note: It took you about two hours to get through the woods to the tower. Company is coming and you're on the clock, so any actions or activities you want to do need to fit that approximate time frame. Assuming you want to complete the task before company arrives.
 
"I need to check and see if I have white clothing, but I fear I've left that all at the ship, do you feel your crew is capable of keeping free, while we enter?"
 
"One can only hope," Azla responds, not without some uncertainty. "In any case, we probably wouldn't be able to get back in time to make a difference, so let's see what we can do here."
 
The handle doesnt do anything, the door is sealed in some way.

OOC: decide what you're going to try and then give it a shot.

b6b88135026bf5d5b194aa6a3e25eec9.jpg
 
Is there any light on the door? At all? " What do you think captain, I'm thinking perhaps if we light it specifically by redirecting the sun to the words or the panel, perhaps it might open?"
 
"I've no head for riddles," Azla admits, as she searches around the door for any sort of trigger or indication of how to open it. "And the words you spoke strike me as perhaps song or chant... or mayhap just a eulogy inscribed on a tomb."
 
"If we must dance the dance they left us, we may need to quickly.." I'll aid her in the search for a trigger and wrack my Melnibonean mind, for anything I know on soul prisons. After about ten to fifteen minutes I'll look up to see if the way above is open to the sky, the building having a window with ruined seals or a crack. Then summon an air elemental...
 
"I've no head for riddles," Azla admits, as she searches around the door for any sort of trigger or indication of how to open it. "And the words you spoke strike me as perhaps song or chant... or mayhap just a eulogy inscribed on a tomb."
"If we must dance the dance they left us, we may need to quickly.." I'll aid her in the search for a trigger and wrack my Melnibonean mind, for anything I know on soul prisons. After about ten to fifteen minutes I'll look up to see if the way above is open to the sky, the building having a window with ruined seals or a crack. Then summon an air elemental...
Could you both make Search rolls, please.
 
OOC: my Search skill is at -1%, and I rolled a 71 so I'm gonna say that's a big fat nope.
 
Last edited:
(Ack I missed skills somewhere, if you'll let me add them otherwise I do have Perception 19%, but no search, with skills added I've Search of 52% will that work? If you wish to roll you may otherwise I got 47%) Valric casts his strange eyed up and about the tower drinking in all he can see of its visage worried of what dark things may not stand in the light inside. (I added Search, Balance, Listen, Swim, and Navigate from my 1d6+2 skill rolls)
 
The tower is a ruin. Other than the door, which sometimes feels like it might be watching you. Despite the fact that it has nothing to watch you with. On the seaward side, the windows are broken. On the land, the top third of it lies scattered around the area. Broken and mossy with the years since it collapsed. Possibly in a storm, as there is no obvious sign of fire damage and getting siege engines up here would be a serious undertaking.

Souls and how they can be trapped, traded, used and generally abused is something near and dear to the sorcerer's heart. It isn't impossible that a prison for one could be built.
 
"Let us pass, door, for we come to take what is within, by order of Viscount Valric!"
 
To your sorcerpus senses, it seems as if the door is actively refusing to open. Perhaps a demon of some kind, bound to protect whatever us beyond the portal it guards?

OOC: You'll need to beat it in a POW vs POW roll on the Resistance Table to impose your will on it.
 
(I've a Pow of 26, and rolled a 46) "Open!" I repeat gathering my thoughts into force, refusing to let a mere door bound thrall defeat the will of a Melnibonean sorceror!
 
The door warps, a face forming in the wood. The Demon speaks in an obscure dialect of Low Melnibonean.

Then, the door seems to flow into the corners o the frame. A milky cloud shot with blue highlights fills the opening.
 
"Let us go, then..through.." (did I understand any of what it said.)
 
"Long live the King of Mercy."

Across the threshold, the fog, shot through with flashes of blue, forms a tunnel. Up and down lose all meaning for a moment.

Then, with a sickening lurch, you drop onto an enormous chamber. Sunlight streams through glass windows, bathing the area in a soft, warm glow.

In the centre of the chamber, a pillar of light illuminates something. A figure?
 
"I am going in, let's see who the figure is--and stay in the light, whatever happens." He carefully with a sly grin of joy at seeing such a wonder out in this wilderness, and being here to explore it. His sense of dread of the twisted places like his home, which seems so cold to the warmth and wonders of the rest of the world.
 
Azla takes a deep breath, ready to follow, but pauses to speak to Tyraa before doing so. "You can follow us inside, or you can guard the door. Your call." She then adds, "I would welcome your sword by our side, but given that we may encounter sorcery of unknown origin, I can not force that decision upon you."
 
Last edited:
"We'll stay out here and watch your back, Cap'n," says Tyraa. "If anything happens, we'll come running and warn you."

As Valric approaches the light, a figure comes into view. Robed in pure white, having the fine bone structure and almond shaped eyes so characteristic of the Melnibonean species his long white hair floats in a cloud around his head. The unfortunate effect being not too different from a dandelion clock.

"Has my old enemy found me at last?" asks the Melnibonean. "How long has it been since the Jester put me in this place? If you come seeking treasure, I'm afraid there's little in the way of what you might call loot here. But I suppose I could share something with you."

He starts rummaging in a trunk, pulling out clothes, books, a sword and other bits of junk.
 
Azla turns expectantly to Valric, fully expecting him to take the lead in dealing with his fellow Melnibonean.
 
"I am Valric of Melnibone, a traveler, we came because curiosity drove us to see what lay within this ruin. We bring no harmful intent spirit, but others may come soon who do." He says clearly. "I'm no enemy of anyone yet--but the malady of ennui which embraces my home."
 
The man in white straightens up.

"Do my eyes deceive me? One of the blood royal flowers himself to come and visit one such as myself in my exile?"

He bows extravagantly.

"I am Djevbrok, two hundred and thirteenth Duke of Z'el'enkuk. I have been here, safely hidden from the world for..." He frowns, "What year is it? For some time now. I made an arrangement Lord Balo of Chaos. Only now it seems to be time to speak with the shaman again. Conjure the Jester again."

He pauses in his rummaging to exclaim triumphantly.

"This! This is why I went into hiding. But if one o the blood royal is here, then it must be time for the Book of Souls to be found once more."

He holds out a scroll case, red leather capped in silver.

"If you take this, it will paint a target on you for those with eyes to see it. But the Book of Souls is a treasure beyond measure."
 
I bow in return. "I am the seven hundredth Viscount, of the southern coastland ridge along the Dragon sea. "Where upon few sailors pass, for we can with greater eyeglasses spy the Sorcerer's Isle." I'll give him the current year and with curiosity rare for his breed, his hand moves of its own accord to take the offered scroll case. "Who seeks the Book, and what eyes will search for wary we must be from ancient born things accursed. by demand"
 
Djevbrok hesitates a moment, then lets the scroll case go.

"Many years ago, there was a sorceror named Iyeni Firezeri Kilimesiteri. We were friends. Rivals, but the kind that pushes you on to new and better things. Then, we learned of the Book of Souls."

At this, he pauses.

"The Book of Souls tells the story of how the people of H'hui'shan fled the Dragon Isle for the home of their ancient ancestors. This is,if course, heresy. But if the Book should be recovered..."
 
"It would greatly upset the powers that be, and call for all the demons they could, and assassin with coin they could pay to make sure it never comes into the light. A great and terrible burden, what purpose would you have it serve?"
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top