Locations of Interest: Dimesca

[Sela]

Herein is a list of notable locations in and around the city-state of Dimesca


The Tamasriel Consortium of Goods of a Magical and Strange Nature
Consortium's Inventory

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Le'sat Saab, the Dungeon of Dimesca

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Scriptorium of Dimesca

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Ruk'nar Temple

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Shedar's Crest

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[Sela]

The Tamasriel Consortium of Goods of a Magical and Strange Nature

Nestled between shops in the mercantile district of Llynthíel is a small, shoddy, humble shop that looks like someone took a poor man's house and stuck a sign in the window. It is squat, the door is on one hinge, and the sign that actually does exist in the window has fallen into disrepair; the paint is scratched and worn, and the words are barely legible.

It is rather telling of the shop's nature that when a person actually casts their gaze upon the sign, words flow like rivers across it, and they, regardless of station, intelligence, race or origin are immediately able to read the words "The Tamasriel Consortium of Goods of a Magical and Strange Nature." It is even more telling that when they approach the door, they find that it's actually a curtain, extremely cleverly -- or madly -- painted to look like a broken door, and that they can walk inside without resistance.

Unless it's after hours, in which case, the curtain is quite rigid and composed of the strongest of enchantments to deny access.

Moving on.

Upon entering, a person will immediately notice that the shop is considerably larger on the inside than it appears on the outside. This is not by magical means: The shops to its immediate left and right from the street view are actually not shops at all, but hollowed out walls and ceilings that serve as extended space for the interior of the Consortium. Depending on how observant they are, they might also notice that every window in the shop can easily be seen out of, even if from the outside they are quite black. They might further notice that the air inside is delightfully moist and humid and moves in currents designed to provide every patron a relaxing respite from the harsh desert air of the rest of the city.

The middle of the store is empty: All of the shop's shelves are lined against the walls in a large rectangular loop. On the floor and the ceiling, markings similar to those found on the sign outside denote several things about the items on each shelf. They are sorted by category and protected by enchantments -- if a man were to reach out to a shelf, intending to pick something up, he would suddenly find himself very confused as to why he needed the item in the first place. Promptly forgetting why he was here, he'd either mill about in the center until he remembered or leave. This serves as quite the deterrent to even the most hard-willed of thieves, and the enchantment is the sole reason that protection of the actual shelves is not necessary.

Well, that and the dinosaurs.

Did I mention the dinosaurs?

As sort of a back-up plan, there's a secondary enchantment on all of the magical items in the shop. It takes the shape of two very tall dinosaur statues, one on each side of the shop's door. If a person leaves with an item that he was not given permission to have, the statues immediately come to life and bear down upon him, both barring entrance and, in the most common scenario, utterly destroying him. The statues are composed of impossibly hard metals and the magics binding them are age-old spells of long-forgotten power and even-longer-forgotten counter-spells.

The process by which a man might buy an item is simple: He finds it by perusing the shelves -- with his eyes, not his hands -- and once he does, all he must do is desire it. If even the thought of stealing it comes into his head with any weight behind it, the protective enchantments will kick in, but if his motives are true, the item will vanish from the shelf and appear on the shopkeep's desk. He will price it, the patron will buy it, and off he goes to enjoy turning fair maidens into fair maidens with larger breasts.

The process by which a man might sell an item is even more simple: He brings it to the shopkeep's desk, the keeper prices it, the patron either accepts or refuses, and that's that.

It should be noted that with all transactions regarding common folk, prices are final. They are deduced by way of a magical pendant and the pendant is, as most inanimate objects are, fairly objective and trustworthy. Bartering with it is a little bit like bartering with a brick wall, only less magical, and the brick wall could fall on you if it wanted. Specifics on the pendant:

The Eye of Arch Tamasriel is probably one of the most famous and powerful artifacts owned by the Tamasriel family. Crafted and enchanted by one of the Consortium's first owners, it is a lightweight gem-encrusted pendant, with several tiny white gems spiralling arond a larger blue gem. Only direct descendants of Arch, the original owner of the Eye, are entrusted with the secret of controlling its magic, but its general purpose is well-known: When an item, any item, is brought before the Eye, it will begin to glow. When its operator, such as Primrose IV, feels that it has passed judgment, he can bring a parchment (or, really, any blank surface) before it, and upon that parchment the proper monetary value will be displayed permanently and immovably in shimmering golden script. It is family tradition that once the Eye has decided on a cost of an item, that cost is non-negotiable under any means (although there are discounts that can apply; more on that later).

The only exception to the pricing rule comes out of a bond that exists between the Consortium and the Dimescan Grand Council. Back in the very early days of the Consortium, when the Tamasriel family was just starting the business, it fell on some hard times -- people back then didn't have a huge interest in magic, especially not ones they had to pay for, and without the influx of Kyther artifacts to keep things fresh and interesting, the business started to go under. An initiative was brought up in the Council as one particularly entrepreneurial member sought to sponsor the shop, seeing great potential in it, in exchange for services and a few policy changes. The services are thusly:

-- Members and members' families of the Council receive a flat 25% discount on all items bought and a 50% bonus to all items sold by said members and members' families.

-- The dinosaurs, instead of utterly destroying Council members, will only dismember them. This is still seen as a fairly decent deterrent to theft.

The policy changes are many, but those that have most effect and are the least bureaucratic are thusly:

-- A tax is attached to all items coming and going. The tax varies, following a fairly complex set of tables to determine its value, which are mostly based on where the item is coming from. Generally speaking, the further it had to travel to reach Dimesca, the larger the tax on it. A lot of people lie to get around this and are later executed.

-- Due to the limited availability of items and the massive population of Dimesca, each patron may only purchase one item unless they sell something directly to the shop. At that point, they start a sort of credit -- on the books, the items that they have sold back to the shop are counted, and they are allowed to buy as many as that count, plus the original allowance of one.

-- Record-keeping must be exact. An accurate list of the store's inventory and every single item that comes into or goes from it must be kept at all times. Random audits are occasionally run against the store, and if any inaccuracy is found in the record-books, the shop is to be immediately closed pending an investigation. It is for this reason that proceeds are kept under very tight watch by the shop's keepers.

Record-keeping is done with:

The Tome of Transactions, a tome similar to the Book of Many, except that its pages are accessible to all. However, there is an additional enchantment on it: Once a person writes in the book, that writing is permanent. It cannot be crossed out or changed; additions or modifications must be noted below the original entry. The Tamasriel family has been using the Tome for inventory and record-keeping for the last few generations.

However, there are rumors and whispers in Dimesca's many shady goings on that there's more to the shop than this list, and if you're truly secretive enough, the right wink wink, nudge nudge, the right motivation might net you a glance or two at some really super stuff beneath the eyes of the Council. It could be said that the taxes on income have hurt the shop over the years, and that the shopkeepers, being greedy as all men are, might look to other sources to compensate.

[Sela]

The Current Inventory of the Consortium

Trag's Tooth: Fabled to be the jagged incisor of a mythical beast whose size spanned worlds, this massive zweihander bestows upon its owner the strength to use it with grace and style, although only when the sword is in their hands. It does not teach them how to use it, however, so in the hands of the unskilled, it may as well be as heavy as it looks.

Wildfire Berries: These have been in the shop for generations, as nobody has thus far seen fit to buy them with the desert creeping up on the city. This is a small leather pouch containing hundreds of berries that, when ingested, immediately burst into flame, covering their hapless victim in blue fire. The berries themselves are an infinite source of a small but noticeable amount of heat.

The Joker's Deck: A gift from a charming Kyther from ages ago, this deck of cards is enchanted to take the appearance and number of any deck their owner needs them to be. The magic only extends to appearance - when more cards are needed, the deck creates an illusion of them for the purposes of whatever game is in play. Afterward, they vanish.

Quills of Lasting: A set of colorful quills, each to be bought separately, that have a permanent blot of ink upon their tips.

Truesong: A lute whose strings never break or become out of tune, unless the minstrel playing it needs them to.

Red Death and Blue Torment: To be bought separately from one another, and never by the same person, these vials never run out of their contents. Red Death is a thick, slimy substance that sticks to surfaces, and when eaten alone is both delicious and filling and can sustain a person's body for hours. Blue Torment is a vapor that, when inhaled, bestows breath upon its user, so that they do not need to breathe for the next few hours. When combined, Red Death and Blue Torment form a clear, colorless, odorless liquid called the Breath of God, which strikes its victim dead the moment it reaches their tongue or otherwise hits their bloodstream.

Wraps of Defiance: These leather one-size-fits-all treads enable their wearer to walk upon any surface -- the only exception being the air iteslf -- at any angle, as easily as if it were a hard dirt floor.

Lazelock's Brooch of Minor Inconvenience: Originally a pendant with a deadly curse bestowed upon it, it has over the ages lost some of its potency. Now, when activated, the pendant inflicts small pockets of bad luck on people in the vicinity, except for its owner. For example, a person rolling dice would probably roll the lowest number -- or the highest, if that's what would be worse. People tend to trip and fall; swings and arrows somehow miss their targets.

A Third Arm: This grotesque appendage is literally just that. When linked to an owner, it will follow floating beside them wherever they go, capable of lending a helping hand whenever necessary. It isn't the strongest arm in the world, for sure, but it can lift a fair amount and throws a decent punch. People of particularly potent psychic power can control it by will; others have to shout at it to get it to do what they want.

Second Life: A small pouch of magical dust, a pinch of which will restore any inanimate object to its just-made quality. Repair those old deck chairs, repaint your living room! The pouch contains approximately twenty pinches. It should be noted that this does not affect living things, although it may make you sneeze.

A Thong of Ice and Fire: These undergarments bestow upon their wearer the power to resist extreme temperatures at either end of the scale. The coldest of climates and the hottest of fires will have no effect; they will remain at a comfortable room temperature while wearing them. It is recommended that they be washed on occasion.

Jacob's Turning Point: A small dagger with blades on both ends. Gripped from the center and hurled, the dagger will magically return to the thrower's hand, barring obstacles such as brick or bone. It is recommended that its owner practice catching a little so that they don't lose a few fingers in the middle of a fight.

Ambrosia: A small, glimmering golden vial of crystal clear liquid. There is just enough liquid for one person to imbibe it; when they do, all of their wounds, diseases, and other ailments are immediately cured. This can pull a person from their death bed; however, it does not reverse the natural effects of aging.

Time Pocket: A dark, ebony sphere, no larger than a man's hand and no heavier than a feather. When its magic is invoked, a radius of twenty feet around the user is enveloped in a small tear in time and space; for as long as the magic holds -- at very maximum, if it isn't interrupted in some way, ten seconds -- the world around that space is frozen in time. If anyone leaves the pocket, they return to the natural flow of time. The sphere needs to recharge after every use by leaving it in direct sunlight for about two minutes per second of time frozen.

Rafan'talamal: This small, round steel shield used to belong to Rafan, one of Dimesca's most hardened River Guards. On an expedition outside the city, he and his group were waylaid by a traveling pack of desertkin magi. During the battle that ensued, Rafan dove before a fiery spell to save one of the guards, and though his shield took much of the blast, the impact snapped his neck and killed him. When the guards carried him back to the city for a burial, they found that the shield occasionally glowed, as if mourning Rafan's death along with them. Since then, it has been discovered that the shield is capable of returning fire, so to speak -- though it takes five minutes to recharge, it can send a potent ball of fire in any direction the user aims the shield at. Alternatively, if the user wants, the front of the shield can instead burst into flame for thirty seconds.

Echo Gems: These two diamond earrings enable their wearers to communicate with each other through psychic channels, regardless of the distance between the two. The words passed between them are impossible to intercept, even by most magical means. The users do not have to be wearing them for this effect to take place; however, the earrings must be touching their skin in some fashion, even if they are just held in the hand or touched with a fingertip.

The Godbands: This is a set of five rings, none of which are to be sold to the same person:

-- Zhaeve's Blessing: A white band with an onyx gemstone. While wearing this ring, the user is bestowed with supernatural endurance; their body ages at a quarter of the rate of a normal person. This has no adverse effect, but the moment the ring leaves its wearer's finger, they age at twice the normal rate until they're "caught up," so to speak. Thus, for the person to take full advantage of the effect, they must wear the ring at all times.

-- Aeltha's Tear: A blue band with a sapphire gemstone. While wearing this ring, the user's wounds heal at a phenomenal rate. Not in the blink of an eye, surely, but recovery from scrapes and scratches happens in minutes; from grave wounds, a matter of hours. Like Zhaeve's Blessing, however, if the user takes off the ring before their body has had time to normally adjust, the wounds that have been kept at bay will rapidly catch up with them. For example, if a man is cut along his hand, a wound that might take a day or two to recover from, he might see the flesh heal in minutes, but if he takes the ring off an hour after the injury, he'll feel the pain all over again as his skin splits right back open.

-- Shedar's Delight: A yellow band with a white gemstone. This ring grants its user supernatural talent in whatever physical activity he likes. He must specialize in one or at the very most two things, as the ring's magic only extends to the first few things he really focuses on; however, when he does focus on something, he finds that he learns and practices it as if he has had a lifetime of experience. A clumsy oaf becomes a master swordsman in minutes and the world's greatest in hours. A man who's never picked up an instrument in his life becomes a maestro. This ring, unlike the previous two, does not lose its primary effect when taken off -- the swordsman still knows how to fight; however, if that swordsman is particularly unskilled or lacks the mental prowess to continue his training on his own, he'll find that his skill will deteriorate slowly without the ring. Also, even if he forgets completely how to use the sword, since his focus was on it primarily, Shedar's Delight will not bestow upon him another skill.

-- Winter's Solace: A green band with a yellow gemstone. This ring grants its user a supernatural resistance to the elements, and some degree of control over the cold. Though he can not generate cold on the spot, if he finds himself in a particularly chilly climate, he can use it to his advantage. Be it by condensing the cold into physical manifestations like ice and hail or by freezing another man's blood, he will find that he is, for the most part, in complete control. Neither of these effects are lasting; the moment the ring leaves its user's finger, both the comfort and the control vanish.

-- The Desert's Great Embrace: A brown band with no gemstone. By itself, this ring actually harms its wearer, constantly sapping the person of their thirst, as if they were walking through the hot sands of the desert every minute of every day. This won't kill them, and it won't bring harm to their body; however, on average, they'll have to drink about twice as much water as a normal person to feel satisfied. This ring's effect, however, completely changes in the presence of the other four rings:

▪▪▪ One extra ring: Combined, the Desert's Great Embrace and one other ring will negate the thirst effect of the DGE, and it will amplify the sister ring by a factor of two. For example, a person wearing the DGE and Zhaeve's ring will age at an eighth of the normal rate.

▪▪▪ Two extra rings: In addition to the previous effect, the DGE will now bestow upon its wearer the ability to harden their skin until it is as the desert rock, impenetrable by most unenchanted metals.

▪▪▪ Three extra rings: In addition to the previous effects, the DGE will now give its wearer supernatural speed of both mind and body.

▪▪▪ The Full Set: Wearing all five rings at once, the effects completely change. Each ring's band color changes to white, and each gemstone changes to black. The user now has the following abilities in addition to everything above:

• Zhaeve's Strength: They are capable of telekinetic strength of massive proportions, able to lift and move objects of at least ten times their size and weight. They must be in fairly close proximity to do this without touching the object; any further than ten feet away and the size restriction starts getting smaller.

• Aeltha's Lament: The wearer is capable of actively sapping the resolve and morale of everyone in a fifty-foot range. When activated, their actions might become sluggish as they start suddenly not caring about the outcomes of just about anything.

• Shedar's Trickery: The wearer can, at any time, become soundless and invisible.

• Winter's Hand: The wearer can, in a radius of approximately twenty feet, directly control the weather.

Credit goes to Primrose the Fourth.

[Sela]

Le'sat Saab, the Dungeon of Dimesca

History:

Ages ago, there was a nobleman named Timothy Verenda. He lived in a small house in Old Town, nestled next to the River Guard. He kept to himself, mostly; rich from several fortunate inheritances (though, let's be true: the jury is still out on whether or not their deaths were truly accidental), Timothy did not need to work. He had enough money for food and luxuries for the rest of his life, and so he spent his time roaming the town, visiting friends and consulting with mages, dabbling in this and that. At some point, and nobody really knows how this happened, Timothy's mind began to crumble. He took a long, arduous, spiraling journey into madness and eventually, he spent so much time in his little house that many people, having not seen him for weeks or months at a time, started assuming that he was dead.

Word began to spread that Timothy Verenda, one of the friendlier, outgoing nobles, had died in his house and that, having no family, his death had gone unreported. So, half a year after he'd been last seen, an inquiry made its way into the Council as to whether or not someone should officially investigate. However, the council had more pressing matters: Around this time, reports of people going missing were beginning to crop up on a more-than-random basis. One here, two there; as the weeks went by, the count approached unforgivable numbers, and for a very brief time, a small section of Old Town was locked down by the River Guard, pending investigation. House after house was scoured. Families were grilled, criminals were rounded up, and they had little -- or unrelated -- progress.

Until they reached the humble house of Timothy Verenda. When the squad of River Guard burst into his house, they were met with nothing but a foul stench, an odor that assaulted them and waged war on some of the weaker hearts in the group. As they searched, fighting back the urge to flee and vomit, they found a door etched into the floor of Timothy's living room. When they opened it, the stench was unbearable. No further investigation occurred until a Mage Priest was found that could protect them. Under the guard of a magical aura, they crept slowly forward and climbed down into the door.

Death met them. The few men brave enough to venture through that door found themselves clustered in a hallway lined with torches of blue flame. At the end of the hallway, on a throne of corpes, sat Timothy Verenda, a shadow of the man he once was, with ebon eyes and bone-white skin. To his right and left were passages that disappeared into darkness, and from them the guards heard faint but unmistakable screams of torture and pain. "Welcome to Le'sat Saab," whispered Timothy Verenda, "the Dungeon of Dimesca." The guards took a hesitant step forward, and Timothy ran at them, screeching and wielding blades that burst into flame. In the battle that followed, seven guards and two mages died, but eventually, the contingent emerged victorious, climbing from the hatch with Timothy slung limp and light as a doll over one man's shoulder.

The Council burned the house to the ground, but the floor of Timothy's living room remained, set immovably into the stone framework of the house. The door etched into that stone remained, and years later, when the River Guard realized that they were running out of space to store criminals, Le'sat Saab is where they turned. A Warden was assigned -- more out of punishment than glory -- and the prison began operation. Since then, it's gone through several dozen in a line of Wardens, the current of which is the animal, the beast Grila Tarak, who sits gleefully on the throne of dead men that Timothy Verenda first met the world upon.

Le'sat Saab, the Dungeon of Dimesca, is where the criminals of the city are thrown. Down here, there are no rules, no procedures, no methods. There are no maps of the labyrinth of cells and tunnels intertwined around the sewer system, so vast that the Warden himself sometimes forgets a tunnel or two in his rounds. Lit only by the faint blue flames lining the walls, it is dark and dank and stinks like Hell itself. The prisoners have no rights and the Warden is, for all intents and purposes, God until you're proven innocent. And even then, maybe he'll knock a tooth loose or two to teach you a lesson in being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Description:

In the most basic sense, the Dungeon of Dimesca is an underground labyrinth of tunnels, each branching off into cells. These tunnels are not so much organized as sprawled, having been dug by a man who was insane in the most clinical and diabolical of ways. Each cell is a giant, hollowed out stone, with metal down the side that faces the tunnel it's connected to. The walls are firm, packed earth, reinforced by layers upon layers of dried blood and the occasional bone, when there was a hole that needed a quick-fix and an inmate that needed a lesson.

The entrance is a door etched into the stone foundation where a house once was, located near the main River Guard station. The door opens to give way to a ladder, and the ladder leads down into a corridor that faces the Warden's Throne, a rotting, festering chair of decomposing corpses. From there, the corridor branches off to the left and to the right, and thus starts the labyrinth. The only light in Le'sat Saab comes from torches that line each wall, dim, blue flames that never seem to go out on their own. When the occasional clump of dirt or bout of fisticuffs knocks out a torch, all one must do is replace it in its peg on the wall and within a few minutes it sputters -- albeit weakly -- back to life. There isn't enough light in any portion of the place to highlight any specific feature; a man walking down any path will only see a few feat ahead of him and only the details of the ground immediately beneath his feet. Each prison cell is spaced to receive just enough light for the inmate to see a few inches around him, and that's it.

The tunnels mingle with those of the sewer, occasionally brushing up so close that a pipe can be seen jutting out from a ceiling or wall or floor (though never in a cell), and though there exists the possibility that someone could enter or escape through one, the Warden usually doesn't see much reason to care: Who would enter this place, and who, upon entering, could possibly escape his cell?

Upon entering -- upon opening the door, in fact -- the first thing you notice is the stench. There's not much to be said about it other than that you'll quickly wish you hadn't been born with a nose; soon after, a stomach and its contents, too. If you can get past that -- and let's be honest; few men can -- the second sense that attacks you as you make your way inward are the screams. It is constant. There are enough prisoners in the Dungeon of Dimesca and there are enough demons tormenting them that the screaming never, ever stops. The Warden does take pleasure in torture, for sure, but he rarely has to be there to exact it - the deprivation of sight, sound, food, and sanity is usually enough all by itself.

As far as procedures go, there really aren't any. Not documented, anyway. Generally speaking, it's accepted practice to bring a prisoner to the Warden already unconscious. He loves a good fight as much as any other deranged individual, but it's easier to drag someone who isn't kicking and screaming, and besides, the Warden may be a beast of a man, but there are some fights even he won't win. Most of the time, the River Guard -- or the fine, upstanding, law-abiding citizen making an arrest all by himself -- will find some way to knock out their target and then just open the door and drop them inside. Even if they're awake, the Warden can usually handle it from there.

As far as removing prisoners go, it's a touchy subject. Once captured, there is no guarantee, innocent or not, that the prisoner will live to see sunlight again. There are sentences and the Warden does try to abide by them, but if a thief goes in and doesn't come out, it's usually not met with huge complaint. If a man goes in and is later proven innocent, well, sometimes there's a complaint or two, but not many people stay in the dungeon long enough to voice it. Even the most pious of politicians often find their wills bending to the stench.

In the Warden's opinion, if the fear is put in a man before he's thrown into the Dungeon, then he's that much less likely to commit a crime. So all this hubbub about "surviving," really, is just hemming and hawing and beating around the bush.

Note: Leonard Schneider is now the present Warden of Le'sat Saab.

Credit goes to Grila Tarak.

[Sela]

Scriptorium of Dimesca

Location: City center of the Llynthíel Quarter

Structure :

       Exterior: A three story building with a subterranean maze of rooms, the Scriptorium rises from the earth in a cathedral shape, with a bell tower located toward the back of the roof. The Scriptorium was created sometime between 108 and 111 AB with limestone, marble, wood and the occasional gold adornments. The wide entrance faces east with a set of steps leading to an ornately carved wooden door. This is the citizen’s doorway. The slated roof is adorned with gargoyles used as water spouts with great gaping mouths. In the center, located at the top of the roof is a beautifully rendered high relief of the Indurian Trinity – Zhaeves, Aeltha and Shedar – the celestial bodies represented as the Father, Mother and Twins respectively. They are shown with their symbolic icons with mass quantities of gold inlay. The windows on the first level are wide and allow for as much sunlight as possible. Some panes are fitted with stained glass depicting the passing of time and the Trinity. On the second floor, the windows are smaller, with more interlacing between the panes. The third floor has even fewer windows and not nearly as impressive.

     Interior: The first floor acts as a library – housing books with three large rooms outfitted with long tables for citizens. Shelves line each room with books, scrolls and maps. The rooms are sectioned by date: the silver room (manuscripts written/produced After the Blight), the gold room (manuscripts written/produced Before the Blight) and the opal room (housing maps and catalogs). Following several winding wrought iron staircases, one is led to the second level, where most of the manuscript production takes place. Within the interior rooms, the processing of parchment is done. In these dark rooms there are barrels of liquid for the soaking of vellum, and stations for drying and stretching of parchment. The anterior rooms house desks where the sisters write or copy the manuscripts. Naturally, they have windows to allow light to stream in. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling along with heavily laden sconces to allow work to continue into the night. The third level of the Scriptorium is the home of the sisters, made entirely of wood. A modest and stuffy attic of sorts with cots and a wash bin. It is where the younger sisters, the less knowledgeable, that live in this sometimes stifling room with its vaulted ceiling. There are two large rooms where they live with a long hallway connecting them to the iron staircase. At the end of the hallway is another stairway leading to the bell-tower. The vault beneath the Scriptorium houses dusty archives that have yet to be cataloged and stored in the library. It is an arid maze of winding passages, left from the time before the Blight, with the Scriptorium simply built on top of it. Deep into the labyrinth are what are assumed to be burials, however no one but the sisters and Mage Priests are given access to the catacombs.

      The Vault:  The underground chambers hold many of the accounts of Realm Drifters, most in languages the sisters have been unable to decipher, so they lay waiting. The vaults are a source of argument among the elite and the sisters. Many Council Members believe the writings of Kythers should be destroyed, but the sisters refuse, instead keeping them in the subterranean crypt beneath the Scriptorium. Some are clearly journals, but others hold diagrams and even maps created by Realm Drifters and either given to the sisters or left around.

Manuscript Production: The sisters of the cloth work here, creating pages for books and recording dates. It is an arduous process to first create vellum parchment and then use dyes and ink to write. A select group of sisters spend their hours creating a most precious type of manuscript with illuminations (illustrations), which require specialized training.

Scribes: Many elite families will hire a scribe from the Scriptorium, which is an important source of income to keep the production of books alive. Training occurs from the age of seven and completed at around seventeen. Scribes can work for anyone: nobility, judges, Mage Priests, etc. Although many employers can, in fact, write and read, using a scribe to take inventories and dictate letters is beneficial. A single house may have as many as five scribes, depending on the tasks. They are generally trained in the Scriptorium, sometimes living on the third floor. They are taught how to read, write, produce parchment, and some even learn cartography.

Credit goes to Sela.

[Sela]

Ruk’nar Temple

In modern day this is known as "The Ruins of Ruk’nar"

Location: Elmserith Woods

This temple was created by Rathmor Olphwhit and his experimental minions. The Temple is made of stones similar to the ones that have been used to build castles. The temple itself took a couple hundred years to build, not including the digging for the catacombs. This can be found on the most South Eastern edge of the Elmserith Woods. Part of the temple is covered in the vines and trees of the forest, while the other half has been exposed to the desert sands since they have engulfed the lands of Indur. There are four levels to this temple.

Level 1: Main Chambers
The main chambers are where Rathmor would sleep and speak with his minions. There are many long hallways that seem to never end and doors that seem to lead no where. Some say they were put there to confuse people and disorient them.

Level 2: Sacrificial Chambers
I believe the name says it all. Once a month Rathmor’s minions would go out to the local cities and take either a young woman or child and bring them back to their temple. Here they would be laid out on the Alter of Sacrifice. They would be bled dry and then their body parts dismembered and eaten by Rathmor himself. The blood would be used to drink and feed his minions, this is how the Spriggans came to have such a lust for the taste of blood. He believed that his body harnessed a god and that the only way to appease the god was to eat the flesh of the innocent.  

Level 3: Experimental Chambers
This was where Rathmor would attempt to create and alter minions. Failed attempts were discarded and cut up into food for the minions he had. He would often use his magic to try and alter beasts and animals in the forest – He often attempted to mutate the Fae, however, his spells never worked against them. Their own magic and will was too strong for him and his powers.

Level 4: Catacombs
The catacombs were used for one thing. If he found trespassers he would toss them down into them and let his pet, Grechtas would hunt them down and slaughter them. The catacombs are the entire size of the temple, there are many puzzles that you have to pass in order to get through alive. Also, there are traps you will need to watch out for. Such as: floors that shift out from under you, shooting arrows, stones that shift and release poisons or animals into the room you are in. Just be careful where you step and where you go! It is rumored that Grechtas still hunts in the darkest chambers of the catacombs. There is also rumors that Rathmor has left his book full of all the spells and magic he had learned, no one has found it and if they have they haven’t spoken a word of it.

Non-Player Character Rathmor Olphwhit

Character Name: Rathmor Olphwhit


Race: Elven


Origin: Elmserith Woods


Age: 486 (Supposedly Deceased)


Gender: Male


Occupation: Wizard


Appearance: Possessing a 6'7" frame with a skinny, almost lean build. He wears a helmet with two horns twisting out of the top. His scraggly hair comes out of the edges of the helmet, long enough to blow in the wind. The helmet has been cut open around the end and the mouth, around the opening the mask is lined with gold. His dark red eyes stare endlessly out from under the helmet. He wears a light metal armor that is hidden by a long cloak that is a dusty brown. The only parts of his metal armor you can see are the gauntlets that he wears on his hands that go up to his forearms. On the edges the cloak has magical runes etched in that protect him. He carries a staff that has a black and red jewel at the top; this is what he uses to harness his powers as a wizard.


History: No one has ever found a book written about the old wizard. Now, people only know of him through stories and rumors. A few hundred years before the blight there was a wizard, Rathmor Olphwhit, that was a recluse out in the middle southeastern part of Elmserith Woods, before it withered down to the small woodland that it is now. At one point in his life he was a good man, always helped the races that lived in the forest. Times were changing in Indur and so did Rathmor. It has been said that Rathmor had found a mysterious jeweled staff deep within the heart of Elmserith Woods. The power of this staff was so strong and dark that it began to transform him the longer that he kept it in his staff. His eyes slowly turned red and horns began to grow from his skull. Shortly after acquiring the jewel he began to experiment on forest creatures and inhabitants, attempting to make them slaves for him. His first attempts were more than fatal to the creatures. They would turn into hideous beings and then go into cardiac arrest where they would die. With much practice Rathmor finally perfected his spell. Some say that the Spriggans were part of his experiments and have evolved through the ages. Once enough enslaved minions had been gathered, the Ruk'nar Temple was constructed for him, to which many nefarious deeds were done within.[/frame]

Credit goes to Anastasia

[Mimi]

Shedars Crest
A local and popular tavern located in the heart of Dimesca.

Staff
Owner: Raffael Bartholomäus
Cook: Charles Deschland
Tavern Wench: Victoria Silva'daz
(These are all PC's, if you wish to be one of them just PM Zoey. The names are negotiable, but I will need to know if you change them, because I will need to update this write-up.)

History
The grandfather of Raffael Bartholomäus, Gerald  Bartholomäus, had opened Shedars Crest back in 3AB. Just a few short years after the Blight had struck and demolished the plentiful lands of Indur. It wasn't as large as it is currently, at first it was just a simple small tavern with a tiny kitchen in the back and just one bar and three table tops. Gerald knew that he wanted his tavern to stand out from all of the other taverns in the city, he knew exactly how to achieve this goal. He knew that since the Blight had struck the lands of Indur, people were having a hard time making a living and even having a reason to live in the desolate lands. He thought it would be a great idea to give everyone something that would lift their spirits.  Every two months Gerald would host a play, each play would be different, but typically a comedy. He would also offer free drinks for the first act, and then half price for the rest of the night. He found that this brought in a rather large crowd and seemed to bring him even more money, which was always a good thing. This is the tradition that the Bartholomäus’s would carry on for as long as their family owned this tavern.

The Tavern Today
Raffael Bartholomäus has recently taken over the tavern after his father’s passing. Not only has he expanded it within the last seven years, but he has also made the plays more frequently. They now show once a month. They also vary in content, humorous, sad, romance, etc. The tavern now has a large kitchen, full bar and many table top seats. There is a large stage that’s on the right side of the establishment. There is now a second floor where patrons can sleep if they do not have a home within the city. Of course, there is a charge. The tavern is even more so popular and with the lands of Indur beginning to flourish with culture once more Raffael has added something else special to keep his patrons coming back. He offers the most exotic foods anyone has ever seen in the city of Dimesca.

Prices

Lodging

Entrée

Quencher

Per Night = 10 Gola Eight Nights (One Week) = 60 Gola Sixteen Nights (Two Weeks) = 1 Arians and 40 Gola Twenty-four Nights (Three Weeks) = 2 Arians Thirty-two Nights (Four Weeks) = 2 Arians and 60 Gola Forty Nights (One Month) = 3 Arians and 80 Gola

Raedite Wings with vegtables = 2 Gola

Dimesca Ale = 1 Gola Cadmia Ale = 2 Gola

Credit goes to Zoey.

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