TIMELINE 1 RECORDS-PRE SPLINTERING
22nd Obsidian: The Captain of the Guard agreed to my request and gave me unlimited clearance. He also confided that Arcvasti had always given him the creeps. With my new authority, I ordered mechanisms and floodgates made for basic containment procedures. I also mandate that a large containment and quarantine area be dug out below the magical altars [Which I'll need to look more closely into over the next few days. The dining hall seems to have more space inside of it then it should, likely due to the presence of so many artifacts in one place distorting space itself. First priority is sealing away everything of this nature. All the artifacts DEFINITELY need to be sealed away. Besides possibly Arcvasti's abacus and Noramsog, the "journal". Their potential uses outweigh the drawbacks of leaving them unsecured. The Dragons probably need to be contained too, probably somewhere where they could be unleashed on enemies in emergencies. Throughout the next few days, I'm going to be investigating anything connected with Arcvasti or his "inventions".
23rd Obsidian: I start with the most famous and, arguably, useful of Arcvasti’s developments: The Armory. It and the surrounding forging area are in full swing, pumping out various metal armour segments to fill the equipment gaps in the ragged militia that comprises most of Riverrun’s military might. Their HIGHEST priority task, however, is making some mithral plate gauntlets for Dailm, who lacks them. The Armory doesn’t seem especially anomalous, or at least, if it IS, the anomaly is beneficial and can be ignored.
24th Obsidian: The drow caravan arrived today. Splint and his men guard the Depot from any more potential ambushed on general principle. It also seems that the Mayor [Who, as a soldier, reports to Splint.] has begun some renovations involving a sky bridge from the main fort to the “Commerce Building”. The Mayor himself, as well as the rest of his archery squad, watches over the negotiations.
AMBUSH! More frost giants stream towards the trading. Splint and his men turn from their vigil over the Depot and charge them. Splint beheads one of the beasts in one stroke and then routs them. The Captain of the Guard taps me on the shoulder.
“Come to the Caverns. There’s something you need to see.”
Down at the Cavern outpost, I saw the corpse of the Forgotten Beast that had been roaming there. As I watched, it hardened into a hard black stone.
“One of the sworddwarves, Urvad, slew it. Stab to the head. Don’t think you’ll be able to contain this. It’s too heavy. We can’t move it even a little bit. But none of the others have done this.”
I reflected briefly on this. This Forgotten Beast must be different from the others, somehow.
Back on the surface
Erib Asothlest, Mayor of Riverrun, watch the Frost Giants get routed. He’d stopped bothering firing arrow at them. THEIR arrows only glanced off. Some of the drowish arrows hit home and cripple the Frost Giants so that Splint could execute them. And then he saw it: A MASSIVE Frost Giant, nearly at eye level with him, on top of the fortifications. A Worldender. Despite its size, it moved quickly and silently, sidling towards Dailm, in his exposed position away from the others. Erib shouted to get his attention. Dailm turned and barely rolled away from the massive wolfram Zweihander the giant wielded. They fought at a standstill for a few seconds, each blocking or parrying the other’s blows. Then the Worldender smiled, looking down at his opponent’s gauntletless hands. And cut off Dailms shield hand. Then his weapon hand Then his left leg. Then his head. Splint arrived, seconds too late to save his comrade. He looked down at the corpse of his friend and looked up at his killed with murder in his eyes. Then he too, dueled the Worldender, matching him blow for blow with his blade made of bifrost. The Worldender spoke:
The end draws near. Can’t you smell it on the wind, taste it in the frigid air?
Splint cut his arm off. Then his other arm. Then his right leg. Then his left leg.
Kneeling before the enraged Splint, limbless, the Worldender spoke again:
WE are not the end. Only the Harbingers. You cannot escape your doom now. It is inevitable. It always was.
Splint SCREAMED and cut the Worldender in half.
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25th Obsidian: Dailms funeral was held today. Splint laid his body to rest in a simple coffin, but commissioned a memorial slab of bifrost, to honour his achievements. He also had bifrost swords made for his squad and promoted Urvad, the Forgotten Beast slayer to his personal squad. Once the mithral plate gauntlets are complete, no disaster like this should ever happen again.
Continuing in my inspection, I looked around the magical Altars. Several members of the Sorcery squad, as well as Tenderroast, were performing the initiation rituals to fully join one of the Schools. None of the Altars seemed dangerous, so I left off there.
27th Obsidian: Urvad received his new plate gauntlets today. My Containment Complex is nearing completion. I have begun researching the abacus Arcvasti made. It seems to move without being touched. Eventually, I realize that it is Gnomish Morse Code. I only manage to catch the tail end of some transmission[From WHERE?]. It read thusly: “…shattered. And then there was one where there had been two” Experimentation on the “journal” is next.
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