The world
Lore
What the scroll says, what is under Aldenmoor, and what is happening to the water in Stormbay harbour.
Azroth
A malign being, sealed. The seal is failing. The three locations named in the scroll all connect to the original seal, and the seal needs three pieces to be repaired — one in each place.
The Scroll
Written in a dead script and co-authored by Gorim and the Varn family. It describes the road to three places: Aldenmoor (ruins, north-west), Veldran (a city in the mountains) and Mirefall (a swamp). Elric spent thirty years on the script before he ever met you.
The Seal and the Varns
The Varns built the mechanism. Maren Varn — the last of them, hidden for thirty years — had the key, and gave it to you. The old maps of the tunnels have intentional errors: the original builders did not trust outsiders.
The dark circle
What the Harbor Knows
Thirty feet across. The water inside it is completely still. Absolutely nobody on the docks looks at it.
It appeared in Stormbay harbour, and then again at the cove where the Grey Maren made landfall. It is Azroth, leaking through.
The Hollow
Creatures born from Azroth's seepage into Aldenmoor. Distorted humanoid shapes with no eyes, that dissolve into smoke when they die. They come up from the old underground entrances. They were the first thing in this story that was not human.
The Archive
Below Aldenmoor there is something older than Aldenmoor. The refugees dug a granary foundation and found a shaft; three workers went down and one came back wrong.
The Archivistlegendary
Guardian of the Archive
Not a construct and not a mechanism. It predates every civilization anyone in this world has named. It has been below Aldenmoor since before there was an Aldenmoor.
The Guardianepic
Varn Seal Sentinel
Built by Varn hands to stand watch over the seal piece beneath Aldenmoor. It held its post far longer than it was ever meant to.
The Forge Keeperepic
Original Guardian
The Aldenmoor Weaponsmiths built it as a final test, not a permanent barrier. If a recruit could not beat it, the first blade was not theirs to carry.
The Archivist's Handepic
Direct Extension
Not a separate system — the Archivist itself, translated into physical action. It descends from the upper sanctum.
Archive Enforcerepic
Sanctum Offensive Layer
The founders negotiated the Enforcers off the table in the original compact. They were never supposed to surface.
Drenrare
Aldenmoor Founder
One of the seven founders who signed the original compact forty years ago. The oldest person in Aldenmoor, before the settlement knew it had a compact at all.
Ossauncommon
Construction Foreman
One of the three workers who went into the shaft on the third shift. He came back after two days with no memory of the second one, and a calm that does not fit.
Trainee's Edgerare
Aldenmoor First Blade
The Weaponsmiths' Guild had one rule before they taught anything else: one strike, placed correctly, at the moment that matters.
Compact Guardianrare
Deep Archive Layer
They do not move like the outer constructs. They move as though each step is a considered decision, because it is.
Deep Sentinelrare
Archive Interior Guard
Older than the Wardens in design, and in a way that is harder to explain, more deliberate.
The cast
The Guardian
You
Chosen by prophecy — Gorim's word, not yours. You carry the scroll and Maren's key.
Jessie
Mercenary · Gunslinger
Hard on the outside, deliberately: she keeps the reputation and the distance as armour. Underneath she is loyal and kind and almost never shows it. Found as a baby in the Greywood; she has never known who her parents were. She goes quiet when anyone says Veldran.
Elric
The Scribe · Scholar
Shy, quiet, very smart. Reads dead languages. Wants to belong with the group and feels like an academic among people of action. When he does speak he is usually right.
Cara
Broker
Pawnshop on the South Docks, crossbow always loaded, knows everything and everyone. She and Jessie have a history neither of them will explain. She stayed in Stormbay.
Valdris
The antagonist
Buys loyalties. Reached Stormbay four days ahead of you and has never once been behind since. He issued arrest warrants through the city's own legal channels, which tells you what he owns.
Gorim the Old
Keeper of the Scroll
Guarded it for years and co-wrote it. He knew who you were before you did. He has not appeared in person since.
Maren Varn
The last Varn
Thirty years hidden. Gave you the key. Described a couple who went to Aldenmoor thirty years ago: she had hands like a fighter and eyes that didn't trust easily; he talked too much.
Garrick
Leader of the Aldenmoor refugees
Strong, charismatic, gives everything for his people, still optimistic despite the losses. He lost his brother on the second failed attempt to reach the underground stores.
Zoe
Jessie's childhood friend
Cheerful, fearless and forever getting into trouble. Grew up in Veldran with Jessie and knows the city — and its council receptions — inside out. Loves Jessie unconditionally; Jessie loves her back and is quietly terrified of the day she runs at something that does not work out.
The Frogst Brothers
Barrel and Hammer
Korn Army, but they came for you personally the night of the escape. Jessie faced both of them alone.
Open threads
Who were Jessie's parents? They were looking for the same thing and walked the same road you are walking. That is all anyone knows. Elric found two names in the Ravennor archive and would not read them out.
What does Valdris actually want? The scroll, obviously. Whether he wants to repair the seal or break it has never been said.
Veldran. Second location. Jessie has a connection to it that she has not explained to anybody.
Cara. She stayed. Jessie believes she is fine, and needs to.
Gorim. Still gone.