3. Log of Zug'Grul/Drasz, the Warlock

Log of Zug'Grul/Drasz, the Warlock


  • PERSONAL LOG OF ZUG'GRUL, THE WARLOCK

    (A.K.A. DRAZS, THE GREENFIRE)

    [The logbook was once enchanted with an arcane lock, but no longer. You may flip through its pages freely. The handwriting is simple, with hard lines sharp ends to the letters.]

    [The entries appear undated but more or less in chronological order, although the writing patterns include various and updates added text (marginal notes) after the date of the original entry -- sometimes many layers of marginal notes, stacking and overlapping with one another.]

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Jinsen and I sought out a lesser incubus at the rift. I cut my hand and swore an oath of service. In return, the creature granted us forbidden knowledge, and thus the power to manifest occult magic.

    I am now a warlock.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Jinsen is dead. A militia group of witch hunters found his magical runestones and ritual site. They tied him to a post in the village square and burned him alive.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I am alone.

    Jinsen is gone, and I am alone.

    I would exchange all my power for my friend's return.

    But I am alone.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    They suspect me, just as they suspected Jinsen.

    I must prepare myself.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    A human named Adan Whisperwick has approached me. He wore clean, expensive clothing. He knew the location of the militia members.

    He tells me he heard of what happened to Jinsen.

    He offered to assist me in killing the militia members. When I asked him what he wanted in return, he told me it was an offer freely given.

    So I accepted.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    We located the militia camp in the woods at night. Adan cast a lightning bolt to kill the sentries. I used my shadow magic to sap the remainder of the group while they slept.

    There are no survivors.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan told me he knows I am a Warlock, and that we should both start devising a means out of my agreement with my demonic patron.

    I am not so sure.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan brought me to a subterranean laboratory in Thay.

    He introduced me to Lord Bellos, a flesh mage who specializes in grafting living tissue onto other organisms. (Correction: To himself.)

    Adan greeted him, yet behaved rather differently around him.

    After the meeting, he quietly noted to me that while Bellos is second to none when it comes to the purveyance of magical artifacts, he is also second to none when it comes to vile misdeeds and grotesquery. He further warned me not to trust Lord Bellos. (I should have listened.)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    By fearsome rite, he did it!

    I am free of the incubus' bindings -- and yet, still possess my power! (How? (Forbidden knowledge hard to forget.))

    I did not believe Whisperwick could (would) do it. (A mistake not to.)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Bellos presented me with an offer. He claimed that in exchange for agreeing to his terms - enforced by magic - he would reveal to me even more potent warlock abilities, as my new patron.

    He is not human. Perhaps, once, he was. But now he is something else, I suspect.

    I foolishly agreed. In return for powerful magic, and more forbidden knowledge, I am now magically bound to serve Bellos. I cannot refuse his orders.

    (I confess, I still ever seek greater power. Perhaps I always will. (With apologies, Adan. (Though you and I are not so different on this point and you would admit as much if pressed.)))

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan claims that mages are the only ones fit to rule Faerun. Yet, he insults Bellos frequently when he is not present. He also speaks of certain other mages with clear contempt.

    I am learning he is a man of many contradictions.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan treats his ongoing feuds with various towns and cities without concern. (A game.)

    He does not care about the apparent threat his various experiments, conjurations, looming towers and batch of bound fiends and elementals (as well as his attacks on rival mages) seem to pose in the eyes of the public or of the various adventuring parties sent to stop him.

    I have counted numerous parties who have publicly announced their intentions to defeat Adan -- or, more accurately, one of his clones that operates in their region. See, for example:

    • Red Brigade, in Baldur's Gate
    • Azure Fellowship, in Mirabar
    • The Equinox, in Calimport
    • The Spotter-Owls, in Candlekeep
    • Verdants, in Silverymoon
    • Silver Shields, in Nesmé

    ... and many, many more.

    I noticed the subtle glee in Adan when he mentioned that one town sent a group of adventurers to one of his towers to slay the supposedly wicked mage that occupied it.

    When I asked him what joy he found in being attacked (read: having his clone attacked), he changed the subject. He invited me to a tavern. He asked me if I like cards and dice. I said that I did. He agreed, and remarked, "Never know what you're going to get."

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I helped defend one of Adan's towers against raiding adventurers today.

    I have noticed that Adan adopts a certain persona when dealing with adventurers and the peasant/common-folk and non-magical public writ large. (I would eventually learn that this is particularly the case when he is using one of his clone puppets.)

    He acts arrogant, cruel, and dismissive, intentionally goading. I have watched him do this many times.

    (His supposed method to "weed out" adventurers who earnestly seek to put an end to some perceived wrongdoing, on the one hand, and those who lie to themselves that they do (despite genuine belief otherwise?), when their real, true intentions are for riches or reputation/"vainglory.")

    (Further note: Whisperwick is ever contradictory on this point. Why weed out anything, when he does what he does? Why consider so worthy that which is so opposite to ourselves?)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    [This entry is a set of pages that have been clipped in - they are effectively full pages of "annotations", deliberately inserted into this spot in the tome, rather than pages that would have been originally attached to the spine of the tome.]

    (I would later go on to confront Whisperwick again about the matter of his public persona -- and that of his clones.)

    (The true Adan Whisperwick -- the one I do not mind to still call friend -- has grown more and more distinct from the clones he uses.)

    (On the subject of clones, there are two types. First, there are his actual clones, i.e. the ones he uses to avoid death. Most mages of his calibre use such clones.)

    (Second, there are the clones better described as puppets, imbued with a crude facsimile of his personality and consciousness, which he uses to govern his various towers and extract the various resources, natural or otherwise, from the their respective dominions.)

    (The second sort of clones are the sorts that he uses to confront the various adventuring parties that have attempted to slay him.)

    (I initially expected Whisperwick to be annoyed whenever this happened, and he is, for the most part, except when he is not.)

    (For example, when Pax Cobalt destroyed one of his clones and one of his towers in the Moonshae Isles, he seemed almost pleased. He later scried their leader - a rather soft fellow despite his muscular appearance, whose name I never learned, who donated the gold from the tower to a nearby orphanage. I expect(ed) the scrying was to plot some manner of counter attack. (The counter attack never came.))

    (On the other hand, when Echo Vanguard bested one his clones on the far outskirts of Baldur's Gate, he was most displeased. Echo Vanguard called for a lavish parade in Bloomridge, paid for by the district's mayor. Whisperwick later took it upon himself to teleport to the adventuring group's grand and extravagant secret headquarters, and lay waste to it -- along with the rather large treasury of gold, but not before helping himself to their rare artifacts -- all using a combination of Timestop, Horrid Wilting, and Delayed Blast Fireballs. (When I asked him about it, he changed the subject. (I will later learn that Echo Vanguard was a front for the Shadow Thieves.)))

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I pressed Whisperwick on the subject of death.

    He seemed indifferant.

    I asked him: "After all these invitations for adventurers to come slay you, are you not afraid one might find you - the real you - and kill you?"

    "No," he replied.

    I thought, then remarked: "The law of large numbers dictates it. One of them will kill you. Even if by simple misfortune. This is an acceptable outcome?"

    His response was cold, quiet, blunt:

    "Who else would you rather it be? Some demon?"

    I did not know what to make of that response. (Still do not.)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I confessed to Adan that I bound myself to Bellos. He is furious. He has insulted me, and my nature. He used the words "idiotic orc," and "swampskin," with such venom. (It will not be the last time I will hear him insult non-human species.)

    Later, he returned to me, and provided me with a long-term plan to escape Bellos' service. There, I recognized again my friend who helped me against the militia men.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan has shared with me particulars of his quiet opposition to Lord Bellos. (Yet another game.)

    A woman named Lady Vivilly Damaroz, betrothed to Lord Bellos, escaped Bellos' compound and used her magic to teleport to Wisperwick's pocket plane.

    He has cloned her, and used something called "Quicksilver" to make a near-perfect (if not near perfect) clone -- although not after several other failed attempts without it. He has presented her as a gift to Bellos, lying to him about her being the original.

    He promised me to secrecy of this fact. I agreed.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan Whisperwick frequently speaks of humanity.

    He has in the past characterized various non-human species such as orcs, goblins and bugbears as inferior and incapable of grand design.

    This is his deepest flaw.

    He is a hypocrite.

    He claims he does not care for non-humans, yet he consistently seeks my tactical input and debates arcane theory with me.

    He treats my observations with more weight than those of his human associates.

    He does not see the contradiction between his conscious opinions and his demonstrated actions.

    He is blind to his own reliance upon (and admiration re: mages? others within?) the very lesser creatures he claims he is supposedly above.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I confronted Adan about the contradiction in his opinion of non-humans. I noted that his dismissal of non-human worth is incompatible with his dependence on my counsel and our friendship.

    He did not dismiss the observation.

    But, he retorted that I was "essentially human."

    I reminded him that I am half orc.

    If he is open to working with half-orcs, such as I, why not half-goblins, half-elves, half-drow or others?

    He remained silent for a long time.

    I pressed him. Is his view on this point quite so different at all from the witch hunter militia men we slew together, who viewed witches and warlocks as lessor creatures?

    Eventually, he said that "perhaps" I am right. He also eventually noted that those examples, i.e. half goblins, elves and drow, "are of the Prime Material, at least." (At least!)

    (I will later come to suspect he is beginning to re-evaluate his predispositions. I will believe he is not entirely closed to the possibility of admitting that he is -- quite obviously -- wrong on this point, which constitutes a rather glaring weakness for him from a practical standpoint.)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I confronted Adan about his recent remarks about a full-blooded orcish Shaman that we defeated together.

    He apologized to me. Perhaps he is learning. (Later, I will have to repeat the scenario. His short-sighted prejudices are quite ingrained in him. Why? (Later still, he would apologize again when I refused to counsel him about the matter of the ice drakes.))

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I am convinced that Adan Whisperwick's smug dismissal of and prejudices against other species (hypocritical though he is, given his inconsistency on this front) will be his downfall. (That or my fist through his face!))

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan has manipulated Kzagoth, a cambion, and Lord of the so-called Caldera Manor (more on that later).

    He promised to help the creature remove its fiendish heritage in exchange for its scales.

    Kzagoth complied.

    Adan admits freely to me he never intended to help such a creature. He has instead exploited its desperation. He used the scales instead to conduct experiments and research methods for stripping planar and anomalous traits that he called "infections" from human subjects.

    (I will later learn that he was conducting experiments on the goblinoids in Emberhold towards this objective.)

    I suppose to dupe a fiend-blood is to deceive a deceiver, and is not such a terrible thing. (Hypocritical? (Yes. (Unless "of the Prime Material, at least?" (Still yes.))))

    [A separate small torn piece of parchment, separated from its original document, has been fastened to the page right next to the above sequence of annotations. The note contains a distinct, very different handwriting - in flowing, bohemian, large & cursive lettering, which reads: "Typical Warlock!"]

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan spoke to me of a strange star in the sky that burns with a peculiar, orange light, that almost seems to give the sky and the air an odd texture, like a miasma or thin, sheer veils or strings.

    It is a star I have noticed before. He says it is not so much as star as it is an "entity," one is from the time of the Neth, and one which long ago vanished, but has more recently once more re-appeared.

    An entity, he says, from the time of a certain sect and enclave and period of history that has for the most part been erased from record.

    He identifies the entity as a threat to the province, if not the continent or worse. (Not a game.)

    I read his files, without him knowing. (He would quickly find out.)

    From them, I learned he is constructing a machine within his private pocket dimension. (Nested pocket within a pocket.)

    The "Sidus Shackle."

    It is an immense (more enormous than I will know for a long time) hollow, metal construct that uses quicksilver for power extraction, transmutation & conversion. It is designed to trap a behemoth sized creature, destroy its consciousness, and extract its energy.

    He intends to use it to capture the entity "when the time comes."

    (He discovered my prying. He tells me that confidentiality is of the utmost importance with regard to this specific machine and his plan.)

    (He tells me that the entity/star can send agents ("star spawn") down to Faerun to infect the minds of certain people here (and, as I would later come to realize, potentially also masquerade as them), people he did not identify to me though I did ask on several occasions.)

    (Due to such agents, he has sworn me to a magic pact of secrecy, and I am bound by this pact ("Geas") not to reveal the subject. I am magically incapable of disclosing this information to anyone, and even now it pains me to write about it -- capable only of doing so with the certainty that I will magically seal this tome from prying eyes and that I know I will never disclose it to another living soul.)

    (It was this condition imposed, to even tell me of its existence, so worried was Adan of such agents ("star spawn") learning of his ongoing efforts to build this machine.)

    [Spellcraft DC: 30 - You are able to see the minute exception to the above-mentioned geas, which the author of this book managed to incant against the above-mentioned geas. Upon this page, you sense the permanent contingency spell: namely, that should the author of this book perish, or should the threat described by Adan Whisperwick above become demonstrably and irrefutably proven as true in the eyes of the author, a magical copy of this tome -- and of the above description and threat -- will manifest in the possession or inventory of each and all members of the Golden Geese.]

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan Whisperwick has cataloged his assessment of the adventuring band known as "the Golden Geese," one of the many adventuring groups that oppose him. (I will later conclude that his opinion of them is perhaps unfairly low.)

    According to Adan, then, and what he has said:

    • George Longcloak is a naive boy. His obsession with fairness (read: "justice") is zealous and attracts the "wrong attention." (What wrong attention?) He is a liability, in more ways than he realizes. Drastic measures have become necessary. When I pressed Adan on this, he did not elaborate. (I will later learn two things: first, that Adan will kill George Longcloak, and second, that of all the Geese, George Longcloak (read: the "original") is the Golden Goose that Adan Whisperwick despises the least.)

    • Isolde Garibaldi is a bard. She is soft-hearted, and her mercy is a form of vanity used to establish her own moral superiority. This trait will eventually lead to her downfall. (I think he did not look very closely; he should look closer, like he did with Longcloak, and perhaps read her book.)

    • Reyhenna Jorino is a bullheaded woman. She serves as a blunt instrument who cloaks herself with a pretense of order, useful only for direct force and brutality and naked self interest for herself and her family's political influence. (At least part of which is, I suspect, a persona, not unlike Adan's approach to public affairs.)

    • Aoth Sepret is a Thayvian schemer who is no longer entirely human. Adan considers her a fool for having lost her "true humanity," and that she "almost surely fails to appreciate what that really means." (More of his hypocrisy, I'm afraid.)

    • Jonni Aelthasson is a seer. He would be a useful ally if he were not compromised by his association with the rest of the group and his obsession and research into lichdom. (Perhaps I should provide him with some of my tomes.)

    • Juniper is an elf from Silverymoon. She commands a regiment of knights and maintains an association with an strange, otherworldly entity. She is dangerous and must be watched. (Agreed - unclear as to nature of the entity attached to her (potent!)).

    • Cormac Randolph utilizes dark pacts with entities from beyond. He is not to be trusted. He must be curtailed and monitored closely (Hungering? ("Acamar"? (Mere theory.))).

    • Sebrienne is an unstable human. She is not truly a member of the group. Adan believes she could be a worthy novice if she were separated from the others and stop torturing herself over past mistakes. (We all make them. What is a few deaths in the pursuit of the arcane, as Adan might say. I would be inclined to agree.)

    • Dermin is a mercenary and a stoic warrior. He acts as an ally to the group, and he requires careful observation. (Not many interactions with this one, but apparently an unbreakable wall of a man.)

    • Perom is a gnome in command of an elite squadron. He is more dangerous than his appearance suggests. (A decent fellow at the end of the day, in this warlock's opinion.)

    [Continued in next post...]


  • ✧ ✧ ✧

    According to Adan, the Golden Geese are a "band of braggarts", ("sarcastic blowhards", "clowns",) -- also, a group that "expects to win", ("entitled to victory", and "wins gracelessly" when they do (see: other annotations on "games")) -- (apparently fuelled by "sheer, stubborn, childish will," other times described as "pure and bullheaded force", a "blunt hammer" -- in its various forms, apparently, not all of which physical or unsubtle) -- and who are "vainglorious", ("conceited", "egomaniacal", "overweening", "credit seeking", "self-aggrandizing",) who are best curtailed and redirected at enemies ("that can temporarily sate their bottomless desire to flaunt a bloated sense of importance, pride, and accomplishment.")

    (Note: Many of the above remarks have been added in as addenda, having been made in a singular fit of quiet bother later on, long after the initial entry, shortly after the Golden Geese effectively raided one of Whisperwick's more prized towers and he lost access to all resources within.)

    (I will later discover that Adan pulled strings to redirect their attention towards Lord Bellos.)

    Suffice to say, he holds the Golden Geese in rather low regard.

    I will be meeting with them shortly, actually, to assess them myself.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Having met with the Golden Geese, on behalf of Bellos, I do not believe Adan gives them enough credit.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan’s assessment of the group "Locus Operandi" is notably more favorable than his assessment of the Geese. He views them as a competent collective of earnest and well-meaning adventurers -- the very kind he wants to label him an enemy, something he approves of, in his own peculiar and contradictory (stupid?) way.

    According to Adan, then:

    • Laura Cade is a mage with genuine curiosity. She is a viable candidate for apprenticeship, as Adan recognizes his own younger self in her drive to learn. (I will later learn that he actually provided her with, in essence, a copy of a "Clone" scroll, and encouraged her to use it (in case he ever killed her accidentally during a confrontation? (see notes on "games"))).

    • Jhaelryna is a (half?)drow mage. His opinion of her was initially low, as expected, with a fair amount of emphasis on her devil familiar. (He will eventually speak rather well of her, after she will surprise him in an encounter, and he will admit her potential is comparable to Cade's, perhaps higher in pure arcana.)

    • Jax, also known as "206," is an ex-Zhentarim soldier. He is physically strong, blindingly fast, and possesses a flexible and merciful sense of justice. Adan at once admires this of him, but for the same reason believes he represents a threat, which does not make much sense to me and he has yet to fully explain what he meant by that. (Still do not know?)

    • Florian, a fey Bard, whom Whisperwick initially called flip he now calls affably charming. He considers the fey a tactful diplomat who might even be useful at curtaining "certain planar threats." (I thought, mistakenly, that fey are less prone to his prejudices?) (I will later appreciate Florian more than the others.)

    • Nerrez is an ex-Zhentarim operative who commands rats. He is likely a wererat. As a purveyor of information, he is dangerous. Adan has ordered that we maintain close surveillance on him. (I will later learn that Nerrez and Adan are of similar temperament when it comes to cutting off loose ends.)

    • Ashla is a paladin and a former member of May Celine’s lunar knights. She left the order after a disagreement with her superior. Adan says that, "despite her being an Aasimar", he admires her willingness to act independently and defy orders based on secret and unknown reasoning -- which he calls a "distinctly human trait" (I will later learn that Adan confronted his own former arcane teacher in a very similar circumstance).

    • Aenhever is a human ranger. He is clever and highly competent. While he is bullheaded and often adversarial toward Adan, his loyalty to his group is a clear virtue. (A werewolf of low self-esteem being courted by one of the packs of ferals that skulks the Province of Moonreach.)

    • Patrick is a bard with a righteous, zealous nature. He is an admirer of the human paladin Temperance of Gulderhorn (whom, I will later learn, Adan also holds in high regard?). Adan considers him a man of good taste. (Re: Gulderhorn?)

    • Lokelani is a fey. Adan initially disliked her due to her nature. (So fey not less prone to his prejudice? (More hypocrisy and contradiction from Adan?)) Like Jhaelryna, she has proven herself through action, and he now recognizes her as a worthy arcanist.

    • Octavia is a human mercenary, a hunter of runes and rare artifacts. Adan admires her tenacity and shares her professional interest in antiquities. (Later, he will remark that he regrets his actions against their former shared organization, the Caldera Manor.)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan told me he sent assassins to eliminate Locus Operandi.

    He told me he promised those assassins great material reward if they should succeed, along with high credit and praise, among his circle of business affiliates (Later, I will learn such affiliates included Lord Bellos) -- i.e. he promised them prizes, gold, fame, and glory.

    At the end of that very same conversation, he told me he did not expect the assassins to succeed. A bewildering sentiment and a waste of resources. Truly, he contradicts himself. (Another game?)

    (Later he will remark to me with a bemused smile that the Locus Operandi dispatched them with ease -- before indicating he has already sent yet another assassin!)

    (Further note: I will eventually learn not to question the baffling hypocrisy of Adan having sent various assassins only to have them fail in his name -- against his supposed favourite group of antagonists!)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan's opinion of the Locus Operandi is almost diametrically opposite to that of the Golden Geese, who he considers more brutish, brash, and blunt in their approach - by contrast, he considers the members of the Locus, as sincere, earnest, and unpolluted by the cynicism of time and effort, without vainglory. (I wonder how accurate this assessment is?)

    "Of all my opponents," he said, "the Locus Operandi are my favourites."

    Having a "favourite opponent" (antagonist? (enemy?)) and enjoying them to the degree that Adan does is yet another contradiction in Whisperwick's bizarre personality. If he is so entertained by them, and so attentive to them, and seems to enjoy them so much, why send assassins after them? (Insane question with no answer.) Why not emulate them? (Fair question. (No. Not in our nature; our endeavours require harsher sort of pragmatism.))

    I have yet to meet this Locus, and we will eventually see, I suppose, if I agree with his assessment.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan maintains membership in the Caldera Manor. I have not bothered to join. I find the organization unnecessary. I am occupied with Lord Bellos’s tasks, which I perform out of obligation, not desire.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan uses multiple clones. These copies operate in various towers, methodically harvesting arcane materials. The volume is excessive. I do not know his final objective. (To do with his efforts against the entity?)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    He continues to find amusement in his adversaries. He is entertained most by the earnest ones who fight for some sense of duty or morality, even while he engages in activities various authorities would call criminal in order to continue amassing his hoard of arcane resources.

    He (namely thru clones) acts with extreme cruelty. When I challenged him on this distinction between himself and those he seems to be most obsessed about and entertained by (admire?), he laughed and offered to buy dinner.

    It is an illogical contradiction, with no definitive explanation. (I have concluded that this manner of adversarial relationship is his favourite, as though all it were a game to him. (Adversaries in games are typically friends. (Sincerely doubt his enemies feel same way. (Talks of "winning" and "losing" and seeking a "worthy opponent." (I will later ask him what that means. (He will later still reply: "Someone worthy of being my end." ("We all face the music sooner or later"? (Death wish? (Re: From prior to Dweomercore? (Re: Eltorchul Academy?))))))))))

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I reiterate that Adan is convinced that mages must rule Faerun.

    He views the arcane as the only defense against otherworldly and interplanar threats. He sees non-magical rule as a failure of stewardship. He considers militant soldiers, royal Kings, nobles, republicans, peasants and the like as all ultimately incapable of doing anything substantively useful when truly faced with planar or otherworldly threats.

    He is, as ever, arrogant about it, though I cannot say I can truly fault at least the bare core of his logic that magic users are best placed to defend against such threats.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Rare coalesced aether, or Aetherite, has fallen from the sky in the Province of Moonreach. Adan secured it. He recruited Olivia Gor, a member of Moonreach Keep, to betray her kin and prevent Moonreach Keep from obtaining the resource.

    It is now confirmed and known that he possesses it.

    The thing apparently disrupts divination magic and all manner of far-sight (permanent, temporary, or otherwise). He tells me he intends to put it to that very use.

    When I asked him why he wouldn't use it for its other properties, he told me it was far more valuable to him for its ongoing anti-divination effects.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I learned that Adan betrayed the Caldera Manor to secure this Aetherite. It is an odd choice. He aligns himself with magocracy, yet he discarded a potential set of allies in that political, magocratic institution.

    I do not know his reasoning, nor can I follow the reasons why he is deviating so far from his usual mode of operation.

    In my opinion, he is not acting rationally.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I asked if he will keep his word to Olivia Gor.

    He offered no response.

    He is shielding his true thoughts, but I can tell he is concerned (actively worried?). I have never seen him this way. (Still do not know? (The machine? (To be pressed. (Refuses to answer questions!))))

    Additionally, he is gathering unexpected allies: fire giants, bugbears, and a pale, vampiric entity. He has, apparently, been currying favour with them. But why? (See note above.) I suspect he is lying to them / using them as he did the cambion.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Adan will no longer speak of his plans to me. He has refused to inform me why he has destroyed and usurped various mage towers on the Sword Coast and the outskirts of Hillsfar, Scornubel, and Loudwater.

    He has grown more and more secret. I do not know why. (Still do not know. (See previous pages. (The machine.)))

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I assisted the Golden Geese. Specifically, I warned Aoth Sepret, the rather striking Thayvian "Golden Goose", regarding her upcoming betrothal to Lord Bellos.

    I could not see her to be subjected to his profane rituals.

    Bellos discovered my interference, invoked our magical bargain, and easily captured me.

    I am currently his prisoner.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    As I linger in this prison, I recall the night Adan showed me a powerful spell he had derived from a fabled one called "Aumvor's soul shatter." The original spell separates the soul from the body. Adan's variant separates the soul, from the body, from any additional passenger in either, which is to say, from any other soul, or any other influence or magical or planar presence within a given target or the target's soul that is not native and original to that target or the target's soul - i.e. a third party presence, including otherworldly influences, even those deeply and subtly embedded.

    I asked him why he devised such a spell, and upon whom he intends to use it.

    He did not answer and changed the subject.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    I have been released!

    I learned that Whisperwick used his internal connections to Bellos to pinpoint my location. The Thayvian exile Zodar Flass, another one of Bellos' associates (Note: extremely frail without magical protection (dead!)) provided him with the information in exchange for a promise to help his disgraced family in the future.

    Adan informed the Golden Geese of where I was held, leading to my rescue.

    (I will later learn that Adan attempted a direct rescue only to be foiled and subsequently threatened by Bellos personally. The two also apparently engaged in a spell duel that ended with Whisperwick's loss, and a promise (lie) for Whisperwick not to challenge Bellos again, enforced with magic. It was only after this, that Whisperwick went to the Geese with the information.)

    I am grateful to Adan (also Flass) and to the Golden Geese, for their intervention.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Florian, of the Locus Operandi, was among the Golden Geese when they came for me.

    I can see why it is that Adan enjoys him.

    (I confess, I enjoy and am more impressed by the Golden Geese - though here Adan and I are at utter odds, with his preference being for the Locus Operandi, and mine being for the Golden Geese.)

    (Adan has a copy of each of Florian's publications, "The Moonreach Gazette" I think it is called, which Florian circulates in Moonreach Keep - do not ask me how Adan obtained them - whereas I prefer my copy of "The Mystery of the Eye," by Isolde Garibaldi.)

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    Whisperwick has besieged Moonreach Keep.

    He betrayed many of his own allies in the process during the siege.

    I confronted him, demanding to know the tactical necessity of such a ploy.

    He refused to answer.

    His silence is heavy. He bid me gone.

    I have formed a theory from our past discussions, on the source of his secrecy and his concerns.

    The orange star, ablaze in the sky.

    I have read up on the subject.

    I can now confirm that some stars or things that appear like them ("entities"), are capable of sending agents ("star spawn") down to our world.

    These spawn, it is written, might possess the ability to occupy living vessels or even to masquerade as such individuals.

    I do not suspect Adan of being such a spawn. Rather, I suspect, that he suspects me, and others. And I suspect, that he suspects, that he cannot rely any longer on those he could once trust. Such as myself.

    This accounts for Adan's growing secrecy.

    It also explains his obsession with the Aetherite, and its anti-divination, effectively magically cloaking properties. He is hiding from the entity, and its potential spawn.

    He believes himself to be defending against the threat of the entity, as well as against an infiltration that might have already begun. (Machine?)

    I will help him in this regard, whether he wants my help or not.

    Unfortunately I've come to the this realization painfully late.

    Time is now imminently scarce, all divination magic is failing, communications as well, and it seems someone has now breached our tower and my invocations are already low. I only write this entry as a means to focus and calm my mind, as writing often does, in order to access more of latent invocations.

    In any event, I have my items and scrolls. As well as one spell in particular, to imbue upon this very tome. Just in case.

    If all else fails ...

    ... Jinsen, may we meet again beyond the veil.

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    [End of log.]

    ✧ ✧ ✧

    [DM Xanatos Gambit / Eternal]

    [Architecture of Metamorphosis - 2026/04/25]