Narrative

Day 47 began after the party decided to go to Hartwall’s lab. They tried to put rations into the bag of holding while escaping back to the ground. Morgana set something free in the forest; it was called “No chart.” The notes then report that adventurers had taken Lady Elissa Hartwall’s diary and killed the elf who had been taking woodcutters from Pinesprings.

In the ransacked room, an untouched picture showed a halfling girl with a silver-haired girl in a field of white roses. The picture had been altered: investigation revealed that the other side of the girls had been changed, and another girl had originally been in the picture. Draconic runes on the frame included the word “Preserve.”

Beyond a door was an empty bookshelf and an alchemist’s table covered in mushrooms. The phrase “Friend fleshbag set him free” appeared in the notes, along with the statement that the children were elsewhere now. The party learned or inferred that two silver dragons had lived there, fought, one left, and then came back, after which there were three: one big and two small. At the end of a corridor were two prison rooms. One room was filled with dirt and kept filling with more. The next room was locked; Platinum said the door had not been there when she was with the adventurers. Inside stood an obsidian plinth with an urn, a single white rose, an amethyst orb, a red ribbon tied in a bow, and a dark wooden flute laid like an offering.

An obsidian statue had no face but suggested a gracious god, with an eyestone in the lower torso, possibly Squeal. The other side represented Kasha, with an unclear note preserved as [unclear: Leys 8? mystery]. When Eliana looked at the flute, they somehow knew Lady Elissa Hartwall played it, perhaps from a look from Provista, and a frosty tear formed in the corner of their eye. The urn read: “Though my love for you in life may not have been true, you still gave your life for me. I’m sorry.” It was Argathum’s urn. Behind the silks, one made Eliana shiver and feel afraid. Dirk found a crack in the wall.

When the party checked the crack, someone became petrified by it and instinctively threw the flute at it. The crack looked as if something spherical had hit it. Dirk checked the urn, found it contained dust, and tried to speak to it. The phrase “In her strange bones laid bare” was recorded. Nearby metal looked tarnished, odd for silver; when wiped, it revealed crystallised jade dust, as if silver were turning into jade. Geldrin cleaned both statues and became lost looking at one.

An ornate door led to a long throne room. One throne was Hartwall-carved but crudely decorated with skulls. A dead elf and six skeletons were present. Pictures showed copper mines, a saintshrine, snowy mountaintops, many portraits, a silver-haired figure, and a sphynx associated with Garadul. Portraits included Avalina, Argathum, Corundum, and Argea?, but no Cetiosa and no obvious missing pictures. The notes preserve the unexplained alignment “Males - um, females - ex.” in random order.

A sentient door asked who Eliana was to it and whether it was allowed out. It had brothers in different places, including Ennuyé’s lab and [unclear: aprosur]. It said many people had been in and out, that Eliana had been in and out many times, and that it preferred Eliana’s other look, wearing a dress. After Avalina last left, Mr Browning came in a day later and left with a key. The door said Hartwall had two daughters but would not reveal their names for privacy because they were babies. The party could not trick it. A strange noise followed, and the door disintegrated into dust, with the fragmentary note “child is & when I was last there.”

Eliana and Dotharl felt mind fog and immediate memories leaving them. Invar heard, amid the fog, “I will not lose you again my son.” Geldrin shouted “No.” Dirk saw Joy and said she needed to look after his friend. Errol said they needed to stop because information was being lost. The man with him warned they needed to stop and that more than pride and disguise would be lost; they did not know what they were messing with. Platinum thought whatever wiped the memories had missed the door.

The party went outside to find and clear the area where the room had caved in. On the far side they found a trapped door, disarmed it, and identified a magical banishing trap aimed at someone coming out. The rest of the lab may have been through the door. Dothral recognised the architecture. A forcefield appeared partway down the corridor. Runes in an unknown language read “Fuck you Everard.”

The first door on the left had carvings of small elvish town houses and large out-of-place trees, with Elvish script at the bottom. Inside were a wooden rocking horse on a spring, a vanity, a sofa with stuffed “bears” that were actually humans, gnomes, and halflings, and a rack of flutes. Eliana picked up one stuffed bear, tucked it under their arm, started to cry, tried to remember something, and felt as if they had lost something. They put it in their bag.

Dirk sang a sombre goliath song from the music book. While he sang, Eliana heard flute music, was drawn to a flute, and felt it as sombre and heavy in their mind. The goliath baby played around the room, added a ribbon to Eliana’s horn, vomited on them, and thought it was hilarious. Geldrin tried to clean it with magic, but the spell failed, apparently because Eliana stopped it.

The next room had two beds, one carved with sky and one with a dragon. The sky bed had an X carved into it. Under the dragon bed was a box; a key was on the dragon’s bottom with six possible Celestial words on it. A magical pure-black cat with green eyes came around the door and wanted to be killed. Something was locked up at the end of the corridor. The cat escaped; Eliana shot and injured it, but it repaired itself.

A “window” opened into an illusion of a beautiful field of roses, with a picnic blanket under the window and dragon toys nearby. A tea set held cups with folded papers labelled Joy, Uncle Leeg, Daddle, Mum, stupid cat, key, poopoo head, and me, with the last perhaps keyless. The sphynx wanted Dirk to read books. The toy chests were empty. Geldrin read the bears’ words: “Here always Never Nowhere all Harth.” The notes identify Hannah Joy, Ennuyé’s wife, as erased from existence.

The party realised Ennuyé had sacrificed his wife so Joy could live, but it did not work because Joy could not exist if her mother did not exist. The sphynx grew quickly and asked many questions. Invar had a crab in his bag. The baby sphynx told Eliana, “I wasn’t born green,” said jade had turned them green, and remembered brothers now.

The next room had carved doors. One stone door was crudely carved with a bell, cracked and on fire, and large men surrounding it while looking at the sky, perhaps Bellburn. When Dirk asked it to open, it said, “You may not pass, son of fire.” Only the son of stone and their friends could enter. Invar tried to enter, and the door told him to run back home. It opened for Eliana. The room was large and empty. Dirk found a coin of uncertain origin. Invar noticed one stone was slightly different from the uniform others. Morgana found a paper that read: “I hid them for you. One is in a cell, the other false teddy.” A loose hollow flagstone held a box, and Geldrin found a memory orb.

The box revealed a small scene of Grand Towers before the other towers were built. Three small boxes at the front resembled something seen before at Ennuyé’s place or a professor’s. Seven bare-chested elves stood in front. Two held chains leading to side panels: one to whorls of wind, and the other to a toy figure of Attabre, an elven body with a lion’s head. The baby sphynx said Attabre was his father, took the lion, broke the box, and fell asleep after the tantrum.

Geldrin found a glass shard, and Eliana found a statue with Goblin writing: “Time flies.” Things disappeared when the party left the room. Another door led to a desert-badlands room showing a sandstone battle between Noxia and Sierra. It contained a giant adult-dragon-sized bed, a human-sized bedside table and vanity, and a bedside book titled Tunnels of Love, identified bluntly as dwarf porn.

Morgana found white rose powder that smelled of visions. Of three chests, one from Mr Moreley’s room was open. One box and an incredibly attractive elf said, “That’s your form now.” The ceiling changed into a Milky Way, then into an eye. Another room of coral and seashells depicted a temple on a shoreline, possibly the Baylen / Baylain Accord. It was a bathroom, and tiny scratches in the bathtub made a picture of a cat.

The next room was light and airy, with stone houses on stilts. Its door said, “Not time for flying lessons.” The notes preserve the phrase “Not time for me never, not any more.” Invar broke the door. The room contained nothing obvious, but pictures lined the walls, a circle lay down the ceiling, a copper sunrise appeared, and the ceiling looked as if it should open. The baby returned to the previous room and left with the memory orb, which did not disappear.

Pictures in the room included Avalina, Hartwall, and others. The baby put memories on the wall and said, “No, maybe it time.” The images showed a huge black dragon with flies buzzing around its horn in a desert near a large tower. It turned into a human in ornate clothing. A drow or green dragon attacked the black dragon and was winning, then pulled out a jar. A beautiful elf was propelled into the sky and crashed into the Barrier. The notes continue that the figure pushed through the Barrier. A woman said, “not any more” and “that’s your form now.” He could come through because he had the gate.

The party found a room labelled or associated with Laylistra, then an entrance chamber to a school where everyone was present and Eliana wore a robe with Hartwall crests. In a girls’ room, three girls climbed out the window and looked over the urn. One daughter laid a ribbon from her doll and told her sister, “my gift is better than yours.” A key was called poopoo head. The other replied, “no, you’re the poo poo head, Eliana!” and pushed her into the wall. The baby said jade had made Eliana green.

The next door led to a kitchen of artificial yellow stone with crops. Under the fridge was a hidden door handle and a note reading, “in case you lock yourself in again, Greensleeves.” Eliana knew Greensleeves was a halfling chef but did not know why. Another door opened to a lighthouse with a castle in the middle, possibly Freeport, and a dining room with a twelve-seat table. Everything was eclectic across many races. The chairs seemed more sat in than the place settings suggested. A cutlery box had a false bottom containing a silver necklace with a green jade heart-shaped pendant carved in Celtic style. Eliana had not seen Avalina wearing it, and the chain did not feel like part of the pendant. A loose stone under the table hid an invisible handle. Dotharl looked out of the room and saw an invisible human man with holes for eyes.

The doorknobs were magical. The next door opened toward Gar and a purple dome. The room added itself to a six-foot-tall humanoid glacier in the dome, surrounded by lightning, guarded by two Dothral automatons created at the same time. A female voice shouted, “I’ve not hidden it here, fuck off you prick,” and Eliana felt odd hearing it. Morgana removed an artery from the doorknob hole, but nothing happened. When the voice was heard and doors began to close, Geldrin put up a Wall of Force while fireballs from the ceiling struck harmlessly against the protection.

The hollow-eyed man was in the empty room and followed Dothral with an approximately five-second delay. His tongue had been cut in half. He ran over Eliana’s shoe, and insects appeared and began talking. The insects or speaker served Igraine, said they had started down the path and payment would be due, and named the tax collector as Cacophony, who would collect payment when due. The party asked what language this was in and whether it had a mortal word. A vision of Throngore appeared: a glowing blue ball surrounded him, disappeared, and a blue object fell to the floor. A silver dragon picked it up and said, “that’s it, now this is done.” All animals speaking for Cacophony died except one that told Morgana what it was called.

The automatons became active. Geldrin woke one. The creature in the dome was in their charge, and they would become aggressive if needed. The notes say they had protected the creature for 1037 years, then also 1017 years, and that it was for a prison close by. It was still charging and had “2” time left. Both powered down.

The last door led to a dark black rock swamp and a trophy-room-like chamber with two rows of empty plinths. The plaques had been scratched off, but Morgana cast Mending on them. The restored plaques named the Crown of Mooncoral; a picture of three trees with fletching arrows on the middle one; the Blood of Noxia; the Chains of Blackthorn; the Heart of Tremon; a dress made as a gift from survivors of Sunplane; “His first gift to me”; Lion’s Blessing; the Crown of Thorns from the First Massacre; Musings and Thoughts on the Location of the Lost; Shaman Blackstorm's Tome on the Significance of the Number 5; and The Flight of the Gold [Cacacity/Cacriting], Its Arrival.

Geldrin had one of the listed items or books. Eliana put it on its plinth, causing a rumble that knocked Geldrin back and made light appear above the chains plinth. The sphynx baby was named Bynx. After pushing the chains plinth the wrong way and noticing writing, the party put the chain from the locket on it, causing the tree plinth to light. Its plaque was removed, revealing a stone arrow. Removing the arrow made the light go out. In the bedroom, light now shone above the nightstand. A book there had not been present before. It was blank, but indents showed it had been written in. Magical fire burned in the fireplace. Makeup revealed words in the book, apparently Avalina’s diary.

The last diary pages described getting sick, a cell in every promise being a flavour, a spiral of intentions continuing from good to bad, people giving things away and becoming shadows of themselves, worry for daughters, too much given away, and loved ones dead. The writer asked the daughters to close the place off and did not want the others to get things. The daughters were teenagers at the time. Back in the plinth room, placing Noxia slime on its plinth did nothing.

Another diary section, on the Anvil pages, said the writer was unhappy about having to live up to her family’s promises, disliked her forced mate, cryptically referred to someone she liked, and described marriage as only to keep the Council of Gold happy. Placing the book on the musings plinth lit the Heart of Tremon. A shard placed there lit the Blood of Noxia. Eventually everything else lit. The dress plinth yielded a door handle that felt [light/like] and connected to the door. It unscrewed and had a hollow cap, perhaps to fill with water. The Blood of Noxia looked as if it was trying to escape.

Back in the empty room, the party worked out what was behind the odd brick. A handle started vibrating; the stone no longer held, and the handle glowed cold. In the bathroom, they worked the shower. Filling the handle with water made it glow. The invisible handle was removed and was itself invisible, creating something on the design. Arc suggested fetching tongs from the kitchen. Nothing happened when it was put in the fire, leading to the question of whether it was the air one. Taking it to the flying room made it glow.

On a second round, Morgana felt writing on a piece of paper, fear, and resentment. She pulled out a random paper as if she knew it was there. It read, “Nope, not going there. Going to use grandson’s old trick.” The notes preserve the uncertain name Taotli?. The party found his picture in the flying room, and the handle was inside. They charged it in the bedroom fire. Putting the handles in the wall made the wall sink into the floor. An archway appeared in the back wall with a glass clock on it. The space was empty except for the Sierra’s arrows, a central box, and an open coffin door. The humanoid of the barrier from the prison room disappeared.

A conch-like control item had three once-per-day effects when blown: Control Water, a song of thrumming, and Conjure Water Elemental. It also granted or involved Create Water, underwater breathing, speaking to sea creatures, and underwater movement. A chest showed a well wall without a bottom, causing overwhelming vertigo. Cold entered the room. Rimefrost shrieked for “little dragons.” The party killed the ice elemental. A fire elemental in a rip under the fireplace seemed evil. The party attempted to put the elemental puzzle into an elemental ball.

The notes then repeat the Day 47 marker. A Skygate-type portal had runes on it; three seemed to be places, including a glittering-type word, a cryptic-type word, and an unclear third word, perhaps “Original something.” The frost elemental prison runes had completely disappeared as if never there. Diary entries described fighting by Dunnen people. The writer and Argentum wanted to help Garadul. They fought elementals in the name of [Hafelius?]. Garadul had trouble fighting them, while Metatous seemed more powerful than he should have been. After a two-week break, Argentum died, having fallen to the armies.

At 18:00, Geldrin investigated the portal and worked it out. At 22:00, another diary entry said a symbol was similar to “glittering.” They had hidden the whole place with them, described as petty. The writer was unsure how Argentum was taking it. Allegations against her were valid, but taking the city was extreme. A discussion preserved as “Taler” involved the actual word for captive, prisoners assembled, disagreement over official alternatives, Bronze refusing her suggestion, and wanting an alternative for Garadul. The writer wanted to believe intentions were good but could no longer see the path.

Arc asked Dothral to set it free. The party teleported to the frost prison. Ice blew away. The elemental spoke to Dothral; when told the party wanted to come in, it stopped blowing and they headed inside while lightning crackled in the distance. Invar found it difficult to connect to Shotcher. Behind the ice, two corridor doors had a lightning bolt and a snowflake, followed by two plain handleless doors. At the end of the corridor was a T-junction and a painting with a thick wheel of compass points, sun and moon in the middle, symbols for the compass points, and scraping or scratches where something had been rubbed off between the points. A flute sounded from the left.

To the right, an elaborate door bore danger symbology. Turning right changed the symbols to say, “Don’t go down here.” Darkness lay that way, and the corridor felt as if it went farther. At the corridor end, where there was no ice, a closed door had black hardened tree sap or rubber around the frame. A feeling called from behind it. Dirk asked the ancestors what would happen if the party replaced the elemental and sensed woe. Further conversation suggested some lies. Dirk used Clairvoyance and saw a semicircular room with an apparently empty central plinth and rubber between all flagstones. This oracle area of the dome aligned with the pipe from Timnor’s vision. The being said he was no longer in this plane.

At another prison, a standard carved door showed eight serpents with different heads: goat, lion, and bull among them. The door at the end was iced over, with no rubber. Lightning seemed to come from this side of the door. Dirk spoke Aquan. The entity knew Dirk’s name, expected him to set it free, asked whether it was safe, and wanted to make sure it was the right thing. It could think and talk to some elementals. The notes suggest Lady Elissa Hartwall had the ice thing trapped and may have put it into a fire elemental. It was weakened by the prison, could affect things through a gap, and had a cellmate throwing ice around. It had been tricked into the prison. Before releasing it, the party learned there were other angry prisoners.

One dark door now held nothing; it had been a prisoner of a different time. Another dark door led to an ancient dwarven hold, not a settlement. Opening it revealed a massive shaggy blue aurora. Geldrin promised to return and let it out when he learned how to power the dome without all the elementals. The cellmate had been chosen to turn off the gusts and could turn them back on when he pleased.

At the snake door, the party chipped at the ice and one head spoke. It knew the door at Hartwall’s lab for Ennuyé and needed a Hartwall-style door handle and archway. The goat was Dorion, the bull was Tim, and the lion was Geoffrey. The door’s conditions were to use the arch, oil the hinges, and not break it. It called Dotharl the door guard for this prison. Geoffrey wanted a new body before allowing them in. The party agreed not to take or break anything. Inside, the walls were intricately carved with faces showing different expressions, except for eyeballs or hair.

The floor was a mosaic of seaward stone, purple crystal, and other materials. The archway matched the Hartwall lab archway, and the prison symbol said “home.” A seaward-stone table had veining like an unrecognised map. A hat stand held a cloak that made the wearer invisible. Bookshelves held books about the moon and a nursery rhyme book about Valentinhide. One unknown-author book, Palace of Valentinhide, said her palace was forged in the deep sky, in a domain outside mortal realms, on the crimson. Its walls were faces she did not have, the air was unbreathable unless visitors brought their own, and when the gods were banished to another plane, Valentinhide used a loophole to stay at this palace.

Geldrin felt urged to put the book on the table. The table’s blue veins morphed to look like the moon. The nursery rhyme book showed a castle, perhaps in Hartwall escape style. The coat stand had invisible eyes on it. The cloak, when invisible, showed moving starscapes to observers but not to the wearer. When Geldrin placed other books on the table, Ennuyé’s spellbook made it blank, then showed sleeping men, then a girl in a dome, then an endless well with more at the bottom, then two grinning figures guarding a door with weapons, perhaps a picture of Ennuyé’s soul. A Mythos spellbook showed a pyramid, temples beside a sphynx, an egg, and Garadul.

A tome of dome making displayed strange curving patterns, a “magnet curvature pattern,” Grand Towers, a crystal, mountains, the atmosphere, and a giant flaming rock. Geldrin’s spellbook showed a massive dragon, Perodita, now with a scorpion-stinger tail and more insect-like wings, sitting atop Grand Towers and looking into the windows. Other pages showed trees, then nothing, then a two-lodge logging area. The table spoke the words on the page. Another image showed a dragon lady and two dragon men, possibly silver, white, or gold. Flight of the Gold showed an enormous palace with tiny dragons flying around, a snow screen, flowers and trees, no snow, and a temperate appearance.

The archway’s “glittering” rune glowed, and men stepped through the portal. One was human-ish and old, with golden blond hair, a very long moustache, golden eyes, ornate old clothing, sandals, and a walking stick. He asked where the scroll was and named himself Aurum Prudence. He disliked Dotharl. He said the only portal activation in the last thousand years had been the cat. He thought the scrolls had all gone with them when everything was crazy. Pacts had been broken, perhaps Hartwall and Icefang, and they had decided to take charge and move the city.

Aurum suggested the party come back with him so he could show them around, after which they could decide whether he could have the scroll. The party took the cloak. They went to Snowsorrow, where the archway had different runes. The building was enormous, with grass and woodlands below. It was a warm patch and blackout time, but it was midday. The Tri-moon was visible at the wrong time. A copper dragon landed nearby and entered the building. The city was now called Sunsoreen. A door was carved with a female sphynx face identified as Bynx’s sister, the guardian of the white dragons who sacrificed herself to become part of them and turn them good. Aurum took the party inside the palace to the council first. The council doorway was enormous and impressive, carved with a white dragon and sphynx. Geldrin had the scroll explaining how they moved the city to the other side of the earth.

Stained glass appeared to show dragon theory: a white dragon surrounded by gold dragons. Five thrones stood in the middle. The council figures included a female elf or human to the left of the white dragon, a golden dragonborn, an unclear figure with odd hair, and to the right a dwarf with a massive golden beard covered in statue symbols. Sophus Holed was linked to spiritual things. Aurum Prudence sat in one of the free chairs. An elf or human asked why the party wanted an audience with the Council.

The Council said they had left because they did not want to be involved in the dome, and this side of the world was less populated. They thought the party should take someone out. Quelling emotions began with them. They disliked Dotharl, calling him an abomination and very selfish. They wanted the scroll and asked what the party wanted in return. Cindy escorted the party to rooms while wearing Dunnen-coloured clothing. She said there were many laws, new ones every day, and people had to remember them. Her clothing colour came from her mother having lived with the Dunnen people. Everyone had to have a job, or train for one.

The Sunsoreen council was recorded as Hayhearn Frowbrind, a white leader; Aurum Prudence, gold, expansion and protection; Sophus Holed, gold dragonborn, justice and laws; Orius [Nosheer?], dwarf gold, creation and agriculture; and the Silent One, an air genasi silver dragon associated with knowledge and information. The council had sat for the last few hundred years. Seven settlements within one hundred miles were under the Sunsoreen umbrella and had been absorbed.

A TV orb glowed, showing a copper dragon and claw or clew marks. “The Shadow” wanted information. The party wondered whether it was nice and whether they could get it out. Seven or so copper dragons and perhaps one hundred or fifty slaves were mentioned. Dotharl saw an orb and realised the party was being watched. The Tri-moon was out. The skull of Tremon vibrated. A copper-and-white-haired “half-elf” and a huge red dragonborn appeared; the dragonborn grabbed the male and arrested them. In a dragon-scale courtroom with a gold dragon, outbreeding was now outlawed, and both were found guilty.

The party saw them in an elven town square with a gold dragon on a pile of gold. Cindy was called back, gave bath directions and passes, and said there had been no “murders” in the last two or so years, though people were still killed. Inbreeding with lower races was allowed. Blue and red dragons were attacking Sunsoreen more than the others. The red dragonborn’s presence was requested, and the party needed to testify against the troublemakers.

The party followed to a new place through an internal market, where townsfolk felt as if they were walking on eggshells. The courthouse did not seem designed for dragons despite having forty-two courtrooms in that building and more than two hundred across the city. At 17:00, the judge was a copper dragon wearing a magistrate wig: the Right Honourable Charming. Cindy was tried for seditious aiding and abetting leaving Sunsoreen, tampering with visitor quarters, displaying terrorist messages, passing carrots, and spreading chaos across the lands. The court asked whether the orb gave illicit messages or whether both patrons were talking out of turn. Eliana was called Eliana Hartwall. The Great Lorekeeper had provided the information. The questions were not relevant to the trial and asked where Eliana came from, whether they had pets as a child, and why there were so many teddy bears.

The court did not want to question Dotharl because they did not question machines, but questions appeared: “Help me, Grandson.” The judge became flustered. All questions came from the Lorekeeper, and trials did not usually proceed this way. The outside door opened and four observers entered: two elves, one human, and one copper-haired person. Three invisible hooded figures entered as well. Dotharl called them out, and a peacekeeper struck him. One invisible figure was hit and became a copper dragon; another grabbed Cindy and disappeared. The judge transformed into dragon form, arrested both invisible figures, and the manacles turned them humanoid. The judge had suspected the party, but Dotharl’s actions changed his mind, and he sent them back to their quarters.

The notes record that Dothril / Dotharl had a familial tie to an elemental. Bynx explained that where pure elemental planes meet, they combine. When the party asked if the council were ready, two gold dragonborn escorted them. Only Hayhearn Frostwind and Aurum Prudence were present. The Lorekeeper was unavailable. Hayhearn disliked being asked where their information came from. She sent Aurum to fetch records; he muttered that it was not like it used to be. When Eliana questioned why the trial questions were irrelevant, Hayhearn asked who Eliana thought they were. According to Sunsoreen records, Eliana was Eliana Hartwall.

Aurum left, and Hayhearn said that explained a lot. Bynx cast Truesight and found his sister was no longer there; there was no trace of her in the white dragon. This was significant because her sacrifice should have left a trace in all white dragons and their descendants. Aurum returned with the rest of the council, and the empty chair was now filled by a silver-skinned human. The council proposed that Eliana stay and they would help Eliana find out what they had lost. The party did not trust this. The party demanded release of all Sunsoreen citizens; the council declined. Hayhearn invoked guest rights and tried to arrest them, but Aurum Prudence objected forcefully and told the party to leave. Many people then ran to the chambers with papers for an emergency law-making meeting.

The party returned to the frost prison. Geldrin tried to turn the portal off but accidentally activated another location: a square black obsidian room with no doors. Geldrin found a door, placed a hand on it, and opened it into a black corridor in Valentinhide’s house. The portal had one charge left, shared between portals and resetting once a day. When the party opened the portal and tried to go through, they saw Valentinhide and passed out. Three went through before the portal closed. Morgana heard Eliana and felt cold hands on her shoulder.

The party then used the right blade to go to Hartwall’s lab. They gave the ice elemental ball to the fire elemental in the fireplace, cast Dispel Magic on the rift in the fireplace, and closed the portal to the fire elemental. Page 245 then begins Day 48, so Day 47 is complete at this point.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

People and name-like figures mentioned include Morgana, Lady Elissa Hartwall, the elf taking woodcutters from Pinesprings, Platinum, Squeal, Kasha, Provista, Argathum, Dirk, Geldrin, Avalina, Corundum, Argea?, Cetiosa, Ennuyé, Mr Browning, Dotharl / Dothril, Invar, Joy, Errol, Everard, Uncle Leeg, Daddle, Mum, Hannah Joy, Bellburn?, Grand Towers elves, Noxia, Sierra, Mr Moreley, Laylistra, Eliana Hartwall, Greensleeves, Garadul, Igraine, Cacophony, Throngore, Bynx, Tremon, Blackstorm, Rimefrost, Argentum, Metatous, [Hafelius?], Taler, Bronze, Arc, Shotcher, Dorion, Tim, Geoffrey, Valentinhide, Perodita, Aurum Prudence, Icefang, Sophus Holed, Cindy, Hayhearn Frowbrind / Hayhearn Frostwind, Orius [Nosheer?], the Silent One, the Shadow, the Right Honourable Charming, the Great Lorekeeper / Lorekeeper, and Taotli?.

Groups and factions mentioned include the party, adventurers, woodcutters from Pinesprings, silver dragons, Hartwall daughters, skeletons, Tarnished or jade-transformed silver by implication, stuffed humans / gnomes / halflings, goliaths, sphynxes, elves, Bellburn?, drow or green dragon figures, Dothral automatons, servants to Igraine, animals speaking for Cacophony, the Council of Gold, survivors of Sunplane, Dunnen people / Dunnen people, elementals, prisoners, Hartwall and Icefang pact parties, Sunsoreen’s Council, copper dragons, gold dragons, white dragons, red dragons, blue dragons, dragonborn, slaves, peacekeepers, citizens of Sunsoreen, observers at Cindy’s trial, and invisible hooded intruders.

Places mentioned include Hartwall’s lab, the forest, Pinesprings, a field of white roses, prison rooms, Ennuyé’s lab, [unclear: aprosur], the corridor with Fuck you Everard runes, an elvish-town room, rose-field illusion room, the stone-door room, Grand Towers before the other towers, desert badlands, the Barrier, Laylistra’s room, the school entrance chamber, Freeport?, Gar, the purple dome, the dark black rock swamp trophy room, Sunplane, the bathroom, flying room, bedroom, Hartwall lab archway, frost prison, Skygate-type portal, Timnor’s vision / pipe alignment, ancient dwarven hold, the elemental planes, Valentinhide’s palace in the deep sky / on the crimson, Snowsorrow / Sunsoreen, the palace, the council chamber, Sunsoreen’s internal market, courthouse, elven town square, guest rooms, square black obsidian portal room, and Valentinhide’s house.

Creatures and creature-like beings mentioned include the magical black green-eyed cat, the sphynx / Bynx, the goliath baby, a crab in Invar’s bag, the Attabre toy figure with an elven body and lion’s head, the huge black dragon with flies, the drow or green dragon, a copper dragon, a dragon lady and dragon men, a white dragon, red and blue dragons, a fire elemental, ice elemental, frost elemental, massive shaggy blue aurora, elemental prisoners, insects speaking for Cacophony, and invisible hooded figures, one of whom became a copper dragon.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

Items, documents, and physical resources mentioned include the bag of holding, Lady Elissa Hartwall’s diary, altered picture with Draconic Preserve rune, alchemist’s mushroom table, obsidian plinth, urn of Argathum, white rose, amethyst orb, red ribbon, dark wooden flute, silks, crystal jade dust, Hartwall-carved throne, skull decorations, portraits, key taken by Mr Browning, forcefield, rocking horse, vanity, stuffed “bears,” rack of flutes, sky bed, dragon bed, boxed key with possible Celestial words, tea set papers, memory orb, coin of uncertain origin, different stone / hollow flagstone box, glass shard, Goblin statue reading “Time flies,” Tunnels of Love, white rose powder, Mr Moreley’s chest, coral bathroom scratches, Hartwall robe and crests, kitchen door handle, Greensleeves note, silver necklace with green jade heart pendant, invisible handle, magical doorknobs, artery from doorknob hole, Wall of Force, blue object from Throngore vision, plinth plaques, Crown of Mooncoral, Blood of Noxia, Chains of Blackthorn, Heart of Tremon, Sunplane survivor dress, Lion’s Blessing, Crown of Thorns from the First Massacre, Musings and Thoughts on the Location of the Lost, Shaman Blackstorm's Tome on the Significance of the Number 5, The Flight of the Gold [Cacacity/Cacriting], Its Arrival, chain from the locket, stone arrow, Avalina’s diary, Anvil pages, shard, hollow-capped handle, shower, tongs, paper reading “Nope, not going there. Going to use grandson’s old trick,” Sierra’s arrows, box, coffin door, conch-like control item, elemental ball, portal runes, compass/sun/moon painting, black sap or rubber, Hartwall door handle / archway, seaward-stone table map, invisibility cloak with starscapes, books about the moon, nursery rhyme book about Valentinhide, Palace of Valentinhide, Ennuyé’s spellbook, Mythos spellbook, tome of dome making, Geldrin’s spellbook, the city-moving scroll, TV orb, skull of Tremon, magistrate wig, manacles, emergency law papers, right blade, ice elemental ball, and fire-elemental rift.

Spells, visions, and magical effects mentioned include altered-preservation magic on the picture, memory fog and loss, banishing trap, magical forcefield, flute-music compulsion, magic cleaning failing, rose-field illusion, Hannah being erased from existence, memory orb scenes, disappearing room contents, white rose powder visions, ceiling turning into Milky Way then an eye, Barrier passage, invisibility, moving or active magical rooms, Wall of Force against fireballs, Cacophony’s speaking-animal tax-collection omen, automaton activation, Mending on plaques, plinth-light puzzle, makeup revealing hidden diary writing, elemental handle charging, water/fire/air handle puzzle, conch powers, vertigo well, ice elemental killing, elemental prison rune disappearance, portal activation, teleportation, Clairvoyance, Aquan communication, Bynx’s Truesight, Lam / Lorekeeper questioning magic, manacles forcing dragon intruders into humanoid form, portal charges, seeing Valentinhide and passing out, Dispel Magic, and closure of the fire elemental portal.

Strategic resources and plans mentioned include the clue that an altered picture once included a missing third girl; Platinum’s claim that the locked door was not present when she visited with adventurers; the implication that whatever erased memories missed the door; the clue that Hartwall had two daughters; the note hiding items in a cell and a false teddy; Bynx identifying the Attabre toy figure as his father; the Hartwall / Icefang broken pact thread; the city-moving scroll desired by Aurum and Sunsoreen; Sunsoreen’s absorbed settlements, constant new laws, job/training requirements, and outbreeding laws; the Lorekeeper’s inaccessible information source; the records naming Eliana as Eliana Hartwall; Aurum Prudence’s intervention to let the party leave; the once-per-day shared portal charge; and the successful closure of the fire elemental rift.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

The altered white-rose picture and its Preserve rune imply a third girl was removed or hidden from memory or history. The identity of the missing girl and how she relates to Eliana, Joy, Hannah, and Hartwall’s daughters remains unresolved.

The note about “No chart,” the forest release, and the adventurers who took Lady Elissa Hartwall’s diary are unexplained.

The mushroom table message “Friend fleshbag set him free” and the statement that the children are elsewhere now connect to earlier mushroom and Limos Vita threads, but the freed entity and the children’s location remain unclear.

Argathum’s urn, the offering flute, the white rose, the amethyst orb, the frosty tear, and the phrase “In her strange bones laid bare” suggest a major personal sacrifice or failed relationship, but the full story is incomplete.

The statues turning silver into crystallised jade dust, the green jade heart pendant, prior jade purchases, and Eliana being turned green by jade remain connected but unresolved.

The sentient door’s brothers at Ennuyé’s lab and [unclear: aprosur], its preference for Eliana in a dress, Mr Browning’s key, and Hartwall’s unnamed baby daughters remain active clues.

The mind fog, the voice telling Invar “I will not lose you again my son,” Dirk’s vision of Joy, Errol’s warning that information was being lost, and Platinum’s belief that the memory wipe missed the door all point to ongoing memory-erasure machinery.

The room with the goliath song, flute, stuffed “bears,” rose-field window, labelled tea cups, and Hannah Joy confirms Ennuyé’s sacrifice of Hannah so Joy might live, but also that Joy could not exist if Hannah did not. The consequences for Joy, Hannah, and Ennuyé remain unresolved.

The stone door recognised sons of fire and stone, and the room held a memory orb showing Grand Towers, seven elves, whorls of wind, and a toy figure of Attabre with an elven body and a lion’s head. Bynx identified Attabre as his father.

The desert-badlands room showed Noxia fighting Sierra, while later plinths named the Blood of Noxia and Sierra’s arrows. How these artifacts and the battle relate remains unresolved.

The black dragon with flies, drow or green dragon attacker, jar, beautiful elf, Barrier crash, and statement “that’s your form now” appear to explain a transformation and Barrier passage, but the figures are not fully identified.

The girls’ room named Eliana and involved a ribbon, doll, urn, and the phrase “poopoo head.” This may connect Eliana to Hartwall’s daughters and the missing preserved girl.

Cacophony’s tax-collector claim, Throngore vision, blue object, silver dragon, and future payment due remain unresolved and may mark a supernatural debt.

The trophy plinth list is a major artifact index. Some listed items were present or represented, but many remain unknown: Crown of Mooncoral, Blood of Noxia, Chains of Blackthorn, Heart of Tremon, survivor dress from Sunplane, Lion’s Blessing, Crown of Thorns from the First Massacre, Shaman Blackstorm’s number-five tome, and Flight of the Gold.

Avalina’s diary and Anvil pages suggest people gave away too much, became shadows of themselves, lost loved ones, and were trapped by family promises, forced marriage, and the Council of Gold. These pages may explain the emotional quelling and Sunsoreen politics but are incomplete.

Rimefrost’s cry for “little dragons,” the killed ice elemental, the fire elemental rift, the ice elemental ball, and the closed fire portal connect the elemental puzzle to the prison-power system but leave the final safe power source unresolved.

The frost prison, the dark door to an ancient dwarven hold, the massive shaggy blue aurora, the semicircular oracle room, and prisoners Dorion, Tim, and Geoffrey indicate multiple elemental or time-displaced prisoners. Geldrin promised to free at least one once the dome can be powered without elementals.

The Palace of Valentinhide book reveals Valentinhide’s deep-sky palace, unbreathable domain, wall of faces, and loophole after the gods’ banishment. The party’s later accidental portal to Valentinhide’s house and cold hands on Morgana show this thread remains immediate.

Aurum Prudence and Sunsoreen revealed a city moved to the other side of the earth after broken pacts, with the Tri-moon visible at the wrong time and the Council enforcing absorption, new laws, job mandates, outbreeding controls, and information control. Whether Sunsoreen is ally, authoritarian remnant, or active threat remains open.

The Lorekeeper supplied impossible information about Eliana Hartwall, teddy bears, pets, and Dotharl’s “Help me, Grandson” message, but could not be met. Its nature and source of knowledge are unresolved.

Bynx’s Truesight found his sister absent from the white dragon with no trace. Because Bynx’s sister was the guardian of the white dragons and sacrificed herself to become part of them, all white dragons and descendants should retain a trace of her; her absence is therefore a major unresolved clue.

The council offered to help Eliana find what she had lost if she stayed, refused to release citizens, and attempted an arrest under guest rights. Aurum’s objection prevented immediate capture, but emergency law-making followed.

Day 48 begins immediately after this with Bynx growing again, Errol sent toward Dirk’s father, Azureside travel, and the Dunnen people’s dragon problem; because no Day 49 boundary is visible yet, Day 48 remains unprocessed.