Dark Archive diary

When Tallak the Mad located the Dark Archive in Erastus 4722AR, he unwittingly set in motion a paranormal chain of events that are noted here.

The Gathering of the New Archivists

In The Weeping Hag, in Magnimar, Tallak gathered a small crew of paranormally experienced adventurers to investigate the Dark Archive he had found. The first to arrive was Kishki, an orcish barbarian who Tallak had helped nearly two years previous. The two friends greeted each other warmly, but Tallak expressed that they would be moving on from the tavern swiftly enough. Quickly afterwards, another orc arrived, this one more finely dressed than Kishki. Tallak signalled Aurath to come on over, and after a brief discussion, they were interrupted by a tired young courier for Tallak. The letter informed the thaumaturge that the final member of the party would be delayed.

Disappointed, Tallak led the group out of the pub, and to an abandoned pathfinder society lodge. Inside, past a freshly locked door that Tallak had the key for, a long table supported the great grimoire called the Dark Archive. He explained that the tome would contain many secrets, and that he would appreciate his orcish comrades' assistance in finding them; Aurath and Kishki were happy enough to help, and it was at that moment that the archive opened itself to a page entitled The Beach of Birchfrost. The tome started emitting a pale light, putting the archivists to sleep.

The Beast of Birchfrost

Moments later, the trio awoke, and found themselves on the middle of a well-worn trail cutting through a forest. Next to where they had appeared, a wounded half-elf was resting in the shade of a small hut. Surprised to see the strange-looking trio appear out of thin air, she barely got a word in before Tallak began interrogating her as to where they were, and how she had teleported them here. Eventually, Tola, the half-elf, explained she was simply a trapper, and that she was as surprised as they were to see them here. Happy that the teleportation had been something from the dark archive, Tallak pressed on to ask Tola about her wounds. She explained that her trapping partners, two human twins, and her had been hunting in the woods when the mythic Beach of Birchfrost had attacked them. Tola had been gored by the strange badger-like beast, and the twins had been chased off deeper into the woods. The archivists took on Tola's task of hunting down the beast, and she told them to go talk to the local angler, Ligh, for more guidance.

After an hour or so asking around the village, the archivists found their way to Ligh's house, where they were bringing in a fresh catch with the help of their young daughter. Surprised to see the unlikely-looking party arrive at their door, Ligh was nonetheless very welcoming, and invited them inside for a cup of tea. Ligh explained that the beast originally emerged as part of an old myth about a very over-aggressive businessman who after exploiting the local lake, had mysteriously disappeared. Since then, the beast had popped up in folklore whenever the town endured the threat of incoming industrialisation. However, the beast had recently grown more aggressive, and the legends around it had grown darker. Ligh mentioned that the beast roamed the woods to the east, and they should seek out Ivan, the local druid, if they wished to explore the woods more easily.

Near the town, on a small cliff overlooking the Lake of Mist and Veils, the archivists found Ivan, who was gazing intently at a small patch of cumulus cloud drifting across the sky. He ignored the party at first, and started getting irate when Orath blocked his view, until Tallak drew his attention by reciting a slice of Mendevian cloud lore. With his intrest piqued, Ivan listened intently enough as the archivists explained their quest. After Tallak finished explaining the group's intent, Ivan agreed to guide them through the forest.

In the clearing where Tola normally set her traps, there was a great deal of disturbed earth, indicating burrowing by a large beast. Along with a string of broken traps, the tunnels provided a good enough trail for Ivan to follow all the way to a large willow tree containing two frightened human twins. The twins were arguing as to whether the beast was a badger or a demon, or something else entirely. Despite their bickering, they provided information that its tail was dangerous, and that they saw it around the stone beach.

On the way to the beach, the party had the chance to identify some more of the tracks - the beast's prints appeared to be a five-clawed variant of a boar's hoof. The archivists set up a basic stakeout at the beast's lakeside hunting ground. Orath went through the motions of being a trapper, and this attracted the beast, which charged in from the west. The Birchfrost Beast resembled a very large boar with beaver's feet, a strange creature indeed. During the fight, Ivan remarked the thing had horns, which to the rest of the archivists did not appear to be a true. The mystery of the beast deepened when Tallak hit its flank, and the beast seemed to shift between forms between a badger and a boar.

Despite the beast's seemingly mythical nature, the archivists wasted no time in dispatching it, and took a breather due to the brutal wounds it had inflicted. Examining the area where the beast had entered the clearing, Tallak found two sets of much smaller tracks alongside the beast's. Ivan's help made it easy enough to follow the beast's trail back to its lair.

In the beast's lair, the archivists found a curiously displayed sequence of corpses - it seemed the beast had been killing rich huntsmen for quite some time, and the assassinations had increased in frequency over the last few years. Further inside the cave, past a thick network of webs, the archivists found the beast's mate, and realised that the beast was formed of the tales that was told about it - the story was tranferring to the beast's mate, changing its nature such that all tales told of it were true.

To dispel the myth of the beast without violence, the archivists returned to the village and proclaimed the beast dead such that the morphing legend around it died with the original. As they finished their speech, the crew were enveloped in light and found themselves back in the pathfinder lodge, safe and sound, with some minor treasures on the table in front of them.