Dark Archive diary
When Tallak the Mad located a Dark Archive folio in Erastus 4722AR, he set in motion a chain of paranormal events that are documented here.
The Gathering of the New Archivists
In The Weeping Hag, in Magnimar, Tallak gathered a small crew of adventurers experienced in the paranormal to investigate the folio 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 a suprisingly small Dark Archive folio. He explained that the book contained 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 the angler was 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. Inside, they 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 industry. 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 mote of Mendevian cloud-related folklore. With his intrest piqued, Ivan listened intently enough as the archivists explained their quest. After hearing 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 boar they had slain. As they finished their speech, the crew were enveloped in a familiar light. Almost immediately, they found themselves back in the old Pathfinder lodge, safe and sound, with some minor treasures having manifested on the table in front of them.
A Strange Invitation
From the abandoned society lodge, the archivists headed to Ostog's Tankard for bed and board. Ulric, an old friend of Tallak, unexpectedly accosted the group from an alleyway near the pub. He explained he had been chased out of a lycanthrope dominated town, and asked Tallak to investigate a strange artifact he had stolen during the altercation. He threw the thaumaturge what appeared to be the hilt of a broken sword with the emblem of a crescent moon engraved in the pommel. Ulric had paid for the trio's rooms at the inn as an advance for the investigation, and ran out into the night. Kishki's sharp eyes noticed that Ulric appeared to be sporting some fur, so had presumably been infected during his escape.
After a sound night's sleep, the archivists met Ulric the next morning in the inn, and began their journey across southern Vasrisia. Whilst following the Yondabakari river, a major trade route, the four travellers ran into a group of boggards running nets across the river to catch boats. Tallak confronted one of the boggard scouts, which immediately attacked them. The fight spilled out from the trees and onto the trail, but no traders were harmed, and the boggards were defeated. As the archivists rested, a passing barge thanked them for their actions with a selection of alchemical items.
With the danger past, the group travelled on, and camped for the night in a small re-entrant not far from the trail. During the night, Ulric transformed in a werebear, knocking his tent down in the process. His secret outed, Ulric explained that his disease originated from the Twilight Academy, and he also warned that there would surely be werewolves stalking them across the wilderness. Despite the dark news, the group rested soundly for the rest of the night.
After another full day of travel, the archivists camped up in a thick copse of trees, where they were ambushed by a werewolf and wolf pack during the night. The werewolf demanded they return the hilt, and attacked the party when they declined. Tallak was knocked unconscious and infected during the fight, but the other trio managed to slay the werewolf and his minions. However, little rest was possible, as an enourmous pack of wolves chased the archivists away from their camp. The archivists encountered wild horses, stargazing gnomes, and ruined carts before taking shelter in a cave.
The group planned to wait out the hunting wolves, but soon discovered that they had made refuge in the cave of a white dragon. The archivists hid in a smaller part of the cave to rest. Tallak tried to identify the hilt, and concluded that it could be repaired, and the artifact would strengthen Ulric and other werecreatures. Unfortunately, as the party tried to leave, they awoke the white dragon, and chose to avoid open ground by fighting the beast in its lair. Ulric and Kishki were both knocked out, but Tallak and Orath managed to flee with Kishki's battered body. On the way out, Orath heard the dragon mutter that it would keep Ulric to hunt food for him.
Epilogue
After recuperating, the archivists once again ventured into the icy cavern to rescue their werebear ally. They found him a little ways from the cave, having just escaped himself on what was supposed to be a hunting trip for his captor. As the rumble of the dragon echoed in the distance, the bolstered group fled to civilisation.
With no portal activity for a few days from the Dark Archive, Tallak decided to deal with the issue of his festering lycanthropy, promising to contact the group if he ever noticed whispers from the archive again. The party bid each other adieu, all with a lingering feeling that the mysteries of the world were watching them more than ever before.
What else to do but keep one eye open in the dark?
