(10) Severozov - Bags and Books

With the former occupants of Melnic Manor gone (one a rotting corpse, and the other a pile of ash), Kopek, Levi, and Cornelius elected to kindly redistribute Kacper’s belongings to those in need. The identified needy folk? Themselves. Cornelius quickly sought out the gallery once more, and discovered that their assumed position of privacy within the manor was not private at all. As he entered the gallery, he caught the briefest of glimpses of a horrendous creature. Its height was comparable to that of his gnomish acquaintance Levi, though its hunched posture stood in sharp contrast to the straight spine and obnoxious surety of the wizard. Bones seemed poised to pierce through its emaciated frame, and its face was masked by a mat of black hair, through which two glowing white eyes glared at Cornelius. Its purpose in the gallery seemed similar to that of the tiefling, as it drew a gangly hand away from a lock on one of the room’s glass cases. It clearly was not in the market for anything the businessman might try to peddle to it, and disappeared into thin air after drawing a simple canvas bag over its hairy head. A mild chill at the sight of this creature wasn’t enough to stop Cornelius from looting the gallery, and he acquired a fine suit of armor decorated with white raven heraldry and a bottle of powerful potion.

As he wandered the manor, Levi also encountered one of the strange gangly creatures, and once again, it drew a bag over its head and disappeared. After tinkering with his Leviathan Rip Spinner, Levi was able to imbue in it an ability to reveal invisible creatures nearby. However, the creature was not revealed, suggesting it had somehow left the area in an instant. Further investigation supplied Levi with multiple magical bags of holding. While his compatriots searched the first floor, Kopek returned to Kacper’s bedroom to find the previously unfinished note now complete: “to the Duke of Aliev - Our endeavors here are soon to be met with success. The cylinder is within our grasp, and we’ve discovered a way to enter the Library unnoticed. Kasar Nicolas’ spinner will soon be ours.” On the floor nearby Kopek discovered another note, ripped in half, reading: “I grow weary of your incompetence Kacper. The captain of my guard, Egor, shall arrive on the morrow to collect the spawn from your cellar and ensure your efforts are satisfactory.” It was signed “Duke R.A.,” the very same Duke of Aliev that was the root cause of Kopek’s disgrace. His minion Egor had slipped through the hobgoblin’s grasp, but remained in the city somewhere.

As he prepared to rest, Cornelius felt something weighing heavy in the pocket where he had placed Kostya’s picture. From this pocket he pulled not a picture, but a book. Upon opening it, he was drawn into a vision, seen from the perspective on a humanoid with orcish hands, presumably belonging to Kostya himself. Through this vision the tiefling was able to gather details on Kostya’s relationship with both Kasar Nicolas and Kasar Katarin during their younger years in Severozov. Katarin’s actions painted a harsh picture of her demeanor, as she constantly insulted both Nicolas and Kostya, labeling them as weaklings. She trained with the warriors and generals of Beressia while Kostya and Nicolas studied the arcane. Nicolas lacked an affinity for the magical arts, and turned to the writings of the notorious Andronicus Taith for answers, eventually leaving the city for some unknown purpose. With Katarin at war and Nicolas wandering the world, Kostya was left with the thankless task of running the city of Severozov and the nation of Beressia as a whole. Eventually Nicolas returned to the city, naming the Library of Severozov a new place of study for arcane practitioners and retreating to his tower indefinitely. On Nicolas’ hip, Cornelius noticed the unmistakeable shape of a Leviathan Rip Spinner. Katarin soon followed, expressing her discuss with both her cowardly brother Nicolas and Kostya himself. She vowed to claim Severozov and rulership of Beressia after her campaigns were complete. The scenes began to change rapidly, and a few meetings with Nicolas occurred - he said little, obsessing over his spinner night and day. As the visions progressed, Cornelius could feel Kostya’s emotions overtaking his own. The taiga surrounding Severozov seemed to grow hostile, and in the shadows - movement. Allies seemed less so, and spies appeared around every corner. Cornelius - or was it Kostya? - felt panic building inside of him, and suddenly an explosion erupted within the city and Cornelius exited the vision. After gathering himself, Cornelius reflected on the sympathetic way the book painted Kostya. Still, he made note of the influence he could exercise over Kostya with this newfound information.

In the meantime, Levi was sound asleep, until a strange sensation in his gut awoke him. He sat up in his bed to discover a massive bag (one of his bags of holding) lying open in the center of his room. Its interior was a shadowy void, but within he could just make out a pair of white eyes glowing softly. As he paused to recall the gangly creature lurking in the manor earlier, Levi was grappled by a pair of arms just as gangly and dragged into the bag and its dark pit. His screaming was enough to disturb Kopek and Cornelius, who arrived at the gnome’s quarters to discover the great bag maw waiting to swallow them. Into the bag they went, appearing next to Levi in a location not reminiscent at all of the interior of a bag. They found themselves upon a vast darkened expanse, seemingly unending in any direction, surrounded by similarly unending mountains of junk. Rusted armor, shining jewels, and piles of gold adorned these mountains, though all of these were outnumbered by damaged and broken items of little value. The gangly creatures infesting Melnic Manor were present here in great numbers, milling around the hills of trash and endlessly sifting through them for some fantastic find. Perched atop a taller mound was a ghoulish figure, whose garments were covered in knickknacks and trinkets, suggesting his nature as a hoarder. Also present were two figures the party recognized: Muz, the orc cook, and Soup Drinker, his chef assistant. Both were tied up and watched over by gangly creatures.

A brief exchange with the ghoulish figure allowed him to introduce his name and purpose: he was called Vyrthur and he intended to steal all of their valuables. After noticing the arcane cylinder was gone from his pouch, Levi looked around to discover it sitting adjacent a pile of trash. As he turned the other direction, he was shocked to discover another cylinder of identical appearance. Before Levi could discern the source of this vexing phenomenon, Kopek surprised Vyrthur with a barrage of arrows, prompting the man to shroud himself in shadows and hide for a moment. Cornelius, seeing his friend Muz in danger, rushed to unbind him, allowing the orc to join the fray with his assorted meat cleavers. Levi, hoping to make use of the cylinder once more, turned invisible while his spinner distracted the gangly creatures surrounding him. Vyrthur demonstrated great control of his domain by turning treasure chests (and the duplicate cylinder) into mimics. Still, with Kopek’s arrows constantly striking him and Levi detonating the cylinder, Vyrthur was unable to loot the party, and soon they stood over his dying corpse. In the midst of the confusion, Cornelius forced poison into Soup Drinker’s throat, hoping to destroy any source of incrimination for Muz.

The crew discovered that reentering a bag of holding would free them from the ghoul infested purgatory, and so they departed the lair of Vyrthur. They exited into a room full of crates and barrels, and Muz informed them of their position within the Tower of Holding in the Severozov Library. They crept down the stairs to discover unsafe library isles - at least for Muz - patrolled by scholars with long black robes and even longer black beards. Once again utilizing his growing magical prowess, Levi turned Muz invisible, allowing the orc to escape the library unnoticed by Kostya or his underlings. The three were able to explore the library freely after Levi displayed the pin given to him by Kostya. Levi disrupted a magical duel between two scholars after inadvertently removing one of their power sources, causing its dependent scholar to sadly perish. The trio also discovered a vampire hiding amongst the scholars, and after throwing him down the stairs many times over, they put him out of his misery with a stake through the heart.

Cornelius proceeded to confront Kostya, sharing what he had gleaned from Kostya’s book regarding the orc’s relationship with Katarin and Nicolas. This seemed to be all the impetus Kostya needed to take action, and informed Cornelius to return to him on the morrow, at which time they could confront Nicolas together, in all of his Taith worshipping splendor. In the meantime, Levi whispered with Eli, who also had arrived to the library, about their plans to sabotage the institution. With Nicolas soon to be gone, any relevancy it might have gained would surely fade away. While Levi and Cornelius planned to return to the library the next day to finally sort out Kasar Nicolas, Kopek prepared to exonerate Muz in the eyes of Katarin. He approached the garrison, where he was stopped by Captain Belov, who warned him of Katarin’s intent to march upon the library and remove Nicolas forcefully. With Belov’s support however, Kopek was able to convince Katarin to grant them one more day before she acted, allowing Levi and Cornelius the time they needed to remove Nicolas in a nonviolent manner. Kopek’s relief at this outcome quickly turned to disgust, as the unsightly figure of Egor Bartyk emerged from the garrison doors, whispering into Katarin’s ear. Still, Kopek saw an opportunity, for in defending Muz, he could utilize the orc’s testimony to label his foe a vampire-fraternizer and pawn of the ambitious Duke of Aliev…