1 October 1243
I am still in awe over how little I knew on September 16th.
Oh, where do I begin?
On September 17th, I was in the midst of drafting my flight plan for South Nintel when I decided to conduct one final cross-examination. I met with Glenda back at 124 West Mason Street and decided to ask her more questions regarding the return of Broul on the night that Ivella disappeared. Accordingly, Broul had returned secretly (whether by conventional ressurection or simply character regeneration is unknown to us), and began secretly recruiting fighters to blend within the ranks and demonstrate false loyalty toward every opposing Order to his own. Broul's attack the second time was different from the first, in that he launched an attack of mind manipulation against his opponents rather than a frontal assault like the first time. Of these new techniques included manipulations of character identity, both with himself, and other fighters. Broul, himself, barely lifted a finger; rather he had fighters killing fellow fighters. Such a technique, I realize, is very characteristic of a darkfire attack upon a dymensional plane because of the element of disorientation.
So I next consulted the well-known book, "Of Darkfire and the Crisis of Identity," written by radio celebrity, Leonard Marks. I admittedly find Marks controversial, as he has no formal training to be a wrayth-hunter. But he has been preaching against the presence of darkfire trade since the 1210s and is otherwise well-informed on the topic.
I came to page 318 in his book, and here was a section discussing the concept of dual identities. Accordingly, a darkfire cartel leader like Darius Weller (and Marks even quoted Weller as an example) will heist a dymensional plane by first planting an avatar or character who would unleash chaos upon the realm in ways unprecedented and in ways warranting the need for intervention from the Dungeonmaster. However, that is only the distraction. For the darkfire conjurer will then plant a new character who is hell-bent on destroying the first and "saving the dymensional plane." The Dungeonmaster and players, of course, will see this second character as the savior and will be desperate to join forces with him to defeat the first character.
The issue is that the second character is actually the one instrumental in heisting the realm. With the chaotic first character serving as the distraction, the second character, being more powerful in terms of concealment and spellwriting, will plant darkfire scripts in hidden places all over the realm and hire loyals, both to defend these scripts, slaughtering characters who may come to discover them, and to use the plane as a place to illegally trade these darkfire scripts.
This has been a recent tactic carried out by wraythers, and may help to explain both Broul and "the Father."
And perhaps, it was "the Father," not Broul, who did the unthinkable to Ivella and the Algorithms Book, whatever that act may be.
Another point of interest in Marks' book was earlier, on page 194. Accordingly, darkfire conjurers, in the real world, can cast themselves as benevolent figures preaching that the evils of darkfire threaten a given society, be it a small village or an isolated country, and employ darkfire, itself, to sway the emotional state of the masses. After all, darkfire can influence the mind of an individual; and nothing stops a darkfire crafter from swaying groups of individuals in this fashion.
And this led me to dwell on one person: the University Chaplain.
First of all, Clerics like the Chaplain are supposedly methodical, and are absolutely militant about communicating via only pen and paper. And that is because they sign their messages with each a special signature that identifies them in accordance to their apparent Clerical Registry of Circlaria (I believe that's what it's called.). This practice makes it impossible to commit forgery on anything important relative to said religious organizations. And I found that interesting, because the University Chaplain, Father David Connor, is a Cleric, as in officially so, with official certification from the Domain of Transfiguration. And last I knew about that organization (and I stopped by the University Library the next day and confirmed this), it is a requirement in order to gain Certification that not only do you have to notarize your special signature from a special religious official, you have to make a promise to communicate everything by writing. It is considered the "purest form of communication aside from spoken word, and that other forms of communication are considered impure." If the Transfiguration had changed its stance on this, it surely would have been big news all over Remikra if not the world.
So why does the Chaplain typewrite?
Second of all, I thought of the very reason darkfire is feared and banned in the first place. It controls the human mind. Well, not in a literal sense, as is otherwise propagated by Leornard Marks, which is why I view as a controversial radio celebrity for multiple reasons, by the way. But what it does do is that it influences human emotions. And we are emotional, not logical, creatures by nature. And I could not help but notice the unusually strong influence upon the secular-minded University Council held sway by Father Connor, who has been casting himself as a benevolent figure. In fact, I myself felt swayed by him in my own conversation with him. Darkfire conjurers are not Oathcrafters, per say, but the best of them are just as capable, the most skillful of them, of swaying the thoughts and emotions of both individuals and the masses.
Furthermore, it was not long after my conference with him when I discovered to my horror that I had been poisoned by darkfire. I'm mostly healed now but I still have symptoms.
So instead of stopping my investigation, I continued it, but I continued it in a very different direction, for now I had a very definitive lead.
I called a meeting again with the Headmaster, Chiefs Winsley and Kempt, and the roommates and presented what I discovered. At first, they were in disbelief, and for a moment, I feared that they were convinced that darkfire had done me in. But then they began to make sense of my claims. After a few hours of conference aboard my Scalar, we conceived of a plan.
I do not know if I would ever forgive myself for this, for I feel intense moral guilt for doing so, but I burglarized the Chaplain's Office. I was able to conceal myself and peer through his window and spy on him as he indicated he was planning to leave for the week. As soon as he was gone, I slipped through his window and crept around his Office. Sure enough, I found a grey box in the side drawer next to his Office chair. Inside was an arrangement of very small pieces of...darkfire floans.
And that was what was off about the Star inside Father David Connor's Alconist Cross. It was a darkfire floan. And it was eleven-sided.
It also makes sense why he was effectively doing me in and trying to ban TableQuest from Cabotton University. I am not sure whether or not he felt the initiative in University Council would work, but the publicity regarding the issue as well as my supposed incompetence would keep everyone distracted from who he truly was and what he was doing.
If only I knew that the Chaplain was Darius Weller in disguise, I would have caught him sooner.
I glanced at his typewriter, and the paper sitting right below it. Dated for the next day, the paper was a letter addressed to "Adam" and it said, "I have just returned from the cave. You can come over now."
I am not sure if I am dealing with the same accomplice as last time, but I believe the letter was actually addressed to Paul Pezakan, another darkfire cartel leader, formally that is. Shortly before my attempted pursuit of Weller two years previously, I had caught Pezakan. He had been a darkfire cartel leader of his own in Jestopole, in a shady district. In terms of my cunning, however, I had the advantage in the pursuit and was able to catch him.
But that was not before he befriended Darius Weller; and they had signed a trade arrangement with each other unofficially. After I caught him and landed him in prison, Pezakan had somehow managed to forward a message to Weller to help him escape. Weller agreed to help under the condition that Pezakan join forces with him as an accomplice. Weller had proposed this to him before but Pezakan had disagreed. This time, however, Pezakan was desperate enough to agree.
So Pezakan escaped.
As promised, he became Weller's highest accomplice, "second in command," if I may joke informally. And to help hide his identity, through what I discovered during my last pursuit of Weller, Pezakan took the false name "Adam."
And at this point, "Adam" was hiding somewhere off the University Campus, though I did not know exactly where at the time.
But no matter, he was going to come here anyway.
So I informed the Maynard Winsley of the Campus Watch, Brian Kempt of the Police Department of Cabotton proper, and Headmaster Stone of what I had found. The very next day, they conducted a search and validated the evidence I found. And then we set up the catch.
The day we set up the catch was the eve of September 18th. We secretly set watches up around the Office to catch "Adam" and fixed up to send a decoy disguised as "Adam" to confront Darius so that we could catch him.
How did we do it? Mostly through my accumulated skills of disguise and concealment.
It was in the dead of the night, well after midnight on the 19th. I was in the lead with my darkfire emission detectors. He was hard to see but I saw "Adam" dressed in a night-grey concealment cloak. With myself concealed, I hit him with a special stun spell that knocked him out without making a sound. As quickly as I could, I worked another spell that copied his appearance and disguised myself, while the authorities were apprehending the real "Adam." I then made my way to the Chaplain's Office.
And there, the Chaplain stood greeting me. He was fooled. However, just as I was about to throw the catching rope, he reacted a little too quickly. He hit me with a basic stun spell which knocked me off my feet for a few seconds, but that was enough for him to slip out the window and rope-pulley himself down to the ground and take off. I quickly recovered and took after him, deploying my grapple-rope and swinging off the branch down to the ground. And there he was about 300 feet away. I tried to hit him with a few stun spells to knock him down, but it was no good. The others and I were in pursuit as he ran across campus and passed the Planetarium to the North, and then into the woods.
It was in the woods when he, yet again, unleashed a darkfire disorientation spell upon me. I had a counter-spell to quickly heal myself, but that took a few moments. And when I came to, he was gone.
I knew where he was headed, though.
You see, the letter stated he was coming back from "the cave." Knowing darkfire trade lore and the movements of Darius Weller, I knew that he only meant one place: the Standler.
Yes, the Standler. That Inn located in the very center of the sprawling town of Ebony Valley in the next county over. The street level on the South Face of the Inn may seem innocent, but the North Face is a different story. Many people do not know this, but the hotel has just as many basement levels as it does above-ground levels. And many of these basement levels, except for the lowest level, have windows that look out into the mini-valley that no one knows about, as it is the shadiest part of town, almost as bad as the Shades of Hasphitat. Those levels are usually cordoned off to the typical tourist, but special arrangements can be made with the owner to reserve some of these rooms. The owner is a good-spirited man, but he also sometimes lends these rooms out to shady people as part of numerous quid-pro-quo deals that the guests uphold in order to protect the place from robbery or theft. The owner lists rules that these guests must follow but sometimes I wonder how keen he is to enforce them.
I understand him though.
So I took a wager. There was a good chance that Darius Weller was not yet aware that "Adam" had been caught, and was waiting for his return. I sent a ticker text to Weller claiming to be "Adam," hoping that Weller would take the bait. If I was right about this, Weller would be caught. If not, I would be in grave danger.
I was taking a risk. But with nothing else to chance, I took it nonetheless.
So I slept all day on the 19th, and that evening, I traveled to the Standler. I did so by flying the Scalar to Ebony Valley and taking one of their black taxi cabs to the Inn. I crept over to the back side and went through that entrance.
However, I was not dressed as "Adam." I had done that with him on the previous night's encounter. This time, I was completely concealed so that he would not notice me. What mattered was that I had him in Lower Atrium Two, the best place strategically speaking, not because of the room, itself, but because of a hidden corridor adjacent to it.
And there he was, ready to meet "Adam," but also ready just in case it was me. I had three Ebony County Officers with me, also concealed. Part of the arrangement that Weller thought he had between himself and "Adam" was a four-tap signal on the wooden wall in the neighboring corridor. The Atrium had three entrances, two of them going each into a side corridor. "Adam" was to meet Weller in one of them but that would not be determined until the signal was given.
When he arrived in the Atrium, I, still concealed, sprung my first part of the trap: I cast an illusionary spell that produced a silhouetted figure in the nearest entrance to its side corridor. Within a second, I cast a spell to produce the knocking signal on the wall.
And Weller took the bait. He made his way toward the corridor, with me following quietly behind him, still concealed. And it was when he approached the illusionary figure, calling his friend by his proper name, Paul, that I sprung the second part of my trap. The catching-rope flew out and bound his legs, arms, and torso; and in an instant, the task force of Ebony Valley had him apprehended.
If I only knew it was that easy...
All the years I spent chasing him only for it to end like this.
But no matter; the deed is done.
In terms of my payment of 10'000 qors from Brian Kempt, I received word that Marya Thomas, the leader of protestors against Club Merlin, called for a general strike starting October 2nd. Beginning 9AM on that day, all apprentices of the spellfire businesses, basically the life and blood of the town of Cabotton, were to cease work and carry out demonstrations upon the main Cabotton streets, shutting them down and blockading them. They were also planning to sit-in and shut down civil functions in both the Town Hall and Gentry County government buildings, as well as the High School of Gentry County and even the University, itself.
Knowing this would cripple the Cabotton community, toward whom I have developed a great amount of respect, I called a meeting with Marya Thomas in the presence of the town of Cabotton Chief Arbitrator, Marris Corell. And it was during this meeting that I learned of Cabotton's great backdrop.
Cabotton was originally a group of workers' barracks around a major ebony mine having emerged around the year 1201. This location originally had no official postal code. In 1213, the miners had staged a labor strike and succeeded in obtaining heightened pay, heightened standards of living, and business reform in which the business, itself, was made to be led by collective leadership voted in by the workers. Although not having earned an official title of leadership, Merlin Kent Ogden, having rallied the workers and initiated the move, was the de facto leader.
In 1217, the neighboring city of Ebony Valley capitalized on its supply of ebony deposits. Having more available than the mine led by Ogden, Ebony Valley was able to sell its products at lower prices. And when Ogden's mine ran dry, the business closed as workers moved to Ebony Valley. However, the unofficial town did not dry up, for that was around the time that the other spellfire businesses began to emerge. Nevertheless, Ogden retired that year.
A new Institute for Academic Rehabilitation opened in 1231 next to the closed-down mine. However, the students there overthrew its leadership, who they viewed as oppressive, and re-established the school under the leadership of an elected Council and Headmaster. George Cabot contributed a large amount of wealth to this school as it was officially commenced as Cabotton University in 1232. George Cabot also paid wealth to have the former mining community become established as the town of Cabotton, with its own postal code and its own official municipal government. The Seat of Gentry County was also moved here that year.
In 1232, George Cabot died; and in accordance to his will, a large sum of money was transferred into the estate of Merlin Kent Ogden. Three years later, in the wake of the death of Ogden, himself, this money, in accordance to his will, was rolled into what became the Cabotton Community Trust Fund. This Trust Fund provided financial boosts to the former employees of Ogden's mine as well as their close family relatives and friends. These relatives and friends, who were not miners, were entitled to the Trust Fund benefits to help them in their careers as well as benefits which included the provision of commercial property and assets, business loans, and comfortable houses for personal living. Also included in the Trust Fund was the allowance for businesses to exempt themselves from both municipal and county taxes, granted via signatures from other eligible members of the Trust Fund.
An issue arose with this in the years that followed when it became apparent that only the mine workers and their friends were entitled to the benefits of this Trust Fund. Outsiders, many of whom were apprentices for these businesses, were excluded, and found living and working in the town of Cabotton to be a struggle. And thus, abrasion began to emerge over the years between the two factions: "Club Merlin," and the "Outsiders."
And so the stakes were high with this meeting between Thomas and Corell. If a settlement was not reached, the matter would go to the Cabotton Municipal Court, and then to the Gentry County Court. So I made an important decision; I withdrew my stance and settled for only 1'000 qors as a reward. I furthermore called for the remaining 9'000 qors to be rolled into a Community Trust Fund to help Marya Thomas and her followers, and called for her group to be recognized as an official organization: the Cause for the Community of Cabotton.
Furthermore, Brian Kempt, who was also in attendance, agreed to resign and accept early retirement. And the Court of Cabotton scheduled to hold a referendum to have Brian Kempt replaced by an elected figure. Going forward, Kempt's former position will be elected upon every six years during the local Cabotton elections.
I still had to come to terms with the whereabouts of Ivella Ogden. Furthermore, after Darius Weller's capture, there were still reports of "phantoms," this time disappearing through basement walls. Winsley, the Headmaster, and I gathered in the Headmaster's Office to plan out an investigation to rule out the possible notion that one of Weller's followers was still on the loose.
However, this investigation was not necessary. Our answer came on the evening of September 21st, when the Headmaster and I received a letter.
This letter was from Ivella Ogden, the said Dungeonmaster of a Third Level Society.
I was apprehensive at first. But on the next day, the Headmaster, himself, approached me and stated that the three roommates, Glenda, Martin, and Arthur, and their friend, Brea, when questioned by him regarding this letter, admitted that they had actually been communicating with Ivella for the past several days. This came as a shock to me, but before I could question further, the Headmaster informed me that an underground cab was available in the basement of the University Council Building to transport me to the place where Ivella was located. This organization, the Third Level Society, was well-mannered. So I went.
The meeting was held on the 23rd of September. And indeed, there was an extra room in the basement level of the Council Building. The Headmaster showed me how to access it by casting a special portal spell and walking through the wall as if it was a curtain.
And thus the reasoning behind the "phantoms" walking through the walls.
On the other side was an escalator leading down to a foyer where there stood a platform lining a cable train tunnel extending well past the foyer, itself, on either end. I was shown to what looked like a bulletin board, except it was a glass surface dotted with buttons labeling various places around Cabotton University. The Headmaster pressed the button labeled for the Planetarium, prompting a text display above to read, "en route." He then showed me to the platform; and before long, the single cable cab arrived, coming to a stop right in front of us and opening its door. We simply boarded and took our seats. The door closed and the cab started moving again.
"When was this all built, and how?" I asked Headmaster Snow.
"This is all a granular plane, removed from reality. This was literally conceived and constructed overnight," the Headmaster said.
I am no expert on granular planes, but I have studied them a great deal when I was in school. I know that for the last seventy years, at least, sea guilds have used them to increase their storage and functional capacities without building bigger ships. The technology has something to do with condensing objects, lifeforms, and people into their basic "matter signatures" to fit into small frames called granular planes, using technology that is a cousin to dymensional technology.
There are two fundamental differences, however, between dymensional and granular technologies. The first difference is that dymensionalism involves creating entire realms while granular animation involves creating spaces in which to immerse objects and people. The second difference is related to the first, in that granular planes boast the ability for objects and people to become fully immersed while dymensional planes do not.
However, I am aware of scientists and scholars eager to merge the two practices, as their characteristics make them so similar to each other. It is a very appealing idea, because granular planes, although some of them are "dynamic," are limited because they can only immerse objects and people into "chambers." To find the seemingly impossible-to-conceive method to immerse persons into dymensional planes means immersing oneself into a place not bound by the "chamber" limit.
It's impossible now, but some people are speculating that a way could be found within the next twenty years. I say that it will be at least 100 to 200 years in the future before we have even a basic theoretical formula.
After about two minutes in the cab, we came to the foyer underneath the Planetarium. The builders actually took more time and energy conceiving this place. The foyer here was at least three times bigger, and had a vaulted ceiling made of curved domes. The room was fairly dim, and the ceiling cast the image of a clear night sky dotted with stars. There were two sets of escalators on the other side of the Foyer, and we went up the rightmost. We came to a corridor, and off to the right appeared what used to be a doorway lined with an intricate cement frame. There was a bookshelf against that wall, and it looked very similar to the one I removed from the Planetarium corridor the other night.
I remembered that bookshelf suddenly. I had written myself a reminder to investigate it later, but then followed other leads.
That was when we were approached by a woman with dark hair and glasses. This was Ivella Ogden!
"That entrance was sealed a number of days ago." She said, indicating the bookshelf. "Right after we laid the granular cables for this plane and the train system."
We conferred, and Ivella congratulated me on the capture of Darius Weller, and asked to pay tribute to me during the speech. Speaking of which, scores of University students and their friends were gathering, passing through the corridors and up the spiral staircase that I did not know could fit inside the Planetarium wings. Of course, we were in a granular plane, so the space did not really matter.
En route to the Assembly Hall, I ran into another student who I realized was the student I met at Fleming House back on 10 September, the one who described the incident of September 8th as the "fireworks show." Standing 6 feet tall and slender with jet black hair and glasses, his name was Zachary Landon; and he was the Majority Speaker of the Caucus of the Third Level Society.
And so it was during the gathering in the Assembly Hall on the night of September 23rd that I learned about the Third Level Society and its function. Basically, it's an ongoing TableQuest Session in which multiple dymensional planes are managed in a balanced way so as not to allow for darkfire infiltration. And the Membership body of the Society consists of three parts: the Caucus, which consists of most of its members; the Dungeonmaster, voted in by the Caucus to carry out policies voted on by the Caucus; and the Bookkeeper, appointed by the Dungeonmaster for an indefinite tenure, and who keeps all records of the Society and interprets policy implementation to settle disputes.
Very recently, this Society convened to vote into its policy what was known as the Statute of Principle, which dictates the Society's structure and function. And in accordance to this Statute, the Caucus is made to carry out an election for the Office of Dungeonmaster every 22nd week of the year. In this case, just this week, the Caucus voted for their first Dungeonmaster: Ivella Ogden.
In order to follow through with Ogden's request, I gave my speech and thanks to the Assembly. And I have to say, I am thankful for this new organization. I believe that they are going to be effective in creating balanced leadership and stability in the playing of dymensionalism. And I believe that this will revolutionize the future of TableQuest sessions. For not only within the dymensional plane, but outside the dymensional plane there is established a reliable set of checks and balances to preserve the stability of this organization and protect it from outside threats.
Also, this dymensional plane is multi-faceted. There are multiple algorithm books in place standing as "servers" that both function independently, and connect with other servers to uphold this plane. That means if one frame is corrupted by darkfire, it will not affect the other parts of the plane. Or at least doing so will be difficult.
And they also have well-established protocols for such crises.
After the Assembly, I met with Ivella Ogden again and asked about her last moments in the Arturian Realm. And she confirmed what I had finally begun to speculate.
When she found "the Father," she held a personal council, between only her avatar and his, during which he informed her that Broul's first attack was very costly. He had agreed with Glenda when she stated that darkfire may be involved, thus raising the stakes.
And then "the Father" made a proposition that made Ivella realize the truth of the matter. He requested direct access to the Algorithms Book. He reasoned that only he was able to protect it from Broul and that he, himself, needed to have anti-darkfire scripts readily available to him in the event of direct confrontation with Broul.
Ivella was not swayed by "the Father" when he proposed this. She knew immediately that "the Father," himself, was the darkfire conjurer infiltrating the Arturian Realm. So Ivella did the unthinkable: she disengaged her Deity, stole down to the dymensional plane frame in the living room, and wrenched the Algorithm Book itself from its holding brackets. She knew it would cause a disruption, but she understood that protecting her grand-Uncle's Book was of a much higher priority.
As for the Algorithms Book, I asked Ivella where it was. She said that it was in safe keeping for now.
I would like to acknowledge and accept the honorary title I have received: Guardian of the Third Level Society. However, upon my own recommendation, such a title was also given to Winsley and the Headmaster, and also to Karla Bringamyn for keeping the Flagstaff from being completely swayed by the predatory bias plaguing the University.
I stayed for a couple days after the great meeting to speak with the Headmaster as well as the students and faculty. I am impressed with this University. I'm also humored at some of the students who stated that they would make the Cabotton University mascot the Wrayth-Hunters, using my image as the logo. It is actually a very good hand drawing, and credit goes out to Craig Adamson.
Today is the first of October, and the leaves are beginning to change color. My work here is done, so now I will embark on my long-awaited vacation.