1874-06-26: The Drowning Place - An Old Book
The Drowning Place - An Old Book
Summary: Evae and Myrana finally piece together a translation and understanding of the book retrieved by Hraelfmir during the Drowning Place #3
Date: Sometime in Juin
Related: Drowning place 1, 2 & 3.
NPCs: None
Players:
Evae  Myrana  

After a solid amount of effort shared between both Evae and Myrana the following has been eked from the old book, liberated from the vault of a small church, with a faded green leather cover embossed with the flaming wings sigil of House d’Fiur.

The book is really more of a journal and it is clearly very old. Several of the passages are faded to the point of unreadability and the handwriting is, in general, terrible and difficult to pull apart.

*On the Fiur Birds:*
The author seems to be convinced that the birds are indeed a historical fact although he points out on no less than three occasions that nobody in living history has sighted one. He makes a veiled comment at one point that may point to a link between their disappearance and the global change in magical occurrences that he believes he has seen in older texts. The birds are large stork or heron like creatures with large bodies, long necks, extremely long legs and wide, curving beaks. He spends a great deal of time postulating about the nature of the flaming feathers detailed in all the myths but comes to no true conclusion. He is quite clear that the birds were seen as nothing but a benefit to the local area and that their absence caused a great deal of hardship. In a heavily damaged segment he talks of a supposed power of the Fiur birds wings/feathers to lull the source of death/death dealer/lake hunter to sleep.

*The myth of the boy stealing the egg:*
A young squire in service to the local Lord accompanied his master to the lake and was overcome by the beauty of the birds that flocked there. He had never seen anything like them before. These birds had a single leg and feathers made of ever changing liquid fire.
One day the young squire snuck back hoping to gather some feathers so that he could prove the birds were real to his skeptical friends. He could find no feathers and so he crossed the lake by walking on a pair of stilts carved from the leg bones a stag that he discovered nearby. On the central island he discovered a nest made out of some sort of ceramic. Inside this nest was an egg made of a stone that looked like liquid fire. Gasping at the sight, and quite overcome with the greed to possess such a beautiful object, he scooped the egg up and put it in his bag. He stilt-walked to the edge of the lake once more but by the time he had reached the edge the bag he was carrying the egg inside had started to smolder from the heat. So he dunked the egg, his stilts, and the smoldering bag, into the water of the lake. All at once the lake began to boil around the egg and the birds let loose a horrible shriek before burning away before his eyes. Soon all that was left was the boiling lake and an egg made of milky stone.

*On the myth of the boy stealing the egg:*
The author picks the above myth apart before coming to the conclusion that the stories origin is actual fact. He states that there is evidence that he has in fact found reference to an egg acquired from the lake and that he had an opportunity to view the supposed artifact but that he was terribly disappointed to discover it was nothing but a translucent stone with faint opalescent qualities. He talks about some experiments he did on the stone and that he has discovered little of interest except that the stone is somewhat resin like in its quality and that it seems to have a remarkable ability to absorb and retain heat.

*On the Lake and its Healing Powers*
The author discusses the lake and its properties. He speaks of the water being toxic and absolutely not safe to drink and that it is interesting that there appear to be no fish or other living creatures within the waters. He talks of bathing in the lake being extremely dangerous as it is extremely hot and would be like plunging oneself into a pot of boiling waters much as one cooks a crayfish.

*On the Fiur Birds and their association to House D’Fiur*
The author speaks of the fate of house d’Fiur being tied to the lake and the Fiur birds. He brings up a legend (again sadly unreadable) and then discusses the inevitable decline of the house should the birds not return. As a member of d’Fiur himself he says that this is a tragic turn of events but surely one that might be countered yet. His notes on the options to do this are extensive, but damaged, but they clearly reference the need to find and replace the vessel of unborn life.

*On the Vessel of Unborn Life*
The author provides another myth. Sadly this myth is unreadable given the state of the document you are reading. Luckily the authors explanation of the myth is legible in segments. In this segment he explains that he fully believes that there is a link between this vessel of unborn life and the Fiur birds and that if he has understood everything then the birds will return to the lake should the vessel be replaced.

*The Creature in the Lake:*
The author talks at length about the childlike creature that has been said to stalk the waters of the lake. He says that he has spent an extensive amount of time researching the creature and lists many of his efforts before eventually declaring his belief that the creature is either fiction or has vanished along with magic. His description of the creature is of a basic toddler like body structure that is seemingly made of a water like fluid with large pupiless opalescent eyes. He goes so far as to draw a picture of its short stumpy body, overly large head and extremely large, alien, eyes. The creatures feeding habits involve luring a creature into the water, often by acting as if it is in distress, and then overcoming them with poisonous fumes. Once the target is unconscious it drowns them and eats the remains over time. Uniquely there is talk of a defense mechanism in the form of a mucous and a reference to the fact that “Only the distilled essence of mans grief can harm the creature of the lake”. He also states, with unusual clarity for his flowery writing style, that the Fiur birds are said to lull the creature into hibernation and that there seems to be some sort of link between the two mythical creatures. It is clear that a strange pink powder is directly linked to this creature but the details of how are lost.

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