07-08-01
A Tale of Time Untold from the journals of Nadja

Tapestry image by Mabelyn Arteaga.
Portraits originally created by Jason Manley for Interplay's Icewind Dale.

Chandrelin, a name lost in time has been restored, once a glorious city it is now nothing but a ruin concealed beneath the earth by powerful magic, the sorrowful tomb of a grieving mother and a place where our destinies seemingly intertwine. Our discoveries have left some of us shocked as in the case of Keridian, whose father is the evil lord of the Circle of Woe himself; the “Master” as he is referred to by the Shifters. Our lives unfold and so does the mystery...

Upon discovering an underground passage beneath the fountain of the four statues where we had our insightful visions, we decided to investigate but not before returning to Rheinfall to deliver the crazed halfling by the name of Noir to To'Pafah Nune. In Rheinfall, we were met by unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances. The town was unusually quiet and the inn was empty due to the recent death of Vara’s elderly father, Gridnick, but that was not all. Once in To'Pafah’s apartments we discovered that the benign halfling, who was as close to family as anyone I’d ever known, was mercilessly stabbed in the back and his collection of rare cursed items pilfered by a knowledgeable thief or skillful mage. Garreth sent a word via carrier pigeon to the druids near Shian and alerted them of To'Pafah’s untimely death. No doubt they immediately informed the garrison and Merriweather, his estranged wife, who currently resides there.

Following the discovery of To'Pafah's murder, I experienced a vision of sorts; the kind that periodically come to me. I saw To'Pafah walking into his study where he sees Mikhail, his butler, attempting to disarm the traps. When he turns around to seek help he sees an image of himself. I told the others of the eerie vision, that there must have been more than one accomplice, and sure enough a few minutes later, while looking for clues we found a second body in the pantry. The body seemed to be disintegrating into a greenish jelly- like substance that I had never seen before and while there was a faint magical aura about the creature, it seemed to be quite physical and not a magical construct. Keridian took some of the substance and carefully stored it in a vial for later testing.

The people of the town were as shocked by all this as we were, except that their peasant, uneducated minds gave way to wild tales and rumors of curses and I honestly don't blame them. Humans tend to have a certain "gut feeling" as they call it that is almost always right. Vargas took it upon himself to play general and setup a watch until the garrison arrived. The townsfolk were none too happy but I suppose it was necessary.

The morning following our gruesome discoveries we heard a strange sound coming from the closet where we had locked up Noir. We opened the door and were shocked to see Vory but luckily none of us trusted our eyes and we kept the child prisoner until Vara could be fetched. We soon discovered that Noir was not Noir at all but a kin to the disintegrating creature we had found in the pantry. After intimidation and interrogation the stubborn and secretive creature coughed some valuable answers. The creatures are few in number and call themselves "Shifters". Their bodies are infused with a deadly poison that kills them within the month if they don't return to their leader for the antidote. They work for a so-called "Master", that we later found out could be the once ruler of Chandrelin but I will get to that part later. Their "master" is the leader of an insidious cult called The Circle of Woe and is apparently the one responsible for To'Pafah's murder and the theft of his collection of cursed items. All evidence suggests that he wields magnificent magical powers and that he's an undead mage. He is a formidable opponent that is working with both Drow and human bastions for a purpose we dare not surmise.

Even now, many days later I cannot believe that my mentor is dead. Rheinfall is nothing but a painful memory in my mind. The only person who ever truly respected me and treated me like an equal; who took care of me is dead and it is difficult to keep the anger at bay. Mikhail is involved in all of this and I will stop him even if it takes my last dying breath. Merriweather is now mayor of Rheinfall, making it even clearer that there's nothing left for me there. Having worked with the local apothecary, Keridian and Garreth distilled the maleficent poison from the jelly-like substance and they discovered that the ingredients are all derivatives of plants and creatures of the Underdark. No doubt my fate lies beneath the world of the living and I am afraid about what I may discover. That Drow woman we captured in the caves long ago looked so much like me; for all I know I killed a sister. I do not know where I come from, whom my parents were; I have no loyalties except to myself and these others who have proven their good intent. Sometimes I want to wash off this darkness from my skin…

We left Rheinfall with a list of To'Pafah's magical items and sorrow on our backs. Garreth has told me that the locket that magically appeared about his neck after his vision is made from a very specific type of gold that is quite rare and was mined long ago in the now closed Dwarven mines of D'Voro. In spite of our obvious differences and our unlikely dispositions we seem to be getting along as a group and I feel that perhaps one day we may all be close friends. Sometimes danger has a way of bringing people together.

We returned to the Temple of Morrigan and descended the stairs beneath the fountain to discover an awesome sight indeed: An entire high elven citadel that stretched as far as the eye could see. Gates rose up thirty feet from the ground preserved in all its majesty and beyond we saw desiccated rose gardens and statues of the same family sketched in the hedge wizard's book. This dormant city was magically interred beneath this cavern, unnatural, crawling with its undead inhabitants, lost to time forever.

I felt such sorrow when we approached the palace, it's as if I wanted to cry and scream and fight. Inside the weeping threatened to drive me mad and that's when we saw her; the lady of the castle, dressed in diaphanous white; no longer living. She was an apparition of horror and although her beauty was still apparent I felt only utter despair and nausea. Her nails were long, her hair wild, she was an ungodly sight. Her voice was surprisingly soothing though as she begged us to restore her city's name.

We discovered many wondrous rooms and objects in the palace, among them a fountain used to enchant weapons and another to heal, magical portals, a ballroom, a laboratory and much more but what really stood out in my mind was the tapestry in the ballroom and I convinced Keridian to cast the "Reverse Time" scroll on it figuring that that would surely contain the name of the city. Upon casting the scroll the threadbare fabric began to emanate an eerie glow and we gaped in awe of the restorative effects of the magic as the threads magically wove themselves back into discernible figures. In half an hour's time the work was complete and this gorgeous masterpiece wove a convoluted tale of love and betrayal, revenge and courage.

It appears that the riddle of time is finally beginning to make sense. Still it is all so difficult to piece together. The paradoxes are many and powerful magics have altered the timeline on a universal scale but with some more research I think it will be possible to figure it all out. It appears that even though Loren Lakal (the Queen of Chandrelin) was married to Kulkilkan she had an adulterous relationship with King Mathien, which would explain why her child was Half-Elven. At the time the tapestry was conceived, Loren appears pregnant with child and it's my best guess that her husband did not yet know that her son wasn't his. From evidence that we have gathered within the palace it is clear that Kulkilkan was secretly practicing evil magics and was obsessed with magically creating life. Pranx and Alone (the hermit) were among his more successful creations evidently. The adventurers in the tapestry were responsible for originally banishing the Drow from the Spiderthorne Forest. Of the people represented in the tapestry, only the Grey Elven King of Shian and Garreth's stepmother are alive, although we believe that she may be in danger. To'Pafah Nune has recently been murdered but it is clear that many of his finer maps were in use at the palace when this city was known. Verise and To'Pafah used to adventure together but she died long ago from accidentally donning a cursed necklace of strangulation. Gridnick has also passed away recently. We have a strong suspicion that Kulkilkan is living in some way perhaps as a result of his perverted experiments. Immortality is something he always sought.

The great Elmeric is also pictured in the tapestry... twice... Once as a man, and the other as the unborn infant growing in Loren's womb. History paints Elmeric as a pivital force is the struggle against the Drow. Did he escape Chandrelin as a child when the city was being cast backwards into time? (along with Pranx and Alone?) His disappearance was reported shortly after the Drow war. Would that have coincided with his "birth"? Did Lady Loren and Her Lord know that they were fighting alongside their son? Did Elmeric know that Kulkilkan would be responsible for the demise of Chandrelin. Although, it seems that we are finding answers, we are left with even stranger questions.