Skyreach Explorer, Volume Three

Summary

 * Location:Skyreach Hold
 * Author: Reginus Buca

Content
By Reginus Buca, Historian, University of Gwylim

Today we made our first foray into the undercroft known as Skyreach Catacombs. It is evident that the dead of the Nedic city were interred within this vast labyrinth. However, we have not yet been able to determine if all classes of citizens were allowed to make use of these facilities, or if it was just a place for the rich and powerful. We will begin examining a sampling of the graves at once. Who knows what relics we might find buried with each Nedic corpse?

Some of the guards and workers in our party have begun to complain about this place. They say these catacombs are haunted. One of my students actually reminded me of the legend of Virmaril the Betrayer. I usually don't hold with such nonsense, but I must admit that a feeling of dread has settled over me. And like some of the others, I imagine I'm hearing a voice whose words are spoken just low enough that I can't make them out. Perhaps we're just frightening each other with these wild tales. Still, the faster we complete our study, the faster we can exit this dismal place.

(I've taken up the quill again, as Reginus appears to be almost frozen with fear at the moment. We haven't actually seen any spirits or walking dead yet, but more and more of our crew are complaining about the strange voices in their heads. I'm going to ignore them for the moment and talk about the amazing chamber we just came across. This must have been where the legendary meeting of the Nedic kings took place! Each of the kings appear as they must have looked in their last moments of life, sitting in their thrones as if about to enter into a grand debate. —Verita N.)

I don't know what came over me, but I have shaken off the feeling of doom and retrieved my quill from our fanciful Verita. I must document the position of each of these ancient kings so that our record of this discovery is complete. Though their names have been lost to history, we know the titles of each of the kings spread out around the High King Durac. They include such luminaries as the Forest King, the Spirit King, and the Frost King. We don't know why they carried these titles, but I'm sure it had something to do with the region of the Nedic realm they ruled. Or perhaps it had something to do with their own personal portfolios of power.

(Give me that quill! Who cares what they were called. I think this chamber demonstrates the true state of Virmaril the Betrayer's mind. I don't think he was trying to raise an undead army. I think he was more of a collector. I think this place is now his collection! It makes a certain amount of sense if you look at the evidence before us. —Verita N.)

Nonsense! Virmaril is nothing more than a legend. And ghost stories do nothing to advance the cause of knowledge and history. Let's move on before we all succumb to these imaginary voices.