Rayhan Xobhadi AKA GM Dan E's page

Well it will take me a few days to get my notes together and then I could start work on the scroll.

At that point I would need it for perhaps a few hours per day. For security you should keep a hold of it at other times. I have a few rooms spare here that I keep for clients who wish to wait while I work.

You're free to take them and even keep an eye on the scroll while I work.

Zeladiel could tell you though that my table is simple fare, mostly fruit and vegetables from my garden and a little meat. If you want something livelier I recommend the Cliffside Tavern just up the hill.

The wizard folds the letter in his hands.

Another link? Perhaps. From what I know of this Sunset Ship, its sailors would certainly be interested in a way to Kakishon.

But it so happens that I do have some pertinent information for you. The Sunset Ship sailed into Kakishon a week or so ago. It unloaded something, though whether people or cargo I do not know and then sailed out again.

But the dock it used has remained idle since then. As if the ship will shortly return.

Rayhan takes the letter and starts to read it.

Don't get me wrong, this is a critical find and just because I'm unsure now doesn't mean I will remain so. If you will let me, I would very much like to research this scroll and decipher some of the writings upon it.

And if this is indeed the Scroll of Kakishon, there are protections placed upon it to prevent undesirables from being able to open it and travel to the world within. Yet in time, I feel that I will be able to decipher these writings. You see, before he vanished, the wizard Andrathi went through the same process — yet he must have managed to discover the way to open the scroll. Some of his writings have survived to this day, and as it happens, I own copies of these writings. By building upon the foundation he lays, I am sure that I will be able to duplicate his research and refine it.

It may take days, even weeks, but if this is indeed the Scroll of Kakishon, I will find the key to open it!

And once it is open ... the legends speak of great treasures kept safe in Kakishon, the greatest of which was the legendary Firebleeder, said by some to be a falchion and others a living flame. Sadly, my adventuring days are behind me, but if I find the way, I would be honored to accompany you into Kakishon to find the truth!

Rayhan looks up from the scroll and from Zeladiel to Nuveril.

Fascinating! A first link to the Templars through the spirit of Vardishal and then potentially a second. Could it be a blood link, I wonder? Little is known of Andrathi's life and even less of his passing.

The wizard affirms scepticism but he unwinds the scroll as carefully as if it were the most precious item in the world.

He examines it silently for several minutes with nothing but hand and eye before casting a series of incantations over the scroll, his eyes actually glowing a brilliant blue.

Others can try spellcraft as well if the wish.

He grimaces and places a hand to his head as if struck by a headache but he looks up at you excitedly, his hands shaking and eyes wide as he speaks.

I can't tell .. but then nor could I even approach such a forgery. Not for a million gold pieces. It is old definitely, Nexian. It could be, it could be!

He speaks somewhat absently as if his mind is focused almost entirely on the possibility.

The legends say that Kakishon was created by the wizard-king Nex to serve him as a portable paradise and an impenetrable bolt-hole. Much as the more commonplace bag of holding opens into its own reality, the Scroll of Kakishon was said to contain this entire world inside of it — but the scroll was not Kakishon, it was the doorway by which Nex could enter and exit the realm.

Kakishon was said to have been a paradise, a laboratory, a menagerie, a hunting ground, and even a tomb — most likely, it was all these things and more, with each island serving a different role.

The legend falls into increasing obscurity after Nex’s war with Geb began. All signs point to the strong possibility that Nex had grown dissatisfied with Kakishon and had lost interest. When he vanished from the face of Garund in 576 AR, he left the Scroll of Kakishon behind.

Eventually, it was stolen from his castle and the scroll passed through many hands. Some used it as a prison for their enemies, others as a place to impress allies or as a vault for their treasures, the stories say. The closer to the present day we get, the more obscure the rumors grow — no sign of the Scroll of Kakishon seems to have surfaced over the past several hundred years.

The last person to own the scroll, I believe, was a halfling wizard named Andrathi. The accounts of his life are vague and fragmentary, but it would appear that he was the lover of Nefeshti, whose role with the Templars you know.

The Templars fought a dark and shadowed enemy in the mountains near your town. They won but the victory was shadowed in loss. We must assume Vardishal died. No sign of Andrathi or the Scroll of Kakishon remained after the battle. No sign … until perhaps you found it.

If the old wizard notices your various wary looks he doesn't react, instead waving you through the open door into a comfortable looking sitting room, filled with plush seating, several small tables, an expensive silk carpet, and a large overstuffed couch.

Fine paintings on the walls depict all manner of strange and exotic locations, including a huge dead creature in a swamp whose body has been turned into a fly-shrouded throne, a vast graveyard with a skull-shaped moon in the night sky, an idyllic woodland around crumbling stone ruins inhabited by animals who walk like men, and a gold and silver palace at the edge of a mirror-like lake above which flying women with the lower bodies of snakes play.

The largest of these paintings hangs on the northern wall and depicts a jungle-covered island with a strange ship moored at a short stone pier on the closest beach.

Please sit, sit. And forgive me but introductions are in order for some of you. Over-familiarity, it is ever the curse of the diviner.

The wizard greets those of you he hasn't before met in person, treating Grall and Nuveril just as respectfully as Linah. His raven, he names as Abaneshi and as if on cue the bird repeats it raucously.

Caw. Abaneshi. Abaneshi!

The wizard shushes his apparent familiar. Pazhvann, Zayifid. Those are names from legend. Fateful names. Yet a degree of scepticism is warranted. I’ve studied the legend of Kakishon for years and in that time I’ve seen countless shams and forgeries and dead ends.

So let's have it out and see if it could be the real thing.

Zeladiel leads you up until the ground levels out. It is much quieter here, tasteful villas with the occasional eatery taking up both sides of the path. Zeladiel heads toward the cliff edge and with a nod at a modest three-story brick structure overlooking the ocean you are finally there: Rayhan’s villa.

A head-high brick wall surrounds the structure and Zeladiel leads you through a gate. It is not perhaps the extravagant affair one might expect such a successful wizard to own. The villa itself consists of a main house, a few outbuildings and a well-kept garden. Grass grows thick on the villa grounds.

The door to the main house opens and a very tall bald-headed man steps through. Wearing a simple grey robe, a black raven perches on one shoulder. Perhaps sixty, the man looks still spry and fixes you with a piercing but friendly gaze.

So rumor has it that you have the Scroll of Kakishon. Come in and we'll take a look. He sounds skeptical.