*Spoilers* Belcora's Journal, found in C35

[VampByDay]

The entry in room C35 of book one talks about a journal penned by Belcorra that mentions several things that enterprising PCs can take advantage of, like the existance of prisions, fleshwarp labs, and underdark connections. Rather than just read that to the players, I've actually gone and written out the last entries of the journal for anyone who wants to use it.

Note I haven't read past the first book, so I may have gotten some details wrong, let me know if I have. I tried to remain in-character as much as possible while covering everything the book mentions she mentions without being too obvious. Let me know what you think.

Side Note: I had to do some guesswork, but I set the journal at a year before her death. I also included some other events that are mentioned in the text but never given to the players. Let me know if anything needs to change.

Abadius 1st: 4239: A new year, hopefully more fruitful than previous years. Progress on the Abomination vaults is progressing laboriously. My servants continue to complain about the time it takes to burrow through solid bedrock, and no amount of lashings nor threats will get their indecent prattle to stop. My so-called apprentice, the amusingly vain Volluk Azrinae has taken to using a stone-shape ritual just to expedite work in an ill-conceived attempt to appiese me. I just think it makes the workers even lazier.

Calistril 20th, 4239: I tire of the connections to the darklands and am considering cutting them off for good. But no, the trade routes with the dark elves are too valuable. But the bothersome dark knife-ears vex me so. First Volluk, now this 'Chandriu Ivisar' has come from the drowlands, begging to join my cause. I don't know what they put in the water down there but I don't see how the Drow procreate. Chandriu chases Volluk around like a love-sick puppy, just like Volluk chases me around. Any more 'volunteers' from these drow and I think I should go mad.

Pharast 17th, 4239: I am making not insignificant progress on enchanting the lighthouse to serve my needs, and work on the vaults is proceeding nicely with Volluk's stone shape rituals. I am also proud to say I have attracted some peons with some minor magical talent and retained them as scribes and librarians. Their puny magics cannot aid in construction but can get some things done. Nahkazarin is the only one worth noting here, she helped finish the last of my fleswarping facilities and has since been reassigned as head librarian. Her knowledge of necromancy has been. . . . useful. Almost too useful. . .

Gozran 28th, 4239: The ranks of my servants continue to swell, though there are few of note. Most are simply craven imbibes hoping to fleece me for a quick magic lesson or hoping that I'll reward them with a position of power once Absolom falls, but some are truly loyal to the cause. I've had to convert a large amount of the first basement to sleeping quarters, as well as several bunkrooms here in the library to handle them all. I wonder if the Tar-Baphon ever had to worry over such mundane tasks.

Desnus 31st, 4239: I am beginning to grow restless. While my work on the lighthouse artifact occupies the majority of my time, and logistics for the vault occupies the rest, I am growing increasingly tired with both. I need a good rest an entertainment. To such an end I have ordered the construction of a fighting collesum: one where champions of my choosing can fight to the death for my amusement. Possibly too the amusements of others, maybe my trusted servant or my so-called apprentice Volluk. I'll have to see once it is completed.

Serenith 12th, 4239: My personal chef overspiced my meal and I threw him in the library dungeon for thirty days as punishment, but that got me thinking, I only have the one small prison in the library. I should have a much larger prison section . . . in case the workers get uppity.

Erastus 2nd: 4239: Prisons are proceeding well. Nahkazarin suggested also adding some torture rooms. Fairly obvious she just wants more torture to increase the chance that their deaths generate some undead, but I'm generally not against that, so I have approved the addition of torture chambers to the prisons.

Arodus 19th, 4239: It's a sign! A gift from the outer gods! While excavating I have found a site where once the Empty Death herself brushed against this fragile world! Oh, it is glorious! I have ordered a temple to be erected on the spot to my most glorious of patrons! Oh, it will be wonderful!

Rova 7th, 4239: FINALLY, my personal suite is finished. Situated on the level below the library, it will have all the necessities for me to relax and not be bothered by the staff. No longer will I be forced to 'slum it' with such abysmal chambers as I had on the ground floor or first basement. Work proceeds slowly on the temple, workers keep dying . . . or going insane . . . or going insane THEN dying. But it'll be worth it in the end I bet!

Lamashan 14th, 4239: Word has finally gotten back to me from the Absolom Thieves' guild. They say they will be willing to meet next year sometime. They think they can command ME to wait?! I should kill them all where they stand for their impudence, but alas, they are currently more useful to me alive than dead. I need information on Absolom's defenses and they are the easiest way I can acquire such knowledge. I WILL revenge myself on them at some point though.

[VampByDay]

Any suggestions, comments, criticisms?

[Haydriel]

Nice, I like it a lot!

These forums aren't overly active, a thread usually gets around 2-3 replies over the course of several days/weeks.

Haven't had a chance to read through it as thoroughly as I'd like, so I will get back to you later!

VampByDay wrote:

Arodus 19th, 4239: It's a sign! A gift from the outer gods! While excavating I have found a site where once the Empty Death herself brushed against this fragile world! Oh, it is glorious! I have ordered a temple to be erected on the spot to my most glorious of patrons! Oh, it will be wonderful!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that Belcorra always knew or suspected this ancient site would be there (from visions, I believe) from the get go.

IMO that was the entire reason for her to build Gauntlight in that particular spot in the first place (the lighthouse is in face a conduit for the 'eldritch energies' emanating from that spot).

You could change your journal entry slightly to reflect this, something along the lines of 'I finally found it! The place where my mistress once brushed against this fragile world' or something like that.
Hope this helps!

EDIT: I believe the ancient temple was there before Belcorra 'rediscovered' it. This is described in Book 3 and there is proof of an ancient, now extinct cult of Nhimbaloth.
Earlier journal entries could reflect the search for this ancient site (forshadowing).

I highly recommend reading the second and (especially) the third book in advance so you get a feel of the entire, overarching plot and details.

[Haydriel]

Haydriel wrote:

EDIT: I believe the ancient temple was there before Belcorra 'rediscovered' it. This is described in Book 3 and there is proof of an ancient, now extinct cult of Nhimbaloth.
Earlier journal entries could reflect the search for this ancient site (forshadowing).

Found something for you, from book 3. I don't think I'm allowed to quote directly but:

Spoiler:

(...) Deep below Gauntlight, on the lowest level of the dungeon a structure is found called the Gate of Nhimbaloth (the ancient temple). According to the book, Belcorra didn’t build this place but she found and incorporated it into the Abomination Vauls. It is even speculated whether the temple was always a subterranean building or if it was at one time 'cast down from the surface'. Page 47 - 48

[VampByDay]

Thanks! I’ll fix it.

[Haydriel]

How do you plan to 'distribute' these journal entries? Just give them as hand-outs to the players when they discover the journal? Or do you read an entry every session or so?

Another suggestion, if you're up for it: you could write one or more entries about

Spoiler:

other minions like Jafaki and/or the devil Urevian

as small breadcrumbs leading to the second book. This also helps to further integrate the storylines between the books.

This also ties in well with certain monsters found on the library and service quarter levels and it works well with the above mentioned Darklands-entry.

[VampByDay]

Given Haydriel's information, I've changed one of the entries. Please replace the relevant entry above with the following one:

Arodus 19th, 4239: I've finally found it! The gift from the outer gods that my dreams-no, my visions have lead me to! While excavating I, (well, my minions) stumbled upon an ancient temple where once the Empty Death herself brushed against this fragile world Oh, it is glorious! I have ordered the temple to be repaired and reconstructed with all due haste! Oh, it will be wonderful!

Haydriel wrote:

How do you plan to 'distribute' these journal entries? Just give them as hand-outs to the players when they discover the journal? Or do you read an entry every session or so?

Another suggestion, if you're up for it: you could write one or more entries about
** spoiler omitted ** as small breadcrumbs leading to the second book. This also helps to further integrate the storylines between the books.

This also ties in well with certain monsters found on the library and service quarter levels and it works well with the above mentioned Darklands-entry.

While I like the idea of dolling out one entry a session for a while for dramatic flair, it doesn't make sense with how the book works. If the journal was kept on a magical Vlogging crystal ball and the PCs had trouble unlocking it, that might be a different story.

Also I didn't want to give too much away so I decided to just put in the stuff that the book said to put in, plus a little extra to make sense of one of the ghosts in the library and the death thieves in the level below. I do allude to more lieutenants though, with this line:

Desnus 31st, 4239: I am beginning to grow restless. While my work on the lighthouse artifact occupies the majority of my time, and logistics for the vault occupies the rest, I am growing increasingly tired with both. I need a good rest an entertainment. To such an end I have ordered the construction of a fighting collesum: one where champions of my choosing can fight to the death for my amusement. Possibly too the amusements of others, maybe my trusted servants or my so-called apprentice Volluk. I'll have to see once it is completed.

[VampByDay]

My players ran through this yesterday and really enjoyed the trouble I went to actually writing up the journal. Success!

[Billiam8817]

I'm using a modified version of this for my campaign, thanks!

All the extras like these that people post on the Internet are fantastic. The more the better. You might not get a bunch of replies right now but it's gonna be here and googleable for a long time, and I think AV is gonna go down as one of the best in p2e.

[Ozymandeus]

This is great, thank you!

[Dara Boarsbane]

VampByDay wrote:

The entry in room C35 of book one talks about a journal penned by Belcorra that mentions several things that

Thank you so much for this! We just hit this point and it was great to have this resource.

[Mimyck]

this was very useful

[Duckcall Dan]

Thank You, here is how I modified it for my campaign.
-------------
This is a large journal written in Aklo that focuses on Belcorra’s hatred of Absalom. Taking 8 hours to read, you learn about Belcorra’s family history, from their exile to poverty to her eventual return to the region to build a lair from which she hoped to exact revenge on the city that disgraced and impoverished her family. The last several pages of the journal document much of her work in building the Abomination Vaults. While the journal doesn’t offer many specific details, it mentions construction of fleshwarping laboratories, arenas where she pitted enemies against monstrous champions for her amusement, prisons, torture chambers, links to the Darklands, and a great temple where “once the Empty Death herself brushed against this fragile world.” Belcorra’s entries often speak of her minions in the abstract, as if bragging about how many have come to serve her in creating the complex, but she only ever mentions a few by name including her “amusingly vain” apprentice, Volluk Azrinae. One of the last entries describes how this apprentice arrived from “a community of upstart and meddlesome drow below” to serve Belcorra. The notes don’t provide any further information about this drow community.
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Sample of entries from the last pages of the Journal
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Abadius 1st, 4239: A new year, hopefully more fruitful than previous years. Progress on the Abomination vaults is progressing laboriously. My servants continue to complain about the time it takes to burrow through solid bedrock. No amount of lashings nor threats will get their incessant prattle to stop. My self-proclaimed apprentice, the amusingly vain Volluk Azrinae has taken to using stone-shape rituals to expedite the work. All in an ill-conceived attempt to appease me. I just think it makes the workers even lazier.
Calistril 20th, 4239: I tire of the connections to the darklands and am considering cutting them off for good. But no, the trade routes with the dark elves are too valuable. But the bothersome knife-ears vex me so. First was Volluk, now others have come from the drowlands, begging to join my cause. One of them chases Volluk around like a love-sick puppy, just as Volluk chases me around. Join as my servants, just stay out of my sight. Any more ‘volunteers’ from these drow and I think I should go mad.
Pharast 17th, 4239: I am making significant progress on enchanting the gauntlight, and work on the vaults is proceeding nicely with Volluk’s stone shape rituals. Golarian’s most powerful library is nearly complete. I am also proud to say I have attracted some book-worms with minor talent and retained them as scribes and librarians. Their puny scholarly magics cannot aid in construction but can speed in Absalom’s destruction. Nahkazarin is the only one worth noting here, she helped finish the last of my fleshwarping facilities and has since been reassigned as head librarian. Her knowledge of necromancy has been. . . . useful. Almost too useful. . .
Gozran 28th, 4239: The ranks of my servants continue to swell, though there are few of note. Most are simply craven imbeciles hoping to fleece me for a quick magic lesson or hoping that I’ll reward them with a position of power once Absolom falls, but some are truly loyal to the cause. I’ve had to convert a large amount of the first basement to sleeping quarters, as well as several bunkrooms in the library level to handle them all. I wonder if the Tar-Baphon ever had to worry over such mundane tasks.
Desnus 31st, 4239: I am beginning to grow restless. My work on the gauntlight artifact occupies the majority of my time, and logistics for the vault occupies the rest. I weary of the incompetence of others and need a distraction. To such an end I have ordered the construction of a fighting colosseum: one where the slowest workers will fight my mutated champions to the death for my amusement.
Serenith 12th, 4239: My personal chef under-spiced my meal and I threw him in the library dungeon for thirty days as punishment. I was told there were already eleven others in the small prison built to hold two. I will take the devil’s suggestion and build a much larger prison . . . in case more workers or ‘guests’ try to make eye-contact with me.
Erastus 2nd, 4239: Prisons are proceeding well. Nahkazarin suggested adding more torture rooms. It is obvious she just wants more torture to increase the chance that their deaths generate some undead, but I’m generally not against that, so I have approved the addition of more torture chambers to the prisons.
Arodus 19th, 4239: The day is here! I have finally found the site where once the Empty Death herself brushed against this fragile world! Oh, it is glorious! I have ordered a temple to be erected on the spot to my most glorious of patrons! Wonderful! Soon the last piece of my plan will be in place.
Rova 7th, 4239: FINALLY, my personal suite is finished. Situated on the level below the quiet library, it will have all the necessities for me to relax and not be bothered by the staff. No longer will I be forced to ‘slum it’ with such abysmal chambers as I had on the ground floor or first basement. Work proceeds slowly on the temple, workers keep dying . . . or going insane . . . or going insane THEN dying. Their deaths are of no consequence.
Lamashan 14th, 4239: Word has finally gotten back to me from the Absolom Thieves' guild. They say they will be willing to meet next week. They think they can command ME to wait?! I should kill them all where they stand for their impudence, but alas, they are currently more useful to me alive than dead. I need current information on Absolom's defenses and they are the easiest way I can acquire such knowledge. I WILL revenge myself on them at some point though.