Dusty Tome
This article is about the open world books. For the book found during the story, see Dusty Tome (Penance for the Past). Dusty Tome
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An appearance in the Veiled Library. Interactive map |
The Dusty Tomes are books found in the central area of the Mistburned Barrens—Grand Athenaeum and Nexus of Moonlight.
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- On top of a cliff next to the Mursaat Mirror in Nexus of Moonlight
I held myself aloft for only half a day today—half as long as the day before. I can still hear Baraq's mirthful laughter as I was forced to use the stairs. Archivist Orestes banished him back to his studies with stories of when Baraq, Seraf, and Manikaz were also gildless—an attempt to cheer me up, I guess.
Many days, I feel as though I will never be worthy and that I may never be the ideal mursaat. Orestes believes I am foolish for such thoughts, and he understands how I feel despite the vast ocean of years between us. I am not to be gilded with armor for a decade or so, but the archivist tells me I should relish my youth while I can—find "small joys" before the weight of expectation and history becomes too much to bear. How can one float with such burdens?
Before we can become gilded, we must become magically adept; more attuned to this world's magical ebbs and flows. Many of my peers can become unseen and even hover for several days without a break. I phase well for a gildless my age, and while I struggle to fly like the others, one of my forebears has started to teach me transportation spells. A blink here, a portal there. I think I have a skill for it!
Anyway, stopping here for today. One of the high researchers pulled Orestes away a moment ago. She looked concerned—a scrying eye was resting at her side. What has she seen? I wonder.
- On the bookshelf, in the northern side of the Veiled Library.
This is your summons.
The hunt begins for Isgarren, the Mask Scourge. Very few of our enemies remain, but he should not be underestimated. Isgarren gained passage into Bava Nisos undetected and killed Yagon in broad daylight. She was among her peers and family, and the assassination was executed at the height of preparations for the Ceremony of the Rabbit's Moon. Thus, Isgarren is considered detrimental to mursaat vitality.
As in tradition, the final life-breath of the enemy should be gifted to the mate of the victim. If you are able to locate Isgarren, please bring him to me alive.
If bringing him back to Bava Nisos becomes problematic, killing the enemy may be your only option. Even though the Mask Scourge was exiled by his people, he continues to seek revenge for the death of their leader, Sidony. If he has the coign of vantage, he will win.
—Arch Steward Celsa
- On the table, in the southern side of the Veiled Library.
After the obliteration of Apavim near the start of the war and our decisive victory in the Valley of Agony centuries later, our remaining luminaries and elders reconvened in Janthir, near the Golden Lake. They discussed suitable locations to break ground on a new city. A fresh start, free from the tyrannical oversight of the seers.
It did not take long for the gathered host to realize that our best option was beneath our very talons, in Janthir. We had long maintained an outpost at the lake; its enchanted waters were well suited for the crafting of our scrying eyes and other spell craft, as our ancestors in Nayos would do. Its importance made it a prime strategic target for the seers, one Yagon exploited to set our final trap.
The city of Bava Nisos then rose from the end of a dark and bloody chapter. It was a renewed promise to those of us who still sought a way home, a future gateway to worlds beyond, and a citadel dedicated to unfettered research.
In the next section, I will discuss the city's decline, the growing obsession with bloodstone research and its disturbing application, and how the war left several generations of our gilded and even some of the older generations vulnerable to the superstitious ramblings of a cast-off dragonspawn.
