Into the Origins of Madness

The rift torn from the fabric of time and space draws closer. The barge, silent, sinks into it, and just for a moment your breath is stolen away from you as you cross into another plane.

You emerge in the middle of a tempest, upon a violent sea and a bitter angry storm. The waves are purest black, the sky only dark clouds, light only emerging with each whip of lightning that bolt out like constant explosions. The sea is maelstrom. But it does not touch the barge.

The waters attack the invisible shield with fury, the spray cuts like razors, and the storm lashes against you but you are protected. You stand still, alone on a small vessel, untouched, but staring out at the infinity, at what lies within the waters.

The water is nightmare, the sea is purest evil. In each drop of water rests a terror, in each flash of lightning you see the scourge. This is the realm of the Horrors, and the entire host knows you are here and you are not welcome.
And then ahead of you, in the eye of the infinite storm, lies your destination. A citadel, sooted in black, weathered by the constant siege of the unforgiving maelstrom. The island houses an imposing structure, several storeys high, dwarfing the walls of Urupa.

The Barge moves closer, sliding into the bay where 'things' have leeched themselves against the rocky outcropping, watching, waiting. The barge softy slides through a collapsed gateway, there a collective chill runs through your bodies as the shield meshes with that of the citadel.

You step onto the dock, a short rock platform paved with flagstones. There is a bell hanging dutifully by it and while you contemplate its presence the boat slips away and disappears back into the storm.

You are alone.

We disembarked on a flagstoned wharf; the wind whipped around us like there was no tomorrow but the maelstrom never touched us. The barrier around us was our only protection from certain madness. We were greeted by a large basin with runic inscriptions in which was a sulphur like yellow dust. Elessar and Jarl could not decipher the runes and we kept going knowing that time was of the essence as the spirits we left behind could already be fighting against the accursed Black Hand mercenaries and pirates. The island castle itself was a sight to behold;

The imposing citadel door can perhaps fit a small airship through it. The door, has a colossal impression of a warrior woman, an amazon fury. She looks like she was trapped in passing – she emerges from the gate waist deep, one arm raised high into the air, and another low to the ground. Her nails are dragon like talons, ready to ward off intruders.

On its hand was a square where the previous door puzzle we had fit snugly (after an hour or so of contemplating the solution). The door opened to a great spherical foyer chock full of statues and intricate architectural design. Three doors, each different, were the only means of exit from the room. One door was plain looking with a lever on its side, the other had two angelic statues on either side holding a trumpet and a scroll and the other was a circular bronze door, with a constellation diagram depicting passions engraved upon it. We took the latter having the feeling that rather than stepping through a door we had stepped through a portal of some sort, very much like Elessar's rift. We ended up in a circular room that looked like a shrine to the gods, all twelve of them, including the dark gods before they turned. Rashemon's statue is visibly damaged.
Two more doors are in this room. There is still the door with angelic statues and another one. It is made of cured iron wood with fastidious triangular shapes on that leads to a square shaped space with a circular elevated platform with runes on it. Next to this is a large forge that is still lit, obviously by true fire. On the floor we also notice recesses that contain different kinds of metal with racks of blacksmithing tools next to them. We surmise that this was some kind of enchanting chamber. Again three doors mark our choice of exits. The same old door with angelic statues is there as well as another one with a mirror that reflects anything that is not living. This door led to a zen garden that had stairs to an elevated platform that housed a recreational area. What is peculiar in this place is that there is no noise and even our voices are inaudible as we speak. The angelic adorned door is always there and we also see another large heavy wooden door with a jewel encrusted lock.
The latter door leads to a great prison tower riddled with cages on the sides and with large vats containing deformed creatures. There are several bones of all types in the cells even human. Apart from the now recurring door with angelic icons there is a cold iron portcullis opened by a chain hanging from the ceiling. the portcullis leads to a shelf ridden circular room with lots of lock boxes on. These contain a myriad of items. There is also lots of rotten food and hung meat in this room. It looks like a huge pantry. Another two doors welcome us, there is the usual door and another that is made of a thick series of hanging chains. This leads to a triangular chamber which is clearly a summoning chamber. The doors that are in front of us now are all familiar the third one being similar to the slab door with the lever we saw in the foyer. We take that and as expected we end up in the foyer again. We also realised that the angelic adorned door also leads to somewhere in particular since it is present in all the rooms we've been through.
These doors had one thing in common, there was no way to open them. We tried pushing and looking for hidden buttons but to no avail. Then a simple knock from Jarl solved our problem as the door slowly slid ajar. We entered an area so large that our light didn't even hit a wall. We were in a reception area with a desk and a bookshelf. The book shelves extend to each side and seem endless. It takes us a few minutes walk to finally reach a wall. We find spiral staircase leading both up and down leading to more shelves. To put it mildly, this library is of gargantuan proportions.
We then come by a door with a star symbol on it. Elessar is confronted all of a sudden by a ghostly figure who claimed to be the custodian and asked him if he wanted to return a book. We ask her to take us to Ferros' study and she agrees. After a very long journey up and down stairs, through shelves upon shelves of books we arrive at a small bridge leading to an open plateau seemingly in the midst of nothing. There is a big door, covered in mosaics of different elements. Two colossal statues stand beside it, a man holding a trident, and another with a sabre. After some time we fit the elemental pieces we had found on the other plane in place and the door opens. We are confronted with a triangular room with two doors. Taking the left door we end up in a planetarium with a pod in the centre showing a world and a control panel on the side next to a large hourglass with the sands of time inexorably falling down. Some quick research and fiddling with the controls of the incredible machine later we discover that this 'toy' is actually a sort of time control machine that can manipulate past, present and future. Eventually we learn the easy controls of the machine and Ivor uses it to check his family's past.

We decide to check the other door and find the long awaited study of Ferros himself at last.

Polished wooden furnishing adorn this room. Dark varnishes make the cloistered space feel warmer and more cozy, as if this space was a beloved one. Pigeon hole shelves rise to the ceiling, housing various types of scrolls, mostly empty, but each of a different composition and texture – some are reed parchment others are leather skins. There is a small cove with a comfortable chair and table, clearly a niche for Ferros to study at, where a small stack of books rests for perusal.

The first is a lecturn, a place clearly made for the writing of books, it is surrounded with a neat set of ink jars and geometric instruments, quills and pens. The second is a book binding station, where presses hold pages down and large needles stitch binding. Pots of glue and coloured wax are set aside strengthen the tomes once completed. The third desk is a simple podium, where the finished product would await until moved to the library. But most interestingly of all is the fact that it is not unused for a book lies resting on it. A large imposing tome, with dark stretch skin on its cover and the oh so familiar symbols upon it. A book of Harrow. The book is revealed to be the 8th book of Harrow, clearly the last in the series and also not supposed to exist. Before Ferros' transcribed the books, adding his notes and thoughts, but now he has gone beyond. This book would contain spells to master horrors, and higher magic beyond belief – such as the spells to maintain the citadel they are in right now.

A good look around reveals another door that leads to a very small, one man chamber made entirely of gold with walls covered in small runes. Elessar tells us that this chamber is for the disassembly of the citadel we are in. After a brief glimpse into the future through the time manipulating machine we see that a giant tsunami is headed towards the citadel and that a few hours later the citadel is no more. We also see members of the hand including Silas running through the place and decide that the best course of action is to start the disassembly of the city, take the book of Harrow and what we can salvage and leave this place before we too are disassembled.

We make our way to the exit through the vast library led by the custodian. When we reach the door with the angelic figures we prepare for the fight and open the door. Unfortunately what we expected was four guards but as a matter of fact we forgot that we were glimpsing the future and there we were the Five Flames on one side and the Hand, led by Silas, on the other. The stand off was short lived as men rushed into combat and spells were chanted...