Forbidden Knowledge
Description
DescriptionCaelum's search for answers about their supernatural affliction leads them to the Royal Library and an ancient wizard who remembers their parents. Prator offers a devil's bargain: fetch a rare northern flower in exchange for passages from a forbidden tome and—more tantalizingly—records of what books Caelum's parents once borrowed. This quest for knowledge mirrors their parents' own strange requests, suggesting a family pattern of dabbling in dangerous scholarship. Session 6 update: Caelum's search for truth about their supernatural affliction yields forbidden fruit from Royal Wizard Prator. The ancient tome 'Echoes of the Forbidden' reveals hidden history: divine offspring born from unions between old gods—beings with partial celestial power who could make bargains with mortals. Among them: a nameless creature born of shadow and nightmares, and a fiery monster that possesses plants and animals. Most telling: Caelum's parents borrowed these same materials heavily in 975 AA, the year of the fire that killed them. Prator's knowing comments about the 'chilling' grassy knoll where Caelum found the flowers suggest the old wizard is guiding them down the same dangerous path their parents walked. Session 8 update: Kalem's search for truth about their parents' deaths yields disturbing revelations about what Lord and Lady Cadir discovered in their final year. Roderick confirms they were researching bloodlines, family histories, and marriages—asking questions that made powerful people uncomfortable and getting 'too close to something.' Most damning: in 975 AA, the year of the fire, they visited Thalara's family home in the south. This was no social call—the Cadirs were investigating the very bloodlines that would soon be targeted for elimination. Thalara remembers playing with young Cordelia during that visit, both families alive and whole. Months later, fire consumed Raven Rest and assassins slaughtered the Kirianth Yestin household. The pattern is unmistakable: Kalem's parents learned something about divine bloodlines in the south, and both families paid with their lives. The forbidden knowledge they sought is now within Kalem's reach, but the cost of pursuing it has already been written in ash and blood.
Key Figures (6)
Timeline
The Royal Library
Caelum visits the Royal Library seeking information about magical trees and fungi, hoping to understand what happened in the forest. They encounter Prator, who remembers their parents making similarly 'strange, odd' requests. When Caelum's clumsy theft of 'Echoes of the Forbidden' fails, Prator offers a quest in exchange for forbidden knowledge—fetch the Rurianthan flower and receive both restricted passages and records of their parents' reading history.
Echoes of the Forbidden
Caelum delivers the flowers to Prator and receives the forbidden tome 'Echoes of the Forbidden' and records of their parents' research, learning about divine offspring born from old gods and discovering their parents researched heavily in the year 975 AA—the year of the fire
The Weight of Legacy
Kalem presses Roderick for information about their parents' final months. The old guard reveals they were researching bloodlines and family histories, asking questions that 'rubbed people the wrong way' and got 'too close to something.' He watched the doors while they poured over scrolls and letters but wasn't privy to details—Alfreda would have known more.
Convergence of Conspiracies
The revelation that Kalem's parents visited Thalara's family home in 975 AA—the year of both the fire and the massacre—transforms coincidence into conspiracy. Kalem's parents were researching bloodlines in the south, and thirteen years ago they visited the very family that would be slaughtered for carrying celestial blood.