Here are excerpts from books discovered during the Brightwater campaign. Other books, such as A Conjuration Primer and Teleportation Circles and Sigils by Sildar Hallsummer, were found but are not excerpted here.
Bedazzled and Bedeviled
by Elliot Fraser
You have the privilege of reading another memoir and compendium of adventuring knowledge from an accomplished Fraser. Unlike my brother’s Underdark travels (I find “the Dark Realm Underneath” a mouthful), I managed to successfully travel to another plane: that of Hades, a grey land of despair where the Devils and Demons battle in their Blood War.
This memoir will be broken into three main parts: the geography of the Grey Wastes, the occupants of these lands, and the Blood War between Devils and Demons. The inhospitable landscape is intriguing in its own right, and I was one of the lone creatures not Devil, Demon, Yugoloth, or Doppelganger. Luckily, I skirted around the battles and their terrifying infernal warmachines, acquired soul coins, made a deal with a lovely lady, and returned home to write this memoir. In fact, I have the current pleasure of seeing this beautiful lady cross the room to speak to me an
[The rest of the manuscript is blank.]
Journey to the Center of Quelmar
by Trevor Fraser
After travelling the realms adventuring, I directed myself in the most dangerous direction: downwards. After years of spelunking and mining, I came across a Dark Realm Underneath, a perverse mirror of our world. Where there is land here, the Dark Realm Underneath holds oceans, and where there are oceans here, there is land there. Unsettling and deadly residents of the Dark Realm Underneath include fungal-folk and notably Dark Elves or ‘Drow.’ The occasional Dark Elf one may meet on the surface likely originated from societies in this Dark Realm Underneath.
These Drow worship Lolth, their grand priestess and Queen of Spiders, and despise Corellon, god of elves and moonlight. Some say Corellon banished the original elves that would become Drow to this Dark Realm Underneath, but I have not heard the crime behind this punishment. I loosely speculate these original elves might have been related to the Rashad, the nomadic elves of the Kharmaja, but that is no more than a hunch based on the brown hues of Rashad elves being not too dissimilar from the black hues of the Drow.
Stories of Pteris
collected by Marcellus the Wanderer
- The Blessing of Anubis
- The Scorpikis of Bellovik tell the story of Anubis, god of the afterlife, protecting them by enabling them to dig deep into the sand to avoid a deadly battle. Anubis granted the Bellovians protection and longevity, asking of them to visit his shrine annually.
- Garl Glittergold and Pelor
- Pelor, god of the sun, was disappointed the Shedethans only worshipped Corellon, god of elves and moonlight. He asked Garl Glittergold, god of trickery, to convince the elves to worship Pelor more. Garl gladly accepted and spread the word that Pelor rolled the sun majestically through the sky just as the dung beetle majestically rolled shit through the lands.
- Meritamen and the Maze
- The heroic deeds of Merit are endless, and of greatest renown was her disposal of the minotaur and its maze. By always following the left-handed wall, she managed to find the great beast’s lair and slay it. King Nebamen declared her “Meritamen,” his pharaonic successor after this act of valor.
- Mielikki and the Baobab
- Mielikki, god of nature and dryads, created the trees. However, the baobab refused to stand still and strong like other trees, wanting to wander the realm. Mielikki thus flipped the baobab upside down and replanted it. Hence, the baobab’s branches resemble roots, for that is what they originally were.
Ta-Shedet: A Review
by Akilah Safar
An ancient elven city lost in the dunes of Pteris long ago, the city's disappearance has vexed scholars and adventurers alike. What wondrous treasures, powerful magic, and mysteries are buried there? Little is known about Ta-Shedet, since it mostly existed in prehistory before any records. Scholars have pieced together snippets from ruins, artifacts, oral traditions of the Rashad, and the records of a human traveller Marcellus the Wanderer. For example, it is widely believed the elves of Ta-Shedet worshipped Corellon, unsurprisingly, and that one of its last pharaohs was Queen Meritamen assisted by her vizier Areanka. It is generally agreed to have been in western Pteris, somewhere among the dunes of the Kharmaja today.
Scholars have several theories about the disappearance of Ta-Shedet. Here is an incomplete list of theories or contributing factors, listed from most to least accepted.
- Ta-Shedet was along a river that regularly flooded (the Phendesian). This river dried up, causing a famine.
- A subset of scholars believe the Phendesian dried during a particularly cruel summer, since the seasons fluctuate wildly.
- Others believe that with the arrival of humans around 0BR, the new species created an upriver dam that blocked too much water flow.
- The city became overpopulated and overused the land without fallowing, starting an elf-made famine.
- Some religious sects believe a series of seven divine plagues annihilated the city, some pointing to Anubis, Lolth, or even Mielikki.
- Social unrest between elites within Ta-Shedet and those in the rural outskirts of the city-state broke into violence. The farmers went on strike, the urbanites starved and retaliated with military might, and the city-state collapsed.
- A never-ending winter, part of the seasonal chaos, ended the city.
- There was endemic warfare among Ta-Shedet and other city-states.
- A particularly devastating sandstorm swept over the city, either ruining the fields or even burying the city whole.
- Strange beings from far realms came and whisked the city away.
Brightwater Town Records
Elections of Brightwater
Elections for mayor and sheriff are held every three years. Mayors may only serve two terms, sheriffs five terms. Brightwater’s first mayor, Mayor Nettie Flynn, was unfortunately assassinated by her opponent Roland Underwood in the first month of her term. Harbin Wester and Ollie Barnett were killed by the Redbrand gang in 180. [dates are in BR]
| Year | Mayoral Candidates | Winner |
| 159 | Nettie Flynn, Roland Underwood | Nettie Flynn |
| 159 | Temerity, Fatema Kouri | Temerity |
| 162 | Hakim Mikhail, Elliot Teinithra | Hakim Mikhail |
| 165 | Elliot Teinithra, Vivian Hale | Vivian Hale |
| 168 | Vivian Hale, Elliot Teinithra | Vivian Hale |
| 171 | Elliot Teinithra, Mack ‘Bad Mouth’ Burnett | Mack ‘Bad Mouth’ Burnett |
| 174 | Willis Daniel, Elliot Teinithra | Willis Daniel |
| 177 | Willis Daniel, Elliot Teinithra | Willis Daniel |
| 180 | Elliot Teinithra, Harbin Wester | Harbin Wester |
| 180 | Manuel Diaz, Zona, Lester Harrell | Manuel Diaz |
