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=====Hades Camp Papers====

Reinhalt takes whatever time he can spare while on the road to examine the documents (found at the [[Hades#Blades of Hel]] camp in Nifleheim in the Gray Wastes ([[entry_thirty_two#32]])). There are five pages in total, each hand-written, with no obvious signs of whether they're separate documents or one missive in several pages. Whatever they say, they're written using letters of the Infernal alphabet, but obviously using a cipher...the messages are garbled nonsense otherwise. Unfortunately, without any other decoded samples to function as a Rosetta Stone, his only option appears to be brute-force trial and error. After two days of trying, he's forced to admit this cipher is beyond his ability (the Bishop managed to interpret them later, see below).

As he leafs through the pages, however, he discovers something different...a thin bundle of parchment tied together with string. It must have been sandwiched between the other papers as he'd grabbed them in his rush. Untying the bundle and examining its contents, he finds the pages produced by a movable type printing press rather than written...implying this is but one of many copies in existence.

====Ritual of Appeasement====

The contents are also written in Infernal...a dialect used mostly by Yugoloths, but otherwise perfectly readable...and appear to be some kind of philosophical treatise on the Gray Waste titled "The Ritual of Appeasement". The first half goes on at length about the Gray Waste as a living entity rather than a place, with a spirit and a will of its own. It suggests the draining effect of the Wastes are a kind of "feeding" or "tribute" the plane demands, before suggesting there may be other ways to appease the hunger of the Wastes in order to safeguard ones own spirit.

From there, the treatise devolves into instructions, prayers, and diagrams...including images that suggest living sacrifice before an altar. The instructions don't seem particularly magical, arcane or divine, but a working knowledge of religion seems necessary to successfully complete them. Otherwise it appears simple enough for even a commoner to accomplish, albeit a thoroughly evil one. The main thrust of the outlined ritual is as follows:

"With any knife, before any stone you declare your altar, invoke the Three Names of the Wastes with the above prayers and let the blood of your sacrifice until dead. The Wastes demand the spark of intelligence, so suffer not the use of dumb beasts in your Appeasement. Have you a bowl or bucket to collect the lifeblood of your sacrifice, and tarry not...while fresh, dab the four walls of a domain you unquestionably control, and invoke again the Three Names of the Waste. By this rite, it is warded against the spiritual Grayness and the insatiable Hunger of the Waste for seven days and seven nights."


====Black Lotus Letter 1====

Papers decoded by the Bishop:

D,

Greetings from our stronghold. I realize your work in such a remote location must be a strain, but your efforts are invaluable to the Great Work. Zealots are useful pawns, and those with the potential to rise above zealotry may swell our ranks instead. Your contributions do not go unappreciated, nor will they go unrewarded. The last recruits you sent serve well, and those who hold doubts among your flock now should be encouraged, in secret, to seek a deeper truth beyond their brothers' mindless devotion. In time they will embrace our Order with open arms.

Speaking of our Order, I feel obliged to keep you informed of progress. In truth, our situation is at once dire and yet triumphant. The rogue element that disrupted our operations in Automata and Sigil have moved as a boulder rolling downhill, spoiling our work in Sylvania and now Torch. Useful assets have been lost, and supply lines cut. We only managed to seize mass quantities of cargo in Torch before evacuating our operations...an act that unfortunately accelerated the collapse of our chosen pawns there.

But that cargo serves us well in the Great Work. Together with further materials purchased through our Lower Planar connections, our sages and fleshwarpers are on the verge of a great breakthrough. The completion of the Vessel will come in our lifetime, I am sure of it. And with it, the Ascension our Order has worked tirelessly towards for decades.

So hold fast your devotion, friend, and trust in the Great Work. When our endeavors bear fruit, you will share in it as much as I. This rogue element will be dealt with...I am already making plans to see to it.

May Ascension Reach Us All

RB.

====Black Lotus Letter 2====


D,

Greetings again. My news is urgent, so I shall remain brief.

The rogue element remains a thorn in our side. Our agents inform us they are raising an army, specifically against our Order. To date, they appear to know little of the Great Work or the Ascension we verge on realizing, but I suspect unseen hands steer them beyond their own ability to comprehend. Fortunately, their momentum appears to be simple enough to divert, if only temporarily. It may buy us the time we need.

To that end, I have employed the services of a promising recruit...a Cleric of some minor fortune deity (his greater failing, hopefully soon corrected) by the name of Ishmael, who has handed you this very message. I have placed him in charge of quelling the rogue element if possible, or otherwise distracting or containing it otherwise. He has under his command several other hired hands, individuals of no great consequence.

His work so far has been competent, but an overabundance of caution in his methods paired with a poor understanding of his quarry are his lesser failings. Regardless, he has lit several fires which the rogue element has occupied itself with extinguishing, buying our Order valuable time. If he succeeds, I will usher him into our ranks. If he fails, even he will agree he deserves his fate I'm sure.

I tell you this because his latest efforts will require your assistance, and possibly involve placing your flock in harm's way. This has my blessing. A camp of zealots, useful idiots though they may be, are a worthwhile price to pay for preserving the Great Work.

Cooperate with Ishmael. Render him the assistance he requires, and you may share in his glory should the rogue element be finally put to rest.

May Ascension Reach Us All

RB.

{{tag>Documents}}
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