Gorlen Blackhammer – Journal Entry, #421
Well, journal things have gotten a bit quiet here in V’Ral, I haven’t heard Sorvani cursing Dregnoth or Kargin’s names which is usually the case before, during, and sometimes after my morning coffee … and on a rare occasion during my afternoon coffee. Varalla stepped away from the city on some Rolandite mission; they always make it sound more ominous than it is. Rolandites always must make it sound like they are saving the world on their super top-secret missions when all they have to say is … I’m off to swindle or liberate a country, kings, merchants, or fools of their gold. The city is preparing for the next big sync with the Forgotten Mess. I haven’t thought about it much, but I suppose I need to go back and resync with the prime Daren; I occasionally get encrypted messages relayed from the Obelisk Prime in the Mess, over to the Mobelisk, and down to the Manaverse Prime. Not sure why it takes that path, but maybe it’s faster or more secure. Not sure, though the Manaverse Prime doesn’t say anything. He does find it to be a bit of an anomaly for such a low-level character to be receiving encrypted messages through the prime network. So far, I’ve been able to play it off as the price of doing business with the triplets.
Most recently, I received a message notification that Daren Prime was able to acquire an unknown quantity of infinity crystal and was able to back up the entire universal magic repository, 168 universes of magical knowledge. Additionally, he upgraded the universal magic repository with some infinity crystal drives, so the repository didn’t have storage limitations anymore. The copy of the repository was placed in the heart of one of Zap’s moons within his crystal sphere, and I have been granted access with a remarkably long encoded key. Gorlen chuckles; that is going to keep a lot of Daren copies busy for lifetimes to come.
Ultimately that’s probably for the best; even with a merged helm of total recall, the old Powermaster insisted on maintaining a spell book copy; there has always been a master copy stored in his Tower, in the Argopolis Library, underneath Zaps throne, and eventually a copy within his microsphere. Some of us were surprised he kept a master copy in his tower; it wasn’t exactly like high security. All standard-level magic items were strewn about most rooms; hell, the door to his kitchen was held wide open by a hammer of thunderbolts, he had a staff of magi with a lampshade on it for light, a Longtooth, Dagger + 5 on his desk as a letter opener, and sphere of annihilation as a garbage disposal. When walking thru the tower, you don’t ever want to make eye contact with any reflective mirrors, sometimes, you may get a normal mirror, and in others, you may be staring into a mirror of life trapping, mental prowess, or opposition. And don’t get me started on his rugs. Let’s say don’t go into his tower with the dirty feet. He was very weird about some things; you could never find a deck of cards, no matter how hard you tried anywhere in that tower; I would swear it was warded. At one time, he kept a large collection of magic Books, Librams, Codexs, Manuals, and Tomes. Since the creation of Argopolis’s Library, he moved most of this collection into the library and only keeps a small personal collection in his tower now. It’s sad that in that room sits an extremely large bookstand, where Daren kept his master spell book. The spellbook he had since the beginning. That book had undergone many modifications over the years, including protection magics, regeneration of new blank pages, enlarging and shrinking the book for easy travel, etc. It was rumored the book would speak to him and confer to the Powermaster different spellcasting abilities.
< Big drink of ale and a deep sigh>, sadly, this was the book he took with him adventuring, and it was the book he took with him on the day of the final battle. No one is sure what exactly happened during the final big battle of the Ethosian wars, between the mana-atomic bombs and their magic radiation, the apocalypse magics, entropic magics, and the Powermaster spells Daren was throwing that day. But what is known, during the battle, at the moment of the Powermaster’s death, tendrils of writhing light covered Daren’s being, flowing into the book. And in that split second, the book awoke and, in a moment of rage, released a supernova incinerating at the molecular level a large portion of the battlefield.
Since his death and eventual return, the Powermaster has heard whispers or rumors of what has been aptly named the Codex of Power. The book fits the description of the Powermasters spell book and its abilities. Since then, the book has become intelligent and considerably more powerful. It moves between potentials until they prove unworthy or lack the skill or potential to increase magical knowledge for the world. A potential beneficiary must, at a minimum, meet the base requirements before even being considered worthy. The base requirements for a potential being are that they must share magical knowledge openly and freely and support institutions that do the same; secondly, a wielder of the Codex must continue to press the boundaries of magic, creating new magical formulas, spells, and knowledge. Once the Codex has found a potential unfit or breaks its rules, the Codex parts ways with the caster.
Over the last century, many have tried to find it; the Codex has a way of blocking being traced when not traveling with a potential. If by itself, it likes to sit on a lay line or a spot in the weave watching the different magics passing across it. Sometimes it likes to find a good dungeon that adventurers frequently visit; maybe a caster worthy of the Codex’s power can be found there.
The Prime Daren, when asked, has said he has gone out looking for it, but those close to him know that’s not true; he hasn’t looked for the Codex. While I haven’t synced with my Forgotten Mess counterpart for quite some time, I suspect he doesn’t look for it because he knows he has had his time with the book, and by letting the book find a future owner worthy of wielding it will open the potential in that caster allowing for new magic to emerge in the multiverse.
Besides, suppose I was a betting Gnome; even though the ole Powermaster doesn’t have his original spell book anymore doesn’t mean he is out of touch. I suspect he occasionally stays in telepathic communication with the Codex, swapping spells, knowledge, and stories, just checking in to see how the ole Book is doing.
Well, I need to wrap this up; The Drunken Ogre tends to fill up for the dinner crowd, and last time a bunch of Ogres took my table.
-Gorlen
