18 Lamashan 4715 – Sunday
It seems whatever happened to this suspended individual has been studied for several days already, which would explain the stench. Adria chose to examine the body, but the cause of death seemed quite clear from where I stood. The chains bit into him, most likely strangling and exsanguinating him before he even realized what was happening to him. Adria predicted it’s been at least 5 days, and I agree.
The professor rose from his inspection of the box looking even paler than normal. He says it is a malfunctioning cubic gate connected to the plane of shadow. A kyton seems to be trying to force its way into our world. I hope he possesses the necessary skill to close the gate. We still haven’t found Nox and her hellhounds. I’d rather not add a creature from the plane of shadow to the mix.
As for the display cases, they seem to have housed artifacts of some kind. The one in particular I took a look at had a necklace meant to lure Abadarians. Interesting. I heard a joke that if you simply rub two gold coins together they appear much like a genie.
Niccolo informed us of a smell of brimstone ahead which means we’ll be facing the hounds sooner rather than later. Hopefully the professor can get this gate closed before then. Lucia joined Niccolo to form the line while Adria and I finished looking at the rest of the display cases. Bracers or gloves of some kind, a book that seems to have melted the wood beneath it, and some sort of stone upon a cushion.
The professor grew more concerned believing the gate to be re-charging so the lot of us retreated to give him space to attempt a close. Unfortunately my knowledge of the occult, while extensive, has seen little practice so I was unable to aid him. For a moment it looked as though the effort was too much for him, but the professor managed to close the box. The downside being that the chains dissolved causing the corpse to fall rather unceremoniously to the floor.
I stayed in the room to examine the notes scattered about, while the professor and Adria checked the rest of the smaller chambers down the nearby hallway. The Archivists’ intention was to remove dangerous items from circulation, but Thrune must have deactivated the wards to access the items in the cases. All of said items have been sent to the Opera House save the book that he took for himself.
But did my eyes deceive me? No, the redactors seemed to have missed something. A small bag, possibly filled with sand? If this is as magically dangerous as the other items, I’ll leave it to the more magically inclined to deal with. It also looks as though they were trying to pry open a section of wall that bears a keyhole. Something tells me Rexus made this much easier to get into for us. I tried getting Niccolo and Lucia’s attention, but neither turned, which does not bode well.
Adria and the professor returned shortly, and together we cleared the last few rooms before opening the doors where the hounds were heard sniffing about. They were as horrific as I remembered, and I could already see the flames brewing within their throats. If we’re lucky, we can dispatch them before any backup arrives.
V.