A Runic Revelation

Date: 10th of Mayan, year 891.

I am torn.

Today I learned a lot, and heard a lot. It would seem my studies into runic configurations have had large scale effects far beyond anything I envisioned, and none of it would help me flee from the horror that stalks me.

The Siroccians were where I first began my research with an Isaz rune. Earthquakes. Tremors. Aftershocks. None of these effects are unusual, but to shake the whole continent? How was I supposed to know!

And in the Zaphar?! My work beneath the river, was I honestly to predict that a Jera rune could spur the stone and rock and cause root-like manifestations to tear up the lands?

Even from across the water in the frigid mountains of Eirenwaar, my configuration of Fehu runes pulsed waves of narcolepsy and nonviolence across Sapience.

…

Archmage Bur said I should have known better. That, the Academy had already studied this sort of Runelore and deemed it far too dangerous to sketch upon the medium of Earth. He was furious.

There was nothing I could say. I screwed up. My fate rested in the hands of the venerable Archmages.

But as I sat in that cave, nervous and afraid, a strange old man stumbled in. He was enthralled by my work with runes, and asked if I could replicate it upon his runeblade. I was on the verge of having my research status stripped, what was I to lose?

Kena’s nightmare. Fehu’s closed eye. Tiwaz’s upwards-pointing arrow. Three runes, all sketched in a circular configuration around the symbol of Hugalaz.

In binding the configuration to a weapon rather than elemental Earth, we found that the wild effects and range of the runes could be mitigated.

Just as we finished, Archmage Galfar returned to deliver the decision of the Academy. It seems they pitied me for drawing the beast’s ire… and that my haunting was punishment enough.

I left swiftly after that, but I hope that old man shares our discovery about runeblades. Maybe grizzled old Galfar can finally let some of the surface folk into Boldarihm too, they have more potential than he realises.

Well, my rabbit is nearly cooked and I starve. I wonder what tommorrow will lead to.

D.A

–

Date: 12th of Mayan, year 891.

I hear footsteps in the distance. Oh Gods. It’s nearby, I must move quickly before it finds me.

D.A

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Summary: Strange configurations of runes began popping up across Sapience, causing cataclysmic tremors and effects across the continent. Eventually, it was discovered to be the work of an academic dwarf studying Runelore. His research was used to advance the knowledge of runeblades for all Runewardens, an act that convinced the dwarves of Boulder Scorch to conjure a portal and allow adventurers to study in their ancient clan hall of Boldarihm.