Finding the Farduunrblur

“What do you mean we’re about to be expelled?” Aesandoral panicked.

“I mean,” Rionriv turned her attention towards the other girls. “We’re not in good standing after the whole Skirrtlegirt and Greeythric business.”

Oh no, what the fug are these names? I thought as one of my worst nightmares came to pass.

Oh no, was everyone right? Were the names I wrote into the story either too complicated or ridiculous? Oh no, I did this to myself.

“I-I’m sorry, the w-who and where the fug?” I stammered, trying to keep it together.

“Our failed summer project,” Aesandoral explained with the utmost seriousness. “We were helping Professor Skirrtlegirt delve deep into the Tombs of Sir Greeythric Talsissod to collect the Farduunrblur stones.”

“Pffffft—!”

I couldn’t hold back any longer, quickly releasing the loudest and most resounding laugh I’d had in years. Laughing so hard that I began to cry, I clutched my aching ribs.

What have I done? This is why you don’t play God, kids. Those names are so stupid! Is this what the world really spat out to fill in the blanks?

“This is no laughing matter; some of us are students here and want to remain students.” Rionriv protested.

“Why, though?” I asked, wiping tears from my eyes. “School is dumb. So what if you make a little more money at the end? If it doesn’t make you happy, it’s a waste—”

“Because it matters to me!” Rionriv slapped the table. “Now, if you want us to help you save the world or whatever, you’ll need to help us stay in school.”

“Honestly, it would be a lot easier if we ditched and I just made you rich and famous in other ways.”

“No!” Rionriv stood, marching around the table to get in my face. “If we’re going to help you, we graduate. That’s it! That’s not up for discussion.”

“Okay, okay—chill.” I sighed, fearful of getting sucker punched again. “I promise that you will graduate. One way or another.”

Taking a moment to think, I wondered what they could have meant by their summer project. I knew that every adventuring triop had to do winter and summer quests to put what they had learnt into practical application, but the professor they had mentioned was a complete wildcard. I had never heard of the guy, but the tomb did sound familiar.

After a bit of discussion, I discovered this tomb was on the edge of the Ter’aquit and Anak’hati regions, the two other major players of Moal’aw that competed with Sutin’eli.

This location was a few days southwest of Squalls Crossing in the Tera’quit region and equidistant straight west from Dry Shire in the Anak’hati province. It was an unmarked site said to hold a weapon from a hero of the Two-Generation War—a devastating conflict that nearly tore Moal’aw apart almost two hundred years ago.

I had only ever included the location in rumours that spread around the world after the conclusion of the war, but there had always been some truth to them.

That was when I remembered—

“A Tale of Earth and Fae,” I announced excitedly and looked to the girls. “I-It’s a book deep in the library and I believe it has what you’re looking for.”

“Explain?” Rionriv said with a cocked eyebrow.

And, as we walked to the Grand Central Library at the center of campus, I did. I provided a lore-rich deep-dive about a book written decades ago that had been meant to chronicle a small, cursed village. The story followed the discovery of a sealed ‘tomb’ and a village's downfall. Over time, this tome became saturated in the cursed energy of the site and, through years of mishandling, eventually found its way into the basement archives of Al’Magi.

Anyone who found the book and opened it disappeared. And what those who had never seen the inside of the cover couldn’t have known was that you were transported into the story. Once there, if you managed to survive the night, you would be released and rewarded with an ancient stone of protection, which I believed was what they were searching for.

“And if you don’t?” Sharzin asked as we rounded the final stack of books and approached where I knew our quarry would be.

“If I don’t what?”

“Survive the night?”

“You die?” I said matter-of-factly. “But don’t worry, the story was straightforward. We have, like, three actual enemies to worry about. And plus, it’s mainly psychological warfare. But I think it’s the thing you’re looking for.”

Looking around the dimly lit, forgotten stack, I searched for the markers. “Alright. Grand Central Library, Sub-Basement Two, Stack Eighteen, Column Six, Row One.”

With a flick of my wrist, a small orb of light pooled in my palm. No brighter than the flame of a candle, it drifted into the air.

“Whoa—wait!” Rionriv gasped. “How’d you use a spell without an incantation?”

Ignoring her, I continued to mutter to myself the quest's location like a mantra. Each whisper of a breath stirred the dust that had already been kicked up by our presence. And then I found it.

A simple book with a black leather cover. It was slim, no more than an inch or two thick, with two distinct markings.

Adorning the cover was a leaf with runic symbols etched across its surface, and at the bottom of the spine, the letters ‘MD’ were scrawled in glimmering gold ink.

“Hey, that’s it! The Farduunrblur.” Aesandoral gasped, placing a finger to her lips. “So, wait, this book will show us how to find it?”

“Okay, I’ll explain it again. We’re going to be transported into a story. Specifically, into the Village of Crathdaug, like a hundred or so years ago. We’ll need to kill the three Karryonth who are tormenting the site with their telepathic fearmongering. With all going well, you should each walk away with a cool one-sixty-five gold pieces each and your flan-burger stone—or whatever.”

“And you know where everything is?” Sharzin asked with shallow breaths between.

“Yes! Asterisk. The caves may give us some trouble, because if we don’t kill the creatures immediately, there’s a chance they blow up the whole cavern system, killing us. But that won’t happen, I believe in you three.”

“But we’ll be fine because you know everything?” Rionriv asked, keeping her hand placed on the cover.

“Are we all ready?” I ignored her and prepared to open the book.

“We’ll be fine, right?” Rionriv asked one more time, her palm firmly pressing the cover down.

Opening the book from the bottom, I allowed the pages to spread as a blast of inky energy flowed out and swirled around us. One moment, we were in the dusty stacks of the library, and the next, we were standing on a single deserted dock.