by The Book of Anagenesis Part I
After his last mission, Xagroth had received a letter from his Guild with some D-rank quests attached to it. "Recover the lost book of Anagenesis from the old city catacombs? This one seems interesting" said Xagroth and wrote a letter to inform the Guild that he'd do this quest first.
Hargeon's catacombs were located under the center of the city. Years back, the catacombs were used as a burial place, until almost all of the space got filled by bones and skulls. At that point the people of Hargeon thought it would make more sense if they started having more traditional, above ground funerals. That way it would be easier to expand a graveyard, instead of a whole underground catacomb system. Xagroth tried to collect as much information as he could from the townspeople as to not get lost down there. He also visited one of the town's libraries and read some books about the catacombs. He was also lucky enough to find an old map. It was a simple map with not many details but it was better than nothing. After he had done his research, Xagroth took some food and water with him, just in case something happens and he has to stay underground for some days. Lastly, he bought a small lantern and started heading towards the catacombs’ main entrance. After he arrived, he was greeted by a guard that was standing right outside the gate. “This are is off-limits, what’s your business here?” asked the guard. Xagroth simply showed him the quest letter he had received. The guard unlocked the gate and let Xagroth inside. “It’s a lot darker in here than I thought it would be” he said as he took a match out to light his lantern and descend the stairs.
After the final step, he opened the map and tried to figure out where the book could be.
He remembered a guy in tavern saying something about a supposed necromancer practicing his magic in the catacombs sometime in the last decade. Rumors said he died by his own magic. “The book of Anagenesis must be his research notes. I wonder who was the one that asked our guild to help find it” was all Xagroth could think. The quest seemed too simple to be posted in a guild’s quest board. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, due to some bones that fell from a pile in front of him. As he went to investigate, he heard a sound behind him. After turning around, he was met with the sight of a moving skeleton with a small dagger on its hand. “How is this even possible?” he wondered. But that wasn’t the time for questions. Xagroth drew his sword and prepared for battle. The skeleton was slow, but its movements were unpredictable. Still, Xagroth was able to easily dodge the skeletons attack and get on its back to slash it horizontally. The skeleton tried to put itself together and stand on its feet again, but failed to do so. Xagroth went back on the pile of bones that fell down and examined them. One of them was shaped like a key. He searched around for a bit and found a keyhole near the spot where that skeleton had appeared. He put the key into the keyhole, pulled his sword out, got into a defensive stance, and turned the key. To his surprise, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The door unlocked, and some candles lit up. The room was mostly empty. The only things inside were a simple wooden desk, a chair and a chalkboard. He carefully went inside the room and searched for clues. After what seemed like a quarter of an hour, Xagroth finally found a hidden brick switch that upon activation, rotated a section of the wall and revealed what was hidden behind. A note was hanged on the wall. “What’s this? A map?” he asked himself upon inspection. “Don’t tell me this is some kind of treasure hunt now, I thought it was a simple retrieve and deliver quest” he said, looking very annoyed by the situation.
He decided to search around a bit more to make sure he didn’t miss anything and returned to the surface to ask the townspeople about the map he had found.
end of Part I
WC: 717
