It was nighttime, shops were closed, streets were empty, and the tavern lights dimmed in the quaint town as it was a time for rest, the town shrouded in peaceful silence.
Suddenly, the silence of the night was disturbed by a loud shattering sound as a hooded figure, with a strange tome tucked in their arms, defenestrated¹ themselves from the tavern window. Shortly after, seven armed soldiers, all donning pale featureless masks, threw the tavern door open. Quickly righting themself, the hooded figure took off in a sprint, tome in arms, through the somber town of St. Clementine, the masked warriors in tow.
The hooded figure weaved through street and alley alike in an effort to lose their pursuers, but to no avail. Even as the hooded figure dashed through the town gates, it seemed like the assailants only got closer.
As the chase continued, eight figures dashed through the clearing between the town and the forest. One in a hood ran frantically, but the seven others ran calmly as they chased the former.
In an attempt to lose them in the nearby forest, the hooded figure darted into the bramble, their hood getting snagged on a branch revealing long scraggly blonde hair and a goatee. Past trees and brushes, the tome-bearing man ran and ran but was eventually cornered by the masked heptad².
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Upon further inspection, one of the seven soldiers was dressed slightly differently from the rest, with a leather vest and an insignia under the left eye hole of the mask. This unique soldier stepped forward and spoke in a raspy voice “it doesn't have to be this way, just hand over the tome.”
Despite being outnumbered and backed in a corner, the blonde man sneered “we both know that once you have the tome, you will dispose of me, do you take me for a fool?”
The masked man sighed, raising a hand signaling the others to be at the ready, and said “you are making this harder than it needs to be, last chance, Edmund”
The blonde man, Edmund, didn't acknowledge the speaker, instead incanting “otromf fpjxdiedm”³ as he was subsequently impaled by the spears of the masked group upon hearing the first syllable, yet it was too late. As the spell activated, Edmund looked the leader in the eye, and snarked “you’re right, I like this way better” as everyone was enveloped in a lavender light, and a boom woke the town of st. Clementine.
The following morning, upon the insistence of the townsfolk, A small party was sent to investigate. Although, as the team arrived at the scene, no evidence of what happened that night was found, only a crater remained, but unbeknownst to the search party, a tome launched from the blast was nested in the hollow of a tree. A tome that could change everything, a tome titled elenwynd.