6. The Trip to Thothia

The Adventures of Godrik the Magician*

The morning sun through the trees is unusually bright as the adventuring party emerges from the barrow mound. They have just survived an encounter with a vampire in the dungeon below. We should all be dead, Godrik thinks to himself, but the stars continue to favor us. The vampire Brythan is more than a match for our party, brave as we are. The sooner we leave this tomb behind, the better. Some day we’ll find a way to rid the world of the dreaded Skull Cult. Just not today.

He asks the party to wait a moment while he takes out ink, quill, and parchment. Against a large boulder, he uses his sharpest dagger to cut out what appears to be a neat, rectangular bookmark. He writes “Grimhold College” on it, plus a list of several people’s names, all of them made up.

“What’s that? Are you casting a spell?” asks Feiler, wonderment in his eyes.

Godrik smiles. “Not at all, Master Feiler. This little trick is what clever thieves like Sennez would call a ruse. A diversion. When night falls, we’re all going to be in grave danger. Our vampire host will discover that we’re gone, and he’ll likely seek our immediate deaths. He’ll probably pursue us along the road, but my hope is he’ll find this little ‘bookmark’ first and assume that we are all bound for Grimhold College. It should…