Cadderly was reaching for the quill to the inkwell on the table when he changed his mind and put the pen back on the table.He looked out the window, at the vines surrounding the Mengzhi Library, and at Percival, the white squirrel, who was having fun with the acorns along the gutters of the lower floors.It's the month of Elysias - aka High Sun - and it's the height of summer.This season makes a place as high as the Snowflake Mountains appear unusually sunny and warm. For Cadderly, it was business as usual—at least, that was what the young scholar was trying to convince himself.Percival was playing in the sun; the library was safe and peaceful again; the lazy remainder of summer guaranteed leisurely and quiet walks.

as ever. Cadderly buried his cheek in his palm, and ran his fingers back through his sandy hair.He tried to focus on the peaceful scene in front of him, on the quiet summer world of the Snowflake Mountains, instead of looking back at his eyes in the back of his mind: the eyes of the man he had killed. Everything is different.Cadderly's gray eyes were no longer flashing up in a boyish smile. This time, determined, the young scholar dipped his quill into the ink and smoothed the parchment in front of him. Record No. 17 cayde of carraton Appointed Scholars, Denier Order Fourth of Elysias, 1361 Year of the Maiden

Five weeks have passed since Barjin was defeated, but I still see his dead eyes. Cadderly paused, scribbling the thought off the parchment, and off his heart as well.He looked out the window again, dropped the quill, and quickly rubbed his boyish face with his hands.This is important, he reminded himself.He hadn't written half a record for over a week, and if he failed this year's research, the consequences for the entire region would be dire.The quill is dipped in ink again. It's been five weeks since we broke the spell that was cast on the Moezhi Library.The most depressing news since then: Ivan and Brother Pikel Stoneshoulders have left the library to fulfill Pikel's wish to become a druid.I wish Pikel well, though I doubt those forest priests would welcome a dwarf into their order.The two dwarves would not say where they were going (I don't think they knew either).I miss them terribly because they, Danica and Newander, were the true heroes in this battle against an evil priest named Barjin - if Barjin was his name at all.

Cadderly paused.Adding a name to the man he had killed didn't make the whole thing any easier for the innocent young scholar.It took some time before he was able to focus again on the information that was indispensable to the completion of the record, namely, what happened after he interviewed the priest who interrogated the priest. The clerics who brought back the dead man's spirit warned me that their findings should be taken as references, not absolutes.They explained to me that witnesses from the underworld are often elusive, and that Barjin's stubborn ghosts are the most difficult opponents they have ever encountered.They have had very little real information, but these priests believe that this evil priest is part of a larger conspiracy - a conquest plan that still threatens the entire region today, I must assume.And that only increased the importance of the task.

Again, it took a while before Cadderly could continue writing.He looked at the sunlight, and the white squirrel, and pushed away the eyes that were staring at him. Barjin confided another name: Talona, ​​and that did bode ill for the library and the region as a whole.Talona is known as the Poison Goddess, an evil goddess of chaos who is not bound by any sense of morality.Here I must take pains to state a paradox: Barjin doesn't seem like a Talonian follower.As far as the visual impression is concerned, he has no tattoos anywhere on his body, and he does not have the typical behavior of priests who worship the goddess of poison.Yet the holy emblem he wears: a trident with a vial on each prong, does resemble Talona's design of three teardrops arranged in a triangle.

However, including this information, it still only leads us to some inferences and reasonable guesses.More accurate information must be found, and probably hastened. Today, my research has a turning point.Prince Abereth of Simista, one of the most revered elf royals, came to the library.He brought some gloves, which he had taken from a band of brigands who were plundering in the Elven Wood.The insignia on these gloves matched Barjin's exactly—the bandits were almost certainly of the same party as the wicked priest. The patriarchs have not made any decisions so far, only agreeing that someone must accompany Prince Abeles back to the forest.They decided that I was the most reasonable candidate, because my research could not go any further here.I've scoured the collection for all clues and information about Talona - we don't have much knowledge on the subject.In addition, I have searched every major alchemy and elixir text and have had extensive discussions with the library's resident alchemist, Visero Bellague, regarding the magical elixirs used by Barjin.Further research is a must if time permits, but I've hit a dead end.Belag believed he could learn more about the elixir if he could get hold of the vial, but the Masters firmly rebuffed his request.The catacombs have been sealed and no one is allowed to enter them.And the bottle is still where I left it: dipped in a tray of holy water, in the room that Bar Jin used as an altar for evil.

Therefore, the only remaining clue lies in Simista.I used to always want to see the singing forest, to see the elves dance and hear their beautiful songs.But I didn't expect to go under the current situation. Cadderly put down the quill and blew lightly on the parchment to dry the ink quickly.His record seemed astonishingly short, especially since he hadn't written anything in days and had so much to catch up on.Yet that was all he could write, for Cadderly's thoughts were so chaotic that he could not write them down in an orderly manner. Orphaned at an early age, Cadderly has lived in the Moezhi Library for as long as he can remember.The library was like a fortress, never threatened until Barjin appeared; and to Cadderly, orcs, goblins, undead, and evil wizards were stories that existed only in dusty books .

It was all suddenly too real, and Cadderly was stuffed into it without thinking.Other priests, even Dean Avery, called him a "hero" for his actions in defeating Barjin.But Cadderly saw the matter differently.Confusion and chaos, as well as blind fate, prompted his every action.Even killing Bajin was an accident - a lucky accident? To tell the truth, Cadderly really didn't know, didn't understand, what the god Denir expected of him.Accidental or not, the killing of Ba Jin haunts the young scholar.In his thoughts and dreams, he would see Ba ​​Jin's dead eyes, staring at him and accusing him.

The scholar-priest had to don the hero's cloak because someone else had put it on him, but he was sure the weight of the cloak would bend his shoulders until he collapsed. Outside the window, Percival danced and played along the rain gutter, and the sun shone warmly through the thick leaves of the great oaks and maples that are common in the mountains.And far, far below, Lake Impesque shone peacefully and serenely in the mild summer light. To Cadderly, the "hero", all these seemed to be horrible appearances.