Part 7: Reading Rainbow

Soundtrack - Iona Island



Here we are at beautiful Iona. Where the residents are either crazy or mute.

Monk: *Deep in contemplation, the monk ignores you.*



But this big lump is ready to talk us up.

Lift Golem: Hail, wanderer! Do you wish to ascend?

Yes.

Lift Golem: It shall be my pleasure to serve you. Please enter the elevator.

Sane and polite! Refreshing.



At the top of the lift we find the monastery itself.

Keeper of the Gate: You are a friend of the Order, and you may pass.



Keeper of the Gate: Death and ruin are your shadow, traveler. In the halls of Iona, may you find what you seek.

Damn, this dude nailed it. Those must be some high-level fancy robes.

Death and ruin?

Keeper of the Gate: You have traveled far, from the city of the Medevan king. But your journey is only beginning. The ghosts of memory and destiny haunt you. In your shadow an army marches.

Who are you?

Keeper of the Gate: I am Lyene, Keeper of the Gate. I am one of six Masters of the Order, followers of Abbot Laurent.

Abbot Laurent?

Keeper of the Gate: Go to the upper courtyard and there you will find the Abbot's quarters. The Aosi hollowed out his eyes.

Aosi?

Keeper of the Gate: Aosi is the language of the Gods, in which all creation has been written. Its glyphs form the architecture of this world and the substance of our being.

Masters?

Keeper of the Gate: The six are Keeper of the Gate, Master of Keys, Master of Arms, Cellarer, Chamberlain, and Prioress. I guard the portal to the monastery. Speak to the other masters to learn their duties.

Order?

Keeper of the Gate: The Order is a circle as old as the kingdoms of Medeva. *Lyene points a withered finger at the monastery wall.* Here perished the daughter of Amasido. Here Sir Carados built the great library and vanished into the catacombs. Here the first kings of Medeva keep eternal watch.

Great library?

Keeper of the Gate: In the great library of Carados the Builder, the divine words are kept. Only monks of the order may pass through its doors.

Cool, let's catch all the masters.



Talking with him also gets me the best angle for checking out the Great Library that I could find. Thing is pretty cool.



Who are you looking for?

Brother Eamon: I am looking for a truant by the name of Sama. Her peers say she has behaved strangely as of late, keeping secrets from the other novices. And now she's missing her lesson!

Perhaps I can help.

Brother Eamon: *The monk's dour face brightens.* Yes, perhaps you can. If you cross the path of this wayward novice, inform me at once. You will be rewarded for your trouble.

Joseph, part time truancy cop.



Inside the building behind him we find the Master of Arms at work.

Master of Arms: In the days of Carados the Builder, we were an order of knights, trained in the art of war. As warriors, you will not seek battle for glory or to serve a king's ambition.



Who are you?

Master of Arms: I am Adhama, Master of Arms. Though we are no longer a brotherhood of knights, we must strengthen the body and discipline the mind. The monks of Iona do not fight a battle of arms. We fight a battle of wills.

Battle?

Master of Arms: The divine words open worlds within us, and the enemy assumes many forms: a goat-headed warrior, an army of red-cloaked knights, a flight of dragons. Defeat means madness, death, eternal suffering.

Divine words?

Master of Arms: The divine words are the Aosi, language of the gods. In these glyphs and sigils, all creation has been inscribed.

Books are hardcore in the Summoner world. I think Reading Rainbow would be like Mad Max.



A myth?

You mean the whole world isn't 2 landmasses separated by a river?

Sister Miala the Iomani: I tell you now, these cities are real, and in the Palace of Aaduk, my family served the Blind Prince.

Blind Prince?

Sister Miala the Iomani: When I was but five years old, a cousin of the prince usurped the throne, and poor Aaduk and his loyal retainers fled the city. We set sail for Sirune, the city of Aaduk's young wife.

Set sail for Sirune?

Sister Miala the Iomani: Three days from port, pirates boarded our vessel and killed all on board, sparing only the children. The slavers of Drehva would pay a handsome price for us, they said.

Slavers of Drehva?

Sister Miala the Iomani: As we sailed to Drehva, a terrible storm blew in from the south and tossed the ship for seven days and nights. When the storm cleared, we found ourselves near a land unknown to the Iomani.

A land unknown?

Sister Miala the Iomani: The pirates thanked the sea god for sparing their lives, and they offered my body as a sacrifice. They hurled me overboard with a heavy stone round my neck, and in the green waters, the darkness engulfed me.

What happpened next?

Sister Miala the Iomani: I awoke on the shores of this island, free from the stone and free from death. The monks embraced me as one of their own, and I began my training here.

Began your training?

Sister Miala the Iomani: To this day, I am torn between the divine words to which I have devoted my life and the memory of my past. I do not know the fate of the other children on that ship, or my brother who was among them.

Brother?

Sister Miala the Iomani: If on your journey you cross his path, tell him where he can find me. His name is Amas. I would be in your debt traveler.

Nice to hear there is a world beyond the current struggle.



The from the battlements we can see the fields that the child slaves aspirants work to feed the monks.



Who are you?

Sister Qelah: I am Qelah of the Muthavi. Muthavi lies far away in the western sea, an island in the Galadian Archipelago. Our ships sailed the Khadim to the furthest edge of the world, and they returned with wondrous gifts: rich tapestries, birds of a thousand colors, animals with shimmering pelts.

How did you end up on Iona?

Pirates?

Sister Qelah: When I was a child, our family suffered terrible misfortune. Seven ships of our fleet sank to the bottom of the sea. The oracle said that to appease the gods, a daughter of Muthavi must go to Iona, and I was chosen.

Well, that's a new one.

Why are you standing here?

Sister Qelah: The divine words free our spirits, but our bodies are chained to this rock. I am waiting for the Muthavi to return, but the ship never comes. The waters around Iona are too dangerous.

Dangerous?

Sister Qelah: Do you not know the story of Iona? *Long story that the heirophant told us.* The waters around Iona are treacherous still, and a soul lost at sea drowns for an eternity. To this day, we walk upon the courtyards and battlements of Iona's palace, though the towers crumbled long ago.

Muthavi to return?

Sister Qelah: If in your travels, you meet a Muthavi trader, tell him the daughter of Tirasa waits here. I will banish myself from Iona if only to return home again.

Yet more world expansion, though the previous monk is now only half as special a snowflake.



Not a good sign if the founder himself went insane.



Maybe the books are contagious? I wonder if Joseph is literate.



Here is a closer look at the sweet ass, daughter of a god's, underwater mountain palace/library.



More book delivery?



Another book of heresies? Will we have to return someones Necronomicron next?



In a side building we find another master, the Cellarer.



WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE

Boils and sores?

Smooth, Joseph.

Cellarer: Not much escapes your eye. The divine words scar all who study the tomes of the Great Library. Aosi holds power over life itself, and many have perished by the word. I am one of the fortunate, but my spirit suffers more than my body ever will.

Aosi?

Cellarer: Aosi is the language of the gods. In the glyphs of this language, Ghuval and his children made the world and all things in it. You. Me. The soup and the bread. We have been written in words that move on the page before your very eyes.

Who are you?

Cellarer: I'm Master Arun, Cellarer of Iona. *The monk shakes your hand with a fist as thick as a bear paw.* All our food and drink, from the lowly turnips to the mighty hen, are under my vigilant care. And I watch over the aspirants so they don't spill the broth or char the meat.

Aspirants?

Cellarer: These children here do Iona's work. They sow and mend, plow and reap. They sweep the floors and bake the bread. A hard apprenticeship, but the smart ones become novices. Then they train with the Master of Keys and the Master of Arms. It's a long road to the Great Library, friend.

Novices?

Cellarer: If the aspirants work hard and learn their lessons, they'll be novices at fifteen years. The Master of Arms teaches them to fight, and the Master of Keys teaches them to read Aosi. In six years, as ordained monks of the Order, they may pass through the doors of the library.

Where they have a life expectancy of a Street Judge.
You know what Mega City One Iona monastery is? It's a fucking meat grinder. People go in one end, and meat comes out the other.



Smelly meat.



These aspirants are chugging that Kool-aid. But, then again this shit is all 100% fact when you see a dude get permanently blinded or his face melted by some books.



Let me guess, you also washed up here from some other distant island?

Nahul?

Sister Bilan of Nahul: The nomad kingdom of Nahul lies on the northern steppes of Orenia. My father was revered among his people as a holy man.

Ah, well you're exotic, but the other two have you beat on distance.

Orenia?

Sister Bilan of Nahul: When Murod came to power, he enslaved his people to rebuild the Tower of Eleh. My father spoke out against him.

Spoke out?

Sister Bilan of Nahul: No man should be slave to another, my father said. No man may claim dominion over heaven. And for this, the soldiers tortured and murdered him.

What did you do?

Sister Bilan of Nahul: One of my father's disciples took me into hiding. He knew I would not be safe so long as Murod ruled, and so he brought me here. He knew no one would ever harm me under the protection of Iona's monks.

Your father's disciple?

Sister Bilan of Nahul: The man who saved me was a Medevan named Tathal. He was a wanderer, and I do not know whether he is alive or dead. If you should meet him on your journey, give him this scroll.



Well, at least it isn't some kind of scroll of heresies.



Speaking of heresies, we find volume 67 in the minor library.



Damn, this shit is volatile and this isn't even the hardcore stuff locked away in the Great Library.
You'll get us all killed reading that shit aloud!



Hmm, how odd saying that right as Joseph walks by. Hmm. Hmmmmmmmm.



Wid the terrified?

Brother Wid: I am the reader of the scroll of Monas, which Carados himself reclaimed from the drowned city.

That must be one of the Khosani cities Iona's dad shit on.

Scroll of Monas?

Brother Wid: In the scroll, there stood a gnarled tree dark with a hundred ravens. I spied a beautiful maiden in a gossamer robe, bearing her head in her arms. I fled from a twelve-headed monster with twelve tails, writhing like snakes.

Tree? Maiden? Monster?

Brother Wid: These visions haunt me to this day. I cower in a world of shadows. The world of the book becomes my world. The monks of this island go mad unless they are saved.

Saved?

Brother Wid: In the catacombs below the crypt of kings there lies the Axe of Ikus. With this weapon, I could face the phantoms that haunt me. Whether I live or die, I shall be free.

These are some badass books.



Aha, we find the truant Sama.

Are you Sama?

Novice Sama: Yes, I am what do you want?

Brother Eamon is looking for you.

Novice Sama: Is he? He mustn't find me! He mustn't learn about the book! *Sama glances around cautiously.* Please don't tell anyone. Swear to me you won't tell anyone.

I swear.

Novice Sama: *Satisfied with your answer, Sama tells her story* I was in the Abbot's tower, helping the Prioress, when I overheard the Abbot talking upstairs. He asked Master Ean to return a book to the Great Library. The book sat on a table not far from where I worked, but when he left the tower, Master Ean forgot about his errand!

What did you do?

Novice Sama: I grabbed the book and ran after him. I wanted to call out, 'Master Ean, you forgot the book!' But something stopped me. I stood in the courtyard, holding this book in my hand, and all I wanted to do was read it! I knew I'd be punished if I did, but I couldn't help myself!

Why?

Novice Sama: *Sama gives you a strange look.* Only an outsider would ask such a question! For three years I've been a novice, and three more years I must wait to enter the library! Three years! And here was my chance to have the very thing I'd been waiting for all my life!

Did you read it?

Novice Sama: No. Not at first. I hid the book away where no one would find it. Every chance I found, I'd sneak away to look at the book, to feel the leather binding and touch the vellum pages. I watched the shifting words, but I did not read them. Not at first.

Not at first?

Novice Sama: I was afraid. The words are very dangerous. Madness, despair, and death are Aosi's curse for the mind that's unprepared. But I had no power against the lure of the book.

Lure of the book?

Novice Sama: Many glyphs were strange to me, and they shifted before I had a chance to read them. The words began to burn into my mind, and I could neither sleep nor eat. In every shadow of the island I saw phantoms of the dead: monks and knights, kings and queens. I knew the words would kill me if I did not surrender the book.

Surrender?

Novice Sama: Yes, but to whom? I knew the monks would banish me, and I could not trust the others. If they made me leave, I'd have nowhere to go. If I cannot live on Iona, I will not live at all.

How can I help you?

Novice Sama: If you can find a way to return this book to the Great Library, you will save me.

I'll help you.

Novice Sama: *Sama gives you the book, an ancient volume bound in blood-red leather and etched with intricate gold swirls. The tome weighs as if it were carved from stone.* This is the book of Ghurahas-Dah. Bring it to the Great Library, and keep my secret safe.



Ok, now we do have to return a literal Necronomicon!



We find our next master in the minor library.

Who are you?

Master of Keys: I am Eghane, Master of Keys. I teach the novices how to read Aosi, language of the gods. A novice must study the divine words for six years before she swears the oath and enters the Great Library as a monk of our order.

Aosi?

Master of Keys: Aosi is the language of creation. If I write a tree in Aosi, the tree comes into being, if not in this world, then in another. The writing of a book is the creation of a world.

Writing?

Master of Keys: Though we study Aosi, we cannot write it. We can copy the glyphs, though the power of our words is faint in the light of the source. Such is the writing of sorcerers and mages, nothing but a shadow of the true words.

Creation?

Master of Keys: Did the gods create Aosi, or did Aosi create the gods? Here is the answer: the divine words are Ghuval the Father, Maker of all Things. When we read sacred scrolls, we read Ghuval. Ghuval is Aosi, and Aosi is Ghuval.

Ghuval?

Master of Keys: In our myths, the children rebelled against Ghuval and banished him from the spheres. But to what prison, to what island was he banished? The answer lives in the books and scrolls of the library. The answer lives in the glyphs that dance.

Glyphs that dance?

Master of Keys: Yes, the words shift on the page. Things are created and destroyed. People are born, and they die. Fate, destiny, and fortune are dreams of the unenlightened. Nothing is preordained but chaos and change.

Children?

Master of Keys: The children I speak of are the four: Urath, Amasido, Vadagar, and Laharah. Aosi created them, and in binding Aosi, they built their world. In binding Aosi, Urath gave flesh to the Sudani.

Binding?

Master of Keys: Destroying the Great Library would free Ghuval from the words that bind him. Many pages have already perished, and so we live in a world of discord. Ghuval unleashed would mean the end of this world and the creation of a new.

Banished?

Master of Keys: Do you not understand? In the writing of Aosi, the gods mastererd Ghuval. In the writing of Ghuval, the gods mastered Aosi. The force of creation is bound here, in the books of the library. This is how the gods imprisoned Ghuval-as-Aosi, language of all creation.



This is the entrance to the Great Library where, hopefully, we wont be charged a late fee.



Great Library?

Brother Morhan: Inside these walls we guard the pages written in the language of the gods. For all but the prepared mind, this path leads to madness and death.

Who are you?

Brother Morhan: I am Brother Morhan. I am a monk of Iona.

Give him Sama's book.

Brother Morhan: The book of Ghurahas-Dah? This should be in the library! I will return it at once. But tell me, how did this come into your possession?

I promised I wouldn't tell.

Brother Morhan: *The monk nods solemnly.* Indeed. For the one who sent you on this errand would be disciplined if his name were revealed. For the sake of your friend, you are wise to keep your word. I thank you for returning the book.

There are multiple options for this quest, either returning it to Brother Eamon for 200 gold, or Brother Morhan for 200 xp.
There are multiple options for Morhan as well, stating we found it, naming names, or saying an anonymous monk gave it to us. Keeping our promise to Sama, which sweet naive Joseph would do, is the only option that doesn't land Sama in deep shit.



Inside the Abbot's tower we find two more masters, we found all 6!



Who are you?

Prioress: I am Ukham the wanderer, Prioress of Iona. I am the second monk of the Order and leader of the six masters.

Wanderer?

Prioress: Wanderer is a childhood name. I have not left the island in many years, but I understand you are now on a journey, a quest of great peril?

Quest?

Am I?

Prioress: Speak to Abbot Laurent. You will find him upstairs.

Not left the island?

Prioress: Once a novice swears the oath and becomes a monk of the Order, she is bound to this island. Those who leave may never return.



Who are you?

Chamberlain: I am Master Ean, Chamberlain of the Order. Though the monks of Iona devote themselves to the divine words, someone must attend to the stewardship of Iona. With winter approaching and the Emperor's army on Medevan soil, we have many preparations to make.

Taking the stairs up we finally meet the Abbot.

Laurent introduces Rosalind

He's a pretty cool guy.



What can you tell me about Rosalind?

Abbot Laurent: Rosalind is Yago's daughter. She is a novice of the Order and has not yet sword the oath that binds us to this island. Though she may resent you, she will help you on your journey.

Why does Rosalind resent me?

Abbot Laurent: On his quest to find the summoner, Yago fell in love with a woman named Ursanne, and Rosalind was their daughter. Yago abandoned Ursanne to resume his search for you.

What happened to Ursanne?

Abbot Laurent: Unwed and with child, she died alone and impoverished. How Rosalind found her way to Iona remains a mystery. She appeared one morning on the shores of our island.

What can you tell me about Yago?

Abbot Laurent: Twenty years ago, your friend Yago was a monk of Iona. Never have I met a more incisive mind. He left Iona in search of the summoner, and so he may never return.

Why was Yago searching for me?

Abbot Laurent: Yago learned the prophecy of the Jade Temple: a summoner will destroy Murod and end his dynasty. Yago feared Medeva would fall under Murod's shadow if the emperor found you first.

What can you tell me about Murod?

Abbot Laurent: Murod was leader of the Society of the Jade Temple, the imperial priesthood of Orenia. He betrayed the last emperor and seized his throne. Now he builds the tower of Eleh to claim the kingdom of heaven.

What is the tower of Eleh?

Abbot Laurent: Urath and the gods built a seige tower that reached from the mountains of our world to the gates of heaven. The gods marched their armies up the winding stairs of Eleh and banished Ghuval, Maker of all Things.

Why can't Yago return to Iona?

Abbot Laurent: Once a monk swears the oath, he is bound to this island. Those who leave may never return.

What can you tell me about the summoners?

Abbot Laurent: Very little, I am afraid. The origin of the summoners was forgotten long ago. The summoners are makers of legend and heroes of lore.

Who were the summoners before me?

Abbot Laurent: Countless others, but among them were Kharig, Prince of Lions and Armun Mhar-Gehen, last priest-king of Ikaemos. Both were born under the mark.

What happened to your eyes?

Abbot Laurent: To read the divine words you must pay a price. I have aged three lifetimes and lost the gift of sight. Now only the sacred glyphs are visible to these eyes.

How do I find the catacombs?

Abbot Laurent: The catacombs lie below the crypt of kings. Brother Ovaard is the guardian of the crypt. Speak to him, and he will give you the key.




And here we see Rosalind. She is the main spellcaster, and as such, is incredibly fragile. We can't even give her any equipment at the moment.
She can only use a staff right now, but once we unlock bows, she will use that for the rest of the game, anything to keep her AI from even thinking about going near the frontlines.



Crypt of Kings?

Brother Ovaard: In the twilight of the chaos, the Heirophant of Urath decreed that the princes of the thirteen clans must come to Iona for burial upon their deaths, in accordance with the vision of Theus of Erumi.

Thirteen clans?

Brother Ovaard: Each of the thirteen sent a warrior to guard the crypt of kings and defend the island from the monsters of Amasido. Though the clans warred against each other for centuries, on Iona there was peace.

Warrior?

Brother Ovaard: For generations, the knights of Iona watched over this place. In the age of Carados the Builder, they journeyed across this world and worlds beyond. They returned to Iona with the language of the gods.

Carados?

Brother Ovaard: Carados in his passion lost himself. He descended into the catacombs below the crypt and never returned. His knights pursued him, but nothing was ever heard from them again.

Catacombs?

Brother Ovaard: For eons the catacombs have been sealed, since the fall of a lost empite that flourished during the chaos. These forgotten people buried their dead in the bones of Vadagar.

Chaos?

Brother Ovaard: After the third Araenugeth, the world fell into darkness. Demons and dragons waged war. They leveled the city of gods, as the people of this world turned against each other.

Do you have a key to the crypt?

Brother Ovaard: Here is the key, and now you must find the door. In the minor library, where the novices learn their studies, you will find what you seek.



We head to the minor library and get a little hint here.



The key we were given, opens the first door, which is a sliding bookcase.



The path to the catacombs below is sealed under the sarcophagus.
There are thirteen statues here, each one a king of the thirteen Medevan clans buried here.
For this we need to look to the hint from the wise monk.



Remember Ikus? We are looking for his axe for Wid the terrified.



Don't know what Gaevin looks like but knowledge (and horrible death metal dreams) come from books!



And thus, the path opens for us.



This doesn't look like a traditional catacomb.



But there are throngs of skeletons like one.

Next time.