Cloudpeak – Ravonlocke's Adventures

The Book That Wouldn’t Open

First Reader Bookwyrm brought me a while marble and blue leather bound book that he has been unable to open and asked me to look into it.
Mr. Trisfir and I attempt to Identify the book, but only find that the lock itself is an incredibly intricate abjurative spellworking which is keeping the book closed.
It also seems to be keeping something locked away inside the book.
There is no key or command word that we can decipher, but some process by which the book may be opened.
We request a scroll of Legend Lore from the bindery to learn more about it.
It is called Zikran’s Zephyrean Tome.
In researching Zikran, we discover he is a recent elementalist interested in giants and the elemental planes, especially cloud giants and their flying castles.
This book is a traveling tome, a spellbook, so perhaps leaving the library might help us learn more, away from the wards.

As we fly out on the magic carpet, I keep detect magic up to watch the book.
Magic begins to build and the title appears on the cover, before a burst of energy bursts the padlock apart and the book open.
A purplish gas emits forth, followed by the body of a man made of gas and sparkles, or rather a Djinn.
He introduces himself as Gazreazam and says he was enslaved by Zikran and trapped in that book.
Zikran must still be alive, as the spell has not broken, so he asks us to help free him.
He gives us a description of a cave down along the Sword Coast where he had last been with Zikran. Mr. Darkfoot believes it to be south of Baldur’s Gate.
We discuss what to do back inside the Library, where the book slams shut and locks again.
Questdrone says their are universal laws which must not be broken and a prohibition against slavery is one of them. I wonder if this is somehow different from a wizard’s familiar, but no one really wants to have that conversation.
I message the First Reader, and he agrees we should work to set the Djinn free.
Most of the book itself is about trapping Djinn and Gazreazam’s behavior.

It takes us a couple of days to get down to the coral reef Gazreazam mentioned as a landmark for the wizard’s cave.
Ms. Lendiel and Mr. Darkfoot fly out to the reef, to look back at the coast for the cave.
It is underwater for the most part, so we work out safe ways for us all to get down there at low tide
The first things we find are a couple dead half elves with deep claw wounds, healing potions undrunk. Killed too quickly, and by a dragon from the looks of it.
Gazreazam never saw a dragon with the wizard.
The next room has destroyed furniture, but intact books and scrolls.
Music begins to play from somewhere, and as we begin to look around, a voice rings out from beyond a doorway.
“Who dares entreat upon my lair? Present yourselves so you may be judged.”
In the next room, a laboratory with a stone dais, holding a horde of wealth and a huge, bronze dragon.
He introduces himself as Zelapharn, and after being convinced that we are merely here looking for Zikran, makes us promise to tell no one.
He does allow us to investigate for traces of Zikran.
The books in the first room are ship logs and navigation charts, his collection.
In the lab, we find Zikran’s things – a journal, a map of the Cloudpeak mountains with an area marked near an old giant’s castle.
We also find schematics for an elemental air cannon.
We thank Zelapharn and give him a gem for his horde before taking our leave.

Horses secured in the foothills, we trek up the mountains through an unnatural storm.
Mr. Trisfir keeps me from falling to my death, but I really need to research a sheltering spell.
We are woken in the middle of the night by a pack of shapeshifters that followed Questdrone back from scouting.
Their leader, once dispatched, is found to have a large, intricate transmogrification tattoo on his back. I copied it down to take home with us.
Their lair has a number of corpses of unwary travelers and a handful of useful items they must have scavenged. I now own a lamp that will float around with me when I need it.
Another day on, we find a giant castle in a cleft where the storm calms significantly.
The castle appears quite ruined, especially in the higher levels, as though it crashed here.