The Hartwood Archives Heist

Four-track transcript-supported reconstruction

What happened

The party meets Elyndor Faelithil and learns that Towerheart served as one of Asmodeus's strongest lieutenants. The old heroes did not destroy Asmodeus; they forced him back by cutting off the chaos energy that allowed demons to cross into the world.

Elyndor sends the group to the Hartwood Archives. There Roland finds a restricted technical manual explaining how corrupted red crystals can be refined to absorb chaos energy—and decides the most efficient borrowing policy is theft.

The morning after

Valen comes downstairs after spending the night with Raelynn, and the party responds with the dignity expected of seasoned heroes. Raelynn's immediate pregnancy joke and Valen's inability to get drunk consume most of the breakfast conversation.

The group eventually remembers the infernal conspiracy and returns to Whisperroot.

Elyndor's account

The party tells Elyndor it is hunting Towerheart and investigating the red crystals. Elyndor identifies Towerheart as a former lieutenant of Asmodeus and confirms that both he and Kreevan fought in the sealing war.

He explains that the heroes blocked or contained the chaos energy Asmodeus used to summon demons. Towerheart disappeared after the defeat. Billy Bumbler's red, eye-like mark also catches Elyndor's attention, but its meaning remains unknown.

Two leads

The group can pursue Shalendra Mossveil, whose missing husband may connect to a secret organization, or search the Hartwood Archives for records about the old war and crystal technology.

They choose the Archives. The Shalendra lead remains open rather than resolved or discarded.

The restricted collection

Grenak begins sneezing almost immediately upon entering the Archives. Roland becomes suspicious of a staff-only door and talks his way toward the restricted collection while the rest of the party provides varying degrees of distraction.

Inside, Roland finds a technical book concerning red-crystal refinement. He asks Rhogar to distract the guard, hides the book beneath his cloak, and escapes with it.

“I thought this was a fucking library. There’s no fucking books in this library.”
— Roland

“I’m a backdoor bandit.”
— Roland

What the book says

The stolen manual describes a process for refining corrupted, dark-red crystals into a stable form. Properly prepared crystals may absorb chaos energy from an area, interfere with portal formation, and prevent demons from crossing.

The party plans to study the book aboard the Stormwraith. Roland helpfully removes all ambiguity about the operation by announcing, 'Hey, everybody, I stole this book.'

“Hey, everybody, I stole this book.”
— Roland

The shit worth remembering

Funny even without the quote

Grenak becomes a one-orc threat to library silence.
Roland describes himself as a backdoor bandit while investigating the staff-only entrance.
The party gains a potentially world-saving technical manual and a future conversation about library security.