Letter to Evelyn

Dear Senior Scholar Evelyn,

Attached, please find a copy of my report to Scholar Rowtan regarding the exploration and disposition of the temple you uncovered. If your discovery of this temple near my present location was happenstance, I thank you for your efforts. If, however, your interest in the geography surrounding my current post was something other than coincidence, I thank you all the more.

While the report is accurate in what it says, it omits a few items of which I feel you should be aware. Primary among these is the existence of a secret room within the chambers of the temple’s head priest. This room, more like a closet, is opened with the same key that opens the vault, though the lock is somewhat difficult to spot.

Within this secret closet, we discovered a locked chest. My friend Frith determined that the chest was protected by some form of trap that he judged to be of a magical nature. As I am not yet sufficiently skilled to dispel magic, we elected to let this chest alone. It waits in the closet still.

I’d appreciate your advice on how to handle this chest. I am not certain if secret rooms like this one are standard issue in our Teacher’s house or if this priest was an exception. For this reason I have elected to conceal the existence of this chest from Scholar Rowtan on this matter.

Between you and I, I must confess that I feel a certain amount of personal ambition regarding this temple. I would very much like to build it, eventually, into the most important center of learning in the region. The potential for spreading knowledge to common people in this area is vast and exciting. I also think that the idea of a creature museum has merit, particularly since it appears that I will be joining this group of adventurers fairly regularly in the near future, and we seem to attract odd beasts of all varieties.

While in a confessional mood, I must also admit that our first encounter with Tralisa did not go well. The aura of fear that surrounded her overpowered most of us, and we ran away. I do not mean an orderly retreat; we fled in terror. It was hours before I came to my senses and was miles away from the temple, having been running the whole time back to Helvic. It is not an experience I cared to repeat, but fortunately the second time I met Tralisa the inclination to flee was more easily resisted.

I look forward to seeing what sort of staff, if any, I am sent for the rebuilding effort. I expect that the temple would be assigned only those people most easy to be rid of, such as myself. Should be interesting! If you hear of anything along these lines, please let me know.

Desiring more frequent communication with you, I think would should see what the world has to offer in shrinking the delays caused by simple writing. Surely some magical solution must exist for more direct conversation over a distance. If not, we should invent one.

Fondly,