Prologue -
A tall masked goddess visits six year old Artus, and rewards him for solving her puzzle.
Chapter 1 - All but Awake
(10 years later Artus is studying at a prestigious Academy known for teaching lord-lings and princes) Artus is suffering from not being able to sleep, a result of his curse from Papprika. He approaches a teacher with a unique take on solving an impossible to break painting. Prince Vallir (the son of the emperor) asks for Artus' help with an advanced glyph, the glyph rifts and both boys sustain serious injuries.
Chapter 2 - Biscuits and Blue Feet
While Artus is at the healers Papprika creates a temporary cure for Artus' curse. She crafts some small biscuits that induce sleep, but Artus must eat them every night to fall asleep. Like all of Papprika's dishes the biscuits have a debuffing side effect, the biscuits make your feet cold and turn them blue. Vallir's mother the empress is enraged by her sons near death experience (she is at the healers via an automaton surrogate). Artus receives the blunt of the empresses displeasure and is expelled from the academy. Papprika drops out to help Artus find a permanent cure for his curse. After being expelled two of Artus' older siblings arrive to escort him home as partitioned by their mother. Upon hearing about their younger brothers curse they agree to convey the message to their mother of Artus' desire to search for a cure. Neither sibling can help since Artus' situation seems manageable and they have urgent business of their own. They do however offer to give his adventure a jump start, they give him a small piece of a rare and valuable mineral to help cover his adventuring expenses. They also give him a small cuboid shaped crop made of a blue stone and threaded with a leather strap to wear around the neck. The crop is called the Seal of Pizalae; it is a one time use artifact that summons a powerful warrior djinn as a last resort. All of his older siblings have had it on their adventures but none have used it.
Chapter 3 - The Irrefutable Inknose
Artus' and Papprika go to the great library and meet with a young ruin-djinn (ruin-djinns spend all their time reading) in exchange for Papprika agreeing to record her progression and discoveries as a gouremage he agrees to help them scan the library for reagents that might reverse the curse. They discover there is a potential reagent but the text offers only rumors to it's location. the djinn tells them the great Observium can locate almost anything but that it has been sealed for almost eighty years. He tells them that if they want to learn more about the Observium they should talk to the Old King, since he was involved in the events that lead to it being sealed (The Old King is not the current king, he is a 256 year old hero who has been everything from a king to a beggar in his time). The djinn also helps them locate a nearby reagent that Artus could possibly harvest for paint. After leaving the library they find the old King Kabuto at a tavern trading stories with other white haired veterans.
Chapter 4 - A King a Key and a Keeper
When asked by Artus the Old King recounts the story of how and why the Observium was sealed. He explains that the key to the Observium is in the back of a small wind up mechanical figure. And that the riddle to find it is still around but the riddle to catch it has been lost. The Old King takes them to the map room in his manor and shows them the riddle, the answer to the riddle is a trigger word you speak to the map and it will reveal the location of the mechanical figure. The figure is currently in the buried city. Which is where it has been for the last fifty years. The Old King explains to them that the buried city is extremely dangerous and the last adventures looking for the Observium key suffered heavy losses before relinquishing their quest. The Old King suggest that if they are desperate enough to enter the buried city that they should try seeking out the fowl lady first. The fowl lady is a dangerous witch but far less dangerous than the buried city. The fowl lady is the most adept curse remover in the entire kingdom. The Old King suggests they talk to her first and if she can't help them, then he will personally help them retrieve the key.
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