Ardathium, Volume I

Book Text
These brief details are conclusions drawn by me in my brief encounter with the ruins of this lost citadel. I cannot claim any word of this to be absolute truth, for the information I had available was vague, if not cryptic through the impenetrable veil of ignorance and time that shadowed my vision. Throughout the whole of Norrath's libraries and scholars, I was not able to find a single shred of evidence or legend relating to this place. Eerily, it was as if it had never existed, that the memory of Norrath itself had torn Ardathium from its mind.

Ardathium - that is the name of the place I shall detail as best I can in these pages. A glorious citadel constructed by the first followers of Mithaniel Marr in what is now known as the Southern Desert of Ro. I know for certain that this place exists, or existed, though in unfortunate, irreparable ruin beneath the unforgiving sands of the desert. I have been there, and I have seen it. I cannot tell you where or how to enter this place, for I was forced to leave prematurely during my investigation of the site. An earthquake forced me to escape, or be buried alive with the city's forgotten dead. Unfortunately, the earth swallowed the city further into its belly, the topmost portion of Ardathium's tower was buried deep beneath the sands once more. I cannot say when or if the city will rise again through the will and labor of united men and it would be the wasted energies of a fool to hope for as much within our lifetimes.

In the two and a half days that I was allotted the opportunity to explore the standing portions of this place, I learned so little and yet, so much. A great library had once been housed within the walls of the white and golden city of Truth. Though most of the tomes have dissolved into dust in the cruel clutches of time, I was fortunate to find a few legible documents, preserved by the desert's heat. The script was ancient, but I recognized bits and pieces of the runic tongue of old. This story is one that I have concluded to be a possible fate of Sir Grenic Drere, the hero of our tale, and the fate of the city of Ardathium.