II
The Keepers
“I found a note yesterday, written by myself in the most elaborate pen. The details have already eluded me, but the tome it was torn from doesn’t exist in this timeline yet- so I thought it best to just tuck it away for now. Paradoxes can be so exhausting. ”
Little is known of who (or what) first created the tavern, but since its discovery, a Keeper has always presided over the Arcanist’s Tavern. The Keeper is a member of an ancient order; an ever-elusive mage of great power, tasked with watching over the tavern and cataloging its many oddities. Maintaining the wards that prevent time and space from collapsing can be emotionally taxing, so the Keeper ensures that help is always on hand to keep the tavern’s guests comfortable; whether that be a kindly dwarven innkeeper or a sentient bookcase burdened with terrible knowledge.
The title has been passed down since time immemorial, though few Keepers have left such an impact on the tavern as Lucille Duras. Ninth to bear the Keeper’s mantle, her ‘unconventional’ approach to magecraft saw her expelled from several of the multiverse’s most prestigious arcane academies before she arrived at the Arcanist’s Tavern. Despite her tendency to make things combust with frightening regularity, she served dutifully as the previous Keeper’s apprentice before inheriting the title herself (and all the cosmic baggage that comes with it).
For a while, things went quite well. The mimics were well-fed, and wards were sanctified. Alas, such tranquillity was fated not to last. Lucille went missing shortly after investigating a forbidden plane- known only as ‘the Promise’. This isn’t usually cause for concern, Keepers are excellent at going missing, and many pride themselves on their ability to return and pretend that it never happened. Lucille, however, has yet to make her grand reappearance, though whispers have begun to spread of a crimson mage stumbling through fractured realities. Leaving behind clues whenever she can.
“Lucille shows great promise, but she also teleported my office into a pocket dimension, and replaced it with an identical- albeit slightly smaller replica. She has done this several times, and at this point, I am too concerned to ask why.”
All that remains is for a hardy traveler to gather these fragments from across the multiverse, and guide Lucille home (preferably in one piece). Perhaps having sensed this, the tavern has created a doorway into your world- permanently anchoring itself until the Keeper is returned. Beyond its threshold lies countless adventures, and buried secrets from worlds long forgotten.
Will you be the one to uncover them?