The newly reformed department of esoteric arcana at the college of the stars requests the presence of capable scholars and adventurers to undertake some field research into ancient magics.
Those in the know will also be aware that the department is currently being heavily sponsored by Walter Cargan.
As Walter Cargan attempts to bring the library of Attrivium to him something resists the ritual and after an uncomfortable experience with a whirling vortex the party find themselves brought to the library instead. The library appears to be in a strange realm and with Walter suffering some kind of magical backlash the party are initially unsure of how to proceed. Fortunately after some unfriendly encounters with the local denizens they are able to find an index of sorts and the party are able to determine the locations of several books of interest as well as the memoirs walter is interested in.
They are able to locate several of books before eventually stumbling into a glade occupied by several figures. They are able to recognize two of the figures as captain Hopkins who was previously there to oversee the ritual as well as Lord Cargans Butler Joffrey. The third figure in the glade is what stands out however it has an overwhelming presence and introduces itself as mudra, giving the party some clue as to where they may have found themselves. The dinner party quickly takes a turn towards the odd however as nobody attempts to steal mudra's identity. He feels something resisting him at first before it appears to aquese and oddly he finds that he has instead switched identities with the figure instead. Edward Reynolds meanwhile influenced by Turrean is consumed by the desire to convince Mudra that humans are worthless and that they should kill them all. They have some success with this and mudra tries to kill Edward himself several times only being foiled by the aura of the splintered man. Mudra is more successful in killing Joffrey however and soon his ghost is left looking down forlornly at his obliterated body. At this point the rest of the party realise that Edward is likely possessed by something and attempt to convince mudra get rid of the intruder leading to Edward himself vanishing.
Joffrey the butler meanwhile being a civil servant has successfully managed to persuade mudra that that he will stay to ensure they don't get bored if the party can remove the books of interest to them. A course of action the dragon found objectionable after sensing the magical attempts to rip the entire library out of their space. Saffron also offers to entertain mudra is her own way and the two vanish for a time.
Upon returning mudra recalls Reynolds and then dissapears. Edward manages to escape from the attempts to tie him up by turning into a snake and as he does so viny creatures appear to assail the party fighting at his side. Halfway through the fight he comes to his senses however but his now less trustful companions leave him tied up just in case.
Moving on the party wisely avoid a pool of glistening acid despite the snackies waiting at the bottom before coming to a palace of mirrors filled with dragon-born. One of them appears inhumanly beautiful and the rest are all caught up staring at it just at it itself gazes at it's own reflection. Nobody steals the identity of this dragonborn and promptly entrances the rest of the party as they look upon his now perfect visage. Saffron looking upon the perfection decides to sleep with nobody and the two of them occupy themselves for some time before deciding to attempt to get through the mirror maze. Whilst doing so however Edward knocks aside beshahara's mirror waking the dragonborn from their trance. They promptly attempt to kill the impure mortal ruining their palace but are distracted by nobodies similarly perfect visage and foiled by the aura of the splintered man. Disgusted by the mortal filth now coating their arm they head to wash it off. Leading the party to navigate through the palace by themselves.
Following this they eventually manage to find the memoirs Walter wants and turn their attention to how to get out. Captain hopkins suggests breaking out through the weak-point over the magisterium. It is decided that this carries too great a risk of a dragonic intrusion however so instead nobody persuades mudra to send them back using the reasoning that if they send the party back mudra can come with them and experience the world themselves. This seems to persuade the avatar who promptly swallows the party whole and propels them back towards reality. Nobody does not resist a part of mudra coming along whilst saffron is successful in fighting off the dragons influence. Edwards attempts to make a different deal trying to persuade mudra to drive turrean from him. He balks however at replacing turrean with mudra and eventually the dragons grow bored crushing his soul as they fight over it with mudra eventually emerging victorious.
After this the party find themselves spat out where it all begain on walter's estate with the books they were able to collect.
You have had a direct encounter with a dragon in a place where their power is not bound and now you have returned a part of them has come back with you. You have gained an instinctive understanding of a rite of magic and now find that the workings of the rite come to you naturally with little effort and sometimes you even find yourself casting spells without realising you are doing so. In fact you find that not casting spells begins to have a negative effect on you and start to getting splitting headaches if you do not regularly cast something. You also get the sense that the dragon can see what you see if they wish and occasionally their voice booms through your thoughts almost crippling in its power. Fortunately so far they seem to be happy to merely observe and comment. This is not the limit of their power over you however and should it seem appropriate a GM may have them intervene more directly. As a rule in such cases the Dragon can effect the recipient of the gift who has fallen under its sway but nothing else.