Seventeen: Lost prophecy

I am hard pressed to sleep tonight, or even lay down. The inactivity of a day spent toiling through dusty scrolls has left me with too much energy, and the revelations of Master Barelo have my head in a whirl. Around midafternoon he brought me a parchment.

"This is the work of an elder priest thousands of years ago. His transcriptions of conversations with an Ashlander Wise Woman are what we consider the authorative source for much of the Ashlander's history. There are bits and pieces of prophecy scattered through it, including one of the oldest written records of the Seven Visions. Read this part." His finger ran carefully along seven lines of graceful script on the the aged hide.

From seventh sign of eleventh generation
Neither Hound nor Guar nor Seed nor Harrow
But dragon born and far star marked
Outlander Incarnate beneath Red Mountain
Blessed guest counters seven curses
Star blessed hand wields thrice cursed blade
To reap the harvest of the unmourned house

I read carefully, then again, though certain words seemed to leap from the page. 'Outlander Incarnate', an outlander Nerevarine. Me.

"Not of the four clans," said Master Barelo. "A guest. Dragon born; born of your Empire." He shook his head. "Not hard to see how this would get lost. It isn't something an Ashlander would want to remember, or admit. Even the scholars of the temple born of their great houses would just as soon pass that over. I did myself in my youth."

"What about the rest?" I asked. "The seven curses? Star blessed hand?"

"The seven curses rings familiar. It may be more prophecy. I have a few places to look, but I wanted to bring this to you. Give you a chance to... get used to it. The star blessed hand would no doubt refer to the ring Moon and Star. You have heard 'journey far neath Moon and Star' I assume?"

I nodded. "The mark of Nerevar."

"Mark; yes indeed. A ring which Nerevar wore that clearly identified him, since its enchantments would kill any other that tried to wear it. The thrice cursed blade is likely Keening, one of the tools of Kagrenak. Instrumental in tapping the power of the Heart of Lorkan, and probably required to undo that as well. Nerevar and the tribunal believed they had slain Dagoth Ur, every sense told them he was dead, but he survived. The tools that made him what he is will no doubt be needed if he is to be truly undone; reaping the harvest that House Dagoth sowed so long ago."

"Seven curses," I muttered. "Seven curses faced, then use a cursed blade."

"There is another possibility," he said. "Lord Dagoth had seven close kin, powerful wizard-lords in their own right."

"His kin would be long dead though, right? They didn't all tap into the stone."

"They didn't have to tap in directly themselves, they have been preserved by Dagoth Ur. They are the ash vampires." He went to continue his search through the prophecies, leaving me with a careful copy of the prophecy of the Outlander Incarnate. He was apparently out of bad news, at least for the moment.