Krimhorn Library

The Barbarian Camp Library is located in Barbarian Camp, north-west of Svargrond. There are 7 books:

1) Hard to believe but those miners from Carlin did actually something useful for my research. Through my apprentice I learned that their mining uncovered ancient caves and passages in the ice. They also found strange creatures frozen in ice. That creatures could either be the ancients themselves, that got trapped in the ice, or remnants of the invading demon army that laid siege to the frostspire. My apprentice gets restless more and more. Her lust for power is as disgusting as her body is alluring. Both have little importance for a man of science like me though. Let her be occupied with her petty struggle with those druids on Nibelor. As long as her followers bring us a sufficient amount of shards, I don't care about her private plans. I have to get a better access to the mines. Any confrontation with Carlin authorities, backed up by the druids there, would cripple my researches. There has to be some other way. What a waste of time! I remember a quite exotic ritual I've learned in my youth from a lizard snakecharmer that I'd captured in the Tiquanda jungle years ago. Although the idea to modify it is ingenious, it will take an incredible amount of time to prepare a complete and useful ritual. In the meantime, I heavily rely on the help of my apprentice.

2) My little witch begins to manipulate more and more of her people to oppose Carlin's presence here. She proves cunning and easily picks up new magic I'm teaching her. If she have been sent to a good magical college, she might have become a magician of some renown. On the other hand, she is much more interested in worldly affairs and less in research. However, her influence on her people is growing and the spells I taught her earned her great respect. Only the old fashioned clique of druids still oppose her, despite of her obvious power and the knowledge she had gained from me. Some things are seemingly always the same, everywhere in the world. The Carlin miners are a thick-headed and stubborn bunch. Can't they see that they are not welcome here? Why don't they just leave? However, there are more important things to do. I have unlocked some of the secrets of the frostspire shard. After all these centuries that have passed and the shattering of the frostspire, that released all the contained cold all over the isles, there is still power in this shard. I manipulated some of it's essence to slow my ageing process! What a triumph of science! That alone will make me the greatest magician of all times! But I am sure there is more about this shard! My apprentice sent some of her loyal followers to find more of the shards. The shattering of the frostspire must have produced thousands and thousands of them. After the first success, the research got really slow. I am able to tap the powers of the shards and drain them for my purposes but that is not very sufficient. One of the few direct effects, I can derive of the shards, is the slowed ageing process for me and my apprentice. Other things progress similarly slowly. There seems little left of the ancient civilisation that once retreated here. I begin to assume that they did not only use the frostspire to bind all that cold to create a hospitable environment, but they also used the contained cold to build their settlements. What a sight it must have been, a green and warm isle with cities of crystal gleaming ice! The shattering of the frostspire probably let this architecture erode over the centuries. This is truly a shame.

3) I finally arrived at my destination. The isles are as cold and inhospitable as expected. I see this as a good sign though. All my investigations strongly hint that there is more about the myth of the frostspire than my ignorant colleagues want to believe. And it will be me who unlocks that secret. I made contact with some of the primitives that live here. Considering that my investigations here will bind me to these ice islands for some time, it might be a good idea to take some of them into my servitude. Yet, the primitives behaved quite unfriendly and it is questionable how I should be able to repay them for any services. However, pressing them into servitude is no true option. I have not the time to oversee a bunch of rebellious slaves that know the lands far better than I do. There has to be some other way. It was easy to lure this greedy shaman witch into an alliance. Some display of my abilities combined with blandishments and empty promises and she was mine. Time will tell if this primitive will make a useful apprentice. Her influence among her people is undoubtedly considerable though. Marvellous! It was so easy to find the remains of the frostspire with the help of my local helpers! Of course it has become a place of importance in their primitive myths. Everything I encountered is true about the ancient myths! Sadly all-too-true. Not much is left from the magnificent frostspire itself and all signs of the ancient civilisation seem to be wiped out. But there is so much to be discovered and we just started. Today my apprentice gave me a holy item of her people's faith. At first, I was annoyed to be disturbed with such primitive nonsense but to my amazement the object was obviously a shard of the shattered frostspire itself! A short investigation showed me that it will take months to unlock the secrets of its inherent magic. I will need a more suitable base and more resources. In the meantime, settlers from Carlin have arrived. Some prospectors must have find ore in the mountains. Damn them, they are disturbing my research.

4) Things are going smooth and well for me. I was able to investigate the mines and caves. It seems that most creatures that are frozen in the ice are part of the demon army that fought the ancients. To my surprise, some of the demons are quite alive when they are freed from the ice. So I had to kill a handful of them. Unfortunately, now my barbarian helpers are too scared and won't enter the mines anymore. It is no great loss though. As far as I can tell, there are no significant shards hidden in the ice and I have no use for any rampaging demons. The chances to discover one of the ancients dead or even alive, are slim at best. Most likely, the majority of demons were frozen in ice at that moment the frostspire shattered. It is highly unlikely that any of the ancients was amongst them at that time. So after verifying some of the myth behind the frostspire, I could return to my actual work. The secrets of the shards will be mine, now that all distractions are eliminated. I am a bit absorbed in my studies. Everything else does not matter. I have spent more than two lifetimes in investigations of the shards. My results so far are amazing, though of little practical value. But it already raised the boundaries of my perspective of magic as a whole. My apprentice is growing more and more restless. She demands more knowledge, more power, more of everything. If I would not need her to maintain things here, I'd get rid of her one way or the other. But the way things are now, I have to live with this nuisance. I have no time to teach her new tricks. She knows enough to impress and frighten her superstitious people. I don't care about her fight with the people of Nibelor. I will not allow her to provoke a war that will further hinder my studies. There has been enough delay already.

5) Finally the ritual is complete. It will take all my skills and strength and even the power of several frostshards but I am positive it will work. Then I will be finally able to return to my actual researches. It worked! It took a while for the sea serpents to arrive but they could not resist the lure of my spell. Now we will see how brave those sailors of Carlin are. Even if they try to break through the sea serpents, they will lose a ship now and then, which will make it impossible to continue their presence here for a longer period. The climate does not suit those serpents too well, so they are not in a very good mood, I'd suppose. Carlin's presence in this area should be history soon. Today my apprentice surprised me when she and her followers took over the mines. The remaining Carlin miners fled to the city they have built with those barbarians. Though the mines are ours now, I can only hope the people in Svargrond will not try to retake the mines without backup from Carlin. A war is the last thing I could use for my researches. 6) I think my apprentice is up to something. Probably a raid on Svargrond or even Nibelor or something foolish like that. After all those years, I know this little scheming snake well enough to smell that something is cooking. The ritual of binding gets closer. It's hard to believe another seven years have passed. As soon as I have recovered enough strength from casting another spell to lure the sea serpents, I will have to get rid of my apprentice. I almost feel some melancholy after all those years but it has to be done. I probably just freeze her for some decades until I have finished my researches and leave this isle. Then she might become the queen of all her barbarians and kill the druids on Nibelor or die trying. I don't care.

7) ... figured out at least some of the secrets of the ancient artefact I have found. Its purpose was to focus the power of some other structure, probably the destroyed frostheart spire. However, the shards of the frostheart, which can be found in this land, seem to have enough power remaining to fuel the powers of the sarcophagus. At least I was able to unlock the healing and restoring abilities of the artefact. The annoying part is the function of the sarcophagus itself. I put much effort in figuring out how to open it. It seems that starlight is the key! The sarcophagus is easily accessible by starlight. At sunrise it seals itself and only opens again when the stars brighten the sky. Since my first tries in some dark ice cave, the sarcophagus won't open at all of course. My first experiments with the sarcophagus left me with a claustrophobic feeling. What if a cover of snow makes the sarcophagus inaccessible while I am inside? I will have to trust my apprentice to see that I am freed in such a case. It's a good thing my vain apprentice is very concerned about conserving her youth and beauty. For this reason, she has a vital interest in opening and accessing the sarcophagus on a regular basis. Still there is a slight risk, but that's a risk a scientist like me has to take I suppose.