The Book Thief, Mockery, & the Unseen Currents

Summary of Events (2/16/2025):

The Sorting Labyrinth had tested our heroes, leaving them weary, their wounds fresh, their minds burdened. They gathered themselves and tend their injuries, as they debated their next course of action. Mutu spoke of the many-eyed creature that lurked within the main chamber of the book drop, its great form watching, waiting. From his description Charles recalled that it was a creature from beyond this world—one that coveted knowledge above all, a Book Thief. A spirit also known in distant lands 0f the Far East as a Hyakume, an abomination that had haunted the great libraries of the world, stealing away knowledge for its own selfish hoard.

At the suggestion that they should just kill it Charles and Mutu made it know that their goddess Sarenrae’s will was clear—all creatures must be offered the path of redemption before judgment is passed. And so, a different plan was made. Diana, ever the negotiator, would try to bargain with it by offering it the “The Cursed Book of Lost Days”, an artifact of power, in exchange for the Book Thief’s cooperation in their search for the Book of Unseen Currents.

With the plan set they opened door to the book drop with Diana leading. They confront the huylking Book Thief, its many eyes roved in all directions, its fingers twitching with unrestrained greed at the words of Diana bargain. It called itself Staarbort, and its words were scattered, twisted—thoughts fractured, meanings lost in non-sequential phrases. Still, Diana tried to stay cordial in the response it almost nonsensical words until a bargains were woven, and for a moment, it seemed the beast had agreed. But the creature’s nature could not be denied—it lunged for the book she offered, grasping it with clawed hands, stealing what had been freely given and then demanding more books from our heroes. This was treachery. This was sin. And for such an act, retribution was demanded by Sarenrae’s edict according to Mutu and Charles.

Steel was drawn, magic surged, and battle erupted. Flames washed over the towering mound of books at the room’s center as Charles unleashed a fireball hoping to enrage and instill fear into Staarbort as its precious hoard was set alight. At this he succeeded even as Diana howled over that he could be destroying the book they were looking for. While the aberration fought with desperate fury, but in the end, it was cast out, banished from the library’s sacred halls.

Yet victory was not so easily claimed. The Book of Unseen Currents did not surrender itself freely. Instead, it mocked them, shifting, twisting, dancing just beyond their reach, causing them to grab books that whose titles mocked each of our heroes cruely:

  • Charles grasped a tome: “How to Win at Everything (Except This)” by Master Charles the Overconfident.
  • Diana pulled another: “Talking Your Way Out of Consequences—Too Late, You Already Messed Up” by Tongue-Tied Diana.

  • Kiren’s fingers closed around a book that sneered at her: “The Art of Failure and Other Mistakes I Will Make” by Lady Kiren the Unfortunate. Foreword by Jenny Dreadful.

  • And Mutu, ever the devoted, received: “Destined for Greatness: A Guide to Unrealistic Unrelalistic Expectations Expectations” by Sir Mutu the Overzealous. With several different endorsements on the back cover by himself.


But persistence, not mockery, would define their fate. And at last, the book was theirs. Yet it was no mere tome. As each hero touched its cover, the pages flipped—revealing not words, but worlds.

  • For Kiren, The Nightborne Maze, shifting and endless punishment for those who lost their way.

  • For Diana, The Space Between Spaces, a expanse of lost echoes and hoarded junk from an infinite number of places.

  • For Charles, The Forsworn Vale, where the forsaken are sent to be forgotten.

  • For Mutu, The Witchwoods, where the trees whisper of fate and punish those who challenge it.

At last, by sheer will, they forced the book to turn to the page they sought: The Endless Library. And with preparation made, Kiren lifted the Many-Shaped Key, pressing it to the page.
Reality shattered. The world twisted. The book devoured them. And they found themselves standing upon the very page they had just been reading.