The following is extracted from Appendix 1 (pages 215-217) of The Drow War III: The Darkest Hour (ISBN 1904854907), written by Adrian Bott for Mongoose Publishing (March 28, 2006), and is copyrighted by them. This page is for the use of the players in the Dargas campaign, whose high-level characters are currently experiencing that epic adventure.

History

Any Player Character can recall this information with a Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 25), a Knowledge (history) check (DC 25), or a Bardic Lore check (DC 25). Note that this is the history of the Scripts, not the Scripts themselves. To consult the Scripts, a character must actually possess a copy.

A good copy of the Eschatonic Scripts can be had for 80-100 gold pieces from a good bookseller in a major city. Although the book is inexpensive compared to other items, it is sufficiently scarce that only a major city is likely to have it. Alternatively, a Player Character can expect to find a copy in any arcane library worth the name.

The Eschatonic Scripts are a collection of scraps of prophecies assembled into one volume by persons unknown. They are composed of four sections.

The oldest section, the so-called Quatrains of Anak Xul, date from the time before the first Equinox of Heroes and are widely believed to refer to the events that took place in that Equinox. They are thus discharged prophecies, though modern speculators never tire of finding new meanings for them.

The Sayings of Good Mother Fubbage are the most urbane of the Scripts, resembling the prattle heard in fortune-tellers' huts the world over.

The most respected section is the Cryptic Mutterings of Thuz. Wizards invest more significance in this section than any other, no doubt because the author was a wizard himself. Thuz was a definite historical figure, a wizard of Jehannum (on Ashfar). His evil and power were such that he was the de facto ruler of Jehannum for a century and a half.

The most recently authored section is the Visions of Septimus Jessop, the rantings of a common peasant who was taken for a prophet. His conviction was such that many nobles as well as commoners were persuaded to take his words seriously; it was one such noble who provided a scribe to take down Jessop's words as he spoke them. Jessop's prophecy, though short, caused mass hysteria the last time there was an eclipse of the sun, as an increasing number of people took this as the 'seventh sign' to which Jessop refers, although the world failed to end.

The Quatrains of Anak Xul

The lamps of Heaven tumbled down, burning still;
Fire and force shall suffice to stymie the gorgon's breath.
Three times the tyrants rise, three times they fall.
Upon the fourth, the heart shall burst and break.

I see a tower like a shadowed man,
Higher than hills and castles he shall walk,
Battening on blood of heroes. His the fist
That topples my proud race.

When shadow turns on shadow, black on black,
When White holds Black in final check and mate,
Then shall a greater hand in spite descend
To overturn the chequered board of worlds.

After bright stars have nailed down the night
A deeper doom shall face a brighter sky;
Hell shall arise, breaking forth in flame
And Heaven's trumpets sound the final fray.

The tryst is forged on a world not this world,
Brith's folly soon shall bear its final fruit;
An unclean wedding, swift to the fouler feast
Breeds further foulness within, awaiting its hour.

The Cryptic Mutterings of Thuz

In the midst of many storms I see a table where the wicked and the wise dine together.
I against my enemy; my enemy and I against the stranger; me, my enemy, and the stranger against the devouring unknown.
Bone above, bone beneath, and bone shall heal the hurt.
The colours are many, but the light is one.
The crimson hells and the azure skies shall feud, yet those in the midst shall join together to hold back the night.
As the diamond yields only to the touch of the diamond, so does a great evil yield only to a great evil.
All turns with the turning of the Wheel.
Even as the corrupt renounce their corruption, so too shall the pure become apostate to their purity.
Betrayal seethes in the heart that seems most warm, even as the worm writhes in the hottest dung.
The craftsman despises not the saw for its cruel teeth, nor does the blacksmith hate the fire for its cruel heat. Yet wood and iron alike shall curse the hand that works them.
When chaos reigns and all around are filled with doubt and wrath, he shall prosper who heeds the youth who bears great age in its hands.
The evil genius is no less a genius; the heroic fool is no less a fool.
Good without evil is like a steeple without a church; it wavers and cannot stand. Evil without good is like fire without fuel; it shall consume itself and perish.
Evil does not deal in false hope. Good has a monopoly on it.

The Sayings of Good Mother Fubbage

When the Final Days draw near,
When the End of All is here,
One shall sweat and one shall sing,
One to stones of sorrow cling,
One shall steal a kingly crown,
One shall tear a prison down,
One shall sail the damned bark
Unto the shores before the dark;
Sure as moths devour the silk,
Sure as thunder sours the milk.

Never did a man rejoice to tread upon a thorn;
Never did the appleseed bring forth an ear of corn;
Never was a castle built all out of rotten wood;
Never did an evil deed bring forth a deed of good.

If wizards never had walked the land
To work their wonders with word and hand,
Nor whittled a wand from an elder tree,
Then dragons children's toys would be;
And giants, goblins, and ogres all
But shadows cast on a nursery wall.
So bless the wizard and treat him well
and show respect to every spell.

Trust the fire to burn you, and trust the snow to chill,
Trust a dog to fetch and trust a cat to do its will,
Trust the merry jug of wine to fuddle up your brain,
But never trust a turncoat, lest he turn his coat again.

One a prince in sackcloth dressed,
One a child with bounty blessed,
One a Star in blood and bones,
One beset with sighs and groans,
One as black as midnight's heart,
One a fiend of double part.

A sinful nation shall arise,
With steeples to assail the skies;
The demons loos'd to roam the earth,
The angels baffled for a birth,
While men and women all forlorn,
Await the coming of the dawn.
The world then at an end we'll see,
In nineteen hundred and ninety three.

The Vision of Septimus Jessop

The angel came before me once again, bearing a crown of flame upon his head and a trumpet that was also a sword, and this he did say: Ye shall know that the last days are come when the signs are sent unto you, and ye shall know the signs thus. Seven are there.

The first sign is the tearing of the Heaven like unto a hempen cloth.
The second sign is howling of many beasts, in alleys of blood.
The third sign is the shattering of realms, unseen and yet heard, past the veil of cloud.
The fourth sign is the rage of a dead mother at her dead child.
The fifth sign is the repentance of the fallen.
The sixth sign is the return of the tyrant of cinders and flame, that the world might be tormented by fire.
The seventh and the last sign is the sphere of brilliant day, eclipsed by the sphere of night.