A Deep and Creeping Darkness

A Deep and Creeping Darkness was an account of the final days of the mining village Vermeillon, as recorded by an unknown bard.

Description
The book was bound in unadorned black leather, with the name of the work embossed in golden letters on its spine. A Deep and Creeping Darkness was clearly not the work of a professional scribe&mdash;although it was mostly neat, the book contained several spelling errors and ink blotches from shoddy penmanship. Apart from a handful of creased pages, the book showed very little sign of wear and tear.

Contents
A Deep and Creeping Darkness was a series of vignettes collected from the surviving residents of Vermeillon, an abandoned mining village. Although Vermeillon was a real place, the authoring bard's overly dramatic writing style made it unclear whether the story told was folklore or actual history. The book told of how an accidental explosion in the village mine in the led to the deaths and disappearances of forty-nine miners. As if that were not tragedy enough, the village soon became plagued by a rash of unexplained disappearances. Before long, the remaining villagers abandoned Vermeillon altogether. The author also included his own personal musings into the book, particularly on the subject of whether or not it would be worth hiring a party of adventurers to secure the village so its valuable vein of platinum could be mined once more.

History
The book's author was a traveling bard who decided to investigate the horrors that had befallen Vermeillon. Although he did not travel to the village itself, he tracked down and interviewed several former residents. Once completed, A Deep and Creeping Darkness failed to find an appreciative audience. The work was forgotten until the author's granddaughter found it among the remnants of his bardic career and sent it to the fortress library of Candlekeep.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Candlekeep Mysteries: "A Deep and Creeping Darkness"