Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor

Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor was the diary of Sarah, a servant in the employ of the ill-fated Yellowcrest family of Waterdeep.

Description
Bound in leather and decorated with intricate brass corner fittings and a clasp in the same material, the cover of Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor was embossed with the crest of the Yellowcrest family: a rising sun behind a lemon tree. The book had clearly been blank originally; all its pages were handwritten, with only the very last pages remaining unscrawled. The writing steadily improved over the course of the book, as if the product of an author learning to write. The title Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor was written on its very first page.

Contents
The first few pages of Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor consisted of repetitions of the word "Sarah", as the author practiced her handwriting. This eventually gave way to lists of household chores, names, upcoming activities, and shopping items&mdash;these comprised roughly a third of the book. At some point, Sarah began a diary telling of her life in the service of the Yellowcrests. Most of the entries were undated and none were on consecutive pages.

In addition to chronicling her life as a servant in Yellowcrest Manor, Sarah wrote about her romantic relationship with the local squire Vecken. She also wrote at length about the noble Yellowcrest family, their business holdings, and their associates. The diary told of how Sarah had been taught how to write by Lady Maria Yellowcrest, who had taken the young servant girl under her wing&mdash;the diary had been a gift from her.

In the last few entries, dated to the, Sarah wrote of her growing concern for the Yellowcrest family. In particular, she found Lord Viallis Yellowcrest's obsession with ancient tomes and strange rituals disconcerting. Sarah sketched Viallis's ritual circle in her diary, as well as a strange book with a monstrous cover she once saw him chanting from; unbeknownst to her, this was Retribution of the Ancients, a deadly tome describing grim rituals.

History
Shortly after the diary's last entry, the Yellowcrest family was brutally massacred in their manor, their children and servants included. The only survivor was Lord Vallis, who had apparently been away on business when the gruesome murders occurred. In reality, Vallis had orchestrated the massacre himself as part of a ritual to contact the Great Old One Gaernoo, an aberrant being from the Far Realm. Viallis was never accused of having any connection to the murders, and left Waterdeep shortly after, claiming he suffered from a deep depression. In actuality, Vallis poured his efforts into establishing the Burned Tongue Cult to venerate Gaernoo.

Yellowcrest Manor was taken over by the Falgarst family, and the possessions of the late Yellowcrests and their servants were sold off at a street sale. It was here that the apprentice wizard Sirok bought Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor, later using it as payment to gain access to the fortress library of Candlekeep. The Avowed accepted the book, taking note of the grim story Sirok told of the unexplained murder of the Yellowcrests&mdash;the wizard had not actually read the book, instead merely relaying the gossip he had overheard. Finding nothing remarkable about the book, the Avowed cataloged it and promptly forgot all about it.

Unbeknownst to all, the grieving ghost of Sarah resided within the book, just waiting for someone to open it up so she could tell the truth of what happened to the Yellowcrest family. As of the, Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor remained unnoticed in the stacks of Candlekeep.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Candlekeep Mysteries: "Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor"