A bold adventurer seeks out prove that an ancient order of monks actually existed. His discoveries might change the world. Assuming he makes it out alive...
Transcript from one of the lost notebooks of Ambrose T. Galvani, explorer extraordinaire
Date: 25–01-(illegible)
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It was with a huge sigh of relief that I stumbled into the cave. The blizzard had come out of nowhere when me and my guide Stefano were climbing the mountain. He advised us to turn back as soon the winds started getting stronger, but I insisted on continuing. When it became obvious that the weather wasn't going to let up, Stefano stood his ground and claimed that this was not worth it. I told him the he could turn back if he wanted to, but that i was going to keep climbing. And he did. I even offered him more money, but he shouted that it wasn't about the money and that he simply wasn't brave enough to risk his life in the pursuit of knowledge like me. At least, I assume that's what he said. I couldn't really hear him over the howling winds.
I made my way further into the cave, rubbing my arms to try to get warmer, as I tripped over something. I barely managed to stay on my feet, but looking down i was suddenly very happy to have tripped, for there I found the long abandoned remains of a fire pit. I immediately started removing all the snow from it with renewed hope that i might actually survive this crazy expedition.
When I was done with that, I took another look around to try and find some odd branch or some root i might use to start a fire. I was disappointed that there were no such things in this part of the cave and I didn't want to go further in until I was a bit warmer, so I dug into my small pack and took one the notebooks i always carry around with in in these expeditions, relieved that it hadn't gotten wet during the blizzard.
The pursuit of knowledge demands sacrifice.
With that in mind, i opened the blank notebook and ripped off pages, arranging them in a neat pile inside the fire pit. I ended up going through almost the entire notebook, but i was fairly sure it would burn long enough to warm me a bit. I dug into my pack once more, looking for the little lighter i knew i had packed, getting a little panicked when i couldn't find it, only to realize that I had put it in an outer pocket of the pack. Unfortunately, the lighter had gotten a little wet, so it took me of few minutes of flicking it to get a flame, and a few more to get a good fire going, but eventually I sat down on the ground rubbing my arms and legs for warmth, every so often throwing more paper into the fire.
I took the opportunity to glance around the cave. It looked to be about 11feet from floor to ceiling and it could fit three men abreast. It also curved a bit after the entrance, so I was protected from the winds, and then it curved again a fit further from where i was sitting.
What i didn't see were any indications of what had brought me to that mountain in the first place, no evidence that the Order of Arrikisdes had indeed had a monastery somewhere in this mountain range. Hell, most people weren't even sure they were real. Supposedly they lived in secrecy in the mountains, worshiping some sort of god creature. That last part i wasn't so sure about, but i had found several references to them in my research and even bought what was allegedly a travel journal belonging to one of the monks from an antique dealer. It was a bargain, too, since the guy who sold it to me had no idea what it was (apart from ancient book), but i recognized the symbol of the Order straight away. I couldn't really make heads or tails of the writing either, but the map it had inside, well, that i could use. I had taken me weeks to cross-reference the map with other clues I had found, but eventually i managed to find an area that coincided with the few landmarks the monk had made in his map.
