Welcome back, adventurers! Today, we turn our attention to some of the enemies you will encounter within the Sealed Archive.

But before we meet its inhabitants, we must first understand the place they call home. At the heart of Men’Nefer, capital of the Sand Kingdoms, stands the Grand Library. An immense repository of knowledge and history, gathered and preserved by the enigmatic Librarian, its halls hold countless works collected across ages. Yet for as long as the mortal races can remember, one part of the Library has remained forbidden to ordinary visitors: in its depths lies the Sealed Archive, twisted and corrupted by profane mana.

It is into this forbidden part of the Library that our heroes will venture during the events of Apocrypha, at the request of the Librarian himself. With some idea of where our journey will take us, it is time to discover what beasts the previous expeditions cataloged for us.

These gaunt, crow-like creatures are dark reflections of the owl-like worker ants one can see busily hurrying about the upper Library, stacking scrolls and books.

Archive Fiends are scavengers of knowledge. They obsessively hoard anything they believe might contain or grant it, despite, rather unfortunately, being unable to read. Throughout the Sealed Archive, they can be found gathering books and other curiosities, organizing them according to their own incomprehensible systems, and doing the bidding of whatever power holds sway over the Archive.

Elemental in origin, these creatures possess varied affinities that shape both their abilities and the environment around them.

Caretakers of the Library, created to shoulder its heaviest artefacts and stone tablets, the Ushabti are exquisitely crafted golems of metal and clay, shaped for strength and endurance.

Adventurers colloquially call them the janitors of the Library, though the humble title hardly does justice to their purpose. They tend to its vast halls, move burdens few humans could hope to lift, and stand as silent guardians over both the Library and the Sealed Archive.

Yet those that prowl the depths of the Sealed Archive are a different breed altogether. Warped by the wild magicks that seep through its forgotten halls, they have become violent and terrifying, stalking the corridors and reclaiming looted treasures and fallen adventurers alike.

Mimics are formless creatures drawn to places rich in mana. Predatory and parasitic by nature, they are fiercely territorial, lurking in wait for anything unfortunate enough to stray too close.

Their shapeless bodies allow them to imitate their surroundings with uncanny precision. Most disguise themselves as mundane objects, a forgotten book, an empty chair, or a discarded piece of armor, and remain perfectly still until their prey draws near. Some, however, possess the ability to mimic their prey entirely.

 

In a place as steeped in magic and stories as the Library, it is perhaps inevitable that, from time to time, those stories refuse to remain on the page. Characters step from their tales, strange creatures wander beyond the margins, and fragments of distant worlds briefly take shape among the shelves. Within the Library, where the Librarian shields these manifestations from corruption, such encounters can be wondrous things.

But in the maddening darkness of the Sealed Archive, stories take on a far more sinister life of their own.

There, fragments of corrupted tales and legends twist together, giving form to Nightmares. Haunting wraiths born from an amalgamation of horrors, they take on ethereal and impossible shapes, as if pieces of countless stories had been torn apart and woven together into something new and terrible.

To encounter one is to face many nightmares at once, and a dangerous proposition for even the most seasoned adventuring party.

This will be all for today. All of the above monsters come with two unique sculpts. All these monsters, and many more, are awaiting you in the beckoning madness of the Sealed Archive!

Happy adventuring,

Your EC Team