GLoGtober 24: The Tapestry
Jean Bondol and Nicholas Bataille. The Apocalypse Tapestry. 1377–1382. Photograph by Kimon Berlin.
GLoGtober '24 Challenge #7: Tapestry
On the Origins of the Tapestry
Some tales tell of an old Duke, Miribai III. A great traveler in his day, on his deathbed he longed to see images of all the places he had never been. He hired artisans to make life size images of scenes from around the world, ordering his servants to parade them through his bedchamber as if he were passing by in a palanquin. The scenes piled up in the ducal villa's basement and there, in the dark, they multiplied.
Others say that Duke Miribai III, a patron of the arts as holders of such titles often are, commissioned a lavish portrait from a young weaver woman. He offered her title and wealth beyond measure, but threatened that it must be completed before his birthday, just three nights hence, or she would be exiled without pay. The first night the woman prayed for help, someone to help complete the colossal task. That night, an army of tiny angels descended while she slept and completed the work. The next day when the Duke came to check on the progress, he was astonished to find the portrait nearly finished. Reneging on his deal, he had the woman exiled from his duchy. In punishment, the angels just kept working, expanding the tapestry yard by yard until it consumed the entire palace. And beyond.
Regardless of which tale you believe, the fact is that where once there was the Duchy of Tolvoxa, now there is the Tapestry - a seething mass of fabric that covers miles of landscape. Sometimes the Tapestry lies flat, forming relatively traversable plains. Sometimes it bunches and piles, forming cave-like stacks of soft, fragrant fiber.
Travelers within the Tapestry report strange sightings - entire villages rendered in one-to-one scale, seemingly draped over the structures they represent. Cutting through the tapestry revealed no building underneath. Others report seeing fellow travelers on the road ahead, only to arrive at vertical pleat of fabric with no one in sight.
Some say that all knowledge is contained within the Tapestry, if you only know where to look. Indeed, visitors report finding depictions of open books with legible text or lifelike interior scenes of buildings they visited in their youths. Some troubling reports tell of visitors finding scenes of events yet to come or of apocalyptic events sweeping recognizable regions nearby.
d666 Tapestry Locations
d6 Encounters on the Tapestry
- Fire! Heat lightning or untended embers have set a region of the Tapestry ablaze. It will burn for d4 days, revealing a fresh image of green fields beneath the smoldering remains.
- d20 + 20 giant moth larvae contentedly gnawing holes in a village scene. Villagers in the tapestry appear to be caught fleeing in terror.
- d4 scholars and their 2d4 bodyguards seeking a rare book or the location of a legendary artifact. If friendly, they are excited to trade knowledge of scenes, maps, and the like.
- d4 noose threads (as assassin vines, but fabric). They appear as a frayed edge, then leap out to attack prey, dragging them into the folds of the cloth.
- A wing of an antique palazzo emerges from between two pleats. Visitors are greeted by courtiers who say their lord the Duke is away but will return soon, before stepping out of frame - this too is a tapestry.
- A scene of what appears to be a random PC's death. Careful study of the sky or other appropriate details reveal it is dated for three nights hence. The scene is true, though their death might not be.