There are many mysteries about the Well of Memories. Many should be able to be easily adapted to suit your own campaign. Given the multiple possible NPC stories and motivations, you may wish to build up the player's knowledge about the well over time with multiple visits. A sample adventure is included as one possible way to resolve some of the mysteries.

WARNING: The historical relationship between the Sidhelien and Faeries is a fundamental part of the back story to the well and why it exists, but this should not really be revealed outside of the adventure. Even there, you need not mention any more than that there is a linkage between one particular elf and faerie. None of the NPCs outside of the well are aware of it (other than the one elf included).

THEMES: Death, souls, necromancy, faeries, Shadow World, religion, secrets, trust.

Anywhere, but somewhere in Vosgaard or Brechtur (or maybe Khinasi) would be best if you include the Vos bards storyline. If you use Khinasi, then you may have adjust how the well is regarded by the locals and the temples of Avani and Ruornil (due to being able to receive messages from the dead) and their treatment of bards.

The well was originally no more than that - a well. However, it became a convenient place for lovers and tellers of secrets to meet. It also became a habit for people to leave coded messages wedged between the stones or tied to the woodwork sheltering it.

That changed when people could no longer draw water from the well and started to hear messages instead. It is not totally clear what happened but there are competing tales of a pair of lovers drowning in the well, or one drowning and calling out to the other. The truth is that it was the drowning of Naeroc, one of the Sidhelien, on the night of the new moon that created a portal to the Shadow World at the bottom of the well. The elf cried out and extraordinarily was heard by Cunas, a linked member of the faeries. With the power of the Seeming, the link between the two was strengthened so that each could send messages to each other. While the body of the elf has never been found in the 350 years since the incident, the well can now use the Seeming to transmit any messages it is sent via the Shadow World. This is the strongest on a dark night, so the rise of the moon influences how often a message is heard. This is also a rare instance of the mebhaighl of Aebrynis collaborating with the awnmebhaighl of the Shadow World.

Of course, few understand or know of this. It is not known whether anything dropped in the well actually travels to the Shadow World, nor whether there is a corresponding Shadow World well.

Each message communicated through the well needs a sender and recipient. The sender must write the message in a form they can speak and drop it into the well. The message must clearly be addressed to the recipient's name, or a term by which the sender knows them. The writer must be the one who drops the message. If someone can not write the message, they cannot send it.

The message cannot be received until at least one night later. The recipient must then be within hearing and seeing distance of the well (this may vary, depending on the "traffic") and actively listen for the message. If there is a message waiting for them, the recipient will "hear" the name addressed on the message in the normal voice of the sender, followed by the rest of the message in the language it was written in. Only the recipient will hear it, in a similar way to the "Message" spell. Once started, the message will continue, even if the recipient is no longer able to hear it. It will only be heard once a day for up to a month (each day will reset at moonrise, with the message disappearing permanently on the first full-moonrise after it was first heard).

Many people come to the well hoping for a message but hearing nothing. Some entrepreneuring individuals insist that a ritual is required to search for the message, which costs time and money. For this reason and the well's connections to the moon, secrets and lovers, there is often a priest of Ruornil, Eloéle or Laerme offering their services for those who wish to access the secrets of the well. They are largely cons, but may reveal some truths behind the well to PCs.

The well is deep and no-one can see its dark bottom. If a stone is dropped in it, the sound of it ricocheting off the walls will quickly fade until nothing is heard. If a living creature tries to enter the well, then the sound from it too will fade away as it gets out of sight. Any attached rope will loosen itself once the weight is gone from sight. No-one has entered the well and returned.

• Some messages are heard, but no-one is sure who sent them:
  Normally only one recipient can hear a message and it is clear from the voice (and possibly the message) they hear who the sender is. Sometimes though, the message is a bit odd. It may not be clear who the sender is. The named recipient may not be the person who hears it. It might be heard by multiple people. It might not be clear when it was sent.
  
  This is really a McGuffin. The idea is that you can work out something secret you want to reveal to the players and use the well to do so. Perhaps, it is a prophecy or a state secret. Perhaps it is related to a crime or heirloom. Perhaps it is the future plans of the enemy, the last will of the now dead monarch or the recipe for Aunty Jack's quiche. It could even be a message from the future not the past, or a lie that was placed to mislead someone. Make it whatever suits your story.
  
  If the players want to work out why the well is not acting normal, they might have to investigate the Seeming behind it as shadow magic or one of the faeries may have been interfering with the well from the Shadow World. Alternatively, perhaps the message or how it was left was the problem. For instance, what if the sender had been charmed or possessed or not really themself at the time the message was written or left. Any number of possibilities could have been the cause.
  
  
• Doesn't work for the Sidhelien:
  It is reasonably well known that the Sidhelien can never hear or send messages through the well, but no-one knows why. In fact it is because of the ancestral split world relationship between the Sidhelien and the faeries. The well tries to send the message from the sender to the recipient via the Shadow World, but gets confused when it finds the sender or the recipient is in two places, both on the Shadow World (as a faerie) and on Aebrynis (as an elf). Since the message is already in the Shadow World, that is where it is transmitted and presumably never heard. Thus any recipient on Aebrynis misses it. The same affect occurs if a faerie tries to send or receive a message (just ignore the fact they are on Aebrynis).
  
  This is not necessarily a problem that players have to solve, but you could make them have to find the source of the well's powers in the Shadow World in order to recover a message to or from one of the Sidhelien.
  
  The well also has issues with messages to and from dwarves because of their inherent resistance to magic. As a result, the message is not clearly transmitted and may miss various words or syllables. This effect is lessened if the dwarf has a Seeming score or is blooded, but may not be entirely eliminated.
  
  In contrast, the well works really well for halflings due to their link to the Shadow World. They are the only race that can see the message as a vision as well as hear it. Consequently, they can see any maps or diagrams that might have been on the message. This is not common knowledge due to the low number of halflings that have used the well and the rarity of the message being anything but writing.
  
  
• Articulating Inscriber:
  Because the well is enchanted, it has drawn the attention of True Magic casters who have wondered if it is a caerbhaighlien that they can exploit for their own purposes. Unsuccessful attempts have been made to create Source holdings and link it to ley lines. There always seems to be something twisting or changing the nature of the well, like it has a living spirit.
  
  One such entrepreneur is Cassian Tadholfer, a young blooded wizard (or artificer) who wants to start a service that allows the well to be used remotely. Instead of dropping a pre-written message in the well, they want to drop an enchanted mechanical device, their Articulating Inscriber, which they can command to write a message on demand, even if the caster is miles or even provinces away. The message could then be transmitted to the recipient at the well as usual. The plan is that once this is worked out, it could be reversed so any well message could be received remotely, provided the caster was the designated recipient. The caster knows about speaking stones and various spells like Message or Sending (a 5e spell), Illusory Script and Glyph of Warding but is yet to have any success.
  
  Of course, this normally will never quite work. The AI device (which you might want to call the Inscriber) will suffer the same fate as anything else that falls into the well and be lost to the Seeming and its own shadow magic. However, over time the Inscriber may give some type of response. This is caused by both the Seeming and the spirit of the original Sidhe who "died" in the well. Initially the messages transmitted from the Inscriber won't quite match those sent by the caster. They might have annotations (like social media comments) or changes to the terms used. Then the Inscriber will start writing and sending messages of its own, without any input from the caster. The caster will be perplexed but unable to stop the messages being created. They will need the players' help to stop the Words Expressed by a Literate Laurete (W.E.L.L.).
  
  The only way for players to fix this will be to tackle the Seeming which has been taken over by the spirit. As such, they need to kill or eliminate the corruption, which might mean removing the enchantment all together, or joining it with the spirit of the related faerie as well. If so, this may be described as the W.E.L.L. enabling the first(?) Elf-Faerie fusion since the worlds split.
  
  
• Vos bards speaking to the dead:
  It has been realised that the well will keep messages for a long time, even if the sender has since died. People have reacted to this in various different ways. Some followers of Nesirie want to give closure to the souls of the dead, and think they would be grateful if the messages of the dead were transmitted to their recipients as part of the funeral proceedings. Others have sought words of wisdom or wealth in the final words of the deceased. However, there are some who claim it all reeks of necromancy and seek to ban it entirely.
  
  A group of Vos bards associated with an elven seer has a different interest in the messages of the well. The band hopes to find magic in music derived from speaking to the dead. They are trying to find out if songs with these dead messages contain any aspects of the souls of the deceased. They are particularly interested in gaining "soul music" related to some former members of the Temple of Might and their followers from Kozlovnyy. It has been suggested that the souls of dead priests would be grateful for the power of their words to be continued.
  
  The band consists of:
  
  • Ja'ri the Seer (Sidhe, Warlock or Wizard, LE, Azrai bloodline) - charismatic poet and manager
    
  • Beb Viyar (Vos human woman, Bard & Cleric of Kriesha, CN, Vorynn bloodline) - singer and lutist
    
  • Fylycha (Vos half-elf, Bard & Fighter, NG, unblooded) - singer and trumpeter
    
  • Ronac 'the Pig' Cukarn (Vos human, Bard & Rogue, CG, unblooded) - singer and dulcimer player
    
  • Kretz (Vos human, Barbarian & Bard, CG, unblooded) - drummer
    
  Most had a former career before they focussed on becoming a bard. Only the barbarian has gone in the other direction, being a young drummer but now using those toned arms more in combat. Their manager, the elf Ja'ri the Seer, writes some of their music and occasionally sings or chants, but mainly keeps them safe as their mentor, though some of Ja'ri's elven tricks seem a little odd to the Vos at times.
  
  The first problem they are having is that they are not sure who has visited the well and left a message. Only one band member, the half-elf Fylycha, is old enough to have known any of the senders they are interested in. They also don't know how they can access the un-transmitted messages. All the possible recipients are now dead. The part-time priestess of Kriesha, Beb Viyar, is seeking divine help but not having much success.
  
  Ja'ri actually has a different hidden objective. Ja'ri is seeking a message from the former leader of the Temple of Might in Kozlovnyy over three hundred years ago. The elf is misleading the band members about the "soul music".
  

For those who want to use this location for an adventure, a suggested set of encounters have been written up as a Well of Memories adventure. They are fairly linear for the PCs with an Introduction, Development, Twist, Climax, Closure and Aftermath but each of them has options for the DM to tailor or simplify them for their own campaign. A lot of NPCs are outlined, but many can easily be omitted. It is recommended that you keep at least Cassian, Ja'ri, Beb, Fylycha and the elf and faerie of the well. If you want to avoid relating the well to the Shadow World or the elf/faerie linkage, then you can change Naeroc and Cunas to being lovers, siblings or some other reasonable partnership (and allow the well to work for elves), and make the well's enchantment just be due to mebhaighl and the Land.

Enjoy!

This location was inspired by the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL) online community, its services and the Grateful Deaders who used it. When started in 1985 it was a dial-up bulletin board system (BBS) where members could dial-in and read electronic messages and news posted by other members, as well as access and send emails. The Well of Memories has been based around these basic community services, but mapped into the fantasy of Birthright. It has no relationship to the Ghostwalk D&D setting, nor its Veil of Souls or Well of Souls.

The band is based on the Grateful Dead and its founding members, who were originally called the Warlocks. The lead guitar and singer Jerry Garcia was described by fellow band member Phil Lesh as having a "silvery elf-voice" when he suggested the name of the band (source).

• Ja'ri the Seer - Jerry Garcia (lead guitar and vocals)
  
• Beb Viyar - Bob Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals)
  
• Fylycha - Phil Lesh (bass guitar and vocals, but also a trumpeter)
  
• Ronac 'the Pig' Cukarn - Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, and vocals),
  
• Kretz - Bill Kreutzmann (drums)
  

The characters are only inspired by the Grateful Dead members. They should not be treated as trying to represent the musicians or make any claims about them as people. While their music may not be thought of as "soul music", it certainly was inspiring the souls of many Deadheads and was a style of its own at the time.

The name of the drowned elf, Naeroc Draicht or Naeroc the Enchanter, is based on the Neuromancer AI in the seminal cyberpunk book of the same name by William Gibson (using a corruption of "draíocht néaróg", Irish Gaelic for 'neural enchantment'). The name of the other AI, Wintermute, is used for the linked faerie Cunasgeimh or Cunas the Silent (from "ciúnas an gheimhridh", Irish Gaelic for 'the silence of winter'). The resolution of the Articulating Inscriber storyline may therefore be a merge of the two spirits, just like the conclusion of the novel. This Elf-Faerie fusion is also inspired by the name of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which was founded by John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor from the WELL.

Other NPCs that are inspired by Neuromancer characters are

• Cassian Tadholfer - Anuirean or Brecht or halfling wizard or artificer (Case)
  
• Ma'li or Mawli - Khinasi or Vos or Goblin or Dwarf fighter/rogue (assassin) (Molly)
  
• Cortu of the Mirage - Brecht or Khinasi ranger/former paladin of Cuiraécen (Armitage)
  
• Leylan Dior - Anuirean or Brecht cleric of Eloéle (Linda)
  
• Jalan from the Third Flame - Khinasi cleric of Laerme/Noble (3Jane or Julius)
  
• Hakim of the Quiet Light - Khinasi paladin of Avani (Hideo)
  
• Rien Vorto the Eidetic - Brecht magician (illusionist)/cleric of Ruornil (Riveria)
  
• Servant of the Blessed Rodent - cleric of Nesirie (Ratz)