The Crafty Guide to Cheyne Heath (Pt. 2)
The Library of the Damned
For the witch that loves a stroll through a museum or art gallery, Cheyne Heath has a few excellent options. Foremost among them is the delightfully-named Library of the Damned.
Tucked away among the mansions of Gore Street, this magnificent specimen of Georgian architecture houses the foremost collection of Chaos-Kissed artifacts in the British Isles.
We witches are no strangers to Chaos. Every witch and sorcerer has that one spell in her arsenal to be used only in the time of direst need that suspends the order of High Influence and takes us back to a time before the forging of the Keystone and allows Chaos to reign once more. Any sensible witch will go to great lengths not to use it. Sorcerers who should know better, however, are often not so wise, and will, from time to time, use spells and incantations that call upon powers better left undisturbed. Even regular folk can be spurred by great sorrow or rage, jealousy or folly to unknowingly tap into the power of Chaos. Be they regular folk or sorcerer, these pitiful souls rarely get the results they sought and find themselves beset with horrors a witch would be hard-pressed to cure and often leave behind them Chaos-Kissed artifacts of devious and unpredictable power, many of which are assembled in the Library of the Damned.
Founded in fifteen fifty-eight by the great mathematician and sorcerer to Queen Elizabeth the First, John Dee, shortly after his ascension to the sainthood of Law, it has been the mission of the library to assemble the many Chaos-Kissed artifacts of the realm for study and for the safety of the people. The current proctor of the Library is a delightful gentleman by the name of Rafe Torvalds. (Take the time to inspect his peculiar aura and speculate on what misfortune might have befallen him!) Knock on the Library’s door at any time of day or night except between the hours of eight and ten o’clock on the first Tuesday evening of every month, when the Library’s support group for the Chaos-Kissed individuals of Cheyne Heath meets. Mr. Torvalds or one of his many curators will be happy to give you a tour.
Of particular note are the Esoteric Erotica collection (those seventeenth century acolytes of the sphere of Desire were a saucy and prolific bunch!) and the Hidden Galleries in the sub-basement where the most dangerous artifacts are stored. Curious witches are warned to admire from a distance, lest they take home with them an unwanted case of lycanthropy, vampirism, fae-touch, or worse. Cures for many such ailments are available from the stall of Gertrude the Terrible at the south end of Morel Market for those who cannot resist.
