The First Land Herald/450-04-34
| Article Number: 111 |
| Dateline: 450-04-34 |
| THE BLIGHTED EXPERIMENT AND A GLIMPSE INTO THE ABYSS Desperate times, as they say, demand desperate measures. With Navesi and the others still missing and clans falling to encroaching primal spires, some individuals sought unconventional tactics. We had exhausted traditional methods, from lengthy discussions and fervent prayers to brute force, to no avail. Navesi, if present, would likely disapprove of such actions, as well as my coverage of them for this publication. But desperate times… Through discreet channels, I caught word of plans for an experiment involving necromantic objects and managed to find out the time and location of the meeting through sources. My attendance as an observer and reporter of the First Land Herald, of course, depended on tact and discretion. This was not an expose on the practice of necromancy, it was a desperate attempt to save those we love and care about. The meeting attendees requested anonymity, which I agreed to in order to ensure the experiment's completion. But what happened afterwards, I saw with my own eyes. A small group convened at the Viper's Nest Inn to discuss the plan before heading out to the Knife Clan encasement. They had gathered blighted objects, tainted with demonic or necromantic energies. The plan was to place them beside the encasement and observe any reactions. As they started to place the objects, whispers swirled throughout the area. The whispers intensified, then seemed to fade in and out. I heard Them screaming, echoing in the distance. The cacophony faded. I smelled burnt hair and stinging solvents, and then a winged creature flit across the sky, marked by twin streaks of purple. A scorpion skittered into the area and darted back and forth. It waved its pinchers with a loud clack, snapping them in the air, sending silvery sparks of starlight drifting upward, motes of light that slowly faded. I blinked, and the scorpion was nowhere to be found. Several individuals in attendance gagged and retched. Something skittered between the stars, an unsettling flicker of movement. The scorpion returned, its stinger poised and ready, its pinchers held high in defense. It rotated around, as if scanning the area, and vanished in a golden haze. Several individuals in attendance flinched. A gentle breeze swept the area, bringing the scent of fresh flowers and rain. The vine wall seemed to thicken, rising taller and solidifying. The scorpion again appeared, skittering across the area. It seemed to grow, the size of a dog, a horse, a house, a mountain, and I found myself looking up at massive swaying pinchers and a horrifically looming stinger dripping with a glowing silvery fluid that left a sparkling trail of stars. The scorpion's stinger whipped forward too fast to follow, its tip disappearing into something far above that I could not see. Reaching forward with one of its pinchers, the scorpion clasped at something, and brought it closer to its mouthparts. Held within its pincher, something flared with blinding luminescence, and the scorpion was now a hunched man trailing dripping smoke, cupping something in His hands. The man stared at the blinding object, and suddenly looked directly at me, His eyes an endless void, an empty abyss, a boundless chasm into which I fell and fell and fell. I blinked, and everything was normal again. The man was nowhere to be seen. After that, a few necromantic spells were attempted but no further response was seen. The necromancers apparently had seen things that I, as an Empath, did not see, and discussion among them ensued about 'the Maul' and 'Skairelden,' seemingly in reference to a woman they saw with purple eyes. While the attendees seemed eager to delve deeper into their findings, they agreed that more time was needed to process and analyze the extraordinary events that had unfolded. As for me, the experience left me both shaken and intrigued, but cautiously hopeful that we may have uncovered information that could lead to the return of our Navesi and the other adventurers. The search continues,
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| Real Date: Unknown Date |
| Subject(s): Wild Magic |
| Author(s): Illiya |