The First Land Herald/439-05-18

Article Number: 63

Dateline: 439-05-18

EXPERIMENT WITH CUSTIODIAN-DISC HAS EXPLOSIVE RESULTS Some weeks ago, Mazrian called together those interested in taking up the Lord of the Void's Challenge: to understand the oddities occurring with the strange constructs within the Plane of Electricity. If you have been keeping up with current events, you will recall that the Crossing, Riverhaven, and Therenborough were struck by a lightning storm in 437-08, accompanied by unstable lesser voltaic custodians and lightning selreks that sprang from their remains. Later that month, the same creatures attacked again, and Grove Scholar Uryutis pointed out that they appeared more capable than previously, suggesting clearly that they were evolving. Uryutis posited that the Lord of the Void is testing us. We must discover what is happening to the custodians and why. Mazrian's idea, cultivated in several discussions ahead of the event itself, was to interact with one of the custodians, ideally tagging it somehow in order to follow its movements. In this way, we could catalogue behaviors, identify new and different ones. On the day, we met at the Zengmodaleth, drawing a large crowd of researchers. Sir Madigan was kind enough to move forward into the Scador li Darva and provide us with a Banner of Truce so that the custodians would not attack us. Once we had moved into place, we began our observations. Soon we noticed a custodian suddenly cease all movement, its appendage-like electrical arcs freezing in place. It performed a series of complicated involutions, its orichalcum coil expanding and spiraling around itself in a complex dance. Shedding sparks, the core expanded into a broad, rotating disc. Though still evidently malfunctioning and hesitantly shedding sparks, it appeared to have arranged itself peacefully, allowing us to study it. Miskton described to me a magical probing that he made of it, but though he felt a magical pattern was obvious, unfortunately it was far too complex for him to understand. Most notably, the disc appeared to pulse with both colors and sounds. The first thing I noticed was that it pulsated with blue and green, also emitting a series of high pitched chirps in a precisely ordered sequence, an unmistakable tonal progression. These chirps were then repeated by the other custodians in the area, until a deafening chorus echoed through the facility. As the custodians repeated the chirps, they slowed and began to retreat to deeper areas of the facility. The disc continued chirping, and the pitch began to descend lower and lower, until it could barely be heard. Finally, the chirping quieted slightly and the disc began to slow its spinning, and eventually, with a crackle, its rotation slowed to a stop -- though the song continued. After approximately one repetition of the chirping song, the disc began to rotate again, just as the song began anew. As I was paying attention to the chirping, others were focusing on the lights. The disc flashed in a sequence of repeating colors: blue, red, blue, green, blue, red, blue, yellow. Qetu noted that the sixth and ninth flashes were different, and Miskton added that it seemed to be alternating between delays on the sixth and ninth pulses, and on the fourth and seventh, depending on the tone it was making. Xelten said that the fourth and seventh were dimmer, whereas the sixth and ninth were shorter. I also noticed that on the third repetition, the third flash of blue was skipped. At this point, we decided that we should try to interact with the disc. As the only Bard present, I offered to repeat the song it was making. I mimicked the tones precisely according to its pattern. However, as I got halfway through the sequence, the disc chirruped loudly and changed the tonal sequence. Shortly thereafter, though I don't know if it was related, the disc suddenly lost power entirely, falling to the ground with a clatter! The chirping song ceased, and the surrounding custodians stopped their repetitions. However, after a moment, the disc sparked with electricity and slowly levitated, the coil crackling in a building thrum as the ball of lightning slowly rebuilt. It began to vibrate and almost violently cast about, raking electrical appendages across the ground and whipping nearby machinery! It tilted slightly on its axis, though it righted itself after a moment and seemed to return to normal. Mazrian took on the task of replicating the color pattern at this point, cycling through the colors on his ethereal shield using his pattern hues cantrip. He deliberately omitted the appropriate blue pulse on the third repetition, as the disc did. I saw no response from it except that it once again violently cast about, then lost power again. It continued the same pattern of lights as before, with the same blue skipped. Mazrian tried again, this time stressing the third flash of blue on his shield. The disc began to refold itself, forming a half-circle, though it continued spinning. It once again violently cast about. I also tried again, singing back the tones of the newer sequence to the disc. Once again, it reacted as I got halfway through the sequence, buzzing loudly and screeching in a series of minor chords. It felt quite ominous, as if I had offended it. Finally, the disc refolded itself again, becoming a quarter-circle, still slowly spinning. It cast out violently as before, but then spun rapidly, its appendages reaching in all directions. As it spun faster and faster, its chirping grew in intensity until the disc became a blinding whirlwind of lightning screaming a deafening song. It erupted with electricity and song. I was barely able to notice a variance in the structure -- an extra coil in the core, a flicker of variation in the spectrum, a flat note in the song. It was gone before I could make sense of it. In that moment, its tendrils lashed and blasted everything in the area! I was thrown backward, tingling with the surge of energy. Once I shook myself to my senses, afterimages dancing across my vision and my ears ringing, I realized the disc was gone. The other custodians were all completely stationary and silent. A tide of electrical energies tore our Banner of Truce apart, and in the distance, I heard heavy machinery restarting, and a loud thrum as the custodians began to reactivate. We moved about a little to probe the area, finding lightning selreks to the southwest, to our surprise, along with unstable custodians mixed with the stable. Ordinarily the area is populated only by stable custodians, though they are hostile to intruders. We dispatched everything in the area without much incident, save Tekhelet's unfortunate fate. From my perspective, a selrek suddenly discorporated into a geometric pattern of sparking lines that criss-crossed the distance between it and Tekhelet, and he was instantly electrocuted in spectacular fashion. His eyes burned out, he succumbed to bonebreaking convulsions, and smoke effused from every orifice. I even somehow saw through him, saw his bones, his heart stopping, and the thousands of little veins and arteries traced in light, before he essentially turned to ash. The selrek re-emerged explosively from him. Tekhelet was able to tell us later that he was attempting to cast Electrostatic Eddy. The selrek seemed to grab hold of his spell pattern itself, pouring itself into it and traveling across the mana lines and, clearly, directly into his brain. Mercifully, he also told us that he felt no pain after that point. Once we had cleared the unusual creatures, everything appeared to have returned to normal in the area, and we were without a peaceful custodian to study. We decided to retire and ponder on what we had learned. Although we were ultimately unable to tag one of the constructs, we did manage to discern much from our interaction. Will we make short work of the puzzle Daervlan has charged us with? Or will it take a more circuitous path? All the signals are there, but we must keep our eye on it. Can we do it? I will try to remain positive. From the field, Navesi Daerthon True Bard, Zoluren's Herald Editor in Chief of the First Land Herald

Real Date: 08/05/21

Subject(s): Daervlan lesser voltaic custodian lightning selrek Lord of the Void Plane of Electricity Uryutis Void Zengmodaleth

Author(s): Navesi