20.0 - Awakening Report

General Summary

Preserver, I arrived in Liv and plucked this letter out of the Shield's refuse after hearing rumors over the insane claims from another who had also recently arrived in Liv. —Syl

To whom it may concern,
As per my requested assignment to further investigate Riner Ånd, I did just that. Due to the natural difficulties (i.e. volatile magic, rifts, natural inhabitants, etc.) of Stuurk Swamp, I enlisted the aid of travelers who also had an interest in the swamp. Being comprised of a human, an elf, a lizardfolk, a centaur, and... a interesting looking man, they were certainly odd and suspicious. But please understand, I couldn't be too choosey if I wanted to further the Guild's knowledge.
We made it through the swamp without too much trouble. Nothing of concern or new revelations to report. The Riner itself, though, is where everything went alarming.
As we neared the Riner area, the feeling of radiant and necrotic energy was tangible and nearly suffocating. In one moment I felt invigorated and the next I felt drained. It was exhausting to walk through. The water gave way to more stable ground and plant life thinned out to only branchless, curved, white trees all spaced around a small raised mound—the center.
Holg—the half-man—approaches the center of the mound and reaches for a strange orb he carried with him. In fact, Atani—the centaur—and Kilith—the lizardfolk—each have one as well. They all have different qualities that I can detail in a separate report. Holg grabs his misty orb and then there is a flash of blinding light and he's gone.
Everything around us froze and was eerily quiet for several minutes. Then, there was a pop of magical pressure.
The air trembled as the branchless trees rose from the ground. The mist clinging to the ground swirled into shades of black and white as it rose and clung to the stark trees. The mound rose and forced us several feet away.
The clinging mist solidified around the "trees" and began to form muscle and flesh, then thickened to hard, black scales on the outside. Four thick legs formed, and the underbelly scales turned white. Razor-talons tipped the feet and a tail swung out from the mass. A head, angular and bony-like, shook its way into form from the mist; curved ivory horns glinted in the spotted light. Deep eyes of pitch black stared down at us and wide nostrils flared with its first breath. It unfurled massive black and white wings and bellowed.
Holg reappeared at the front feet of the beast, unharmed. He relayed the events that happened to him after he vanished, as follows.
Holg found himself in a black, dark and cloudy ring. The only source of light was a beam shining down on a spear stabbed into the ground. As he crossed the threshold into the light, a voice resonated in the air. "Seek, you, further harm, and receive death."
The spear's haft was pure, condensed blackness and the tip was composed of pure, condensed light. He claimed it was Vira's spear, but you know, composed of darkness and light. Holg grabbed it and pulled it out of the earthen tablet it was impaling and it dissipated into smoke. The broken fragments of the tablet then mended together in a swirl of brownish-red and blue-violet. Then, black mists formed into a huge, near-human shape. "The seal is fixed, and now I can return. But your world still bleeds. Ånd must be restored; Energy herself must be restored. Lest we meet again in the Amalgamation."
The figure dissolved and Holg fell from the light into darkness. He found himself face to face with Ånd—the beast that had rematerialzed at the Riner.
He spoke telepathically to the beast, mainly about its thanks for restoring it to life. It did not speak any language we could understand as it stood before us, and Holg could no longer communicate with it telepathically.
Any other study was cut short by a violent shaking of the ground to the north. The beast flew away in that direction.
In short, I fear what this means. Something drastic has changed, and these people have two more of these orbs on them. I figured it best to slip away from them as soon as I could and report this before things got too out of hand.
—Altruist and Wind Parr Corvis

This is... incredible. If Altruist Corvis can be trusted, then I need to finish my current research here in Ildsletten on the nature temple and rush to intercept them. Requesting news from Klarhavon and Grewl Pass outpost to verify what Syl and Corvis saw.

Protagonists

• Atani
• Corvis
• Holg
• Kallista
• Kilith
• Sil'Ferrous

Report Date

14 May 2021

Primary Location

Riner Ånd

Date

Flora Cycle Day 25